Red Hood (1)

“…Yes, yes. Then please send this to the Royal Villa as well. You can say it’s a personal item for Young Master Ed… no, Young Master Ethan.”

“Yes, understood! I’ll pack it well and send it right away~!”

“Yes, have a good day~.”

About two hours had passed since I started shopping for travel supplies with Ethan at the market.

Even though we had clearly bought a lot of various things, Ethan and I were still walking around empty-handed, except for the snacks we held.

Firstly, the fact that Ethan and I were staying at the Royal Villa meant there was no longer a reason to carry heavy luggage, which was a huge relief. At the first cheese shop we visited, the owner, who clearly recognized Ethan as an extraordinary noble, confirmed where Ethan was staying and then offered to deliver the items directly to the Royal Villa that very day.

It turned out that this market street was where many maids from the Imperial Palace or Royal Villa came down to buy groceries.

It was impossible for maids alone to transport food ingredients to feed the approximately three hundred people, including the Imperial family, nobles, and servants, residing within the palace. That’s why a transport carriage system was established to move goods from the market to the Imperial Palace.

Since it was a facility that transported goods to the Imperial Palace or Royal Villa twice a day, the shop owner kindly explained that maids simply came to the market, requested various items to be packed and sent, and then returned.

Since adding Ethan’s and my luggage to a carriage already transporting food ingredients and daily necessities for 300 people wouldn’t delay the transport, we naturally made active use of the facility. The cheese shop owner had brought it up in the first place because he knew that nobles staying at the Imperial Palace or Royal Villa frequently used this method.

As a result, according to our original plan, I should have been carrying baskets full of groceries in both hands by now, but they were completely empty.

‘Puuuh…. Puu, puuuh….’

‘Hehehe, heh, heh-heh…. Heh-heh-heh….’

Thanks to this, Sei, who had come along to help me with my work, was instead asleep on my shoulder. Sally, who had followed Sei, was flying beside her, watching her sleeping face with amusement.

Incidentally, I ended up not spending a single gold coin from the travel budget I had brought. To be honest, I had somewhat expected this ever since I brought Ethan along.

‘Given Ethan’s personality, there’s no way he’d quietly watch me spend money.’

I tried pretending to open my wallet at the cheese shop as a test, but Ethan immediately stopped my hand and paid for the cheese himself. It was the same at every other shop we visited afterward.

Although I was currently pretending to be an ordinary noble lady, Ethan and I were still in the relationship of Young Master and Exclusive Maid. Having his servant pay was itself a blow to a noble’s pride, so his reaction was natural.

In the end, with no work to do or money to spend, I simply leisurely strolled through the market, enjoying carefree shopping. If I saw something I thought I might need while walking, I’d buy it and have it delivered to the Royal Villa, and if there were snacks, I’d buy one and share it with Ethan.

…Walking around like this, it felt less like preparing for a trip and more like being on an actual date. Though, to begin with, Ethan had asked me out on a date, which is why we were together like this.

“Lily, say ‘ahh’.”

“……Ah.”

Even now, him leisurely feeding me a fruit skewer bought from a street vendor was unmistakably a date.

It was a good thing I didn’t bring Agnes. If she had seen this, she would have thrown a fit, accusing us of being sickeningly lovey-dovey in public, not just today but for a long time to come.

As I savored a strawberry skewer coated in a sweet sugar glaze, Ethan asked me about the rest of our schedule for the day.

“It seems we’ve bought almost everything we needed. What’s left, Lily?”

“Groceries and camping supplies are mostly ready, and now only ‘Insect Repellent Perfume’ is left.”

“Insect Repellent Perfume?”

“Yes. I’ve heard there are quite a few dangerous insects in the Witch’s Forest. It’s uncertain whether Lady Lara will have insect repellent perfume for us, so we should prepare some just in case.”

The biggest reason was that I disliked insects. Thanks to my long maid life, I had become capable of killing even quite disgusting insects with my bare hands, but disgusting things were still disgusting.

I really didn’t want to experience being hot, humid, sweating profusely, and having insects swarming around me. Seriously.

“I think we can probably find it at a general store or a magic tool shop. However, these kinds of shops are usually located in secluded parts of town, not on the main market street.”

Moreover, since this town was a large city big enough to contain two castles, it seemed quite difficult to find it right away.

To begin with, it was an item I barely used back when I played 『Luminor Academy』, so it was uncertain if it was even sold in the Imperial Capital. During my player days, I thought it wasn’t really necessary because even if I encountered insects, *I* wasn’t the one encountering them.

As I was thinking about whether I should spend the afternoon circling the Imperial Capital, asking where general stores selling insect repellent spray were located, someone suddenly appeared in front of us, blocking Ethan’s and my path.

“First, I saw a somewhat strange sign on the way here earlier, so maybe that was a general store…”

“Ex-excuse me, unnie…!”

“Eukkyak?!”

“Kyaaak?!”

At the sudden appearance of a girl, half my height, who popped out from around a corner, my startled body instinctively tilted backward, and Ethan, who had been quietly following behind me, caught me.

“Are you alright, Lily?”

“…Ah, yes. Thank you, Ed.”

Fortunately, I didn’t make a clumsy spectacle of myself by falling backward onto my butt. Ethan, who was walking beside me, had caught me faster than I could fall.

Instead, it was the girl in front of me who had stumbled backward in surprise at my scream, so I carefully extended my hand to her with an apology.

“I-I’m sorry for screaming. Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Y-yes, yeees…”

The girl, wearing a red hood over her head, took my hand and carefully stood up.

As I thought about how her appearance reminded me of Red Hood, the girl stood up, carefully dusting off her bottom.

Her apparent age was roughly six or seven years old.

Of course, this was merely an estimation, and there was a strong possibility that her actual age was older. After all, the world of 『Luminor Academy』 was not like modern society, where food was abundant and there was no fear of starvation.

It was possible she was originally around twelve years old but looked younger due to not eating properly during her growth period.

“It seemed like you called out to me earlier, do you have something to say?”

“Um, th-that is…”

“Did you perhaps lose your parents? Or did you get lost and can’t find your way home?”

“Unnie… are you an adventurer?”

“……Huh?”

An unexpectedly foolish reply popped out of my mouth at the girl’s unforeseen question, but I quickly regained my composure and quietly shook my head.

“No, I’m not an adventurer.”

“Th-then…”

“Just an ordinary maid… no, a noble… anyway, I’m not an adventurer, nor a noble, nor anything special, just an ordinary person.”

“……”

I wasn’t a maid right now, so introducing myself as one felt awkward, and it was doubtful whether this child, presumed to be a commoner, even knew of the maid profession’s existence.

On the other hand, saying I was a noble felt like it might unnecessarily provoke caution, so I just introduced myself as an ordinary person for now.

…Though, to be fair, a truly ordinary person probably wouldn’t introduce themselves like that.

“A l-lie…”

“Huh?”

“An o-ordinary person couldn’t possibly fight that well. Ah, just now in that alley, you dodged the bad man’s knife like this and this!”

“Uh, um…”

“I, I saw everything! The strange man was swinging his knife at unnie and then he fell, and then oppa went pak! at that man’s hand and seuk! and cut it off!”

“……”

It seemed she was a witness to the pickpocket (main profession: robber) incident that happened in the back alley earlier.

I don’t recall that being a particularly educational scene for children to witness.

No, perhaps it’s normal in a medieval fantasy setting? Indeed, in an Imperial Capital with so many people, it might be normal for one or two crimes involving murder and knife-wielding to occur daily.

“Then, I’ll say I’m an ordinary person with high evasion… no, an ordinary person who fights a little well.”

“……”

“So, where are your mom and dad? If you’ve lost your parents, I can help you find them…”

“…They’re not here.”

…I didn’t mean it that way, specifically. It’s just that in crowded market alleys like this, it’s usually normal for children to be with their parents, so I just assumed.

Of course, I’m not thinking this child is abnormal, anyway.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way…”

“Mom and Dad are lying down right now. Even if I asked them to come to the market with me, they probably wouldn’t have.”

“…Y-you startled me. When you said ‘not here,’ I thought I had made a blunder…”

“It’s been about a year since both Mom and Dad have been lying down. They probably won’t be able to get up again.”

“……”

“Just kidding. Actually, both Mom and Dad are over there, if you go straight.”

“O-oh, it was a joke. Y-you almost gave me a heart attack…”

“That’s where my mom and dad are buried. They actually passed away about three years ago.”

“……”

“……”

“…Was that not a joke just now?”

“No. So Mom and Dad aren’t here.”

…In the end, my initial blunder remained unchanged.

She could have just said they passed away from the start. Why go around in circles like this, essentially insulting her own parents?

Not only could I not get angry at a child, but if I got angry now, I’d become a truly wicked bitch, so I barely managed to suppress my inner emotions.

“…Then, do you have any family living with you right now?”

“My grandmother. I live with my grandmother.”

“…Your grandmother isn’t dead, is she?”

“No. She’s still alive. Just yesterday morning, my grandmother made me carrot potato soup. I asked her to leave out the carrots, but…”

…Fortunately, Grandmother didn’t seem to be a ‘Talula’ target.

Having somehow found a breakthrough, I roughly grasped the girl’s situation, and immediately shifted the topic in that direction, trying to change the subject.

“Then, shall I help you find your grandmother?”

“Yes!”

“Alright, when and where did you lose her? If you try to remember carefully…”

“Last night, at our house!”

“……What?”

“The night before last, a big, bad wolf suddenly appeared at our house and took Grandmother away!”

“……”

…What? Was she really Red Hood?