Chapter 25: That Hurts! Those are some amazing nicknames!

AN: A romantic date by the lake (´・ω・｀)

The sunlight shining on the lake is dazzling so I"m still not cold as I push through the water.

「Wan (Oi Ren. How long are you going to keep on sulking?)」

「Chuー (……I"m not sulking)」

While munching on a piece of sandwich, the blue mouse Ren turned her face away in a huff.

Placing Ren on top of my head, I was dog-paddling through the lake while sightseeing.
I who was full of bite marks was entertaining Ren like a trained horse.

「Wafu…… (Let"s just get along for goodness sake……)」

「Chuー chuー (It"s your fault for getting distracted by other females. It would have been different if it was the same demon wolf as you but for it to be a human female…… I already knew you were a pervert but I didn"t think it was this severe)」

I mean, I"m not into furries so there"s nothing I can do about that.
I became a dog(self-proclaimed) but I"m not going to completely roleplay like that.

Or rather, I think it"s you, a dragon who fell in love with a demon wolf, who is the pervert here.
She kept on pestering me with questions for almost an hour.

「Chuー (Well, because of what happened, I was able to recall my secret plan. You can look forward to it my dear)」

Ren snorted as she giggled suggestively.

「Wan (Un? Ahー. Well, that"s fine if that makes your mood better. We should go back to the sh.o.r.e soon)」

「Chuー (No! No! I want to enjoy this secret boat date a bit more!)」

「Wan (Boat date you say? I"m the boat you"re talking about though)」

I"m starting to get tired from swimming you know?

Looking at the sh.o.r.e, I saw Ojou-sama and the others having an after meal break.
Hecate is sprawled out on the simple sofa that she bought and everyone is in the middle of taking a nap.
There"s even a large parasol opened which makes the entire scene look like it"s from a resort.

Ojou-sama has Nafra placed on her stomach and was gently stroking her fur.
She"s tickling her chin and patting the base of her tail. It seems like Nafra"s really liking this kind of stroking that she doesn"t usually experience.

Look at that! Look at Nafra"s mesmerized face!
d.a.m.n it. I"m jealous.
I want to get mofumofu"d by Ojou-sama too.

Ahh, d.a.m.n you Nafra. Now she"s looking at me with a triumphant face.

「Wann (Kuuuu. Even though that should have been me there! d.a.m.n Nafra! Please let me call you master!)」

The cute pose…! She remembered to do the cute pose but Ojou-sama wasn"t bewitched……!

「Chuー……(My dear, you"re just paying attention to that female again…… What is it? Are you going after that mere child? Being excited by a female child from another race like that, don"t you think your perverseness has gone way too far?)」

「Wann! (T-that"s not it! I don"t think of Ojou-sama in that way!)」

Ojou-sama is an even more sublime existence than that after all!

A breadwinner so to speak!
As she"s spoiling me, I want to be supported while I don"t do a single thing!
The Ojou-sama has probably become something like a mother-like existence to me!

「Chuー (……my dear, you really are gross aren"t you?……)」

Ren started groaning while openly showing her disgust.

Uhm, Renwowyrm-san?
I"d hurt even more if you say things like that while being in love with me you know?
It already hurts when you get called gross without that though.

After enjoying our break by the lake, we"re once again riding the carriage back to the mansion.

「Mu. What"s this? Who are those people?」

I heard Zenovichan mumble that from the coachman"s seat.

I put my head out of the window and looked in the direction of the movement.

The gate of the mansion can already be seen.
There are several men wearing traveling clothes who are in a dispute with one of the mansion"s employees for some reason.

Activating super dog hearing.
Let me explain. Dogs have really good hearing.
End of explanation.

If I concentrate, I can hear their conversation pretty well even if they"re still far away.

「Like-I-said! This entire forest is the property of the Falks household! Without master"s permission, I can"t allow you to enter!」

The one who the men in traveling clothes were fighting was one of our household"s maid.

I can"t remember her name but she"s a pretty young maid who"s just 1 to 2 years older than Ojou-sama.
She"s mainly in charge of cleaning and laundry but she frequently screws up so I always see her being scolded by Mirandsan.

She has a short stature but she has hands on her waist and greatly puffing out her chest making her look just a bit bigger.
Unfortunately, it still lacks impact.

That"s because her long black twin-tails is just making her look even more childish.

But, that"s not a problem for me who likes loli maids.
There"s also no problem with Ren who"s silently applying pressure from my back.
No problem at all.

「That"s why we"re here to ask permission!」

「The master is still in the middle of work desu! Please just set an appointment for now and come back at a later date!」

The shouting man talked back to the unyielding maid.

「The nearest village is half a day from here you know!? Do you want us to waste that much time again!? Look! We have a permit from the guild! We"re here on an official investigation!」

「That permission from the guild has nothing to do with this household! If you don"t want to follow the procedure then please just go home!」

Ohh, how cool, loli maid.
You"re not backing down at all even if your opponent is a scary looking old man.

However, those old men with swords on their waists look like they"re starting to lose composure with their red faces. Wouldn"t it be better if you stopped provoking them right now?

「Screw it. This is hopeless so let"s just force our way through! They understand why once they hear our story!」

「P-please wait aー」

The loli maid who tried to stop them was just brushed off.

While she was falling, a tall woman caught her from behind.

It was Zenovichan.

「Wafuu!? (Eh!? Wasn"t she just here a moment ago!?)」

While looking at the coachman"s seat and the gate in confusion, Ren who was on top of my head, said in admiration.

「Chuー (That girl sure is capable. Just as you would expect from the one responsible for my wounds. She"s extremely fast)」

Does that mean she ran there in an instant?
I didn"t see her move at all.

Wait, who"s operating the carriage now!?
I was worried about that, but our horses are smart so they just trotted on their own and stopped once we reached the gates.

「Are you alright, Todono?」

「Ah, Z-Zenovisan……!」

The blushing loli maid, Tochan, looked up at Zenovichan"s face.

Yuri…… No, that"s not right.
I"m pretty sure this is Zuka. 1 This completely smells like Zuka.
My sense of smell is sharp after all.

Zenovichan, who was hugging Tochan"s shoulders to support her, glared at the male group.

「You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. What were your intentions in laying your hands on this household"s maid……?」

Uwa, this is bad. She"s really angry.
Her fiery copper hair is standing on end like a lion"s mane.

「W-wait! We"re here on an investigation request from the guild! We even have an official permit!」

「From the guild you say……?」

Zenovichan narrowed her eyes sharply and all of the muscular men simultaneously retreated.

The one guy who bore the brunt of Zenovichan"s killing intent was at a loss for words while bathing in cold sweat.

「B-boss, who the heck is this woman……!?」

「That is…… No, this person is……!」

「It"s Zenovia! There"s no mistaking it, it"s Zenovia Leonhart!!」

「Zenovia, you mean "that" Zenovia……!?」

｜Former double S rank. Thousand Slasher2.* Fortress Crusher. One who has traversed the most dungeons. ｜The Crimson Leonhart *3

The men kept on spouting out hair-raising nicknames in rapid succession.

「What"s this you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, why do you know who I am?」

The person in question, Zenovichan, had a puzzled look as she started being suspicious of the men.
It appears that she isn"t aware that she"s some kind of celebrity.

「P-please forgive our rudeness. However, why is someone of your status here……?」

Toning down her bloodl.u.s.t, the leader who was able to breathe again timidly asked.
Where has all that a.s.sertiveness that he had a while ago gone I wonder? It looks like he has completely shifted his att.i.tude to a humble one.

「I am the Falks household"s sword. It is natural for me to be here」

No, you"re just a free-loader okay?
There"s no need for you to take on such an exaggerated duty you know?
Also, you weren"t here when you were needed the most.4

「The current guildmaster is Arkrus[アークルス] right? If so then go back and tell him this. I alone would be more than enough to conduct the investigation」

Iya, that"s impossible, isn"t it?
Even if you did go, you have your awful sense of direction to worry about.
You"d just get lost taking ten steps after entering the forest.

I"m certain of that since I traveled together with you.

I noticed it when I checked on what the horses were doing earlier but it"s possible that Zenovichan was just sitting on the coachman"s seat and doing nothing else.
The horses are smart so once we get on, they would just go to the lake and come back on their own.
I mean, if Zenovichan is operating it, she would probably still get lost even going on a straight road.

She may look cool with all of those nicknames but as expected, she"s still as unreliable as ever.
That"s a relief.
Even after all that, she"s still our Zenovichan.5

「Well, let"s all just calm down」

Everyone"s attention has gathered towards the direction where that calm male voice came from.

Appearing together with the servants was the Falks household"s current head, Gandorf von Falks. In other words, it"s Papsan.

「I will hear whatever you have to say. Zenovikun, Toa, I"m sorry for all the trouble this has caused you」

「T-that"s not true!」

「Master, please forgive me for acting on my own!」

The two of them smiled like they were just feeling happy to oblige. As expected from someone of his status.
It"s completely different from the time he was sobbing because Hecate drank his cherished wine.

「Ara~, it"s already that time, isn"t it……?」

Hecate mumbled to herself as she touched her chin with her index finger while pondering something.

「Wan (Time for what?)」

「Well, don"t you think that this is a wonderful time to drink some sake?」

Isn"t that the same as usual then?
Papsan, this iyashinbo* witch is aiming for your wine cellar again you know?6

I tried to silently give Papsan a warning from behind but it did not reach him. With that, the four adventurers were lead inside the mansion while the rest of us who were unrelated to that matter went back to our own plans.

Or at least I think it"s unrelated to me but that doesn"t seem to be the case.

Iyashinbo (´・ω・｀)7