209

She was smiling, but her eyes were not smiling at all.

Even I could understand that this meant she was extremely angry.

Boobs Lady used what was not quite rags, but close to the remnants of clothing, to hide the parts that needed hiding.

Right now, the moment she got down from my hand, she pointed her wand at me and smiled.

I carefully and politely explained that I had done it because there had been an elf who said things like “ensnaring men” with her proudly large breasts, so I thought it might work. Even so, Boobs Lady kept looking at me with suspicious eyes and would not lower her wand.

First evaluate the results, I urged, pointing at the soldiers on the defensive wall.

Behold this silence!

They had fallen silent in an awkward standing ovation!

Even as I continued my silent persuasion, full swings of an iron pipe aimed at my knee kept ringing out with clangs.

“It may not be much of an apology, but… I will transfer to you the jewels I stripped from the noble, along with that wand.”

“…So that’s what this is. That kind of roundabout behavior is too human-like, so stop it.”

Apparently, Boobs Lady interpreted my outrageous act as a pretext to give her the items I had borrowed from the noble.

It seemed my evaluation had not gone down, but I thought it should have gone up for setting the stage.

As I watched her persuade Rena, who was gripping the bent iron pipe, I was a little surprised at where such strength existed in that small body.

After that, thanks to Boobs Lady’s appeal, a person with a reasonably high position agreed to come over to us.

It was strange for me to say this, but was the Council-State really all right with that?

We had a little time, so I took down my backpack and handed over the things I needed to give them.

In addition to the jewels I had just agreed to transfer, I also handed over the modified gun, case and all, which had remained inside my luggage.

Until the gate opened, we held a final check and discussed their plans from here on. Tiny Chest Girl slipped in between Boobs Lady and me.

By now, I had completely become a target of caution.

Where had that innocent, big-shot attitude from when we reunited gone?

While we were doing that, the gate opened, and an armed group emerged from inside.

There were four soldiers who seemed to be guards, carrying rifles on their shoulders, and a sturdy middle-aged man with a sleepy face, wearing medals that made it clear at a glance he was an officer.

He was a middle-aged man whose blond hair was unkempt and whose stubble stood out, as though he was in exhausted mode.

Judging from the way the man walked while yawning, it seemed he had information about me.

In that case, the discussion probably would not turn in a bad direction.

When the group approached, I pushed the two women’s backs and sent them forward.

My job was to deliver them.

The negotiations were your job.

I intended to at least translate for them, but that was as far as I would go… No, I might put in a word or two.

There was no harm in earning a favor.

Before we drew close enough to confirm each other’s faces, Boobs Lady renewed her light spell.

Once the two sides faced each other and stopped, negotiations began.

“First, thank you for creating this opportunity.”

Diera bowed her head in halting Furon language, and Rena followed her example.

“It is too early to thank us. Also, we cannot approve of you arriving at this hour. If you had waited until morning and entered the town by yourselves, we would not have needed to take this alert posture.”

He did not say it outright, but his words probed us with the question, “Why did you not do that?”

Feeling that the flow was not good, I stood between the two sides, thinking we first needed to introduce ourselves.

Boobs Lady and the man introduced themselves, but apparently, he was not the commander. Rather, he seemed to hold a staff-officer-like position.

The responsible person feared me and left things to him—Harry Oadberg.

I thought, “Is that really all right?” but it seemed the commander here was not a very good person, and Harry said while letting out a huge yawn that it would be better to handle this here before it became troublesome.

“We also want to swiftly complete the request and return to our original objective. Leaving the details aside, is asylum possible for these two?”

By translating and offering them a helping hand, my favorability probably increased.

“Politically speaking, if there is benefit, there should be no problem.”

Boobs Lady nodded at Harry’s statement and replied in broken speech, “As a mage of Seizeria, I intend to tell everything I know.” I, a native speaker, then restated it properly so there would be no mistake.

Incidentally, the words Boobs Lady was likely to say had been checked with me, a native speaker, in advance, and she had practiced them despite the short time, so she occasionally became fluent in places.

“There are also remaining Old Imperial documents and tools.”

“There are also several technical books and usable tools discovered in Old Imperial towns. As a supplementary explanation, when the Old Empire moved its territory south, it withdrew most of the supplies from the southern region that lay along its route. Therefore, most of the goods they are bringing in are selected items in good condition from the central to northern regions.”

Harry’s sleepy face tightened at my supplementary explanation.

Apparently, he was not a man who failed to understand the meaning of those words.

This should be all right, I thought, shifting my gaze to Boobs Lady beside me.

Thinking that I would soon part from this magnificent cleavage made me deeply sad.

Without noticing those feelings, Boobs Lady interpreted my gaze in a different way, beckoned Rena over, and showed him part of her luggage.

Harry noticed one book among them, pointed at it, and requested permission to check it.

Diera nodded and handed him the old book, and Harry flipped through it.

We had confirmed that it was readable, so there was no worry of being deceived, but it was faster to show him than to explain with words.

After finishing his check, Harry told one of the guards, “Contact the administrative office,” and sent him back to town.

“I have confirmed it. I judge this to be useful to us as well… though making that judgment is the job of those above me.”

Adding that he thought it was at least not a bad matter, Harry used his own authority to permit the two women to enter the town.

Naturally, I was excluded.

I had hoped that I might get to eat a human-like meal for the first time in a while, but that hope was beautifully betrayed.

“Well, it can’t be helped,” I said, showing no sign of minding it, then offered words of farewell to the two.

“It looks like the asylum will go well. The difficult part probably starts now, but your lives were saved after all. Live long.”

“When I was hung up, I honestly thought, ‘It’s over.’ What a strange twist of fate. In any case, you saved me again this time. I’m grateful.”

Saying that, Boobs Lady explained to Rena beside her that things seemed likely to go well.

Then she apparently prompted Rena to thank me, and Rena, wearing a sullen expression, reluctantly lowered her head.

Harry, who had watched that exchange, cut in with a laugh.

“The first report I received was, ‘A woman who trained a monster has arrived.’ I was half in doubt, but seeing this, you really can negotiate with humans.”

As expected, he seemed to have information about me.

In that case, I decided to carry out the prank I had thought of from his earlier words.

“What shall we do next, boss?”

“I told you to stop that.”

Incidentally, I spoke in Furon language, while Boobs Lady spoke in the Canaan language.

Her tone was a little rough, but she did not seem angry.

Harry also gave a wry smile at my words, which were overflowing with a sense of humor.

I laughed with a guttural sound, and Diera let out an exasperated sigh.

This was where I would part from them.

I watched the two begin walking, then shouldered my backpack and started walking as well.

“Argos!”

When I was called and turned around, Diera had turned back toward me.

“See you.”

It was a short phrase.

With a faint smile, she said only that and turned her back to me.

I watched her back for a while, then began walking too.

That was enough to hear from an excellent hunter.

I smiled a little and ran north.

If we were alive, we would meet again—that was surely the hope behind those words.

But I did not know whether that would come true.

The next time we met, would I still be “me”?

Good grief, she had done something quite tasteful.

Now, in order to reunite with her, I had to find the third one no matter what.

For me as well, since we had built that much trust, she would become a precious connection with whom I could maintain good relations from now on.

It was a little optimistic, but if I thought about what would come after safely obtaining the third code and becoming able to continue living without losing my reason, her existence would surely become a bridge to interaction with human society.

I angled my course northeast and ran.

Since I had come all this way, I could not help thinking that I should have done something, but… this time, we had finally parted in a good way, so the correct answer was to leave it as a beautiful memory.

It had only been a short while, but those were not bad days.

If I had one regret, it was that because my handmade apron had been used for various purposes, I had never ended up having the chance to show them my naked apron appearance.

The reaction from the two of them—or rather, from Boobs Lady, who could understand my words—would have been a must-see.

It could not be helped, so I would carry that joke over to next time.

However… to think I had become attached enough to start thinking, “The next time we meet.” I doubt they would be taken hostage in the Furon Council-State, but… the next time I come this way, I might want to prepare a souvenir or something.

While thinking about that, this request was safely completed.

It seemed their luck had not been that bad after all.

Now, next was the time to test my own luck.

My destination was the southeastern part of the Old Imperial territory. There, I would gamble on my future.