Chapter 10: You Like Me, I Like You

That night, Alet didn’t sleep very well.

He vaguely remembered dreaming of being hunted by terrifying monsters, but he couldn’t recall the details.

And after waking up, since Flaph’s melody had worn off, a slight discomfort once again welled up from within his body.

Even though he hastily used healing magic to repair himself, he still felt like something was off.

At least it didn’t affect his ability to walk or act normally, so he let it be.

The Crystal Thorn Adventurer Party had just returned from the dungeon, so they would certainly rest for a while before their next move.

That should give Alet enough time to recover on his own.

After getting up, Alet went straight to Mello’s room.

He woke her up and helped her get dressed and fix her hair.

Mello’s long, waist-length purple-red hair was beautiful, but also extremely hard to manage.

Unfortunately, this noble vampire lady was quite a messy sleeper.

As a result, every morning her hair would be tangled into a nest, knots everywhere.

Naturally, the task of tending to it fell to Alet.

After years of practice, he had mastered a technique to untangle her hair and brush it smooth without hurting Mello’s scalp.

It was no exaggeration to say that Alet could make a career out of this technique alone.

After nearly fifteen minutes of serving Mello, Alet headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for everyone.

Mello’s food was, of course, fresh blood, while the other three had a standard breakfast of things like fried eggs and bread.

Though Alet wasn’t a great cook, making tasty standard fare wasn’t a problem for him.

Every vampire had their own unique preferences for blood, and Mello was no exception.

She liked it warm.

So, before serving it, Alet always soaked the blood in hot water for a while to ensure Mello enjoyed it at the perfect temperature.

By the time Alet finished preparing the meal and set it on the table, the rest of his teammates had already taken their seats.

At that moment, Flaph was curled up in the corner of the table.

She seemed a bit idle, but didn’t dare chat with Mello, so she pretended to study her mandolin.

When she saw Alet, she waved at him from a spot where Mello couldn’t see—her way of greeting him.

Alet responded with a wink, acknowledging her gesture.

Meanwhile, the half-dragon girl from the City of Silver, Della, was busy talking to Mello.

“Hey, hey, Miss, do vampires really only eat blood? Can’t you eat anything else?”

“If you eat bread or meat, will you throw up? What about milk?”

“Coffee! I bet you could drink coffee! I read a novel once where the vampires could drink coffee.”

She looked excited, but Mello just frowned impatiently.

“Keep running your mouth and I’ll rip your face off.”

Fortunately, Alet brought the meal just in time, sparing Mello from further pestering.

During breakfast, Mello assigned everyone their tasks for the rest period:

“Della, go gather more intel on the sixth floor. I need a more complete and detailed map, along with the distribution of monsters.”

“Flaph, head to Dice Town to purchase supplies. Daily necessities, magical tools, consumables—buy all of them. I’ll give you the funds.”

“Understood? If so, breakfast is over, you’re dismissed. I don’t like being bothered with questions during my downtime.”

After coldly laying out everyone’s jobs, Mello took a small sip of fresh blood from her cup, waiting for any objections.

For some reason, Alet wasn’t assigned any tasks.

Maybe Mello noticed he’d been injured yesterday and wanted to give him time to rest and recover.

Or maybe she simply didn’t want to give Alet any work.

Either way, a day off was always welcome for Alet.

Yet, at that moment, he raised his hand and voiced the only question.

“Miss, don’t I have any tasks today?”

“You don’t. Just stay at the base on standby.”

“Then can I request to accompany Flaph to buy supplies?”

“!”

Flaph, who had been quietly shrinking in the corner, silently savoring her meal, jumped in surprise at being suddenly singled out. The bite of egg she had just taken nearly went down the wrong pipe.

“Why?”

Mello didn’t refuse or agree outright, just asked coldly for his reason.

“Because recently, monsters have been rampaging near Dice Town, attacking travelers.”

“Flaph is a bard and can’t fight; if she runs into monsters, she can’t protect herself.”

“If she gets attacked on the road, not only do we lose manpower, we’ll lose funds and supplies too. That creates a gap.”

“All of that would need to be replenished, wasting more time and affecting our dungeon progress.”

“That’s why I want to go with Flaph to Dice Town, to keep her safe along the way. Plus, we’ll be able to bring back more goods.”

Alet spoke clearly and logically, deliberately keeping his tone neutral and focusing on “efficiency.”

Mello listened carefully and, finding no fault, nodded indifferently.

“Do as you like.”

Alet nodded, then lowered his head and continued eating.

The only sound left at the table was Flaph, blushing to the tips of her ears and blinking her panicked, wide eyes, at a total loss.

“Hey, hey, Sir Knight!”

“Wh-why did you request to go to Dice Town with me?”

“It’s your rare day off, isn’t it?”

After breakfast, Alet and Flaph set off together for Dice Town.

Flaph couldn’t understand Alet’s decision.

On rest days, Alet usually had the most—and the toughest—chores.

Cleaning the base, moving goods, patrolling the surroundings, searching for things; all sorts of odd jobs were thrown his way.

Now, he finally had a day off, yet he chose to go out with her.

It was just odd!

If it were her day off, she’d definitely go back to bed and sleep until noon!

Alet had put his heavy armor back on. His hulking figure revealed no expression, radiating an intense sense of pressure.

When Flaph asked, Alet replied without hesitation:

“Like I said, to keep you safe.”

“You helped me last night, so today I’ll repay you in my own way.”

“Understand?”

His voice was muffled and deep through the armor, but it made Flaph’s heart skip a beat.

At this moment, the figure beside her, as solid as a fortress, was overflowing with a sense of security.