Chapter 257: …Don’t Think Badly of Me?

When we reached the castle’s main gate, Croana, walking a little ahead, stopped Raide and Roy with one hand, turned her face, and looked at us sideways.

Her clothes now were a gothic-lolita style dress Fia had made, with few frills. The skirt spreading softly in the wind, together with her stance, was cool and cute at once.

Before she became my lover Croana often wore one-piece dresses that did not emphasize her chest. I remembered that.

Lately she had started wearing the kind that cinched under the bust and pushed her chest forward. It suited the large breasts that did not match her small body.

Her hair, long enough to almost touch the ground, floated as if it had a will, curling and drifting to guard her back. I almost wanted to take it in my hands.

She smiled like a mischievous child while glancing at us, then dropped the hand that had stopped us.

Roy and I tilted our heads, not getting it. Croana laughed under her breath with a happy face.

"What. I only let them know we had arrived at the castle. No need to worry."

"...For that, the gate guards are face-down on the ground?"

"Mm? I think they just lack training."

I exchanged a sideways look with Roy beside me. We both smiled wryly and nodded to Croana.

On the way here... it was not a long distance, but Roy and I could feel from the air that Croana was angry.

Her mana already prickled the skin. If you put a color on the atmosphere it was pitch black.

I was glad she smiled for our sake, but a smile while knowing she was angry had something frightening in it.

Roy even whispered, "Instructor Raide, please soothe her..." so I think it was pretty scary.

I wanted to soothe her too, very much, but if I got close her mana sparked like static and threatened me. I could not approach.

Even this distance was fairly close to the line... the three heroes really only do troublesome things!

The main gate opened left and right. I found the person standing like a guardian in the center and smiled wryly.

Unlike the other guards he was not face-down, but even from a distance I could tell his face was tight.

Elvin’s big frame and height were easy to know even from a little away.

Croana started walking as if nothing had happened. Roy and I followed.

When we reached Elvin, Croana looked up at him because of the height difference, smiled, and spoke.

"Shall I thank you for coming to meet us, Elvin-dono? I will say it first. I am angry. Shall we keep our words civil with each other?"

"...I would rather punch the ones who made you this angry with all my strength."

"Kukuku, kukuku! If you punched them with all your strength, even a hero would not walk away whole."

Elvin kept his face tight, sweat on his brow, and spoke bitterly. Croana blinked and laughed happily.

Thanks to him the air eased a little. Roy and I bowed our heads a little with thanks.

I thought now was the chance. I came up behind Croana, gently lifted her in a princess carry, smiled gently at the cute blank look on her face, and spoke.

"Sorry, Croana. The thing is, your mana hitting me hurts. I understand the anger, and I am sure you have plenty you want to say, but will you calm down for now?"

"...’For now’ means I may take it that you will give me a chance later?"

"Aah. Fine. If anything I may not be able to hold it down alone. I need your strength."

"You are sly... understood. Then in return, carry me like this."

Instead of answering I held Croana against me. She laughed happily, looped both arms around my neck, and kissed my cheek.

In that instant even the faint pressure of mana vanished. I felt Roy let out a small breath of relief behind us.

I looked at Elvin in front of me. His eyes were wide with surprise.

He led us into the castle. He turned his face to me and smiled in that troubled way.

"You surprise me every time. Is Croana-sama your good person as well?"

"Yes. She is. My proud lover."

"...I cannot hide my face, so this pose may have been a mistake. You say things like that with no shame. It troubles me. Do you not think so, Elvin-dono?"

"I cannot hide my surprise at your look. I have heard love changes a woman... well, well."

From what I heard, Elvin had been taught magic classroom work by Croana in the past.

That was probably why respect for her showed in the way he spoke, and more than that I felt an air like he knew her real strength.

For someone who was supposed to have been shut in, she is surprisingly well known around the castle.

When I told Croana that, her cheeks went a little red and she pinched one of them lightly.

Where we were heading now was the reception room the previous king had used, a place deep in this event.

Rather, it was where the thing the third hero, Bern, wanted more than anything was hidden.

It was something that should originally have been handed to King Adom, something a king must hold.

If Bern had not hurried the previous king’s death, it would not have come to this... but there was no evidence, and the previous king had hidden it.

I let out a small breath with a tired face. The arms around my neck tightened.

I looked at Croana. She was smiling in that troubled way. I knew at once it had shown on my face again.

So I leaned toward her and murmured, "I have you and Roy, so I will be fine." She kissed my cheek instead of answering.

On the third floor of the castle we stood before a well-kept dark-brown great door.

From Elvin and from Sharle, who had joined us on the way, the reception room already held King Adom, the Chancellor, and the three heroes.

I had Croana wait behind me. Roy was at my side.

I put a hand on Roy’s slightly tense shoulder and smiled.

"Listen. They will probably say all sorts of things, but do not get irritated. Focus on observing. What they are saying, why it goes that way. ...Well, think of it as part of training."

"...Pufu, fufufu. Instructor Raide, please stop at a time like this."

"Saying a situation like this is part of training is something only you would do, Raide."

"I agree, Croana-sama."

Oh? I hear fed-up words?

I glanced behind. Sharle and Croana were smiling wryly. When I looked forward again Elvin was smiling with a troubled face.

I took a small deep breath, set my feelings, nodded to Elvin with a serious face. He switched to a serious face too, nodded back, and opened the door.

The reception room had depth. A rectangular table sat in the middle.

King Adom sat at the far end where he could see the whole room. Immediately to his right was the Chancellor, and a little apart sat the three heroes.

The interior was decorated in moderation. At a glance you could feel a calm air... but because of the three heroes the room was full of taut tension.

Under Elvin’s guidance we took seats on King Adom’s left, across from the three heroes, in order Croana, me, Roy.

Directly across from me, a purple-haired man who looked like a good boy grown older, Ryudo Dragor, snorted and started talking the moment we sat.

"An instructor of all people involving himself in a family matter. Your evaluation is high so I had hopes... I cannot help being disappointed."

"Yes, as my husband says. This is a family matter. Croana-sama coming out as well is beyond the academy’s domain, is it not?"

A woman with long pale-purple hair, swaying it with one hand and speaking with a sigh mixed in. Maar Dragor.

There was a trace of Felica in her. If you looked well you could tell she was the mother.

And on our far left, on the door side, a thin man with a monocle. Bern Rolol.

Close friend of the Ryudo couple. Problem child, troublesome, and annoying. Bern adjusted his monocle with a finger, put on an ironic look, and opened his mouth.

"Roy will not become great following an instructor like this. Becoming strong is even more out of the question. As I thought, I should..."

"Yes! If Alek is in that village we can use him as bait!"

"Na’aa!?"

I spread the corner of my mouth in a grin, pointed at Bern, and spoke.

Bern’s face went blue. He stood with a clatter and stopped all the chatter until now.

Hahaha! Do not think badly of me? You were the ones who came at us first.

Next I pointed at Ryudo and opened my mouth.

"That is right, orders. I only followed orders! I did not know Alek was in that village!"

"Wh, why do you... that..."

Like Bern his face went blue. His body started shaking.

Last I pointed at Maar and went on.

"I do not know! I do not know anyone named Alek!"

"Stop, stooop!!"

Maar clutched her head with both hands as if frightened, pressed against Ryudo, and shook with a blue face.

I stopped pointing, looked over the three of them while laughing happily, and spoke.

"Oh? It got quiet. Shall we stop saying extra things to each other? Otherwise you will end up poking a bush you did not want poked... both sides, yes?"

I looked at the three nodding with still-blue faces, then turned my eyes to King Adom. He was staring at me, stunned.

The Chancellor let out a big sigh and pressed his forehead. I apologized in my heart.

As for Croana, she wore a happy smile as if venting. Roy was watching his parents with a calm face, maybe keeping the order he had been given.

I said "both sides" because there was a chance the three heroes were looking into me from the war... into the unit.

I was not hiding it. If my lovers asked I think I would answer normally.

But having complete strangers dig it up is not good for appearances. Some of that information is not.

Well... to be honest I just wanted those noisy mouths shut.