After school.
I am returning home with Sylphy, I have a lot I want to ask for Sylphy's help with regarding my sisters, since their age is close she probably understands a lot more about them than me.
"Oh, Rudi, let's go shopping. Since the number of people increased, we need to buy a bit more."
So I go along with Sylphy to the market.
When we set foot in the market, the first thing we notice is the sweet fragrance of beans being fried.
Market district is in full swing even in the evening. My image of a Market district was that it would be crowded in the morning. But here, the fresh ingredients are the meats, and it's provided by adventurers and hunters who hunt game during the day and return in the evening.
In other words, they stock up during the day to sell during the evening.
Though it's not that there are that many different products, and the prices are comparatively on the high side.
Still, in the [Magic Triumvirate] you can get anything you want with money.
But if you head east to the more impoverished countries, even if you have money you can't find anything to buy.
By the way, freezing the ingredients here is easy, since you can just request it through the guild.
Well, those are the requests of the students who are just learning magic.
I start talking to Sylphy about what to do from now on while we are shopping.
"I see, so their relationship isn't all that good, huh?"
"To be honest, I have no idea what girls of that age are thinking at all…"
"Really."
"Aisha does not want to go to school and insists on being a maid at our house. What do you think?"
"Since I am kind of out of the house mostly, if she says she's gonna help, I am kinda happy about it."
Sylphy said while laughing, it does not seem like she's worried about losing her role in the house.
"That said, Sylphy, we are supposed to be responsible adults."
"Yeah."
"Isn't it our job to at least provide Aisha with the opportunity of attending Magic University?"
"Un, I see. Then having her change her hair color and attend Magic university is a viable solution as well, right?"[13]
Sylphy puts her hand to her chin as if thinking about what to do, but in the end she decided to buy ham for dinner, despite the price being a bit high.
"Sylphy, we are having a serious conversation, please think about it seriously."
"Of course I am thinking, but you know, I think Aisha-chan is way more outstanding than Rudi imagines."
"So what if she's outstanding?"
"I am sure, regardless of going to school or not, she will do well…"
"O~h."
"So, I think it's better to let her do what she wants, instead of just thinking about this and that."
Sylphy seems to have a lot of confidence in Aisha, come to think of it, Sylphy knows Aisha pretty well. I mean, the younger Aisha that is, I heard a lot about how she was an outstanding child.
"The problem is Norn-chan, being separated from Paul-san and Ruijerd-san, she is uneasy. We should look after her properly."
"That's right."
When I saw how calm Sylphy is, I realized how nervous I was behaving.
Somehow, Sylphy looks so reliable, just like Fitts-senpai. Eh, she is Fitts-senpai after all.
"Let Aisha do as she pleases, and put Norn on the right rail, hah?"
"Rail?"
"It means making a road."
"I think yeah, that sounds good."
But doing that means treating the sisters differently, is that really okay?
But there is a big difference in their abilities, so treating them the same forcefully is the bad thing, I shouldn't confuse discrimination and distinction together.
"I wonder if I said something arrogant?"
"No, you helped me a lot. I managed to sort out my thoughts."
"But, I have to guard Ariel-sama, so I can't look after them as much..."
Said Sylphy with a troubled face while scratching behind her ears.
Because she has to guard Ariel-hime, she said that with a troubled face, she might be actually troubled about it, like after getting married I ask her to stop working for Ariel-hime.
Oh, I suddenly decided to ask about this.
"Hey, Sylphiette-san…"
"What is it, Rudeus-san?"
"If I asked you to stop being Ariel-hime's guard so we could get married, what would you have done?"
I asked as lightly as I could, Sylphy stared at me with a straight face.
"...I might have refused to marry Rudi."
Eh?
...That's a little shocking. Maybe if I took my time and asked in a better way, but I see... so she would choose Ariel over me... I see Ariel is more important than me...
"Ah."
Seeing my face, Sylphy suddenly panicked.
"Don't misunderstand, I love Rudi. No, it's more than that. It's a complicated feeling that I, myself, don't understand."
Panicking Sylphy is cute as well.
"Well, I think both of them is love, and I naturally would like to have Rudi's child as well..."
Sylphy stroked her stomach while saying that.
Hearing that, I feel my body getting hot. Today's Sylphy is so bold, saying that in public.
"But I like Ariel-sama as well, it's a different like from Rudi... right, it's in the sense of a friend..."
Said Sylphy, come to think of it, this is the first time I've heard Sylphy's feelings regarding Ariel.
"Ariel-sama, despite how she looks, has many things she's not good at. If I am not with Rudi, I am sure you could do something about life by yourself, but if Luke and I are not around, Ariel-sama will probably die soon, so I don't want to abandon her."
After saying that, Sylphy is scratching behind her ears again.
And she adds to that [But the life I have now is the one I had dreamed about my whole life, so … if possible I'd like to stick with Rudi.]
Sylphy seems to be thinking that what she is saying is a selfish thing.
She thinks she used my good will to gain something that normally would not be allowed(possible), and because of that, she's trying her best to become the woman I love.
Though there is no way that's true.
"......"
Instead of answering that I kiss Sylphy on the cheek, the moment I do that we hear 'Hyu~u, Hyu~u' and some sleazy comments, without us noticing we had gathered a group of onlookers, Sylphy had her sunglasses on from the get go, Fitts-senpai looks cute as always.
After a few minutes, Sylphy calmed down and we resumed our shopping, though our conversation went a bit off-track.
Well, the things I wanted to talk about are mostly done, so as long as Sylphy gets along with those two, my hardship will reduce as well.
To be honest, I don't have the slightest idea what these young girls are thinking about.
"Since I don't understand the girls very well, I'll be relying on Sylphy again…"
"Un~… we are married after all, helping each other is a given."
Said Sylphy while laughing coyly.
My wife is so reliable.
But [Rudi will be fine without me, but Ariel-sama will die.] Hah, I bet Sylphy would be able to live without me just fine, unlike before.
A week later, Aisha got a perfect score on the exam.