Hearing Noah, her face became hot and Hazel opened her mouth hastily.

“I-I didn’t know it was on my mouth.”

“It doesn’t matter as long as I’ll be the one noticing it.

He smiled with his eyes, and her heart immediately tightened.

‘…Is this an act, too, huh? Is that it?’

It was clear that he managed to hide his identity by mesmerizing her like that every time. Before, her heart only fluttered out of excitement, but now, her heart was beating so wildly that it could be considered a sickness.

…But anyway, the Choux was delicious.

“I could feel my tiredness melting away after eating something so sweet.”

Noah muttered while taking the remaining Choux in his hand to his mouth again.

“Should I help you train your stamina?”

“Huh, why?”

“My wife always had a hard time getting up every morning. You also couldn’t be woken up, and you’re often tired.”

At those words, Hazel blinked her eyes a couple of times, surprised to hear Noah’s words.

“…It’s not my fault.”

Noah raised his eyebrows and asked back.

“Then, was it because of me?”

“Of course…!”

“I didn’t do anything, though.”

His indifferent voice made her angry.

“Because you didn’t sleep until dawn! I also said I was already sleepy at that time!”

“That’s why I held it in.”

“…What? When?”

“I held it in because you said you were tired.”

He held it in…?

He was lying! This man was so different between day and night. As she thought so, Hazel stared at him again with suspicious eyes though Noah only smiled softly.

“So, what is the good news you want to tell me?”

“Ah.”

She realized that she had forgotten while eating the Choux.

“I got a report from Nigella today, and I have ten times more sales than last year! Including the rate of commission!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, I don’t think the expansion will be more than that. So, I’m thinking about hiring another employee.”

“An employee… Hazel, let me help you with that. I’ll give you a rascal like Nigella.”

I paused again at his words.

“…Rascal?”

“I mean, a person like Nigella.”

Hazel was surprised to hear his choice of words. Well, regardless, Nigella was indeed introduced by him, so she thought it wouldn’t make any difference if there were one more.

“Will you do that for me? Then, I’ll depend on you.”

“Of course.”

Moving the empty basket aside, she turned back to Noah again.

“I’m thinking of increasing the benefits of customers who chose us often. There are customers who only visit our guild every time. There is also an elite mercenary who helped us the most, and thanks to him, sales have risen.”

“Yes, so what do you want to do?”

“So, I thought I’d treat him to a meal.”

It was special because he was her first mercenary. He seemed a bit scary, but he had a good personality. He also finished requests so quickly and well that clients flocked to that mercenary.

“…Noah?”

“A meal?”

Even though he was smiling softly, the temperature in the carriage suddenly felt cold.

“Yes. It’s nothing, just a simple meal as a thank you.”

“…Just the two of you?”

‘Huh, why is it cold in the carriage?’

“Perhaps? It’s not like a company dinner either.”

Noah tapped his finger on his thigh.

“Darling, I don’t think that’s a very good way.”

“Why…?”

“My darling, because you’re smart, I think you can come up with a smarter way.”

Hmm?

Uttering so, he gently sweeping her hair and lightly smoothed her red hair that was at his fingertips.

Meanwhile, Hazel couldn’t help but flinched at the word darling and sat with her back straight. She couldn’t be fooled by that sweet word. This was a trap… it was a magical word that came out when Noah had to suppress something. Like when he didn’t like something, became jealous or was angry.

So to him, ‘darling’ was like calling Hazel Love by her full name.

…The word suddenly came out of his mouth today.

“Oh, hmm… th-that’s true, but he’s a high-ranking mercenary and only received requests from our guild…”

“Well, think again. Hazel.”

At that, she shut her mouth.

Noah moved his hand from her head to the tip of her chin while waiting for an answer and caressed it gently.

Oh, he must be jealous like before!

It was cute, so she just smiled and nodded at his words before. However, after finding out who he actually was, Hazel couldn’t just laugh casually again. In the past, even if she heard him, she didn’t think much of it.

Noah eventually followed her suggestion before.

But, in fact, this may have been a threat?!

Now that she thought about it… that may have been a threat, not jealousy. He might suddenly change his plan and kill her right away because he was offended. That must be it…!

Hazel hurriedly raised and clapped her hands.

“Ah, that’s right. It’s too much, isn’t it? It’s not even an interview, but it could be controversial to face the customer one-on-one! I should just ask the staff to raise the settlement rate a little bit. I think that would be great!”

When she glanced at him without realizing it, Noah, who approached and kissed her lips as if he liked her answer and smiled brightly.

“See, you can do it.”

“No, i-it’s all thanks to Noah.”

“What else should I help you with?”

“Hmm, I’ll tell you later if I need it. I don’t think I need any help now.”

Noah kissed her again as soon as she answered so.

“I see, but…”

“Huh?”

“What’s the name of the mercenary?”

Name? Why did he ask that…?

He rubbed her cheek gently again. It was ticklish.

“His name?”

“I was just curious because of what my wife said. He’s a wonderful person who made my wife smile.”

He didn’t need to care if it was for that simple reason…

“Oh, what’s his name? Go-gobi something. I need to look at the information properly. The name was quite difficult.”

Just in case, she glanced at Noah with muttering back.

“That’s fine.”

Noah said, changing the subject.

Eventually, the carriage stopped in the middle of an ordinary town—the market alley, to be exact. It was also a place full of shops. They used to go out into town once a week or every fifteen days and had a simple date like this.

As Hazel grabbed Noah’s hand and got out of the carriage, people around her immediately paid attention to them. However, their gazes disappeared in a few seconds, as always.

“There are a lot of people today, so you have to be careful.”

“I know. Come to think of it, the population is increasing in Ferrarium so it would be good to promote our mercenary guild.”

“Yes, that would be fine.”

“Then, how about having a simple office around here? They just need to check information or see requests, so I can employ a part-timer instead of a full-time staff.”

“That sounds great.”

“Well, is it really good?”

She asked, glancing at Noah slightly.

“Everything Hazel does is right. Just leave the hard work to me.”

“All right. I’ll think about it a little more.”

At his words, she nodded and glanced around while holding Noah’s hand. Originally, as soon as she entered the market, she would look for food first, but today she was full from the Choux, so she didn’t do that.

Instead, her eyes went to the large bulletin board standing at the entrance. This was because something was there to fill the huge bulletin board.

Noah naturally followed her eyes as she looked at it.

There were a lot of red letters that said, ‘Caution!’ Looking closely, the number of monsters in the northern and western regions were increasing, and since the area was expanding, travelers who went there needed special attention.

“North and West…”

This place could be reached from the southeast of Elkium, so they have to come all the way south from the Capital, Elkard. Because of that, they actually didn’t need to be warned though it couldn’t be easily overlooked.

The reason why Hazel moved here to Ferrarium was because it was as developed as the Capital, along with the cheap price and the sea.

Still, more importantly, it was the opposite of northern Sergal.

Northern Sergal was simply the most dangerous area in the original story. The final villain unsealed and regained his power in Sergal. Although his powers were still sealed, the day would come when he would threaten the main characters.

The reason why the current number of monsters was increasing was because of that influence.

Furthermore, when the number of monsters and followers with purple magic stones in their heads were increasing, it meant the time to release the seal was approaching. That was why she needed to submit her resignation quickly.

Was it due to her wanting to live? If they asked her that, she wouldn’t say no…

Anyway, the main characters would definitely beat the final villain in the original story and have a happy ending like the title.

…It all happened after Hazel Love died due to overwork.

So, it didn’t matter if the story started without her. Nonetheless, it was still a little worrisome… wait, come to think of it. Did Kairos Hadid go into hiding until that time came? Until then, he should’ve been bothering the two main characters…

Huh, shouldn’t Noah appear in front of the main characters as the villain?

There was really no way to identify Noah…

Thinking so, she turned her head and glanced up at him.

“Hazel?”

“I-I just stared at you because you’re handsome.”

Well, Kairos Hadid, the final villain, had resistance to poison, magic, and even black magic.

Those things wouldn’t work on him.

So she, who had the ability to beat even a few sword masters with magic, couldn’t do it to him… although she hadn’t tried it yet, though.

…Well, should she try it out?