TL: Yuki

Brought along by Cortina, we headed towards Maxwell"s residence. Unfortunately, Mich.e.l.le"s parents were not able to join us because they will be unloading and arranging their luggage. So right now, there"s only me Cortina, Finia and Mich.e.l.le-chan.

Although he was supposedly of royal bloodline, but he abandoned all of that along with his t.i.tle of n.o.bility when he started out as an adventurer.

But even with that, it still didn"t change the fact that he was still a big shot of this country. Especially after finishing the extermination of evil dragons, he was offered to return to his position when he finally returned to his country.

However, even with all of his present achievements, especially the subjugation of evil dragons, there would still be various legal problems in bringing back n.o.bility who once abandoned their position.

That"s why he was given authority, but was not posted on public office. And with his vague position, he was then appointed as the director of the Magic Academy.

He was Former Royalty and a Hero who subjugated Evil Dragons. Not to mention being a renowned Magician.

It would be impossible for Maxwell to reside in a plain looking house, that"s why his residence is now a splendid mansion. Cortina simply walked straight inside the mansion without being questioned by the guards.

In my previous life, I have also visited places like this before so it didn"t bother me much and I have a more relaxed atmosphere. And although I didn"t live in such a mansion, I got accustomed to the fact that I would usually do business in such places.

「Maxwell, I have brought them! Come, on let us enter! 」

Unlike us who are stuck to her waist, Cortina was knocking on the door forcefully without any hesitation. On the side though, I could see Finia whose face have started to turn pale.

Mich.e.l.le-chan also had a surprised look, when the 『Friendly Older Sister』 took on a crude and hostile att.i.tude.

「Seriously, you are as noisy as always. Just wait for a second…… I also want to take my time leisurely from time to time, you know」

An old man opened the door at his own pace without even being bothered by how noisy Cortina was.

He still has the same figure and ears similar to a dwarf that haven"t changed 17 years ago.

Now that I think about it, Cortina"s short cut hair also didn"t show any form decline since that time too. Well, although it"s not as long as how elves lived, cat beast-men also have a considerably long lifespan. Her current age should be over 30 years old, but if based on the lifespan of her tribe, then she could still be considered as a young one.

「You finally came out. Why don"t you take advantage of that short life you have left and do things a little faster? 」

「I don"t really care about that stuff. I will leave it to my successor to do things for if I really need to」

「don"t, it would be a annoying」

After doing their strange arguments and completely rejecting Maxwell"s claim, Cortina suddenly held me up.

「Never mind that look here. It"s Maria"s daughter, Nicole-chan! Isn"t she cute? 」

After holding me up, she then held me close and hugged me from behind. She then without restraint rubbed her cheeks on me to the point that I felt like my cheeks would be deformed and was a bit painful.

Noticing my situation, Finia attempted to move her hands, but stopped and was not able to do anything. After all, the one in front of her is Lyell"s colleague. She can"t just move on her own following strictly her own view of the relationship between everyone.

「Hohou, so her eyes have unmatched colors. People with such eyes usually have a lot of potential in magic and their foundations are strong」

「Um, I have a gift on Interference Magic」

「I did hear about that, but I didn"t know that you have such eyes. This is something I would look forward to! For now, come in. Do not act so reserve and have some tea」

Maxwell invited us and guided inside his mansion. As I was walking inside the mansion, I made a further comment. It was dirty. Dust were acc.u.mulating all over the place, and some garbage or doc.u.ments were piling up.

「Thu, this is……」

「I haven"t been here in quite a while. You could have at least hired a servant」

「Well, there are a lot of confidential doc.u.ments lying around. So hiring a servant would be kind of troublesome if it"s not from a reliable place」

「If it"s just that, then clean it up yourself」

「It"s a bother. Would you like to do it instead?」

「And why do you think I would……」

Finia who was watching the two bickering at each other is now even more pale and confused not knowing what to do with the current situation.  Seeing the two of them argue like this gives me a sense of nostalgia.

The Magician and the Master Tactician, the two of them would also quarrel a lot in the old days. I was thinking at first that Cortina might have settled down after all those years because of how she conducted herself when we met her, but well you can"t easily change a person"s character even after a long time has pa.s.sed.

After guiding to what seems to be a living room, Maxwell attempted to leave the room again.

「Stay here for the time being. I"ll go and prepare some tea for everyone――」

「That"s not it! Didn"t you remember what we came here for, Old Man!」

「Nn? Ah, that"s right. It was for Magic Power a.n.a.lysis. Then I"ll go fetch the measuring tools」

And just as easygoing as he usually is, Maxwell went out of the room. In the meantime, we cleaned a sofa for everyone to settle down.

「Were you surprised? Especially at how different our interaction was」

「No, I could understand from how he reacts that maybe, he is just an easygoing person……?」

「You are somehow acting like you have actually seen that person before. Thanks to that, I feel like I don"t to hold back」

「Just like from the past」

I involuntarily and immediately covered my mouth. There should have been no way for me to know the Cortina from before. But Cortina never missed mu grumbling.

「Nnー? Why do you know about how I was from the past……Ah I see. Maria told you about me, right! Seriously, did she want to betray our Women"s bond? 」

「Eh, umm……is, is that so?」

Right now, Maria is closing to her 40"s. But her appearance is still very youthful, enough that she would even pa.s.s if she says that she was still in her 20"s.

On the other hand, Lyell is aging normally the as his age…… soon enough, he would probably look like a grumpy old youkai. Also, it would be horrible to compare humans to other races like the Elf Finia and the Cat Beast-man Cortina.

「I have kept you waiting. I took a bit of time because I was brewing some good tea leaves」

After a while, Maxwell finally came back holding a tray with a tea set placed on it. He arranged it on the table near the sofa where we were seated normally without even showing any form of elegance that you would expect from a Hero. But despite that, I know very well just how much of a master he is that is able to compete against an evil dragon.

Also the same with Cortina, even if she shows annoyance to him, she doesn"t really dislike his ways. He quickly arranges everything in the table and offers us tea.

「You know, I don"t mind the tea, but where is the tool for measuring Magic which you should have prepared first! What happened to the measuring board? 」

「It"s fine, I didn"t forget about it. I brought it along. See, it"s here」

After saying that, he turns over the tray that he was using and showed it to us. No, that"s not it, that was not a tray but a magic tool, and it was the magic measuring tool itself.

「You…… don"t just use expensive tools like that as replacements for tools you use or making tea!」

Cortina couldn"t help but put a tsukkomi to how he treats expensive magic tools.

Maxwell…… Sorry, but I also completely agree to Cortina.