Vol.5 Ch.97 - What the heck are they doing here?

“Stupid Issei… Stupid old man… Stupid, stupid, stupid!” I stomped aroundthe living room, forcefully rearranging the interior. “Just try and run, I dareyou! The fuck are you gonna do all alone, huh? Idiot…!”Trying to make sense of the situation, my inner most thoughts spilled outaccidentally. Issei wanted to go back home, that’s fine, but he should’ve toldme! I’m his friend, aren’t I? We could’ve figured out a way to accomplishthat together! And what kind of idiot trusts a random old man handing outquests in the ITA’s tavern? Must he always make my life so difficult?“Ugh, I completely trashed the room. Fuck, now I gotta clean this mess upbefore Marina shows up. Wait, did Marina know anything about Issei’s plan?Was she keeping it a secret from me? What else is she hiding?! FUCK!”Opting to throw the chair I just picked up instead of placing it back in itsrightful place, I once again began my rampage on the living room. After tiringmyself out (both mentally and physically), I realized just how bad I probablylooked when viewed from outside, so in order to drown my sorrows Idecided to whip out an bottle of Cardina brand alcohol I stashed away in thecloset. Just then-!“Happy!!” The doors slammed open, “Birthday!!” A girl clad in a maid dressran into me and tossed me to the bed behind us, “Master!!!”“W-Whoa there?! Marina, what are you wearing?!”Is this what she usually wears when she’s on the job?! Sweet Prylos, give mestrength…! No wait, does that mean Adam gets to see her like this all day?That sick bastard…! He’s hogging all the fun for himself!“Humu, since it’s your birthday, I thought I’d play a little prank on you~! So?What do you think? Pretty hot, right?”“Y-Ye…” I bit my tongue as I stuttered, “No wait, but more importantly, didyou walk all the way back home dressed like that?”Marina nodded bashfully, but that was actually a lie. In truth, she just changedback in the Grys Castle’s locker rooms as usual, walked back home in hercasual attire, then changed back right before she entered the house. Thisensured she wouldn’t get it dirty on the way to the house, which was of veryhigh importance. You wouldn’t want a dirty maid to go about cleaning thehouse now, would you?“Just relax and have some fun. I’m your present for today~”“S…”Stop! I wanted to shout, but she made sure to hush me with her index fingeron my lips. The act was seductive in nature, but I just had too many thingsgoing through my head to be able to notice. Pushing her off of me, I made sureto abruptly stop her advances.“What was that for?” She protested.“I should be asking you that myself!” I shot back, “You waltz in here wearingthat seductive as fuck dress, then just jump on me without giving me anycontext? Do you do this sort of thing with Adam too?!”“W-What!?” She jumped back, “Of course not! Adam’s my employer, nothingmore! How could you even begin to think such a thing?”“Because you’re wearing that thing in front of him for the entirety of the day!He’s definitely making you wear that to satiate his fetishes!”Marina, now realizing I was in a bad mood, immediately went ahead andasked if I was drunk again. Who does she think she is? I haven’t even taken asip of alcohol ever since we spent the night together!“I take it you weren’t happy with Issei’s present, then?” She askedbegrudgingly.“Wrong. I’m happy with the gift, but that asshole is dead to me.”“How is that even possible?”“He plans on leaving to go visit all the World Wonders. That prick heardfrom some random old man that that’s what’ll get him back to his homeworld.”Marina was now thoroughly confused, figures. I guess this means she didn’tknow about Issei’s plan at all either, which at least makes me happy thatshe’s not keeping anything from me. Well, I shouldn’t throw away the ideajust yet…“Some random old man? Never mind.” She tried to change the subject,“Well, if you don’t wanna fool around, wanna have a drink while we chatinstead then?”“A drink?” I asked.“Yeah, some dummy with a Purple Iro hid a bottle of Cardinal alcohol in ourcloset, so I figured he would get lonely if he drank it by himself.”This girl…! Ugh, whatever. We decided to tidy the place up just enough sowe could sit down and crack open the bottle. Sitting down, I noticed she hadlong since given up on trying to act all prim and proper with the maid act,and instead sat down in her usual slovenly style, indicating she just wanted tohave an honest chat with me.“Oh, by the way,” She started off the conversation, “What did you say thosefriends of yours were called? Y’know, the ones you told me you traveledwith all across your home country.”“That’s an odd thing to ask. But man, that sure brings me back…”“Hey! No time for dreamy flashbacks! C’mon, what were their names!”Whoa, why is she so adamant about this? Well, she’s being honest with me,so I don’t see the harm in being honest back.“Edward and Anna.” I said, “But that was a long time ago, like five or sixyears at least. I haven’t been writing to Anna at all ever since Ed and I leftfor the Kingdom of Carmen, and Ed’s probably back home with his parents.”“Well,” She smiled deviously, “There just so happened to pop up twointeresting individuals who fit the bill in terms of name and outer appearanceover at the castle today.”“…WHA-!” I leaned too far back on my seat and fell on my back.***These two… What are they doing here in Cardina?! Could they have foundout about me? No, no matter how you look at it, I barely get out of the innthese days, and the amount of contact with society I have is kept to aminimum to hopefully somewhat nullify the chances this very thinghappening! No, but wait, this is good news! I get to see them again! After solong! I have to get to the castle immediately!“Hold on there, buckaroo!” Marina grabbed the back of my collar right as Iwas leaving the house, “Where do you think you’re going?”“To see my friends?”“And what about Adam?”“What about him?”Marina groaned, as if she had predicted this very outcome from the start.After a while of heavily thinking of how to go about explaining this tosomeone like me, she finally took a deep breath and started listing off all thereasons.“First of all, Adam saw how Sol looks. If you just waltzed in there you’d beheld prisoner immediately.”“I can just tell him I was Lune all along.”“And what then?” She shot back, “Then he’ll either immediately report youto the ITA or just simply not care and keep you prisoner.”“But Anna and Ed…” The logic in my arguments was getting more and moreirrational.“They’ll look at you with the same gaze everyone else would after seeingsomeone they love and care for converting to a Purple Iro.”“…”“…”Ugh, I don’t wanna have to listen to her rambling, but it’s not like it isn’tsound advice. In fact, I’m sure I’d regret it later if I didn’t listen to her, so I’lljust accept the situation as is.“So what now?” I asked, “I just can’t see them at all?”“Right, well…” Marina thought up an idea for a second, “How about we doit like this? They’ll apparently be spending the night at the castle for a whileuntil they depart further into their journey, so how about I talk to them aboutwhat they’ve been up to, and then further relay that info to you?”“You’d do that for me?” I asked, as if looking at a Guardian Angel.“Humu, I’d do anything for the hopeless guy I fell in love with.”She’s a godsend! But wait, this is actually incredible news, now that I knowthat they’re safe, maybe we could hitch a ride with them once they leave theGrys’ care. Oh, but what are they even here for, if not for me? Eh, I’ll haveMarina ask them about it.“So,” Marina took another sip of the alcohol, “Are those two like, goingout?”“?”Where’d she get that? Those two are like siblings at best, I doubt either ofthem would be dumb enough to break that bond they share in favor of aromantic one.“They aren’t?” I took another swig of my alcohol.“Whoa! Calm down there, don’t wanna drink too much too fast! The peopleat the castle say that really messes you up!” She warned before continuingher thought, “But really, them being anything but a couple really makes nosense! I mean, that Ed guy just told me to ‘Prepare a change of sheets’ in themorning, because they’ll be sleeping in the same room. Now that’s a boldstatement, am I right?”“What? No, then that can’t be Ed. The Ed I know is shy and meek, if he daredsay that to Anna, then her grandpa would hang him on a cross.”“Oh, right, they mentioned something about that grandpa of hers. Apparentlyhe’s sick and they’re here to find a cure for him or something.”“…Couldn’t have told me that sooner?”“Sorry! Looks like the alcohol is getting to me a bit as well! I’m soforgetful~!”That’s… not funny. Not at all, I mean, Arthur’s sick? That’s news to me. Andhad I not mentioned Arthur, you wouldn’t even think to tell me, is that it? Ugh,I need another glass… But she’s probably just being cold like that becauseshe wants to be considerate of me, so I should probably act calm too.“Shame.” I said as I took another swig.“Whoa, isn’t that kind of rude? Aren’t you close with him? Geez, and you’redrinking too much again!”What? You’re gonna make me out to be the bad guy even though I wasreading the room? Ugh, annoying bitch… And this alcohol is too quick todrink, I need another glass!“Oh no you don’t!” She took the half-drunk bottle out of my reach, “That’senough for tonight! You clearly can’t handle your booze just yet!”“Hey, I was drinking that!” I tried to take it away from her, but she stoppedme from getting close by shoving her foot on my face.I could easily juke her out, given the difference in our battle prowess, but Iwas getting really tipsy from the alcohol, and my footing was all over theplace.“Y’know, instead of just drinking that alcohol like a selfish loser all byyourself, how about we gift the bottle to those two lovebirds, instead?”“Ngh, fine!” I backed off for now, ”But just to make this one thing clear,they’re not lovebirds! ”“Humu, we’ll see~! And besides, how would you know that anyways?”“Well, there was this one time when Ed injured his leg in Springwood, so wehad to pick him up from the clinic…”Talking about that old anecdote, I noticed she was staring directly into myeyes. But this wasn’t her usual hateful gaze towards the color of my pupils,but rather a warm and gentle one, as if to say I’m all ears!“Phahahahaha! What’s up with that? He really declared that in front of hergrandpa?”“Heh, well, he didn’t know she and him were related. Honestly, if youmentioned it to him tomorrow, I’d assume he would still remember thatmoment vividly.”“Yeah,” She added, “Too bad I can’t. If I told him I knew about that, he’dquickly find out about you, so let’s just keep everything all nice and hiddenfor now.”“Right.” I said as I got up from my seat and put the entire weight of my bodyon the bed.I wasn’t thinking anything inconspicuous at the time, but it seems Marinamisread the situation and jumped on the bed with me, asking if I wanted tocontinue the roleplay session she had started, and I interrupted.“Heh, sure, who am I to decline this tantalizing offer?” I said as I embracedher.“Please be gentle, Master~!” She said the words every man so desperatelywanted to hear at least once in their life.Geez, how could anyone say ‘no’ to that?!