Chapter 43: Deep Eyes
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 43: Deep Eyes
Inside the carriage heading back to Dakuren.
Unlike the trip to Massa Village, I wasn’t with the Young Lady.
After the argument we had right after reaching land with the Serpent, we had gone our separate ways.
“This is truly incredible. It’s the magitech train I’ve only ever heard stories about!”
Lady Airune was inside Arasen’s carriage, which had been loaded onto the refrigerated train brought by Lady Narupa. Meanwhile, Arasen and I were sitting on the driver’s seat.
As Arasen said, the convenience of a magitech refrigerated train—stretching as long as five carriages hitched together—was overwhelming.
“To think it’s long and large enough to carry that massive Serpent, butchered and frozen! We really are living in an age of innovation, aren’t we? Oh, wait… it’s moving without a word. If things keep going like this, there won’t be any room left for carriage drivers like us… Oh no!”
Arasen was intentionally making a fuss, reacting loudly by my side.
She was probably doing it because she could tell I was in a foul mood and felt like she was walking on eggshells around me.
She’s a good person.
How happy would a man be to have a woman like her as a partner?
Ah, there I go getting depressed again.
I’m aware that I have a severe habit of self-deprecation.
But given my past, I can’t really help it.
“You’re right, it is amazing.”
I tried my best to play along, but the atmosphere only grew more damp and heavy.
You idiot.
“W-with this, we can take the Serpent meat back fresh and sell it at the Dakuren market. It’ll fetch a pretty penny, won’t it?”
“I… hacked it into such a mess that I’m not sure it’ll have much market value…”
“The fact that you caught a Serpent at all is incredible! And you did it single-handedly!”
“It’s not a bad catch, but… sigh… I could have caught it more cleanly. I just lost my cool and got carried away…”
Why do I keep sighing?
Perhaps fed up with me, Arasen fell silent as well.
“…What did you say?”
Wait, she didn’t.
“Pardon?”
“What did you just…”
“Ah? Oh, I said I could have caught it more cleanly, but I got excited and hacked it up too much…”
“You’re saying you had the luxury to be even more composed than that?”
Arasen gave me a look of pure disbelief.
“Just how strong are you? No, before that, I’ve never even heard of a male supporter who takes such an active role in combat.”
“I am a Gold-rank, after all.”
“I don’t know exactly how strong a Gold-rank is, but male adventurers are usually the center of a party while being little more than baggage that needs protection from the women during actual combat… Ah, I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ve seen plenty of men like that too.”
My own situation is even worse than theirs.
“Alto.”
Arasen’s tone turned serious.
“Keep your head up. You are a truly remarkable person, Alto.”
I felt genuinely comforted by those words.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it~. I’m the one who should be thanking you for showing me that smile.”
“Lady Narupa?!”
Someone slid in and sat between us.
I shouted her name in surprise, but the person in question just looked disappointed.
“Ah, that smile just now was so natural and nice.”
“No, well, my face is…”
“Exactly my type.”
“No, that’s not it…”
“You have quite a handsome face, don’t you? Don’t you agree, Arasen?”
Arasen, suddenly caught in the crosshairs of the question, looked flustered.
“W-well~, it’s not~ bad, is it~?”
“Right?”
Arasen is really honest.
If that’s the case, then her saying I was remarkable earlier must have been sincere too, right?
I hope so.
“You look like you don’t believe me. To make a face like that at the words of a mage and magitech scholar… I feel a sudden urge to convince you.”
“Haha.”
I shook my head, dismissing it as empty flattery, but Lady Narupa pointed a finger toward my eyes.
“First, your eyes. They have a relaxed strength to them that’s quite nice. And yet, the shape isn’t droopy; you must have put everything you had into them during that critical moment, right?”
“They’re just small eyes.”
“They are deep eyes. An honest gaze. A look that pursues steadfastness over wit, and wisdom over cleverness. I like that temperament.”
“Isn’t wisdom better?”
At Arasen’s question, Lady Narupa let out a soft chuckle.
“Aren’t we all too young to contain wisdom? You have to tumble and roll through life until you’re practically a fool before you can barely touch the hem of wisdom’s garment.”
“If you roll that much, wouldn’t you gain a little?”
“Even as a mage, I’m not so sure.”
“Hmm… I guess it’s difficult.”
Lady Narupa’s finger moved upward.
“Your forehead is broad, clear, and even polished. There’s nothing jagged about it, which is lovely.”
Her finger, which had been tracing a crescent moon above my eyebrows, descended to my cheek.
“Your skin is tanned, but the elasticity and glow are excellent. I want to touch it. Can I?”
“It’s just grease. It’ll be unpleasant if you touch it.”
“Haha!”
The laughter of the navy-blue-ponytailed girl was clear and resonant.
Unlike mine, which had grown murky with sighs.
“The tip of your nose is straight, and the sides are rounded and pleasant to look at.”
“I agree with the rounded part, but the bridge is low.”
“It’s perfect for me. If the bridge is too high, the eyes start to look greasy.”
“Ugh…”
As my lips curled up in embarrassment, Lady Narupa clapped her hands in delight.
“The area around your mouth is the best part. I loved it when you smiled earlier, but it’s such a shame that your lips are usually twisted in a strange way.”
“That’s because I’m ug—”
“It’s fine to have a brooding, decadent charm, but while women are drawn to that, they ultimately crave an unadorned smile meant only for them—one they alone can see. Like the one from before.”
Suddenly, Lady Narupa leaned back and called out to someone.
“Right, Rene?”
“…Hmph!”
Because my reaction was slow, I only managed to see a few strands of silver hair hastily disappearing back inside the carriage window.
My heart felt heavy again.
Perhaps even more so than that moment right before I left Lukart.
“I appreciate the compliments, but I’m not really…”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
Still leaning against the driver’s seat, Lady Narupa answered languidly.
“It was an impression. My impression of you, Alto.”
Her posture was somehow perfect for sitting and falling asleep.
Closing her eyes slightly, Lady Narupa wore a satisfied smile.
“So, no matter how much you argue, I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s my feeling. I saw you and felt that way, so why are you complaining? Let me ask you instead. Why do you keep trying to tear down your own appearance?”
“I’m not tearing it down; that’s just how people actually react when they see me.”
“That’s their feeling, not mine. At the very least, don’t call yourself ugly in front of me.”
Then she turned her head again and asked.
“Right, Rene?”
“Oh, come on!”
I thought I moved quite fast this time, but again, I only saw hair.
At that sight, Lady Narupa wore an arrogant expression as if to say, ‘See?’
“You’re a contradictory man~.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“In what way?”
“You say you care a lot about how others see you, yet you refuse to accept how I, another person, see you.”
“……”
“Do you know how upsetting that is? I’m speaking from the heart, but to be constantly denied… I feel like I might cry.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Rene probably feels the same way, right?”
“……”
“And you probably do too, Alto. Oh, right! Alto, you should evaluate my face too.”
“Me?”
“I did it for you.”
I took a moment to really look at Lady Narupa’s face.
Even at a glance, she was a beauty on par with Lady Airune.
“A rounded forehead and neatly groomed eyebrows.”
“Oh?”
“The eyelashes falling from there are long enough for dew to rest upon, and the eyelids that close over them are white and smooth.”
As Lady Narupa hurriedly opened her eyes again, I continued playfully.
“Your cheeks are so white and clear that if that dew were to fall, it would slide right across them. The bridge of your nose is straight, and while the tip is sharp, the very end is rounded. The classic look of a beauty.”
How was that?
Surprisingly, these were flowery phrases I had learned from the Archmage Bisharen.
He said they were his go-to lines when wooing women.
He claimed that if someone like me—a handsome man by his standards—used lines like these, everyone would fall for me.
Though in reality, it would probably fail because it’s as greasy as melted butter.
Things like this should only be said by handsome guys…
“Ah… ugh…!”
To my even greater surprise, Lady Narupa was covering her face with both hands.
The tips of her ears, which she couldn’t hide, were burning bright red.
Why?
“Um… well… it’s hot, haha.”
She pursed her lips, but the corners of her mouth kept twitching.
It was as if she were forcibly suppressing a smile that wanted to form on its own.
“However.”
But what could I do?
The lines the Young Lady’s father taught me weren’t over yet.
“However? Is there more?”
Lord Bisharen told me to end the go-to lines like this:
“That smile, which makes you look like a kind person, seems somehow empty.”
He said to always include a sincere impression at the end.
An impression of the feeling, not the appearance.
Lady Narupa said nothing.
But she stared intently at me.
I didn’t avoid her gaze and looked back steadily.
Her gaze, which almost seemed stern, curved into crescents a moment later.
“See.”
Lady Narupa closed her eyes, wearing that same emptiness I had mentioned.
“I told you your eyes have depth.”
A mage is truly a mage.
It was my complete defeat.
But for some reason, I didn’t feel depressed anymore.