A group close to the city on the border of the kingdom. At first glance they look like pedestrians, travellers and adventurers, not going to the gate where guards set up on the outer walls were deployed, but detouring and proceeding through the woods.
The outer walls of the peripheral city are partly interrupted by the forest. This is not to say that construction rather than logging is not possible due to lack of budget, but there was a good reason.
Most of the trees that make up the forest are a type of ecology that has roots not only in the soil, but also in rocks and houses, and even if an outer wall is built, the roots stretched from the ground tighten up the stone and instantly deteriorate. Though the logging plan has also been lifted, it will be revived even if very few roots remain, so vital that it will eventually become a tree. Complete eradication will require such natural destruction that it completely withers the soil.
That said, it's not all about harm. This tree is made of plants that emit the smell that demons don't like anyway, because it is a natural jetty against demons. It can also be said that many animals and others live there because of it.
Then, when the roots and branches were stretched, a great deal of pruning was done once a year, and it was decided to use it as a replacement for the outer wall. At the time of the city's development, it must have been significant that the exterior walls had been used as a replacement for the exterior walls before the exterior walls could be built in the plains where the demons spread.
The children of the city recognize it as a strange forest where demons do not come, although they are supposed to pass outside, and now use it as a natural playground. I knew there was a place like that, they go through the woods dressed as ordinary people.
"... arrive at the back of the inn where the intended person seems to live"
"……… As we know, it seems to be open at this time"
Men peeking into one of the rooms on the ground floor with such disturbing things to say. That number, three. Anyway, if you just want to see it at first glance, give me this far and I won't be suspicious.
"…… sounds like a rather troublesome opponent in the data"
"... irrelevant. Everything………………"
I felt an arrow tip trying to keep moving, signs of someone approaching me. As the men instantly dived into the shade of the woods and watched what was going on, a middle-aged woman with the right width appeared with one hand.
'The branches have grown again this year. I need to tell her it's time to prune.'
After looking at the length of the branches of the forest trees and squirming so, the damsel sweeps the fallen leaves together with the one she had.
'... putting out witnesses unnecessarily is a bad idea. We'll take a detour and move on.'
"Wait."
One of the others calls to a halt the two men who tried to enter the city as they proceeded and bypassed the woods without sound.
'... if the information is correct, that woman should be in a close relationship with the target. If that happens, it's well worth the use'
As the incandescent athletic event gradually digested the program and both the Red and White groups engaged in a one-off dot match, it was finally time for lunch, and Shirley removed her lunch box from the Toolbox of the Brave in a truly rare and guttering manner.
"Go ahead…… you've been really tired in the morning"
"Ma, so is Mama."
"Mm-hmm. Really tired"
I don't have any usual hegemony for Shirley, who has been mentally worn out just because his outfit fits are just right after a battle (though athletic competitions) that would exhaust his death force with Canary. The figure, however, is like a single parent just before a nap, who is forced to push through work fatigue and participate in school events.
"… well, there was really a lot going on after that"
There was more to it than... Should I say that my strength came to a bottom by participating in the father and brother competition only once after the borrowing race?
"You know, where your mother's dancing, what do you care? It's the first time I've seen it."
"And if you did just one, it would have been a prominent, beautiful dance! Everyone praised you, Mom!
"Ahhhhhh......!
A war show in front of the public as it is now dressed. Besides, I don't know which country it belongs to...... Canary says it's the choreography of his late husband's hometown, and when he did it, his spirit was showing off more than his flesh, with his feathers showing off a dance with a lot of motion to lift his legs and jump.
"That wasn't an exceptionally scoring competition... what's so sad about that..."
"Mmm. Cheer up."
I feel like digging a hole and going in. Of course, there were many adventurers (colleagues) who came to her like that, but since there was no one left to do so and she was stranded and piled up, it might still be better if they just couldn't put any extra stress on her.
"As, well. You must be more tired and hungry than that. Would you like to join us?
It was such a rough and rough Shirley, but Kyle and his daughters in addition to the boulders could not be forgiven until they moved backwards to expose themselves to weakness at all times. He sighs deeply, then regains his mind, and in the form of being sandwiched by Sophie and Tio, sits surrounded by face-to-face lunches such as Cood on Kyle, Chelsea on Leia and Riesha on Mira.
Starting with a sandwich that Shirley had brought into her basket, she enjoyed a lively place to eat while exchanging meals with each other, lined with lunches of content that she assumed would be eaten by a large number of other people.
"………………… with the exception of some adventurers"
"You don't have to be in work mode on a day like this."
Adventurers who are genuinely coming to pick up prizes, who can't help but gather information about the next competition and elect members while devouring battlefield portable food behind them. Because some children are frightened, I want them to stop.
"Well, I don't like it that way."
At the end of Cood and Leia's gaze is the figure of a canary who deliberately brings a steak baked by calling even the cook to his mouth with a knife and fork while sitting in front of a table with parasols. The girl who seems to be inside me is at the same table, but she seems uncomfortable somewhere. Canary's gaze immersed in the superiority he occasionally turns to this one makes me sincerely angry.
"Tio, you have sauce on your cheeks."
"Hmm...... this way?
"No, the other way around. Look, don't move."
Sophie sighs at him all the time as he controls Tio trying to wipe around his mouth with the back of his hand and wipes with a handkerchief that Shirley removed from the Toolbox of the Brave.
"Tio already. You forgot your handkerchief again, didn't you? The way you eat is rampant, and you have to be careful with that kind of appetite, don't you? We're ten years old, too."
"If they say that, we don't have our standing... we're just kids and it's good"
"And Sophie's got it around her mouth."
"Huh!? Shh!?"
"You're wiping the other way too, see"
Mira groans as she watches Shirley gently wipe around Sophie's mouth, which she shyly dyes her cheeks lightly, just like she did to Tio.
"You're a good mother and daughter whenever you look at them, those three."
"Right. Our parents are too busy at work to be able to participate in events or anything, but Mr. Shirley is definitely going to participate."
"Uh, I know that. Even when I was in Atashi, your mother and father didn't come to work."
"Huh? Oh, yeah? My mom comes here all the time, but everyone else is different or something?
"Well, unless you're an adventurer, you have a certain day off and a certain day at work."
I guess there's a lot of adventurers out there who can arrange their own work appointments. It is certainly a difficult place to rest for school events at a normal job.
"Speaking of which, there are a lot of orphanage kids at school, but even priests and sisters can't come to support you just for one. Chelsea is the only sophomore in the orphanage at Chelsea."
For the record, there are multiple orphanages in this city, all with Canaries as investors, but the managers are different. Chelsea and Marco are separate institutions even for students of the same orphan.
"Oh no. Sister, look, I'm here on the backup main for my first-grade kid, and I feel like Brother Kyle is here for backup instead of not being able to come this way. My brother made this lunch too."
"Is that so?
"Heh, you do it. Chelsea's brother. It's delicious, this."
Kyle scratches the back of his head in the light of the attention, realizing that what Shirley is eating now is the dish he has made.
"Um… what do you say? I made that, too."
"It's very tasty. Kyle is a good cook, isn't he? I'm still halfway down the road, so I'm a little jealous."
"No, I'm just trying to help you get used to it! Plus the sandwich that Mr. Shirley made is very tasty too!!
Kyle desperately hides what he is happy about. For such a brother, Chelsea thins thinner threads.
"... Huh? What's that reaction? Until now, even if Atashi and her sisters praised her, she wouldn't turn that bright red and illuminate, would she?
"Heh!? No, that's not my fault..."
Chelsea uses her intuition to derive an answer to Kyle's poor lying, eye-swimming reaction, which is a young but feminine one.
"Oh! Maybe my brother asked me out on a date before, and the senior adventurer who took care of me and my older favorite woman, Sha-"
Before I say that name out, Kyle and Sophie, and Tio, all at once plug Chelsea's mouth so she can fly away.
"Shh! Shh!! You can't tell Mom about that!
"…… keep it a secret because it seems like a lot of trouble when I say it."
"Because if you say weird things and get Mr. Shirley in trouble, you really can't!?
I still want Sophie and Tio to be our own mother. Kyle in a mood I can't even say I mean it. He nodded cocklessly over and over again at the three who had something pressing to say, and Chelsea, finally freed, asked Kyle as he dwelt in some serious light in his eyes.
"But come on, brother. I'm telling you because I haven't been able to hide it from you for a long time, but given your brother's character, I can't tell you how long it's been like this, okay? Are you sure?"
"... no, it's fine, nothing. Still"
"Huh?"
I guess that was an unexpected word. Sophie and Tio with a slight eye opening. Because the words were heartfelt unexpected to them. Seeing those two, Kyle smiles in trouble just because he notices them.
"The most important thing for that guy right now is definitely you guys. I work so hard every day that I can't think of anything else, and I don't want that effort to force me into trouble. I want that guy to have the best days I can think of."
To be honest, they were a little impressed. He's only fifteen...... he's a freshly grown boy this year, and while he's at an age where he tends to prioritize his will, Kyle treats himself with the will of Shirley. Sophie and Tio looked terribly grown up with a boy who was only five years old away.
"Oh, um... what the hell is wrong with the three of you? I remember teaching you how to suddenly jump on someone during a meal...... HA!? No way, those two, it's a rebellion...! Wow, what the hell am I supposed to do......!?
"Uh, no, 'cause that's not what you're saying. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Okay, Mr. Shirley."
Leia forgives Shirley for being a werewolf imagining something terribly wrong. Mira and Riesha have an indescribable look on both of those, and Cood turns a blind eye as he looks in the direction of the day after tomorrow.
"Brother……… Could it be Mr. Shirley………………."
"Don't say it, sister. It didn't start now."
"Wow... are you serious? Chelsea's brother will definitely have a hard time finding out if he just sees it already..."
On this day, Shirley's skills in relationships between men and women were revealed to her daughter's friends that she was no older than a 10-year-old.