Leave a comment

“Just show them if they want to see it. Mr. Dragon Knight here is a wind user anyway. He can manipulate the wind to lift your hood or peek up your skirt if he wants to.”

The moment I heard the words Regina spat out, I instinctively closed my legs and held the skirt of my dress over the robe.

“Wh…wha…?!” I lost speech. To be honest, a skirt was nothing more than a single layer of clothes, so I shouldn’t care if my panties showed up because I moved around —was what I had in my logical mind, but the moment I heard my skirt was going to be peeked up, my blood felt cold and I got goosebumps.

“No need to be so alarmed.” After giving Regina a light rebuking glance —she looked uncaring as she gulped her tea— Mr. Eilmer gave me a gentle smile. “A Dragon Knight’s wind arts are only for fighting. I use it to protect my eyes from the force of the wind and my body from its coldness when I’m flying high in the sky. I swear that I would never do such a disrespectful thing to a lady, in the name of my honor, my father’s, and His Majesty the God-Emperor above.”

*Even so, the mouth can say anything, you know… *

I looked at Regina for help, but she was indifferent and busy throwing candied berries into her mouth.

“…but, sure enough, it is certainly bad manners to force yourself on a lady who doesn’t want to.”

Mr. Eilmer seemed to retract his previous request with a slight shrug for a moment, before he turned to his son, Luke.

“Luke, why don’t you and— “Her name’s Jill, my apprentice.” —Lady Jill have a match? If you win, Lady Jill will show you her face. But, if you lose… Right, you do whatever she asks of you.”
“Sounds good! Jill, I’ll have you collect 30 mandrakes by tomorrow if you lose!”
“”EH…?!!””

The deal was done even without our, the children’s, will. Those no-good adults!

♢♦♢♦♢

“Are we really doing this?”

Holding my wooden sword —or more like an appropriately shaped club carved out of a branch. I quickly made an extra one for the boy to use, so that we’d stand on equal ground— I asked Mr. Eilmer again, the man taking up the mantle as referee. Incidentally, Regina brought her rocking chair under the eaves of her hut (well, more like she used conjuring magic to move herself, still sitting in her chair) and was in full spectator mode, complete with a freshly brewed cup of aromatic tea in her hand. At her feet, Maya was basking under the sun.

“Yes, don’t hold yourself back. I’ll take full responsibility.”

Mr. Eilmer winked meaningfully. He was clearly convinced I would come out victorious. He even said “I knew it” when I was asked the format of the match and chose to duel by sword. That somehow made me feel uncomfortable as if I was playing a card game with my hand already seen through since the start.

(Well, it’s a relief that it’s the game master who knows my deck, while my opponent is none the wiser.)

Luke boy was standing in front of me with his wooden sword slumped in his hand, clearly unwilling to cross swords with a girl his age, the sword being wooden regardless.

“The match ends if either of you manages to land a hit on the body once… Are you both in agreement with this rule?”
“”Yes.””

We both nodded and were about to ready our swords when Luke saw the bulge on my back and tilted his head. “Excuse me, but are you going to keep your luggage about?”
“Yes. I cannot part with it for long.”
“It seems to me it will hinder your movement, though…?”
“It’s an inconvenience indeed, but, well, it won’t pose a problem.”

Me being stubborn to fight him with a handicap seemed to have brushed his pride wrong, as Luke raised his eyebrows slightly and gave up questioning further. Without saying a word more, from about two to three mertes ahead, he held his wooden sword up.

I held my sword in one hand and lowered my hips —similar to a fencing stance— while Luke held his sword in both hands. I had my right hand held forward and my back straight. The left heel of my back foot was slightly lifted while the tip of my sword was aiming at his throat.

The boy Luke smiled wryly at my posture, as if watching an amateur playing make-believe, while Mr. Eilmer and Regina both had their eyes slightly more open.

“—Start!” As Mr. Eilmer came to his senses and gave the cue, Luke leaped straight into me. His movement was quite fast indeed, but it was clear that he had taken it easy on me.

I could counter and land three easy hits from this, but for now, I only stopped his blow, and —with a snicker loud enough that Luke opened his eyes wide— I returned his strike while he was trying to restore his posture.

“UWA——H!?” My sword passed through where his head had been, missing only because he retreated fast enough.

“Huh.” That was a bit impressive. While indeed he was still rough around the edges, his reflexes and bounce on his feet ——especially his speed when he was moving back and forth—— were extraordinary.

“Shall we get a little more serious?”

It seemed like he didn’t even have the leeway to answer me. There was none of the underestimations on Luke’s face as he held up the wooden sword, his eyes were frighteningly focused. He was quite quick on the uptake.

“Let us start, then.” Without waiting for a reply, I kicked the ground with my left foot and struck Luke squarely in the face.

♢♦♢♦♢

“Good lord, that was a fine match!”
“Hah, you sure took your time fighting a mere bean sprout!”

Mr. Eilmer clapped his hands in good humor, while Regina, looking sour as always, held the empty fruit jar upside-down and licked the sugar on her fingers.

While my opponent, the boy named Luke, was kneeling on the ground, leaning against his wooden sword to catch his breath.

In the end, we exchanged blows 20 times before finally, someone got one hit in. While indeed he had been reduced to focus on the defense for most of the fight, Luke’s persistence and determination to persevere to the very end were admirable.

“…Haa, haa. It’s my loss, today. As promised, please feel free to ask me anything that I can do for you.”

With his eyes moist, Luke looked up at me—when such a cute, angelic boy caked in sweat and face red-hot telling me “I’ll do anything for you,” it felt almost too immoral.

“Promise, is it…” Since it was the no-good adults who made the promise in the first place, I never had anything in mind. “Right. —Well then, please become my friend.”

I mouthed the first idea that popped up in my mind. Luke looked stunned and blinked repeatedly.

“I only have one friend that is around my age, so I want you to become my friend too, if that is okay with you, Mr. Luke.” Right then, I consciously pulled down my hood. It was bad manners to make friends with your face covered. If Luke rejected me for how I looked, then I couldn’t blame him. “What do you say?”

Sure enough, Luke immediately stiffened when he saw my bare face at close range. Then, all of a sudden, he shook his head up and down repeatedly like a broken toy. “I WILL! Friend… We’ll be friends first! Yes, let us start with friendship!!” He spoke, readily consenting(?) to be my friend.

“Thank goodness! You are my male friend number 1, then. You may call me Jill, Mr. Luke.”
“Y-, you can call me just Luke too, Jill!”

I extended my right hand, and Luke clasped it with both of his hands, excited.

“Today I lost, but I’ll definitely be much stronger than you, Jill! I promise!”

Oh, was that a challenge? “If so, then I shall be even stronger. I won’t lose.”

Mr. Eilmer was smiling ear to ear as he stared at us before he turned to Regina who couldn’t wait to get back inside any longer.

“Good lord in the heavens, what a wondrous young lady. I’d like to take her home with us if I could. What do you say? Might as well give her to Luke, for a future prospect.”

Err, forgive me, but did I just hear about casual human trafficking?

“Hmph. Does she look like a kitten to you? I still have a lot to teach my idiot disciple, no can do!”
“That’s too bad.”

Mr. Eilmer actually looked disappointed when he passed his eyes on my and Regina’s faces. After which, he turned to Luke —who wore a similar expression as his father— and spoke to him in an encouraging, inciting tone.

“You heard her, Luke. Be a man and use your own strength. Got that?”
“Yes, Father!!”

Luke replied high-spiritedly. His face looked radiant and manly —and he seemed to grow mature for a moment— he looked my way, then nodded strongly.

I couldn’t understand what the hell was that supposed to be, but I smiled back at him, for courtesy’s sake.

“Well then, we will be leaving, Great Grandmother. …If there is any inconvenience at all, please feel free to let me know.”
“Hmph. Your presence is what’s inconvenient!”

Mr. Eilmer only shrugged at it. “We will be back should we have the chance. …Ah, please don’t bother yourself with seeing us off.” With that, Mr. Eilmer turned on his heel.

“I’ll come again, Jill. And, umm, I’ll write to you too!”
“Thank you, Luke. Please address it to the western frontier village’s head. I will pick it up there.”
“Okay.”

After saying their goodbyes, the father-son pair headed back to the forest path, with Maya tailing them just in case.

“…Good lord. Everyone’s so buzzy, I can’t catch my sleep. Jill, don’t forget your afternoon chores!” With another deep sigh, Regina went back inside the hermitage. From the looks of it, she would go back to dreamland.

In conclusion, I had a hectic morning after the rain let up today, but I also made a new friend.

Author’s Note:

All in all, wyverns are not very fuel efficient. They need to eat at least a whole horse for two days of movement, so they aren’t as suited for long-distance travel as you might think.

With breaks in between, it takes at least 10 to almost 20 days to get to the Tenebrae Nemus from the Imperial Capital, so Eilmer was lying when he said he just happened to pass by, but they’re both too stubborn to acknowledge that, so that’s that.