Chapter 55 – v2c16 – Party’s House

「Something we need to talk about?」

Narsena fixed her eyes on me with a serious expression.
Feeling intimidated by her gaze, I repeated her words.
My face stiffened from the bad feeling I couldn’t wipe.
But, Narsena continued without noticing my expression.

「P-Party’s house! Why don’t we buy a party’s house!」

「-!」

……And then, what she uttered next proved my premonition.

「W-We got a lot of money from last phoenix subjugation, after all. Moreover, see, our relationship advanced…… No, wait, that’s wrong! No, I don’t mean we’re not getting along, umm, err, how do I say this…… Bond! Yes, bond! I think it’s a good idea to strengthen the bond between party members!」

Narsena’s face turned redder as she spoke more quickly.
Almost half of what she said was unintelligible, but from her words alone, it told me enough how much Narsena wanted a party’s house.
If Narsena had a dog-like tail, it must be wagging like crazy now.

「U-Ummm………」

However, I couldn’t answer her request immediately.
From her attitude so far, I knew that Narsena had longed for a party’s house for a long time.
After all, Narsena had been making this proposal so many times before.

…But, the current me had no intention to buy a house.
No matter how much Narsena wanted.

To tell her that, despite the pain in my chest, I opened my mouth.

「That’s… isn’t it too early to buy a party’s house? L-Look, it would be better to save the money in case of an emergency…… Maybe…」

The words that came out from my mouth was too bad it hurt to even call it an excuse.
Even in this labyrinth city, I and Narsena who defeated the hydra and the phoenix had a considerable amount of money.
There was no point for us to make even more money.
Narsena obviously knew about this.

「…… Y-Yeah, you’re right, Onii-san. It’s important to be prepared…… It’s for the future, isn’t it?」

…However, as she also knew about that, she realized that I was unwilling and withdrew her request.
She was smiling with a different smile that I used to in an attempt to hide her depression

「Ahaha, I’ll take a walk to chill my head a bit..」

Narsena laughed, turned her back, and walked away.
I felt I could see a dispirited tail hanging behind Narsena, my chest hurt from the feeling of guilt.

Even so, I couldn’t chase after Narsena……

◇ ◆ ◇

—Narsena—

「Hahhh- As I thought, it’s not good.」

After telling Onii-san I would take a walk, I was walking in the city while feeling depressed.
I already knew that Onii-san wouldn’t approve of buying a party’s house.

Because no matter how many times I asked, he never agreed.
I’m not dull enough to not notice that Onii-san is reluctant to buy a party’s house.

「…It’s not because he hates me right?」

……Nevertheless, I often asked Onii-san to buy a party’s house because I felt anxious.

If Onii-san approved us buying a party’s house, that was the best proof that he didn’t hate me.
With that idea in mind, I asked Onii-san about party’s house again and again.
While knowing that troubled him.

「…I’m, a hopeless woman.」

I felt guilty from my own actions and muttered those words.

However, even so, I couldn’t restrain myself.
The reason was the change in Onii-san’s attitude toward me.

Before, when I asked to get a party’s house, Onii-san didn’t directly refuse.
He did so like admonishing me, clearly still having a margin, emotionally.

…But, recently, he clearly couldn’t even afford to do so.

He was calm now, but the Onii-san from before would start to become restless whenever I mentioned party’s house.
On top of that, he would refuse to buy a party’s house with a firm attitude, there was also the time when he suggested we lived in a separate inn with his face red.

I somehow managed to make the talk about living in separate inn went nowhere.
But, I still couldn’t feel relieved.
After all, it was obvious that Onii-san’s attitude toward me had changed.
And I had no idea why.
That was why I couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Maybe, Onii-san hates me?

…Every time I thought so, I felt my heart tightening.
Every time I felt that feeling, I told myself there was no way Onii-san hated me when he treated me gently like this.
However, I still couldn’t wipe that anxiety.
Maybe…… Like that, my anxiety returned.

「Hahh~…」

I let out a small sigh from my anxiety.
At times like this, it would be better to consult this to someone.
However, out of everyone I currently knew, I couldn’t come up with someone who had a lot of experience in love.

「Hmm? But, I feel like I just met someone with a lot of love experience……」

Feeling that I had forgotten someone’s existence, I started to dig into my memory.

「My, my, Narsena. What are you doing here?」

「Hyaunn!」

It was then I was called from behind.
As I was thinking, I didn’t realize someone was behind me, the sudden call made me let out a weird noise.
It was a stupid sounding voice too, I blushed from the shame.

「Ah………」

However, the moment I turned around and saw the person behind me, I was shocked enough I forget about the feeling of shame I felt.
After all, the person behind me was the person I had forgotten, the one that had a lot of love experiences.

「Umm, are you o-…」

「L-Laila-san!」

The next moment, without noticing that I cut her words short, I started talking.

「Laila-san, can I consult something with you for a little bit?!」

「……Ehh?」

Hearing my desperate voice, the woman behind me, Laila-san, the healer of the guild’s agent, Zieg-san’s party, looked surprised……

◇ ◆ ◇

—Laila—

「So I was worried that Onii-san really hated me…」

We were inside a certain quiet cafe.
Inside the cafe with a gentle atmosphere, many people were relaxing.

…But among them, I was in an unexpected crisis.

「I, don’t think so.」

While calm on the surface, I answered Narsena’s question.
However, in reality, my clenched palm was wet with sweat.

「I-Is that so? I’m still a little worried, but I’m a little relieved if someone with a lot of love experiences like Laila-san says so.」

「O-Okay?」

Hearing my answers, Narsena made a really relieved smile.
However, her lovely smile that seemed like how she usually smiled, put a lot of pressure on me now.

……It was Narsena’s misunderstanding that cornered me this far.

Apparently, she seemed to think I had a lot of love experiences.
But the truth was entirely different.

After all, I was just a beginner in love with my first love still in development with no result in sight yet.
Narsena was more experienced than me.
……But I couldn’t tell her that as I was really confident when she said she wanted to consult something at me, as a result, I was having a cold sweat while she talked.

If I knew this was a love counseling, I would run away with some made-up reason, I hate myself for accepting her request a couple of minutes ago.
At that time, when we were subjugating the phoenix, I felt like I didn’t do much compared to Raust, also, we wanted to help Armia repaying her debt, with these as reasons, I decided to accept her request without hesitation.
But now I knew.

That was an obvious blunder.

「Actually, Onii-san seemed to be flustered this time and said that he wanted to move to a separate inn……」

「…I don’t think you need to worry about that.」

What makes me sad is that I need to hear someone talks about their loved one when they’re just a step away from being in a relationship while they’re actually ahead of me in the love department.

As I responded to Narsena, I almost sighed.
The dull Narsena seems to not realize, but clearly, the reason Raust wanted to change inn is because he thinks of her as a member of the opposite sex.
That is by no means a bad thing.
………Unlike Zieg who lives in the shared house with me but doesn’t react.

「But, Onii-san never agreed to buy a party’s house……」

However, I didn’t know the reason Raust vehemently refused to buy a party’s house.
It felt too excessive if the reason Raust didn’t want to buy a party’s house because he felt shy.
If that’s the case, I don’t know what I should tell Narsena, but before that, I better ask Zieg to ask Raust about this.

「…Is it maybe better if I appeal boldly?」

「Maybe that’s right……」

I continued to think so while talking with Narsena.
……Because of that, I was too distracted to notice what she was saying, fortunately, or unfortunately, neither Narsena nor I noticed that, and so, time passed.

「Oh, look at the time…」

While I was occupied with my thought, it was Narsena’s words that brought me back.
Before I noticed, the sky had begun to darken, I was surprised inwardly at how badly I lost the track of time.

「Thank you so much for today! I think I’m going to be proactive, as Laila-san said!」

However, without realizing my inner feeling, Narsena bowed at me.
It took me a moment to answer because I didn’t hear what Narsena was saying.

「Umm, do your best.」

But, I couldn’t just say that this late in the game, so I only said that with a vague smile.

「Yes! Thank you so much!」

I felt that my attitude was really suspicious, but Narsena with her renewed determination seemed to not realize, she bowed again and went back to the inn.

After the bell on the door of the cafe rang and Narsena went out from the cafe, I noticed the number of people in the cafe had diminished.
Apparently, it had been quite some time since we came to the cafe.
But, it seemed the cafe won’t be closed for some time, there was no closed sign hung on the door that I could see from my place.

「Hahh~ I’m tired…」

After confirming that, I decided to take a short break until the cafe was about to be closed.

「Hmm………」

It was then a thought I always had since the time I met Narsena emerged again.
Until now, I had contained that feeling.
But now that Narsena was gone, I didn’t need to worry anymore.
After deciding that, I leaned slovenly against the desk and opened my mouth.

「Narsena, Raust too, they obviously love each other…… That’s nice… I’m jealous…… Maybe I should get proactive too…」

It was a somewhat serious matter for a monologue.
The words never reached anyone’s ears and they scattered into the wind……