It wasn’t long before I caught Lulu, who was barely running away from me.

I waited for her emotions to calm down on the roof of a building in the academy while securing Lulu’s new recruit.

In order to completely exclude her means of escaping, each other’s wrists were bound together with magical handcuffs.

“Hey, that… . Conrad, I’m sorry… .”

“… … .”

“Can you loosen these handcuffs? I really won’t run away… .”

“… … .”

“Ugh… .”

He remained silent in response to Lulu’s request, which made unreasonable demands.

How did you manage to secure your identity?

To be honest, it was in my head that I might still run away, so I had no intention of letting her go, at least until the story was over.

Aside from that, this posture was a bit embarrassing.

Originally, they should have been handcuffed on opposite wrists. That way, we would have been able to talk in a comfortable position, whether we were sitting facing each other or side by side.

However, since Lulu was desperately running away from me, I also had to frantically chase after her.

At the last moment, even Lulu’s life was in danger.

Immediately after saving her, I had no time to pay attention to the handcuffs.

The imagination that if I didn’t tie Lulu’s body to me in a hurry, she might try to run away again made my actions urgent.

The result was the ridiculous appearance of both wearing the same handcuffs on their right hands.

The handcuffs were so short that the chains were less than a hand’s length apart, so of course, Lulu’s right hand and I had to move together all the time until we loosened them.

Since we couldn’t talk with our backs turned, the compromised posture was the way we sit now.

The relatively light form of her sitting on my lap cross-legged.

If it was Stella or Xian-senpai, it might have been a little uncomfortable, but Lulu, who had a big difference in physique, still came into my arms easily.

Although her ears and tail kept brushing around my chin and neck whenever she couldn’t control her emotions.

“You want me to release you? You know what a request that makes no sense, even if you think about it?”

“Yeah, but it is. It’s only natural that I don’t believe it when I think of what I’ve done… .”

“I will never let you go until you have a proper explanation. If you’re embarrassed, tell me honestly why you ran away.”

“yes… .”

Unlike normal handcuffs, the principle of magic handcuffs is that the magic power used by the user to lock them became the key to unlocking the handcuffs.

Although it is said that there are times when the magic of people with similar wavelengths can be easily released.

Except for my mother, I have never met anyone with a similar wavelength of magic in my life.

No matter how much Lulu is a master at unlocking locks, she is not well versed in magic itself, so it must be difficult to unlock it as usual.

In the first place, since my eyes are constantly reaching me, I won’t be able to even try that kind of thing.

Originally, it was a magical tool that had been saved to be used for a different purpose.

I never imagined that the first person to use this would be Lulu.

“… … .”

As Lulu was held in my arms, she seemed to wiggle her fingers and finally began to open her secretly closed mouth.

The first thing to do is express your apology to me.

“Sorry, Conrad… .”

“… … .”

“The material that Conrad said not to sell… . I sold it because I didn’t manage it properly… .”

Is that why he saw me and ran away as if he had seen the grim reaper?

I guessed that it was because of the material management work I was entrusted with, but I never thought I would have sold the outer shell of the coil mouse that I had put so much emphasis on.

That was enough of a reason why she had been avoiding me all this time.

“M-I’m sorry, Conrad… . I was very angry… .”

“… … .”

“I trusted you and left it to you… . Sorry sorry… .”

When I saw Lulu spit out apologies to me whenever she had tears in her eyes, I really thought about it.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t even the slightest bit angry.

The opportunity to obtain the material of an ancient monster that has already gone extinct will never come again, and it is very difficult to reverse a transaction that has already ended.

The chance to increase our party’s power was lost by her hand.

Of course, I couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of disapproval, and it was true that I was somewhat angry about it.

“It’s okay, maybe.”

The words that came out of my mouth were not expressions of reprimanding her for her mistakes, but words to forgive her mistakes in a calm tone.

“Uh, huh?”

“Don’t worry about the past. I have nothing to be angry with you for like this.”

How can a person not make a single mistake in his life?

If Lulu uses this opportunity to handle her work more diligently and thoroughly next time, the damage she suffered from this incident will also become her valuable resource.

And even if you really thought about the party and only the profit and loss, it was obvious that losing Lulu in this way would come back with a much bigger loss.

At least among the people I knew, there was no better seeker than Lulu.

It has been so until now, and will continue to be so in the future.

It was enough to make Lulu stronger with the party at the cost of losing the shell of the coil mouse.

In the first place, if you interpret the fact that the outer shell of the coil mouse was sold, it also meant that a suitable amount of cash came into your hands.

Even if he couldn’t do it, he would have come in with an additional 2 or 30 gold coins, so he just thought of a new way to use the money.

“Th-don’t do that, Conrad… . Please don’t forgive me so easily… .”

However, contrary to my expected reaction. Rather, she started crying at me and spitting out a mournful voice.

“I’ll do better next time… . So don’t throw me away, give me one chance… .”

“What are you talking about? Why am I abandoning you?”

“Yeah, but I’m the most useless in Conrad’s party… . It’s not like Stella or Saint Clair’s status is high… .

Besides, I know that I have nothing to say even if I’m abandoned, honestly, since even the work that Conrad entrusted to me was a mess… .”

Seeing Lulu looking up at me with a desperate face and pleading, I remembered one thing I had forgotten.

The fact that Lulu and I in the previous life, unlike in this life, spent much more time together and had more conversations alone.

Before returning to the past, the first time I met Stella was at a hunting festival in the first semester of my third year.

It wasn’t winter vacation before the start of the second year like now.

Besides, when it came to senior Xian and Saint Claire, they hadn’t even had a conversation during their academy days, and it was more than a year or two after graduation that they first started talking to each other.

Of course, it was Lulu who spent more time with me during the long hiatus in between.

Even on the day I went back to the dormitory bitterly after losing pathetically in the evaluation match.

Even at the moment when he fell into despair after learning that his younger sister had an arranged marriage to save the Perdalos estate.

The one who understood me best and comforted me the most was Ruru, who was my only friend back then.

Thanks to that, even if there was a certain difference in status between nobles and commoners, the relationship between her and me continued for a long time until the last moment without any particular conflict.

However, in this lifetime, I grew up much faster than I did back then, and relationships with important people, not just Lulu, were completed a little faster.

I couldn’t think of her feelings, who would feel relatively alienated in it.

Maybe it was a conflict that should have erupted someday, even if it wasn’t this time.

On the contrary, I felt very fortunate to be able to clearly point out this opportunity.

“Lulu, I’ve said it many times, but you are absolutely useless.”

“Yeah, but I’m not even the top of the class like everyone else! Stella also proudly won the top spot in the entire swordsmanship department last semester!”

“But all the subjects you learn in the engineering department are highly specialized subjects.

Search for monsters to release traps, and dismantle monster materials. Besides, are you taking combat courses from other departments that general engineering department students can’t even complete properly?

I’ve been watching you for a long time how well you use the knowledge you once learned. Are you trying to tell me that I’m wrong about people?”

“That, of course not… .”

“And have I ever said anything to you or to anyone else, how about the difference in status? You say it’s nice that I don’t feel arrogant like other nobles?”

“That’s right, but… . but… .”

“If you knew, next time don’t say that you’re useless for that reason. At least I really need you Lulu.”

I wrapped my whole body around her from behind and hugged her tight, hoping that my sincerity would be conveyed to Lulu at least a little bit.

The fluttering ears hit both of my cheeks atop her head.

“Yeah, that’s right. Conrad needs me… .”

“That’s right. I can’t be without you Lulu.”

“I-I just heard that I’m lucky to be with Conrad’s friend… . When I was by your side, I felt like you were being treated strangely too… .”

“There is no such thing as a lucky friend. You are my friend because I need you as much as you need me.”

“I see… . All right… .”

Hearing Lulu’s genuinely relieved voice made me feel that the conflict between her and me had finally been resolved.

If only it hadn’t been for the fact that some words had just flowed through her conversation.

“Luru, can I ask you one thing?”

“yes? What?”

“Didn’t you just say you ‘heard’ that you were lucky enough to be my friend?”

“… … yes.”

Well, in retrospect, it was a bit odd.

I fully agreed that the difference in status between Lulu and I was a conflict that would erupt someday.

I felt a bit out of place as to why the problem had popped up right now.

Even though they said they hadn’t seen each other for about a month, it was so strange that he suddenly changed his attitude towards me and ran away.

No matter how much she had such troubles in her heart, it wasn’t enough to avoid me so loudly.

It probably means that someone pointed out Lulu’s wounds.

The sympathy he had harbored for her just now turned into hatred for that person in an instant.

“What kind of child are you?”

“Conrad… ?”

“What kind of bastard is the guy who said that to you?”

After a 30-minute deep conversation with Lulu, I was able to figure out who was the one who made her cry.

Even why she sold the outer shell of the coil mouse.