Chapter 25: “Huh? What’s that? I don’t know, it’s scary…”

“O-oi! Are you okay?”

Seeing me exclaim weakly at the slight pain, Thadeus-kun approached me, looking nervous and worried, bending down a little to pick up the garbage bag that fell at my feet and smiling at me awkwardly, somewhat amused as he looked at me.

In response to those bright blue eyes looking at me with slightly exaggerated concern, I could only stammer in embarrassment, remembering what had happened in his room.

“Y-yeah…I'm fine…um…”

What's up...? Is it because... uh... I've seen it before...?

Noticing my clearly suspicious behavior, Thadeus-kun quickly came to the conclusion that it was because he found out he saw my butt earlier, and immediately looked guilty and embarrassed.

He was a good boy….

“No, that’s not all!”

No? And what else?

"Uh..." She blinked in disbelief, realizing she'd said too much with just those words and decided to change the subject, blushing. "W-why are you looking for me?"

—Ah, well... I wanted to apologize for... you know, for what I saw earlier... well... and for foolishly taking your family heraldry without considering the consequences... —she whispered, blushing softly near me, with a grimace of discomfort and her gaze lowered with guilt.

Huh? I understand you saw me... uh, there... But why are you apologizing for the heraldry?

I really didn't understand. What was the problem?

In comparison, the idea of him looking at my buttocks with those beautiful eyes is… more embarrassing and exciting…♥

Seeing me tilt my head in confusion and blush at such strange thoughts, Thadeus-kun scratched his head and smiled bitterly. "It's just that I just learned that people and their families can be executed just for leading such things if you're not a noble and... it would be very troublesome if that hurt Maru's heart."

"Watch!?"

"I exclaimed, completely shocked. Any thoughts that might have caused butterflies in my stomach disappeared instantly, and my back jerked at the implications.

Execution... For bearing the heraldry of a nobility!

I had no idea! Was there such an extreme punishment in this world for something like that?

I felt nervous at this surprising detail, but I quickly realized why I didn't know, almost instinctively.

Thanks to the invasion of demons and other dark forces guided by the Calamity Dragon, many human and non-human nations fell into chaos, and surprisingly, the two most powerful nations in this world were hit the hardest, with their social systems almost collapsing completely.

It was a situation where almost no one cared what was being transported unless it was absolutely essential for survival, as it was almost an apocalypse for Humanity.

Naturally, it wasn't something that was going to be mentioned in the hero Thadeus's journeys to save the world because he wasn't a nobleman nor did his companions have much of a relationship with them... in fact, there weren't any noble heroines in his harem at all.

I hadn't given it much thought at the time, but now I wonder why... anyway, it seems that such punishments were common before the great war that would break out about 10 years in the future.

To think that using that could have caused the deaths of Thadeus and his father...

"I might also accidentally reveal the identity of Maru and his family, like an idiot, and cause them trouble..."

"Ah"

Of course, that would be a serious problem.

The Kingdom of Starganus is essentially an island country connected to the mainland by a rocky path that gradually became a passable bridge between the two. In terms of size, it was comparable to Japan, the island nation where the game was created.

But its influence and power, thanks to its natural resources, its unique magical technology and its order of sky knights, make it far superior to medieval Japan, almost equal to the giant known as the Western Empire of Arswerdia.

Therefore, having nobles from a nation with similar power living in their lands incognito could be very frowned upon... or perhaps even the more reckless might try to use us to get something from the Grand Duchy of Aragon.

Honestly, it wasn't something I wanted to find out.

But leaving aside how the local nobility would respond to the hidden presence of the Imperial Grand Duke's family in the Kingdom, there were also the hidden demonic cults that hated Aragon to the core.

If those people knew our location just from our heraldry... I took a deep breath... My family and I would face terrible consequences!

Thank goodness Thadeus-kun noticed the problem before it was too late and brought it back to me! Now that damn thing is hidden back in the drawer it was taken from, and everything should be fine.

…Wait a minute.

“Thadeus-kun, you said you just discovered this extreme punishment, right?” I asked with a suspicious expression.

“Th-that….”

Thadeus hesitated, his expression guilty, and I immediately became aware of a sinister feeling.

—... Someone just told you that, right? And that person knows about heraldry, right?

My suspicions were confirmed when I saw Thadeus-kun open his mouth as if to say some kind of excuse, only to hesitate at the last second and finally confirm what I already assumed with a hesitant nod and a "Yes..."

How did this happen? Who is it?

I took a moment to calm myself before asking those two crucial questions, pushing aside the slight panic that threatened to invade my heart. If the other party warned Thadeus-kun about such things, surely he's not a bad person, right?

That's what I want to believe it is.

—Well... Maru... —Thadeus hesitated for a moment and asked me—: Do you remember... ahem... the infamous village gunsmith? You know, that weird, cynical, drunken red-haired guy who sells Ramiro-oji-san's weapons to adventurers.

“The half-elf!?”

I exclaimed almost out loud, surprised. That guy lived here in this town?

Wasn't he just an ordinary merchant who visited various villages to sell potions of astonishing quality? He was a weaponsmith in this village, huh?

Red-haired, drunk, cynical and weird... Was there another character like that?

Thadeus blinked, surprised by my words. "You already knew I was a half-elf? I just found out today!"

Oh no, I screwed up...

“Let’s talk about it after you throw that away!”

"Huh!? Oh, yeah!" Thadeus-kun obeyed without thinking, nodding in a daze at my sudden change of subject as he carried the bag I pointed at him and walked towards the nearby wooden container where the wooden fence surrounding the village was.

He seemed to have no problem obeying out of guilt, or simply because he didn't care, I don't know. For my part, I thought I should find an excuse to explain my meta-knowledge of that cynical half-elf.

I can't say I learned it by spying on him or anything, right?

As if to quickly resolve this matter at hand, Thadeus-kun opened the wooden lid of the trash bin and immediately wrinkled his face in disgust.

A foul smell of human waste immediately emanated from the interior along with the decomposition of relatively old food that had yet to be removed and processed by the garbage collectors, overwhelming him before he could even stand on his toes to throw the thing away.

I too wrinkled my nose tenderly at the unpleasant smell, delicately covering my nostrils as I instinctively took a step back, looking somewhat amused at my “helper’s” distorted expression.

Then Thadeus suddenly looked inside the container and paled slightly. "What... what dead animal is this?" he exclaimed instantly, slightly horrified by what he saw.

I blinked, surprised.

I couldn't help but be curious about what I was seeing, despite my own aversion, and I leaned closer to look, my nose tightly covered...

"Huh? What's that? I don't know, it's scary..."

I also exclaimed, equally horrified, when I saw the corpse of a strange animal inside the container.