Then, as though to deal the finishing blow: "Hmph! Orphia, Sara, that's
unfair!" Latifa suddenly hugged Rio from behind him.
"Are you drunk too, Latifa...?" Rio dropped his head in resignation.
Her face was as close to him as possible, and he could smell the faint
scent of sweet Soul Sake from her mouth. Far in the distance, Rio could see
Ursula cackling happily with Dryas and Dominic. He immediately concluded
that this was their dirty work.
At that very moment, one more figure appeared and called out to Rio. It
was Alma.
"Good evening, Rio. May I join you too?"
"Yes, of course." Rio nodded in delight. Alma's eyes still had a modicum
of reason within them.
"Honestly, just because Soul Sake tastes good doesn't mean you can
drink as much as you like," Alma said with amused exasperation as she
moved to sit facing Rio. They were less than an arm's length away from each
other, but it was the perfect distance to be able to converse without yelling
over the noisy banquet happening around them.
"Looks like you're not drunk yet, Alma."
"Dwarves have a high alcohol tolerance." Alma smiled faintly at Rio's
relieved face.
"Alma shooo cuuute!" Orphia, sensing the faint change of expression in
Alma's face, suddenly hugged her.
"Wah! That tickles, Orphia!" Despite her embarrassment, Alma didn't
resist.
Sara giggled. "Alma used to be such a crybaby, always following me and
Orphia around. She was so cute... But now she's become a boring, mature
adult. Can you believe she used to call us Sis?" She said, revealing old stories
of Alma to Rio. Rio and Latifa looked at Alma in surprise.
"W-Wah! Sara! What are you saying?! You're too drunk!" Alma tried to
stop Sara in a panic, but it was too late.
"I want to hear more about Alma when she was little! Right, Onii-chan?"
Latifa laughed in excitement, turning to Rio.
"Right," Rio agreed teasingly.
"N-Not you too, Rio... D-Don't you think we should be using this time to
deepen our friendship instead?!" Alma yelled, face blushing a deep red.
"Thash right! I wanna be better fwends wif Rio! But Rioooo keepsh
trying to maintain hish dishtance!" Orphia latched onto the topic Alma brought up, emphasizing her earlier statement.
"W-With me...? But I'm already living with you..." It took a beat before
Rio could find a response, but he couldn't quite deny the distance he had
been trying to keep. They may have been living under the same roof, but Rio
had definitely spent the whole time keeping his walls up while interacting
with them.
"It's true that we have been living together. You help us with our training
and teach us how to cook, too. H-How should I put this... Even though
Latifa's learned to love us like older sisters, there's still this sense of distance
when it comes to you. And that feels a little... l-lonely, you know? We've
become sworn friends now, so..." Sara's cheeks blushed crimson as she
avoided Rio's gaze and spoke with a sharp tone.
"We jus' wanna be better fwendsh. Ehehe," grinned Orphia. In the end, it
all came down to that one simple phrase.
So that's why they're being so clingy... and bold... in their actions.
Though I don't think it was the right way to approach this... He was happy
they decided to express their feelings in such a straightforward manner. Rio
glanced sideways at Latifa, who had climbed onto his back and was peeking
over his shoulder. She was grinning happily as she watched over the course
of events.
Was Latifa behind all this? Sara and the others don't usually act this
way.
With that thought, Rio couldn't help but smile. The girls had gone this far
out of their element just to become closer friends with him. That fact made
him very happy.
"W-What's so funny?" Sara asked with a red face. She was either drunk,
or feeling embarrassed by how directly she had expressed her desire to be
closer friends.
"Nothing, I'm just happy. Thank you, everyone. It's part of my
personality that I'm not very sociable with others, so I would be very grateful
if we could continue to get along well." Rio smiled gently, looking around at
the girls and bowing slightly at them.
"Y-Yes! We would love that!"
After blinking blankly for a moment, Sara and the others nodded in
delight. They took each other's hands and jumped around with noisy cheers.
"Now we can all be best friends!" Latifa said happily from where she
clung around Rio's neck
"Gahaha! Looks like that's all settled. Here, I brought some food and
sake over... Now you can deepen your relationship with this." Dominic
suddenly appeared out of no where and approached the group with a hearty
laugh. Ursula stood behind him.
"I knew you two would be involved as well..." Rio said with a troubled
look.
Ursula gave a good-humored cackle. "Oho, it looks like everything went
exactly as planned."
"Grandfather Dominic, what is the meaning of this?" Alma looked at the
proffered food and drink curiously.
"You're a dwarf, too, aren't you? All you need to do is eat, drink, and
laugh, of course!"
"Please don't include me in that muscle-brained species stereotype of
yours."
"Gaha! What a handful this one is! How about it, Rio, my boy? She may
be a little uptight with her jokes, but she's a beauty, and she's got her cute
moments, too. Now that you're a sworn friend of the spirit folk, how about
you take a spirit folk bride with you?" Dominic brought up with a blinding
smile.
"Umm, that's a bit..." Rio struggled to respond.
"D-Don't say such absurd things!" Alma blushed furiously and objected,
causing Rio to force a smile on his face.
"That's right. You need to consider how the person feels... Especially
when it comes to women," Rio said, making Dominic look at Alma in
surprise.
"Why? Don't you like Rio, Alma?"
"N-No, it's not that I dislike Rio or anything. It's just that I'm still young,
so there are other things I'd like to do first..." Strangely, Alma replied to
Dominic quite seriously, her face red.
"Alma ish so cuuuute. Then... I'll be Rio'sh bride, too!" Orphia said,
petting Alma's head.
"Ohoho. You can't lose to them, Latifa. You too, Sara."
"Yup!"
"W-Why am I included?!"
Latifa nodded innocently, while Sara yelled her protest in a panic.
"Gahaha. Rio, my boy, you should just take all four as your brides. The
spirit village allows polygamy, after all," a red-faced Dominic jeered, laughing loudly and boorishly with Soul Sake in one hand.