Chapter 272 – Blown Away
“Hawa~……”
I thought kids’ eyes could shine so brightly.
They were so sparkling.
“Here you go, eat up.”
“Huh? Uo, eh…”
Espie hesitated in confusion even though I thought she should eat without worrying.
“B, big brother… m, may I eat it?”
“Please eat.”
Why, the polite language?
At a cake shop in the city.
In front of my eyes, Espie’s small body shrank even more due to the tension.
I didn’t expect her to go this far just to have some cake…
“Come on, don’t hold back.”
“Oh, okay… ah, so soft… fluffy…… u~…. ahm~…… Mmmmmmmmm!”
Trembling and wobbling, she cut the cake with a fork and put it timidly in her mouth.
The next moment, Espie’s whole body jumped in shock, and her expression blossomed.
“Uh~…… sweet~, yummy!”
Espie, who had been doll-like until a few days ago, now stuffed her mouth with strawberry shortcake with a wide smile that almost fell off her cheeks.
“Big brother, this is so yummy!”
“Oh! Eat as much as you want. Do you want some chocolate too?”
“Eh, can I!? Un!”
She gobbled up the cake and drank the juice… won’t your teeth hurt~? While thinking that, I was relieved to see Espie eating sweet treats like a happy child.
I thought she should always laugh like that.
“Have you never eaten cake?”
“Un! I only eat hard meat to strengthen my jaw and medicinal drinks.”
“I, I see… ah, excuse me. I’d like to place another order…”
“Eh, can I have some more?”
“It’s okay, have as much as you want.”
“Aaaahh!!”
Unexpectedly, her painful past almost brought tears to my eyes.
Then Espie poked the piece of cake with a fork and held it out to me.
“You eat too, big brother!”
“Huh? Oh, big brother is not really…”
“No! I’m not the only one… I want to eat with big brother! So, ah~mm!”
Apparently, she was a little worried about eating alone.
Well, since Espie was perplexed by eating Curry and being given a cheap ribbon, she might be worried about the current situation of being the “only one who is eating”.
“Oh~, geez… Ahm, hmm. Yummy”
“Unfu~! Right? This is the second best thing I’ve ever eaten.”
“Haha, you’re exaggerating… huh, second best?”
“Un. The best is the Curry big brother made for me!”
“R, really…”
I feel embarrassed when you say that.
Incidentally, that night in the dream world, I received a general review of my first Curry from Tre’ainar, but he said, “Your understanding of the essence of spices is lacking”.
But, he was so pleased.
It made me want to work harder to make it better.
『For that, you need only practice.』
「Okey-dokey!」
『And now that our military funds have increased, gear … it might benefit you to have more items and camping equipment.』
「Ah, but… still, isn’t this much a bit too much…」
Yes, just as Tre’ainar said, the military funds have increased a lot.
There were so many cloth bags stuffed with bread buns that I couldn’t hold them all with both hands.
I could probably live on this stuff for the rest of my life…
『There is no need to carry everything. You can use the depository. If you become a Hunter, you need not even pay a fee.』
「…… I see…… either way, I have to register…」
『Well, I suppose so… Mr. Tapil Bael.』
「Hmm… HEY!」
『Hmm~? Is something wrong? Mr. Tapil Bael?』
「Stop that!」
A grinning Tre’ainar teased me.
Damn, do I really have to register under such a name?
If possible, I’d like a cooler name, but…
“Hey, did you hear? The Gouda forces of the Demon King Army have retreated!”
“Oh, as expected of Prince Solja! It seems that they didn’t get Gouda, but with this, the Demon King’s Army won’t attack for a while!”
“Prince Solja, Hiro, Mamu, Ryvar, Benlinerve, our Empire has five of the Seven Heroes!”
All around us, information about the war during this time flowed, and the whole city was suddenly filled with joy and noise.
“………… they won…”
“Espie? Does it bother you?”
“…… Nu-un. Really. I’m traveling with big brother, so I don’t care.”
“I see…”
I could tell from Espie’s abrupt expression that was lying just a little bit.
I guess it’s not like she’s saying “I don’t care at all”.
But she can’t just “go home” from here.
“Okay, now that we’re done eating, let’s go get you some clothes, okay?”
“Uh… Clothes!? …… Gusu…… Thank you…… big brother…… I’m the happiest I’ve ever been since I was born…”
“That’s why, don’t exaggerate.”
“I’m not exaggerating!”
“Yes, yes, geez…”
Damn, saying such cute things.
In about fifteen years, she will say something about “beating up” this beloved brother, so the passage of time is cruel.
No, or rather, the word “beat up” has a different meaning considering this situation――――
“The economy must be good, onii-san, this one~ is getting envious.”
“”?””
“And to show such tender care to little girls. The heavens grant luck to such children, don’t they…”
To whom? Are you talking to me? I turned around to hear a voice behind me and saw someone standing at the entrance of the cake shop.
A cloak covering his whole body and a mask made of straw on his head?
And at his waist he was carrying two stick-like objects, one long and one short, wrapped in a pouch.
“This one also bought a ticket, for the horse race earlier, and then it was a flop~…… No~, horses are~ difficult~”
He has a pretty good physique.
I mean, the pouches on his waist… is that… a sword?
『A Komuso tengai… long and short swords…… a Samurai of Japone? Yet still, this man… even considering the way he walks… has good posture from the top of his head to his toes… furthermore, this voice…』
「?」
Oh? Did Tre’ainar get uneasy about him for some reason?
No, I’m also suspicious of this man? I know he’s no ordinary man, but…
“…… ah…”
At that moment, Espie’s expression clouded over.
Then she got off her chair, hid behind my back, and grabbed my clothes tightly.
“This one would like you to buy me a cake, too.”
“Hmm? Nuh?”
“For sweets, the dumplings from my hometown are the best, but I can’t throw away the cakes from the Empire either.”
The mysterious man, without paying any attention to Espie’s state, took the liberty of sitting in the chair that Espie had left when she got up.
What’s more, he asked for some cake?
And then……
“Well… heard you were missing… for now, I’m glad you’re safe. Espie-jou.”
“Ugh… Ugh…”
“For someone who was captured by the Demon King’s Army… it doesn’t look like you’re being held by some kind of dangerous guy, but… what are you doing ~? Everyone’s worried, aren’t they?”
An acquaintance of Espie’s? A swordsman from Japone? The Allied Forces?
What the hell is this guy…
“I won’t go back…”
“Oyaoya… that’s a problem.”
The man also let out a sigh of annoyance at the words Espie uttered while shaking with fright.
“Yes, it’s really troublesome. If I report this… won’t it be obvious that this one skipped work and sneaked out to play? Mikado Gee-san would be furious. However, they would be angry if they were to learn that I had found a missing comrade and left them behind. But if I report this and Espie-jou is taken back… the lady will cry… and be punished… yadanee… if the lady wants to go on like this, I’d like to make it happen~… but hey…”
He continued to mumble to himself while holding his head, but judging by the content, there was no doubt that he was a member of the Allied Forces.
And from this attitude towards Espie, he had a fairly high rank ……
“What? Isn’t this a troubling situation?”
“…… ah?”
“And finally, even though he’s kind to women, the young lady, ignorant of the world, is being carried around by an Onii-san of dubious origin who doesn’t even know which horse he’s on…but the young lady is already quite fond of him, so he doesn’t seem to be a villain…or is she being deceived? Hm~mm….. if it worried me this much, I shouldn’t have noticed.”
“…… h, hey, I’m not trying to deceive her…”
“Truly? Well, what do I do? Do I close my eyes? …… This one saw nothing~, dahahaha!”
I felt the gaze. The eyes that had been looking at Espie were now turned on me, as if they were trying to assess me… Hmm? You saw nothing? What are you talking about? Your eyes look perfectly normal, but…
“Ah…”
And Tre’ainar seemed to have noticed something.
What the heck……
“Be blown awaaaaaaaaay!”
“…… Huh?”
“Nnah? Wait, young miss, h, hold, it, nhbooooooooooooh!!
The next moment, Espie shouted and threw her hand at the man, and suddenly a powerful shockwave erupted, and the man burst through the wall of the shop and was blown outside.
“Uh~……”
“Hey, Espie, y, you… what the hell!”
“Come, big brother!”
“No, no, he must be dead…”
“He won’t die with that. So let’s run away quickly!”
Saying that, Espie grabbed my hand and then put her other hand over the package at my feet, and the package “floated”.
“We should run away quickly! We’ll get caught! I’m not going back! I’m staying with big brother!”
“Ah, uh, ah, ah~ already, yoooou!”
I mean, is the guy who got blown away okay?
But, even though I tried to check on him, Espie pulled me along without a care in the world.
“This is~, already! I’m sorry! I’ll pay for the wall of the shop with this!”
At any rate, I gave the confused shopkeeper a bag full of large sums of money and ran away, with Espie dragging me through the wall that she had broken.
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