S̴̠͌p̵̫͒é̴̲ä̴̦́k̴͜͝i̶͇͋n̵͉͂g̵̹͛ ̶̦͌o̵̞̚f̵̡̓ ̸̤̈́ḍ̴̓ù̴͈n̶͕̑g̶͍̅ȅ̶͖õ̷̥n̴̤̚s̵̲̋,̴̲̂ ̶͚̇I̸̜̾ ̶̯̋ḧ̷̙́e̵̩̓a̶̛̼r̵̭̈́ď̶͈ ̶̢̋t̵̺̀h̵̗͠ā̵̖ț̴̆ ̵͖̄s̵̘͊h̷̭̽e̴̎ͅ ̴͓͘a̶̫͐c̸̭̽t̴̢͊ṵ̵̋a̶͙̋ḷ̷͂l̸͚̓ẏ̷͖ ̷̞̎u̸͈͘s̵͆͜ë̸̝́d̸̨̄ ̵̤͋ẗ̷̗́ò̸̳ ̸̙̔b̸̧̊ê̴͎ ̶͔̿ṭ̴̽ḧ̸͍ë̸̱́ ̴̩̓s̷̭̕o̸͍͆ĺ̵͎ė̶̱ ̶͇̋š̵̤ũ̸̦r̶̢͂v̶̟̓i̷̭͠v̶̼̋o̷͎͛r̴̛͜ ̸͉̋ȯ̵̞f̷̫̈ ̸̯͒a̶̚ͅ ̶̼̿d̵̨̈ü̷͙ṇ̶͂g̴͎͘ȇ̶̟o̷̯͑ǹ̵̠ ̷̲͝r̵͉̚ŭ̶͎n̴̤̄.̸̟̾.̷̻̿.̴͉͋ ̵̗͋

R̴̲̂u̴͖͒m̸͙͛ö̴̙́r̵̘̾ ̶̹͊h̵̰̏a̵͉͝s̶̛̞ ̷͔͆i̸͉͛t̷̹̐ ̴͕̒t̵̡͋ḣ̶̲ä̴̤́t̴̗̚ ̶̟̑ì̶̧ẗ̵́͜ ̶̙̎w̸̠̆a̷͚͗s̷͕̋ ̸͓̊t̶̤̊h̸̙̾ị̴͐s̴̗͂ ̵̲̅i̶͈͂n̴̫͗c̸̞̓i̵̲͐d̵͕̓ẽ̶͕n̵̝̽t̶͉̋ ̸̩̃t̷͕̾h̶͓͋ḁ̵̀ț̷̍ ̸̨͆f̵̼̓o̷͖͛r̴͚̔c̵̛̫e̴͙̎d̸̺̚ ̵̟͋h̸̥͝e̸̮̽ṟ̷͘ ̶͓̇t̴̳͑o̵͖̿ ̸̼̀ś̵̡t̷̟̕o̴͚͂p̵̂͜ ̶̭̄b̴̺̚ȩ̶̂į̸͂n̷̫͒g̷͚̾ ̵̠̓ä̶̪́n̷̺͘ ̸̪̀á̸̹d̴͍͝v̵̛̬e̷̫̔n̴̬̆t̷́͜u̶̡̓r̵̠̂e̶͖͋r̵̜̓.̶̃ͅ.̵̛̼.̵̬̕
̵̗͑
̵̮͊I̷̹͘ ̵̆͜w̷͎̓ȏ̵ͅn̶͉̍d̸̳͋ȩ̵̊ṟ̵͛,̵͙̏ ̵̛̩h̵̆ͅo̶̩͂ŵ̷ͅ ̵̹͋m̷̥͒û̴͜c̷͇̍h̶̝͆ ̵͉́ö̴͎́f̵̱̅ ̷͕̕t̷̙̀h̶̜͋a̵̠̿t̸͓͒ ̷̯̄i̷̯͝s̶͔͆ ̶̫̈́ẗ̴̼́h̸̺̀e̸̝͝ ̷̠͠t̷̠̅r̷̛͚ù̴̥t̴͇̄h̷͇̉.̸̺̚.̴̱͛.̷͙̊

“—Hey. Are you listening, Nii-chan?”

“Ah… ehh?”

This place is… Yunosu Diner. It's almost nighttime, and the crowd of customers were already bustling with the sounds of merry-making.

That’s right… two weeks had already passed in the blink of an eye. The people in Halvan had returned after the tension had subsided and safety was secured by the soldiers brought from the capital.

I stare at my hands, holding wooden cutleries.

Right, I was having a meal here. 

...How did I space out this much again? I pinched the bridge of my nose wearily. It’s not the first time either.

Perhaps I should drop by the general store on the way back and see if there’s a way to curb this. I don’t think a lack of sleep was the reason, since I’ve always made sure to sleep healthily.

I looked at the girl in blonde twin-tails seated across the table. Since I had ordered too much food, Evie was partaking in the meal as well.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat it again?”

“I knew it, you weren’t listening… jeez…” Evie glances up at my face, before turning away again.

“...It’s fine if you didn’t hear it, it’s not that important anyway…”

…? Well okay.

“Listen… the other day, I still haven’t given you my thanks for… you know… bringing me back.”

Hearing that, Evie leans back on her chair and smiles. “Ahh… that. Don’t worry about it. You’ve already paid your dues with this tab of yours today~ Nii-chan is a good customer, I’m satisfied as long as you keep patronizing us~”

Evie grinned as she watched my table covered with the most expensive dishes on the menu. Of course, I had splurged precisely to return the favor. It must have taken quite the effort for a girl to carry me back to my apartment by herself.

“...That’s great… but, are you sure you don’t have to get back to work?” 

I noticed that Evie’s father, Eric, had been observing the two of us from the kitchen for a while now. Now that I’ve paid attention to him, the man is actually staring daggers at me…

Evie notices my discomfort and returns a glare back at him as if telling her father to mind his own business. A “Tsk” could be heard as Eric turned his head away with a foul expression on his face.

...What an overprotective father. Maybe Eric-san is the sole reason why I wasn't seeing any suitors approaching his daughter ever since my first visit to this restaurant.

Evie chugs down her mug filled with rum, “Don’t worry about my old man. We have enough helpers for today, it won’t make too much of a difference without me at the front.”

“...Right.” I didn’t continue further on the topic. The conversation turned dead for a while, and it was then that I noticed that Evie appeared kind of troubled.

"What's wrong, showing that kind of face to a customer," I chided her playfully.

"Oh lay off me will you. I'm just... well, thinking about the upkeep of our restaurant in the future."

"Upkeep? But aren't you doing well in business still?" I looked around the diner filled to the brim with rowdy customers.

Evie slouched her shoulders and explained with a sigh, "It's nothing big, but it was just something I noticed yesterday when I went to the market to buy ingredients today."

"Ingredients?"

"Yeah, listen to this nii-chan. Carrots used to cost 1 copper per 200 grams, but they gave me only 180!"

"..."

"Aaah! You must think it's not important right?"

I smiled wryly at Evie's overreaction.

"No, I just thought... it would be a little more serious than that."

"It IS serious, nii-chan! For a business owner, we depend on material costs the most. Haaah, I just hope that this was only a one time thing. To think that they would cut down on prices no matter how much I haggled this time." 

... Haggling huh.

As I looked on at the side bemusedly, I still thought that Evie's concerns stemmed from a bigger issue. To a certain extent, I had too, experienced something similar like a price spike. 

The other day when I went out to buy a rabbit meat skewer, it costed 4 coppers instead of 3.

It seems like the prices were being inflated as of late...

“Speaking of which, where did you get the money to treat me?” With her mouth engorged with food, the girl asked. 

"It's not like I'm complaining or anything, but won't this cut a little too much into your expenses?"

Broken from my initial thoughts, I briefly paused a little and took a sip of my own beer mug,

“...It’s part of my pay, you know... as an adventurer. Don't worry about it, I can afford this much at least.”

The girl narrows her eyes and looks at me with envy.

“Look at you, nii-chan, spending so much money without batting an eyelid~ That’s nice… I wish I'm born with the goddess blessing too… then I can also spend money like crazy.”

I heard a scoff coming from the kitchen, but when Evie glares back frustratedly, her father snorted and continued cooking.

I smiled wryly at the usual father-daughter interaction these two had with each other. 

“Well, you have the restaurant business too right? I think that’s amazing too. If you think about it, many adventurers including me visit the diner very regularly. In that way, all the money that we adventurers earn, goes right into your pockets."

"Mumumu... Your flattery skills will not save yourself from footing the bill tonight!" Evie brought up her plate and ate clumsily in an attempt to hide her face.

"I mean it, I've always wanted to try cooking. So I admire you for that."

I pondered for a moment, and added.

"...and I think I'd be envious of whoever Evie's cooking for in the future."

"Pfft-" Some of her drink spilt onto my clothes.

Evie's face was flushed red, probably due to the amount of mead she'd been chugging.

"...You okay there, Evie? I think you should stop drinking," I chuckled.

“Nii-chan, you really are... ... ...I'm not gonna apologize okay. You were the one who said something weird.” The girl turned away and took another small sip of her mug.

"I don't really mind." I smiled, as I wiped it off with a tablecloth.

Evie looks at me with a complicated look, and bit her lips. 

"L-Listen, I... you... Do you..."

"?"

She seemed to stumble on her words silently for a bit, before shaking her head a few times.

And then Evie suddenly stood up from her seat, which slightly startled me. Her face was completely bright red, her eyes staring at me with some kind of longing. Her fingers fidgeted and twirled around her side bangs restlessly.

“Y-You know, nii-chan, I’ve made another dish. If you’d like, I… I...”

—Piipii. Piipii.

Evie’s words were suddenly cut by the sound of an alarm ringing around my wrist.

“...Eh? What’s that? ...Nii-chan?”

I turned off the wristwatch-looking device and stood up from my seat while Evie looks at me in clear confusion. After all, I hadn’t even touched half of the dishes on the table yet.

“...I… uhm I need to go now. I made plans, with someone already after this...”

“Ehh, this early? But you could finish these first...” 

“....Sorry, Evie-san, I think I’ll have to pack the rest and finish them at home!” I clasped my hands together in apology and placed two silver coins on the table.

“Ah, you can keep the change here.”

“But I…”

“I-In any case, I really need to go…” I glanced at the device strapped around my wrist again nervously.

“...Well, if it’s something urgent nii-chan has to attend to...” Evie pouts at me, seeming rather dissatisfied, but she still got up and begins to prepare containers for leftovers. She seemed to have noticed that I was truly in a rush, which helped me out greatly.

With Evie’s help, I left Yunosu Diner in a hurry after promising to visit again soon.

 

---

 

Having returned to the dormitory, I looked at the wristwatch again and exhaled deeply. The number displayed on it was a timer that a few minutes into the negative.

Incidentally, this circuit device was worn over a glove, so it didn’t explode. I would be troubled if it did, since it costs as much as the meal I’d just paid for at the diner. 

I reset the timer, and entered the apartment.

 

“I’m back, Ruru.” 

When I opened the door to my bedroom, the first thing I saw was a mass of pillowy breasts flying straight towards me.

“Umph!” This time I caught Ruru before I lost my balance.

The wolf-girl sniffed the side of my neck, and frowned while replying with only one word,

 

“Late.”

“Yeah, sorry… I seemed to have fallen asleep in the middle so it took longer than I expected…”

“...Humm, Master, had dinner? ...With another girl?”

...What a keen sense of smell. But it wasn’t as if I had any interest in two-timing, so my conscience was clear.

Ruru stares at me briefly, before nuzzling her nose into my chest playfully. She was wearing one of my shirts, but it was a little oversized so her right shoulder was exposed revealing her pale white skin.

As the familiar scent of her body wafted into my nostrils, I turned my head away and coughed lightly.

“...Un, Ruru’s not worried even if Master keeps many mates, as long as Master still loves Ruru. Strong male, many wives!”

...But this is the custom of demihumans, Ruru...

Are you really encouraging your master to have a harem?

No no, don’t even think about it. Even if I am interested in something like that as a man, having Ruru alone was a handful.

“It’s okay. Master, kept promise and, came back. Ruru is happy.” The wolf-girl kisses me adorably as if to show how she felt. My heart was a little warm with this kind of welcome, but it was expectedly hard to move with the girl clinging to my body like a koala so I peeled Ruru off my body and put her on the bed.

Ruru rubs the bed sheets happily. ...She seems to be in a good mood.

Looks like she’s not having any issues today either.

Remembering that Ruru hadn’t eaten yet, I took out the containers of food and brought Ruru to the kitchen.

“Ooohhh!” Ruru gleams in delight as she looks excitedly at all the food I’d brought back home.

“This… This all, for Ruru?”

I patted her head and chuckled. “Of course, I’ve eaten a little already. Don’t hold back and finish them if you’re hungry.”

Ruru was a little hesitant at first, but as this wasn’t the first time I’d brought food back for her, she became a little more confident. She started nibbling on a prawn at first, and it didn’t take long before her cheeks were stuffed full like a hamster.

Looking at Ruru savoring the food like that as if she hadn’t eaten for ages, for some reason, I felt a little teary-eyed. I’m glad she likes it.

Incidentally, you might ask… why is Ruru not making food for me? Since she was determined to help out with the chores a while ago, why not let her handle the cooking?

That…

...Remembering the exotic or rather, primal taste of Ruru’s cooking a few days ago, I thought that it was better for the wolf-girl to get used to the cooking by humans before she was ready to make food catering to my preference.

Also since she had the「Housekeeping」skill, Ruru had a potential for culinary expertise; meaning that letting Ruru taste food in Halvan would also allow her to reproduce them to a certain extent.

Today's special at Yunosu Diner was their Finch prawns drizzled with salted egg-yolk. Naturally, I held some expectations that Ruru was able to cook it for me in the future.

... ... ...

It was getting a little late, but I still had another errand to run today.

I left the kitchen and put on a robe from the bedroom wardrobe. It was a little chilly at night, so it was best to wear an extra set of clothing.

As I got up and prepared to return to the kitchen to inform Ruru that I was heading out, I noticed that the girl was already standing behind me.

“...Master, leaving again?”

This girl… she’s always so sensitive about it.

“That’s not right, is it?”

I caressed the side of her cheek, and brought her close to me for a kiss.

When our lips parted, Ruru looks less glum than before. 

“It’s not me leaving, I’m just going out for a bit. I’ll be right back before you know it.”

I pointed at the timer on my wrist and reassured her.

Ruru nods silently, and took a step back. 

“When Master comes, back, mate with Ruru?”

“...”

Ruru pouts, as if she feels hurt by my reluctance. “Ruru hasn’t done it, today... and Ruru... was a good girl, stayed at home...”

I-If you look at me like that, it's not really fair...!

I gave up eventually and sighed.

“...Alright. When I’m back, okay?”

“Have safe, trip. Master!” Ruru’s tail swayed to and fro at the back, clearly satisfied with my answer.

Sex as an incentive huh. Who knew the answer was in plain sight all along.

...I should’ve tried that from the start huh.

As I left, I looked at the wristwatch and laughed dryly.

Why did I even buy this junk.