Fools
Fools. It was true that we still had some time left. For the moment, at least. But I had no desire to spend that brief window of leisure in a place like this. I wanted to head back, loosen up my body to prepare for any unforeseen trouble, and explain our future plans to my disciples. That was how I had intended to spend the time wisely. So how on earth had I ended up killing time in a boutique packed wall-to-wall with dresses?
“Here’s your coffee, sir.”
“...Thank you. Ah, could I get a bit more sugar?”
“Of course! Right away! Just let me know if you need anything else!”
Normally I would have simply dragged them all out by force. No matter how much Iris begged or how many times my master cleared her throat. Honestly, I considered this nothing but a waste of time.
...If only my master hadn’t appeared in that pure white dress moments earlier.
“I must be out of my mind.”
Yes, I really had lost it. Why had I nodded my head back then? No matter how breathtaking my master’s unexpected appearance had been, hadn’t I repeatedly told myself not to do anything I would regret? Yet after seeing her graceful figure and hearing the clerk say that she wanted to try on other dresses too, it was as if some spell had been cast on me. I gave permission before I even realized what I was doing.
“What wind blew you in today?”
Iris, sitting beside me, whispered the question. She seemed genuinely astonished that I was willingly spending time in a place like this. So I decided to answer with complete honesty.
“I think I went crazy for a second.”
“Pfft! Master, stop joking.”
“...Does it sound like a joke? Because it feels pretty real to me.”
I sighed and shook my head. At that moment the door to the dressing room Iris had entered swung open.
“Master!”
The Iris who finally stepped out was wearing a water-blue dress. Her usual loose hair had been tied back and swept behind her shoulders. The girl who always radiated a bright aura looked positively radiant with the change of clothes. They say clothes are wings, and it seemed the saying was true. Even my foolish disciple Iris looked beautiful. Makeup and clothing clearly crossed the line from cheating into outright fraud.
The warning never to fall for those two things when dealing with women wasn’t just empty talk. It was sincere advice.
“How do I look?”
“...Pretty.”
“Eh? W-what? You’re saying that way too easily!”
“Weren’t you asking because you wanted to hear exactly that? So I gave you the answer you were hoping for.”
“That’s true, but… it feels like a reward that should have taken several tries to earn just popped out for free…”
“Iris.”
“Yes, Master.”
“It doesn’t look good on you. Go change into something else.”
“What?! What are you saying! You just said I was pretty!”
“I must have seen wrong. Get back in there.”
At my words Iris grumbled and turned around. She twisted this way and that in front of the full-length mirror, muttering, ‘It looks fine though! Why is he acting like this!’
Once Iris disappeared back into the dressing room with the clerks trailing after her to assist, the other Iris spoke up.
“Why did you do that? The youngest looked perfectly fine to me.”
“She did. Even I thought so.”
“Then why?”
“When else will we have time like this? She’s a Hero, but she’s also a woman. Both my master and Iris. They may not always show it, but they’re women who want to dress up and look beautiful at least once.”
“...I don’t get it. I’d rather throw another punch than dress up.”
“Your desire to become stronger is simply stronger. In the end it’s all the same.”
While I was talking with Iris, the door to my master’s dressing room opened this time. The first thing that caught my eye was the cascade of red fabric spilling across the floor. Lifting my gaze, I found my master displaying an entirely different kind of beauty. Like a second flower blooming inside a rose, she stood there in a vivid red dress.
If the pure white dress earlier had given an impression of purity and nobility, this one radiated something dangerous and irresistibly alluring. The feelings were different, but one thing remained the same. This was terrible for my heart. Truly, horribly bad for it.
“Ahem. Hm.”
At the sound of her clearing her throat I looked at her face. She was so embarrassed she couldn’t meet my eyes and kept fidgeting. She was the one who said she wanted to try on other dresses, yet now that she was actually showing them off she felt shy?
“Excuse me.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Please show her the mirror.”
At my request the clerks gently guided my master in front of the mirror. The moment she saw her own reflection, she let out a soft “Ah…”
“...”
“How is it, Master?”
“...This seat does not look like myself at all.”
“Is that so?”
“It feels like the first time I am truly realizing that I am this kind of ‘woman.’”
My master slowly turned, examining herself from every angle. The faint smile that touched her lips told me she was quite pleased.
“Try on other colors as well.”
“Again? This seat is satisfied now.”
“We still have some time.”
When I said that, my master stopped refusing. Though she pretended otherwise, it seemed she was thoroughly enjoying this situation of wearing beautiful clothes and studying her own reflection. It intrigued her.
“Very well. This seat shall try on one more.”
“Please do. What color would you like this time?”
“...Do you have a color you would recommend?”
My fashion sense is practically nonexistent, so I wasn’t confident. Choosing my own clothes is hard enough; choosing for women is even worse. As I hesitated, Iris quietly whispered.
“How about black?”
“Black?”
“Yes. I think that color would suit Grandmaster surprisingly well.”
As I’ve said before, Iris’s instincts are uncannily good. Even though she lives without much thought and throws her fists first, the fact that her choices often turn out perfect proves she has some kind of natural talent. If she was recommending a black dress, I had every reason to agree.
“Master. How about black?”
“...That does not sound bad. This seat shall try it once more.”
As my master entered the dressing room and the assisting clerk was about to follow, I stopped her.
“What is it?”
In front of the questioning clerk I held out a pouch heavy with gold coins. Her eyes grew as round as full moons at the sight of its obvious weight.
“T-this…”
“Don’t bring out mediocre dresses. Only the highest-grade fabric and pieces made by the best artisans.”
“Y-yes! Understood! Don’t worry! Our shop only carries the absolute finest!”
The clerk who answered so eagerly rushed off and returned with several dresses. Even at a glance they screamed ‘insanely expensive.’ She must have realized this kind of customer wouldn’t appear again. Seeing her pour her whole heart into the task was reassuring; at least the money was being well spent.
“Iris.”
While the clerks were all clustered around my master and Iris, I decided to give my poor, bored disciple something to keep her alive.
“I think something will happen this afternoon.”
“...A big incident? Or a small one?”
“Have I ever told you about anything small?”
“No, you haven’t. It’s always been big things. And fun ones.”
“I told you last time. It’s an opponent that made even me tense for a moment.”
Iris’s eyes flashed with predatory light. It was exactly the gaze of a beast that had spotted prey. I clapped once, lightly, to calm her down.
“There’s a chance it will appear. Even if not, at least a few high-grade monsters will show up.”
“Just hearing that makes my heart race. Ah, I’m going crazy. Uhahaha!”
...It’s good that your heart is racing, but stop rubbing your thighs together. It looks incredibly weird. Damn it, I said stop!
“Master! How about this one!”
Iris burst out again in a confident voice. This time she had switched to a pure white dress. It was definitely a good choice. It suited her appearance perfectly. I was about to tell her it looked pretty when, almost at the same moment, my master slowly walked forward.
“H-how is it?”
At my master’s question I could only fall silent, stunned. My brain screamed at me to stop spacing out, to react, to behave rationally, but my body refused to obey any command and simply froze.
I’m not particularly skilled at verbal praise. Even so, I wanted to shower the beauty of my master standing before me with every flowery phrase I could muster.
“You’re… too beautiful….”
...Fuck. Why did that come out so lame?
Cheon Yeon-hwa in the black dress looked like the goddess of night itself. It wasn’t merely her appearance; the aura she gave off was utterly overwhelming. So it was only natural that Namgung Hyeon was flustered and lost for words. Yet Iris still felt far from pleased.
She had asked first, but after a single glance his attention had shifted completely to Cheon Yeon-hwa. She thought about complaining once—that she had asked first, that he should comment on her too. But in the end Iris couldn’t bring herself to say it. Watching Cheon Yeon-hwa blush and smile while Namgung Hyeon tried to act indifferent, she could only swallow her feelings.
- Master! Master!!
- Do not come. Hurry and take your disciple with you, Hyeon-ah.
- Don’t do this! Please don’t do this!! Please, please!!
- How could a master abandon her disciple? Hyeon-ah. Take your disciple and escape at once.
Even as her once-mighty body slowly crumbled away, the Heavenly Demon—Cheon Yeon-hwa—murmured in a calm voice with only her disciple in her eyes.
- Do not become a pathetic master. This is your master’s final lesson.
On a day when the end of the world drew near. When they had fallen into the enemy’s trap and it became clear that not everyone would make it out alive, Cheon Yeon-hwa had unhesitatingly told her disciple to take Iris and flee. Then she turned and willingly walked into the trap herself.
She could have lived. In truth, she could have survived. But doing so would have put her disciple and her disciple’s disciple in danger. Therefore Cheon Yeon-hwa did not hesitate. She fulfilled her duty as master, as grandmaster. And she gladly sacrificed herself for the person she held in her heart.
‘…Foolish master. Foolish Grandmaster.’
They had denied it until the very end. Even in the final moment they had shaken their heads. Yet both had been secretly smiling at each other all along. Having witnessed everything, Iris had no way to intervene. She hadn’t wanted to yield, and she had wanted to try as well, but she simply couldn’t.
“No, Master! Is that all?! Don’t you have anything else to say to Grandmaster besides that she’s pretty?!”
So Iris, carefully hiding her true feelings and wondering if perhaps she herself was the biggest fool of all, could only shout as if nothing was wrong.