“…mei….Shimei.”
Before I knew it, Kilkenny was looking at me with a disgruntled look on his face.
Apparently I was daydreaming.
“Ah, oh, my bad. What happened?”
“…Isn’t it rare that you did something like that while you were eating? I can’t believe it.”
“…Sorry. I was thinking for a while.”
“Hmm. I don’t have much to think about.”
The time was past noon.
I was having lunch at the knight’s dormitory dining hall with my close friend Kilkenny.
“What on earth were you thinking about?”
He pokes at the stuffed intestines with a fork, looking uninterested.
I was asked and I remembered.
What I was thinking about was Asahi.
I wonder what she’s doing these days.
Is she doing well?
Even though it hasn’t been that long since I left that forest and returned to the royal capital, I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
“Here we go again. What’s going on, Shimei?”
“…I don’t need to tell you.”
It’s about this guy.
After talking about it in detail, I’ll just get teased.
Just cut it off, throw it away, and resume eating.
Then Kilkenny let out a deep sigh.
“Rumors aren’t worth it… at all. After all, isn’t it the usual Shimei?”
“…Rumors? What are you talking about?”
“The knights are rumoring that ‘Ever since Commander Shimei came back, he has become a little softer.'”
HM.
Is that what’s being rumored?
I’m not really aware of it myself, but…
When I looked up, I met Kilkenny’s eyes.
This guy is grinning. I wonder what’s so fun about it.
“…What’s that face?”
“Hey, Shimei. Maybe you…”
He paused his words deliberately.
What is he going to say?
However, I guess it’s not a bad thing anyway.
“…Did you find someone you love?”
“-!?”
I was at a loss for words.
How did he know?
“…Huh, huh, that reaction…”
The silver-haired man in front of me was blinking.
This is a rare look on his face.
“Maybe it was a hit!? I’m said it myself, but this is surprising…”
“…It’s noisy. Shut up and eat.”
“Ahaha. While you were dazed, I already ate it.”
Indeed, his plate was empty.
It’s rare for this guy to finish eating faster than me.
(…No, that’s not true. Maybe I’m just slow)
I’ll eat it quickly too.
I resumed eating.
“Hey, what kind of person is it? I guess you met while you were missing, right? Hey…”
He’s a pain in the ass.
Kilkenny didn’t seem to mind me at all as I sighed and didn’t answer.
He kept talking to me about something while looking at me happily.
Late afternoon.
After I finished eating, I was swinging my sword at the training center.
“…Fuu!…Sei!”
The trajectory of the sword draws a graceful arc.
I feel better than ever.
Ever since I came back from the forest, my sword seems to have gotten sharper.
Normally, a sword would become dull for a while after recovering from an injury.
But what exactly is this?
It’s a good thing that I’m feeling well, but this strange phenomenon made me shake my head.
The training had finished, and I was doing some clerical work in the office.
I had been missing for a while.
This kind of work is piled up.
“…Haa. I don’t like office work after all.”
Read the documents and sign the approval.
But somehow, this kind of work makes my shoulders stiff.
Personally, I find it much easier to move my body.
Documents filled with small text tend to slip past the eye.
If you don’t read carefully, you won’t understand the content.
Simply put, it requires concentration.
However, as the group leader, I can’t just skim through it, and it gets tiring.
“…I wonder what Asahi is doing these days…”
Suddenly, I found myself thinking about her again.
Things like this don’t work.
If I don’t concentrate on work…
–Tontonton
Just as I gathered myself and started working, there was a knock on the door.
Who is it.
Reply and invite them to enter.
“…Excuse me”
“Count Rodenbach. Welcome.”
What appeared was an elderly holy knight with gray hair.
He was Count Rodenbach, commander of the Holy Silver Knights.
He usually stays in a fortified city on the front line against demons, so I wonder what happened to him.
“So you were in the royal capital.”
“I had something to do. I’m glad you’re okay…”
It seems that he was worried about me since I was missing.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
“Now that I think about it, I was watching your training earlier as I was passing by…”
“Oh, was I seen?”
“Hmm. It was a beautiful sword stroke with no hesitation…It seems like the tension in your shoulders has gone away?”
I finally realized it after he said it.
Why is the sword in such good shape these days?
I thought it was strange, but…I see.
Up until now, my sword skills had been rough and full of brute force.
“I heard that while you were missing, you hid in the demon forest…Did something happen there?”
“…Yes….It was a good encounter.”
Count Rodenbach suddenly laughed.
It’s a mischievous look.
I was surprised that even th Count would show this kind of face.
“…A woman?”
“…………Yeah”
I grin back at him.
If it were me before, I would have kept my mouth shut.
But for some reason, I felt like responding like this.
I also feel that the weight on my shoulders has been lifted.
The Count’s eyes widen as if he’s been struck by my attitude.
“Haha….I see, I see! Hahaha…!”
A merry laugh echoes in the office.
That made me feel happy too.
Only 10 chapters left.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
