I Got Fired as a Hero Today - Vol.3 Chapter 91: Cal’s Love Interest

Shuu’s family home is in the slums. 

It’s a building with earthen walls, long and narrow in shape. The rooms are partitioned with cloth. The ground is just bare earth, and the bed is made from boxes and other items. 

It’s as if the construction was done with the bare minimum in mind, just enough to withstand rain and wind. 

Shuu pried open the creaky wooden door. The fit was so poor that it only opens halfway.

“I’m home.” 

“Oh, welcome back.” 

It was her mother, Katejina. His grandmother, Tome, peeked her face out from the inner room. The three of them lived together. 

“Today, I sold everything.” 

Shuu handed a bag containing fifty Rigil to her mother.

“That’s amazing.”

Katejina peered into the bag she handed her.

“Grandma, Shuu sold flowers again today, just like yesterday. Look.” 

She showed her grandmother the fifty Rigil. 

Her grandmother squinted her eyes and said, “Well done,” as she patted Shuu’s head. 

Shuu smiled sheepishly. 

“Grandma, there was a kind person who helped. Thanks to him, I sold them.” 

Shuu’s eyes sparkled.

“Wow, what kind of person is he? Mom’s curious too. Tell me.”

Katejina leaned in. 

“His name is Arata. Um, he seems kind. And maybe… handsome? I guess?” 

“Oh, who’s more handsome, him or Dad?” 

“Dad?!… Why are we even talking about Dad? Dad has nothing to do with this.”

For Shuu, his father was a useless adult who occasionally came home to beg his mother, Katejina, for money. 

“…I see.” 

Katejina said with a slightly sad expression. 

“Katejina, why don’t you try to forget about my son? You’re still young, and it would be better for you to find someone better.”

Tome had cut ties with her biological son because he hardly ever came home and neglected the family, wasting his time on frivolous activities. 

“Still, Mom, he’s the father of this child.”

She put her arm around Shuu’s shoulder. 

“So, mom, I’m fine with it. I don’t think of that kind of person as a father.”

“I don’t even think of him as my son. He’s a playboy, obsessed with gambling. Odd will never become a decent person.” 

“Mom, even so, my feelings are…” 

“You’re stubborn and inflexible. Haa. What a troublesome thing.”

She valued her daughter-in-law and granddaughter more than her biological son.

“Whether my mother believes that guy or not, I don’t care. I don’t trust someone like him. I mean, how on earth could anyone trust him? It’s beyond me.” 

In the evening―――

Chancellor Cal Ke Alc headed to the slums. Half a step behind him, Moranja followed while carrying a large leather bag.

The two stopped in front of a certain building. 

They received a leather pouch from Moranja and were instructed to wait there. 

“Good evening.”

They knocked on the door, opened the creaky door, and entered. 

“Oh, isn’t that you, Cal?” 

Katejina, who was preparing dinner, appeared. 

“Uncle Cal?” 

Shuu also peeked in.

“I brought some supplies.”

The leather bag was filled with fresh vegetables and meat. 

“I’m sorry to trouble you all the time.” 

“Really, it helps a lot.”

Tome and Katejina thanked him. 

Cal and Katejina were childhood friends who used to live in the same neighborhood.

“You’re going to eat it, right?” 

“Is it okay?” 

“Of course.” 

Katejina winked. 

As he watched Katejina’s series of gestures, Cal thought to himself, she is still a beautiful woman.

◆◆◆

After finishing the meal, they took a break with some tea. 

“Uncle Cal, you should marry my mom.”

Shuu looked at Cal. 

“Oh dear, this child is saying silly things. Cal would be troubled by such an old lady.” 

Katejina said sorry to Cal.

“Calling yourself an old lady. Mom is still only 32, right? She’s close in age to Uncle, so it’s not bad, right?” 

“Well, yeah, it’s not bad…” 

“Cal. Come on! Stop teasing me!” 

A sharp slap on the shoulder. 

“No, I’m not teasing you or anything.” 

Cal’s eyes widened.

“This region’s first success story. Cal. Marrying a noble lady isn’t just a dream.” 

“That’s true. He’s the chancellor, after all. Uncle Cal.” 

Shuu puffed her cheeks slightly. 

“No. I’m not interested in nobles or anything like that…” 

“Alright! That’s enough of this conversation. I have a husband.”

She clapped her hands. 

“…Yeah.” 

Cal nodded, but with a complicated expression. 

“Husband, huh? You aren’t even registered.” 

Shuu made a visibly displeased face. Cal looked around the room. A shelf made of old wooden planks. A closet covered with cloth. The bed had no mattress, just straw laid out. 

“It’s a poor life,” Cal thought. 

Since Cal himself was from this neighborhood, he had lived a similar life in his youth, and the hardship was deeply ingrained in him. Those without talent or luck are destined to end their lives here. Cal found a flower in a vase.

“That flower?”

“Shuu grew it.” 

Katejina answered Cal’s question. 

“I have a [Cultivation Level 2] skill. I grow and sell seven-day orchid flowers.” 

Shuu added.

“Oh, then I’ll buy one too.” 

“No, that’s not necessary… You’ve done so much for us already.”

Shuu doesn’t like to owe anyone. Cal thought he had a diligent personality, similar to her mother. 

Shuu took a flower from the vase and handed it to Cal, saying, “Here you go, as usual thank you.”

◆◆◆

When he stepped outside the house, the slum town was already engulfed in darkness. 

Moranja stood there with a lantern lit, having not moved a step since instructing him to wait. 

“Cal-sama, what about that flower?” 

“It was given to me by Shuu.” 

He brought the flower closer to his face. 

It had a sweet, gentle fragrance. 

His face involuntarily softened. 

Suddenly, Cal carefully gazed at a distant building.

“A mouse?” 

“It seems so.” 

Moranja also looked in the same direction. 

“A cat chasing it… No, that’s also a mouse. A fight between mice.”

 “What should we do? Should we join in?”

“No, let the mice handle the mice. Besides, that’s Gary Oswald’s mouse. Just leave it alone.” 

The gentle expression from earlier during the meal had already vanished. 

Only the cold, ruthless eyes were gleaming in the darkness.