Chapter 3

This man is kind of weird.

Soon, they would get out of the forest and reach the town. Lion walked with his head down, deep in thought. Next to him walked a man with a noble and bright appearance.

A few hours prior, Seirios had tried to strangle a bandit who had already lost his will to fight. As Lion desperately clung to his arm, forcing him to put the bandit down, Seirios made a really strange face.

“What is itr? Would it be more convenient for you if I let him live?” he asked. The other two bandits seemed to have run away in tears.

“He’s already stopped fighting! Once we reach the town, I will report them to the guards. There’s no need to kill him!”

“This sort of person will just attack others again after healing. If I kill him, he won’t cause any more trouble.”

“Th-that’s true, but, we should leave this matter to the judge!”

The bandit, released from Seirios’ grip, seemed to have completely lost consciousness. However, he was still breathing somehow. He wouldn’t die, and his companions would surely come to retrieve him.

When Lion turned around again, about to set out towards the town, he heard Seirios muttering at his back.

“Did I trouble him somehow? …this is difficult.”

The two of them continued on their way to the town. For several hours, they walked in silence.

Ah, I can see the town!

When Lion looked at the other to inform him, their eyes met immediately. Apparently, Seirios had been intently watching Lion, who had been walking with his head down.

“You’re not saying anything. Are you still angry about what happened earlier? Do you dislike seeing a member of your race getting killed?”

“You’re also a ‘member of my race’ though, Mister Sei… It’s not that I’m angry, I just didn’t expect you to do such a thing. I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“Is that so? Then, if there’s a next time, I will ask you before I kill anyone.”

No, no, it’s not like there will be another time, though!

Seirios was grinning broadly, perhaps pleased by Lion’s answer. Lion felt unsettled.

While Seirios was, without a doubt, a person of high social status, it was possible that he wasn’t simply an aristocrat, always protected by his escort. He had enough arm strength to lift up a big man with a single hand, and he did it without hesitation.

Was he from the military?

In any case, after Lion escorted him to the next town, they would quickly separate.

And so, at last, they arrived at a big town. The town was relatively large, even for Thailes. Lion advised Seirios to give a few coins to the owners of the place he would stay at and ask them to look for his companions at the edge of the forest.

“Alright then, I’m headed that way.”

“Please, wait, what do I do about money?”

“Ah, were your companions carrying your money as well?”

“No, I do have some means of payment, but I don’t know if they will suffice.”

With a clinking noise, Seirios casually took out a handful of shining gems from his purse and showed them to Lion. Gold, rubies, emeralds and sapphires1…

They were all things that you definitely shouldn’t show off at a place with a lot of foot traffic. Hurriedly covering Seirios’ hand with both of his own, Lion hid the gems from view.

“Mister Sei! You can’t take out this sort of thing where someone might be watching! What will you do if some bandits set their sights on you and target you again?!”

What’s with this guy, there’s a limit to how oblivious one can be!

Somewhat exhausted, Lion took Seirios to a store with gems on the signboard and they went inside. No matter what one might do, money was necessary, so Seirios had to have funds on him until he could meet up with his companions. Since the person in question was looking at the merchandise curiously after they had entered the shop, Lion was the one stuck negotiating with the jeweler somehow.

“Ooh, these are marvelous! Such big, unpolished sapphires are hard to come by lately.”

Since it seemed to be a reliable shop, even giving out warranty cards, Lion deemed it trustworthy. The jeweler priced the one sapphire quite highly, and Lion got a small leather pouch packed full of gold coins. When they left the shop, he handed the leather pouch to Seirios.

Leading him to the town and finding him a clean, safe, proper lodging: that was the extent to which Lion planned to help Seirios.

Why am I doing this…? he wondered. But, since he himself had accepted to show him the way, he resigned himself to it.

“Alright, Mister Sei. This amount should be enough for you to stay here for many days. Ah, by the way, if you’re going to ask the people working here for help, giving them about ten copper coins should suffice.”

While taking care of this and that, it became dark.

“Well then,” Lion said and tried to run off, but he found that he couldn’t move forward at all. From behind, Seirios was tightly holding onto the hem of his coat.

“It’s gotten dark already. Come with me.”

“”Eeeh?! Why? I don’t have the money to stay at a place like this.”

“I will be paying for it, of course.”

Lion was defeated by Seirios relentlessly dragging him into the inn like this. The proprietress rubbed her hands together as she raised her voice: “Welcome!”

***********************************************

They were led to a wide room, and Seirios finally let go of his coat.

“Wait a second, Mister Sei! It’s fine, I can just look for a place to stay nearby!”

“Why? This place is bigger, so it’s more comfortable to stay in.”

“It’s not about being comfortable to stay in, it’s about me being unable to stay in a room paid by a person I just met today.”

“I said it’s fine.”

Argh! I’m trying to reject him indirectly to soften the blow but he’s just not getting it! I’d like to tell him that, from time to time, he is really scary!

Was it always this hard to communicate with aristocrats?

“Excuse me,” Lion said, and tried to get out of the room.

“Uh…”

The door wouldn’t open. Just a moment ago, they had entered the room normally, and the key was on the room’s side of the door, so, just at a glance, Lion could tell that they weren’t locked in. But, even though he pulled and pushed the doorknob and made a lot of clatter, it didn’t yield.

“Lion.”

“Ah, yes?”

The voice came from an unexpectedly close distance and Lion got startled. When he turned around, Seirios had gotten close and was standing right behind him.

“I’ve never stayed at a place like this by myself before, so I don’t know how they work. It would be a great help if you would stay with me. P-p… ple-ase.”

He seemed to have great difficulties with saying that ‘please’. Perhaps he had never had to ask anyone for anything. If he had been waited upon by a lot of servants his whole life, Lion could believe that Seirios had probably never stayed anywhere by himself before.

Thinking about how this elegant man with a cold beauty and a slight frown, asked a mere traveller for a favour, Lion wasn’t able to refuse him any further.

He let out a sigh and answered: “Alright. Mister Sei, dinner is included at this inn. The dining room is on the first floor, let’s go.”

“Got it.”

”

”

Seirios walked in front of him and, when he pushed the door, it opened easily. Since pulling and pushing it earlier didn’t do anything, perhaps the door didn’t fit right in its frame.

At the dining hall, Seirios only drank some wine and snacked on some fruit. Due to Lion’s thrifty nature, when he looked at all the dishes that were being placed on the table, he thought that it would be a waste not to eat it. As Lion ate this and that, Seirios kept sliding all the plates in front of him.

Since Seirios had clearly indicated that all the dishes were his treat, Lion ate to his heart’s content.

As he was gulping down the food in front of him, suddenly Lion felt someone’s eyes on him. When he raised his head, Seirios was watching him with a smile, holding his wine in one hand and resting his chin on the other.

“What is it?”

“You look cute when you eat. And you’re eating with such energy, too.”

“Wh-!”

Blood rushed to Lion’s face. If someone else had said this, even if Lion believed that he was being made fun of, they weren’t really words he could complain about. However, upon taking a look at Seirios, he realized that Seirios wasn’t making fun of him. It was as if he were admiring a pet…

He became aware that more than half of the people in the dining hall kept glancing towards their table. Of course, the one that the women were looking at, with their cheeks red, was Seirios.

He had a well-proportioned body, glossy black hair and deep, dark red eyes. His appearance stood out as well. Despite his unapproachable, aristocratic aura, he had a somewhat mysterious, irresistible charm.

It seemed that there was a group of only women, so Lion thought that it might be better if he left Seirios’ in their care instead. However, when dinner was over, Seirios grabbed his hand and promptly brought him to his room.

Lion’s suffering continued that day.

The inn’s employees seemed to have brought in hot water for a bath. When Lion gave Seirios, who was staring with his head tilted at the water in puzzlement, a sideways glance, he suddenly came to realize a few things. Without saying a word, Lion poured the hot water into the bathtub. Should he repay today’s lodging and meal expenses with his services?

“There, I’ve prepared the bath for you. Please go ahead, Mister Sei.”

“Bathe together with me.”

“Wh-what are you saying?!” Lion cried out involuntarily, and the other man looked somehow disappointed. It was possible that his servants also helped him with bathing. However, naturally, it was reasonable for Lion to refuse to do such things.

“The soap is here, wipe your body with this cloth, please,” Lion informed him and sent him into the bathroom.

*****************************

Fairly soon after, Seirios walked out of the bathroom, and they passed each other as Lion went in. He had always been told that his slightly frizzy, weightless, unruly golden hair was straw colored. His eyes were a light brown as well, and his face was average. Reflected in the full-length mirror, the expression on his face looked quite exhausted.

A lot of things have happened since this morning, so I’m bound to be tired. Tomorrow, I have to get to the neighboring town no matter what, and search for some recruitment offers.

This town was big, and, since it was the closest town adjacent to the national border, it had become a lodging town for travellers. When it came to local-based, good pay recruitments, there should be more of them once he got closer to the cities near Thailes’ royal capital. He also needed to gather information about the Northern Demon King and the demons there, and he needed to ask whether there were any historical ruins. Relaxed after being submerged in a lavish bathtub after a long time, Lion got out of the bath.

****************************************************

“Lion, come back here.”

“No, it’s fine, this is more than enough for me.”

Lion was lying on a bed, about 40 centimeters wide, that had been hastily brought over for him. Since there was just one big, wide bed, he had borrowed a cot. It seemed that the proprietress believed Lion to be a servant working for an aristocrat, and she cheered him on, saying: “Servants sure have it tough, don’t you?”

“Then, I’ll sleep there too.”

“Why would you do that?!”

“I detest the thought of you alone sleeping on such a narrow bed.”

Seirios was truly about to get into the narrow bed. If Seirios, who was of good physique, and Lion were both to sleep on the cot, they would clearly have to be pressed together tightly.

Geeeeez! Is he an adult or is he a child?! I can’t tell!)

“I-I’ll use your bed then!2” Lion said and hurriedly got up onto the very edge of the wide bed.

He shouldn’t have any more complaints.

Lion turned off the lamp on the bedside table.

“Goodni–woah!”

He was being tightly hugged from behind.

“Wait–eh!? Mister Sei?! Please stop joking around!”

“Who’s joking around? I hated letting you sleep on that narrow bed, but I also wanted to try sleeping like this.”

“No, no, this is weird! Let me go, please.”

“No. You’re warm, and it feels nice.”

Suddenly, it dawned on him. Even though Seirios’ hand was touching Lion’s arm, it certainly felt quite cold. The quilt was a high quality product. It was light and, if anything, it was very breathable. Such a quilt was more than enough for a southerner like Lion, but perhaps Seirios, who was from the north, was feeling cold?

“Ah, are you cold by any chance? I have my quilt with me, so…”

“You are perfectly sufficient.”

Am I being used as a heated stone…?

In cold countries, they would heat up stones that maintained warmth well, and, when they went to sleep, people would embrace them and make use of their warmth. Even though it was quite an unintended service, when Lion thought about following along with an extravagant aristocrat’s whims, he thought he could probably manage to bear it for one day.

Honestly, to tell the truth, it wasn’t all that unpleasant.

Whenever he was hired by someone, he never met their expectations. Even though he was born into a famous summoner family, his underwhelming abilities were often the butt of his relatives’ jokes. No one had ever depended on him.

If something as simple as his body’s temperature could be of use to someone, even if it wasn’t the help he’d hoped to give, he might still feel happy about it.

As he continued to hold Lion, who had gradually stopped protesting, from behind, Seirios quietly said: “You’re really a very kind person. You’re warm, too.”

“I’m not really that kind or anything. Well, to be fair, my body’s temperature is on the higher side, though.”

“Also, you’re strong.”

“Huh?”

“Your average summoner cannot summon either a Pegasus nor a Phoenix. The summoned beasts also adore you completely.”

“I’m limited to only one summoning of one beast per day. I’m totally useless in a fight because of that.” Self-deprecatingly, Lion repeated the things that his relatives had told him for many years.

“Today, you drove the bandits away, didn’t you? You’re plenty useful. You’re an amazing summoner3, Lion.”

“……”

Afterwards, with sincerity, Seirios continued to tell him that he was “Kind” “Amazing” and “A good person”. Lion gave in, and at some point, while still being held from behind, the two of them firmly huddled together, he fell asleep.

Thank you for reading! I am loving this doting~ male lead!

Footnotes

蒼玉そうぎょく – I googled and couldn’t actually find any proper name for this one, it just means azure stone, and my editor suggested using sapphire because that is quite a precious stone rather than lapis lazuli which was my first guess. Therefore, while not specified, I am going on the assumption it’s a sapphire.

Literally he says: ‘I will intrude on the bed over there.’ He uses the phrase お邪魔します – ‘ojamashimasu’ used when one enters someone’s house.

the term he uses is actually 術者 – ‘jutsusha’ – practitioner(in arts, medicine). That term feels quite off in english in this case, therefore I switched it for summoner.