Author’s Notes
Come to think of it, there hasn’t been any combat at all…
I’d never seen such a room before.
It was full of the steam rising from the freshly drawn hot water.
The water overflowed from the bathtub, wetting my feet. That warm sensation, the feel of the smooth, hard stone under the soles of my feet — honestly, it was bliss.
Night had already fallen, but the paper lanterns installed throughout the spacious room provided enough light to see by.
Bath.
In a word, the room was a bath. No mistake about it.
There were no words.
I had to ask myself if such a world really existed.
“Now then, Lady Chris,”
urged the maid standing behind me.
‘Now then,’ she said, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.
In my ignorance, all I felt was dread.
Succumbing to anxiety, I trembled slightly.
Then, I muttered briefly,
“How’d it end up like this?”
–
–
We were able to successfully — should I call it that? — catch a ride in the coach. And so, we passed through the gate with anticlimactic ease.
At any rate, we were thus able to go through the gate alongside the army and enter the city proper.
While the coach rattled and shook, we traveled the darkening city streets as the sun began to sink below the horizon. In the meantime, the gentleman had gotten into the same carriage for some reason, and right now he was being jolted about along with us.
Like I suspected, nobility.
“…so, where is your home?” 1
Because we were together, the man was too insistent on striking up a conversation… no, I heard his name earlier. Leon, seems like.
Me, I wanted to come up with an appropriate reason to be let out once we got through the gate, but when he said that, it looked like he’d be sending us all the way home because of Palmira’s injury.
This was giving me a considerable headache. Obviously, we didn’t have anything like a home here.
Then Leon matter-of-factly asked us about it.
“…Actually, that is, I… uh, we, don’t have a home.”
Think, think. I strung some words together as my mind kicked into high gear.
But it was the remnants of my distrust that moved my mouth.
“Oh?”
“…Before, we stayed at a shack in the slums…”
I sort of had the feeling that it was a lame excuse, even for me. And I couldn’t tell you why, but lying to this guy made me feel a bit awkward.
Even Aira, who’d been spinning all sorts of lies until just a bit earlier, was now deep in silence, as if saying she was leaving it to me now. Having already received medical treatment, Palmira had maintained her habitual silence from the very beginning.
“Is that so… It must have been difficult.”
Leon looked like he’d given my words some serious thought.
“Th–That is, to cause Lord Leon to make such an expression… it makes us sick at heart,”
said Aira.
My heart was racing, but maybe it would be better to leave this to Aira. To be honest, if it were me, I would’ve blown our cover sooner or later. Maybe I already had.
He made it look relatively natural, so Aira might have continued talking without noticing, but no matter what, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy as the target.
What, did I say something wrong? I tried to replay what I said in my head, but I couldn’t remember a thing.
“…Our home isn’t far, so I’d appreciate it if could you drop us off somewhere around here…”
Weaving herself into Aira and Leon’s conversation, silent Palmira suddenly addressed Leon in a whisper, verging on rudeness.
Yup. The whole day today, my internal estimation of Aira had steadily changed. Whether it was for better or for worse was a different question.
“Mm, so it seems… However, wouldn’t it be terrible to leave you in such a place when you’ve been injured? As it would be a rare opportunity, how about staying at our estate until your injury heals, at least?”
‘Estate’, did he say ‘estate’?
That said, being taken to the estate like this jumped my distrust toward Leon to a whole new level.
“But to trouble you to such an extent…”
“Not at all. I’d like to ask you to stay, if possible. To send an injured woman home like this would also dishonor us as knights. This is also our request.”
When we tried to turn him down gently, he was playing so modest that he even broke out the chivalric code.
…We couldn’t refuse.
Beyond being requested to stay in the name of knightly honor, further refusal would only be perceived as disrespect. Now, you might even say it was a question of Leon’s honor, without anything to do with us.
Refusing any more would put us in seriously hot water.
“If you would go so far, then until this child’s injury heals, we will be imposing on your hospitality…”
By all rights, this should have been an undeserved godsend, but for me, it only spelled defeat.
–
–
We were taken to an estate bigger than I could have imagined.
Though we’d been brought here, we still had to wonder whether it would be alright for our grimy sack-wearing figures to pass through the entryway.
It was just as extravagant inside as out. In the entrance hall, which gleamed with chandeliers, several maids were lined up and waiting for the master’s return. The minute Leon entered, they gracefully bowed in unison.
A scene that an adventurer might dream of once, but one that would never come true.
Just who the hell is Leon?
Then, at Leon’s prompting, the maids dragged us off to those excessively gorgeous baths.
Even after getting out of the bath, it was all maids, from wiping me dry to dressing me up. Skillfully sidestepping my protests that I could take care of myself, their manhandling went even that far.
Or more accurately, that was the first time I wore female underwear… Compared to the time I spent without them until now, it should have fortified my defenses, but an indescribable anxiety left me disheartened.
And so, I wore the dress that I definitely would’ve been unable to put on if I’d been left to my own devices. By that point, I’d lost any will to fight, and I resigned myself in despair to whatever was to come.
“How is it?”
But in the end, I was dragged in front of a large full-length mirror. When I saw the results, it was a greater shock to me than anything else from these past few days.
“…Eh?”
Reflected in the mirror, wearing a light dress, was a girl of unmistakable beauty.
[…such pretty silver hair, and it’s surprising how lovely your skin is. Even as a woman, I think they look amazing. And yet… Big blue eyes, soft-looking lips, slender body…]
Aira’s past words came back to me now.
Coupled with its delicate build, though it wasn’t yet a full-fledged beauty, this body would undoubtedly become one in the future.
“H–Huh?”
Tears were tumbling from the eyes of the surprised-looking girl in the mirror. Taken aback, I pressed a hand to my own eyes.
I was crying.
Until this moment, although I’d seen my body and realized that it had become female, the fact was somehow disconnected from my sense of reality. I couldn’t bring myself to see it clearly.
But now, facing myself straight-on like this — I see, I couldn’t avoid my absurd reality anymore. I’d become a [woman among women], so to speak, and it was just a fact I could never escape.
Then, I still might have been able to hold on to that same perception.
“I–Is something the matter?”
The maid behind me, who had looked satisfied, noticed my tears and immediately became flustered.
I understand.
Helplessly, I used my hands to wipe away my tears.
“Nah, s’alright. Don’t worry.”
Deliberately using a rougher form of speech, I threw her world for a bit more of a loop.
–
–
“Wow, Big Sister, you look amazing!”
After that came dinner.
When I descended to the dining hall under the maid’s guidance, sure enough, the large candle-lit table was overflowing with rows upon rows of dishes.
When her eyes fell on me, Aira said roughly what I predicted she would, and I felt even more depressed.
But… not that I had the slightest intention of saying so, but I probably ranked higher…
“…Ha, I did have some expectations, but this is…”
Leon, also with an interested look, left that comment hanging in the air.
I kept my sarcastic gratitude to myself. On the outside, I executed a slight bow.
“Well, for now, please help yourselves to dinner. There’s no need to stand on ceremony, just relax and eat, please.”
We were ushered to our seats, with Leon at the head of the table, naturally.
Picking up what seemed to be a spoon, I dipped it into the soup. Timidly, I raised it to my mouth.
“That’s da… d–delicious.”
‘Damn good,’ I was about to say, when I corrected myself in the nick of time. I put my hand to my lips.
It was my first time having soup this damn good. I hastily helped myself to a second spoonful.
Good. So goddamn good. I can’t believe it.
For the average adventurer, what typically passes for soup in the public taverns on the outskirts of town is boiled vegetable soup stock. Reputedly.
Usually, it’s the cheapest food around. The ones who order it are clearly in poverty.
That’s why penniless novice adventurers are known as ‘pebbles’.
Of course, the difference between this soup and that was like night and day. Calling both of them ‘soup’ would be an insult.
We finished the soup in the space of a breath, all with the same greedy expression. There was no helping it, so I reached out for the nearby bread.
“Hoo–”
Palmira, who had reached over to the bread just as I did, let slip a surprising sound. To get that much out of her, this couldn’t be the bread I knew.
We reached out for one dish after another, and each time we were surprised. Each and every one was so tasty it was hard to believe.
Though I’d had etiquette in mind at the very beginning, partway in those thoughts were wiped clean away.
Smiling, Leon didn’t really speak to us, but he watched our savagery from beginning to end.
If he was doing this completely out of the goodness of his heart, I couldn’t help but think of how barbaric we were being.
After that, I got carried away and drank quite a bit of the wine he recommended. I was pretty much wasted when I left the dining hall.
Before I knew it, I was changed into nightclothes and asleep in the canopy bed in the room set aside for me.
That sensation, rather, tormented me with a powerful uneasiness.
Author’s Notes
Leaving the possibility that the text itself is boring, I wonder if it would go further if I changed the title. 3
I wonder if I should add a subtitle…
Footnotes
2. Did my best: そのままアイラは、話を合わせながら、如何に自分たちが大変なのかという事を、それはもう見事な話術で嫌みにならない程度に押さえつつ、レオンと話し込む ↵
本文がツマラナイという可能性は置いて、タイトル変えたら、もっと行くのかな、とも思えますが ↵