Ch.8The Saint is Still Hungry

The sky was dark.

The sun had set, and a half-moon hung in the sky.

The moon, already reduced to half, had been halved once more.

Eila glanced up at the sky and thought to herself.

“Who are you?”

Light from above illuminated the man standing before her.

He was tall with black curly hair.

Though his curls partially obscured his eyes, making it difficult to fully read his expression, his slightly parted lips suggested he was surprised.

The man said nothing, just staring at Eila.

“…What is your purpose in approaching me?”

“……”

Without answering, the man slowly walked toward Eila.

Eila assumed a defensive stance.

She could sense magical power emanating from him.

A swordsman? Or perhaps a martial artist?

He might be a mage, so she needed to watch his lip movements carefully.

Eila sharpened her senses.

Ready to respond instantly to any movement he might make.

Just as she heightened her awareness…

Suddenly, light poured down from above.

No, not from the sky.

It was closer to the ground than the sky.

Startled by the sudden illumination—a streetlight turning on—Eila momentarily took her eyes off the man.

With the light on, the man’s features became visible.

Slightly dark, black-brown curly hair.

His eyes remained hidden.

The man’s mouth slowly opened.

“——beau–“

The world seemed to stretch, as if someone were pulling at it.

Too late.

The man had begun to speak.

Eila prepared to lunge at him.

She needed to subdue him before he finished his incantation.

As she crouched to spring, she heard the man’s words.

“—tiful, fucking gorgeous…”

Huh?

What did he just say?

“…Huh?”

“…Uh?”

Eila’s feet stopped in their tracks.

The man hesitated as well.

Then his face turned bright red.

“Ah, um… that, that wasn’t what I was trying to… I was only meant to say that in my head…”

The man extended his hands in front of him, waving them frantically.

Eila relaxed her stance.

It didn’t seem like this man was going to attack her.

After a moment of awkward silence, Eila spoke.

“So, who are you, and why did you approach me?”

“Huh?! That, well… I was ordered by the boss…”

“Boss?”

It was an unfamiliar term.

Screech—-

An unpleasant sound of scraping metal rang out.

Simultaneously, a door opened.

It was a rusty door right next to where she had been sleeping earlier.

“Hey, what are you still doing outside? This idiot, getting distracted…”

A somewhat thick yet high-pitched voice echoed through the narrow alley.

“Eek? Boss?”

Following the man’s gaze, Eila turned to see a woman standing in the doorway.

“Hurry up and come in… Oh? Who’s this young lady?”

Her red hair, tied back in a ponytail, swayed like a horse’s tail.

Though described as red, it wasn’t the bright red of a burning flame, nor the deep red of blood.

It was a rich, vivid wine color with a slight purple tinge.

So deep and vibrant that one might expect to smell wine if they brought their nose close to it.

The woman, who had been covering her eyes with black glasses, turned toward Eila and folded her glasses into her pocket with her right hand.

Her green eyes gleamed.

“Ah, the one you told me to clear away earlier, boss…”

“Oh, right, right. So, what happened?”

“Well, I approached to wake her up, but she suddenly got up and…”

“Hmm…”

The woman put the cigarette she was holding in her left hand to her lips.

Smoke escaped from her mouth.

“So, young lady? What were you doing here?”

“…Who are you?”

“That’s my line. Who are you to be sitting in front of someone else’s shop? Trying to drive away all our customers?”

“Shop?”

“Yes, shop.”

The woman raised the corner of her mouth.

Eila said:

“If a shop has its main entrance in a place like this, it can’t be a very good one.”

“Oh, aren’t you judgmental?”

“Why? It’s the truth—Ow! Ouch! Why are you hitting me?!”

“Because. You. Spoke. The. Truth. You. Brat.”

“Ow! Ah, ouch! Stop! Enough!”

“‘Enough’ is too informal.”

“Please stop, boss!”

“Tch.”

The hand that had been enthusiastically pounding the man’s back stopped. Eila wondered if her depth perception was off, but that woman was tall. The man wasn’t short either, but the woman was even taller than him.

Moreover, the woman exuded a dangerous aura. Even more so than the man.

“…I’ll talk with this young lady, so you go in and organize the groceries. If the ice cream melts, you’re dead, got it?”

“…Yes.”

The woman moved outside the door, while the man went inside.

The door closed.

Unlike when it opened, the door didn’t make much noise when closing.

“Phew… Well, it’s become an after-action report, but it’s okay to send him away, right?”

“…Yes, I suppose.”

“So, why were you sitting in front of our shop? Are you here to meet someone? Or are you a customer looking to use our company’s services? Or perhaps… someone targeting our company?”

“This was the only place I could find to sleep.”

“…Sleep?”

“Yes.”

The woman dropped her cigarette on the ground and ground it thoroughly with her foot.

“Well, it is narrow, shaded, and rarely frequented by people.”

“And you put your shop’s main entrance in such a place?”

“Our clients prefer such locations, so we have no choice. The door that our main clients use is the main entrance, isn’t it?”

“I wonder.”

Silence hung in the air.

Eila lifted her foot to leave this place.

She now knew why the man had approached her, and her fatigue had somewhat subsided.

There was no reason to stay here any longer.

“But why were you sleeping in a place like this? Did you run away from home?”

Just as she was about to turn to leave, that voice called out again.

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, because I’m an adult? It’s an adult’s duty to look after wandering children.”

It was quite a dignified statement.

If only she hadn’t been holding two cigarettes in her mouth, which she had somehow produced again.

The woman created a smoke ring with one cigarette and blew smoke from the other through the ring.

This wasn’t a trick someone who had only tried smoking once or twice could pull off.

“I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine now. It’s time for me to go. So then—”

Grumble—

Thunder rumbled.

Not from the sky, but from Eila’s stomach.

“……”

It couldn’t be helped.

The magical beasts she had eaten on her way had only been enough to stave off hunger, not enough to fill her stomach.

Moreover, she had engaged in strenuous activity after waking up.

“…Pff, pfft. Ha, ahahahahahaha!!!”

“D-don’t laugh…”

“Ah, sorry, sorry. Are you hungry?”

The woman clutched her stomach with laughter, then said with tears in her eyes.

Her breathing kept getting tangled, suggesting she found it quite amusing.

“If you’re okay with it, would you like to eat at our shop before you go?”

Eila considered.

She was indeed hungry.

She would gratefully accept food if offered.

But imposing on others seemed somewhat inappropriate.

It was a matter of meager pride.

It’s not like she would die from not eating.

“…Thank you for the offer, but I’ll have to decl—”

“I’ll let you eat until you’re full.”

“—accept your kind offer with gratitude.”

It was too tempting an offer to refuse.

Pride?

Would that fill her stomach?

Eila followed the woman through the door.

***

“Here, eat as much as you want!”

“Oh, ohh…”

Various dishes were laid out on the table.

Soup, rice, side dishes.

“I’ve prepared plenty, so feel free to eat as much as you want! Ah, that only applies to the rice. For the soup and side dishes, there’s a per-person quota, so eat moderately.”

“But I’m the one who made it.”

“Brat, if an employee made it, it belongs to the boss. We agreed to those terms when you signed the contract. ‘All your products belong to the company~’ Remember? Are you changing your story now?”

“Crazy company…”

The man and woman were talking.

But Eila couldn’t hear them.

All her senses were fixed on the food on the table.

Such a fragrant aroma.

Sweet, spicy, and rich smells.

Can I eat now?

When should I start?

This is a spoon, and that’s… what? Two sticks?

Ah, chopsticks.

I don’t know how to use those.

“Go ahead and eat.”

“Thank you for the meal.”

As soon as permission was granted, Eila quickly said a silent pre-meal prayer and picked up her spoon.

Snow-white, fluffy yet hot, a strange food.

Eila scooped up a spoonful of rice and put it in her mouth.

“!!!”

What is this?

It’s delicious.

It’s sweet!

The more I chew, the sweeter it tastes!

Eila indulged in the food with tears streaming down her face.

Food eaten after so long was truly delicious.

It literally had “flavor.”

The meat of magical beasts has no taste at all.

Flavorless, foul-smelling meat.

After eating such things that could hardly be called food for nearly five years, she was now eating food with actual taste.

Spicy, salty, subtly sweet, the taste of oil, umami…

“Huaaang… Delicious, so delicious…”

So it was only natural that Eila was eating with tears gushing from her eyes.

“Um… you were really hungry, weren’t you…”

“Sniff, delicious… it has flavor… one more bowl.”

“Ah, yes.”

How many times did she repeat this cycle of crying and eating?

Only after consuming an entire pot of rice by herself did Eila’s tearful meal come to an end.