Chapter 53 (1/2)

Volume 2 Chapter 18: Dragon-san Asks Her Best Friend for Advice

Together with Aru we ate the hotpot for breakfast, one made out of Red Boar, a huge demonic beast that resembled a boar. I made a quick work out of my portion.

「Ok, guess I’ll be going.」

「Right, please say hello to Lili-san for me as well.」

「Best of luck with your search, Nectar.」

After saying our goodbyes we teleported to the forest near the capital city, walked out of it and after passing through the gate and enter the capital city itself.

In the old days you would need a special permit to enter the capital, but nowadays you could freely move around the kingdom without any problems.

While breathing in the nostalgic air, I go to the corner of the downtown area, with the intention of visiting “Lily’s Women Clothing Shop”.

In the early morning, when there were still no people around, at the back of the shop two people were exchanging blows with their weapons while standing inside a small, closed space.

When I stepped into the space secured with magic and made completely soundproof, I could hear the clinging of metal as well as a woman’s rebuke.

「Senjiro! What is that stance supposed to be!? Do you truly intend to reach me with something like that!?」

Even if she had her golden hair tied up, Ligurila was still wearing a skirt, even for training.

In response to those words, a young man with the same hair color and same hairstyle tried to strike her with a sharp cut.

Ligurila swiftly countered the cut, and after that she kept her distance. Seeing that his teacher had no intention of continuing, the young man looked quite grateful.

Seeing that the lesson was over, I spoke up to the two people.

「How are you doing, Ligurila, Sen-san?」

「Good day to you, too.」

「Good morning, No, I mean, Lava-dono.」

We have met when I was wearing the appearance of the Hunter “Noct”, and that awkwardness on Senjiro’s side was never getting old.

I met him about six months ago, while I was out on a job connected with Ligurila’s work partners.

We met in a certain town, we departed towards our destination, but on our way we encountered some First Class Demons and took them down together.

After that, he was so grateful to me that even though I was not a normal human he was treating me just like one.

Since then, from time to time he was going together with Nectar on a high-ranking quests for the Guild, usually involving slaying dangerous monsters.

「Sen-san, you seem to be fine the way you are. Your sword is as sharp as ever.」

「Thank you, Lava-dono, but I still have a long way to go until I can reach the level of Ligurila-dono.」

I wasn’t kidding when I complimented Senjiro, but he kept on denying that earnestly.

He came here all the way from oversees in search of his “Destined One” (I only got to know that on a later note), and once he arrived he boldly proclaimed that Ligurila was that kind of person.

And even though Ligurila shot him down time after time, he still kept on standing back on his feet after each such shutdown, and he kept on coming after her with even more determination, even though each such attempt was bringing him a little bit closer to death.

However, Ligurila was adamant on rejecting his affection, at least “for as long as you’re unable to defeat me in battle!”.

He was truly amazing, this Senjoro. In more ways than one.

There were at it every single time I went to visit her, and if anyone asked me for opinion, that only made them look more and more like a genuine couple.

「…… Is there anything you’d like to say?」

It seems that she noticed something, for she started to act awfully intimidating for some reason.

I was truly glad to see that after several hundreds of years Ligurila was able to fit in like that, and above all else, that she seemed to be happy.

However, since it was the first time in a while that we have met, I was willing to accept her slight sass as it was, without saying anything back.

Because if I did, then boy, I would never hear the end of it.

…… For once, let’s just pretend that nothing really happened.

「No? Not really. You look like really good friends. Nothing more and nothing less.」

「!!!」

Instead of lashing out at me, Ligurila’s cheeks turn slightly red as she turns her eyes away from me.

There was no way that Ligurila would ever react like that under a normal circumstances, so let’s just use this chance to enjoy this sight for a while.

While I was laughing, Ligurlia glimpsed at me after taking a towel from the pink-haired Iru-chan, who was waiting all this time around the shop’s back door.

「Since you told us you were coming, we have prepared breakfast. How about eating together with us?」

「But of course.」

I knew that Ligurila had her own shop to attend to, and so I proposed to meet with her in the morning. I confirmed our appointment in advance, but I still love that caring side of hers.

「Right, I am going to go and take a bath now, so could you please wait in the living room in the meantime?」

「Thanks!」

「In that case, I shall go and cleanse myself as well ––––」

And, suddenly Ligurila said something really strange to Seijiro.

「Oh my, why not use some hot water from time to time?」

「N, no, it’s only natural to wash one’s body in cold water after a long and hard training.」

For some reason, Seijoro started to act awfully bashful.

「Should I wash your hair for you again?」

Seijiro, who turned all red, and started to play with his hair while fidgeting around and acting all hot and bothered.

W H A T H A P P E N E D .

I was excited to learn what Senjiro’s curiosity got him into this time around, but something was telling me that Ligurila was not willing to stick with it any longer, not with that look of satisfaction on her face.

「Oh my, what a shame.」

Ligurila said that with a beautifully evil voice so characteristic of women like her, and then disappeared at the other side of the front door.

Feeling relieved, I called out to unfortunate Senjiro, whose shoulder dropped miserably.

「Sen-san.」

「What is it?」

「Are you okay?」

「…… Honestly, living as a man is hard for me.」

Senjiro gave me a troubled smile, still acting all shy.

「But, it only goes to show that the other person is thinking about you as well, albeit in their own unique way. For me, there is no greater joy than knowing that.」

「I see.」

Then it’s all good, I guess.

I laughed together with Senjiro for a little bit.

*********

After a short while, the three of us ate a sold breakfast consisting of warm soup, some meat and handful of slices of bread.

After that Senjiro bid me farewell, for he needed to go to the Hunters Guild to take care of some work-related business.

After we were alone, I briefly told Ligurila about the staff theft case.

「I see, so there are demons in that country as well……」

「Yeah, I was thinking that this might be a possibility.」

They might not be as strong as Ligurila, but there might be a possibility of some lesser demons slipping through the protective barriers and infiltrating Signos Academy.

I came to that conclusion after talking about it with Nectar, and so I decided to pay Ligurila a visit and ask her if she knew about any demons in the area while waiting for the official quest to search for the lost staff.

And if by any chance she knew something, I wanted to go and hunt those demons myself.

「If it’s a lesser or even mid-tier demon, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to slip through the Academy’s protective barriers without being detected. But why would demons need to steal something that belonged to a magician?」

「Yes, that is exactly what I thought.」

Because demons could create magic tools themselves, they had no need for stealing them.

So why would they want to steal the staff if they could easily create something as powerful, or even more powerful than that?

「I wonder what would they need Kyle’s staff for?」

「You, did you really allowed for something like that to happen right under your nose?」

Hearing Ligurila’s question, the only thing I could do was to turn my head away ans scratch my cheek in an awkward fashion.

Thinking that the magical scale that I once gave him might break one day, Kyle incorporated it in his staff, so he could also use magic more freely. And sometimes we even thought that Kyle’s consciousness might still be dwelling within the staff itself.

At the very least that’s what Belga has told me.

And although the probability was astronomically low, it was not all that impossible.

My hopes were pretty high on this one, so I was truly feeling down about it.

「Anyways, are there any chances that demons like that can be found nearby?」

「I’m sorry to disappoint you, but ever since I made this place my base of operations, less and less demons dares to approach this kingdom. There has been no demons around Ballow for the last ten years or so.」