episode_0013

A suffocatingly silent atmosphere permeates the room. The soundproofing seems to be poor, so the sounds of lovemaking can be heard from the next room without anyone noticing.

What on earth are you doing in broad daylight? She is sitting on the edge of the bed with her head bowed down. She hasn’t moved or said a word since a while ago.

I was just trying to break down prejudice, but then this came rushing in out of nowhere. I thought to myself that the way women in this world date is so straightforward that it’s almost familiar.

“Excuse me… . Sister, no, Ms. Mila… ?”

I tried to continue the conversation cautiously. The change in address was simply an attempt to have a slightly more serious conversation, but my heart sank when I felt that he was deliberately trying to distance himself from this half-souled woman.

“I like Mila. Her hair color is pretty, she’s meticulous, and she tries to do everything on her own.”

Ray was choosing his words as carefully as possible to comfort the woman who was feeling alone. Of course, he knew that he was the one who almost got hurt and that he was the one who had to receive the apology.

There is still no response.

‘I’m going crazy’

Was it wrong to refuse just now? Was it because of the atmosphere? Actually, now that I think about it, there was no particular reason why Ray desperately pushed Mila away. The first thought that came to mind was that he was genuinely scared because the woman he had always considered quite attractive was actually trying to force him down, and the second was that he was afraid that she would be disappointed. He himself didn’t think he had any charm in that way. I don’t know about this life, but he definitely did in his last life.

Now that I think about it, in this world, usually, it would depend entirely on the man’s permission, but if I had known she would be so gloomy, I should have left her alone. If this woman were to leave me right now, I wouldn’t even know how I would go out and find Algaet in this vast city.

“… Could you wait until I feel a little more courageous?”

Ray is surprised that he said that. It was the same thing that Jeon Soo-young, the first woman he dated as an adult, said when she rejected him, before she made an excuse about religion. He probably never imagined that there would be a situation where he would use those words.

Then she glanced over at me. Just as Ray himself had been fooled, it meant that I should not stop showing affection because I would give it to him someday.

He just gives her an awkward smile as she asks with her eyes if he is serious about his unbelievable proposal.

Likewise, Mila, who thought she had done something that would leave a trauma, felt awkwardly that he was an angel, smiling at her and promising her a future while she was almost falling into the abyss.

“… You know that too. Well, I think it’s my first time, so I think I should be careful. ”

If we assume that the meaning of first experience is reversed and used as is, I think Ray would understand it to this extent.

“… Hey, what. I’m not just… disappointed about something like that. Yeah. If that’s what you’re saying, then that’s what it is… .”

Ray is holding back his laughter because he is so obviously innocent. Is he trying to make excuses that his body wasn’t his goal? I find it a little cute how he can’t even look me in the eye like an animal before and is just talking nonsense.

“I’m going down to eat.”

“… Yeah.”

Ray was the first to grab Mila’s hand and speak.

As I leave the room in a lively mood, I run into a couple coming out of the room with similar expressions. They had been yelling loudly since daylight, and without knowing the situation, they nod their heads and greet me with faces that seem to have some kind of kinship.

I ignore it and cross the hallway to the cafeteria.

Ray tilted his head at Mila’s strangely more lively behavior than before, but soon felt relieved and thought it was fortunate. And Sweet Arsul, with a look of even greater responsibility, laid out a soft bed for Ray before putting him on the cart. He changed his plan a little and headed straight for Algaet’s residence.

We cross a canal and enter an alley lined with residential buildings. Ray feels like he knows the city well because of the familiar scenery.

“One, two, three, four… . Heeeek.”

A mansion with four floors appears on a small plot of land. It looks somewhat gloomy and makes you wonder if it is a place where people live. Mila stands in front of the empty entrance and presses a button sticking out of the wall. Then, a sound like a bell rings inside the building.

Ray becomes convinced that he has come to the right place after seeing that sight. After waiting for a while, the door opens and a very old man who appears to be a servant appears.

“Lord Algaet is out now.”

“… Is this another street of happiness?”

The old man doesn’t give any specific answer. He knows very well, but is it a silence with the same meaning? Mila lets out a long sigh at the old man’s silence.

“Where is that?”

Ray looks up at Mila and asks. Mila hesitates with an embarrassed expression.

‘Could this be a red-light district?’

“Didn’t you hear anything about when you’d be back this time?”

As expected, the old man was silent. Instead of answering, he just smiled as if asking why I was asking again.

“Haa… . Yes, that was the kind of guy he was.”

“If it’s a trading day, Sir Algaet doesn’t have anything left to sell.”

The old man speaks for the first time.

“Really? Well, this time it’s not just because of that.”

Mila looks down at Ray.

“I can’t help it. Hmm… . I’ll come next time.”

What can I do? The landlord is out of the house. And then he stops and turns around as he starts walking towards Mila’s cart.

“Oh, please tell Thomas that he was really angry. You probably know how much he hates people stealing his ideas.”

This time too, the old man nodded while looking at Ray without answering.

“Is this okay? Why do you want to meet that person so badly? Who is Thomas?”

“That’s a secret.”

If it were yesterday, she would have been disgusted by the insincere answer, but she has come to feel that even having secrets has a certain mysterious charm.

We pull the cart again and cross the stone bridge over the river that runs across the Frauah.

“Where is the street of happiness?”

Ray asks. Mila is anxious, wondering what will happen if she goes there like this.

“… Over there, along the river, far away.”

“Have you ever been there?”

“No? I haven’t been there.”

Of course, it’s a lie. She went there once and it seemed like it was her first time, but a plump man who looked much older than her father appeared in front of her and she was badly beaten up, and she ran away without being able to do anything, and then she never looked back.

“If you bother me while I’m doing business, I’ll wait in my room.”

“Huh? No… Well. Nothing really. Don’t you want to see Frau?”

Unlike the time when she was sent away like a fly in Julep, Mila now shows off a sweetness that makes your teeth rot.

“Is that okay?”

After passing the wide square and turning right at the large stone statue of an unknown person, you will come across a shopping street where Mila’s main customers gather. You stop the cart in front of a store displaying antiques.

“Do it here? Why not in the square?”

“They don’t do business like that in Praua. You have to go around every single place.”

Mila enters the store carrying the requested items. Ray also gets off the cart and goes inside.

“That’s what you said last time.”

“It’s been a while, thank you for your hard work in saving me.”

The antique shop owner opens a jar and sniffs it. The entire shop smells like old wood and dust, along with a fragrant grassy smell. Judging from the water bubbling in the fireplace, I thought the person seemed to like making tea.

“30 silver coins.”

“Wait a minute, I’ll bring it to you right away.”

And Mila and Ray left the antique shop owner behind as he went deep into the store and began to look around at the newly displayed items.

Ray, who had followed him into the store, immediately caught his gaze on a piece of iron hanging on the wall. Although it looked crude, it was clearly something that could be called a pistol.

“Hey, hey… !”

Ray calls out to the antique shop owner who was rummaging through the safe.

“Huh?”

“That thing hanging on the wall… Where on earth did that come from?”

“That? Hmm… I bought it because it looked nice, but I don’t really know what it’s for.”

The antique shop owner stops counting silver coins, stands up, taps his lower back, and looks at the object Ray is pointing at.

“Algae, did you buy it from him?”

“That’s right. How did you know? Sometimes he comes to sell things he made. ”

At this point, it became clear that the woman named Algaetra, like me, had some sort of memory from her past life. I could understand the light bulb and the canned food. But this time, a gun? I don’t know what she’s thinking, but isn’t she trying to cross the line a little? Is she planning something dangerous?

“Uh… When will the payment be made… .”

“What did you say when you sold it? Do you remember?”

“Uhhh… Well. Etiquette Injector? I think it was called something like that. It seems like they’re making a bunch of similar things.”

‘Are you crazy?’

“Ahem.”

There are many other places to go, but when Mila, who had not received the payment for the trade, was shaking her legs anxiously, she felt someone tap her shoulder and turned around.

A woman with sharp eyes and a slim figure stands there, wearing a blue shirt of a similar tone to the roofs of the buildings often seen in Frauen. She is wearing a rope and a blunt club around her waist.

“This is Public Safety Officer Christie Juaron. Are you aware that leaving a cart on the street for an extended period of time is a nuisance to pedestrians?”

The woman, whose accent was marked by a sticky L sound that made it sound like she was swallowing her own tongue, pointed to one of the decorations on her shirt.

“Huh? Hey, I was just about to go somewhere else.”

“If you park in an unauthorized place for more than 15 minutes, you will be fined.”

“I have something to receive. It doesn’t seem like much, tsk.”

Mila responds with an embarrassed look. Christie raises an eyebrow at those words, puts a hand on her side, and taps her thigh with the other hand.

“Time is in stock.”

“How long do you think it takes to walk this distance? 15 minutes? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“30,29,28… .”

As she began to count absentmindedly, Mila realized that her opponent was the type of person who was so tightly tied up that her scalp was being pulled, like a ponytail.

“Oh my.”

When Christie heard a noise outside, she saw Ray running out of the store, then looked at Mila’s face once and repeated the words several times.

“… Do you need help?”

He bends down slightly, glances at Mila out of the corner of his eye, then covers his mouth with his hand. Although his voice isn’t that quiet, he makes it clear that he’s speaking quietly as he asks Ray.

“Huh? What, what help?”

“Oh… You’re talking about something big! There’s a limit to being suspicious.”

Mila, who thought she was misunderstanding something, got angry and came up to block Christie and Ray’s path. Well, to some extent, it was a bit hurtful, so my heart sank.

“Get out of the way.”

“Cart, I’ll move the cart, so let’s go.”

When Christie’s eyes fell on Mila’s shirt that looked like it was going to burst, she felt slightly hot, and Mila grabbed her firmly from where she was standing and gently pulled her, daring to rub the useless, heavy lump of fat on her arm, and she clenched her molars.

He twisted and held down one of Mila’s arms, then twisted her other hand and tied her wrist with a rope he took from his waist.

Christie ignores Mila who keeps yelling at her from behind and walks alone, pulling the rope and cart, to a building that looks like a police station on the corner of the street. She is pushed into a place that looks like a detention center. The drunks and thieves who were there before are sitting in the corner and dozing off.

“Does this make sense? How can they falsely accuse someone like this and arrest them?”

Mila continues to shake the iron bars and shout even after they are locked.

“Christie, why are you so late again today?”

“… There was something going on this morning. I couldn’t just let it pass.”

Christie speaks with a confident smile.

“You must be stupid. Why did you bring me here?”

“Illegal parking and obstruction of official duties.”

“What, you did that to me because you were afraid you’d get in trouble for being late? Get me out of here!”

“Be quiet!”

When Mila shouts in disbelief, Christie lowers her voice and strikes the iron bars with the club she had on her waist. Then, she follows him and approaches Ray, who is fidgeting at the entrance of the building, and gives him an extremely affectionate expression.

“Hi. Don’t be so nervous. It’s a bit formal, but can you tell me where you live and who you are?”

“Sa, I come from a mountain village. My name is Ray… .”

“Really? What’s your relationship with that guy over there? Is it okay to be honest with him?”

“My guest!”

“Lovers… .”

The words came out at the same time. Both Mila and Christie’s eyes widened. And immediately one of them blushed brightly, and the other, who liked men with partners, secretly smacked her lips.