Liza saw me getting ready

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“…I wonder when Mr. Ekenhart went to sleep? His snoring is quite loud.”

On the other side of the tent, Mr. Ekenhart was sleeping loudly.
He was unlikely to get up for some time.
In any case, I left him and stepped out of the tent.
Apparently, it was just me and him. As Phillip’s sleeping bag was empty.

“Ah, papa! You’re up?”
“Aye, I am. Morning, Liza.”
“Yes, good morning!”
“Wou.”
“Kyau!”
“Good morning, Mr. Takumi.”
“Good morning, Ms. Lyra.”

Liza called out from the river as soon as she saw me.
And so I walked over to her, and then greeted the others.
Sherry was playing in the shallow part of the river, and Liza was with her.
As you did not need to swim, Sherry would be fine.

As for Leo, she was in the deep part of the river, and swimming like a dog… She really did like to swim. Perhaps it was for exercise.
And then there was Ms. Lyra, who stood smiling by the river, and seemed to be watching over the others.
I greeted her as well, and then started to prepare for the morning.

“…Huh. So that’s what you do, papa.”
“Oh, you haven’t seen this before? Well, there are some things a man does in the morning.”

I washed my face in the river and started to shave.
As I was used to it now, I was able to shave cleanly without cutting my face… At least, I think I did… I didn’t have a mirror, so I could only check my reflection in the river.
Liza was looking at me curiously, which was a little embarrassing, but I made sure that it did not show on my face.
Because she always went away with Tilura or Ms. Lyra, she had never seen me getting ready before.

“Now, since we have finished eating, it’s time to finally go and search for some orcs…. Hahh…”
“Your Grace!”
“Oh…sorry. I didn’t get much sleep. In any case, today, we shall search for and hunt the orcs.”

After I was finishing getting ready, Liza, Leo and Sherry came out of the river, and we helped Ms. Lyra with breakfast.
As there were a lot of people, I thought that it would be hard. But since there was another maid, it finished quickly.
Well, I was just washing and cutting vegetables as ordered.
Ms. Lyra did the actual cooking.

Speaking of breakfast, this was to be the last one where Sherry would eat the same thing as the rest of us.
After lunch, she had to hunt orcs for food… According to Leo.

By the time we were all finished eating, Mr. Ekenhart got up and came out of his tent.
While he must have slept quite late, he always had trouble getting up in the morning.
And so he skipped breakfast, and we all got ready and gathered together.
Mr. Ekenhart then addressed everyone as if giving a speech. However, he failed to stifle a yawn when getting to the important part.

…How long had he stayed up after I left?
I had been in such a deep sleep that I did not notice when he returned to the tent.
When I glanced to the side, I saw that Ms. Claire also looked sleepy and was holding back a yawn.

“…”

Ms. Claire noticed that I was looking at her, and then she turned away and blushed.
She really did not like being seen with her guard down… But that was also cute.
…Could I be blushing a little as well…?

As for Ms. Anne, who stood next to her, she was more tired than sleepy.
I guess one night of sleep was not enough to rid her of the tiredness of trekking through the forest.
After all, she did not exercise daily, and was not used to this.
Thinking of it like that, Ms. Claire certainly had a lot of energy, for being a similar noble woman… But it was no surprise, given that she was Mr. Ekenhart’s daughter.

Tilura was standing in front of Mr. Ekenhart and listening to him with a serious expression.
And while I could not see her face, she was probably a little nervous and tense now that things were really getting started.

“First, we will have Leo detect their locations. Is that alright, Leo and Mr. Takumi?”
“Wuff!”
“Yes, we’re ready.”

I had made Leo eat some sense enhancing herbs in advance, so she should be able to sense presences in an even wider range than usual.
Like this, she could know where to go in order to find the orcs.

“Mmm. Once we know where the orcs are, we will have Phillip and the others head in that direction. And if there happens to be other monsters there as well, try and stay away.”
“Yes!”
“And if you do find any orcs, provoke them so that they will follow you. And if you can, make sure that they are few in number. While I intend for them to take turns fighting, in general I want to create a situation where it is one against one.”
“Yes!”

Phillip and the guards would go into the forest and find the orcs that Leo sensed, and lure them to us.
And if there were too many, they were to kill some and lower their number.
As for who would go, it was Phillip, Nicholas and one other guard.
The other guards and Johanna would stay and protect us.

Leo would also stay as a protector, so it was more than enough. But when a lot of people enter the forest, it was possible that they could attract the attention of other monsters, so it was decided that only three people should go in.
Besides, the guards had been properly trained, so it was unlikely that they would suffer any grievous injuries…

My Beloved Dog is the Strongest in Another World