“By the way...” Maqi suddenly leaned her head close to Ogre's ear. “Does Sister Gelin have anyone she likes?”
“Huh?”
The warm breath blowing against his ear almost triggered a reflex in the daydreaming Ogre. Had he not controlled himself in time, he would have instinctively delivered an elbow strike.
After consuming the Electric Eel, Ogre's constitution had become significantly more sensitive.
The benefit was that his battle instincts had improved considerably; even against extremely nimble and rapid weapons, Ogre could easily sense the wind pressure before they struck.
The downside was that his pain and reflex responses had also increased drastically.
Fortunately, these negative effects could be mitigated through training.
“Hahaha, you're blushing. You must have a sweetheart, don't you?”
Seeing Ogre flinch, Mima mistook it for a young girl's shyness.
How could she have known that Ogre had nearly punched her daughter in the head just now? With Ogre's current strength, while killing a Knight Apprentice with a single punch might be a bit difficult, knocking her out cold would have been effortless.
“Don't be shy,” Maqi teased with a light laugh as she toyed with Ogre's re-braided hair. “Sister Gelin is so beautiful, I'm sure you have plenty of suitors.”
At first, Maqi hadn't quite understood what kind of girl could make a Knight risk life and limb to cover her escape.
Until she saw Ogre's true face.
“No...” Ogre shook his head.
He didn't understand why the topic had shifted back to him again.
Seeing that Ogre didn't look particularly dejected, Mima also breathed a sigh of relief. She had worried that Gelin's sweetheart might be that escort Knight whose fate remained unknown.
“Have you ever been in a relationship?” Aunt Mima chimed in.
“No...”
Ogre continued to shake his head like a rattle. What was there to talk about? Dating his own mana rabbits?
‘Women's topics are so boring...’ Ogre picked up the water cup that Aunt Mima had brought over earlier.
He was feeling a bit thirsty.
“Ah? You've never been in love?” Maqi recalled Ogre's request to make himself look plain.
Good grief, the difference between people could really be vast.
‘No experience? That's good news,’ Mima's eyes, lined with crow's feet, suddenly widened slightly.
Pure, innocent girls were the easiest to trick... cough, the easiest to get along with.
“What do you think of Macar?” Mima asked solicitously.
“Pfft!”
Ogre froze mid-sip and spat the water right out.
What kind of ridiculous question was that? How long had he even been here, and they were already playing matchmaker?
“Mom, what are you talking about?”
Maqi, on the other hand, looked down a bit on her cousin—or rather, she disliked this kind of arranged matchmaking.
She really wanted the girl before her to stay, but she felt her cousin wasn't a match for this angelic girl, and she didn't want to strain their relationship.
“I'm not joking... Even though Little Car is usually a bit clumsy, he's actually very reliable. An official Knight at twenty-nine, he has a bright future...” Although Mima had shut the door on Macar three times, she only did so because of their close relationship. In Mima's heart, her nephew Macar was no different from a son. After all, he was the only male left in the family.
“Mom! Who introduces someone a partner the very first time they meet...” Maqi was educated and had seen the world; her way of thinking had already diverged from her mother's.
“I...”
Ogre was completely dumbfounded. He realized he had vastly underestimated the frontier people's obsession with offspring and their sheer bluntness.
Great. So they had been so warm and welcoming from the very start just to help that silly Knight woo him...
“Still... young...” This time, Ogre truly had a speech impediment.
He really felt that his perfectly fine plan was starting to spin out of control...
Just then, a window nearby was pulled open.
And the one opening the window was none other than Macar.
“Uh, what a coincidence.”
Macar hadn't expected anyone to still be in the lounge at this hour, much less everyone...
Dawn above, he really hadn't intended to peep.
He had merely been curious about how Lady Gelin and Aunt Mima were getting along after all this time.
So after pondering for a long while, Macar had thought of opening a window to hear what was going on...
“I was just checking if the window was sealed tight...” Macar trotted out his pre-prepared excuse.
Using the pretext of checking window security as a cover—after all, this was technically his home too.
Just as Macar was about to close the window and slip away, he saw a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.
“La... Lady Gelin?!”
Rate on N.U.
