Chapter 7 (1/2)

Author’s Notes

Come to think of it, there hasn’t been any combat at all…

I’d never seen such a room before

A large, solemn chamber enclosed in marble

It was full of the stea from the freshly drawn hot water

As for where the water came fro in the bathtub Carved into it was the spectacular likeness of a lion, and the water flowed from its open mouth

The water overflowed fro my feet That warm sensation, the feel of the smooth, hard stone under the soles of my feet — honestly, it was bliss

Night had already fallen, but the paper lanterns installed throughout the spacious rooht to see by

Bath

In a word, the room was a bath No mistake about it

In such a room, I stood stock still, naturally stark narked

There were no words

I was sure it was a bath, but it was nothing like the ones I knew As I said when I first laid eyes on it, it was a ridiculously fancy affair

I had to ask myself if such a world really existed

“Now then, Lady Chris,”

urged thebehind me

What’s she telling me to do? Just what exactly does she plan to do with me?

‘Now then,’ she said, but I didn’t knohat I was supposed to do

I didn’t have the slightest clue

In norance, all I felt was dread

The knowledge I earned over the course of my adventures was of zero use here

Succuhtly

Then, I muttered briefly,

“How’d it end up like this?”

–

–

We were able to successfully — should I call it that? — catch a ride in the coach And so, we passed through the gate with anticlimactic ease

As I expected, the gatekeeper didn’t inspect ular arh without examination

At any rate, ere thus able to go through the gate alongside the army and enter the city proper

While the coach rattled and shook, we traveled the darkening city streets as the sun began to sink below the horizon In the e for so with us

I wanted to tell hi officer? Do your work properly’, but apparently it was all being neatly handled by his adjutant, Leopard

Like I suspected, nobility

“…so, where is your home?” 1

Because ere together, theup a conversation… no, I heard his name earlier Leon, seems like

Since he didn’t give his last name, I didn’t know for sure if he was nobility or not There was no getting out of it, so we’d also given up our names already

Me, I wanted to coot through the gate, but when he said that, it looked like he’d be sending us all the way home because of Palmira’s injury

This was givinglike a home here

Then Leon matter-of-factly asked us about it

“…Actually, that is, I… uh, we, don’t have a home”

Think, think I strung soear

A sht that maybe, even if he did find out ere escaped slaves, it would be okay

But it was the remnants of my distrust that moved my mouth

“Oh?”

“…Before, we stayed at a shack in the slums…”

I sort of had the feeling that it was a la to this guy made me feel a bit aard

That feeling ht have made my mouth clumsy

Even Aira, who’d been spinning all sorts of lies until just a bit earlier, was now deep in silence, as if saying she was leaving it toalready received medical treatment, Palinning

“Is that so… It must have been difficult”

Leon looked like he’d given ht

“Th–That is, to cause Lord Leon to make such an expression… it makes us sick at heart,”

said Aira

It was hard to tell if she was acting or not Like so, Aira engaged Leon in conversation, using her i to keep the discussion of our misfortunes out of unpleasant territory2

My heart was racing, but maybe it would be better to leave this to Aira To be honest, if it were me, I would’ve blown our cover sooner or later Maybe I already had

Aira chatted skillfully with Leon, but every now and again, he would stare intently at me as I sat in silence

He ht have continued talking without noticing, but no et

What, did I say so? I tried to replay what I said in

“…Our home isn’t far, so I’d appreciate it if could you drop us off somewhere around here…”

Weaving herself into Aira and Leon’s conversation, silent Pal on rudeness

Hearing that, Aira[Ah, already?]

Yup The whole day today, ed Whether it was for better or for worse was a different question

“Mm, so it seems… However, wouldn’t it be terrible to leave you in such a place when you’ve been injured? As it would be a rare opportunity, how about staying at our estate until your injury heals, at least?”

‘Estate’, did he say ‘estate’?

Well… it would be, wouldn’t it Even if his coular are

That said, being taken to the estate like this jumped my distrust toward Leon to a whole new level

“But to trouble you to such an extent…”

“Not at all I’d like to ask you to stay, if possible To send an injured wohts This is also our request”

When we tried to turn hi so modest that he even broke out the chivalric code

…We couldn’t refuse

Beyond being requested to stay in the nahtly honor, further refusal would only be perceived as disrespect Now, you ht even say it was a question of Leon’s honor, without anything to do with us

Knight Suspected noble His honor ht well be sullied

Refusing any more would put us in seriously hot water

“If you would go so far, then until this child’s injury heals, ill be i on your hospitality…”

By all rights, this should have been an undeserved Godsend, but for me, it only spelled defeat

–

–

We were taken to an estate bigger than I could have iined

Overwhelet as ere herded inside

Though we’d been brought here, we still had to wonder whether it would be alright for our grih the entryway

The soldiers strearounds of the estate In the end, the only ones ent into the entrance hall were Leon and us, as well as that uy, Leopard

It was just as extravagant inside as out In the entrance hall, which glea for the racefully bowed in unison

It was a scene out of a dream

A scene that an adventurer ht dream of once, but one that would never come true

I didn’t think I would ever experience this moment myself

Just who the hell is Leon?