Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 79

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 79

* * *

The carriage carrying Leo, Penandel, Suga, and me ran for four straight days.

Fortunately, there were fairly large villages along the way, so lodging wasn’t a problem.

To prepare for any potential dangers, I hired several reliable mercenaries that Terry had introduced to me.

Though one might expect being confined to the carriage to be tedious, Leo couldn’t take his eyes off the window, mesmerized by the gradually whitening landscape.

Everything was perfect.

However, if there was one problem with this perfect journey…

“Penandel.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have some complaint against me?”

“Not at all.”

Penandel was strangely keeping his distance from me.

I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was, but he was extremely wary of any contact with me.

Looking back, he hadn’t escorted me when boarding the carriage these past few days.

I glared at him with suspicious eyes before losing interest and turning my head toward the window.

The carriage wasn’t narrow, but because Penandel was so large, our feet sitting across from each other were precariously close to touching.

As soon as his head followed mine toward the window, I slyly extended my foot forward.

Naturally, there should have been a soft bump of our feet touching. But Penandel avoided contact by slightly shifting his foot without even glancing at me.

‘Oh really?’

Feeling mischievous, I lifted my foot this time and stomped down toward his foot like a lioness targeting prey.

Penandel once again elegantly avoided my attack with minimal movement.

Look at this, treating me like I’m diseased while claiming he has no complaints!

“Don’t avoid me.”

“Are you telling me to let you trample on my feet?”

Well, not exactly… but yes, I was being a bit aggressive.

I cleared my throat and elegantly extended my hand as if requesting an escort.

“Your hand.”

Though my tone somehow came out like I was training a dog, Penandel silently extended his hand.

“…?”

Everyone, don’t be fooled. There’s space under Penandel’s hand!

His hand was hovering just barely above mine, almost touching but not quite.

‘Do I really have some filth on me?’

When I clenched my hand to grab Penandel’s, he annoyingly slipped his hand away, once again avoiding contact with me.

I couldn’t stand it anymore.

I turned to Leo, who had stopped watching the scenery outside and was now watching us both with an intrigued expression.

“Jui-bam-tol, cover your ears and close your eyes for a moment.”

“Yes!”

Leo immediately covered both ears and squeezed his eyes shut without asking why.

As soon as I confirmed this, I grabbed Penandel’s collar to prevent his escape and pulled him toward me while growling.

“What exactly is the problem?”

Penandel’s eyes behind his mask, now face-to-face at close range, rolled away to avoid me.

See this? You should at least tell me why you’re acting like this!

When I stared persistently, he finally returned his gaze to its original position and muttered reluctantly.

“…It didn’t seem proper…”

“What…?”

“It seemed improper to touch a lady so carelessly.”

The man who grabbed my chin without permission at our first meeting was now talking about propriety?

The answer was so absurd I lost the strength to argue.

I gently smoothed out his wrinkled collar that I had crumpled and spoke.

“You can be rude to me. So.”

Finally, I gave his chest a light push so he’d lean back against the seat and finished my words.

“Cross the line, as much as you want.”

“…”

Surely he understood after I said that much.

I gently tapped Leo’s shoulder, who had his eyes and ears tightly shut, to signal that the business was finished.

Leo opened his eyes and looked between us both with sparkling eyes before carefully asking.

“So who won?”

Won?

“The staring contest. You two were having a staring contest, weren’t you?”

Ah, that’s how it looked to Leo.

【Huh, that’s not it! Suga saw everything, the two of you being all lovey-dovey!】

…That’s how it looked to Suga.

While I was grateful I wasn’t supplying Suga with magic power, Penandel answered Leo’s question.

“I lost.”

Saying this, Penandel opened the carriage window slightly to cool his face in the cold air. As if he was quite frustrated about losing.

* * *

Monteo, the Royal Capital, has winters warm enough that it’s rare to see snow.

As far as Leo could remember, he had never once seen a snow-covered landscape.

Therefore, when they arrived at Shabert Forest, covered in white snow in early winter, the child gasped in admiration.

“The whole world is pure white.”

Carefully stepping down from the carriage onto the snow-covered ground, there was a crunching sound like biting into lemon sherbet.

Leo’s heart pounded at that sound as he carefully walked across the snowy field.

Wearing three or four layers of clothing wasn’t enough – Leo also wore a white fox fur scarf, thick wool hat, and fur boots, waddling like a penguin as he walked.

Belinda, who was wide-eyed and burning that adorable sight into her retinas, suddenly felt mischievous.

“Jui-bam-tol, have you ever eaten snow?”

“No. Can you eat snow?”

“People from the Royal Capital don’t know this well since it doesn’t snow there, but snow is actually a special delicacy. It’s sweet like sugar.”

“Really?”

Leo’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the snowy field spread before him.

Reflecting the sunlight and sparkling, it did look just like sugar.

“Look, doesn’t it look just like sherbet?”

Leo eagerly nodded.

On the day he first ate sherbet, he had wondered how such lemon snowflakes could be made, and now the secret was being revealed.

‘Sherbet is made from snow!’

Leo licked his lips and carefully gathered snow from a short coniferous tree in his gloved hands.

And the moment he stuck out his tongue to lick the snow.

“…!”

He realized he had been tricked.

“You’re too mean!”

“I’m always mean.”

Belinda answered primly and extended her hand to Leo.

Thanks to their daily hug training, Leo, now accustomed to physical contact with Belinda, pouted and took her hand.

* * *

Noble escort missions paid well for their level of danger, but most mercenaries were reluctant to take on escort jobs.

Mercenaries were generally warlike, so rather than swallowing their pride to please nobles, they preferred life-threatening monster hunting requests.

Hammer, the leader of the Hammer Mercenary Group, felt the same way.

Even with Terry’s introduction, he didn’t want to earn money by abandoning his pride.

“We may not have money, but we have our dignity!”

…It was too much money to refuse with those words.

The request he accepted after selling even his dignity wasn’t as difficult as expected. No, it was actually satisfying.

Despite being so tense about the notoriously rumored client, Belinda showed little interest in the mercenaries.

But she didn’t completely ignore them either, remembering to provide excellent lodging and meals for their convenience.

Moreover, the greatest benefit of this mission was…

“Uncle Hammer, have you ever been to the sea? Lady Belinda told me that seawater is incredibly sweet.”

Being able to see the young master whose footprints in the snow were adorable.

The child accompanying this journey with the peculiar status of the client’s prospective servant mingled freely with the mercenaries, melting the fierce faces of the burly men.

“That’s right, come to think of it, I heard somewhere that people living at the port use seawater instead of sugar when making desserts.”

Leo’s serious expression finally softened at the mercenary’s response.

‘So seawater really is sweet after all.’

Leo nodded his head, recalling what had just happened.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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