Chapter 18 - Glasses-kun Reunites with His Sister

Chapter 18 - Glasses-kun Reunites with His Sister

Silently firing iron arrows, Joseph—who had been muttering to himself—suddenly spoke up with words impossible to ignore.

"Hey, Glasses-kun. You hunted a Red Bear, didn’t you?"

…Hm? Fast ears, huh?

"What are you talking about?"

"The hunting guild’s circles are much smaller than the adventurer guild’s, y’know. News spreads fast when something happens~"

Ah, so that’s how it is.
Since this shop mainly deals in hunting gear, they probably have some kind of partnership with the hunting guild.

In that case, yeah, information would travel quickly.

"The adventurer I was with did most of the work. I just tagged along."

"Ohhh? Then what about the clean, undamaged cuts on the pelt?"

Ah, so they even got that much info?

"And let me add~ The wounds left on the pelt suggest something long and thin delivered the fatal blow to the Red Bear, right~?"

…Oh?

I turned around and stared at the heavily made-up old man grinning at me.

"Who told you that?"

I asked to gauge the intent behind his words.

"I made sure to butcher it in a way that wouldn’t reveal what the fatal wound was or how it was hunted."

"My, my. How cautious of you~"

"Or was that just leading questioning?"

"Half of it was."

I see. So half was speculation.

"What about the other half?"

"Silly question. I’ve been watching your skills firsthand, Glasses-kun~"

"A Red Bear wouldn’t even be a challenge for you, right?" Joseph laughed as if he’d seen it happen. His lipstick was obnoxiously red.

"How many arrows did you use?"

"Three."

"Oh my. That’s way fewer than I expected. Not just your bow skills—you’re used to real combat too, huh?"

Well, more importantly—

"I never admitted to being the one who hunted the Red Bear, though."

"Fuuun? Well, let’s just leave it at that, shall we~?"

Was this just small talk, or was he probing me? It was hard to tell from the old man’s constant grinning.

…Maybe I should make this my last visit here. If he’s digging for info, letting him learn more would just be a pain.

"Hey, hey~ How about we go out for dinner tonight~?"

…I didn’t sense any killing intent, hostility, or malice—but I did feel a different kind of danger I’d never experienced before. Coming from a heavily made-up old man.

---

After finishing training and heading back to the inn, I found Laila standing in front of it.

"—Hey, wait a second! Why are you running away!?"

Tch, I let my guard down. I turned a corner from the back alleys, and there she was, right in front of me. I hadn’t considered this kind of encounter.
Instinctively, I spun around to bolt—but of course, she spotted me.

"Oh, there you are. Didn’t notice you."

"That’s a lie! We made eye contact, didn’t we!? You looked right at me and then immediately looked away, didn’t you!?"

Yeah, well, I couldn’t argue because she was right.

"Sorry. Honestly, I just really didn’t wanna see you."

"You’re really honest, huh!? I’m shocked! …Wait, hold on! I am actually shocked!"

Laila looked genuinely offended. I thought my reaction was pretty reasonable, though.

"Well, I’ll be going now—"

"No, wait! You think I’m letting you go after all this!? …I mean, I’m still reeling from how blunt you were, but just hold on a second!"

She seemed truly stunned.
Laila clutched her chest, repeating, "Just wait, hold on a sec."

Honestly, I didn’t want to deal with that either, but if I left her like this, she’d definitely chase me all the way to my room.

"Did you need something again?"

Since staying silent was just as annoying, I decided to prod her into spitting it out so she’d leave sooner.

"…I’m not satisfied with this, but whatever."

Her face and attitude made it clear she wasn’t happy, but Laila moved on to the main topic.

"I came to tell you that Horn, your big sis, is back."

Ah, so she finally returned.

"Where is she now?"

"Drinking at the adventurer’s guild."

I see.

It wasn’t even evening yet, so the guild would still be crowded.
And as evening turned to night, more adventurers would return from jobs, making it even busier.

Horn was probably with her party anyway. There’d be no time to squeeze in a conversation with me right now.

In that case, another day would be better. It wasn’t like there was any urgent reason.

"Laila, I’ve got a favor to ask."

"From me, who you didn’t even want to see?"

"Yeah. From you, Laila, who I didn’t want to see."

"…You’ve got some nerve, Glasses."

"I get that sometimes. More importantly—"

I asked her to bring Horn to the inn at noon tomorrow.

When I said that, she started whining, "Ehhh? But you didn’t even wanna see me, right~? And now you’re asking me for favors~?"—but I ignored her and quickly retreated into the inn.

"Just so you know, I’m older than you, Glasses!"

She hurled that meaningless parting shot at my back.

---

And then, the next day.
After idling through the morning, I waited at the inn by noon.

—Finally, after two years, I reunited with my sister.

"Hm?"

Bright brown hair and dark brown eyes.
While I had near-black hair and amber eyes, her coloring was the opposite.

Her hair, which had been as short as mine two years ago, had grown out since then.
But like me, she still didn’t seem to care much about her appearance—it was messy, sticking out wildly in all directions.

Hmm.

My image of her was still stuck on the girl who’d wander out of our tiny village, eat anything she found, and end up with an upset stomach.

But after two years apart, my sister had matured—at least a little.
She wore well-used leather armor with a sword at her waist. By all appearances, she was a full-fledged adventurer—and from the looks of it, a pretty skilled one.

Horn, who had just entered the room, stared at me intently, crossed her arms, and tilted her head.

"…Wait, who are you again? I feel like I’ve seen you before."

Yeah, no kidding.
I’m your little brother.

I recognized her immediately, but Horn didn’t seem to realize it.
Well, that’s just how she is—she never pays attention to small (or even normal) things, only the big stuff.

Her appearance might have grown up, but her personality hadn’t changed much.