Wow, that's rich.

"So in other words, Sati-san, you tried to use your missing sister as a pretext just because you wanted to drink Elflands alcohol. Is that correct?"

"That's right, I'm sorry."

Facing Dea-kun, who was seated in the chair, Sati-tan bowed so low her forehead touched the floor and apologized deeply.

By the way, the silver coins she'd paid at the Adventurers' Guild were really the information fee for booze intel. She knew I'd seen that and tried to make use of it.

Wait, she'd put in an information-gathering request but never actually said it was "for her sister"? Oh wow, that's true. I was totally fooled. Uuugh, she's so smart, I love her too much.

If Aishia hadn't been here, Dea-kun probably would've just put in a good word for her.

And more than anything, I absolutely adore how she didn't stubbornly insist "No, I really was looking for her," but just cleanly admitted it, saying "I lied," and apologizing. Big love.

"Dea-sama, allow me to apologize as well. This girl just wants to drink. She became a merchant purely so she could drink more alcohol…"

"Ah, then I'll apologize too. I'm the one who introduced her. Sorry, Dea-kun."

"… I'll respect Aishia and Onee-san's feelings and let it slide."

Sati-tan's forgiven! Thank goodness!

"Uu, sorry to you too, Karikari. I'll give you my socks, so forgive me, okay?"

"Hmm, forgiven! Ah, take them off right here, okay? And no Cleanse. That's the condition for forgiveness."

"Auu. O-okay…"

Blushing, Sati-tan took off her boots. In that instant, the room's humidity seemed to tick up a notch and a salty smell wafted out. Wow, that's rich.

"Whoa, Sati, how long have you been wearing those?"

"Th-that's none of your business, Onee-chan!?"

"Master, please open the window. I can't stand the smell."

"Nngh!!"

Aishia's verbal jabs brought Sati-tan to the verge of tears.

Then Sati-tan, glancing nervously at everyone's reactions, peeled off those intensely ripe socks all the way.

She flashed the soft-looking, slightly flushed soles of her feet — first left, then right — before taking the socks in hand. She was about to cast Cleanse, seemed to remember I'd forbidden it, stopped herself, and handed them to me with a face so red it showed even through her brown skin.

Utterly adorable. Thanks for the meal.

"Really, I'm sorry. I did something that totally dragged your name through the mud, Karikari."

"Mm, you're forgiven!"

I routed the warm, damp, freshly-steamed socks I'd received into Storage via the valley of my chest.

… …

It feels like I could eat a whole meal just off the smell stuck to my fingers!

Grrr, my kinks are seriously messed up! Curse you, Goddess…

… Also, since I'm not actually delivering these to the Goddess, maybe I didn't need to crank up the embarrassment that far. I only realized that after the fact, though.

For now, I gave Sati-tan a pair of brand-new replacement socks as a present.

"By the way, can't you just say you're going for alcohol and get in normally?"

"You can. That's exactly why I couldn't forgive her for trying to exploit her sister's unknown whereabouts."

Ahh, Dea-kun really is a big sis-lover. I wonder how Kumin-san's doing.

She seemed fine when I got the okay by letter to have Dea-kun wear boys' clothes.

"Mm, this one really is on you, Sati-tan. Be more careful next time, okay?"

"You're right, Karikari… Next time I'll use an aunt who's properly dead so I don't get caught."

"That would be harder to catch. Great idea, as expected of Sati-tan!"

"No, that's not great! You're not reflecting at all, are you!?"

"Uu, elves really don't get jokes…"

Well, the timing for that joke might've been bad.

"But I'm happy Ai-nee's alive and well. I never thought she'd be in Solasidor. It's like they say, 'from the depths of a huge chest, you can't see the feet,' right?"

Is that her version of "the darkest place is under the candlestick"? Coming from a forever-loli-flat dwarf, that particular phrasing has some extra bite to it.

"'Alive and well' is stretching it. Both her arms were gone and her face and throat were crushed, after all."

"That's like the full 'bard tragedy set.' Huh, what happened?"

I explained to Sati-tan what state Aishia had originally been in, adding that "Mr. Healer fixed her up for us," and that we got her cheap thanks to all that.

"Ugh… I-I'm sorry. I had no idea she'd been like that for years. No wonder Dea-san was mad. I'm really sorry, okay?"

"It's fine. Sounds like Alchemia got wiped out anyway; I'm sure my grudge reached the Goddess."

"Ahaha, it'd be pretty bad if a single person's grudge could wipe out a whole country, Ai-nee."

Knowing full well that her grudge never actually reached the Goddess, I quietly averted my eyes. Sorry about the whole getting-caught-in-the-crossfire thing, okay?

"But I see. In that case, I can't exactly buy Ai-nee out, huh. Do your best with the slave life, then. If Karikari's your master, she won't treat you too badly, right?"

"Hm? Yeah, I really can't let Aishia go free."

I'd expected her to try negotiating to buy out Aishia's ownership, so I was a little taken aback.

Ah, it's probably because the price jumps by five gold coins once you tack on the treatment fee. When you think about how much alcohol that kind of money could buy, there's no way she could justify it.

In the end, that day Aishia ended up being lent out to Sati-tan.

They must have plenty to talk about as sisters. Of course, I made sure she'd keep our secrets.

"Who would've thought Sati-tan and Aishia were sisters? Pretty surprising, huh, Dea-kun."

"It was. And it's the first time I've heard about dwarven family structures, too."

Elves are basically monogamous, so the dwarves' multi-husband multi-wife system seemed pretty hard for him to wrap his head around.

I think polygamy has all sorts of practical benefits, though. It just gets fuzzy when it comes to whether you're properly passing down your own bloodline.

Anyway.

Aishia was going to sleep in Sati-tan's room, but that still left me and Dea-kun with one bed and two pillows. We'd originally told the inn that "Dea-kun and I will sleep in the bed and Aishia will sleep on the floor," after all.

"So, what do we do? Just share this bed as-is? Or should I pull out the Storage-space base?"

"… Given that we don't know when Sati-san might come by, I think we should sleep here as-is for tonight!"

"Right? I was thinking the same thing. It'll be cramped, but bear with it for tonight, okay, Dea-kun?"

By tomorrow we'll probably know Sati-tan's schedule and be able to use the Storage base again.

And so I ended up sharing a bed with Dea-kun.

Naturally, I had Dea-kun change into girls' clothes first!!