Part 3
"I have to meet Yunyun, so I'm going now. I have an ominous feeling about what Kazuma is thinking about, will it be fine?… I'm leaving Darkness in your hands, alright?"
Megumin looked at me uneasily a few times, and left the place with a worried expression.
For me, Megumin going out was good.
Among Megumin, Aqua and Darkness, the hardest to handle would probably be Megumin.
"Ughhh… I worked so hard… to repair it…"
Aqua sat on the couch, throwing a tantrum because the photo she fixed was torn up again.
— As I watched Megumin left, I could feel a strong gaze on my back.
The gaze came from Darkness, she was glaring at me silently with tears in her eyes.
Aqua was also staring at me with tears.
How, how scary.
"Calm, calm down. This is for the best in the future."
Hearing the excuse I made up on the spot, Darkness whose eyes were still teary asked:
"… How?"
I explained in detail to Darkness and Aqua.
Putting it simply, in order for her to continue her career as an adventurer, it would be better to attend a matchmaking session now.
This might be with the landlord's son this time, but even if this one is rejected, Darkness' father will arrange another one in no time.
Will Darkness need to reject them one at a time?
If Darkness' father couldn't take it anymore, he might adopt tougher measures.
If that was the case, Darkness should accept it this one time, and mess up the event utterly. That was my suggestion.
Although I suggest utter destruction, there was no need to go so far as to tarnish Darkness' family name, she just need to force the other party to give up by themselves.
That way, Darkness' parents would be more prudent about arranging the next matchmaking session.
After all, it would be embarrassing for the family if the other party rejects them every time.
And of course, Aqua and I would be accompanying her under the guise of house help.
We will assist Darkness secretly to make the other party dislike her.
And the target this time was the infamous landlord's family after all.
Even though messing up this session to discourage Darkness' father would have negative impact on her family name, it would be less damaging than doing so compared to matchmaking with a fine aristocratic clan.
— After the two of them heard my explanation…
"That, that's it Kazuma! Let's use this plan! If this works, I won't need to go home and beat down my father every time he arrange a session."
Her, her father was really pitiful…
"I get it, this is a great plan! I thought you will say 'if one of the problem children marries off, you can find a new member and relax, yahoo—!' or something like that!"
Aqua's words made me shiver.
"No, no way! How could I bear letting such an excellent crusader like Darkness leave?… Don't do that, don't look at me with eyes like that, I am half serious about this alright…"
Part 4
Dustiness mansion.
This building situated in the main street of the town had an appearance befitting a grand aristocratic family.
"Is this true? Can we really do this, Lalatina? Are you willing to consider this matchmaking session seriously?"
Lalatina… I mean, Darkness' dad held Darkness hand as he said excitedly.
This is the Darkness' home, situated right in this town, and we are inside the building.
Darkness just told her dad that she was willing to go for the matchmaking session.
"It's true, dear father. Lalatina wants to try it."
When we heard Darkness said that, Aqua and I lowered our head.
"Neh neh, Kazuma-san, Kazuma-san, she said 'dear father'."
"Are, are you stupid, Lalatina is more funny, she called herself 'Lalatina'."
Looking at lady Lalatina talking in a different manner than usual, Aqua and I whispered to each other, our shoulders shaking as we tried to hold back our laughter, earning the glare from the red faced lady.
When Darkness' dad saw us like this, he felt a bit suspicious.
"Lalatina, who are these two guest?"
Hearing him ask this, Darkness extended his hand toward Aqua and I.
"These two are my adventuring companions. For this matchmaking session, I wish to employ them as temporary butler and maid to join me for the event."
Her dad frowned and seemed uneasy about this.
"Erm… about that…"
That won't do.
I took a step forward, put one hand on my chest and stood up straight.
"Pleased to meet you. I am adventurer Satou Kazuma, I have been in the care of lady Lalatina. If the matchmaking is a success, we probably won't be able to meet lady Lalatina because of our difference in status. I know we are flaunting the rules a little, but for this very last moment, we wish to stay by lady Lalatina's side, and see for ourselves if we can entrust our important companion to the groom."
Without any stuttering, I state my piece fluently and bowed.
I am so cool right now.
If I could marry the lady away, I felt I could achieve anything.
Seeing me act so differently, Darkness and Aqua were stunned.
— The maids brought us to the meeting room.
"Please wait for a moment. We will prepare the attire for our honored guests."
The maids ushered us to sit at the couch and served us tea. After inviting us to 'enjoy the tea', they left the room.
As expected of a meeting room for a grand aristocratic family.
It looked plain at first sight, but it was obvious that it cost a lot of money to maintain the appearance of nobles.
We waited obediently for a while, but got bored easily.
Unable to sit still, we wandered around the meeting room, picking up and observing the decorations.
I don't have an eye for appraising things, but every one of these had to be expensive pieces.
For example, the painting hung on this wall.
At a glance, it looked like a child's scribbling, but it should be those so called modern art pieces.
I rubbed my chin as I looked at the painting, mumbling a little as I act as if I am appreciating this painting.
"Kazuma, you really like that graffiti huh?"
Aqua who didn't knew about art told me when she saw me admiring that art piece.
"Hey, how uncultured. This is what you call modern art, those who understand will know how wonderful it is. It must be a work of a master painter."
Listening to my bullshit, Aqua said on casually from the couch:
"But in the eyes of me who has learned about painting, that is just a normal graffiti."
I shrugged and shook my head at Aqua:
"Well, being able to paint and the ability to appraise are two different matters. Look at this part, it might look like scribbling at first, but if you…"
As I was making up nonsense in my explanation to Aqua, Darkness walked into the meeting room.
"Sorry for the wait, you… Hey Kazuma, that is a painting of my father by me when I was young. Father really like this painting, so he hung it here to show it off to the guests. Don't stare at it, it makes me feel embarrassed… Hey, what are you doing! Don't pull my hair!"
As Aqua was laughing at me deviously, I tugged on Darkness' plaited hair. At this moment, the maid entered the room carrying clothes for a butler and a maid.
"Kazuma-san, this is the attire for a butler. The size should be just right, please try it on."
I received the clothes from the maid and followed her into the dressing room next door.
… Yeah, it fits perfectly.
"It looks good."
Hearing me said that, the maid bowed and retreated to a corner of the room.
— I succeeded in getting Darkness' dad to hire me as a temporary butler and returned to Darkness after putting the attire of a butler.
Aqua who was already in maid attire was there.
Unexpectedly, the pure dressing of a maid suits her well.
"Aqua, you look nice in it. Right now, you look like a top class minion."
"You too Kazuma, you look just like a try hard apprentice butler, great. It's like you will be bullied by mean senpais and will cry by yourself in a corner, really great."
"Ara, what an interesting way of putting it. If we were not in the mansion of a grand noble right now, I would have given you a piece of my mind… Well then, are you ready, lady Lalatina?"
"Don't, don't call me lady Lalatina! Just addressing me as 'my lady' will do if others are around!"
Darkness barked at me flusteredly.
The meeting will be held in this mansion.
And Darkness' dad asked for my help.
He actually asked me.
He asked for my assistance to stop his daughter from doing anything rude during the meeting.
Not just that.
He was also willing to pay me for my efforts if the meeting goes smoothly.
Not only did our interest coincide, he even threw in gratuity rewards as a bonus.
It would be hard for me not to be fired up.
If the son of the landlord was incapable, I would join in the disruption of the meeting. But if he was just a bit annoying, I would still close an eye on that matter.
"The two of you, this way. Listen carefully! You know what to do right? I'm counting on you!"
Darkness had an uneasy expression as she led us to the entrance to receive the other party of the matchmaking session.
With maids from the Dustiness house flanked her on either side, Darkness looked the part of a lady from a noble house.
On the way to the entrance, Aqua used her sharp eyes and searched for valuable exhibits.
"Oh, that one looks rather…"
Aqua looked at an urn with a handle as if she was looking at something special.
Be it the value of this urn or the worthlessness of the graffiti from earlier, this girl had great artistic sense.
I was curious about the urn Aqua was looking at and lift it up.
It was heavy.
"Is this expensive? How much is this worth?"
"Hey… Don't touch the things over here, that is my father's expensive urn…"
Darkness reached out for the handles of the urn I had picked up.
"According to my brilliant appraisal, this urn is…"
Phuck!
"Ah!" x2
With a clear crack, along with our shout, only the handle remained in Darkness' hands.
"… This urn is now a piece of trash."
"What, what should we do! This is my father's precious collection, what should we do!"
Darkness started to panic with the broken handle in her hands.
"Calm, calm down! You dad is not here right now! There are two solution! First is to admit it when the matchmaking people are here. That way, your father won't become angry before the guest! Number two! Use rice or something to make emergency repairs, and place the urn in a position that will easily fall if your dad picks it up!"
"I, I got it, we will do that! As expected of Kazuma, how quick witted! Even if I admit it before the guests, he will still lecture me after they leave! We will do temporary repairs, put it in a position that will fall easily, and instruct the househelp not to touch it, that's the best way!"
When she heard my conversation with Darkness, the Dustiness maid said:
"… Excuse me, honored guest… Please don't teach our young lady such things…"