Chapter 17 - A Visit From An Unfamiliar Woman

Since we’ve decided to eat the venison at my place, we dispersed from Toack’s home.

Toack will come after he finishes the work he has in the morning, and Aisha will come after she pushes her work onto her younger sister.

Speaking of which, I’m heading to Ergys-san’s house right now because the role of inviting Flora was given to me.

When I got to his house, Fiona-san was there working in the field behind the house.

「Hello there 」

When she heard my voice, Fiona-san stood up and turned around.

As usual, each and every one of her movements was beautiful. From the way she stood up from a crouching position, to the way she turned around; it was full of elegance.

The reason why all of Flora’s movements carry elegance as well is probably because she grew up watching Fiona-san.

「Ara, hello Aldo-san. Thank you for that delicious meat yesterday」

「No no, I’ve been in your care. Thank you for letting me have dinner with you yesterday as well, it was delicious」

「Since you really looked like you enjoyed it, Flora and I both found it worthwhile」

Fiona laughed gracefully with her hand placed near her mouth.

Just looking at that gentle smile makes me feel healed.

I wonder what this is- This feeling that envelops me. I wonder if this is what having a mother feels like.

It feels like I can understand what Kiel meant now when he used to say that older women have the nice warmth and affection of a mother in them.

「By the way, what brings you here today? 」

I came back to my senses from Fiona-san’s question.

That’s right. Fiona-san has crop work to do. I might turn into a bother if I use too much of her time.

「Umm, I’m here for Flora. Since Aisha and Toack want to have lunch at my place today, I’m here to invite Flora to join us 」

「Ara, that sounds nice. Flora will definitely be happy to, but that girl is out trading right now」

「So does that mean it won’t be possible ’cause she’s busy today? 」

Was my invitation too sudden? Basically villagers are busy every day with some kind of work. If a person is absent from work, their work will either be passed on to their family members or get postponed and cause inconvenience for others.

Toack and I are the only ones around who have a flexible schedule. Therefore, I have to be considerate of others in this regard.

Of course, on the days when I have to head to the mountains I pretty much can’t do anything else for the whole day either. And for Toack as well, even when he has no orders, it doesn’t mean that he can just go around and play.

「… No, since she should be coming back before lunch, I think she can go with you afterwards」

Fiona answered with a smile after she thought for a few seconds.

Perhaps with that moment of time, she thought of Flora’s schedule and what needed to be done today, then remade her schedule in her mind when she thought of nothing urgent for Flora to do.

I feel somewhat bad for this invitation.

「Sorry for inviting her all of a sudden」

「It’s fine. Aisha-chan always does the same. We’re used to it」

I responded with a bitter smile to Fiona-san’s words.

From what she just said, it’s possible that Aisha-chan still does this after they grew up.

◆　　◆　　　　◆

Since Fiona-san is getting Flora for me, I’ve decided to clean my house a bit for my incoming visitors.

It hasn’t been long since the day of the big cleaning, but dust and sand have already started to slightly accumulate.

I took out the broom and swept the dust and the dirt off the living room floor.

At that time, I realized that I don’t have slippers for my guests to wear inside the house.

It’s normal to wear slippers inside the house in order to prevent the floor from getting all dirty from people’s shoes. However, I only have a pair for my own use.

It would dirty their socks if they just walked in socks instead, and the floor is cold as well…

What should I do about this?

「… I guess I have no choice but to borrow some from Toack」

There were a lot of slippers in Toack’s place.

It’s strange to have a visitor prepare their own inner footwear, but there’s no need to feel reserved with Toack.

With that in mind, I quickly stopped thinking about it and moved on to clean the kitchen.

Toack and Flora will be cooking in this kitchen, so I have to make it all shiny. It’s a place where they will be handling food ingredients, so the area has to be kept clean.

I disposed of the trash inside of the wooden box container in the scullery, and washed it out quickly.

Then, I wiped the kitchen with a damp cloth, and wiped away the remaining water with a dry cloth.

After that, I washed the cloths and moved on to the chairs and tables in the living room. Lastly, I finished up by doing the windows at the end.

Yup. It’s satisfying being the one cleaning my own house, after all.

I could not have felt such a feeling of satisfaction until now. Since the equipment such as weapons and armor that I had to clean and maintain back then had a direct impact on people’s lives, the task carried great feelings of responsibility and obligation.

If just cleaning can feel this refreshing, it wouldn’t be bad to do this more often.

「Now then, I guess I’ll clean up these tools and go borrow some slippers from Toack… 」

After looking at the kitchen and the living room again, I started hearing hard knocks at the door just as I lifted up my bucket.

Who is it? Did Flora come back from trading sooner than expected so she’s here early? …No, Flora wouldn’t knock on the door this hard. Judging by that, it’s probably Toack or Aisha.

「I’m coming」

From experiencing my previous failure, I have come to realize that I am someone who would go get the door no matter what I was in the middle of doing.

And that carelessness is what led to me letting someone in while I was naked.

Once I put the bucket aside and opened the door, there was a young lady with red, long hair standing there, dressed in a red one piece.

It was a woman with a good figure; she had slim waist and a curvy back. Her slender arms and legs also had a healthful beauty to them.

She was a woman with a type of beauty different from Flora and Fiona-san.

But, who is this woman? I don’t think I would have forgotten about her if I saw this girl in the village before…

Is she a villager from a nearby village who came here to greet us? She had a basket hanging from her arm, so surely she was not someone who came just to greet me from a nearby village.

「Can I help you? 」

「…Are you asleep? It’s me」

「Huh? …This voice… Aisha? 」

Nono, this can’t ….be?

When I kept staring at her in surprise, she scratched her neck and opened her mouth to reply as if it was a hassle . Oh, that is somewhat Aisha-like.

「Even I am not in my work clothes every day, you know? Well, the main reason is that if my little sister is working, she would keep making a fuss because there wouldn’t be enough work clothes」

「… 」

I’m sorry. It was just like you said. I was convinced that she wore her work clothes even in private at home, with her hair wrapped up with a barrette at all times.

Even so, I was not really conscious of it, but Aisha is a very beautiful girl, even if she does not have a feminine personality.

Her hair was usually messy and cluttered up, and her figure was wasted in her work clothes. Well, there’s no need to look good while working in the fields, but wouldn’t it be fine to at least let her hair down? When the older sister is a fashionable-type, the younger sister would no doubt be a serious-type. Since she is a rough older sister who takes everything as a hassle, the younger sister would then be the type that is mindful of others and does everything right. These thoughts of these contrasting sibling personality combinations were surfacing in my mind.

「Hold on, I know this is a rare sight but stop staring so much」

Aisha told me with upturned eyes to stop staring at her. She seems a bit embarrassed showing what she looks like outside of work, as her eyes are not as sharp as they usually are.

「Ah, sorry about that」

「Hora, take this wine, jam and raisins. I will give you these first」

When I apologized in a hurry, Aisha handed over the basket that was hanging from her arm.

「Well then, I’m coming in」

「Ah, sorry. I’m going to borrow some slippers from Toack right now so please wait a bit」

Aisha sighed the moment she heard what I said. Even if her look changed, it seems like her gestures did not.