Third Arc: Seventeenth Chapter

"My apologies for earlier. Ha ha ha! I worried my angel had come to hate me, but I'm glad it was all for nothing. Truly, our destiny is... mmpf."

"Elliot, you liked these sweets, didn't you? Have plenty! ...Cosette, by the way, about that barley drink you called 'beer'..."

Around the time we started our second cup of tea, the two came back together, but Elliot hadn't learned his lesson in the slightest. He was clinging to Lady Remie so closely it was stifling, and she peeled him off with a rip and shoved a rice cracker into his wide-open mouth.

It must have been fairly hard, because he chewed away at it with all his might, and since it was a good size too, he wasn't making much headway. Come to think of it, a rice cracker. So Lumelica has rice crackers too.

Having quieted Elliot, Lady Remie gently set something down in front of me. A glittering golden coin, no, a beer.

"Th-this is...! Wait, ice..."

Ice in beer, huh.

In this world there are no refrigerators, only ice houses. Ice is mainly for keeping food, so chilling drinks isn't common, and I supposed it couldn't be helped. Still, somehow my spirits sank a little. But no! Beer! Beer!

"Oh, was I not supposed to add ice? You said you wanted it chilled, so... shall I have it taken away..."

"No, no, no, not at all! In that case, if you'll excuse me...!"

Stopping Lady Remie as she made to draw the beer back, looking apologetic, I reached for it with a beaming smile. And just then, the beer was whisked away from the side.

"Milady, drink when you're grown."

"Sissi...?! Why are you here?!"

"You called me to bring the goods just now, didn't you? Have you forgotten?"

That's right...! Even as we traded these words, I inched closer and closer to Sissi. But my foe was no fool. She circled around to the far side of the sofa I had been sitting on.

"Sissi! Please! Please!"

"No."

"Waaah!"

Cosette is confused! Cosette lunged at Sissi! Sissi dodged nimbly aside!

"C-Cosette... are you all right? ...Pff."

"Lady Cosette... pff pff."

I sat slumped in my chair with a face like it was the end of the world. To put it plainly, I was no match for Sissi at all. My dream of drinking beer went unfulfilled, and the chilled beer went to wet Elliot's throat instead.

"Pff! Ha ha ha ha ha! Ahh, I can't take it! I can't hold it in anymore! Did you see? Lady Cosette's face while I was drinking the 'beer'!"

Elliot burst out as if he couldn't hold it back, and Lady Remie and the others, who must have been holding it in, were pulled along and started laughing too. Fine, then. Laugh all you like. Thoroughly sulky, I drained my cold tea in one go.

"I-I'm sorry, Lady Cosette! I didn't mean to laugh... khu-fufu."

"Ha, it was awful, wasn't it! Like a dead fish! I thought Lord Elliot was going to be killed by your glare!"

"Pff... M-Mickey! Don't say such things!"

As everyone chatted away happily and warmly, I looked at the empty beer glass and let out a deep sigh of despair.

"Two more years, huh..."

In this world you come of age at eighteen. Would I really be able to hold out?

As if to cut off my longing for beer, I devoured a rice cracker. Munch, munch, munch, munch... hm?

"This rice cracker tastes like the ones I made..."

"Hee hee, you noticed?"

At the murmur that slipped out of me, Lady Remie smiled shyly, a little embarrassed.

"I couldn't forget the taste of the rice crackers you made for me, so I did my best to recreate them! I'm so glad to hear from the person herself that it tastes like yours!"

"Lady Remie..."

We looked at each other and laughed together. At last the mood had turned gentle. But into it came a remark from Elliot that read the room not at all.

"Still, it was my first time drinking it chilled, but the 'beer' really is better cold! You knew your stuff! Have you drunk it before?"

Those who can't read the room are strong. But I would think reading the room was an essential skill for a merchant, so why was Elliot not equipped with that function? I could have grilled him about it for the better part of an hour, but the more pressing problem right now was the pitch-black wave of anger swelling up behind me.

Sissi gave off a killing intent! Cosette is frightened!

"No! Of course I haven't, obviously! It's imagination, imagination! Ha, I've always had such a rich imagination, it's a real problem, honestly!"

I am a woman who does not look back on the past! I walk facing only forward! Shouting louder than necessary, I never once turned to look behind me.

We couldn't have been talking all that long, and yet after our chat with Lady Remie and the others, I was worn out. It turned out the owner of that cosmetics shop we had been waiting for was Elliot, and we discussed trading in goods and had a light meeting about trade with Lumelica, which may be why I was all the more tired. ...It was most certainly not because I was frightened of the ominous presence behind me.