Several days had passed since Vihera and Theorem had arrived in Goto. As for what they had been doing during that time……

「Hey, Apika. Have you given up already? I’m still fine though?」

「Haah, haah, haah……onee-chan, you’re going too fast!」

「Fufufu~. You need this level of stamina to be an adventurer. Look, you’re a boy, so try harder. Rei and Set are also watching, you know?」

Upon hearing Vihera’s words, Apika looked to the side and saw Set lying down on the grass with Rei leaning against him, both watching Apikia.

「I can still do it!」

As if empowered by their gazes, Apika took a deep breath as he ran along the grass, following after Vihera.

Vihera also adjusted her own pace to match Apika’s stamina as she ran around with a smile, keeping her speed to see if he could catch up.

「He’s doing fine.」

「Guru~」

Seeing Apika chasing Vihera around, Rei murmured out loud as Set gave a cry of agreement.

From the outside, what Vihera and the rest of them had been doing since arriving in Goto must have seemed like they were just playing around.

No, in a sense, they were just playing around.

In Theorem’s case, he honestly wanted to return to the Bestir Empire as soon as he could.

However, after the matter with Elk was brought up, it wasn’t possible for them to head back first.

If he ignored the issue with Elk and returned to the Bestir Empire first, there was no doubt that a fight between Elk and Theorem would eventually break within the Bestir Empire.

If that happened, the aftermath of the battle would naturally affect the surroundings. They would end up drawing attention even if they didn’t want to, increasing the difficulty of their plans to rescue their lord.

Thinking over it, Theorem made the painful decision that it would be better to sort things out with Elk at a place where the Bestir Empire had no eyes.

……From Rei’s perspective though, he couldn’t help but think that Theorem was just getting what he deserved.

「Hey, Set?」

「Guru~?」

Hearing Rei suddenly call out to him, Set seemed a little confused as he tilted his head.

Rei just smiled as he continued to stroke Set’s silky fur, telling Set it was nothing.

He looked some distance away from where Vihera and Apika were chasing each other.

There, Theorem was swinging his long sword as if there was some mighty enemy before him.

In fact, he was probably imagining a fight against Elk.

Even from such a distance, Rei could guess what kind of opponent Theorem was fighting against in his mind.

「If you ask me whether he deserves it or not, he definitely deserves it……」

Rei held back a yawn as he looked at Theorem.

He had felt this before, but the wide grassland around Goto and the wind that blew the fading summer heat away made it a very comfortable place for him to spend his time.

As he placed his head against Set and closed his eyes, Rei was enveloped by a refreshing breeze, carrying the rich scent of grass, as he let himself drift away into sleep.

Or at least he would have, had he not noticed someone rapidly approach him.

The was the sound of someone jumping, following after light footsteps.

The moment he heard it, Rei opened his eyes and caught the presence of a figure leaping towards him.

「-Oof.」

Luckily, the person who jumped at him was small, so the impact wasn’t that big.

Leaning against Set, Rei looked at the person who had just jumped at him.

「Ehehehe. Nii-chan, don’t sleep, let’s play together!」

Apika’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as he asked Rei to play with him and a smile appeared on Rei’s lips. ……The next moment, however, he noticed someone else flying towards them as he hurried moved Apika to the side……

「Ugh-!」

What came next was a solid mass, unlike the five year old Apika.

Catching the person, who was taller than himself, the next moment Rei caught the scent of a woman as well as a warm and soft feeling.

At this point, he knew who it was.

「……Vihera, aren’t you a bit too old for this?」

「What do you think you’re doing? Talking about age to a woman. Besides, it’s only natural for a woman……no, a maiden in love, to want to play with someone she likes, right?」

「……I don’t know about that.」

Vihera’s inviting gesture put Rei at a loss for words as he managed to give a reply.

It wasn’t unusual for Vihera to take this kind of attitude towards Rei.

Since the day they had met up in Goto, she had started to actively engage in physical contact with him.

Having a strong love rival in Elena, and since there was a considerable gap between their progress, Vihera had no hesitation in acting so straightforwardly to shorten her distance with Rei.

That said, it couldn’t be denied that her actions were somewhat based on Theorem’s advice, who wanted to draw Rei over to the side of the Bestir Empire, or more precisely, the Third Prince’s faction.

Rei was vaguely aware of that, but also knew Vihera’s true feelings for him since she expressed them back in Exil.

Wondering what to do with her, Rei let out a small sigh as he gently lowered Vihera, who had seemed to be hanging over him, as he spoke.

「So, what’s going on? Weren’t you two chasing each other?」

「That’s right. But onee-chan said she felt sorry for nii-chan since you seemed so bored, so she said to let you join in.」

「……Huh.」

Glancing over, Rei saw Vihera smiling like a child who had been caught playing a prank.

「What’s wrong? Isn’t it better to play with us instead of taking a nap?」

「……You’re not wrong. But night……no, it’s nothing.」

Rei’s words were vague.

The house where Rei, Theorem, and Vihera were staying in was Ruchard’s house. Until a few years ago, he had lived in it with his family, and even though he lived alone now, it was nothing more than a farmer’s house.

In addition to the living room, there were only three other rooms. One was for the house owner, Ruchard, one was for Vihera, the only woman in the group, leaving only one room for both Rei and Theorem.

Rei didn’t hold any special animosity towards Theorem, but it was still true that he had been an enemy in the Spring War. In addition, with his background, Rei wasn’t able to trust him completely.

Vice verse, for Theorem, Rei was an unexpected variable in many ways.

He had known about Rei and even tried to eliminate him, but in the end, nothing worked and his bad feeling……had ended up coming true in a big way during the Spring War.

Having fought many underhanded battles against Rei, Theorem knew how fearsome Rei was. As a result, he was equally reluctant to sleep alone with Rei in such a small room.

They didn’t hate each other, but were also unable to completely trust the other.

As an adventurer and soldier, the two of them might have understood this, but reason and emotion were two completely different things.

It might have been different for Rei if Set had been with him.

Set’s ability to sense danger was very strong, so Rei was able to sleep soundly even when camping out, trusting everything to Set.

However, if he told Vihera that now, she would probably tell Theorem to switch rooms with her.

Rei wanted to avoid that for various reasons, so he kept his mouth shut.

「Well, the sunny weather and cool wind along the grassland makes me want to sleep with Set.」

He said that to draw the topic away.

「Hmm. Well, that’s fine. But, if you’re awake, why don’t you come and play with us?」

「……No, didn’t you hear what I just said? I said I wanted to enjoy a nap.」

「What, are you refusing an invitation by such a beautiful woman?」

A woman who described herself as beautiful was usually being narcissistic. But, in Vihera’s case, she did have a body line that attracted the attention of men, so Rei couldn’t really say that of her.

Perhaps because of her appearance or the clothes she wore, the thought that came to Rei’s mind whenever he saw Vihera was ‘night’……no, rather, ‘evening’.

He would have wanted to describe her as ‘night’, but Marina was above Vihera in terms of sex appeal and feminine maturity. Because of that, Marina was the one better described as ‘night’ with Vihera as ‘evening’.

On that note, Elena was unquestionably ‘day’.

But, even with those thoughts in his mind, seeing Vihera’s reddish purple hair glittering under the sun, he couldn’t help but tilt his head.

Looking at her now, he didn’t think that there would be many people who would describe her as ‘evening’ or ‘night’.

「……Rei? What’s wrong?」

「Ah, no. It’s nothing.」

Rei could not be said to have fallen in love with Vihera himself as he shook his head slightly.

「Nii-chan, nii-chan, let’s play together!」

Apika pulled on the hem of Rei’s Dragon Robe as he tried to make Rei stand up.

Seeing that, Rei watched on for a bit before eventually giving a sigh of resignation and standing up.

「Alright. So, what do you want to play? I’d prefer something that doesn’t make me too tired.」

「Ummm, ummm……chasing after you!」

「……That again?」

Apika had just been doing that earlier, was his stamina bottomless? He thought that way, but he couldn’t take his words back after nodding and started walking along the grassland.

As if following after him, Set also stood up from the patch of grass he had been lying on.

Thus, although Rei himself wasn’t too enthusiastic about it, he ended up being chased by Apika for a while.

 

 

「Ah, it’s dad and mum!」

As the sun started to set in the west, Apika’s happy voice resounded as the setting sun illuminated the grassland.

Ahead of his gaze were a man and woman who had just finished today’s wheat harvest. Apika’s parents.

Apika gave a happy shout as he ran over to them.

Rei and Vihera watched from the back along with Set as Apika’s parents gave a deep bow.

After all, they must have been worried leaving about a 5 year old child on his own.

However, Rei and Vihera could babysit him for now, along with Set, who had the power to kill a giant boar in a single attack while still being friendly with other people.

……Of course, if Rei or he were attacked, Set had no issues with fighting back.

If Apika’s parents had asked about the number of bandits, Bestir Empire soldiers, or hostile adventurers that Set had killed, they probably wouldn’t have entrusted Apika to him.

「Nii-chan, onee-chan, let’s play again tomorrow!」

Rei and Vihera lightly waved towards Apika, who waved back as he left with his parents.

As Rei watched the three of them leave, he suddenly thought of something as he turned to a different direction.

There, Theorem was still swinging his long sword, fighting an imaginary Elk.

(Even if it’s just image training, I didn’t think he had that much stamina on him……no, I guess that’s just how desperate he is.)

Naturally, after several hours of training, Theorem was drenched in sweat. Even from this distance, Rei could see his face dripping with sweat.

With every strenuous movement, drops of sweat would fly off his face, glistening in the sunset.

A horizontal sweeping attack had probably been made against him. Theorem quickly squatted down as he struck a blow towards his imaginary foe’s feet……but the next moment, he stopped and shook his head slightly as he stood up.

(I guess he lost.)

Rei didn’t know how the imaginary Elk had managed to defeat Theorem, but he was able to understand the result of the imaginary fight.

「It looks like he lost.」

She had probably seen the same thing as Rei. Vihera gave a small whisper.

However, her voice seemed to be filled with something along the lines of envy.

Regardless of the fact that she had come to understand her own romantic feelings towards Rei, her desire for battle had not disappeared in the slightest.

She could already feel the instinctive desire to fight.

That was the reason Vihera was feeling envious of Theorem, who would be having a serious fight against Elk of Axe of the Thunder God, an A rank party.

(Once the fight with Theorem is over……I wonder if I can request a fight as well.)

Thinking like that, Vihera chased after Rei, who had started to head over to Theorem.

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