200. Holy Empire
200. Holy Empire
Giggle-giggle— squeal-squeal—
I clicked my tongue as I watched Stella and Pina darting around here and there, completely giddy with excitement.
Going back to places they'd already been, again and again and again and again.
Looking at things they'd already seen, again and again and again and again—what kind of moronic behavior was that?
And as if they never got tired, they dashed around without a single break.
If only they moved like that during morning jogging.
They always schemed their way out of it, racking their pathetic little brains over how to run just a bit more comfortably, how to rest just a bit longer—yet now they didn't seem to be using their heads at all.
Was simply running around like that really that enjoyable?
"Eliarnes! What about this one?"
"Didn't we already see that?"
"When did we ever see this?"
"What number shop was that over there... anyway, it's the yellow earring we saw back there."
"You can't mean the one from back there... good heavens! How can you say that one and this one are the same? They're completely different! Even the colors are different. The earring from before was lemon yellow, and this is cream yellow! Look closely!"
I pushed away the earring being shoved in my face and narrowed my eyes.
"Either way, they're both yellow."
"Hah... Eliarnes. Listen carefully."
Stella let out a deep sigh and pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Under the same sky, the same color can never exist."
"Bullshit."
"B-Bullshit?! Pina, look! She's making a face like she understands!"
[I'm not sure about the idea that the same color can never exist, but I do think I can tell that what we saw a moment ago and this are different colors...!]
With even Pina saying it was a different color, I began to wonder if it really was true.
Pina wouldn't lie just to mess with me.
"Hm..."
"How about it? Do you get it now? They're different, right? Hm? Different, right?"
"...Are they?"
Subtly... they did seem different.
If the one from before had a slightly more refreshing yellow feel, the one I was looking at now was a bit whitish... a soft yellow feel...
No, why the hell was I even doing this?
"I don't know. They're the same."
"They're different, I'm telling you! Look properly! You have to look under the light to see it more clearly. Or do you want to go back to that place from before and look again and come back? Then you'll really feel it."
"No. I'm not going. Like hell I'm going back there."
I glared at Stella, grinding my teeth.
This was already the fifth time. No, we'd already circled this alley eight times. Eight times around this alley alone.
We'd gone around other places even more. And all we'd bought was one Artifact that Pina could wear.
"Eek... y-you don't have to glare at me like that. Is it wrong to be careful when picking out a present for Eurasia?"
She'd said that fifteen times already, too.
"No, that's not it. I told you. Eurasia looks better in pink than yellow or blue. She even said herself that she likes pink more."
"That's just because Eurasia is kind, so... hup."
Stella, who'd been speaking, flinched and clapped a hand over her own mouth.
Beside her, Pina rolled her eyes around with a troubled expression.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"...Hee."
Pina lowered her perked ears, hugged her tail, and hid behind Stella. Naturally, my gaze shifted to Stella.
"Eurasia is kind, so what?"
"Th-that's..."
Stella subtly averted her eyes and smiled an awkward smile.
"Uh, Eurasia didn't mean it with any bad intentions... probably. Y-you know that, right? Eurasia is kind...!"
"Just get to the point."
"...Uh, Eurasia doesn't really... like... um, doesn't prefer... pink... I think she said..."
My head tilted.
Eurasia doesn't like pink?
—It's the same color as you, my lady!
She'd seemed so pleased with it that I'd given her earrings, a necklace, a bracelet, even a sword tassel—all in pink.
And yet, she disliked pink.
"Really?"
"...D-don't say I told you. O-okay?"
"Fine, so answer me. Is it true?"
"...Yeah."
"How'd you end up finding that out?"
"I didn't hear it... I saw it. Back at the academy, Eurasia once left a letter in my room, and I thought it was for me... I opened it, and, uh... I saw it there. It said that Eurasia doesn't like pink... R-right, Pina? We didn't open it on purpose, right?"
"Umm... yeah?"
I glanced at Pina, and Pina nodded carefully as well.
[Yes...! We thought it was a love letter for Stella and opened it with pounding hearts, but it wasn't!]
"Wh-wh-why would you say that?!"
"Hee...?"
"Hm, so that's how it is..."
"D-don't you go saying anything to Eurasia. Got it? Huh? Eurasia probably... did that on purpose because she was worried you'd be disappointed..."
"You think I'd throw a fit over something like that?"
"Then why does your face look like that? It's scary..."
"What about my face?"
"It's the face you make before you cause trouble."
The face I make before causing trouble, she says.
"It's my thinking face."
No, actually, maybe not. Saying it's the face I make before causing trouble might be about right.
When I'm about to pull something, I tend to run the calculations in my head and then act.
But right now was completely different from those times.
I wasn't running calculations—I was simply thinking.
"What are you thinking about so murderously?"
Stella pouted and carefully poked my side.
"...You're not disappointed in Eurasia, are you...?"
"I'm not some brat who'd be disappointed over that. I just have something to think about. Anyway, let's just finish picking out the present."
"...What color?"
"Pink."
Stella's face crumpled.
"I told you Eurasia doesn't like pink...?"
"If I've given her nothing but pink all this time and suddenly change it, what's she going to think?"
And maybe.
Rather than disliking pink...
—...Pink. So you were pink. It was pink. Yes. Pink. An unforgettable color. Abominable cherry blossoms. Hateful cherry blossoms. Hero. Eustetia.
Suddenly, the words that the insane Demon had muttered at the Arant Museum came to mind.
A Demon whose horns had broken and lost its reason.
One that had been dying moment by moment, unable to control the Demonic Energy within its body—
Bullshit.
I clicked my tongue, tossed aside the useless thoughts, and turned away.
"Anyway, I'm going with pink this time too. Not body jewelry—a sword tassel."
"Sword tassel? What's a sword tassel?"
[It's a decoration you hang from the end of a sword hilt!]
"Aha. Oh? Then it'd be in an alley we haven't been to yet, right? If it's equipment-related accessories... it's District 13. Let's go!"
"Hee!"
Stella and Pina grabbed both my hands and pulled.
Practically dragged along, I quietly looked up at the sky.
A clear, blue sky.
A raw sky with no Anti-Magic Barrier to tear Demons apart, so no particles of Holy Power were visible.
Looking at it, I let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.
*****
"How can there not be a single design I like?"
[In my opinion, there were indeed a lot of unsatisfactory ones...]
"Right? I mean, why isn't there anything with that soft, lovely cherry blossom feel—white and pink blended just right, with a shyly blooming color like dawn mist reddened by morning sunlight?"
"H-hii...?"
"Crazy bitch."
"Crazy bitch?! I absolutely can't compromise on this. There has to be a color with that feel and a design that goes well with that feel. It's Eurasia's last birthday before she becomes an adult!!"
I glared at Stella as she sat on the bench, swinging her legs back and forth vigorously and chattering away.
She'd been like that for a while now.
Determined to find a sword tassel with that exact feel, she'd scoured the entire Holy Capital like she was hunting for lice.
And after all that, she still hadn't found one.
"Ugh... I wanted to pick one out today."
Slurp-slurp— Stella, who'd been diligently sucking down grape juice, let out a sigh.
"Can't we just go near Shamaim after all? They say the skilled artisans all gather there..."
"No."
Going near Shamaim, where the Sanctum is, would be dangerous. They say it's under a high-grade perception-inhibiting enchantment, but to high-level people, it would clearly be visible at a glance.
"...Yeah. I figured."
"Like I said before, we don't need to rush to buy Eurasia's present. There's still over fifteen days left. And who knows. They might be hiding it away to put out during the festival."
Stella nodded reluctantly, set down the grape juice, and pulled out a chicken skewer.
"Then what about the present for that person you mentioned...?"
"For that guy, I just need two bottles of expensive liquor and a VIP casino pass."
"Liquor and a casino pass...? Who is this person that you'd give them something like that...? Aren't they precious to you?"
"Precious, my ass. I don't even know if I'll be able to meet him. So I can just buy a few bottles of liquor."
"...But how are you going to buy that? We're still... minors."
"We've got the all-purpose ID. Show them this and they'll hand it right over."
I said that, then narrowed my brow.
"But don't you go getting any ideas about buying anything weird."
"...Wh-wh-wh-what could you possibly mean...?"
"What, weren't you planning to buy some weird novel?"
"...Wh-why would I buy something like that? Hah, honestly..."
Seeing her dodge my eyes without even getting angry, she really had been planning to buy one.
"Tch, shameless."
I smirked, set down my mint-choco latte, and picked up a chicken skewer.
Soon after, Pina, who'd been eating cotton candy the size of her own tail, also picked up a chicken skewer.
These two always waited until everyone was eating together, even when it came to food. I had no idea why...
"S-so, when's our restaurant reservation?"
Stella, her face reddening as she changed the subject, looked at the clock in the plaza.
"Two hours... left, right?"
[Exactly 2 hours and 17 minutes remain!]
Cloud egg fried rice—we'd even made a reservation at the main branch to eat it.
We'd wanted to eat it as soon as we left our lodgings, but they said reservations were completely full, so we had no choice but to book dinner.
I'd even shoved my ID at them and 'requested' the quietest, least conspicuous seat, so at least dinner would be comfortable.
"Then I'll just eat up to this and stop."
Humming happily, Stella took a big bite of her chicken skewer—
"...Hm?"
Her eyes went wide.
Then Pina, who'd followed Stella and taken a big bite of her own chicken skewer—
"Hii...?! Bleh..."
Her body trembled and she spat out the entire bite of chicken skewer. Not content with that, she started dry-heaving—blegh, blegh!
"E-Eliarnes... th-this... this... did you find it?"
Chewing on a bite of chicken skewer, I let out a dumbfounded laugh.
It was a skewer made from harpy meat—the kind I'd eaten in the Imperial Capital, the kind the Cartel supposedly supplied.
"Things are going suspiciously well."
I'd just been lazing around buying presents, but I'd found in six hours what I'd planned to spend a week searching for.