“Goodness, ‘good-for-nothing’ is a bit much, wouldn’t you say? After all, he worked himself to the bone for twenty years. Don’t you think he deserves a bit of a break?”
“I think you’re all too soft on my dad,” Nozomu fired back, mercilessly rejecting Ephelia’s attempt to smooth things over. Yuuto was still only a little over thirty. He still had so much life in him, so why was he already acting like a retired old codger? What kind of man lazes around and lets others do all his work for him?! “I’m being serious here, Ephy. I never wanted to see dad be this...lame.”
Everyone always put Yuuto on a pedestal, gushing over how cool he was, but Nozomu didn’t get what was so cool about having a lazy father. Truthfully, he was disappointed in him, and it upset him even more that his father’s wives allowed him to conduct himself in that manner. Nozomu fervently wished that just once, one of them would give his father a swift kick in the rear.
“If I show him that he’s now beneath my notice, I’m hoping I can get him to wake up and see sense.” In Nozomu’s mind, if that managed to rouse his father, that would be great—and if he paid Nozomu no heed and continued to laze around, then that would just prove he was never worth looking up to to begin with. Above all, though, Nozomu wanted Ephelia to see how pathetic his father was for herself. For whatever reason, she currently held Yuuto in incredibly high esteem. Whenever they were together, she often had nothing but words of gratitude and respect for him, which rubbed Nozomu the wrong way. He wanted to show Ephelia that he was much cooler than his dad ever was.
“Young master, forgive me, but it seems some suspicious individuals are at the tavern entrance,” his escort Hildegard said in hushed tones.
“Huh?” He cast a glance over at the entrance to the tavern and saw what looked like a group of travelers, all staring in his direction open-mouthed, as if in shock.
“What’s up with them?” he asked, only to be answered by another woman.
“My, my, it seems you still have a long way to go, young master.” It was Kristina. She’d come along with them as an intelligence gatherer and adviser. She was as knowledgeable as she was beautiful, but her cold, unfriendly aura and acid tongue were often hard for Nozomu to deal with.
“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Nozomu replied.
“Those guys are all super strong,” Albertina answered, stuffing her face with a meat kebab. As Kristina’s older sister, she was no less beautiful, but perhaps because of the gentle expression she usually wore, she exuded a warm, fuzzy aura that made her feel much more approachable in comparison.
“You think so?” Homura tilted her head in apparent confusion. However, she was already such an outlier when it came to physical strength that she probably wasn’t a good judge in the first place.
At any rate, if those three said the suspicious travelers were that skilled, then there was no doubt.
“Hm...” Nozomu observed the group more carefully. He was Sigrún’s beloved pupil, after all—despite not having a rune of his own, his sword skills were such that he’d already earned Sigrún’s approval to join the Múspell unit. As such, he could roughly gauge an opponent’s strength by observing their posture.
“I see now. They certainly do seem to be rather impressive fighters. Much too skilled to be mere bodyguards for a merchant cabal,” Nozomu observed.
“Oh, come on, young master, please tell me you know better than to just keep staring—” It seemed that Kristina’s warning came too late. The man in front of the group—likely the leader—locked eyes with Nozomu. And in the next instant, a deathly chill ran down Nozomu’s spine. His body started trembling from its very core, and his teeth began to chatter.
“Heh. I was merely returning the favor since it’s rude to stare, but perhaps I laid it on too thick,” the leader of the bunch said as he approached him with a sneer. Nozomu didn’t even dare to retort back. He wasn’t sure why, but he couldn’t help but be terrified of this man. “In that sense, I have to commend the rest of you. Rather than being intimidated by me in the least, you just leisurely went on enjoying your meal.”
Nozomu looked to his left and right. Neither Hildegard, Kristina, nor Albertina had changed expression in the slightest. As for Homura, she was too busy chowing down on her meal to care about what was happening—either it didn’t interest her, or she was just really hungry. Ephelia’s expression was tense, but she didn’t seem to be anywhere near as frightened as Nozomu. He alone had been completely taken in by this man. Realizing that, he was suddenly overcome by a wave of shame.
“I-I wasn’t sca—”
“Hm?”
Nozomu tried to retort, but the second the man trained his eyes on him, Nozomu was rendered speechless. He felt like a frog being stared down by a snake. Was the man’s presence just that overwhelming? At any rate, it felt like it was gnawing at his heart, causing him to cower almost out of instinct.
“I have no use for the likes of you. Weaklings can just sit down and shut up,” the man spat.
Unable to do anything but stay silent, Nozomu drooped his head in shame.
“Wh-Who the hell is this?!” If he had to compare it to anything, it was similar to the bloodlust Sigrún exuded when she faced off against him. But Nozomu was able to handle something of that level by now. He didn’t think this man was stronger than Sigrún, so why was he so helplessly rooted to the spot by his overwhelming presence?
“My, did I just hear you calling our young master a weakling? I can’t let that slide, I’m afraid,” Kristina responded with an icy grin.
“Why are you provoking him?!” Nozomu wanted to shout in panic. Nothing good could come of getting in a fight with this guy, so why was she egging him on?!
“Heh heh heh...” Contrary to Nozomu’s expectations, the man just snickered in amusement. What was going on? “You’re the first woman who’s ever stood up to me, save for my stepmother. Interesting. Give me your name,” he demanded.
“Isn’t it common etiquette for you to give your own name first? I believe even a child knows that,” Kristina responded.
“Hoh?” The man let out a scoff. The moment he did, the air grew dense with his intimidating aura, so thick that Nozomu could barely breathe. Despite the warmth inside the tavern, he felt like his body had frozen over.
“It’s even more pathetic that you have to intimidate a woman into telling you her name,” Kristina continued.