Towards Karahan (Complete)
Looking at Hepais’s flushed face, I couldn’t open my mouth for a long while.
Noah seemed to be in the same state as me, her lips merely flapping open and shut while she fidgeted uselessly with her sword hilt.
“Um… e-everyone?”
After quite some time had passed, Hepais spoke up as if she truly couldn’t endure it any longer.
“Ah… yes.”
“I’m… sorry for no reason. Because of me… well, even so… I’m like this, but Master is… different from me. So… please don’t hate Master.”
The face that had been overflowing with embarrassment until a moment ago was now clouded with gloom.
But Master being different…
Was it unrequited love?
“Hepais. The reason I couldn’t say anything just now… um… well, Hepais’s face was… how should I put it… too pink. That’s why.”
Trying to comfort her and I come out with “pink”…
Even I thought what I’d said was idiotic.
“P-pink… so… Rubia felt it too? It wasn’t just me… whoa… really pink…”
But… seeing Noah react like that as well…
Maybe it was kind of okay…?
“Pink? W-what do you…”
“Hepais’s atmosphere was pink. Enough pink to fill this whole carriage was pouring out, you know? Pfft…”
Hepais’s face turned scarlet in an instant.
“I-it wasn’t that much… hehe…”
“And no matter what kind of person Hepais is, we don’t dislike you. Besides, it’s common even in the Sunrise Empire, right?”
Well… there might be a few stereotypes, but it certainly wasn’t unheard of.
In fact, the empire’s third princess was currently dating several women.
“Ugh, th-thank… you.”
“So… Hepais. Is that the end of Master’s characteristics?”
Honestly… I couldn’t quite remember how far we’d gotten in the conversation.
Or even how we’d drifted into this topic in the first place…
Thankfully I’d taken notes, or I’d have had to hear it all over again from the beginning.
“Hmm, yes. I think I’ve told you all the external features.”
“I see. Then, when did you receive this letter… huh…? Letter?”
I unfolded the letter in my hand.
The words that she’d arrived at the summit of Karahan caught my eye first.
When I’d read it earlier, I hadn’t thought much of it.
But from the summit of the Karahan Mountains… how on earth had she sent a letter…?
This…
Either she hadn’t headed for Karahan in the first place,
Or she’d already been killed… and it had been sent to lure Hepais.
It could be one of those two…
I carefully raised my head and looked at Hepais.
She was still gazing at me with that innocent expression.
She didn’t seem to have noticed yet.
Even so, I felt… I should tell her…
“Um… Hepais. First, calm down a little… and listen.”
“Yes?”
“…If you read the letter’s contents, it says she arrived at the summit of Karahan… but… um…”
How should I put this.
How could I say it so she would be less shocked.
“Um… common sense… you can’t send a letter from the summit of the Karahan Mountains… right? That’s normal…”
“Ah…”
“So. This means, um… Hepais’s Master… probably went somewhere else, or… um, haah… already lost her li—”
I was carefully choosing my words and about to just say it straight when I gave up.
“A hawk delivered that.”
Hepais’s unexpected words cut me off.
“A hawk…?”
“Huh…? Hawk…?”
“Uh… yes. I forgot to mention it. Master is unusually close with animals. Sometimes she even talks to them. Anyway, that letter was brought by Master’s hawk…”
I pressed a hand to my head against a sudden wave of dizziness.
“Close with… animals…?”
“Yes! That’s why there were all sorts of animals near our forge. After Master left, none came anymore, though…”
Even so…
Even if she was close with animals, how could she make a hawk… deliver a letter…?
“Whoa… th-then… rabbits and cats too…?”
“Yeah, but the cats were always bullying the rabbits, so Master would scold them.”
“Huk… do the cats eat the rabbits…?”
“Nah, not that. It’s just that a lot of the cats are mean.”
“I see… maybe… you didn’t kill those ones…?”
“Come on, Unni… how could I do that. I just… chased them off.”
“Right…? Hmm… also… ah! D-did you see a unicorn too?”
In the middle of all this, Noah… started asking all sorts of questions as if she were purely fascinated.
I was a bit dumbfounded that the conversation had been cut off so suddenly…
But I decided to wait quietly until Noah’s barrage of questions ended.
Her expression changing every time she heard Hepais’s answers was just too cute… I didn’t want to interrupt.
Watching them chatter happily was a bit healing, too.
Hepais looked just as sharp as me, but seeing her laughing and talking with Noah like that was funny as well.
When the chattering finally died down, I carefully opened my mouth.
“Are you done?”
“Ah, huh… sorry… um, th-thanks for waiting, Rubia.”
Noah bowed her head with an expression full of apology.
Was she flinching like that because I’d told her before not to say sorry…
Now I just wanted to tell her it was fine, that it was okay.
But that look was so cute…
I didn’t want to say it.
I know it’s really mean…
But it’s Noah’s fault for stimulating my sadistic side…
“Ru-Rubia…?”
“Ah, yes. It’s fine. I had fun too.”
At my answer, Noah’s face went pale.
“R-really…? Uh… so Rubia found the unicorn… m-making babies… fun… yeah… that’s possible, Rubia. I can underst… und… ugh…”
Noah eventually cut herself off and turned her gaze to the window.
What did she just say…?
“Yes? Noah… what did you just—”
“Ah! Did Rubia Unni find it fun? Then I’ll explain it to you. Unicorns first gather in pairs—”
“W-wait… stop.”
I raised my hand and pushed away Hepais, who was thrusting her face forward.
“Um… I was thinking about something else for a moment… what were you two talking about just now? Wasn’t it just… about cute animals?”
“Ah… baby unicorns are super cute too. Because—”
As Hepais started speaking, Noah covered her ears and curled up.
And… the content that followed after that…
Sh-she’s crazy.
What is she saying right now… what…?
“Good heavens…”
“Amazing, right! So after that—”
How on earth had it flowed into this kind of talk…?
“Hepais. Stop… stop it. I get it so… um, uh… shall we continue with Master’s story?”
“Yes! Then I’ll tell you about unicorns at dinner!”
“Don’t… please.”
Avoiding Hepais’s sparkling gaze fixed on me, I continued the topic.
“Ahem, then… the handwriting is Master’s as well, right?”
“Ah, yes. It’s definitely Yuria Master’s writing.”
Hepais nodded with a voice full of certainty.
If Hepais, who loved her Master that much, said so… it must be right.
Ha, damn.
I couldn’t concentrate because of that unicorn nonsense.
“I see… I was just… surprised, thinking something bad might have happened.”
“Aww, I’m sorry. I should have explained this first… I just took it for granted so… I forgot.”
“It’s fine. And that she went to the summit of Karahan is certain too, right?”
“Yes. Certain. She went on a request from an important person.”
“A request?”
“Master is an adventurer, you see.”
Hepais scratched her cheek and averted her gaze.
“Master is an adventurer…? Not a smith?”
“Yes… hehe.”
Hepais was a smith.
But Master was… an adventurer…
“But why do you call her Master…”
“Ah, um… just… because she taught me everything about living, the whole package.”
“I see… then who did you learn your current work from?”
Hepais’s mouth flapped open and closed for a moment before she answered with difficulty.
“The n-next shop over.”
“The next shop, the one you recommended back then?”
“Yes… Chrome Forge… I’m sorry. I’m not good with words… I say the important things too late, and just ramble on about useless unicorn mating stories… I’m sorry… I’m always like this so Master sc-scolded… scolded me… hic.”
With every word, Hepais’s body shrank.
And… her eyes were welling up with tears again.
At this rate… wasn’t it a disease?
But if she thought the person she loved so much might be in danger and die…
I could understand her being like this.
I should comfort her before the tears really started pouring.
“It’s fine. Don’t… don’t get so down. That’s… kind of Hepais’s charm too.”
“I’m sor… ry…”
The moment Hepais lowered her head, Noah startled and whispered quietly into Hepais’s ear.
“Huk… He-Hepais… Rubia hates the word sorry…!”
“Hup… th-then…”
The problem was that I heard it all.
Looking at Hepais and Noah watching my reaction, a deep sigh escaped me.
“Ha… that, no… whatever. Yeah. The conversation keeps going off track. Let’s not talk about other things now and just focus and finish this.”
“Yes!”
“Yeees…!”
Clutching my throbbing forehead, I continued the topic.
“Then… if she’s an adventurer, what’s her rank?”
“Platinum!”
“Yes…?”
“P-Platinum…? The name is… Yuria… green hair, Druid…?”
I was surprised by the fact that it was Platinum.
But Noah seemed surprised by something else.
Showing a reaction similar to when she’d recalled Luci’s existence in Habron, she started muttering the information she’d heard so far.
Had she heard about this Master person this time too.
Ha… why was everyone going on about Masters.
Hepais said she loved her Master.
Noah also… when talking about her Master, it felt a bit different from Hepais, but still.
She seemed to like them.
Damn it… seriously.
I wanted to make her stop thinking about that Master right away, but I had to endure.
The more information that helped Hepais, the better…
But.
Endure? What…?
Why was I… getting annoyed that Noah liked her Master?
Last time too.
This time too.
And the way I felt weird every time Hepais hugged Noah and rubbed cheeks against her…
Because of what…?
Neigh— Hiiiiiing—!
Just as my head started getting complicated, the carriage gradually stopped, and the horse’s cry rang out.
“Ah! Looks like we’ve arrived!”
Hepais flung the curtain open with a thoroughly excited expression.
My head also turned toward the window, and there, with the majestic Karahan Mountains at its back, the city of Urusphier came into view.
And again, I slowly turned my head to look at Noah sitting quietly in her seat.
Hepais and I had turned our heads to look at the city.
But Noah alone remained seated, just gripping her greatsword.
She looked pitiful.
I felt the urge to take care of her.
I wanted to describe the village scenery, the colors, the atmosphere, one by one.
But at the same time, her lips and eyebrows twitching up as if she were excited were just too cute.
A soft laugh slipped out.
Hmm…
It was probably just because she felt like a little sister… and my one and only friend that those strange feelings had welled up.
A little sister I have to look after.
And… the one and only friend in the world.
If I found out that the person my little sister brought home as a boyfriend was someone who made her cry and hurt her, I’d do my best to kill him.
“Rubia Unni! I’ll get down first and wait at the checkpoint!”
“Yes. Then… let’s continue the rest of the story while we eat.”
“Unicorn—”
“That… stop that.”
“Um… understood!”
And also.
If I thought about my friend who always only played with me, only hugged me, suddenly playing and hugging with someone else…
That pissed me off quite a bit too.
I went to the trouble of covering her with my scent.
If someone else’s scent mixed in, it was annoying.
“Noah, shall we hold hands?”
“Ah… yeees…!”
Her soft fingers intertwined between mine.
Savoring the feeling of my fingers being filled, I thought.
This is, how should I put it.
Not pink…
“Get down slowly so you don’t fall.”
“Come on… I can get down this much easily…”
“Still, just in case.”
I moved the hand I was holding to my other hand and wrapped my remaining hand around Noah’s waist.
“Hyeek… i-it tickles…!”
“Pfft… just bear with it a little. Ah, right. I heard there’s jelly made from Urusphier’s specialty product. Raspberry-flavored jelly.”
“Huh… r-really?”
“Yes. Shall we try some?”
“Yeees! Definitely…!”
Yeah.
My feelings aren’t pink.
They’re a deeper color than that.
Red.
A vivid red.