Okay, If You Insist

Aria had already felt awkward if she had to meet Oliver again when she had to come down for breakfast. But it turned out there was only one woman at the long table.

"Good morning, Mrs. Genia. Did you sleep well last night?" Aria greeted politely.

"…"

Feeling a little awkward with her silent answer, Aria turned to Helen and Feny. "Come on, you guys also say hello to Mrs. Genia." She asked.

As if she really wanted to do it, Helen immediately bowed while lifting her dress slightly. "Good morning. I hope you slept well last night." She said as elegantly as possible. Feny, who was annoyed, almost wanted to imitate her. But in the end she just bowed slightly and immediately ran away to sit in her chair.

Aria started to sit down too, but she still felt like she had to talk. "Mm, seems like Mr. Rei already went out, didn't he? He told me that he has business with Mr. Fendi today, but I didn't know they would be gone so early." She said.

Aria was already a little afraid that she wouldn't get answered again, but it turned out that this time Mrs. Genia opened her voice. "I know, right? Rather than going out, it was more like they were sneaking out." She replied.

"...Ahaha." Aria forcedly laughed. She didn't know any details about it, but somehow it sounded like it might be true. So Aria could only hope he didn't plan something… Extreme.

"But Aria, what are we going to do today?" Feny then asked. "We won't be fighting mushroom demons again, right?"

"Eh? Ah, um, n-no." Aria panickedly answered.

And sure enough, Mrs. Genia seemed to tilt her head in confusion after hearing that. "Mushroom demon? What's that?"

"Ah, that, um…" Aria was a little unsure how to explain it. But because it would be weird if she didn't answer it, she tried to formulate the explanation as normal as possible. "Um, w-we actually just came from a city that was attacked by a plague. And it turned out that the plague was caused by a demon."

"And you took care of it?"

"Of course!" Feny answered proudly. "I even threw swords and--"

But Aria hurriedly stuffed her mouth with more bread. "Haha, well, we actually just helped out a little. Mr. Rei was the one who took care of everything." She said. She tried to send as many signals as possible to Feny not to talk any more, and fortunately the girl soon understood and started to go back to chewing her bread.

"Hm, it must be difficult." Mrs. Genia replied again. But after being silent for a while, her eyes then caught sight of Helen, who for some reason had become a little gloomy.

Then Aria, who also realized this, immediately stroked Helen's head gently before returning to her story. "And actually after this we plan to take Helen to her uncle and aunt's place in the capital." Aria said. "Do you know them? They're from the Havan family."

"…Well, I've met them once or twice." Mrs. Genia replied as best she could. She wanted to tell them that the family was not a good one, but perhaps it would be too much if she had to scare a small child who had already lost her family.

"..." Although otherwise, Aria who saw that reaction for the second time started to feel uneasy. Rei also showed that reaction, and now Mrs. Genia also reacted strangely when she heard the name of the Havan family.

'Hmh, maybe I should properly check them before leaving Helen there…'

"Aria! So what do we do today?" Feny asked again. "I want to go to the town square please. You want it too, right?" She continued to Helen.

"Ah, um, instead of that, does Mrs. Genia have anything to do today?" Aria asked, who instead turned again to Mrs. Genia. "If you need anything here, we might be able to help--"

"But I want to go out!" Cut Feny again.

"..." Feny had actually been saying that since waking up this morning. But apart from not being sure whether Rei would allow them to go out, well... If possible, Aria actually wanted to rest today. She didn't know why, but she felt sleepier than usual this morning.

"Well, just for a bit then." Aria finally gave up.

Aria was about to take another bite of her bread, but then she noticed that Mrs. Genia's expression had returned to a straight face. And for some reason, Aria felt bad not involving her.

"Mm, if you don't mind, how about coming with us to town?" Aria asked.

"…"

"O-Or if you're busy, that's okay… I apologize if I sound presumptuous. I just--"

"Okay, if you insist."

"…" And this time it was Aria who turned silent. "Really?"