Chapter 21: Visitor

After taking care of the business, Haruna left the Castle Town Diana and went straight back to Deris’s house. Half of the reason was that she wanted to train as soon as possible with the black staff given to her by Gan from the Bristly Beard and half of it was to report that she was welcomed by the guild. Anyway, she hurriedly climbed the mountain with nimble footwork.

「Shishou, I’m back!」

「Yeah, welcome back. How’s your errand?」

Deris seemed to be reading a book on the living room sofa while having a cup of tea. He seemed to be done with his work, so Haruna has a faint hope that she can monopolize him and then sits next to him on the sofa to report what happened in the guild.

「Alright, you’ve done well to make the guild feel obliged. That’s my disciple for you.」

For some reason, Deris’s tone was as if he had expected this to happen. He frankly makes guts pose.

「I received a lot of money, but what should I do …」

「As I said before, that’s the money you earned. You can spend it freely―― but it seems you don’t know how to spend it. Hmm, let’s se… how about buying a new staff for training your staff arts? I’ve got some in this house, but they’re all old.」

「Ah, that’s right… I got this from Gan-san.」

She took out the black staff, which she put inside the bag because she did shadowboxing on the way home, and showed it to Deris. And then, Deris’s eyes opened wide, and looked at Haruna as if looking at something amazing.

「A free service from that Gan-san…… Haru, you are pretty well-liked. Normally, it takes three days to get Gan-san out of the workshop, a week to catch up on a conversation, and it takes another month to make eye contact with him, you know?」

「Eh? Weren’t you talking normally with him?」

「How much hardship do you think… ah, no. On the other hand, I guess it can be settled peacefully if it was someone honest like Haru? Facing him was like asking permission to date his daugther…」

「S-Shisou, umm, good work.」

Deris looks somewhat distant as if he’s recalling a nostalgic memory.

Still, why did he make his disciple went to that shop alone? Haruna doesn’t realize it, but it might be one of the training from Deris.

「Well, whatever. So, that’s the staff, right?」

「Yes! Gan-san said it was for his practice, but it’s a fine quality.」

「He’s a stubborn guy, but he never compromises on his job. Also, Haru. Be careful about the place where you stand when you hold that staff.」

「The place?」

「Yeah. That black staff is quite heavy, so if you stand on a brittle floor, it will be collapsed.」

Haruna is casually holding the staff, but this black staff is actually quite heavy. If you think about Anita who desperately tried to hold the small piece of the ore, it’s easy to imagine how heavy this black staff, which made from that ore that was assembled. After realizing that the sofa Haruna was sitting began to scream, she hurriedly put the black cane back in the bag.

「The name of the ore you picked is ‘Black Magic Stone’. That’s something precious that can only be mined at that mine site. It’s one of the reasons I set up home here, which is close to that place. Well, it’s nice to have a monopoly on it, but it’s too heavy, too difficult to process, and no one wants it!

「Shishou, why did you set up the house for such a reason…」

Haruna was rather seriously worried about Deris. Just then, a knock on the front door can be heard.

「I wonder if that’s a guest?」

「Haru, you got a new mission.」

「Ye~s. I’m going now~」

Haruna jumps off the sofa and head to the front door.

(Not many people would come to such a remote place. I wonder if that’s Canon-san?)

Katsuragi Haruna is a nice and honest girl who’s not two-faced.

「I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Err―― who might you be?」

When Yuna opened the door, there was a surprisingly beautiful woman there. She has golden hair and transparent gem-like blue eyes that can make someone who sees it fall in love. White skin that makes you think about snow scene―― well, there’s no end to the explanation. Anyway, she’s extremely beautiful even from Haruna’s point of view. There’s a factor that ‘golden hair blue eyes’ is easy to be a target of adoration, and even a girl like Haruna unconsciously becomes nervous. She has a nice scent that makes you wonder if she’s using a high-grade perfume, and the clothes she wears is something a refined woman wears.

But, for some reason her attitude toward Haruna is high-handed, and the fact that she is starting to reach for the sword at her waist makes her uneasy. Although, there’s no doubt as to why is she dressed up in that fancy outfit while wearing a sword.

Her pressure, or rather, she starts to wear a black killing intent and that’s forming into a demon figure. It is not safe to go on like this. Haruna realized so instinctively.

「…… This was supposed to be Deris Fahrenheit’s house, though?」

If she made a mistake in replying, she would die. Haruna’s brain was in full operation at the too sudden instant death event.

「A-are you perhaps Shishou’s acquaintance?」

「… Shishou?」

She summoned up all of her courage and let out a voice. Perhaps because of that, the killing intent from the woman she’s facing disappeared as if it was a lie.

「Nell, for heaven’s sake, stop leaking killing intent at the front door of another person’s house. It’s a good thing that she’s my disciple, but a normal person would be fainting.」

「Sh-Shishou~…!」

Deris, who was showing his face through the door gap, complained to the blonde beauty. Haruna had never felt as reassured by Deris as she did today.

「I just misunderstood a bit. I just thought that there was a thief in your house. Nevertheless, your disciple, huh? Hmm…」

「Please don’t scare my disciple even by mistake.」

「…… Well, yes. If I think about it, there’s no way a thief will get into a house in this remote place, right? I’m sorry, my bad.」

「Hey, are you trying to pick a fight with me?」

‘Ah, I feel like we can get along,’ Haruna thought so for a moment.

「I’m sorry for you too. I didn’t mean to scare you, but I got ahead of myself and made a weird misunderstanding. Um…」

「Ah, sorry for the late introduction! I’m Shishou’s disciple, Katsuragi Haruna! It’s nice to meet you!」

When Haruna looked up after greeting her, the woman had completely erased the killing intent she was wearing and now had a friendly onee-san atmosphere.

「Nice to meet you, Haruna. My name is Nell Lemure. Deris and I have known each other for a long time――」

「―― I got stuck with her for a long time.」

Snap.

…… Haruna somehow feels that the airflow changed slightly.

「…… This is the most popular cake in town. I don’t mean for this as an apology, but I hope you’ll be pleased. Let’s eat it later, just the two us women, okay?」

「… Hey, what about me?」

「Wah, a cake? I love sweets!」

「This is so sweet and delicious, I’m sure you’ll be hooked. Just look forward to it.」

「Hello, I also unexpectedly like sweet things, though…」

「Sorry, Deris. I only bought two cakes. After all, our relationship just ‘you got stuck with me’. You are a man, just endure it.」

「Y-yes…」

Words can lead to disaster. After reading the mood, Haruna walked into the house with the two of them, while making a gesture of zipping her mouth.