---

“Hah, hah… Did you wait a lot…?”

Truly, it was two days later. Not even during dinner, but right in the middle of lunch, Lindy burst through the inn’s door. No, considering the distance she had to travel, it meant she managed to finish a week’s worth of work in less than a day.

“Uh, um… You came back a lot earlier than I thought?”

“I said… I would… come back… within two days…”

To be honest, I knew how busy Lindy was, so I couldn’t believe she would complete her tasks in just two days. I expected at least three or four days of waiting.

“Ah! Gomtaengi, you!”

In the meantime, while Lindy was gasping for breath, Luna was yelling at Gomtaengi, who was moving the meat dishes across the table toward Frecia, completely ignoring Lindy. Meanwhile, Tokki was shifting the vegetable sides toward Luna.

Of course, to someone like Frecia, who didn’t particularly pick at her food, or to me sitting in the middle, it was just meaningless behavior.

I hesitated to intervene, but seeing Luna only surrounded by greens made me feel sorry for her. Above all, Luna, who was still growing, needed a balanced diet.

“Alright, alright. Gomtaengi, Tokki, I know you’re thinking of the innkeeper, but that’s enough now, come down.”

With my words, Gomtaengi jumped onto Frecia’s thigh, while Tokki settled onto mine.

“Ugh!”

Luna, seemingly annoyed that they didn’t listen to her, quickly grabbed Tokki from my thigh and pulled him into her arms.

Tokki was struggling to escape from the sudden grasp, but since Luna wasn’t actually hurting him, just hugging him with one hand while finishing her meal with the other, I didn’t see a reason to stop her.

“Hey… can you pay a little attention to me too?”

“Oh, sorry. Luna suddenly screaming threw me off. It seems you haven’t even had lunch yet; why not come over and eat with us? You look like you’ve turned pale; I wouldn’t be surprised if you skipped meals.”

Although it might not seem obvious due to her elf nature, Lindy’s appearance, being a professional assassin, did not escape my keen eyes. I could see the faint dark circles under her makeup. I mean, how did she even manage to put on makeup when she was so busy she didn’t have time to eat?

“I-I’m fine…! Since yesterday, I’ve been riding in the carriage all day looking at documents and got car sick… Ugh! Ugh…!”

Recalling her carriage ride, it seemed the motion sickness struck her hard as Lindy began to make unsettling sounds.

“Hey, hey! Stop! This is a restaurant! A restaurant! The bathroom is over there, so hurry…! You idiot! Stop!”

I jumped up in shock at Lindy’s sudden heaving and pulled her toward the restroom. However, it seemed she couldn’t hold it in any longer, as she grabbed onto me while I tried to drag her and promptly vomited.

Thank goodness there was nothing in her stomach, or I would have been in real trouble; all that came out was saliva soaking my clothes. I noticed the innkeeper, who was busy serving food from the kitchen, and the other customers around us sighed in relief. In this inn’s restaurant, I seemed to be the only one affected.

Honestly, with money to spare, she could’ve just taken a steady magical carriage, but she insisted that balanced elves didn’t need that…

“Oh, you two can keep eating. I’ll lay Lindy down on the bed upstairs and come back. She should feel better after resting a bit.”

Of course, the biggest victim was Lindy, who must have come to help me and was now suffering because of it. Feeling responsible, I supported Lindy and took her upstairs to our room. However, upon reaching the room, I hesitated for a moment before laying Lindy down.

The larger bed on one side was for Luna and Frecia. It would be nice for tired Lindy to rest on a big bed, but knowing that perverted lesbian Lindy might do who-knows-what on their bed made me wary. No matter how tired Lindy was, her perversion should never be underestimated.

With a heavy sigh, I laid Lindy on my smaller bed. It might be uncomfortable since it was small, but since it was merely temporary pain from motion sickness, it should be fine. If she did anything weird, it would be better for me to bear it than risk Luna and Frecia being harmed.

“Now, you must be tired, so take a nice nap and rest. And don’t touch Luna and the innkeeper’s bed!”

Just to be safe, I threw a warning at Lindy before stepping outside. There was no response, perhaps due to her exhaustion.

Creak

“Huh?”

However, as soon as I closed the door, I heard a short sound from the hinge. I turned back to check that I had closed the door properly, and sure enough, it was shut tight. I briefly worried if someone had come in, but nothing gave away that a person had entered, and the creaking didn’t last long enough to suggest it.

Tilting my head, I went back down to rejoin Luna and Frecia at the table, where they were still eating. If they needed more food, they could just order more, but they had stopped eating and were waiting for me instead.

“Hey? Where’s Gomtaengi?”

As I settled back into my seat, I noticed that Gomtaengi, who had been quietly sitting on Frecia’s thigh, was missing. Meanwhile, Tokki was still trapped in Luna’s arms, having given up on struggling.

“Keeping watch.”

“Huh? We’re in the city; is there really anything to watch over?”

Even if the demonic race invaded, it would be the Holy Sword that sensed it before Gomtaengi did.

“It’s necessary.”

Frecia didn’t offer further explanation but resumed her meal, uninterested in discussing it further. I felt guilty for delaying Luna and Frecia’s meal while waiting, so I picked up my fork as well.

Just as I was about to take a bite of meat,

-AAAAH!

A tremendous scream erupted from the inn. The source? The second floor. While the other guests and the innkeeper were confused about where the scream came from, I dashed up to the second floor.

Of course, it might have been someone else’s scream from another room, but since I had just laid Lindy down there, I couldn’t help but worry.

“Lindy!”

However, when I burst through the door, I froze mid-step, unable to enter.

“W-who are you! Why are you doing this to me!”

Sure enough, the scream belonged to Lindy. She was still yelling at someone while shrieking.

“…Lindy?”

As I stepped inside, I saw Lindy was still lying on the bed. Only, it wasn’t my bed; it was the large bed that belonged to Luna and Frecia.

Next to Lindy, that large form, now turned into Gomtaengi, was pinning her down.

“Gomtaengi?”

Setting aside what had happened, the important point was that Lindy was lying on Luna and Frecia’s bed. I had intentionally set Lindy on my bed for a reason, to prevent her from doing who-knows-what on theirs.

“Wait, Gomtaengi. I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to move Lindy to my bed…”

However, Gomtaengi shook his head in response to my words, then nodded toward the bed where Lindy lay.

You can’t use my bed, but you can use Luna and Frecia’s? Perhaps it meant that since Lindy was a patient, she should be allowed comfort on the larger bed.

But Gomtaengi must not know Lindy’s preferences. If Gomtaengi knew what Lindy might do on his master’s bed, he wouldn’t act like that.

“El, Elysia? Help me!”

Gomtaengi, who was pressing down on Lindy to the point she couldn’t get up. Of course, being a bear stuffed toy, he didn’t weigh much, but with him clutching the bed tightly, Lindy seemed to have no way to escape.

Hmm… With that kind of grip, wouldn’t it be okay for her to just sleep on the big bed? Since Gomtaengi was holding Lindy down like that, she likely wouldn’t entertain any frivolous thoughts and could rest comfortably in the big bed. After all, it’s just like sleeping with a large stuffed bear. Lindy was just panicking and trying to escape; thanks to Gomtaengi, she would at least be able to rest well.

Having made my judgment, I left Lindy, still struggling against Gomtaengi, behind and stepped outside, only to find Frecia at the door, having followed me up.

Frecia closed the door I had just exited and quickly cast a simple spell with a gesture. Suddenly, Lindy’s spirited screams turned silent, as if a lie.

“…Then shall we finish our meal?”

Thanks to our two interruptions, our meals had been cut short. Yet, without a hint of displeasure, Frecia quietly nodded and descended to the first floor alongside me.

“What happened, Senpai?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just the usual Lindy. Don’t worry, let’s just keep eating.”

After all… Frecia may not express much emotion, but she had a kind personality. In the past, she had offered to hire someone when I was broke, and today, worried about the Lindy she had only just met, she had willingly given up her large bed for her.

Feeling proud of Frecia, I picked up a piece of meat from the plate in front of me and placed it on her dish.