Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 185

Episode 185. Love Comes Back, Like a Boomerang (3)

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This is the image I have of the old man. He is an old reclusive master who has mastered the art of walking on water with mysterious magical powers that are hard to fathom.

Plus, he’s not only skilled at dislocating his shoulder, but last week I saw him take off his tie and fight a two-story house-sized boulder golem in the sewers. Now, Mr. C.

“How is our baby?”

[ Of course. Right now, Honey is asleep in bed. Honey said she wanted to see you soon. ]

“Oh, I did something terrible to the baby. Pet.”

Here he is. His deep voice is nowhere to be found, and he is holding the phone with both hands, giving off a fresh feeling like you are seeing someone in love for the first time.

The voice coming from the other end of the phone is so soft that it makes me feel like my hands and feet are slowly curling inward. Is this because I’m a poor single guy who doesn’t know the wonders of love?

“Oh… Oh my. Wow.”

Meanwhile, Miss Elena, who had been lost in thought, listened to the conversation between the old man and her for a moment, and her eyes began to sparkle as if a small red button in her heart had been pressed. Whether we are doing this or not…

[ Me too. When do you think work will be over today? ]

“The work is over, and I am now with the young man I spoke to before. Companion.”

[ Ah. But don’t be too late. Maybe it’s because the moon is bright, but I miss you more than anything today. ]

“I’ll be back soon. I love you, my love.”

[ Me too. I love you, honey. ]

Then the phone call ended again, and the old man just stared at the dark screen with the corners of his lips raised in satisfaction. After about ten seconds, he lowered his hat and turned towards us.

“Sorry, I’m on the phone for a moment… What’s going on with you two?”

“… … .”

He stopped mid-speaking and asked me a question as if he was puzzled, but I didn’t have time to answer. It was too much to even cover my face with my hand, which was about to burst out in laughter.

“and….”

Miss Elena also blinked with red cheeks, as if she was still in shock from encountering True Love. Then she shook her head and stammered as she opened her mouth.

“Excuse me, Mr. Wolf.”

“Please speak.”

“Your companion. That is, your wife. Um… I think you and your wife are on really good terms.”

As she spoke, she must have gained courage, because her eyes are now sparkling brightly. Of course, as a succubus who is a researcher at a potion company and a lover by profession, it is a situation that she cannot just ignore.

When it comes to love in old age, the first thing that comes to mind is the idiom “supreme and pure.” Isn’t this the closest thing to the true love that Miss Elena wants? Or maybe not.

“If you don’t mind, can I ask you a few questions?”

“I’m fine, but what are you talking about?”

“So, how did the two of you meet and how did you start dating― and stuff.”

The old man closed his mouth, seeming momentarily taken aback by this question.

I know the reason for this because I heard it before. The old man is a former soldier in the Escort Corps. He said that his companion was the old man’s escort during his military service.

I haven’t heard anything about it since then, but it’s a pretty good guess. As a soldier, it would have been difficult to fall in love with someone you were escorting during a mission due to practical issues, so it would have been after the war ended.

And, the world doesn’t go back to normal overnight just because the war is over. After the escort mission was over, you must have done various things regarding the aftermath, and maybe you’ve escorted your current partner a few more times…

You must have been dating before you retired, but you clearly said that talking about that time was forbidden. Like a prayer ban.

That must be why he kept his mouth shut even now. Elena, who had no way of knowing about this situation, seemed embarrassed at the thought of asking such an awkward question.

“Well, if that’s difficult, you don’t have to tell me! It’s just… an occupational disease for me!”

“…You told me earlier that you work at a pharmaceutical company, Miss Elena.”

“Yes! It’s not that I’m personally curious, but I thought it might be helpful for the collaboration with Chan-i. So… .”

As he spoke, his head slowly lowered to the floor, and his persuasiveness also hit rock bottom. The old man looked at me and asked, “Haven’t you heard me say we’re going to collaborate?”

“Have you two been working together?”

“Yes. Not from the beginning, but after you came as a guest, you came a few more times and then the opportunity arose and you did it.”

He was just a friend and a guest, and whenever he came, he would talk a lot, so I listened to him talk. As time went by, we became comfortable with each other, and now we even chat like this.

To put it briefly, the old man, who seemed to be thinking, started crying.

“My beginnings were similar to those of you two. At first, we were just friends, no, we met through work.”

It seems that she was choosing to answer the question, but chose to answer with care. As soon as the old man started talking, Ms. Elena raised her head and straightened her posture reverently.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to hear it either, so I sat up straight. It’s not easy to hear a story like this about a love affair between a werewolf soldier and a spirit wizard that lasted for decades.

“I remember that when we first met, I was a bit… rude.”

“Is this what the old man said?”

“I didn’t start out doing that job because I liked it. At the time, I thought, ‘Isn’t there something more… rewarding for me?’”

“What kind of work did you do back then, sir?”

“… It was a job managing the warehouse, Miss Elena.”

I think it would be understandable if you refer to the escort target as inventory and the escort space as a warehouse. The metaphor is quite dry, so it seems that you were not in the mood to start with.

“My partner was a colleague at work, so we were often together in the warehouse, and I often showed that I didn’t like the work.”

“Ego. Then, your companion… .”

“I accepted everything with a smile. Back then, when I was young, I thought of my partner as just a woman who would laugh without any reason. Anyway, the inventory in the warehouse was quite important… .”

There were many dangerous things while managing it, and there were several times when I almost got hurt. However, sometimes the elderly and sometimes the pet helped each other and somehow solved the problem.

“You said your companion helped the elderly person?”

“Yes. There were a couple of times when I was beyond my power, but my companion was there to help me.”

It seems like you definitely got some help by answering again, but I still can’t quite imagine it. The elder is the one who protects and the companion is the one who is being protected. Why would the person being protected help the person who is supposed to protect him?

Even if I did help, I wonder what the hell the old man, who was a master who could break rocks with his bare hands, could have done. He must have been young at the time…

“We became close while working together… .

Of course, Miss Elena, who didn’t know the situation, was just being romantic, muttering while even clapping her hands. That’s why there’s a saying that it’s better not to know.

“Through that work, we got to know each other, and after work was over… um… .

At this point, the old man seemed a little embarrassed and reserved in his words. As if he had a hunch, the area around the shoulder blades of the clothes that Miss Elena was wearing kept fluttering. It seemed like she was flapping her wings.

“Did you confess? Uh, who confessed?”

“… we confessed to each other at the same time. We were surprised at the same time, we were happy at the same time, and we said we would love each other for the rest of our lives at the same time.”

“Oh my, what should I do?”

What should I do, then it will be like that…

The answer caught in my throat and my face turned hot. It seemed that I still had some romanticism left in me. Miss Elena was writhing around in joy.

The old man, with his hat pulled down low, seemed to be twice as embarrassed, cleared his throat, and continued speaking.

“Anyway. After that, I started dating someone I never thought I would, and I experienced many things while I was dating. If I think of anything now… .

Now that we’ve covered how we met, it’s time to talk about how we ended up dating. But there were a lot of things that got caught up in the filtering.

“There were also people who harassed me about my previous work―”

“Are you having a hard time with work?”

“Yes. My companion was having a hard time, so I gave them some attention.”

“Oh my, when you retire, treat me nicely. You guys are really bad!”

That’s not the story, but the story is that the old man personally pulled off the shoulders of the assassins who came looking for him even after his escort duties were over.

“My pet has always liked flowers, but back then it was hard to get them. So I would go find the flowers my pet liked and pick them out for him… .

This is the story of an old man who got tired of assassins coming and went to tear off his shoulder himself. No. Isn’t this? Is this a real story about flowers?

“… Now that I think about it, I remember the first time my companion touched my shoulder and loosened it. My companion’s hands were very thin, so my shoulder—”

“Your shoulder?”

“?”

“Oh, no. Sorry to interrupt you.”

If it weren’t for this damn filtering, I could have accepted the situation where my partner first loosened his shoulders as quite romantic…

“You said you loosened my shoulders, Mr. Wolf?”

“Yes, Miss Elena. My companion complained that her shoulders were so stiff because she had worked so hard, but I found that so sweet.”

“Wow… .

“Anyway, from dating to marriage and up until now, I don’t think I’ve ever had to endure anything while living with my partner. That’s what I can remember.”

Doesn’t this statement seem a bit out of context?

I thought so, but then I realized it when I saw Elena, who had been enjoying the old man’s story, suddenly stop. This was done on purpose.

You heard us talk about love and patience earlier, so I guess you meant to give me some advice based on your own experience. The old man continued speaking in a kind tone.

“On the other hand, my partner would have tolerated my many immature aspects. Our love was an unreasonable love in which only one side suffered.”

There seems to be a lot of information that needs to be filled with guesses. The old man said that he didn’t like guard duty when he was young, and his companion seems to have been a gentle person ever since…

I think the relationship between the two was such that when the old man got angry, the companion would cover up the anger with gentleness. Honestly, I can’t believe that there was a time when this old man was immature, but since he said it himself, I guess there must have been.

One side asserts itself unilaterally, and the other side endures. This early love is far from the true love that Elena Yang pursues. However, not now.

“I thought that I had to change for the sake of my partner. So I tried to change, and now I think I’ve gotten to the point where I can look straight at my partner. Of course, I still have a long way to go… .

“Are you saying that the love that was initially tolerable stopped being so in the end?”

“Yes, Miss Elena. Just as a love that seems to work out well at first may not work out later, the opposite can also happen. If you put in the effort.”

Why, there’s a saying that goes, “When you get married, you become mature.”

If enduring each other in a romantic relationship is a choice, then after marriage it becomes a duty – or something. I never believed this until now. How can a relationship that can’t even endure that optional stage lead to marriage?

However, after hearing the actual case directly, I was left speechless. The old man, who was looking back and forth between me and Miss Elena, who was lost in thought, added one more thing.

“If it’s you two, you’ve probably started off much better than I did.”

I blinked, wondering if this was some kind of nonsense, but then I remembered something you said earlier. When you started dating, you said that the beginning was similar to the two of you…

“We didn’t do anything, starting with ourselves? Sir?”

“… Yes? Is that true?”

“Please be careful about what you say, sir. It could hurt someone, right?”

“… … .”

“No, you should have answered that it hurt. Why aren’t you saying anything?”