97. Two Leashes in Both Hands (3)
97. Two Leashes in Both Hands (3)
"Yohan, look at this! It's so pretty!"
I told her not to run off. I walked toward the stall Millia had dashed to, her eyes sparkling. The grip on my sleeve grew tighter.
Elisa, whose outward awkwardness had faded, apparently couldn't shake her inner social anxiety—she looked intimidated by the crowd filling the market. I took the hand that had been clutching my sleeve and pulled her along. I also meant to keep her from getting swept away by the crowd in a careless moment.
"Stick close to me."
"Uh, er, ah, eep..."
Guess expecting a proper answer from Elisa was still a long way off. I brought Elisa, who was practically cradled against me, and headed toward the stall Millia had run to. When I drew close and looked over the stall that had caught Millia's eye, it turned out to be a place selling various accessories. The quality didn't look great at a glance, but they were fairly pretty—decent enough to wear, maybe?
"Millia. I believe I told you not to wander off alone."
"Heehee. Sorry... but I wanted to look around."
"At least tell me before you go."
"C-c-c-customer..."
A stranger's voice called out to me. I looked in the direction of the voice, wondering who it was, and saw a middle-aged woman who was clearly the stall owner.
And I also noticed the space that had cleared around me.
...I could pretty much guess the situation at a glance.
"I think there's been some misunderstanding..."
I was reaching for the pendant that proved my knighthood.
"You scoundrel! How dare you commit such outrages in Kalon!"
Oh, for fuck's sake, what now? I saw the guards in their familiar armor and couldn't help clicking my tongue. This was exactly the kind of situation I'd imagined, wasn't it? The absolute shittiest kind you saw in comics and stuff.
"If you submit quietly, leniency may be...? You're a knight?"
Their gazes darted back and forth across mutually sheepish faces. By this point, a fair while had passed since I became a knight. I hadn't been living entirely in seclusion, so the guards had gradually come to memorize my face, and because of that...
"There was a brief misunderstanding."
"Ah, I see..."
The guards offered me awkward salutes and dispersed. The atmosphere that had flared up in an instant died down as if doused with cold water, and the passersby who had been gawking at me also began quietly scattering, their interest apparently fading.
"Yohan, you should relax your face! People get scared when you keep a gloomy expression like that!"
Why did I have to be the one getting scolded here? Feeling a bit wronged, I held out my pendant to the stall owner and said,
"...As you can see, I'm a knight."
"S-s-s-sorry, Sir Knight! I-I was r-rude!"
No, there was no need to practically bash her head against the ground. This made me look like some notorious thug throwing his knightly status around. I was a decent castaway stranded on a deserted island, not a thug.
"No need to apologize. I'm used to it."
"Right, right! Yohan gets misunderstood all the time because of his face!"
Maybe thanks to pretty little Millia's supporting fire, the stall keeper finally let out a sigh of relief and sat back down. I just wanted to take a look around the market, and here I was in this absolute shitshow. Still, the stall keeper must have felt bad about it, because she cautiously made me an offer.
"As an apology, I'll give you one for free."
"There's really no need t—"
"Yohan! I want this one!"
...Look at those sparkling eyes. She'd sulk if I didn't buy it for her, so I might as well take it and call the saved money a win. I picked up the hairpin Millia had chosen, adorned with a yellow flower ornament. The stall keeper gave an awkward laugh, as if the earlier situation still made her dizzy, and spoke up.
"I think it will suit your little sister nicely."
Little sister?
Ah. So that was how we looked. I didn't feel any need to clear up the misunderstanding. Explaining to everyone what kind of relationship Millia and I had was a hassle anyway.
"May your business thrive."
"Ah, y-yes! Thank you, sir!"
"Yo~han! Put it on for me right here!"
I fastened the hairpin at the spot Millia indicated. Once I had pinned it on, Millia beamed and asked me,
"How is it?"
"It's pretty."
At my words, Millia's expression brightened. Like I said, she was weak to compliments.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Ah..."
What was wrong with Elisa now? I sighed when I saw her looking enviously at Millia. She wanted a gift too but was too timid to say so. Would this painfully shy personality ever improve?
I let my eyes sweep over the ornaments laid out on the mat and picked up a hairpin decorated with a rose-shaped piece.
Somehow it seemed like it would suit Elisa.
"How much for this hairpin?"
---------------------
"Hehe..."
"Hee-hee..."
Watching the two girls laughing on either side of me gave me an odd feeling. Usually they called this having a flower in each hand, but I had to say, it didn't make my heart race.
It felt more like a parent taking their young kids out for a day of fun.
I wasn't quite sure why it felt that way. Honestly, just looking at their appearances, they didn't seem that different from Karina. With Millia, it made sense because her actions were so puppy-like, but at least Elisa was—
"Yohan, Yohan! Look over there!"
What had caught her curiosity this time? I looked where Millia was pointing. A crowd had gathered, waving their arms and making a racket as if some spectacle were underway.
Was it worth taking a look? Holding both their hands so we wouldn't be separated, I approached someone at the back of the crowd and asked,
"What's going on over there to draw such a crowd?"
"Eek?! W-well, there’s a duel going on..."
A duel? What duel?
...I vaguely remembered a random-encounter duel event, but had it happened now? Here in the market?
I wanted to see who was fighting whom—
"T-too many people..."
"Calm down."
Pushing through the crowd would be difficult with Elisa. Her timidity had improved by perhaps two percent, but this complete loner of a witch could barely speak to anyone outside Dawn Hall. If she entered that crowd, she might have a fit. Regrettably, we'd have to watch a duel some other time.
When I conveyed my decision to Millia, she looked up at me with a disappointed face and asked,
"Then can’t I ride on your shoulders? I’d be able to see from there!"
Was she a kid? Well, anyone watching her would think she acted like one. She'd probably sulk if I refused, so there was no helping it. I turned my back to Millia, knelt, and answered.
"Climb on carefully."
"Yay! Thanks! Yohan, you're the best!"
The moment the words left her mouth, I felt a heavy weight settle on my shoulders. At the same time, the soft sensation against my cheek left me a little flustered.
She acted like a child, but her body wasn't exactly a child's. I forced myself to stay composed and stood up.
"Well, can you see clearly?"
"Yeah! I can see great! Looks like academy students are fighting each other!"
Huh?
Had a quarrel broken out?
Ah, shit, I wanted to see it too. But right now my face was wedged between Millia's soft thighs, and my left hand was held by Elisa.
Meaning I couldn't just barge recklessly through that crowd.
Whatever.
"Craft."
"Huh?"
It didn't need to be high. I created a platform about a handspan tall in an open space and stepped onto it. Since I was tall even by this world’s standards, that should have been enough to see—
"...Laperinne?"
Why was that fussy umbrella woman here?
"Hm? Do you know her?"
"...No, I just happened to hear her name once."
I lied through my teeth without a second thought when Millia asked, but I had no choice.
I could hardly say she was one of the heroines in Survival Academy. But why was Laperinne dueling here? Her opponent was another academy student. What was going on, and who was that student?
The academy uniform made it clear they were a student.
But their appearance didn't stand out in my memory. Their hair was an ordinary black, and from this distance I could see no other distinctive feature.
Still, I could roughly figure out the situation.
"Just looking at it, it seems they're dueling over something at stake."
"Huh? How do you know?"
"Usually, a duel is the most certain solution people resort to when settling a conflict."
Because in true fantasy game fashion, this world was full of types who loved to duel.
Anyway,
I couldn't remember whether an event like this had existed in the original. Was there any clue to the identity of Laperinne’s opponent? Perhaps I could simply approach them and ask once the duel ended.
While I was making plans and thinking about this and that, Laperinne's umbrella tore slightly and the duel came to an end.
"I won! So please let this matter go as if it never happened! Shuri feels remorse too!"
A cry rang out the instant the duel ended.
What had happened to provoke that kind of yell?
Ugh, this was killing me with curiosity.
While I was struggling to contain my curiosity, a small piece of welcome news came my way.
The crowd was thinning. I set down Millia, who had been riding on my shoulders, and put my forbidding face forward as I pushed through the onlookers.
Since the crowd happened to be breaking up right then, it wasn't hard to bring Millia and Elisa and approach the two students who had finished their fight.
And then,
"I... I lost to a mere commoner...?"
A heroine spouting a cliché line,
"Shuri. It's all right now."
"Lewis!"
What was this? A lover's reunion scene right in my face?
Two heroines?
No, that was not the important part.
That smug, good-looking bastard hugging the original heroine and flaunting his love... could he be...
...the original protagonist?