.

The days went by relatively fast as Kazuya continued his daily routine without much disruption.

Though the princess would still sometimes show herself in the library, she would refrain from disturbing Kazuya from his studies. Alicia opted to observe him and slowly garner his attention through time. Since the hero would go to the library almost daily, she had a lot of time to try out various methods to catch his attention.

Kazuya didn't mind Alicia's actions as he would rather have her continue her farce silently rather than her previous attempt. He was more concerned about how old man Gazardy would often follow him around stealthily. It would take him a lot of time to make the old man give up and it caused him to be late in returning to the Eberbach house at times.

"(Looks like Jorelle is doing a pretty good job making the old man feel pressured.)" Kazuya laughed as he pa.s.sed by the guards that stood by the gates of the Eberbach residence.

Due to Jorelle's efforts, not only the slums of the western district, the other common districts were warned to make sure to be careful of the food they bought as well. Though the exact cause of the traces of dark energy hadn't been found, the church of light had sent many clerics to rid the citizens of any traces that might have come into contact with them.

When the old man confronted Kazuya about it, he said that he only hastened the procedure of ridding the rejected apprentice candidates. The old man's ident.i.ty was still safe while the church had been arrogant enough to not search the capital for any dark magic pract.i.tioners.

Not wanting Kazuya to know the extent of his plans, Gazardiel could only swallow the bitterness he felt. He claimed to have cared for the people's wellbeing, so he couldn't really complain when Kazuya and Jorelle worked together to expel the seeds that he planted over the years.

"You're late again!" Sodina tapped her foot impatiently as if she was waiting for Kazuya to enter the estate.

She had already gotten used to Kazuya's daily routine so she was a bit concerned as to why he suddenly started going back at inconsistent times. Even Julia had no idea as to why her master had started breaking his consistency. Unfortunately for her, when she showed concern by trying to join Kazuya as he stepped out, she was ordered to stay behind the residence instead.

With the rumors the king's faction spread that she had joined his party, there was no way that Julia could be seen walking around with him. Especially now that a paranoid necromancer had been secretly tailing him at random, one wrong move could prompt the old man to initiate his other contingency plans.

Kazuya did not want such an outcome after being able to catch a lucky break and figure out what the old man had been meticulously planning. He didn't care about what Julia thought about the matter as well, so the former royal guard could only give him a deathly glare as she complied with his orders.

"I was looking into a few matters and forgot the time." Kazuya didn't bother thinking up of a better excuse as he walked past her.

"Lies! I know what you have secretly been doing!" she looked at him with a hint of disdain.

"Hmm?" Kazuya halted his steps and was slightly intrigued. He had not felt any observers aside from the usual information gatherers and Gazardiel. "What have I been up to then?"

"Don't pretend. I visited the Blue house's manager to clear up some matters about the horse I took from you. He warned me to be careful because you have been witnessed by him and several people flirting around the capital!"

"Wha—!?" his mouth gaped as her response was something that he had not expected at all. Kazuya couldn't help but curse the manager in his mind as he picked the worst person to say such words to.

"Looks like you did not expect to be exposed!" she grinned at him with confidence.

"Look here, the women that guy was talking about were Acht and Neun who showed me around town when I first came here." he sighed. "The only reason I didn't refute his claim was because letting him or anyone else know who I am will only hinder me from going around this place as I see fit."

He didn't want to say anymore and he tried to walk away from the young miss who looked like she had not listened to a word he said. She followed him to the dining room as Zwei politely bowed towards them before signaling the servants to prepare their meals.

"Kazuysama, these have arrived for you today." the old butler handed him a few envelopes that had been sealed with various n.o.ble crests.

"Again?" Kazuya didn't even bother looking at them as he could already tell what they were.  

They were various invitations to banquets hosted by the different n.o.bles of the capital. With the hero's confirmation of accepting the burden that was forced upon him at his summoning, various n.o.bles have started making contact with him to get on his good graces. These n.o.bles have begun moving after Elrich's victory against the Keller family was confirmed.

At first, there were invitations by the n.o.bles who have yet to meet the hero as they were not present during his summoning. Kazuya had accepted a few of these invitations as he wanted to know the stances of the n.o.bles that he had not been familiar with.

Soon, these invitations turned into tea parties, birthday celebration invitations, and the like. The n.o.bles used various different excuses to get the chance to get close enough to build a connection with the hero.

"Aren't you going to answer their invitations? There are various n.o.ble ladies there that someone like you should enjoy meeting." Sodina sarcastically said from the other side of the table.

"You…" Kazuya's eyebrows twitched as he knew that Sodina was enjoying this.

This had been the first time that she had the upper hand against Kazuya so why wouldn't she take advantage of it. He did not hold back whenever he lectured her so Sodina wanted to do this for as long as she could.

"What response should I give to the senders?" Zwei cut into the conversation before Kazuya's frustration build up any further.

Though the veteran butler understood why their young miss had been doing this, Now was not the time to make the young hero have repulsive feelings towards the Eberbach house. Many other houses have been desperately vying for his favor so they should show the superiority of their house in supporting his cause.

"Reject all of them. Tell them that I have no intention of making a debut before I have some skills to show for it." Kazuya said without hesitation.

"I will make sure to relay your intentions properly." Zwei bowed and hid the smile on his face. He truly could not help but admire this young man.

He did not seek fame or glory. Though he had a rough personality, the young man understood the weight he needed to carry and focused on the things that needed to be done instead of taking advantage of his current status. Even Zwei himself was not confident that the younger version of himself would be able to resist such temptations.

Of course, he was not all praises for this young hero. The fact that he clearly did not trust anyone was clear for everyone to see. In his opinion, if it were not for Kazuya's status as a hero, he would have long been taken down by the pride that made him refuse to compromise with even the slightest things.

"Hmph! At least you are aware of your own shortcomings." Sodina scoffed.

"Yeah… It's a lot better than being made aware of it after finding out that those shortcomings would have led to the destruction of every privilege that you have taken advantage of." Kazuya replied with a disdainful look.

Sodina clenched her fists as she remembered how she had been embarra.s.sed by him. She held back her temper as she knew that this was one of the things he would comment on.

"Womanizer! Philanderer! Hedonist! Pervert!"

"Are those the words that should be coming out of the mouth of an unmarried young lady?" Kazuya grinned whilst thinking that this young miss really had a sharp tongue.

"Those are the exact kind of people that this young miss should avoid." She replied confidently.

"Really? I heard there had not been a single marriage proposal towards you. I bet the people who are talking about the rumors are happy that there is finally someone who might be paired up to such an uncouth brat." Kazuya mocked.

"Brat!?"

"What twin beauties of the Zweifel kingdom? All of those who admire you and that stupid princess are people who have not met you both. The only advantage that you have over the princess is your personality and the only advantage Alicia has over you is having looks that go well with her acting skills." He continued.

Zwei and the servants who were standing by couldn't help but sigh at the current situation. Sodina was not aware of what Kazuya had been doing in the capital but they were. They may have not specifically sent people to observe him but the various establishments that secretly belonged to the Eberbach family at the capital had paid attention to the hero's activities.

They might have not have had people inside the church, but it was easy to connect Kazuya to the current investigation about the contaminated food being sold around in the commoners' district. The young hero may not have shown it, but he was very concerned about the wellbeing of the people that he had discovered to have suffered.

Zwei had regretted not informing Sodina about what the hero had been up to sooner. Now she had set herself up to be the person that Kazuya had released his built-up stress on. Their young miss had no way of knowing that she had been digging her own grave.

Things would have been much simpler if the young hero was like a normal boy his age who could have been tempted by Sodina's beauty. Even though it would have been impossible because of Elrich, it was still a big advantage for the family if Kazuya had been attracted to the family's young miss.

From what Zwei had heard from Elrich, the only female that Kazuya had even shown the slightest interest in was when he first encountered Alicia. Everyone had thought that he had been mesmerized by her beauty when he first arrived but it ended up with Alicia now sitting in a magic wheelchair and going through physical therapy.

"You… could it be that you like… guys?" Sodina involuntarily moved back as she made such an a.s.sumption that spurned Kazuya's temper even more.

"(Is this girl a fujos.h.i.+?)" the veins on his forehead throbbed as he wondered what could have this girl been thinking to have come to such an absurd conclusion.

"Are you that conceited that me not being attracted to a brat like you can only come up with that conclusion? Listen here, you and that hypocritical princess are just not enough to catch my attention." Kazuya shook his head. "If you had a more mature elder sister, I would have been interested to meet her. Especially if unlike you, she speaks more with action and not words." He scoffed.

Sodina and Zwei couldn't help but look at each other after hearing those words. Sodina was indeed the only daughter of Elrich Eberbach but, unlike the hero who was not familiar with their house, there was indeed someone who was seen as somewhat of an elder sister to the young miss.

"So, if I had an elder sister, you would have rather met her than myself, you say?" the temper Sodina had been holding back had all but dispersed almost instantly.

"What are you suddenly so smug about?" Kazuya's eyes narrowed as he looked at Sodina.

"Albeit unofficially, I have one. An elder sister that is very much different from me." Sodina smiled. "You said that you would be interested in meeting her so I a.s.sume that I can hold you to those words?"

"Zwei-san, is this true?"

"Yes. There is indeed such a person." Zwei confirmed.

"Not only is she different from me, but she is also much stronger than me who keeps beating you in our daily exercises." Sodina couldn't help but grin after imagining what would happen if she tattled on how she was bullied by the hero towards the elder sister who was very overprotective of her.

"I will not take back my words. If she is indeed unlike you as you claim, then I would be more than welcome to befriend such a person."

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