Sevens

A little while after Lyle’s party had arrived in Beim.

As he returned from finishing a request, Lyle opened up his memo pad. Written on the paper were his comrades’ names and dates. And what he had done with them to that point.

Looking over it all, Lyle gave a satisfied nod.

“That should be enough. I think I can take it easy for the rest of the month.”

Written in were his activities with his party from Novem to May. Whether he gave a present or had a date, or a pleasant conversation… it was all scrawled in great detail and properly managed.

But the Fifth, who spoke less than any of the other ancestors, wrung out his voice.

『You idiot! Shannon’s extremely low, isn’t she!』

Lyle hurriedly checked his memos, and sure enough, his time spend with Shannon was low. But Lyle felt relieved.

“Oh, Shannon, is it? That’s alright. Because I’m quite sure that girl hates me.”

There, the Sixth let out a satisfied voice.

『That’s right. Well, she’s just tagging along with Miranda, so you’re not in that sort of relationship yet. Fifth, let’s just take it easy and…』

But a frantic Fifth superseded that opinion.

『You keep quiet, fool~! Just how many failures has that train of thought led you to… I followed through so many times for you! And if you’ll let me have my say… you’re all naïve! Listen here, none of you feel a sense of crisis!』

Cutting it there, the Fifth gasped for breath before explaining to Lyle.

『Listen well, those arbitrary thoughts like, ‘that should be enough’, and, ’yeah, that looks good’, don’t get through to women! Just how much careful caution did I take around the Sixth’s wives… this man draws nothing but landmine women to him.』

The Third raised a perplexed voice.

『Huh? But you know, all his wives passed the precepts, didn’t they?』

The one to answer that question was the Seventh. A hint of grief lingered in the Seventh’s voice.

『Yes, without a doubt, each one of them was talented on their own. If of the three, only one had married into the Walt House, I’m sure we wouldn’t have any problems at all. It’s because he took all three that we went through hell.』

The Sixth refuted the surrounding opinions.

『… Even I thought two was no good. But you see, if you have two, it becomes a competition and that’s nothing but trouble, so I went and got a third…』

I offered my frank response to his resolution.

“Are you sure you didn’t pour oil on the fire?”

The Fifth seemed irritated.

『And because of that, I went through my troubles. Because I paid too much mind for my son’s wives, I had to follow through for my own wives as well, and… anyways! Listen well, Lyle. Negligence alone should be avoided at all costs. Throw away all your assumptions! The ones surrounding you aren’t some weak damsels in distress. Imagine yourself surrounded by ravenous tigers and bears!』

Isn’t that going a bit too far?

Or so the other members thought, but when you thought over it, every gathered had a peculiarity or two. While they wouldn’t call them wild animals, they were definitely danger.

And Shannon held demon eyes that required special attention.

“Okay, understood. I’ll go out with Shannon. I’m sure she’ll be happy if we go see the food stalls and minstrels.”

As Lyle tried to play it safe, the Fifth yelled at him.

『Where do you think those simplistic thoughts will lead you!? You need some more careful caution or else..』

There, a knock came at the door. Not a worker of the inn, Lyle confirmed with his Skills that it was Monica before calling out a, ‘come in’.

As Monica entered, she saw that Lyle was preparing to leave.

“Oh, are you going out? I thought I’d hear out if you have any requests for lunch, but if that’s the case, are you eating out? Anyways, where will you be going? If you need a baggage carrier, please use this Monica as you will.”

Her appearance was that of a beautiful girl, but inside she was an automaton who could exhibit physical strength exceeding that of adults. She was convenient for carrying things, but as she looked like a woman, if Lyle actually used her to carry things, the surrounding eyes would grow cold.

Lyle continued his preparations.

“Yeah, I’m eating lunch out. I’m going out with Shannon, so could you stay at the inn?”

Monica took his words in terror.

“W-what’s this? You mean to say you won’t be going out with me!?”

Lyle smiled.

“That’s right. Good luck innsitting.”

As he left the room, Monica crouched and cowered and saw Lyle off.

“H-have a good day. Goddammit!! Chicken dickwad, you damn fool!”

After calling out to Shannon, Lyle went out to the town of Beim.

He headed to where the performers performed, and of them brought his feet to where the singers sang their songs. But Shannon was in a bad move.

While they walked with linked hands, Lyle looked at Shannon and spoke.

“What’s wrong? You like songs, don’t you?

Shannon was walking mindful of her chest, and she offered Lyle a complaint.

“Oh shut it. I’ve already been here recently, so I’ve already heard all the songs and tales they have to tell. Won’t you take me somewhere else!?”

(… T-this girl… ever since I took her out, she’s done nothing but complain.)

Irritated as he was, he understood it would be no fun to hear tales one’d heard before, and made for somewhere else.

“Do you go out often?”

Shannon brushed her hair aside as she answered Lyle’s question.

“I’ve got my sister, right? And Eva goes out a lot, so I sometimes tag along. Though Aria just goes around the food stalls.”

“Oh, so you get along well with Eva?”

Novem and Miranda, the two were at odds, so factions were forming among the harem members. Because of that, hearing of Shannon of Miranda’s faction going out with Eva was joyous news to Lyle.

“Novem told me to go out with someone. But our conversations don’t really mesh, and there’s everything that’s happening with my sister, so it’s like she wants to keep some distance too, perhaps?”

Hearing that, Lyle made a stiff smile.

“I-I see.”

(I wonder why they can’t get along.)

A factional war was being formed around Novem and Miranda. If possible, Lyle wanted to somehow have Shannon help both sides make up.

It seemed that a troupe that had arrived in Beim quite recently had begun singing the songs they gathered on their travels, so Lyle and Shannon headed there to listen in.

It was a troupe of elves, and while they were small in scale, they had an energy to them.

“The next song up is a song of the Hero of the distant land of Cartaffs! If anyone holds interest in such a tale, by all means plant your feet and listen in!”

As the male elf said that, it seems those around held no interest in Cartaffs, as the customers began to disperse. While some remained, the topic was surely not a popular one.

But without changing their expressions, the elves burst into song.

The song of Cartaff’s hero who once performed in an old war with Bahnseim.

The tale of the brave knight who fought to protect a young noble girl.

But at the end, the girl married a blood-relative of the lord she served under, and the knight watched the night sky alone.

It was a song without a happy ending.

(That was a bit questionable. Perhaps the customers left because they knew the ending?)

Lyle thought as he listened to the verses. But Shannon was gripping his hand tight, listening in all earnesty, and he didn’t want to put a damper on her mood, so he kept quiet. Bringing his gripped hand closer to her face, Shannon looked on in pure seriousness.

There, the Fourth seemed fed up as he offered advice to Lyle.

『Lyle, look at Shannon’s chest. Can you see the present you bought for her in Centralle? When this is over, praise her for it.』

The Third spoke to the Fourth.

『What, you said it already? You should’ve just waited until he noticed.』

The Fourth sighed as he spoke back.

『Lyle’s growth aside, I felt bad for Shannon.』

Hearing that, he noticed Shannon had the pendent he’d bought in Bahnseim’s capital of Centralle hung at her chest. It was something cheap, but she was looking after it quite carefully.

Once the song was over, and the applause broke out, Shannon gave a large clap of her hands. The customers tossed their coins forward. Lyle looked at Shannon’s delight, and produced a silver coin from his coin purse.

It seems she was quite pleased with that one.

“It’s a new songs! A nice one, I like it quite a bit.”

For Shannon’s delight, Lyle gave a warm smile as he placed the coin into the container an elf had brought forward. There, the elves frantically gave tidy bows.

Getting a large copper was for the fortunate. Looking at the stopped feet, the song hadn’t been popular.

But Lyle threw a silver coin in.

(Well, looks like Shannon’s happy, so I guess it’s fine.)

“We’ll come again.”

“Bye-bye!”

Leading Shannon by the hand, he left the area.

Once there were fewer people around, Lyle looked at Shannon.

“So you actually wore that necklace.”

There- a little surprised- Shannon spoke bashfully.

“O-of course I did. Aren’t you a little slow to notice?”

The two of them laughed as they walked off to find some place to eat. The Fifth seemed truly relieved.

『Now look at that. Look at that! … She’s already taken to him. That was dangerous. If we left her aside any longer, that would definitely have been dangerous!』

Perhaps the Fifth was drawing closer to the Sixth as the Sixth broke into hurried words.

『Y-you’re right. It was my mistake, so you don’t have to criticize me so.』

It seems the Fifth was harassing the Sixth in unexpected ways.

Fifth Generation Head (；´Д｀): “Following through for my son’s three wives was one of my greatest troubles.”

Sixth Generation’s Wives (　゜言゜): “You say something, father-in-law? More importantly… where could Fiennes be? And could you hear out our complaints?”

Sixth Generation Head (； ・`ω・´): “I’m sooorrryy!! Ah, by the way, they decided to do a second print run on Sevens Volume 1. Please forgive me by that grace!”

Fifth Generation Head (ヽ´ω`): “Hahaha… I’m definitely never forgiving you. Never. And today once more, my animals are my only solace.”

Fifth Generation Wives (　゜言゜): “Our husband’s going to be taken by our son’s wives again… we definitely can’t forgive this. This is why we hate wives.”