Well, in times like this… Chiharu went back to making her usual troubled expression . Kreis saw this and came to her rescue .

“Kaider, don’t you have any better pick up lines?”

“What! No, really! I have seen…”

Said Kaider . His eyes went from their hair to their body as if he was trying to remember .

“Black hair, I think…”

“Horrid . ”

“Huh?”

Chiharu said without thinking .

“Oh, I’m sorry . But I think that this is the first time we’ve met . ”

She said softly .

“Forgive me, that was rude of me . I am a friend of these two . My name is Kaider, and this is Nyran . Uh, we are looking for two human children . Did you happen to see them anywhere?”

“I believe that we would have noticed seeing any children here that were humans like us . Unfortunately, we have not . ”

“I see…that is too bad . ”

“What, Kaider? Does it bother you so much?”

“I’ve been watching them ever since we sat together on the train . But they said they were going to Gromble alone . But we’re headed there with the soldiers in just two days . I thought that we might as well take them with us . ”

“Take them? Like as an attendant?”

“Yes, or they could help the cooks . I hear that they do not have enough hands from Midland, as this was on such short notice . They are both very independent, and wouldn’t expect any direct help . But they are too skinny to become Adventurers . ”

“I see . ”

“I will continue to look for them . Excuse me, ladies . ”

And so Kaider and Nyran left the restaurant .

“I don’t remember him being like that . ”

“He finally matured . ”

Edmond said as Kreis tilted his head in puzzlement .

“Uh, that nice man…”

Maki asked .

“Ah, Kaider? He is a little rough, being an Adventurer and all . But he is also the third prince of this country . ”

“Prince?”

“Prince?”

Him? Kreis continued .

“Being a capable blacksmith and leading the people has always been seen as proof of being a royal in this country . Kaider as well . He is an odd one though . He insisted that blacksmiths needed to know how to use a sword, and so he went out to become an Adventurer . ”

“Is that so . ”

Edwy was such a prince-like prince .

“I feel like it might be safer for you two to move with the Midland troops as well . ”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll only get in the way of their very, very important work . After all, we’re just going to meet our father . ”

Maki said .

“No, no, no . If anything, it might actually be more dangerous to travel with so many soldiers and Adventurers . ”

Kreis said indecisively .

“Really . But please come to use if you need help with anything . We’ll be at our store for the next two to three days . ”

Edmond said and showed them where it was located .

“Yes . Thank you so much . ”

They continued a light conversation after that and tasted the apple wine that had been enhanced with dried apple peels . And then they walked Maki and Chiharu to their room . The people in the dwarf country were all very kind .

“So, Kaider was a prince…a prince…heh . ”

“Maki-chan, that’s rude . And he was so nice . But…haha . ”

The two of them spent the next few minutes laughing in their room .

“No, no . He’s so nice and is still searching for Norfe and Chouze . His appearance aside, he is clearly a prince at heart . ”

“What do you mean by appearance? Kaider is quite handsome?”

“Chiharu… Did you always like them buff?”

“For the most part, yes . I mean, his thick red hair is wavy like a lion . ”

“A red lion . Hehe . ”

“The nice forehead and angular features . The bright brown eyes . ”

“Chiharu, you aren’t…”

“No, it’s just a general observation . I actually thought he was your type?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah! I didn’t even notice . I was too busy trying to trick him . That’s right, to generalize, Kaider is quite handsome . ”

Maki said in agreement .

“I feel bad that he’s still looking…”

“Yeah…”

They felt guilty . About that, and about laughing .

“But more than that, plan B . It totally failed . ”

“I didn’t think we’d get so much attention . ”

“What will we do now?”

The two of them rolled onto the bed and started to think .

“Well, I guess we have to move to Plan C . ”

“I suppose . ”

“But still, Chiharu . ”

“What?”

“Plan C is not enough . ”

“That’s true . ”

“Where should we go?”

They looked up at the grains of the wooden ceiling . Chiharu opened her mouth .

“1, have the birdfolk take us to the beastlands . ”

“Yes, Master Chiharu . I just thought of a crazy future where we are surrounded by bird people . ”

“2, have the birdfolk take us to the elf lands . ”

“Yes, Master Chiharu . They probably wouldn’t agree to that . ”

“That Miragaia! Well then, 3 . We’ll follow the soldiers to Gromble . ”

“I think that could work . ”

“4, we just relax and enjoy traveling the dwarf lands . ”

“Totally . ”

“5, we backtrack . ”

“Yes . We can stay at the hot spring for a week . ”

“Yes . ”

They could take it so easy . But .

“The miasma is already thin over there . ”

“Yeah . ”

“And it’s still thick in Gromble . ”

“Yeah . ”

“Alright, so our destination . Let’s say it at the same time, okay?”

“Here we go . ”

“Here we go . ”

They nodded at each other .

“Gromble . ”

“Gromble . ”

Right?

“Hmm, I wonder why?”

“An old habit from j.a.pan? I don’t feel like I can have fun when others are working hard . ”

“We’re adults, after all . We can’t just throw away our responsibilities . ”

“Adults, huh? Well, we did have a nice long 12 days vacation at least . ”

“It was so fun . Even though there was a guardian half of the time . ”

“Though, they spied on us . ”

“Prince . ”

“Hah!”

They rolled around laughing again .

“But, we won’t return so easily . ”

“Yeah . ”

“Let’s ask Edmond for help . ”

“Yes, let’s . ”

They needed to get some rest for tomorrow . But…

“Haha…”

“Chiharu?”

“Your face during dinner…when you fluttered your eyelashes . ”

“Ughh . I didn’t think you would find it so funny…hehe . ”

It took them a while to fall asleep .

In the dwarf castle, Aeris was holding the bag that was from Chiharu .

“So many magic gems . She had hated the idea of growing these so much, but they were going to places thick with miasma on their own . What sense of responsibility . Chiharu, I hope that you are not suffering . I wish that I could at least be by your side . ”

Sauro was staring at Aeris after handing him the bag .

“Aeris, she isn’t suffering at all . They’re having lots of fun, actually . ”

“No, no . They probably want to return, but cannot . What about their travel expenses?”

“They seem to be richer . ”

“What about strange men following them around?”

“…”

Well, he couldn’t say there wasn’t one . But Sauro knew that there was nothing he could say to satisfy Aeris . Still, it was getting tiresome, so he did hope that they would return soon .