Different side

He could easily coup her entire head in his palm but limited himself to merely touching her puffed cheeks with his index finger and thumb and…

"...phfffh… H-HEY…!"

…squeezing them, making Catherine let out a slightly inappropriate sound and immediately cry out in embarrassment.

"Are you saying that if you were crying like that, I have to leave you alone? I want to train my response with someone I don't care about so I will not make a mistake when it matters."

"!!!"

Ross let out a low growl, leaving Catherine wide-eyed, before taking his hand away. But as he did, his index finger would linger under the black-haired girl's chin a heartbeat longer, lifting her head as if the hooded individual wanted her to focus only on him.

"I-i-if th-that's th-the case th-then… g-go… I-it doesn't h-hurt t-to a-ask if y-you're n-not s-sure wh-what th-they are c-crying about…"

Catherine's face turned red, but for a completely different reason than before, and she mumbled, moving her hand encouragingly in the direction of Bjorki's back.

"As I thought."

Ross nodded, acknowledging the response and moving forward to slow down again, matching the crying girl's pace.

"Is your pride hurt that much?"

"Uuu… hic… hic… hic… hngh…hic…"

The hooded individual turned his head towards the brown-haired girl and asked, but his words didn't seem to register at all.

"You were quite confident in getting Lady Melinda punished for her words. But your current reaction seems over… it seems a bit too much."

Ross didn't give up and altered his approach slightly.

There still was no reaction from the crying girl, but he noticed that Melinda herself glanced over at him and gave him an encouraging nod.

At the same time, Zane also peeked over, but in his case, he tilted his head from side to side to signify that Ross's suspicion was rather iffy and then sharply moved his head to signify going in another direction with the question.

"...did you get in some big trouble…?"

"!!!"

Ross questioned after a minute of consideration, and this time, the reaction was there - the brown-haired girl jolted so much it was actually a proper jump.

"...hic… p-papa… hic…!"

"Papa…?"

After another moment, Bjorki mumbled while hiccuping through tears, causing Ross to inquire in confusion.

"...papa raised his voice at me… papa never raised his voice at me before…!"

The disguised girl trembled and sobbed, rubbing her teary eyes with both hands.

"Wait… You're the most upset about your father shouting at you? Did your grandfather or mother say nothing?"

Melinda couldn't help herself after hearing the surprising information and asked.

"Papa would never shout at me!"

"...!"

Surprisingly enough, her question resulted in Bjorki stomping her foot and shouting desperately, surprising the others.

"Okay, so he didn't shout. He only raised his voice… it was enough to turn you into this sobbing mess?"

Melinda backed off and agreed, intrigued by Bjorki's reaction.

"...hic… Mom is always strict… Grandpa is a big softie, but if he wants to refuse me, he asks Lord Hugin to talk with me… even Mag doesn't spoil me all the way… but… hic… but… Papa is the kindest one…! Papa always praises and encourages me and, and always takes my side when mom is angry… but… hic.. Uuuuuu… hic…! But…! But now I made Papa upset…! I disappointed Papa… hic… hic… Uuuuuuuu!"

Bjorki's response was… that of a heartbroken child and warmed up her image, at least to Melinda.

"Aww, daddy's… I mean, Papa's girl, huh? It's a much cuter reason than I anticipated~"

The gold-haired girl hummed with a big smile, nuzzling up to Zane's side.

"I-is it…? Sh-she's a-almost sixteen, a-already an a-adult for c-close to a y-year… I-I know it's a b-bit different w-with aristocracy a-and all, but for c-commoners, m-most girls that a-age are a-already m-married. S-some have ch-children. C-clinging to one's p-parents at that age f-feels wrong s-somehow."

On the other hand, Catherine had a completely different opinion on the matter and stated it openly, reminding Melinda about the setting of the world.

"!!!"

"...what about you? Any plans of settling down…?"

The gold-haired noticed Bjorki getting red from anger and hurriedly changed the subject, feeling sorry for intercepting Ross's conversation training, but let's be honest, things had long gone too far.

Not to mention that when she asked, she clearly glanced at the hooded individual while carefully picking her words.

"M-my parent's t-tried to set m-me up many times, b-but n-no one wants a s-stu-st-stuttering wife in th-the end."

…something that flew right over Catherine's head as she grumbled, bitter over some old memories…

"..."

"N-not that I liked a-any one of th-the c-candidates a-anyway…!"

Ross ended up falling silent, staring at his feet before looking away, which made Catherine turn to him, flinch in realization, and exclaim with a bright red face.

While they were bickering like that, back in the settlement which their group didn't bother entering…

"Oti! My dad said that he saw some people going towards Koboldia Town!"

A messy-looking boy rushed into a bakery and called out hastily.

*splat*

"EH?!"

…causing the sandstone-colored Kobold with armor-like scales wearing a simple linen tunic to drop a fresh cream puff she was about to bite into and exclaim.

"People going to Koboldia Town…?! B-but I explained that today it will be dangerous…!"

Oti, the sandstone-scaled Kobold, gasped with a panicked expression, raising both hands to her chest and moving her clawed fingers erratically.

"Yeah, I know! But Dad said those were some travelers that must have been just passing by! They have no idea what's going on!"

The boy waved his hand urgently, shaking his head and pointing out.

"The worst part is, my dad said he saw them about, like, half an hour ago! We have to go and stop them before they get hurt!"

"Stop them…! Th-that's right! Yes! We have to go stop them! I'll go first!"

The boy exclaimed, holding the door open for the kobold, causing her to jolt and nod hurriedly, taking a few steps back to have a running start to jump out of the building.

While in the air, Oti curled up into a ball, the armor-like segments of her scales locking together perfectly, protecting her. She began spinning fast enough to produce a shrilling sound.

The moment she touched the ground, she sped up like a Four-eyed goat with its tail lit on fire, and the next moment, only a dustcloud and ripped pieces of linen were left in the settlement after her.

"Oh, dear. I hope our Oti won't get in trouble over that… She still has trouble with stopping her charge, doesn't she?"

The baker's wife stepped out from behind the counter and sighed before crouching down to clean up the mess of a splattered cream puff.

"...yeah… If only my stupid dad told me sooner…!"

The boy nodded, clenching his fists and biting his lips with worry, watching after the long-gone kobold.

…going back to our group…