Chapter 23 Part1 (1/2)
Linguistics
Editor: shi+nono
The caravan departed a little later than planned… again
Needless to say, it was due to Pierre's carriage The village blacksain, and the problem was fixed, but it took up a lot of ti on without you” Holland had threatened angrily
The carriage wheels rolled along with a clatter
Riding Saskue, Kei was, for soe
”Iya~, I'm reassured now that Kei's here”
Pierre had a huge sloo scolded by Holland nowhere to be seen He was a thinpeddler fresh out of apprenticeshi+p However, despite being a full fledged merchant, Kei had different impression of Pierre compared to that of Holland and the other merchants Perhaps it was because he had just started business and lacked capital, or that he had a poor physique
”If anything else co on you, Kei!”
”… That's great”
To Pierre's enthusiash to hined
Yesterday, Pierre seeth and had petitioned Holland to have hiency Holland, who had no reason to refuse, easily agreed
In the first place, Kei and Aileen were the surplus forces on the caravan eren't necessarily needed They were originally just travelers tagging along, and only received the role of escort where they earned a salary through their connection to the Cornwall Institution
Thus, from Holland's perspective, Kei's location was not really important Where he was could be moved around at will
(――Well, I suppose this is fine, but… )
”Mu~,” Kei had a troubled expression He eyed a scene a dozenSuzuka―with a blond young side on foot
(… You don't have to be that aggressive!)
Naturally, the young h he was a warrior and a member of the caravan, Alexei was not an escort Thus, he had no special obligations in exchange for not getting a salary At best, he would help defend when the caravan was attacked, but besides that, he could do whatever he wanted as long as it did not disturb anyone else
Presently, he was cheerfully talking to Aileen while carefreely taking slow, elongated strides with his hands behind his head
『So, did you know?』
「Что?」
『About what?』
「Когда он был маленьким …」
『When he was little… 』
Snippets of the conversation could be heard, carried over by the wind, though Kei couldn't understand any of it as naturally, it was in Russian Such had been the case the entire
” … ”
なんとも――、落ち着かない気分。「アイリーンが誰かとロシア語で話している」、言葉にしてしまえばただそれだけのこと。しかしその”それだけ”が、気にかかって仕方がない。会話の内容が分からないからか、アレクセイが妙に馴れ馴れしいからか、もしくは――。
Kei felt hi restless It was clear that Aileen was si to someone in Russian, but nonetheless, he couldn't help but feel irritated over it Perhaps it was because he didn't understand the contents of the conversation, orto Aileen in an overly-familiar manner―
Or…
”… Fuu~”
Kei let out a sh
Hoas he supposed to deal with this feeling springing forth from the bottom of his chest? Kei fretted over this question lonelily atop histhe Russian-speaking pair in parallel
It was readily evident that Alexei occupiedthe answers
”What's up, Kei-kun You don't look that well”
Souely fro worriedly at Kei
”… Nothing”
For just a e to retort ”it's your fault!” but kept that to hiestured with his hands in denial
”There's nothing of the sort I'm perfectly normal”
”Is that so?”
”Yeah”
そこでふと、昨夜のアレクセイの言葉を思い出す。”ピエールの旦那とは個人的な知り合いでな”
Kei suddenly recalled Alexei's words froht: ”I'm an acquaintance of Mr Pierre's”
”… Ah, that's right Pierre There's so I wanted to ask you”
”H on your ht to hiuy
”Last night, Alexei said that you were acquaintances How'd you get to meet him?”
”Oh, Alexei? He's my lifesaver”
”Your lifesaver?”
An unexpected answer kita~ Pierre had distant eyes as he began recounting his story while stroking his incipient stubble (ED Note: The”kita~” ーliterally ”it has co the lines of ”a wild pikachu appeared!” There's an ”o” or ”aaah!” factor associated with it)
”Ah, that o years ago, when I was still an apprentice I had been riding on e, just east of the Morula river, ere attacked by bandits”
”Oho”