Chapter 36: Old Man’s Stomach Growls

I noticed the bizarre change in her and felt a chill run down my spine.

This is… bad.

A very, very bad vibe is starting to fill the air…

I knew it… Is that what this is?

Mira-san might have realized what I was scheming.

‘…Just when I was about to finally announce his firing, he uses a little girl to try and cling to the guild by playing on my sympathy… How pathetic can a man get…’

I could practically hear those words in her voice.

Enduring their awkward stares, I followed Emma-san and Mira-san’s lead down a long hallway.

The walls of the seemingly endless corridor were adorned with what looked like portraits in magnificent frames.

I had no idea who they were, but they were probably Emma-san’s ancestors or something.

The plush carpet underfoot was so high-quality I felt bad for treading on it with my dirty shoes.

This house is seriously incredible…

It’s on a whole other level from the cheap inns I’ve stayed in.

It would be amazing to spend just one night in a place like this…

I walked on, lost in such an impossible daydream.

Fel was right next to me, so I secretly whispered in her ear.

“…Hey… Fel. Why did you… say that earlier…? About… being my daughter…”

Fel puffed out her small chest and whispered back with a smug look on her face.

“Hmph. You looked like you were in trouble, Master. I simply acted quickly on my feet. This should lighten the mood, don’t you think? You should be grateful for my consideration.”

Lighten the mood? The air around Emma-san and Mira-san felt like it dropped to absolute zero…

I retorted in my head.

This kid really can’t read the room.

Well… I guess it can’t be helped, since she was an orphan.

I buried my face in my hands internally.

Thanks to her, I have a feeling this already-depressing ‘Last Supper’ is heading in an even more disastrous direction.

No… but what if, thanks to Fel, I can avoid getting fired…

Wait… Stop thinking such petty schemes! Get a grip, me!

How can I cause any more trouble for Emma-san and Mira-san?

You came here prepared for the worst, didn’t you?

As I was trying to whip my own pathetic heart into shape, we arrived before a set of huge double doors.

Emma-san quietly opened the doors, revealing a dining room so luxurious it made my eyes widen.

In the center of the room was a table bigger than the room I usually sleep in, lined with gleaming polished silverware and a spread of sumptuous dishes I had never seen before.

“Now, Shuzo-san, and you too, Fer-chan. Please, have a seat.”

Emma-san gracefully offered us our seats.

I gulped, swallowing hard.

My stomach, which hadn’t had a decent meal since I cleaned out the gutters, was stimulated by the smell of the food before me. I desperately tried to suppress the sound it was about to make.

grrrowl

As prompted, I took a seat, and Emma-san and Mira-san sat down across from me.

Both of them wore the smiles of perfect ladies.

But their smiles looked plastered on, and their eyes weren’t smiling at all.

Contrary to the beautiful furnishings and delicious-looking food, the room was filled with a crackling tension.

This is unbelievably uncomfortable, but at the same time, my stomach is just helpless against this stimulation.

Agh… I want to eat already…

Such were my shameless thoughts.

A heavy silence hung in the air as we waited for the meal to begin.

It was Emma-san who broke it.

Tilting her wine glass elegantly, she began to speak in a tone that was perfectly calm, yet somehow probing.

“So… Shuzo-san. Regarding our conversation at the entrance earlier…”

Emma-san’s gaze shifted to Fel, who was sitting next to me with an air of self-importance.

“Could you please tell us a little more about that very lovely young lady of yours?”

Her words were perfectly polite, but to me, they sounded like an interrogation.

Behind Emma-san’s smile, her unsmiling eyes were waiting intently for my answer.

At Emma-san’s gentle, yet undeniable question, I felt a cold sweat run down my back.

How am I supposed to explain this…?

There’s no way I can honestly say she’s just a random kid I ran into and that I only brought her here because of a misunderstanding with the innkeeper.

But then again, I can’t lie and say I’m taking full responsibility for this strangely arrogant little girl.

My own life is going to be in jeopardy tomorrow.

“Uh, umm… this girl, she’s…”

As I stammered, searching for words, Fel, sitting beside me, sniffled and began to speak in a faint voice.

“Umm… Father… Mikami-san… couldn’t bear to see me collapsed on the side of the road with no one to turn to, so he took me in…”

Her tone, with all its earlier arrogance gone as if it had never been, was thoroughly ephemeral and helpless.

Her little beast ears drooped dejectedly, and her big, golden eyes even seemed to be welling up with tears.

It was the perfect performance of a pitiful orphan.