Something That Did Not Matter

And then, night came.

Leaving the sleeping Kikori as he was, Aria and Orphe sat facing each other across the table.

“…He’s sleeping well. I suppose he finally let his guard down.”

“He’s soft. Though I guess he is decent.”

After hearing about Kikori’s adventures over the past several days, all Aria could really say was that it was a miracle he had survived.

A great horde of kobolds, fairies, and then a wyvern.

Any one of them should have been hard on Kikori.

There were a few parts where it felt like he was hiding something a little, but there was no particular problem.

No problem, but… she had truly been shocked that all of his equipment had been completely replaced and that he had lost his belongings.

Kikori had said it was because of the wyvern, but well, that was probably just unavoidable.

“The thing that surprised me most was you, Orphe-san.”

“Hm. This honey is delicious. Don’t you have any more?”

“There isn’t any. That stuff is expensive.”

“Oh well.”

Orphe had been tapping the honey jar with her spoon in a bored manner, but then she casually tossed the spoon onto the table as well.

“You said you know Kikori, so I’m talking to you this much for the sake of this honey. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

“Even so, I was surprised that I could actually ‘talk’ with a fairy.”

“Of course you were. I do not acknowledge most things as being worth talking to.”

“And yet I heard you teamed up with Kikori because of the wyvern.”

“That’s not wrong. I’m going to slaughter those wyverns. And for that, the best option is to stay with Kikori and use humans.”

“You say that as if Kikori is not human.”

“He is human, by your standards.”

With that one remark, Aria understood why Orphe had taken a liking to Kikori.

In short, there was something in Kikori that, by fairy standards, was not human.

She could not tell what exactly that something was, though….

“So? You gave me honey just to have this little exchange?”

“No. I wanted to know what kind of position you hold beside Kikori.”

“We’re in a relationship where we use each other. Satisfied now?”

“Yes, I am.”

For the most part, Aria had confirmed what she wanted to confirm.

This fairy called Orphe held something close to affection for Kikori.

It seemed too weak for her to put it into words… but at the very least, she was not Kikori’s enemy.

“As I am now, I cannot go with Kikori.”

“Obviously.”

“That is why I’m asking you to look after him.”

“I have no reason to accept a request from a human.”

“Even so. It is enough if you simply remember that I said this.”

“I already forgot.”

Throwing out those words, Orphe flew over to Kikori’s armor, which had been placed in the corner of the room, and slipped into the helmet.

(…So he said it came from a dead Mimic. But judging from that behavior, perhaps…)

Well, it did not matter.

Cutting off her thoughts there, Aria put away the honey jar and spoon, then slipped beneath the blankets.