Chapter 162

Chapter 162

162nd Episode: Trick and Treat / “.”.. Lakers?” The first thing that came to mind upon hearing the word Lakers was a question. What could he possibly have to do in that city? It’s my hometown, but Lakers isn’t exactly a city known for having much to offer. To put it kindly, it’s peaceful; to put it bluntly, it’s unremarkable. It’s outshone by the base cities near the Great Forest for adventure-related work, and it lacks other territories to trade with to be considered a trade city. Why would he be aiming for Lakers, a mere ordinary city in the Kilkird Kingdom, as his destination? “What’s going on…?” “Well, I didn’t hear the details.” “… Is that so?” “He seemed reluctant to talk about it. It seems like he’s a bit hesitant to tell us. Or, maybe it’s some important secret.” At Emily’s words, I mentally considered a few possibilities. There are many kinds of secretive and reluctant matters. Delivery of illegal goods, assassination of someone, or perhaps theft. Of course, there’s every possibility that the business he mentioned is legitimate, but perhaps because I’ve spent my whole life in the underworld, I can’t think of many positive possibilities. “… I should ask him about it later.” “Are you thinking of helping him?” “I would if I could… but I don’t have enough time right now.” To Emily’s question, I shook my head and declined. I do want to help. However, I had to meet Rutricia at the Lanche barony in ten days. I couldn’t break that promise. What I received from her was only a few lines of letter, but the atmosphere permeating those sentences was serious. I couldn’t ignore that desperation. “I can give him a quick tour, but nothing more than that.” “That’s… Ah, is it because of Aram?” “Yeah. It seems like there’s a problem.” Kim Aram. Her name here is Rutricia Lanche. Born as the daughter of the Lanche barony, she entered the ‘Perzanta’ Academy in the kingdom’s capital, Karzinium, by her father’s order. She didn’t say why she entered, but I could guess without hearing it. In this world, especially in the Kilkird Kingdom, there’s only one thing that the head of a noble family wants from their daughter. They don’t want their children to succeed and become famous. This isn’t a world where that’s possible. What they want from their daughters isn’t to accumulate knowledge, but to build relationships with people. Especially for nobles with low power, they have no choice but to do so. They put their children on the most brilliant auction block called the academy, hoping that someone will offer a good price. As is often the case with gatherings of powerful nobles, Perzanta has a stronger social purpose of building connections than its original role of teaching magic. According to Mien’s explanation, the curriculum itself isn’t a problem, but the composition of the students, the vast majority of whom are children of nobles and the wealthy, can’t help but be more focused on thrilling and beneficial networking than on endless studying. In a cage where the children of beasts play, there isn’t much that powerless lambs can do. Moreover, the Lanche barony wasn’t a powerful family. They aren’t nobles who own territory, nor can they be said to be wealthy, and even if you try to hear evaluations of the head of the family, the news itself is faint. That faint news rather reflects their status. Whatever the expectations of Baron Lanche were, there wouldn’t be much that Rutricia could do there. Be eaten, or surrender. Neither is a good choice. She needed advice and a helping hand. “Hmm… complicated.” “That part’s okay. It’s not like there’s no way at all… it’ll work out somehow.” At Emily’s words, I answered with a bitter smile. Even if I don’t know what’s going on, it’s not like I don’t want to help at all. For example, if I wanted to leave for Lakers tomorrow, I could do it anytime. However, the length of my stay wouldn’t be long, and what I could do during that short period… probably wouldn’t be much. “I should ask him about it later.” First, let’s ask what that business is. That would be the most accurate decision I can make at this point. // “By the way, how was it there? The hunter’s village, or something…?” “Ah, Yurkin? It was a pretty fresh place-” In the continued chatter, time passed quickly. This isn’t a world where you can get information by moving your fingers a few times. In a world where you can get as much information as the years you’ve accumulated and the steps you’ve taken, stories from unfamiliar lands are interesting topics of conversation. “It wasn’t bad. It’s rough, and there are a lot of monsters. And a lot of goblins and other demi-humans.” “Heeh…” Yurkin, the hunter’s village located closest to the Great Forest, was an interesting land that bards would sing about, and the stories I spent with the men there were enough to make Emily’s eyes sparkle, as she was in closed-door training in the city. “So, when I pretended to be weak after drinking, they all rushed at me with fire in their eyes, trying to do something. Once, they even fought over trying to join me at the table?” “Hee… that must have been fun?” “It was definitely worth seeing. But I couldn’t let them fight too hard, so I stopped them with force.” “… Don’t men not like that?” “Well? It seems to depend on the case. Some of them actually liked it more. And they’re definitely all hunters and veterans, so they have good strength and stamina.” It wasn’t particularly surprising that the existence of men had entered our conversation. Now it was too far gone to pretend not to know men even as a joke, and there was no time as appropriate as now for Emily and I to reveal the pretenses we usually put on. As we shared stories of the unfamiliar scenery of the Great Mountains, the sturdy hunters of Yurkin, and the bustling trade city and the pleasure district lurking in its darkness, time had already passed far beyond the time when even the traces of the setting sun had disappeared. Thus, around the time when the moonlight peeked out through the faintly opened window, Aiden, whom we had been waiting for, came to Emily’s room.

-Squeak.

“… Huh?” “Oh, you’re here?” I stared at the man who opened the door and came in. Aiden, who stopped in his tracks as if embarrassed, has an unfamiliar appearance. Just as I felt that way about him, I too must look unfamiliar to him. I thought of that point and greeted the stopped Aiden with a friendly smile. “Hello?” “….” I don’t know if he remembers me from my past life. But my memories of him are also faint. Even so, I have no intention of awkwardly shutting my mouth. When I greeted him lightly first, Aiden nodded with a serious expression. “… Seo Hyun, is it.” “Call me Layla here.” “Okay. Layla.” Aiden quietly nodded and came to us, sitting down on a chair. I looked at Aiden’s face for a moment, then opened my mouth with a faint smile. “… I want to say it’s been a while, but that would sound like a lie. Honestly, I don’t remember you very well.” “It’s okay. It’s not like we saw each other for that long.” “That’s true. That’s a bit of a relief.” “… A relief?” Looking at Aiden, who asked back, I chuckled. “I’ve changed a lot since before. My body, my mind.” “… It does seem that way.” The me of my past life and the me of the present are different. To the extent that you can think of me as a completely different person. I don’t feel regret or sadness about that fact, but only a lingering memory and attachment to what has disappeared remain. What if I could have been reborn as a man like him? “….” It’s a meaningless assumption to make now. I don’t know where it went wrong from, and I can’t go back. I finished my short thoughts and joked to him with a smile. “But a man, that’s amazing.” “… What?” “There are few men among us. It’s completely a women’s bath.” There are a total of seven reincarnators we’ve found so far. Me, Erzebet. Emily, Rutricia. And… Triscelina Lou Rainisis, whom I haven’t met yet. Five out of seven are women, and among them, the only real woman is… only one so far. I’ll have to talk to the other one to know. On the other hand, there are two men. Taliman, whom I met in Karaldin, and Aiden, whom I’ve met now. When I told him this, Aiden made a complicated expression. “Rainisis, you mean…” “Yeah, the Kilkird royal family.” “Crazy. Wait, that knight princess was a reincarnator?” “… Um, wouldn’t it be stranger not to know that?” In this world, there are hardly any cases of women becoming knights. It’s also a world where human rights are still lacking, and war and combat are not unfamiliar jokes. Monsters lurk beyond the Pandemonium border, and demi-humans living in the untouched wilderness occasionally flood in. There are no ‘female knights’ for practical reasons, not just for ceremonial purposes. I can’t guarantee it because I don’t have accurate information about other countries, but at least that was the case in the Kilkird Kingdom. In that situation, wouldn’t you be able to guess at a glance when you hear the name ‘Knight Princess’? “This is a fantasy, isn’t it? I thought there would be at least one princess knight somewhere.” When I pointed that out, Aiden answered as if he didn’t know. “… Well, there are orcs. There should be female knights and princess knights to balance things out.” “That’s not what I meant…” “Oh my, I was just saying it, did you have other thoughts?” When I joked with a smile, Aiden blushed. “No, when did I…” That reaction feels a little fresh. Is it because I’ve lived among rough men? Watching Aiden’s flustered appearance, I realize anew that there are other kinds of charms in the existence of men. “….” Emily, who is stroking Kali next to me, is watching us with a faint smile. From her smile, which seems somehow relaxed and interesting, I could sense something. “You slept with Emily, didn’t you.” “H, huh?” Then, Aiden shows a noticeably embarrassed attitude. Does he even know where he is? It was a question that didn’t even need to be embarrassed about, but the fact that he was embarrassed about it feels a little funny. Or, a little cute. “H, how did you…?” “Is that surprising? This is a brothel. And she’s a prostitute.” “Layla. It sounds like an insult when you say it like that.” “Meeing.” At Emily’s words, Kali burst into tears as if agreeing. I received protests from one person and one monster and offered a playful apology. “Sorry. It was a joke.” “Hehe, no. I’ve been thinking about it lately, and it seems pretty good when I hear it….” “….” Aiden doesn’t join in our conversation and listens silently. His nervous appearance is very different from the instinctive men I’ve seen so far. Unlike most of the men in this world who seem to have dicks stuck in their heads, our friends definitely had a charm. “You don’t have to be so nervous. If you’ve already slept with Emily, you’ll have to sleep with me someday.” “… I wasn’t nervous.” “You don’t deny the latter part. Do you want to do it right now?” “Ha, you really…” Looking at Aiden, who sighed, I chuckled. I’ve loosened him up enough, so it’s time to get to the point. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the above conversations are just empty jokes. After obtaining the body of a doppelganger and a body close to a demon, I had to hide them and live. No matter how crazy a man is about women, if he realizes that what he’s holding is not a human but a monster, I didn’t know how he would react. A friend from a past life who can tell me the secret in a cool way is bound to be precious to me, even if we weren’t close. Moreover, if he’s a man… I’ll be able to enjoy different kinds of play that I couldn’t do with other people in this world. … But, there’s something more important than that right now.

“So, what brings you to Lakers?” “….” Is that the expression of something finally coming? Aiden doesn’t readily answer my direct question. As Emily said, he seems reluctant about something. I lightly shake my head at Aiden and continue. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I won’t pry.” “….” “But, I have something I need to do soon. So, if you need my help, I hope you’ll tell me as soon as possible, and honestly. Then I’ll listen and decide if I can help. Whether it’s murder or theft, we won’t betray you.” Was that the final blow? Aiden, who had been sitting silently, suddenly lets out a sigh from the depths of his lungs. “….Hoo.” I could sense what that meant, so Emily and I remained silent and waited for Aiden’s next words. And after a while, we were able to hear why he was heading to Lakers. // ———= Author’s Note ———= I need to build up a stockpile and set the framework for the story, so it will be a bit slow until this episode.