The beautiful-faced widow changed out of her mourning clothes and told her story with a touch of sorrow.
When Clock heard it, he leaned forward and frowned in sympathy.
"A tsunami or grounding?"
"I heard she was attacked while at sea. I think it was a magical beast, but there were also reports of someone seeing a mermaid."
"How terrible. We are grateful that you took us in at such a difficult time."
"Please don’t mention it. Rather, I think you two are the ones who are having a much harder time."
While thinking Hehe inside.
Her expression was fresh and youthful, like a good young man.
Stone floor and plastered walls. A window with good maintenance and a table.
The house that had welcomed them was one that felt more like a noble’s than a commoner’s.
There, right now, faces of the two guests and the two residents met.
"Sister... Adelina, how old are you?"
"Fifteen."
He didn’t actually know her age. He had just said something random.
She clearly came from a poor upbringing. Her appearance age was quite young, but if her low height was due to bad upbringing, she might be older. But at times like this, it was better to look younger for sympathy.
"Well, you’re still young. So is it time for you to get married?"
"Well, it’s about that time, but unfortunately I have a mutism illness."
He smiled gently at the beautiful woman staring straight at him.
When he saw Adelina’s face, which had remained completely straight and silent beside him, Deena also let out a gentle smile.
"You two are traveling with your ill sister...?"
"Yes, well..."
Her body was thin, with white hair mixed with red.
Adelina, whose expression didn’t change at all, gave off a clearly sick atmosphere, and Deena looked at her with an indescribable expression.
It wasn’t good to dig too deeply into her.
But since she herself couldn’t speak, as long as Clock paid attention, the lie wouldn’t be discovered.
Even if they looked like siblings, he would just push it, and when talking about sibling memories he would only mention his real sister.
"You were robbed by a thief and stripped of everything, right? That must have been really tough. It was right of you to ask your sister for help. Sisters are so kind."
"Eri-de!"
In contrast to Deena’s gentle atmosphere, she was a beautiful woman with sharp eyes that looked a bit tough.
It was Eri-de, the sister. She had come to prepare a room for them to stay in.
A brother and sister who were robbed of their money and traveling. That was the setting for today’s John.
They were attacked by a night burglar, barely escaped with their lives, and were asking to stay the night even if only for one day. He had changed his pickup plan and begged for help.
At first he had been met with an indescribable wary expression.
Of course he knew that would happen. Normally people would be wary of push-in burglars.
He added "Even just the sister is fine" and she nodded.
He showed a thin Adelina and lured sympathy, appealing to her motherly instincts to let them into the house. A simple strategy.
As a result, both of them had successfully moved in and secured one night of lodging.
The plan to seduce a widow for a night’s stay and a meal and a woman had failed, but they had secured a bed, so it was a passing grade.
Both of them were beautiful.
He really wanted to get close, but... if he reached out the knights would come, and that would be troublesome.
Self-restraint for today.
It seemed Deena wasn’t a widow but single.
The mourning clothes were because her father had passed away.
A very tempting target, but he could only behave himself today.
By the way, Eri-de was apparently engaged. The groom was apparently a sailor.
She was living here with her sister while waiting for her future husband’s return.
"You don’t plan to get married, Deena-san?"
"I’ve already... missed my chance..."
Deena smiled self-deprecatingly.
In this country, getting married from around fifteen to twenty was fairly common.
If a woman couldn’t get married even after turning twenty, many would simply give up.
The typical pattern of missing one’s chance was exactly Deena’s: her mother died early, she was taken care of by her father until he passed, and then the years passed without any opportunity.
"...What about marriage for you, John-san?"
"Ah, I was engaged once, but since the breakup..."
"Oh no... I’m sorry, I..."
"No, it’s fine. It was because we were having troubles at home."
The fact that he had been engaged once was actually true.
He hadn’t even seen the face of the other party, but for some reason their relationship with this very house deteriorated and the engagement was dissolved.
Well, it was a long time ago, before he fell into the life of a thief, so it didn’t matter.
"Still, it’s really helpful that you’re lending a hand even for just one day!"
Eri-de changed the direction of the conversation.
"Ah, can I help with something?"
"Yes, that... I want to heat the bath in the back, could you help?"
"Of course."
Inside, Clock did a Guts pose.
Helping with physical labor was no big deal, but a bath was something else.
In fact he liked bathing, so he was very happy it was a bath house.
For a commoner it was a good house, and if he had no circumstances he might have wanted to just stay here forever.
He was led by Deena toward the end of the hallway.
He thought "back" meant the garden, but it was a bath installed inside the house.
From the outside it looked grand, but having a bathroom was a sign of quite a wealthy house. Maybe her late father was a merchant or something.
It wasn’t just this country; bath houses were not common.
There was an old era where people believed it was better not to wash the body as much, and even though that belief had changed, bath and bathtub usage still hadn’t become widespread as a remnant. Most people still fetched water in wooden buckets.
"Have you ever used a bathtub?"
"Yes, I have."
"Baths are always washed right away, so we just fill the tub with water and boil it."
"Understood, I’ll fetch water."