“Fate!!!”
“Whoa—”
The moment I reunited with Sofia, she suddenly hugged me.
She squeezed me tightly, with all her strength.
“Thank goodness you’re safe! You’re not hurt, are you? Nothing hurts? You’re not bleeding anywhere, right?”
Those all mean the same thing.
We were only apart for a short while, but…
It seems I made her worry a lot.
Hmm, she really is overprotective.
But that just proves how much she cares about me.
Thinking that way doesn’t feel bad at all—no, it actually makes me happy.
“Sofia, I’m fine.”
Being hugged like that made things… rather problematic, what with Sofia’s chest pressing against me, so I hurriedly pulled away.
For some reason, Sofia looked disappointed.
“Daddy!”
“On!”
Taking turns, Aisha jumped into my arms.
Snow ran over too, rubbing her face against my body.
“Sorry for making you both worry.”
“Uu—”
“But it’s okay now. See? I’m perfectly fine.”
“Yeah.”
Aisha’s tail swayed restlessly.
She must have gone through something frightening.
That’s why she worried even more about me…
But still, I’m glad.
We were able to reunite like this, without anything bad happening.
“Hehe, you’re all very close.”
Albert said that with a gentle smile.
This was his mansion.
He had invited us here, saying he wanted to discuss what would happen next.
“Allow me to properly thank you. Thank you for lending us your strength… and please let me apologize for my own shortcomings. Because of my poor judgment, I put your family in danger. I’m truly sorry.”
Albert bowed deeply.
That was surprising.
He was a noble, and the next lord of Lenoglade.
For someone like him to bow his head…
Maybe he was a better man than I had thought.
“Now then, I’d like to talk about your reward. Although things didn’t go exactly as planned, thanks to you, we were able to free Lenoglade from tyranny. I want to repay that debt. Is there anything you desire? As long as it’s within my power, I’ll do anything.”
“Um…”
Come to think of it, I hadn’t thought about the reward at all.
What should we ask for?
I looked at Sofia, silently asking if she had any good ideas.
“Well… you say anything, but is it okay if we ask for more than one thing?”
“Of course.”
“Then first, we’d like some money. Our travel funds were starting to look a bit shaky.”
Right—that was true.
With all the delays and detours, our expenses had piled up quite a bit.
“Name any amount you like. I’ll also prepare a carriage, food, and other supplies.”
“Thank you very much.”
He was quite generous…
“And one more thing.”
Sofia added another request, saying that wasn’t enough.
“Next time, would you lend us your strength?”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“We can’t go into details. We don’t even know what exactly will happen ourselves… but we believe a major incident will occur in the royal capital. One serious enough to shake the entire nation.”
“…That doesn’t sound peaceful.”
“We can’t say how large-scale it will be, but we’re certain something will happen.”
“Yes. I agree with Sofia.”
“Hmm.”
Albert pondered.
We could only speak in vague terms, but…
Even so, he listened carefully and thought it over seriously.
I was truly grateful for that.
“…Very well. I can’t say much unless such an incident actually occurs, but when the time comes, I promise to provide as much support as I can.”
And just like that, we gained a reliable ally.
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