Living as an Unemployed in Another World

94 – 4. Silence in the Helmet (10)

10.

From nob le mt l dot com

Not at the level of sniffling, Celine shedding tears like chicken poop. When I saw that, I immediately got out of bed and ran. Celine said she probably hurriedly turned her body and tried to run away, but she was so weak that she couldn’t stagger away. Eventually, forgetting that this was not her room, but that this was the middle of her hallway, I hurriedly hugged her.

“Celine!”

“Huh, black.”

“No, don’t cry…… Why are you crying. How.”

I would have explained something right away if someone slapped me on the cheek or got angry, but I don’t know how to deal with it because I just cry all the time. Struggling in my arms, Celine soon gave up her resistance and sniffed and murmured.

“Sniff, that’s right, Jini.”

“My, what am I?”

“Jin, I heard everything you confessed to Janice!”

Ugh, Celine crying sadly. What? When did I. I felt unjust and tried to remember, and soon I replayed Celine’s conversation, which she must have overheard through the crack in her door.

──I need you. I’m serious.

From nob le mt l dot com

No, did you hear that from there? Driving me crazy. So how did you deal with what happened after that? I tried imagining the conversation Celine, standing outside the door and overhearing, must have overheard in the confusion.

──Ha, ha, ha, ha.

…… No conversation. It was because Janice didn’t say a word except for her constant heavy breathing. Said Celine, crying loudly as if she were trying to drag all the adventurers out of the room. In fact, I can hear a few doors creaking and sneaking open. Driving me crazy.

“Let go of this! You can go to Janice. Something like me…… !”

“Oh must! Because nothing happened! I’d rather open the door and look…… !”

As I muttered in frustration, Celine staggered, her eyes wide open as if in further shock.

“I can’t believe it, how could you say that…… This crap!”

“For what reason!?”

“I, I liked you first…… ! I don’t even look at it, always with another girl…… !”

What the hell is she talking about when this lady is all over the place. I grabbed Celine’s slender waist and looked around her. When I look at her, she tries to hurriedly close the door, but about a third of the hallway is already open, listening to our conversation. Among them, some female adventurers didn’t even think about hiding, and muttered things like “Trash,” “Bad guy,” And “I saw the wrong thing.”

If this happens, I’ll call all the people from the inn. I pushed Celine, crying sadly, against her wall with her tear-stained face. Unlike Mira, Chloe, and knights, the resistance of Celine, an ordinary girl, was futile. Eventually, as she released her strength from her arms and looked up at me with her resentful eyes, I sighed and looked at her.

Anyway, even if I explain in words now, they won’t listen properly, and if I leave it alone, Mr. Cooper or Mr. Angela will come up and things will get bigger. In the end, thinking about how to stop Celine’s mouth right away, I soon gave up on her idea and blocked her mouth with hers, mine, and hers.

“Huh–!?”

A warm breath came into my mouth through Celine’s gaping teeth. I held her dainty lips as if biting them lightly, and let go when her strength drained from her body. Celine’s face as I looked at her with her mouth open was the most red of her face I’ve ever seen.

It’s kind of quiet now. I let go of her hand Explain later slowly, and for now, get out of this commotion quickly. Thinking so, I raised my head, and soon more than half of the doors in the hallway were wide open, watching us openly. Starting at the end of the room where the knight was staying, female adventurers including Hilda, and male adventurers with shaggy beards were sticking their faces out from the door.

Is that all, the customers who had come up the stairs wondering what this was all about quickly bowed down as soon as they caught my gaze, and among them, Angela and Cooper were also mixed with faces that could not contain their astonishment. Finally.

“… ….”

Even Mira, who would normally call me by my name and look at her, without saying a word, she crosses her arms and leans against the door, staring at me and Celine alternately with glowing eyes. And to make matters worse, until a slightly disheveled Zenith appeared in my open door.

How come it hasn’t been long since the sun has risen yet, everyone is so diligent. I slipped away and sat down in my seat. Celine reflexively grabbed me.

I’m tired. No.

It was X.

※

Have you ever been treated as a traitor who sold out an entire country overnight? Actually, I don’t have one, but I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s that different from now. As soon as I came out of the kitchen to the counter, I felt countless eyes on me and ran away again. Actually, I want to run to my room right now and lock the door, but if I do that, I’m afraid that someone will break the door and come in, so I’d rather go down to the first floor where there is an exit.

Mr. Angela, who I’ve been cooking with since before, didn’t even say a word to me. When her eyes meet, it’s just a mysterious smile that doesn’t know the meaning. I haven’t had a proper conversation since the lunch business started.

Is that all, Celine doesn’t even try to make eye contact with her, and even when she tries to bring her plate under Angela’s pressure, she only takes her tray and doesn’t respond. Does she know that the more resolute she is, the more I become the bad guy?

In fact, most of the hostility toward me is actually ignorant. Adventurers are one of those jobs where the s*x ratio is somewhat unbalanced, just like this world is originally, and inns are where adventurers are the main customers. Of course, 80% means men with thick hair.

To the tough men with outpouring of male hormones, Celine was not just a pretty maid, but almost like a haven for life. Even though he hated adventurers and always treated them harshly, he was rather fair to everyone in that way, so he was avoiding the worst situation of someone monopolizing them. Today, that balance has been broken. By none other than me.

Quite a bit of time has passed since the day Celine confessed her love to me, but that fact itself was a secret that only Mira and I knew, so there must have been many people who had feelings for her unless there was clear evidence of her. That is until today.

That alone made me sick to my stomach, but it wasn’t really a love affair, but it was shown in the form of a love affair with Janice unwillingly mixed in. Janice also has a delicate appearance that can be seen as a lady among the few female adventurers. She’s not kidding, it’s not at all strange if she gets hit by her sword while walking around the inn. Never in her life had she received so much hostility at once. Moreover, not only to men but also to female adventurers, because he became a man who played with both Zenith and Celine, unlike usual, he is giving me a wary look.

In the midst of turning all her customers into enemies, she just stares at me without saying a word, even Mira, who has always been by my side. She’s not at all at the counter, where she always likes to sit, but she joins Gerald’s party, and she’s staring this way.

Mr. Cooper called me from outside the kitchen, beckoning to me in such an on-the-spot atmosphere.

“Jin. Come out for a second.”

“Yes.”

It’s coming. I thought, looking at Mr. Cooper’s wooden prosthetic leg.

Would it hurt if I got hit by that? I’m sure the flesh is torn and in one place it’s broken without trim. Mr. Cooper is said to have been a former adventurer, but I wonder if someone like me can survive if he gets hit by that thick fist. I can’t use the potion substitution recovery spell with my skills yet. Shall I ask Janice? No, she also doesn’t try to come close to me after witnessing that scene with Celine. Maybe this time I became a single shot without a hole to escape.

Soon after arriving at the snowy backyard, Mr. Cooper silently handed me the axe. Does that mean cut off his finger? While I was holding on to the ax he had handed me and trembling, he silently placed the firewood at the base of the tree.

“What are you doing, don’t help quickly.”

“Oh, yes.”

I was puzzled, but with his assistance as usual, I drove the ax into the thick wooden pole. As for the firewood, Alphonse would normally have been chopping it up without a shortage, but the wood to actually put in the furnace must be chopped more finely. Well, if you use that ax to cut something like firewood, it will probably break into pieces, making it difficult to use.

The two of us were chopping firewood together in silence for a long time, to the point where we were sweating, when suddenly Mr. Cooper spoke up.

“How old are you this year?”

“…… Twenty-two in a little while.”

“It already happened.”

Pak! The firewood is split into several branches by the small hatchet I wield.

“Celine will be an adult in a few months. Isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“…… Are you not an adventurer anymore?”

“Yes? That is.”

I was looking for something to reply to, but then I shut my mouth and scratched my head. Mr. Cooper saw me like that and quietly piled up the wood again.

“I heard from Alphonse.”

“Yes?”

“They say your skills are pretty good. You said you defeated the lich? Such a monster, even when I was on active duty, I only heard rumors.”

“No, that is.”

I waved my hand. Anyone who hears it will know that I did it alone. If it wasn’t for my colleagues, it would have been just dog death by myself. Above all, I, who sought her learning under her in spite of her decay, could not be intimidated by her skeletons, who were less than her mere servants.

Anyway, Mr. Cooper seems to have gotten very close with Alphonse recently while working outside, so they were often seen together. Do warriors recognize warriors? The guy I know is a bit salty, but he’s not a person who discriminates against people based on his race, and most of all, the two of them have a lot in common in that they’re both shareholder.

At this rate, my position is somewhat precarious. As with today’s work, I don’t know if I’m being kicked out this time to go out and act like an adventurer. As I looked at him with a somewhat frightened gaze, he said calmly.

“Do you remember when you first came here? When a bastard like him asked if I could live here, I honestly wanted to kick him out right away. It must be so fiery. There is nothing more annoying than getting caught up in someone else’s fight.”

“… ….”

“That was already 4 years ago, so time seems to go by quickly. Do you know why I accepted you then?”

“No.”

I shook my head. I seriously doubt it. It doesn’t matter much now, but at the time, both Mr. Cooper and Mr. Angela didn’t like it.

“Celine was sleepy. That kid.”

“Yes?”

“My mother held on to the hem of her skirt and begged me so much, asking if she was not pitiful. Because of her poor circumstances, she has never begged her to have anything in her life.”

“… ….”

This is the first time I’ve heard of it. I stopped throwing the ax and looked him in the eye. He rubbed the corners of his hollow eyes and looked at me with sharp eyes.

“To be honest, I still don’t know who you are. Same goes for the housekeeper. It’s just that this much time has passed, so I’m just thinking of you as a family. I just don’t think it’s a big deal, thinking you’ll tell me someday.”

“Mr. Cooper.”

“Not too long ago, when you suddenly went to the labyrinth and said you wore blue. My husband and I were very surprised. As you know, we were adventurers. I know how difficult it is. But that day, Celine went to my mother and asked about it.”

“…… What did you say?”

“When you become an adventurer, he asked what he would do. Wouldn’t it be better to persuade her to stay at the inn like she is now? It’s more like that because you know I lost my leg while being an adventurer.”

I suddenly thought of Celine trying to convince me to get a job. She said she had to earn money on her own so she could start a family later. Did she say that, as soon as she became an adventurer earning gold coins, she worried about my safety and gave up the income?

Mr. Cooper is awesome! He said to me, gathering the split firewood together and beating it.

“I don’t talk for a long time. You guys are adults now, and even if you look like this, I and my wife are people who know that men and women are issues.”

“It’s a problem.”

“What dude?”

I immediately shut up. Who would think of Angela as Mr. Cooper’s wife? Honestly, I didn’t expect to hear these words from a place where I thought I came to be scolded. He said.

“Don’t ring. She is my daughter.”

“…… Yes.”

“Whoever you like, whoever you go out with or break up with, is up to you. But don’t make Celine cry in the process. There are parts where I can’t be honest because I look like me, but I’m a tender kid.”

After that, Mr. Cooper slapped the firewood on his side and patted me on the shoulder before going inside. I ended the conversation more calmly than I thought. For me, who was prepared to be hit hard, the ending was rather boring.

“… ….”

I was left behind. Once again, I realized how comfortable I was living in a fence. Suddenly, a ray of warm light came to me as I was sitting on the root of a tree.

It’s her. Today, as usual, a knight in armor approached me. She ironed, and bowed her head.

From nob le mt l dot com

Now that I know she’s a woman, I feel a bit strange about her actions like that. Without saying a word, I lifted my butt and patted the seat next to me.