95. Two Leashes in Both Hands (1)
95. Two Leashes in Both Hands (1)
"Hm."
I picked up the sword Reni had handed me and examined it closely.
A blade with a total length of about 120 centimeters, forged from high-quality Damascus steel.
The weapon commonly known as a longsword.
Around here, it was the sword most knights adopted as a safe standard. Those who carried shields favored arming swords more often, of course, but knights were so thoroughly specialized for combat that it was hardly rare to see one wield a longsword and shield together.
Of course, since this was a game world, some swordsmen used weapons so unrealistically huge that I wondered how they could possibly be practical.
But despite possessing terrifying monstrous strength, Reni wasn't the type to favor a greatsword.
To be precise, it was more that an Escort Knight couldn't use one, given the nature of the profession.
Since she had to protect Karina, a reasonably portable weapon was more practical.
I swept my finger along the blade's spine, feeling the texture of a well-maintained longsword. The density certainly seemed fine enough to say a master had made it, and the sound when I flicked it with a finger was clear.
...It was about time to try coating it.
I looked at the molten mithril beside the furnace. Melting mithril required a complicated process: raising the temperature as high as possible with expensive firewood, spraying special chemicals to make it easier to melt, and, most importantly, using costly mana adhesive so the coating would take properly.
...If I were a dwarf master craftsman, I might have been able to coat it directly, but at my current level, I had to prepare it with all sorts of chemicals just to make coating easier and attempt it at all.
Whether due to my own lack of ability or because it was mithril, the Skill didn't work properly on it.
"...I'm going to have to go earn money again."
"Here! A towel!"
"Thanks, Millia."
It really was convenient to have someone look after me. I wiped the sweat from my upper body and checked the mithril-coated longsword. The coating hadn't fully set, so I needed to wait. I handed the instantly soaked towel back to Millia, sat down, and rested.
"Yohan, what are you going to do now?"
"Well..."
Millia sat beside me, pretending not to care despite her obvious anticipation, and swung her legs. I didn't know why she seemed so pleased. I stared blankly at her energetically swinging calves, then looked down when her head rolled onto my lap.
"Let's go on a picnic! I've always wanted to try a picnic! Pack a lunch, look at the flowers..."
Millia began listing everything she wanted to do, one item after another. It happened whenever this red-haired Dullahan grew bored. How could she have so many things she wanted to do? I tuned out her voice and reviewed my own tasks.
1. Prepare for the incident that would break out during the final exams.
2. Gather capital to strengthen combat power.
3. Secure a holy relic to completely cure Karina's body.
4. Locate Elina's Earring.
These four were the objectives I needed to achieve first. Chronologically, the final exams with about a month left were the closest, but the most urgent tasks were securing the holy relic and locating Elina's Earring.
The easiest way to get capital would be to embezzle it from somewhere again, but for now, I'd probably have to supplement it by cleaning out a few dungeons while searching for the holy relic. I wished someone would just hand me about a ton of mithril somewhere. I'd plaster everything with it.
Mithril armor, mithril underwear, a mithril hat—anyway, if I made everything out of mithril and put it all on Karina, wouldn't that guarantee her a minimum level of safety? Of course, all the items Karina currently owned were expensive, magically enchanted articles as well...
"...an? Yohan!"
"...Ah. Sorry, I've got a lot on my mind."
"Really?"
At my half-hearted listening, as if sulking, Millia puffed out her cheeks like a child and glared at me. But looking at me like that wasn't scary at all; it was just cute. To soothe Millia's anger, I stroked her head as I always did.
Her silky hair slipped through my fingers. Was every woman’s hair like this? Elisa’s had felt the same.
"Yohan, you're thinking about someone else right now, aren't you?"
"...I was thinking about Elisa."
"Why Elisa? Is that kind of person Yohan's type?"
Millia's expression was genuinely curious. As I kept stroking her head, I tossed out an appropriate answer.
"I was a little worried about her."
I'd managed to help her a little, but her astonishing loner tendencies remained, so I couldn't help worrying. Perhaps it was like a parent worrying over a child left near the water. Put that way, it felt as though I was filling a parental role.
It'd be quite a sight if a girl my own physical age called me Dad.
The mere thought of Elisa calling me Dad gave me goosebumps all over.
Wasn't this the very definition of pleasure without responsibility—no, responsibility without pleasure? I didn't want a development that was devoid of dreams or hope whatsoever. I wasn't a damn monk; I wanted a normal romance, a normal marriage.
The only reason I had to run myself ragged was that I alone knew this world was just five minutes away from going completely to hell at any moment. But I'd survived for ten years on an uninhabited island, damned if I was going to die now.
So right now, rather than playing at romance, it was time to worry about how to reach the True Ending.
"Worried?"
"Yeah. You've seen her a few times; you'd know, right?"
"True. Whenever I got close, she'd get startled and run away."
...Elisa hadn't already noticed that Millia was a Dullahan, had she? The thought made me a little uneasy.
Or it could be that she got startled and ran from Millia's terrifying extrovert energy. When I was present, I managed to mediate somehow, but it seemed one-on-one conversation between the two was still rough.
"I'd like to change that timid personality of hers a little."
A promising Wizard had practically fallen into my lap, so I ought to raise her properly and put her talent to use. Wizards tended to be proud, making it difficult to recruit a capable one as an ally. It'd be easier to use everything I knew to help her become an Archmage.
Though that would probably take a few years.
"Why?"
So this was why you shouldn't talk about another woman in front of a girl. I poked Millia's cheek as she shot me an even more uncomfortable look than before and said,
"...Is there somewhere you want to go on a picnic?"
"The market's opening tomorrow, they say! Let's go see the market!"
"A market isn't a place you go for a picnic."
"That's that! This is this! The picnic later!"
Ah, she meant those as separate outings.
Before Millia could sulk, I nodded.
"Woohoo!"
Look at that expression change instantly. That was her goal all along, wasn't it?
I didn't think she had it in her, but Millia had a cunning side after all.
"Hee hee hee hee hee..."
I looked at the headless body clinging to my arm, a complicated feeling washing over me.
So that was how the opening in a person’s neck moved when they laughed.
--------------------
"Ah, ah, hello..."
"Did classes go well?"
"Th-thanks to you..."
Perhaps the dungeon experience had helped, because Elisa answered me despite her shyness. Maybe it was my imagination, but her reaction was noticeably different from before. I sensed a faintly romantic atmosphere and looked around. Fortunately, Millia had gone to study with Karina and wasn't nearby.
I had a premonition that if Millia were here with us, it would turn into a battlefield.
"The results seem to have been decent."
"Th-thanks to you, I-I got an A+... Thank you..."
An A+ meant the professor must have been ecstatic. That suited me fine. It meant all that suffering had produced excellent results and that my plan to help Elisa grow was progressing smoothly.
"Are you heading straight to the office?"
"Ah, no. I-I wanted to stop by my room first..."
"Got it. Then I'll—"
I was about to send Elisa on her way and leave. I felt a tug on my sleeve and looked at Elisa. Staring up at me with a face as red as a tomato, Elisa asked,
"C-could you please walk with me...?"
"You know the way to your room."
"W-well..."
"...Fine, so don't get teary-eyed on me."
Feeling like a mother duck leading a duckling, I escorted her to her room. We didn't exchange a single word until she entered her room, but Elisa wore a strangely satisfied expression.
"P-Perhaps... could you take me to the office too?"
"Fine, so go change first."
I stared at the closed door and sighed. Why did it feel as though the mansion had gained another puppy? A timid one that couldn't ask openly but would whimper if no one looked after her.
But if puppies kept multiplying like this, would they crush me to death before I saved the world? Not that I expected any more to appear.
I passed the time with those idle thoughts until the door opened and Elisa appeared. As expected of a witch’s descendant, she was dressed entirely in black. When I stared at the blouse, black as though it had been steeped in ink, Elisa covered her chest with an arm and blushed.
"I-it's embarrassing when you st-stare like that..."
"I was only staring because the blouse is intriguing."
Seriously.
It was the first time I'd seen a blouse dyed such a deep black like that here.
"I-is that so?"
"Yeah."
"I-I'm sorry..."
There it was again—the sound of her self-esteem crashing like a stock. I quickly stroked Elisa’s head to calm her. The way she rubbed against my hand, perhaps learned from watching Millia, made it feel as though I had acquired a second Millia.
Both my hands were full now.
After rubbing her head against my palm for a good while, Elisa grabbed my sleeve and asked,
"C-could you escort me to the office?"
My answer was already decided.
"Sure."
"I want to go too!"
Where had she come from? When had she gotten here?
I naturally looked at Millia, who had grabbed my hand from the opposite side of Elisa.
"Isn't it time for your studies?"
"I went to the bathroom!"
"Ah, I see..."
Was it normal to announce that you'd gone to the bathroom so proudly? I looked at Millia, who was staring not at me but at Elisa, and thought,
"Hee hee. Yohan, you have to take me too!"
Millia, where had you learned to make a shit-eating grin that would impress even the god of the new world?
I looked at Millia, who flashed that grin the moment I turned my head away from her, and sighed.
I wished the two of them would get along.