The room's door was being violently pounded by Eris, and the heavy knocking suddenly woke Roxy from her sleep.
At first she was dazed, her eyes full of confusion, as though she were still immersed in an unfinished dream. A moment later, she suddenly sat up, instinctively clutching the blanket tightly against her chest, her eyes warily scanning the surroundings, only to meet Ash's rather speechless gaze.
Ash deliberately shook his head hard, "...Don't worry. Nothing happened, and there's no way I would do anything to you, right?"
"Th-That's good...", The girl breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, she was inexplicably a little unhappy.
After all, she was still a girl, yet he had made her sound as though she had no appeal at all... Just thinking about it made her a little annoyed.
But before she could complain, Ash pointed toward the door, bringing her back to reality. She immediately got out of bed and straightened her slightly disheveled clothes.
And the moment the door opened... The red-haired little Eris rushed in almost like an arrow leaving a bow. Without saying a word, she went straight over and pulled back the blanket, checked, then glared at Roxy before finally looking at Ash with worry:
"You weren't attacked by this woman, were you? If she bullied you, just tell me. I'll beat her up!"
"You're thinking about weird things again, aren't you? And...", Ash flicked her forehead with a bent finger before smiling at Roxy, "This one doesn't have that kind of courage."
"...So it's not because she can't beat you, and not because you trust her, but simply because you think she doesn't have the nerve? Ha, haha, I suppose you're right... I'm just a useless coward who can't do anything," Roxy froze as though struck by lightning. She couldn't help turning around and drawing circles on the floor dejectedly, letting out an occasional dry laugh. She looked rather pitiful.
But Eris completely ignored Roxy's feelings. She crossed her arms over her chest, planted her feet shoulder-width apart, raised her chin high, assumed her signature pose, and glared at Roxy with an imposing attitude, despite being younger than her in age, "Good that you know! If you do anything strange again, I won't casually forgive you like Ash does!"
"I wouldn't..."
Roxy instinctively wanted to argue, but in the next second, everything from yesterday's conversation and her actions in the past surged into her heart all at once.
Even though the other person had not said anything else yet, she unnaturally looked away, her voice becoming so quiet that even Ash could not hear it.
Yet even without hearing her clearly, he couldn't help defending her, "I told you, she just lacks self-control. She's not really that bad of a pervert. You'll understand when you grow up... Probably?"
"I wouldn't! If I liked someone, I'd just pin them to the ground! I wouldn't do that sneaky stuff!"
"...That's also a pretty strange thing to do, yet you're actually proud of it?", Ash was somewhat dumbfounded by her words. He simply grabbed her cheeks and pulled at them repeatedly.
"Why don't you learn from Roxy instead? She's a pervert, but at least she only entertains herself."
"No way! That's completely perverted!"
"...Um, could you please stop bringing up my business..."
Inside the room, Ash had a broad smile on his face, Eris looked completely resistant, and Roxy was unbearably embarrassed.
Yet the atmosphere was unexpectedly good, and the air was filled with a pleasant feeling... At least Ash felt quite happy.
However, when they left the room, Eris still kept glancing at Roxy from time to time, completely treating her like someone who might commit a crime.
This left Ash somewhat at a loss. He couldn't help crouching down and placing a hand on each of the two girls' heads as he advised, "All right, all right, Eris, don't bully her too much. She's actually not that bad, and I really like Roxy too, okay? So I never cared about what happened in the past."
"You should care a little!"
Although he should have been trying to reconcile the two, Eris became even angrier after hearing that. She glared fiercely at Roxy before quickly running off.
This made Roxy look at him troubledly, "I... Am I really hated?"
"I don't think that's entirely the reason... But don't worry about it. She's rude to everyone like that, though technically, she should still be the daughter of a noble family."
Although he really wanted to say that, realistically, wouldn't a normal person have a hard time liking you after learning about your past? But to avoid discouraging Roxy, he simply smiled and stood back up, walking ahead, "Anyway, I'll take you to get something good to eat today~ It's rare that we've run into each other, so I'll treat you today!"
"N-No! I'll treat you! After all, I'm the master!"
The troubled look on Roxy's face eased somewhat. She quickly followed after him, putting on a stern expression as she tried, at least financially, to show her side as the elder.
Then... Almost inevitably, she once again completely lost to Ash financially, since several rulers were paying tribute to him.
But she still stubbornly insisted on buying things for Ash, leaving him somewhat unable to refuse and forcing him to accept the affection of his elder... Although this elder was a little small in various senses.
However, seeing the cute Roxy beside him, happily smiling despite having spent money, he stopped worrying about these minor details.
For the next several days, however, Eris remained somewhat hostile toward Roxy, or rather, remained on guard against her unilaterally, which left Roxy quite troubled.
As Roxy happened to have nothing else to do, she chose to travel with them aboard a ship heading toward the neighboring continent, trying to search for the whereabouts of her second disciple, Sylphie, while traveling.
———
When they first arrived at the harbor, Eris was immediately captivated by the vast, endless ocean. But at the time, Ash had merely mentioned in a few words that dangerous monsters lurked in the sea before forcibly pulling her away, making Eris complain to him for quite some time.
Now that she finally had the chance to board a ship, Eris, who was curious about everything, happily dashed onto the deck. She excitedly leaned her upper body over the entire railing and let out one clear exclamation after another, "Ash! Ash! This ship is so big! Wow! It rocks too! The sea looks so big from the ship!"
"Yes, yes, I know. Don't get too close to the railing. You'll fall," Worried that she might fall into the water, Ash grabbed the back of her collar, but he did not simply pull her back. Instead, he began lecturing her.
"What does it matter~! Even if I fall, you'll rescue me anyway!"
"...Could you not trust me quite so much?"
"No~! If we fall in, let's swim together~!"
"Listen to you. Can you swim?"
"I can't! But you definitely can, right?", Eris looked at him as though it were only natural, as if Ash ought to be capable of anything. However...
"No," He denied it without even thinking.
"Liar!? Really?"
"Really. So don't get too close to the railing and behave yourself."
"Is, is that so? Hmm, that's a little troublesome," Like a deflated balloon, Eris unhappily pulled her head back, but then she couldn't help almost throwing herself against him as she rose onto her toes and looked back at him excitedly, "But! If that's the case, if I learn first, won't that mean I'm better than you!?"
"Well... I suppose. So once you learn, if I accidentally drown, I'll have to rely on you."
"Yeah! Leave it to me! Once we get off! I'll definitely go learn how to swim right away!", Eris happily nodded hard, so excited that she looked as though she wanted to jump into the water right there and learn to swim.
This scene was seen by Roxy, who had leisurely followed behind them. She couldn't help smiling knowingly and sincerely sighing, "I really didn't expect there to be something you can't do, and... You two have such a good relationship."
Ash merely shrugged, while Eris, seeing her, gave a light snort and turned her face away... She still wasn't very fond of her, making the smile on Roxy's face stiffen slightly.
[🙇🏻 You Can Support through P@tr3on—AmbitiousTranslator. It also has 40+ advanced chapters of all the novels and fanfics. It gets updated daily. Thanks for reading, have a great day~]