I Became a Heavy Smoker in an Arcane Punk Romance Fantasy — Chapter 80: Didn't I Clearly Say Women Are Wolves?

Inside the car headed for Marita, the City of Artists.

"..."

"..."

After setting out, Bellias and I raced along the roads outside the city, simply letting ourselves sink into the car without saying a word.

Ah, for the record, I'm the one driving.

A married artist couple headed to Marita with a chauffeur from the start?

Honestly, that would attract far too much attention, wouldn't it?

I might as well drive myself.

Bellias initially said she would drive, but I told her I would do it.

It had been a while since I'd driven a car, and, to be honest, I felt like she might cause an accident if she took the wheel with that incredibly rigid attitude of hers.

Oh, and my driver's license—or, as they call it here, my driving permit—was obtained right after I became an adult, so this isn't illegal.

"Hmm."

In that very familiar posture, I held the steering wheel with one hand and glanced at the gramophone built into the car with the other.

"Would it be all right if I played some music?"

Honestly, trying to drive down the road without saying a word was incredibly boring.

"Ah, yes..."

At my words, Bellias lowered her head and quietly fiddled with her clothes before answering in a stiff voice.

No, her voice was husky, but her strangely timid demeanor made me let out a hollow laugh as I switched on the car's built-in gramophone.

Crackle.

-----

After a moment, a soft jazz melody combining guitar and piano began pouring from the gramophone amid the static.

It was music very similar to the bossa nova genre from my previous life.

"..."

When music that sounded like something one might play in an atmospheric café began, Bellias seemed briefly flustered before closing her eyes to quietly enjoy it.

'Is it working?'

People were quite sensitive to sound—in other words, to what they heard.

If we simply drove along while giving off nothing but a tense atmosphere inside the car, her tension would clearly increase rather than ease.

'I prepared this just in case. Fortunately, it worked.'

Actually, it was half and half.

Half the songs were for me to listen to, and half were meant to ease her tension in case she reacted strangely like she had that time.

As the soft melody from the car's gramophone began to melt the stiff atmosphere, I opened my mouth to make a little small talk.

"What have you been doing this past week?"

If I abruptly started talking about work, the relaxed atmosphere would surely become tense again.

So I decided to begin with a light topic.

At the sudden sound of my voice, Bellias, who had been quietly enjoying the music with her eyes closed, flinched and looked at me in surprise.

'...'

Sway.

At the same time, something so overwhelming that her ordinary clothes could barely conceal it swayed, but I fixed my gaze straight ahead and pretended not to notice.

"Ah, um..."

"Take your time. Ah, if speaking still feels awkward, you can just use telepathy."

Still.

She froze completely at my words.

Could she really have thought I wouldn't know?

From her strange behavior before we set out and the excessively strong accent with which she spoke, I'd long since guessed that she wasn't good at speaking normally.

'Well, she'd been communicating through telepathy all along, after all.'

I had guessed as much.

If she could speak but communicated only through telepathy, the most obvious explanation was that she simply wasn't good with words.

"Ooh..."

"..."

"No... I practiced hard, but it would be a little much to make all that practice pointless by using telepathy."

Clearly.

I couldn't help laughing as I watched her speak each word so distinctly that she sounded less like herself and more like a news announcer.

No, it was hilarious that the woman who bore the fearsome title of boss of [Shadow] was worrying about stammering and speaking each word so carefully.

No, rather than funny, it was quite cute.

"Haha. Really? Then I won't stop you."

"Yes..."

"And I assume you don't particularly want to talk about work from this past week, either."

"Ugh!"

Such a transparent reaction.

When she spoke through telepathy, her expression had been almost completely fixed, but now it was different.

Her expression was changing so vividly and diversely that it was fair to call her quite expressive.

So, in order to melt away the remaining tension completely, I brought up topics she might feel comfortable with and started chatting.

Vroom.

Thanks to the shock-absorbing magic circles embedded in the car, the ride was as smooth as driving on a highway.

A soft, bossa nova-style song flowed from the car's gramophone.

As we traveled, Bellias and I began filling the empty space inside the car with small, amusing stories and chatter.

About mana.

Or things like what had happened between her and Nella in the past.

A short while later.

Having sensed that the atmosphere had loosened considerably, I began leading into the main subject.

"Ah, come to think of it, our setup for this operation was that we were married, right?"

"Ah... yes, that's right."

"Well, I don't mind either way. So, what is the setup?"

"Huh?"

"The setup. The setup."

Pretending to be a married couple.

It wasn't a method I had often used in my previous life, but it wasn't something I had no experience with, either.

To conduct even a simple espionage operation, you had to meticulously establish a cover that wouldn't lead to any inconsistencies in conversation.

Bellias seemed briefly flustered by my perfectly reasonable question before taking a small ring from inside her clothing and sending mana into it.

Hum.

"What's that?"

"A simple pocket-dimension trouser... no! A ring."

"Heh."

For now, let's ignore the fact that Bellias had misspoken because she hadn't been paying enough attention.

In any case, a pocket-dimension ring.

I wasn't an expert in magic, but I knew that pocket dimensions were a fairly difficult form of magic.

What was it again? The basic principle was... Ah, right. You perceived the space of this world, then used mana to temporarily create a space in another dimension, or something like that.

Even hearing it explained in words left me unable to understand what was what, and seeing the formulas that made up such a pocket dimension was enough to make my head spin.

Pocket-dimension magic was something only high-ranking mages could handle; most beginner mages wouldn't even dream of attempting it.

And yet, she had engraved such complicated pocket-dimension magic onto a tiny ring.

"That can't be easy."

At my question, Bellias wore a slightly sheepish expression and stroked the bundle of papers that had emerged from the pocket-dimension ring as though it were nothing special.

"I have a trick for it, so it's fine... And, as you'd expect from a pocket dimension engraved on such a small ring, its capacity is rather limited."

Rustle.

"It can only hold something about this size, at most."

"What's that?"

"They're papers detailing the married-couple cover for this op... espionage! that Nella and I put together."

A married-couple cover?

Since I was driving and couldn't turn my head carelessly, I exhaled the smoke inside my body through my mouth and gauged the thickness of the papers Bellias held.

'...'

Even from the corner of my eye, they had looked fairly thick, but inspecting them directly with smoke revealed that they were thicker than I had imagined.

"I'm sorry... I should have given them to you earlier, but I was too nervous."

"Well, it's fine."

I said that as I gathered the smoke I had released into one place so I could inspect the bundle of papers in her hand.

"Fortunately, the next few hours are a straight route, so I can check them during that time."

Before long, a tiny smoke clone was complete.

The palm-sized clone began reading the writing on the papers Bellias had spread out.

"...What's this?"

"You know what it is, don't you? A smoke clone."

Sharing the clone's field of vision, I answered her appropriately.

"Ah... You can make it this small?"

"Smoke isn't a substance constrained by size. If I put my mind to it, I could even make a smoke clone the size of a huge mountain."

Of course, I simply didn't do that because making it that enormous didn't provide any particularly great return in proportion.

As I said that and finished reading the first page, I was about to turn to the next when I sensed a strange warmth through the smoke clone.

"Hm?"

"I'll turn it for you."

Rustle.

Bellias gently wrapped one hand around my small smoke clone while carefully turning the page with her other hand.

It seemed the strange warmth I had felt was the temperature of her hand.

"I should have handed them to you first. Please let me do at least this much."

"Ah... um. Sure."

If she was going to help, I certainly didn't mind.

Pleased by my agreement, she began stroking the smoke clone filling her hand with her fingers.

What could that mean?

She certainly seemed to feel sorry, but it seemed that doting on the tiny smoke clone was a higher priority for her.

Was I mistaken?

"Hehe..."

No, I wasn't.

Watching her smile softly, I let out a small, incredulous sigh and continued driving.

Well, it wasn't something I couldn't understand.

A human-shaped clone made of smoke, about the size of a person's palm.

If someone who didn't know better saw it, it certainly had an appearance they might find cute.

The only problem was that, because I had strengthened my connection with the clone to get a clearer field of vision, I could sense its texture and warmth.

Of course, I didn't feel them completely.

After all, would simply connecting our fields of vision let me feel texture and warmth exactly as they were?

Then I would also feel damage from an enemy attack directly. I wouldn't use such a defective technique.

All I felt was a vague sense of, Oh, I can feel it. That was all.

In other words, it also meant that I could, in fact, feel something.

"Ah, it looks a little difficult... If I put it here, you'll be able to see better, right?"

'Hm?'

Squish.

Without thinking, Bellias placed my smoke clone on the upper part of her thigh.

The problem was that she slightly lowered her head to show the clone the writing on the paper in greater detail.

And because of that, I began to sense something with a subtle weight above my head.

"How is it? Is this angle all right?"

"...Uh... yes. Um..."

For the first time in my life, I found myself in a situation where I was completely at a loss for words.

What was I supposed to say?

Should I tell her that my smoke clone was picking up a small sensation?

No, but that sensation was merely the feeling of weight. Did I really need to tell her and make her endure the embarrassment?

The thoughts in my head began tangling together in confusion.

Whether she knew what state I was in or not, Bellias began moving more and more boldly.

"It's soft. Maybe that's because it's made of smoke?"

She even gave it a little rub, taking care not to obstruct the smoke clone's view.

"Ah, I'll turn it for you. Just a moment."

Under the pretext of turning the page, she lowered her head slightly and brought that blatant something... No, let's not explain it.

Right. Um... all I needed to know was that the weight above my head had grown stronger.

'I can't take this anymore.'

The time to say anything had long since passed.

I might as well endure it.

Thinking that, I traveled to Marita while doing my best not to react to the warmth, touch, and sensations I could feel throughout my body.

'Hm? Wait a second.'

A question occurred to me while I was traveling by car to Marita.

Something was strange.

Come to think of it, Bellias was a woman whose mana control was superior to mine.

But it made no sense that she hadn't noticed the connection between me and the smoke clone.

Then everything that had happened so far had been according to Bellias's intentions.

Glance.

"Hehe."

When I glanced at her without meaning to, Bellias was stroking my smoke clone with a slightly sinister smile.

***

The City of Artists, Marita.

True to its name, the city's exterior was decorated with countless works of art.

It was a place where all kinds of paintings, music, and various forms of art created with magic coexisted.

At the entrance to that city, a black car entered the checkpoint reserved for those with vehicles.

The inspector naturally stopped the car and began reciting the prescribed manual.

"There will be a brief inspection. Do you happen to have a pass or something that can prove your identity?"

Whirrr.

The car window descended little by little.

When the inspector saw the driver's face revealed that way, he let out a low exclamation of admiration.

'Good heavens.'

Since this was the City of Artists, his aesthetic sense was naturally quite refined.

Of course. What one saw every day was art, and among the people living here, celebrities—in other words, actors and singers—could be found fairly often.

But even with the inspector's refined aesthetic sense, the appearance of the man before him was enough to make him admire it instinctively.

However, the inspector quickly regained his composure.

The reason was that the man before him had just taken out documents proving his identity.

If he hadn't, the inspector might have continued staring blankly.

"Ahem. Let me check. The name is Bell, and you're in your early thirties. Your occupation is... a magician. What exactly brings you to Marita?"

"Haha. My wife said it was her dream to visit the City of Artists, Marita, at least once, so I came here with her."

"Your wife?"

'Huh...'

Turning his head toward the passenger seat, the inspector saw a beautiful woman who could easily be compared to the man lowering her head slightly.

After checking the documents concerning the wife handed over by the man named Bell, the inspector nodded and said,

"Her name is As, and she's in her early thirties, about the same age as Mr. Bell. Her occupation is a dollmaker."

They say like attracts like, and these truly were faces that made the phrase “a handsome couple” feel perfectly apt.

Thud.

"Verified. This city is always open to artists. Welcome."

Thus, using the aliases Bell and As listed on the documents prepared by the Nebula Duchy,

Abel and Bellias easily entered the city of Marita.