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“A lost coin…huh.”

From the terrace of ‘Ariana Palace Hotel’ which was originally the estate of a certain noble, I ponder the words that the guild master said from earlier while gazing down at the town that is submerged into the darkness of the night. (Although for a vampire princess like me, it seems no different from day)

Back then, for some reason the guild master’s room had turned chaotic. Collard wouldn’t come back from his stupor, Gald had isolated himself from the outside world with the face of a parent who just learned of their daughter’s infidelity, and because the two guards were persistent, my patience ran out. Therefore I unintentionally gave them the answer, “I think both of them are currently going out with a guy.” which made them break down and cry. To calm everybody down, I decided to use my evil eye to manipulate their memories directly; in some way or another the place returned to normal.

Afterwards, with the guild leader’s sanity returned, I tried to ask him about the thing that was on my mind.

His reaction was somewhat strange when he saw the coin, so I asked him whether or not he knew something regarding the coin I possessed from within the game, after that he gave me the answer.

The coin was a legacy of the so called ‘Lost Era’ which had no records left at all, and the legacy itself being discovered is very rare, especially the rainbow coin which was made from orichalcum. To begin with, the orichalcum production method is unknown so the coin is hardly ever circulated out in the world. One was stored in a certain kingdom treasury, another one was stored in a certain imperial bank, and so there are not even 5 total confirmed coins so far that exist.

…Well, even so, I carried about 500 rainbow coins myself, plus I was able to make as many as I wanted since the alchemist guild members’ hobby was collecting top class refinement facilities at the fortress, so there’s practically a mountain of them piled up in the open.

“…Aah, nothing is clear, this world doesn’t seem to be entirely free from the influence of Eternal Horizon Online.”

“What would you like to do, Princess? This town’s guild’s upper echelon are already as good as puppets under your evil eye. If that’s the case, rather than spending the night in this crude miserable shack, should we return to the fortress at once?”

In his human form, after separating from me with pet unison, Tengai gave me advice in his usual tuxedo.

…Well, although I was using my evil eyes back then, I didn’t particularly intend to make Collard and Gald into puppets and capture them.

Perhaps I should say that would be against my aim, but what he said could indeed allow for misinterpretations. I mean, he said this hotel was a ‘miserable shack’, even though this hotel seems to be the best one in Alra city where even the royalty stay. Ah, speaking of royalty, this is the right timing to add my speech.

“It can certainly be said that the initial objective has been achieved. But I’m not so sure about the ‘Lost Era’.”

“Is Princess worried about that? It appears to be some sort of legend that was not worth believing.”

“However, since the rainbow coin can actually be found in other places right now, maybe there is some sort of relation to it. There’s a possibility of a person from the same place as us, that arrived in this world long ago.”

“Indeed, if that was the case it is highly likely that they will become the biggest obstacle for us.”

It seems there is no concept of reunions with an old friend for him.

“Nevertheless, it seems that only fragmentary information about the ‘lost era’ is in the royal families and temples of various regions. It’s all according to plan after all. Shall we get in touch with royalty after this?”

“…I understand, your wish is my command. By the way, about that hotel meal earlier, it appears the Princess can’t digest it. We’ve already gained the guild’s approval, so maybe I should go and procure your ‘requested goods’ for tonight.”

Ah… that’s true, the sauce was too heavy, and the spice was beyond overpowering compared to the small quantity of grilled ingredients, therefore I couldn’t eat even half of the meal that was served here. Usually, I would eat it even if it was pork bone ramen.

“Is that so? Then, I’ll rely on you for the provision by tomorrow morning, but be careful not to overdo it.”

Honestly, I am a bit hesitant to drink ‘that’, but no matter what I can’t stop my physical desires. So rather than directly bite somebody’s neck, I came to terms with drinking it by having Tengai procure it for me.

“―Of course, I will be careful.”

Together with those words, Tengai’s figure disappeared from the spot.

“Well then, come to think of it, I wonder if Joey is in good spirits?”

During the night when a vampire princess manifests her true ability, I suddenly recall Joey’s sobbing face when we parted ways.

◆◇◆◇

Joey carried a long used tray with a plain dinner on top of it while sighing. Returning to his own room on the 2nd floor, he climbed up the stairs.

He remembered the events that happened this evening at the guild. Thinking his lack of knowledge about the world was giving the girl trouble, he let out another sigh.

“Ah, she probably despises me…”

The matter was supposed to already be over, but recalling that event made him beat himself up with all his strength.

While sighing for an unknown number of times, he used his foot to open the wooden door of his room since the key was not enough to unlock it, then proceeded inside the room.

“Yo, welcome back Joey.”

Hiyuki is sitting on the bed instead of the chair, and even though she greeted him, Joey was still unable to comprehend reality.

It was something like an illusion from the moonlight, a fairy prank, or he had gone crazy.

“It’s still too early for the promise, but I feel worried about you, so please excuse me for barging in.”

Hearing Hiyuki’s voice, Joey finally understood the reality. He put the tray with his meal on it on top of the bed beside Hiyuki (since there was no desk) with great haste, then he locked the door with his shoddy key.

“Y-you, how did you come here?!”

Although she heard his high pitched voice, the person in question, Hiyuki, was absorbed with curiosity about Joey’s dinner.

“Oh, the window was open so I just came in.”

She absent-mindedly replied to him while looking at the content of his tableware.

“The window? Isn’t this on the 2nd floor? In the first place, your appearance is…”

Hiyuki was wearing something like a sleeping dress, an off black dress that extended to her ankle with an ivory nightgown on the top of it. Joey couldn’t hide his embarrassment seeing her with that appearance but Hiyuki herself didn’t care about it and only pointed to his dinner.

“Hey hey, what is this?”
“What do you mean, this is just oatmeal…you don’t know of it?”

Realizing asking more than this is useless, Joey answered her question with a sigh.

“Heeh, so this is oatmeal. This is the first time I heard the name. Can I try it?”
“Well that’s not a problem but, don’t you have a hotel booked by the guild? You didn’t have your dinner there?”
“Hmm? Aah, pretty much.. I’m staying in a noble’s room at the so-called Ariana Palace Hotel, but you see, the food isn’t tasty, I almost couldn’t eat it.”

While saying so, without delay Hiyuki takes a mouthful of oatmeal with the spoon.

“―Wa-wait a minute. If you’re talking about THE ‘Ariana Palace Hotel’, I heard staying there just one night will cost a normal citizen his full month’s salary, you know!? To say something like a noble’s room meal in that hotel is bad…”

Whether Hiyuki heard him or not, her delicate face stiffened, the spoon remaining in her mouth. She chewed the oatmeal inside her mouth and swallowed it as if she had made up her mind.

“…No, it’s not tasty if I compare it with the food from the castle, but it’s not that bad. Besides, if I compare it to the meal here, it’s soo terrible.”

“―Well, it’s a meal for people like us who don’t have a lot of money, but our bodies need food so we need to eat that kind of food to the fullest.”

While giving the explanation, Joey slurps the oatmeal that Hiyuki handed back over. He spread the butter over the bread, and ate it together with his potatoes and a minuscule amount of bacon.

“I see, nothing but splendid carbohydrates huh. It’ll be bad for your body if you don’t eat vegetables once a while.”
“Its fine, I am satisfied with this meal!”

For some reason Joey got irritated. Hearing his seemingly annoyed words, Hiyuki opened her eyes wide for a moment and subsequently hung her head down apologetically.

“…That’s right, it was just my selfishness.”
“Ah, no, it’s not that you’re at fault or anything…”

Looking at Hiyuki’s small figure that just shrank even more, Joey interrupted his meal and quickly searched for words to comfort her.

“―Sorry. I was venting my anger earlier, it’s just that I feel there’s a very very large wall between us which made me frustrated.”

His words made Hiyuki tilt her head in puzzlement.

“There is no real barrier between us. You should be able to feel it if I touched you like this.”

Saying so, she put her chilly palm onto Joey’s cheek, before instantly separating it.

Because of such an unexpected girl-like action, Joey’s heart throbbed fast. Reflexively he asked her in return,

“…Then, can I touch you?”
“―Y-yeah”

Hiyuki is embarrassed but still she gives him a nod. Joey then extended his arm toward her. He hesitated, feeling that anywhere he touched would break her, but he resolved his mind somehow and tried, finally grabbing the both sides of her arm.

“You… even though you are so slender, why are you so soft?! What is your secret?”
“―You really can’t read the atmosphere, eh.”

Joey was being told with an amazed tone and expression.

“Err, it’s because all the adventurer women and village girls are very stiff even though they’re women.”

Even though he desperately explained himself, her face just became more and more amazed. Feeling ashamed, Joey releases his hand.

“Those are the arms of a female that works in the field or does manual labor you know? That might be a rare thing to you, but generally normal females have arms like mine. If you like, next time you could touch Mia by asking her, I am sure she will understand.”

“…Mia huh. I think she’ll just make fun of me.”

“You have the wrong idea, there’s no way a woman would go that far. Perhaps you feel like she keeps saying harsh things and nagging at you, but even so I think everything that she has done is for your sake. If you want to have a lover or wife, you should choose that sort of woman. Especially you, she is perfectly suited with you because of your lacking in several aspects.”

“It’s none of your business! In the first place there should be no reason for a senior of mine to take notice of someone like me.”

“I don’t think so, isn’t that just your own stubbornness? This is my intuition, but she probably parted with her lover many years ago and might be suffering from the bereavement. I feel that she finds the power to heal her emotional scars inside of you.”

“What was that, a girl’s intuition?”

“Hmmmmm, maybe. You can put it like that. Oh my, your meal has gone completely cold. Well, it’s time for me to leave.”

Hiyuki said so while looking towards the window.

“Leave? Don’t tell me, from the window…”

That moment, Hiyuki’s eyes seemed to shine brightly and Joey’s consciousness rapidly faded―

“Goodnight Joey, see you tomorrow.”

Joey suddenly raised his head, thinking that he heard the parting voice of Hiyuki. However her presence isn’t found anywhere in the room. The door was also locked from inside.

“…I wonder if that was a dream.”

Remaining half in doubt of himself, Joey ate up the meal that had gone cold.

Still, his gloomy feelings from earlier were completely gone. That night he was able to sleep soundly without even dreaming.

Author Notes:

I considered making the story development a bit more bittersweet, but when I tried to end it, Joey became totally miserable.

As for Mia’s background story, at 15 years old she lost her adventurer lover who was the same age as her. She doesn’t want the same tragedy to happen again, and Joey had a likeness to the adventurer’s stupidity.

Also, if you put some ingredients on top of oatmeal it becomes quite delicious, but what Joey was eating was a porridge that was cooked with just wild oats and water.

The food menu is using 1840’s Great Britain meals for the lower class as reference.