Today, Mizera had gone to the Adventurers’ Guild to deliver a new batch of potions.
As for me, I had a different reason for being there.
Apparently, the other pair from that adventurer party, the ones who received the matching rings I’d made, had gathered new materials and wanted me to craft their ring next. They asked to discuss the design with me directly.
So, here I am at the guild… and currently, I’m surrounded.
I have no idea what’s going on.
「……」 ‘swoosh’
For now, I quietly took out a vial of ‘Tatanakunar’, just in case.
As soon as I did, a ripple of tension spread through the group encircling me.
A faint murmur followed, but despite their wariness, none of them stepped back.
「Hey! What are you doing? Over here!」
The two I came to meet, the mage and his wife, spotted me trapped in the circle and waved me over.
Ah, so it’s not the entire guild that’s after me. That’s a relief.
I started walking toward them, and the surrounding men parted to make way…
only to reform their circle as soon as I passed.
Okay, seriously, what’s going on here?
「Uh, hey, what’s this? What happened?」
The mage, clearly bewildered, looked between me and the men surrounding me.
「Don’t worry about it.」
「R-right… It’s just… we kinda have an important discussion to, 」
「Don’t worry about it.」
「Uh… o-okay. So, um, about the design, my wife and I talked it over and… well…」
No, he’s ‘definitely’ worrying about it.
His wife, in particular, looked downright uncomfortable, and he was stammering so badly that I could barely make sense of what he was saying.
「…Alright, that’s enough! You guys have some kind of business with me or what?」
Finally, I lost patience and asked them directly.
But they just stared back in silence.
What in the world is this supposed to be?
Then, one man stepped forward, pushing through the group.
If I remember right, he’s an adventurer I’ve seen around before, not someone I’ve ever been close to, but not exactly on bad terms with either.
He stopped in front of me, clasped his hands behind his back, and furrowed his already stern face even deeper.
「Due to a certain suspicion concerning your conduct, we are currently conducting surveillance on you! However, even if you are found guilty, we hereby swear upon our ‘Iron Code’ that we shall not cause you harm!」
Following their leader’s declaration, the men around him also nodded firmly, showing that they had no intention of harming me.
Well… that’s something, at least. I could relax a little, ‘a little.’
「What kind of suspicion are we talking about here…?」
「Sir! We are still in the process of investigating! If it turns out to be nothing, we will immediately disband!」
「Leader!」
「Hm. You’re back. So? What did you find out?」
A small-statured adventurer came running up from behind the leader.
He looked at me, his eyes narrowing into a glare before he spoke with a sorrowful tone.
「It’s just as we thought… he’s guilty… he’s the one…!」
「「「「「Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!」」」」」
The moment the little guy said that, the entire group erupted into a chorus of anguish.
What the hell is happening?
‘Guilty’ of what? Did I do something?
Could it be… the ‘Tatanakunar’ from the festival? Maybe it went off again somehow?
If that’s the case, I’ll fix it, I swear.
「Our beloved Mizera-chaaaaaan!」
「Aaaaaaahhhh!!」
「My angel Mizera-chaaaan!!」
「Defiled! Her pure white innocence has been defiled…!!」
…….
Ah. I get it now.
These guys are ‘Mizera’s fans’.
And they must have found out about her using the ‘Vow for Life (Only One)’ on me.
「Uuuuugh… please! I beg you! Just one punch! Let me hit you once!」
「You idiot. If a muscle-bound guy like you hit me, I’d die.」
「Why are you so frail, damn it?!」
「Hey, I’ve been training, alright! My HP and stats are low, but still!」
I ‘am’ trying, okay?
I was kinda hoping maybe if I trained hard enough, I’d suddenly become super strong, or that my stats would skyrocket like my alchemy skills, but nope.
Not a chance. Just slow, steady, painful effort.
Fine then. Take ‘this’, my strongest jab!
‘Pat, pat.’
「…Ugh. Sorry, man.」
「Don’t apologize…」
Come on, don’t look at me like that. Those teary eyes are killing me.
「Someday, I’ll change that look in your eyes…」
「That day will never come!」
Don’t be so sure! If I work hard enough, there’s at least a one-in-ten-thousand chance!
Have a little faith in me, damn it!
「Haah… still, you guys really like Mizera, huh.」
So ‘this’ was the reason potion requests for Mizera skyrocketed.
These guys have been buying her stock in bulk, waiting around the guild for her to show up, and the moment her potions hit the shelves, they form a line to grab them.
Even the guild master started separating our display shelves lately, one for Mizera’s potions, and one for mine.
Mine sells mostly to beastkin who owe me for ‘Tail Care’ potions… and a few sympathetic customers who feel bad that my apprentice stole my popularity.
「It’s not about liking or not liking her.」
「We just want to support Mizera-chan with pure hearts.」
「To protect her smile. To buy her potions, bring her herbs, and be thanked by her, that’s enough for us.」
「She’s precious.」
「An untouchable angel who descended into this sweaty, stinking Adventurers’ Guild.」
Am I the only one who thinks these guys are already pure enough?
Basically, their main goal seems to be helping Mizera grow and watching over her progress.
Well, I can’t really blame them.
Honestly, Mizera seems like she’s standing in a completely different world from ordinary adventurers.
She’s delicate, almost fragile-looking, with a kind of clarity and cleanliness that makes you feel like she might break if you touched her.
And every day she works so diligently, crafting potions and personally delivering them herself, it’s no wonder she’s so popular.
「And you… you went and… uwaaaaah!」
Hey, don’t cry…
Sure, I understand what you’re trying to say, but I’d really appreciate it if you could think a bit more about things like privacy.
「Uuugh… our angel…」
「Ah, so does that mean you won’t bring her herbs anymore?」
「Of course not!」
「If we did that, it’d make Mizera-chan sad!」
「All we want is… for Mizera-chan to keep smiling!」
I see.
They’re frustrated enough to want to punch me, but they know if they actually did anything, Mizera would be hurt.
So now they’re stuck with all that emotion and nowhere to put it.
Fine then. If it’ll make them feel better, maybe I’ll let them land one,
「Haah… honestly. I was wondering what all the noise was about…」
「M-Mizera-chan…!」
「Welcome back. Finished your delivery?」
「Yes. Quite a while ago, actually. I just got held up for a bit…」
「Ahahaha… sorry, we were just… talking about a few things.」
Behind Mizera, a group of female adventurers were grinning in a way that made me very uneasy.
「Please don’t bully milord too much, alright?」
「I-It’s not like that! We weren’t bullying him!」
「Really? But you were surrounding him with so many people… remember, violence is absolutely forbidden, okay?」
「Of course! We’d never raise a hand against your lord!」
「Good. In that case… if milord ever ends up in danger, please make sure to protect him, alright?」
「「「「「Of course!!」」」」」
Uh… wow. That was fast.
The men all flexed their arms and struck some kind of heroic pose.
Wait, what? Is that supposed to be the ‘Mizera Fan Club’ signature stance or something?
And those female adventurers behind her are whispering and squealing ‘Kyaa!’ while looking at us… why though?
「Mizera? …What exactly did you say to them?」
I asked, but before she could answer, one of the women behind her suddenly stepped forward with gleaming eyes and a dramatic expression.
「『I’ve decided, I’m going to make you happy.』」 ‘Strike!’
…
「『I’m going to do what I want too. So… you’d better be ready.』」 ‘Strike!’
………
「『I’ll make you happy. Just like I promised, from now on―― 』」
「Stopppppppppppppp!!」
W-wait, how do they even know that!?
What is this humiliation play!?
Oh no… wait, does ‘shame (羞恥,shuuchi)’ come from ‘public (周知,shuuchi)’? Ugh, shut up brain!
The female adventurers were squealing, while the male adventurers looked at me with pity.
And now there’s even someone taking notes, why!? What for!?
Are they planning to blackmail me later!? How much do I have to pay for you to burn that notebook!?
Ever since I came to the guild today, it’s been nothing but one mystery after another.
Actually, wait, maybe they weren’t even talking about me?
…No. No, that’s definitely about me.
「M-Mizera-san…? What exactly were you telling them?」
「Just the story of how things led up to me using the 『Vow for Life』 with milord… was that bad?」
Mizera looked genuinely surprised.
It’s not that it was ‘bad’, but… it’s definitely ‘not good’ either…
I really wish she’d kept that memory locked deep inside her heart.
「That’s seriously so cool. I want a hot guy to say that to me.」
「Right? Someone like Lord Hayato, please!」
Sorry for not being a hot guy!!
「…! Alright, you! You said you wanted to hit me, right!? Go ahead, now’s your chance! Just make it strong enough that when I wake up, I’ve forgotten everything, okay!? Come on!」
「C-Calm down, man! We can’t do that! Even if I get how you feel, we swore in front of Mizera-chan that we’d never lay a hand on you!」
Damn it, these guys are useless!
What do I do!? How am I supposed to survive this embarrassment!?
「I see… if I can’t erase ‘my’ memory, then I just have to erase ‘theirs’!」
Alright, that’s the plan.
I’ll make a memory-erasing potion right now.
Let’s see… ingredients: dokutengu, shirodoku, narcissus, kaen mushroom, that should do it.
If not, I’ll just beg Reinrich-sama on my knees and lick her boots if I have to.
「You mustn’t, milord.」
「Don’t stop me, Mizera! If I don’t erase their memories, I’ll die of embarrassment!」
「…That’s a precious memory to me. If you erase it, I’d be truly sad. Besides… to me, it was the most wonderful moment in the world.」
For a moment, time seemed to stop at Mizera’s words.
I turned to look at her face.
She just smiled serenely, took my arm as if nothing had happened, and then, time began to move again.
The female adventurers let out the loudest 「Kyaa!」 yet, while the men screamed their most anguished 「Aaaghhh!」 in unison.
「Come on, let’s go home, milord.」
「Wait, are you just going to leave this chaos behind?」
「It’s fine. Things will calm down by tomorrow. Besides, I need to prepare dinner, so let’s go.」
She released my arm for a moment to put on her usual hat, and I noticed that her ears were completely red.
When she realized I was watching, her blush spread all the way to her cheeks, but with her back turned to the adventurers, I was the only one who saw it.
Well… if Mizera says I’m the most wonderful thing in the world, then maybe feeling a little embarrassed isn’t so bad.
Letting out a small sigh, I walked beside her, taking a little detour together on the way home.
-0-
「Um… about the ring design…」
「These guys… let’s strangle them.」
「Yeah… let’s.」
A few days later, after thoroughly scolding the adventurers, the couple came back with an even larger haul of fine materials.
As a result, the ring turned out far more extravagant than planned.
Of course, I’d completely forgotten the design discussion, so to make up for it, I didn’t charge them anything, and even threw in a matching pair of earrings for the wife as an apology.
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