Chapter 42. Oh, Ooooh!!!
Chapter 42. Oh, Ooooh!!!
"Wha—, huh, uh?"
What in the world just happened?
His hand had touched her chest, and unable to endure the sensation that followed, a moan escaped her lips.
'What did I just feel? Me?'
Yumir felt confused by an experience she'd never once had in her life. Had she been alone, she might have even suspected time had frozen, or that it was all some kind of delusion.
"......Yumir."
But right now, there was someone standing right in front of her.
Belatedly realizing this, Yumir trembled, unsure what to do, and began cautiously gauging his reaction.
"N-no, that wasn't... Th-that is, I mean..."
"You don't have to push yourself."
Unlike her, blushing and shaking like a leaf, here was a man who, despite what had just occurred, was doing his utmost to treat her with composure.
"Push myself..."
"I have absolutely no intention of dismissing your sincerity, either."
As Yumir looked at him with a puzzled expression, Dave took her hand—the one he had pulled toward his chest—and spoke.
"It's just—how should I put it? I've never had this kind of experience before, so I simply didn't know what I was supposed to receive. If anything, refusing the compensation you're offering now would be an offense on my part, and..."
His voice was exceedingly polite.
A man gently chiding her for the discourtesy she herself had committed.
"So I thought maybe, even starting now, I could try to figure that out..."
And what came at the end of that was something that could be called an 'opportunity'—a chance to make amends for everything she'd done up until now.
"If it's alright, would you accompany me into town?"
"......Into town?"
"Yes. Since you're finally enjoying some rest, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to go out and mull it over together at a leisurely pace."
Dave smiled cautiously, as if awaiting her answer.
Yumir blinked at him and, before she knew it, found herself nodding unconsciously.
"Uh, um, that sounds fine. Sure..."
"Alright. Then let's get ready to go out right away. I'll pack whatever we need, so you just need to change your clothes and come out, Yumir."
"Oh, okay. I'll change and head straight to the front door."
Caught off guard, Yumir matched Dave's rhythm without thinking. It was only after he had completely vanished from sight that she finally processed the situation.
'...What just happened?'
He had definitely suggested they go out together.
In response to her offer of compensation, he'd said they would go look for what he might ask for in return.
'Going out... with me.'
Mulling over those words, Yumir returned to her room and rested her chin on her hand.
'A man and a woman going out together... a date?'
A date.
A perfectly conventional act that described the current situation to a tee.
'No, that can't be it.'
Yumir let out a scoff and shook her head.
'Me, going on a date with some damn man? If I'd wanted to do that, I'd have done it long ago. What utter nonsense.'
Right. Hadn't she lived her entire life utterly detached from such things?
Surely Dave hadn't given that aspect any thought when he said it, either. Yes, that had to be the case, and yet...
-Thud, thud, thud, thud!
Why were her steps back to her room growing faster?
-BANG!!
And why had she kicked open the door at the end instead of using her hands?
"......Clothes."
No, that wasn't what mattered right now.
Soon after barging into her room, she threw open the door to the storage room where she kept all her things and began rummaging through its contents.
"Clothes, clooooothes!!!"
It had been nearly ten years since she'd last ventured outside. From enrolling in the Academy to graduating, and all the way up to achieving her results as a Grand Archmage—for any ordinary errand, she had simply ordered someone else to go buy things.
She'd even driven out all those servants on the grounds that they interfered with her research. When she needed something, she'd use a carrier pigeon and have it delivered, but among all the items she'd brought in that way, there hadn't been a single piece of clothing.
"Dammit! I don't have anything decent like clothes!!"
Until now, she'd thought nothing of being naked in her own quarters, but she couldn't exactly go out like that on what was essentially her first outing ever, could she?
Of course, she'd never been one to live caring about the eyes of others. But at the very least, she didn't want to show such an unsightly state to him—to the man who had asked her to go out with him.
'How... is there nothing proper? Not robes, not sleepwear, but actual proper clothes... huh?'
After several dozen minutes of refusing to give up and ransacking the storage room, Yumir finally discovered a box crammed in the corner. She unfolded the clothes inside and held them up before her.
"......I kept this, somehow."
Yes, she had definitely worn these clothes once. She'd even had them made to her own measurements.
Of course, it had already been several years since she'd last worn it, but this outfit was made of a material that responded to the wearer's mana to cause subtle changes.
It even had an additional effect that automatically adjusted for 'minor differences' in the chest or hips.
Most importantly, the design was quite sophisticated.
Since it was originally made as a 'uniform' to represent an institution, its outward appearance alone was, one could say, guaranteed.
The problem was whether it was acceptable for her to wear it now.
"Yumir, are you almost ready?"
"I'm done, just wait a minute!!"
Yumir reluctantly answered the voice calling from afar.
She was still deeply conflicted, but ultimately, the pressing time forced her to make a decision.
A decision that was clearly destined to become a source of regret later.
***
"......Uh, Yumir?"
"What."
"Is that, perhaps..."
"It's exactly what you think it is."
With her shoulders slumped as always.
But addressing Dave with utterly hollow eyes, Yumir was a far cry from the confident woman she'd always been.
That was only natural.
No matter how much Yumir had lived without caring what others thought, she at least had the self-awareness to know that what she was wearing right now was not suitable for going out.
'I'm such an idiot. No matter how much I had nothing to wear, showing up in a school uniform...'
Yes, what she was wearing was a white-based school uniform...
The crest on the cape draped over it indicated it belonged not to the university where she'd last stayed, but to the 'upper school' she'd attended before that.
To now wear something she'd worn as a minor, long after becoming an adult—anyone who strutted out in such a thing would surely feel a hollow wind blowing through their soul.
"...Haha, it's weird, isn't it."
Self-aware, Yumir forced the corners of her lips upward into a hollow smile.
Thinking that even if he mocked her, she'd have nothing to say in her defense, Yumir reluctantly averted her eyes.
"Still, I know it's a bit weird to dig out a school uniform now, after graduating. Sorry. I'm just not really the type to buy clothes or anything..."
"No, it suits you perfectly."
"...What?"
Amidst her self-deprecation, a low reply reached her ears.
Wondering if she'd misheard, she turned back and found Dave gazing at her in her uniform with an admiring look.
"You might have your doubts, Yumir, but from where I'm standing, I think it's a genuinely charming outfit. Even if it is a school uniform—commoners like me rarely get the chance to attend school, so they're objects of admiration."
"No, th-that's..."
"You're pretty. Stunningly so."
Compliments that flew as straight as a well-aimed arrow.
Blushing at the smile that accompanied them, Yumir reflexively raised her hand in embarrassment.
And what followed was a slap—
-Grab!!
No. This time, it was not a slap.
The hand that was supposed to strike his shoulder dropped lower instead, caught his hand, and pulled it close.
"Let's go."
"Huh? Where..."
"I said we're going into town!! Whatever it is, I'll buy it for you, so just come along!"
No matter what, she didn't want to react to his compliments.
Thinking this, Yumir felt a surge of impatience and started moving down the street.
-Thump, thump.
Now that the distance between them had closed, her heartbeat grew vivid.
She walked on, worrying that it might travel through her hand and reach him as well.
***
She had hated people.
Because her body, so unlike that of her peers, always drew their gazes in mostly unpleasant ways.
She'd hated that, so she'd kept her distance from people and lived only through her books, yet...
-Murmur, murmur.
In this moment, having somehow ended up navigating the town, Yumir unconsciously realized that the eyes of every passerby on the street were fixed on her.
'Ah, right. This was why I hated going outside.'
It wasn't mainly because they recognized her as the Grand Archmage.
Her face was known to some extent in official settings like the Magic Tower or the royal court, but outside of those places, almost no one knew she was the Grand Archmage.
"Take a look at her. That girl..."
Naturally, the gazes she encountered while navigating the streets were, for the most part, 'that kind.'
"Who? The one in the school uniform?"
"That's rare. An Academy graduate in a place crawling with adventurers."
"She's amazing in more ways than one. The way her hair falls in the back..."
"Shh, what if she hears?"
"Just looking is fine, isn't it?"
Men were the same as always.
Once their eyes landed on her, they never let go until she had completely escaped their sight. So the market, which should have been filled with lively bustle, was instead gradually filling with nothing but an unsettling murmur.
"Tch, look at her walking around with no shame."
And that atmosphere affected not just men but a fair number of women as well.
"Who does she think she's pleasing, flaunting herself like that?"
"She's just young, that's all. Looking at her uniform, it seems awfully high-end—she must be from a well-off family..."
"She'll get a rude awakening one day and never walk around like that again."
Gazes laced with blatant hostility.
The words that accompanied them were closer to curses than simple criticism.
And though fewer in number than the men, sometimes during her Academy days, this kind of atmosphere had led directly to acts of aggression.
'If it were now, I'd just set their mouths on fire. I don't know why I was so scared back then.'
Recalling those times, Yumir gave a small snort of laughter and casually dismissed their attention.
She dismissed it so casually because she had changed in so many ways since then.
Before, those stares had been so burdensome that she wore the thickest clothes possible and walked with her shoulders and back hunched to seem smaller. But no matter how much she distanced herself from people, there had still been friction with others.
'Compared to dealing with those old fossil bastards at the Magic Tower, stares like this are nothing.'
They could never imagine the sheer amount of hardship one had to endure on the path to becoming a Grand Archmage, reaching the very apex of humanity.
Compared to that period of ordeal, the attention she was getting now was nothing more than the buzzing of mosquitoes.
It was a problem on a level she could ignore and brush aside, as long as they didn't come right up to her and start being a nuisance.
"It's getting pretty noisy around us."
Yes. If only the man beside her weren't here, she'd have considered it trivial.
"Yeah, it is."
"Do you not like crowded places?"
"I don't like them, no."
Yumir answered her companion curtly as he glanced around.
Then, once his gaze had withdrawn from her, Yumir began stealing glances at his expression.
A man wholly absorbed in looking around as he walked alongside her.
It was hardly just her imagination that the look in his eyes seemed oddly hardened.