Chapter 62

Fortunately, the three women decided to help me. Perhaps it was Lorcha’s consideration to make my appearance like this to make persuasion a bit easier?

If only my gender were changed, it would have been like a 10-year-old black-haired, blue-eyed loli coming over and saying, “Oppa, I’m going to the capital, will you come with me?” Damn, how could I refuse that? This is why the 3B theory exists in advertising—Beauty, Beast, Baby. If you include one of these three, it’s a guaranteed hit. But with young Werner’s face, wouldn’t it satisfy at least 2 out of 3?

Luckily, as time passed, the curse of getting younger was lifted, and I returned to my usual appearance as Werner. Although Werner’s face is still handsome, some seemed a bit disappointed.

One of those disappointed was Melissa, who was slicing meat dripping with blood, and she asked, “By the way, we’re leaving tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, I wanted to take it easy, but that damn… I mean, Lorcha sent someone to escort me.”

Saying she sent someone, but it’s no different from the royal guards coming to arrest me. Did she think I’d try to run away? Knowing that if I ran, my body would be forced to shout “Allahu Akbar,” I have no intention of risking it.

“Weren’t you two really close when you were kids? Holding hands, going to festivals together, and all that.”

“Oh, that? There were a lot of benefits for holding hands, so I just did it.”

“…Did you tell her that? She was blushing back then.”

“Yeah, she was so nervous… I just told her we were holding hands for a couple’s discount. But then she suddenly cast a spell at me and went home. What a violent girl.”

“Youngest, you’re the most frustrating bastard I’ve ever met in my life.”

Yeah, I think so too. Looking through Werner’s memories about Lorcha, this guy is really something else. He’s like the dense protagonist from a rom-com manga. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Black Round Table guys weren’t the bad guys I thought they were, but actually protecting the continent from evil… Nah, that can’t be.

“Well? I just didn’t refuse a discount when I could get one. It’s called rational judgment.”

*Thwack!*

Melissa shot a blood bullet at my forehead with Blood Magic. Of course, it didn’t pierce through, but it felt like a really painful flick.

“Youngest, we agreed to call that a swallow’s move… It’s a social convention of language.”

I felt wronged. The swallow’s move was Werner’s… I mean, my past self’s doing. Why should I be the one getting scolded?

“She was so angry, how did you resolve it? If it were me, I’d never show my face again.”

“Well, I just followed the methods Heavenly Demon Old Man, our Knight Order Captain, and Sister Squar told me.”

This guy Werner always asked the wrong people about relationship problems. Heavenly Demon, Squar, and that machine-like Knight Order Captain. Why he didn’t ask married people, I have no idea.

The question Werner asked back then was, “There’s a girl who’s been troubling me lately, how should I resolve it?”

First, Heavenly Demon misunderstood it as a grudge issue.

[Then send a letter to lure her to a secluded valley or mountain. When she arrives, give her a shiny silver gift from your pocket. If it’s too hard to face her, you can ambush her from behind. It’s fine since you’re young.]

Heavenly Demon’s method was to lure her to a secluded place and stab her from behind. Werner misunderstood it a bit differently.

Our Knight Order Captain answered like this, probably thinking Werner was being pursued by some persistent lady.

[If a woman is troubling you… I see. Lower your posture and apologize sincerely. That’s the proper way.]

He meant to reject a confession politely, but Werner misunderstood that too.

Lastly, Thief Squar thought Werner had a crush on someone.

[Hahaha! Our youngest is already at that age? Then take her to a place with a good view of the stars, say she’s prettier than the stars, and give her a flower.]

Squar, being a romance idiot, probably just recited a method from a romance novel she read.

The biggest problem was that Werner was the type to listen to his seniors’ advice too well.

And this is the disaster that happened the next day.

—

Late at night, Lorcha, who had been suddenly called to a valley, was kicking pebbles in frustration.

“That bastard, really… What? You held my hand just for a street food discount? And you didn’t even apologize, calling me out here at night?”

Suddenly, someone ambushed her from behind. Thinking it was an assassin, Lorcha prepared to counterattack—she’s been dealing with assassins since she was a kid.

But it wasn’t an assassin. A shiny silver necklace was placed around her neck. It was a cheap, poorly made silver necklace.

“Werner? What’s this?”

“…It’s a gift, dummy.”

Werner sat on a rock, grinning playfully at Lorcha.

“A gift out of nowhere?”

“You left during the festival. I was going to give it to you then, but you left first, so here it is.”

“I-I don’t need it! I’m still mad!”

Lorcha hid her red face by looking down. She should’ve just turned her head to the side.

Werner remembered the Knight Order Captain’s advice. Instead of lowering his posture to apologize, he misunderstood it as bending down to look up at her face.

“Lorcha.”

“No…”

Lorcha’s face turned even redder.

“…I’m sorry.”

Unable to resist the apology disguised as a flirt, Lorcha reluctantly accepted it.

Then Werner handed her a flower and repeated the line Squar taught him, and the 12-year-old girl ran away in embarrassment.

—

“That’s roughly how I apologized.”

After hearing my story, Melissa and Melchior dropped their forks and knives.

“Wow, really… I should’ve beaten some sense into you back then…”

“Why did you even ask those romance idiots, Werner? You might as well have asked a beggar how to make money!”

I know. Werner unconsciously charmed a girl and then messed it up.

“Good memories, right?”

“Maybe for you, but that girl’s probably cursing you while remembering it.”

Melissa sighed, holding her forehead. Honestly, I’m the one who should be sighing, having to deal with this mess. If this conversation continues, they might really think I’m some playboy.

“By the way, talking about the seniors and the old man makes me miss them. Are they all doing well?”

“They’re all fine.”

“Too healthy, if anything.”

I already knew they were healthy, but I asked out of courtesy.

“They’re all worried about you, youngest.”

“Haha… They don’t need to worry that much.”

“Your condition isn’t something to not worry about.”

The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy at Melissa’s words. As long as I don’t use Great Magic, I’m fine. They don’t need to worry this much.

“Those Black Round Table or Black Socks… No matter how much info we gather, it’s all useless…”

“I’ll handle that problem, so don’t worry too much.”

“Originally… it was just something we were looking into on a personal level.”

Melchior’s sudden shift to past tense made me curious.

“Brother… why did you switch to past tense?”

The DLC about the Black Round Table was sold in parts by the damn game developers, so I don’t have complete info.

Melchior, glancing around, spoke in a cautious voice.

“It seems there’s a rat among our comrades who’s colluding with those Black Round Table bastards.”