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We ate breakfast in the dining hall the next morning. Now that the Imperial Sword Tournament was behind us, it was a lot easier to find inns, and so we were able to stay at a place that was very close to the south gate. At the same time, it started to get colder, and the city was now covered in snow. It had been getting colder for a while, but it had finally become winter.

 

The snow crunched under my feet as I walked through the streets. My breath was white and my fingertips were cold. Even my toes were painfully chilled in my boots. I had always been quite sensitive to the cold.

As for Daniela, she wasn’t with me today. We were acting separately. There were times when people wanted to be by themselves. Being able to respect each others’ time was the secret to a long relationship. I think.

 

“The way I see it, we both have a gauge that depletes whenever we communicate. It depletes faster the more we see of each other. And once it reaches zero, it’s over. We have to separate for some time in order to replenish it. It’s a repeating process as life goes on.”

 

That’s why it’s better to avoid contacting people too much or trying to see them all of the time. It’s important to know the right distance to take.

 

As I mused on this, a young couple in warm-looking clothes walked in my direction from the other side of the street. I suppose their gauge was depleting right now.

 

“What’s wrong with that guy…”

“He’s staring at us…”

 

They saw me staring vacantly at them and gave me a look of disgust. Ouch.

 

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I was at the guild. Just thought I might take a look at the quest board since I was strolling through the area. I hadn’t checked it since the Reserentrible incident, so I was curious to see how things were these days.

 

“Hmm… I don’t see anything particularly new.”

 

As it was the ice snow season, there weren’t as many monsters around…probably. Goblins were weak to the cold. 

 

“Maybe I should do a non-hunting quest for a change…”

 

I might as well make some money if I had nothing to do… Oh?

 

“Mansion Security?”

 

Apparently, someone was prowling around this person’s house recently. And the owner wanted it to be investigated. Hmm. As the tournament was over, most of the tourists would have left already. Of course, there could be suspicious people here as well. In fact, I had been seen as one just a moment ago.

 

“So, it’s not stakeout.”

 

It was only for one night. Or perhaps they wanted to hire multiple people so they wouldn’t be recognized. So anyone who was there on the day the suspicious person appeared would be pretty lucky.

 

“Hmm…sounds interesting.”

 

What could be more fun than capturing suspicious people? It might be dangerous, but I’d figure it out. I wasn’t being narcissistic, but I had some confidence in myself these days. It had been a long road to getting strong enough to feel that way.

Alright, I would do it. I grabbed the request slip and headed to the counter. I would have to tell Daniela about it…or I could tell her when I was finished…maybe.

 

“First of all, better go see this client.”

 

Then I would return to the inn, tell Daniela, and then go out at night to investigate. Yes, that was fine. Good. It shouldn’t be a problem.

 

Or so I told myself. But for some reason, I felt a chill go up my back.

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