Returning from the eastern forest, I delivered the materials to the Adventurer’s Guild.
I received my reward, cashed in the black boar’s materials, and headed home.
“Shall I have grilled fish for dinner?”
While walking and thinking of what food to go with the fish I’d caught from the lake, my apartment building comes into view.
“Hmm?”
However, today, a carriage was parked in front of the apartment.
Was it just a carriage to pick someone up? It was probably called by someone living in the apartment.
“You’re finally back, brother!”
As I was thinking that and passed by, a woman with chestnut-colored hair called out to me from the apartment doorway entrance.
“……Ilya, huh.’
The person who suddenly called out to me was my sister.
Twenty years have passed since then and Ilya is now twenty-five years old.
Her hair, tied up in two braids, had grown to her waist and was curled at the ends.
Like our mother, she was tall, and she had grown into a mature, stylish woman.
And of course, unlike me, Ilya is properly married and now the mother of a child.
“You came here on you own?”
From the looks of it, she didn’t use the family carriage.
The Louren family mansion isn’t that far from the Royal Capital, but it’s far too careless for a noblewoman to be out on her own.
“I came here in that carriage. Gilliam is inside.”
As Ilya explained this, an elderly man came out of the carriage and bowed.
He is a butler who works in our mansion and also serves as a guard.
“Why did you purposely come here by a public carriage?”
There was no need to go out of the way to pay for a carriage when there was already one at the mansion.
“Because if we had come here in the family carriage, brother would have sensed it and escape.”
“…………”
Am I some kind of prey animal or something?
But it’s true that if the carriage with the family crest had actually come, I would have without a doubt, just turned around.
As usual, my little sister is wise about these fine details.
“So what do you need me for?”
“I don’t need you for anything. The letter for the dinner party! It’s been sent many times, hasn’t it?”
“Ah, there was something like that.”
A dinner party to get the family together. Such events are regularly held at our mansion.
“I’m not going.”
Even though I got a place on my own because I liked being alone, why can’t I go without attending something like a dinner party?
“No. We’re going together.”
I was about to pass by her side and into the entrance when Ilya grabbed me by the arm.
“I said I’m not going, right? I’m busy with work right now.”
“You’ve been turning us down with that excuse for a year, you know? Show your face every now and then. Mother is especially worried. Father told me that to make sure I bring you along this time.”
Mmm, I didn’t expect my mild-mannered father would say that much.
“Everyone in the mansion is worried about Young Master Zirc. Could we not have even a little bit of your time?”
Following up was Gilliam with a request.
Having taken care of me since I was young, It’s hard to refuse Gilliam.
“……Got it. I’ll go, so please stop calling me ‘Young Master.”
I’m already twenty-eight years old. In the eyes of Gilliam, I might still be a child, but at a good age like this, it was a bit embarassing.
“Thank you very much, Master Zirc.”
After I said that in resignation, Gilliam happily laughed as he corrected himself.
Hmph, even though I was planning to have grilled fish for tonight’s dinner tonight, it’s all ruined.
“I’ll take a bit to get ready, so wait for me in the carriage.”
“Eh? Isn’t brother’s home right here? Just let me in.”
I headed for the entrance and Ilya tried to follow me.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because my rule is to allow strangers in my home.”
A home is a place where you can spend time alone, where you can cut off all relationships and stress, a sanctuary.
Given that, why must I allow strangers into my home?
“Stranger? I’m family, you know!?”
“Even family. Especially you who once entered my room without permission and destroyed my magic tools and treasure tools, so you’re banned.”
In the past, Ilya once came into my home, touched and broke a treasure tool I kept in my room.
It was my fault for not taking safety precautions, but she almost blew up the room.
For Ilya only, who had the habit of touching people’s things without asking, I’ve made up my mind to never let her enter my place.
“Because of that, wait for me in the carriage.”
Informing her in a tone that wouldn’t allow any refusal, I unlocked the door to the entrance and went inside.
After watching her blank expression until she was out of sight, I went up the stairs to my room.
“That was over fifteen years ago, wasn’t it! What do you mean banned, you–!”
Then I heard such a sharp voice from outside.
Sister of mine, you’re bothering the other people living in the apartment, so please stop meaninglessly yelling.
◆
After temporarily returning to my room to get ready and clean up, I then rode with Ilya and Gilliam in the public carriage to the Louren mansion.
“Hey, Zirc! It’s been a year, hasn’t it? Have you been well?”
As soon as I entered the mansion, I was welcomed by my father, Lesta.
He was over fifty years old, and though there were parts of him that showed his age, he was still very energetic.
His black-rimmed glasses and gentle smile are the same as they’ve always been.
“It’s just a year, nothing’s changed.”
Especially since the Solitary God gave me a healthy body.
I haven’t once laid in bed with a cold or ever fallen sick like my previous life. It was only obvious that I would be well.
“I guess so. Zirc’s just like your mother, no matter how old you get, you’re still youthful.”
“Father, I know you surely have a lot to talk about, but please, continue in the dining room.”
“Ah, yes, that’s right. Well, the others are waiting for us, shall we go?”
Lesta, who sounded like he was going to speak until who knew when, was scolded by Ilya, so we finally moved to the dining room.
Although it has been a year, the inside of the mansion has hardly changed.
Only the carpet on the floor was new and the positions of furniture had been moved.
Stepping on the carpet with threads that were so soft that it felt as though your shoes were sinking in, we walked down the corridor until we came to two wooden doors.
Gilliam and a maid who was waiting for us opened them and we entered the dining room.
“You’re late, Zirc.”
It was my mother, Mira, who called out to me with a sour look on her face as soon as we entered the room.
Although she was in her fifties and one year younger than Lesta, she hadn’t really aged.
Her hair is not as long as it used to be, it’s now about semi-long, but her blue hair is still beautiful.
No matter how you looked at her, she appeared to be in her early thirties.
Maybe she’s succeeded in developing a magic tool to prevent ageing? I can’t help but have such suspicions because of her youthfulness.
“If you call me all of a sudden, it’ll take time.”
“Surely I mentioned way in advance through my letter that we would be having dinner today, didn’t I?”
“You know brother, if I hadn’t gone to pick him up, he was planning to not come again. I mean, just listen, mother! Even though I went all the way to the Royal Capital to find him, brother–“
Ilya sat next to mother and began to exaggerate.
It’s definitely her grumbling about how I wouldn’t let her into my place, so it’ll be best for me to ignore it.
“Zirc!”
As I sat, a man with silver hair and glasses called out to me in a friendly manner.
“Ludwig, you’re here too?”
“‘I’m here too’, you’re saying, it’s a family dinner party, so it’s only natural I show up, right?”
An alchemist who I worked together with on something related to materials, a business associate, and now also Ilya’s husband.
Ludwig kept grumbling about how he wanted a lover, so I introduced him to my sister, things progressed rapidly, and before I knew it, we had become a family.
Though Ludwig was from a baron’s family, so I hadn’t actually expected them to get together.
“Don’t put on a show just because mother is here. Despite you also finding this bothersome.”
“W, what are you saying, Zirc? That’s not the case at all. Stop talking nonsense.”
When I revealed what Ludwig was really thinking, he laughed it off as a joke.
And yet the other day, you were complaining that the dinner party was troublesome.
He wants to play the good husband because mother is here.
Marriage adds to your family and makes relationships more annoying.
This is another evil of marriage.
“Look, Sera’s happy to meet Uncle Zirc, isn’t she?”
Ludwig, perhaps wanting to change the subject, waves at the person sitting opposite him.
There was a girl with silver hair just like Ludwig sitting on the chair.
She is Ludwig and Ilya’s daughter, Sera. Four years old this year, I believe.
Sera turned her bright green eyes toward me and said,
“Uncle, who are you?”
“…………”
“Ahahahaha! Zirc doesn’t show his face often, so Sera’s forgotten about you, hasn’t she?”
My father, who had been watching us, burst out laughing.
“Hey, hey, brother. For the sake of the cute Sera, introduce yourself.”
“Tell me.”
I wonder if this is payback for earlier.
Ilya, who’d been spitting out complaints to my mother, said with a smile.
…….This was why I didn’t want to come to this dinner party.
In front of the gazes of many people, I was made to introduce myself to a four year old girl.
–