| Author: Sasaki Ichiro | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: Mado | English Source: MadoSpicy TL |
| Editor(s): Silva | |
On Joey the Escort’s proposal, the girl pointed towards a straight path with a clear wheel track which remained.
“Well thank you but, I am not some child, I believe I wouldn’t get lost.”
“I don’t mean it like that… Or rather, no matter how I look, aren’t you a child? You’re still around 11 years old.”
By that word for some reason the girl expressing a complicated bitter smile.
“…I am more or less 13 years old, you see”
“―Eh, is that so? M-my bad.”
Girls around this age have various rate of growth, so it’s very hard to judge at this point of time. For example, a girl that is presently 15 years old would be mad when she was mistaken for a 13 years old. Grasping the meaning of the girl’s expression like that, Joey meekly bows his head to apologize.
Even a man themselves want to overreach around that age. Not to mention how a girl who’s 13 years old, in the village where Joey was born, they already married and had a kid or so… The moment when he thought so, his chest is throbbing fast.
(That’s right, she not a kid anymore, then she’s around the age where she could marry!)
He’s instantly conscious of it, the girl’s charming lips, her modest breasts, her slender legs; so he undoes his locked gaze in a big hurry. Joey then tries to warn her in an easy way.
“You see, I know you’re obviously some kind of rich young lady, but if you’re really walking alone like this, you will get yourself involved with all kind of guys, and then you’ll… experience some unpleasant things. That’s why I will escort you till the town.”
“Aah, Indeed. The like who would kidnap me, kill me, and bury me, those kinds of guys right?”
The girl seems to easily understand the meaning of Joey’s cloudy words, and then she looks at Joey’s face with curious-like expression.
“But, is that fine? Judging from your appearance you are still empty handed, aren’t you in the middle of a job?”
“…Its fine. After all, the war dog extermination plan is completely out of place, I didn’t consider that there were 2 of them so I didn’t make any necessary preparation. ―In the first place, it feels uneasy leaving you out here!”
Hearing the word that he shouted while turning his face away to hide his embarrassment, the girl was astonished for a moment, then she smiles delightfully.
“You―are Mr. Joey right? What a good fellow you are.”
“―Wh, what are you talking about! Aren’t you just making fun of me?!”
“I don’t have any intention to do so, but I apologize if I was hurting you… However, I would feel bad if I just took advantage of your good will. ―Hmmmm, in that case as a job, can I ask you to escort me to the town and show me around? If possible, I want to see the adventurer’s guild”
“A job, huh…”
“Eh? By any chance, is a direct work request like this no good?”
“Well, although it wasn’t reflected on guild point, there was no any particular rule that prohibits it. But in case of situation like this, it’s usually done with payment in advance, moreover it normally has an extra charge in comparison with usual requests…”
This is natural, considering Joey just only became an F rank who graduated from G rank when he still an apprentice, he doesn’t know the usual reward rate for an escort request nor does he know the extra charge rate, so he can’t decide how much of a reward he would take.
But on the girl’s side, Joey’s indecisive attitude was that he must be worrying about ‘Could she really pay?’.
There’s a rustling sound from her waist at the back (it wasn’t her big ribbon decoration, instead it seems to be a pouch), she was taking out several coins.
“Then how about this?”
“Silver coin?”
He was being handed over a thin silver object (it’s three times the size of a normal silver coin), he take a look on it properly and it shine in a rainbow color, it doesn’t even look like money.
“A mere rainbow coin won’t do it, huhー. Then, I wonder if this type of gold coin is fine.”
Saying so, she placed 10 gold coins on the top of Joey palm.
“…I never saw a gold coin. Can it be used?”
Even though Joey’s gripping on the gold coin, usually he only received silver and cooper coins from the person at guild counter, so he only can observe it with his best ability while sighing.
“I wonder? At worst, perhaps you have to sell it out by melting it down into precious metal. In case you need money at that time, I guess you could sell this ingot?”1
Saying so, she picked something up again with her hand, from there she took out a gold bar with about the size of an adult man’s upper hand.
Seeing that, the boy made a complex face.
“―Wa, wait a minute! That, could it be a magic item that doesn’t change its weight and size even you put something in!?”
“That’s right. ―Aah I see, you can have this too.2”
“Hey, that’s a fortune! That alone could be used to purchase the best residence in town!”
“Heeh, it’s surprisingly an expensive object huh. ―Well but yeah, this was quite a lot of money to have.”
“That’s right. Don’t simply show it in public. Good grief, you’re really dangerous if you’re not being watched. Truly some kind of princess you are.”
To be called with ‘Princess’, somehow she smiles like mocking herself, while on it, “―Aah, come to think of it, I haven’t given any self-introduction yet. My name is ‘Hiyuki’, so please take care of me, Mr. Joey.”
The girl hold the hem of her skirt with both hand, and performs a light curtsy.
Joey’s heart went throbbing hard because of her elegant manner, he changes his body’s direction at once so his red face couldn’t be seen, he start to walk straight into a big tree about 500 meters away.
“Hiyuki huh. Aah, I feel funny when being called ‘Mr. Joey’ so Joey is fine. ―Well Hiyuki, I have tied my emu on that tree so let’s walk there a bit”
“An emu?”
Hiyuki who doesn’t know the word titled her head in confusion; Joey, who had grown tolerant by now, said,
“…well, you will understand when you see it.”
Being told so, she begins to quicken her pace.
◆◇◆◇
『Princess, even if you don’t hire that kind of rude youngster, wouldn’t I be enough to keep a single injury from your precious body?』
At that moment, Tengai was making his annoyance known beside me, or rather, from inside of me. During a fight, by combining with the body of a pet, one would be granted the pet’s status and attributes, the so called ‘Pet Unison’ feature. However, if I remember correctly, you only get up to 30% of the pet’s status as bonus previously, but currently my status is,
Race: Vampire Princess {Ancestor God}
Name: Hiyuki
Title: Graceful Lady of the Sky
HP: 61,312,800(+61,234,800)
MP：53,841,500(+53,746,000)
▼
Is this some kind of Zimbabwe dollar? It was inflated so much! I mean, this is exactly the same as the status of Golden Dragon (Naga Raja), isn’t it? My status can’t even rival the garnish of a sashimi! If I have to say, I’m more like the dandelion! My being here makes no difference whatsoever!
I mean, since I already know about this feature, the status difference with its original is too much, now it’s scary that I can’t even shoot magic. At this level, if I use a fire ball from the basic offensive flame magic skill tree, it becomes a level that is exceedingly dangerous, let alone ‘That now wasn’t a Kafrizzle, it’s just a Frizz’, but now it’s more like, ‘That now wasn’t a hydrogen bomb, it’s just a grenade’.
The minimum requirement for this reconnaissance was for Tengai to accompany me. That’s why, in order to get things done as peacefully as possible without using his powers, I contacted Joey, who happened to be on our way. I guess Tengai was sulking because it’s like I didn’t place trust in his own strength.
If he sulks to the point of saying, ‘I’ll show you what I’m actually capable of,’ and then does as he pleases, this region will perish in one night! If that happens, it’s all downhill and I’ll be on my way to becoming a demon king.
This is why no matter what it takes, I have settle this in a way that does not hurt Tengai’s pride.
『Of course, Tengai, I fully have faith in your loyalty and ability. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t gain benefits if I didn’t associate with people. I know it’s selfish of me, but will you please accompany me?』
『…I had said something imprudent. My apologies, Princess. The like of me wouldn’t be able to conjure the Princess’ farsighted and deeply-laid out plan, first of all, I am apologizing to the utmost limit for my disrespectfulness. ―In brief, it wasn’t to employ that youngster as an escort, it’s just simply…』
Somehow able to understand it, Tengai’s voice regains its composure.
『Yea. It’s for my personal reason――』
『An emergency food, eh』
…huh?!
『Which reminds me, Princess still hasn’t taken a meal3 from the time when you had woke up. Me of all people had forgotten about it. How could I be forgiven for it? …Well he indeed is a seedy-looking food but, he seems a virgin and hence he would be a rare, tantalizing food. However, if you’re able to wait for a bit, I will prepare for you a mouth-watering virgin’s lifeblood instead of that poor boy’s.』
Feeder… Blood… Virgin… Boy…
Those words were assembled inside my head one by one.
O-oh yeah, wasn’t I a vampire princess!?
Thinking about it, my heart was fluttering as I talked with Joey earlier, I thought that feeling is because I became a girl but it turned out I was wrong. In fact, my heart was throbbing hard when I saw his healthy limbs, is it just a mere lust for food?!
That’s dangerous!!
I had asked Joey to escort me without thinking, but it might not be a good idea to stay with him. S-somehow now that I became conscious of it, I forcibly removed my gaze fixed on Joey’s healthy nape, and the blood vessels in his limbs.
