Chapter 26 - The Girls Return with Extra

(AN: 2/2 chapters for today! Enjoy!)

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Merlin sat on the same chair he'd sat on yesterday. He was all alone there. Filia, Tianne, and Llusse were outside and hadn't returned yet. Natalia was in the kitchen, reheating the girls' meals and preparing food for lunch as well.

Even though Merlin wanted to help Natalia, he realized he didn't know his way around the medieval kitchen. The moment he saw a furnace instead of a gas or electric stove, he immediately changed his mind.

Don't take it wrong; Merlin could cook but wasn't skilled enough to prepare delicious cuisine. He could prepare simple cuisine like scrambled eggs and instant noodles, but he had to use convenient modern tools to do that!

Merlin had no patience for cooking with a furnace that needed firewood as fuel and should be attended to all the time to maintain the correct temperature.

That's why, after he finished with the heavy lifting, he excused himself; he was ashamed when he had to resort to that in front of Natalia!

He lamented the lack of comfortable modern tools in this world!

'Perhaps, I'll revolutionize the technology after conquering this queendom… Yes! That's a good goal to have! I shall be the Thomas Edison and the Leonardo da Vinci of this world! Viva la revolution!'

Merlin quickly regained his composure when realizing that he was getting ahead of himself. 'But, before that, I have to go to the capital first! Speaking of which, when will we go there? I have to ask Filia and the rest after they come back!'

All of sudden, Merlin sensed some people entering the inn, so he glanced at the front door and saw his missing companions entering through it.

'What a coincidence! They finally came back! Well? Who's that girl? I never saw her in the doujinshi and the OVA! But more importantly… Holy crap! She looks cute and exotic up close!' Merlin noticed the extra addition.

They walked up in his direction and joined him at his table, except for the unknown girl; after getting close to him, she was rooted on her spot, gawking at Merlin with a flushing face and dazed eyes.

Merlin felt so smug when he saw the girl's reaction. It never got old!

Meanwhile, Filia, Tianne, and Llusse had a wry smile as they saw the girl's reaction. They also wondered if they looked like that when they were affected by his charm yesterday. When they imagined that, they felt ashamed but consoled themselves that it was Merlin's fault; his charm was too abnormal!

At this point, the three of them had built up a considerable resistance for Merlin's charm. They weren't easily captivated and fell into a daze when looking at his face. But, they weren't immune to it.

However, their resistance to Merlin's charm had a side effect. It also increased their expectations for men as they used Merlin's face as a reference subconsciously; they thought other men were less pleasing in the eyes after adapting to Merlin's charm.

"Welcome back." Merlin greeted his girls, plus the gawking one, after they settled down.

Merlin's voice snapped the silver-haired girl out from her daze. She immediately introduced herself to Merlin, "My name is Aina. I hailed from a faraway place to join the hero in his quest to defeat the Dark Lord. Perchance, are you the summoned hero?"

The silver-haired girl, now known as Aina, had introduced herself politely. Merlin couldn't help but commend her etiquette skill.

'Is she wary of me?' Merlin thought as he noticed the subtle wariness the girl had for him. 'But why? We never met before!'

Merlin was confused and curious, but he put his curiosity aside to introduce himself to the girl. "My name is Merlin Pendragon. I'm the current hero, apparently. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Aina."

Aina nodded stiffly. Her face was flushing; her eyes were roaming around, trying and failing to not look at him directly. She was struggling as she tried to resist Merlin's charm.

Since Aina was still standing stiffly, Merlin decided to invite her to join them. "Feel free to take a seat and join us, Miss Aina."

After Aina joined them, Merlin turned his gaze to his girls. "So, where have you all been?"

"Well, we have been searching for you!" Llusse answered in an exasperated tone and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Where have you been?"

Filia and Tianne also looked at Merlin. He could see their exasperation, but they didn't complain loudly like Llusse.

'They don't know that I was here until they came back, don't they?' Merlin mused shortly before replying vaguely, "Just here and there."

The three of them felt more curious and a bit doubtful, but Merlin decided to divert the topic of their conversation to the new addition to their group before they could ask more questions.

"So, let's talk about Miss Aina." Merlin turned his attention to the quiet girl and continued, "You said you wanted to join us to defeat the Dark Lord, right?"

Aina, who'd been silently watching the interaction between Merlin and his girls, was startled when she became the center of attention. However, she regained her composure instantly and nodded to Merlin. "Indeed. I've spoken to Miss Filia and the rest, but they agreed to hear out your opinion first."

"Well, thanks for not excluding my opinion for something important like this, girls." Merlin had a grateful expression he directed to the girl.

Merlin had read or watched more than enough 2-D entertainment with a bunch of female characters around the male lead ignoring his opinion when they decided something that could affect the male lead without his consent. Thus, Merlin was relieved and grateful that these girls weren't unreasonable like those Thots.

"You're one of us, so your opinion matters too!" Llusse exclaimed in a fluster.

She couldn't stay in character when she was around Merlin. She was also scared to make him hate her due to her crush on him.

This Llusse was so different from the Llusse whom Merlin knew from the show. She was less brash and hotheaded. It seems his charm had affected her more than he initially assumed.

"Well said, Llusse!" Filia nodded to Llusse before turning her attention to Merlin. "We're here to assist you in your endeavor to defeat the Dark Lord, so we shall defer to your opinion."

"We'll do our best to help you out," Tianne added, smiling demurely all the while.