Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Chapter 379: The merchant Peromus' confession (1)

The Five Continents' Alliance meeting ended without further incident.

It was hard to say what the leaders and representatives thought, but Allen felt like it went as well as it could have.

Allen wanted anyone who needed an A Rank or higher monster dealt with to be able to contact him, so he obtained magic communication devices that could be reached from anywhere in the world.

That was the first task for the Magic Engineers he just obtained from Baukis.

Five days passed since the meeting.

Allen, Cecile, and Peromus were in the mansion of the governor of the city of Grandvelle.

It was the mansion of the Grandvelle family, where Allen worked as a servant before attending the Academy.

"Please give Viscount Grandvelle my regards as well, lady Cecile."

A man in his forties that Allen had not seen while he worked there greeted them politely.

He was the current governor of the Grandvelle territories, apparently he was a relative of the Viscount's.

That distant relative was now greeting the daughter of the family.

Allen heard all about that the night before while they had dinner in the mansion.

"We'll be on our way then."

"Rickel, please take good care of lady Cecile."

"Yes, of course."

The governor told Rickel that.

Allen was glad to see Rickel again, who had taught him both good and bad things while he was a servant.

He was no longer the head butler, but a driver.

Rickel had the carriage ready at the entrance of the mansion.

"Wait, Peromus? Why do you look like that!"

Cecile was flabbergasted seeing Peromus' stiffened stance outside.

"It's just…you see…I was rejected once already."

"And that's why we're going with you. Just leave it to us, I know Fiona pretty well."

"Ow, that hurts! I get it, okay?"

Cecile puffed her chest and claimed she would deal with things while loudly smacking Peromus' back.

Today Peromus was going to confess to Fiona again, the daughter of Chester, who owned a high class inn.

He had tried confessing before too, but he had been rejected, so this was going to be his second try.

He had undergone a Talent Change since then, and leveled up in the dungeons.

It seemed that seeing Shea risk her life to show her determination had inspired him.

Cecile supported that decision, but Allen decided they should go together, knowing the friendship between Cecile and Fiona.

They gave the order to Rickel and they departed.

"Allen, do you think these clothes look good?"

"I guess so?"

(I really don't know about that stuff. And we're almost there anyway.)

Apparently those were brand-name clothes he got in the capital.

Though to Allen they looked no different from regular clothes.

Allen gave a disinterested reply while he took more Mana Seeds.

They were going to arrive at their destination shortly, but Peromus was still worrying about the clothes he was wearing.

Allen had no interest in the appearance of clothes, if the strongest armor looked like a fluffy onesie, he would wear it without hesitation.

Peromus did not seem convinced on the appearance of his lapels, but Allen knew there was no time left to change.

"I think it fits you well, Peromus. You look like the son of a merchant who just made a small fortune."

Cecile tried to give her opinion of him, voicing her honest thoughts.

"I-I don't know how much of a compliment that really is…"

Cecile said her honest thoughts after looking at him.

He looked like the son of someone with money.

"We've arrived, lady Cecile."

Rickel announced their arrival at the high class inn in the city of Grandvelle's center.

"Thanks, Rickel. I'm glad to see you're focusing on your job nowadays."

"Why do you say that, lady Cecile? I've always give it my all working for you!"

"Oh, I guess you did."

Now it was Cecile's turn to give a disinterested reply to Rickel's complaint.

Rickel's laziness was like a chronic disease, and everyone in the city knew it was incurable.

They told Rickel they would return to the mansion on their own, and that he could go back now.

The group entered the inn then, where men in formal clothing received them.

Chester, the owner, had already made arrangements to receive them.

They were led to the top floor, where Chester's room was located.

"Thank you for coming, lady Cecile."

"I'm glad to see you again, Chester."

Cecile was welcomed with much extravagance by Chester.

Allen did not really know Chester, so he was mostly there just to accompany the others.

"Oh, Allen! …And Cecile too."

"Fiona, it's been a while. And yes, I'm here too."

Fiona was standing next to Chester.

She was a lively girl with long frizzy blonde hair.

She was the same age as Allen, Cecile, and Peromus.

Chester was a rather influential man in the city of Grandvelle, and Fiona was his daughter.

As to how they knew each other, there was a time a Madagarsh attacked the city, and Allen had rescued Fiona from it.

As reward, they gave him a gold coin, which he spent on getting a mythril sword.

That allowed him to gather the Magic Stones from C Rank monsters and those with tough armors.

That had been five years ago already, though it still felt like a recent event.

It was also at around that time that Peromus and Fiona met.

Chester decided they could have some tea to celebrate the occasion, so Allen, Cecile, and Peromus sat down, while Chester and Fiona sat in front of them.

"So tell me, Peromus, is your business doing favorably?"

"U-umm, Chester, I believe I mentioned this before, but there's no need to be needlessly polite."

"What are you saying, all of my inns are under your care now. Age doesn't define a merchant, their exploits do."

Chester spoke to Peromus with the same level of respect as Cecile.

Peromus did not feel comfortable being treated like that by him though, given he was the father of the girl he loved.

Still, Chester insisted on addressing Peromus with such respect.

Peromus was considered an adult already, but he was still young. It was easy to see he had a very bright future ahead of him.

Chester probably wanted Peromus to realize the privileged position he had obtained.

Chester's work building up one of the best inns in Grandvelle had been essential for the city's development.

As the first generation, he really wanted Peromus to learn the proper way for a merchant to interact with others.

Chester used to own even more inns, all over the capital and interior of Latash, but when he told Peromus to "Show me your worth as a merchant," Peromus answered by slowly buying up one after another of those inns.

In the end, the inn in Grandvelle was the only one Chester had left.

After that, Peromus placed all of Chester's inns under the custody of his company.

Chester was also added to his payroll, left to manage the inns in Latash.

"And you Allen, how did you meet Peromus?"

Fiona wanted to know the relationship between Allen and Peromus.

"We both grew up in Kurena Village, we're the same age too, so we used to play knights a lot."

Dogora had dragged Peromus with him when he went to Kurena's house to play with Allen and Kurena.

They had been friends since they were around six years old.

"Ohh, I see. Then what kind of relationship do you have now?"

"Well, now we're still working together, all four of us…"

While a servant served tea, Fiona continued talking to Allen.

Apparently she had never heard about Allen and Peromus' past.

Fiona was the daughter of probably the most influential merchant in the city, and she had kept visiting the Grandvelle Mansion since Allen worked as a servant there.

Those visits had become even more frequent after the Madagarsh attack.

As a servant, Allen would often receive her and attend her needs, during which time she would ask him all sorts of questions, but somehow she had never learned about his friendship with Peromus.

(I really wish she started talking to Peromus instead of me though.)

Now Fiona kept asking Allen question after question, it had been a long time since they had seen each other.

Bloodstained topics like Allen's Army's current operations were not really suited for this place.

Allen tried to be as vague as possible when it came to such topics, instead highlighting how Peromus' company was helping him.

"Fiona, that's enough. You realize we didn't come here so you could talk to Allen, right?"

After even more questions, Cecile got tired and told her to stop talking to Allen.

Seeing that, Chester recoiled a little.

Meanwhile Peromus was on the verge of tears seeing how interested she seemed to be in Allen.

"Oh, you still intend on getting in the way of my conversations with Allen?"

Sparks seemed to fly between Cecile and Fiona's gazes.

The relationship between them had gotten tense after Allen became a servant.

Cecile was the daughter of a rather impoverished noble, while Fiona was the daughter of the wealthiest merchant, so Allen had always watched the rivalry between them.

When Peromus mentioned he would try to ask Fiona out again, Cecile said "I'll go along and vouch for you."

Allen then decided to come with them too, because he expected things would take a turn like this.

Sometimes he even wondered how either of the girls considered the other a friend.

"Peromus, don't just stay quiet like that, say something too."

Allen tried to turn the conversation to Peromus.

He had not come there to watch Cecile and Fiona fight like they used to.

"Y-you're right. Fi-Fiona…"

"Wh-what do you want! I thought I already gave you a reply before!!"

It was clear Fiona had not changed her mind in the slightest.

(This looks basically impossible.)

Hearing that resolute rejection, Allen began to feel like Peromus would be better off finding someone else.

"I-I-I'd like to know each other better!!"

He still tried to ask for something, his face completely red.

At least his determination was steel strong.

He wanted to be with Fiona no matter what.

"I already told you I like someone strong! I thought I had made that clear enough last time!!"

Still, the rejection was immediate.

(Hm, he got rejected again. I should take him to some good restaurant for dinner, I think I saw some near the S Rank Dungeon.)

Seeing Peromus' second defeat, Allen decided he would spend the rest of the day with him, and go get some good comfort food for dinner.