Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

Roxy's Invitation

THE PLANNING BEGAN when Lady Aisha dragged Aaron and me to a corner of the Barbatos grounds.

“We’re going to surprise Roxy. That is our mission!” she said, standing tall with her chest puffed out confidently.

“Uh…”

Seeing my apprehension, Lady Aisha turned to scold me. “You won’t get anywhere with my daughter with that attitude. Show some spirit!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The all-too-energetic Lady Aisha proceeded to list off her plan, with me as her captive audience. Aaron grinned like he was enjoying some great piece of theater, but he soon found himself roped into Lady Aisha’s mission as well.

“Aaron, we’ll be counting on you for your full support, you hear?”

“Yes…yes, of course. I’ll support the mission to the best of my abilities.” In this way, Aaron found himself dragged up from the audience to join the cast on stage. At least the success of the play was on both of our shoulders now.

“Stage one is simple: Meet with Roxy and just have a good time. Chat, enjoy yourselves, and get her relaxed and comfortable.”

“Uh, Lady Aisha? Surely you know me well enough to know that the difficulty level is already very high.”

“What are you talking about? You’re the head of the Barbatos family now, so please put your conversational skills to good use and steal my daughter’s heart!”

“Uh…” In all my time alive, I’d rarely had much of a chance to speak with women. Up until now, I could quite literally count the women I’d had full non-professional conversations with on a single hand: Lady Aisha, Roxy, Myne, Eris… I silently dropped to my knees in despair. This was bad.

“Lonely…Fate is so lonely…so very lonely…” came a voice from the black sword.

“Shut up, Greed,” I whispered.

“Really don’t think you should count Myne and Eris either, seeing as they’re your peers. So more accurately, your experience with women is at a grand total of two!”

“Oh, give it a rest, Greed!”

The black sword was enjoying this way too much. I felt like stabbing him into the earth and calling him a new art installation on the manor grounds. After a moment’s thought, that’s exactly what I did: I stabbed him into the ground between the roots of the great tree we had gathered under. “Wait here and be quiet for a while.”

“Oi! Come on, Fate! It was just a figure of speech!”

“Which part of calling me lonely and making fun of my inexperience is a figure of speech?! Think about that for a while!”

“Wait, Fate! Wait—don’t do this. I want to go to the party too! Think about it! How do you honestly expect to show Roxy a good time on your own?”

Well, Greed did have a point there. We’d been together long enough for him to know all my weaknesses. I realized I didn’t have much choice other than to bring him. I jimmied Greed out of the ground and sheathed him, then realized Lady Aisha had been waiting for me the whole time.

“Do you mind if we continue with the mission plan, Fate?”

“Of course. But as I’m sure you’re well aware, I’m, uh…very inexperienced.”

“I see…in that case, Aaron, I’d like you to teach him your ways. Oh, yes, I’ve heard tell of the smooth-talking, high-flying ladies’ man you once were.”

Aaron awkwardly tried to shrug off her words with a laugh, but even now, there was a kind of rustic charm to the old man. I could only imagine how much more appealing he must have been at a younger age.

“Aaron,” I said, “does that mean you had to fight the girls off you when you were younger?”

“I, uh…I don’t know if I would go quite that far…”

But you won’t completely deny it?! I began rattling off a list of what trouble I imagined dashing young Aaron had gotten into but was promptly told to cut it out.

“By the time I understood the world, I was already betrothed! And I’ve never given my heart to anyone aside from my beloved wife. Back then, people just started spreading rumors because I had a, er, playful spirit.”

“The Legend of the Young Aaron. You have to tell me about that some time!” I insisted.

“Let’s not go calling it a legend, all right? But, uh…if it’s advice you’re looking for, then I’d say you just have to be yourself. If you try to be anything else, something will feel off.”

“Got it. I’ll do my best, then.”

At least the target was Roxy. It wasn’t like I had to hold a conversation with somebody I didn’t even know. I had a feeling I could make this work. After all, if the Great Daughterly Surprise Mission had never popped up, I would’ve been on my way to Hart Manor with barely a worry at all.

“Lady Aisha, exactly how are you planning to get the jump on Roxy, anyway?”

“I am glad you asked…”

Aisha informed us of what she had in mind for Roxy with an air of great secrecy. The strategy was by no means wildly innovative, but Lady Aisha knew her daughter well, and she had the perfect plan for her sharp-eyed daughter.

In the end, Lady Aisha stayed at Barbatos Manor while Aaron and I went on ahead. She would swan in later.

The gates to Hart Manor were already open when we arrived. We’d been told in advance to let ourselves in, so we passed through without so much as a second thought. We made our way through the exquisitely kept gardens and came to the fountain at the center of the grounds.

I looked around from where we stood and saw that a great number of people had gathered at the western terrace. All of them were busy as Roxy directed the placement of food throughout the area with military precision. It was about time for the party to start, but I thought maybe we should wait, and I looked toward Aaron.

We both knew that if we headed to the terrace now, we’d only get in the way. At the same time, that left us at a loss as to what to do. Right at that moment, the manor’s head servant arrived, her glasses glinting in the light of the sun. This woman had been a huge help to me when I reported to her, and she had even given me a large sum of money when I’d told her I was quitting to follow Roxy to Galia.

“Lord Aaron, Lord Fate, welcome. We’ve been expecting you,” she said, bowing deeply.

I knew our positions had changed since we last met, but it was still hard for me to accept the distance between us now. “It’s been a long time,” I said. “I have to thank you for your help. Because of the money you gave me, I made it to Galia safely.”

“I’m happy to hear it. However…I never could’ve imagined that the Fate I knew would return to Seifort quite like you did. I look forward to hearing about your future endeavors.”

It was nice to see that the strictest formalities went only so far as her first bow. She was still the same woman I remembered. She then turned to Aaron and once again bowed deeply.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lord Aaron. I am Haru, the head servant of Hart Manor. It’s an honor to make your acquaintance.”

“And you, too, Haru. I must admit, I’m quite envious of Roxy. I could only dream of having such a beautiful, well-mannered head servant to brighten up my own manor.”

“I…please, stop, my lord. You must be joking…”

I couldn’t believe it. The head servant was always completely focused on her work, yet here she was all flushed and awkward like an ordinary young woman. The so-called woman of steel was…melting?

But having traveled with Aaron for so long, I’d started to see that no matter who we talked to, the old man showered them in compliments. The vast majority of women responded quite favorably to him, and it made me wonder if such behavior heralded the return of the legendary Lady-Killer Aaron.

“Um…Haru?” I said gently. “Would you mind showing us to the terrace now?”

“O-oh…but of course. My humblest of apologies. Right this way.”

Her face was still flushed, and it seemed Aaron’s compliment had left her somewhere on cloud nine. Was she embarrassed to have forgotten her duties, even if just for an instant? I could have found out through my Telepathy skill, but I didn’t want to make a fuss by touching her, so I simply watched on with fascination.

“Would you kindly stop staring, my lord?”

“Oh, my apologies.”

It seemed I’d been watching a little too carefully, and Greed wasn’t about to let me forget it.

“Idiot! Now you’ve made her mad!” Greed said gleefully, cackling.

“Yeah, yeah. If you want to laugh, go ahead and laugh,” I muttered.

That’s exactly what the black sword did. Unceasingly.

“Would you please quit it already?”

With Haru guiding us, we approached the terrace where Roxy waited. She wore a beautiful white dress, and she smiled as we neared. Around her neck, the light of a blue pendant danced in the rays of the sun.