Preparations and then…
The next day, Maki and Chiharu went out into the city, were shocked at the attention they got, and quickly returned to the inn. Even during the afternoon, there were enough people there to create lines.
“Haha. Our economic impact.”
"We"re really helping their business."
Still, they didn"t want to rely on Edmond"s help, but they had no choice. And so they decided to take him up on his offer. They visited his store, all the while drawing more attention.
"Oh, you finally came."
"Sorry for annoying you like this."
"Um…"
Chiharu trailed off and so Edmond shooed away the spectators. Maki and Chiharu looked at each other and nodded. Then they pulled off their wigs.
"Black hair! Could you two be the Saintesses?"
"Apparently, yes."
"So that is why the miasma has thinned recently..".
The two fixed their wigs back on as Edmond muttered with satisfaction.
“Still, I didn"t hear anything about the Saintesses coming with the soldiers.”
"Yes, we arrived three days ago from Garonce."
"With Kaider and Nyran."
Edmond was surprised by this.
"The third son was your guard? But…"
"No, we were disguised. As siblings of 14 and 12."
"So the children he was looking for yesterday was…"
"It was us."
Maki said apologetically.
"However, it would take nearly a week to travel through Garonce. Maybe 10 days with women and children. And he never found out?"
"Yes."
"Is the prince blind?"
"It"s hard to say…"
Maki chuckled.
“It is no wonder that he thought he recognized you then… Heh, hahaha.”
The sophisticated men burst into laughter. Well, it was pretty funny. Though, we were really desperate.
"This was just a disguise to escape the castle, but Kaider and Nyran caught us early, I mean, they kindly looked after us."
"And so you had to remain in your disguises. I see. So that is why there were no rumors."
He nodded to himself.
“However, I think it was a good thing. You would have been immediately recognized if you changed back into ladies.”
Maki and Chiharu felt this very clearly today and yesterday.
"But why did you have to slip away from Midland like that? Was there a problem in that country?"
Edmond asked with concern.
"Oh, not at all. If anything, they treated us very nicely."
"But we were just normal working civilians in our own world. It was suffocating to be treated as important."
"They were going to send us to these dwarf lands on a private train."
Maki and Chiharu explained. They had been so nice, that it was hard to tell them that it wasn"t what they wanted.
"I see, I see."
And then he asked somewhat dubiously.
"So why have you come to me today? I doubt it was to tell me your troubles."
"Yes, the truth is…"
The two explained that they wanted to go to Gromble and that if they were going to do that, they would like to do so as helpers like Kaider had suggested.