The End of the New Year and Childhood (1)
The bloody brawl with the mafia was over, but we decided to stay in Lucregens for a few more days. Of course, there were reasons for that. Let me list just the most obvious ones. First, to avoid suspicion from the lord’s lackeys who were running around with bloodshot eyes, desperately searching for a white-haired married woman in her twenties.
That was reason number one. The underworld conflict that had been eating away at the city ended overnight when one of its oldest criminal organizations collapsed completely. The daughter-in-law of their mortal enemy, who had crossed the border into their territory, vanished while still giggling and laughing without even knowing why she had come. In a situation like that, bolting out of the city the moment the chaos died down? That would be no different from a North Korean operative finishing a spying mission and making a run for it. It was smarter to avoid anything that might draw suspicion.
When I dug through Corventus’s memories, I learned that Tirsi wasn’t in immediate mortal danger. The nature and difficulty of the request had changed, though—enough that I needed to consult our client about it.
“So you’re turning your third wife into a carrier pigeon to deliver letters to another woman? What a terrible husband you are.”
“Hey, come on, if you put it like that, what does that make me?”
“Hmph. It’s just a tiny bit of jealousy. Accept it with humility.”
Veronica, currently transformed into a carrier pigeon, had used Space Movement to deliver our report to Lady Henesis and bring back a reply. That had happened at lunch today. After reading her response—which was really just a set of instructions—it became clear there was no need to rush like mad. Tirsi’s current situation wasn’t something that could be fixed by hurrying.
That was why we felt the need to create a more normal timetable. This was the second reason we decided to remain in Lucregens for a while.
“Hey, hubby. Doesn’t this feel like we’re planning a trip?”
“Right? Is it because we’re stuffing alibis into every single day? Was this supposed to be a business trip or a Romania package tour?”
“Excuse me? We’re spending all our time working in Lucregens, which is famous for its entertainment. Doesn’t that make it a pretty flawed trip?”
I sat down with Dana and Larilura to sketch out a simple travel plan. We weren’t actually going to follow it—we just needed a schedule that wouldn’t look suspicious to outsiders if they checked our movements. The word “alibi” fit perfectly.
Why go through all this trouble? Just think about it. If some guy stamps his entry at the Lucregens main gate yesterday and shows up in a city three thousand miles away the next day, who the hell would believe that? Even Pogrius the First with his instant movement technique couldn’t pull off that kind of bullshit. The moment someone hears that General So-and-So used teleportation, we’d get dragged off by the otherworldly Gestapo and subjected to all kinds of humiliation.
I could probably endure being hung from the ceiling and having my nose shoved into a bowl of diluted pepper water while screaming “I hate communists!” at the top of my lungs, but my wives shouldn’t have to go through that. If even one of their fingernails—nails I haven’t even properly painted with manicure yet—got ripped out, the devoted husband Norde would go full dark mode and burn Romania to the ground.
You think I’m bluffing? Immortalis and the Compilation Battalion were basically born in Romania screaming “Waaah, I’m baby ISIS!” If I just exposed where those bastards came from, the great powers whose countries got flipped upside down by them wouldn’t just sit back and take it. Narmer-Nile is already a mess with black mages running around cackling “Heehee! Human rights are shit! Launch the human experiments!” And in Nidavellir, the Compilation Battalion has been poisoning the dwarves for decades. If I grit my teeth and spend a few years waging information warfare, that Leaf Village that spawned Akatsuki and the Seven Warlords would turn into a sea of flames.
So behave yourselves.
“Yes, I will behave properly.”
Of course, if we’re talking efficiency, it would be faster and more reliable for me to take the lead and make sure we don’t get caught. It’s not like we can threaten the Emperor of Romania and get away with it. That’s why we designed this timetable—to avoid suspicion.
The journey to our next destination, Parmanos, would normally take three to four days. I was still debating whether we should leave the city, mess around for a few days, then use Space Movement to jump straight there, or hire a carriage and travel normally. Since we now knew Tirsi’s life wasn’t in immediate danger, I could take care of the remaining business while occasionally spending time with my wives.
“Nord. Your hair has grown a lot. Want me to cut it if it’s getting in the way?”
“Is it already that time? I heard hair grows faster when you have a lot of dirty thoughts. Maybe that’s why.”
“Isn’t that a lie? Look at me. I cut mine over two months ago and it hasn’t grown much.”
“……Ah.”
Anyway, that’s how things went.
It was one of those days when a rival mafia group, after secretly trying to expand their power, got their heads smashed in turn by the city guard—who had been tipped off by the lord—and the Janus Order, which had launched an inquisition against heretics.
The Plangunkula Circus Troupe has returned!
Get your performance tickets right now!! Cancel all tomorrow’s plans!!
With only two days left until the New Year in late December, we heard the news that our junior’s family had returned home.
The Plangunkula Circus Troupe. They were the ones who had taken in the orphaned Larilura and raised her. One of the top acrobatic troupes in all of Romania. Among our family, only I and Franc had met them before, but our encounter with them was the final reason we chose to stay in Lucregens.
Our meeting with Larilura had certainly been a coincidence. But the reason our connection with her didn’t end after that single moment like it had with so many others was because the troupe’s leader, Miss Alexandra, had left her in our care when they departed.
‘Wait, should I say it was thanks to them in this case?’
After all, many good things had happened to Larilura because of it.
Whatever the case, the Plangunkula Circus Troupe wasn’t some fairy-tale stork that delivered newborn babies to newlyweds. There had to be a reason they left Larilura with us. And even if we pretended their true identity was a baby matchmaker cartel that grew cabbages, what kind of stork throws a fully grown girl at someone and yells “Take her as your junior!”? What the hell, were they growing an eighteen-year-old circus girl in a cabbage patch like some thousand-year-old wild ginseng? The food safety agency would bulldoze the whole field and shut them down, and no one could complain.
On the surface, they had said it was so she could “live independently until she becomes an adult.”
‘But come on… who the hell would believe that?’
Our junior might have pink hair inside and out, but her skills were ace-level in the industry. She was quick-witted, good at reading the room, and an excellent mood maker. That kind of person is welcome anywhere. Everyone agreed on that, and if she also had outstanding ability, she was practically perfect. To exaggerate a little, she was practically the section chief who had been carrying the entire circus troupe on her back. No sane boss would give someone like her an unpaid vacation just because she caused a little trouble. Even if they punished her, they would have kept her around to clean or run errands. Abandoning her completely? That was nonsense.
What if she got hurt in this harsh world, or got scouted by another circus troupe?
The Miss Alexandra I knew—the leader, not the boss—hadn’t seemed like that kind of narrow-minded person. Honestly, even if Franc and I hadn’t been in Heisvent, would she really have told Larilura to “live strongly even in a foreign land” and sent her off with a farewell?
I didn’t think so.
‘…It feels a bit late to ask now that we’ve come this far.’
Larilura had already learned far too many of our family’s secrets. I didn’t think she would spill them even if she were forced to drink consommé soup through her nose in a dark torture chamber, but we still needed to ask what she wanted for her future. Whether she would stay with us or return to the circus troupe.
To be blunt, it was time to put a period on the matter we had been vaguely putting off. Even if that weren’t the case, there were people we wanted to greet after so long and ask how they had been doing.
And so our party decided to visit the building where the Plangunkula Circus Troupe was staying.
“I’m sorry, but if you’re here for our circus performance, it will be from tomorrow onward… Larilura?”
“Mokona unnie!”
“Oh my, oh my! What is this?!”
The young dancer, who had reacted in a rather auntie-like way, jumped around in delight at the reunion before turning to us with a bright smile.
“Ah! Then the people with you must be that, um, Mr. Norde and Miss Francesca?”
“Yes, that’s correct. I’m surprised you recognized us. I’m actually a little moved.”
I answered playfully. It was surprising that someone we had never properly introduced ourselves to knew who we were. Miss Alexandra must have told her about us.
“Hehehehe. Of course I do!”
But at my words, Mokona, whose brown Narmer-Nile skin was practically sparkling, gave a sly smile.
“For the past several months, whenever our princess’s name came up or we overheard the new members talking, there wasn’t a single day we didn’t hear stories about what kind of person that foreign prince was—mmph?!”
“Ah, ahaha! Ahahahaha♡! Unnie, really! Have you been drinking since noon? I can smell the alcohol from here!”
Uh… it looked like Larilura was pretending to hug her while actually strangling her. I suppose it would be polite to let this one slide.
“Kek! Kekek!”
“Ahahahaha♡ Unnie~? You won’t say anything weird, right? You understand♡?”
—Tap tap tap.
When Mokona tapped her arm as if to answer, Larilura smiled and released her.
“Kehek! Kelok, kelok! Sigh… Seeing you do that, you really haven’t changed at all, have you? We knew you’d be like this.”
Mokona rubbed her neck, but she didn’t look particularly angry. That kind of thing was only possible between people who were genuinely close. Of course, the woman who had just been hugged nearly to death retaliated by grabbing Larilura’s cheeks.
“Look at you. Have you been taking care of your body? You haven’t been skipping acrobatics practice and lazing around, getting fat, have you?”
“Ueeek… Let gooo…”
“Hehe. Doing this makes me think of the old days.”
—Stretch, stretch.
She pulled Larilura’s cheeks out while spinning her arms in circles and spoke to us.
“Well, anyway, welcome. I’ll show you inside, so please follow me. The leader happens to be resting right now.”
“Thank you. We’ll impose on you for a bit then. Ah, Larilura? You can stay here and chat with the troupe members for a while. It’s been a long time since you’ve seen them.”
“Um… um…”
Larilura seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding, unable to overcome her nostalgia. Mokona smiled as if she liked that answer and finally let go of her. We entered the building like that.
“Huh? Mokona, weren’t some nobles supposed to visit today—eh?”
“Hello, Mr. Highpeace♡! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Wait, why are you here?! Whoa! I didn’t even dream about pigs today!”
A crowd quickly gathered to welcome Larilura. The hesitation she had shown earlier seemed like a lie as she laughed and chatted with them.
“Larilura. Go ahead and catch up. We’ll come back in a bit.”
“Okaaay~!”
Hearing her bright reply, we followed Mokona up to the reception room on the second floor.
“Here it is! It’s quite extravagant, but please make yourselves comfortable!”
I had been about to think that people usually say “it’s humble” instead, but the words died in my throat the moment I saw the room. It really was extravagantly luxurious. This was no ordinary space. Well, it made sense—commoners wouldn’t have any reason to visit a circus troupe to talk. This must be the noble-exclusive reception room.
Franc seemed to have the same thought and shrank back a little.
“Hehe. It feels like even if they serve us tea, I’ll have to drink it according to proper etiquette.”
“What does it matter? These people probably couldn’t run a circus if they cared about stuff like that.”
—Tickle, tickle.
Dana tickled Franc as if to reassure her. Since the wives were comforting each other so well, I didn’t have anything to add.
“…Hm. Are these cookies specifically for black tea? The world really does have everything.”
“Get a grip, you idiot. Next time we can just stock up on them at home.”
Only Veronica was completely fixated on the cookies in the cabinet, so I poked her in the side and told her to behave. It would be stranger if our attendant didn’t show curiosity toward food, so I understood.
—Click.
After waiting a few minutes, the door opened. It was a middle-aged woman with neat clothes and golden hair. Perhaps because the troupe’s biggest troublemaker had been away, she looked noticeably brighter and healthier than a few months ago.
“Welcome, everyone. I am Alexandra Leps, leader of the Plangunkula Circus Troupe.”
She bowed politely just like when we had parted last time and smiled kindly.
“I’m glad to see you all again.”