The days passed in the blink of an eye, and soon it was the day before we would depart to defeat the One-Armed Giant.
That night, the princess and I were invited to the orphanage for dinner. The other members of our squad, Monia and Hypericum, had also been invited, but they had turned it down. Although Monia had changed her ways, her noble mindset still resulted in her clashing with Cuphea a lot. It would still take some time before she’d be comfortable visiting Cuphea’s family.
Our dinner was rather extravagant, especially compared to the usual dinners at the orphanage. There were several entire roasted chickens lined up. The children’s eyes sparkled as drool ran down their lips, and even those who usually got along started bickering over their share of meat.
“Hey! No fighting!” Sitting to my left, Cuphea scolded the children.
“But his piece is bigger!”
“That’s not true!”
“Liar!”
“You already ate yours!”
Cuphea and Linum had splurged a little with the money they’d made from the extermination mission in Luzarigue.
“Give me a break... I’m sorry about them. This is supposed to be a dinner party for you two,” said Cuphea.
“It’s fine. I’m happy just getting to see you and Sister Edel,” I replied.
“I’d say thank you, but I’m not giving you Mama.”
“What about Lina?” asked a little girl with purple pigtails sitting to my right. She was Linaria, one of the children who was oddly attached to me.
“What?”
“Does seeing me make you happy?”
“It feels pretty normal.”
“Huh?!” For some reason, she looked shocked. Seeing her slump her shoulders, clearly dejected, made me feel kinda bad. Kid or not, a woman was a woman. I was a failure of a man to make her sad. I stabbed a crispy piece of meat on my plate with my fork and put it in her mouth. “Mmm! Yummy!” Linaria smiled again.
That’s better. “Kids should be smiling.”
“Do you like my smile?” If I said no now, we’d be stuck in an endless cycle.
“I guess you could say that.”
Linaria giggled and gave a content smile. She continued smiling at me for a while after that. Children tended not to know moderation, so when they were praised for something, they would do it over and over again.
“All right, enough,” I said, patting her on the head. But she still just smiled happily. Why am I stuck with a kid when the alluring holy woman Edel and other beautiful girls are right there?
“No fair!” shouted a boy watching me and Linaria. “Share some with me too!”
“Shut it, brat.”
“You’re picking favorites!”
“Have you still not realized that I always favor women?”
“No, everybody knows that.” He had an exasperated look on his face for some reason, and the kids I sometimes practiced swordplay with nodded in agreement. Watching them, Cuphea couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hey, Cuphea. As their older sister, teach these brats some respect.”
Cuphea just giggled. “He shouldn’t be shouting, but what he’s saying is true.” I couldn’t argue with that.
“Hey, Al.” Linaria tugged at my sleeve.
“What?”
“Did you have fun on your date with Cuphea?” I could see Cuphea freeze up upon hearing the question, and the other kids immediately lit up.
“Yeah! Tell us about it! Cuphea wouldn’t tell us anything!”
“H-Hey! Stop yelling during dinner!” Cuphea’s scolding came a little too late.
“All right, why not? I’ll tell you all about the fun day we had together.”
“Gah! Albert, stop!” The children all laughed as Cuphea covered my mouth, her face bright red. Finally, Sister Edel and the old lady who ran the orphanage chided them for being too rambunctious.