Chapter 171: Summer and With It, Trouble (3)

༺ Summer and With It, Trouble (3) ༻

"Here, Korin. Try this too. It's fresh from our farms."

"Mr. Korin. Would you like some jerkies?"

"...Here."

The Lork couple fell in deep thought as they observed their son who was visiting them for the first time in 2 years.

Normally, kids tended to go straight into their rooms with their friends immediately after greeting their parents to play by themselves. But usually, that was only when it concerned normal friends. Korin's friends, from the looks of things, were very different and were instead girls who were very obvious and explicit about expressing their goodwill.

'Darling. This is... that, right?'

'At least his three peers seem to be seeing him in that light. I guess... we should be happy that he didn't touch that young girl...'

"Boss... What is that?"

"Dried fruits. Want some?"

"Mhmm... Aahh~"

The little girl opened her mouth to have the dried fruits fed to her like it was the most normal thing in the world. The small, blonde-haired girl then said with a mature look on her face.

"Today's my wage day, isn't it? Can you buy me some clothes with the payment?"

"Don't buy them with your own money. Save it. I can buy it for you instead."

'When did he change so much?' the couple wondered. The son they remembered wasn't someone who could smoothly strike up conversations like that with female peers. They couldn't help but find him slightly unfamiliar, due to the discrepancy from 2 years ago.

"Is Sia doing okay? Is she still having honey bomb candies? Hope she doesn't lose all of her teeth."

"She loves dessert cafes nowadays," Rudene replied.

"That's going to be hard with her allowance. Oh yeah, if she starts going around chasing after some weird actors again, tell me, and I'll break her damn legs."

The couple felt rather relieved after seeing that his attitude towards his younger sister was the same as always. It reminded them that he was still the same son, despite having some complicated relationships with females.

Inside Korin Lork's body was the soul of a Korean from Earth. However, that didn't mean that 'Korin Lork' had lost all of his original persona. The two souls co-existed in a manner that differed from Hua and Ran. In fact, it was more correct to say that they had been fused already.

Because Korin had already finished his self-introspection in the previous iteration, he was able to treat the Lork couple like normal.

Sometime during the conversation, Rudene carefully shifted the topic.

"Kuhum...! By the way, son. Did you... make yourself a 'girlfriend' at the Academy?"

-Flick!

-Swish!

-Hatt!

-...!

Wow...

The girls weren't even trying to hide it, and that even included the young child who appeared to be around ten years old...

My dear son. What kind of life have you been going through these past two years?

"Hahaha. You know me. I'm still single. I've been single all my life. These days... I'm a bit busy and have no time for it."

You sure? Umm... I think I know six candidates already though?

Rudene was thinking that to himself when Suel followed through with another question.

"Did you make a lot of friends?"

"Yeah, I did. I wrote to you in the letter, didn't I? Lark, Jaeger..."

"Right, but what about female friends? Do you, by any chance, have..."

More?

Suel Lork carefully asked the question while telling herself that there couldn't possibly be any more than this. But despite her wishes, Korin started talking about his friends without any awareness of the situation.

"Oh~ right. I have a druid friend called Yuel, and a lady friend called Renya who I became friends with at work. Master, Ms. Lunia... Right, also, the Saintess might be dropping by sometime soon so don't be too surprised even if she does."

"S, S, S, Saintess?!"

"Do you mean the 1st Princess?!"

"We kinda became friends."

"You 'kinda' became friends with the Saintess? How?!"

"It's a long story."

His epic tale of saving the Saintess was quite a heroic story, but the truly filial son, Korin, did not bother telling them the whole story since it might worry them.

The four girls already knew that something had happened between him and the Saintess. Heaving out a sigh, they all watched Korin like puppies out in the rain but...

"Also..."

"There's more?"

Oblivious to all that, Korin dropped the real bomb.

"Soon enough I'm going to be friends with Miruam, the 2nd Princess as well."

***

Everyone was baffled by his confident declaration. None of them knew what his plans were in detail, but they did know something.

"Your father...! Did not raise you like that, you damn brat!!"

"Huh? Wait what?!"

"Son... I'm disappointed. That's really disappointing."

What they knew, was that he was going to hit on even more girls.

.........

......

...

Korin was chased out of the house by the infuriated Rudene. A normal person with a broomstick was obviously not a real threat to a knight, but Korin left the house with the wise excuse that he had to repair the roof.

He was out of the house, as well as Ren who walked out with him, and that left behind three girls for an interview.

The first of them was Alicia Arden.

"M, my name is Alicia Arden."

"Sir Lunia was here earlier today... Are you her sister?"

"Ah, yes! Was she here today? She did say she wanted to prepare some gifts."

"I heard she was engaged with Korin..."

"Right, there were a few circumstances behind that but Unni was serious about it so... There will probably be some talks about it in the family."

"H, how did that happen...?"

"Does that mean you will be Korin's sister-in-law, Miss Alicia?" Suel asked.

"Uhh... I guess? It's highly likely that Mr. Korin will be my brother-in-law."

For that to be the case, the gaze she was giving Korin didn't make sense. However, after hearing her call him 'brother-in-law', the couple decided that they must have been imagining things.

"He'll be a brother-in-law for Unni as well..."

"Hnn?"

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Aht! N, nothing!"

......

...

Hua Ran.

"Hello. Nice to meet you."

"Hmm?"

"Your eyes..."

Her ominously red eyes turned blue like the ocean, and her oppressive apathy was replaced by a gentle disposition.

She felt like a different person, and the couple therefore couldn't help but feel flustered.

"It's a long story, but..."

Unlike the terse Hua, Ran softly began telling a brief version of her story. During that, she praised Korin even more to appeal to the couple.

"Hkk...! You must have gone through so much!"

"Korin... He did a great job. I'm so proud of him."

Seeing the two people who were absorbed in her story, Ran got down on her knees and gently held onto their hands.

"My life was saved by Oppa, so that means you are both my saviors as well."

"Thank you so much for loving our son so much."

"It must have been so rough for you. You're a very resilient lady."

The two of them empathized with Ran's story and immediately lowered their guards. They quickly became fond of the kind and gentle girl.

"But according to you, doesn't that mean that the child called Hua has a different mind? What if she doesn't like him?"

"Ah, you don't have to worry about that. Because as much as I like Oppa, Hua also—"

That was when her amicable atmosphere started to shift in the blink of an eye. The change started from her hair to her eyes. After that, her lips that were pointing up came down and turned stiff.

"Ran?"

"N... no."

"Are you... Hua?"

With a blushing yet indifferent look on her face, the girl with crimson eyes replied while looking straight at the couple.

"T, that's... not true."

After that, she turned around with a flick and quickly escaped the house. Seeing that, the couple each gave a comment.

"What a sinful son we have."

"...Yeah."

The two of them had the exact same thoughts regarding their son.

......

...

Marie Dunareff.

"H, hello! Father! Mother!"

"F, father?"

"Kuhum... I believe it's a bit early."

"Haht! S, sorry! You see, I'm very nervous...!!"

She was a very innocent and gentle girl.

This girl, who was one grade above Korin, also had a similar story to Hua Ran. Listening to everything that she went through, they couldn't help but admit that it made sense for a girl of her age to fall for their son.

"Huu, so Ms. Marie. You have feelings for Korin as well. Is that correct?"

"Umm... Is that okay?"

"Of course. How can we say no to your feelings and emotions? The only concern we have is about Korin. What exactly happened, and why are there so many wonderful ladies that are..."

There were too many.

Way too many girls.

Although each had their reasons, it was still obvious that many unrequited loves would happen with so many women going after one man. The Lork couple were worried about the young girls that might end up with broken hearts.

"Ah, that's okay. Time will solve the..."

"Hnn? Time?"

"N, nothing. O, oh right! I have some presents, actually!"

She then handed out all the gifts that she had prepared beforehand.

"Haha, you didn't have to bring so many..."

"Are all of these fresh crops and fruits? Thank you so much."

"There's even a spirit made with potatoes! Wait, I remember there being a place in the South that makes potatoes into... Huh?"

"Nn?"

South. Potatoes. Dunareff.

That rather natural combination of words made the couple think of the same word.

""Dunareff... Dukedom?""

"Yes. My father is the Duke of Dunareff."

"Huhpp!"

"Oh dear!"

Standing up from their seats in a hurry, the couple immediately got on their knees. Although the modern nobles were just government officials and peerages didn't mean much apart from the royal family, the Dunareffs were a different story.

They were the most conservative yet most powerful feudal lords of the Kingdom. Even in the Royal Capital, countless merchants were derivatives of the Dunareffs, and the Lork couple themselves were also one of the many people receiving Dunareff potatoes and crops from a supplier.

"P, please don't do this...!"

"F, forgive us for our misconduct!"

"Please speak casually, Young Lady!"

"Ahht, Father, Mother... You are making me sad. And I feel sorry for Korin as well."

"Mhmm..."

Marie repeatedly dissuaded them and in the end, the two of them slowly straightened their backs. Their knees, however, were still on the ground.

"Uhh, i, it is the honor of our family, to have the Young Lady of the dukedom... have such feelings... for our stupid son..."

"Ughh, please don't do this. Oh! Right! You run a restaurant, right? Here, this is my family insignia. If you head to the Dunareff suppliers, you will be able to receive supplies for free from now on!"

"S, supplies for free?"

The biggest expense in restaurants was the cost of goods. Good dishes required good ingredients and good ingredients came at a hefty price.

Considering the margin that the middlemen had to take for themselves during the trip to the Royal Capital from the production area, it wasn't hard to guess how expensive good ingredients had to be.

"H, how can we possibly receive such an honor!? We can't accept it!"

However, they couldn't readily accept such an enormous gift. Korin and Marie weren't even dating yet, so they could not afford to receive such a gift.

"Ahh, sorry. I wasn't trying to brag or anything about something that small."

"S, small?"

With a sincerely apologetic look on her face, Marie slowly took out a document. It was the document of the gold coin storage, operated by the Zeon Order.

"This isn't much, but I've been putting a few coins into a new account for Korin in secret. I was keeping it a secret from him in case he didn't want it, but please use this for yourselves and Korin."

"U, umm... We can't take it."

Rudene and Suel replied and tried to reject it, but Marie gripped onto their hands and requested of them with a face that was on the verge of tears.

"I have... received way too much from Korin. I want to do whatever I can to repay the debt... Can you please accept this small present?"

"K, kuhum..."

Indeed, it was undeniable that Korin had done her a huge favor by saving her life. Seeing her humble and desperate attitude, the couple considered it okay to accept the 'small gift'.

"If you really want to... then we can hold onto it and pass it onto Korin."

"Yes! That's great! It's nothing much so please don't worry about it!"

Right. Hearing that it wasn't anything much relieved the couple. They carefully opened the document up and—

Recipient: Korin Lork

Deposit Balance: 140,000 gold.

— They ended up fainting on the spot.

***

Meanwhile, after practically running away from the house, Hua crouched down near the brick wall, located next to Korin's house.

『Why don't you admit it already, Hua? You like Oppa as well.』

"..."

『How long are you going to be in denial? What if someone snatches him away in the meantime?』

"...Be quiet."

It was the same thing on repeat.

Hua just wasn't being honest. Even though she was brutally honest with most things, she wasn't admitting the most important fact.

Ran couldn't help but feel frustrated and sighed as she saw her younger sister in denial but still decided to watch on for the time being. Although she wasn't as young as Hua, Ran was still a young girl who didn't know how to solve such problems.

"Ehng? What are you doing here, Sister-lady?"

Hua Ran was still crouching there when a girl walked up to her.

It was a girl with a wild and free atmosphere, who had done up her long, bluish-black hair in a ponytail. She looked familiar, but before Hua Ran could connect her with anyone else, the girl took out a piece of candy in the blink of an eye.

"It's a honey bomb candy. Do you want one?"

"...Yes."

Perhaps it was because she reminded her of someone, but Hua accepted the candy from the girl without being skeptical about her identity.

The girl watched her chew and suck on the candy and let out a giggle.

"What... Why?"

"No, I was just thinking how adorable you are, Sister."

"...Are you teasing?"

"No? I'm just being honest. Do you want another one?"

"...Yes."

Honey bomb candy. It was a candy that Korin often gave her. Both Hua and Ran were fond of that numbing sweetness.

"Why are you crouching like this in the middle of nowhere? Do you have any concerns?"

"..."

Just like what she thought at first, she reminded her of someone. Thanks to that, Hua didn't feel very vigilant against the girl, and after being urged by Ran, who told her about the benefits of an objective consultation, Hua started laying out her situation.

"That's love."

『Right? I told you!』

"How... can you be certain?"

Hearing the two of them give a straightforward label to her feelings made Hua feel rebellious. With a sharper look in her eyes, Hua glared at the girl, asking for evidence.

"Sister, think about it. How do you feel when that person is with another lady?"

"It feels heavy..."

"What if he touches you?"

"My heart... races."

"What about when he's hugging you?"

"...Feels cozy."

-Clap!

The girl gave a sudden clap for a change of mood, and once again labeled it with an irritating smile on her face.

"And that's what we call 'love'."

"Uht...!"

Hua couldn't come up with a rebuttal but still hesitated while looking for something to say.

"Then how about you do this? Go ask him out on a date."

"A date?"

"First off, you can try going out and playing with that person. Try it out and if you don't think you like him, then that's the end of it. But if you do..."

"If I do...?"

"Give him a big, fat kiss!"

"...!!"

『That's it!』

That was way too fast. Hua desperately looked for a rebuttal.

"T, that's too... fast. Clara... said so. Kissing and the one after that... has to be done after making kids..."

『Oh! Right! W, what should we do... Hnn? Wait, didn't we do that several times already?』

"Ah..."

She was right. Even though there weren't any storks living in this area, they had tried making children already, did they not?

Was that enough for a kiss then? What was the right thing to do? Or were they supposed to start at baby-making again?

Hua Ran was trying to sort things out by herself in confusion as the girl watched over her with a grin. That was when a boy walked over to them.

"What are you doing out here? Huh? Sia?"

"Brother?"

"Yo~. My dear sister. What were you doing here?"

"I was giving life advice to a sister, my dear brother."

"???"

Hua became even more confused as she watched the two of them intimately share a conversation. Sia? Sister?

"Let me introduce you guys. This kid's my younger sister, Sia Lork. And Sia? This girl's Hua Ran, she's one of my peers at the Academy."

"Hoh~ I seeeee~~"

Sia said while turning to Hua with a smirk. After realizing the nature of their relationship, Hua finally understood what she had done - she had just asked the younger sister of the person in question for love advice!

"Hohh~. You're pretty good, aren't you, Oppa? Getting yourself a girlfriend very soon, ey?"

"What are you—"

Grip!

It was then.

Hua suddenly gripped the sleeves of Korin's shirt.

"Uhh... Hua?"

With her head dropping low, Hua hesitated. Her mind spun in circles but in the midst of her confusion, her thoughts led to one conclusion.

If he was going to find out anyway...

"You..."

"Hnn?"

"G, go out on a date with me."