episode_0378

The hostel’s chef served us a wonderful meal even though it was a rude request late at night.

Of course, he was not overly motivated from the beginning. If you ask me to cook something for you while I’m sleeping, it’s normal for me to frown.

But enough money had the power to turn discomfort into happiness.

The chef shouted to wait a moment, hurriedly entered the kitchen, made a loud noise, and brought out some decent food.

After all, there is nothing wrong with what the old sage said. When the other person seems to be in a bad mood, you have to think about whether they are short of money.

‘why?’

I just ignored the old man’s words, saying that he had also heard your friend worship using my words.

Because there are more great things in the world than accepting your grandfather’s nagging one by one.

That’s why I picked up the spoon and put the pasta in my mouth, ignoring the old man who clicked his tongue and said that young people these days can’t do that.

It was nothing special, just seasoned with oil and salt, but it was enough of a delicacy for me, who had gone through many things during the night.

As I was constantly moving my hands trying to fill my empty stomach, Joey suddenly hit the desk with a bang.

“It can’t go on like this!”

Why is he like this all of a sudden? Is it okay for a duke’s daughter to make such a fuss at a meal?

Naturally, words of criticism tried to come out from inside, but my mouth was full of pasta, so instead of speaking, I reprimanded Joy with my eyes.

“That’s not possible! The current young lady is so cute!”

No, idiot. If you’re going to speak, can’t you make it so people can understand? I really don’t understand what you’re saying.

“Listen carefully! Lady Aln! Until yesterday, the lady always had a cruel and arrogant expression! So it was difficult for other people to approach me!”

That’s because the Mesugaki skill was forcing action at that time. I couldn’t do anything other than what the skill wanted.

“But not now! The young lady’s expressions are incredibly diverse!”

It’s just like Joey said. The limitations of the Mesugaki skill still force me to sell, but they don’t hold me back from action. You can laugh, cry, get angry, irritated, and sad as much as you want.

“You idiot. What’s the problem with that? Are you jealous because my cute self has become even cuter? A woman’s jealousy is so ugly.”

“I’m not jealous! Do you think I’m such a shady person?!”

No. Joy, you are a person who can purely praise the happiness of others. I know that better than anyone else.

I smiled silently, and Joy groaned, buried her face in her hands, and screamed. She seemed to have no trace of the nobility of a noblewoman.

“If I tell you without all the other trivial details, the young lady’s current appearance is so destructive!”

“…Idiot. It must have been very difficult because of Aln’s brain muscles? Pity me. But I wasn’t this stupid before.”

Why are you so bad at controlling your emotions today? Was I cursed without my knowledge? I tried using divine magic just in case, and Joey blocked my magic with his magic power.

It’s amazing. Even when I first sparred with the Aln Knights, I couldn’t cast at this speed. Did I grow this much while I was away for a while?

no. Nope. By breaking away from the game’s common sense and embracing the user’s common sense, she has grown abnormally quickly.

The training of the Knights of Arn simply taught her how to use her powers.

I was surprised by Joy’s growth and smiled happily, but her cheeks turned red and she started shaking her head and making loud noises.

“For now, please stay quiet and listen to what I have to say! It’s an important story!”

“Who wants to stop talking? I didn’t even cover my mouth, so why are you so angry? Idiots really have no dignity. Pathetic.”

“Quaaaagh!”

She was tapping her feet on the floor as if she was having trouble controlling her anger, pursing her lips and wiping her face.

Then the anger from before disappeared and peace came. You’re a bit noble now.

“It would be better to show it once rather than tell it a hundred times. Youngae. Look over there.”

Where Joey pointed, there was a sword lying down with a happy expression, like a perverted apostle.

“Why is that poor receptionist?”

It doesn’t happen for a day or two when Karl does something like that. It’s a bit disgusting that I’m becoming more and more able to sympathize with the perverted Apostle’s bullshit, but he’s still a good guy. I can allow it to a certain extent.

“…I see. You wouldn’t be able to guess that person.”

Joey, too, seemed to have some understanding of the man named Carl, staring at him with salty eyes and shaking his head.

“You’ve been waiting! I brought you the following food!”

It was that time. The chef appeared next to us with his own dish. There was no trace of fatigue on his face, as if he was happy to have won a gold coin.

“It ended up going well. Chef. Please wait a moment.”

“Yes?”

“Dear? Could you please smile at this person?”

It was a request that I didn’t understand, but since it was Joy’s request, I was happy to oblige.

It’s not that difficult, is it? Look the chef in the eye and smile. There is no reason why you can’t give a smile to the person who treated you to a wonderful meal.

“…me. I. I still have work left to do!”

When the chef met my smile, his face turned red and he quickly ran away into the kitchen. Was there some urgent cooking going on inside?

“You can’t understand even after seeing that?”

“What?”

“…I just understood it. You have no understanding of yourself at all.”

As I was mumbling about meat while looking at Joey, who was holding his face, asking how I should convince him of this, the old man’s voice spoke in my head.

‘why?’

That’s… right.

The old man’s smug tone wasn’t pleasant, but I still took his advice and asked Joey what he wanted to say. Then Joy said this with a more serious expression than ever.

“I will teach you how to wear a mask. This is absolutely necessary information for the young lady.”

The moment I heard the word mask, the memory of Lucy I saw today came to mind. The Lucy I saw as a child was not forced to act. Her expression always contained the innocence of a child.

However, that innocence and good intentions were transformed into malice by the force of the Mesugaki skill, and those who suffered from that malice returned the same malice to Lucy.

What young Lucy chose in the end was to wear a mask. He chose to hit the wall first because he knew that his innocence and good intentions would be accepted.

Except in front of Benedick and Mira, she always behaved in a manner befitting her own tone. It’s like I don’t even want to have hope in the first place if I’m going to be hated anyway.

“Lady?”

I returned to reality at Joy’s call and giggled as I looked at her mask that was slowly falling apart.

“If you can’t even manage your own facial expressions properly, who are you to teach? I can’t even understand the topic.”

“Teaching and teaching are different! Even the lady!…”

It’s a mask. okay. It might be necessary. I don’t like the Mesugaki skill, but the skill itself is very useful.

“Well, it will be fun to see how stupid the idiot is. I’ll just take a look and see what you’re trying to teach.”

“…Uh. Do you want to learn?”

Instead of “. I don’t want you to be so nice that I just take it. I’ll teach you something really fun too.”

“Yes? Is it fun?”

“How to destroy crappy dungeons. Even the stupid poor prince somehow managed to follow along, so even a simpleton could do it, right? It may be hard enough to kill you, but it’s not my part-time job.”

Joy, whose eyes were shaking after hearing what I said, shrugged her shoulders and looked at me.

“Stir. The right to veto is.”

“Would you like to cry and say no? If you see the ugly side of the idiot, your opinion may change for a moment.”

“If there is none, say there is none…”

*

The way Joey taught me to wear a mask was a bit outrageous. It senses each muscle that creates facial expressions and forcibly controls them.

‘We, the duchess, control this through magical power, but as a warrior lady, you should be able to do it with your own senses.’

Joy said it as if it was no big deal, but it was by no means an easy task. There are so many muscles that create facial expressions that each one coordinates! Do you think that makes sense!?

I couldn’t do it, so I asked Joy for advice, and she tilted her head and said,

‘It worked because I did it?’

Caria, who was looking at the two of us with a grin on her face, gave advice on behalf of Joey, who was wondering why he couldn’t even do this much.

‘Don’t raise the corners of your mouth. Don’t even put on a bright expression. Don’t even hum. As usual. ‘With an expressionless expression.’

As I was having a hard time following Karia’s orders, I wondered why it had to be like this, but I couldn’t overcome Joy’s complaint that I couldn’t even listen to my friend’s request.

Did the hard work that stayed up all night pay off? Arthur, whom I met in the morning, could not guess the change in me.

no. To be precise, I should say that there was no time to guess.

The moment I saw him proudly wearing a rabbit headband, I burst out laughing and treated him like I always did.

Arthur probably didn’t even have time to notice my changes because he was so embarrassed.

“Lucy. Lucy.”

“What is it? Foolish prosecutor.”

“Something has changed.”

But Frey was different. I thought I wore the mask well, but Frey immediately noticed the change in me.

“Right?”

I answered by lowering my expression and smiling. Frey’s eyes sparkled when he met my smile, and he returned the same bright smile, but then frowned.

I suddenly wondered why she was doing that, but the moment Frey used her hands to force an expression, I understood her intention. You want to see my various facial expressions.

“This is the end for a weakling weaker than me.”

“…chi. Just wait and see.”

When I took my eyes off the grumbling Frey, I saw Arthur smiling brightly with a rabbit head on, and Joey’s tired face.

“Welcome. joy. You too have stepped into this hell.”

“The expression “stepped” is incorrect. Please use the expression “I fell off a cliff.””

“Haha. Anyway, what are your thoughts? Don’t you feel like your head is going to explode?”

“I think it would be easier to take three more magic classes…”

“…What kind of crazy nonsense is that?”

Arthur’s shocked expression was so funny that I burst out laughing, but after receiving Joey’s sharp gaze, I hurriedly adjusted my expression.

Umm. This will take a while to get used to.

“What is it? Lucy Aln. Suddenly he made a straight face.”

“Could you please take my attention away? The poor prince’s gaze is a bit unclean and makes me feel bad.”

“What’s wrong with my gaze?”

“And if you have time to worry about such things, read more books, right? Even if there are two stupid idiots, there is no way they can win the bet.”

“Are you going to bet today too?”

“Why are you asking the obvious? Is the poor prince’s intelligence at the level of a goldfish? Or chicken?”

“…What is the penalty?”

After hearing Arthur’s cautious question, I smiled without answering.

It wasn’t the bright smile he showed Frey, but Mesugaki’s unique, spiteful smile.