Stranger's Handbook

Chapter 41: She Came!?

The young lady arrived.

The spirit’s words carried such a destructive power that I returned to sobriety in but an instant.

Where is she!? Just where is the young lady? Did she see me surrounded by women?

I turned my head around only to see the spirit floating lightly towards me, alone. I desperately searched my surroundings for the young lady’s aura, my stomach hurting already.

Just where in the world is she?

(Wooow, Master, such a terrific amount of magical power!)

The spirit was clapping her hands, her eyes shinning brilliantly….Damn her carefree nature; she doesn’t understand a thing about people’s feelings.

“Spirit, do you know where she is?”

I approached her and put her on my shoulder, I brushed her hair, then asked.

She loves to be carassed, but this is also effective in making her talk honestly.

As usual, she narrowed her eyes like a cat.

(The young lady just passed one of the villages on the way here. She does seem to be in a hurry, however.)

The spirit answered nonchalantly.

Oi….You said ‘She arrived’, didn’t you?

“Listen, spirit, in that case you must say she’s on her way here. When you say ‘she arrived’ that means she is already here somewhere, you know?”

(!? Is that so? Words are really difficult, Master.)

…….Really? Did she only make a mistake or did she do it on purpose?

Damn, all my drunkness is gone.

My body loose, I returned to the party ground…..

“Zest-sama, what happened all of a sudden? Is everything all right?”

A woman knight asked, seemingly worried.

“Nothing happened. I just felt this kid’s presence…..and I went to get her.”

With big eyes, the woman knight looked at the spirit on my shoulder.

“Is that the spirit-sama?……..We…We are meeting for the first time…”

The woman knight lowered her head and the spirit brushed her hair gently.

‘There, there.’

Astonished, the woman raised her head, but all she saw was the big, bright smile on the spirit’s face.

The next moment, the woman knight was smiling broadly too.

“So….So cute!”

When she heard she was called cute, the spirit was very happy, she smiled ever brighter than before and started to be playful.

When it comes to this, no one can resist her; this was the moment when the woman fell completely under the spirit’s charm.

Since I’ve lost the willpower to enjoy the company of the women, I left the spirit in their care and went to where the men soldiers were.

Kyaaa……

A scream could be heard.

It seems the spirit arrived at where all the other women soldiers were.

Sweets were piled up in the shape of a mountain, and they all took turns to feed the spirit.

The woman from before was keeping the spirit in her hands, placed together to form some sort of a chair.

By looking at the woman’s face, I was sure she didn’t use her both hands because the spirit was heavy. Her face was flushed and she smiled delightedly…..

I’ll just leave them alone.

“Hey, are you still drinking?”

I arrived at the place where the guys were, but they seemed to have already finished their drinks.

“Zest-sama! You’re damn late!”

“Oi, don’t talk like that to the 1st Rank-sama……”

Smiling, I answered the soldier who blamed his colleague.

“It’s a putting-asside-rank-party. I won’t complain for something this little. In fact, I do this a lot with the black knights, after training. We often go out drinking.”

I drank up all the sake that came pouring in large quantities.

“Here, my treat! You can still drink, right?”

I grinned and the soldiers started to laugh.

“Ha ha ha, aren’t you just talk, 1st Rank?”

“Generally speaking, I might be, but I won’t joke around about this with my war buddies. Don’t make fun of the Frontier Count’s Household, you fool.”

All the soldiers fell silent.

What? Did drunkness get the best of you already?

“Why do you all make faces like you’ve seen a woman changing her clothes? Is the sake not enough? Are the snacks not enough? Wait a second.”

I caught a maid and asked for more sake and snacks; she smiled sweetly and nodded in acceptance.

Ah, it was the maid I healing earlier today.

She prepared everything in awfully high spirits.

This is good, since the soldiers would have never gotten another round of drinks and food otherwise.

“Look, the supplements are here! And such a beautiful woman prepared them for you. I guess there’s no coward here who would leave enything behind, right?”

“Wahaha, you’re the best, 1st Rank.”

“This is great, we didn’t have enough.”

“Oi, don’t eat the meat.”

“This sake is better than the one from before.”

“1st Rank, I want to drink some expensive sake!”

“The maid was suddenly nicer, don’t you think?”

“1st Rank, let me hug you!”

………Ha?

“I’m definitelly not into hugging guys!! Oi, who said that? Bring him out! I’ll turn him into a woman.”

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

“Ha ha ha, oi, hold him down!”

“Don’t run away, it’ll only hurt more!”

” ” ” “Gahahahahaha” ” ” ”

And so, with everyone in high jinks, the party was approaching its ending.

Only one person was rolling on the ground naked, but it couldn’t have been helped.

I’m not interested in gay dudes. When it comes to self-defense, I can’t be anything but strict.

Finally, the party was over late at night.

Spoiled by the women soldiers, the spirit was in very high spirits. I placed her on my shoulder and returned to my room.

I entered the bathroom in order to take a long and relaxing bath, when my master came.

It was very rare for him to visit this late at night……Ah! Maybe it’s about the young lady.

Since it was rude to go meet him wearing a bathrobe, I decided that I’d go out after I’d change into some proper clothes.

When I entered the waiting room, my master was drinking tea.

The one looking after him was the usual old…..urm…’young’ maid.

“Sorry to have made you wait, master. Did something happen?”

“Sorry for this late visit, Zest. You did a good job at the training grounds earlier today. Haha, I heard you even treated their wounds. The maids were making a huge fuss about it.”

My master was all smiles.

Hm? Even though there’s a maid here, he’s still in his ‘papa’ mode……

“Thank you. I only treated them because the opportunity showed up, it wasn’t a big deal.”

I drank some tea too.

Why is my master in his ‘papa’ mode despite other people than family being around?……Was the meeting too exhausting for him?

I looked at him questioningly, at which point his smile grew even bigger.

What? Just what’s going on?…..

“Well, well, did you figure it out? As expected, your judgement is really something else. You are truly excellent, which makes me very happy to have you as son-in-law.”

My master said, then started to laugh.

I have a ……very bad…..feeling.

He laughed for a while, then turned serious and began to talk.

“You do know her, right? I came here because I thought I should properly introduce her to you.”

My back was drenched in sweat.

Please….Just, please, let me be wrong…..

“She is the daughter of the Frontier Count and my wife, Lamia. She is Bea’s mother, which makes her your mother-in-law.”

I tried my very best to keep my consciousness from fading away.

I….gently brushed the hair of…..my mother-in-law…..

I’m disqualified from being human….I deserve to die…..