It’s not ordinary magical power.
It’s not an ordinary body.
An ordinary… human.
Wait, is it even a human from the start?
I don’t know.
Surely, a form is drawn.
The expression is the same.
But.
No matter how intricately I try to draw it with my senses, it remains unclear and undefined.
Even Kalt, who had completely transformed into a shadow, had the structure inside his body and the flow of magical power drawn out, but the being standing in front of me has none of those drawn at all.
What the hell is this?
And.
Suddenly barging into the room and swinging a great sword around without any reaction from Rubia and Yuria makes no sense either.
“Well! You all seem to be doing well!”
What is this supposed to mean…?
Does everyone know something?
Sirin, still wearing an undaunted expression, retrieved her great sword and secured it at her waist.
“By the way… Noah, I think you’ve shrunk a bit?”
“Ugh, eeek…”
“Definitely shrunk. You must have been the same height as the main girl… hmm?”
Sirin, tilting her head, approached me to compare heights.
Even as I lifted my great sword in case of any unexpected situations, Sirin casually leaned against me.
Do you know me?
How do you know??
No… what the heck is going on?!
No matter how you look at it, a suspicious person is getting close to me.
Why, why is everyone just standing there?!
Of course… they don’t show any hostility, so it doesn’t seem too dangerous…
But that could be a perfectly concealed master of absolute skill!!
“Aha… it’s an imperfect elixir.”
At that moment, a strange sensation ran through my body.
Senses…? No, it’s not senses.
If I had to pinpoint it… vision? Eyes?
What on earth is this…
“Well, it doesn’t matter if you’re short, as long as you can swing a great sword!”
Avoiding the gesture that was about to tap my shoulder, I slowly approached Rubia.
“Rubia… who exactly are you? Why is everyone just staring at me without doing anything? Are… are they good people?”
“Weren’t you already familiar with Noah?”
“…Eh…? Not at all…”
What on earth does that mean?
“Huh? You don’t know?”
“I-I don’t know…”
Rubia’s expression, which had changed from confusion to disbelief, was directed at me.
I… changed from disbelief to confusion.
In that absurd atmosphere.
Sirin coolly exclaimed a shocking fact that had been forgotten until now.
“Hmm, Noah. I just noticed you weren’t wearing underwear. Is that some new training method?”
Yuria and Hephaestus gasped.
Rubia swallowed hard.
*
“Yumm! This is delicious!”
“Ahhh… N-no, that’s mine…!”
“Oh, come on! You have plenty of money! Just one more bite for me!”
“Ugh…”
“Haah… Noah, I’ll buy you one more later, so let me have it…”
“R-Rubia too…? Ugh… fine…”
I reluctantly handed the sugar fruit, Tanghulu, to Sirin.
Then.
“Ooh!”
“Huh? Wait…! I-I can only have one…!”
Sirin, who had been smiling brightly, stuffed three strawberries into her mouth and chewed them loudly, making crunch-crunch sounds.
“One isn’t even enough for a bite! Hahaha!”
Sirin’s annoying laughter scattered into the bustling festival street.
“Indeed, it’s better to enjoy together than alone! Don’t you all agree?”
“…Yes.”
After the panty incident wrapped up and several conversations were exchanged.
Rubia and I found ourselves being led by Sirin into the festival street.
Yuria and Hephaestus, perhaps feeling uncomfortable with Sirin… decided to enjoy separately and said they’d meet us later.
Even I felt uneasy with Sirin…
But when she pouted and whimpered as if she were sad about not playing with us, my resolve weakened.
“It would be good to try that thing! Look, Tylant cotton candy over there!”
Moreover, Sirin, this person.
Has no money.
How can someone who is supposedly a master not have a single coin… does that even make sense?
The great sword looks amazing, but that’s about it.
Her clothes are shabby, and she has no wallet, no sense of propriety.
“Huh? I expected Tylant cotton candy to look a certain way, but it looks completely different? Though, the bear face is cute!”
“…Do you want to try one, Noah?”
“Y-yes…!”
There was a cute bear-shaped cotton candy at the spot Rubia pointed to.
As Sirin mentioned, Tylant doesn’t look like that.
Its eyes are bigger, the snout a bit pointy… the ears are all perked up, and it has a ton of teeth.
It doesn’t look like a bear that’s eating honey without pants or something.
Well… it’s understandable that the locals or regular adventurers have never seen a Tylant before.
But how does Sirin know?
“The main girl wants to have the apple flavor. What flavor do you plan to get, Noah? I highly recommend peach!”
“Hmm… I like peach… Rubia, aren’t you going to eat…?”
“No, I’ll just take a bit of what you eat.”
“Hmm! Good choice! Hey! Just one each of the apple and peach, please!”
While choosing the flavors, Sirin became incredibly serious, and with Rubia’s wallet in hand, she dashed ahead calling out.
Even though she’s wearing a robe that hinders recognition… I definitely feel the gaze of people on her.
Is she not embarrassed…?
“I’m just relieved that Noah is behaving!”
“Y-yeah…?”
Rubia let out a deep sigh and patted my head.
Though it was over the robe, that sensation felt nice, and I rubbed my head a bit more.
In the meantime, Sirin approached us with cotton candy in both hands.
“Here! Noah, this is yours!”
“Y-yes. Thank you!”
“What a surprise! It was bought by Rubia! Rubia! I shall never forget this kindness! Thank you!”
“Uh, just… enjoy it.”
“Hmm!”
“Here… Rubia, try this…”
Even though it gets sticky when you rip off the cotton candy, I still tore a bit off for Rubia.
The cotton candy was already starting to melt and cling to my fingers.
Hmm… should I hurry and put it in Rubia’s mouth and suck on the remaining sugar…?
But that’s too dirty… what if Rubia looks at me weird.
Then I’d need to hold Rubia’s hand, wouldn’t I? Hmmm…
“Y-Thank you.”
While I was agonizing over how to get rid of that unpleasant stickiness.
Rubia.
“Ugh, eek…”
Put her fingers, sticky with sugar, into her mouth.
slurp
“Mmm, delicious.”
She sucked it all off.
“Oh, um… ah…?”
“Should I feed you too? You don’t like getting your hands dirty, do you?”
With a lick of her lips, Rubia slowly leaned towards me.
“Or I could wipe it off for you again.”
My body tingled.
Her voice, her scent, her expression.
The sensation of my finger that had been in Rubia’s mouth came rushing back vividly.
The feeling of something moist, warm, and soft curling around my finger…
“Heh… n-no… I-I can eat by myself…”
I rubbed my pounding fingers against my clothes and bit into the cotton candy.
At the same time, the candy melted in my mouth.
The sweetness lingering on my tongue reminded me once again of that stickiness.
My head began to spin.
My body tensed up, feeling electric, shivering.
From my chest to my lower abdomen, a tingling sensation, and a dull pain below my waist.
“Hmm? Noah, are you not feeling well?”
“Ugh… n-no… I’m f-fine…”
Just before I was about to buckle over.
Sirin’s voice cleared my mind.
Th-thank goodness…
“Hmm, then may I take a bite of yours?”
“J-just a little… If you eat all of it like before… I-I’ll get angry…”
“I understand!”
Sirin, grinning, twirled the empty stick around and started wrapping my cotton candy onto it.
“That said, it seems like there are more people wielding great swords in the streets?”
As she stuffed all the cotton candy into her mouth while scanning her surroundings, Sirin wore a peculiar smile.
“There are many types of great swords… yet they all look similar to yours, Noah.”
“That’s true. Until recently, very few people wielded great swords like mine, but it has increased now.”
“R-really?”
One, two, three, four, five…
It’s true?
In this alley alone, there are already five people holding great swords.
Expanding my senses, it’s noticeably more than before!
Heh heh… has the world finally realized the charm of great swords?
It shouldn’t be surprising.
With such charming, magnificent, and romantic weapons, how could someone not like them—
“This heavy and primitive weapon… what’s so good about carrying it? tsk I don’t get it.”
“W-what did you say…?”
“I said it’s a primitive weapon.”
Sirin, who had been walking ahead, turned back with an infuriating expression.
“P-primitive…?”
“Yes. It’s ridiculously heavy, overly large, and hard to handle in tight spaces. It’s a pain to maintain too. The only so-called ‘advantage’ it has is that it’s heavy. But that’s already a disadvantage as well… truly a useless weapon.”
“B-but you’re also wielding a great sword…!”
“I didn’t want to use such a weapon either.”
“T-this… useless… weapon…?”
“Noah? How about calming down a bit?”
Calm down?!
Do I look like I’m calm right now?!
Rubia, too! You’re supposed to support me!!
“…B-but it’s good if used well… In fact, I… I even defeated the Master.”
“Well, if you use it well, I suppose it can be good. If you use it well…”
With that irritating smile still plastered on her face, Sirin slowly approached me.
“But your sword…”
Then, she placed her finger on my forehead.
“Is quite pathetic, isn’t it?”
thwak – a flick on my forehead.
“Ugh… pathetic…?!”
Are you seriously disregarding the great swordsmanship I’ve put my all into?! Huh?!
“Do you have a problem with what I said?”
“O-obviously…”
At that, Sirin, who was no longer wearing an annoyed smile, broke into a bright grin and raised one hand.
“In that case, how about a spar?”
“…Bring it on.”
“Hey, Noah?”
I snapped my fingers.
“Let’s do it.”
The world spun around.
