19. Megane-kun, Reunion with Childhood Friend as well
「—Horun, who is the villager that arrived… Ah.」
Ah.
From behind Horun who"s drowning in doubt, a face I know of came out.
「You, aren"t you Eil!?」
His name is Lexton. After the Ceremony of Determination three years ago, he left Albat village right away, such is my childhood friend. Lexton has a big build and is strong since he was a child. He was the boss of the brats from the small village.
That was up until my sister meddled, however.
He made a pa.s.s at my sister, who was only a little girl back then, and bullied her, but, instead, he got beaten black and blue and became her henchman no. 1 ever since. Horun is strong since she was a child after all. How I put it, she wasn"t a human but more like a beast whose wildness is uncontained.
I wonder if her atmosphere has changed by now.
Ever since they became the village"s two top idiots, they did idiotic things together and reaped what they sow together. Must be because I took no interest in them, I"m not familiar with the details of what happened. Horun and Lexton started to hang out in a flashy manner, and I became more and more reclusive. Not long after, I became a hunter"s disciple. Maybe he knows Horun more than I do because of that.
He"s a giant just as ever. However, as he"s more burly than before, he gives out the feeling of a young muscular adventurer. Unlike Horun, he"s dressed lightly without any armor, so his steel-like bulky muscles inside his shirt are showing.
—Frankly speaking, while both are the village"s idiots, Lexton is still better than Horun after all.
I suppose.
Is there really someone in this world who has a talent that exceeds my sister? If there is, I am pretty sure that person will not be born in the same village.
「Eil? …He has the same name as my brother.」
That was a shocking statement. To think she won"t realize even after my name was mentioned. I thought my sister didn"t change, but is she not a little more polished than before?
「Not the same name, the same person! He"s your brother!」
The second most idiot person from the village stands to correct her. I"m speechless. I don"t want to be seen as a person involved with them so I won"t say anything. …Well, everyone here is involved, so there goes my resistance.
Horun laughed heartily, then looked up to the giant.
「Idiot aren"t you, Lex?」
Isn"t it infuriating when an idiot says you"re an idiot? It"s not addressed to me, but I still got furious. It"s like; look who"s saying. Naturally, Lexton who was told that is also furious.
「My little brother doesn"t grow something weird like that on his head.」
Don"t say Megane as something that grows. It doesn"t grow in the first place. It"s not a part of my head. It"s already a part of my heart, but still, it doesn"t grow.
「Horun.」
As expected, I don"t want to see any more of my relative"s disgraces.
I take off my 「Megane」 then called out to her.
Just like two years ago.
「Ah, it"s Eil.」
I put on my 「Megane」.
「…Are you really Eil?」
I take off my 「Megane」.
「It"s Eil.」
I put on…
「Don"t play around with it! What are you two doing!?」
No, I think that was me who was being played around with.
「In the end, who is he then?」
If only my sis had the self-consciousness, though.
「Horun, it"s me.」
I stand up, then face my sister whose height is a little bit taller than mine.
「Your brother whom you bid farewell in Albat village two years ago.」
All the while thinking something like; what kind of reunion with a relative that requires me to say that far. If this continues as is, I"ll keep on exposing my relative"s shame, so, with no other choice, I speak it out clearly. I say something obvious. There was no other choice.
「Ah, so you really are Eil? You came to play in the royal capital?」
She finally recognizes me, it seems.
Phew… dealing with my sister after two years is, well, tiring. The reason why I don"t handle people properly is that it"ll only tire me out if I do otherwise, and that was something I learned from sister, wasn"t it?
⟺
Laila, who brought Horun here, together have thought up a plan. The one who has an empty schedule is Lexton. Since my room is narrow, we meet up with Laila who"s waiting outside then go to the diner around here.
As we reached our table, Lexton smiled at me 「Long time no see, Eil」.
…Hmm.
He"s Lexton the village"s number two"s idiot, yet his impression of being an idiot is mostly gone. He looks like a young man with a refreshing smile. An intellectual… or not, I can"t tell, but he has a calm demeanor. He"s a year older than my sister, so either 18 or 19, huh. It might be because he has experienced many things in the royal capital, and has grown mature as a person.
「What"s with that megane? You"ve been doing good?」
「Don"t mind the megane. You too, seem to be doing fine.」
Lexton had been training since he was a child, saying that he wanted to be an adventurer. Although he drew a normal 「talent」 in the Ceremony of Determination, he left the village in that very day for the royal capital. I think he returned to the village once in the last three years since he left.
However, while indeed he"s close with sister, he isn"t as much close to me, so I didn"t see him nor talk with him when he returned. I was also busied with my learning to be a hunter back then.
「I didn"t expect you would join up with Horun.」
「Neither did I. I didn"t expect we"ll hang out together even after I went to the royal capital.」
Although, the Horun in question is currently browsing the menu with a dead-serious face on her. She was certainly wondering which dish has the most meat in it, or which meat she"ll eat. She"s always been such a serious fellow when it comes to food since the past.
「Are you also a member of 『Black Swan of Dawn』, Lexton?」
「Yeah. That being said, I"m still treated as an underdog tho. I finally become a One Star adventurer just recently. 」
Heeh. Well, with his physique being like that, he"s also quite skilled, so they must have been antic.i.p.ating growth from him.
Well, let"s put the matter with Lexton aside. As a relative, I"m more curious about my sister"s condition than his.
「Why does Horun have a second name like 『Saintess』 that doesn"t suit her?」
That"s what I"m most curious about. In the end, what is this 「Saintess of Demon Exorcism」 thing? Is it a cynicism that caused by misinformation?
「It"s because she"s been accepting every request that comes from people in need of help. She doesn"t hesitate to accept a difficult job without giving a glance to the reward, you see. She"s always like that.」
That"s right. Horun is always that kind of person since the beginning. She"s the type that will come to help anyone in trouble, even if she is told as being meddlesome. She"s the person who will give 「Shut up, idiot」 as opposed to someone who says it"s something tough or annoying. She"s someone who will offer hands and help the elderly every here and there then go to play around soon after as if she doesn"t know fatigue.
That"s why I say she has the caliber to be a big-shot. She"s too honest with her desires and instinct to a fearsome degree that the conclusion of her being an 「idiot」 is wasted on her.
I see, so she does the same thing even in the royal capital, then got called a 『Saintess』 huh. …Though I think calling her as a simplistic beast is definitely more fitting.
「I know saying this now is a bit useless.」
While we"re in the middle of talk between fellow villagers from the same hometown, Laila who had been minding not to intrude joined us.
「You see, my village was facing trouble last year. We sought help from the Adventurer"s Guild. It was Horun-oneesama who took the initiative and made a move for us.」
Aah, is that so. If that"s the case, then it"s no wonder she"s calling her Onee-sama and yearning for her.
「Right, Horun-oneesama?」
「Shut up. Talk to me after I"m done choosing the meat.」
Unchanging as ever. The part where she takes no notice of Laila"s smile or the part where meals take more priority than talking to her brother she hasn"t met in two years.
「Dad and mom are worried… not really, but they are thinking about you. You never come home in the last two years after all.」
「Shut up. Talk to me after I choose whether goat meat or deer meat to eat.」
Yeah.
There is no doubt, she"s my sister.