Chapter 7
The Male Lead Went Crazy for the Troublesome Villainess — Episode 7
"Tell me."
"I-I'll bring you something proper. It might honestly be a little off-putting, but as it happens, we have one outfit made of wyvern hide. It clings to the body a bit, but it allows good mobility and doesn't tear easily. Would that be acceptable?"
"That's exactly the kind of clothing I want!"
When I answered with a bright smile, the owner glanced at me and then went inside.
I hummed to myself as I rummaged through the displayed clothes. Leather clothing, huh. It would probably be a good idea to also buy something like a shirt to wear over it.
Shopping really is all about clothes.
I rummaged through the clothes in a good mood. I spotted something that would be good to give Vanessa, so I added that too.
Shoes next, then. It would be nice if they had something like combat boots.
That was a successful shopping trip. The black market is the best.
* * *
And, without fail, Kael was watching that scene. After leaving the weapon shop, he had followed Rosana first. The aide who had accompanied him remained at the weapon shop.
By now, the aide would be haggling with the owner over the weapons Kael had picked out.
But Kael was not expecting his aide to display bargaining skills as impressive as Rosana's.
Kael held his breath and stared at Rosana as she wandered through the clothing shop, humming.
Had Rosana eaten something wrong?
She was going to wear clothes made of monster hide?
Of course, in the case of knights, including Kael himself, they wore clothes made of monster hide beneath their armor. Clothing made of wyvern hide was counted among the finest of those, but it was not an item that circulated through normal channels.
Kael had also submitted proposals to the emperor several times regarding armor made of wyvern hide, but each time they had been ignored.
'Such vulgar conduct! You would wrap the hides of those filthy creatures around your body and claim to save the empire? Crown Prince, have you truly gone mad? What would people think!'
The emperor was a man for whom appearances mattered, so he had rejected it outright. To protect his own life and the lives of his knights, Kael had obtained clothing made of wyvern hide through covert channels and distributed it to his closest aides.
And if there was one thing Kael could say for certain, it was that neither he nor his aide had shown bargaining skills as impressive as Rosana's.
Kael pressed a hand to his head.
'Don't even bring such filthy things before me.'
'Are you telling me to put on this low-grade item? How dare you. What do you take the daughter of House Ardena for?'
The Rosana he had known.
Everything he remembered about her was falling apart.
Was this right?
Kael rubbed his face in confusion. It seemed he himself had gone mad. If not that, then Rosana had gone mad.
Kael watched Rosana until she disappeared from view. Then his two aides returned to his side.
One of them was the person who had been tasked with finding Rosana.
"My apologies, Your Highness. I was unable to find Lady Rosana......."
"There's no need."
"Pardon?"
"I said there's no need to find her."
With those words, Kael fell silent. Somehow, he felt that Rosana would finish her errand and return to camp as though nothing had happened, with a beaming smile on her face.
* * *
It was exactly as Kael had predicted.
Before breakfast, Rosana returned as calmly as if nothing had happened and blended back into the group as though she had never left.
"Oh? You've changed your clothes, Lady Rosana."
"I can't keep walking in that dress, after all."
"Well, that's true, but......."
The young lady looked Rosana over as if she were seeing a stranger. Rosana, who had always insisted on splendid dresses and ornaments, was now wearing clothes without a single decoration, and had even tied her hair back neatly.
"I didn't expect you to wear such plain clothes, my lady."
"For marching, this is far more comfortable. How is it? Not bad, right?"
Rosana flashed a grin at the young lady of similar age, who nodded blankly. Vanessa, was it. She was a paid substitute who had been adopted into a count's family to take the place of its precious heir. Since such people were not rare here, it was not particularly surprising.
Kael simply watched them quietly and unobtrusively.
Rosana took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped Vanessa's face.
"Were you crying in your sleep again? Vanessa, if you keep crying like that, you'll end up dehydrated. You might die of dehydration before you ever get chewed up by monster fangs, you know."
"Ugh, scary talk again....... Monster fangs...... They said I'd never have to see anything like that. The count who adopted me said...... that I just had to follow along...... and put on an act...... achoo!"
"I told you to drop that complacent thinking. Here, change into these shoes too."
"Where did you get something like this?"
Rosana grinned and pulled off Vanessa's worn shoes. Although they were items issued by the expedition, the soles were thin and the leather was already cracked in several places. The supplies that went to those whose families had not prepared proper equipment were mostly of this quality.
"I picked them up on the road. I did well, didn't I?"
Rosana put the new combat boots on Vanessa's feet and pulled the laces tight.
"There, all done. How are they? They're combat boots. They're similar to the boots knights wear. More precisely, they're closer to what mercenaries wear, but at least they'll hold up longer than those old shoes. And as for this big sword."
She then snatched away the old longsword that Vanessa had been leaning on like a cane. The blade was chipped all over, and even the grip was loose.
Instead, Rosana fastened a belt and a dagger securely around Vanessa's waist.
"Wh-what is this?"
"A dagger for self-defense."
"But wouldn't this sword be better than that? A dagger, of all things......."
Vanessa looked down at the dagger at her waist with an unconvinced expression. Instead of answering, Rosana smiled. Compared to a chipped longsword, that dagger—which the weapon dealer had guaranteed could pierce even monster hide—would be far more useful.
Rosana generously shared the equipment she had obtained with her comrade.
This, too, was a sight he had never once seen before. Rosana had always been frantic just to look after herself. She never gave away what she had, and she coveted what she did not have.
Was that not Rosana?
Kael quietly fixed this Rosana in his memory again, exactly as he had seen and heard her, unfiltered, under extreme conditions.
* * *
At any rate, I didn't want someone I had spent several days with to die. If we were comrades, then we were comrades, and losing one was a truly terrible experience, even if death was an everyday occurrence in this world.
The only ones who didn't die here were the female lead, the male lead, and a few other major characters.
Everyone else died torn apart by monster claws, eaten, or trampled to death.
In fact, being able to march this long without encountering any monsters was nothing short of extraordinary luck. When I thought back to the original story, there had been a similar passage there.
「Until they reached their destination, Greystone in the north, the only monsters they encountered belonged to the Spider Clan. It was like the calm before the storm, a final rest granted by the gods.
The monster attacks began the moment they arrived at Greystone.
The monsters shattered human bones with sharp fangs and tore human flesh with hard claws. There, Kael alone stood out with an unmistakable presence, like a brilliant light guiding them toward hope in the darkness.」
It was a passage from the female lead's point of view, and it was probably the scene where she fell for Kael at first sight.
We still had to walk about fourteen more days to reach Greystone. It had only been one day since we left Rainford....... Which meant we would be safe for the time being, at least.
I turned my head and stared at Vanessa.
"Sniffle. Mom, huuuuuuh...... I want to go home."
I couldn't help sighing as I watched her sniffle, her shoulders heaving. If she kept crying like that the whole time, she would end up as monster food first. If that happened, the place she returned to would not be home but the damp belly of a monster.
Even though I had told her many times, she just kept crying like that.
A week. Could I make Vanessa useful within a week?
At the very least, she ought to be able to run away when we encountered monsters. I didn't want to watch her die like this.
I was tired of hearing a comrade's breathing fade away before I could even do anything. If possible, it would be better for all of us to survive together.
But how? At this rate, it might be faster to hope the monsters reformed their ways....... Ugh.