Really annoying to translate this Jaunis guy. He talks like… those flashy high school boys who swap syllables around, you know? There"s a guy in Grimgar who talks like that, I think Lowain in Granblue does too…
Chapter 23 - Angelica"s Party
I used invisibility magic on myself and followed after Angelica. That said, there was quite a bit of distance between us. This was a party of adventurers, after all; if I got too close, I was worried that they might be able to detect my presence. My vision was good, though, so even at a distance I would be able to tell what was going on.
Angelica sure is fast, though. Speed-walking is supposed to be a good form of exercise, but not at that velocity. I wonder if all adventurers travel this quickly on highways. However, some distance after pa.s.sing the last house on the road, Angelica suddenly began looking around surrept.i.tiously. I wonder why? Was there something she wanted to hide from the public?
"Hero, hero, what a brave hero, hmhmm♪ hmhmm♪"
She started humming a super-weird song!!!
"Hero, hero, the fighting hero~, hmhmhm♪"
Not only that, the lyrics were really bad. She had to have made them up herself! This was an original Angelica creation!
"Hero kick! Hero punch! Evil will~ be~ purged~♪"
Yikes. This was not a beneficial discovery for me. Actually, I felt embarra.s.sed myself for stumbling onto this secret. However, these were the risks that come with following someone. I"d just have to bear with it.
At long last, Angelica arrived at the next town and met up with the mage girl Selene. I briefly dispelled my invisibility to go into town and buy some bread. I would need food on my stakeout. I then recast my invisibility spell, now also including the bread.
Since Angelica was no longer alone, conversation topics naturally arose.
"Say, Angelica, after that incident, have things gone well with the demon lord?" the mage girl Selene asked. Oops, I had become their natural conversation topic!
"I don"t know what you mean by "well," exactly, but we haven"t gotten into any big fights, at least not yet. I think I"ll have to chase him out if he tried to turn our house into something like a demon lord"s castle, though."
Of course I"d never do something so ridiculous! At least consider the location a bit. Clearly, a tranquil farming village and a dark, imposing castle don"t mesh at all. It"d be h.e.l.l to defend, too.
"As I thought, mister demon lord must be a very sensible person."
"Selene, I think you"re looking at this from the wrong angle altogether. The hero"s mother getting married to the demon lord is itself a situation that completely lacks sense."
Yep; on this point, I think Angelica is completely right. Though I didn"t see myself as a stereotypical example of a demon lord.
"I am sure "tis only natural for relations to be strained at first, but, eventually, I believe you will acknowledge him as your father figure. Then, maybe there will even come a time when you will want to be pampered by him to your heart"s delight."
"Oh, please. In the first place, the demon lord fell in love with Mama, so I"m just whatever. As long as neither one of us meddles with the other, that"s fine by me."
I can"t say I didn"t see her point, but, after getting remarried, the way I saw it, she was now my daughter. I"ll show her that I can raise her into a splendid adult. Yes, you shall become a wonderful successor to the demon lord!
Hm? Wait, there was something strange about a hero succeeding a demon lord……
"Brrr… I just got the chills for some reason…"
"Oh my, perhaps your stomach is upset."
"No, it was a feeling like someone was planning to do something horrible to me…"
"There is no longer a demon lord for you to worry about, so no such person should exist."
Once again, Angelica was actually the one who was correct. Let"s slow down the topic of the next demon lord. Angelica didn"t have the blood of a demon lord, so I should just take my time figuring things out.
Angelica"s party would be gathering at the guild in the next town up the road, it seemed. The priestess of the G.o.ddess, Nahalin, had already arrived. She was a short girl. At first glance, she didn"t appear to be old enough to be going on adventures.
"Receive the blessings… of G.o.d…"
She had a cloth covering her mouth, so I was unable to see the finer details of her expressions. I wonder if she knew that hiding her mouth had the effect of stimulating the imaginations of those looking at her, causing her to seem more beautiful?
"Yep, yep, I"m sure receiving them. All right, Nahalin, let"s work hard today too."
"We shall be in your care, Nahalin."
"Very well."
Nahalin nodded her head twice. She seemed like a pretty strange girl. Although, considering that she was able to join Angelica"s party, she must have some degree of real skill.
Then, another member of their party arrived, calling out, "I"m here—!"
The final two members were both men. I need to be cautious of them. However, truthfully, this next human did not seem very masculine. Rather, he looked more like a female fighter with a bob cut. Wait, what? Wasn"t the fighter Zenkay a boy? Did I mishear…?
"Sorry, sorry, I spent a little too much time looking at snacks and ended up getting here late."
"It"s fine, Zenkay. As always, Jaunis is still last."
Well then, this did appear to be Zenkay. He had adopted a pose of contrition with both of his hands slapped together then held in front of him.
"All right then, do you guys want to grab a snack while we wait? I know a good macaron place."
Even his choice of snacks is really feminine!
"Macarons are good, but they"re a little pricey. I"d rather have something a bit more filling."
"In that case, there"s a nice pancake place too, so let"s go!"
"Zenkay really knows a lot about sweets."
"I too should like to partake. I am in thy debt."
Hmm… Really, all I can see are girls. However, I suppose this means I don"t really need to worry about this Zenkay fellow. He doesn"t seem to be particularly going after Angelica. In fact, his girl power was undoubtedly higher than hers. Well, as long as she grew up healthy, it wouldn"t really be a problem even if she were somewhat of a rascal or a tomboy.
However, their girls-only (?) atmosphere suddenly shifted.
"Heyoo~ I guess I"m kinda late. My bad, my bad."
A man with short, bristly hair called out to Angelica"s party.
"Jaunis has joined the partaaay. Thanks for waitin", you guys are so schway."
This must be the thief, Jaunis. He was even more of a playboy than I imagined. Now that I think about it, who actually says "schway" these days? Maybe he was actually the opposite of a playboy?
"How frivolous…" the priest Nahalin huffed. On the surface, it really did seem like their personalities were polar opposites.
"Scoozi, scoozi, Nahalin loli queen. I"ll be doin" mah best, kaaay?"
I truly had to be wary of this one. There was a chance that he would try to prey on Angelica!
— — Chapter 24