Chapter 3: Makoto Takatsuki Wanders around Horn
“Why’re you here?!” the former bodyguard demanded as he strode over.
“I could ask you the same thing,” I countered. “Weren’t you fired?”
Had Princess Sophia lied?
“Precisely! Because of you, I was removed from my honored post as the princess’s guard, and I now head the palace knights!”
So he hadn’t actually been fired, just forced into a post-change.
Well, Sophia had specified she was having him quit as one of her guards. Honestly, wouldn’t patrolling the palace be much nicer than having to deal with the princess’s personality?
“Oh, I see. I’d heard that His Majesty would be meeting with adventurers from Macallan. So that’s your group... I suppose that means you have been given the honor of working in the royal palace.”
“Ah, no, I didn’t take the peera—”
“Therefore, you are henceforth one of our comrades. Come! I shall instill the ways of knighthood within you!”
There was no reasoning with this guy, and before I knew it, I found myself in what must’ve been the training grounds.
I glanced around and met Lucy’s and Sasa’s eyes. So they followed along.
“Now! Choose your weapon! We even have mage staves!”
Before me was an array of beat-up wooden weapons. What to do?
Hmm, I thought, using RPG Player to look around.
Th-There are no elementals here at all...
Roses was a theocratic country, so Roses Castle, in addition to being the royal palace, was also the largest church establishment. The royal family had years of religious experience here, so the influence of the Sacred Deities had seeped into every nook and cranny of the palace, making it a difficult place for elementals to live.
Well, I didn’t accept the peerage anyway, so I’m not his comrade or whatever. I can just explain that and refuse this exercise...though that kinda grates.
While I was thinking it over, I heard a voice from behind me. “If you want to fight Takatsuki, you’ll have to go through me first!” Sasa called as she stepped in front of me.
“Who’re you? One of his friends?”
“My name’s Aya Sasaki. Nice to meet you. Takatsuki is our party leader, so I’ll face you first!” she declared. Her outfit was just an average cute one though; she looked like any standard girl you’d see around town, and the man gave her an exasperated glance.
“You might be an adventurer, but it goes against my code to fight little girls.” He gestured to another knight. “You, take her on.”
“Sir!”
He sounded pretty cool going on about his “code.” At his behest, a female knight stepped forward.
“I will use this weapon,” she stated, selecting a wooden sword.
Sasa stepped up to meet her and said, “I’m fine unarmed.”
The knight woman looked unhappily at her. “You might get hurt... Don’t you know that each rank in swordsmanship is worth three ranks unarmed?”
Honestly, that was a saying from Earth, so I wondered how she knew it, but maybe it was just a common conception in any world—someone with a weapon will be stronger than someone without.
Normally, at least.
“You say you’re an adventurer? What rank are you?” the knight inquired, readying her sword.
“A stone rank? That’s right, isn’t it?” Sasa asked me.
“Yup.” Come on, at least remember your rank!
Sasa held her body in a loose stance. The knights in the training ground gathered around to observe. Several of them shared sympathetic glances when they heard the word “stone.”
They were probably already imagining that Sasa would lose.
“Begin!” the former bodyguard yelled.
“Challenging us as a stone rank is foolish...so I’ll hold back!” the knight called as she darted toward Sasa. She was moving fairly fast, and Sasa didn’t really budge. The knight swung her sword...and then went flying about five meters back, accompanied by the slightly limp sound of Sasa’s slap making contact.
“Whoops. Did I overdo it?” Sasa asked, scratching her head.
The bodyguard and other knights all gasped in confusion and their eyes went wide.
“Nice one, Aya!” Lucy cheered, hopping from happiness.
Well, yeah, like it’d have gone any other way, I thought as I watched on calmly.
Sasa looked around the training grounds. “So, who’s next? She was a bit weak.” The knights must have taken the provocation, as the air suddenly grew sharp.
“You’re next, go.”
“Sir!”
This time it was a burly man. What happened to your “code” then?
Regardless, within fifteen seconds, he’d gone flying as well.
“N-Next!”
The man called out each one of his subordinate knights in turn. And, also in turn, each of them was knocked back down.
“Sh-She’s so strong.”
“She’s supposed to be...stone rank?”
“Macallan’s adventurers are monsters...”
Not quite... Macallan was a peaceful town, with normal adventurers. Sasa was just a lamia born and raised in the middle layer of Labyrinthos. While lamiae were only medium-danger monsters, they were far more physically capable than humans. On top of that, Sasa was a reincarnated otherworlder and had stats that were about ten times higher than the stats of an average lamia. Even more than that, she had skills that multiplied her (already high) base speed and attack power by three.
Noah had said, “In terms of physical abilities at least, Aya’s easily on the same level as a hero.”
Well, Sasa had won. I was glad that she’d recognized me back in the dungeon. If she hadn’t, I’d have ended up defeated in the same way as these knights...scary.
I looked around. All the knights in the training grounds had been taken down by her...except for the former bodyguard.
“You’re last then,” Sasa commented, not even breathing hard.
Man...she really is scarily strong.
“Y-You coward!” the former bodyguard sputtered. “So you’re going to make a woman fight your battles while you watch on?! Makoto Takatsuki, fight me like a man!”
Oh, so he’s shifting things to me? That’s not a bad plan since Sasa’s definitely our strongest fighter. Lucy and I are mages, after all.
“Hey...what did you just say?” Sasa’s voice had lowered in anger, and the entire mood of the area changed.
“A-Aya...” Lucy said, her voice shaking.
“Sasa? What’s up?” I asked, trying to get her to calm down, but even I could feel the shift in atmosphere. It was the same kind of pressure that the earth dragon had been surrounded by. It was...the Menace skill.
This skill manipulated the user’s aura to make their opponent hesitate. It was a skill only the strongest could use. I’d heard it was a specialty among beastmen, so maybe Nina had taught it to her.
The fallen knights all paled and started to shake, and the first woman’s knees knocked as she fell back onto the ground. She must’ve realized just how strong an opponent she’d picked a fight with.
“You said something awful to Takatsuki, didn’t you?”
“Sasa, that’s a bit exaggerated.” Once, when I’d been sharing drinks with Sasa and Lucy, I’d complained a lot about Princess Sophia’s bodyguard mocking me at the Water Temple. That was probably what Sasa was talking about. The force coming from her aura was growing stronger and stronger.
“I-I, well—” the former guard couldn’t even string a sentence together.
A thud echoed around the area.
Sasa had stomped down and put her foot through the stone floor, causing cracks to spiderweb around her in circular arcs.
The knights started murmuring fearfully.
“No way...she broke the floor.”
“Those stones are strengthened with magic...”
“Crap, if she kicked us like that...we’d be dead.”
Whoops, that was apparently a special floor. They weren’t going to come after us to pay for it, were they?
“I’ll show you just how strong I am,” Sasa warned, getting into an actual fighting posture for the first time. It was the stance she used for her Dash and Charge skills. The same combo she’d used to blow a hole through the harpy queen.
Yeah, that’s no good... He’s gonna die.
I was happy to see her getting so angry for me, but I didn’t want anyone to die over it. Just as I was stepping forward to stop her, a cold voice echoed around the area.
“What is going on here?”
It must have surprised her because the feeling from Sasa’s Menace faded.
Phew, she stopped.
“What is the meaning of this commotion?” Princess Sophia demanded as she looked between us and the fallen Roses knights. A sour look appeared on her face.
“Otherworld heroes, while I appreciate you training with our knights, they are relatively weak, so please keep it within moderation.”
We all nodded slightly.
The pathetic look on the former guard’s face sure was a picture. Things were now a bit awkward, so it was probably a good idea for us to leave soon.
“We should be taking our—” I tried to say, but then I was interrupted.
“Um! Are you the adventurer that saved Labyrinthos?” asked a young boy from behind the princess. He looked to be about ten years old.
While he did have a sword at his waist, the clothes he was wearing were of a distinctly different quality than the other knights. His shirt had a complicated pattern stitched into it, and his pants were embroidered in gold.
I assumed that the boy was probably in a fairly high position.
“It’s good to meet you. I’m Makoto Takatsuki, and these are my comrades Lucy J. Walker and Aya Sasaki.”
Lucy and Sasa both gave bows.
“It’s nice to meet you,” greeted the boy. “I’m Leonardo Eir Roses.” He placed a hand on his chest as any noble would.
Eir was the water goddess’s name. That coupled with the surname of Roses’s royal family meant that this boy must be...
“Prince Leonardo?!” Lucy exclaimed.
So the boy was a prince of Roses.
Leonardo Eir Roses. It was a name that everyone in the country knew, even if it was my first time meeting him. He was the first prince of Roses, similar in looks to his older sister Sophia. He was enough of a pretty boy that, if he’d been wearing a different outfit, he might’ve looked like a girl.
“Being a hero, I would ordinarily have fought against the blight dragons in Labyrinthos...but my inexperience meant that I could not get permission to do so... You have my thanks for saving the adventurer’s town from danger.” He said this with a bow of his head.
Oh yeah, Prince Leonardo was known by another title—the Hero of Ice and Snow.
I could imagine how much hardship was piled on him; he was a hero and supposed to save the world, but was still so young.
“It’s fine, Leo,” Princess Sophia stated. “They have already been well-rewarded. You needn’t concern yourself with them.”
I mean, you’re correct, but you don’t need to say that right to our faces, you know?
“You’re still only nine years old, so you can leave Labyrinthos to the adventurers.”
Nine?! That made him a...third year in elementary school?
My surprise at his age even made me forget about Princess Sophia’s rudeness. I’d never want to tell a kid like him that he had to fight a blight dragon. He seemed to feel differently though since he had an unhappy expression on his face.
“Sister! You always treat me like a child, but I can at least do this much,” Prince Leonardo said. Suddenly, he started speaking an incantation, which turned out to be for...
“Water Magic: Water Dragon!”
Nice! That was ultra rank water magic. The spell was a bit undefined, but it’d created a huge dragon of water. Prince Leonardo was apparently a water mage as well.
“What do you think, sister?! I can fight too.”
“Very well... The next time a blight dragon appears, I will consider allowing you to participate. Cease your spellwork now.”
“R-Right.”
His control of the water dragon ended up being...slightly lacking. The creature roared as it slithered toward the former guard. Though he managed to dive out of the way, a hit from Prince Leonardo’s dragon probably wouldn’t have done all that much damage. One of Sasa’s serious punches would have definitely hurt a hundred times more.
“H-Hey, is it going to be all right?” Lucy asked, poking me in the back.
“Hmmm... It’ll probably be fine.”
Water Dragon was an impressive-looking spell, but the worst it could do was send you flying and get you soaked, so there shouldn’t be a real issue.
“Guh, I can’t...”
Prince Leonardo was struggling to command it. I thought he’d have just tossed it into Lake Chimay, but he didn’t have the control for that. Princess Sophia was looking my way. Was she telling me to help?
Well...
Maybe this was one of Fujiyan’s prized “Affection Point Up” events? I didn’t play waifu games much so I didn’t know for sure, but I decided that I might as well give it a go.
“’Scuse me,” I said, placing my hand on the prince’s shoulder.
Synchro...
He jolted with a yelp, but that was it. I hadn’t used this skill since I’d gotten burned by synchronizing with Lucy, so I was a little scared, but even then, it’d worked fine. I took control of Prince Leonardo’s water magic and the jittery movements of the dragon smoothed out. It now swam gracefully through the sky.
“W-Wow...” I heard him whisper, impressed. It really wasn’t that big of a deal though. He was just a third-year in elementary school, effectively, so whatever.
Eventually, I decided what to do with the huge amount of water he’d created.
“Water Magic: Water Bird.”
The dragon morphed into a giant bird and then split apart, sending smaller birds made of magical water flying away from the beautiful palace. Guess that works.
“Whoa...” Prince Leonardo said, gaping and sounding a bit like Lucy. Then, he turned to me with shining eyes. “Th-That was amazing! What was that spell?!”
“Well, I just kinda winged it, so it’s not really a spell...”
“Makoto Takatsuki. Thank you for helping Leo... How long are you going to hold his shoulder?” Princess Sophia asked quietly.
“R-Right, sorry,” I said, letting go immediately.
Her eyes were still cold. Wasn’t she supposed to have more affection for me now? It certainly didn’t seem that way.
I was honestly ready to leave the town itself, so I tried to secure an exit. “So, we’ll be heading out and—”
“W-Wait! Would you, um, be willing to talk for a while, Makoto?!” the prince asked, grabbing hold of my hand and looking up at me like a puppy. I couldn’t just ignore him, so I glanced up at his keeper, Sophia.
She answered his question for me. “Leo. Show them around the castle. You’re not to leave.”
“Okay!”
And so, we were to be shown around the castle by the prince. Naturally, there was a group of guards accompanying us, but it seemed like the princess had a soft spot for her younger brother.
He walked us to various places in the palace: the hanging gardens, the cathedral, the dining hall, and so on. I could see why it was called the most beautiful on the continent... The decorations, the rose gardens, and so on were all spectacular.
Also, as we toured around, people called out to him. Prince Leonardo seemed to be somewhat of an idol to the people serving in the palace, and everyone had smiles as they greeted him. Well, he was cute, after all, so I understood where they were coming from.
What I didn’t get was their opinion of Princess Sophia.
She was also popular, hugely so.
Cool as ice and beautiful as a statue... That’s how she was seen by others. Her lack of friendliness was well-known, but she was also considered to be earnest.
If a disaster befell a village, she would head there. If there was a quarrel in a town, she would mediate. She made donations to the needy and gave jobs to the unemployed. She slept little, working long hours for the good of her people.
That was how the castle servants saw her. There was probably some degree of flattery going on because the prince was with us, but everyone still spoke of Sophia with a lot of affection and respect. None of it felt like falsehood either.
“Unfortunately,” Prince Leonardo told me, “sister has a tendency of judging people at a glance since she’s always so busy. Then she gets too serious with things, so she can’t retain anyone.”
I guess that leads to overlooking a lot of capable people. After all, she said I was useless at a glance.
“Your friends Okada and Kitayama got too involved with the maids, so she chased them off...” said Prince Leonardo.
What were those two playing at? Didn’t Okada have a girlfriend? Kitayama at least...was a bit of a lady-killer.
“They’ve always been like that,” Sasa remarked with a sigh.
“You knew them, Aya?” Lucy asked.
“They’re our former classmates. Back in school, those boys used to have one girl after another.”
“One after... That’s filthy!” Lucy exclaimed.
Despite her appearance, Lucy was fairly serious about relationships. The Okada-Kitayama combo aside, I was sure that Sophia had scouted more of our classmates, but none of them were left working for her.
“It’s because our military strength is the weakest on the continent...” Prince Leonardo explained with a wan smile. Roses had the fewest soldiers out of any country and a history of seeking aid from adventurers, the Soleil Knights, and Great Keith’s Scarlet Knights when stampedes or other disasters happened. Though, with the Great Demon Lord’s resurrection, everyone was more focused on fortifying their own countries.
Princess Sophia had therefore grasped for competent people, but apparently, none of it had gone well.
“Though, it makes me less worried to know that we have capable mages like you,” Prince Leonardo’s eyes were upturned, and he looked even more like a puppy. Well, that was an invitation if I’d ever heard one.
“I’m just a mage apprentice,” I explained, “so I’d be no help.”
“An...apprentice? But you controlled that ultra rank magic earlier.”
“Anyone can do that with high enough mastery.”
“Can they...?” he mused, slumping a bit.
“I’m pretty sure they can’t,” I heard Lucy retort quietly, but I ignored her.
“Well then, thanks for showing us around,” I told him.
“You’re welcome, Makoto, Lucy, and Aya.” Prince Leonardo smiled. “Come back at any time.” Seriously, he looked just like a girl.
Our thanks given, we left the castle.
◇
That evening, I was with Fujiyan.
“I didn’t realize there was an entertainment district on the outskirts,” I commented to him.
Considering the demeanor of the uptight princess, I hadn’t expected anything like this in Roses’s capital, but I spied bars and brothels side-by-side. It almost reminded me of Kabukicho in Shinjuku, just smaller.
“Relaxation is a necessary part of life,” Fujiyan replied.
He’d told me that there was something we needed to talk about, so we were hanging out tonight, just the two of us. He must’ve known the area because we were going further and further into the district.
We arrived at a bar that had a real “hole in the wall” vibe. The interior was pretty dim, and smoke hung in the air.
Cigarettes? Wait, maybe cigars?
I was pretty familiar with the smell of cigarettes from Macallan, but this was a sweeter scent, like the rolled leaves in cigars. Maybe those were more popular here.
“My esteemed Tackie, let us partake in a different place,” Fujiyan said, his face twisting uncomfortably.
“Cigar smoke’s not that much of an issue, is it?” I asked.
“We would be better served elsewhere,” he insisted, not giving any further reasoning before we left.
The next place had a similar vibe and was fairly quiet, so I really didn’t see what was wrong with the last place. Once served, we toasted and then drained our glasses. After enjoying our food and just chatting for a bit, Fujiyan suddenly spoke up.
“The bar before was rather full of smoke.”
“Yeah, a lot of people had cigars.”
“Did you not think the smell was somewhat peculiar?”
“Hmm,” I pondered. “It was a bit sweet, maybe.” It might not have been the best scent to eat around, but it hadn’t been unpleasant.
Fujiyan shifted and then whispered into my ear, “The substance in those cigars is commonly called weed... Technically, it’s a narcotic.”
“What?” I asked, my buzz vanishing.
“Unease around the rumored return of the Great Demon Lord...seems to have popularized it of late.”
“O-Oh, it has?” I’d had no idea.
“Well, if you are ever offered any, I implore you to turn it down. While the influence on the body can be dealt with through detoxification magic, the mental dependence still remains.”
“I think I’ll be fine.”
Honestly, I’m not even tempted... It’s scary. I’ll keep away if I can.
“Oh yeah,” I said. “You mentioned we had something to talk about?”
“We do...”
“Well, I can pretty much guess. It’s about Nina and Chris, right?”
Nina had feelings for Fujiyan, and Chris had already proposed to him, so now the two were in a cold war.
“You should just marry the pair of them,” I suggested. Polygamy was allowed in this world, and economics-wise, Fujiyan should be fine.
“With the difference in their standings, that is not as doable as you might think.”
So his main issue was the difference in status—marrying a noble and a beastwoman at the same time wouldn’t be acceptable. Which meant that he had given it real consideration...
“Of course I have thought about it! It is any man’s dream, is it not?”
“Manly indeed,” I commented in amusement. I didn’t have much hope for that kind of thing happening to me, so I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant.
“What on earth do you mean?!” Fujiyan exclaimed, reading my mind. “You have significant popularity yourself.”
I paused. “Just checking, but you’re talking about Lucy and Sasa, right?”
Things had been pretty close in that love hotel place the other day...
He chuckled. “And we shall be discussing it deeply today.”
“What? We’re not talking about you?” I didn’t mind listening to stuff like that about others, but I wasn’t fond of talking about my own romantic issues.
“We’ll talk it all out over the drinks!”
“It would come out whether I talked or not,” I said, giving up on hiding it from my friend.
Well, time to pay the piper, I decided, settling in for a long night.
◇ Nina’s Perspective ◇
I let out a long sigh.
The boss had gone out with Mister Takatsuki. Apparently, there was a conversation they needed to have man-to-man, and they were enjoying themselves a fair amount.
That was good. Boss had been much happier when he got to meet Mister Takatsuki again. The problem was...
“Will he be able to become a noble’h...?”
The boss was being welcomed as a member of the Macallan family, and success in Roses as a merchant required a certain level of status. He’d probably refused the peerage in the palace so that he could go through it with Christina, but then, what would happen to me?
“Maybe I’ll go back to mercenary work in Great Keith’h...”
The Fujiwara Trading Company treated beastmen unbelievably well. Other stores would pay around seventy percent of what they’d pay a human, while the worse ones would pay less than half. Therefore, many of us gathered there and worked with smiles on our faces.
There was a time in the past when he’d said, “Lady Nina, beastmen have animal ears, so we should pay them ten percent more.”
“Boss, I have no idea what you mean’h,” I’d answered.
We hadn’t actually gone through with that. After all, if the employees were overpaid, the store might go under. If the boss became a part of the Macallan family, though, things wouldn’t remain as they currently were. Christina hated me, so I’d have nowhere to go... I sighed again.
Then, there was a knock at the door.
“Hello, who is it’h?” I called.
Maybe it was Miss Sasaki here to practice martial arts. Right, perhaps some exercise would cheer me up.
“It’s Christina. Nina, may I have a moment?”
There was a long pause before I answered. “Fine’h.”
I should have pretended to be out in the first place. Trying it now wouldn’t work though, so I opened the door. Christina was standing there wearing none of the smiles she usually showed to the boss.
“What is it’h?”
“We need to talk. I’m coming inside.” She entered without waiting for an answer and sat on my bed.
She had no guard; she was here alone.
“Please, sit.”
Silently, I did so in the chair, facing her.
The woman started bluntly. “You hate me, don’t you?”
“What of it’h?” Maybe I should have denied it, but it was a little late.
“I hate you as well.”
Well, the cow was being pretty frank.
“I’m aware’h. Are you trying to tell me to leave’h?”
The woman in front of me didn’t say anything, just heaved a sigh, and then got right up in my face. I didn’t like it, but I had to admit she was beautiful. Boss would definitely be better off with a human rather than—
“Nina, will you marry Sir Fujiwara?”
“Whaaa?” I managed after a long pause. What on earth was the woman saying?
“However, I will be the first wife and you the second. That much I will not surrender,” she said.
I’d never heard of a noble marrying one of us. “Would it be such a problem for me to be the mistress’h?”
“He would not accept that. You and I must be of equal standing.”
“That’s laughable coming from a noble.” Even I knew that. Nobility like Christina would never see herself as equal to a beastman. However, her expression turned frantic.
“At this rate, he will get a peerage on his own merit! This is all I have to offer him!”
“That can’t be true’h...”
Not only did she have her position as the second daughter of the lord of Macallan, but she was also beautiful. She was refined, with plentiful assets both materially and in connections. None of which I had. Regardless, she gave a pallid laugh.
“Sir Fujiwara is constantly starting new businesses in Macallan, and even has a good relationship with the biggest company on the continent, the Franz Trading Company. My meager assets and connections are no help here...”
I was shocked. I’d always thought of her as a constantly smiling woman brimming with confidence. Yet now, she was acting so weak.
“But marrying at the same time would’h...”
“It isn’t a bad deal, and there should be no real disadvantage for you.”
She was right. Boss would get his noble position, and I could be with the person I had feelings for. There was no issue there. But...
“You just want boss’s wealth and abilities’h...”
She’d be marrying a man that she didn’t even feel romantic about...all for her family’s benefit. While that was normal for nobles, it was difficult for me to accept.
“That’s what I hate!” she suddenly yelled.
“What’h?”
“Why and for how long must you refute my feelings for him?!”
“You truly care for him?” I asked after a moment.
“I’ve always said so.”
I was a beastwoman, and we were attracted to strong men. Boss wasn’t strong in combat, but he was the most successful man in Macallan. While he seemed affable at a glance, all the scheming merchants that’d come for him had been sent packing, utterly broke. The tricks that the con men and scoundrels used were clever, but they never seemed to prevail; contrary to his appearance, the boss was a shrewd manager that had found success in Macallan. And as he’d done so, he’d stolen my heart.
Well, to be honest, his personality had charmed me even more...
What had Christina been attracted to, though?
“So, what prompted it’h?” I asked. She hadn’t ever seen him closely at work.
“My sisters are always competing. The title in our family is inherited by the child that has brought the most prosperity to the town. Therefore, we constantly need to show ourselves well, gain favor from all kinds of people, and get all the allies we can. Yet at the same time, many people approach me to make use of my status... The one that I disliked the most was the man my mother prepared for me to marry.”
I’d heard about this. He was a noble from Great Keith with an awful personality. Well, a lot of the nobles from that country were similar...
“Sir Fujiwara saved me from that. He purged the people trying to sue me, revitalized my struggling business, and then offered a hand when my fiancé looked down on me. He’s my prince!” she declared passionately.
“Y-Your prince’h?” I couldn’t help but gape. It seemed like going too far to describe him like that.
“Is there a problem with that?”
“No’h,” I answered eventually. Everyone had their own views, I suppose, and I must have been mistaken.
She wasn’t a gold digger after his riches, just an honest rival in love. She’d even suggested putting us in equal standing by marriage. That was absurd, though, since I had no issues. But...there was one thing I needed to know.
“What if he turns us both down’h?”
“Urk...” Her expression tightened.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure of the boss’s feelings myself because he never took me up on any of my temptations.
“I-If he turns us both down...then I’ll drink the night away! And you can join me!”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Sure thing, Miss Christina’h.”
She was a strange noble, and not one I’d have ever imagined.
“Call me Chris! We shall wait until he returns! Then, we will propose together!”
“T-Today’h?!”
“With this kind of thing, the sooner the better!”
She was actually an interesting person. Maybe things would go well with her.
◇ Makoto Takatsuki’s Perspective ◇
The bar was starting to empty. Soon, it would probably be closing time. Fujiyan suddenly shivered next to me.
“What’s up?” I asked. “Got a cold?”
“I felt some sort of chill.”
“Maybe we should head back.” It was almost midnight after all. We’d talked and enjoyed ourselves plenty.
It would be tomorrow before I found out what became of that conversation...
“My esteemed Tackie, Lady Sasaki, Lady Lucy, I have something to talk to you all about,” Fujiyan told us with a serious expression. It was the next morning, and we were all eating breakfast in the inn’s dining area. “I have become engaged...to Lady Chris and Lady Nina.”
“What?!” the three of us chorused in shock.
Hang on, what’s he on about?
Something was wrong here. Nina was settling in close on his right, and Christina had done the same on his other side. There wasn’t the usual stiff atmosphere between them either. If anything, things were peaceful. All of it seemed a bit too different from yesterday, but I’d rather they be friendly than not, so I didn’t say anything.
“U-Umm, Fujiwara, you’re marrying two people?” Sasa asked timidly.
“I am... Polygamy is allowed in this country,” Fujiyan answered awkwardly. It’s not like he was really doing anything wrong, though.
“Hmm...” Sasa didn’t say anything after that.
“Umm, congratulations, Fujiyan, Nina...” Lucy stumbled, despite usually being loud and clear.
“Thank you!” Nina said, a wide smile on her face. Well, I was glad she was happy at least.
As for me...
Didn’t he say a harem was a hopeless dream? He said it would be nice if it came true one day, but the next day? Had he betrayed me?
I was confused. It wasn’t betrayal exactly, but I could see Fujiyan’s face scrunch up as he read my thoughts. Just a joke.
“I hope the three of you are happy,” was all I could tell them.
After that announcement, Fujiyan and the other two went off to report the engagement to the relevant people. The remaining three of us wandered around town since we hadn’t managed to do so yesterday.
“That was a surprise!” Lucy said, swinging her arms. “I never thought he’d marry two people!”
Considering that she’d grown up here and seemed surprised by it, I had to wonder... Was it that rare?
“Elven marriages normally have one husband and one wife...” she added.
Apparently not then. Elves had the same kind of attitude toward marriage as the Japanese.
“I can’t imagine a house having two wives...” Sasa added. She was brought up in Japan, so that made sense.
“Yeah. Although, apparently, Sakurai’s got a whole bunch of people lined up to be his wives.” I’d heard from Fujiyan that the country was treating it like a project and trying to get him to have as many children as possible. Hopefully, one of his offspring would be born with the Hero of Light skill, just like him and Abel the Savior. That’s why he’d ended up with so many fiancées.
When I added the news about Yokoyama being one of them, Sasa had an unhappy look on her face.
“Do you want lots of wives too?” Lucy asked idly.
“N-No, I don’t really want anything like that.”
“Reeeaaally?” Sasa asked, peering at my face as I set Calm Mind to 99%.
“I’m focusing on granting my goddess’s wish for now,” I decided. I deployed a tactic that guys use sometimes: saying I wanted to focus on work to change the topic and avoid offending either of them.
Their expressions both turned sour. U-Uh?
Why would you bring up another woman? I heard Noah say in my mind.
So I shouldn’t have said that?
Learn how a woman’s heart works, she scolded.
That was never in any of my game guides...
“Hey, Aya, don’t those clothes look cute?”
“They do! Let’s take a look!”
And off the girls headed... Guess I’m carrying the bags.
“Hey, ladies! Fancy seeing the circus?” a man in gaudy clothes called out.
We’d been shopping for a while, mostly just wandering around. After finishing lunch, we’d sat down on a bench by the plaza near a massive tent.
Judging by his looks, the man who’d called out to us was a clown. They had clowns in this world too!
“Hmmm, what do you think, Makoto?” Lucy asked.
“Wanna go, Takatsuki?” Sasa added.
Wait? It’s my choice? I usually just go with the flow for this kinda thing.
“Hey, mister!” exclaimed the clown. “First time in Horn? The Monster Tamer Troupe is the biggest circus company on the continent. Our show is a great tale to take back home. It’s usually about fifteen hundred gald a head, but how about four thousand for the three of you?”
Apparently, he thought we were yokels or something. His tone was kind of wheedling about us having never seen anything like their show before.
Sure, Macallan’s out in the sticks, but I lived in a city in Japan! Regardless, I wasn’t entirely sure why I was bothering to mentally protest—the three of us ended up going inside anyway.
The interior of the tent was fairly dim, with a round stage in the center under spotlights. There were tables spread around the area, and the guests were sitting at them, just drinking and watching. It was pretty different from a circus in Japan. We found a nearby table and ordered ourselves some drinks.
“Hey, is that a griffin?” Lucy wondered. She pointed at a griffin that was smaller than the one we’d fought, and it jumped through a ring of fire. I guess that is fairly exciting.
“The monsters are all beat up,” Sasa said.
She was right—the griffin was dressed up in a garish costume, but its feathers and fur were ragged. The other monsters looked to be in the same condition as well. The handlers had obviously been mistreating them.
Suddenly, a beautiful girl with pointed ears stepped on stage. She was wearing an outfit that didn’t exactly cover much, along with a collar.
“Is that...an elf?” I asked.
“She has black hair, so she’s probably a half-elf...like me,” Lucy told me. “That collar’s one that slaves wear.”
Wasn’t Lucy concerned about the elf girl? Wait, she definitely was. Her face had taken on a distinct sharpness.
We continued watching the circus for a while, and the exhibition of monsters transformed into an exhibition of scantily clad elves and demi-human girls dancing around. The monsters, on the other hand, performed and fought each other. Essentially, it was a world of violence, blood, and sex.
I wasn’t exactly enjoying it, but it sounded like the rest of the crowd was. Maybe the townspeople wanted something stimulating like this? But then, I smelled that sweet scent from the bar yesterday.
Weed, right? Those narcotic leaves... Let’s not stay any longer. And so, after less than an hour, we were exiting the tent.
“Oh, you’re leaving already?” asked the clown from earlier.
“We’ve had enough fun,” I said.
The clown kept on with his sales pitch. “That’s good. But we’ve got an even bigger event tomorrow, so make sure you come along!” I just replied that we’d do so if we had time.
A little while after we’d left the circus, Lucy spoke up. “I’ll pass on going tomorrow. The girls were all demi-humans and beastwomen.”
“Yeah. I felt sorry for the monsters too,” Sasa said.
It seems that the girls hadn’t been fans of the show, though their main complaints were different.
As for me? Maybe if the circus had been just the dancing women, I would’ve enjoyed it.
Nighttime was for training. However, there were essentially no water elementals in the capital, so I couldn’t practice my elemental magic.
“Transformation...ain’t easy...”
Sasa had taught me that skill at the inn, but my training wasn’t going well at all. Unlike Sasa, who had Transformation as a unique skill, I had to train it up from scratch, which was more difficult.
I found that it was easiest to change into things close to you, though changing one’s sex was pretty difficult. For my first attempt, I’d tried to turn into Fujiyan.
“Hmm, something’s just off’h,” Nina had noted at a glance. I couldn’t even attempt to change into Lucy or Sasa.
“Wait, what? You mean you’d become me? With your whole body?” Lucy had asked, hugging herself. Why’d she look at me like some kind of pervert?
Sasa piped up next. “Turning into a girl you’re friends with is a bit lacking in sensitivity, you know?”
She gave me the same look as Lucy! I guess they’re right then...
Since the girls had been particularly harsh today, I’d ended up wandering the city alone. The capital was pretty peaceful, even at night. The knights patrolled around, and I’d even passed by that former bodyguard. Not that he’d acknowledge me or meet my eyes.
Eventually, I got to the area around the circus tent. The lights were all extinguished and there were no people around. I could hear the faint growls of the monsters from inside, and there was no one outside the tent trying to entice spectators in.
I know! I could try morphing into a clown.
Transformation allowed you to copy the general outline of a figure, but there were always differences. Those familiar with the original person would definitely spot the discrepancies in the disguise.
With clowns, though, as long as the main features were there, it was all good. I used the skill while standing under the trees, then moved into the moonlight to check out how it’d gone.
“Ah, I forgot a mirror,” I realized.
I couldn’t even look at myself to check. What was I playing at? Oh well... Back to the inn, I guess.
“Hey! Rare to see you out so late,” a man said to me. “I thought you’d already headed back.”
Damn! It’s one of the clown’s friends!
“Ah, well, y’know how it is,” I commented vaguely.
“We’ve got the final performance tomorrow. Everything’s ready?”
What was he talking about? Well, the other clown had said something about a big show tomorrow, I guess.
“Yeah, no worries,” I assured him, even though I had no idea what they’d be worried about...
“Great. We can’t have any slipups. I’m dying to see their faces.” The man gave a snicker and a grin before leaving.
That was actually a pretty dodgy-looking laugh...
Sorry, mister clown, I thought. If the man had been giving the clown an important message, I’d have felt bad, but he’d just been checking in.
It’d be fine...surely.
“Time to head back,” I muttered to myself, letting the skill’s effect fade away and heading back to the inn. As I walked, I decided that I shouldn’t turn into people I don’t know without first taking some more care.
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