After spending a night, Alice and I thanked Chris-san many times for her help and left the castle.
Chris-san told me I could stay for as many days as I wanted but... It's just that, after what happened last night, I got the feeling that she's trying to win me over with her seductive techniques, and I can't keep myself calm around her so... In fact, she even asked me if I wanted to take a bath with her just this morning, since I felt like my reasoning would get burned out, I decided to come home early after breakfast.
After parting with Alice at the royal capital, I was on my back to Lilia-san's residence with Bell... when I realized.
Speaking of which, I'm taking Bell home with me.... and Lilia-san's scary. Really damn scary.
The only way to keep Bell is to tell her that I'm going to take responsibility for him and that I'm going to take care of him with all my heart but... Yep. What the heck is with this feeling budding up within me… I feel like a child who picks up an abandoned cat and returns home worried that his parents will be angry with him.
Anyway, I can only be prepared for what will happen. I'd better be prepared to take a couple of hits... LIlia-san's power will hit me.... It would be great if she won't break my head...
[Guruu?]
[It's nothing. Let's go, Bell.]
[Gaooo!]
I smile and give a pat on Bell's back, who was looking at me with concern, as if he could tell I was troubled.
Now, I'm ready, so let's go...
When I returned to Lilia-san's mansion, I immediately found the person I wanted to see... Lilia-san.
Lilia-san is standing in front of the doorway, but for some reason, she's resting on Lunamaria-san's shoulder and appears to be completely exhausted.
[Come on, My Lady. Please take a breath of air outside.]
[Uggghhh...]
[You're so weak to alcohol that your face would turn red over just one glass, but you still drank so many bottles of wine.]
[I mean... Kaito-san...]
[...Unnn...]
[ [ Eh? ] ]
Lilia-san seemed to have a hangover, looking like she was going to die.
When I called out to them, Lilia-san and Lunamaria-san looked surprised for a moment, before they straightened their backs as if they're keeping up appearances.
[K- Kaito-san!? S- Since when are you here...]
[J- Just now...]
[I- I- I see... It's not that I usually drink a lot of alcohol. It's just you happen to see me drink by chance...]
[Ah, yes.]
I'm not sure if it was really embarrassing for her to be seen with a hangover from drinking too much, but Lilia-san looked flustered while her face looked red.
Of course, I don't have any intention of pursuing the topic any deeper either, so I immediately respond with my acknowledgment.
[Anyway, welcome back. Kaito-san... It seems you went through... a lot... again?]
[U- Ummm....]
[...Luna, I think my eyes are finally seeing things... I'm having hallucinations of a behemoth...]
[I'm afraid I can see it too.]
In the middle of her words, Lilia-san's gaze glued to Bell behind me, and after a moment of silence... She stands in front of me with a terrific speed.
[Kaito-san! Get back, it's dangerous!]
[Grrrrrrrrr...]
[Hey! Bell, growling at them is no good!]
[Gaooo.]
[Luna, my sword... Huh?]
Seeing the dangerous-looking Lilia-san approaching, Bell let out a low growl, as if he thought she was an enemy, so I scolded him a little louder.
Hearing me, Bell immediately stopped growling and nodded, listening to me properly, so I put my hand over Bell's head and gently patted him.
[Okay, good boy, good boy.]
[Gaooo!]
[...Luna, I think I'm completely wasted... I'm starting to have visions of a Behemoth being emotionally attached to Kaito-san.]
[No matter how cruel it may be, it's still reality.]
[...…..]
[Miyama-sama truly is terrifying... being able to win over a legendary magical beast...]
Seeing me patting Bell's head, I saw Lilia-san's eyes look straight at me... and it's seriously scary.
[...Kaito-san, that Behemoth... What's going on?]
[Errr, I bought it.]
[You bought it? Ah, come to think of it, I've heard that you were in Archlesia Empire, which has a close relationship with Dragon King-sama, which is a country that's putting a lot of effort into raising high-level monsters. However, I never thought they would even have a Behemoth... How much was it?]
[Errr... That's 280 white gold coins, so that's 28,000,000R.]
[...Huh?]
It was 2.8 billion yen. Well, when I think about it again, I really made quite an outrageous purchase.
Hearing my words, Lilia-san stiffened and her eyes opened wide, and then, she flusteredly began questioning me.
[...W- Wait a minute! 28,000,000R you say, where the heck did you get that much money!?]
[Ah, that's...]
[Please don't tell me you got it by some illegal means, did you... Kaito-san! What's the meaning of this!? Please explain!!!]
[Gueehhh!? Li- Lilia-san, i- it hurts...]
[I don't remember raising Kaito-san to be such a person!!!]
[I don't even remember being raised by you though!? A-Anyway, please calm down! I'll properly explain to you how I got him from the start!!!]
Lilia-san seems to be quite shaken, grabbing my collar and violently rocking back and forth, and it may have just been my imagination, but I can't feel the ground on my feet.
Lifting the 170cm me to the air, seriously, how strong are you, Lilia-san... T- The girls in this world really are frightening. Mainly in terms of combat abilities, I mean...
(T/N: Kaito's around 5'7″)
Anyhow, my desperate plea paid off, as Lilia-san managed to calm down and let go of her hand that was holding unto my collar.
Anyway, I'll tell them the details inside, but in the meantime, I was wondering what I should do about Bell, but before I knew it, Sieg-san was standing in front of Bell, staring at him.
[Guruu?]
[Bell, Sieg-san is someone who has always been helping me, so you'll have to get along with her properly.]
[Gaooo!]
[...…..]
Sieg-san continues to stare at Bell and after a little while, as if she made up her mind, she reaches out her hand.
Bell seemed to be listening to what I said properly, as he didn't avoid Sieg-san's outstretched hand, and quietly letting her pat his head.
And that's when I noticed that Sieg-san's cheeks had a slight blush to them, and a lovely smile on her face that shows that she's very happy.
It seems that I wasn't the only curious one about this, as Lilia-san and Lunamaria-san were also looking at Sieg-san with slightly dubious expressions on their faces.
When Sieg-san noticed our gazes, she took out a piece of paper and a pen from her pocket before showing it to us.
"...It's really cute. Kaito-san, you have a good sense on picking up pets."
[...H- Haahh... Thank you.]
Apparently, she had that expression just now because Bell was really cute, and Sieg-san immediately returned her gaze to Bell and continued patting his body with a smile.
[...Hey, Lunamaria-san.]
[What is it?]
[It's just that… Isn't Sieg-san a little different than usual?]
[...Sieg has always been a big animal lover, and that's exactly why if you left them alone, she would just smile and pat that behemoth around all day long.]
[I- I see... H- However, Behemoths are considered as monsters, right?]
[I think it's fine for her as long as it looks like an animal.]
Just as Lunamaria-san said, Sieg-san seemed to really like animals, as she has an innocent smile of a little girl, which was a far cry from her usual calm, mature, and feminine atmosphere.
The expression on her face, which I don't often see, was very cute and I realized once again that Sieg-san is an attractive woman.
Dear Mom, Dad——- Anyhow, I finally made it back at Lilia-san's mansion, but I'm sure that the troubles still haven't ended yet... That being said—— It seems like Sieg-san loves animals.
In a small hill overlooking the capital city of Symphonia Kingdom, several shadows descended.
[Good gracious, it's troubling how there are hot-tempered people among us... with that said, I think just me going should be enough.]
[No, there's no need for Bacchus-sama to move. You can leave it to us...]
[Fumu, well, you seem to be in a hurry to get the job done huh... I'm going to repeat this just in case, but don't misread Megiddo-sama's intentions.]
[ [ [ Hahh! ] ] ]
[Well then, first of all... let's go find an inn to stay at.]
[Eh? Aren't we going to head over there right now?]
[My, my, please don't make us old people do anything rash. If we do this before "Phantasmal King-sama's subordinates set up the barrier", Death King-sama will be able to sense us. You don't need to be in such a hurry.]
It's not yet time for these Demons to immediately achieve their goal, Bacchus told them with a wry smile and started walking slowly towards the royal capital.
[Now then, Miyama Kaito... Let me figure out what you're worth for...]