“So, did you patch things up with my big sister?”
“Not completely,” I admitted. “But I think I’ve made one or two steps in the right direction.”
It was the day after Aqual and I had gone stargazing.
We’d returned to Merinesburg by afternoon, packed up the base, and gone our separate ways once we reached the castle. I headed straight to the office where Sylphy was working to give a report.
“One or two steps, huh…?”
Both Sylphy and Melty—currently buried under a mountain of paperwork—shot me suspicious looks.
“Melty, it’s not what you’re thinking. Nothing like that happened,” I said with a sigh. “We just went from her completely ignoring me to being able to hold a normal conversation. It felt like trying to handle a jumpy cat that hisses every time you move.”
“When Aqual decides to dig in her heels, she really doesn’t budge…”
Sylphy wore a wry smile on her face, and I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but what you really need is a proper family heart-to-heart,” I said. “In all honesty, Aqual’s got a lot of resentment toward you all for what she sees as forgetting about Sir Ixil so quickly and accepting me in his place.”
Sylphy’s smile faded. “She always really loved Father… You’re right. I’ll speak to Mother and my other sisters and make time.”
“Please do. You’ve finally got the family back together, so it’d be way too sad if I caused things to fall apart.”
And quite frankly, it was weird that an average guy like me was so popular with the ladies. This world’s ideas of love and marriage still made my head spin sometimes.
“You’re quite the sinful man, Kousuke,” Melty said with a teasing grin.
“Oh, c’mon. I’m at fault here?”
“I didn’t say that. It’s just, you are sinful,” she replied with a giggle.
What was that supposed to mean?!
“So, did you get the resources you needed?” Sylphy asked, mercifully changing the subject.
“More than enough. I just need to combine them with whatever I find on-site and I’ll be set for a while.”
“That’s good to hear. Things are progressing smoothly on our end as well. If all goes well, we’ll have you heading out again within the next few days.”
“Roger that. Oh, I ended up grabbing a bunch of raw gems and stuff again while gathering other things…”
“You can use those as you please—er, actually, maybe don’t go overboard using them willy-nilly,” Sylphy said, chuckling softly. “Still, those are yours to use as you see fit. We already rely too much on you as it is. We can’t keep calling ourselves a healthy nation if we lean on you for everything,”
Melty looked like she wanted to speak up but held her tongue, clearly unwilling to contradict Sylphy in the middle of the discussion. I could tell what she was thinking: No matter how stable things seemed, you could never have enough funds. So despite what Sylphy told me, I decided I’d have a quiet word with Melty later.