Festival (3)
This was no ordinary mana.
No ordinary body.
No ordinary... human.
No—was it even human to begin with?
I had no idea.
The outline was clear enough. The expression, too. But no matter how carefully I traced the interior with Qi Sensing, nothing resolved. It stayed vague, formless.
Even Kalt, after he had turned completely into shadow, had still shown me the structure of his body and the flow of his mana. The being standing in front of me revealed none of that.
What the hell was this thing?
And another thing—
She had just barged into the room and swung a greatsword without warning, yet Rubia and Yuria weren’t reacting at all. That made even less sense.
“Hmm! It seems you all have been faring well!”
What was she even talking about...?
Did everyone already know her?
Still wearing that supremely self-satisfied look, Sirin sheathed the greatsword at her waist.
“However... Noah, your height appears to have shrunk a little, has it not?”
“U-ugh...”
“It has definitely decreased. You were once the same height as this body... Hmm?”
Sirin tilted her head, then stepped right up beside me and started comparing our heights. Even though I still had my greatsword raised just in case, she pressed herself against me without the slightest concern.
She knows me?
How does she know me??
No... what kind of situation even is this?!
Some extremely suspicious person was all up in my space, and everyone else was just standing there watching. Why? Why was nobody doing anything?!
Granted... she wasn’t radiating hostility, so it probably wasn’t that dangerous... but she could still be some absolute peak expert who was just that good at hiding it!!
“Aha... an incomplete Elixir, is it?”
A strange, crawling sensation swept over my body.
Qi Sensing...? No, not that.
If I had to name it... a gaze? Eyes?
What on earth...
“Well, even if you’ve gotten smaller, so long as it doesn’t hinder you swinging a greatsword, it hardly matters!”
I slipped aside from the hand that tried to clap my shoulder and edged closer to Rubia.
“Rubia... just... just who is she? Why... why is everyone just standing there staring? I-is she a good person?”
“You and she... didn’t already know each other?”
“...Huh...? I have no idea who she is...?”
What was that supposed to mean?
“What? You don’t know her?”
“I-I don’t...”
Rubia’s expression shifted from startled to utterly dumbfounded as she looked at me.
Mine went the opposite way—from dumbfounded to startled.
And in the middle of that ridiculous atmosphere, Sirin casually dropped a bombshell I had completely forgotten about, in the most nonchalant tone imaginable.
“Hmm, Noah. From what I glimpsed earlier, you weren’t wearing any undergarments. Why is that? Some new form of training, perhaps?”
Yuria and Hepais sucked in sharp breaths.
Rubia swallowed hard.
“Hmm! This is delicious as well!”
“Ah—! N-nooo... that’s mine...!”
“Come now, you’ve plenty of coin! Just one more bite!”
“Ugh...”
“Haa... Noah, I’ll buy you another one later, so just give it to her...”
“R-Rubia too...? Uuugh... fine...”
I had no choice but to hold out the sugar-coated fruit skewer—tanghulu—to Sirin.
And then—
“Ooh!”
“H-hey...! Y-you’re only supposed to eat one...!”
Beaming brightly, Sirin stuffed three strawberries into her mouth at once and started crunching away with gusto.
“One alone wouldn’t even register in the stomach! Hahaha!”
Her infuriating laughter scattered into the noisy festival street.
“As expected, enjoying something together is far better than enjoying it alone! Wouldn’t you agree?”
“...Yes.”
After the underwear incident had somehow been resolved and various conversations had been had, Rubia and I found ourselves being dragged out into the festival streets by Sirin’s hand.
Yuria and Hepais must have found Sirin uncomfortable... they said they’d enjoy themselves separately and meet up later, and didn’t follow.
I found Sirin uncomfortable too...
But when I refused to play with her she looked so lonely and teary-eyed while munching on her nose that my heart softened.
“This time we ought to try that! That Tyrant cotton candy over there!”
And on top of everything, this Sirin person—
Had no money.
A Master, of all people, without a single coin to her name... did that even make sense?
Her greatsword looked magnificent, sure... but that was it. Her clothes were shabby, she had no wallet, and she had no conscience either.
“Hmm? I expected something after hearing ‘Tyrant cotton candy,’ yet the shape is completely different. Still, the bear face is rather cute!”
“...Noah, do you want one too?”
“Yes...!”
Where Rubia pointed stood cotton candy shaped like an adorable little bear face.
Sirin was right—Tyrant didn’t look anything like that. Its eyes were bigger, its snout a bit sharper... its ears were torn straight back, and it had way too many teeth.
It definitely didn’t look like some pants-less little bear happily gobbling honey.
Well... the villagers and ordinary adventurers had never seen Tyrant, so of course they wouldn’t know.
But how did Sirin know?
“This body intends to try the apple flavor. Noah, which will you choose? This body recommends peach!”
“Um... peach is fine... Rubia, you’re not getting one...?”
“No, I’ll just steal little bites of yours.”
“Hmm! An excellent choice! You there! One apple and one peach!”
Sirin, who had grown extremely serious while picking flavors, clutched the wallet Rubia had given her to her chest and dashed forward, shouting.
Even with the Perception Obfuscation Robe on... I could feel people’s gazes gathering thick and fast.
Did this person not feel embarrassed at all...?
“I’m just... glad Noah is so well-behaved.”
“R-right...?”
Rubia let out a deep sigh and stroked my head. It was over the robe, but the touch still felt nice, so I nuzzled into it a little more.
In the meantime Sirin came back holding a cotton candy in each hand.
“Here! Noah, this is yours!”
“Yes. Thank youuu.”
“Think nothing of it! Rubia paid for them. Rubia! This body shall never forget this kindness! My thanks!”
“Yeah, well... enjoy.”
“Hmm!”
“Here... Rubia, try some...”
I hated how sticky it got when you pulled cotton candy apart with your fingers... but I still tore off a piece for Rubia.
The cotton candy was already starting to melt, making my fingers tacky.
Hmm... should I just stick it in Rubia’s mouth and then suck the leftover sugar off myself...?
But that felt way too dirty... what if Rubia looked at me weird?
If I just left it, though, I wouldn’t be able to hold her hand either... uuugh...
“Thanks.”
While I was still fretting over how to get rid of the unpleasant stickiness—
Rubia took every last bit of sugar clinging thickly to my fingers into her mouth.
Slurp—
“Mmm, it’s good.”
She sucked it all clean.
“Uh... u-uh...?”
“Want me to feed you too, Noah? You don’t like getting it on your hands, right?”
Rubia licked her lips and slowly bent toward me at the waist.
“Or I could just wipe it off again.”
My body seemed to thrum.
Her voice, her scent, her expression.
The sensation of my finger inside Rubia’s mouth came flooding back in vivid detail—that soft, warm, moist something wrapping around it...
“Heh... nngh... n-no... I-I can... eat by myself...”
I scrubbed my pounding fingers hard against my clothes and bit into the cotton candy.
At the same time, the cotton candy melted in my mouth.
The sweetness lingering on my tongue brought that stickiness right back.
My head spun.
It felt like electricity running through me—I flinched and trembled.
From my chest down to my lower belly everything tingled, and below my waist ached faintly.
“Hmm? Noah, are you unwell?”
“Uhek... n-no... I-I’m fine...”
Just as I was about to sink to the ground, Sirin’s voice cleared my head.
Th-thank goodness...
“Well then, may this body try a bit of yours as well?”
“J-just a little... if you eat it all like before... I’ll get mad...”
“Understood!”
Sirin beamed and wound my cotton candy around her empty wooden stick, carrying it off.
“That aside, there seem to be more people carrying greatswords about the streets, do there not?”
She stuffed the entire stolen cotton candy into her mouth while looking around, a subtle smile on her face.
“There are many kinds of greatsword... yet all of them resemble yours, Noah.”
“That’s true. Until recently almost no one carried a greatsword like Noah’s, but there are more now.”
“R-really...?”
One, two, three, four, fiiive...
She was right.
Just in this alley alone there were already five people with greatswords.
When I expanded my Qi Sensing, there were clearly far more than before!
Heheh... so the world had finally realized the charm of the greatsword?
Of course they had.
How could anyone not love a weapon this charming, this excellent, this overflowing with romance—
“I cannot understand what anyone finds appealing about such a crude weapon. Tsk. This body simply does not get it.”
“W-what did you just say...?”
“I said it is a crude weapon.”
Sirin, walking ahead, turned back with an extremely smug look.
“C-crude...?”
“Indeed. Filthily heavy, needlessly large. Difficult to handle in tight terrain, a pain to maintain. Its only merit... is that it is heavy. And even that is also a demerit... Truly a useless weapon.”
“B-but Sirin, you’re carrying a greatsword too...!”
“This body never wished to use such a thing either.”
“S-such a... thing...?”
“Noah? Maybe you should calm down a little...?”
Calm down?!
Did this look like a situation where I could calm down?!
Rubia was being mean too! She was supposed to take my side!!
“...E-even so, if you use it well it’s good... I actually... b-beat a Master with it.”
“True. As you say, if used well it is fine. If used well...”
Still wearing that infuriating smile, Sirin walked slowly toward me.
“However, your sword—”
She placed a finger against my forehead.
“—is exceedingly shoddy, is it not?”
Thwack— she flicked me with a sharp forehead flick.
“Ugh... sh... shoddy...?!”
Was she... was she dismissing the greatsword technique I had poured everything into and mastered? Huh?!
“Does this body’s words displease you?”
“O-of course they do...”
Then Sirin’s smile stopped being smug and turned brilliantly bright as she raised one hand.
“In that case—one bout of sparring. How does that sound?”
“...Bring it on.”
“Noah...?”
She snapped her fingers.
“Excellent.”
The world inverted.