–About one week after we returned to Axel.
I was about put the plate down to feed Chomusuke, but I was interrupted by Megumin as she entered the room.
"…Kazuma, aren't you feeding it a bit too much? You shouldn't dote on it so much, you know?"
"But this guy hasn't stopped eating—Here here, eat more and grow up quickly~"
Before you become that onee-san, I hope we can get along well.
Also, please forgive Megumin for using explosion magic on you.
"…There's a letter for Kazuma. I don't really know what's it about though."
A letter for me?
"Is it that dragon egg salesman again? Ever since I bought Emperor Zell, he's been sending these letters every day."
The idiot who got tricked lured a lot of scammers to this house.
"If it was sent to Kazuma, then it probably isn't anything good. Let me take a look."
"Here it is… I can't help but feel like I've seen this envelope somewhere…"
Megumin passed the envelope to Darkness…
Darkness opened the envelope and peeked inside. Without a moment's delay, she shoved it in her chest pocket.
"… Hey, what are you trying to do with a letter addressed to me?"
"… It is as Aqua said, it's just a letter from the dragon salesman."
"It's just as I divined! Isn't this great Kazuma? The mails sent to me all address me as 'This letter is addressed to the one destined to a dragon, an adventurer of great fame and might.'"
Ignoring Aqua who was saying stupid things again, I said to Darkness, who tried to avoid my gaze:
"Hey, give me the let—."
"I refuse."
Darkness replied in an instant, and proceeded to roll herself into a ball, as if she was pregnant woman protecting her child.
Seeing her action, I could tell who the sender of the letter was.
Because I've seen Darkness do this before.
"It's Iris, right!? Iris sent me that letter, right!?"
"How did you guess!? No, I mean, this is just a—!"
I mercilessly stretched my hand towards Darkness' chest as she desperately tried to refute my claims.
"AAhhhhhhhh!?"
"Look! As I thought, this is a letter sent to me by Iris!"
Darkness put her hands by her chest and bent down.
Hmpf, don't think that I wouldn't lay a hand on the letter just because you put it by your chest.
After all, I am no longer the wuss that I was. I have been reincarnated as a ruthless man.
As I was thoroughly experiencing the thrill of my victory, I opened the letter.
Undoing the royal seal, I unfolded the letter—
'Dear Onii-sama,
I have heard of your great achievements at the fortress nearby. You always seem to dive headfirst into danger, so I have been a bit worried about your wellbeing…'
Just reading the header of the letter has warmed my heart.
'This time, I have a request for Onii-sama, who has become one of the nation's greatest adventurers.'
Then I read the last sentence.
"Actually, I am going to meet with the prince of a neighboring country with whom I have an arranged marriage with, so I would like to hire onii-sama as my bodyguard—"
And viciously ripped the letter.