Ax’s Worst Day Ever ②
When I went to the Cidre Tavern for a meal, the members of ‘Fang of Thunder’ were at a table seat.
However, the atmosphere was strange; the three of them were completely drunk.
Eh, why are they acting like Mr. Agaro?
Ax-san, especially, was totally plastered. Ah, our eyes met.
“Yo, Woff!”
“H-Hello.”
“Woff, huh.”
“It’s Woff, ’tis.”
It’s kind of embarrassing having my name repeated like this.
Everyone around is looking at me, too. It’s embarrassing.
“Upstairs again today? Impressive! Where’s your companion?”
“N-No, that’s not it. I just came here for a normal meal! I don’t have a companion with me!”
“I see. Well then, alright. Come over here.”
“Come on, come on.”
“Come ‘ere.”
“O-Okay.”
Reluctantly, I sat down at their table.
What happened? They’re unusually worked up.
Ax-san finished his extra-large mug of ale and ordered another.
Rell-san and Hoss-san did the same. There were no snacks on the table.
“Are you guys just drinking?”
This seemed sloppy for ‘Fang of Thunder’.
Usually, they’d have snacks and wouldn’t drink from extra-large mugs.
They wouldn’t guzzle ale so crudely, like Mr. Agaro.
“Yeah! How could we not drink after this!”
There had to be a reason. Ah, right, Mineha-san mentioned something this morning.
“If I recall… you met her, right? Your mother, Emi-san.”
“Met her.”
“Ah, yeah, we met her.”
“Met her, we did.”
Their replies sounded grim.
“Well, Woff, you drink too. It’s on me.”
“I can’t drink yet.”
“Then eat. It’s on me.”
“O-Okay…”
Something definitely happened.
But this level of disarray suggested it wasn’t just anything trivial.
What could have occurred?
It wasn’t normal for Rell-san and Hoss-san to be drinking this much either.
I decided on today’s Lunch Set A.
It came with butter rice, corn soup, and honey and salt lemon water.
I asked for a large portion of butter rice. Set B was chicken cutlet rice.
“Hey, Woff. You. Got parents?”
“Yeah, well,” I answered Ax-san’s question vaguely.
They should still be living normally back in my hometown.
“I see… I had ’em too.”
“Eh, your parents… you mean?”
Wait, but Ax-san’s father…
“Yeah, first off, my old lady was pregnant.”
“H-Huh!?”
“And the father was… the old man I thought was dead.”
“Eh, ehhh??”
“What’s more, the old man was frozen in ice, and he looks almost the same age as me.”
“Eh… Er, well, first off, congratulations…”
“Yeah… Right. It’s great news.”
Ax-san chugged his extra-large mug of ale.
He seemed utterly desperate. I see. Yeah, that would make anyone act out.
Hm? His father, who he thought was dead, is alive, and his mother is pregnant by him.
His family is growing. So why is he acting out? Rell-san seemed to notice the question mark on my face.
“It really should be good news, but…”
“That it should be.”
“Right?”
“I know that… I get it, okay? But still… after months of no contact, she suddenly shows up, pregnant, the father’s supposed to be dead, and he looks about my age… You’d wanna yell ‘Are you kidding me?!’ too, right?!”
He really rattled that off impressively.
“No contact? Did something happen?”
“She said all the letters piled up at the mansion, and she only recently returned.”
“Seems she couldn’t send letters due to circumstances, ’tis.”
“Circumstances?”
I feel like if they’d managed even a little communication, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.
Still, this is just too much. Oh, Lunch Set A arrived. It comes with dessert.
Milk pudding? From Burns-san. A trial recipe? Huh, thank you very much.
It’s a pure white pudding. Shiro-san would probably love this.
“So, Ax. Are you really going to disown her?”
“D-Disown?!”
Well, yeah. It wouldn’t be strange to consider that.
“…………That’s… not what I intend to do…”
“Ye’re not gonna?”
I shouldn’t think it’s surprising, but…
Ax-san put down his extra-large mug.
“Back then, I just flew off the handle because it was all too much… But I’m an adult now. Twenty-three years old. I’m independent from my parents. We were already somewhat distant, too. Plus, well, there’s the fact I decided to try and meet her halfway at least once, and I haven’t done anything yet. I can at least listen to what my old lady has to say… Maybe that’s just an excuse… But honestly, deep down, I still can’t accept it. I don’t really wanna say it, but what the hell is with this pregnancy? Even if the old man’s alive… that’s just not right… And you know? Seeing her not as a mother but as a woman… how’s that supposed to work?”
“That’s something I can’t understand.”
“No idea ’bout that.”
“Me neither.”
Ax-san muttered, “Yeah, figures…”
I wonder what his disciple, Mineha-san, thought about this. I can understand why he’d be upset, though.
Mineha-san. She’s the type who can’t forgive things like this. You could call her fastidious, or maybe just serious.
Ah, but since he’s her master, the one who saved her Life, and someone she respects, she probably wouldn’t feel contempt.
She might think it was rash and take a stern attitude.
Depending on the situation, she might even raise a hand against her master. But from what I heard, it seems she didn’t.
Then he drained his extra-large mug and muttered.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to do. With this… It almost feels like it would’ve been… better if my old lady had just gotten involved with someone else, remarried, and had a shotgun wedding.”
“You think so?”
“…How ’bout it?”
“The fact that it’s his actual father is what makes it so incredibly twisted, I guess.”
“Twisted beyond belief, ’tis.”
It’s really hard to know what to say in situations like this.
Ax-san ordered another extra-large mug.
“So, yeah… I ended up deciding to fight my fa—… Ens.”
“Fight him…? But he’s being promoted to Tier I.”
“I know. I don’t think I can win. I just want to punch him once, that’s all.”
“Whether you can even do that…”
“I know. But I… I want to hit him. Just once is fine. If I can do that, I don’t care if I lose.”
“That’s if ye can do it.”
“That’ll be difficult too, I imagine.”
“…………Besides, you know. I thought about it, and just like I can’t think of him as my father… maybe he can’t think of me as his son either. I mean, think about it. I wasn’t even born when he was frozen. Then suddenly, I’m over twenty. Too much time has passed for both of us. We can’t possibly see each other as father and son.”
Well, it’s true that it would be incredibly difficult for both Ax-san and his father to interact as parent and child under these circumstances.
No, really difficult. Hoss-san suddenly asked.
“By the way, Ax, why d’ye want to punch Ens?”
“It’s… I just want to punch him, okay?”
“You. Is it perhaps because he’s the one who got your mother pregnant?”
“…………Who knows. Like I care.”
He answered curtly and downed the newly placed extra-large mug of ale in one go.
“W-Well, anyway, what are you going to do? I’ve fought a Tier I Seeker before, and they’re unbelievably strong.”
“You have?”
“Against Alveld. It wasn’t even a fight.”
“‘Destroyer of Collapse,’ huh… Yeah, right.”
“Guess we gotta ask Agaro?”
“Is that the only way?”
“———There’s no need for that.”
We turned towards the sudden female voice.
Standing there was an Elf woman with green hair. She looked rather cute.
She wore loose clothing, and her abdomen swelled slightly, indicating she was pregnant.
Could it be?
“M-Mom…”
So that’s Emi-san. She looks like she’s in her twenties.
Well, she’s an Elf, so I know her appearance doesn’t match her actual age.
“Ax…”
“What are you doing— no, how did you know this place?”
“Your letters mentioned you had a favorite shop. It’s a nice place.”
“…………Come to think of it, I guess I wrote that. So, what do you want? I told you there’s no need.”
“Ax. I’ll make it so you can land a punch on that man, Ens.”
“…Huh? Wait. What did you say?”
“And I wanted to talk properly… I read all the letters.”
“………………Yeah.”
“So, Ax. I—”
“Uh, um, excuse me.”
I knew I shouldn’t interrupt given the atmosphere, but I cut in anyway, fully aware.
Emi-san looked at me.
“What is it?”
“Well, I’m about to rent the second floor, so I thought it might be better to talk there.”
We were really starting to stand out, and people around us were murmuring, “What’s going on?”
Well, yeah, a pregnant woman showing up and pleading with drunk men is bound to attract weird attention.
“…Sorry about this, Woff.”
“No problem. I’ll go ask Burns-san.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Not at all. I’ll go talk to him now.”
I went to the counter and briefly explained the situation to Burns-san.
Burns-san readily agreed, and we were able to borrow the VIP room on the second floor.
Right then, let’s move.
Somehow, things have gotten incredibly complicated.