“Well then, could you explain what exactly is going on here?” Clara asked Kent with a slightly happy-looking expression. Having heard the commotion, Marie, Caro, Rachel, Elnet, Catherine, and Hanako’s older sister, Patty, had come to Kent’s room. On the bed were Kent and Hanako, who was sleeping beside him, unfazed even in this state. Naturally, they hadn’t had time to get dressed after everything, so both were naked.
“Kent, how could you lay hands on your young sister? I’m so disappointed in you,” Patty said to Kent, half in tears.
“Ah geez, Older brother, how could you lay hands on such a young child? You’re the worst,” Rachel said. Despite her words, she looked somewhat happy, as if she had found something interesting.
“I can’t believe Kent would lay hands on even this child… but it seems this is reality,” Elnet said to Kent with a disappointed expression.
“Kent… you didn’t lay hands on me…” Catherine looked somewhat lonely, as if wondering if she lacked charm.
“Kent, please tell me what happened later,” Marie said with a stern expression.
“Hanako, wake up. Let’s get out of this room quickly.”
“Huh? Meal?”
Patty woke Hanako up and they left the room with the sleepy-looking Hanako. Following suit, Marie, Rachel, Elnet, Catherine, and then Clara left the room.
“Everyone, please listen to me…” Kent, unsure how to explain this situation, started to speak, but couldn’t continue.
“Sigh, why did it turn out like this?” Kent pondered what to do next.
“I believe in you, Kent,”
“Caro…”
Caro, who had sat beside Kent at some point, gently hugged him.
“Sniff sniff… I see.” Seemingly understanding something, Caro hugged Kent for a while before helping him get dressed.
Meanwhile, the group who had left Kent’s room gathered for breakfast.
“Everyone, you still don’t understand my Older brother at all,” Rachel said to everyone.
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean?”
“What’s the meaning of that?”
No one could understand the meaning of Rachel’s words.
“My Older brother would never do anything to Hanako-chan. After all, he’s not into that. Caro is the absolute limit of what he can tolerate.”
” ” ” ” “Huh?” ” ” ” ” ”
Catherine, convinced by Rachel’s confident assertion, said, “So that’s how it was… That’s why, at that time… Does that mean I’ll be able to join the group in a few more years too?”
“Yes. Keep trying your best,” Catherine said, sounding a little happy, as if recalling something.
“Oyako-don…”
“Oyako-don?”
“No, it’s nothing.” Rachel inadvertently blurted out.
“Hey, Hanako-chan?”
“Huh? What?” Rachel asked Hanako.
“Last night, did Older brother do anything to you?”
“Mmm. I fell asleep right away.”
“Did you take off your clothes yourself?”
“Yeah.”
“Then, what about Older brother’s clothes?”
“I took them off.”
“I see. Thank you, Hanako-chan,” Rachael asked Hanako gently.
“So, that seems to be how it is? It’s confirmed that he didn’t do anything to you from my Older brother’s side,” Rachel said, hearing Hanako’s words. However, there was one point of doubt, but to avoid complicating things, she decided not to bring it up. No one noticed Rachel’s thoughts, and Kent’s suspicion was cleared by Hanako’s testimony.
Such exchanges were happening without Kent and Caro’s knowledge, and they would find out about it a little later.
“Kent, what about breakfast? It’s going to be awkward to go to everyone’s place, isn’t it?”
“Well, I suppose so.”
“In that case, I’ll accompany you. Shall we go out and eat now?”
“Yes. Let’s go out then. Thank you, Caro.”
“As your future wife, this is the least I can do.”
As they were talking, Al entered the room.
“Master, it seems something interesting has been happening while I was away.”
“Ah, Al. I was wondering where you were because I couldn’t see you.”
“Just a little… reconnaissance, perhaps.”
“Reconnaissance for what?”
“That’s a secret for now.”
Al, who had disappeared, seemed to have gone somewhere.
“Ah, Al! Were you out?”
“Yes, I went out for a bit.” Caro said to Al, perhaps sensing his presence by smell.
“We’re planning to go out to eat breakfast in town now, would you like to join us, Al?”
“I can’t eat anything, but I will accompany you.”
And so, Kent, Caro, and Al decided to head into town together.
“So, Master and Lady Caro, where are you planning to go?” As they left Caro’s mansion, the three began walking towards town. Al asked Caro to ask where they were headed.
“Let’s see… I haven’t decided on anything specific, but do you have any recommended places, Al?”
“I don’t usually eat, so I wouldn’t know. Incidentally, the place I was planning to guide you to today is a restaurant. However, it doesn’t open until after sunset.”
“You mentioned finding an interesting place yesterday, didn’t you? What kind of establishment is it?” Caro asked Al. However, since Al, who could live on water and light alone, didn’t need to eat, he wasn’t knowledgeable about such things. Yet, the interesting place Al had found yesterday seemed to be a restaurant.
“Well… It’s a restaurant for commoners… or rather, for the poorer class of commoners.”
“The poorer class?”
“You don’t know, Kent?” When Al said that, Kent asked about the unfamiliar term, and Caro explained.
“You know how there are clear hierarchies among aristocrats, from Upper Aristocrats like the Royal family and Duke’s family, to Lower Aristocrats like our Baron family, right?”
“I understand that.”
“Similarly, although they are collectively called commoners, in reality, they are roughly divided into three groups based on their wealth. Legally, they are treated as one, but in practice, it has become common sense to distinguish between them. Given that you have your own home, Kent, you might fall into the middle class based on this division. The wealthy are, needless to say, the rich. Someone close to you, like Prim, would fall into that category.”
“I see.”
“And the poorer class refers to people who live in collective housing and lead impoverished lives with little income.”
At Caro’s words, Kent realized he had never seen collective housing in this world before.
“Collective housing is different from the school dormitories, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s different. Everyone has their own separate homes originally, and it’s a facility used solely for academics, so it doesn’t fall into that category,” Caro explained to Kent.
“Master, in that case, shall we go to the slum district? There are restaurants there, so I think you can have breakfast,” Al suggested.
“That sounds good. It’s not a dangerous place, is it?”
“It’s a bit unsafe, but as long as I’m here, I will protect you both from any trouble,” Al said confidently. In reality, Al could even fight multiple knights to his advantage, so Kent believed his skills were more than sufficient.
“If Kent says so, I will accompany you as well,” Caro also decided to go along. With the destination decided, the three began to make their way to the slums.
