Not long after, Till calls out to Iris, and tells her it’s almost time for the harvest festival’s briefing session.
The clock tower shows it’s almost noon.
“By the way Till. There is some distance to the Luminous farm. If we are considering the burden placed on Mister Loyd and Sephilia, don’t you think they could do with another person to watch over the demon king?”
“I do not.”
Till answers immediately. She knows Iris is just trying to make excuses to slack off.
Iris responds with an exaggerated sigh.
“How foolish… Till, you obsess with small things too much. You need to look not at the small framework that is a schedule, but the large picture that is the world. As a representative of the goddess of order Emeraude, it is my duty to protect the order of this world.”
Till is annoyed by how Iris is talking down to her, and admonishes her with a tone that’s a little harsher.
“A little kid that can’t honor the commitments right in front of her cannot protect the order of the world.”
“Guh…! What difference does it make if the harvest festival is a day or two late?”
“Actually, that would be a big issue. A lot of people worked their schedules around it, and we can’t expect them to change it just because you feel like it.”
I say to Iris.
“You too Mister Loyd!? I always believed you would stick to my side…”
“I’m on the side that’s right.”
“Fine, then I will hold out until the end, even if I have to do so alone!”
Just what kind of battle is Iris fighting here?
“If you get too unreasonable, you’re getting a full course of bell peppers for dinner tonight.”
“Mu… That wouldn’t be good. It’s not fair to hold someone hostage through dinner…”
Bell peppers are Till’s trump card.
Till has won this battle, and Iris admits her defeat.
They go to the temple, and Isolte passes by them on her way from the adventurer guild.
“Oh? Leaving already Miss Iris?”
“Yes. Was there any problem, Isolte?”
“It’s nothing much, I just thought I would also go to the Luminous farm. I have a day off tomorrow, so I realized if I finish my work by nighttime, I can also go.”
She looks away, and fidgets a little like she’s embarrassed.
It seems everyone likes that farm. It sounds like she wants to go, but even though she doesn’t need to ask, I feel like she wants us to invite her.
“I would feel more reassured if you came with us.”
“Really!? Then we will leave this evening. I will have wagons ready by the mansion around four o’clock, so can you come over to my mansion?”
“All right, four o’clock it is.”
We make plans with Isolte, which means Sephilia and I will have to kill time until then with the demon king.
When the time comes, we go over to Isolte’s mansion, where two wagons are already waiting, with three people who look like attendants, and a beautiful lady holding a white parasol.
She’s wearing a loose white dress, and gives off the feeling of a high class lady.
Who is that? She waves at us before I can say hello.
It’s Isolte.
“Wah, I wasn’t expecting that. It’s Isolte. You look like a real young lady.”
“What is that supposed to mean? How rude. I should throw you in jail for your insolence.”
“Give me a break. I apologize.”
She doesn’t sound like she means it.
I always see her as a knight, so I completely forgot that she’s a noble lady.
She really looks like a real young lady when she’s like this. There’s this incredible noble lady aura to her. She’s like a different person, and really beautiful.
It’s surprising seeing someone who is always so sharp looking so ladylike.
Her attendants carry her luggage, and since there are four of us, we split into two groups to go to in the wagons.
Me and Isolte, and Sephilia and the demon king. We go with this because the demon king has taken to Sephilia the most. Even after she just reeducated her, Sephilia is number one. I think it’s because she’s normally the nicest to her.
And then we head to the Luminous farm.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning, around ten in the morning, we reach the Luminous farm, after spending the night in the wagons.
It’s been completely restored. The buildings blown away by the meteorite are back, and guests are having fun petting the animals.
We go around together for about two hours, but I’m still tired from traveling in the wagon, so now I’m sitting on a bench with Isolte to take a break.
Sephilia and the demon king are still going around and looking at things. They’re so full of energy…
Looking at them from here, they look like sisters.
“What do you think of the farm?”
“It’s been wonderfully restored. This is thanks to your help too.”
“No, I didn’t do much.”
“That’s not true. You brought the dwarves, and helped mediate between them and the adventurers.”
Did I? It doesn’t really feel that way to me, but I’m glad to have helped her if that’s the case.
“But… When I see a space as wide as this, it just makes me want to ride a horse at full speed.”
“We can ride horses over there, so how about we go together? But just riding doesn’t sound too fun, so how about we race with today’s lunch on the line?”
“Interesting. Just so you know, a former knight like me has plenty of experience riding horses. Can you beat that?”
She says with a smile.
“Hahaha, I also rode a horse a lot in my exclusive mage days.”
We ride horses for about an hour, with the victor being ambiguous.
When we’re done and get off the horses, we come across someone we weren’t expecting to see.
“Oh, if it isn’t Isolte and Loyd. It’s been a while. Why are you here?”
It’s Noir, the alchemist of Luminous.
The last time we met was that day we had a preparatory meeting to go to the beach, so about ten days ago. But today she’s not riding a golem, or wearing sunglasses.
It’s just Noir.
“I came here to visit with Loyd.”
“Eh, how unexpected. You have that kind of relationship?”
“N-no. That’s not it. We’re here with others.”
Noir responds with a nonchalant expression, but Isolte denies it with a flustered one.
“I’m joking. I have no interest in your relationship.”
“By the way, why are you here?”
Asks Isolte while crossing her arms and tilting her head.
I’m curious too. Noir isn’t just an alchemist, she’s the chief of the guild in Luminous, but she’s unrelated to the reconstruction.
She grins, and shows us a flier.
“I am inviting people to the fishing tournament. There are a lot of tourists here, so I figured I could get more participants♪.”
“You really like fishing uh…”
Says Isolte with an exasperated expression.
“N-not really! You’re the one who has it as a hobby!”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Suddenly, we’ve established one of Isolte’s interests. Maybe I should invite her sometime.
“You probably shouldn’t, Loyd.”
Says Noir with a smile, like she read my mind.
“What do you mean?”
“Isolte gets pretty annoying when it comes to fishing. She talks so much that it really isn’t fun.”
“Hey, Noir, don’t be rude like that like I’m not even here.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Umumu, I can’t deny that, but stop pointing out my flaws in front of Loyd.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
It’s actually really nice how she just apologizes. It’s small things like these that show a person’s character.
She could stand to be a little more honest with her feelings, but her true personality is nice.
“By the way Isolte, are you participating in her tournament?”
“I will if I can, but I think I will be busy that day… Noir is going to be busy too, so I don’t think she will participate either… I don’t know…”
“Eh? Noir will be busy?”
Isn’t Noir going to enjoy it with the others? I ask Isolte that.
“Hm? Of course she’s going to be busy running the tournament. Guiding participants, dealing with any trouble that might occur… She won’t have much time for fishing. She said that she was so busy last year that she practically had no time to fish.”
Oh? That’s not what I heard. She said there were zero participants…
I turn my eyes to Noir, and she’s sweating a lot, with a smile still on her face.
Ah, she’s definitely putting on airs. I’m sure she exaggerated when she talked to Isolte, and now she’s scared of being busted.
“By the way Noir, how many people entered last year?”
Isolte asks a natural question.
“Oh dear, look at the time. Someone who put out a request is waiting for me in the atelier!”
Noir speaks like she’s putting on a little act.
“Eh? Ah, hey, Noir!”
“Goodbye Loyd. We will meet again in the fishing tournament. Bye bye!”
Noir dashes away from the farm. I guess she’s busy too.
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