小嫂子的味道

"So that means he is neither an enemy nor a friend, huh" Ellyn mumbled. "Then that makes him a suspicious figure."

"Yeah, I guess that\'s the best way to address him at the moment."

"Anyway, I appreciate the information," I added, looking at her. 

"Don\'t mention it. I will help you, and in return, you will protect me from my father. That\'s our deal, isn\'t it?" she mentioned. 

"Hmmm, from that I remembered. Where is your father right now? Did he make it into Havenreach?" I asked. 

"Yes…" she answered. "Although my current mother could not make it, he was the only one who arrived.\'

"Ah, my condolences."

"No, it\'s not a big deal. I\'m sure he\'ll get a new wife before too long," she said, and as those words left her mouth I could spot a bitter smile on her face. 

I waited and didn\'t say anything for a minute. The fire in front of us continued to burn, casting a golden and warm glow. 

"Huh?" a surprised voice left Ellyn\'s mouth on its own as if something she was never expecting just happened. 

"It\'s not going to be okay," I said as I rubbed her head. The "something-she-was-never-expecting" was me giving her a head pat. Her face instantly went red and she kept looking straight at me in surprise. 

"D-Don\'t people say that it\'s going to be okay in times like these?" she asked, finally snapping back to reality. 

"Yeah they do, but it never gets okay; things never get better just by thinking about it. That\'s why I\'m saying it\'s not going to be okay," I replied. 

"However, no matter how bad the situation gets for you, no matter how many times your father tries you kill you, even if an entire army of assassins comes after you. I will be there and I will protect you."

The redness of her cheeks increased and all of a sudden she averted her eyes. I pulled back my arm but still kept looking at her. 

"Y-Y-You didn\'t have to say it like that, idiot…I know you\'re going to protect me. That\'s…our deal after all," she said while blushing intensely while she tried not to look directly at me. 

\'Okay, so far so good. At least here everything\'s going good,\' I thought to myself. 

"No, even if our deal ended here I\'d still protect you since I\'m now aware of your situation. You don\'t have to worry about that," I stated. 

"H-Huh? A-Ah, I see," she replied while stuttering. 

"Hmm?" I said, looking at the scarf around my neck. "What a loss, I could\'ve wrapped this around you even if I didn\'t have a coat."

I took off my scarf and was going to offer it to her, however…

"I-I\'ll be going back now so there\'s no need for that! See you tomorrow," she said in a hurry, and after that, she rushed back down. 

"Sigh, it would\'ve been a little better if I got to wrap this around her," I mumbled to myself, looking at the scarf in my hand. 

\'Ah well, whatever, it\'s good enough as it is. Ever since I came back to Havenreach there\'s been problems after problems from every side. For once I was glad to see that with her everything was going fine.\'

"Now then, I should head back as well," I said and extinguished the fire in front. 

I wore my scarf back since the wind was strong and started heading back. 

\'Still, just as I thought; her hair WAS super soft, after all.\'

***

"How much is it?" I asked. 

"Ah, you don\'t have to pay for it."

"Why? Is there some kind of discount going on?" 

"No, that\'s not it. Are you a new student perhaps?"

"Yes."

"That explains it. You see, the students of Silver Garden Academy don\'t have to pay for anything they buy inside the academy campus."

"I see. That\'s how it is."

"Yes. You just have to show your student ID."

"Here, there you go."

"Hmmm. Yes, everything\'s good. Thank you," the girl behind the counter said, handing me the carry bag and my student ID card. 

After that, I turned back and began to walk toward the dorm buildings. It was pretty late at night right now so I was really grateful that the shopping district was still open. 

I mean, I\'d to attend classes from tomorrow but I had forgotten to buy the academy uniform—and I remembered it just when I was coming back after meeting with Ellyn. 

It couldn\'t have been helped since I was really busy but if by chance the shops had been closed it would\'ve caused real trouble for me in the morning. 

\'It is amazing though. This area is way bigger than Zaforths Academy,\' I said inwardly. 

At the moment I was in the shopping district of Silver Garden Academy. Which, of course, was built inside the academy campus. There were all sorts of shops here, whether it be clothing, food, cosmetics, medicines, magic items, or anything else you could think of. 

Basically, this was just like the shopping districts that were in the city but a mini version of that—although based on its size I wasn\'t sure if calling it a "mini version" was right or not. 

Afterward, I went back to the dorms and fortunately found my room without having to ask anyone for help. Since I had my own room now, I went back and brought back the stuff I\'d given Anya to keep which included the Requiem sword. 

She was sleeping at the time I arrived so I had to knock a few times and wake her up, though it ended up working out in the end. 

"Ahh~ Finally! I\'ve been kind of waiting for this," I said as I threw myself on the bed of my room. "This bed is so fucking soft and fluffy!" 

From tomorrow onwards I was going to attend the classes at this academy, not to mention it was class A. Along with that the rest of the academies have been combined so I was sure that I\'ll see some new students. 

And new students mean new problems. Back when I got into the Zaforths magic academy my plan was to live a slow life and not stand out at all. However, that plan went down the drain and I ended up abandoning that idea. 

It\'s not like I was going to blast a fireball right as I stepped inside the classroom, but if standing out a bit was going to help me avoid a bigger problem then I had no problem with that. 

\'Troubles are piling up again, huh…\' I thought to myself as I lay on the soft and comfortable bed. I closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was asleep.