Hiiro: 「……Oi, what’s the meaning of this?」

Currently, Hiiro had just returned to the inn where he was staying at. Eveam had told him that because the 『Gabranth』 had unanimously retreated back to their country, they would be capable of somehow dealing with the rest by themselves. As Eveam had asked Hiiro to wait because she would contact him upon the completion of the process, Hiiro had returned. Yet……

For some reason, in his very own room, there were two strangers that Hiiro had neither conversed with nor looked directly at before. One of them was currently occupying the bed he slept in. The other was currently treating the wounds sustained by their body with healing magic.

Even though he could not see them well, Hiiro knew them. The two strangers were two of the four heroes. Although he couldn’t remember their names, Hiiro was not mistaken. Why were these two here? Also, what happened to the other two? He began to make an inquiry towards the one that had created this situation.

Hiiro: 「Give me an explanation, Baka-Deshi(1).」

He grabbed Nikki by the neck in a manner similar to lifting up a cat.

Nikki: 「Uu~(2) Please forgive me desu zoo~(3). I forgot to mention it desu zoo~」

The one who was floating in midair dejectedly was Nikki. As she saw that, Mikazuki merrily laughed. 「Ba~ka Ba~ka, you got scolded~」(4). Although Hiiro heard Mikazuki say this almost as if cursing Nikki, he simply ignored it for now.

From what Nikki said, at the time when Hiiro returned from the conference location, Nikki felt that they had something important that they had to communicate to Hiiro. Yet, due to an exchange with Mikazuki, Nikki appeared to have completely forgotten about it.

As he received Nikki’s explanation as to how this situation had come about, Hiiro involuntarily began to hold his temples.

Hiiro: 「I see. That would mean that as they were caught up by the tornado user’s attack, the other two were sent flying, huh?」

Shinobu: 「A-ano(5), Okamura-cchi?」

Hiiro: 「Shut up for a bit.」

Shinobu: 「Ah……un(6).」

As Hiiro flatly cut off Akamori Shinobu who was trying to enter the conversation between him and Nikki, Shinobu, who had seen and understood that Hiiro was in a foul mood, remained silent.

Hiiro: 「What happened to Aka-Loli?(7)」

Nikki: 「Ah, about that. As she said she was going to go and pick up the Hentai(8) group, she went away somewhere desu zo!」

Hiiro: 「……haa, this is really a pain.」

Although it seemed like she was going to pick up her companions that haven’t come back yet, it was no different than just running away because she didn’t want to deal with babysitting Nikki and Mikazuki.

As he scratched his head while expressing grief, Hiiro sent his gaze towards the one sleeping in his bed, Minamoto Shuri. Following this, he spat out a light sigh before directing his face towards Shinobu. She returned his gaze with uneasy eyes.

Hiiro: 「As it can’t be helped now I’ll lend you the bed. Just get out once it becomes night, alright?」