Escaping the Summer Heat: Knight Commander Albert Hawke

Escaping the Summer Heat:
Knight Commander Albert Hawke

 

ONE DAY, Albert invited me to go back into the capital. Apparently, there was to be a festival of sorts. I had been to the city with him once before, so I thought it might be fun to go again and eagerly accepted.

The festival would be at night, so we would depart after I finished work. During the day, I learned the researchers were also planning to visit the festival as a group. When I remembered my last trip into the city with Albert, I elected to go with the my colleagues and meet with him there. I desperately wanted to avoid an anxiety-ridden round two of being knee-to-knee in a cramped carriage.

The few days before the festival passed in a flash, and all too soon, I packed myself into a carriage with my colleagues, and we were off.

Once we arrived, my colleagues waited with me at the designated meeting point—a crossroad just a bit away from the heart of the festivities. They considered it too dark for me to hang around all on my lonesome. I probably would have been all right, but if something did happen, what would I have done about it? I accepted their companionship without complaint.

Besides, I didn’t have to bum around forever or anything. Albert showed up moments after we arrived. We had agreed to meet there because it would be so crowded everywhere else, but he wore exactly the same sort of clothes he had on our last visit to the city, so I spotted him right away.

“Did I keep you waiting long?” he asked.

“Not at all, we just got here.”

After seeing me safely handed off, the researchers quickly disappeared into the crowd. Albert and I headed into the thick of the festival ourselves.

Right as we started off, he casually took my hand in his. Ohhh, nooo—I couldn’t escape from the fact that we were walking while holding hands. And it wasn’t just that either—he had to go and entwine his fingers with mine!

I looked up at him in surprise. He had the audacity to smile sweetly at me. “Something the matter?”

“No…”

Part of me still wanted to let go, but I couldn’t now, not after he looked at me like that.

Eep… Just focus on everything else around you and forget about the hand. Yeah, that’ll do it! Luckily, the sights of the city were so lively that I had plenty to occupy myself with.

Food stalls lined either side of the road leading up to the heart of the festival. The market I had visited before had sold fruits, vegetables, and the like, but most of the stalls tonight hawked street food that was ready to eat. Groups of wooden crates were arranged in front of the stalls. People sat on them to eat the food they had purchased.

Some people with reddened faces drank deep from their cups. That was alcohol for you. There had to be stalls selling that as well.

“Something catch your eye?” asked Albert.

“I was just wondering where people are getting their drinks.”

“Do you have a taste for alcohol?”

“A bit.”

I hadn’t drunk anything alcoholic since my summoning, but that didn’t mean I abstained by habit. I had gone drinking with friends back in Japan. I just hadn’t yet had the chance in the kingdom. This being a festival, I thought a bit of alcohol might help get me in the mood.

After this, Albert brought me to a stall selling alcoholic beverages. I assumed it was ale, given the color, but the contents of the mug I received didn’t smell like I expected.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Mead.”

Mead, huh? I lifted the mug to my face again and took another sniff. It had a pleasantly sweet aroma, probably due to a lighter fermentation process. Either way, it sure tasted good, no question.

I sat on one of the crates like everyone else and took a few more sips. Before I knew it, food had been brought out for us as well.

Although the mead’s alcoholic content was low, it was still, you know, alcoholic. As I drank, I gradually started to feel that familiar fuzzy warmth. As I grew light-headed, I ate and sipped while chatting with Albert about the festival and any other thing that occurred to us.

It really was a wonderful time—I know because it passed in the blink of an eye. Soon it was pretty late, so Albert suggested we head back to the palace.

By then, I was in such a good mood that I swung our linked hands and practically skipped all the way back to where the carriage awaited us. Albert chuckled merrily beside me.

Then, of course, I had to go and trip on a cobblestone—but Albert wrapped his arms around my waist to stop my fall. I think? It got a little hazy there at the end.

Needless to say, the next morning, I was left feeling powerfully flustered when I remembered that string of events.