20

“We should be safe for the time being now that we’ve come this far.”

“I’d never come to the slums before, but I didn’t realize it was such a vast place.”

Darius and Rubelmel had been driven into a corner, surrounded by Ains, Kirishiya, Seidel, Lizelotte, and the kingdom’s knights, but Darius had managed to escape after awakening to sorcery with Ains’s help.

Now the two of them had made their way out to the southwestern slums, the area farthest from the northeastern quarter of the royal capital where the Sorcery Academy stood.

When they had entered the ordinary city blocks, they had been jostled by the crowds and lost time because they could not move as they wished, but after reaching the western commercial district, things had gone smoothly.

Not that much time had passed since they left the academy. Even so, by now the king and the kingdom’s central authorities were probably being informed.

Darius let out a breath, thinking there was likely still a little time before wanted notices began circulating.

“So then, what do we do now, Rubelmel?”

“First, let us wash off this sweat, Darius-sama. In the archive, I broke into a cold sweat and a greasy sweat, and after running all the way here, I’m absolutely drenched.”

“Is this really the time for that?”

“Haste makes waste, Darius-sama. We have gone to all the trouble of escaping danger. Let us calm ourselves first. You understand as well that it will still take a little time before information about us spreads, do you not?”

Rubelmel spoke as though she had read Darius’s thoughts. Darius still was not used to talking with her and felt a strange sense of discomfort at it.

“…True enough. I don’t know where we’re heading from here, but if it’s going to be a long journey, then we probably won’t be able to wash properly for quite a while.”

Even if it was the slums, the commercial district was right beside it. So long as one did not head farther south, there were still a fair number of inns and eateries lined up there.

“Come to think of it, it was around here, wasn’t it? The place where that whole area was burned down in that unexplained fire the other day.”

It was also where Talidge, who had once been Darius’s attendant, had gone over to Ains’s side.

It was all over now, but for Darius it was the sort of event that suddenly came back to mind.

“Shall we stop by?”

“…No, it’s fine. For me, it was the place that became the trigger, but now it is nothing more than remnants I must leave behind.”

“…”

The site that had burned down lay a little farther south from where Darius and Rubelmel were standing.

Darius turned his back to the south and looked at Rubelmel’s face.

Rubelmel, in turn, looked back at Darius with a blank expression.

“Rubelmel, what is my name?”

“Hm? Why, Darius-sama, of course.”

Rubelmel’s eyes reflected Darius.

Not Darius Sobi.

“That’s right. I am Darius. …Shall we go, Rubelmel? The bathhouse you know had better be a good one.”

“…Heh.”

Realizing the meaning behind Darius’s question, Rubelmel caught a glimpse of the lingering adorableness that remained in Darius even after awakening to sorcery and shedding another layer of himself.

Darius gave Rubelmel a suspicious look, as if asking what she was laughing about, but Rubelmel merely said, “No, nothing at all, Darius-sama,” and led him toward the bathhouse.

With Rubelmel in front, the two entered one of the many buildings lined up there.

There was a reception desk on the first floor of the three-story building, and Darius watched Rubelmel from behind in restless unease as she spoke with the clerk.

Since it was a bathhouse, the inside of the building was damp and heavy with humidity.

“Darius-sama, I’ve taken a private room, so let us go.”

“…A-all right.”

Darius was stiff and awkward, not knowing how things worked in a place he had never visited before.

There was much Darius wanted to ask, but for now he was leaving things to Rubelmel, so he had no choice but to silently follow after her.

Walking behind Rubelmel, who held a wooden tag in her hand, Darius passed beside the reception desk and went down a dim corridor.

At the end of the corridor stood a row of several doors, all built in the same plain, rugged design. The only difference was that each door had a number on it, and only those numbers varied.

As they passed by the doors, faint female voices drifted out from within, sounding like screams, or perhaps delight.

What was going on inside? Was this not a bathhouse? The darkness of the corridor, and the clammy humidity that clung to his skin, made Darius shiver uneasily.

“…H-hey, Rubelmel. What’s above this floor? If the bathhouse is on the first floor, what’s on the second and third?”

Rubelmel read Darius’s feelings from the edges of his words.

“The upper floors are an inn, you know? Though, to be honest, I think more people leave afterward without even staying the night.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh my, is this your first time, Darius-sama? I see, that will not do. It would never do for Darius-sama, who has cast aside his noble status, to remain ignorant of the culture of ordinary citizens.”

Darius furrowed his brow without understanding as Rubelmel spoke in a sultry voice.

“…We’ve arrived. Here it is.”

Rubelmel opened the door, made of wood resistant to moisture, and stepped inside.

Inside was a bathtub large enough for three people to stretch out comfortably, along with a washing area that felt somewhat too spacious.

Just as Rubelmel had said, it was a private room.

A private room, but…

“H-hey! There’s no partition. Then that means I can’t get in! Or are you saying you won’t be getting in?”

Darius raised his voice, but Rubelmel paid him no mind, locked the door behind her with her hand, and calmly reached for the clothes she was wearing.

Rubelmel began taking off her clothes as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Darius-sama. Do you know what sort of places ordinary citizens live in?”

“W-where did that come from? And why are you starting to undress!”

At once, Darius averted his eyes from Rubelmel as though to turn his face away from her, and fixed his stare on a single point on the floor.

“If ordinary citizens do not have a bathing room, then they live in crude dwellings with walls so thin they barely keep out the wind and rain.”

With a soft rustle, Rubelmel’s clothes fell to the floor.

It was a small sound, and yet it reached Darius’s ears with strange clarity.

“What does that have to do with any of this!”

“Then where do you think such men and women go to pursue romance? Do you think they could spend sweet, intimate time together in a place where they would be so conscious of everyone around them?”

Her undergarments made a faint sound against her skin as they too were removed and tossed aside.

“H-hey! Don’t tell me you—!”

By the time she had said that much, Darius understood. He understood what kind of place this was.

“Please, Darius-sama, do not stand there forever. You should undress as well.”

Darius, who had kept Rubelmel out of his sight, could not see it, but Rubelmel was already naked. Padding softly across the floor, she passed by his side, saying, “Then I shall get in first,” and slipped into the bath.