On the evening of the day we decided to hire Alexia at the White Wolf Store after the guild introduced us, Garnet and I went to the Springtime Wakaba-Tei for dinner.

　Spring Wakaba-Tei is busy as usual, and many non-guests like us have come to the restaurant.

'Welcome!　Now you can find an empty seat at ...... Oh, was that you, Luke? Good evening!

　Sylvia, the signature girl, smiles at us.

　The cafeteria space is undoubtedly the busiest of the day, and Sylvia seems to be working on multiple tasks at the same time.

　I can't afford to keep her back by chatting with her in this situation, so I finish a simple greeting and head to an empty table.

　On the way there, I ran into the girls I see every day.

''Oh, isn't it Luke-dono?''
Is the manager at dinner?
"............ konban, is ......

　They're Sakura, Erica, and Noir, who usually stay at the Spring Wakaba-Tei.

　From the looks of it, the three of us have just finished eating together.

　Garnett and I are in the residential part of the White Wolf Store, and the girls are sleeping and waking up at the Spring Wakaba Tei, so I don't have a detailed grasp of how they are going about their usual daily lives.

　By any chance, do they often work together in this combination?

''Yes, manager!　It's a potion vial for potions, but could you order a larger one as well?　It's roughly what I'd like to have.

　Erica, using both hands to express the approximate size of the product, approached me to discuss the containers used in the production of the product.

'Okay, but isn't that a little too much?'
There are many men who gulp down the rejuvenating potion to rehydrate. Hunters and lumberjacks, for example.
'Yeah, I've seen adventurers like that. On the other hand, don't they break their bodies?
'I'm fine with just enough to quench my thirst. These are requests from people who work out a lot and sweat a lot.

　While Erika and I are discussing the products, Sakura and Garnett are exchanging unrelated business-related chatter.

'So, this god-dropping guy has become stable?
''I'd say it's not quite there yet. It's not my magic power, it's my physical strength that's being drained all at once.
'Hmmm. I would have liked to have had you do one of those hand-to-hand combos if you were comfortable with it.
I hope so, but I'm afraid we're not going to get anywhere with it. It's time to turn to Master Luke: ...... Well, be patient.

　After a round of such conversations, we went to an empty table in the dining room space and the three of us turned to head to our rooms.

　-- immediately after that, I casually stopped Noir.

'Noir, do you have a minute?'
How about ......, did you ......?

　I let Garnett take a seat and send Sakura and Erica back to the room first, while Noir and I move to a corner of the dining room space.

　After making sure that we're in a position where the other guests can't hear the content of our conversation as much as possible, I cut to the chase, keeping my voice volume as low as possible.

'Did you ever hear about Julia from the brave party having a friend named Alexia?
'Alexia ......?　Um, ...... yeah, there was ...... and I think .......
What did it say about the story?

　Noir twisted his head, turning over and running a hand over his mouth as he was asked a question he hadn't expected.

　It didn't help that he couldn't remember the details right away.
　It's rather amazing just how much I remembered it existed.

　After all, to Noir, he's not just a friend of a friend, he's an old friend of a colleague, and he's just someone you've never met in person.

I'm not going to be able to tell you what to do if you don't have a good idea of what you're looking for. ...... It's an old friend from my childhood ...... I think it's ...... now ...... some kind of engineer ...... sorry, here About, only ......
Okay. Sorry, one more thing. What was Julia in the mood when you were talking about it?
'What?　...... uh ...... I've never seen anything so calm ...... yeah, it was... ...calm, soft, happy, smiling. ......

　In the short time I was employed by the heroic party, Julia never once showed that kind of attitude.

　It wasn't just a narrow matter of being towards me.
　Even when she was in contact with the brave Falcon, she was not in an atmosphere that could be called calm and soft.

　It's not that he was always tense, or if he smiled, it was with a pillowy expression of fearlessness or strength, and he never showed any signs of weakness or softness.

　Even Noir, who had been my companion for longer than I had, said that the calmness when talking about Alexia was 'more than I've ever seen'.

　After all, to Julia, Alexia was special in a completely different way than the brave Falcon.

'Luke ...... why did you ask me that, ......?'
That Alexia was the person the Adventurer's Guild sent to me.

　Noir rolls his eyes under his long bangs.

I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about it. Coincidences can be scary.
"...... Luke is ...... an adventurer to ...... adventurers, because his face is ...... wide," he said. But maybe ...... Alexia is here ...... looking for Julia.

　For a moment, I wasn't sure if I should be honest in my response.

　But there's no point in fooling around here.

　It's about that Alexia. If Noir found out that Noir was a member of the heroic party, he would happily try to listen to Julia's story, and I'm sure he would reveal the situation to her himself.

　Then it would be bad for Noir, but it would be better to make the first move and explain the situation to him now and have him prepare his mind.

'Actually, ......'

　I briefly tell Noir about the events of the day.
　Noir looked a little surprised, but seemed to accept the situation immediately and listened to me in a calm manner.

'So that's why it's called ....... I feel bad for you, but it might be too loud for a while with the brave party involved.
'I don't care about ...... ...... to ......'

　Noir squeezed his hands tightly in front of his chest and smiled with a somewhat pensive mixture of sadness.

'Important, people, and ready to fight ....... It's the same ...... so I'm sure we can do ...... well, I think we can do ...... well.
'...... What are you talking about? Are they the same thing?

　Certainly old friends will be very important to you.
　It must be very painful to prepare yourself to hand them over.

　But to be prepared to deal with your flesh and blood - the twin sisters who were with you from the moment you were born - should be a much more painful and wrenching experience.

　Then Noir blinked her eyes in surprise, and then smiled with a bemused smile.

'Thank you, Luke,'