CH 22

“I’m off then. Be good children.”

I pat Nina and Stella on the head as they come to see me off at the door.

“Have a nice day, papa!”

“Be careful oto-san”

“Oh, I forgot something!”

From inside the house, Ariamel comes running with a lunch box.

“Oh, sorry, thank you.”

“No, please be safe.”

“Okay. Ah, Iska, Fio.”

After saying that, I immediately called out to the two who were wielding handmade wooden swords.

“Yes, take care, Gray-san.”

“You’ll have to teach me your magic sometime.”

“…Before that, you two should be able to read. Swords and magic will come after that.”

“”Ugh…””

The two are depressed. But if it’s letters, Ariamel could teach them, and it would give the three of them a chance to talk to each other.

“Ratz you too, say hi to that cat for me.”

When I called out to Ratz, who was crouching in front of a stray cat basking in the sun, he turned to me and nodded.

It is so luxurious to go out like this with my children seeing me off. It’s worth more to me than any fancy food or jewels… I feel like I can do anything to preserve this life.

This is the power of fatherhood…!

I arrive at the adventurer’s guild and open the door.

“Gray”

When I went to see the requests as usual, I was approached by Emilia.

“Good morning, sorry about last night.”

“It’s okay, I know you guys were worried about me.”

Then I looked behind Emilia and saw Kasha waving her hand.

The other members of the “War Maidens” also looked at me and reacted in various ways, waving their hands and turning their faces away.

In case you are wondering, “War Maidens” is a party that Emilia and Kasha started up after our party was disbanded, so I don’t know much about the members who have been around for a long time, let alone those who have just recently joined.

I know that they don’t like me very much…or rather, they’re scared of me. There are members who don’t even make eye contact.

“Gray, hello, buoy.”

“Hmm? Oh.”

One of the initial members of the “War Maidens” who talks to me is Archer Harsalia, an elf archer. She always has sleepy eyes and is, in a word, a strange lady, but for some reason she is not afraid of me at all (important).

“Go ahead, leader…. Everyone’s waiting.”

“Ah, yes.”

“You just came back yesterday, so you already have a request?”

“No, I’ve been summoned by the lord of this city today. He wants to ask me some questions about the ‘Garden of Flowers’ dungeon. I don’t know why he called all the members.”

“I see…”

However, the story of the dungeon that was not explored until now … honestly, I’m also interested.

“Hmm? Maybe you’re interested too?”

“Well”

Dungeons are romantic.

“I-I see! Then next time,after a long time… let’s..go out..to eat.”

“If you don’t care about the leader, Kasha will get angry.”

“Ah…yes…Gray again…”

“Bye-bye, Gray.”

“Oh, oh”

Emilia is being pulled by Harsalia. It’s been like this since yesterday, this is the leader of the party closest to S rank…

…Will you accept the request?

“Are you on good terms with the ‘War Maidens’, Gray-san?”

“Oh? What’s this all of a sudden…”

Sasha was not there today, so I had no choice but to take the request form to Melinda’s counter and she asked me something I didn’t quite understand.

“No, Emilia and the others came down from the second floor yesterday and asked me about Gray-san. They were talking about something earlier too, weren’t they?”

…They don’t usually ask about such private things. Sasha would never ask.

“Emilia and Kasha are old friends.”

“Heh”

If I say I’m a former party member, this lady is definitely going to ask a lot of questions.

“Are you done? See you.”

Melinda still wanted to ask something, but gave up because she had to deal with the guy in line behind me.

Well, the reason why I disbanded the party I used to have isn’t a big deal, but it’s not something I’d willingly tell people.