(I guess getting mixed up in this mess has truly been unfortunate for her, but still, to spend her parent’s money so freely…Well I guess that counts as an indirect apology.)
Leo slightly smirked and accepted her circumstances.
「…Anyway, let me just tell you this now, since it won’t be easy from here on out. Living at the orphanage is going to be fairly hard. Even though you are a girl on the inside, if you act all weak and delicate like you won’t receive any food, nor any pocket money. Speaking of which, you’re now in a boy’s body as someone who dislikes men…there will be many things you’ll probably be uncomfortable with…」
Leena firmly stared at Leo as he mumbled the later part of his speech.
「Wow I’m surprised. You’re actually quite a good person aren’t you?」
「……It’s not like that.」
「But don’t worry. Earlier while I was getting used to this body, I thoroughly explored it — every nook, and, cranny~」
「DON’T EXPLORE MY BODY!」
「Ufufu」
「Stop snickering, asshole」
Leena surprisingly liked her new male body. After all, it was young and very agile, which suited her tastes.
「If you’re worried about the slight chubbiness on sides, don’t worry it won’t get any worse than that, as I’ve told you before. But anyway, after becoming a male myself, I don’t have any more unpleasant feelings towards men. Even now it’s making me want to start making victory signs~」
「You didn’t tell me anything! And don’t make victory signs!」
After being yelled at, Leena shied back while peeking at Leo with one closed eye.
「I’ve been thinking this since earlier but can’t you do something about your tone? It may not seem like it but I’ve been strictly discipline by okaa-sama on manners, thus I always bare in my mind to speak with a graceful tone.」
「…….Nothing I can do about it, the inside is me after all. And you too, don’t speak like a girl with my face and body. You look like a sissy.」
Leo used the fact that he was a male as an excuse but the real reason isn’t just that. Leena’s manner of speech was very polite — yes, just like that of the nobles. As a boy raised in an orphanage, he couldn’t mimic her in such a short period of time.
「That right? Yep, Nope, That’s right, Uh…huh? Referring to myself I should use (boku), no, (ore)?」[1]
While tilting her head, Leena steadily adjusted her manner of speech. Surprisingly, she was able to smoothly familiar herself with how to use slang. As a matter of fact, Leo had been a little confident in his own ability for language studies, seeing Leena adjust so quickly and easily had peeved him just a bit.
「Hey Leo-…no, Leena, try speaking like you how you should too」
Irritated by Leena who was speaking with a completely natural male tone, Leo tried to return her words-
「Would you kindly stop joking me? I can’t converse like that」
「Uwaa…..That was splendidly gross」
While Leena was grimacing immensely, having thought of something, she jerked her former body towards herself. Grabbing onto the small, slender, and feminine arm, she flipped it over and placed the palm of Leo’s hand on his delicate neck.
And then,
「Profanity Seal」
When Leena sharply chanted those words, the side of Leo’s neck felt like it was bein
g burned and he jumped up and down.
「It…………!」
Wanting to shout out in pain, for some reason, all that happened was his lips opening and closing.
「……!? ……!?」
Even though he wanted to shout ‘The heck’s this, the hell happened,’ the word’s didn’t come out. Blubbing his mouth like a goldfish, Leo turned to Leena, who had a humorous smirk.
「Unladylike profanity — along with rude expressions, slang, and so on and so forth, will now be unable to be pronounced, no need to thank me.」
「Why……!」
The ‘the hell did you do this, bastard’ part was completely plucked from his throat before he could say it. A meager yet precise response. And then, a simple numbing pain ran through his neck.
「Even if you didn’t do this, I wouldn’t get found out as long as I stayed silent…」
While holding onto his throat with an angry expression, he changed what he was about to say from ‘ain’t that right’ to ‘don’t you believe?’
(What disgrace……!)
Being a genuine lower city raised person, Leo was disgusted at using honorific speech like those nobles. As a person of Ricard, moreover as a man, the only time you’d use such flowery speech would be when you’re asking your to-be parent’s in-laws for their blessing over your marriage.
「Are you an idiot?」
Leena shrugged at Leo’s angered appearance. Her perfect acclimation to her new body was very irritating for Leo.
「It doesn’t really matter at all if you get found out, this is a one-time event after all — but well, it might be a problem if they don’t believe you’re actually me. More than that, it’s just that, with such delicate looks that seem as though they were carefully crafted personally by the spirit of beauty, saying such rude remarks doesn’t really fit my sense of aesthetics at all.」
「AES, THE, TICS!?」
That was all the retort that Leo could muster right now even though he was incredibly annoyed and wanted to swear.
「In the first place, the one who dragged me into this was you, you ba… as… This is your fault and yet how dare you, do……!」
Leo cursed as he lost to the numbing pain and had to slowly adjust his speech.
(Even so, couldn’t it completely get rid of the lower city style intonations?)
Leena’s magic had only culled out unsatisfactory words and phrases. And so the result is a broken speech pattern. Leo nearly exploded with irritation.
「Yeah. I definitely feel some responsibility for this. So, I will also use the same spell on myself — Elegant Seal」
Leena reached out to Leo’s wrist and this time, placed it on her own neck. A Light danced around the prominent adam’s apple on the young boy’s throat.
「Ok. With this I won’t be able to speak like a noble. But, we’ve completed used up all the magic power for now huh.」
(Don’t use up all the magic on something like thisss!）
He shouted with his soul, but sadly, nothing came out.
(No wait, the magic power originally dwelled in this body anyway, meaning I should be able to cancel it……!)
Leo gripped his neck tightly and shouted 「Release Release Release!」 but, for some reason there was no indication of a spell being activated.
「Like I said, it’s all used up. Well, while we’re at it let me tell you, imagination is important for using magic. Magic is like oil and imagination is the fire that ignites it. The incantations are like a flint to start the fire. No matter how many pebbles you have to use, if you don’t do it properly — meaning without a vivid power of imagination during the invocation, the fire won’t be lit. Also, if don’t have an image for the invocation of the spell, you won’t be able to cancel it.」
Leena plainly explained. For some reason or another, Leo felt like the metaphor was oddly simple as if it was meant for him but…
(So that’s how it is, easy enough to understand.)
Incidentally, the reason why Leena’s, who was now Leo’s, voice was able to activate the spell is because having been familiarized with the body, she had certain expressions that could be used and the body would in turn create the image by itself.
(Not only is the person self-centered, even the body is self-centered too you bastard!?)
Leo cursed the heavens for this uncontrollable situation he was in. While Leo was grinding his teeth in angery, Leena had begun her preparations to write a written pledge.
「Hmm, Weiz Imperial calendar, Year 1008, Frost White month, day 9. Dear Deer Bakery’s daughter, Leena — Here lies the first party — and Hannah Orphanage’s Leo — Here lies the second party — will be confined to each other’s bodies for a limited time. And so the conditions that have been mutually agreed upon. First, ……」
Taking out a parchment that had been stuck in between somewhere, and also a dirty and crude pen that had rolled out from somewhere, she smoothly printed some words. Just her handwriting was unexpectedly smooth. Having just now appraised her trait, looking around he noticed that all her writing parchments were high quality apparel. It seems that like she said, Dear Deer would probably have no problem raising a lot of money.
「……Hold on……Stop. Why is the payment of my Kar-sama…Make it the first condition」
Keeping a watchful eye to make sure he doesn’t overlook a single indication of a disadvantage, Leo immediately protested. The payment of the Karlheinz Raimund gold coin was the essential condition that Leo had agreed to. The conditions on living in each other’s bodies — For example, like not recklessly injuring each other’s bodies — was written on the first line. Leena widened her eyes at the exclamation as she thought that should have been the most important listing.
「……I’m surprised. You……ow, you can can read huh? — cause I lost my composure, I accidently went back to my old speech. This hurts huh?」
「If you understand then return us. —Literacy is one of Hannah Orphanage’s policies. Those who are illiterate are disadvantaged. Disadvantages lead to poverty. Poverty leads to illiteracy. Cutting the negative chain is her goal.」
At this time, Leo began to get used to speaking with just words. The key is to make it hard to distinguish whether it is a reckless remark.
Leena stroked her chin while saying 「I see,」 and once again firmly looked at Leo.
「Switching places with you was unexpected but perhaps it’s best that it was you. When my mom when to the academy there was a boring greenhouse spread out but now I heard it’s become much better — surprisingly due to the Disaster of Flora. Anything you learn at the academy is yours to keep once you return to your body. Study to your heart’s content, ……the negative chain that Hannah-san spoke about, please break it with your own hands.」
「Leena…」
After Leo returned Leena’s gaze, he slowly pointed at one part on the written pledge.
「Then, in order to make it easier to break the chain, change this gold coin to two…」
「You’re even shrewder than I thought.」
After swiftly retorting, she stroked her chin and said 「hmm,」 seemingly having thought of something. Taking a pen, she amended the amount to two gold coins.
「Leena…?」
Leo was astonished. He certainly didn’t think that his jokingly said proposal would be accepted.
「As long as you return safely, I’ve decided that I’ll pay one more gold coin. This time, it’ll be out of my own savings.」
Leena smirked as she raised the side of her mouth. Strangely, that expression was the spitting image of Leo before they swapped.
「Well look. Even though I left my magic power behind in that body, with my intellect I can easily make one or two Karlheinz Raimund gold coins.」
Leo started to get excited. It wasn’t just an utterance of a flimsy handsome man. It was a chance to receive two gold coins. —Where ever Leena decides to go, Leo will follow.
After that, they talked about various ways to explain the circumstances to their surroundings, small rules to follow in everyday life, and then at the end, the two of them signed the parchment.
「—Whew. Somehow we made it in time huh」
「Ah. It’s night already. Closing time?」
The light seeping through the roof was now completely superseded by moonlight. It seems like a surprisingly large amount of time had passed.
If he doesn’t soon return, he’ll miss dinner. While worrying about Leena’s original body, Leo inquired about the situation and the girl, no, the boy shook his head and said 「No.」
「I said it from the beginning didn’t I? That we didn’t have time.」
「Eh……?」
For some reason the image of Leena’s grinning appearance began to blur.
「W……What」
Leena stretched as if she was exhausted after a long day’s work towards Leo’s startled experession.
「The entrance ceremony for the Weizsäcker imperial academy happens every year on the 10thday of the Frost White month. The summoning happens the night before, when the moon aligns overhead in the sky.」
「You……, the night before the 10th day of the Frost White Month you say…!」
He remembers the contents of the written pledge. — Todays date, Frost White month day 9.
「It’s a good thing that today’s weather was clear with a beautifully round full moon out!」
At the moment Leena turned around with her smiling face,
「You-…!」
Due to the curse, all that was left was an incomplete statement. Leo’s — no, the beautiful girl’s body disappeared.
「……With Leena’s beauty and Leo’s manly spirit. — Still avaricious though.」
Uttered Leena, who was now left alone in the flour mill.
「Such a fascinating girl, I wonder if they will allow her to leave? …ow」
Getting burned by a spell she placed on herself, Leena gently stroked her throat.
(As I thought I shouldn’t do unusual things such as worry about other people)
Leena promptly shook her head and gathered her feelings, after taking all the necessary tools she needed, she left the shed.
(It’s late, I can wait till tomorrow to explain to my easy-going parents the situation at hand.)
A full moon in the sky.
While thinking that from here on will be the beginning of a new life, Leena smirked.
_________________________________________________________________
[1]: ( I couldn’t really come up with a good way to make this English as it’s a Japanese motif, boku and ore both male pronouns for referring to one’s self but they differ in their “image”. Ore is usually seen as much more casual and a little arrogant.)