Chapter 120: The Candied Sister’s Ending Monologue
In a room illuminated by an indoor Magic Stone Lamp, Shara silently moved her pen across the paper.
It was a report requested by Margrave Makikomarkrow, Comsas Dortwil.
Normally, even if it was a request from the Margrave, Shara, being a Sister of the Church, had no need nor obligation to write or submit a report to him.
However, she had accepted out of sheer sympathy.
After the Subjugation of the Blackened Dragon, upon returning to Hecate, the first thing she saw was the figure of Margrave Makikomarkrow, delivering a rousing speech to inspire the Margrave’s army and Hecate’s adventurers gathered with the town behind them.
It was, she thought, a truly moving and passionate speech.
Margrave Makikomarkrow, said to have been an adventurer in his youth, was clad in armor, inspiring the Margrave’s soldiers and the adventurers with a booming voice unimaginable from his round Physique.
He proclaimed, “I shall be the first to fall to the Dragon’s claws!”
He proclaimed, “I shall be the first to inflict a single scratch upon the Dragon’s Scale!”
He proclaimed, “I fear nothing, for I believe those who will widen that single scratch follow behind me!”
“This is my one promise, the only promise from me who orders you into the jaws of death.”
“There will not be a single back before me!”
It was a truly moving speech.
If only the Longdagger Couple, holding the Magic Stone of the Blackened Dragon, hadn’t walked past behind him.
Shara felt that the atmosphere then was somewhat indescribable.
The soldiers and adventurers, noticing Erica and Shin-san, started murmuring amongst themselves, only half-listening to Margrave Makikomarkrow’s speech—that atmosphere.
When Margrave Makikomarkrow finished his speech, noticed the murmuring, and turned around suspiciously, his expression was comical, to put it nicely, but for Shara who witnessed it, it was tragic.
“Humans really can change from a face resigned to death to one seeing a flying bear in an instant, huh?”
Shara felt inappropriately impressed, yet truly sympathized with Margrave Makikomarkrow.
Erica giving a graceful bow to the Margrave, whose face seemed to say, “Surely that Magic Stone in your hand isn’t the Magic Stone, right?”, was like a scene from a play.
Margrave Makikomarkrow, furrowing his brow and clutching his stomach, looked exactly like a villain whose evil deeds had just been exposed, pictorially speaking. Even though he’d done nothing wrong.
Even she, accustomed to having her emotions tossed around by the Longdagger Couple, couldn’t manage such a sudden shift.
Shara’s pen moved as she thought things that would make Shin tilt his head if he heard them.
Ah, but still, is this really how a report should be?
Shara tilted her head at the report’s contents.
Most of it was a report on Erica and Shin’s flirting.
What is with that couple?
Why does the majority of a report on the great feat of subjugating a Blackened Dragon end up being about a couple’s flirting?
No, it just turned out that way, so it can’t be helped, Shara tried to clear her mind.
If she started thinking about it seriously, sugar would leak from her mouth.
Due to her innate seriousness, Shara meticulously wrote down the couple’s interactions, things that could normally be omitted without issue, while keeping her lips tightly sealed.
It’s okay, no sugar is leaking from my mouth.
Shara Lansra despaired.
For reasons unknown, she seriously thought the world was going to end.
The reason for its destruction being that her friend’s husband had black hair and eyes was nonsensical, but she felt the crisis before her was real.
Humans couldn’t crack the ground just by standing there.
Therefore, that must be something other than human.
In that case, the world might indeed end, Shara accepted her despair.
Still, the reason she complained to the cause (Shin), saying, “It’s because you won’t apologize,” was that it was just
Well, thinking that couldn’t possibly be true, just as I reflected that my thoughts had leaped too far, Shin’s surprised face came into view.
Following his gaze to see what it was, I turned around and saw Erica’s face, lost in thought.
“Impossible.”
“As if!”
Ah, no.
Erica opened her mouth, her expression serious.
“It is true that Shin says perhaps slightly too many sweet words to me.”
Damn it! Stabbed from behind!
Before my eyes, Shin covered his face with both hands, trembling.
“That’s not what being neglected means!?”
No, my feelings are being disregard…
“Why did you stop mid-sentence, and now even Erica-san is getting embarrassed!?”
What is with this couple? I thought, even as I shouted, the corners of my mouth threatening to rise despite myself.
It wasn’t that I particularly enjoyed this exchange.
It’s just that, if someone were to ask this couple, “What are you two?”, I’d want that someone to be me. Just a little.
Yes, that’s all. That’s all it is.
Damn it, why did I voluntarily jump into this cloyingly sweet atmosphere myself? I groaned, clutching my head.
It’s all that silver-haired guy’s fault for just spacing out and watching. You chicken, afraid to even dive into this atmosphere! Hold your breath and jump in!
Anyway, Shara Lansra shouted, making the excuse that she only jumped in because no one else would.
＊
Now then, what was it I shouted again?
“Ah, no, what I shouted was far too irrelevant, wasn’t it?”
Shara, recalling the common sense she should have exercised much sooner, stopped writing and decided to omit that part.
Is something like this really okay? Is this what a report is supposed to be like?
While wondering, she realized she’d never actually written or even read a report before.
Well, if it only contains facts, then it must surely be a report.
Shara convinced herself thus and concluded the report with, “And so, the Longdagger Couple completed the Subjugation of the Blackened Dragon and set upon their return journey.”
She felt a sense of crisis, thinking her sanity would once again be questioned if she reported that just two adventurers had subjugated a Blackened Dragon, but figured if anyone doubted it, they could just ask the individuals themselves since they were right there.
Shara had already adopted an attitude of defiance.
Ah, but what kind of couple have I gotten myself acquainted with?
I feel nostalgic thinking back to how surprised I was when they easily defeated that Golden Ogre when we first met.
Now I understand. Back then, those two weren’t going all out at all.
Against Monsters whose appearance near human settlements guarantees a catastrophe, those two were actually being careful not to damage the fields while fighting.
It makes no sense.
After getting to know those two, even the rumored abnormality of Faltar no longer seems like an exaggerated tale with added embellishments.
Shara shook her head, suddenly visualizing a crowd of Shins and Ericas filling the city streets.
No, surely there couldn’t be that many people like those two.
No matter how you look at it, that would be bad. Way too bad.
If there were just ten couples like them, even the most incompetent general could take over the world.
Imagining the Longdagger Couple drowning the world in honey while flirting, she felt slightly nauseous.
Ah, no good, no good.
Thinking about those two any more will give me indigestion.
Shara stretched her back, stiff from the unaccustomed desk work, turned off the Magic Stone Lamp, and slipped into bed.
Anyway, tomorrow I’ll go pay that couple a visit. They’ll probably be all lovey-dovey, happy to see each other again after so long… well, actually, it’s only been a few days.
Well, yeah, it’ll probably be fun seeing them.
Shara suddenly felt like she was forgetting something important, but she lost consciousness before it could take shape.
＊
If she had possessed just a little more imagination, she might have added at least a few more lines.
But unfortunately, while Shara Lansra was a serious person, she was just a Sister.
Moreover, she had been striving to maintain her composure and struggling with writing an unfamiliar report, causing her to completely forget.
The fact that the Maiden of Light and her party were heading towards the City of Hecate.
This fact, completely omitted from the report, would later cause Margrave Makikomarkrow, already weary from reading Shara’s report, an enormous stomachache.
The fact that Margrave Makikomarkrow possessed enough common sense not to direct his resentment towards a mere Sister was likely Shara Lansra’s greatest and only piece of luck in this incident.
The story of her throat becoming hoarse was still some time away.
Chapter 2: Walking Alone on a Road Without You, Except With You – End
＊＊＊Afterword＊＊＊
I’m embarking on a journey to retrieve the plot I threw away.
If I can make it back in about two or three months, I look forward to your continued support.
Also, I’m participating in the Kakuyomu Contest, so the author would be delighted to receive stars and such.