Grulf approached Nia and started to smell her.
“Sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff…”
Up until now, she had only been a girl who was passing by, so he had not been as interested.
Maybe Grulf had a polite side as well.
But now, since she was Shia’s younger sister, they would practically be family.
And so she would have to be subject to Grulf’s sniffing.
“Don’t smell my butt!”
“Sniff-sniff-sniff…”
“Grulf, that’s quite enough.”
So saying, I restrained Grulf.
And then I tuned to Nia.
“You have business with Miss Shia then?”
“Yes!”
“Well, you should come and wait inside.”
“Thank you!”
And so I entered the mansion with Nia and Grulf.
“Mister Locke, welcome back.”
“Cluck-cluck.”
“I’m back.”
Milka and Lord Gerberga came running towards us.
Lord Gerberga did not slow down and jumped into my arms.
“Lord Gerberga, thank you for welcoming us.”
“Cluck-cluck.”
Lord Gerberga stretched his neck over my shoulder.
I petted him gently.
Milka looked at Nia and tilted her head to the side.
“Where did she come from?”
“This is Nia, Shia’s younger sister. She came to meet Shia.”
“Ohh! Shia’s sister!”
“I’m Nia. Nice to meet you.”
Nia said with a bow.
Now that I think about it, I hadn’t seen Luchila yet.
“Where is Luchila?”
“He’s taking a bath.”
“A bath during the day? That’s unusual.”
Milka then lowered her voice.
“To be honest, Luchila hates taking baths.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He said that he hadn’t taken a single bath since leaving the village he was born in.”
“Is that right? I had no idea.”
I had seen him washing Lord Gerberga.
However, I had never seen him taking a bath himself.
“And so I said that he needed to take a bath.”
“It’s important to be clean.”
“Yes, yes. Well, I used to live in the sewer, so maybe it’s not for me to say!”
Milka said with a laugh.
After that, I led Nia to the drawing room and served her some tea and sweets.
Grulf lay down on the floor next to me. Lord Gerberga sat on my lap.
Nia wanted to hear about her sister, and so I told her.
And then I questioned her.
“Is your father well?”
“Yes. He will survive.”
That was a strange way of putting it.
Shia and Nia’s father was one of the chiefs of the beastkin tribes.
He was a great warrior that killed many of the Vampire Lord’s subordinates during a fight.
But he had received grave wounds and ultimately allowed the Lord to escape.
Shia had been chasing the Lord when we first met.
After that, Shia’s father had fought on the frontlines during the battle with the High Lord, in spite of being injured.
Because of this, he and Shia had been granted the rank of a knight.
“The last time I met him, he said that he was fine… Did something happen?”
“No, as I said, he will survive. Still, the doctors say that he must rest and avoid any fighting for a long time.”
“I see. Yes, it is not good to push yourself too hard.”
“He is rehabilitating now. The doctors say that it will take a year at least before he is able to fight like he used to.”
“One year. But maybe that is quite fast, considering he was hurt during that fight.”
“Yes. I think so too. He could have died.”
As we talked like this, Gerberga suddenly stood up.
“Lord Gerberga. What is it?”
“Cluck-cluck!”
Gerberga clucked loudly.
Just then, Luchila’s face poked into the room.
“Oh, there you are, Lord Gerberga.”
“Cluck.”
Lord Gerberga clucked with satisfaction before sitting down on my lap again.
Luchila petted him.
“You took a bath? You do seem cleaner now.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Luchila’s horns were shinier than usual.
“I won’t say you have to do it every day, but baths should be taken regularly.”
“…Understood.”
Luchila said with a troubled expression.
Did he hate taking baths so much?
Milka laughed and said,
“Luchila. You hate bathing so much. But why? I think it feels great.”
“I don’t hate it…”
“It’s filthy not to!”
Milka pressed. Luchila looked a little frantic.
He wanted to change the subject as he turned his eyes to Nia.
“Mister Locke. Who is that?”
“Shia’s sister. Nia.”
“I’m Nia! My sister is greatly in your debt!”
“I’m Luchila. And no, your sister has helped us greatly.”
After that, the conversation continued pleasantly.
Time passed, and when it was near evening, Milka left to make dinner.
And some time after that, Grulf stood up.
“Grr.”
“What is it, Grulf?”
Grulf’s tail was wagging.
“Ah.”
Nia stood up as well. Her tail was wagging also.
Just then, a voice rang from the front door.
“I’m back!”
Shia had returned.