◇

"Biig~?"
"It"s really really amazing nodesu!"

Pochi and Tama who are bending their bodies outside on both side windows look up at the floating airs.h.i.+p in high spirit.
Tama is fine, but Pochi"s tail is buzzing and hitting me.

"Mwu."

Mia who"s dissatisfied with the occupied windows opens the small window for conversing with the coachman and peeks outside.
Arisa, Lulu and Nana are in the other carriage in front of ours after losing the rock, paper, scissor game.
For some reason, Liza is sitting on the coachman"s seat while carrying her spear. She sure loves high places, unexpectedly enough.

Outside the window, I can see people crowding to see us off.

People who have noticed the ident.i.ty of the ones in the carriages cheer for us one after another, reminding me of the parade.
It seems there are a lot of people who cheer for Liza due to her sitting on the coachman"s seat.

◇

"Satou-san, please enjoy this in the airs.h.i.+p."
"Thank you, Zensan."

I receive the parcel that Zensan gives me.
The warmth is transmitted to my hands. Wonder if this handmade by Zensan?

"Did Zensan make this?"
"...Umm, that"s err...."

Zensan has fallen into a predicament from my nonchalant question.
I have to change the topic before--

"Unfortunately, the one who made that were the aunty in charge of the soldier"s barrack, and me."
"Wai, Lilio! Didn"t I tell you to keep it a secret! Moreover, I also did arrange the placement!"

Lilio revealed the truth faster than my follow-up words.
I"ll ask Zensan to show me the result of her hard work later.

"That"s right, arranging food to make it look good is quite hard."
"Y, yes... that"s right isn"t it... it is important."

Zensan averts her gaze, and mutters in low voice.
Oops, I should have ignored this one instead of following it up.
What a blunder. I would have heard the sound of decreasing favorable rating if this were a galge.

"Sir Pendragon, On this occasion I would like to thank you for a.s.sociating with magic soldier Zen-"

A female civil official who"s together with Zensan and Lilio expresses her thanks with some long lines.
She"s probably thanking me for instating Zensan as a temporary staff of the training school as Zensan"s asked.

She"s a civil official who works under Earl Seryuu and has followed Zensan and the others--the Selected Labyrinth Corps here.
It seems her works involve studying the know-how of Selbira explorers, and then applying that knowledge for Seryuu City Labyrinth management.

I"ve arranged four people that comprise of two magic soldiers including Zensan, and two scouts including Lilio, to partic.i.p.ate in the training school as I"m the owner.
Zensan and the others are grateful for it, but fighting together with high level magicians and scouts with a lot of experience should be good for not only the teachers, but also the students. You can say that it"s a WIN-WIN business.

As for the corps" knights and soldiers who are waiting for their equipments to be repaired, the Marchioness has approved them to mix with the guards and keep the explorers company to protect the city"s public order.

--With this, Zensan shouldn"t be in danger during the time I"m away from the labyrinth city.

I feel slightly a bit overprotective, but it"s normal to worry about a friend right.

"....Does Satou like Zena?"
"This is quite sudden, Karinsama."

I was drained of my strength when I turned around to see Lady Karina behind me.

....I want to ask why is she wearing armor instead of the dress.

"What does that outfit mean? Didn"t you ask me to prepare your dress since you said that you"re going to be in the presence of the duke today?"

I edge up to Lady Karina with a smiling face.
I"ve prepared her a dress with offensive power that"ll help her get a marriage proposal since she"s going to meet an influential n.o.ble and all.

"....Because, the glances from the people around are scary when I wear a dress."
"It"s not okay even if you say it cutely."
"Satou is mean desuwa! Even though you"re so kind toward Zena..."

That"s because Zensan is a friend and she"s helped me a lot.
Leaving the pouting Lady Karina for a bit, I wonder why are Zensan and Arisa staring hard at me?
I understand the situation after seeing the grinning Lilio.

--It"s due to Lady Karina"s remarks earlier huh.

"She"s--"
"It"s a match desuwa!"

When I was going to say, "She"s an important friend I respect", Lady Karina who seemed slightly fl.u.s.tered shouted out loud like she was covering my words.
I was only going to answer the question that she asked herself.

"Have a match with me! I will wear that embarra.s.sing dress if you win against me."

H-hey, please don"t say such misleading things.
The dress that I"ve prepared is the latest popular one in the Royal Capital fas.h.i.+on. The chest area is somewhat s.p.a.cious, but the exposure level is not that high.

All the dresses that Lady Karina had worn up to now, including the one I had made in Gururian city, were of old conservative designs. She must be thinking like this due to that.

Well, since she"s going to wear it if I win the match, let"s end this quick.

"It cannot be helped, are you alright using the same rule as when you fight Pochi and Tama?"
"Of course, just as I"ve hoped desuwa!"

When Pochi and Tama are fighting with Lady Karina, the match is decided if either is pushed out of the battle ground, or their back touches the ground.

"And if I win--"

Come to think of it, I haven"t heard Lady Karina"s demand if she wins.
Lady Karina stares at me with reddened face.

Or rather, it feels like she"s glaring at me.
While looking like she"s in her wits" end, Lady Karina makes a shocking demand.

"--W, with me, m-marry me desuwa!"

Ha? Marry?

Arisa who"s repeatedly saying guilty around me is noisy.
I"m glad Mia is tagging along with Pochi and Tama eating around.
By the way, Lulu is with Nana and Liza loading our luggage from the container to the airs.h.i.+p.

The peanut gallery are cheering and booing for Lady Karina.

"W-wrong."

Lady Karina is so confused her eyes are spinning, but no one listens to her excuse.

She was probably intending to say "Pretend to be my fiance" in order to stop people from proposing her in the Royal Capital, but she ended up saying, "Marry", since she was too fl.u.s.tered.

I think there"s no mistake that this girl feels favorable of me, but I cannot help being puzzled as to whether she holds the feeling of love toward me as an opposite s.e.x.
She might even think of me like a brother or a buddy.

I"m worried with Zensan who"s looping the word "Marry" like a broken record.

"Young master! We"ve prepared the stage!"

The peanut gallery have finished preparing the stage before I can say the follow-up.
We"re going to the temporary borrowed arena s.p.a.ce where Liza usually fights on.

◇

I"m standing at the opposite of Lady Karina.

She"s wearing the equipments I"ve prepared and Raka today. She"s not carrying her weapon. The usual bare hands.
I also match her and give the Fairy Sword that I usually wear on my waist to Arisa.

Even though I had made Lady Karina"s equipment so that it wouldn"t hinder the shaking while maintaining the defensive power, Arisa modified it with magic to make it unshakable.

"W-wait, you"re not thinking of losing on purpose right?"
"I don"t."
"Don"t get tempted by the b.r.e.a.s.t.s okay? I"ll let you touch mine as much as you want later."
"No, I don"t need that."

Arisa said some stupid things in low voice, so I denied her immediately.
To begin with, what does touching a little girl"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s gain me.

"Then I"ll ask Lulu to let you touch her b.r.e.a.s.t.s later!"

I"m slightly attracted with the permission to touch Lulu"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s that are growing nicely, but making an empty promise without the approval from the person herself like this is no good.

"Calm down Arisa. I will not lose."
"R, really? That is so isn"t it. I mean, you have us after all."

I stroke the anxious Arisa"s head, and then I step forward to the center of the temporary arena where Lady Karina is waiting.

I"d like to win the fight in an instant, but I cannot do that.

Lady Karina would be embarra.s.sed if I win effortlessly, yet the people around would think that I want to marry her if they deem me cutting corners.
Let"s go with fighting an equal match for a while, and then win narrowly in the end.

It sounds quite troublesome.