Chapter 4. Flight and Service (14)
Chapter 4. Flight and Service (14)
*
The man named Lee Si-yoon had never really thought of himself as anything all that impressive.
He had barely managed to get his Hunter License. When his childhood friend Yu-ri—who had promised ever since they were little that they would become Hunters together and travel to other worlds—got her license far more easily, and then went on to become the top of their class and start out as a Hunter one rank higher than him, he had simply been startled.
Well, Yu-ri had always had good grades since childhood, and she was good at sports. Her social relationships were good, too. Si-yoon was certain that there were probably hardly any men around who hadn't liked the girl named Han Yu-ri at some point.
So he considered it lucky that he had joined the same association as Yu-ri, and that they had ended up forming a party together.
That he had been able to risk his life to protect Yu-ri, and that he had miraculously survived—
"Are you going to keep going on about rabbits since earlier?"
"Well, if it's not a rabbit, then what? A deer? Do you want to go with deer? Hmm, but the only soft and squishy part of a deer seems to be its tail. Hmm, even without the tail, the area around there does seem like it would be soft."
"Tail—!? No, is that something a knight should be saying to a Saintess Candidate right now!?"
"Huh? What, so now you're not denying being a Saintess Candidate?"
"You're the one who said to use this position!"
—But what exactly was this situation right now?
He knew it was a situation that any man, Hunter or otherwise, would long for.
Including Yu-ri—Yu-ri was a truly close "friend" he had been with since childhood, so he shouldn't be thinking like this, but unfortunately Si-yoon was a man too—there was an Elf who looked like she had stepped out of a painting, from another world, in the same room.
And on top of that, the daughter of this country's greatest Hero, and a Saintess Candidate who, according to rumors within the association, could ascend to the position of Saintess right now and no one would be able to object.
Even if no one could think of dating them, they were the kind of people whose mere presence beside you would be something to brag about to your friends.
Ah, of course, the Saintess Candidate and her knight didn't seem to have any interest in Lee Si-yoon. He had been seriously debating whether or not to intervene while watching them argue since earlier, but somehow the two of them seemed to be enjoying the fight a little.
Could he just think of it as close friends bickering?
......Though somehow, if they actually heard that, both of them would probably deny it at the same time.
"Um, Lee Si-yoon?"
"Y-yes!?"
A sweet voice came from beside him, and Si-yoon flinched.
The person who called Si-yoon in that coquettish voice was none other than the Elf girl Glaria.
She had said she was a noble where she lived, but judging by the reactions within the association, she didn't seem to be just any noble. After all, the person who had brokered the introduction was the Saintess Candidate right in front of him.
Her roll curls, neatly wound as if someone had styled them for her, shone dazzlingly gold. So much so that it was hard to believe they were simply a person's hair.
If he had to compare it to something, it was like a heavily retouched model's hair in a shampoo commercial.
"May I be so bold as to inquire what your rank as a Hunter is?"
And at the sight of such a noble using such honorific speech toward him, Si-yoon's brain briefly stopped.
"S-seven, Grade 7."
Naturally, a thoroughly flustered answer came tumbling out.
"Oh my."
As if he had said something delightful, Glaria laughed with a small, refined chuckle, very much like a noble.
Of course, Lee Si-yoon, who had lived his entire life in South Korea, where explicit class systems had long since been ground away, didn't actually know what ‘laughing like a noble’ precisely meant, but that was the impression he got, anyway.
"I see. That is the lowest rank, is it not?"
"Y-yes, that's right......."
"I am also just beginning Hunter work, so I believe I shall start at Grade 7 as well. I wonder if I might be able to work in the same party as you, Lee Si-yoon......."
"......."
And then, from the opposite side of that coquettish voice, he felt something blazing hot, and Si-yoon swallowed hard.
Directly on the other side, there was someone who had casually linked her arm through Si-yoon's right arm and was glaring at Glaria past him.
It was Yu-ri.
"......Hey, Miss Elf."
"Oh my. That is merely a term for my people, Miss Whoever."
"......Miss Whoever?"
"Well, because I do not know your name."
"......It's Han Yu-ri. I introduced myself just a moment ago."
"Oh my, was that your name, Miss Whoever."
"......Si-yoon, no matter how I think about it, I think it would be best to keep a little distance from this person. She's a noble, right? She's someone ordinary people like us shouldn't approach. No matter how I think about it."
"No matter how I think about it" had been said twice.
"I heard that such classes have all disappeared in this world."
"They still remain in Europe. Ah, now that I think of it, why don't you move over there entirely? You would be able to receive proper noble treatment there—"
"Oh my—"
Yu-ri and Glaria were already trading barbs as they continued talking.
The Saintess Candidate and her knight, openly fighting.
And for some reason, the noble young lady and his childhood friend, who had begun a verbal sword fight with Lee Si-yoon in the middle.
Lee Si-yoon felt like he was getting a hole in his stomach.
*
"My throat...... my throat...... hurts......."
"Yeah, well, you were shouting like that, so how could your throat not hurt."
When I muttered in a slightly hoarse voice, Ria giggled as she spoke.
"And whose fault is that—! Ow ow ow."
"Here, water."
"Thank you...... No, well, it is all because of you."
But even so, I didn't refuse the water Ria handed me.
It was lukewarm water, not too cold. Ria had taken it out ever since we got in the car, so by now, when we were near the church, it had cooled a little and become lukewarm.
Come to think of it, she had been deliberately holding it by the window, so it might have become a bit lukewarm from the heater air. So drinking the water wouldn't make my throat sting more.
.......
Surely she hadn't been deliberately holding it under the heater, had she? Thinking that my throat would hurt.......
No way.
Remembering Ria, who had been staring holes through my butt earlier while claiming she was looking for the deer tail, I quickly shook my head and shook off that absurd thought.
To avoid that gaze, I spun around and around in front of everyone, and Ria circled around me too—
I covered my burning face with both hands.
"No, I mean, why did you react so intensely."
"No, if you hadn't done that, would I have had any reason to react like that?"
And yet she was blushing too. Why was that, exactly? Did she seriously forget everything around us while teasing me?
"Hah...... Well, whatever. Thanks to you, Ria, the conversation ended well. I'll let it slide this time."
"Mm."
At my words, Ria opened her eyes a little wide and answered like that, then—
"No, wait, why are you the one letting it slide? I did all the work."
She returned to her original expression, as if something was odd, and asked.
"Tch."
"Don't ‘tch’ at me, hey."
I turned my head away from Ria, who was asking back in disbelief, and looked the other way.
Glaria was sitting there.
In the original, Glaria ended up settling into the Association building. She ate and slept there, and whenever Lee Si-yoon appeared, she stuck close to him and tried to win him over.
But this time, perhaps thanks to me, Glaria hadn't settled into the building. Well, at least she was returning to the church with us.
"Heh heh heh......."
But as if mocking my thoughts, Glaria laughed like that.
Her eyes were glinting suspiciously. Eyes like sapphires and emeralds stared intently ahead. They looked ready to bore a hole through the seat.
"Indeed, I see. That is true. Someone is bound to be enchanted by such a beautiful person."
Ack.
"Han Yu-ri, was it? Hmph, a commoner who cannot match that person's nobility, clinging right to his side like that."
"......."
"Well, it matters not. Where I lived, I could have overlooked a concubine or two, but in this world, if one is not the lawful wife, it is merely adultery, is it not? Heh heh heh."
Glaria's eyes flashed suspiciously.
"In that case, I shall simply do my utmost. They say one must take time to judge a person, but to do that, securing the place beside him comes first."
No, that's not it at all.
Whether I'm there or not, this is just a reaction of falling for someone at first sight based on looks.
"......My nanny is hospitalized, so I cannot move my residence carelessly for now, but very well. The two of you are my collaborators, after all."
Having muttered that far, Glaria looked toward me.
Those gleaming sapphires and emeralds looked straight at me.
A bewitching smile lingered at her lips— well, honestly, it was more frightening than pretty.
"So, might I ask for your cooperation?"
......Was she saying all that for me to hear?
I looked at those eyes watching me across the center aisle, then shifted my gaze back to the back of the seat in front of me.
And I clutched my head with both hands.
"Ugh."
For some reason, Ria patted my head.
And then, feeling like the surroundings had brightened a little, I lifted my gaze to find light shining down on me from the bus ceiling.
"Are you rubbing it in right now!?"
I shouted that and quickly scattered the Holy Power shining above my head with both hands.
"This is all because of you, Ria!"
"No, why me?"
Because I was arguing with you and couldn't see the situation at all!
But at least this situation itself was entirely my own fault.
It wasn't like I could explain this plan to anyone else.
In the end, unable to say anything to Ria, who looked baffled, I clutched my head again and kept it pressed against the seat in front of me until we arrived at the church.