Chapter 244

A Letter from the Sia Family

That day, a trouble was sent over to me by way of Village Sub-Chief Wozuma.

"Village Chief. Do you have a moment?"

"What, is it about that brothel again? Are you pretty backed up or something?"

"No, that's not it. I've received a letter from the feudal lord of Sia..."

Seriously, why do you think I gave away so many of my authorities for. But well, Sia's lord is a noble.

Since it's such a big shot, it's my duty as the Village Chief to handle it... even if I'm just a figurehead.

I took the lord's letter from Wozuma. Let's see, what's it say?

[In this auspicious season of the mountain god's remembrence, the white goddess dances to—]

"—This is a pretty long greeting. It's annoying to read, do you have a summary?"

"Right here."

I wanted to tell him that he should've just given me that first if he had it, but really, Wozuma is excellent. Even his manners are great... he's not someone Haku-san sent over just for show.

By the way, the summary was three lines long.

- The Sia family has assessed me, an excellent adventurer, as being valuable, so they have prepared to support me.

- 'Would you marry our daughter?' While they would prefer me marrying into the Sia family, a standard marriage was also permissible.

- They want to meet me in person and get a verbal response. (Aka: Have to go)

"The Sia family wishes to have a consultation with you. Tying the knot with the village's chief, so to speak. They are currently cooperating with the Adventurer Guild in this."

Oh. It's called Sia because it's the Sia family's territory. Right.

"Still though, being able to expand these three lines into all of this. Nobles truly are worth respecting."

"They place important information within that decoration, use roundabout mannerisms to say to what extent they value you, and use those same mannerisms to ascertain whether or not you are a brutish person incapable of understanding their phrasing. There isn't anything hidden within it this time, though."

... Which leaves the other two parts. Well, I just leave it to Wozuma either way.

"Still, Village Chief, if I recall, you are D-Rank going by your adventurer rank, weren't you? I don't believe that could be said to be very good as an adventurer, does that mean they've gotten a whiff of your excellence from somewhere...?"

"... Hmm"

I can't say it'd be strange if Wozuma, Haku-san's pawn, knew about me having a B-Rank Adventurer Guild Card. Is that what he's telling me?

"By the way, about the compulsory part on that third line... do I really have to go? I'd like to just end it with a letter."

"They are landed nobles, after all. They aren't people that an ordinary Village Chief can simply refuse. There isn't much of a distance between Sia and here, either."

"... But I—"

Whoops, I almost said [But I have Rokuko]. That was close. Wozuma is Haku-san's pawn. Haku-san might just put on her war mask and lead a campaign to my house if I said something like that. Uhh...

"—... have a tiring job to do?"

"Please postpone your plans. A Village Chief's number one duty is to comply with their lord. Here is your invitation."

Yeah...

"Haaah, oh well. I guess I'll just refuse..."

"Oh, you're going to refuse?"

"Yeah. I mean, there's no advantages in it for me."

"You'd become a noble though? It may not be too large of a chance, but you could even become the lord of Sia."

"C'mon, you know those aren't merits as far as I'm concerned."

"Well, I guess not. You don't seem to be interested in status or honor, not even money..."

Me becoming a noble might cause business to improve, but I make more than enough even without that happening. The Dyne Company has been causing the gold coins I get from Debt Hero Wataru's repayments and the rice payments I forcibly sell through Nayuta, too.

You need money to make money. I don't know who said it, but it's a famous saying.

"Right, our Golen village's food lifeline is Sia. We import our flour from Sia, as well as basically all of our vegetables. We import some from Pavuera too though... but please, don't offend the lord."

"O-okay."

I wound up getting a warning from Wozuma.

But that just means it'd be a good idea to have the dungeon give rice and vegetables as drops even if I fail, right? That would be a bit suspicious though. Alright, I'll refuse them with all I have!

I guess I need to go talk with Rokuko about all this, seeing as we've finally decided that we're partners (aka decision postponed).

I went to explain what was going on to Rokuko, who was lazing about in my room.

"And that's why I'll have to take a trip to Sia."

"Bring Meat with you. You going alone would make me feel anxious."

Huh? Didn't she leave everything to me before though? Did my reliability fall or something?

"... Ah, umm, didn't Leona do stuff to you? It'd be bad if there wasn't anyone to stop you if you started going wild. Like that time."

"Ooh..."

The day I can't remember. The day that I supposedly made passes at every woman that caught my eye. From what I hear, I told Rei, the other monster girls, Meat, Ichika... and even the guild Receptionist-san that I loved them.

The one at fault was Leona. It was caused by Leona in the first place. Yeah, Leona's fault. Definitely her fault. It's a fact.

"Alright, I'll take her along."

"Make sure to get me a souvenir... Oh right, come here and I'll give you a farewell kiss!"

"Oi, where'd you learn that from?"

"From something called manga I bought with DP... Oh, right. I learned a bit of Japanese, so I can read it if it's simple enough!"

I-is she just haphazardly learning Japanese!?

Setting aside the fact she bought manga with DP, Japanese! Japanese, a language known for its learning difficulty!

"There was something called [Japanese] in the skill scroll area, it was 5,000 DP."

So it's from a skill? Rather, you can learn languages through skills? Fantasy, I should've known.

"Wait, let's back up. That farewell kiss. Uh, you don't really have to do it."

"Partners do that sort of thing! No buts. Come here and give me your cheek!"

"O-okay."

No buts?

I leaned down a bit towards Rokuko and showed her my right cheek.

"S-s-s-so then, Kehma. Farewell... n, nn—"

With that, Rokuko kissed me on my cheek. Crap, my face is hot. Her lips tickled my cheek. Is Rokuko still calm?

Taking a look at her, she was looking away, her face blushing top to bottom. Her lips were trembling slightly in embarrassment.

"C-come back in one piece, okay?"

"Yeah, I'm heading out."

... Yeah, I definitely have to turn down that marriage discussion.

Accompanied by Meat, I set off for Sia.