Chapter 11

Early in the morning, the wind rustled through the forest, creating a sound that could almost be mistaken for the cries of animals.

After finishing my usual training, I stretched my body before visiting my parents’ graves to pay my respects.

“…Father, Mother. I’ll do my best again today. Well then… I’m off.”

Life was tough, but… I’d keep doing my best!

“All right! Let’s get going today, Rex!”

With renewed determination, I ran toward Miltia, where my Adventurers Guild was located.

“Hmm… Looks like the usual stuff today…”

I’d gone around looking at the requests, but there wasn’t anything particularly unusual.

In fact, calling them requests might have been a bit of a stretch. They were more like odd jobs.

Sometimes, there were people who made fun of me for taking on such work, but I didn’t mind.

As long as it brought smiles to the faces of the townspeople, that was good enough for me.

While thinking about that, I continued picking up one odd job after another… until I came across something that caught my interest.

“…Caregiving?”

Apparently, someone was looking for a person to look after a young noblewoman.

And the reward… was pretty substantial.

“…I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this one before. Why hasn’t anyone taken it?”

I was a little curious, but… if nobody else was going to do it, maybe I should.

For some reason, I had a bad feeling about it, but I casually dismissed it as my imagination and decided to take it as my final request of the day.

“That’s twenty requests in total today, huh…”

…I’d better get the paperwork done before the guild got crowded.

With that in mind, I headed toward the reception desk, where that woman was waiting as usual with her composed expression.

“Lilinaaa! Excuse me, could you process these for me today?”

“…Understood. Please wait a moment.”

…Her responses were still as blunt and expressionless as ever. Nothing had changed.

Or so I thought.

But when I looked at her face, I realized that wasn’t quite true.

“Oh? So you’ve been wearing them.”

“Ah! …I-I was given them, so… It would be a waste not to use them, wouldn’t it…?”

Heh… That made me kind of happy.

And as expected, she had such beautiful features that the glasses didn’t look out of place on her at all. If anything, didn’t they make her look even more refined?

“Thank you for going out of your way to wear them. It makes me happy.”

“Ah… Th-They’re a gift, after all…”

For some reason, her cheeks turned red as she flipped through the documents I’d brought in.

“…U-Um, Rex?”

“Yes?”

“Th-That is… Should I keep wearing this magic tool all the time…? Would I… look cuter that way…?”

Hm? Why was she asking me that?

I couldn’t figure out what she meant by the question. Ah, maybe she was worried about how other people looked at her?

If that was the case, I needed to think carefully before answering.

Sure, I was happy that she was using them, but…

“Well… I think wearing glasses gives you the impression of being capable and dependable. I think they suit you really well.”

“…Th-That’s not what I was asking…”

“But—”

“?”

“I actually prefer you without glasses, Lilina. There’s something… reassuring about that look of yours. Of course, you still look beautiful with glasses, and seeing you wear them is a nice and refreshing change.”

…Ah, crap. Had I just gone and said something weird?

“S-Sorry. I didn’t mean to ramble on like that…”

“…………………”

“? Lilina?”

“Ah! N-Nothing! Anyway, I understand! Thank you!”

“R-Right…?”

Had she gotten angry at me for some reason…?

Though, come to think of it, her cheeks seemed to be relaxing into a smile. Was it just my imagination?

“…I’ve finished checking your request forms. Here you go.”

“Oh, right. Thank you.”

I took the several dozen sheets of paper from her as usual and started heading out of the guild.

“…U-Um!”

“Y-Yes?”

But before I could leave, she stopped me.

What was it this time?

“T-Today, too…”

“Today, too?”

“…Today, too! …D-Do your best!”

Her voice gradually grew quieter until it was difficult to hear, but her words surprised me. At the same time, they made me genuinely happy.

“…Yes! I’ll do my best!”

It seemed that although Lilina was rather cold in the way she treated people, I could actually get along with her.

At least, that’s what I felt.

And so, I finally left the guild and headed toward the locations of my requests.

“…Fnyuu…”

Inside the now-empty guild, Lilina pressed both hands against her cheeks as if trying to cool her face down.

But they were still burning hot.

“T-That was so sudden… S-Saying something like that out of nowhere… It’s embarrassing…”

‘I like you, Lilina.’

“Ah!?!?! Th-There’s no way… I like Rex dozens of times more than he likes me!”

Of course, he hadn’t actually said anything like that.

But there was no one around to correct the version of the conversation playing inside Lilina’s head, and she continued squirming in embarrassment for quite some time.

And because she had been so flustered… she hadn’t properly checked something.

The details of the noblewoman’s request that Rex had chosen.