Chapter 145
Chapter 145
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: Joint Attack #5
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[Chapter 144] Joint Attack #5
145 ? Joint Attack #5
Elga looked at Kallira and asked,
“Who’s this?”
Come to think of it, Elga had never met Lady Kallira before. This was probably the first time the two of them were meeting.
It was such an unusual pairing that I was briefly wondering how best to introduce them when Kallira spoke first.
“I’m Eld Orvans. The health officer of Arc.”
Eld Orvans was a pseudonym. It was the name she used to hide her true identity as the lady of the Scol Baron family.
“You must be Lady Liones, right? You’re as beautiful as they say. Dressed so prettily like that—where are you off to?”
I could feel Kallira quickly scanning Elga up and down. Sure enough, Elga was dressed even prettier than I’d expected today.
She wore a white dress with off-the-shoulder sleeves, glass slippers adorned with flower patterns, a small bag slung over her shoulder, and a hat with a round brim decorated with feathers.
Considering Elga usually lounged around in training clothes and dolphin pants, this was a huge effort on her appearance.
“Out on a date with your lover, maybe?”
“…….”
Instead of answering, Elga blatantly scanned Lady Kallira from head to toe.
She could act so rudely because she knew the vast gap in their statuses.
“Whatever. So what were you two talking about?”
“Nothing much. Well then, Theo. I should head to work. See you next time.”
Lady Kallira let out a leisurely chuckle and brushed past me. She had a good read on when to make her exit.
Elga, watching her retreating figure with narrowed eyes, asked,
“Who the hell is she?”
“Oh, she’s Arc’s health officer. But it’s not like what you’re thinking. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
Elga snorted dismissively.
“What do you think I’m thinking? She doesn’t look like anyone special anyway.”
She said that, but Elga still seemed thoroughly displeased.
If our rare weekend date started off like this, it’d be a disaster in every way.
So I hurried back to my room, showered, threw on a freshly laundered robe, and headed out.
“To the central district of Gracia, please.”
Elga and I boarded a carriage leaving Arc toward the city. Sitting face-to-face with just the two of us, I caught a faint floral scent wafting from Elga.
Her usual natural scent was something like apples, but flowers?
Had she put on perfume?
Her outfit was like a young lady heading out for a stroll, and now I noticed her face had a subtle, uncharacteristic shimmer of makeup.
No way—Elga had done her makeup.
I was shocked by this revelation.
With her blessed looks of golden hair and blue eyes, Elga already shone like a high teen idol, drawing eyes without any effort.
But with makeup and this demure outfit, she truly looked like a vibrant, healthy noble young lady.
“What’re you staring at? Don’t.”
Of course, Elga didn’t seem thrilled about my gaze and raised two fingers like she was about to poke my eyes out.
I opened my mouth to compliment her dressed-up look.
“If I’d known, I should’ve at least fixed my hair.”
To be honest now, I had no talent for grooming my appearance.
I’d never bothered my whole life, figuring clothes and looks were fine as long as they didn’t make people frown.
Me sitting across from dolled-up Elga like this—would anyone even mistake us for lovers?
“You look so pretty, Elga, that we just seem like a servant and his lady now.”
“What’re you saying now? We are a servant and a lady.”
She turned her head away sharply to gaze out the carriage window. Still, she seemed quite pleased—my praise must’ve landed well.
“…Today, we’re servant and lady. So you’d better take good care of me. Got it?”
“…….”
A slightly awkward, embarrassed silence settled in.
And so the carriage rolled on.
* * *
“I’ll watch how you act today. Then I’ll decide whether to help you, or even if I can trust you. So show some sincerity.”
Elga warned me sternly after we got off the carriage.
In other words, pull off this date successfully.
Truth be told, I’d mapped out several routes for today’s date.
“With that in mind, we’re going to the zoo today.”
But Elga’s plans lumped all that together.
I steeled myself to scrap everything and asked,
“The zoo?”
“Yeah! I heard a beast arrived at the circus recently! Gotta be a lion.”
Elga was thrilled at the thought of seeing a lion. But I wondered if she could wander around in those uncomfortable-looking shoes.
“Let’s go.”
Elga, excited to execute her own plan, took the lead.
In the end, I followed her to a place called the “Veropero Circus.”
The vast grounds, decked out like an amusement park or theme park, held numerous beasts lounging idly in large enclosures, mostly sleeping.
Caged beasts didn’t have much else to do, so I got it.
Amid them, Elga sought out the lion, of course.
But it turned out the circus’s new beast wasn’t a lion—it was a Turki tiger imported from the desert nation of Turki.
“What? It’s a tiger.”
Elga was bitterly disappointed watching the tiger prowl back and forth in its enclosure.
“Don’t you like tigers? Aren’t lions and tigers pretty similar?”
“What’re you talking about? They don’t have manes.”
I see.
Elga preferred the lush and fluffy type.
Still, seeing a caged big cat like this wasn’t an everyday opportunity in this world, so she quickly shook off her disappointment, her eyes sparkling.
“Hey, think you could beat that thing right now?”
“Me versus the tiger?”
“Yeah.”
Beating a tiger as a human? But with my steadily improving magic, maybe?
I’d beaten swarms of massive Hercules hornets, after all.
Still, I’d rather not fight if I could help it.
“What about you, Elga? Could you take a tiger barehanded?”
I got curious if Elga could beat one. Obviously she could, but barehanded?
Elga looked at me and furrowed her brow.
“You haven’t heard how I strangled a lion barehanded?”
“Oh—.”
I recalled a rumor from my time in Angmar.
A black lion raised by the Liones family escaped and rampaged, causing damage everywhere.
Elga had subdued it—strangled it barehanded until its neck snapped.
“Was that for real?”
“Obviously.”
Elga really was formidable. Surviving her chokehold when she went berserk last time was a miracle.
━Woof woof!
Then came a familiar beastly bark.
It was, as everyone knows, a squirrel.
“Hey, look—tons of barking squirrels over there.”
Where Elga pointed was a glass enclosure with three or four barking squirrels inside. Seeing them reminded me of Kungkung back in my room, lifting my mood.
“One’s male; the rest are females.”
“How can you tell?”
“Their bodies have fewer scars. Males have way more. That one’s the only male; the others are females.”
Sure enough, that one had wounds all over, while the females’ fur gleamed smoothly.
“Why the difference?”
“The females attack the males. Barking squirrels have few males, so the females fight over them.”
Who’d have thought.
The females charged the lone male, biting his tail or piling on from all sides.
━Grrr…!
The male resisted, but smaller and outnumbered, he got torn at until fleeing into his corner house.
Fur puffed out, trembling in fear—he looked pitiful.
A guy surrounded by women.
Might seem great with multiple females, but that life was endless torment.
Then it hit me: I wasn’t so different.
If I didn’t keep a firm grip on Mirna, Elga, Stella, and Aira’s leashes, I’d end up shredded too.
“Hey, there’s a herd of mitchuri over there. So many.”
Lost in thought, Elga shoved my back.
* * *
Time passed, and it was around lunchtime.
The zoo date with Elga had been pleasantly ordinary.
Unlike my plan to lead, Elga dragged me to whatever caught her eye first, so I just followed.
“Wanna sit and rest over there?”
Still, trudging around all day in glass slippers must’ve been tough, as she suggested resting in the shade of a tree.
I spread out the mat from my bag under the tree and poured tea from my thermos into her cup.
Elga fiddled with her bag hesitantly and spoke up.
“So, we’ve been walking all day—aren’t you hungry?”
“My stomach?”
Rustle.
Elga pulled something from her bag: a small box, black-lacquered wood with silver leaf decorations.
It looked like a jewelry case, but inside were sandwiches made with bread, cheese, ham, and such.
“Did you make these yourself, Elga?”
Elga cooking?
I was amazed even asking.
She didn’t answer, just stayed silent. Probably urging me to eat.
They were surprisingly average. Sandwiches are hard to mess up.
Plain, but meaningful as Elga’s first cooking attempt.
Must’ve wanted to try after seeing Mirna pack me lunches.
“Tastes good. It’s like—”
As I started praising the flavor, Elga cut in abruptly.
“F-Finish that, and let’s head to the city. Didn’t you need to buy books?”
She didn’t seem interested in feedback.
Lunch over, we headed to the central street lined with bookstores.
“Hey, check this out. ‘Otherworld Illegal Immigrant Scammer.’ Why name a book like that?”
“Don’t touch it weird or we’ll have to buy it—put it back.”
Giggling as we bought books and necessities, time flew to evening. Unable to stay out overnight, I boarded a carriage back to Arc with Elga.
“Haven’t goofed off like this in forever. Was more fun than I thought.”
Elga seemed in high spirits from the break.
So had I shown enough sincerity today? I started hoping, but couldn’t ask outright.
Then Elga made a suggestion.
“Wanna grab tea before parting? You must be dying to talk about Mirna by now.”
Elga’s mind worked sharper than expected.
I ended up at a cafe on Arc grounds with her.
We ordered drinks and sat. Instead of talking, Elga eyed a nearby grandfather clock, timing something.
“It’s about time. Ah, there she is. Hey, over here.”
“No way—.”
As I caught on and opened my mouth,
“Lady Liones. You said you had something to tell me—what’s your game? Scheduling on the busiest Saturday at 7 PM of all times…!”
A familiar bell-like voice rang from behind. Turning, I saw Mirna approaching from the entrance.
“I’m not as free as you are, you know—.”
Mirna, locking eyes with me, gaped.
“Theo Gospel, why are you here?”
“And you, Mirna….”
Only then did it click.
Something…
Something was about to go down.