“Oh well, I’m glad nothing happened.”
The following evening at the offices of Iffole Counter. As Alina stared at the newspaper and froze, Jade smiled wryly.
Alina stared at the spread in confusion. There was a big photo of a certain general store, which wasn’t a problem in itself. But the words on the sign outside the shop? Now THAT was an issue.
Written out in large letters was the phrase: The shop where the Executioner buys his potions!!
According to the eyewitnesses interviewed in the article, the Executioner had been wandering the streets like a zombie in the dead of night, even coming up to a stray cat and telling it he was lonely.
Iffole had been in an uproar since the first thing that morning, when the newspaper had been delivered. Once they read the article, the adventurers started racing around town in a panic, searching for the Executioner.
Each and every one of them wanted to get the Executioner to join their party in the fighting tournament.
And it was all because Alina had been so exhausted from overtime that she changed into her Executioner outfit by mistake and went off to buy some potions.
“I…I don’t…remember…,” Alina muttered in a daze. Frankly, she had been so exhausted last night that she couldn’t remember a thing.
“…Hold up, Alina. Are you telling me you leave your Executioner outfit in the changing room at work…?” The look in Jade’s eyes seemed to say, That’s far too careless.
Alina averted her gaze. “Th-that’s just how it is! It’s just more convenient that way. Besides, thanks to this uproar, my reception window has been empty today, so I plowed through my office work. Things might actually work out, in the end.”
“…W-well, then doesn’t that mean you can take the day off tomorrow? The office is closed, right?”
“There’s no way I can…” Alina’s shoulders immediately drooped. Iffole Counter was closed tomorrow, and everyone there had the day off, Alina included—at least that’s how it was supposed to be. Of course she couldn’t take time off, with all the things on her plate, so she was planning to work all day tomorrow as well.
“…O-oh… Well… Give it your all, I guess…”
“But it’s fine… Coming to work on your day off is heaven…” Alina forced the corners of her lips upward and forced out a hopeful remark. “Since the window is closed… I won’t have to deal with stupid adventurers who don’t listen, I won’t have to worry about the boss or seniors watching, and I can take it slow and focus on my own work for the whole day. Sounds heavenly…right?”
As she was saying that, Alina realized just how outrageous she was being. “Waaaaaaagh! Did I just say that work on a day off is heaven?!”
“Huh? Y-yeah, pretty clearly…”
Jade was confused to hear Alina suddenly shriek, but he nodded.
Seeing that, Alina held her head in her hands. “If I start saying ‘It’s great getting work done after hours and on weekends,’ then I’m finished, finished! …Those are late-stage symptoms! Proof that work has become a higher priority to me than my peace and quiet…! Are you okay with that, Alina Clover? No, no, of course you aren’t! Open your eyes! How could you be grateful to have your evenings and weekends ruined?!”
“…”
As Alina clutched her head in her hands and shrieked, Jade rubbed salt in the wound with an even more cruel remark. “…Alina, I can’t help you tomorrow.”
“Huh?!!!!!”
Time stopped.
For a few seconds, Alina wore an expression of despair, like that of an abandoned kitten, unable to so much as twitch. But she immediately snapped out of it and gave an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders. “A-ahhhhhh, I see. Well, it’s fine. I’m not so cruel that I would tell you to help me the whole day on a holiday, am I? I’m not thinking that at all, right? I’m…totally…fine on my own…”
Though Alina was trying to put up a bold front, there was no energy in her voice, and she was turning into sand, starting at the head.