“As planned, we arrived at the Karahan Summit…”
Huh…
“Things are going to get busy from here on out—”
Ugh—hack…
“…I don’t know when we’ll be back.”
Huh… Huhhhhh…
“…… As soon as possible—”
HAAAAAAAAN!
Hephaestus, who had been shedding a few tears while reading the letter, finally burst into full tears.
Now she’s hugging me and crying again…
Just when I managed to dry her snot… Ugh!
“I-I’ll come back as soon as I can… So take care of yourself, Hephaestus.”
HAAAAAAAN—!
“U-ugh…!”
Huhhhhh…! N-no, Noa unni… Huhhh… Ugh… Hah… Huhk—!
“He-Hephaestus…! Your snot is… dripping all over my clothes…”
Transparent snot from Hephaestus was running down onto my outfit.
Ugh… So gross!
But… I can’t just push away a crying child…
“U-um… Hephaestus? Which part of this letter is… so sad?”
Ugh—W-Well, Master Yuria… has never sent me a letter… even once…
“What… She might have wanted to send a letter that day, right?”
No… And… I-I… she’s never called me by name… N-never, e-ever… ahh—!
Rubia slapped her forehead.
“Okay, okay. That makes sense. But she might have just been feeling nice, or thought she would be late—”
N-no… I… Ugh— Ah, I know. Huh… Hnn—
Wiping her nose with her hand… she hugged me tighter again.
Alright… I give up…
I stopped patting her and turned my head out the window.
Both Rubia and Hephaestus.
Why do they always smear their snot on me when they cry…?
“Master wouldn’t do something like that. I’m sure…”
“H-how can you be so sure…?”
B-because… I-I LOVE Master Yuria—
gulp!
Hephaestus, who had been sobbing in my embrace for a while, hid her face behind my back… and spoke in the cutest voice.
“…because I love her.”
Ah…
Gasp…!
Rubia’s mouth dropped open.
My mouth, too, was like zzzzzz-
I thought her name was Yuria, so I assumed she was a girl, but she’s a guy…?
“B-because I love her… That’s how I know… that something is wrong with her.”
“U-um… That… that could be possible.”
Rubia slowly nodded her head.
Hephaestus hugged me even tighter.
“He-Hephaestus… I can’t breathe…”
“Ah, sorry… Unni.”
“Ugh…”
What is this? You say sorry and then hug me even tighter…!?
“When you love someone, you can tell even those kinds of things…?”
Yup… If Rubia unni has also… experienced love… You’d know how it feels…
Rubia’s expression turned to one of shock.
O-oh… um… Yeah. Ha. Ha. Hephaestus? I get it, but could you tell us about your Master’s appearance or features? It might help if we know more. If you know, it’ll help us assist you better, right? So please, go on. And why does Noa look like that? It’s not what you think; I just want to hear the story faster.
“P-prog─? Uh… yes.*”
Rubia’s speech had sped up dramatically.
And besides, the pitch of her voice was flat…
Rubia has malfunctioned!
“Um… Okay. First… Master’s hair is light green.”
Light green?
Hephaestus, your hair is also an unusual color.
“Right…”
Hmm? What color does Hephaestus have?
“Uhhh… Sorry for interrupting, but… He-Hephaestus, what color is your hair…?”
“Ah, my hair is pink!”
Pink…?
“Woooooow… pink…?”
“Yeah. But… it stands out too much… so I don’t really like it.”
I’m so curious!
Natural pink, huh!
“C-can I touch it…?”
“Yup… but my hair isn’t that nice… you can touch it all you want.”
I slowly lifted my hand and patted Hephaestus’s bobbed hair.
As she said, her hair wasn’t exactly in great condition.
Is it because she works in front of the fire?
The color…
Could it be light pink or more of a deep pink?
If it’s this dry, it probably wouldn’t have any shine, right?
Then her eyebrows would be pink too?
Even though I couldn’t feel the color by touching it, I wanted to visualize it in my head more.
I pulled my hand away from the Great Sword and started to scrunch her hair with both hands.
Mmm…
As expected, I can’t see the color… what a shame.
“I’m so curious what color it is…”
“Noa…”
A voice filled with frustration came from behind.
“Ugh… unni…”
This time, the voice was soaked in snot…
“Huh…?”
I removed my hands from Hephaestus’s hair and grabbed my sword’s hilt.
Rubia was right in front of me.
“Huh…?”
Then she hugged me tightly.
“R-Rubia…?”
“Unni… Hah…”
Hephaestus, who was on my right, also hugged me.
What is going on with these two?
“Um… W-why are you…”
“Noa… W-well, pink is…”
Rubia began to whisper in my ear while still hugging me.
“Pink is… a lovely color.”
“U-uh, okay…?”
“When Noa touches, hears, or feels something, if it feels lovely, that’s pink.”
Is she still malfunctioning from earlier…?
What in the world is she talking about…?
“I-I know, though…”
“And… my hair is silver. Silver feels like the cool air of dawn.”
“S-so I know too—”
Rubia cut me off.
She gently ran her fingers through my hair and continued.
“Your hair is black, and black is… the feeling you get when you’re scared.”
Then she hugged me tight again.
“If you’re ever curious, feel free to ask anytime. I might not explain well, but I’ll do my best to help you understand.”
“I-I know the colors… U-uh… Pink is… pink…”
Huh…?
How do I explain this…?
At least… Rubia’s explanation seems pretty similar…
She’s not as bad at explaining as I thought!
“So, it’s the emotion felt when you’re embarrassed…”
Tears dropped from Rubia’s eyes onto my head.
Hephaestus’s snot stained my sleeve.
Stop with the snot…!
“L-let’s all calm down and finish Hephaestus’s Master’s story first, okay…?”
“Huh… Okay.”
Rubia fell back, unable to shake the lingering emotions on her face.
“Unni… If you ever have a hard time, just tell me. I’ll help as much as I can.”
Hephaestus also looked at me with a face full of sympathy as she stepped back.
You’re struggling too! What help can you offer me…?
And when did you start speaking informally to me?
I’m still… ugh?!
I’m 7 years older in Earth years!
I’m 2 years older here too!
Use formal speech!
“Uh… b-but Hephaestus… Y-you’re…”
“You like it, don’t you? With us acting this way, it feels like we’re closer.”
After crying and making a scene for a while, Hephaestus grinned.
Closer…? Even more…?
Hmm… Since it’s okay now, let’s just leave it as is.
If she cries again, it’s gonna be a headache.
I’ll just get snot all over me.
Let’s just understand that she’s young.
I’m a broad-minded adult after all.
“Ugh… O-okay.”
“Ahem, we got sidetracked, but let’s hear Hephaestus’s words again?”
“Ah, yes… Master’s features… um, she has light green hair and eyes of the same color. And her eyes are… dirty.”
Calmer than before, Hephaestus continued to explain.
This is all thanks to my generous heart.
You can thank me later, Rubia.
“Her personality is dirty too, and her way of speaking is rough. Oh, there’s also a tear mole under her right eye. She’s tall…”
As I listened to Hephaestus’s ongoing description, I started to gradually picture her in my mind.
“With these distinct features, you’ll recognize her immediately upon seeing her.”
“Yes. Oh, and… she has a big scar on her back and abdomen.”
Wait…?
Abdomen…?
“Uh…? The abdomen?”
“Yes. I saw it when we were bathing together previously. There was a scar that stretched from her belly button—though it wasn’t visible from the outside… just in case you didn’t know…”
“You bathed together? With your Master?”
“Yeah. For the last ten years, we’ve bathed together almost every day.”
Oh…
Huh…?
“Why…?”
“When I was little… I didn’t know how to wash myself, so she helped me. After that, even when I took baths alone, she’d just come in. Saying it’s a waste of water…”
Whoa…
“…Hephaestus, you said you’re 18 now, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then… your Master’s age is…”
“She’s probably turning 30 soon.”
Upon hearing Hephaestus’s words, Rubia’s expression froze up solid.
“Um, Hephaestus. So how did you… meet your Master?”
“Uh… well… my biological mother sold me into slavery… But then Master bought me and took me in—”
“Hephaestus. No.”
Gasp… N-no, slavery…
Rubia’s urgent voice interrupted Hephaestus’s words.
“Yes?”
“It would be best to cut ties with that Master and live separately. I’ll help you as much as possible… Let’s aim for independence.”
“Y-yeah… Hephaestus… How about just living with us?”
Her Master is clearly out of her mind!
What a crazy pervert!
“…Why…?”
“That ‘why’… is not… Well, it makes sense… from a young age… No… No! You need to get away from that crazy guy as soon as possible. I’ll help you however I can!—”
Hephaestus tilted her head.
“A guy…?”
“Yup.”
“Who?”
Rubia tilted her head too.
“Hephaestus’s Master…”
“Huh…?”
“He-Hephaestus’s Master, Yuria, that crazy Master…”
Hephaestus’s expression became strange.
“My Master… is a woman…?”
Rubia’s expression turned even stranger.
“A woman…?”
“Yeah. Ah… I didn’t mention it. My Master is a woman.”
As Rubia’s mouth kept moving without a sound for a while, I finally spoke up.
“He-Hephaestus… You definitely said… that you loved your Master… right…?”
“Yeah. I love her a whole lot…”
Ah.
“Ah! So Hephaestus is a guy after all…”
He could be a feminine guy.
Yeah, there are plenty of characters like that.
I mean, it’s possible…
“Puhuhuh… No, unni. I’m a girl… Of course, I know. I’m just a bit strange.”
“Huh…?”
Hephaestus sighed deeply and continued.
“But… this might sound like an excuse, but… I just love that person itself.”
With a shy voice, Hephaestus’s expression seemed, as Rubia described…
Filled with pink.
“I love everything about that person, to the point of losing my mind…”
It was a look that could fill the carriage with pink.
“I love her…”
