“Ggheh….”

As soon as Luna passed through the Teleport Gate, she found herself leaning against the wall, groaning as she experienced one of the few downsides of using the gate: motion sickness. Noticing her distress, the gate staff, seemingly accustomed to dealing with such cases, promptly directed her to the location of the bathroom.

Watching her suffer was unfortunate, but on the bright side, it seemed she wasn’t rushing to the bathroom, so I didn’t have to check what she had for breakfast just an hour ago.

Aside from Luna, nobody else showed any signs of discomfort. Personally, I was familiar with the experience thanks to my previous life, and my friends from noble families or the rich girl Mariel also had some experience using the gate, even if not frequently. Frecia, being a Master of Magic, likely brushed it off without a second thought, and as for Lilith, being a demonic being, she was built tough—no surprise there.

Lindy, as a long-lived elf, probably had plenty of experience with the Teleport Gate as well.

…Come to think of it, how old is Lindy? Whenever I listened to her speak, I figured she must be older than us since she’s an elf, but I don’t recall ever asking her directly how old she actually is. Of course, her age doesn’t change the fact that we’re friends; I was just a little curious.

“Why? Is there something on my face?”

Caught in my uncontainable curiosity, I was staring at her when Lindy noticed my gaze and asked, gently rubbing her cheeks with both hands.

“Uh, Lindy? Could it be….”

“Whoa, come here!”

Just as I was about to ask, someone barged in with a voice loud enough to drown mine out.

With arms wide open, the middle-aged man rushed toward us and pulled Yuli into a bear hug—none other than Craig, Yuli’s father. He was the head of House Atillea, which rules this city, Eldora, and one of the few Sword Masters in the Empire.

By the way, even though he had contacted the gate staff in advance, it hadn’t even been a few minutes, and he was already here. How little does this guy have on his plate?

“People are watching…”

Yuli whispered in a voice barely above a murmur, embarrassed to be hugged by her father in front of everyone. Yet, instead of struggling to break free, she snuggled deeper into her father’s embrace. It was a picture-perfect scene of a loving father and daughter.

There was no sign of Yuli desperately wanting to follow her father into the Academy despite lacking talent, nor of Craig being overly stern to keep her from pursuing swordsmanship out of concern.

As Lindy re-corporealized after briefly turning intangible to pass through the gate, Craig loosened his grip on Yuli and pulled Lindy into a hug next.

“My daughters. I’m relieved to see you both unharmed.”

Although Lindy wasn’t Craig’s biological daughter, from the outside, it didn’t seem like he treated them any differently. This meant that Lindy was genuinely regarded as a daughter as well.

“It’s been a while. Good to see you again. No, now that you’re a Count, should I be more formal?”

After hugging Lindy, Craig stepped toward me, extending a hand for a handshake as he spoke.

“Not at all. Being called a Count is just a fancy title, and you’re my precious friend’s father. I’d rather you treat me normally.”

Especially now that I had my memories back. Though I’m currently borrowing the name Elysia Frentz, Elysia’s brother, Zeno Frentz, was also Yuli’s childhood friend. It would be ridiculous to expect honorifics from the father of a friend I’ve known since childhood.

“Haha. Thank you for saying that. By the way, I’m already familiar with the two friends from House Deretia and House Klain that Yuli often talks about, but it seems you have quite a large party beyond that. Can you introduce them?”

Craig’s gaze briefly lingered on Lilith, but he maintained a friendly smile without showing any sign of discomfort. No matter how well Lilith had hidden her demonic features like horns, wings, and tail, someone as perceptive as Craig likely sensed that she was a demon. However, considering she was with us, he probably assumed there was a reason for it and chose to overlook it quietly.

“This is Frecia…”

Yuli began pointing out each of her friends one by one while introducing them to her father.

“Bwehg…”

Amid this, Luna was still leaning against the wall, drooling as she suffered. She certainly had it rough.

*

“Well then, I’ll see you again on the way back. Rest assured, no matter what happens, I’ll make sure Yuli is safe, so don’t worry too much.”

Once the introductions were wrapped up, we quickly made our preparations to leave. We barely had time for a cup of tea and small talk at the mansion. Yuli’s hometown, Eldora, was merely a stopover for using the gate; our actual destination was right in the midst of the battlefield where Vulcan was rampaging.

Since we would have to pass through several towns to reach the front lines, we needed to hurry if we intended to arrive by evening.

“With me and my ghost friends beside Yuli, anyone who dares touch her will get a real scare!”

Linné declared confidently, with the trio of ghost friends materializing behind her. They struck poses, thumping their chests, raising one hand while rolling up their sleeves, or nodding while crossing their arms, their presence exuding a sense of reliability that made me forget their cute past as ghosts. They were always such cheerful friends.

“Make sure everyone, including Yuli, comes back unhurt. I’d love to help myself, but there are too many chaotic places with demons, so I must stay busy as well.”

…But we won’t mention that this busy guy rushed directly to the gate just to see his daughter’s face.

In truth, I was more concerned with maintaining my guard than any actual danger.

With two Sword Masters around, and Yuli being a capable fighter, I had nothing to worry about. Plus, we had a necromancer and a Great Wizard who could take on a large army, as well as an archer and an assassin who could snipe from afar. Even if someone were to get hurt, we had Mariel, the Saint, present, so there was truly nothing to worry about.

Thanks to Craig’s assistance, acquiring a carriage was a breeze. The carriage he lent us was quite spacious, so there was no need to hire two carriages to spread out. Naturally, the ghost trio that would just take up unnecessary space also reverted back to their intangible forms.

Although all nine of us crammed into one carriage and had to sit close together, everyone could endure that little discomfort until we reached our destination by evening without complaints.

However, since I took my seat first, my friends were bickering about who could sit in the slightly wider spots, even going as far as playing rock-paper-scissors to decide where to sit. They could’ve let me squeeze in before I sat down!

Of course, since Frecia had transformed into a cat, it ended up being four on each side, so it wasn’t a significant difference—but still, what was the point?

In reality, the seat that looked spacious beforehand turned out to be rather cramped. After finishing their game, Selian and Anne, who sat by my sides, leaned in close. Although it was nice to be sitting between two beauties, as a man, I quietly refrained from drawing attention to myself.

“Ha?!”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

But despite my efforts, an unexpected external factor made me let out a small yelp. Of course, Selian, sitting next to me, tilted her head and asked what was happening.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Still, how could I explain that Lindy was tickling my calf beneath the table? Instead of explaining anything to Selian, I shot a glare at Lindy, who was pretending not to notice me from across the table.

Even so, instead of removing her foot from my leg in response to my glare, Lindy’s face broke into a sly smile. What would happen if the others caught on? After a moment of silence, she decided to act up again. Considering it was quite a feat for her to hold back for this long, I wouldn’t blame her.

Luna, who had been around Lindy for a long time, was already in on it, but the other friends still didn’t know Lindy’s little secret about being a perverted lesbian.

I believed my considerate friends wouldn’t show any signs of concern for something so trivial, but if they were to start avoiding Lindy, it could create issues for our team dynamic. It would be better to keep this quiet right now, even if I would explain later. Anyway, since Lindy had her eyes on me, I figured she wouldn’t provoke any of the others, so as long as I stayed quiet, I wouldn’t be found out.

However, considering the cramped space of the carriage, if I awkwardly tried to shove Lindy’s foot away beneath the table, I might alert my friends. So, I had no choice but to endure Lindy’s wiggling foot until we reached our destination.

Sure, I did give her a light smack on the head once we exited the carriage, but by that point, she was already giggling with a grin, rubbing her sore head. I felt like I came out at a loss here.