Lia
After enjoying tea time with the cookies and black tea Silvia had given us, Elin and I left the house to explore the city.
The reason was Silvia's research. She'd told us we could wander around outside if we got bored while she worked, and she'd even pressed some pocket money into our hands — so there was no way we could refuse to go out.
"It's so huuuge……."
"So cities like this exist too."
The village Lily had lived in looked exactly like the kind of place that came to mind when you thought of fantasy. Farmland all around, houses built of wood, and every villager knowing every other by name.
Because of that, I'd naturally assumed other towns would be much the same — but looking at this city, it seemed far more developed than I'd expected.
"Lily! Lily! The roads are all made of stone!"
"So they are."
"Wow! Lily, look at that! Water's coming out!!"
"Yeah. It's a fountain……."
And so Elin ended up far more excited than I was.
Elin did say this was her first time in a city, didn't she?
During the week I'd been unconscious, she'd only gone back and forth between the hospital and the house, so this was her first real look around. Fair enough — after seeing nothing but buildings smaller than trees, the sight of something this grand would be enough to leave anyone stunned.
I'd been a little disappointed by how much more advanced the city was than expected, but to Elin, who was seeing a city for the first time, everything was new. Her eyes sparkled with wonder.
"Lily, Lily! Let's go over there too!"
To think she'd held herself back from all of this out of worry for me……. The thought was so endearing that I found myself ruffling her hair without thinking. I realized a second too late and jerked my hand away —
"Hm? Why'd you stop?"
"……Is this okay?"
"Yeah! Head pats are the best!"
Watching Elin take my hand and put it right back on her head, I just…….
"Aaaah── Lily, I can't see!"
"You little cutie……."
Only after thoroughly messing up Elin's hair did I come back to my senses and resume looking around the city. Fortunately — if you could call it that — there turned out to be plenty of things that were new and interesting even to me.
"Whoa……."
"Whoaaa……!"
Before long, Elin and I were wandering the streets together, equally captivated. We were strolling along, taking in the elegant clothes, street performances that might have been sleight of hand or actual magic, and the music drifting from the roadside, when Elin tugged on my arm and pointed at a shop.
"Lily! Let's check that place out too!"
"That one…… a bakery?"
The place Elin was pointing at was a bakery. Even from outside, the breads on display looked delicious, and the smell of freshly baked loaves drifted out toward us.
"Hmm…… shall we?"
"Yeah!"
Drawn in by that wonderful aroma, we stepped inside. It wasn't a large shop, but it sold a surprisingly wide variety of breads — most of which I didn't even know the names of.
"Wow…… Lily, can we get some of this?"
"Hm? Elin, we're going to have dinner soon."
"But, buuut……! It looks so good!"
I'd more or less seen this coming……. Elin, who'd been browsing the bread with shining eyes, pointed at one loaf and turned those sparkling, pleading eyes on me. Silvia had given us pocket money, sure, but we still had dinner waiting at home…….
"Pleeease……?"
"Ugh…… haah. Fine. Just one, okay?"
"Yes!"
Asking like that with such an adorable face was basically cheating……. Elin snatched up a loaf before I could change my mind, and the shopkeeper, apparently finding her just as cute as I did, smiled as she bagged it up.
"……Here you go."
"Thank you, miss. Come again~"
Of course, the moment I handed her the money to pay, Elin got so embarrassed she ducked her head and finished the transaction staring at the floor.
"Pfft……."
"Uuu…… don't laugh……!"
"I can't help it. You're too cute."
I laughed so hard at that precious display that Elin ended up a little sulky.
"……Here. This one's for you, Lily."
"Hm? You're giving it to me?"
"……."
Even sulking, she still split the bread and handed me half — which only made her cuter.
We'd done a fair bit of sightseeing by then, and the sky was starting to turn the color of sunset. I was walking Elin back toward the house when it happened.
"Eek──"
"Elin? Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah…… Elin's fine, but……."
Rounding a corner, Elin collided with someone running the other way and went tumbling. Both of them ended up sitting on the ground, at least, so neither seemed badly hurt…….
"Are you all right?"
"Ah…… sorry. I was in a hurry and wasn't watching where I was going."
After helping Elin up, I approached the person she'd run into. They were about our age, hooded in a robe, and I'd just started thinking they must have been heading home too when —
Huh? What was that all of a sudden?
A message had popped up out of nowhere. Useless thoughts flickered through my mind — Am I about to die again? Is the kid in front of me actually an assassin? — and then:
■ Lily — Surviving
■ Aurelia von Sollein — Surviving
……?
All of a sudden, a strange name had been added to a list that until now had only ever held mine. And it was an oddly long name, complete with a surname and what looked like a middle particle…….
Of all times, right when we bumped into this person?
No way that was a coincidence. Elin had just collided with them…….
A surname means they're at least a noble…….
First, stay calm. They still hadn't revealed who they were, and neither had we. That meant we could still make a run for it if things went south. I watched carefully as the person in front of us started to get up.
"……It's dirty now."
Yeah. Time to run.
My brain was already playing out a scene of this person screaming, "Lock up those commoners who soiled my clothes!" — so I grabbed Elin's hand on the spot.
"Here. This should be enough to buy you a new outfit, at least. Sorry for running into you."
"……Huh?"
"Hm? Oh, are you hurt somewhere? I can walk you over to the hospital if you need."
"No, I…… weren't you about to start yelling at me?"
"……Huh?"
"What?"
"……What?"
……I seemed to have thoroughly misunderstood the situation. What was going on? Every noble I'd ever seen in fantasy stories was the type to go, "Ohoho! Off with all their heads!"
As the gap between the person in front of me and the noble my brain had invented started producing some serious cognitive dissonance —
"Ahaha──!"
The robed noble burst out laughing, pulled back their hood, and held out a hand to me.
"I'm Lia! What's your name?"
"I— uh, I'm…… Lily……."
I nearly slipped into formal speech from sheer panic, but managed to catch myself just in time.
Introducing herself under an alias means she has no intention of revealing she's a noble — at least not yet.
So I acted as naturally as I could. Like an eight-year-old who'd just met a pretty new friend her own age with vivid crimson hair, and found the whole thing fascinating. I took Lia's hand —
"──?!"
In that instant, Lia's lips curled up and she yanked our joined hands toward her. Leaning in close, she brought her mouth to my ear.
"……How did you know?"
"Eek── W-what?!"
"Aha──! I knew my instincts were never wrong."
Having said that, Lia laughed like a child who'd just found a particularly fun new toy, then pulled her robe back up.
"Heh. Lily and Elin, was it?"
She must have overheard me calling Elin's name, because she included her without missing a beat, then continued as she started to move away.
"That's a gift from me, so use it well. If you spend it somewhere weird, I'll come find you."
"A gift……?"
I felt something foreign in the hand that had been holding Lia's, and looked down to find a peculiar coin gleaming in my palm. What on earth was this……? Unlike ordinary coins, it had no denomination marked on it at all — it just glittered strangely. I wanted to ask what it was, but —
"……She's already gone."
When I looked up, Lia had long since vanished.
"What was that about……."
"Lily."
"Hm?"
I turned to the side and found Elin staring at me with an expression I'd never seen before.
What……? Why is she angry?
I was thrown by this sudden, inexplicable fury directed at me, but —
"……Never mind. Let's go."
"Uh, uh?"
For some reason, Elin's expression smoothed over almost immediately, and she started leading me back toward the house.
……What was that, seriously.
We returned home with nothing but a pile of unanswered questions. After a quick wash, and before heading to the bedroom, I stopped by Silvia's room. I knocked, and a moment later the door opened.
"What is it……."
"Oh, were you sleeping? I'm sorry."
"Nngh, no, no. I just didn't sleep last night because of research. So, what's up?"
She wasn't even in pajamas, yet she looked half-asleep — clearly exhausted. But she said she was fine, so it probably didn't matter.
"I was wondering what this is. It looks like a coin, but there's no number on it……."
I handed Silvia the coin I'd received from Lia. She took the glittering piece and began examining it with tired eyes.
"W-wait……? Wait?!"
Her eyes went wider and wider, her pupils trembling rapidly.
"Li-Li-Lily…… where, where did you pick this up……?"
"Huh? I didn't pick it up — some kid gave it to me……?"
"Was that child's hair orange, like the sun……?"
"Oh. How did you know?"
The more I'd looked at Lia's hair, the more it had reminded me of the sun. I hadn't seen much of it under the robe, but still…… how did Silvia know that?
"……Lily. Listen carefully."
"Yes……?"
"This is…… what's called an Imperial Guarantee Coin."
……Excuse me? Imperial?
Wait — that would mean the Lia we'd met today was…….
"It's a coin that only direct members of the Imperial Family can give or use……."
As if she couldn't believe this was actually happening, Silvia pinched her own cheek.
"Ow──"
Naturally, this was reality after all.
In a certain lavish chamber —
"Ah, right. Riona."
A girl sprawled on her bed, chatting with her maid, suddenly tossed out a topic as if she'd just remembered something she'd forgotten.
"What is it, Your Highness?"
"I gave away a coin."
The content of that particular something was the absolute last thing she should have forgotten.
"……Pardon? Pardon?! To whom, exactly?!"
"Hmm……."
At her maid's startled reaction, Lia smiled faintly and thought at the same time. Something along the lines of, How can I phrase this to make it more fun? And then she opened her mouth…….
"Someone I adore?"
"Ah, aah…… the Empress……."
Hearing that, the maid clutched the back of her neck and collapsed. The one who'd said it, of course, was still on the bed, snickering to herself.