And thus, the two of them left the castle gate and found themselves looking at the town.
The sun was setting and had dyed the sky orange and red, but clouds were still floating above them.
With the town illuminated by the evening sky, the pair simply stared dazedly for a while.
(Speaking of which, it might be my first time being alone with a guy like this. But well, it’s just Crow-san.)
Fii had gone shopping a number of times with Gorms and the others, but it was her first time coming to town like this.
For n.o.bles and royalty, even going on a date required them to bring along various guards, she had heard. Apparently the guards and attendants would try their utmost to stay out of sight of the two.
But Fii had never experienced that at all. Fii had only entered high society for a year, merely as an extra to Fiiru. Because she had no experience at all, she didn’t fit in with the n.o.bles and always ended up as a wallflower.
And even in those gorgeous parties, with Fiiru, the incredibly beautiful and resplendent star of the party present, who in their right mind would go out of their way to speak to the inferior and presumptuous Fii?
It might have been a tough time for Fii.
She had no prospects for her future nor did she have anything she really wanted to do, so they were just days spent killing time until each party ended.
Due to that, she wondered if, at this rate, she wouldn’t be able to find a husband and would instead be forcefully married to some n.o.ble in Déman.
But perhaps she had wished for that at the bottom of her heart. She didn’t need love. Even a political marriage was fine if her husband would properly look at her. Spending time with someone like that would have been enough.
But well, the point was that Fii had no experience, and although she had happily agreed to help Crow, she really didn’t have the faintest clue on what to do.
On the other hand, Crow was worrying about his dress-wearing kouhai too.
(How on earth am I supposed to treat him. He’s wearing a dress, but should I just treat him as normal? No, but then this is training, so should I treat him like a woman? But man, he really does look like a girl, huh…)
Crow turned his gaze to the town and gazed Fii’s profile as she stood in a daze.
Even though she should have been the same as usual, somehow with the evening sky on her cheeks and the red sun reflected in her eyes, she seemed almost magical. When she stood silently like this, she only looked like some girl he didn’t know.
Her eyes turned towards Crow.
For a while they stared at each other silently, but,
“Crow-san, can I go buy some soap? I ran out recently,”
she said.
After thinking about dates for a while, that was the answer Fii came to. She had never gone on a date before, nor did she know if this even counted as one. While she was thinking all this, what occurred to her was that she ran out of soap just recently.
Fii had considered borrowing off Doug, but for some reason he hated going to the bathing area with her. Thanks to that, she was borrowing Gorms’ as always.
Still, even she felt a little guilty about borrowing so much of his.
Since she was in town now, it was a good chance.
“Yeah, there’s still some time until nightfall. Just use this time to buy whatever you need,” replied Crow, scratching his head.
Crow escorted plenty of women around, and making them feel comfortable was supposed to be second nature to him. But for some reason, when it came to Heath in women’s clothing, he didn’t know what to do.
Well of course. Because Heath wasn’t a girl and was just his crossdressing kouhai, he told himself.
For some reason though, he felt relief when Heath spoke instead.
“Yes!”
Fii smiled at Crow’s response, and the two of them headed down to town together.
As expected of Orstoll perhaps you could say, because even at this hour, the streets were bustling with people.
Fii ended up knocked over by one of the pedestrians, and she lost her balance.
“Wawah-”
Thanks to the unfamiliar heels, she was going to fall at this rate. Crow supported her with one arm.
“Thank you very much, Crow-san.”
“Be careful, geez.”
After somehow getting back up with Crow’s help, Fii creased her eyebrows.
“These shoes are so hard to walk in. May I take them off?”
“Don’t give up so early in your training… Or rather, what are you gunna do if you take them off? Look, just walk a bit behind me. It’ll probably make things easier.”
With that, Crow held Fii’s hand and moved her back. Like that, they began walking a little slower this time.
(Oohh…)
Fii was impressed. Thanks to Crow’s large shoulders, all the pedestrians were knocked away instead.
To think that there was a technique like this.
“It’s because you do things like this that girls fall for you, isn’t it. They don’t call you a womaniser for show.”
No sooner had she praised him did a chop rain down on her head.
“Dumba.s.s. I’m doing this for you.”
Crow had decided just to treat her as he usually did. After all, Fii was acting like normal too.
Well, he was a bit worried over whether this would really be any practice though.
Still, it wasn’t a bad feeling.
After entering a general goods store in the shopping street, Fii bought three bars of soap.
One of them was a thank you for Gorms.
After that, she noticed some oddly shaped cups. They seemed to be porcelain, but the design was a bit weird. A fifth of the handle tapered upwards.
And apparently this cup was selling quite well. There seemed to have been many earlier, but right now only two or three remained.
While she stared at them out of reflex, the shopkeeper called out to her.
“Miss, you’ve got a good eye. This is porcelain from the Kingdom of Karand, and its shape was apparently designed by the Holy Maiden of Light, Fiiru-sama. Allegedly it’s shaped like the hand of G.o.d, and prays for peace and prosperity in the world. Truly worthy of the Holy Maiden of Light who brings prosperity to our own country. It’s really popular here too.”
Fii was puzzled at his words.
(Holy Maiden of Light…? Bring prosperity to the country…?)
In Déman, they had believed in the Purase Faith.
It was common in that religion to refer to people like Fiiru, who held mysterious powers, as miko. But there weren’t any teachings about bringing prosperity to the country or anything.
Certainly she had a rare gift and they should be thankful for it, but it wasn’t some power that you could expect too much from. Nor was there any legend like this.
Plus, Orstoll should have followed the Purase Faith as well.
All the things the shopkeeper talked about were actually more in line with the Yunil Faith of the Holy Kingdom of Luciana.
(I guess people’s thoughts change between nations.)
Since Fii had never left Déman before this, she wasn’t clear on how Orstollians treated religion.
As Fii gazed at the strangely shaped cup, she thought about her younger sister who she hadn’t seen in a while.
(I wonder if Fiiru is doing well.)
“Fiiru-sama hasn’t been appearing in events lately, but they say that it’s proof that His Majesty has really taken to her! According to the people who have seen her, she is apparently as beautiful and filled with kindness as the rumours say. It makes sense that His Majesty wouldn’t want her to appear in public too often. My, how blessed!”
The shopkeeper continued talking by Fii’s side.
(I hope she’s at least living happily.)
According to Lynette, she was doing fine.
She didn’t have a very good impression of the King of Orstoll, but she wanted Fiiru to get along with him. After all, it wasn’t often a princess could marry for love. She wanted her little sister to be happy.
After thinking about Fiiru for a while, Fii gently put down the cup and left the shop.
“Oh? Are you not going to buy one!? Everybody loves these!”
The shopkeeper called out to stop them, but Fii left the shop with Crow. Crow once again stood in front for her. Really, his name as a pick-up artist wasn’t for show.
As she listened to the receding voice of the shopkeeper, Fii thought one thing to herself.
That no matter how you thought about it, that cup looked hard to drink from.