Chapter 45: Cake, Hunt, and Confusion

“Ah, so you’re the El that Anne was talking about.”

At an outdoor table, Anne, her mother, and I took our seats. The person who appeared to be her bodyguard stood behind Emma Klain, Anne’s mother.

Naturally, I had my head lowered as if I were about to bury my face in the table.

“Yes. That’s right. I’m so sorry.”

“No, no. There’s no need to apologize. It’s not a big deal. When I was younger, I used to give people a hard time when they said that, but now that I’m an older woman, I actually find it amusing.”

Emma said that and then picked up her fork, cutting a small piece of the chocolate mud cake in front of her, the same one I had ordered, and put it in her mouth.

In fact, in front of each of us, there was chocolate cake, and in front of Anne was the same chocolate cake. By the way, all of our drinks were the same—double chocolate shakes. Chocolate here, chocolate there, I was going a bit crazy with all the chocolate.

…Usually, when ordering together at a cafe, people tend to avoid ordering the same thing, but I guess it was my fault for ordering according to Anne’s recommendation.

When Anne recommends something, it means she likes it too. Anne doesn’t care much and confidently orders what she enjoys.

“Hm? Really, I’m not paying much attention, so feel free to relax. You two probably have a lot to talk about, so chat away.”

“Heh, heh…”

Even though she said that, as the person who had committed the slight against a friend’s mother, I couldn’t help but be aware of the situation.

Whether Emma was teasing me or not, she spoke up again.

“Oh, is it uncomfortable having this little old lady next to you? I’m sorry. I’ll get up and leave if that’s the case…”

“No! That’s not it! Really, it’s not!”

I stopped Emma from standing up, who was about to rise from her seat, and took a sip of my chocolate shake through the straw. The thick chocolate shake filled my mouth, but strangely, I couldn’t taste the sweetness…

Emma seemed amused by my reaction, smiling as she took a sip of her own shake.

Seeing that, I could understand how Anne’s personality might have formed. If Anne grew up a little more and became a bit more playful, she’d probably turn out like that.

I turned my head slightly and noticed that Anne was busy eating her cake and shake.

She had a very happy expression on her face. She wasn’t at all concerned about me being in an awkward situation.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but cut a corner of Anne’s cake with my fork and eat it instead of my own.

I wasn’t sure if it was because of the situation or because I was adding sweetness on top of sweetness, but it tasted a bit bitter.

“Ahh! El!”

Seeing her face when I took her favorite cake right in front of her, Anne looked like a child who had lost their country, and it somehow made me feel a little better.

“Tch!”

But Anne, as if she had forgotten what I did, grabbed her fork and cut a big chunk from my cake, bringing it to her mouth.

It looked like she took at least twice as much as I had stolen, but I wasn’t about to stop her.

Seeing Anne’s happy face again made me chuckle.

“It’s nice to see. Watching you two reminds me of an old friend of mine. These days, she keeps complaining about getting more wrinkles and doesn’t meet up much anymore…”

Although it was hard for me to empathize, I could still understand the sentiment.

“I wanted to meet some of your other friends, but it’s a pity. Oh, Dylan? Can you order about four chocolate cakes for takeout?”

At Emma’s words, the man standing behind her answered and went inside the shop.

However, just before entering, he was stopped by Anne, who asked him to get two more, which was a small detail.

I wasn’t sure if there were enough people at the mansion to eat four chocolate cakes, or if Emma was buying them all for herself, but I didn’t ask.

“Post-battle nutrition is important, you know.”

But perhaps my curiosity showed on my face, because Emma answered without me even asking.

It’s clear that Emma and Anne are indeed mother and daughter. Anne’s obsession with sweets must come from Emma, as they share this trait.

“So, Miss Elysia? You say you can handle a sword a bit?”

“…I was wrong. Please stop teasing me.”

I must have looked ridiculous. My face was probably as red as Anne’s hair right now.

“No, I’m asking seriously. Of course, I’ve heard this from Anne already, but I want to hear it directly from you.”

“…It’s hard to show here, but I guess I could say I’m able to deal with top-tier monsters.”

It was an easy thing to say, but top-tier monsters were called that for a reason.

Even seasoned knights struggle with them, so for an academy student to say that was quite unusual.

But what can I do? It’s true, after all. There are even monsters worse than me, like Celian Deretia.

“That’s impressive. So, Miss Elysia, are you planning to join the hunt tomorrow?”

“Mom?”

“Anne, today we had no choice but to take Ian with us since Miss Elysia was coming, but you’re definitely joining tomorrow.”

So that’s why Ian wasn’t at the mansion.

“The hunt isn’t anything too grand. Occasionally, some creatures from the Forbidden Forest crawl out and come down near the city. So we regularly go on hunts, and it just happens to be around this time.”

Emma finished off her shake with a loud slurp and spoke again.

“Of course, we’re not short-handed, but I’m curious about how the younger generation is doing. Plus, you’re Anne’s friend.”

“Since Anne isn’t here, I have no reason to stay at the mansion by myself. I’ll join, please count on me.”

“I’m grateful.”

Just then, Dylan, who had gone to pack the cakes, came over to the table with a box in hand.

“Shall we get up now?”

By the time I looked around, the plates where the cakes had been and the cups for the shakes were all empty.

For me, finishing off the shake already felt like an overload of sugar, but Emma and Anne had polished off every bit of the cake.

Since I hadn’t touched my cake, they naturally used their forks to eat off my plate as well.

I didn’t mind, since I’d already given up on eating the cake after experiencing the combination of the shake and cake in my mouth.

I was just thankful they solved the problem for me.

Dylan, having to carry an enormous greatsword with both hands, didn’t have space for the cake, so naturally, Anne and I took over that task.

On the way back to the mansion, Anne and Emma were walking ahead, chatting. As I followed a few steps behind, I couldn’t help but notice how much they looked like sisters, not mother and daughter.

They were both short, but thankfully, Emma was just a little bit taller, so Anne still looked like the younger sibling.

While I was thinking this, Anne and Emma stopped talking and suddenly turned their heads toward me. Their gazes locked on me at the same time.

“Miss Elysia? You’re not thinking something rude, are you?”

At least Emma asked, but Anne was already glaring at me with a look of suspicion, as if she was certain of something.

Do they really need to be alike in this way too…?

“Hey.”

When we returned to the mansion, Ian greeted us. I met Ian’s handshake with a light shake of my own.

“It’s kind of strange seeing you outside. I’ve only ever seen you at the academy.”

“I’ll be staying for a while.”

Meanwhile, Alec had come out to greet Emma. He walked over to her, and they started chatting about various things.

“I packed this for you. Let’s have it together later.”

“Alright. You must have had a hard time with the hunt, so go ahead and rest. I’ll bring the cake later.”

Emma took the cake from Anne’s hand and handed it to Alec. Alec, clearly familiar with the situation, took the cake and passed it to another servant while greeting Emma.

By the way, when I saw Alec and Emma earlier, I didn’t notice it, but now that they’re standing side by side, the difference in their builds is very obvious.

“When it’s time for dinner, I’ll send someone up, so Miss Elysia should go up with Anne…”

Alec was about to turn toward us and speak, but when our eyes met, he stopped talking. Maybe the things he wanted to say were already written all over my face, as Alec gave a wry smile.

I knew it was rude, so I quickly hid my expression, but thankfully, Alec didn’t make a fuss and instead explained.

“I know what Miss Elysia is thinking, and I know it sounds like an excuse, but it wasn’t me, it was my wife… Ugh!”

“Haha. Miss Elysia? Well then, I’ll go ahead. Have fun, and I’ll see you at dinner later.”

Emma tugged Alec toward the mansion. The sight of her small hand pulling the large Alec along was so strange that it was hard to describe.

I could have sworn I saw Emma step on Alec’s foot just now, but it must have been an illusion.

However, even as they went inside, I could still hear their conversation from here.

“No, it’s true that you were the one who initiated it…”

“Has this guy lost his mind? Talking like that in front of the kids…”

It must have been a misunderstanding.

“My father and mother were childhood friends. Well, my father was from a commoner background, but thanks to my mother’s persistence, there was no trouble when he came into the family as a son-in-law.”

I don’t think you need to explain that, Ian.