Chapter 74

Three days after being summoned to the council, Rio and Shiraha were finally able to go out in peace.

The council had officially stated that Rio and Shiraha were scouting the area to consider settling down, thus prohibiting excessive interference.

However, the residents and tourists still gave them heated looks, and a Sphynx flew overhead. At night, it would return to its territory in the trees, but during the day, it mostly stayed near Shiraha.

At first, Shiraha glared at the Sphynx as if it were annoying, but she eventually gave up and ignored it as much as possible.

Wearing their hats low, though they were almost meaningless due to the Sphynx flying overhead, Rio and Shiraha left the council grounds through the back entrance.

No one was waiting for them, so they walked straight to their inn to retrieve their luggage.

The Sphynx flying overhead made the hats almost useless, but it seemed that the message to leave them alone was getting through, as no one approached them.

"Excuse me."

Calling out at the inn's entrance, the innkeeper came out from the back.

Since they had informed her in advance, she quickly brought out their luggage.

"Please check to make sure nothing is missing."

The innkeeper smiled awkwardly, saying that while it was unlikely that a thief would break in, it wasn't impossible for something to be stolen.

With the magic gem entrusted to him by Galdrat, Rio carefully checked their belongings.

"It seems to be fine. Thank you for your trouble."

Bowing in gratitude, Rio led Shiraha out of the inn.

Without hesitation, they headed for the Adventurer's Guild.

With their luggage on his back, Rio subtly observed the surroundings. Some residents were watching from a distance, but no one interfered. The Sphynx flying overhead was more intrusive than anything.

"The council's influence is quite strong, isn't it?"

He hadn't expected their instructions to reach not only the residents but also the tourists.

The guards, including Yebus, were helping to keep people away, but he had braced himself for requests for handshakes and gifts.

Shiraha pointed down the road.

"Let's get our business done first."

"Sure, sure."

The Adventurer's Guild was a small building. Since it was in a safe area where no evil beasts appeared, there was almost no work for adventurers, and the main business seemed to be postal services.

Rio called out to the receptionist.

"Excuse me. I want to send a letter to my hometown. Could you handle this for me?"

"Ah, yes. Is there an Adventurer's Guild in your hometown?"

"It's a remote village, so I'm sending it to the nearest town's Adventurer's Guild."

"I see. Well, it will cost four silver coins for express delivery, but if you're okay with the regular monthly delivery, it will be two copper coins."

"Please send it express. Given the situation..."

"Hehe, I understand..."

Since she wasn't from the town, the receptionist gave a wry smile as she processed the request. She stamped Rio's letter with the Sphynx branch's seal and placed it in the express delivery basket.

Taking out four silver coins from his wallet, Rio casually asked:

"Is there any mail for me?"

"There's no mail, but I have a letter for you to deliver directly."

The receptionist handed him a sheet of paper. The lack of the guild's seal suggested it had been brought directly to the guild.

Considering Rio and Shiraha's situation, the messenger had likely decided that direct contact was impossible and resorted to this as a last resort.

Reading the letter, which was disguised as a village status report but contained coded messages, Rio passed it to Shiraha.

Shiraha quickly scanned the letter and stuffed it into her pocket.

The receptionist looked at Rio.

"Do you need a reply?"

"No, I don't think a reply is necessary. It was a village status report."

"A village status report? Someone from your village is here?"

"It seems so. They left the village to test their skills, but it's been quite a while, so they got scolded a bit. They said they need to return soon."

"Ah... I hope they can return..."

"Yes... Me too..."

Both Rio and the receptionist looked at Sphynx, who was standing at the guild entrance.

Shiraha tugged on Rio's sleeve.

"Let's go."

"Right. Well, we'll be on our way."

Leaving the reception area, Rio and Shiraha headed for the guild entrance.

Sphynx was staring intently at Shiraha but took off just before she could get within sword range.

Ignoring Sphynx, Shiraha looked at Rio and asked:

"Where are we going?"

"Yebus told us about some famous spots, but I'm tired of crowded places, so let's try a hidden gem."

"Isn't it a bother for them if we go to a place that's supposed to be hidden?"

"You're right, that's true."

Realizing he was about to agree, Rio snapped back to his senses.

"No, 'hidden' is a metaphor. If it were really hidden, Yebus wouldn't have told us."

Noticing that he was starting to believe Shiraha unconditionally, Rio steeled himself. He couldn't lose to his sister, for the sake of his brotherly dignity.

Shiraha, who didn't seem to think it was a competition, nodded at Rio's words.

"If it's important, you keep it hidden and don't tell anyone, right?"

"No, you can't hide a store."

"Then what do you do?"

Asked with a genuine expression, Rio looked up at the sky.

Sphynx, perched on the roof, was still staring at Shiraha.

"Simply, you keep it to yourself and don't tell anyone."

"Keep it to yourself?"

"Exactly. Well, it's hard to keep a store to yourself, but you can go when no one else is around, something like that."

"I don't understand."

Even when she tilted her head, Rio couldn't think of a better way to explain.

Back in the village, Rio never kept his favorite things to himself. His parents would tell him to share, and even if they didn't, it was scary to keep things to himself in a not-so-affluent household.

"Um, you hide it so no one else knows and make it your own, like how Mom kept her wedding memento in a locked box. Something like that."

"Isn't that the same as hiding it?"

"Hmm. It's similar, but the difference is that you don't share it with anyone when you take it out. Like how we store winter food to protect it from mice, but we share it with the family when we eat it. If you keep it to yourself, you eat it all by yourself."

Using examples, Rio explained, and Shiraha finally seemed to understand, nodding several times as if impressed.

"Keeping it to yourself is convenient."

"No, it's generally not a good thing."

"But Mom did it, didn't she?"

"Well, it was originally hers, so it wasn't a problem."

While talking, they arrived at the hidden gem Yebus had mentioned.

It was a small brick building at the end of an alley. The entrance and menu sign were behind a blind of creeping plants used as a sunshade. If they hadn't been told there was a store here, they would have thought it was a private residence.

"...Since it's a place that doesn't want to be noticed, let's go somewhere else."

Seeing the store, Rio reluctantly turned back to the alley entrance.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of wings overhead and looked up to see Sphynx flying away to its territory, which was unusual for the middle of the day.

Taking a few steps toward the entrance, Rio noticed that the footsteps had stopped and turned around.

"Shiraha, let's go?"

Shiraha, who had been watching Sphynx, which she had previously ignored, smiled faintly at Rio.

"---Keep it to yourself."

Murmuring, she stroked the sheath of her sword, which was inscribed with a magic array.