Following Fouré’s lead, the other two goddesses approached me and stood before me in a line.
“Aruna’s really strong, but she’s not a monster. She’s an adorable young lady,” I chided.
“I wouldn’t say that! B-But... I suppose I’m happy to hear that...” Aruna abruptly turned away, embarrassed. She always tried to keep me from seeing her face whenever she was blushing.
“Oh, no, no, no! Aruna’s a horrible, terrible fiend! She’s so scary, even a dragon’s got nothing on her. It would basically be a gnat in comparison!”
“How dare you! Do you really think it’s okay to insult someone right in front of them? Not that it’s okay behind their back either, of course!”
“Ow ow ow ow ow! You’re gonna split my head in two!” With a wap, Aruna grabbed Fouré’s head from behind, locking her in a claw grip—an iron claw, even, just like that one wrestling move. The grip was so strong that her skull creaked a bit, but unsurprisingly, Fouré was a-okay.
“You’ve cut off your sense of pain, so this can’t possibly hurt. Honestly, now.” In the end, I didn’t have to worry about how much force it’d take for Aruna to pop Fouré’s skull and splatter her brains either—Aruna suddenly released Fouré from her grip before too long. Apparently she didn’t want to get blood all over the room. Even though they were invisible to others, any blood they shed would remain for a while, as it wasn’t incorporeal and could still stain anything it touched.
“By the way, Hisui...” began Aruna.
“Hm?”
“What happened to Dandelion? Is he still with your sister?” Aruna, perceptive as ever, noticed the little yellow chick was not by my side. I nodded, lips twisted into a wry smile.
“Yup. Looks like he’s totally smitten with Cosmos. He’ll protect my sisters while he’s away with them, so I don’t mind if he’s not with me all the time.”
“That’s exactly how I made him! Praise me!” The mother of Dandelion’s creation, Fouré, smirked confidently—and was subsequently thrown out of the way by Aruna.
“I see. If it’s fine with you, then I won’t say anything.”
“Did you want to say something?”
“Not really. I just wanted to make sure it didn’t bother you.”
“Huh?” Aruna was being considerate toward me? Maybe she’d started wondering if I was lonely, now that I was down a family member and all.
“All right, that’s enough of that. Let’s talk about something more constructive,” Aruna shrugged.
“Constructive? Like what?” I asked.
“Like what you’ll be doing tomorrow.”
“Oh, my schedule. Right.”
Now that she mentioned it, I realized I had achieved a massive milestone. Next, I needed to reunite with Azalea in the royal capital, but since we’d already come all this way to Lycoris, I wanted to let my sisters enjoy themselves a bit more before heading out there. Azalea would most likely be busy with her studies anyway.
But we’d need money if we were going to live in this town long-term, and for our future prospects, it would be best if we landed a massive amount of cash. So, basically...
“I do have an idea. Or... Well, it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, actually.”
“Are you referring to...adventuring?” Aruna ventured.
I nodded. “You got it.”
I’d been thinking about what job I wanted to do even before coming to this town. Well, I called it a “job,” but adventuring was a little more than that—it would let me travel all throughout the world. I’d heard the adventurer’s guild had a presence in the capital, but for starters, I figured I should register with the guild in town.
“First, I’ll become an adventurer, then I’ll save up money while I see the sights the world has to offer. But no matter what, I’m heading to the capital as soon as a good opportunity strikes. I’m going to meet up with Azalea there.”
“I figured that’s what you were thinking.”
“That sounds lovely! Adventuring with Huey, huh?” Fouré hummed.
“Hee hee. You still have the basilisk and dragon parts, though. You needn’t go out of your way to find work, do you?” Cult cut in with just the right question regarding my plans.
“I’ll sell them—don’t worry. I’m sure that will earn me a lot, but money’s not something that sticks around for long. You need a constant source of it. So while we’re staying in town, I want to get into the habit of taking jobs. Get used to the work, you know?”
“That makes sense. It’s a good idea, I think—anyone at all can make mistakes when they start a brand-new endeavor. I suppose you’re thinking of getting the troublesome parts out of the way as soon as you can?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to have to deal with all that after going to the capital.” I wanted to head there only once I was fully prepared. Ideally, I could just settle down into a perfectly routine life there right away too.
“Then our next goal is job hunting!” Fouré exclaimed.
“Don’t be silly. He’s already decided on becoming an adventurer, so it’d be more accurate to say he’ll be looking for job requests.”
“Ugh, don’t be pedantic,” she whined. Fouré pursed her lips, then began booing at Aruna’s quip. As I watched them, I began daydreaming about what things would be like once I’d become an adventurer.
I was downright starry-eyed at the prospect, even though it was the most basic fantasy “job” out there—maybe that was my memories from my past life influencing me.
What sort of exciting ventures awaited me? The sun was sinking below the horizon, signaling bedtime, but my excitement continued unabated. I was so absorbed in my daydreaming that I even ended up forgetting to take a bath.