Chapter 12 (1/2)
Chapter 12 – Anxiety and Secrets＊
When Luru, Iris and Gran reached his house, they found his mother standing there, watching them.
She wore a calm expression.
It was still like the calm of an ocean, unwavering.
However, because it was Luru, he instinctively felt fear.
There was no mistaking that his mother, Medea, possessed a gentle and kind personality.
That’s why he was used to seeing her calm, but even so, there were almost no instances where she stayed wordless after their eyes met.
Usually she would find something to say in a calm and graceful way.
Despite that, this time alone, not a single word came from her mouth.
Luru felt it extremely dangerous.
And as expected, he was right.
She was calm, but she approached Luru and spoke to him in a voice that felt like she was stifling her emotions with reason.
“…Where were you?”
‘Didn’t Yuumis tell you?‘ Luru wondered, but that wasn’t what she meant by it.
‘Where were you? What were you doing?‘ ― she wanted to hear these from his own mouth.
And Luru’s judgement wasn’t so bad that he didn’t know what this was leading up to.
“…I, went to the ruins for a little.”
The very moment he spoke, his mother’s palm cut through the air.
Luru perceived this with his sharp senses, but dodging it would be unforgivable in more ways than one, so Luru resigned himself to it.
*Slap*
Luru’s cheek throbbed painfully.
However, the one who was truly hurt wasn’t Luru who was. .h.i.t, but Medea who had hit him.
After the slap, Medea unsteadily walked towards Luru and then slowly and gently embraced him, murmuring,
“…I was worried, you know…?”
“Sorry… but I knew I had to go.”
A normal parent would have probably have replied ‘Don’t talk back!‘ or ‘Don’t speak nonsense!‘ or ‘What do you think a child could do if he went?‘.
But Medea was somewhat different in this regard.
“…I see. Then, I guess it couldn’t be helped… Gran-san. Was my son of any help to you?”
Gran was fl.u.s.tered for an instant at being suddenly talked to, but he immediately regained his bearing as replied.
“He was definitely helpful. I plan on explaining to the village chief tomorrow but… we found some Magus Machines in the ruins, you see. They started operating and attacked the village but… the one who stopped them was Luru. Yuumis’ barrier might have held for about a day, and there probably wouldn’t have been any casualties, but if we left it alone there was a chance that a few houses would have been destroyed.”
Were Luru not here, Yuumis would have maintained the barrier over the village, and Gran would have ended up destroying them one by one, so the possibility of that happening was certainly high.
Leaving the Lupes Gigantes aside, the Cannon Apis could fly so Gran might have had quite some difficulty.
Being the case, it would probably have taken time.
In that sense, Luru was of help.
Hearing that, Medea nodded.
“I see… That’s good, then. I was worried that he caused you troubled. I wonder if he managed somehow with the martial arts he learned from Patrick…”
She tilted her head a little in confusion.
Medea didn’t know exactly how powerful Luru was.
Watching his training with Patrick, she could tell that he wasn’t weak, but if she actually saw a Lupes Gigantes and somebody asked her if Luru could beat that, she would only reply that it was impossible.
That’s why neither Luru nor Gran mentioned his point.
Gran understood this, so he met Luru’s gaze and nodded.
If you translated his nod into words, it would probably be ‘It’s alright, I get it. Just stay quiet.‘
After that, Medea embraced Luru for a while, and perhaps because she had finally felt that he was safe, Medea noticed the girl standing next to Gran and tilted her head to the side.
“…Oh?[/Ara?] Who might you be? I’ve never seen you before, huh… You’re not a child of this village, right?”
As though waiting for this moment, Iris stepped forward and bowed deeply. She then spoke.
“It is my pleasure to meet you, madam. My name is Iris. For certain reasons, on this occasion, I was discovered by Gran-sama and Luru-sama in the ruins, and having been asleep for a very long time, I was rescued by the two of them…”
The smoothly speaking Iris then moved onto the topic of her future.
Once again, her tone was unfaltering and filled with emotion, and Medea listened carefully to her.
About how she long ago lost somebody important, about how she pursued their killer, about how at that time she was caught in a trap and continued to sleep in the equipment in those ruins, and then about how her parents were no longer around…
After listening to all of that, Medea who had ended up completely sympathising with Iris and was moved to tears, embraced Iris and said,
“I see… So that’s how it was… It must have been rough. At your age… To have no parents, or anybody to rely on… I know! You can live with us, then!”
Luru watched his mother say that, as though she had thought of a good idea.
Without bringing the topic up herself, but getting Medea to bring it up; Luru couldn’t help feel shock at Iris’ wiles. However, having even been invited, Iris became even more insistent.
“No, madam… It would not do to be provided even food and shelter after already having my life saved…”
Said Iris, gracefully casting her eyes down.
Perhaps because she was further moved by that act of humility, Medea brought it up with Luru.
“Not at all! Right, Luru? Luru, you want to live with Iris-chan as well, right?”
“Eh? Y-, yeah…”
The conversation was working out like he wanted, but Luru couldn’t understand at all why he was the one being convinced and not the other way around.
But there wasn’t anything in particular that he objected to, so he just nodded to show his approval.
“While we’re at it… I know! Why not join the family as our daughter? We’re lower cla.s.s n.o.bles so adopting shouldn’t be difficult, and… I’ve wanted a daughter. Dressing up a cute girl in lots of different clothes really is a woman’s romance[/ideal]. Right, let’s go with that! Iris-chan, won’t you become our daughter?”
“U-, umm…?”
Iris was beginning to notice Medea’s increasingly threatening att.i.tude.
That she would be allowed to stay with them was in line with Iris’ plans, but Medea who was beginning to speak about adopting her and whatnot was as expected, something she hadn’t imagined.
“Right! This is a good idea. It’s perfect since we only have one son… so it’d be great if we had a daughter too. When Patrick comes home, I’ll have a talk with him. I’m sure he’ll immediately approve! You’re this cute, after all!”
“M-, madam…”
Despite Iris fl.u.s.teredly trying to stop her, Medea paid it no heed.
On the contrary, she placed a finger on Iris’ lips and said,
“That’s not it, right? MO-THER.[/O, KA, A, SA, MA.] Okay, try saying it.”
“M-, mother[O-, Okaasama]…”
“Aahh! So cute! With this, you’re my daughter, aren’t you!~?”
Like that, Medea held Iris up in her arms and span around and around.
While looking at Luru, Iris gave him a ‘What do I do…?‘ look, but he really didn’t know what to say.
When Luru shook his head, and returned a ‘Give up.‘ look, Iris drooped her shoulders and resigned herself.
Watching all of this, Gran said,
“Well, didn’t everything work out happily? Though you’re a low-ranked family, becoming the daughter of a n.o.ble family isn’t something that just comes along.”
“That might be true, but…”
To Luru, the fact that he’d be living with Iris, but in a manner a little different than expected, dropped him into a truly difficult to describe emotion.