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The Pope and one of the Six heroes met up, so we couldn’t just stand and talk here.

Thus Maxwell and Ashella moved to the room Maria and Lyell were renting until yesterday and decided to talk there.

Normally the room has to be cleaned up before receiving their next customer, but Maxwell insisted that he did not mind and just rented it as is.

The receptionist lady looked very sorry, so we put her in a pretty bad spot.

“I see. I expected the Pope’s words to hold big weight, so this was unexpected.”
“Yes, quite so. Lord Maxwell, I also heard you hold great influence in the royal palace.”
“Hahaha, that is an exaggeration. I have already retired once, so nothing is going as I would like to.”

Maxwell and Ashella chatted with smiles as they enjoyed their tea. That said, neither’s eyes were smiling.

On one side was Maxwell who was of Raum’s royal bloodline and one of the Six Heroes, and on the other, Ashella, who was the leader of the world’s largest religion but had the cardinals holding the authority.

Both of them desired the other’s influence, yet also restrained each other to not lose their footing. It was clear that they were probing each other while acting a little friendly and favorably.

Finia who sensed all that had a pitifully cramped expression.

“Okay, we should go prepare for tomorrow.”
“Yeah, we have a lot of things to do.”
“I, I’ll go buy some preserved foods…”
“Hey, please don’t leave me here alone!”

Seeing us making up excuses to flee from the scene, Finia protested on the verge of tears. That was natural, as even I of the previous life would not want to stay in a place like this.

This was the territory of people like Maxwell, Cortina, and Maria.

“L-Lady Nicole, please I beg you…”
“But look… Staying here will just get in their way, right?”
“Please don’t say that. You can just use your usual lady mode.”
“Just forget about that!”

While we were struggling before the door, there was a moderate knock on it. We stopped in our tracks and turned towards it.

This knock might have been our excuse to bail from this situation—we all shared that same thought.

“Yes?”

I didn’t wait for the room’s owner and opened the door to the one who knocked.

It might have been a little vulnerable, but Maxwell and Michelle were both here. Besides, we also had Ashella who had mastered the Resurrection spell.

Even if Kufar were to attack us, our group would be able to handle it.

However, the one who appeared through the door gap was the inn’s receptionist. I felt sad for her to be forced to come to this scene of carnage.

“Please forgive me for disturbing your conversation. Is Lady Nicole here?”
“Yes, that would be me.”
“Um, there is a person asking to meet you. They are half-demon…”

There was a riot just the other day, so she was quite vigilant about this. Besides, I didn’t have anyone in mind who’d wanna meet me.

“Who are they?”
“There is a human boy and a half-demon girl. The human seemed to be accompanying them.”
“…A human and half-demon?”

I didn’t have any inkling about this combination… No, wait…

“Ah, could it be the child I saved during yesterday’s riot?”
“Riot?”
“Didn’t you hear from Mark? I saved one girl.”
“Ah, that one.”

Cloud had also heard the reason why I acted separately from Mark’s group.

If that kid came to meet me, I had no reason to reject. Rather, I had to thank god that she arrived at this time.

The girl wasn’t exactly a customer, and with her being a half-demon given this timing, she wasn’t allowed to enter the inn. Well, it wasn’t a cold season, so there was no problem with her staying outside.

“Hey, sorry to make you wait.”
“Ah, big sis!”
“Big sis, you say…”

Sad to admit, I was already used to being called that. Mainly thanks to Fina. Baa was next to her, apparently escorting her. Also, she was holding a bouquet behind her. It seemed that she came to thank me.

That bouquet was fully visible due to the difference in height with her, but it would be tactful to just pretend I couldn’t see it. Had it been me of previous life, I would’ve just thoughtlessly pointed it out, disappointing her.

“Weren’t you injured?”
“Yes, but big brother healed me.”
“Oh, so you have a good side to you too.”
“Even I wouldn’t abandon an unrelated and harmless girl.”

Given that she was beaten quite violently, I had to thank him for healing her wounds.

Leaving Baa who replied to my words a little bluntly, the little girl reached her hands towards my face.

“What’s wrong?”
“Big sis, did you get injured as well?”
“Oh, this? No, no. My right eye color is different so I’m just hiding it.”

I touched the eyepatch on my right eye and explained. There was no need to explain to her about the charm ability, so I just said I was hiding the color difference.

I also moved the eyepatch a little and showed her my red eye.

For a moment, she seemed to have gotten enchanted by my eye, but she quickly returned to normal. It seemed like this eye wasn’t as strong as Whitey described it to be.

“U-Um, big sis. This is for saving me.”
“Wah, t-thanks. But how did you obtain such a nice bouquet.”

The girl suddenly came back to her senses and presented the bouquet she was hiding to me. She did it with too much force so it hit me right in the face, but I couldn’t blame her for that.

Looking at her, I couldn’t say that she looked very wealthy. This bouquet wasn’t made of flowers blooming on the roadside, but properly tended ones from a flower store.

I couldn’t help but think it would be a bit difficult for her to obtain it.

“Yes. There were other people that you saved, and we all got it together. This is the flower I selected.”

Saying that, she pulled out a small white flower from the middle of the bouquet. That flower, unlike the rest, didn’t seem to have been tended. She probably tried hard and found it herself.

“Oho…”

I could only think of the half-demons participating in the riot that I saved yesterday. Most likely, some of those sent me this bouquet as thanks.

“But why didn’t they bring it directly?”
“Probably because it would lead to strange rumors if they suddenly brought a bouquet to you, right?”
“…That was a good hypothesis coming from you, Cloud.”

Cloud who followed me along explained it as such.

Certainly, my appearance stood out. If some guys sent flowers to a girl like me, people could misunderstand it as them proposing to me or something.

“Those uncles told me to tell you, We didn’t get killed by the knights thanks to you. You’ve really helped us. You are our hero.”
“So they realized that I saved them, even if indirectly.”

Thinking that, I felt like my hard work yesterday was not in vain. It was mostly done in self-satisfaction, but being thanked for it still made me feel good.