“Pardon my rudeness, but it’s about time for the last order of imports to arrive, so please allow me to be excused. I must help out with bringing them in, so I will return later on. If it’s fine with you, Krul-sama, I would be happy if you just waited here.”
David avoided this with a god-like timing and what could only be thought of as an excuse. However, his expression turned serious and his speech became polite, so his standard performance couldn’t be called a lie.
Although David didn’t normally try to leave Krul’s side, he needed to complete his work perfectly. Even if he did a good job, it was better for it to be done slowly, and all the people present had interpreted that his tidying up quickly, with all his might, showed that the time he spent beside Krul was important to him.
Therefore, Takako couldn’t say anything about David, who was using his valuable time to try and tear himself away from Krul.
“Geez, we’ll wait at the break area, so come back here once you’re done. Let’s go eat breakfast with everyone as a preparatory celebration for the Casino’s opening.”
“Hoho, I’ll look forward to that. I’ll go tidy it up in a jiffy.”
Then, David departed from the break area as if he was running away. With a maiden-like face that didn’t suit her sturdy physique at all, Takako saw David off with a look of envy.
This scene reflected into Alice’s and Krul’s view for a moment, but they immediately looked elsewhere.
“W-Well then…shall we continue?”
The moment Takako grabbed onto Alice’s shoulder with a face full of smiles, she realized that she had lost her one hope of trying to resolve this situation, and her eyes lost their vigor.
“Ara…? That David, it looks like he forgot his gloves.”
However at this time, Krul approached a table in the break area as if she had noticed something, and then she took the work gloves on the table as she said that.
“Hey, has David-san always had these gloves?”
“Well…it’s normal for David to cover his hands since it’s hot and humid…but not having gloves may hurt his hands today, since he said that his work involves carrying the imported goods. Perhaps he had considered that and prepared them in advance.”
Alice’s vigor was restored as she listened to this, and then she quickly took the gloves away from Krul as if aware of something.
Alice immediately realized that this was a chance to escape that David had prepared for her, and rather than letting herself get caught, she quickly took action.
“David-san must have these or he’ll be in trouble, so I’ll go take them to him!”
“Wait, Alice-chan! I’ll do it!”
Although Takako had yelled that out desperately, Alice quickly departed from break area without listening to her. It was impossible to chase down Alice, who had left immediately, without wasting her breath to argue, and after the chance passed by her, Takako held a handkerchief in her mouth and vented her regrets with all of her power.
“I’m glad…As expected of David-san. Although these clothes are hard to move in…it’s a lot better than being restrained by those two, I’ll have to thank him properly later.”
Alice muttered that after she left the break area, and walked in a passage built exclusively for the casino staff. Looking at the gloves she took from Krul, she thought, ‘Does David’s work really involve carrying the imported goods?’
“It would be troublesome…without them.”
Although the gloves had probably been prepared to help him out, thinking about the possibility of him not having them, Alice began to run in search of David.
Several minutes later, she had searched in all of the places where he could be within the Casino, but she couldn’t find David anywhere.
She even went to the place where they were receiving the imports, but the staff members present said that the goods had yet to arrive and thought that he was surely working in another area. There had not been any staff there, besides the one who had tried to return to the passage that was lined with taverns after finishing their work, and the staff members who liked Alice and gave her candy.
While walking in the Casino’s halls, most of the staff members who had tried to return had offered information that they had seen David, but even if she headed to the places where they said they saw him, David wouldn’t be there, nor at the bar where she had thought he would head to, and she ended the search upon getting pats on the head and receiving candy from the cleaning staff.
She was finally unable to guess where he’d gone, and although she tried to confirm if he was in the suspicious shop that was named ‘Takako’s Room,’ Alice immediately closed the door 0.5 seconds after opening it, and then headed to the Chapel.
Tina was in the Chapel, but she hadn’t seen David, and the ones who had come by were just Kagami and Rex, and after the two of them had helped out a little bit, they had gone somewhere else.
“I wonder where…David-san is.”
Alice, who had received a lot of candy while walking through the Casino, had her hands full of candy and the stuffed animal from Kagami. She walked to the nearby area with the warehouse, which was located outside the Casino.
She had begun to think that, if she didn’t find him here after searching all this time, he surely would have passed by her once his work finished and he might have already returned to the break area.
“…and then…by this.”
At this time, a familiar voice entered Alice’s ears. She raised her head, and, after looking at many trees near the warehouse, she saw David and a man, who seemed to be part of the staff, conversing.
“Found you…! David-san!”
Alice felt deeply moved at finally finding him after spending a long time searching for him, and she waved her hands and rushed towards him as she yelled that out.
David immediately heard Alice’s yell, and after he looked towards Alice, he shrugged with an ‘oya, oya,’ and ended his conversation with the staff person before walking towards Alice.
“…Ah!”
However, at this time, perhaps it was due to rushing while both of her hands were occupied, but she ended up tripping.
“D-…Dangerous!”
Seeing Alice tripping, David, who had concluded that she would get hurt, immediately rushed towards her, and tried to reduce the distance before Alice fell.
Although he was a Merchant, David, whose level was 77, succeeded in easily closing the distance, and supported Alice’s body. However:
“A…wa.”
When he supported her, his hand caught on the ribbon that was tied on Alice’s hair on the back of her head, and just like that, David ended up taking the cloth that suppressed the magic power of Alice’s right horn.
At that moment, the distinctive magic power of a Demon began to flow out from Alice’s horn little by little, like overflowing bubbles drifting in the air. Although Alice hid her horn in a hurry and separated from David, the magic power that had begun to flow didn’t escape his notice, and David still held the cloth that suppressed magic power in his hands.
David’s expression had changed from his regular smile. He was rather calm, as if confirming it, and his expression changed to one which could only intimidate her. Alice, who had given up all hope after seeing his silent expression, became paralyzed with fear and fell down on the spot with a ‘petan.’
Then, with a, “What should I do,” as tears formed in her eyes, Alice desperately struggled with the thought of being found out.
“…That’s a splendid ornament. Was it a present from Kagami-sama?”
“…Huh?”
However, facing these unexpected words, Alice blinked in surprise.
The horn that grew on the right side of the back of Alice’s head was no longer concealed by the cloth and was completely exposed. However, David undid his earlier expression, smiled again, and then he extended his Alice to Alice, who had fallen.
Presently, magic power was flowing out from the horn as if it were floating. As expected, it couldn’t be passed off as a Blue Devil’s horn. Yet, David had said that as if he didn’t care about it.
“Y-Yeah. Kagami-san made this for me.”
Alice replied to him while avoiding meeting his eyes.
After that, David nodded once with a smile, as if indicating he was fine with this, and then he handed the magic power absorbing cloth, which he had accidentally taken, back to her.
“I see…wrapping the cloth around this deals with it nicely, it must be something precious to you.”
Despite being clearly revealed as a Demon by the magic power that was emitting from her horn, Alice received the cloth and was dumbfounded by David, who had become quiet without asking why there hadn’t been any magic power flowing from the horn until now.
After she received it, Alice quickly and hurriedly tried to wrap the cloth around her horn, since she didn’t know if someone else would pass by. However, she couldn’t wrap it skillfully, since whenever it had come undone, Takako or Kagami would be there to put it on for her.
“Hoho, if you’re fine with it, allow me to help out.”
Whether or not he thought Alice’s flustered manner was strange, David said that with a pleasant smile and helped Alice wrap the cloth around her horn.
“It’s perfect like this. The ribbon suits you quite well, and you have the same beauty as Krul-sama did when she was a child.”
“T-Thanks.”
Alice expressed her thanks, with a slight stutter, towards David, who didn’t need to say anything else.
“Well then, I will also head towards the break area after this. I still have some work left to do, so I will return as soon as that is done. If you are searching for Kagami-sama, it’s probably better for Alice-sama to return, since earlier, he had mentioned that he would head to the break area.”
David said that and turned back after listening to Alice. He then tried to leave.
Although Alice had heard David, who wore a foolish look, she once again rushed toward David the moment she heard him, as if remembering something and:
“U-…Um!”
Saying that, she handed the work gloves over to David.
“Oh, well, well. You took the trouble to deliver these to me. Thank you.”
He received the gloves like usual, and David said, “Well then,” and tried to leave just like that without asking anything else.
Towards this, although she couldn’t get the words, “Why did he not ask about it?”, out of her throat, she reconsidered that he might have pretended not to realize it. She closed her mouth once, and then:
“I-I’m the one who should say thank you!”
To make up for that, she said just those words to him.
After that, David looked back at her, and after putting on a satisfied, happy smile, he replied, “It’s not a problem,” and then vanished into the Casino.
Alice was filled with emotion after seeing his smile, turned around, and once again, lightly walked towards the break area where Kagami was located.