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“AWW! Come on… What is it? It’s way too early for this…”
“This won’t take long! Gosh, you really aren’t a morning person, are you, Kiefer? It’s not even that early!”
After a moment, a very sleepy and very tall guy exits the larger building, rubbing his eyes. His golden locks stick out in every direction, and his bangs are brushed to the side in a very bizarre style. Clearly, he just woke up. I feel bad for dragging him out of bed. Directly behind him is Ektor, forcing him forward with a disgruntled look on his face. It seems they know each other well.
“You should be sleeping in your bed anyway!”
“It’s no good, Ektor. I tell him all the time, and he never listens to me! I’ve basically made the main house my personal bedroom. Honestly, it’s been five days since he last left his workshop!” Candice complains.
Uh…what? The bigger building isn’t the house? It’s the workshop…? The smaller building is where they live? There must be a lot of research going on if he needs a space that large. How impressive.
“Sounds pretty bad to me. I’m sure if Candice wasn’t around, you’d have died in your workshop a long time ago!”
“I’ll never let that happen! There’s no way he’ll die under MY expert care.” Candice giggles, puffing her chest out with pride, only succeeding in looking more adorable. The way her soft orange hair sways in the breeze and the way her tail curls this way and that are too cute for words.
She’s truly the epitome of everything girly. Even her clothes are cute!
“Perhaps, but he needs more than food. He doesn’t get nearly enough exercise!” Ektor points out.
“I definitely can’t help him with that all by myself. Th-That’s why I need everyone’s help!”
“We don’t have time for that.”
“Hmph! You’re such a mean little brat!” Candice pouts in response to Macro’s cold response.
He really needs to work on his delivery… Both of them do, actually. It’s odd, though. According to Claire, Candice ends up in love with Macro. She certainly doesn’t seem like she’s in love with him.
I glance over to see Claire watching them with a look of bewilderment plastered on her face.
“Mmm… If you don’t actually need me for anything, I’m going back to bed,” Kiefer says, stifling a yawn. “I didn’t get any sleep yesterday… Or the day before that. Or the day before that.”
How many days has it been since he slept? As I stare at him in shock, completely overwhelmed by the thought, Kiefer notices my intense stare and turns his attention toward me.
“Oh-ho? And who are these lovely little ladies? Did you bring them here to join my harem of wives?”
“Stop joking around, you creepy jerk. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“Hahaha! You’re scary, Ektor.”
He’s a far more laid-back guy than I originally imagined him to be. I can tell right away that he’s joking.
“You sure seem like fun to be around, Kiefer,” I blurt out.
Ektor shaking him by the lapels of his shirt, though, is pretty scary.
“Don’t be too mad at him, Ektor,” I say as Kiefer cries out between shakes, telling Ektor to calm down, Ektor finally does, releasing Kiefer’s shirt from his grip.
“Miku, you really are an angel…” Ektor says.
“You’re not joking. She possesses an angelic kindness as well. You pursuing her? If not, can I?”
Ektor looks on the verge of exploding as he once again grabs Kiefer by the front of his shirt. With such a flat, almost serious delivery, it’s impossible for me to tell whether Kiefer’s joking or not! It’s impressive to see him laughing aloud in pure delight, even while Ektor shakes him vigorously, back and forth.
“What a conniving jerk… And I can’t read him at all!” I barely catch Claire’s words as she mutters under her breath, although I can’t understand them.
Conniving…? What’s that mean?
“Um… Should we get to the reason why we’re here in the first place?”
Ektor’s got a firm grip on Kiefer while Candice watches on, clearly annoyed, Rinny is laughing his butt off, and Macro is watching it all, stoic and silent as always. That leaves the two of us, although it’s ultimately Claire who speaks up in an attempt to intervene and get us back on track.
Th-Thank you, Claire! I almost forgot why we came here in the first place!
“Ugh. Sorry. You’re right. We came with a request for you, Kiefer,” Ektor finally says.
“You’re giving me permission to wed these beautiful ladies?”
“Ab! So! Lute! Ly! Not! This is serious! Stop joking around!”
“Whoa! Ow! Ow! Stop grinding me in the skull when I’m sleep-deprived!”
I see now. Kiefer’s the one who keeps throwing us off track. He’s so straight-faced that it’s hard to tell how he truly feels. Maybe that’s what Claire meant by “conniving”?
“Come on, let’s cut to the chase. Kiefer, we’d like you to…”
“I’ll do it.”
“Uh… Huh?”
Kiefer answers immediately, a big smile on his face, without even waiting to hear what Ektor has to say. I can see a vein throbbing angrily from Ektor’s forehead, the strained smile on his face almost frightening in its intensity.
“You have no idea what I’m about to say…”
“You want to make Lanakiller a high-ranking guild, and to do so, you need more members, so you’re here in an attempt to ask me to join. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“……”
What? What?! Huh?! How did he know?
Even Ektor’s eyes are wide in surprise, but only for a moment. “You’re really quite something, Kiefer. I always forget you tend to be one step ahead of everyone…”
“I’m not sure why you’re complaining when I said I’ll do it.”
Ektor hangs his head in surrender. Hmm… I don’t understand what’s going on at all. It seems Kiefer knew why we’d be here before we even arrived. That’s why he was able to give such a fast response, because he’d already thought it over.
“And now you’re going to tell me that I can continue living here as long as I want, right?” Kiefer continues, saying what Ektor should be. “That I’m associated with the guild on paper only. It’ll be a huge hassle if there’s ever an emergency, but business seems to be booming, and I have no good reason to turn you down. So, there you go.”
“That’s the part of your personality that reeeally pisses me off!” Ektor snaps.
“Am I wrong?”
“The fact you’re right is what’s so frustrating! Thanks! You’re such a big help!!”
He really is a weird fellow. I can tell Ektor’s not really mad… No, actually, he is really mad, but there still seems to be an air of friendship between them. I can’t help but giggle at how amusing their interactions are.
“I can join, too, right? Ektor?” Candice, still clinging to Ektor’s arm, suddenly pipes up, her cat ears twitching this way and that.
I’m glad she volunteered to join us!
“Huh? Well, I dunno…”
Although Ektor’s reply catches me off guard.
What?!
“Wait… You weren’t going to ask me to join?” she asks in a whimper.
Oh, no! I can see the tears gleaming in her eyes!
“Of course, we want you to join our guild, Candice.” I find myself speaking up, unable to stay silent a moment longer. “I want you to join! And I’m sure Ektor does, too…right?”
“M-Miku!”
I ball my hands into fists and hold them up as I look toward Ektor, an expression of confusion stamped on his face.
We need more members, right? And Candice joins our guild in the main story… Oh! I forgot we don’t want to follow the original story anymore… But she seems to really adore Ektor, which isn’t even in the story to begin with! Argh! I don’t understand any of this! To hell with the story! We can’t leave Candice out!
“You’re Miku?”
“Huh? Um…yes, I am. Nice to meet you, Candice.”
I’m thrown off guard by her suspicious tone of voice. I haven’t even introduced myself yet!
“I’m so sorry, but I hope we can get along!” I try to say at the same time while holding my hand out in her direction. Perhaps due to her being overly cautious, she merely looks at it without taking it. My hand feels so lonely hanging in the air like this!