Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha

"... I know, I'm here"

He was about to disappear.

Like a candle flame before the big wind.

But that was nothing like disappearing easily.

"I know."

The next time I repeated the same words, the voice sounded more clearly.

The sound was powerful.

Sounds inside like telling yourself, not to tell people.

Lorraine heard it and apparently understood Shayla's feelings, softening her gaze,

"... well. Fine then."

That's what I said.

to the words, Shayla began to eat for a moment, but when Lorraine,

"Nothing, I'm not trying to bully you... Besides, it's too late today. We'll have dinner together, won't we?

When I said that, I felt like I figured out why Lorraine said that.

◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

"... Mr. Lent, I was listening, you're a good cook..."

That's what Shayla says with a complicated look on her face.

There are many plates of dishes on the table that I made for Lorraine and Shayla.

Even so, it's not that great.

At best, it's about as hairy as home cooking.

I think that's where the flavor is.

But there will be a minority of guys who are male adventurers and can make it this far.

I'm busy at work and don't think I'd bother cooking my own food at home after the harsh physical labor I say knocking down demons.

In the first place, it's more fruitful than the general profession, and eating out every day doesn't seem like a nostalgia problem.

That's why self-catering adventurers were a minority.

Few women, even adventurers, refined their cooking skills for reasons such as the adventurers' union (guild) staff aspiring to emerge in the adventurers' union (guild), but men were still a minority.

If you're a male adventurer, just because you cook well doesn't mean you can expect to be married to a woman.

Rather than that, you should train to die and increase your rank as an adventurer.

Male and female adventurers, which is easier is hard to put on A and B, but what about both?

By the way, I acquire cooking skills because I learned a lot from a pharmacist when I was in my hometown village.

While the pharmacist's grandmother was dispensing, you were rarely told to cook, and you sometimes put nourishing herbs in the ingredients at that time.

The point is, it was part of the pharmacist's training.

That's why I've always been better at cooking than a normal adventurer.

"It's easy to have one Lent in the family. They'll do all the chores. The price... if you insist, now, is that it?

That's what Lorraine said and pointed at me, the bottle.

It took the magic of preservation, a bottle of Lorraine's blood.

I was just taking a drop of blood from it.

There's blood in here, when I heard, Shayla was still blushing her face a little, but I guess that's how Lorraine figured out why she said that earlier.

"I see, a corpse ghost (Shiki) was a low-level vampire..."

I was convinced.

Well, deep down, right now I'm a blood-soaking monster on the table, but if you're going to look at it without thinking, you're the man in the mask licking the red liquid on the stick.

Don't you ever get scared? He's a little freak.

"That's the thing. Oh, that's good. Besides, you guys signed a contract using a magic contract, didn't you?

It shows in the details of the contract Shayla and I made while we were eating.

Maybe we don't have to talk about it, but we should share stories that we can share anyway.

I snort.

"... oh, to kihonjo, mine, I can't help it,"

"Hmm... Well, I'm just curious about the fine clause, but if we just hold it down there, it'll be a bit of an end to it later."

That's what Lorraine said.

Shayla is

"Oh, if it's a contract, it's here. Do you want to see it?

That's what I said and offered parchment.

Lorraine receives it and starts reading it.

It is a contract we have signed for now, but there were concerns that there might be various ways out of it, basically even if there were no problems with its content.

Even if Shayla doesn't want to break it herself, there's a chance she'll do something wrong unconsciously, and in that case, she'll suddenly have trouble treating her contract as defaulting.

Besides, there's no chance that Shayla would say that someone would manipulate her.

Because the type of magic that makes others listen does exist in this world.

If it is weak, it will be defeated by the spiritual strength of the individual, but if it is powerful, it cannot resist it no matter how strong it is.

In that case, if they talk about who I am, they'll have trouble with each other.

I needed confirmation considering all of the things I said.

In this respect, Lorraine also has quite a connection to the contractual relationship.

Magic, because there is such an element to it, and it requires an understanding of the logic of things quite a bit, they inevitably become familiar with it.

Having said that, of course, I wouldn't be as good as a full-time lawmaker, but this much contract writing would seem to be enough.

From her eyes like that, this contract is......

"... there seems to be no noticeable problem with this. There's a lot to be said about the details, but as Shayla, it's fine if you don't try to tell others Lent's secrets, directly or indirectly. The problem is if it was manipulated by witchcraft... but in that case I guess I'll have to give up and become a slave"

"After all, there's nothing you can do there?

"In the first place, that's where any contract you make becomes a problem, so all this. I just hope Lent arbitrarily releases it when it becomes clear that Shayla was manipulated, even if she was manipulated by someone to say Lent's secret and find herself in a situation where the validity of the contract forced her to become a slave. If Shayla becomes a slave, I think it is very well advantaged that ownership is transferred to Lent. So there will still be no problem"

Pretty outrageous content, I thought it was a contract, but it was surprisingly reasonably structured, apparently.

Lorraine continues.

"Well, you don't have to go through such a far-fetched process, basically, all you have to do then is agree between the two sides and break the contract. I'm just saying it's only the worst case scenario..."

In the worst case scenario, that is, if Shayla is being manipulated by someone by witchcraft and is unable to rescind the witchcraft, which makes it difficult to agree to rescind the contract as well.

In the worst case scenario really, I guess you don't have to think about it originally, but the situation I'm in is the situation.

If you say so, you'll need to keep it in mind.

"Anyway. The three of us here share the same secret. Let's make an effort to never divulge this externally. In particular, Shayla's role becomes important as Lent intends to continue working for the Adventurers' Union (Alliance). I asked for a lot of things."

"Yes...... of course, I am going to try my best with that intention. Just..."

"Just?"

"Mr. Lent has recently started to stand out a little..."

That's what Shayla said as she looked at me, Lorraine said,

"Something happened?

That's what I asked.