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Chapter 20
The Melancholy of Maya
“The Rose Maidens Blooming on High” had succeeded in capturing the runaway Saint Sefilia. They returned to their regular inn, “The Golden Bell”, where they were in the middle of a strategy meeting up in the Royal Suite.
“So, you"re saying that you went on ahead, all by yourself… on purpose?”
“I had to… with Kein-sama…”
Once again, the “sword princess” (idiot) was arguing with the “saint” (airhead).
I guess that"s what happens if you leave them alone. It"s scary to think that they could keep on talking this way forever, completely missing each other"s point.
“When Kein eventually becomes a brand-new S rank adventurer, he"ll join us as a party member, of course. I"m taking steps to prepare for it, even now.” said Anastrea.
“The pledge, I have to make it. Because… Kein-sama is my destiny.” Said Sefilia in her characteristic halting way of speaking.
These guys are hopeless.
I"m really tired of b.u.t.ting in and setting them straight all the time but, just silently watching them like this is even more tiring somehow.
“Ahh jeeze, just stop talking you two. First of all, sword princess. Quit saying ‘Kein, Kein" every time you suggest something unreasonable.”
“You make it sound like I"m barking like a dog! I"m not!”
“No, that would be ‘Kyain, Kyain" instead. 1 Well at least you can pick up on something like that… But Anhime, you"ve forgotten why we even came to this town, haven"t you?"
“I haven"t forgotten! It was to prevent the revival of the evil G.o.d that was sealed on Mount Shide, and to stop the onslaught of monsters."
“Right, so you do get it.”
“That"s why we have to train Kein, so he can be our new member.”
“Oh, gimme a break!” Maya said in exasperation.
For a D rank adventurer to increase their rank all the way up to S rank, it could take 100 years. It"s not just a matter of training for three days, it"s a huge effort that needs to be taken seriously. Anhime, despite being a genius with a sword, has a terrifying lack of common sense.
“Kein-sama… train.” Saint Sefilia is saying it now too.
Even more terrifying, the sword princess (idiot) and saint (airhead) are both agreeing.
To Maya, those two, who had somehow gone head over heels for a middle-aged man, had totally lost their minds.
“I… support using the Saint"s Pledge on Kein.”
“No way, that"s impossible!” Maya grumbled.
“But the ritual for the Pledge seems kinda ecchi somehow, I think it"s gross for it to be between a guy and a girl!”
Anhime"s fingers began to twitch and she crossed her arms, while her cheeks slowly dyed red.
Even though Anastrea looks like the type to just go go go without worry, she is surprisingly sensitive when it comes to the opposite gender. She"ll talk about all sorts of things in a roundabout way, and is totally unable to speak about Kein (who she accidentally fell in love with) directly, I fear.
Well, even though she"s had a princess" upbringing, she seems to be a late bloomer which is also cute in a way. Maya let out a sigh.
“The Pledge… isn"t ecchi.”
“B-but for a guy and a girl to embrace so closely like that is kind of, you know…” Anhime"s cheeks steadily became even more red.
Again, they"ve changed topics.
“Sefilia, Sefilia. If you can already make the Saint"s Pledge, then why not make it for Anhime?” Maya tried to reason with the saint.
“No.”
“What d"ya mean? It"s clearly meant to defeat the evil G.o.d, why else would the ritual still be secret-ish?”
Maya, who was practically a daughter to the great sage, knew about folktales old and new in great detail, including those about the evil G.o.d.
According to ancient legend, it was said the Saint"s Pledge granted sacred power to the hero. It would be a huge crisis if something like the evil G.o.d resurrected, as foretold by the legend.
Yet, they had the greatest swordsman of their time with them, Anhime. So naturally, now would be exactly the right time to give her the Saint"s Pledge, right?
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"The one who will defeat the evil G.o.d… is not the hero, but the virtuous one.” Sefilia replied.
"That again? What are you talking about virtuous? If all we needed was just a good-natured middle-aged guy to defeat the evil G.o.d, then n.o.body would ever suffer."
On the contrary, during their last struggle trying to prevent the revival of the evil G.o.d, Sefilia had already died once. This wasn"t a joking matter at all.
It is true that Kein, despite being old enough to be an uncle, had helped with Sefilia"s resurrection. Even Maya felt grateful towards him for that. But that still didn"t mean she could allow them to throw away their one trump card, The Saint"s Pledge, on a middle-aged guy pointlessly.
“Kein-sama… has a good smell.”
“W-w-what the heck are you saying?!”
“The same smell as my father.”
“Wait, then what kind of smell was it?”
Another topic change.
Why have these two, who both aren"t even half the age of this 30-something uncle, fallen so in love with him? Maya tilted her head to one side.
Could it be a father complex? In that sense, Maya, who hated all men aside from her foster father, the great sage Dana Lean, could be said to have one herself.
To Maya, Kein seemed merely a nice middle-aged man, nothing more.
“Hey, Sefilia. Why do you think that this middle-aged Kein will become the virtuous one who will defeat the evil G.o.d? No matter how airheaded, it"s Sefilia who is the holy Saint, a position that n.o.body else can be. If your reason is based on something mythological, I"ll give it some thought.”
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With a hmm, Sefilia tilted her head to one side, then answered.
“….my Saint"s intuition?”
That"s totally unreliable.
Maya realized that Sefilia didn"t have any bad intentions in saying it, but to let the hope of this country depend on such a vague reason? There"s no way she could allow it.
“As I suspected, there"s no way we can use the Saint"s Pledge on the middle-aged Kein.” Maya said.
“Yeah, as I said before, it"s too ecchi and no good……” Anhime said quietly, as she seemed to be confused.
“Maya… meanie”
“Anyways, it"s no good so that"s that. Well then, for today, let"s go and investigate the mountain as before.”
“If we"re doing that, Kein will probably hunt for herbs again, so let"s follow him.”
“Well, I guess that"s fine.”
An abnormal outbreak of monsters had also been reported on Mount Shide, the mountain next to Mount Kuko.
You could argue that following after Kein, while searching for monsters to defeat on Kuko mountain, which was closer to town, was also an acceptable goal for “The Rose Maidens Blooming on High”.
Although Maya had a feeling it wouldn"t turn out to be just a simple outing, in the end, Maya really loved beautiful girls so she couldn"t bring herself to oppose the sword princess.
[Author"s Note]
20 chapters are finally complete. The next chapters will be about The Witch Maya.
[Translator"s Note]
This chapter, despite being short, took longer to translate than I had expected! Grappling with Kansai dialect (which Maya speaks in) and puns here and there made it more difficult than I had antic.i.p.ated, but I think it"s helpful to learn from in the long run. As the next few chapters are supposed to focus on Maya, I might take longer than usual trying to translate her casual, Kansai dialect way of speaking. Thank you for your patience everyone.
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Dear readers, Refulgent here, if you"re reading this on an aggregator site, this chapter may contain errors or broken reference links. Please visit FourSlimes dot com to read the properly edited version and show the translator your support.
Translator"s NotesMaya"s making a pun that kyain, kyain (the sound of a dog yelping in j.a.panese) sounds similar to Kein, Kein.