It was late evening.
Unlike her usual self, Nainiae was all stretched out like a laundry hanging on the string. She was being supported by Riley.
“Ugh… My stomach…”
Tricked by Riley’s lies, Nainiae totally fell for it and had drank rice liquor as if it was water. She was not looking so well.
“Was that your first drink?”
It seemed Nainiae didn’t even have the strength to hold an umbrella. Peeking a smile, Riley asked.
“No. That is… I had some while I was in Lower Solia. However, they tasted so terrible, so I spat them out…”
“So, you are saying that this one was delicious?”
Riley asked while suppressing his laughter.
Nainiae responded with a downed face.
“… Yes.”
She was disappointed in herself because she drank with Riley despite the promise she made with Iris.
So, in other words, now she was an accomplice to Riley on the charge of drinking.
“Uuu..”
Even though she didn’t realize it, it still was a sin.
She was feeling guilty. Also, she was dizzy from being intoxicated.
Nainiae placed her hand on her forehead. She agonized over how she was going to go back to the mansion with this shame. She also worried about what to do with the pulsating headache.
‘Of anti-toxin magic spells, there must have been one for removing intoxication too… Of all things, I forgot that one.’
She wanted to get a grip of herself even if it was now.
Nainiae, who was following Riley, faltered due to intoxication. She also nodded her head around, and then… suddenly, she raised her head while saying ‘huk!?’
“I… didn’t doze off just now, right?”
It seemed she realized she was tightly hugging Riley’s arm. Nainiae, who had her face red from drinking too much, tumbled and let go of Riley’s arms as she asked.
“You were dozing off big time? Why?”
It seemed Riley was having fun with this.
“That can’t be… Ugh.”
Nainiae shook her head vigorously to wake up from intoxication. However, her pulsating head was giving her headache again. Riley, with suppressed laughter, asked,
“What should I do? Should I get you a hotel first? Do you need to rest?”
Riley was planning on going to do things on his own if Nainiae had a bad att.i.tude after being intoxicated. Fortunately, she was on the quiet side.
“Weren’t you planning on going somewhere?”
Nainiae, who pinched her waist as if she was whipping her eyelids in order to wake up from intoxication and sleepiness, asked.
“That’s right. I was going to a clothing store.”
The must-have item for the vacation in Rainfield was there.
“A clothing store?”
“Look, look.”
To Nainiae, who was tilting her head side to side, Riley explained by directing her gaze to the people pa.s.sing by with his finger.
“What are they wearing?”
It seemed she didn’t know about raincoat. She asked with a question mark floating on her face.
“Cape… right?”
Riley felt again that Nainiae was still lacking in basic knowledge on life. With his hand abruptly placed on top of her head, Riley explained,
“It’s called a raincoat. It’s a clothing that stops rain.”
“Ah.”
Looking at the people walking around without umbrellas, Nainiae was wondering if they were trying to catch cold. Nainiae nodded as if she finally understood.
“I need to get one for myself and another for you. I was going to get hotel afterwards. We can’t go around here with just an umbrella. Do you understand?”
Riley asked as he fixed his grip on the umbrella.
Nainiae quickly lowered her head.
“…”
‘What is this? Is she really sleeping?’
Riley tilted his head side to side. In order to confirm if Nainiae was really sleeping, he started to shake the hand that he had on top of Nainiae and mess up her hair.
“It’s fine with one umbrella…”
Nainiae, who had her head down, pursed her lips and murmured with a mosquito sized voice.
“Nainiae?”
“… Yes?!”
Nainiae, who just realized what she just said, tumbled, lifted her head and responded.
“J… Just now… I was dreaming, right?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Ah.”
Nainiae, with a vacant look on her face, opened her mouth.
‘Is this what people call drunk talk?’
“I’m sorry. For a moment… I was thinking about something else…”
Occasionally, Nainiae watched Ian making a fool of himself after being drunk, and she had concerned look on her face as she watched. However, she now realized that she was in no position to worry about someone else. She bit her lips.
“Are you really all right? You didn’t quite recover from the drink, have you?”
“I’m all right. You said you will be going to a clothing store, right?”
Nainiae, who was walking along with Riley as she stepped on puddled water, quickly glanced and checked Riley.
“…”
Perhaps it was because of dizziness from being drunk. Nainiae thought hard about if she should grab Riley’s sleeves or not. In the end…
‘Nainiae, wake up.’
She slowly shook her head and gave up her Young Master’s sleeves.
* * *
It was at Right Solia.
While sitting on the resting area outside of the temple, the archbishop Rebethra was looking down at the scenery of the city’s center. Having heard footsteps from the back, he turned his head.
“Archbishop! You were here?”
“Yes, have you looked in to it?”
“Yes! From what I found out, I heard that he departed to Rainfield two days ago by carriage.”
Having heard what the priest said, Libethra cringed, got up from the seat and asked again. It seemed he was hard of hearing lately.
“Um? Where again?”
“Yes, it’s Rainfield. You know about the place, right? It’s a city where it rains whole day… It’s perfect for vacation during summer…”
“… Rainfield?!”
“Huk!”
The priest, who was explaining about Rainfield, flinched his shoulder after hearing Libethra shouting all of sudden.
“Yes… That Rainfield. That’s what I have heard.”
“Why!?”
Rebethra furrowed his brows and asked. The priest mumbled on as he broke cold sweat.
“If you are going to ask me about the reason, I don’t know…”
“…”
Rebethra narrowed his eyes and leaned his face right toward the priest’s face. The look on Rebethra’s face was trying to say that he wanted the priest to make a conjecture on the reason behind Riley’s trip.
“Ah! It… it’s hot, so won’t that be it? It’s summer.”
“Because it is hot?”
Rebethra was still glaring at the priest.
It was certain water was not enough to extinguish the fire in his eyes.
“R… Rainfield is a city with endless rain. It’s cool there, and… there are a lot of things to see. Those would be plenty of reasons for Young Master Riley to go there… don’t you think?”
Hoping that he got the right answer, the priest smiled and tilted his head to the side.
“Ugh!”
Furrowing his brows, Rebethra turned his face.
Finally released from Rebethra’s glare, the priest sighed in relief as he turned his head to the side.
“Ugh. It’s so far to the Rainfield, so why?!”
“Well, it is pretty far.”
When the priest mumbled, Rebethra glared at him again. Rebethra then cringed, appearing to be suffering from a headache, and walked to inside of the temple.
“… It cannot be helped.”
“Uh? You are going?”
“I have to go! Is there any other way? He is the one in Priestess Priesia’s divine message. If he is the one, then I need to go see him even if it is far!”
STEP
STEP
Though the quiet temple, Rebethra’s steps echoed.
As if it was in response to his steps, from the other side, another set of footsteps could be heard.
“… Ah, Priestess Priesia.”
Having discovered Priesia walking from the other side, the priest and Rebethra both bowed to express their respect.
“Archbishop Rebethra.”
Priesia also bowed and called Rebethra.
“Yes.”
Rebethra responded. Priesia, who had her face covered under a veil, lifted the veil and looked at Rebethra.
“Are you going to see Young Master Riley?”
“…”
“I believe I have told you many times already. Nothing good will come from it.”
Priesia narrowed her eyes and expressed indirectly that he shouldn’t go.
Having heard her words, Rebethra also narrowed his eyes and lifted his head that was lowered.
“Priestess. Is that from a ‘divine message?’
‘…’
Having heard Rebethra’s question, Priesia’s fine eyebrows were furrowed.
It was because she didn’t want to say it was not the case.
“We should be focusing on G.o.ddess Irenetsa’s divine message now. We can’t forego the message just based on your opinion. This is a matter where the fate of Solia… No, the fate of the world depends on this.”
Priesia lowered the veil she had up. With a frustrated face, she sighed.
It was because she knew that saying things like ‘it doesn’t feel right, so don’t do it’ was not going to work.
“I certainly have told you many times already.”
“Yes, Priestess.”
“Nothing good will come from getting involved with Young Master Riley.”
“Yes.”
Rebethra responded politely and fiddled with his chin. He smiled like a good man and said,
“Still, he is the one in the divine message. He would at least hear out rambling of an old man… right?”
* * *
“Please wait a moment. I’ll dry it for you.”
“No.”
Having arrived at the clothing store, Nainiae was going to use dry magic to dry Riley’s soaked shoes and pants. Riley said there was no need, so she canceled the spells.
“Doesn’t it feel icky?”
“It’s fine. It’s not bad.”
Riley also liked feeling wet this way, so he asked her to cancel the dry magic and entered the clothing store.
“Ah, welcome! Are you here for raincoats?”
It seemed the store was busy because it was the peak season. The owner figured out what Riley wanted just based on his appearance and clothes and asked about raincoats.
“Yes. We are here for raincoats.”
“By any chance, are you a n.o.bility?”
Riley nodded, and the owner changed the look on his eyes. Rubbing his hands together, he started to pour out questions.
“By any chance, is there anything in particular you had in mind? Things like color or price range, or we can perform waterproof treatment for you as well.”
Having heard the very last part, Nainiae, who was standing behind Riley, tilted her head side to side and murmured,
“Waterproof treatment?”
“It’s making your clothes waterproof. We can make it so that the clothes will not get wet from the rain.”
If it was Solia, it sounded like something only alchemists could do.
Nainiae could not believe that an ordinary clothing store could do something like that. Her eyes filled with curiosity.
“That is… possible?”
“Yes! It’s Rainfield!”
Riley looked around the store while Nainiae and the store owner had a conversation about waterproofing. He picked up a white raincoat that appeared to be the right size and of decent quality. Riley walked to the cash register and said,
“I’ll buy this one.”
“Oh my! You have an eye for things!”
The shop owner complimented Riley’s taste.
Meanwhile, Riley heard his words through one ear and let it leave though the other ear. He looked at Nainiae and asked,
“Did you pick one?”
“That is…. I…”
Nainiae didn’t even look at raincoats. It seemed she was still drunk. Her face was still red. Hesitant, she slowly raised her arm.
“Huk?!”
Mana was sent to her leather bracelet, and dimensional storage s.p.a.ce was opened above. Seeing this, the owner of the shop, who was doing the bill, opened his eyes wide.
“I would like to… get waterproofing.”
“Waterproofing?”
“Will that be all right?”
Nainiae decided to ask for Riley’s permission before the shop’s owner. She asked carefully.
“All right. Go ahead.”
“Thank you, Young Master!”
It seemed she was very excited about the permission.
Nainiae smiled big and brought out Astroa’s cape. She handed it to the shop owner and said,
“This… Please make this waterproof.”
The cape, which had a hood attached, seemed like it would work just fine as a raincoat if it was waterproofed.
“Ah, yes! Could you wait for a while? I’ll get it done right away.”
The shop owner, who was handed the cape, went to the workroom behind the casher stand. Riley, who had his arms crossed, turned and looked at Nainiae.
“By the way, why did you choose that of all things? It has a hole in it, and its design stinks.”
The hole could be mended, so that was fine. However, even with that fixed, the cape’s design was not something that could be considered pretty.
“Ah, because it is efficient?”
Riley thought about the power that Astroa’s cape has. He remembered that the cape allowed the user to be unaffected by the weather.
“No. It’s not like that.”
“Really? Then why?”
“That is…”
Riley crumpled his face, not able to understand the reason.
Nainiae lowered her head a little and said,
“… Because it is something that you gave me.”