Deception

Cleo looked at me with an amused smile with a laughing face and faced Elsie again "Thank you for being a big sister to Ren! Since we are adventurers, Ren doesn't get to play around with kids his age anymore. Will you play with him from now on?"

My face was burning at this point. What are you saying Cleo!

"Sure! Ren, come over anytime you want to play ok? Big sister will play with you!"

I buried my face in my arms and just mumbled an ok.

Elsie took orders from everyone and left. As soon as she was out of earshot Cleo, Leana and Turek started laughing. I glared at them but that just made them laugh harder.

"Wha… why are you laughing?" Sheila asked, seeming confused.

"It's nothing! They just like to make fun of me." I gave a meaningful look to Cleo. It seems she understood as she didn't bring up my age. Instead she changed the subject.

"We should take some time to rest after eating. We have been travelling for so long and everyone is tired."

Everyone agreed to Cleo's suggestion. Soon the food came and everyone started eating. Leana, Cleo and Turek seemed to like the food too. We asked Elsie about it and she said that her father cooks the food and her mother helps him. She asked me if I wanted to play with her after eating but I declined saying that I needed to rest. Everyone started laughing again once she left while Sheila looked around in confusion. I guess she was the only one who couldn't understand the joke.

Sheila, Leana and Turek soon left while Cleo and I stayed behind with an excuse about asking Elsie about something. Once everyone was gone, I asked Cleo what happened in the room after I left.

"I noticed that Turek was really uncomfortable with Sheila so I talked with him. It looks like he was just afraid of her after hearing your story. After I talked with him a bit, it looks like he is going to be fine."

"Yeah, he didn't talk at all when we were there. So that was the reason."

I took a breath and asked "So did you also decide what to do with her?".

Cleo looked at me and said "We will continue asking her more about the bandit queen. Since she is so taken with you, I don't think we need to worry about her running away. I am still going to keep an eye on her though. We also decided not to leave her alone. Either me or Leana should always be close."

"Didn't you just leave me alone with her?"

"Uh.. well we just decided on it. Anyway, I don't think she will do anything to you. From what I can tell, she really likes kids. I assume that is what you were trying to say before?"

"Yeah, I don't think we should tell her my age."

"She is bound to find out sooner or later. Since she said she is 27, she is 10 years older than you. Even I think of you as a kid, so you are really young for her. I don't think that things will change even if she found out that you are a little older than she thought. But… for now we will continue like this while observing her."

"How strong do you think she is?"

"Hmm… I am not sure. I know that I am stronger than her but not if she is stronger than Leana.

"Then, how do we find that out?"

"We can register her as an adventurer. The guild will be able to measure her strength."

"What? You want to make her an adventurer?"

"Well she doesn't have to join our party but we can use this method to confirm her strength."

"Hmm… ok. She should be quite strong. She picked me up very easily."

"I think even Elise could pick you up easily. You are so light! Do you want to give it a try?" Cleo asked me with an amused smile.

"What? No! I… I am not that light!"

"Lets see if the guild has some way to measure weights. Then we will find out for sure." said Cleo while giggling.

I looked away and started walking towards the stairs. Cleo went to pay Elsie for everyone's food.