Sally, who ended up inviting Silvia and Floria to her home by Ririka’s insistence, prepared a certain drink for them.
Floria, upon seeing it, exclaimed with a hint of admiration.
“Oh. Isn’t this ‘tea’?”
“My, my. Her Majesty knows… you knew about it?”
Sally, who had spoken out of habit, quickly changed her tone.
Floria, shaking her head, replied to Sally, “It’s fine to speak to me as you do to Ririka. I’ve retired, after all.”
“No, even if you have retired…”
As Sally shrugged her shoulders, Ririka said in a light tone, “Since Lady Floria says it’s alright, then it’s alright. More importantly, do I not have any?”
Ririka looked at Sally after watching Silvia and Floria sip their tea.
Sally replied to Ririka, pointing to the tools for making tea, “The hot water is already boiling, so why don’t you make it yourself?”
“Haa. Honestly, you never change.”
“I’ll return that line to you exactly as is.”
“Wait, wait. If you keep going like this, we’ll never get to the main point.”
Just as another invisible war seemed to be starting, Floria, unable to watch any longer, stopped them with a bitter smile.
Naturally, Ririka and Sally didn’t have the guts (?) to continue their usual banter once Floria stopped them.
After exchanging glances, Ririka bowed her head towards Floria.
“…I apologize. Please continue with your story.”
“That’s why, staying so rigid… No, it’s fine. There’s no point in clinging to such things. Do as you please.”
Floria said that as if she had given up, and then got to the main point. The content of her story was the same as what she had told Ririka. However, she added that Sally would also be responsible for the basic training of the children, in addition to looking after the orphans.
After hearing Floria’s story, Sally wore an expression that suggested she was thinking for a moment.
“…One question: are these children going to become the Avatar’s tools?”
What Sally worried about was whether the children she raised would be used by the Avatar. While she was happy to be able to work at the orphanage, she felt she couldn’t carelessly agree if she didn’t understand that aspect clearly. Sally had no intention of raising the children to become a god’s vanguard.
Ririka tried to answer Sally, but Floria stopped her with a slight raise of her right hand. Then, she smiled at Sally.
“Indeed. That’s a valid concern. It’s the kind of thing someone who doesn’t know Kousuke would think.”
Sally looked bewildered by the subtly ambiguous statement, which could be interpreted as praise or criticism. Silvia, as if to help Sally, said with a suppressed smile, “Sally, forgive me for saying this, but that’s exactly what Kousuke dislikes the most.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. Of course, he’ll teach them not to oppose him. However, no one intends to create puppets that follow Kousuke’s instructions perfectly.”
What Kousuke wants are talented individuals who can conquer the dungeon floors, not soldiers who will move according to his every whim. If Kousuke wished, two people would act for that purpose, but they knew he would never say such a thing, so they would never do anything superfluous. That’s why both Silvia and Floria could state it with such certainty.
Even after their explanations, Sally still wore a skeptical expression, which made Silvia look troubled.
“There’s nothing more we can say but to ask you to trust our words.”
“That’s right. If we asked Kousuke, he would meet you, but doing so might make it coercive.”
Even if Kousuke had no such intention, if he made a “request,” it could be taken as the word of a god. While there would be no need to worry about such things in ordinary conversation when he wasn’t claiming to be a god, this matter involved him using Kousuke’s name. Therefore, the possibility of Silvia’s words becoming true could not be denied.
At this point, Ririka, who had been observing Silvia and Floria’s interaction, offered a helping hand.
“Leader. I too can state with certainty that the Avatar is not the kind of person (?) who would do such a thing.”
When Ririka said that, Sally’s expression changed slightly in surprise.
“Ririka, have you… met that god before?”
“Yes. I’ve had the chance a few times.”
Ririka said, looking at Silvia, and Sally nodded in understanding. Since Sally knew Silvia was the Avatar’s shrine maiden, she understood that it was not strange for Ririka to have met him directly through that connection.
Convinced by the words of Ririka, who had been her companion in an adventurer party for many years, Sally could immediately trust her. It wasn’t that she thought Silvia or Floria were lying, but Sally wasn’t so gullible as to immediately trust the words of someone she had just met.
“I see. Well then, that’s fine… However, I still don’t think I can give you an answer right away.”
If she were to create the facility Floria spoke of, it would undoubtedly be a lifelong commitment. Moreover, she had her current life to consider, so she couldn’t easily say yes.
However, Silvia and Floria had anticipated this, and they nodded immediately.
“Well, that’s understandable. You don’t need to worry too much about that.”
“That’s right. While a month might be too long, we have about half a month of leeway.”
In the first place, Kousuke was enthusiastically working on building the facility, and until it was finished, they couldn’t even prepare to accept the children. Of course, they wanted to have personnel ready before then, but they could still wait for the amount of time Silvia mentioned.
Furthermore, neither Silvia nor Floria truly believed Sally would refuse. Seeing Sally’s face, they could clearly tell she was trying to think positively, so they predicted she just needed to sort out her feelings. And their prediction was not wrong; Sally, who had been unceremoniously approached by Silvia and Floria, was first trying to calm down and think. From Ririka’s perspective, it seemed the answer was already decided since Sally didn’t refuse and asked for time, but she deliberately didn’t say so at that moment. Ririka was the most optimistic, but she felt that if she said anything unnecessary, Sally’s current momentum might fade. Whether this prediction was right or wrong, the answer would come a little later.
Then, half a month later, Silvia visited Sally’s home again with Ririka and received Sally’s reply, accepting the offer.
This chapter somehow ended up being a bit drawn out. I wanted to write a little about Sally’s inner conflict(?).
Anyway, with Sally’s participation confirmed, is it Kousuke’s turn next? (Probably)
