Having left the dim and oppressive underground black market of Shadowdeep Town and returned to the surface, Histori felt more suffocated now than she had below ground, despite breathing the fresh air.
‘Something is wrong. The atmosphere is incredibly wrong.’
When she and Amir had been alone earlier, she had done most of the talking while Amir responded casually, yet Amir had seemed calm and the air hadn’t felt awkward at all.
But the silence between them now felt like the dead stillness before a storm, with a daunting, low-pressure atmosphere filling the air.
‘No, this won’t do. I cannot let things go on like this!’
‘I have to say something to break this stalemate!’
Histori took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and cautiously sidled up to Amir, attempting to grab the corner of her cloak.
However, even though she was certain she had aimed perfectly, her palm swiped at empty air.
‘…Sh-should I try again?’
Whoosh—she missed again.
Amir appeared to be walking normally, but it was as if she had eyes in the back of her head, naturally dodging Histori’s hand.
“…”
Histori bit her lip in silence, deciding to abandon such trivial gestures for now and start communicating directly.
She took two quick steps forward, looked up into Amir’s eyes, and spoke in a tone as natural and innocent as she could muster—
“Um, Hero, about that incident with Naqiqi…”
“Mm.”
Amir continued moving forward without looking at her, squeezing a single, emotionless syllable from her throat.
“…It’s like this, I’ve known her for a very long time!”
Histori gave a soft cough and began reciting the script she had prepared in the tent—
“Don’t let her presence in the Shadowdeep Town black market fool you; she was actually an incredibly kind person, and she used to be the head maid in the Demon King’s Castle.”
“Mm.”
“At that time, the Demon King was especially cruel to me, often refusing to feed me. It was Naqiqi who looked after me in secret, bringing me food…”
At this point, Histori carefully summoned her emotions, letting a perfectly timed sob enter her voice—
“However, because of that, her actions were eventually discovered by that brutal Demon King. He thought she was being meddlesome and drove her out of the Demon King’s Castle. She had nowhere else to go, so she could only settle in this lawless border town…”
“Mm.”
‘…A-are you kidding? Still just “Mm”!?’
‘I’ve gone to such lengths to make the story touching!’
Histori looked up uneasily, stealing a glance at Amir’s profile.
Most of her face was hidden under that cloak, and the eyes that occasionally peeked out held only cold, icy glints, betraying no joy or anger.
“…Um, Hero, are you angry?”
“No.”
Amir responded firmly and without a moment’s hesitation.
“…Oh, that’s good then…”
Histori chuckled awkwardly, steeling herself to continue—
“Also, that ‘Lady’ honorific is just a bad habit she picked up back at the Demon King’s Castle. I’ve told her many times to just call me Histori, but she just won’t change it. I really don’t know what to do with her…”
“Mm.”
“…Lady Amir, you must be angry, right?”
“No.”
‘Between “Mm” and “No,” it’s obvious you’re angry, isn’t it?’
‘Amir must have noticed my flaws and is currently figuring out how to punish me…’
‘Damn it, it’s all that Face-Changer Naqiqi’s fault for calling me “Lady” for no reason!’
‘And this Amir too! She walks without a sound, like a ghost. I don’t even know when she snuck into the tent to start watching…’
Histori rubbed her temples in distress.
‘So, what should I do now? Amir doesn’t seem to believe the excuse I just concocted at all…’
‘Think of something, hurry up and think of something, Histori! Amir hasn’t acted yet, but you are absolutely on the edge of death right now!’
‘Damn it! There are too many things to explain. I feel like the more I say, the worse it gets…’
‘Alright, if logic doesn’t work, then… then I’ll use some traditional methods!’
Histori’s eyes darted around, and she piled a friendly smile onto her face.
“Um, Hero, you’ve been walking for so long, are you tired? Should we find a place to rest for a bit?”
“I already rested while we were underground.”
“Th-that’s true, isn’t it?”
Sigh—First attempt, failed.
“Then… would you like to… take a moment to fix your nail polish?”
Histori pointed to the hand Amir held on her sword hilt, her tone earnest—
“I saw that after today’s travel, the pattern on your hand is a bit smudged. I have the full set of tools with me; I can touch it up for you right now!”
“No need.”
Sigh—Second attempt, disastrous failure.
“Then… what would you like to eat right now?”
The unyielding Histori smiled and pulled out her trump card—
“I still have some cream cake left from the Demon King’s Castle! It has fresh strawberries on top! It’s delicious!”
“I don’t want any.”
Sigh—Third attempt, absolute defeat.
‘Damn, Amir isn’t affected by kindness, and with my strength, I can’t force anything…’
Histori twitched her lips in a strained smile and continued to press—
“Th-then, Hero, is there anything you need right now?”
This time, Amir finally stopped walking.
She turned around and stared silently at Histori’s face with those cold, obsidian eyes.
“I want a quiet environment.”
“…”
One sentence pierced through all of Histori’s efforts.
She closed her mouth while wearing a smile, then made a gesture as if zipping her lips shut.
After that, she silently lowered her head and followed in Amir’s footsteps, not daring to make another sound.
*
Meanwhile, inside that gloomy tent in the depths of Shadowdeep Town.
Naqiqi lay against the slit in the tent’s curtain, carefully poking her head out to watch as the two cloaked girls walked one after another out of the black market exit, eventually disappearing from her field of vision.
Confirming they were long gone, Naqiqi immediately retreated and quickly sealed the tent curtains.
After doing so, she bent over, took a well-preserved black crystal ball from under the table, and placed both hands upon it.
A moment later, a blurred figure appeared in the center of the orb.
“…Hello? Lady Beatrice, this is Naqiqi.”
She lowered her voice and spoke into the crystal ball with urgency—
“I just discovered the whereabouts of Lady Histori!”
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