It’s morning, three days after we reached Majolica, and we’re finally meeting Siphon’s party again. Leila dispatched a messenger to tell us last night.
“How about you calm down, Sora?”
“Yes yes, just start by apologizing for keeping that a secret and it’ll be fine.”
“Exactly. I think they will understand if you just explain.”
Mia warns me, Rurika sounds carefree, and Chris tries to reassure me.
No Rurika, you’re just saying that because it’s not you.
“Master, go for broke.”
I’m not sure about that choice of words either, Hikari.
Mia and the others are amused, and tell her that expression doesn’t sound quite right here.
Sera is just watching. You could say something you know? I don’t know if I’ll respond though.
“We have guests.”
Meanwhile, Elsa brings Siphon’s party inside.
I get up, thinking that I don’t even get this nervous even when I’m fighting, and my eyes meet Siphon’s just as he enters the room.
They all look surprised, and I’m feeling awkward.
“Hum, it’s been a while.”
Is all I say.
Even I think it’s pathetic, but my mind is all over the place, and I don’t know what to say.
“Sora? Wait, is that really you?”
Siphon is just standing there with a surprised look on his face, but someone passes by him and comes closer.
Who then hugs me tightly.
“You’re alive.”
And cries.
It’s their shield user, Geitz. In a way, he’s the person in Goblin’s Grief who’s looked after me the most.
“Sorry for keeping quiet about everything.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s enough to see you’re alive.”
I’m really thankful to hear that, to be honest. I was thinking they might be more upset.
And once we all calm down, I explain in order what happened.
Why I faked my death and disappeared. Why I hid who I was….
They listen quietly until I’m done.
“That was a lot of trouble.”
I’m told, but they’re also happy about me being free now.
“So, did Leila tell you what we’re doing? We’re planning to go to the dungeon, but do you want to come with us?”
Rurika asks, when it feels like our conversation has settled down, and Siphon and the others look at each other with troubled expressions.
It kind of feels like they’re holding each other back with their eyes, but in the end, Yuno smiles lightly, and Siphon speaks like he’s resigned himself to doing it.
“Actually… We need to apologize for something too.”
They say that they were actually a part of a special unit of the Republic of Eldo, and were working, gathering information about various countries.
It was influenced by the invasion by the Borsheil Empire, and they wanted to investigate the state of things of various countries to curb damage before it happened.
It sounds like they had some people who were like spies when the Borsheil Empire attacked, but not many.
Siphon and the others weren’t originally a part of a special unit either. They were adventurers who were scouted. And Yuno being from a nice family played a part in that.
“Apparently Yuno was a tomboy who ran away from home and became an adventurer.”
When she hears that, Mia blushes a little.
That’s right, she also ran away from the church too. Again and again.
“And actually, when we met Rurika and Chris in the capital, we received instructions. We were not to interfere with them, but to protect them if anything happened. And we were a little wary when Sora made contact with them.”
“But don’t think badly of us. It was because when we looked into you, we couldn’t find any information. We just thought it was suspicious.”
“But then you said goodbye to them in the relay city without any fanfare, and continued working as an adventurer, right? Well, we were curious, so we wanted to keep looking after you. Geitz took a liking to you too, which is rare. It really is. He started teaching you things, even though he normally doesn’t go out of his way to talk.”
Siphon says, but I remember Geitz being very caring.
“…One question. I said all sorts of things because I needed to explain what happened, but why did you reveal that?”
“Ah, because we can’t say no to going to the dungeon. We actually had plans to go with Fred’s party to the Beast Kingdom, but just before that, we were contacted and told that the young ladies were going to Majolica’s dungeon, and that we were to help them.”
Siphon says, looking into the distance with tired eyes.
It sounds like whoever said that was very insistent. They hit it off pretty well with Fred and the others, but had to part ways and come here.
“…It might have been grandma.”
Chris whispers as she looks at him.
That’s very possible.
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Thanks for the treat.