Bonus Short Stories

Felmenia, Bath Addict

After putting his lab in order, Suimei left the room and could hear a melody with a light rhythm to it coming from somewhere nearby.

“Hmm, hmmmh, hmhm!”

Drawn towards the source of the sound, Suimei discovered Felmenia humming with a broad grin on her face as she left her room.

“Menia, you look awfully happy. What’s up?”

“Indeed, I was just thinking about taking a bath.”

Felmenia hugged a towel to her chest as she declared her intentions. Seeing her in such high spirits, Suimei couldn’t help the bit of smug laughter that escaped his lips.

“Oh yeah? So you really were just knocking it without trying it, huh?”

“Yes. I never thought that a bath would be such a nice thing.”

She didn’t deny it. Up until moving in with Suimei, she had never gotten into anything like a bath. The one she’d taken two days ago was her very first one. Before getting in, she’d stubbornly refused, but once she was actually in the water, it seemed she’d changed her mind about it. Pondering that, Suimei posed Felmenia a question.

“If I remember right, it’s not typical to take baths in Astel, right?”

“It is just as you say. Heehee, the people of Astel have been missing out on a third of their lives.”

“It’s something I’ve been wondering about, but why is that?”

Suimei had doubts as to why the people of this world hadn’t taken to bathing. Not only did a bath cleanse the mind and spirit, but it was certainly more effective than the sponge baths they favored. Bathing had a great significance to the Japanese, and though there was a period in the West where it fell out of favor, it was considered a pastime in many cultures. In general, anywhere civilization blossomed had bathing customs. But the only places in this world that had developed bathing culture were Noshias and the Empire.

“Regarding that, it is related to an enormous war that took place several hundred years ago.”

“A war from several hundred years ago...? I think Lefi said something about that once.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, something about a war that led to the Empire losing its power.”

“Yes, the Heathen War. It was caused by the country where the self-governed state of the Saadias Alliance is currently located... Ah, Reiji-dono also seemed to have misunderstood this, but I should mention that the self-governed state is independent from the Alliance countries. After that war, the Saadias Alliance restored the ruined land as an independent state, which is how it came to be what it is today... Oh, I seem to have gotten a little off topic. I digress, but that was the Heathen War.”

Facing Felmenia as she politely taught him all this, Suimei raised his hand like a student.

“Excuse me, Sensei! How is that war related to bathing?”

“According to literature and oral tradition, the tyrant who brought about that war cast a curse on water, or so it seems.”

“A curse?”

“It was several hundred years ago, so I am not all that familiar with the details, but it seems the wells and even the streams going into enemy nations were all cursed. Just touching them was enough to make you sick.”

“And so the people became afraid of it. But a curse on water, huh?”

“I do not know whether it conforms to the spells of your world, but to wreak that effect on the water in faraway countries, I suspect it would have to be infection or sensory resonance magicka.”

“So why did the culture of bathing remain in the Empire? If I’m not mistaken, the Empire suffered pretty big losses from that war too...”

“Bathing culture was strongly rooted in the Empire beforehand. It seems that, concentrating their efforts on facilities for their water supply, they were able to safeguard their traditions even throughout the crisis. In Astel, however, the people had a strong aversion to water in the first place. So since there were alternatives like sponge bathing, they naturally took that option.”

“So that’s how the customs ended up different...”

The water literally being cursed likely inflicted an incredible dread on the people back then. Even ignoring bathing, just drinking water could be a matter of life and death. And such fears are not easily conquerable. The people would’ve needed a strong affinity for bathing in the first place to get over something like that. Since baths were so nice, Suimei thought that much should be a given. At least, that’s what he thought as a man from Japan.

“I’ve heard the saying ‘a stream purified by the church is clean, but all standing water is corrupted’ many times before.”

“That’s quite interesting.”

With that, Suimei let out a sigh of admiration. What Felmenia had just said was similar to feng shui’s way of thinking. As he pondered all this, he could hear the sound of quickly tottering footsteps approaching.

“Suimei-kuuun!”

It was Lefille.

“Oh, Lefi. What’s up?”

“Save meee!”

Shouting for him in a not all too pressing manner, she showed up covered in cats. She had some hanging down from her arms and shoulders, and even some clinging to her legs. For a certain type of person, there would be no greater happiness than this.

“I don’t know what to do. The cats you brought back are all too attached to people. Thanks to that, I’m all furry again.”

“W-Well, yeah. Should I say sorry, or...? How do I put it...?”

The cats that Suimei brought back all came with him after reaching a mutual understanding with him. They weren’t shy, and just as Lefille said, they were attached to people. So whenever Felmenia or Lefille were nice to them, they would end up something like this.

Felmenia helped peel the cats off of Lefille. And using magicka to summon a brush, Suimei began brushing the cat hair off of Lefille. She trembled softly like it tickled.

“Phew. Thanks, both of you.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, it is about time that I...”

“Are you going somewhere, Lady Felmenia?”

“I was just about to take a bath.”

Lefille then cocked her head to the side.

“Didn’t you take one this morning, Lady Felmenia?”

“Yes, I think I did.”

“Huh...?”

Hearing Felmenia admit to it, Suimei’s mouth hung open. Seeing this, Felmenia questioned him in a curious tone.

“Is something the matter?”

“It’s not really a big deal, but...”

Seeing his face scrunch up, Lefille spoke up as if she meant to answer on his behalf.

“I’m also very happy that you ended up loving baths, but if you go in day and night so often, your body will swell up, you know?”

“But doesn’t it feel good?”

“That’s certainly true, but there’s a limit to it, right?”

Being admonished by Lefille, Felmenia went on to explain that she didn’t think it was a problem.

“There are those in the Empire who bathe three times a day, so compared to that, I do believe what I’m doing is within the permissible limits. Besides, soaking in a bath is healthy and puts one in a good mood.”

“Well, it is good for your circulation,” Suimei added. “It also facilitates your metabolism, so it’s good for your health. I’ve also heard that it’s good for your skin and—”

“Really?!”

“Is that true?!”

“Huh? I mean, well, it’s just something people say.”

With the two of them biting at that morsel of information so voraciously, Suimei faltered. It was true that was something people said, but when it came to the benefits of bathing, there were differing opinions on the matter. It was often claimed that just soaking in up to the hips was good for you, but more recently, Suimei had heard people question if long baths could give you a cold. There’d been no medical proof of that, however, so people were coming to disregard it. But still, it wasn’t like they knew everything there was to know about it.

“Lady Felmenia, if you don’t mind, I would like to go in ahead of you...”

“No, I will not yield. I will go first.”

But the next thing Suimei knew, they were disputing who would get to take the first bath.

A Small Tea Party with Alexis

On a certain day, Suimei was visiting a certain mansion on the Scandinavian peninsula of Sweden. Upon arriving in Northern Europe, he’d done some quick sightseeing in Djurgarden before arriving at his objective. There, he was greeted by a considerably robust butler and guided to a luxurious garden on the property.

Sitting down at a circular table in a snowy white gazebo, he had a grand view of the principle residence. As for the reason he was there in the first place...

“It is good of you to visit, Starlight.”

He could hear a voice call out to him from the granite path that led to the gazebo. It was noble and ladylike, but also tender. It was the voice of the magicka knight of the Chivalric Order of the Rose Cross, Alexis Van Meizan. Whenever he saw her, she was ordinarily wearing her brilliant white and green armor based on the megingjord, but today, she was wearing a short skirt and had her platinum blonde hair tied up with a single ribbon.

“How many times do I gotta tell you to stop calling me that before you listen...?”

“I happen to think it is quite a chic way of addressing you.”

“Just how is it chic? Anyone who overheard that would just cringe, wouldn’t they? Call me by my name, damn it. I do have one.”

“Oh my. Then, Suimei, is it alright for me to call you by your first name?”

“I mean... I don’t really mind, but...”

“Heehee...”

Alexis smiled, looking quite delighted. With her acting so differently than usual, Suimei’s heart was racing just a little. Concealing that from showing on his face, however, he tried asking about the meaning behind her smile.

“What’s so funny?”

“It is nothing in particular. Frederic, some tea please.”

“Yes, my lady.”

At Alexis’s command, the butler who had been standing off to the side poured them some tea.

“The tea that Frederic makes is simply the best.”

“Mm...”

At her recommendation, Suimei took a taste of the expensive-looking tea. While stealing a glance at Alexis as he held the teacup to his mouth, she looked like an elegant and graceful lady. It was throwing him off a little. The tea, however, as she said, was delicious.

“Suimei, did you come here alone today?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Thank goodness for that. If Alzbayne’s youngest daughter or that delinquent little witch were here, there would be no rivalling the noise they would make.”

Alzbayne’s daughter was Hydemary, but Suimei had no idea who she was referring to with the strange moniker of “delinquent little witch.”

“Delinquent?”

“The gun witch with that mean look in her eyes. The one with the kitty.”

“Isrina? Well, she certainly does look kinda like a delinquent at a glance, but...”

“What is it?”

As Alexis gestured for him to continue, Suimei put down his teacup with a slight blush to his face.

“She only looks like that. Inside, she has an innocent heart.”

“Hmm? So that sort of girl is your taste?”

“Huh?! H-How did we get to that?!”

Being posed with a question like that out of the blue, Suimei was stumbling over himself. Alexis squinted her eyes as if assessing the meaning of his reaction.

“Oh my. If you panic like that, it only makes it more suspicious.”

“...B-But they’re not really related, right?”

“Well, you have a point.”

With that, Alexis set down her teacup and moved next to Suimei. Just as he was about to ask what she wanted, she leaned forward against the table, resting her heavy chest on top of it.

“Heehee...”

She then flashed him a bewitching smile.

“What...”

“I have already given you the right to call me by my name, so it would be fine for you to call me Alex, your big sister.”

“B-Big sister? We’re only two or three years apart, right?”

As Suimei objected and averted his gaze, the breasts she’d had resting on the table suddenly sprung up and leaned in towards him. As if mesmerized, Suimei couldn’t peel his eyes away. Alexis was a beauty. Moreover, she had an elegance about her today that was completely different from usual. It made her even more captivating. And when she got this close to him, it made even Suimei’s heart throb. However, even so, Suimei pushed back on Alexis’s shoulders.

“Give me a little space here.”

“Oh my, so I failed.”

Alexis took her distance with a dissatisfied look, then revealed an impish smile as she sat back down.

“Y-You’re... different than usual.”

“Of course I am. Whenever I meet with you, it is when I am fulfilling my duties for the Chivalric Order of the Rose Cross. At those times, I am a knight. But here, I am a daughter of the house of Meizan. Is it not natural for my behavior to change accordingly?”

“You’re saying you play roles?”

“It’s not quite to that extent. It’s just that, as a knight, I must be ferocious. Perhaps there have been times were I was just a little overzealous, but―”

Moving to counterattack, Suimei threw in a quick quip.

“You mean always?”

“Oh my, I couldn’t hear you properly. Did you say something?”

Alexis smiled as she formed a fist. In the end, that was without a doubt her true nature. And Suimei unconditionally surrendered.

“Nothing at all, my dear sister.”

“Very good.”

Seeing that they’d come to an understanding for now, Alexis nodded with a satisfied look. Her fists were something out of this world. When she threw a punch, the magicka she invoked was a gale of destruction. Even without the divine power of her armor and gauntlet, she could likely blow away a quarter of the mansion. Alexis then blushed a little as she continued.

“Well, whenever I meet with you, it reminds me of that time, and I become somewhat feverish.”

“What’s that? What time?”

“The red dragon subjugation in the Alpujarras.”

Those words brought back a wave of unpleasant memories for Suimei. Back then, in the Andalusia region of Spain, a red dragon had awakened—a mystical calamity on a grander scale than any in magicka’s history.

“At that time, when the sky and mountains of the Sierra Nevada were burned bright red, when all had fallen into despair... the beautiful light born of the sparkling stars struck down the enemy of man. It was among the best of the mysteries that man could conjure...”

“...”

Alexis was talking about it as if in a feverish dream. As if Enth Astrarle had been used just moments ago. And after she reminisced for a time, she seemed to realize the effect it had on Suimei.

“My apologies for my lack of consideration. That was when your father passed away...”

“No, I don’t really mind. But... is that why you call me by that name?”

“That is correct.”

“Seriously...?”

Normally that was where he would make a troubled expression, but Suimei shyly averted his eyes instead. If a magician of Alexis’s level said that it was because she was fascinated by his magicka, he couldn’t help the embarrassment creeping up on him.

“And that is why I will continue to call you Starlight.”

“I’m begging you. Please just use my name.”

Suimei brought his head down to the table weakly. And in response to that, perhaps having decided that they had chatted enough already, Alexis underwent a change of demeanor as she put on the face of a knight.

“Now, I am considerably late in asking, but what business did you come here with today?”

“Oh yeah. Here.”

With that, Suimei took out the letter from the leader that he had in his breast pocket and handed it over to Alexis.

After this, Alexis would also participate in Suimei’s battle, but that is a story for another time.

Hydemary’s Detective Memoirs

Leaving the multicolored townscape illuminating the night behind them, they followed after a man running through the deserted streets. He was running like he was trying to escape from the light exactly because of the people chasing him—magicians of one of the four great magicka organizations, the Society.

Just as the rumors indicated, these two magicians possessed abilities that surpassed this man’s. Normally he wasn’t the type to run away, but those two were young and there was a large gap in age between him and them. Yet when it came to wits, he was a step ahead of them. As proof, he’d succeeded in easily skirting around them just earlier.

If he ran for just a little longer, he would arrive at the Isar River. As long as he could get to the boat he’d prepared there beforehand, it was only a matter of course that he would escape. Resting his hand against a wall, the man took a breather.

“Heh, to get lured by such a simple illusion. The face of that japanisch dunce was just...”

“Indeed, it’s certainly true that Suimei-kun has the face of a dunce, isn’t it?”

“―?!”

As the man turned towards the voice that called to him from the side, standing there was one of the two chasing him, the little girl wearing a typical magician’s outfit, Hydemary Alzbayne.

“But I do think the dumb look on your face right now is stiff competition. My little Schwein who drank Weissbier to your heart’s content, until you were red to the face with pleasure.”

“Sheisse! I’ve been cut off?!”

“Surely if you were running away, you would go to the river. Both Suimei-kun and I thought so. So that’s how it is. The net was spread from the very beginning. Oh, and by the way, Suimei-kun only pretended to get caught in your illusion, so don’t get ahead of yourself there.”

Hydemary corrected the man’s misunderstanding. Did she have that much leisure in this situation? Or was she just that cold? In response to her difficult to judge, inhuman expression, the man put on a brave face and a faint smile.

“So what? Are you saying that you’ll stop me on your own?”

“What’s that? Do you not know who I am?”

“I know you, little princess doll of Alzbayne. You’re the magnum opus of the Meister, aren’t you?”

“So you do know. Good, good. Besides, in just a little while, that helpless dunce of a pursuer will also get―”

“Just WHO THE HELL is the helpless dunce, huh?! Just saying whatever the hell you want just cause someone isn’t around, you god damn puuuuunk?!”

Before Hydemary could finish her sentence, Suimei’s indignation rained down from above. Seeing Suimei standing atop the reddish-brown, pointed rooftop overhead, the man made a grim expression.

“So you already fucking caught up? Damn servant of the Society...”

“Don’t fucking call me that! It totally makes me sound like an underling!”

“Am I wrong? You’re rather famous, you know? People love to talk about the Japaner who became the Magicka King’s servant. Heh, it’s seriously quite the envious story.”

“Is that sarcasm?! Not a single one of you has any idea what I went through to...”

“Well, setting aside whether Suimei-kun is a dunce, or whether he’s helpless, or whether he’s Lord Nestahaim’s errand boy...”

“You’ve seriously been saying whatever the hell you want for a while now... I’m definitely gonna make you cry later!”

“Oh dear, how filthy. Are you the type who doesn’t take no for an answer and forcefully pins a girl down?”

Still maintaining her robotic expression that conveyed no sense of danger whatsoever, Hydemary hugged herself. Suimei yelled at her, telling her to get her mind out of the gutter, though she showed no signs of paying attention to him. Rather, she was flat out ignoring him.

“...What’s this? Are you looking for an escape route?”

Just as the man darted his eyes around to get a look at his surroundings, Hydemary slipped close enough to touch noses with him. It happened in the blink of an eye. It was so fast, in fact, that the man could hardly speak as he staggered backward.

“It’s useless. Suimei-kun has set up his specialty barrier, and I’ve also used my Einzelkampf magicka. You have no choice left but to fight me.”

“Yeah. Because of you, we had to come here all the way from Munich. Like we’re going to let you take more of our time... It’d be no big deal if you just came along quietly. We’d at least treat you to breakfast tomorrow, though there won’t be anything but fried potatoes, baked potatoes, or potatoes with green sauce on them.”

“I still haven’t eaten a pretzel, you know?”

“You can get that kind of crap anywhere!”

“Now, now, Suimei-kun. The way you’ve been talking totally makes you sound like a small time punk. It’s most unpleasant.”

“Mind your own business!”

Halfway through the exchange, Hydemary and Suimei seemed to get caught up in their own conversation. It angered the man immensely.

“Fucking yammering on nonstop like that! Do you think you’ve already won, you punks?!”

“It’s part of our introduction, idiot.”

In response to the man’s yelling, Suimei replied with a sigh. Perhaps judging that this was an opening, the man put his magicka to use.

"Ugh, der Sturm trägt eine scharfe Klinge. Damit meine Ermordung jederzeit ruhig ausgeführt werden kann."

[The gale carries a sharp blade. So that my assassination can be carried out quietly at any time.]

The man pulled out a holder from his worn coat that housed several pieces of paper shaped like knives—papers that were draped in mana as they flew into the air, surrounding Hydemary in an instant. Reacting to this, Hydemary twirled her magician’s rod around once, then struck its point against the ground.

“Wirbelwind!”

[Whirlwind!]

A violent whirlwind rose up with Hydemary at its center. The many knives thrown out by the man were caught in it and reduced to confetti. As the spell ran its course, Hydemary unceremoniously took a card case out from her shirt pocket.

“Kartensoldaten. Angriff.”

[Card soldiers. Attack.]

“Bwuh?!”

As the playing cards scattered out of the case, they became moving soldiers that rushed the man all at once. Surrounded by thirty-two soldiers, the man was no longer able to move. They had him completely pinned down.

“And that’s that.”

As Hydemary drew closer, the man’s expression changed. He put on a sympathetic smile.

“Wait a sec. All I did was sell off a few relics, right? Can’t you just let it slide?”

“What do you mean ‘a few’? Don’t you mean a magnificently large amount? Like the Simonia... Well, we know you made quite the profit.”

“Heh, heh heh... Gah!”

While the man was still sitting on his butt, Suimei kicked him right in the face. It was his way of thanking the man for the unexpected detour in their travel schedule.

“It’s over, huh?”

Hydemary looked down at the unconscious man, but Suimei was looking at her with a rather sullen face.

“No, not yet.”

“Did something happen?”

“I’m talking about your abusive remarks. You said whatever you fucking wanted earlier...”

As Suimei reproachfully thrust his index finger at her, Hydemary showed almost no reaction. She was nonchalant, at best.

“Oh? You won’t forgive me? Then what shall we do?”

“Do whatever the hell you want.”

Giving her the cold shoulder, Suimei said nothing and dragged the man away.

“Do you plan on ignoring me? You and I are partners, Suimei-kun. We can’t be separated.”

Hydemary stated that like it was fact. She was going to use it as an excuse and looked rather smug on the matter. However...

“That’s not true.”

“What?”

Glancing over his shoulder at Hydemary, Suimei began rapidly heading towards the hotel as he dragged the man along.

“Suimei-kun?”

When she called out to him, Suimei would not react.

“Suimei-kun.”

Hydemary continued calling out to him, but...

“Suimei...”

Before he realized it, Hydemary was right next to him. As he looked to the side, her face was right there looking up at him. Even though she wasn’t looking ahead, she was walking along with no trouble at all.

Lefille and the Quest to Round Up Cats?

Suimei had asked Lefille to find and collect some stray cats, and she was currently preparing to do exactly that in the southern part of the imperial capital.

For the sake of capturing the culprit behind the coma incidents, Suimei had suddenly requested that she do something that appeared to be completely unrelated. Collecting cats in order to catch the criminal was strange indeed, but even if Lefille didn’t understand the meaning behind it, she knew it must be important if he’d asked her to do it. Based on what she’d seen of Suimei so far, she at least understood that much.

And as she got to work...

“I see... Strays are unexpectedly hard to find.”

Even though she felt like she saw them all the time when it didn’t matter, now that she was trying to find them, they were surprisingly difficult to track down. But since cats liked to lounge around in their favorite spots during the day, if she could at least figure out where they gathered, it would somehow work out, but...

“When it comes to places stay cats gather, that would be thickets and back alleys, right? Now that I think about it, I’ve even seen them quite a few times in the garden at the Church of Salvation.”

Folding her arms in the middle of a street with little pedestrian traffic, Lefille was pondering where she might have the best luck finding some cats. And then...

“Heh heh. Can I bother you a bit, little lady? Can I?”

Someone called to her from behind. Turning around, she spotted a plump, greasy man.

“...What’s with you?”

“Hey, wanna have some fun with your big brother here? Heh heh heh...”

“Ugh...”

With enough viscosity in his high-pitched voice to make her think he might be some kind of ooze creature, the plump man closed in on her. No matter how she tried to look at him, based on the way he was talking, she couldn’t clear away a very visceral sense of disgust.

“Eheh, how ’bout it?”

“N-No thanks! I’m in a hurry!”

While shouting that, Lefille turned and ran away as fast as she could. She never looked behind her even once. When she thought she was safe, she nestled against a wall and caught her breath.

“Hahh... Just what was that indescribably disgusting man? Hmm, now that I think of it, I heard from Jill that there have been people in the imperial capital with strange tendencies lately...”

Jillbert was very well informed. She stocked up on information like the affairs of the military police and strange events in the cities. And she loved talking about such things. Based on what she’d said recently, the imperial capital had something of a pedophile problem these days. The man she’d just run into was probably part of it. Rather than goodwill, she only sensed wicked thoughts in him.

“If I were in my original form, I could have delivered justice myself... How disappointing...”

With that, Lefille let out a sigh. She’d frantically run away from the situation, so she took a look around to try and figure out where she’d ended up. It seemed she’d made it to a different district of the city. She was somewhere close to the library, the castle, and the high class district.

Among the stone housing complexes, she could see several small, eye-catching restaurants. It was a nice area. The buildings weren’t too tightly packed together, and the sun shone down here uninhibited. But as she looked to the side, she saw the entrance of a maze—the labyrinthine alleyways common in the residential districts.

“A back alley? Excellent. If there’s any vacant land in there, it’s probably the perfect place for cats to gather.”

With that, Lefille reaffirmed her resolve and pushed on. There was a lot riding on this, so she had to put her all into it.

“Hmm?”

Walking into the alley, she found a single cat. Did it have a docile temperament? Even as she drew nearer, it didn’t move away. It simply yawned. As she pet its head, the cat closed its eyes like it was smiling and then began purring.

“It seems like it’ll be easy to bring it along, but it’s not moving at all...”

The cat showed no sign of going anywhere. Rather than a cat like this, it would likely be better to bring back a more energetic one. Deciding that, Lefille moved on. Further into the alley, she eventually came across an open area.

“Oooh...”

There were plenty of cats in the vacant area. Seeing that mass of fluffiness, Lefille unintentionally raised her voice in admiration. It was a much larger gathering spot than she’d expected. She had plenty of choices here.

“I’m sorry this is so sudden, but please come with me.”

Without trying to conceal the huge grin on her face, Lefille tried talking to the cat she was approaching. In a gentle attempt to capture it, she stuck out both of her arms and tried to pick it up, but as if mocking her, it easily slipped between her hands.

“Hmph... With my body like this, this won’t be easy, will it?”

Watching it run off, Lefille stretched her hands out to try the next cat. With agile movements, it leaped up high atop a pile of rubbish to escape.

“Ugh... What do I do?”

Lefille pondered her options with a grim expression. It was then that she stumbled upon an idea. She would never catch a cat that knew what she was doing. She’d have to catch them by surprise. And arriving at that conclusion...

“There!”

With a sudden burst of energy, she leaped towards a spot were several cats had gathered. But they instantly dispersed, thwarting Lefille’s capture attempt.

“Mm—yow!”

Slamming her head overenthusiastically into the ground, Lefille ended up being the one to let out a sound like a cat. At this rate, she would never get anywhere.

“Now that I think of it, when people call out to cats, they start by imitating them, right?”

When she thought about how she’d seen others interact with cats, they were always friendly. It made them easier to approach, so perhaps that would work for her too. But when she tried to imagine herself doing it...

“Meow! Psst, psst, psst! Here, kitty, kitty! Meow!”

“L-Like I could do that! I’m an honored swordswoman of Noshias! There’s no way I would...”

But she was still catless with no hope of making contact on the horizon. The strays all just watched her from a distance. After fretting over what she should do for quite some time, she took a deep breath and steeled herself.

“Meeeow! Come over here, kitties! Come to me! Meow, meow, meow!”

She tried her friendliest meowing, putting her heart and soul into it. But the cats only yawned, scratched their heads with their hind legs, or licked their paws. It was like they had absolutely no interest at all.

“...”

Though still smiling, Lefille froze up on the spot. Her embarrassment was swirling around in her head.

“Ugh, what a disgrace...”

Grumbling out those crestfallen words, Lefille hung her head. It was already almost sunset. She didn’t want to go back emptyhanded, but what could she do in this situation?

“...I have no choice, huh?”

With that, Lefille turned around and headed back to the entrance of the alley. Hesitating a bit, she picked up the carefree cat from before and went home. When she arrived...

Hearing mewing, Lefille headed towards the living room and found Suimei there surrounded by many cats.

“Meow!”

“Meow!”

“S-Suimei-kun, what’s going on here...?”

“Meow!”

“Meow!”

As Lefille stood there dumbfounded, Suimei turned to her with a rather bright smile.

“Oh, this? I also went around town and brought some back. As expected, it was pretty easy to find a whole bunch of them. Well, the range of behavior for cats is pretty narrow, so I didn’t really have to go out of my way to do much, but... Lefi?”

“Even though I went through so much just to bring a single one back...”

Lefille began to vent her anger by repeatedly whapping him.

“You’re so inconsiderate, Suimei-kun! Inconsiderate, I tell you!”

Whap, whap, whap, whap, whap!

“Wh-What’s the matter all of a sudden?”

“Give me back my pride...” she mumbled, sniffling.

On the Way Back from Hadorious’s Mansion

“Well... this is quite a problem, isn’t it?”

While walking down the streets of the evening-painted Kurant City, Reiji let out a sigh like he had a headache. An hour ago, he’d been invited by Hadorious to have a chat with him, and was now just on his way back from that.

He’d gained some insight into Hadorious based on their conversation, mostly in realizing that they were completely incompatible. He’d threatened to take hostages if the need arose, and he was using that threat to force them into taking an unwanted detour in their journey.

No, I can’t just sit here and complain. It’s not just the demons. From now on, I need to deal with the ulterior motives of people from other countries and Hadorious.

Realizing that he was just griping about the situation he’d found himself in, Reiji shook such thoughts out of his head. Their journey had only just begun. This would only be the first of the difficulties they were to experience. He would have to be able to deal with all sorts of things, even Hadorious. That’s why he had to come out on top everywhere he could. And that man was willing to lay his hands on Suimei. Reiji would at least have his revenge for that, though confirming Suimei’s safety came first.

“Hmm? Isn’t that...?”

As he got closer to the inn, he spotted a familiar silhouette standing in the middle of a grove of trees within the city. Looking closely, he could see that it was Titania.

It was unusual to see her alone without even a single guard, but... she seemed to be focusing on the trees in front of her or something. It was as if she was a still body of water without a single ripple. As if she had become one with the nature around her. She was likely meditating on her magic. Whenever she had time, she would train however she could. She was apparently quite diligent and hardworking.

Before long, she drew a wooden sword out of nowhere.

This was quite strange. For a girl who fought with magic to be holding a wooden sword, just what did it mean? He could understand if it were a short sword for self-defense, but he couldn’t understand what application a wooden sword that was about as long as the one he used had in magic training.

But the moment she took a stance with her sword as if there were an enemy before her, that thought was blown away.

“...”

A stance aimed to strike at the eyes, was it? The moment she struck it, Reiji felt like time came to a stop. It wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen before, either in this world or his. And he couldn’t see a single weakness in it.

Too absorbed in watching Titania, however, he forgot to pay attention to his footsteps.

“Who goes?!”

Hearing the rustling of leaves on the ground, Titania realized he was there. And as she turned towards him, she had a vigilant, hostile sword at the ready.

“U-Um, sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“Reiji-sama?! Why are you here?!”

“I finished talking with the duke and was headed back to the inn. I just happened to see you over here on the way.”

“I-Is that so...? Well, what did that man have to say?”

“That’s... There was a lot, so I’d prefer to wait and discuss it all with everyone at the inn. But what about you, Tia? Were you in the middle of some kind of training?”

“I... I... No!”

As Reiji inquired about what she’d been doing, she flashed an amazed expression for a single instant, and then panicked and tried to hide the wooden sword in her right hand behind her back.

“What’s wrong?”

“N-No, i-i-i-i-it’s nothing at all! I was just thinking of doing a little bit of magic training! That’s all!”

“But you had a sword at the ready just now, right?”

“W-Were you watching?!”

She threw out that question, still completely gripped by surprise, and Reiji nodded back to her. Then, hanging her head low, she muttered to herself in a quiet voice.

“Goodness, what a careless blunder...”

“What’s that? Did you say something? I couldn’t really hear you.”

“No, nothing at all... Um, i-in truth, lately we have been coming across powerful monsters. Thinking it may be a problem in the future, I thought I should also start practicing to use a sword.”

“You were practicing to use a sword? All on your own?”

“I-I was too embarrassed to be seen by anyone!”

“But isn’t it better to have a teacher for this kind of thing?”

“I-I was taught the basics by Gregory and the captain of the guard, so it’s alright!”

Titania pitched forward emphatically as she spoke. It sounded a bit like she was making excuses in a panic, but as she said, it was likely from embarrassment. Looking at her, Reiji thought of an idea.

“Hey, Tia, do you want to try practicing with me?”

“With you, Reiji-sama? I’m afraid I don’t have a practice sword for you.”

“Here.”

Reiji picked up a nearby fallen tree branch.

“Oh? Why is there such a convenient tree branch...”

“There are plenty of trees here, after all.”

Titania then averted her gaze like she had been seized with fear.

“Um, I, even without a training partner...”

“There’s no need to hold back. If you’re fine with me, I’ll be your partner as much as you want.”

Reiji smiled at her pleasantly. Despite all her training, Titania had no technique to resist that smile.

“...Thank you kindly.”

When Reiji took a stance with the branch in hand, Titania made her move. However...

“Um, take thaaaaat!”

Letting out a somehow spiritless yell, Titania came at him slowly. Reiji nimbly dodged her swing. She then tried for another blow with yet another awkward shout.

“Let’s see... Hyaaaaah!”

“...”

Reiji silently evaded that one as well. He couldn’t sense any urgency at all from her. To the point where he couldn’t even imagine this was the same girl who’d struck that stance from before. After yet another one of her swings was dodged, Titania spoke up with a forced smile.

“A-As one would expect of Reiji-sama. My sword didn’t even graze you!”

“...Hey, Tia? Are you taking this seriously?”

As Reiji gave her a somewhat astonished and somewhat dubious look, Titania cringed like he’d just hit a bullseye.

“What?”

“You’re not, right? There’s no way.”

“That is not the case! I’ve just never once used a sword before this!”

“But even then, this is... Back when you saved me from Rajas’s attack, I felt like your movements were much sharper.”

“Th-That was a good example of a miracle under pressure! At the time, my body just moved on its own...”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

They both exchanged surprised looks. That wasn’t what Reiji had expected her to say.

“...Tia, didn’t you use magic then?”

When Reiji said that, Titania couldn’t help the “oh crap” expression that flashed on her face.

“Y-Yes, of course! I used magic to save you, Reiji-sama!”

It seemed that they really weren’t on the same page. It felt like she was just forcing herself to agree with everything he said.

“Tia, are you hiding something from me?”

“Th-There is not a single thing that I would hide from you, Reiji-sama! Nothing!”

“Really?”

“Really!”

Titania nodded her head up and down vigorously. The overenthusiasm was extremely suspicious. Reiji raised an eyebrow as he watched this unfold, when...

“Oh... Oh no!”

With a completely forced cry, Titania tripped over nothing at all and fell towards Reiji’s arms. Though regarding this all as completely fishy, Reiji caught her and held her up.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes!”

After replying in a loud voice, she tightly squeezed on to him. Thinking that it was a little cute, Reiji scratched his head.

“What in the world...?”

Afterword

Thank you very much for purchasing the bonus volume 3 stories. In these, we ended up covering various topics like Lefille’s cute side, the reappearance of Felmenia’s clumsy and incompetent side, and some sides of other, less familiar characters.

The story will be heating up gradually from here, so if this work could become a source of enjoyment for everybody, that would fill me with joy.

-Gamei Hitsuji