Inside the house, faint candlelight fell across everyone's faces. Minina was a little airheaded; faced with the bread Asano Kiyoshi offered her, she did not refuse. She took it directly, plopped down beside the two of them, and began wolfing it down.
Seeing how familiar Minina acted, Cadice's expression darkened as she asked,
"Who the hell are you? Who said you could sit here?"
Minina raised her head at that, her cheeks still stuffed full. Looking at Asano Kiyoshi, she said somewhat indistinctly,
"If you handed me bread, wasn't that an invitation to eat with you?"
"It was not! Could you at least have some common sense..."
Seeing Cadice was about to keep arguing with Minina, Asano Kiyoshi hurriedly separated them and smoothed things over.
"It's only a small piece of bread. Making friends with you isn't a bad thing either, right, Cadice?"
When Asano Kiyoshi said that, Cadice merely turned her head aside. Her tone softened slightly as she said,
"Fine, we'll do as you say. Let her stay and eat."
Asano Kiyoshi nodded. Looking at Minina, he handed her a cup of milk and said slowly,
"Have some of this too. Bread alone is too dry."
Minina accepted the milk from Asano Kiyoshi with a grin. After taking a sip, she spoke with a milky scent on her breath.
"You're a good person. Thank you."
Though Asano Kiyoshi felt rather helpless at suddenly being given the good guy card, he did not say anything. After they had eaten and drunk their fill, he asked the two girls,
"Do you know what the process for joining the Stern Ritter is? The place I came from is rather remote, so I don't know much. I wanted to learn from your experience."
Cadice had just been about to answer when the