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That day, in Stollar’s inn, the “Greatshield’s Protection,” the dining room was filled with tension. Because I, one of the famous Adventurers lodging at this inn, was acting extremely displeased.

“Hmph!”
“That snort doesn’t tell me anything. What’s wrong, Nicole?”
“I’m trying to become an aloof beauty, so I can’t be acting so friendly.”
“Really now… I think that’s a bit too late though.”

Michelle, who was challenging her salty miso stir-fried vegetables set, answered with lack of interest, knowing that I wasn’t particularly displeased.

As far as I knew, that was meant for three people.

Suddenly, a cocktail cup was pushed towards me. The one holding it was the owner of this inn, Gadius.

“What’s this?”
“That man has ordered it for you.”
“Don’t need it.”
“Even if you say that, they have already paid for it, so I cannot take it away. You can just not drink it if that’s what you want.”
“Then I’ll do that.”

I pushed the cocktail aside and started eating my bread and salad set. Meanwhile, the guy who had sent that cocktail approached me.

“Oh, are you not drinking, young lady?”
“I don’t drink alcohol.”

I remember secretly taking a sip of alcohol when I joined the elementary grade of the Magic Academy, but I got knocked down with just that.

It’s been eight years since, and my body was very close to adulthood now. As such, my alcohol tolerance should have grown stronger too, but I didn’t have enough courage to test it out.

If things went bad and I lost myself before guys like these, I could see them dragging me out for a one-night stand.

“Do excuse me for that. Then how about milk?”
“No thanks. You’re disturbing my meal, so go away.”
“………”

My indifferent attitude made the mang shrink back. I was acting this way due to Cortina’s advice from the other day. Instead of dodging them with a friendly attitude, I was acting clearly displeased with an equally displeased expression, keeping men around away from me. As a result, there were far fewer men approaching me since morning.

This one was one of the brave ones… or should I say, one of the stupid ones that couldn’t read the room and called out to me. Seeing my blunt attitude, the man gave up and went back to his seat.

“The annoying men have gone down… But I feel more gazes on me than normal.”
“You might be right on that.”
“Why do you think so?”
“I don’t think it’s so hard to figure out, you know?”

Surprisingly enough, Michelle seemed to know the reason. I thought her girl power was even lower than a former man like me, so I couldn’t hide my surprise at this.

“Tell me, will you?”
“No. It’s getting on my nerves too somehow.”
“Ehh?”

For a gentle girl like her to say it was getting on her nerves, was my attitude really that bad? That was my original goal, but overdoing it might even affect Lyell and Gadius’ reputation.

It wasn’t my intention to cause trouble to my old comrades, so I pressed Michelle for answers. But she remained quiet, but instead, it was Gadius who brought seconds who answered.

“Do you really not realize it, Re—Nicole.”
“I don’t.”
“Sigh…”

With an exasperated sigh, Gadius continued.

“Listen. You have seen Cortina acting angry several times, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And what did you think when you saw her that way?”

At his words, I thought back about Cortina’s attitude from the old days.

Acting angry. Faintly puffed cheeks, folded arms, and turned back. All that coupled with her young appearance was really ticking my sadistic desires.

“Yeah, she was really adorable.”
“Right? Well, I do not really get it though. At any rate, you look just like her now.”
“W-What did you say—!?”

Impossible, do I look so coquettish now?

Seeing my expression dyed in despair and bewilderment, Michelle looked like she was really exasperated. She looked at Gadius and both of them shrugged. I didn’t overlook that a certain part of her jiggled at the same time. That part of her was more worthy of envy though.

“That said, it is pointless even if a man approaches her.”
“Right?”

The two started discussing it without me. Incidentally, Finia and Cloud were out shopping. I actually wanted for all of us to go, but when we gathered together, so did the gazes on us grew more intense.

It wasn’t my doctrine to stand out, so I just left it to those two. And I let Cloud, in particular, go with her since there was heavy luggage to carry.

“Ah yes… I received an interesting commission. Would you like to take it?”
“Interesting?”
“Yes, guarding a merchant. And someone you know well too.”
“Who?”

It has been three years since I came to this city. My acquaintances have grown in number quite a bit. At the same time, we were famed for our skill too, and the fact that we climbed from first to fourth rank in three years was attracting attention in various ways too. Even if he said ‘someone I knew well,’ I had too many people in mind to narrow down to one.

“It’s Sir Temuru. The peddler.”
“Oh, him.”

It was the merchant that had helped me when going to Raum and also to come here. We have interacted several times, so I remembered his face well.

“What does he need?”
“It seems that he is heading towards the Holy Tree Kingdom of Forneus this time. And he is looking for guards.”
“What about Leon?”
“It seems that he is in Raum now. Due to that, he was complaining that he could not get a hold of temporary guards.”

Normally Temuru worked with Leon, but the timing was off this time it seems. So Gadius decided to redirect that request to up-and-coming Adventurers like us.

“But… Are you sure?”
“About what?”
“There’s me too, but also Cloud.”
“Ah, true. But this might be a perfect opportunity for him to learn about reality.”

Forneus was also the headquarters of the World Tree Religion. At the same time, it was the place with the most discrimination against half-demons. For Cloud who had been surrounded with well-natured Adventurers of Raum, this could prove to be a difficult journey.

That cruel reality could even crush his spirit, making him quit being an Adventurer and confine himself indoors. That was my current fear.

“What if his heart breaks from this?”

I asked Gadius, unintentionally switching to my male tone.

The discrimination that half-demons faced was truly severe. It was on a different level compared to the discrimination he faced in the orphanage during the early days when we met. It could even pose danger to his life. I have heard that there were many half-demon Adventurers who had their hearts broken from that reality.

But Gadius snorted at my question.

“Hmph, I have not trained him to be so soft that he would break from that. Besides… He has to learn it, sooner or later.”
“I was thinking that it was a bit too early for him…”
“You really are soft to your comrades, huh. I noticed that you’ve been like that since the previous—for a long time.”

Gadius corrected his words somewhat since Michelle was also present. Having a bad intuition, she was merely looking quizzically at us, but I was still thankful for his consideration.

That wasn’t important now.

Trip to Forneus—discrimination against half-demons was a wall that Cloud had to face eventually. The fact that the timing for it was now, could be said to be a fortunate thing in a way. Because in normal cases, you were hit with that reality without being prepared.

Coming to that conclusion, I returned a small nod at Gadius.