“Haaah...”
I dropped a heavy sigh. Presently, I was rocking about inside in the Aquarain family carriage. With an unchanging scenery outside the window, the carriage was running steadily up the mountain road. And next to me was my beloved Cecilia.
Our destination was the mountain village, Dagaz, a 6-hour carriage ride from Minerva.
Just a little getaway, alone with Cecilia. ...Is what I would have liked it to be.
"Wheee~! My first carriage ride~!"
For some reason Shiek was also here. He was hanging his head outside the window like a dog on the highway. As to how this all came about, let"s go back a little in time to this morning.
“...Morning already?”
I got up from my bed in my rented room at the inn. Light trickled in through the window, signaling the start the of the day.
Looking at the bed next to mine, Shiek was gone. That guy who always slept in the most awkward positions was suddenly missing.
I wasn’t woken up, and he didn"t bother to wake me...where on earth could he have gone?
"Yeesh, after Hapyneth and Duke left it"s been one thing after another..."
Since Hapyneth was abducted by Sophia-san, and Duke was taken by Raven, I alone was left to be Shiek"s guardian-c.u.m-playmate.
Back when we were in the Demon Castle, the three of us shared that duty. However, I can"t help that they"re already gone. They won"t come back no matter how much I might complain.
Today I had promised to meet with Cecilia. I made myself presentable, then left the Inn and headed to the Aquarain family mansion.
"I"m so sorry. I was suddenly called in for work. And after I was the one that invited you over for tea, too."
...Is what I heard upon arriving at the mansion. Apparently some cleric work came in for her to do. She was already getting ready to leave in the carriage. Some bandits had descended upon a mountain village, and although they were chased off, a large number of serious injuries had been suffered.
The bandits could attack again at any time, and with no trained clerics in the vicinity they wouldn"t be able to recover in time. That is what Cecilia reasoned from the information she was given.
"It can"t be helped if it"s for work... Oh wait, I know! Take me with you!"
I had already been looking forward to spending all day with Cecilia since yesterday, so why not? Not only that, I wanted to be useful to her as well.
"...But, this is a job I have accepted. I couldn"t possibly impose on you, Youki-san..."
"Oh my, I"m sure it would be fine, wouldn"t it dear?"
As Cecilia was being reluctant, Celia-san suddenly appeared from behind.
"It could be dangerous if bandits appear again. I"m sure my Cecilia would be fine by herself, however, just in case, please take Youki-kun with you."
Cecilia thought about it for a moment. Celia-san wanting someone to accompany her daughter was a big deal.
"...I understand. As Youki-san is also capable of using healing magic, he should be sufficient as a bodyguard. I"m sorry to impose upon you, but would you please accompany me, Youki-san?"
She asked me as if she thought I might refuse, not that she had to be so formal about it.
This was a chance given to me by Celia-san. I"ll make sure to show off all my good points, and trigger events to raise her approval.
“With pleasure, I would love to accompany you.”
After hearing more details, it looked like we"ll be staying at our destination for a short while. Two, maybe three days lodging in the village.
Because of that, since I had no change of clothes on me, I had to run back to the inn to gather my luggage.
“All right, I’ll be right back.”
I waited until Cecilia and Celia-san were out of sight, then I booked it to the inn. Upon arriving at the Inn, I quickly gathered my things, and headed back to the mansion at full speed. Up to this point, I thought it was gonna be a small little getaway with just me and Cecilia.
“Wheee~”
For some reason, when I got back to the mansion, I found Shiek already inside the carriage. Cecilia was also in the carriage, while Celia-san wore a troubled smile that said something like "Oh my, oh my, whatever shall we do".
Seeing me, Celia-san quickly made her way to me and whispered,
"I"m so sorry, Youki-kun. Just after you left for the inn, Shiek came by. After we told him what was going on, he said he wanted to go too."
Apparently, Shiek was just pa.s.sing by the mansion. I had been wondering where he wandered off to this morning, however… If I"d any idea he"d come by the mansion… If only I could have gotten here earlier, or took some shortcuts or something!
"Both Cecilia and I tried to appeal to him that it would be very dangerous, but Shiek-kun started throwing a fit, and in the end we conceded."
I knew Shiek to be very bull-headed. Older women were especially weak to his young, boyish crying face. That little twerp Shiek, once he"s set his sight on something, he gets it.
"Ah man...Guess there"s no helping it. Even I"m not capable of persuading that kid."
Even with Hapyneth and Duke, between the three of us there were still times we couldn’t get Shiek to listen. I"ll just chalk it up to having bad luck today.
"I"m so sorry. Really, I had planned for this to be a short getaway for the two of you..."
Looks like Celia-san and I both had the same plan in mind. But, since Shiek looked like a little kid, it couldn"t be helped.
"Well, it doesn"t change the fact that I"ll be going along with Cecilia. And Shiek is kind of a friend anyway..."
He shouldn"t be too much of a nuisance. And though he looked the way he does, he"s proficient with herbal plants and has medicinal knowledge, so he could help heal the injured. He could also be counted on in a fight.
He wasn"t just my underling for show. The truth was, he was plenty powerful in his own right.
"Oh my, is that so? What a relief. Have a safe trip, then!"
And just like that, my conversation with Celia-san ended, and I boarded the carriage.
"Captain~ Did you abandon me on purpose~? You"re horrible~”
Shiek clung to me as soon as I got into the carriage and started complaining up a storm. I"m not a Shotacon so I wished he"d hurry up and let me go. Cecilia just cheerfully watched us argue back and forth.
I"m glad that Cecilia didn"t seem to mind the extra baggage. Back in my old life I knew plenty of my crushes who would have had a fit over something like this.
“Shall we be on our way then?”
And thus the carriage began its journey to Dagaz village.
And that’s how we got to this point.
"Shiek-kun, you really do look like a child like that."
And it was true. He was hanging all over the open window just like an over excitable kid. Even though the scenery hadn"t changed much at all, he was still having just as much fun looking at everything as when he started.
"Shiek never got out of the castle much either."
When I first set foot outside the castle, I also thought this fantasy world was amazing. Of course it was also in part due to his natural childlike behavior, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity.
"I"m a little relieved you both came with me. I may be done with my work sooner than I antic.i.p.ated!"
For sure, with my healing magic and Shiek"s medicinal knowledge we"d wrap this job up nice and quick. Even on the off chance the bandits did attack again, I was certain Shiek could annihilate them on his own.
"Just leave it to us! ...And if we do finish early...could we, maybe, go out somewhere, together...?"
"Captain~ Are you gonna go have fun somewhere when we get back~? I wanna go too~"
“...”
I knew Shiek wasn"t trying to c.o.c.kblock me, his smile was too innocent. Cecilia was even looking at him with a happy motherly gaze.
And so, my date proposal having ended in failure, I propped my arm up on the window sill overlooking the unchanging landscape, and drifted off into my own little world.