Chapter 53
Hydrangeas are just like fireworks, ain’t they.
Although it is an ordinary story, there is something really touching about it. It is a fact that history says that the Hero never came back, but a happy ending is what everybody yearns for in such a tale. ‘All’s Well That Ends Well,’ is how the saying goes, and there is nobody would actually wish for a bad ending.
“It was, so moving…”
Miss Rosa was showing an entranced smile, as if spellbound.
“Especially about the middle part, when the Hero saves the princess, it was fantastic!”
I don’t know if the contents of the play I saw actually happened, and I haven’t read any history books, but as for me, I was more concerned about the life-sized Dragon model. Rather than being pink, that Earth Dragon was a little purplish in color.
When was it, I have seen that color somewhere before…. Oh, that’s right. It’s hydrangeas.
—- “Hydrangeas are just like fireworks, ain’t they~”
“Huh?”
—- “They are my favorite flower, especially the purple ones. They’re really beautiful, don’t you think so, Ito–?”
Suddenly, someone spoke in my head. It was the voice of a man. I held my head with my hands reflexively and stared at the ground. The Captain, at noticing, worriedly asked.
“Vito, what’s wrong?”
“…N-, no, it’s nothing.”
What the heck was that. A man with black hair and black eyes, laughing in my direction, flickered within my mind at the same time as I heard the voice.
Why do I feel so nostalgic about it?
“It’s not nothing.”
A hand is placed on my cheek and my face is turned towards the Captain. It seemed that tears were gathering at the corner of my eyes, because he wiped them with a soft touch and asked, “What’s wrong?” He probably can tell, that the reason why I was crying was not because of the play.
‘I don’t know,’ I replied as I shook my head.
“M-, my, my…! Miss Vito was also deeply moved, right? I get it!”
‘Let’s go fix our make-up!’ She exclaimed as she grabbed my arm and left her seat, taking me away. I was surprised at what was going on, but she turned towards me when we stopped near the special area for make-up fixing.[^1]
“I’m, I’m sorry if it was too sudden, but my eyes are bright red. So unsightly… Miss Vito also seemed to be crying, so you saved me.”
To put it simply, I’m your make-up fixing companion; got it.
Certainly her eyes were bright red. But they are not unsightly, rather, they are giving me a strong desire to protect her. It’s me the one that’s unsightly. I don’t even understand why would I cry at getting surprised because of a strange voice echoing within my head. When I took out a handkerchief from my pocket and I started to firmly scrub my tears dry, she stopped me saying, “Now, Miss Vito, you shouldn’t do that.”
“You will scratch your eyes. Do it more gently…”
Instead, a white and delicate hand wiped away my tears for me. I wonder why it was so rough when my mouth was wiped out by Maribelle…
“I’m sorry, but thank you.”
“You have such beautiful eyes, it’s as if one is staring at the bottom of a crystal clear spring. I’m envious of them.”
“Yours are way prettier.”
“Mine are… I don’t have the eyes that are sign of the Caspe De lineage, eyes like my elder brother’s. I’m a shame to clan, aren’t I…”
So those strange eyes are due to their lineage?
“I think that you can be proud of your own eyes.”
As long as I saw her faced face, it seems that somehow I was being told from something around that the color of my eyes, which is said to be the proof, did not show up.
But I think that they’re beautiful.
Because, her eyes are—– gray, a gray as close as possible to black.
“Well, that’s the first time I said such a thing. Thank you.”
Miss Rosa’s cheeks turn red and her gaze swims from side to side.
I guess she surely inherited the blood of the Japanese Hero quite heavily. Most Japanese have black hair and black eyes. Oh, is that so? I recalled that just now. Somehow, I feel that I’ve been remembering things little by little.
“Uhm, if you do not mind, could you tell m-me, what d-does Sir Lutoria like…?”
That came out of nowhere, it surprised me.
As I was standing there with my eyes opened wide, her face became red like a maiden in love’s, and she brought her hands to her chest.
“Well, that, I, I’d like to know…!”
When being stared at so desperately, is there any Dragon who would dare not answer! No, there’s none!
However, I can’t say “He likes Dragons.” I get the feeling that I’d be wringing my own neck.
So, something else? Come to think of it, what things does he like? Even though we are always nearby, I feel that I don’t know much about the Captain. I have even been unable to bring myself to call him by name. It’s, it’s not like I want to call him by name or anything!
The relationship between contractor and Dragon is strange. It may seem that we interfere with one another but we actually don’t interfere with the minimum necessary.
Oh, but that’s right.
“…Cute things?”
Since he said that he wanted to embrace Saus the rabbit, perhaps he likes them.
“Ehh, is that so!? Thank you!”
But, after hearing that, she surely wouldn’t go and gift him a plush bunny or the like, right… Surely not. But I want to see it! Rather, I want to see the Captain surrounded by plush toys!
It seemed like it’d take a while for Miss Rosa’s heated eyelids to cool down, so I went to join the Captain who was waiting at the lobby to let him know. Because we were in a foreign country he totally hid behind his bangs as much as before, hiding the proof of the contract as well. Deep down I think… Why did it appear there! It could have been on the arm! Or the leg! There were lots of other places for it to appear on! And yet it came out in such an eye-catching place! …I really cause a lot of problems, don’t I.
The Captain also noticed me so I tried to run up to him, but I heard a voice coming from behind me and I came to a halt.
“A-, … Anna!?”
I reflexively ended up looking back.
….This is bad. It’s the man from a while back. To see you in such a place, it’s a tragedy! I tried to escape in a hurry but my arms got caught before I could do that.
“Wait up, Anna! Why’re ya runnin’ away?”
That’s obvious. It’s instinct!!
“Perhaps yer angry? If it’s ’cause of what happened a few years back, I’ma say sorry! I dinna think things would come to that!”
So yer sayin’ you dinna wanna do that to Anna?! Dinna-wanna-Anna, get it?[^2] It’s not like I think this is kinda funny or anything!!
“So, this is a mistake! I’m not Anna—“
“Let her go.”
The Captain’s voice reaches me from behind, and the man’s hand is teared off my arm. And then I was embraced tightly by his long arms in a protective manner.
The man was surprised for a moment by the Captain’s sudden appearance, but then he laughed with a bitter expression.
“Oh, so it’s ’cause ya got yerself a new man, though ya already have me?”
“That’s not it. I’ve been telling you from before that you have the wrong person!”
Don’t say things that are likely to be misunderstood!
I stared up at the Captain with a ‘Please don’t believe it!’ but he answered, ‘It’s fine’ while laughing as if to relieve me.
“If that’s true then, what are ya, ya look so alike that yer like twins!”
Because of the man’s loud shouts, little by little some attention was being gathered in our direction. If things were going to turn up like this it would have been better if I had changed my appearance when I learned about Anna’s origins. Since I can take on the form of other humans, doing that would have good, but I didn’t because I ended up developing an attachment to this form.
“If ya ain’t Anna, then who the hell are ya!?”
“I’m ….Vito. A citizen from Alvina Kingdom. I don’t know anything about the matters of this country. In the first place… I am not a human being. I’m only borrowing this form which you call Anna.”
“Ya ain’t human… Hey, whatcha talkin’ about?”
Perhaps it’d be better for him if told him the truth, because he seemed to be obsessed with that girl called Anna since a long time ago.
Clearing my thoughts, I told him the truth at a volume that the surrounding people would not hear.
“I, ate Anna.”
“Hah?”
“I’m a Dragon, and I ate Anna.”
He’s making a face as startled as a deer in the headlights.[^3] Well that’s normal. He was just told that the girl he was looking for was eaten by a Dragon. That, too, by the Dragon that ate her and who looks just like her. There is no way he’d believe it.
“Haha… That gotta be a lie, ya sayin’ ya ate her?”
But the man’s attitude was different from what I expected. He scratched his head and lowered his eyes as he worried at his lip.
“…Shit, yer…an Earth Dragon, this is the worst situation…!”
This time it was my turn to be surprised at how the man understood the situation so easily.
“So when she suddenly disappeared, that’s what had happened! What should I do now that the plan’s vital point is missing… To just let it go? No, it’s still too soon. Damn you, what have you done… Theplan’s ruined! …No, can it still work?”
As if he’d become a different person, his gaze became sharp and he started to mumble out a monologue. I got a little scared, so I held unto the Captain’s arms and he returned the hug.
‘It’s best not to engage him,’ the Captain’s eyes were saying.
But then the man suddenly turned our way, and he threw us a hostile a glare.
“It wouldn’t be impossible to use… the Earth Dragon and its contractor as a replacement for Anna.”
Severe shivers run down my spine. The first impression I got of him, someone with a youthful aura and joking manner of speaking, was nowhere to be seen.
“…What on earth are you talking about, who are you?”
I didn’t know his reasons. I could’t see his intentions. I didn’t want to know what was he talking about, what his plan was, nor did I want to get involved. My instincts were ringing a danger alarm.
The man sneered.
“I’m the Demon King.”
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Translator’s Lair~☆
Special thanks to Subipon (from the Nihongo to eigo discord server) & Tobikage & Elephant No. 5 (from the Translator’s corner server) for all their help!!
okay, i have no idea why the notes aren’t working here… they don’t appear when i code them how i usually do it, even though it worked normally for ch. 52, so you don’t get pretty notes today :'<
1: special area for make-up fixing: …yes? idk of this has a specific name in english, but I’m guessing it’s like a public restroom/boudoir.
2: okay this one is a bad joke… and i requiered 3 people’s help to mantain some semblance to a joke into english, so be grateful to them! XD here’s the original joke: 「もしかして怒ってんの？数年前の事だったら謝るって！まさかあんな事になるとは思わなかったんだよ！」
アンナだけにあんな事か！ (it’s a bad joke anyway sullen)
3: A deer in the headlights: ‘the face of a dove hit by a peashooter.’ down here is a peashooter, then how it is used… and the face XD please send help, im dying— 鳩が豆鉄砲をくらったような顔.