Intermission: Lucy and Aya Have a Discussion
“I’m going off goblin hunting,” I told my friends at breakfast the next morning.
I couldn’t practice my elemental magic, and the Transformation practice wasn’t going well, so earning some money was about the only thing I had left to do.
Obviously, Horn had an adventurer’s guild. Goblin and orc exterminations were standing requests, so I didn’t have to take time to accept the quests or report to the clerks beforehand; I could just head to the guild after my hunt and collect the (small) bounty.
“Lucy, Sasa, you coming with?” I asked. I was fairly sure they’d want to, but they didn’t seem all that interested.
“Hmmm, I think I’ll pass,” Lucy decided, running a comb through her long red hair.
“I’m shopping in town today,” Sasa said as she munched on some fruit that’d come with breakfast. I was also positive that she was eating from my plate...but I was full anyway, so whatever.
Hang on! Why’s everyone being so unsociable?! Well...fine. I’ll go on my own. I always was a solo player anyway!
I might’ve been bluffing a bit mentally when I left the inn without any real objective in mind. There were some forested areas around the city, so maybe there’d be some goblins in there.
I kept up the optimism as I left the city.
◇ Lucy’s Perspective ◇
“Fine, then! I’ll just head off solo!” Makoto proclaimed as he headed out.
Did we do something wrong?
“Hey, Lu, where are we going?” Aya asked me. We had made plans to go out together.
“I don’t care,” I replied. “Did you have somewhere you wanted to go?”
“Let’s get some cake.”
“Sure. You do love your sweet stuff. Well, I do too.” The two of us laughed, but our smiles were both a bit clumsy. We needed to have a discussion, one that we couldn’t have around Makoto.
We scoped out some clothes shops and general stores, then had lunch at a pasta place. There was also a small park in the area, so we bought a couple of drinks and took a break there.
I glanced over and watched Aya gulping down a huge cup of fruit juice. She was like some little woodland creature enjoying her drink, and even I thought she looked cute.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Hmm, just thinking you’re cute.”
She giggled. “Really? I think you’re cuter, though.”
“That’s not true,” I protested.
“It is,” she insisted. “Your hair’s so long, and it’s such a pretty shade of red.” She stroked the hair at the nape of my neck, and I shivered at the tickling sensation.
“Well, you’re a fighter, so your hips are way better.”
I grabbed onto her hips as payback. She’s so slender! I-I’m jealous... I was a mage, so I didn’t get as much exercise as she did. I’d never have such slim hips...
“Hey, Lu! Watch where you’re touching!” she exclaimed, her face blushing red. But then, she shifted her focus to another area. “This bit just isn’t faiiir.”
I yelped as she suddenly grabbed my chest. “Hyah?!”
“It’s just not fair,” she repeated. “You’ve been using your breasts to lure in Takatsuki.”
“I have not!” I floundered a bit, grabbing her hands and removing them from my chest. “Besides, you’ve been wearing shorter skirts lately.”
“Kyah!”
I’d rested my hand on her thigh. Whoa, her skin’s so smooth. The slight chilliness I felt beneath my fingers must have been because she’s a lamia.
Aya’s hand then reached out to me.
“What is it Aya?” I returned stubbornly. The two of us ended up messing around for a while before we remembered that we were in a park and calmed down. Fortunately, no one had been around to see us.
“Lulu, that was too much,” Aya complained.
“You were doing just the same,” I answered.
We turned our flushed faces toward each other and offered reluctant smiles. As long as we kept to these topics, we got along well. There was nothing wrong with that, but...
“That reminds me...” Aya said casually, almost idly. “Fujiwara’s wedding was a surprise.”
So that’s the topic?
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Two wives is a shock.”
In truth, it wasn’t that rare for nobles to have multiple wives. This was just the start of our conversation though, merely leisurely chitchat.
“I wonder what Takatsuki thinks about it.”
“He said it was a relief,” I remarked. “Especially since Nina and Chris are now getting along.”
“I feel the same here, honestly,” Aya agreed with a laugh. The atmosphere on the trip to the capital had been so tense, but things between those two had relaxed. At least, I thought so.
“Falling in love with someone near you at the same time as another person...must be tough.”
“You’re right...” Aya agreed.
Time for the meat of our conversation, then.
“In other words, it’s us,” I declared.
“Well, that’s putting it bluntly.”
I held Aya’s gaze, and she held mine. Our smiles remained, so from the outside, we must have looked like good friends. However, things weren’t so peaceful on the inside. After all, we were rivals in love. We had basically the same relationship as Nina and Chris, just slightly different.
Chris and Nina disliked each other to begin with—they were noble and beastwoman. They couldn’t ever reach an agreement, so they fought. Eventually, though, they’d reconciled.
So what about us?
There was no real difference in social standing between Aya and me. And we were in the same party. Aya had known Makoto longer, but I’d spent the entirety of last year with him. As he was now, I probably understood him the best...but I couldn’t always tell what he was thinking.
I’d therefore chosen to hold on. Although we were fighting for the same guy, we’d decided to remain on good terms in the party. Infighting would’ve probably caused Makoto to worry as well, and I was sure that Aya felt that way too.
I was sure, but...
“You were all alone practicing magic with him last night. You’re always doing that... It’s not fair,” Aya had said.
But she didn’t know that the “training” was him telling me to focus on controlling my magic for five hours each day. There was nothing alluring about that at all. On top of that, when I’d lose my focus, I’d end up passing out and sleeping. Makoto apparently kept at his training for ten hours though. Sometimes I worry about how much focus he has...
“But you’re always hanging around his room in the morning,” I argued back. “And...you sometimes sleep with him.”
Aya usually got breakfast ready for us, but she’d always make a pass at Makoto when she did, like crawling into his bed while he was sleeping. As far as those two had mentioned, nothing had ever happened, but...
“Takatsuki and I haven’t done anything,” Aya stated. “Yet.”
“We haven’t either. Yet.”
The two of us stared in silence, sounding each other out.
◇ Aya Sasaki’s Perspective ◇
I looked at the beautiful red-headed elf in front of me. Lu...
We’d spent the whole day together. The last time I’d had so much one-on-one time with her was when we’d gone shopping around Labyrinth Town. At that point, we had barely known each other, so we’d been fairly reserved. But now, we’d both spent more time together and had grown to understand one another. So...
I guess things are getting tenser between us.
We were in a party of three, and both of us liked the one guy in it. Neither of us hid our feelings toward Takatsuki either. We’d kept competing, and had gotten more and more extreme.
Lu would sometimes glare daggers at me, and sometimes I’d do the same to her. We hadn’t actually fought yet, but this whole situation wasn’t a good one.
At least we both agreed on that much, so we’d decided to talk it out while going around town today. And...we’d both enjoyed the time spent together.
I like her a fair bit...
Her personality matched her sweet appearance. She was straightforward. Maybe slightly simple, if I was being harsh. She didn’t hide things or scheme. That was why we could be such good friends.
The problem is, what do I want to do?
I’d been reincarnated into this world as a monster, and Takatsuki was the only one I could rely on. Obviously, I could count on Fujiwara, as well as Saki and Sakurai in Highland... But, if anyone asked who I wanted to be with, I didn’t even need to think about my answer.
Takatsuki. Since junior high, he’s been the only one I’ve had feelings for.
So asking me to hand him over...doesn’t quite work.
Besides, from what Lucy had mentioned, she was in a similar situation.
She couldn’t use magic well and hadn’t been able to find any real friends in Macallan’s guild. When she’d finally found a party, they’d been attacked by a dangerous monster. They had then abandoned her, but Takatsuki had saved her life.
Even after that, he’d never gotten angry at her, no matter how much she’d failed. They’d often spent whole evenings practicing magic together. Then, when the griffin had gone for her, Takatsuki had risked his life, using fire magic to defeat it. He’d almost died in the process.
Of course she’d fall for him...
I looked at the beautiful elf again.
Mrgh, she’s so good-looking...
I didn’t know why, but I felt annoyed, so I pinched her cheek. It’s so soft.
“Hey...Aya?”
I ignored her doubtful look and kept fiddling with her cheek before she suddenly did the same to me.
“Lu?”
She didn’t respond either, and we half glared at each other for a while, both of us pinching the other’s cheek.
“So, what’d you want?” she asked eventually.
“Never mind.”
Things wouldn’t go anywhere if we kept this distance between us. As the pair of us frowned, someone approached us.
“Oh, Miss Lucy, Miss Sasaki’h. Are the two of you out together’h?”
It was Nina.
Right... She and Chris made it work with the same guy.
Maybe we should ask her for her thoughts on the matter since she’d been in the same situation? Lu must’ve been thinking the same thing because she glanced at me and nodded.
“Nina, do you still fight with Chris?” The two of them acted like close friends now.
“No, thankfully’h. Chris and I get along quite well’h,” Nina answered with a smile.
“Um, what about at night? You don’t argue over the order?” Aya asked bluntly.
Where’d that come from?! Couldn’t you have led into it a bit more softly?! I mean, I want to know too...!
Nina’s cheeks flushed. “Well, at night’h...all three of us are together’h.”
“Whaaaat?!” the two of us exclaimed in response to her shocking statement.
Just then, Nina’s pocket started to beep. “Yes, husband’h?! Understood, I’ll be right there’h!” Apparently, Fujiwara had gotten in touch through some magic tool (it seemed close enough to a phone).
“Sorry’h!” she apologized. “Apparently, there’s an urgent negotiation, so I need to head back’h. See you later’h!”
Without any delay, Nina hopped up over a wall and onto a roof. Well, she was part bunny, I guess...
Lu and I exchanged looks.
“The three of them...together,” Lucy started with slightly red cheeks.
“Is that really okay...?” I mused. From a Japanese perspective, it felt completely wrong...
No! It’s fine. Fighting like this isn’t good either!
“All right, Lu! That’s what we’ll do!” I declared.
“Eh, what?! Really?” she asked, her eyes going wide.
“Really! We’ll work on it with him, all together!”
“A-All?”
“I’d wanted my first time at least to be—” Lu began, fidgeting.
“No!”
“Th-That’s tyranny!” she exclaimed. “But...fighting won’t help, I guess.”
And with that settled, the two of us headed back to the inn, hand in hand.
“There were no goblins...” Takatsuki complained when we got back, before dinner. It was kinda cute.
◇ Makoto Takatsuki’s Perspective ◇
I’d left bright and early, but now I was at a loss.
“Where are all the monsters?” It wasn’t just a lack of goblins—I hadn’t even seen any giant rats or horned rabbits.
I was in a small forest just beyond the main gate of Horn, close to Lake Chimay. It was fairly similar to the woods around Macallan, so I’d expected to find something, but...
“Guess Lucy and Sasa were right...”
They’d made the correct choice to not come along; it would’ve been a waste of time...
Geographically, Horn was situated right between Macallan and the lake. There were a lot of water elementals this far outside the capital, so I was at least able to keep up with my training.
Suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me. “Makoto Takatsuki?”
I turned around and saw the former bodyguard that Sasa had beaten up the other day. Wait, no... Technically, she had beaten his subordinates.
“That is a strange training technique,” he commented.
I was standing on the surface of the lake, playing around and creating flocks of birds out of the water. I needed a decent amount of concentration to pull off the spell, so this was a good exercise for training up my mastery.
“I’m just practicing water magic,” I commented absently. “I’d wanted to hunt some goblins, though.”
The former bodyguard looked shocked but then guffawed. “There is a barrier against monsters that surrounds our capital,” he explained. “Low-level beasts like goblins could never approach.”
“What...?” my voice cracked from the surprise. I can’t hunt goblins around here?! “What’s the point in patrolling, then?” If there were no monsters, surely there was no need.
“Fool! That kind of negligence could be fatal. Besides, there are bandits and other ne’er-do-wells. Our daily patrols are a deterrent for the sake of peace.”
I murmured a slight affirmation. Guess I could admire his dedication. His personality, though, not so much.
“We’ve recently received some reports of strange monsters around Lake Chimay...but it appears to be your magic. Do not frighten the townspeople.”
“Oops.” It must’ve been reported. I couldn’t use magic here like I did back in Macallan. Going forward, I’d have to be careful about anything excessive.
The former bodyguard glanced around, then turned away from me and spoke. “Much of the monster extermination in Roses is handled by adventurers. You have my thanks for coming out to exterminate goblins, even in the capital.”
I exhaled a breath. Where was this coming from?
“I’m sorry for everything,” he apologized, his voice low.
Hang on, he’s being all sweet now?
After witnessing the rare sight of that hard-ass going soft (not that I’d really wanted to see it), I headed back to the inn.
Apparently, Lucy and Sasa had spent the day shopping.
“Those two always enjoy their time together’h,” Nina commented with a smile.
Maybe I should’ve joined them...
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