――I was just lying around.
Two days ago, I was thinking, 『The next time I sleep in this bed will be in two years』, as I lay in my room.
And now, here I am….living a relaxed slow life in the countryside again almost immediately, after thinking 『Someday, I will live a slow life in the countryside again』.
「Young Master Alec, may I come in?」
「Suuure…」
I heard Nana-san’s voice from outside the room, so I gave permission for her to enter.
「Excuse me….You’re really slacking off, aren’t you」
「I don’t feel like doing anything anymore」
「Oh my… It seems your mental state has taken quite a hit…」
Well, of course it has. After such a grand send-off and setting off with so much enthusiasm, who would have thought I’d be back the very next day…
I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do anymore. Of course, my mental state is in shambles.
「Now now, cheer up, Master. More importantly, I’d like to hear something from you」
「Hear what?」
「About your world journey――」
「Are you mocking me, you b*tch!?」
「Oh my… How fierce…」
What do you mean, talk about my world journey!? What am I supposed to say when I came crawling back in just two days!?
「Please calm down, Master. I have no intention of mocking you」
「Really…?」
「Of course. While it is true that you departed the day before yesterday in the afternoon and returned just before noon yesterday, making it a world journey that didn’t even last twenty-four hours――」
That sounds exactly like mocking to me…
「Even so, you did set out on a journey, and surely you must have gained something from it?」
「Did I really gain anything…?」
Maybe Jisrare-san learned something like 「Be careful not to forget things」, but as for me… not really…
「Hmm… I just went camping for a day and came back… actually, that campsite was really close」
An adult elf could probably reach it in less than an hour from the village. It was that close.
「In fact, I’ve been around that area before. It’s within normal walking distance」
「That is quite close…」
Well, the send-off delayed our departure, and our travel speed wasn’t that fast to begin with…
Friedrich-kun, the giant rat, unfortunately isn’t very fast.
Right now, his 「Agility」 is actually lower than mine, and he doesn’t have the elf-specific ability 「Forest Walk」 either.
On top of that, neither he nor I have the 「Riding」 skill, so there’s no way we’d be able to move quickly.
「Well, putting the location aside, you did spend a night in the forest, right? That’s something new for you, isn’t it?」
「Ah, yeah. I spent a night in a tent with Jisrare-san」
「I see, I see. ――So, you had quite an enjoyable night, didn’t you?」
「…………」
That’s a pretty crude way to put it, Nana-san…
「Enjoyable or not, I didn’t have the luxury to think about that」
「Is that so?」
「All I could think about was how I was supposed to show my face in the village again」
「Yeah…… That is indeed something to worry about…」
That’s all I was thinking about. Even with Jisrare-san sleeping right next to me, I didn’t have any room to feel nervous about it.
「So, how did you actually return?」
「Hmm… after thinking it over, I just went back normally」
「Normally?」
「I kept a straight face and acted like nothing was wrong」
「…Were you really able to do that?」
「Everyone I passed did a double take」
「Oh dear…」
Every single one of them. One hundred percent of the people I passed did a double take.
Maybe that was a mistake… Maybe I should have sneaked back quietly instead…
「Well, after such a grand farewell the day before, coming back so casually the next day would certainly――oh, that reminds me, Master, I owe you an apology for that」
「Hm?」
「After the farewell party, you sent me a D-mail, didn’t you?」
「Ah, yeah, I did」
When I accidentally left on my own without Jisrare-san, Jered-kun showed up and helped me out… but at that time, I had also sent a D-mail to Nana-san.
At that time, I sent Nana-san a message saying――
『Could you check if Jisrare-san is somewhere around? If you find her, please tell her to come to the area just outside the village…』
――that kind of message.
Looking back, it’s pretty embarrassing. I never imagined my first message on this journey would be something like that.
…Well, my second message was even worse. It was something like 『I’m coming back tomorrow』, which completely overshadowed the first one in terms of embarrassment.
「You were playing cards with Jisrare-san at the time, right? Then it’s understandable you didn’t notice the message」
「I apologize. It seems the weakness of D-mail is that you don’t always notice it right away」
「Yeah. Its one and biggest weakness」
Ah, but maybe it’s not the only weakness? There’s also the issue that you can’t use symbols, and that every sentence ends with 「Dungeon」.
「Or, like you did before, if I had kept the menu open the whole time and stuck it to the wall, I might have noticed it」
「Ah, now that you mention it, I did do something like that before」
「Well, if messages like 『Where is Jisrare-san?』 or 『I’m coming back tomorrow』 suddenly appeared on the wall, I’d probably end up laughing」
Don’t laugh…
「Anyway, so you’ll be departing again in a week?」
「Yeah. Seems like it」
「That’s quite a long gap」
「Yeah… Apparently, Jisrare-san took it pretty hard too, and she said she wants to make sure everything is perfect next time…」
It seems she feels responsible for what happened because of her mistake.
She said she’ll carefully check all the luggage so it won’t happen again――and might even do a practice run beforehand.
Apparently, she’s planning to go on a solo trip for a week to check if there are any oversights…
I told her she doesn’t have to go that far, though…
「But it will be in a week, right…?」
「Yeah, in a week」
「If it’s in a week… Ralina-sama will be released, you know?」
「…………」
Well… yeah. That’s definitely something to worry about…
Just like Nana-san said, in a week, Ralina-chan’s house arrest will be lifted.
And when that happens… who knows what she’ll do.
There’s a chance that all those “troublesome preparations” Ralina-mama mentioned might finally come into play…
Yeah, that’s definitely concerning. What should I even do…
As Nana-san pointed that out and I started worrying about it――
「Alec」
「Hm? It’s open」
It’s Father. I heard him call from outside, so I told him to come in.
「What is it, Father?」
「Yeah. You’ve got a visitor, Alec」
「…Can you tell them I’m not here?」
Honestly, I don’t want to meet anyone right now…
Well, they probably won’t make fun of me like Nana-san, but still, I just don’t feel like seeing anyone.
「If possible――can you tell them 『Alec has set off on a journey to see the world』?」
「No, it seems they already know you’re back…」
「Tch…」
So they already know. Damn it, maybe I really should’ve snuck back without anyone noticing.
But that would’ve been pretty difficult too, and if I got caught, the embarrassment would’ve been even worse…
「Even if you say you don’t want to meet anyone, Young Master Alec, you’ll be staying in the village for a week. It’s not like you can avoid everyone entirely…」
「I plan to shut myself in at home for a week」
「Oh my…」
「I never want to be double-taken at again」
「Was it really that painful…?」
It’s basically a mild trauma.
「…Well, since this is a guest who rushed over on such short notice just a day after everything, perhaps they might help heal your wounded heart? ――Sergent-sama, who is the visitor?」
「Aah, uh… it’s Ralina-chan」
「Ralina-sama…?」
Ralina-chan…? I see… so it’s Ralina-chan…
「I see. It seems… she has already been released」
「…………」
next chapter: Promise
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