Youth Is Too Short to Hesitate

"What!? An interview?"

It was a clear, bright, vigorous voice—the kind that lifted the spirits of anyone lucky enough to hear it.

"Not stew. I'm a reporter from the Imperial Magic Broadcasting Station, out gathering stories about how people actually live. If you don't mind, I'd like to interview you."

It wasn't a complete lie. Every major news source the station put on the air was coming out of my own experience or the Chancellor's office, so in a broad sense I was a reporter.

At the word broadcasting station from my mouth, Marie's clear brown eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Wait—are you a reporter from the mana broadcasts?"

"That's right."

"Wow—!"

Her gaze flicked from my shabby clothes to the small camera magitool I'd let hover in the air, and wonder washed over her face. But only for a moment. An urgent voice called for her from across the dining room.

"Marie! Two more beers over here!"

She flinched and turned back to me with an apologetic look.

"I-I'm terribly busy right now, as you can see! Could we maybe do it later tonight, after we close!?"

I smiled at her.

"Of course. Can't let an interview get in the way of the real work."

"Thank you so much!"

My schedule for the day was empty anyway. If I could unearth this uncut gem, waiting a few hours was nothing at all. I took a corner seat, nursing fried food and a beer, and waited with stubborn patience until the evening service was over.

One by one the restaurant lamps went out, and the noisy crowd receded like the tide. Late night settled over the inn. I was the only customer left in the dining hall.

Standing beside her, however, was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a well-built middle-aged man with a grim expression and his arms folded tight across his chest.

"Dad! I can handle this myself!"

"How can you just believe someone who says he's a reporter? Do you have any idea what the world is like these days? Do you know how many dangerous men are out there?"

Marie stamped her feet beside him, but the middle-aged man—clearly the innkeeper—looked me up and down with deep, undisguised suspicion. She came over to me and bowed her head, her face tight with embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry. As you can see… my father is a little overprotective."

"I understand completely. With a daughter this pretty and this sharp, any father would worry."

He snorted at my smooth reply.

"Don't give me that. If you're a reporter from the Imperial Broadcasting Station, you'd have some kind of identification, wouldn't you? Let's see that first."

Identification. Come to think of it, I hadn't brought anything like a press badge. I was the station director—why would I be carrying a petty little trinket like that?

But there was a far more certain way to prove who I was.

I flicked my fingers lightly.

Fwaat—

The perception-blocking magic wrapped around my body shattered, and the ordinary brown hair and rustic features vanished in an instant, giving way to the real thing. Hair as black as the night sky. Dark eyes unique to Koreans—a color so rare across the continent that it had become the very symbol of the Imperial Chancellor. And the shabby leather vest had, before anyone could blink, become a finest-quality black uniform, intricately embroidered in silver thread.

"……!"

Father and daughter both stood with their mouths hanging open at the surreal spectacle that had unfolded in a heartbeat.

"W-wait……"

The innkeeper's eyes trembled wildly. The man in front of him was so famous that even a tavern keeper in a rural backwater couldn't fail to recognize those features. No—it was a face that blared from the Mana Display news screens every single day until you were sick of looking at it.

"Y-Your Excellency the Chancellor!?"

He sucked in a startled breath and dropped to his knees on the floor. Marie froze beside him, too stunned to move.

"That's right. I wasn't trying to deceive you—I'm on an inspection tour and couldn't afford to stand out. I'm sorry. I simply wanted to have an honest conversation with your daughter."

At my gentle voice, the innkeeper pressed his forehead to the floor and cried out in a rush.

"O-of course! Naturally! It's an honor, Your Excellency! That our girl would take up Your Excellency's precious time—!"

"She didn't take my time. I waited. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk with Miss Marie for a while."

He sprang up and shoved Marie's back toward me.

"Of course! A thousand times, ten thousand times! I'll stand way over there with my ears covered!"

Marie still looked tense, both hands clenched tight on her knees. I didn't rashly bring up appearing on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a show. I opened instead with something light.

"You're very skilled at your work. That gift for livening up everyone around you isn't a common one."

She tucked her hair behind her ear at the praise, her face flushing.

"Y-you're too kind."

Starting a first impression with a compliment is good in all sorts of ways. I began to broach the real subject.

"Do you have a dream?"

"Pardon? A d-dream?"

"Yes. A dream. Something you want to do going forward. A goal of some kind."

"H-how did you know?"

"I can tell by looking at your eyes. Those are the eyes of someone who longs for something desperately."

"……"

A clear light began to well in the eyes of the twenty-year-old girl who had been so stiff.

"I… I want to see the world! I want to travel around, and go somewhere wide open."

"Haha. Travel. That's a fine dream. So where's the place you most want to go?"

She spoke with sparkling eyes, as if the shyness had never been there at all.

"The capital! I heard there are so many amazing things to see there. Carriages that roll on magic, and nights as bright as day. And of course… I'd really love to visit the broadcasting station Your Excellency built!"

Pure longing for the outside world colored every word.

"And what else?"

"Hmm… if you mean what else……"

She glanced sideways at her father, who was still eavesdropping on every word, and read the room. Hadn't he said he was going far away? She was deeply filial and fiercely responsible; the thought of the parents and the inn she'd leave behind was already running ahead of her own wishes.

I rummaged through my coat and pulled out a pouch.

"Innkeeper?"

"Yes?"

From inside it I pinched a gleaming gold coin and flicked it toward him. The coin traced a clean arc and dropped into his palm with a fat little thunk.

"That's payment for agreeing to a very valuable interview."

This world's currency was the krima. Copper coins, silver coins, paper notes—any number of units circulated, but the piece I had just thrown was a pure gold coin minted by the Imperial Central Bank. A treasure accepted anywhere, and a fortune of ten million krima to the coin.

The innkeeper's hands shook like aspen leaves as he held it up before his eyes.

"Th-this! Th-this is far too much, Your Excellency! T-ten million krima for a single interview!!"

He waved his hands in shock. I smiled and stopped him.

"Keep it. Think of it as a stroke of luck for a man who's lived by the sweat of his brow. In exchange, the two of us are going to have a private conversation, so would you mind giving us the room entirely?"

"A-absolutely! Thank you!! May the Goddess's blessing be with Your Excellency!!"

He vanished out of the inn like a shot, without a single glance back. With ten million krima, he wouldn't have to worry about money for a good while. The sweetness of capitalism never fails.

"Now. Where were we?"

In the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quiet inn, with the interruption gone, I turned my gaze back to Marie.

"You asked if there was anything else I wanted to try."

"That's right. Anything else you want to try? What is there?"

She fidgeted, her lips moving soundlessly for a moment before the words came.

"The truth is…. Working at the inn is so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠much fun, and all the regulars who come by are so kind. I feel proud watching people enjoy the food I made, too. But……"

I knew at once what she was trying to say.

"You mean that besides being tied to the inn, you want to try other things. Things for your own life."

"Th-that's right. But I always assumed my parents wouldn't allow it, so I just… gave up. Without me, the kitchen wouldn't run."

I nodded.

In a human life, the years called youth pass with a cruelty that still feels unfair. Even I had been dragged here from Earth in the prime of mine. Learning magic like a madman just to survive, tumbling across battlefields—and before I knew it, more than ten years had slipped away. No campus romance. Not even a silly little love affair.

Letting a youth that sparkled like hers rot away in nothing but kitchen grease would have been a waste too great to bear.

I brought up the real point.

"What about romance?"

At the sudden question, her face flushed bright red.

"R-romance?"

"Yes. Eating something delicious at a fine restaurant in the capital. Meeting a handsome, wonderful man. Having a sweet little romance. Don't girls your age all think about that?"

"W-well, I suppose sooo…?"

She hung her head, cheeks burning. An adorable, utterly innocent reaction.

Money wouldn't mean a thing in tempting this girl. What I wanted, after all, was for Marie herself to say she wanted to join my program. All that remained was to move her heart.

All right, silver tongue. Time to earn your keep.

"……"

Marie was not a child moved by worldly things like money or fame. That was why I touched only the wick of her forgotten dream, and the soft, unlit hope still waiting underneath it.

At last the wavering in her eyes stilled, and a firm resolve welled up in its place. Before I quite realized it, she was pressing a red-inked thumb down onto the appearance contract for Imperial Men and Women that I had held out to her.

Marie stamped her thumbprint and jerked her head up.

"Huh? W-wait a second!? Your Excellency? What did I just stamp? Come to think of it, if I'm away from the inn for two whole weeks, the kitchen will be completely paralyzed!"

Reality caught up with her a beat too late. She leaped up to snatch the contract back, but I had already tucked the parchment into my coat.

"I told you I'd take care of that too. I'll send someone starting tomorrow. A veteran chef who's held a knife in the Imperial kitchen for over ten years—so don't worry about the inn."

"Ah… I understand. That's a promise."

Only then did she let out a sigh of relief. On her face, excitement about the unfamiliar world about to unfold sat a little thicker than the worry.

She was attractive no matter how many times I looked. Attractive enough that any man would take an instant liking to her, no exceptions. Looks, personality, the way she spoke, her voice, her figure—so perfect you had to wonder how a girl like this even existed.

What would she look like all done up?

The corner of my mouth lifted on its own. Her bare face was already this stunning. What would happen if she wore makeup?

I could almost hear Lady Rosalyn's scream of despair—and it wouldn't have been for nothing.