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Chapter 432: No News

「 Hauron ~ should I place some pill bugs here? 」
I stopped by the rental house before going back to my『 House 』. Hauron was in the living room, so I called out to him.

「 Bfft! Why the heck would you do that!?」
Hauron accidentally sprayed the wine he was sipping, so he wiped it off the table in a fluster while yelling.

「 Don’t you think it’d be good for safety if I put 2-3 bugs in places you usually go to? 」

By the way, when I first introduced them to Shiva, she smiled at me frostily and ー
「Don’t let them come within a ten- meters radius near me, okay? 」 ー she threate… I mean requested.

Women start hating bugs when they reach a certain age, it seems. Tina might be okay playing with bugs with her siblings as of now, but she’ll probably hate them too one day.

「 No way it’s okay!! Those pill bugs are monsters!! They can threaten safety!! 」
「 Please do not fret, these pill bugs are safe. What do you think of putting them on the stairs? 」
I coaxed him with a grin.

If we get ambushed by the enemy on the stairs, we’ll have to either fight back and try to retake the stairs or jump out of a window to get down. Still, I think the stairs are a good spot to deploy the pill bugs, especially since they’re the only way to get to the private rooms on the upper floors.

「 This place doesn’t have creditors suddenly barging in and attacking us, right!? What the heck are you talking about!? And you’re being polite again! 」
Hauron took his hookah out with an exasperated expression painted on his face.

「 But you never know, you might get attacked in the future… 」
Alright? I have to fix this polite speech of mine too.

「What sort of future are you rambling about, huh!? Sure, that might’ve been possible back when I was helping out countries or organizations in exchange for information, but only monsters or dark spirits hate me personally! If anything, it’s the pill bugs that loathe me! 」

Hauron, the so-called natural enemy of all rollie pollie-kind, firmly turned down my suggestion of releasing the bugs in the rental house.

「 The pill bugs say let bygones be bygones. 」
「 Stop trying to communicate with them like that, will you!」
Hauron glared at me with saucer eyes.

「 Sigh. If you really want to put some here then do it in Retze’s room. There’s a flowerpot that’s perfect for them to sleep in. 」
Hauron commented resignedly after a while.

「…..」

Yeah, the flowerpot’s bottom does suit pill bugs. Ahh, but I can only envision my cheeks being pinched to death…!!

「 Okay, okay, if you can’t do that in Retze’s room then just forget about it. So, what happened, why so restless? 」
Hamon took a deep puff from the hookah and blew it all out.

A few pieces of herbs floated in the water inside the glass chamber. It seems like Hauron’s hookah allows you to inhale whatever flavor you like, and it works by adding the herbs to the round glass part.

「 Well, it’s just that I heard that Shrum is looking for folks with【Storage】, so … 」
「 Shrum doesn’t know anything about En yet, and like I said before, the country that has that information is too busy dealing with its own internal conflicts, so he’s safe. Besides, it isn’t even an ally of Shrum — Anyway, what did you do before coming here? 」
Hauron tapped the end of his smoking pipe once and asked.

「 Uh, today I —」
I told Hauron how I went around the town with the kids and also how I set up the spirit security system. And about the pill bugs, too!

「 Wait a sec… What magical city are you talking about!」
Hauron clutched his head.

「 Ehhh.」
「 Don’t ‘Eh’ me! 」
He turned to me with great gusto and yelled.

「I think it turned out pretty natural. 」
「Things that seem normal on the outside can be even more of a pain! 」
「Sometimes ignorance is bliss, you know? 」
It only becomes troublesome for someone who tries to mess with it.

「They’re just gonna run away immediately if they’re alerted of danger! 」

Seems like Hauron isn’t a fan of the pill bug security system.

「Ugh, can’t help it then. Guess I’ll just give up…. Anyway, I wonder where Retze and the others are right now? 」

I scooped some water from the kettle by the fireplace and made myself a cup of coffee, taking a moment to relax. Usually, it’s Retze who brews the coffee here in the rental home. Butler makes black tea or herbal tea, and Dean or Chris usually handles the alcohol.

「The spirit attached to the young lady hasn’t said anything? 」
「Hmm, it did mention that there’s a high chance someone in the group can See or Sense it, so, nope, no regular updates this time. 」

Back when Ash returned to her kingdom, we used to communicate twice a day at set times in the morning and evening through the spirits’ gestures.

「Oh, then it’ll be a pain if that person found out about the bracelet. Besides, in this case the spirit will only communicate with you if something’s really wrong. Oh, what a bummer. 」
Hauron snickered.

「Well, no news is good news, as they say. 」
But it’s making me lonely.

I took a sip of my coffee.