Part 1

“What are you doing sleeping right before dinner? And here I worked hard to make it good just for today.”

Juliette… or Justice Girl gently kicked my stomach.

The last thing I remember was that I was thinking: “Aah, I’m so tired” and dozed off.

I guess it’s been about thirty minutes since then.

“Aha, sorry, I used up all my energy playing around.”

I stood up and walked towards a large table.

Aerich and the two little twins named: Kevin and Yules.

The food looked pretty plain but I’m sure it was exceptional for common people like Juliette… Justice Girl and her younger brothers.

There was one huge chicken in the centre of the table, beside it was bread and rice.

Did Justice Girl really make this all by herself?

She’s different to what I thought she was.

Where are her parents? … Oh.

I looked over across the room and saw something.

It was a picture of both of her parents, with offerings placed in front of them.

Her father seemed to have the silver hair while her mother’s was orange.

So her hair really was genetic.

I had planned to bring up the topic of herself being talented in cooking without the help of her parents. But after seeing clear signs of her parents being dead, I won’t do that.

I looked back to the table:

“This looks really good, you’re really good at cooking.”

Aerich took a bite and commented.

“Mm, it really is, great job.”

I also made a comment of my own.

“Kufufu… Praise me more!”

Uh-oh, it seems someone is getting ahead of herself.

Well, it’s well deserved. It tastes nice.

It was then I heard pitiful sounds of an “Urrnnn. Mmmhhh” by the door.

I turned over to see who it was.

It was Ariel, she was standing by the door, hiding about three quarters of her body behind it, popping her head out.

From her sounds, she seemed pretty lonely.

“…I heard you guys were sleeping over here today, that’s not fair. Can I sleep over too?”

Ariel hid half of her face with a pillow she brought from over her house.

Before anyone else could reply, Justice Girl dragged Ariel into her house and sat her on the dining table.

“Who said you couldn’t? Now eat up, I put a lot of effort into this.”

A beaming smile appeared on Ariel’s face as she stuffed herself with the food on the table.

Naturally, we did too.

During dinner we had nice conversation, though it was mostly Justice Girl doing the talking.

Ariel would pitch in, she sat next to Aerich too.

…She seems a bit too close to Aerich.

Now that I mention it, every time she’s near him, she gets flustered as acts all weird.

Could this be…

Kufufu…

I have a sneaking suspicion that she likes him.

I won’t say anything though.

Part 2

As we ate, there was another sound of knocking at the door.

Who would arrive at this time?

Maybe the other villagers?

“Sorry to intrude.”

I recognised that voice!

“Papa!”

I ran from my seat and ran towards Papa.

I’m so glad to see him.

He looked a little bit different today.

Instead of the noble-like suit he normally wears, he’s in combat gear.

The same gear he wears when we train with the sword but more equipped and prepared for ‘battle’.

His muscles that I only noticed during training were clearly defined and showing through his shirt.

It’s the type of muscles that you can’t see through a noble suit but most definitely through a shirt.

His combat shirt were both jet black and grey in colour and very tight, maybe for mobility. The pants he wore was flexible leather and sagged only a little bit.

On his waist were two swords on one side, one was longer than the other.

On the other side was a cool-looking knife.

I could see a little bit of dried blood on the blades.

He looked like a true swordsman.

…I mean, he ‘is’ Saint-Class in Sword Style.

I’m sure if you forced Papa into white armour and made him do a pose, he would be described as a ‘White Knight In Shining Armour’ in those prince and princess stories, with Papa being the Prince.

“What happened? Are you alright? Did you die?”

Papa smirked at my witty remark.

“Puahaha! I’m alright, and I didn’t die. Rather, I’m only here to see where you were temporarily staying at. Unfortunately, the Tyrat dogs sent some specialised swordsmen to fight us. But Papa fought them off, but the house is destroyed. You’ll have to stay here for a few days.”

In the Signe Region where Papa rules, there were only villages around.

Only the Osoric Estate lived in the mansion in the centre of the region.

And since the Signe Region is a region in the countryside, it would take a few days to find and purchase another house in another region to temporarily stay.

Because of that, and because of the friendly relationship between Papa and the villagers, Papa had asked the villagers if I could stay here for a bit until Radyn could finish rebuilding the house.

Of course, they accepted.

“It’s fine Papa, I don’t mind. My friends are nice people.”

“Mm mm? Friends? Ah, I see. Where are the two friends you were talking about every time you returned home from playing?”

Papa took his eyes off me and looked around, finding the dining table.

He glanced at Justice Girl and Ariel.

“Aah! As expected, it’s Ariel and Juliette! Thank you for playing with Reign everyday.”

After being called on, Ariel and Not-Justice-Girl abruptly left their seats, standing beside me.

Ariel was standing stiffly, a cold sweat fell from her forehead. She was clearly nervous.

But in contrast, Justice Girl held a confident pose and introduced herself assertively.

“Aah! It’s Justice Man, Justice Man asked to see me. What do I do~”

“H-Hi.”

“You brats are the same as usual.”

Papa pummelled both their heads with his hands very roughly.

Hm? Did Papa know these two?

“I’m glad to see you again!”

Justice Girl smiled brightly and gave a thumbs up upward in Papa’s direction.

“How’s the Justice-like-activites going? Did you get hurt yet?”

Papa spoke as if he expected her to get hurt.

“Thanks to Reign I didn’t die.”

“Ahaha, that’s a good thing.”

Papa and Justice Girl also spoke as if they knew each other.

I’m feeling just a little bit jealous, I might treat her coldly after this.

Papa then turned to Ariel.

“You’re as meek as always, but I know if you were to be faced with something that goes against your personal values, you’ll be able to fiercely defend yourself.”

“Mmkm!”

After Papa said something that could classified as a 100% accurate analysis, Ariel made a weird noise and nodded.

When I was met Ariel, she was defending herself quite assertively against the group of boys.

She spoke with a ‘No! You’re completely wrong, you idiots!’ type of tone.

But after that, she seemed meek and timid.

Father was completely right.

Did he have a knack for reading others?

“…How’s my Papa?”

Ariel fiddled with her fingers, timidly asking him that question.

“Hm? You’re father? Zeke is doing alright, he got hurt during the battle but was quickly healed by Radyn. He should be returning home soon. Let me let you in on something: Zeke was very important during the battle, he captured about 5 of the very strong swordsmen that I couldn’t deal with myself, isn’t he strong?”

“Yes, Papa is strong!”

Ariel brightly smiled.

Zeke? I recognise that name.

Zeke is a house servant working as a butler in the Osoric Estate.

If Zeke is Ariel’s father then it all makes sense.

When I had mentioned that I made friends with both Ariel and Justice Girl to father, Zeke who was in the room jumped and gave me a surprised look.

The look on his face then contorted into different expressions of confusion and awe.

Though he didn’t say anything.

Please tell me next time, okay?

Come to think of it, Zeke was the only house servant that didn’t live inside the Osoric Estate itself.

Typically, all the house servants in the Osoric Estate would be granted their own rooms and live inside.

Zeke was the only exception for some reason.

“Well then, I have a lot of work to do after those Tyrat dogs attacked my Estate. They thought they would be able gain the upper hand in the power struggle by winning this-…”

-But instead, the tables were turned. It would be the Cinage House that will gain the upper hand now!

…Is what I predicted what Papa would say before he stopped.

“W-Wait, you’re not going to eat?”

“Aah… I’m sorry little Juliette but I have very important work to do. I’ll be heading out now. Good night.”

Justice Girl drooped her head and pouted for a few moments but she quickly snapped back, waving Radyn away with an enthusiastic grin on his face.

“Cya! Justice Man!”

“…Bye bye!”

“Bye Papa.”

“Goodbye, Lord Lukyus.”

We all said our goodbyes as Papa left.

With that, we continued to eat.

Part 3

“Aah, that was good.”

After eating dinner, I pat my belly.

I think I ate too much.

Right now, we were in Justice Girl’s room.

It was… Special.

In the middle of the room was one huge fluff of wool, it wasn’t even a bed but more of a cloud.

Well, it gets really cold around here, so it makes sense.

But I learnt something again today.

Beds of commoners are practically fluffs of wool, along with the insides of their houses.

But for nobles, the beds are made into square wood with wool stuffed in leather acting as a mattress.

Leather specifically harvested for sleeping and not clothing were hard to come by, maybe they couldn’t afford it.

On the walls hung symbols of justice.

Symbols of Justice from stories I read when I was in the library like: “Hero of Spear Style: Ars”, “The Adventures of Justice”, “The God-Class Magician” and so on.

There was also her costume which consisted of high-grade leather and her mask, which also included her cape.

What does she intend to do when she grows up?

She’ll be arrested the moment she walks out acting as a vigilante. Maybe working as an adventurer is suitable for her.

Putting that aside for now, it was dark outside.

I looked out the window, it was night time. The moon shone brightly in the sky.

Outside was a large field of crops, looking almost ready for harvest.

The trees of the outer-forest surrounded the area with the blue moon shining it’s weak light into the pond beside the field. The blue light reflected in the pond also reflected into my face.

It must be nice to have this view right beside your bed.

I’m jealous, Justice Girl.

Aerich laid down beside me on my right, prepared to sleep.

Because of the events earlier today, instead of putting his sword somewhere on the side of the room, he slept with it.

And just in case, Radyn gave him a knife and a belt to hold it.

He was also wearing that.

On the other side was Justice Girl and Ariel, right now they were having a girls talk.

“-Justice Man was super cool just now, right? Right?”

“-Mm, papa tells me a of good things about Lord Lukyus.”

“Lord Lukyus is definitely cool.”

It feels weird to hear girls at my age talk about my father like that in front of me.

Oh yeah, the last person who spoke was Aerich.

He also thought Papa was really cool.

But he was lying down somewhere else, only hearing the conversation from a small distance away.

He then shut his eyes and went to sleep.

The conversation then shifted.

“What about Aerich, do you think he was cool today too?”

Justice Girl’s face twisted into an evil smirk as she said that, her fingers pointed at Ariel’s chin.

Why?

She had picked up on the cues that Ariel gave out every time Aerich was mentioned.

Ariel would blush and look to the floor, she would stumble on her words and play with her fingers.

After seeing this, she connected the dots.

Ariel was in love with Aerich.

Maybe it accumulated over these five years?

I mean, even I knew. It was obvious.

Though it was a bit devilish to tease her like that.

As a result of Aerich being mentioned now, Ariel’s face turned red.

“Y-Y-Y-Yeah, I saw.”

Ariel was trembling, stumbling through her words. She was sitting in a seiza position with her hands between her legs.

She also played with her fingers. Her face pointing towards the ground.

“Eeeh? What’s with that reaction? Why are you so red? I just said Aerich looked cool today. Why do you look so embarrassed~?”

Justice Girl poked the red-hot face of Ariel with a very devious smirk.

Ariel’s eyes swirled, smoke rising out from her head in embarrassment.

…What a devil.

I hope someone smites this evil being down.

“I-I-It’s n-nothing, n-not at all.”

“Are you sure? I mean, you’re stumbling on your words-“

She pressed on with her attack.

“Alright, that’s enough.”

My sympathy won over and I smacked Justice Girl behind the head.

“Ow… That hurt! What did you do that for?!”

Justice Girl forcefully flung back, throwing herself onto me.

“Get off of me!”

She was on top of me, her back pressing against my chest.

“It hurt, you know? I’m not stopping until you apologise.”

I tried to push her off but I didn’t have much arm strength despite practicing with the sword, and using magic was completely unnecessary.

“-Aaa, Aerich, help me!”

I called out to Aerich, who was watching this scene with an interested face.

“I refuse.”

He smirked.

“Are you even allowed to refuse?!”

After being abandoned by Aerich, I unleashed my secret attack.

Tickling.

I know, tickling someone was unfair.

But this is a life-or-death situation… I think.

And so, I began my rampage.

I grabbed her hips, tickling it.

“…You know, I’m not ticklish. So you’re just touching me in weird places.”

What a disaster.

No strength. No magic. No help from Allies. Secret weapon is not functioning.

The cards are stacked against me.

“Alright, I give up. But I’m not sorry.”

“Then you’ll be sorry!”

Justice Girl flipped over to my side.

She sat on my groin, raising hands and twirling her fingers.

“-I’m going to use the tickle technique I always use on my little brothers. Prepare yourself~!”

S-She plans to tickle me!

What a devastating counterattack!

Unfortunately, I’ve been known to be unnaturally ticklish.

“Ahahahaha! Stop it! Aaaaaaaa! P-Please-Puahahaha! Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

During that night, I was both crying and laughing.

More of the crying out of laughing too much.

Aerich looked on with an amused expression on his face.

Ariel shuffled over to Aerich, looking at him with expectant eyes.

That night, as Ariel slept in the arms of Aerich, Ariel had an expression of content and was repeatedly rubbing and hugging Aerich as she slept.

But since Aerich is the older person here, he didn’t mind.

Rather, he seemed to be reminiscing about himself hugging his own mother when he slept.

But that dosen’t matter now.

As they slept, Justice Girl and I were still going at it.

She was still tickling me!

“Aaaaaa! Hahahahahaha! T-T-That’s enough-Puahahahaha! Please stop-! Aaaaaaaaa!”

“Not until it’s my complete victory! Puahaha! Justice will prevail!”

Justice dosen’t work like that!

…After a while, she got tired and went to sleep.

She touched me everywhere.

Literally.

My neck, my groin, my armpits, my hips, my chest…

“…Uwah.”