The next morning I bought a bouquet of flowers and a ring and returned to the inn in Gadrus.
Yes, to ask Cortina to marry me. The sooner I do this, the better.
The inn in Gadrus is an orthodox structure with a dining room on the ground floor, and at this time Cortina should be eating in the dining room.
I enter the inn and glance around inside, and sure enough, I find her at a table by the wall, sipping pasta.
Her cat ears are pinned up and her neat face is puffed up like a squirrel as she eats, childlike and adorable in a way.
I dare to walk up to her table with a zesty gait, so as not to slow down my decision.
Seeing me approach with a mysterious look on my face, holding a bouquet of flowers, Gadolus looks astonished.
Of course she is. I only came up with the idea yesterday.
Cortina, too, is looking at me as if stiffened.
I'm sure she would have guessed what I came here for when she saw the bouquet of flowers.
I knelt down in front of Cortina and offered her the bouquet.
'Tina. Marry me."
A roundabout pick-up line is not like me. I decided that a straightforward statement of requirements would be more likeable here.
Cortina's eyes widen at the sight of me.
The other guests had a puzzled look on their faces at my behaviour.
If this had been another adventurer, they would have whistled and bellowed.
But it's me who's kneeling here. An assassin, a raid of black feathers.
The mightiest assassin who descends from the darkness and rains down deadly threads.
If you tease such an opponent, you can ...... guess what will happen.
Cortina shakes her hands from side to side as if she wants to say something, abruptly places the napkin on her chest on the table and wipes her mouth as if in a panic.
After a few stray steps in this way, what was on her face was ...... somehow, anger.
'Oh, you--'
Pulling and shaking, fists clenched.
Funny. My feeling was that she would take it.
I was sure she didn't have any bad feelings towards me either.
Cortina raised her fist in the air, betraying my expectations.
'Who the hell are you! Read the atmosphere and stuff a bit, ooooh!"
A fist swung down as it was. The most important thing to remember is that the best way to get the most out of your own home is to be a good friend.
The next time I evaded it, the sole of my foot flew at me.
I receive a kick to the face and roll on the floor.
'Gadols! I'll leave you some money!"
''Oh, oh .......''
With a clang, she slammed the coins on the table, and with a high thump of her footsteps, she left the inn.
I had assumed that she would accept my offer, but I could do nothing but watch in dismay as she left.
''Did she hate me?''
When I spilled out my words, for some reason, the other guests and Gadols shook their heads in unison.
'Because that's not the problem.'
Even the pitying words of Gadrus are out of my ears now.
I was devastated by the fact that Cortina hated me.
I don't know what I'm going to look like tomorrow.
I locked myself in my room with a broken foot.
From that day onwards I was very depressed.
During the day I behaved as usual, but with a little distance from Cortina.
And in the evening, I would slurp gadolus with them in the absence of other customers.
'Damn, I hate that bastard Lyell when it comes to this .......'
That's taking it out on me.
Gadolus, who is a good company despite his rugged face, is also accompanying me on my drinks on this day.
That's why I'm drinking more.
'The world's fulfilment must die.'
''It's not funny when you say it, so don't do it.''
' 'Fine, I'm just jealous'.
''That's the coolest thing I've ever seen.''
I slurped down my glass of whisky in one gulp and plopped down on the counter.
I'm not much of a drinker, so this one drink is enough to get me round.
'You'll have to put yourself in my shoes, going out with me every night. I have to get ready for tomorrow morning, don't I?"
'I'm sorry, but I can't do this without a drink.
'Oh dear. They're a pain in the arse!"
Tina's acting kind of distant, so I guess it was a mistake.
'Yes, it is. That scene was not there."
It may indeed have been a bad idea to charge in at rice time.
But it's me and Cortina. What does it matter if I have food in my mouth now?
And yet, if he refused, it means he still didn't have a pulse.
I was in a quandary, and Gadolus held out a piece of paper to me.
'Huh, totally ......, here, take this job too.'
'I'm not really in the mood for work, am I?'
Having said that, I look through the paper.
There was a request to visit an orphanage written on it.
'An orphanage visit?'
'It was originally a job I was going to put out for beginners.'
That's not really our job as adventurers, is it?"
'That's not quite so. There are not enough officials in this country. And the number of orphanages is inversely high."
Evil dragon scars, eh?
'Yes. The orphanages are filled with the children of soldiers who were drafted into the army to defeat them. There are more of them than the officials can manage.
A coalition army of the three northern countries was formed to defeat the evil dragon, and then failed miserably.
Defeat and retaliation. The death toll was unthinkably high and national power reached the point of exhaustion.
The country is finally rebuilt, but lacks the officials who should be managing it.
And the orphanages, too, cannot operate without aid money.
The purpose of this request is to visit these orphanages and check whether they are running normally.
'Go with Cortina to make up with her. It will be a nice change of pace to play with the kids."
''Oh, hey''?
"'Nah, she doesn't hate you either."
"'Is that so?"
I don't know if Gadrus's intentions are true, but it might not be ...... bad to work with her.
As for me, I don't want to be in an awkward atmosphere.
If we could go back to being like friends, there's nothing wrong with that.