Chapter 12

Since it was a small town, word spread quickly about who had been drinking with whom at the tavern.

Before people around us realized it was Kururu, we decided to change locations.

The fact that she had gone so far as to hide her face to follow us meant she had come to talk about something she wanted to keep secret from Iiria, or did not want Iiria to hear.

After thinking for a moment, Kengo led us to the ravine where waste rock from the mine was dumped. Houses made of sun-dried bricks mixed with dead grass stood in rows around it, and beastfolk children ran around happily through what looked exactly like a slum. Not a single human could be seen, and even though it was part of the same town, it looked like a different world.

The people crouching atop the piles of waste rock seemed to be gathering fragments of magic stones too flawed to be properly processed. The power hidden within a magic stone was proportional to its size, but unless it was above a certain size, it was impossible to properly carve a magic circle into it. That was why magic stones that were too small had almost no value.

Even so, it seemed that even such junk magic stones could be sold in small quantities as charms or as folk remedies to heal illness. In short, these people made their living by scavenging through trash.

“There’s no one here who’ll pry. Even if they see something, they’ll pretend not to. Even if they hear something, they’ll pretend not to.”

Kengo seemed to have completely blended into beastfolk society, and even in a desolate place like this, several beastfolk in the distance waved to greet him.

“You came to talk about something you don’t want Iiria-chan to hear, right?”

When Kengo spoke to her, Kururu let out a heavy sigh beneath her hood.

“Do not call Lady Iiria with -chan.”

“It doesn’t seem like Iiria-chan hates it. And of course, Kururu-chan too.”

I was exasperated by the way Kengo said that with a grin, and Kururu clicked her tongue openly.

Even so, Kengo only kept smiling.

Perhaps Kururu was not truly angry either, because she lacked her usual intensity.

And when Kengo fell silent, Kururu too fell silent.

Without the boldness she showed at the mansion, the one beneath the robe looked like a girl her age.

“You… two…”

The words I finally heard were halting.

“What are you trying to do?”

When Kururu raised her face, I could see an anxious expression beneath the hood.

Kengo looked at me, then shrugged toward Kururu.

“What do you mean, what are we trying to do?”

Kururu fell silent and bit her lower lip. The way her canine tooth caught on it made my heart jump strangely.

“…Are you seriously planning to conduct a magic stone trade?”

Kururu was shorter than us, so I supposed you could say she was always looking up at us.

But usually that was more like the posture of a wild beast lowering its head just before it pounced.

Now, however, Kururu was clearly looking up at us as if shrinking back from something.

“If you mean serious… then yes, I am serious. Right, Yorinobu?”

“Well, more or less.”

After all, if we just kept doing day labor like this, eventually we would become unable to work because of injury or illness, and then we would simply be cast aside.

This was the fork in the road where we decided whether or not to accept that fate.

It was not something we could give up on so easily.

“Do you really think you can do it?”

There was a reason Kengo and I looked at each other again at Kururu’s question.

It was because her face was clearly hoping we would say that we could.

“Kururu… -san.”

I did not have the courage to call her with -chan the way Kengo did, and I had never once addressed a girl like that, so I called her with -san.

Kururu looked at me as if glaring, but it seemed like bluffing.

“Are you interested in the magic stone trade?”

Beneath the hood, I could tell her beast ears gave a little twitch.

Kengo stared at that without hesitation, eyes wide, but as for me, I was doing all I could just to meet the gaze of a girl with such a serious expression head-on.

“…”

Kururu groaned, clenched her teeth, and lowered her eyes.

When I looked, I saw that she had clenched her hands as well.

There was something she found hard to say. Or rather, she even looked as though she was afraid of something.

I felt that this was the moment when I should say something, but I could not find the right words.

Then Kengo said this.

“Kururu-chan, there’s nobody here except me and Yorinobu. And on top of that, both of us are drifters who came from a different world than this one.”

Then, for some reason, he draped an arm over my shoulder and gave a thumbs-up.

“We’re the kind of pair you can say whatever you want to.”

Kururu blinked rapidly as though stunned, but before long she laughed as if the tension had left her. That smile, the first I had ever seen from her, was undeniably cute.

“So even if I say something foolish, I’ll be forgiven?”

“Of course you will.”

For some reason, Kengo answered while making a flexing pose.

As for me, I had a clumsy smile that even I could recognize.

Kururu wore a troubled smile not only toward Kengo but toward me as well.

Then, after taking a deep breath, she regained somewhat of her usual manner from the mansion.

“I want to help Lady Iiria. If you really mean to carry out a fair magic stone trade, then I want to cooperate with you.”

Iiria had clearly given up on changing the present situation.

But the expression on Kururu’s face, when she saw Iiria turn over in the hammock and turn her back to us, had looked strangely pained.

As her attendant, or perhaps as her friend, Kururu simply could not bear seeing Iiria sunk in despair.

“People’s standards for fairness differ, but it’d be better than Nodon, right?”

At Kengo’s question, she nodded deeply.

“But Kururu-chan, this feels like something you want to keep secret from Iiria-chan, right?”

Since she had gone so far as to hide her face and follow us, it was obviously something she did not want Iiria, or anyone around us, to know about.

Given Iiria’s delicate and fragile position, she normally should not even have wanted to go near two foolish men trying to rebel against the Nodon Company.

“And I don’t think Iiria-chan’s story was a lie either. If we’re going to stir up trouble in the Nodon Company’s business turf, there’s no way we can do it using the name Iiria Araratom, right?”

If that was the case, joining hands with Kururu might actually become a disadvantage.

Because it would add the shackle of not making Iiria’s position any worse than it already was.

And yet, I could not possibly think Kururu was the sort of soft, spineless girl who would say something like, just give me a share of the profits.

Rather, seeing the way Kururu looked right now reminded me of when I had first brought up the idea of starting a business to Kengo.

“Could it be that Kururu-san once thought about the same thing too?”

At the festival ceremony that morning, she and Iiria alone had endured the atmosphere of ridicule and contempt. From the way they stood there, it looked as though the two of them had been doing that together ever since they were old enough to understand.

And yet Kururu also had the rough temperament to glare like some old-school delinquent and threaten me as if I knew the trick behind Nodon’s scheme. If that was combined with the intelligence to manage everything in the mansion, there was no way she had never thought of it.

“You considered the magic stone trade once, didn’t you?”

Kururu’s cheeks flushed at once, probably because in this world it was far too absurd a pipe dream.

In terms of my old world, it might be something like wanting to become a professional athlete or a novelist—something that invited a snicker before encouragement.

And Kururu had indulged in all sorts of dreams, only to buckle before reality.

Then now, once again, two ignorant fools had appeared before her.

What made me think Kururu was amazing was that she straightened the knees she had once bent.

“I did. And if my thinking is correct, driving out that pig should be easy.”

Kururu said that with a sharp, fearless expression that no longer showed even a fragment of frailty.

“Your thinking?”

At Kengo’s question, Kururu gave no answer, and instead swept her gaze around the area.

Then she bent down and picked up a tiny fragment of a magic stone, the kind even the junk magic stone scavengers had abandoned.

Kururu placed the magic stone in her palm and closed her hand around it.

“I am…”

“What!?”

Kengo and I cried out in surprise.

“A mage.”

Around Kururu’s palm, an air that looked black or perhaps purple appeared, then vanished.