Chapter 75: It’s lonely...
It was 5 AM in the early morning.
I was facing Lucian-san in front of her house in the misty morning air that had just begun to rise.
When Lucy returned, she said it would be embarrassing, so I had decided to return to [Suzuya] early.
She wasn’t hiding anything — she just said it was embarrassing to suddenly bump into me without an introduction.
Lucian-san smiled while her cheeks were slightly flushed, and I smiled back in return.
From the front, Lucian-san lightly hugged me with a soft "posu" sound, looked up at my face, and said,
"Please call me by my name again."
"Lucian-san... I’ll call you that from now on, as many times as I want. Lucian-san."
"Raide-san... chu, fuu, nnn, fuun... chupa, hau, nhaa..."
"...Then I’ll be going."
I wrapped both arms around her back, pulled her close, and savored the sensation of her huge breasts pressing against my chest while kissing her lips.
I kissed the slightly melted expression on Lucian-san’s face and said goodbye.
I started walking toward [Suzuya].
Because it was still so early, there were no passersby, and the fresh air felt wonderful.
After walking for a while, a slightly warm wind brushed my face.
I walked with a wry smile and muttered,
"Chale?"
"Fufu, good morning."
"Good morning... Your signal is cute."
"Fufufu, were you planning to seduce me too?"
"That’s not the case at all."
I gave a troubled, wry smile at Chale’s words and scratched the back of my head with one hand.
Chale said in a slightly laughing voice, "Just kidding," and then in a serious voice continued,
"This is a report. We have captured Baron Tegagusa."
"...So he was involved?"
"Yes. That’s right. Baron Deus is also being interrogated at the royal castle right now."
From the fire incident, several suspicious people had been captured. When they were questioned, it turned out they had been acting on Baron Deus’s orders.
Using that as evidence, we summoned Baron Deus to the royal castle for interrogation.
Once he was summoned, the power of the magic bag the butler had given us would take effect.
Chale explained in an enjoyable voice that the endless interrogation was now overwhelming Baron Deus.
"...But..." she let out a small sigh, and her voice became tired,
"We still haven’t found out where Baron Abonano is."
"...Did he run away?"
"Probably... but he shouldn’t have anywhere to run to."
"Hm..."
I kept walking without stopping and folded my arms while thinking.
If someone relied on money, the people they depended on were usually the dangerous ones.
But in the royal capital, you didn’t hear much about dangerous people.
That meant the capital’s peace was still maintained... on the surface.
Among the dangerous people I had involved myself with, if I had to pick one, I had a few suspects.
But because they were on a large scale, I couldn’t tell if any of them were the right ones.
With a serious expression, I muttered to Chale,
"The Dwarven Trading Company... they haven’t been dissolved yet, right?"
"Eh? Yes, I heard the former president is on a business trip..."
"At the time of Lucy and her family’s kidnapping, a Dwarven Trading Company carriage was used. Also... there’s money."
"But the Dwarven Trading Company investigation has already concluded."
"...The branch in the neighboring country of Saginis too?"
"...What do you mean?"
When the scale reached that of the Dwarven Trading Company, it was normal to have branches in various cities and even other countries.
Of course, since the investigation had been completed, they would have contacted those places.
But what about a country that had lost a war and was still in the process of reconstruction?
Normally they would be too busy with their own country, but what if the Dwarven Trading Company that was providing reconstruction aid had been plotting something?
Also, the former president of the Dwarven Trading Company wouldn’t have known nothing.
They were only being left alone because no evidence had come out.
If the Dwarven Trading Company was connected to the dark side of neighboring country Saginis, it made sense that Lucy and her family were frequently attacked in the capital.
If the Dwarven Trading Company had been providing an escort into the capital...
I explained it to Chale, and there was a brief silence.
"Baron Abonano... has he fled to neighboring country Saginis?"
"We don’t know for sure, but a country that lost a war and is still moving dark-side figures... it wouldn’t be strange to suspect them."
"...That’s true. It’s possible. But the investigation shows that the Saginis branch was involved in the war and collapsed."
"Would you mind investigating the employees at that branch?"
"...The employees?"
At Chale’s serious voice, I gave a wry smile.
In this world, you could open or close a store simply by filing the proper documents with the country.
You would go to the location with someone from the country, conduct a joint inspection, and receive approval.
Unlike in my previous world, you didn’t have to report how many people worked there, how the contracts were made, or how much the annual salary was.
You simply had to pay taxes to the country and operate so you wouldn’t get caught.
In other words, I had no idea exactly how many employees were registered at any given store.
"You could look up the employee registration records and see how many are missing... if you had them."
Chale must have understood what I was trying to say, because she let out a small, tired sigh with a wry smile.
As [Suzuya] came into view, I decided that next time I would make sure Chale got to eat steak too.
She had only known me for a short time, but she was working too hard.
"I’ll look into the Dwarven Trading Company employees... Unfortunately, registration records are probably slim."
"Don’t push yourself. Now that we’re this close, it would be lonely if you disappeared."
"...Haa, that’s the kind of person I am? I’ll let the others know. Goodbye."
At Chale’s words, I gave a troubled, wry smile and scratched the back of my head again.
...That wasn’t what I meant at all.
I opened the door to the living space of the inn and ran straight into Nimi, who had just woken up.
Her hair was still loose, so the braids I had made earlier were still visible.
When Nimi saw my face, she smiled apologetically.
I understood what she wanted to say and approached her with a gentle smile.
I wrapped both arms around her back from the front and hugged her tightly. Nimi returned the hug by wrapping both arms around my back.
When she looked up at me, I lowered my face and gave her a light kiss on the lips.
When I pulled back, Nimi smiled a little awkwardly and said,
"You... heard my ’please,’ didn’t you?"
"If it’s Nimi’s wish, I’ll hear it. I would have done the same even if you hadn’t said ’please.’"
"Ugh... Nn, chu, nnn, fuun, chua... Haa, haa, it’s still... morning, right?"
"Because Nimi is so attractive."
After giving her a deep kiss and pulling back, I spoke the words that would stop her from melting.
At those words, I gently combed through Nimi’s silky back hair with one hand and smiled while answering.
At my words, Nimi’s cheeks flushed and she gave a melted smile. She squeezed me tighter.
My chest was being pressed against by Nimi’s huge marshmallow breasts, which changed shape and gave me a pleasurable sensation.
I took Nimi to the table and seated her sideways on my knee.
I wrapped one arm around her neck and kissed her gently while she looked at me.
Since today was the tavern’s rest day, we chatted happily about what we wanted to do.
Then Nimi gave me a mischievous little smile and said something that made me give a wry smile.
That’s how it was.
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