120. Gift
120. Gift
For quite a while, I stared blankly into Eurasia's innocently blinking eyes.
"...Huh? What did you just say?"
"I asked why you smell like Stella, my lady."
Eurasia's arms tightened around me.
Without drawing up Mana, I couldn't match Eurasia's strength... no, in a pure contest of strength, I couldn't beat Eurasia.
Her embrace made that perfectly clear.
...I couldn't get free without getting rough.
I glanced over at Pina and Stella.
Pina, quick on the danger sense as any loser, had already gone pale, and Stella—
Well, I probably had the same look on my face.
"Well... I mean, we were together until just now, so isn't that why?"
"If you were together, was it in your room, my lady?"
"That's right. Pina and Stella... were getting things ready in my room."
"If that were the case, Stella should smell like you, my lady. But you smell like Stella."
Eurasia narrowed her eyes and glanced at Stella. Then she looked back at me.
"Did you sleep together?"
At that gaze, I flinched—my body trembled.
No, but... why am I getting cowed?
What did I even do with Stella?
I decided to answer confidently.
Just as I was about to open my mouth—
"U-um, Eurasia!"
Stella spoke first.
"Hm? Why are you calling me?"
"W-we did... sleep together. We really just slept! Of course we did. She and I are both girls!"
"Is that so?"
Eurasia's voice was calm.
But for some reason, it also sounded incredibly angry.
"Yeah. About the reason... I have something to tell you!"
"The reason? The reason you had to sleep together?"
"Mm-hm!"
We had already decided to tell Eurasia about what happened in the labyrinth's underground waterways.
Stella and Pina said that keeping it a secret from Eurasia alone would be like excluding her, so we had to tell her.
I agreed. Though of course, that wasn't my reason. It was so I could reveal the source of the gifts I was going to give.
Because the things I was going to give Eurasia weren't the sort of thing I could claim to have just picked up somewhere.
Eurasia let out a small "hmm" and fixed her gaze on me again.
"My lady... did something happen?"
"It's not like nothing happened."
"Is that... the reason you had to sleep with Stella? You've never once shared a bed with me. So why Stella? Have you and I seen each other too long and gotten too close, so you're sick of me? Or is my body too big? Do I smell? I never thought I had bad sleeping habits, but is my hair ticklish for you? For your sake, I could tie it up to sleep. I could even cut it off. If it's not that... what is it? Do you not like my scent? No, that can't be—you clearly said last time that you liked my scent. Is it because of the calluses on my hands? Is it because, unlike Stella, my body is covered in muscle? Even if it is muscle... I prided myself on it being pretty muscle, but was it not in your eyes? My lady, do you dislike me? Am I too much of a bother?"
I couldn't collect myself under Eurasia's relentless, rapid-fire barrage.
Wh-what did she just say?
"...Uh, no, E-Eurasia?"
"Yes?"
Her still-sparkling blue eyes gazed quietly at me.
What am I supposed to do at a time like this?
Is she sulking? Jealousy? Hurt feelings? I don't know why she's feeling that way, but... I'd learned how to handle this. From Sara.
...Though I don't know if it'll work on someone who isn't Dad.
Ahem, hem. I cleared my throat, smiled as brightly as I could, and hugged Eurasia tightly around the waist.
Then... I rose onto my tiptoes and whispered into Eurasia's ear.
"I... I missed you."
"Hup..."
The effect was tremendous.
*****
In a private room at one of the Imperial Capital's finest restaurants, away from prying eyes, Eurasia hung her head like a criminal.
"...I'm sorry. Stella, I'm sorry too. Pina... I'm sorry. I... didn't know any of that, and like an idiot... ugh..."
"Oh, no! Why are you sorry, Eurasia!"
Shake shake!
I'd given Eurasia a suitably edited version of what happened over the weekend.
And I also told her how I'd gotten the information before the incident blew up.
That I'd bought the information through a very friendly exchange.
That talking with Silina had made me suspicious of Phaid, and I'd ended up attending a lecture to follow Pina.
That at lunchtime, I'd become certain Phaid was the culprit.
That while we were making various preparations and plans with the new information Silina brought, class got canceled, I went to find Stella, and Pina was kidnapped.
And so, up to the point where Stella and I slipped out of the academy and entered the labyrinth.
In that process, the story became that Stella had nightmares because of the Monsters she saw in the labyrinth, so she slept with me.
Of course, I also left out the parts about Pina and the spirit, the secrets of Eustetia, Stella's story, and the backlash from the Gates of Purgatory.
The spirit matter was Pina's to tell, and Stella's story was something she'd tell herself someday.
And the secrets of Eustetia... were still too early for Eurasia to know.
It's not that I think Eurasia would turn her back on me just because she doesn't have the Hero's blood.
I just think it would be better for her to find out once things are a bit more certain.
Anyway, after hearing the whole story, Eurasia realized she'd gotten the wrong idea, and now she was drowning in embarrassment, unable to lift her head.
And Stella, sitting beside her with their arms linked, was sending me a strangely expectant look.
Of course she would be.
I'd said I'd brought back things my ancestor left at the end of the labyrinth.
I'd even shown Pina's Heavenly Tree Pill and said there was something for them too, so the anticipation had to be enormous.
"Anyway, that's how it went, so let's eat first."
"...Yes. I'm really sorry, my lady."
"Yeah. It's fine."
"I really wasn't doubting you or anything, my lady. I just... I was just hurt, so that's why I acted like that."
"I said I get it."
"So you'll sleep with me tonight, right?"
"Sure, I—huh?"
What? Did I miss something in the middle?
Where did that suddenly come from?
"What...? How did the conversation get there?"
"Hehe."
I furrowed my brow and glared at Eurasia, but she just grinned and picked up her fork.
"You seem to like floral more than citrus, my lady, so I'll spray on that perfume and come over!"
"Sure... do whatever you want."
"Yes!"
We'd told our story, so next it was time to hear Eurasia's.
Fortunately, Eurasia hadn't gone through anything special. It was just an ordinary family routine.
What she ate, what she saw, what she heard.
How she got scolded, how she got hit, how she trained.
She said her grandmother beat her for picking a fight with a Demon at the Arant Museum, and that since her Realm had risen this time, she could feel the gap between herself and her grandmother more clearly than before.
Eurasia's grandmother seems to be quite strong.
I'd heard she was a mercenary... but if even the current Eurasia can't beat her, she couldn't have been an ordinary mercenary. Eurasia must have inherited her talent from her grandmother's side.
And Pina also talked about the spirit.
Eurasia jumped in surprise and made a fuss when she heard that, but in the process, she let slip an unexpected remark.
She said she'd felt something inexplicable from Pina, and it seemed that had been the spirit.
That sounded like something a Demon would say.
And so, for the first time in quite a while, we all ate together in warm, cheerful conversation.
And at last, the time came.
The location was still the private room.
And what lay before us now was not a meal but dessert. In front of me, naturally, was a mint chocolate latte.
"S-so, Eliarnes."
"What."
"Do you really... have gifts for me and Eurasia too?"
Slurp—I drained the rest of my mint chocolate latte and nodded.
"I do."
"...For free?"
"Of course I'll be getting something back."
At my words, Pina flinched.
Then, with trembling hands, she held the Heavenly Tree Pill out to me.
"It's not money I'll be getting back."
Tilt? Pina cocked her head, and Stella shot me a horrified look.
But on her face, there seemed to be a strange... smile.
"Pay me back with your body."
Having said that, I ignored the others' reactions and set the pouch at my waist onto the table.
"First, Pina. I have more to give you too."
Rustle rustle—rummage rummage—I worked the hand I'd stuck into the pouch's opening. Maybe because my hands are small, it's really easy to find things in the pouch.
"Here, this is a branch of the Heavenly Tree. Hmm... calling it a branch of the World Tree might be more familiar to you."
"Hik?!"
Pina's eyes flew wide open.
The World Tree. There's no way she wouldn't know. Everyone in the world knows.
Because not just Pina—Eurasia's and Stella's eyes went wide enough to split.
Whether they did or not, I kept explaining.
"You can't use it as is. It has to be processed and made into a staff. So you'll need something to set into the end of that staff, right? This is a horn of Polaris. It's not a Mana Stone, but its efficiency is on a completely different level from something like a Mana Stone."
Pina's jaw started trembling.
The fur of her tail puffed up hugely, and the two hands that had been holding the Heavenly Tree Pill came together in front of her chest.
"Leaving it with a smith in the Imperial Capital... the materials are what they are, so I'm uneasy. So I'm going to send this separately to a smith I know in the Eustetia Duchy. Just wait about a month or two. I'll send it today."
With those words, every sound in the private room vanished. The kids weren't even breathing.
In that silence, Eurasia slowly opened her mouth.
"...My lady. That name... Polaris..."
"...Isn't that the Spirit King of Light...?"
Stella picked up the sentence.
"That's right."
I nodded.
"Hee... hee..."
Pina, who had started trembling all over, tapped away at her Device and held it out.
[I have absolutely no ability to repay this.]
"It's fine. I'll collect somehow. Oh, and Pina, I'll give you a special discount too."
I gave Pina a bright smile.
"We're friends, after all."
Pina did not nod.
That's fine. I've made up my mind to give it, so I'll give it.
I don't accept refusals.
"Eliarnes. You... can you really just... take something like this and bring it around as you please?"
"Yeah."
"A branch of the Heavenly Tree and... a horn of Polaris. This... this should go to the Empire, no... at least to the Eustetia Duchy... shouldn't it? If we handle something like this carelessly... we're in huge trouble..."
"That's why I'm giving it to you too. The moment you accept it, we're all accomplices."
Next, as I took out what I was going to give Stella, I giggled.
"If you don't want to be executed, you'd better take it and keep your mouths shut, right?"