Meeting A Noble Girl

After waiting for a while, I finally managed to buy the sweets I had come for.

The people in town had strongly recommended them, so once I got home, I figured Tanya and I could enjoy them together.

Apparently they were not the kind of sweets you often saw in Saria, so I was looking forward to finding out what they tasted like.

“Thank you very much!”

The cheerful clerk saw me off as I left the shop.

I was just thinking that maybe I should have bought two—one for me and one for Tanya—when it happened.

“Hey, sorry, but would you mind letting me take your place in line?”

“M-Milady, you mustn’t!”

Voices came from the line near the shop entrance.

When I turned around, I saw a girl speaking to a woman standing in line.

Was she from a noble family?

She wore high-quality clothing, and her shining golden hair was tied into a side ponytail.

I could not see her face from where I stood, but her voice was clear and carried a certain sharpness.

The woman flusteredly trying to stop her from behind was probably her attendant.

“Y-You said last time that you wouldn’t do this again, remember!?”

“B-But I really want to eat them right now…”

The two spoke quietly, but perhaps because of the direction of the wind, I could still hear them.
As I watched their exchange from a short distance away, the woman in line widened her eyes.

“P-Please, go ahead!”

Perhaps intimidated by the girl’s noble appearance, she decided to give up her place.

Hearing that, the girl brightened immediately.

“Oh? Thank you.”

“Milady!”

But the attendant continued trying to stop her.

I could not just stand there and watch, so I approached them from behind.

“Hello. She’s not the only person waiting in this line, so you should properly go to the back.”

When I called out from behind, the girl turned around.

“…Who are you?”

She had refined features and flawless skin.

The kind of girl who was practically guaranteed to grow into a beauty looked at me with obvious displeasure.

“H-He’s right, Milady!”

The attendant agreed with me, but she had seemed timid from the start, so she was not much of a deterrent.

The girl looked at me suspiciously, then shifted her gaze, and for some reason her eyebrows shot upward.

Ah, damn. I was still holding the sweets in my hand.

“I’d appreciate it if an outsider kept out of this. I asked whether I could join the line, and this woman agreed.”

I thought maybe I should at least have hidden the sweets, but it was already too late, and the girl insisted with growing irritation.

“No, she only agreed because you asked her in the first place. Do you have a reservation with this shop?”

“…No.”

“Then you shouldn’t cut in line. You should go to the very back.”

“…………”

I could tell her mood was getting worse by the second, but I could not stop myself.

Rules were rules.

I was not from this city, but I did not want to see someone breaking them in a city governed by Shia.

Besides, kids around her age trying to cut in line happened fairly often in the southern cities too.

I had seen them get scolded every time, which was probably part of why I ended up interfering.

As a result, neither of us could back down.

“L-Listen to me! I’m a noble! And it’s not like I forced my way in, so what’s the problem!?”

“Being a noble has nothing to do with it. Rules are rules. …Actually, the moment you start throwing your authority around, it’s practically the same as forcing your way in.”

The argument between the girl and me grew increasingly heated.

The woman who had given up her place and the attendant both watched us nervously.

“Besides, you’re not even from this city, are you!? Listen! My name is—”

“Don’t!”

I cut her off loudly.

I did not know which noble family this girl belonged to or who she was, but I thought it would be a bad idea to let her announce her own name in the middle of a busy main street.

Though considering we were already having a minor argument in public, it might have been too late for that anyway.

Perhaps startled by my raised voice, the girl widened her eyes.

For several seconds, she stared straight into mine, then eventually looked away and down at the palm of her own hand.

I found the reaction strange, but figured this was my best chance to reason with her, so I met her gaze again and continued.

“…I understand that you want the sweets. Apparently they’re really good. But everyone else waiting in line wants them too. You can’t just disregard that. You could make a reservation, ask them to set some aside for you in advance, or even have that woman over there buy them for you. There are plenty of ways to do it. But doing it like this… isn’t right, is it?”

I almost said it was unbecoming of a noble, but since I was hardly noble-like myself, I swallowed those words.

Perhaps what I said got through to her, because after listening in silence, the girl slowly opened her mouth.

“…You’re… right.”

She slowly turned around and bowed her head to the woman who had offered her place.

“I’m sorry. Forget what I said earlier. Just like he said, I’ll go to the back of the line.”

“Y-Yes…”

“Milady… Lisa is so moved.”

The woman nodded in response, while the attendant—apparently named Lisa—clasped her hands together and began to cry.

The girl turned back toward me, though she kept her gaze averted as she spoke.

“T-There. Is that good enough?”

“Yeah. Good job!”

I answered with a beaming smile now that she had properly followed the rules.

The girl glanced at me, then immediately turned her face away and headed toward the back of the line.

The attendant who had called herself Lisa bowed to me before hurrying after her.

She probably was not a bad kid, I thought as I watched her retreating back.

Trying to cut in line had been wrong, but once she admitted that, she corrected herself quickly.

At the very least, judging from how things ended, it was unlikely that anyone would come to dislike her over this incident.

With that thought, I left the main street behind.