Volume 1 Chapter 8 (1/2)
Chapter 8: During the Journey: The Tale of Two Men Co Over a Woman
Part 1
It was the post-rain forest where flowers shone froirl ht path that stretched froh the horizon
A star-shaped brooch on her chest One hand on her three-pointed hat to keep it fro bloay by the wind A black robe wrapped around her body No matter how you look at it, she's a Witch Who is she?
That's right, it's me
Leaving the country that was divided into the two cultures of west and east a few days ago, I aimed at the nearest country, and mounted on e in it, or so I had heard The builds of its citizens were leaning towards , but otherwise they were pretty normal Just what part of that is normal I wonder
Well, if it was that ladly settle in that country──But as for
I thought of such things as I watched the scenery passing by
In other words, I had nothing else to do for thefro my ears
”Then, let's confirm the rules once more We will do one lap on the forest road up ahead, and whoever returns first will become her lover Are you with me so far?”
”Y-Yeah No problem so far, yes”
”There's nothing unfair”
”O-Of course T-There's no way I would do so like that”
”I wonder about that”
These were the voices of one cheerful and one e a coht about it, this tiirl
”Eh? In other words, I have to wait here all alone? Eeeh, I don't wanna!”
Her sentiot surprised
Then as I shi+fted my consciousness froain Our eyes met Mine and hers
A girl with seely lovely looks and black hair, ”Ah, lucky” She muttered so
Right
Part 2
Since our eyes hadby her just like that would be aard, so I dropped my speed
Regretfully, that was a clear miscalculation
Because that black-haired girl who had rushed up to ed me down from the broom
”Kyaa! So cute! Ah, that brooch, it's so! That means Onee-san, you are a Witch”
”Ah, yeah”
”A!”
”Uh, thanks”
”Are you perhaps planning to show so!”
”Well, yeah”
”By the way, do you have some time now?”
”No, well”
”The two of you! I'll be waiting with this Onee-san here!”
”Umm”
Hey, listen to me for a bit
In the end, while being called things like ”Cute” and ”Aht before the two men
The two of them stared at me and spoke
”Together with Witch-saetting attacked by a bear or soood looks said in a refreshi+ng voice
”Y-Yes It's a relief, ,” said the pluh breath
I whispered to the girl next to me
”Wait, what kind of situation is this?”
”What do you mean?”
Afterface, ”I'm sorry, I haven't explained yet, huh You see, those two are fighting over me” She explained
No, that
What I wanted to ask wasn't so so trivial
”Are these two fighting over you?”
I said in an extremely small voice so as they wouldn't hear it
”Yes, so?”
She replied as if wanting to say 'Isn't that natural?'
While having coain looked at the two guys
The spirited man's white teeth shone as he smiled So radiant
And the plu next to that tidy man wiped his sweat Stinky He was a dirty man
Even though there was a hopeless gap between their appearances, is she ht over her? What is this idiocy? I don't really get that train of thought
But,some sort of special ability? Or perhaps, the eloquent man's character is extremely bad?
Unfortunately, rew a little
”I see, I understand Then, I will take on the task of protecting her”
In the end, I went along with the flow
”Okay, ready, go!”
On my clap, the two of them broke out into a run at the sametime
”Uoooooooh! Her heart iswith passion
”U-ugh Haah, Haah” The dirty rew tired the moment he started to run
Eh? Isn't this strange I had expected that the dirty man would show some terrible physical power and overtake him, but
After both of their figures were no longer visible, I asked her a question
”Why are youthem compete?”
She as happily drinking the water, muttered ”hmm?” and pointed at the bottle of water
”This water, who do you think was the one who provided it?”
”Wasn't it provided by you?”
She shook her head
”You see, this was provided by chubby His outward appearance is untidy, and yet he is attentive to the suy”
”By 'Chubby'”
It was most probably the dirty man
It's quite a direct nicknaree on it, totally do, but
”Ah, by the way, there's your share too”
”How come there's my share?”
I became perplexed
After all, I passed by here by chance
”Soan, I secretly conveyed it to hiht a spare one So, here”
She pushed the bottle to me It's not that I'm particularly thirsty, but, well, let's accept it
The water inside the bottle reflected the sunlight and shone
But, I get it He is certainly attentive To think he even prepared my share
”So in other words, you are saying that you fell in love with both inner self of fat guy and outer appearance of the spirited guy What luxurious troubles”
Not that I'm jealous
In that moment, she showed a dry smile,
”It's not like I particularly like Chubby, you know?”
And spoke those words
Hmm?
”What does that mean?”
I ht that she made them compete because she was unable to choose from the two
As she drank all of the water from the bottle, and made an ecstatic expression with a ”Puhaa”,
”I had some free time so I just played with Chubby”
She said
””
”But, he's useless, that Chubby There's no way this much water could quench my thirst” She threay the emptied bottle towards the forest
After going onlike this was totally the opposite thing to do so I didn't like it ht from the bottom of my heart I hoped
God, bring the judgment upon this woman
Part 3
Oh dear
The judgment, it came
It happened a few minutes after she threw the bottle away All of a sudden, just as I thought that she wasyawn, she fell towards towards her back in that position
With a bang
Luckily, because the thickets acted as a good cushi+ons, her head didn't take the blow
Let's leave the fact that I smacked my lips within my mind a secret
Since she fell senseless all of a sudden, I panicked, thinking whether she was dead, however there was nothing like that, and as I rushed to her, her sleeping breaths reached my ears
Just like that, I was now taking a rest under the shade of a tree with her head on my lap
”Uehehehe Muscles, so many muscles”
She was not only a person with bad ideology, her sleep-talking was also bad Just muscles, what kind of scene from hell is that?
Ten odd minutes had passed while I looked at her drool-s The shadow of a person appeared to be approaching from far away
Who in the world was that? No, there's no need to even think about that, the one who had returned was──
”Eh”
I looked at the running silhouette as I blinked my eyes However, nowas him
The dirty man
Chubby-san
Why?
Fuaah, haaah, He who had finally arrived after a long struggle covered in sweat had a face overfloith a sense of accomplishment
”H-Haah, I did it, I-I wonha hah”
Yeah, o His expression as he looked around, confirusting
Physically impossible Such words traveled inside my head Yes, physically impossible
But, where is the the guy who had overtook this dirty man now?
The answer to that, I discovered as I followed the sweat of the dirtyhere with unbelievable speed
It was the tidy Man
Seeing the dirty entleood picture if he was alone or if a beautiful girl aiting for hiuy was ahead of him, so that earnest scenery took the surrealism to the extremes
And the finish line
With la it
”D-damnit Why, why! Why did I fall asleep while I was running!?”
Fall asleep you say?
Are you an idiot?
The tale about a dunce turtle and quick-legged rabbit having a coh my mind If I'm not mistaken, the conclusion of that tale was, 'The careless rabbit ended up sleeping, and the turtle who kept steadily going took hold of victory, and left unpleasant emotions like 'Uwaah, the turtle is suspicious!'
Maybe, it's same for him?
”Was it carelessness?”
Thereupon, the tidy man wiped the sweat and tears,
”No On the way, I beca there”
He dropped his shoulders
Hmm
Could it be, I thought
Following the saht as me, the tidy man pointed sternly at the dirty man and raised his voice
”You, you s in that water didn't you!?”
That's right, that's right
Indeed, the other person who had drunk the water provided by hi soundly on my lap
The dirtythe tidy man with contempt