At dawn, Aldis wakes up in her bed.

...... again.

　At the same time, he perceived the weight on his left and right arms and blurted out.

　The twins, Filia and Liana, sleep in Aldis's arms as if embracing her.
　Now that a month has passed since they settled in the village, they are sometimes secretly looked at by boys their own age.

　It's not so bad that it's fatal, thanks to Kirill's tutor, though the environment in which he was brought up can make him seem a little out of place and inappropriately young.
　However, it was the other way around: 'It's not fatal, but there are still parts that are out of the ordinary.

　They will be fifteen years old in a little while.
　In most countries, fifteen is the age at which a person is considered an adult.
　At least they are not old enough to crawl into their guardian's bed and sleep in their arms, as they are doing now.

　Seven years ago, when they were young children, there would have been no problem, but their bodies are already growing up, and they are no longer children.
　The apparent age of Aldis, whose growth was difficult to manifest, shrank with each passing year, and now when they stood side by side, they looked like brother and sister who were close in age.

'I don't know when we got under the radar ......'

　If an opponent with hostile intent comes close, even if he or she is asleep, you will instantly wake up. The fact that the person has no hostile intentions, Aldis, who has been living that way for many years, has no way of detecting the other person's hostile intentions.
　When we built this house, we gave the twins a bedroom, but it seems that the only thing they can't seem to get out of is the habit of sneaking into bed with Ardis during the night.

　Slowly, Ardis raises her body and the twins wake up.

'Whaaaa....... Morning ......?

'N......, good morning Aldis......'

　Filia replied while rubbing her sleepy eyes, and Liana replied while holding Aldis's arms and rubbing her face against them while she was awake and unwilling to do so.
　It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for," he said, as he stripped off the covers from the still sleepy couple and pulled them up by their thin arms.

"In case you're wondering, this is not your room!

Yes.

I know.

　They replied, unconcerned by Aldis's frown.
　As they opened their mouths wide and yawned, raised their arms and stretched out, they seemed to become more conscious, and their blue-tinged, shallow-green eyes began to focus on Aldis.

'Then why are you guys sleeping here instead of in your room?'

Because Aldis is here, though?

Something's wrong, Aldis.

　Liana's tone was so obvious that Filia chuckled and kicked Aldis' doubts to the curb.

'No, that logic is ridiculous.'

'That's good. I'm hungry, so let's hurry up and eat!

Aldis, come on, come on!

　The twins begin to tug on their arms without regard to Aldis' blubbering.
　Watching the sleeves of their clothes stretch as if they were someone else's, Aldis wrinkles her brow, wondering where she'd been raised wrong.





　Sitting around one table and having breakfast were the five of them, plus Char, and the usual members of the group, Rona, who was at their feet.
　Compared to before I met the twins, the place has become much more lively.

　Filia, who still has a cat's tongue, is struggling with the hot soup, and Liana, who is biting into the bread as if she were scraping it, is concentrating on her meal.
　When I turned my attention to Charu, who continued to eat silently next to her, the other party also noticed my gaze and stopped their hands and turned their faces to me.
　Even without putting into words, those eyes are "What is it? It looks as if he is asking me, "What are you doing?

"You were helping to mend things yesterday, weren't you?

　The response to the question was a silent nod.

'How was it?'

How did you know?

'Oh, no, yes. What did you feel when you did the job, or what did the people who taught you tell you about it tell you?

'Good plot', he told me.

...... Okay. Well, that's a good thing.

　It's an awkward conversation, but at least the words are coming and going.
　Before, Charu had exchanged the bare minimum of words, but now he responds to small talk, so it's a big step forward.

　Like the twins, Charu is not old enough to play for a day.
　Filia and Liana followed Din and Karina around the village, hunting for foodstuffs, while Aldis and Nere thwarted the demons outside the wards that Sela had been carrying alone, and Rona accompanied them as an assistant.

　The problem was Char.
　It's not just a matter of time before you'll be able to get a good deal more out of it.
　Even if it is in a place like the royal capital Gran or the city-state of Leytin, I don't think the skills of shadow work are useful in a hidden village with a population of about 100 people.

　Naturally, their fighting skills are not as good as Nere and Rona, and they are not as good as following Ardis in exterminating demons outside of their wards.
　It's a good idea to be able to have a good idea of what you're looking for.
　It's not only difficult to find a partner in a two-person patrol, which is difficult to communicate with people in principle, but also because I don't think she has the knowledge or skills to hunt wild beasts, as she is probably only trained in interpersonal combat.

　However, since she was not allowed to just play and live, she needed to do some kind of work in the village.
　Therefore, the current situation is that Char is experiencing various jobs as an apprentice in the span of three or four days.

'If you don't mind, then you can try to continue for a bit longer.

"Hm.

　He doesn't seem to be enjoying it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't seem to be reluctant to do it, which reassures Ardis.
　It's not to say that learning the art of fighting and establishing yourself as a mercenary or working in the shadows is a bad idea, but it would be good for Char to have more options.

　When Aldis concludes that on his own and scoops the soup with a spoon in one hand, Filia throws another topic into the table.

'Aldis Aldis!　Did you know that?　There's going to be a village festival soon.

Festival?

　It was the first time Aldis had ever heard of it.

'Carina said it was a 'harvest festival'!　They're going to have lots of treats!

'Huh, that's ...... well, I wouldn't be surprised if there was such a thing in a normal village.

　Even though it is a hidden village, or rather, a hidden village, there is a good amount of fields in the village for self-sufficiency.
　It's only natural that where there is agriculture, there is a festival to celebrate the harvest.

I've never been to a festival before, so I'm really excited!

　Filia has a big smile on her face.

　It's hard to believe that they were able to participate in such a festive event, having been persecuted as twins by everyone around them.
　Their own parents would never take the twins to such a public place, and there was no doubt that they were living a life that had little to do with festivals after they were sold as monobito.

　But in this village, where the twins are not associated with the goddess' religion, it's a different story.
　It is a good thing that no one in the village looks at Filia and Liana with disdain or disgust, so there is nothing wrong with them enjoying the festivities.
　It's a good idea to be able to have a good time with them.

''What's wrong?　Liana doesn't seem to be too keen on it.

Din says he wants to enjoy the festivities alone with Liana.

　Filia, not Liana herself, replied to Aldis, who asked the question.

'The two of you?　Oh, I see. ......

　For a moment, Ardis had doubts, but she quickly realized the implications and smiled bitterly.

　If you think about it, Din is already an adult man, and Riana is also a daughter at an age when she will soon be coming of age.
　In Riana's case, it's not unreasonable since she had few acquaintances of her own age due to the circumstances of being a twin, but at her age it's not surprising that she would have a glossy story or two to tell.
　A glimpse of age-appropriate 'normality' there makes Ardis a little happy.

　However, from the looks of it, Riana herself seemed to be feeling confused about it.
　Then, deciding that there would be no need to push her back, Aldis would make an escape route for her.

'Din won't be happy to have you stay with me if you don't want to. If you don't feel comfortable with it, you can say no and do what you want.

The way you talk, my Lord doesn't sound like he's planning on joining us?

　The one who responded to Aldis' words was not Liana, but Nere.
　There may be no intention to do this, but Aldis scratched his cheek with an awkward expression at the unexpectedly core question.

''Ah ......, to tell you the truth, I don't really like to make a scene in a place full of people. You've just arrived in the village, and you should at least show your face. It can't be helped.

　The last word encapsulated Aldis's true intentions.
　Then another voice cut into the conversation, this time from beneath her feet.

'Hey Al. Are you aware that you denied the line you just uttered yourself earlier before your tongue was even dry?

　Aldis squeezes out a few words of counter-attack to Rona, who teases him by saying so, with a picture-perfect face of grumpiness.

'Shut up ....... Shut up and eat.

"Woof!

　His golden partner smiled happily and then ended the conversation with a poor performance and moved on to the rest of the breakfast.