Continuing from yesterday’s inspection of the city, today the rain outside is still pouring heavily.

Occasionally, I can see lightning beyond the mountains to the east, and I can just faintly hear the sound of thunder.

I can’t see the state of the city, but except for the stalls in the adventurer’s district, there probably aren’t any residents out and about elsewhere.

What do ordinary citizens do during times like this…?

When I was at the orphanage, I worked regardless of the rain, and after I started staying with Seriana, I’ve been lazing about…

I don’t understand the life of commoners.

By the way, the nobility usually carry on with their work or spend their time elegantly within their estates, so it doesn’t change much from usual.

They travel by carriage, and while it’s not a problem, they generally avoid going out during the rainy season out of consideration for their hosts.

Instead, relatively wealthy commoners, who can afford carriages, are taking advantage of the nobility’s few carriages and using them now.

It’s a kind of unspoken understanding.

Well, in cases of urgent matters, they would disregard all that.

Speaking of which, I had managed to avoid it, but if I hadn’t, Seriana would have ended up meeting other merchants.

Even though it’s troublesome, if she follows the official procedure, I can’t refuse her.

Being serious by nature makes these times a bit difficult.

I was thinking about that as I looked out the window…

“…I’m bored.”

“Again today!?”

I couldn’t help but react to Seriana’s voice.

When I turned around, she was just placing the book she had in her hands on the table.

It was the book that arrived not long ago. Had she finished reading it?

Seriana stood up and walked toward me, who was floating near the window.

The room was, as usual, just the two of us. There were no plans, and she was dressed casually.

It was the same as yesterday; in the end, she had changed clothes quickly, so I suppose the clothes don’t really matter.

“Are we going out today?”

I asked, speaking to Seriana, who was silently looking outside the window.

I felt like yesterday’s city inspection was enough, but it seemed that it had served as stress relief for her, so… if she wanted to go again, I didn’t mind.

“I’m fine today.”

But it seemed she wasn’t planning on going anywhere. Her voice was filled with boredom, and she continued to stare out the window with a somewhat unreadable expression.

Hmm… usually, Elena or Teresa would be here, so I would understand that they were chatting, but I don’t have any conversation topics like they do.

It doesn’t seem like I can distract her from her boredom.

If we have time, I thought, I could spend it with the children, but it seems she has a policy of leaving childcare to the nurse and not getting involved.

What should I do…

“Well then… Sera, I’ll go to the back, so please prepare things.”

“Hmm?”

What’s the deal with the 【Hideout】?

“Are you sure it’s fine with no one in the room?”

“You can see and hear from inside, right? There’s no problem.”

“Right, I guess… well then, let’s go.”

I’m not sure what she wants to do, but there’s nothing for me to refuse.

Since there’s a monitor and Seriana’s protection, I’ll know in advance if someone comes, just like she said.

It’s fine, I nodded, and we started heading to the bedroom to activate the 【Hideout】.

◇

“…What’s this?”

Seriana looked at the rolled-up fur in her hands with a confused expression.

“…It’s some kind of fur.”

I answered truthfully, since that’s exactly what it looked like.

What kind of fur was it… I think it was from a boar I defeated in the dungeon, but I’m not entirely sure.

After hearing my response, Seriana sighed in exasperation and tossed it into one of the several wooden boxes she had placed beside her.

Then, she took something else out.

“This fang… Is it from a wolf? I’ll put it here.”

The box Seriana was holding was a shallow, one-meter-long rectangle, with fabric lining the bottom. It contained not only wolf fangs but also wild boar fangs.

I think it was the box the cloth came in when I bought it?

It was just the right size for storing things like fangs.

Without waiting for my response, Seriana put the fangs into the box and continued her work.

Now, we were both inside the 【Hideout】, and what we were doing was… tidying up the room.

When Fiora came over before, we were sorting materials, but today we were organizing the items we had sorted earlier.

It seems that Seriana might be the type to turn to housework when she’s bored.

Her own room in the mansion is always neat, but as the lady of the house, she can’t tidy other areas herself—it would be improper. Plus, it would be intimidating for the servants.

So, the 【Hideout】 was just perfect for this.

Although the room was scattered with items, cleaning it wouldn’t dirty anything, so it wasn’t a problem.

Since Seriana hadn’t come to the 【Hideout】 for a while, she was surprised at first by the state of things, but after she started, she seemed motivated and immediately began cleaning up.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sera ・【Hideout】 +1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind’s Garb】 ・【Floating Orb】 +1【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】 ・15 cards

Seriana ・【Range Identification】 ・【】 ・28 cards

Elena ・【】 ・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】 ・4 cards

Alec ・【Strong Strike】 ・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】 ・8 cards