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“Ah, so you’re the Elysia that Anne was talking about.”

At an outdoor table, Anne, her mother, and I took our seats. The person who appeared to be a guard was standing behind Anne’s mother, Emma Klein.

Naturally, I had my head bowed as if about to bury it in the table.

“Yes. That’s correct. I’m truly sorry.”

“No, there’s no need for that; I’m used to this kind of situation. Well, when I was younger, hearing such things would have made me furious, but now that I’m an old lady, it’s actually kind of funny.”

Emma said this and picked up her fork, cutting a small piece from the chocolate mud cake that matched the one I ordered and popped it into her mouth. The chocolate cake sat in front of her, just as it did for me and Anne. As a side note, let me mention that the drinks in front of each of us were all the same double chocolate shakes. Chocolate here, chocolate there, I’m about to lose my mind, honestly.

…Normally when a group orders at a café, don’t you think people avoid ordering the same item? But it was my fault for ordering based on Anne’s recommendation. If Anne’s recommending it, it means she likes it. Anne is the type of person who orders confidently without minding other factors.

“Hm? I really don’t mind; feel free to relax. You two probably have a lot to talk about, so chatter away.”

“Haha….”

Even though she said that, as the one who committed the faux pas against my friend’s mother, there was no way I could not notice the awkwardness. Whether Emma meant to give me a hint or not, she spoke again.

“Oh, is it uncomfortable with this little lady here? I’m sorry. I’ll just get up….”

“No! No, it’s not like that! Really, it’s not!”

I hurriedly stopped Emma, who was genuinely about to get up, and took a sip from the straw of the chocolate shake in front of me. As I sucked, the thick chocolate shake flowed through the straw into my mouth. Despite the solid chocolate flavor spreading in my mouth, why did I not feel any sweetness…?

Emma seemed to find my expression amusing, letting out a chuckle as she took a sip of her own chocolate shake. Seeing her, I could see how Anne’s character had formed. Once Anne grew up a bit more and became a little cheekier, she’d look just like that.

I turned my head subtly and noticed Anne was busy eating the cake and sipping her shake. Her face was lit up with happiness. She was definitely not considering her friend’s awkward situation at all.

Feeling a bit annoyed by that, I picked up my fork and cut off a corner of Anne’s cake to pop into my mouth instead of my own. I couldn’t tell if the bitter taste was due to my situation or if it felt bitter because the sweetness piled on the sweetness.

“Ah! Elysia!”

Seeing her beloved cake snatched right in front of her, Anne looked like she had lost her country, and that made me feel a little better.

“Hey!”

However, Anne, as if to say when did that happen, picked up her fork and cut a huge piece from the cake in front of me and stuffed it into her mouth. It looked to be at least double the amount I had taken, but I had no intention of stopping her.

Seeing Anne’s happy face again made me smile.

“Looks good. Watching you two reminds me of an old friend of mine. Lately, she keeps whining about her wrinkles and rarely sees me.”

It was a hard story to relate to, but it was understandable.

“I wanted to see some of my daughter’s other friends as well, but that’s too bad. Ah, Dylan? Can you order about four chocolate cakes to go?”

At Emma’s words, the man standing behind her responded and headed into the shop. Just as he was about to go in, he was caught by Anne and asked for two more, which was a minor detail.

I wondered if there were enough people in the mansion to eat all those chocolate cakes, or if she was buying four for herself, but I refrained from asking.

“After a battle, replenishing sweets is important, you know.”

But perhaps my curiosity showed on my face, as Emma answered my unspoken question.

Seeing this, it was easy to trust that Emma and Anne were indeed mother and daughter. It seemed like Anne’s obsession with sweets was inherited from Emma.

“By the way, Elysia? You can handle a sword a bit, right?”

“…I made a mistake. Please stop tormenting me.”

How ridiculous it must have sounded. My face was probably as red as Anne’s hair.

“No, I’m asking seriously. Of course, I’ve heard about it from Anne already, but I want to ask you directly.”

“…It’s hard to show here, but I can deal with at least high-class demonic monsters.”

I spoke easily, but high-class demonic monsters are no joke. Even experienced knights have a tough time dealing with them, so those words shouldn’t come from a student at the Academy. But what can I do? There are even monsters like Selian who are worse than me.

“That’s excellent then. So, Elysia, how about joining the extermination tomorrow?”

“Mom?”

“Anne, today Elysia came with Ian so we had no choice but to take him, but you should definitely participate tomorrow.”

So that’s why Ian hadn’t been seen in the mansion.

“The extermination isn’t anything grand; occasionally monsters crawl out of the Forbidden Forest and come down close to the city. So we periodically hunt them down, and this is just the time.”

Emma drank the remaining shake and opened her mouth again.

“Of course, it’s not that we lack hands, but I’m just curious about the current level of kids. And she’s Anne’s friend as well.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have any reason to stay in the mansion alone without Anne. Then I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“I appreciate that.”

Just then, Dylan arrived with the boxed cakes.

“Shall we rise then?”

Before we knew it, the plates where the cakes had been and the cups for the shakes were all empty. For me, just finishing the shake felt like an excess of sugar intake, but Emma and Anne completely licked their plates clean. Especially since I hadn’t touched my cake, they had naturally reached across my plate with their forks and eaten it all.

Since I had already given up the desire to eat cake after experiencing the collaboration of shake and cake in my mouth, I didn’t care. I actually appreciated them for solving the dilemma I had.

Dylan had his hands full because he was wielding an enormous great sword, so naturally, Anne and I carried the cakes instead.

As we were returning to the mansion, I noticed Anne and Emma engaging in conversation as they walked. Following them a couple of steps behind, I naturally caught sight of the two standing side by side.

Seeing them like this, they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter. Both were short, but at least Emma was a smidge taller, which made Anne look like the younger sister, and that was some small blessing.

While I was lost in that thought, Anne and Emma suddenly stopped talking and turned their heads sharply. Their gazes landed on me simultaneously.

……

“Elysia? You’re not having any impolite thoughts, are you?”

While Emma at least bothered to ask, Anne looked thoroughly convinced and was already glaring at me with an interrogative gaze.

There was really no need for them to resemble each other in this way…

*

“Yo.”

Upon returning to the mansion, Ian greeted me this time. I shook his hand as he offered it for a handshake.

“It’s kind of weird seeing you outside like this. I always just saw you at the Academy.”

“I’ll be relying on you for a while.”

In the meantime, Alex seemed to have come out to meet Emma and was chatting with her.

“Here, I packed this for you, so let’s eat together later.”

“Right. You must have been tired from the extermination, so hurry back and rest. I’ll serve the cake later.”

Emma handed the cake she had snatched from Anne to Alex. Familiar with the routine, Alex took the cake and handed it to another servant while welcoming Emma.

By the way, I hadn’t noticed it when I spoke separately with Alex and Emma earlier, but now that the two were standing side by side, the difference in their physiques was strikingly apparent.

……

“I’ll send someone over by dinner time, so Elysia should go up with Anne….”

As Alex was about to turn and speak to us, his gaze met mine, causing him to pause. Perhaps all his thoughts were already written on my face; Alex wore a bitter smile. Aware it was rude, I quickly disguised my expression, but fortunately, Alex chose not to nitpick and explained.

“I know it’s a thought that I shouldn’t have, and saying this is just going to be an excuse, but it’s not me, it’s my wife… Ugh!”

“Haha. Elysia? I think I’ll head up first then. Have fun, and I’ll see you at dinner.”

Emma pulled Alex into the mansion. The sight of Emma’s small hand pulling the large Alex was so bizarre it was hard to describe.

I might have imagined it, but I thought I saw Emma’s foot accidentally step on Alex’s foot with a crunch.

However, I could hear their conversation as they entered.

“No, it’s true you were the one who rushed in first….”

“Are you out of your mind? Talking about that in front of the kids….”

…It must have been my imagination.

“My father and mother were childhood friends. Well, my father was from a commoner background, but since my mother pushed hard, there was really no noise about him coming to marry into the family.”

Really, you don’t need to provide such explanations, Ian.