The Female Swordswoman

Morning came, and I woke up.

Beside me, Caro was sleeping peacefully, her soft breathing the only sound in the room.

There was still some time before we had to get up, so I watched her face for a while. Her sleeping face was so lovely that I never grew tired of looking at it. After I’d been gazing for a bit, her eyes snapped open.

“Ah, Kent-san. Good morning.”

“Morning, Caro-san.”

“I felt so relieved to see your face the moment I woke up. Mwah.”

Caro gave me a morning kiss. After flirting for a little while, we decided to have breakfast. Taking the tub and towel we used yesterday, we headed downstairs. In the dining area below, several guests were already eating breakfast. We returned the tub and towel and took two empty seats.

“Good morning. Breakfast for two?”

A young waitress asked us.

“Yes, for two please.”

“That will be four large copper coins (400G) for the two of you.”

I paid the four large copper coins to the waitress.

“Thank you. I’ll bring it right over, so please wait a moment.”

A short while later, the waitress brought breakfast for the two of us.

“It’s just bread.”

“It really is just bread.”

Caro and I said in unison. It came with a warm, milk-like drink, but the main course was just a single, somewhat large flatbread. Looking around, everyone else had the same menu. However, the others seemed to be eating their bread with great relish.

“Mind if I take the seat next to you?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Being called out to, I answered without checking who it was.

“Yaaaawn. Good morning.”

““Good morning.””

The person who sat next to us was the female swordswoman who had been with us on the stagecoach yesterday.

She paid the waitress, and the same menu as ours was placed on her table.

“You look incredibly sleepy.”

“Well, yeah. The couple in the next room was intense last night. I was in the back room on the second floor, and it seemed they were ‘busy’ into the night; those voices were so loud, you see. Once I noticed, I couldn’t get back to sleep.”

“That sounds rough.”

I replied when she answered my question. However, that room she mentioned was the one Caro and I had been using. Caro blushed deeply and looked down in embarrassment. It seemed the swordswoman didn’t realize that Caro and I were the ones staying next door.

“To think they’re still serving flatbread these days… even though the town of Tior has switched to fluffy bread.”

“There are other towns that sell fluffy bread?”

Hearing her say that, I was surprised to learn there were other towns selling fluffy bread. I figured that if someone wanted to make the yeast necessary for fluffy bread, it would be easy as long as they could manage the temperature, so it wouldn’t be strange for someone to know the method.

“Kent-san… are you actually serious right now?”

“Eh?”

Caro looked at me with an expression of pure disbelief.

“Could it be that you don’t even know the name of the town where you live?”

“Now that you mention it, I might not.”

“Tior is the name of the town where you and I live!”

“Wh-What!!?”

My face contorted in shock, probably looking like a certain detective who investigates mysteries.

“I… I didn’t know.”

“Even though you seem to know everything, I still love the charming side of you that occasionally misses things everyone else knows.”

The swordswoman, who could only watch as we completely entered our own world, wondered what to do.

“Can I… continue?”

The swordswoman spoke apologetically.

“Ah, sorry.”

“I’m sorry.”

Caro and I hurriedly turned back to her.

“Still, that was a surprise. I’ve never met someone of your age who didn’t know the name of their own town.”

The swordswoman spoke while looking at me with interest.

(It’s okay. I know one other person who similarly doesn’t know the name of the town.)

“Anyway, back to what I was saying. My younger sister took a liking to that bread and insisted I try it. One bite and my world changed. Since then, I haven’t been able to eat anything but fluffy bread.”

The swordswoman spoke with a distant look, perhaps thinking of her family. Since I hadn’t looked at her closely before, I decided to observe her now. Her build… she was slender for a swordswoman, about the same height as me, and her chest… felt like it wasn’t there. Her face was well-proportioned and beautiful. She had long silver hair tied back.

“Kent-san… you shouldn’t stare so much.”

Caro scolded me as I was observing the swordswoman.

“She’s right, boy. You shouldn’t stare at a woman like that. You’ll never be popular with the girls that way.”

“What a thing to say to Kent-san! Kent-san is incredibly popular with girls.”

The swordswoman followed Caro’s lead, but Caro’s mood soured, and she snapped at the swordswoman.

“My apologies… I’m sorry.”

Defeated by Caro’s pressure, the swordswoman apologized and bowed her head. However, since the whole thing started with me looking at her, she seemed to feel the situation was a bit unreasonable.

“Um, based on what I’ve heard from your conversation since yesterday, it’s Kent-kun and Caro-san, right?”

““Yes.””

“I see. In that case, I should introduce myself as well. My name is Elnette. My profession is a swordswoman. Nice to meet you.”

“By the way, what kind of work does a swordswoman do?”

After we introduced ourselves, I asked her.

“Mainly things like escorting or guarding; basically working under someone who hires me. I don’t have an employer right now, so I’m… well, unemployed, in a way.”

“Unemployed, huh… if you’re ever having trouble finding work, I can introduce you to someone. By the way, what business brought you to this town?”

“Hahaha, I’ll count on you then. Well, you see… I came here to visit a friend, but unfortunately, they seemed to be away. It looks like I made a trip for nothing this time.”

“Is that so? That’s a shame.”

The conversation between Elnette and me was becoming quite lively.

“Ow!”

A sudden sharp pain shot through my thigh.

“Kent-kun, what’s wrong?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

The cause of the sharp pain was Caro pinching my thigh.

“Kent-san, why are you two getting into such a good mood while your girlfriend is right here?”

A “furious-pouting-round” Caro said.

“Sorry, sorry. But I didn’t know you did things like this, Caro-san.”

“…Ah, what have I done…”

At my retort, Caro looked down, dejected.

“You two really get along. I actually had a fiancé, but the engagement was unilaterally annulled. I picked up the sword to vent that stress, and it ended up being an unexpectedly perfect fit. …Oh, listen to me rambling about things you didn’t ask.”

“You had a fiancé, Elnette-san?”

“Well, yeah. He was a prince of a certain country… well, this country’s prince, actually. That damn prince, seriously.”

When I responded to Elnette, an incredible answer came back.

“Wouldn’t this count as lèse-majesté or something?”

“It’s a gray area since it’s not a public place… probably.”

When I asked Caro, she answered.

“Is the prince of this country Lord Gordon?”

I asked Elnette.

“Gordon… ah, one of the younger princes. No, not him.”

“But if you were able to be engaged to a prince, does that mean you are of very high social standing, Elnette-san?”

“Well, my family is decent enough. But I’m a swordswoman now, so you can just treat me like a commoner.”

Elnette answered with a laugh.

“You two are heading back on today’s stagecoach as well, right? I’m going to relax in my room until departure, so I’ll see you later. I haven’t slept much, so I’m going to take a nap.”

“Yes, see you later.”

“Good night.”

Elnette finished her meal and headed upstairs while yawning.

“Kent-san, I feel like I’ve met her somewhere before…”

“Really? Well, her family seems to be from a good place, so maybe you saw her face at a noble party or something?”

“That might be it.”

After finishing our meal, we left our luggage at the front desk until the return carriage time and decided to conduct our second day of inspection.