It seems friendship is powerless in front of love.
“By the way, the bond of sisters is also powerless.”
“Don’t read my mind.”
“Oh my, I wouldn’t do sothing as lowly as that. I simply read that from your face.”
Sif saw off the back of her little sister, and Alia spoke.
Alia exchanged two to three words with Sif and took a seat, and Sif swayed her glass that had ice inside.
She washes her mouth with the sweetness and bitterness.
Black ice coffee.
The eldest daughter of the Rembrandt household is pretty manly in her selections.
By the way, Alia went for a highly feminine choice of coffee with milk and a whole lot of honey added.
You can tell who is who in your mind imdiately with those selections.
It doesn’t have to be exactly about coffee.
“The very person that said that she was going to go around to check for the latest fashion spots in Tsige…gone after just the first establishnt?!”
And the other one who muttered this dumbfounded was a woman that seed to have purposely hidden her hair and was wearing sunglasses.
Well, that’s a given.
She is the close friend of the girl that dashed out of the store, and the person that was practically forced into guiding them because she is from the area.
Her na, Ates.
A sturdy woman that’s the receptionist of the Adventurer Guild and also an idol which is a job that was just birthed.
Sif and Alia not having a direct connection with Ates makes it even more fresh.
It is a mystery what information line led to this, but Yuno Rembrandt herself has gotten information that Misura might be coming into contact with Lisa Rembrandt, and ford this gathering without hesitation, and then ran off.
“If I rember correctly, you are the daughter of the Batoma Company, right? This is weird coming from her sister, but I am surprised you can be her friend. Thanks.” (Sif)
“No way, Sif-sama. Yuno and I are like childhood friends, so this kind of stuff…yeah, I am a bit used to it already.” (Ates)
“You are tough, Ates-san. But considering the unit you showed us last night, it might be natural to have that much courage.” (Alia)
“A-About that, Alia-san! I simply ended up working in a mysterious job called idol for so reason! It is a job, just so you know! A job! You could say we have already resolved ourselves…” (Ates)
Ates may be a bit hasty in her words, but she is managing to speak with the eldest daughter of the Rembrandt Company, Sif, and the Rotsgard Academy student deeply connected to the Kuzunoha Company, Alia, without being crushed by the nerves.
Just like how Alia has evaluated her, she is pretty tough.
If not, she wouldn’t be able to ask things of Raidou, or argue with the adventurers of Tsige.
“Father becos an idiot from ti to ti, is what I thought at first, but…after feeling that heat with my own skin, I understand the fearsoness.” (Sif)
“Sif-sama? Uhm, idols are simply a job where you wear weird clothes, sing, and dance, you know.” (Ates)
Ates herself still doesn’t understand well what’s the power of an idol.
Also, she has been witness to the Skills of the highest class adventurers as a long ti guild staff mber.
That’s why she didn’t understand the aning of making n and won who don’t have any Skills at all stand on stage like the pros, who in this case would be the adventurer dancers, singers, and bards.
On the other hand, Alia and Sif, who have no preconception, have directly tasted the heat of the live stage, and were imagining the worth they have as advertisent towers, and the power that their words will have in the future.
On top of that, they have been shown by Rembrandt the docunts about how they served the role to increase and maintain morale in the independence war.
The effect was trendous.
However, Yuno alone -probably because she had her friend filter on- held her stomach and laughed out loud seeing Ates in an amusing frilly dress that showed a lot of skin while singing and dancing.
Ates must have rembered how Yuno pointed and laughed, she placed a hand on her forehead as if enduring pain.
“You might be able to make a great revival for the Batoma, or beco a skilled rchant that can even surpass your father…” (Sif)
“Eh, I didn’t know you were the type that could make jokes with a straight face, Sif-sama.” (Ates)
“Idol… There’s also the option of being an idol while you are young and using that to boost your career later… It is safer than being an adventurer and an occupation with really great prospects.” (Alia)
“Even Alia-sama?! Your way of teasing being in a different direction from Yuno is rough too.” (Ates)
“Unknown only to themselves, huh.” (Alia)
Alia spoke the words she had been taught just recently with a smile on her face.
It was clear as day who taught her that.
“Oh my, Shiki-san’s saying?” (Sif)
“That’s right. Problem?” (Alia)
“Nope~. Yuno has run away and Alia is always in lovestruck mode. So, what kind of guy is your boyfriend, A-chan?” (Sif)
“I don’t have one.” (Ates)
“Eh?”
“I don’t have ti for love with all the work!” (Ates)
“So even girls say that, huh.” (Sif)
“Even you, Sif-sama, I won’t prod too deeply, but don’t you have a good person in mind?!” (Ates)
“The number one would be Raidou-sensei.” (Sif)
“…Are you craz—I an, are you sane?” (Ates)
Ates opened her eyes wide and asked Sif back.
“As the eldest daughter of the Rembrandt household.” (Sif)
“…So your way of thinking changed after you recovered from your illness. That goes the sa for Yuno though.” (Ates)
“Oh my, even my little sister who has fallen awkwardly in love with Misura, if Sensei were to propose to her, she would reject Misura and marry Sensei, you know?” (Sif)
“Weh?!” (Ates)
“The only person Father, Mother, and even Morris push persistently as a partner is Sensei. Well, I would have done the sa as a parent, so I have no complaints about that.” (Sif)
“The Rembrandt household is really thorough. You could say they put loss and gain as their highest priority.” (Alia)
On the other hand, Sif shook her head as if saying ‘you really don’t get it’.
“Of course there’s the reason that you can create a sturdy pipe with both Sensei and the Kuzunoha Company, but don’t misunderstand, Alia. Does Raidou-sensei look like the kind of man that would make her wife cry?” (Sif)
“…He doesn’t.” (Alia)
“Right? With that person, you can live happily and enjoyably for the rest of your life; for so reason, I have that confidence. My parents probably think the sa. Sensei himself says that he is not lucky or that misfortune follows him, but for the Rembrandt household, since the mont we t until now, he has been like the fairy of ultimate luck. He is soone that can’t be compared to faint attachnt or first love.” (Sif)
“I see, so you understand the true gains and losses, huh. I have lost.” (Alia)
Alia throws a colorful bite-sized sweet into her mouth.
That pastry that’s pretty similar to macaron was piled up like a mountain in the fancy bowl at the middle of the table.
The 3 must have taken a liking to it, the mountain size was silently getting smaller and smaller.
“By the way, you are one capable woman too, right, A-chan? At the ti when we were assailed by the curse disease, she would still visit us on our sickbed. She always did until Father refused all visits.” (Sif)
“…Ooh.” (Alia)
“Eh, of course I would go to visit my friend when she is ill. That’s the hyuman thing to do.” (Ates)
A-chan -Ates- had the talk thrown onto her by Sif, and was making a face of ‘what’s that about a capable woman?’.
A face as if saying ‘anyone would go visit a friend on their sickbed, right?’.
The unconscious and pure kindness of her made Alia leak out a smile, and Sif smiled at the sight of that Alia.
“? What?” (Alia)
“There’s no way a girl that was an actual friend of the past Yuno would be the fluffy good girl, Alia.” (Sif)
“Eh?” (Alia)
“This is shaful to say myself, but my little sister and I had a deserved terrible reputation in the Academy, you know. A-chan and the winners of Tsige, the reason why they would patiently co visit us when we were ill from the curse disease was because they judged that would be for their best benefit.” (Sif)
“…”
“The brave girl that went to visit until the very end, in the case when we manage a miraculous coback, would be able to obtain the status of best friend from Yuno. Rather, there’s only derits in bad mouthing us at our backs and taking distance. We are properly watching. We are Tsige won after all…isn’t that right?” (Sif)
It is not like Sif is saying all of this out of ill-will.
She was simply speaking objectively here.
“It is not like I was moving purely out of calculation. I was truly wishing for your recovery. Just that, it is not like the Rembrandt Company itself had lost its power, so laughing at the tragic state of Sif-sama, Yuno, and Lisa-sama would just serve to distract myself from my own shortcomings. Even as a child, I could understand there was no benefit in that.” (Ates)
And Ates didn’t shy about it and spoke in a way that affird the words of Sif.
Alia’s face was saying ‘that’s no child’ -and at the sa ti, this made her understand in her own way the fierce world of the Tsige rchants.
“…But they were in quite the state, right? Weren’t you scared?” (Alia)
“? They simply were going bald, their skin was really dry, and their eyes looked a bit like mamonos. Nothing to write ho about. Tsige is like a jack-in-the-box where strong and weird people walk around on the main streets with normal faces, you know. Once their disease is cured, their appearances can co back. Adventurer stalkers are far scarier.” (Ates)
“Adventurer stalkers…” (Alia)
Alia was speechless.
Sif had a wry smile.
“Yeah. When you aggravate A rank adventurers or higher, normal people can’t do anything about it. I barely managed sohow, you know. There’s more than one or two scary experiences I would rather not rember.” (Ates)
Ates rembers her past with a serious face.
The things she spoke of eloquently were extre, enough to make Alia and Sif wince, but they couldn’t stop listening to it. It beca an unexpectedly painful ti.
The reality is that the love matters involving adventurers in Tsige don’t always end in happy endings.
Who knows how many tis Ates would shake her head powerlessly to the sides and muttered ‘it is checkmate’ at the questions of Alia and Sif.
Ates is currently putting strenuous efforts in her idol job, so it is a risky conversation for her to have, but she is also a person with a decent degree of plentiful experiences.
She is offsetting the stalkers with equally passionate and dependable fans, and she would also use the Rembrandt and Batoma company as her backing.
She has been able to deal with it in her own way with her conducting abilities.
“It is trouble, Onee-chan!!”
At the ti when the girl talk was beginning to grow lively, Yuno, who had left right from the very start, had returned.
Ca with a full power dash just like how she left.
Yuno took the glass of Ates and gulped it all down in one go without a single word.
““……””
‘A storm of pain has co’, is what the faces of the 3 were saying.
“I have solved the mystery of why the skin of Mother is so strangely good now!” (Yuno)
“! What did you just say?!” (Sif)
“The answer lies in the health preservation facility of the Kuzunoha Company!” (Yuno)
“Kuzu…listen here, Yuno, how are we going to even go there?” (Alia)
Sif was caught off-guard and Alia was the one to pose the issue.
“Of course, I have gotten permission from the manager-san! …What will you do, you 3?” (Yuno)
Yuno already knows the answer, but still asks just in case.
After coming back ho to Tsige because of the school trip, the Rembrandt sisters noticed that their mother, Lisa, looked younger in a lot of areas now.
It seems like Lisa had finally opened up on the secret of that on the last day, and the tension of Yuno had reached max.
And this went the sa for Sif and Alia who have actually seen Lisa.
Ates has also been curious about the secret of the recent beauty in the Rembrandt lady.
In other words…
“I have been dragged around on my rare free day, so I seek repaynt from my friend Yuno.” (Ates)
Ates says.
“Telling us on the last day…teasing us till the end, Mother.” (Sif)
Sif says.
“I should be able to use the health preservation facilities of the Kuzunoha Company eventually. That’s why it should be forgivable to get a taste ahead of ti.” (Alia)
Alia says.
The girls of age dashed off the store with Yuno on the lead.
The place they are heading to is the hot spring. A place they wouldn’t be able to easily go to once they go back to the academy.
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