There’s an isolated island called Tetra near Minerva that’s well known to the general public as a summer holiday spot.
The Kaleid beach where we’re headed is there, and it’s full of tourists in summertime.
There’s only one service that makes a round trip once a day, so we can’t go there and return the same day. There’s a ryokan close to the beach, so we’re planning to stay there tonight.
We’ve already said that tomorrow’s holy war will be at night, so there should be plenty of time even if we get back to Minerva late. Although the demon king said we didn’t have to be in a hurry, and we could just not do it that day.
She really is a former ruler. She’s technically a prisoner, but she’s pretty flexible.
“Sorry I’m late.”
Says Iris when she gets to the station. Looks like she’s done with her morning worship.
Mars and Lela say hello, and we get on the horse-drawn cab to Tetra. The driver tells us it’s two hours on this wagon, and then an hour on a passenger ship.
There are chairs here, so I sit with Iris and Till on my side, and Mars and Lela in front of us. Till is here today as Iris’ guardian.
“I haven’t been to the beach in a long time. I think since I was ten.”
“I was raised in the forest, so I’ve never been to one at all.”
Mars hasn’t been to the beach in a while, and it will be Lela’s first time. They’re even more excited than usual.
I went to the beach as an extension of my job a few times, but I haven’t swam in the ocean in a long time. Going there to work and to have fun are two very different things.
It’s like it’s dreary and muddy when it’s work, and shining like a starry sky when it’s to have fun.
But let’s forget about work and just have fun.
“What did you bring today, Iris?”
“Lots of things. Sunscreen, a parasol, and a swim ring, since I’m not confident in my swimming.”
The word swimming triggers an image of Iris in her swimsuit in my mind.
I wonder what kind of swimsuit she bought. I can’t help but look forward to it, and smile just thinking about it.
“Ah, Loyd is thinking something perverted. I’m sure he’s picturing Iris in her swimsuit.”
“I-idiot. Don’t say that in front of her, she’ll get embarrassed!”
“Fufufu, Mister Loyd is looking forward to me in my swimsuit, isn’t he?”
Iris smiles at me and Lela.
“You too Iris!? Everyone’s so mean.”
““Hahahahahahaha.””
Loud laughter echoes in here.
It’s been twenty minutes since we left.
“Sitting here is boring. Let’s play a game!”
We’ve run out of things to say, so Mars takes out ‘brave cards’ from his backpack.
These are cards enjoyed all over the world. Fifty-three with drawings on them.
One hero, then four white mages, four dark mages, four red mages, four spirit mages, four knights, four swordsmen, four priests, four martial artists, four bandits, four dancers, four gunners, four archers, and four summoners.
Everything other than the hero is classified as fire, water, wind, or earth element. For example, a fire priest, ice priest, wind priest, and earth priest.
One big feature of brave cards is that there are no clear rules.
The players themselves figure out the rules, and generally speaking, there are many ways to play.
This has a lot to do with how brave cards came to be. They used to be mostly used in prayer or divination, but as time passed, a lot of people started attaching game elements to them.
Everyone is onboard with Mars’ suggestion, so we start playing.
We’re playing ‘hero expulsion’, the most popular brave cards game.
The rules are very simple. If you have two cards that match either element or type, they are thrown to the graveyard.
We form a circle, and each takes a turn drawing a card from a player next to us, discarding cards to the graveyard as we match them.
The hero is the only one who can’t be discarded, so whoever has it in the end, loses. Very simple.
That’s why it’s called hero expulsion, because everyone wants the hero out of their hands.
The order is me→Iris→Till→Lela→Mars→me.
“Yes! I expelled the hero! Don’t ever come back to my party.”
Says Lela with a big smile on her face.
“Tch… I drew the hero. I need to get him out of my party.”
Says Mars with a disappointed expression. It’s funny seeing everyone’s reactions when they draw the hero to their parties.
Now it’s my turn to draw from Iris, but her expressions are so obvious, that it’s clear whether or not she has the hero. She smiles when I’m about to draw it, and looks serious when I move to another card.
It’s so cute, that I feel like I could watch this forever.
In the end, Till is the first to run out of cards, and Iris loses.
She looks a little disappointed, but it looks like she had fun too.
“Till is too good!”
Says Mars.
“I used to play it a lot with my adopted sisters, so I became a little good at it.”
Till sounds a little proud of it.
She says they used to have tournaments in the orphanage on their days off, and the winner got pudding as a prize.
That has to be the cutest reason. Maybe I should buy some pudding next time I go to the cake store.
After playing brave cards, we have fun knitting and singing together.
◆ ◆ ◆
We reach the port in two hours, as expected.
The smell of sea water hangs in the air here, and I hear black-tailed gulls in the distance.
“You can hear a lot of cats around here. I hear lots of nyanya.”
“Lady, these are black-tailed gulls, not cats.”
“Eh!? There are birds like that? I didn’t know.”
Iris is moved by the existence of black-tailed gulls. When I see one flying, I point at it.
“Iris, there’s one.”
“Eh… Its big belly is cute.”
Lady, you cannot eat them even if they look tasty.”
“No, I wouldn’t. What are you talking about, Till… And stop looking surprised! You’re going to make me into the glutton character.”
Too late.
And as I enjoy this back and forth between attendant and master, I turn to Mars.
“I’ll go buy tickets, so tell me if anything happens.”
I say while pointing at the booth where they’re sold, and the big line in front of it.
“Understood!”
I join the line and wait, until it’s my turn and I order five tickets.
It’s beach season, and considering the big line, I was afraid there wouldn’t be enough left, but I get the five tickets no problem.
After that, I go back to the others, and we get on the boat.
I hear the steam whistle, and we slowly move away from port.
Iris watches the town get further and further away from the deck. Her silver hair shines like a diamond as the sea breeze makes it flutter.
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