Reincarnated as an Instructor in an Adult Game

Chapter 89: 4 Years

I princess-carried Foria while jogging toward Suzuya.

Just as Suzuya came into view, a voice called out from behind and I stopped.

"Hah... hah... Instructor Raide!"

"Roy..."

Roy was carrying a girl on his back and approached while breathing heavily.

The girl had short white hair very similar to Foria’s.

Her name is Sync, Foria’s younger sister and one of the four in the harem.

When Roy reached me, sweat dripping from his forehead, he smiled and spoke.

"Instructor Raide! I was just heading to Suzuya!"

"Shall we talk while walking?"

Roy nodded at my words and started walking beside me.

He had gone out through the city gate on Seventh Street and was doing sword training.

He had originally planned to invite Lucy, Serin, and Rulen, but stopped when he heard the three of them were having tea.

He had been training since morning and his stomach was starting to feel empty, so he stopped training and headed for the gate to enter the royal capital.

That was when he found Sync sitting slumped against the outer wall of the gate.

She didn’t respond when he called out, and he couldn’t just leave her, so he was heading to Suzuya to ask for my help.

He explained that he spotted me and called out.

I looked at Roy walking beside me and smiled.

"Good decision."

"Thank you!"

As Suzuya came into view, I saw several people standing in front of Erika’s house.

Waiting outside were Erika, Elysia, Nimi, and the three adventurer girls keeping watch around them.

As Roy and I approached, Satour walked over and peered worriedly at Foria’s face.

Foria seemed to notice Satour and glanced at her for a brief moment.

But she immediately returned to staring expressionlessly at the sky. Seeing this, Satour looked at me.

I nodded to Satour with a serious face. Satour returned a serious nod with a worried expression and went back to keeping watch.

While walking back to her position, Satour noticed Sync and made a pained face.

Erika stepped forward, so I approached her and spoke with a serious expression.

"Sorry for the sudden visit."

"It’s fine..."

"Erika, I’ll call Merinu."

"I’ll prepare some warm soup."

"Please do, Mother, Nimi."

Elysia and Nimi, who had looked at Foria’s condition from either side of Erika, immediately moved with serious expressions.

They probably couldn’t see it as someone else’s problem.

I glanced at Sync on Roy’s back, and Erika checked on Sync’s condition.

Erika stroked Sync’s hair and smiled at Roy.

"Well done, Roy."

"I couldn’t leave her. Besides, I don’t think it’s an achievement."

Roy spoke to Erika with a serious face. Hearing this, Erika smiled wryly and glanced sideways at me.

He had simply done what was natural, which is why he said it wasn’t an achievement.

I returned a wry smile to Erika as Merinu and the maids came out of Erika’s house. We entrusted Foria and Sync to them.

They would take care of the two at Erika’s house, and Erika asked us to wait in the inn’s living area.

Roy and I looked at each other, nodded, and I replied "Understood" to Erika.

Then, in front of the now-empty Erika’s house, Roy muttered.

"Her eyes..."

"Hm?"

"The real reason I couldn’t leave her was those eyes."

"..."

"Those eyes... are no good. Eyes that should never be made."

"You did well bringing her here. You can be proud. You weren’t wrong, Roy."

At my words, Roy looked at me and nodded with a serious expression.

I placed one hand on Roy’s shoulder, smiled, and gestured with my hand for him to follow me to the inn.

When we reached the inn entrance, a loud voice came from inside the tavern, so I looked toward the tavern entrance.

"Mooooooore, she’s so cuuuuute!!"

"Lea nee-sama! If you cling to me I can’t carry her!"

"Fuaaaaaaan!!"

I was smiling wryly at the voices of Croana and Lea coming from the tavern when the inn entrance opened.

I turned my gaze there and saw Fia with a glossy smile, looking at Roy and me as she spoke.

"I heard from Nimi. I’ll brew some tea. ...Ah, I’ve properly gotten permission to enter the house, okay?"

"I’m not doubting you, thank you. Have you and Nimi gotten so close already?"

"Fufufu, it’s because you love us all equally."

"...I see."

I rubbed the back of my neck with one hand to hide my embarrassment at Fia, who tilted her head cutely while smiling seductively.

Roy bowed to the girl smaller than himself and introduced himself with a greeting.

He did not treat her like a child and handled Fia as one woman.

In response, Fia pinched the edges of the skirt of her black rose-imagery dress, spread it slightly, and gave an elegant greeting.

Then Fia shifted her gaze from Roy to me and smiled.

"As expected of your student."

"...He’s my proud student."

At our words, Roy blushed slightly in embarrassment.

We followed Fia into the living area, drank Fia’s tea, and chatted with Roy.

About an hour later, the entrance door opened and Erika and Satour came inside.

Erika greeted Fia, who smiled and began preparing tea.

She told us that Elysia, Nimi, and the maids were taking care of Foria and Sync.

Sitting across from the dining table where Roy and I were seated, Erika let out a small tired sigh.

"Foria... still needs more time. I was able to hear a little from Sync, so I’ll share it, okay?"

"...Please do."

"Yes..."

Erika smiled at our replies and began speaking.

The party Gulgirl had gone on an escort request to a nearby town.

The client was a baron, and his daughter had apparently fallen for the leader Grug and proposed to him.

In the baron’s story, he revealed that recently many local nobles have fallen into ruin, so Grug might be granted a peerage as part of filling numbers.

It is possible for adventurers to receive peerage, and some adventurers aim for that.

Upon hearing that, Grug accepted the engagement with the baron’s daughter almost instantly, whether he had thought about it or not.

The other two women besides Foria and Sync got angry and left the party. Foria and Sync questioned Grug.

Even so, Grug proceeded with the engagement, and Foria and Sync witnessed the two spending the night together.

From there, overwhelmed by shock, the two walked back to the royal capital without using a carriage.

Erika finished speaking, drank the black tea Fia had brewed, and Satour added with a pained expression.

"Foria and Sync have been with Grug since the party was formed five years ago. Both of them love Grug very much... They said they confessed many times over four years and have been waiting for an answer."

"Four years...?"

"...Yes."

Roy asked back in disbelief at Satour’s words.

I’m sorry, but I also find it hard to believe. Grug, the cool and excellent supporter in battle from the game.

I didn’t want to know that such a guy was actually indecisive and pathetic.

Grug’s battle support appears everywhere from early to mid to late game, and the good relationship in his harem even made players jealous.

I never thought he was the kind of guy who would make women show those eyes.

"Also... Foria and Sync’s home village was destroyed by a monster stampede. The survivors from that village are Foria and Sync, and the one who saved them was Grug."

"...So they have nowhere to return to except the royal capital where they based themselves?"

"Exactly, Instructor."

"Something like that..."

Roy looked down with an indescribable expression, clenching both hands on his lap.

I glanced sideways at Roy beside me and spoke to Erika with a serious face.

"I want to protect them for a while..."

"We’ve already made arrangements. Mother and Nimi said we must not take our eyes off them."

"...I thought so."

"I also agree with Mother and Nimi. We must not take our eyes off them."

After hearing Erika and Satour, the options of looking away or releasing them didn’t even come to mind.

And I have no intention of doing so.

If they have no place to work, they can become exclusive adventurers for Suzuya.

I want them to slowly heal their hearts and bodies and regain their energy.

As I sat with my arms crossed and a difficult expression, Fia began staring at the entrance.

I tilted my head at Fia’s action, and she looked at me with a serious face and spoke.

"It seems the man in question has arrived?"

"...Grug?"

"Probably... Right now Croana and Lea are talking with him in the tavern... You’re going, right?"

I stood up from my seat, grinned at Fia, and started walking toward the entrance.

Fia smiled wryly at my reaction, while Erika and Satour looked at each other and smiled wryly.

Roy also stood up and followed me with a serious expression — the face of a man who had made up his mind.

I stopped, looked at Roy with just my face, and spoke.

"Are you prepared and resolved?"

"Fully."

"...Shall we go?"

"Yes!"

Roy and I opened the entrance door and walked toward the tavern.

I heard the sound of Roy closing the door behind us.

I don’t know what reason he came to Suzuya for, but we have no intention of giving them back, Grug?

In the room where Raide and Roy had left, Erika sighed and smiled wryly.

Satour spoke to her with an amused laugh.

"That boy is really becoming like an instructor, isn’t he?"

"...He already is."

Erika replied tiredly to Satour’s words.

Fia laughed amusingly at Erika.

"Right, the atmosphere was similar to Raide’s... I almost laughed."

"Fia, it’s not funny."

"Oh, it’s fine. The future looks interesting, doesn’t it?"

"Please spare me..."