Hina's Pov
"Hey, what are you doing sitting there" A feminine voice came from behind me. I slid a bit backward to move the hand off my shoulder, and looking backward I saw her,
Crimson red hair going down her shoulders, a well-defined face with caramel eyes wearing a breastplate armor with red color patterns over chain-mail and half sleeved loose T-shirt, arm guards with dagger holders, and dagger holder containing dagger on both sides of her lower this was how she looked the first time I saw her
"Are you not going to answer? You know this isn't the best place to be this late at night" she asked again and after a few seconds of silence in which I calm myself up I answered while trying to hold back my tears,
"I don't know where to go. I was left here…. I lost my money" but I broke out crying as soon as I said this and she who was standing in front of me kneeled shaking her hands.
"Hey, hey don't cry…. I know are you hungry?? Want to eat something my treat" hearing her say about eating made my belly make noise and now I was staring at her, my eyes full of tears and my face burning with shame, but she gently said to me,
"Let's go, food won't appear here right" and gave me her hand for support, once I stood up, she told me to follow her I did as she said because somehow, I could feel the gentleness and concern coming from her, after walking for a while she asked me while looking back at me
"What is your name?? I haven't seen you before near adventurer guild, you don't look like an adventurer too"
"I am Hina Del… no just Hina" I answered her, out of habit I was about to say my surname but I remember that I am no longer part of the family
"Hina, that is a nice name. My name is Lina, kind of rhyming right," she said to me with a cheerful smile, this was how I meet Lina big sister, for the first time,
After the exchange of names, we walked without speaking to the bar. She led me to she spoke
"The best food in town is found here, Hina, and especially after my tasteless breakfast and lunch, it is best for soul healing"
And I gulped thinking about what kind of food there will be because I didn't eat much in the caravan, although looking back on it now, I think it was pretty shameless of me and she opened the door
"Welcome, Lina…. with a guest, did sunrise from same place today??" the muscular-looking uncle at the bar said and Lina big sister replied
"Ahh, today you look sober, too. I doubt the sun really did rise normally," and laughed,
I was following Lina big sister quietly because the whole bar was filled with adventurers, more than half of which were males, and the memory of what happened earlier was still fresh in my mind. Many of them were whispering
"Hey is she an adventurer too, crimson witch got a partner??"
"didn't she reject us saying she is going to clear dungeon solo??"
"She doesn't look like an adventurer though,"
"I never saw Lina of crimson flames enter with someone before,"
Lina big sister turned her face towards me and spoke
"Ignore them. Focus on the meal we will be having, it is going to be tasty!!"
And I nodded. Once we sit down, she asked me,
"What would you like to eat?? The Beef roast here is the tastiest, and there is bread and soup too and there are drinks too?? Do you drink??"
Lina big sister was more energetic and talkative before becoming Viscountess. Her personality changed a lot more so after giving birth to Ryu but warmth and kindness were never changing aspects of her that I feel.
"I will eat anything, I am sorry," I remembered I said in a lower voice,
"Why sorry??" Lina big sister asked
"For burdening you," I said, and she kept staring at me for a few minutes before she spoke
"You know, I am treating you because I felt like it and I approached you for the same reason. You are not burdening anyone," she said this and ordered food by shouting to Uncle from earlier
"George, make it two my comfort-styled beef roast today with dessert too!!"
"Just five minutes Lina!! Today questions won't stop"
After that, I asked her something I was curious about. It has always been that way I cannot control my curiosity no matter what, so I asked
"Why were they calling you crimson witch and such??" and she looked at me with a devious smile and spoke
"Want to know??" I nodded slowly, then she snapped her finger and a small flare of crimson flames appeared on her finger. It was looking beautiful and enchanting, sometimes I miss how cool Lina big sister was as an adventurer,
"How can you do that?? You didn't chant, did you draw glyphs on your finger?? No that would burn your fingers how!!??" I couldn't stop my curiosity after seeing it because I can only do minor water spells and just enough fire magic to make a small fire but even learning that took almost all of my mana and were hard to learn,
"Wait, you will make yourself exhausted if you shout like that," Lina big sister said to me and I noticed I was practically jumping and had crossed half of the table while asking her,
Embarrassed, I sit back properly, and she spoke
"I don't know how or why, but I am intimate with crimson flames and my mana changes into them freely and never harm me,"
"that's awesome!!" I had at this point forgotten about what had happened earlier or today, and was just listening to her tales now,
Lina big sister told me how she ran away from home but her father found her here and forcibly buy her a house here and allowed her to continue with dungeon raiding, but how he had set up people who he thought she doesn't know about finding her inside dungeon if she doesn't come out on usual time,
Hearing her talk about her father made me jealous back then because unlike mine and our food arrived, she asked me
"Hina, I told you a lot about me. won't you tell me about yourself? If you don't mind how you end up there in the corner because honestly, you look like a noble or someone who has never been here before,"
I was about to put my fork back on the plate because it would be hard to eat while talking about it, but before I could, she spoke
"Ahh, we can talk after we finish eating," I nodded, and we began eating,
After we finished, I told her everything that happened to me from the beginning and she was listening properly. Near the end, I was about to burst into tears when I found her hand on my head. she spoke,
"You did right, that pervert old man would remember who he messed up with," and then she continued patting me until I calmed down. Once my crying stopped, she ordered drinks, she asked
"Do you want to drink, Hina?"
And I said while moving my head
"No, I don't drink" she laughed and spoke
"Your loss" she kept drinking one glass after another and I was getting concerned for her and then she spoke with a drunk joyful voice
"Hina, I have an idea. Will you live with me; I got a nice home my father forced on me but it is lonely and from your tales, it looks like you can do every housework, what do you say??"
"I can't…" I was about to say burden again but remembered her reaction to it earlier and asked,
"Would it be alright??"
"It sure will be. You know I over drank too today because I have someone to carry me back home properly," she said while tapping the mug to the already empty bottle.
After that, she led me to her home many people were whispering as we leave the bar but I ignored them focusing on keeping her balanced and after walking a lot we reached a decent looking house although it was shorter than my original house, it seems nice and cozy like a rich shop owner live in it, once we went inside, she guided me to her bedroom by finger and slept as soon as I put her on the bed, before sleeping she said
"There is another bed in the next room" and I got the message, I still wonder what would have happened if Lina big sister doesn't come to me that night, it was like my night had taken a huge turn for good but one thing that settled in my mind was 'I doubt I will ever find true love and marry,' thinking like that I slept that day on a bed I got through no less than a miracle,
The next morning when I wake, I waited on the lower floor cough for Lina big sister to wake up and noticed how finely made the house was now I know it was due to her being the daughter of the Vanir household when I was staring at the beauty of the house she comes down and spoke
"Good morning Hina, did you sleep well?"
"Yes, Lina sister," I answered
"Sister, you called me sister" Lina big sister asked me with an excited face
"Was it wrong? I just felt like it," I said while panicking a bit, but she said,
"No, keep calling me sister. It was just it was the first time someone did it this naturally it feels like my heart was touched," she said while putting both of her hands on her cheeks blushing, I asked her
"Lina sister, what are the works I should do?" I asked, and she told me stuff like cleaning the room, making her bed, washing our clothes, and said jokingly,
"Basically you are to be my housewife," and I remember, I said in a lower voice
"I might as well be yours because I doubt I will be married ever,"
hearing this, she said in a soothing voice,
"You sure will. If this elegantly cute little sister of mine don't get true love, it would be a loss for the concept of love itself"
then patted my head to comfort me. After that, she gave me a tour of the home.
-to be continued