Chapter 3: Mismatched Feelings
The sounds of bells marking the conclusion of the fights reverberated through the capital; the Queen’s city, Gainos. As one would expect from the headquarters of Queen’s Blade, it was also called the Arena Capital, with 12 large arenas in the city and innumerable small arenas centered around the Great Coliseum. As such, preliminaries were frequently taking place.
That was where the beautiful fighters aiming at Queen’s Blade gathered, after coming from all over the Continent. It was said that the local cities couldn’t compare to that total amount. There was no shortage of opponents, nor lack of arenas to fight in.
Among the crowds, with people moving from one arena to the next—the moment the bells rang—to see the battles of the beautiful fighters they seeked, Melpha and Fio were walking towards Cattleya’s weapon shop.
“I wish she’d give me a chance…”
Hearing the sound of the bells, Fio muttered to himself.
The best way to increase Leina’s fighting frequency as she traveled with the main purpose of helping the people in trouble was to have preliminaries at the Queen’s city. It was something the blonde should have known, but she wasn’t proactively challenging anyone to a match.
“Really now, what’s that Leina thinking?”
Ever since she had come to the capital, all she had done was getting defeated by Cattleya every morning and tending to the store.
He didn’t know all the details, but she had mentioned someone was after her.
[Whoever is chasing her, they can’t possibly raise a scene in the queen’s capital. Or at least, if they’re decent human beings, with sound judgment, they shouldn’t try to cause trouble in Gainos, the city at the top of the Queen’s Blade system.]
“Err~, what chance did you mean?”
Melpha called out to him, after hearing his earlier remark.
“Hm~, it’s just this thing… Miss Melpha, have you ever wondered if God does not need you?”
He asked her, in his best lady-like tone.
“I haven’t.”
The priestess asserted, emphatically.
“Err, after all, God doesn’t need us to begin with. It’s us who need God.”
“I… I see.”
Her tone full of confidence overwhelmed him for a moment.
“Excuse me… if you are asking such a question, does that mean you’re not sure if anyone needs you, Miss Fio?”
As a good priestess, she got straight to the point.
“Yeah…”
“You are certainly needed, Miss Fio.”
“Eh?”
“Umm, yes. At the very least, I need you, and I think Lady Nanael does too. That’s why, if you ever feel unneeded or feel you have no place where you belong, please come to the church at any time.”
“Thanks…”
He felt a little happy hearing that. Being told that someone needed you did feel good.
“Can I ask you a question?”
He looked up at Melpha, curiosity in his eyes.
“Y-Yes. Certainly, please do.”
“Are you participating in Queen’s Blade too, Miss Melpha?”
“E-Err…”
“If it’s hard for you to answer, you don’t really need to.”
“No, that’s… err, yes. Bottom line is, I will participate.”
Melpha might have been surprised by the question, but still managed to answer with conviction.
“And did you decide it yourself?”
The priestess hesitated at that question, and made a small groan while searching for an answer:
“U-Uhh…”
“Ah, it’s okay, you don’t need to tell me… I just felt like asking.”
[I didn’t want to force it out of you.]
Fio turned his face away, and kept walking.
“E-Err, actually…”
Finally arriving at an answer, the blonde began talking as she walked by his side.
“I am participating due to Grandmother’s orders. The truth is, I do not wish to fight, but since I was chosen as the representative of our faction, I am willing to do my utmost.”
“Do your utmost…?”
The model answer made him give a small sigh. It went without saying that everyone challenging Queen’s Blade intended to do their utmost.
And, naturally, that included…
“Ah…”
He realized the main cause of his frustration in her words. The fact that Leina didn’t seem to be doing her utmost was the cause of his problems with her these last few days.
Even during her mock battles with Cattleya, she had more of a “let’s try this out” attitude; she didn’t seem to be seriously aiming for a victory.
“I see now… so it was like that?”
Finally satisfied, the dancer looked up at Melpha and smiled.
“Yes?”
Being unexpectedly smiled at made her blink in surprise.
“Thanks, Miss Melpha. I feel like I got a load off my mind.”
“You do? I am only happy I was able to help.”
She smiled as well, as if his smile was contagious.
“E-Err~, this might be a bit impudent to ask, but…”
While being all smiles, she whispered at him.
“Yes?”
“If it is fine with you, please, by all means, sing a hymn this time.”
When it came to Fio, if he was asked to sing, he didn’t care where it was.
[Consider it done.]
“If you wish me to…”
But, at the very moment Fio was about to accept, a shameful *groowl~~~* sounded from his stomach.
“Ah…”
[Come to think about it, I jumped out of the store before eating lunch, and I haven’t eaten a meal since.]
“Shall we go eat something?”
“Please! I have never eaten the capital’s specialties.”
Her proposal got an immediate reply out of him.
***
“I’m back~”
The door opened with a cheerful voice, and Rana came running into the store.
“Welcome home.”
Leina crouched down to be at his same eye level.
“Say, where’s Fio?”
He asked, after looking around the store.
“Hm~, she went out for a while.”
[I can’t very well tell Rana that we fought and he left.]
As soon as she heard the name of Fio, she made that prompt decision.
“Is that so~. I thought we could play together.”
The kid’s face clouded over in disappointment. Being part of an itinerant entertainers’ troupe as he had been, Fio excelled at drawing the audience’s interest. Above all, he knew a lot of games children loved to play.
Just the next morning after she had placed herself under Cattleya’s care, Fio was already getting along well with Rana. As the dancer himself put it, ‘Nothing beats a request from a child’.
“I-It’s alright. She’ll be back soon.”
She added, noting how the kid seemed like he was going to start crying. She might not be a mother, but she still couldn’t endure a child’s crying face.
“Really?”
“Yep, really really.”
His face suddenly became brighter when he heard her say that so confidently.
“By the way, Rana, where’s Miss Cattleya?”
Having now recovered his good mood, the boy pointed to the entrance.
“We brought a souvenir to give you, auntie Leina.”
With that, he pulled her by the hand.
“For me?”
Pulled up by the kid, she followed him and opened the shop’s door.
“Oh my, you opened the door at just the right time.”
And the figure of Cattleya with a large luggage appeared behind the door.
“Welcome back, Miss Cattleya.”
“Thanks for your hard work, this took longer than I had thought.”
The mother passed through the door the blonde had opened for her, and entered the store.
“Oh my? It’s just you in here, Miss Leina?”
She asked, surprised, after a cursory look around the store.
“Yes, I’m on my own.”
Her reply came with a sullen expression.
“Fio ran away.”
She added, in a voice low enough for Rana not to hear.
“Oh my oh my, did you two have a fight?”
The merchant answered in a similar low voice.
“How can you tell?”
“It’s written all over your face.”
Cattleya smiled, and changed the sign on the store to a closing one. Hush-hush time was over too.
“Seems there are no customers, should we talk over a nice meal inside?”
“Yaay! Foood!”
Rana was delighted to hear that.
“I agree as well. Since I was alone, I couldn’t leave the store.”
Leina honestly agreed as well.
“Oh my oh my, in those cases, you should put this up.”
Cattleya took out a small sign from under the counter. It read: ‘Please call if you have an order’.
“But, if the goods get stolen while I’m away…”
Even disregarding the value of the products, they couldn’t simply leave weapons people could kill others with unattended.
“Did you forget that the products’ rack can be locked?”
“Ah…”
Noticing for the first time that she had completely forgotten about the key, Leina could only marvel at her own carelessness.
[There’s still too much I don’t know about the store.]
The Vance daughter hung her head in disappointment.
“Hey, mom… let’s eat.”
Rana pulled from his mother’s hand.
“Yeah, you’re right, let’s have lunch. You too, Leina, you can’t sulk forever!”
“Y-Yes!”
Cattleya’s advice brought the blonde back to her senses.
***
Many travelers visited Gainos, the capital of the Continent, where the Queen resides, the very grounds where the first Queen’s Blade tournament took place. As such, one of the capital’s characteristics was that various facilities had been arranged for their convenience.
Public bathing areas, free accommodation, gambling in taverns… it got to the point where rumors had it that there was nothing in the Continent that Gainos didn’t have as well.
Melpha and Fio were in one of such facilities, in a section where shops serving food and drink lined up in a row using a wealth of ingredients carried from all over the Continent.
“Do you come here often?”
Fio asked, poking at the cake placed on the table. Blueberries were mixed in a white dough, resulting in a polka-dots pattern, as it were. Commonly known as a polka-dot Chiffon cake, it was one of Nanael’s favorite cakes, which she usually ordered Melpha to buy for her.
“Er~… just sometimes, though… I might drop by just a bit while I’m on street service.”
[The way Melpha emphasized “sometimes” and “just a bit”, seems to mean it’s on special occasions.]
“Hm~”
[And yet, judging from her way of talking just now, you’d think you could replace her “sometimes” with plain “always”.]
As he carried the cake into his mouth, Fio looked at the crystal ball in the store.
The ball was showing a preliminary fight somewhere else. It consisted of a blonde fighter with a costume designed after a white tiger, versus a woman in a red dress with a grotesque-looking, wriggling staff.
“I wonder what that is.”
The grotesque staff captured his gaze. It moved its tentacles as if it were alive, and climbed all over its user’s body.
[Kind of sexy, isn’t it?]
Each time the tentacles entangled around her body, the woman in the red dress let out a sigh with a spicy, yet hard to read expression.
Seeing that, Fio swallowed what felt like a lump in his throat.
And he wasn’t alone. Similarly, the surrounding men looked at the crystal ball as if they couldn’t turn their eyes away.
“Huh, by any chance, is that entering—…”
Just when he was going to focus his sight on where the wriggling tentacles were going… his vision got wrapped in darkness.
“Hiah!”
“D-Don’t look!”
Melpha’s voice sounded from behind his ear.
“Broadcasting such a shameful feed, do they lack common sense?”
Melpha was hugging him from behind so as to cover his eyes. After the initial surprise from the darkness passed, he started noticing a pleasant warmth and softness pressed against the back of his head.
“Auh… y-you’re touching me… you’re touching me with…”
Feeling the soft, warm meat for the second time that day, Fio’s heartbeat increased.
Melpha’s costume was a discreet one to serve God without showing any skin. On the other hand however, when looking at the thin tissue covering her body from afar, it was so tight one could be excused from thinking she was only wearing body paint.
And so, although technically a piece of cloth was separating them, in reality it was no different than if she went and pressed her nude breasts against the back of his head.
Naturally, a certain male part of Fio’s body couldn’t stay dormant.
“Crap… this is…”
The dancer tried to push down the hard thing between his legs right away.
“Ugh!”
He felt a pang. Pain was welling up with a tingle in his lower abdomen, probably because he was trying to hold it down by force from the base.
“E-Err~, i-is there anything wrong?”
Surprised by his moan, the priestess scurried to release her hands.
“I-It’s… nothing. I just felt a bit ill…”
He replied, still holding his lower abdomen.
“That won’t do. I must do something.”
Melpha took a quick look around. The other customers around them seemed to be looking at the preliminary match being projected on the crystal ball. No one seemed to be paying them any mind.
[It’s a good timing to do *that* and treat Fio.]
Her face showed the resolution she had found anew.
“Miss Fio… this might be embarrassing, but please look at me for a while.”
She slowly went around him to position herself in front, and sat down on the table.
“Hey, that’s bad manners…”
Her soft buttocks bent, delicate wrinkles appearing in the snow-white cloth glued to her body.
“This is an emergency, so I ask that you forgive me.”
With that, she put her hands on her skirt.
“Huh?”
His eyes bulged before those unexpected actions of hers. Surprisingly enough, she flipped up her light blue-purple skirt in front of him.
“Eh? Eeeh?”
His line of sight was reflexively drawn further inside. Her body might have been wrapped by the white cloth, never showing any skin, but a golden embroidery crossed that place longitudinally, as if emphasizing her forbidden garden. It was also clearly visible that it extended further to the valley of the peach butt behind her.
More blood gathered in his congested crotch. Despite feeling a cold sweat flowing through his back, he tried hard to endure.
“Aah, are you okay?”
“I… I am okay, but… Miss Melpha, what is this… all of a sudden.”
He tried his best to keep himself together, even as he panted with forced breaths.
“T-This is…”
Feeling the gaze from others beside him, she hurried to close both legs. Before they knew, the other patrons in the store had shifted their gaze from the preliminary feed to the priestess.
“This is called a Holy Pose, it is a ritual necessary to embody the Divine Power.”
Melpha explained, her cheeks turning pink in embarrassment.
[More like a “Whore-y Pose”, wouldn’t you say?]
He almost unintentionally blurted out such old-pervert-like words, but managed to swallow them in time.
“Err… was there any effect?”
It might have been effective if he had been under some kind of sickness, but the condition currently afflicting him wasn’t a disease, but the reaction from a healthy body. Thus, no matter how much shame she bore to perform the Holy Pose, there would be no effect.
“There is, there was, I’m better already!”
Despite this, he tried his hardest to convince her he was okay. If she struck any more Holy Poses, he might get a nosebleed and collapse.
“…Thank you very much. Miss Fio, you’re so kind.”
No one with a functioning mind would believe the Divine Power had had any effect on him. Seeing Fio insisting hard on him having felt the effects only for the sake of encouraging her made her feel sorry from the bottom of her heart.
“So I don’t have enough faith…”
Thinking that it was her fault, Melpha made a gloomy expression as she got off the table.
“Ah, M-Miss Melpha, it’s not your fault. This is more like a chronic disease.”
He hurried to add.
“Should we go back soon? I finished my meal as well.”
Holding down his lower abdomen, Fio stood up, unsteadily.
***
The fragrant smell of freshly baked bread and the refreshing flavor of fresh fruit colored the dining table.
“Let’s eaaat!”
Cattleya and Leina watched heartwarmingly how Rana made a cheerful voice and bit into a big piece of bread.
“Auntie Leina, you eat too. It’s delicious.”
“Okay, I’ll have some.”
The blonde reached out for the bread recommended by the boy.
“It is bad manners to discuss this while eating, but did anything out of the ordinary happen during my absence?”
The mother asked her, while wiping the crumbles off his son’s mouth.
“For the sales, you can just take a look at the shop’s list…”
Leina sighed, and continued with a somewhat cranky tone.
“And Hans came.”
“Oh my, that’s an unusual visitor.”
“Err, ‘I got an order for one thousand people’s worth, so prepare the items’. Yeah, that was it.”
Hearing such a large amount made Cattleya stop in her tracks.
“Miss Cattleya?”
“…Now that’s troubling. I can’t believe it was that serious…”
Next to the mother with the pensive look on her face, Rana reached for a second helping.
“If I have sales for one thousand people, I can close the shop and focus on Queen’s Blade.”
According to the figures Leina shuffled in her head from having tended the store recently, they would get around 30 visitors per day, 10 of which would actually purchase something. A thousand people would be 100 times that, or in other words, the sales equivalent to 100 days.
“I would very much like to see you fighting seriously, Miss Cattleya.”
Leina’s eyes were shining.
[I managed to face her every morning in a mock battle, but I don’t think she’s taken me seriously even once.]
It was a humiliation for a beautiful fighter, but the Vance daughter kept trying to convince herself that it was only because of her own ability.
“When it comes to that, my hands are tied. *He* might come back, so I would like to keep the shop open as long as I can…”
*He*… Cattleya was waiting for the return of the adventurer Owen, her husband and Rana’s father. Why had he disappeared, leaving behind her wife and child? That was something only he would know the answer to.
“By the way, Miss Leina, why did you get into a fight with Fifi?”
Possibly finding it hard to talk about her husband, the mother changed the subject.
“She said that the way I looked after customers was no good.”
“Right…”
As if suddenly seeing the crux of the problem, Cattleya nodded with a half-hearted reply.
“ ‘Right’…? Do you mean you’re siding with Fio?”
“As an employer’s opinion, Fifi is more useful for the shop.”
Leina’s shoulders dropped when she heard the flat remark.
“But, the cause behind the fight wouldn’t only be that, would it.”
[That’s Miss Cattleya for you. She totally saw through me.]
“It’s actually… about this.”
Leina gently put the Sword of the Unicorn on the table.
“Wha!?”
A surprised shade colored Cattleya’s features as soon as she saw the weapon.
And that wasn’t all.
Before Rana’s eyes—looking at the table—could even register the Sword, the mother covered it with a cloth she had on hand.
“Now that was fast…”
The blonde couldn’t help but be impressed with the lightning-fast motion.
“What? What’s wrong, Mom?”
The sudden breeze stroking his cheeks made the boy raise his face.
“I-It’s nothing, Rana. Do you want seconds?”
As if to gloss over the situation, the mother smiled with a round bread in her hand.
“Yep. Gimme!”
“Okay, okay. Eat a lot.”
He obediently stuffed his mouth with the bread she handed him.
“Don’t just eat bread, drink your milk too.”
Instead of replying, he nodded, holding his bread. Apparently, he hadn’t noticed what the heiress had placed on the table.
“Why would you put such a thing on the table!”
The brunette whispered, moving the cup with the milk so as to block Rana’s sight.
“ ‘Such a thing’… is the cause why I fought with Fio.”
“T-That?”
Cattleya looked at it with quizzical eyes.
[Can’t blame her.]
The size of the Sword currently was around a dagger’s, so the handle grip was larger than the actual blade. Inevitably, the unique shape in the grip—closely resembling a male part—would stand out in that state. For a woman without experience, maybe they wouldn’t be that mindful of it, but for a mother of one, she’d immediately notice what it looked like.
“So you fought over such things…”
Cattleya’s cheeks went deep red. As one would expect in a married woman, her imagination seemed to take her straight in *that* direction.
“Ah~, Miss Cattleya, it’s not like that.”
Leina sighed, exasperated.
[Honestly, I’m getting tired of denying this every time the Sword comes up in a conversation.
If it was just men like Menace’s Living Scepter Setra, or Hans… but Miss Cattleya too?]
Leina dropped her shoulders, disappointed in Cattleya having shown that reaction.
“This is a fine weapon, the serenading blade Sword of the Unicorn, and…”
Despite showing a troubled expression, Leina kept explaining.
[If it’s Miss Cattleya, I know I can consult with her. Or rather, I can only consult with her about this.]
She had been living together with her for a while, she could tell how trustworthy she was by now. If it was Cattleya, she would take her seriously.
“It’s a magical instrument that condenses Fio’s power.”
“Fifi’s?”
“That child has a special power.”
Normally, Leina wouldn’t be telling others about his ability. Since there were all kinds of forces wanting to use Fios ability for their own agendas, she’d want to keep as few people in the know as possible, to avoid more sources of trouble than there already are. But, if she was asking Cattleya for advice, she couldn’t very well keep secrets.
Methodically, she explained from the beginning how she had met Fio and the Sword’s ability. How the dancer had the ability to cure other’s wounds by kissing. How the Infernal Temptress Airi’s mistress was aiming for him. How the Sword had the power to banish evil beings, and how one could receive the same effect from kissing him by kissing the weapon’s grip. How the Angel of Light Nanael had descended from Heaven in search of the Sword. Up until how the Sword’s size grew according to Fio’s mental state; she laid it all out in the open.
“Due to this weapon, I’ve been getting involved in battles I didn’t need to fight.”
After finishing her story, Leina hung her head, crestfallen.
“Still, you have kept fighting, haven’t you, Miss Leina?”
“I promised to protect Fio… but, for that reason I’ve been forced to use it several times.”
“When you say you’ve been ‘forced to use’ it, you mean this strong tool is too much for you to handle.”
Cattleya got straight to the point.
“That’s right. This sword has a powerful healing ability. Use it well, and winning Queen’s Blade isn’t a pipe dream anymore.”
No matter how many wounds one took, you could get them healed as soon as you got a chance.
“If you can’t get hurt, you’re basically invincible.”
“Yeah, even if you get hurt, being able to heal immediately means you won’t be afraid of injuries. But, can you really say you’ve won with your own power then? Won’t you be called a coward?”
Leina quickly argued.
“Hm~… I don’t think anyone will call you a coward.”
Cattleya honestly dispelled her worry.
“After all, a weapon is only a tool. Are the battles decided by the advantages of each warrior’s tools?”
“They aren’t, but… I worry so much about it, I’d rather throw it into the bottom of the ocean, where no one will ever touch it again.”
Leina felt helpless. She hadn’t been able to talk honestly about that sword with anyone so far, so her innermost thoughts poured out of her mouth.
“Hm~, I know what you mean. You start overthinking it, don’t you.”
“Overthinking it?”
Leina raised her head, still with a pitiable expression on.
“You’ve cleared many hardships thanks to this weapon, have you not?”
“Yes…”
She had been saved by the Sword of the Unicorn in Sheldan’s underground and in the Khan Oasis. Without it, she’d still be the “Guardian of Amara”.
“You accept that, but you won’t use it in Queen’s Blade. It makes sense for Fifi to get angry.”
“Eh?”
Cattleya seemed to have noticed something she hadn’t realized herself.
“I should probably let you notice yourself, but…”
The mother chuckled, and gave the answer she had reached.
“Fifi also wants to fight with you.”
“Fio does?”
The heiress couldn’t hide her surprise at that. She had been assuming the only reason he stuck with her is because she had become the owner of the Sword.
“B-But… why would Fio…?”
“That girl is over 12 years old. If the power of the Sword was like you said, why wouldn’t she participate herself?”
“That’s…”
Leina wondered whether to tell her about Fio’s real gender. Cattleya seemed to be unaware of it, just believing he was the beautiful girl he appeared to be.
“Mom… umm…”
Unable to bear the boredom after having been listening to their conversation, the kid tugged his mother’s hand.
“Hn? What is it, Rana?”
“Pee…”
‘Good grief’, went Cattleya, patting his shoulder.
“Well, go then. You can already do it alone.”
“Yep!”
Rana went out of the room with an energetic voice, making Leina smile despite herself.
“Seriously, that kid seems like he’ll stay a spoiled child no matter how much time passes.”
“I was a spoiled child once too. However, after I had a younger sister, my mother didn’t spoil me as much as I wanted.”
The blonde was suddenly reminded of her younger sister.
[Is she still chasing me? Though, she can’t very well come to Gainos openly displaying the emblem of Earl Vance.]
“Your younger sister, huh… I wonder if you have an older sister too?”
“W-Why’d you ask?”
Leina blinked at the unexpected question; she was sure she had managed to conceal her noble origins so far.
“This is a tale everybody knows, but…”
Cattleya started, with a mischievous smile.
“The princess and heiress of Earl Vance—who boasts of the largest territory—ran away… everyone knows that rumor. And despite being low in the inheritance bloodline, Claudette controls the army as a general by using the magical sword Thunderclap. Everybody knows that.”
“Y-You’re right. Everybody knows that.”
“So, going back to our previous conversation, if people with strong weapons get called cowards, won’t your older sister be a coward too?”
“My older sister is a wonderful person. She’s by no means a coward.”
After replying reflexively, Leina’s expression seemed to be about to scream ‘oops’. She might as well have admitted she was Vance right there and then.
“Older sister… so you ARE the princess of the Vance house.”
“I don’t care about my house anymore. I’m just an adventurer, the Exiled Warrior Leina.”
She asserted so flatly.
“Shall we leave it at that?”
Cattleya must have picked up on her intentions, because she stopped digging about her origins.
“By the way, Miss Leina… Isn’t that getting bigger?”
As the mother of one pointed out, it did very much look like the blade of the Sword was protruding from under the cloth it was covered with.
“T… That dummy…”
Leina cursed him under her breath. The fact that the Sword was growing could only mean that a part of Fio’s body was getting bigger somewhere out there.
[He might need a little punishment…]
That’s what the blonde thought, as she saw the sword growing.
“It’s amazing that its size changes.”
Cattleya’s eyes changed to those of a weapon merchant’s.
“If I had to make a ballpark estimation of this… No, I can’t, it’s not something you can buy with money…”
The brunette sighed, with a finger on her glasses.
“Do you want to try this sword’s power? Just a little.”
“Eh?”
The blonde’s unexpected proposal caught the other by surprise.
“Can I?”
“Yeah… I think so.”
“How should I do it?”
Cattleya observed the Sword closely, a keen curiosity appearing in her features.
“Please kiss the grip.”
“Eh? T-That’s…”
Her hesitation was only what would be expected.
“It’s just a tool. If you’re concerned about the shape, just close your eyes.”
Leina said in a firm tone, holding the Sword in a backhand grip and sticking it out before Cattleya.
“I-It’s just a bit…”
The merchant closed her eyes, and stretched out her tongue towards the weapon in front of her face.
A small bit of the red tongue touched the pure white handle.
*Riing*, a clear sound reminiscent of a transparent bell’s spread from the Sword to its surroundings.
“O-Oh my?”
At the same time the sound ran throughout her body, the sluggishness and stiff shoulders that had plagued Cattleya for years left her all of a sudden.
“How is it? Does your body feel more at ease now?”
The mother nodded her head.
“It’s amazing… I could get used to this.”
***
“E-Err~, are you really okay?”
Worried about Fio, Melpha reached out to him.
“I-I’m fine… yep, I’m fine.”
Rejecting her extended hand, he sandwiched the part of his body that had become stiff between his thighs, and walked unsteadily with a slouch.
If somebody who didn’t know his circumstances saw him, they would think he was in extremely bad shape.
Melpha had in fact believed his explanation about having a chronic disease, and was worried about him. Because, the Holy Pose hadn’t cured his chronic disease; on the contrary, it had only made it worse.
[Just a little more, and I’ll arrive at Cattleya's weapon shop.
Then, if I part with Melpha and rest in my room…]
As he was picturing that…
*Throb*, his shoulders suddenly became heavy.
“Guh… t-this is…”
Fio made a small groan; it was something he hadn’t felt for a long time since he started hanging out with Leina.
He had the magical ability to heal those he kissed. To be exact, it worked by transferring the other’s wounds to his body, but he didn’t suffer any injury as long as the other was a virgin.
The serenading blade—his so-called “other half”—worked exactly the same: kissing it would bring the same effect as kissing Fio. So, the fact that there was an effect on his body meant that someone other than Leina, someone who wasn’t a virgin, was kissing the Sword.
“I have to… hurry back…”
Staggering, he kept moving on, borrowing Melpha’s shoulder.
Soon, they arrived at the shop, and seeing the sign that showed they were taking a break was a bit of a surprise to the kid.
[A break… did Leina give up on tending the store?]
“Thank you, Miss Melpha.”
Thanking her for accompanying him so far, he opened the door to the store.
***
Rana had finished taking care of his business, but stopped himself when he was going to open the dining room door.
From this side of the door, he could hear that his mother was talking with Leina. Just hearing adults talking was boring enough for him, plus from the overall tone, it seemed like they were talking about something important.
He quieted down his footsteps, and left the place. Rana felt a bit lonely without his mother by his side, but this was his own house.
When he left the main building, he headed to the store, opposite across the courtyard.
“There’s nobody there…”
The murmur turned into a big smile when he actually entered the store; customers weren’t supposed to enter since the break sign was up, but a friend of his had come back.
“Welcome home, Fio!”
“Shh, don’t yell.”
Fio put a finger to his lips, asking him to keep his voice down.
“Yup…”
Rana nodded, and approached the other with soft steps.
“Say, Fio, what were you doing?”
“I just went out for a while.”
The dancer slowly sat down, getting to Rana’s eye level.
“By the way, where’s Leina?”
“Auntie is talking about something difficult with Mom. I heard something about auntie being troubled by a weapon she has, and saying she wants to throw it somewhere…”
Rana stopped talking when he saw Fio’s face, and turned his face down.
“I see… so she would even go that far…”
Fio looked quite scary when he muttered that. Instead of his usual cheerful smile, he had a ruthless smile that gave him a chill.
“Fio?”
Rana fearfully looked up at the other’s face.
“Eh?”
That scary face wasn’t there anymore. A sad expression, like the singer was going to burst into tears at any moment, had replaced it.
“Hey, you can’t cry. Even if you’re sad, you have to firmly endure like a man, don’t you?”
He grabbed the silver-haired kid’s arm and encouraged him.
“Yeah, you’re right. You’re right…”
With his free hand, Fio patted his head.
“You’re a gentle kid, Rana. You’ll be popular with the girls.”
“Eheh.”
Being praised, he showed an honest smile.
“But, me being a man is a secret.”
“Yup!”
Rana had found out that Fio was a man on the second day since he came there. When he was relieving himself in a restroom, he noticed the other doing it exactly the same way next to him.
Fio had told him he’d teach him many games if he kept the secret. It was a so-called “promise between men”.
After all, Rana was a boy too, it was exciting for him to be part of a secret between men.
“I’ll make sure to keep the promise!”
The singer stroked the smiling kid’s disheveled hair, then stood up.
“Are you going out again?”
“Yeah… it seems Leina said she doesn’t need me.”
Hearing Fio’s sad voice, the other reflexively grasped his hand.
“N-No. I don’t want you to go!”
He raised his voice, tugging on the older kid.
“Shh, don’t yell. I’ll come and play with you again.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“You’re lying! You say that, but you won’t come back anymore!”
Rana restrained him, yelling now.
Hardly anyone had come back with him after saying that.
[Dad won’t come home. Fio has also decided not to come back.]
Thinking so, he put strength into his hands fervently grasping the other boy.
“I don’t want you to go! Let’s play more!”
“Rana… let me go…”
At the same time Fio stared down at Rana, they heard a voice calling the smaller kid from deep inside the store.
“Ah, Mom!”
Capitalizing on the moment when Rana’s hand loosened around him, distracted by his mother’s voice, the singer ran towards the shop’s door.
“Fio!”
“Sorry, Rana. I want you to tell this to Leina: ‘If you are willing to return the Sword of the Unicorn, come to the Cathedral’.”
With that, he jumped out of the store.
“Y-Yeah…”
Left alone, the boy didn’t know what to do anymore, and just stood there.
“Rana?”
When he saw her mother entering the store, he jumped at her, tears in his eyes.
“What’s wrong? Who was with you?”
Her mother asked gently, stroking the cheeks of the kid on the verge of crying.
***
“Err…”
[What’s the best thing to do?
She told me herself I needn’t to worry, but consulting with a family member may be better…]
And yet, Melpha was gazing at the door of Cattleya’s weapon shop, arms folded.
“Maybe I should consult with them after all.”
The instant she decided to enter the store, Fio jumped out of it.
“Miss Fio?”
The boy had come out running without looking forward, and crashed into the priestess with his momentum.
“Kyah!”
[Watch out!]
In a moment, Melpha acted as a shield and hugged him.
“Whoa!”
Fio stopped in such a way that he ended up pushing her down, and her falling on her backside.
“A-Are you okay?”
Surprised by the impact that came out of nowhere, he tried to stand up, but realized he was being tightly hugged.
“I am fine… although my butt hurts a bit. And you alright, Miss Fio?”
“I’m okay, thanks to you.”
Squirming, he tried to budge away from her.
“Ahn…”
Despite herself, Melpha let out a sensual voice from his motions.
“Eh? Sorry, did I do something weird?”
“E-Err~… it’s just, something hard hit me in a ticklish place…”
With blushing cheeks, she let go of him.
“I’m really sorry. I never thought for a second you would still be here…”
The boy stood up, and held out a hand to help her up as well.
“Well, yes. I was a bit worried. You didn’t seem to be feeling well, Miss Fio, so…”
The priestess grabbed his hand, and slowly stood up.
“Still, you came out of there in a hurry, did something happen?”
“Ah~, now that you brought it up, Miss Melpha.”
“Yes?”
“Can I be in your care for a while at the church?”
She smiled brightly at his proposal.
“The church will always welcome those in need.”
***
‘If you are willing to return the Sword of the Unicorn, come to the cathedral.’
That had been Fio’s message.
Only, since Rana had been the one to hear it and the boy was extremely upset, they had needed some time to get it out of him… but making good on her condition as a mother, Cattleya quickly understood.
“Won’t you chase after him?”
The brunette beside her asked.
“But, the store…”
“I can handle that well enough. What about you, you have to settle your business with that weapon, don’t you?”
“Settle it?”
“Will you use it, or not…? It’s time for you to decide.”
Cattleya gently nudged her shoulder.
“Do you think you can fool my eyes?”
“W-What do you mean?”
“You want to use the Sword, don’t you?”
There was a good reason for the merchant to affirm that.
In the mock battles they had had every morning, Leina never used weapons of the same size twice. Cattleya had always wondered why she didn’t use her favorite sword, but earlier, after seeing how that new sword changed sizes, she saw through it all perfectly: the blonde had been fighting the mock battles under the assumption that her weapon’s size changed each time.
“That’s why, you have to go after him and solve the misunderstanding. He’ll never understand unless you say it clearly.”
And with that, the mother grabbed the baggage she had been carrying when she came home and put it at Leina’s feet.
“What’s this?”
“It’s the present.”
Rana pointed to it, whispering.
“If you go to the cathedral, you will need this.”
The heiress unfolded it as told.
“But this is…!”
What was inside was Leina’s familiar full armor. As in: her armor, her sword, and… her shield.
“My full armor… but, why?”
“The angel you mentioned in your story is freeloading in the cathedral. Do you think she’ll just give Fio back if you ask nicely?”
Conceding her point, Leina took the armor.
“But, the cost…”
“How about offsetting it with your current salary?”
Honestly speaking, the merchant would come up at a deficit. Nevertheless, the reason why she had gone forward with such an offer, was that Cattleya herself had also admired Leina’s mother—Maria, the Master Swordswoman—, and wanted to do something now for her daughter.
“T-Thank you very much.”
Unaware of Cattleya’s thoughts, she happily thanked her.
“Hurry up now, change your clothes and go after Fifi.”
“Yes!”
Prompted by the other, Leina moved her hands to the apron.
“Rana, keep your eyes closed~”
Aware of what the blonde was going to do, the mother covered her son’s eyes. Fortunately, there were only women in the shop. As long as Rana’s eyes were covered, Leina wouldn’t need to be worried about exposing her body to the opposite sex.
The heiress got into her underwear in front of Cattleya and put on her armor with practiced hands.
“Pretty fast, aren’t you?”
“I trained to be able to change clothes even in the dark.”
And, after tightening the leather belt with rivets, she finished putting it all on.
“When you come back, will you face me using the Sword of the Unicorn?”
“Eh?”
“Not in a mock battle, in a proper preliminary.”
The offer took her by surprise, but Leina nodded reflexively:
“I will dispel your worries.”
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