And so, me, Garnett and Leila left the 'Demon King's Castle Realm' ahead of the others and turned back to the Hollow Bottom Branch.

　Florence was to continue directing the scene as the head of the branch, and Nagi was one of the search members from the beginning, so she remained underground.

　For some reason, we were able to finish things without much change or loss, except that Leila was strangely dazed.

　Anyway, I decided to meet up with Erica, who I left behind at the branch, and headed to the Spring Wakaba Tei branch, where I also ran into an unexpected group of guys in the dining room space.

'Oh, isn't that Luke-kun?'
I knew you were coming to ....... ......

　At a table near the entrance, Alexia and Noir were taking a meal that appeared to be breakfast.

　Both of them looked strangely matted, or rather, their hair looked strangely shiny, with a hint of dampness.

　For now, I told Garnett and Leila to take a seat at a suitable table, and I decided to talk to the two of us.

'Did you take a bath or something this early in the morning?'
'The renovation of the bathhouse has been completed and I was allowed to be the first to arrive. It's a privilege for those who have worked on the site.

　Alexia is proudly beaming with pride.
　Across from her, Noir was sitting across from her, relaxing with a warm cup of herbal tea.

''By the way, Luke-kun. It seems like there's been a lot of noise in the branch since a while ago, what's going on?　And Luke, you're kind of sandy, too.
You haven't heard anything yet?
'I've been working on the renovations all week. As soon as I'm done, I'm going to take a bath, and I just got up there a while ago.

　Noir gives a small nod in agreement.
　Perhaps it was because his hair was dark and long, but it made him look even more noticeable than Alexia's, with his shine after the hot water.

　I was a little torn as to whether I should explain to the two of them about the falling board accident, but then I reconsidered that I didn't want to give them any unnecessary worries when they were resting after a day's work, so I decided to talk about it later.

　The situation is already under control, and it won't make much difference whether you tell them now or later.

Well, sort of. Anyway, do you know where Erika is?　I think he's probably here too.
"Erica, then you can go to ......, and then you can go to .......
I didn't talk to him. I was with a girl I don't know, and I didn't want to interrupt her.

　Noir and Alexia turned their gaze to a table in the corner farthest from the entrance to the dining room space, where Erica and Lisa were indeed sitting across from each other.

'Thanks. I'm going to go for a bit.''

　I left the table next to the entrance and moved over to Erica and Lisa.

　When Erica noticed me approaching, she smiled and waved at me.

'Luke-san, over here, over here!'

　She suggested the chair next to me, so I sat down there for now.

　Lisa was sitting across from Erica, and although her expression still showed no signs of supremacy, the table was firmly lined with empty cake plates and teacups.

''I'll give you back your wallet. I was completely surprised. When I opened it, I found not only silver coins but also small gold coins. You don't toss such a thing overboard so casually.
I'm sorry. I was in a hurry earlier. How was the cake?
Of course it was good, of course it was good. It's the pride of Wakaba-tei's menu. Lisa looked like she was enjoying it too.

　I take the sachet full of coins from Erica and ask her what she said while we were gone.

　I'm personally curious about it, but considering the situation on Florence's side, it's best for me to get it out of her here and now.

　Lisa is not the type of girl to tell Florence innocently about how she treated Erica.

　It doesn't mean that the parent-child relationship is broken, it's simply that he or she is of such an age and such a character.

　But as a mother, I'm curious about how my difficult daughter interacted with strangers.

　I'll let Florence and I talk again later on in the capacity of 'Arms Shop Manager' and 'Adventurer's Guild Branch Chief', so I'll let her tell us about it then.

''What kind of story were the two of you talking about?''
Hmm ...... I didn't mean to be complicated. Have you gotten used to Green Hollow?　And what kind of work I do, and so on. It's really just chatter.
...... Um.

　I was having such a conversation with Erica when Lisa unexpectedly interrupted me.

'Your uncle is a friend of your mother's, right?'
'Hey ......!　Like your brother there!

　I couldn't help but chuckle beside Erica's flustered face.

'You're about the same age as your mother, but it's hard to call you big brother. That makes your mother a big sister too.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That would make the Florence branch manager an old lady. The manager, too, but she doesn't look it. He'll get angry if he hears you.
'I don't think he'd be offended. He's more of a self-proclaimed type.
He's usually angry. I'm internally angry.

　Lisa moved her eyes back and forth between me and Erica, and then hesitantly mouthed the rest of her question.

'Then you were friends with your father too?'
----

　I dare to smile so that he doesn't realize that I was at a loss for an answer.

　It's not that the question itself was a difficult one to answer.
　The answer is 'yes'. We didn't reach the level of best friends, but I think we recognized each other as one of our friends.

　So why were we at a loss for an answer?
　It was because it was Lisa, of all people, who had posed the question.

'When you say Lisa's father, you're the husband of the branch president, right? Come to think of it, I haven't heard anything about your husband, what is he doing?
He's dead. I was just a kid, I don't remember much about it.

　He did it...!　Erica turned pale as she said this.

'Yes, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that, you see.
That's okay. I really don't remember much.

　I decided to answer Lisa's question properly, in a way that helped Erica, who was struggling to follow through.

'Me and your dad were friends, you know. I've been an adventurer for less than five years, but we were based in the same guild house. Your mother was with us, and she was the idol of the guild house and the breadwinner.
Mom, you were a hit.
Yeah, that's right. Don't tell anyone, but I had a bit of a thing about it at the time. You're not supposed to tell your mother.

　Knowing it's a somewhat over the top gesture, I make a gesture of putting my index finger in front of my mouth.

　A little bit of liveliness floats on Lisa's face.
　Her curiosity is probably piqued by the prospect of hearing an old story about her mother that she doesn't know.

''I mean, those guys in that guild house were probably all crazy about their mother. Your father was the most serious of them all, and when I heard he was going to marry her, he was such a nice guy that I thought, 'He's a natural for it.'
Shit, and then what?

　Lisa leans forward at the table.

　When I was her age, I was a simple, childish brat with a simple, childish thought process itself, but I've heard that women grow inside a step ahead of the rest of us.

　Lisa must have had an interest in s*x appeal, too.

'It's a long story. That's all for today. But - you have to remember that your father and mother have always been very dear to you. That area hasn't changed at all now.