Chapter 5: Peaceful Hydrangea ④ – Shiro’s Tea Time.

The Cidre Inn was, as its name suggested, a tavern with cider as its signature drink.

But strangely, no one ordered cider. Instead, they ordered ale and the like.

Maybe because the owner was a former explorer dwarf, adventurers often frequented the place.

Though a tavern, it had plenty of snacks and meals, so many, like me, came for food.
And Cidre Inn had a second floor.

The second floor consisted of private rooms, each separated so that none were adjacent.
If I remembered right, there were six rooms in total.

Not just anyone could use the second floor.
First, the usage fee was high. Next, you needed an introduction. Finally, a certain level of status and reputation was required.
And the most important condition: you absolutely had to be accompanied by a woman.

I didn’t meet any of those requirements. But if I asked the owner, I could use it without a problem.

Barnes, the innkeeper, had helped me a lot when I first came to Hydrangea.

At that time, I gave him a few bits of advice about recipes I remembered from my previous life.
It wasn’t much, but it seems it meant a lot to Barnes.

As thanks, he gave me the right to use a VIP room on the second floor for free whenever it was available.
Not that I used it often.

In fact, I hadn’t used it at all recently, and I didn’t think I would in the future.
Or so I thought.

“Interesting room.”

The pure-white beauty scanned the red-wallpapered room from corner to corner.
Unusually, a white tea table had been folded up and set in the corner.

“…Um, Miss Shiro. What would you like to eat?”
“Let’s see. Do you have anything white?”

She asked while gazing at me with her completely white eyes.
Not silver—her irises were a strange, pure white.

It made my heart skip a beat for a moment.
Shiro White Vai… well, her name was long, but she was a First-Class Explorer.

From head to toe, she looked like a frozen, dazzlingly beautiful girl in her late teens, pure white in every detail.
With her striking appearance, anyone would be entranced—were it not for the tea table she carried on her back.

Of course, appearance didn’t necessarily equal age. Maybe she was the same universal human race as me.
Either way, she was older than me.

Now she sat gracefully across from me on a black sofa, one leg crossed.
This sofa—it was the same as the one in the witch’s house.

“White food, huh?”
“And I don’t like meat.”
“Then it’d be either pasta in white sauce or cream stew.”
“That will do.”
“…Actually, there’s also milk cheese rice.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“Then let’s go with that.”

I ordered butter rice and orange juice for myself.
Miss Shiro chose white liqueur. Alcohol, of course—it was a tavern, after all.

I opened the soundproof box installed beside the door and spoke into the small crystal inside.
This crystal was connected to a large crystal in the kitchen—an old legendary artifact for communication.

Barnes, the innkeeper, had found it long ago in a dungeon.
Though it had been broken, the witch had repaired it for him.

There were many small crystals, but only one large crystal.
All the small ones connected to the large one, enabling two-way communication.

So, why was I sitting in a VIP room upstairs with Miss Shiro?
There wasn’t a deep reason.

Just a short while ago—
I’d come to Cidre Inn hungry, only to find it packed to the brim like never before.
The reason was obvious: Agaro was there.

The moment Hydrangea was chosen as the host for the Great of Rounds, and the new First-Class promotions were announced, Agaro became a local celebrity.
Skilled, yes—but also a notorious drunk who’d been banned from countless taverns. And yet, now a hero.

“Hm. Guess we can’t get in like this.”
“That’s troublesome.”
“Ah.”
“Oh.”

We turned at the same time. It was Miss Shiro.

The alabaster beauty—astonishingly white from head to toe.

“Miss Shiro.”
“You’re… the witch’s apprentice, Wof, right?”
“Yes. Are you here for Cidre Inn as well?”
“I was. But it seems impossible like this.”

Miss Shiro sighed.
I was ready to give up as well—after all, I was alone, and a man besides.

“…It’s not like there isn’t a way, though.”
“Oh? There is?”
“Yes.”

And that’s how we ended up here.

While waiting for our food, I chatted with her.
Contrary to her cool appearance, Miss Shiro was quite talkative.

“Still, this is a VIP room, isn’t it? I didn’t think it would be so easy for you to use one. Looks can be deceiving.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, without a woman you can’t enter here. If you didn’t know, I’ll enlighten you.”

I thought I saw a mischievous gleam in her pure white eyes.

“I’ll pass.”

She joked, pretending to be disappointed.

“By the way, how much do you know about the witch?”
“Even as her apprentice, there’s a lot I don’t know. Are you her friend, Miss Shiro?”
“Friend… Wait, hasn’t she told you anything about Shiro?”
“No. She doesn’t really talk about things like that.”
“You called her a friend, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Isn’t that right?”
“No. That witch doesn’t have any friends.”

She declared it firmly, leaving me stunned.

“Eh?”

“It’s just a fated tie. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“……”

“I always thought that witch would go on living alone forever. She’s that kind of woman… to think she’d end up with a man, of all things.”

“She has a disciple, though.”

“You’re a man, aren’t you?”

“I am. But being a disciple isn’t the same as being a lover.”

“Then tell me—Wof-kun, don’t you like the witch?”

“I do like her.”

“Then it’s not wrong to say she’s got a man now, is it?”

“No, I said I’m her disciple.”

I really wished she wouldn’t mix those things up.

Shiro muttered, “You’re stubborn,” and then her expression shifted, as if she’d realized something.

“You like the witch?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Really. I mean… she’s been so kind to me. She worries about me, thinks about me, helps me, teaches me, guides me… Sure, a lot of that is because I’m her disciple, but still. Someone who does all that for me—how could I not like her?”

Shiro stared at me in disbelief. Her mouth hung open like she couldn’t close it again.

“Kind…? That’s not the witch I know.”

“Is that so?”

“So she has found a man… A woman changes once she has one.”

“Fine, if that’s what you want to believe—Wait. Shiro-san… are you worried about the witch?”

The air froze. No, it shifted. It grew cold.

Shiro didn’t blink, didn’t look away, just stared at me. And I couldn’t look away either.

Her face—beautiful, balanced between innocence and a hint of allure—held me in place.

An experience I might never have again in my lifetime.

Just how pure white could this person possibly be?

It was as if her beauty didn’t belong to this world.

Her pale-painted lips moved smoothly.

“…Wof-kun. Saying outrageous things like that—you really are like the witch.”

When she finished, Shiro finally averted her gaze from me.

“…My apologies…”

Well, I couldn’t blame her for thinking that. I had just blurted out exactly what I felt.

Right then, our food arrived.

A plate of milk-cheese rice was set before Shiro.

Though… that was basically risotto, wasn’t it?

She took a spoonful right away, and murmured quietly:

“…Such a gentle flavor. I didn’t know something could taste this gentle.”

Her words, and even her voice, were gentle. She seemed to have taken quite a liking to it.

From there, we ate and chatted pleasantly, enjoying the meal together.

After finishing with satisfaction, we left the Cidre Inn, and when we were about to part ways—

“I’ve decided.”

“Eh?”

“Shiro has decided on you.”

“Decided… what?”

“Well then, until next time, Wof-kun.”

Shiro gave no answer, and walked away from me.

It wasn’t until much later that I learned what she meant by those words.

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