Chapter 124

“Uh, um… if using ‘-san’ sounds odd, how about a different way of addressing me?” “Such as?”

Gazelle peered into my face with an unusually serious expression. However, when it comes to addressing him without honorifics in this form, a natural way that doesn’t feel awkward would be…

“… Dad?”

“Now that would definitely make me cry!”

Gazelle’s expression looked as if he had received a shock. In contrast, Felix nearly burst out laughing at my words but immediately covered his mouth with his hand, desperately trying to hold back his laughter.

“Y-You’re right, sorry. Considering Gazelle’s age, ‘dad’ is a bit too young.”

Reflecting that ‘dad’ was indeed a no-go, I hastily explained to Gazelle that it was just a way of addressing him that I had thought of on the spur of the moment and that I had no ulterior motives. However, if using ‘-san’ or calling him ‘dad’ is out, and considering my current appearance, a way of addressing Gazelle and Felix that wouldn’t feel out of place would be… Hmm, even though the age gap is a bit too wide, I guess a sibling setting?

“Then, onii-sa-“

As I was about to say that, I abruptly closed my mouth. … Putting aside the sibling setting, this way of addressing them won’t work. How should I put it – for me, there’s only one person I call “onii-san” in the other world. So, addressing Gazelle and Felix this way… it just doesn’t feel right.

“Takumi?”

Gazelle, with a worried expression, placed his hand on my cheek as I started to speak but then fell silent. Feeling the warmth of his palm, I looked straight into Gazelle’s eyes and answered.

“… Onii-chan.”

“”…!””

“How about ‘onii-chan’? Gazelle-oniichan and Felix-oniichan. Wouldn’t this feel natural?”

Wait, huh? For some reason, Gazelle and Felix have frozen up.

“You two…?”

When I timidly called out to them, the two snapped out of it and turned their attention back to me with a start.

“Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“N-No, I’m fine. Just… that unexpected way of being addressed made my mind wander far away for a moment.”

“You really do say things that far exceed my expectations with such ease…”

Huh, was calling them ‘onii-chan’ that bad? Hmm, but with other ways of addressing them… Calling them ‘aniki’ feels a bit too rough for the two of them…

“Is ‘onii-chan’ no good?”

“If you ask if it’s good or bad… it had quite an impact on me, and if anything, it almost opened the door to a new fetish, but that’s no good either.”

“You’re right… I think I now understand quite well how Takumi’s big brother in the other world feels. It does make you feel like you absolutely have to protect him, even if it means locking him up in a cage.”

“…? I don’t really understand what you two are talking about, but for now, if using honorifics or calling you ‘onii-chan’ is no good, I’ll just call you by your names as before. So, let’s put Felix calling Gazelle ‘Gazelle-danchou’ on hold for the time being too.”

At my words, Gazelle and Felix nodded with extremely serious expressions, saying “Got it” and “Understood.”

I mean, why did Felix suddenly take Gazelle’s side halfway through? I had proposed the idea with the intention of defending Felix! However, since we were able to smooth things over, I’m very satisfied with the result. Although there were some dangerous moments!

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Since it had already become completely dark outside, we spent the rest of the time inside the inn. The inn’s dinner was delicious as always, but somehow, it felt bland compared to the first day, which was probably just a mental thing. Thinking about Rido, who isn’t here, makes my chest hurt. Where could he be right now? Is he able to eat properly…?

“Sigh…”

After having dinner and taking a bath in my room, I went to the bedroom assigned to me. Then, I flopped down on the bed.

“If only I had noticed earlier that Rido was missing-“

If I had noticed – would anything have changed? Maybe something would have changed, or maybe nothing would have changed and the outcome would have been the same in the end. Still, my head is filled with hypotheticals like “I should have done this” or “I should have done that.”

“… Sigh. I can’t be like this. We’re going to the Blue-Winged Knights first thing in the morning.”

The plan is to head to the Blue-winged Knights immediately after breakfast tomorrow. I was told that an appointment with the captain of the Blue-winged Knights had been successfully made. Truthfully, I would have preferred to meet with them at a different time in a more leisurely manner, but I can’t afford to say that now. And if I’m going to meet them, I need to do it properly. After all, I’m in this tiny body right now. Since my body is like this, I should at least make sure my appearance is neat and tidy. I can’t show up with a pitiful face looking sleep-deprived with dark circles under my eyes.

“Alright! Then it’s about what to wear tomorrow. Let’s see… which of the clothes I borrowed would be good?”

To change my mood, I forcibly got up from the bed and headed towards the suitcase on the floor of the room. This suitcase, borrowed from the Alpharetta family, is a beautiful leather piece with a dull sheen that I can easily carry even with my shrunken body. I knelt down on the rug and opened the suitcase. Looking through its contents, I chose something that wouldn’t be embarrassing to wear to the Blue-winged Knights tomorrow. It would be best to wear something not too loose, but nothing too stiff either. However, since the items borrowed from the Alpharetta family are all of good quality and taste, it didn’t take long to choose an outfit. I selected a seven-quarter sleeve shirt, navy blue pants, and a matching jacket, and hung them in the room’s closet to remove any wrinkles. While I was at it, I decided to organize my luggage as well. It’s not like I have to do it now, but if I just sit around absent-mindedly, I might start thinking about bad things again. Keeping my hands busy helps me avoid thinking about unnecessary things.

“… Hm?”

As I was organizing the suitcase, suddenly, something white caught my eye. There’s a pocket on the front side of this suitcase. However, since it didn’t have a clasp or anything, I hadn’t been using this pocket. It seemed like I might accidentally drop something out of it. But upon closer inspection, there appeared to be a white piece of paper tucked deep inside this pocket. Tilting my head, I tried taking out that paper. Looking at it, the paper was tied with a hemp string in a cross shape.

There’s no writing on the front. I thought it was just white paper, but now that I’ve taken it out, it’s dirty with dust and brown stains.

“That’s strange. When I packed my luggage at the house in the royal capital, I’m sure there was nothing like this…”

Could it be that Gazelle or Felix put it in? But it’s hard to imagine those two would put something like this in my luggage without permission, and if they did put it in, it’s awfully dirty. 

Feeling an unpleasant premonition, I left the bedroom and headed to the living room. Gazelle and Felix were sitting together at the bar counter installed in the living room. They seemed to be discussing something with serious expressions, but they turned to face me as I approached.

“Takumi, is something wrong?”

“I found this in my luggage. I thought maybe Gazelle or Felix had put it in, so I brought it here.”

I held out the string-bound paper to Gazelle. Gazelle got down from the bar stool and took it with a puzzled look, gazed at it for a while, and then untied the string. Then Gazelle’s eyes traced the paper from left to right. It seems the contents were a letter. Felix also got down from the bar stool and peeked at the letter from the side. I tried to stretch my neck to see, but I couldn’t see it with our current height difference. As Gazelle and Felix read through the letter, their faces grew more and more grim.

“This letter appears to be from Rido-san.”

“Is that so? Why was something like that mixed in with my luggage?”

“Judging from the contents, Rido himself probably secretly put it in your luggage. Most likely right after we arrived at this inn, don’t you think?”

I tried to recall based on Gazelle’s words.

“Now that you mention it… Rido did go out of his way to help unload our luggage from the carriage.”

This suitcase was also one that Rido unloaded from the carriage for me.

“You should read it too, Takumi. It seems… the situation is more serious than we thought.”

I took the letter from Gazelle, who had a bitter expression, and let my eyes skimmed over it. Before I even read three lines, my eyes widened.

“This is…!”

“This is more of a petition than a letter.”

Felix also had a bitter expression on his face. The contents written there – some parts matched Rido’s story, while others did not. 

First, regarding Rido’s hometown that he had mentioned… it seems the town is in an even worse state than he had described. To begin with, due to the forceful development of the silver mine, muddy water and wastewater flowed into the river, and the well water was also contaminated. With the contamination of the water for daily use, the crops in the town of Belcarna have been wiped out, and many townspeople have fallen ill. It’s a much more dire situation than what I heard from Rido.

“This is terrible…”

“Indeed. And it seems that the ones acting tyrannically in the town are not the mayor, but the lord’s knights, as expected. In other words, they are acting on the orders of the lord of this city of Gorera. The petition is also addressed not to the lord, but to the Blue-Winged Knights stationed in Gorera City.”

The lord’s knights are a group of knights that act on the lord’s orders. In other words, the ones pushing for the reckless development of the silver mine are none other than the lord of this city of Gorera.

“Rather, it seems the mayor and the vigilante group are on the side of the townspeople. The signature at the end of the petition is that of the mayor.” “So… Rido’s true objective wasn’t to petition the lord about the mayor’s methods, but to go petition the Blue-Winged Knights about the tyrannical behavior of the lord and the lord’s knights?”

“Based on this letter, that seems to be the case…”

I answered as such and returned the petition I finished reading to Gazelle. Gazelle took the petition, carefully folded it, and tied it back up with the string as it was before. While watching this, Felix tilted his head.

“But… Rido-san said he was going to make a direct appeal to the lord. Why did he lie to us?”

I turned to face Felix.

“Could it be… that he was trying not to get us involved? If word got out to the lord about what he was trying to do, I hate to imagine it, but it wouldn’t be surprising if pursuers were sent after him.”

“A story about accusing the lord ain’t somethin’ ya can easily tell to other people.”

“Then, could it be that the ones who abducted Rido-san were also the lord’s men?”

“There’s no other way to think about it.”

Gazelle nodded gravely and once again lowered his gaze to the petition in his hand.

“Most likely, after Rido left the town, the lord’s knights in Belcarna informed the lord about the existence of the petition. Rido must have found out about that too. That’s why he must have hidden the petition in your luggage, Takumi.”

“I see… so that’s why Rido-san was abducted on the day we arrived in Gorera City.”

“But – if that’s the case, it means Rido-san is still alive, right?”

When I said that, Gazelle and Felix looked at me in surprise.

“The lord’s objective is to seize the petition before it reaches the Blue-Winged Knights. In that case, the lord shouldn’t kill Rido until he gets his hands on the petition.”

If their speculation is correct, the lord must be desperately wanting to get his hands on this petition. However, the lord doesn’t know where the petition is hidden yet. If he did, our luggage would have been searched by the lord’s knights who came today. In other words, the lord won’t kill Rido until he obtains this petition. When I explained my thoughts, Gazelle gave a gentle smile.

“Yeah, that’s right. Rido is definitely alive. So all that’s left is for us to deliver this petition to the Blue-winged Knights and put a stop to the lord’s atrocities.”

Felix also gave a gentle smile, reached out, and softly touched my cheek with his fingertips.

“We informed the Blue-winged Knights about the kidnapping incident today. Let’s go to them first thing in the morning and rescue Lord Rido from the lord’s hands as soon as possible.”

“Yeah. Everything depends on tomorrow!”

In response to their words, I nodded vigorously. Alright! Now that we know what to do, I’m suddenly motivated! Well, I’m also surprised that it turned out to be a bigger deal than I thought! But I’m glad we have hope that Rido is alive! Prepare yourself, lord of Gorera City or whatever! I won’t forgive you for kidnapping someone as kind as Rido! I’ll definitely expose your evil deeds to the light of day! Wash your feet and wait for us! ……… …Huh? Was it supposed to be “wash your neck” instead of “feet”?

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