In the face of Brandish's strong protest, Hisui fell into awkward silence.
"Hey, why did you stop talking? Don't tell me you people forgot about me again?!"
Sensing that something was wrong, Brandish sprang up from the bed in outrage and began stomping hard on the mattress as she shouted.
Back at the palace, these people had already looked down on her again and again. And now the same thing was happening with titles. Kabe had one, Lady Irene had one, and yet somehow she alone had been left out!
"W-wait, there is one for Miss Brandish too!"
Hisui waved both hands in a rush, trying to calm her down. Then, pretending she had been prepared all along, she pulled out an iron badge and handed it to Brandish.
"This is proof of a baroness title. Although it does not include land, it is also hereditary forever."
As she said this, Hisui quietly let out a breath of relief.
Thankfully, she usually kept spare insignia of this sort on hand. As expected, they had finally come in useful at a critical moment.
It was only a small baroness title, naturally nowhere near the level of the count ranks granted to Kabe and Lady Irene.
But it was still a noble title, and it came with quite a few privileges.
Brandish accepted it without hesitation and immediately lay back down on the bed, satisfied, returning to her natural state as a salted fish.
"Well then... if there is nothing else, I will head back..."
Looking at the strangely "harmonious" atmosphere among the group, Hisui increasingly felt that she did not belong there at all.
And since she was leaving, Kabe had no intention of stopping her.
Right now, Hisui was still just a little girl in his eyes, at most one of many possible future targets. Kabe simply did not have much interest in her yet.
"Oh. Be careful on the way back. Since His Majesty is seriously ill, I will not go bother him. We are planning to leave and head back in a day or two."
"Ah... oh... I see. In that case, I wish all of you a safe journey."
After saying that, with a trace of disappointment and sadness, Hisui lowered her head and quietly left the room.
Even after she closed the door behind her, not a single person inside made any move to call her back.
'Wah... as expected, he doesn't need me at all. I'm just some useless extra...'
Hisui almost cried as she left the inn.
Perhaps out of spite at being neglected, before leaving she deliberately went to find the innkeeper.
Using her own money, she ordered that, according to the size of Kabe's group, each person be given a separate room.
'Heh. Don't even think about doing anything improper behind my back. Separate. All of you, separate!!'
When Kabe later learned about this from the innkeeper, he did not know what expression he was supposed to make.
The suite he had booked was already the best in the royal capital. It came with a master bedroom, secondary bedrooms, and even servant quarters for guards and attendants.
He had not been foolish enough to expect that, with such a short amount of time together, he could really trick any of the four women into his bed.
Thinking of that, he collapsed back onto the bed and could not help complaining,
"Ahh... the royal capital really is boring. We should just leave as soon as possible.
It's been so long since I've seen Erza and the others. I wonder how they're doing."
And once he thought of Erza, he immediately thought of the guild, and all the noisy companions back there.
Without them around making a mess, life felt unbearably dull.
"By the way, Irene, do you want to join our guild?
And you too, Brandish, Heine, Juliet.
You all have nothing much to do anyway, so coming to our guild would be pretty nice."
Kabe had originally thought there was a good chance they would agree.
Instead, both Irene and Brandish rejected the idea almost without thinking, with astonishing decisiveness.
"No interest." / "I don't want to."
And if Irene refused, then naturally Heine and Juliet were not even worth asking.
"Ah? Why not? Joining a guild and taking on jobs sounds pretty fun, doesn't it?"
Brandish rolled over and buried her face in the blanket, then replied in her muffled, lazy voice,
"Nope. Too much trouble. As long as I can eat your food and spend your money, that's enough for me."