Chapter 56
“Haa….”
Gazing at the moonlight streaming in through the window, I let out a deep sigh.
“…After I went to all the trouble of helping you clean up, why are you sighing again?”
At that, Lucy's voice came from the direction of the door, grumbling in apparent displeasure.
“Honestly, I only meant to use my wings a little so I could sleep comfortably, but I ended up doing unintended labor instead.”
Strange.
I don't remember ever saying I'd let her use my wings.
“What is that look for? Surely you're not displeased that, as repayment for cleaning the room and even changing your sheets when you couldn't move because your body was numb, I'm going to cover myself with your wing?”
Speechless, I turned toward the voice.
The intruder who had barged into my room for an extremely personal reason, tidied it up without permission, and dumped me into bed spoke with a brazen expression.
“If you understand, hurry up and make some room.”
As though she didn't need my answer,
she pushed my immobile body toward the corner of the bed.
“Then, I'll gratefully accept it today.”
Lucy lifted one of my still-tingling wings and draped it over herself in a familiar manner.
“…I have a lot to say, but first let me ask this. What about dinner?”
“Master's completely broken down, so I just took care of things and came back.”
Judging by the way she pouted with a face full of discontent the moment I brought up dinner,
Huey must have really lost it.
After that, a brief silence passed.
“Ren.”
Lucy called to me in a quiet voice.
“Hm?”
“I heard from Master. We're going west instead of north.”
“He did mention something like that.”
I'd only half listened while everything was in chaos,
but yes, he'd said that.
“Will you be all right with that?”
“With what?”
“It sounds like it will be very frustrating.”
At those words, and the way Lucy's gaze fell on my wings,
I realized what she meant and gave a quiet chuckle.
“Incredibly frustrating.”
It's already been half a year since I became this body,
but I still couldn't get used to a body whose species and gender had both changed.
Still, though.
“You know what they say: The more urgent it is, the more you should take the long way around.”
“They say that…?”
“Besides, I'd been thinking of going west at least once anyway.”
A kind of power completely different from the widely known magic, spirits, alchemy, and divine arts: Daoist arts.
The captain had once suggested that if there was even a chance, it would be better to investigate one more possibility.
“We'll manage somehow.”
Until just recently, I'd been trembling with anxiety.
But merely holding a sword for a little while this time had restored some measure of stability.
With my mind a little more at ease, I opened my mouth once more.
“So worry about your master rather than me.”
“…Heh-heh. That's true.”
And so, chatting with Lucy about this and that,
I was able to spend a peaceful night for the first time in a while.
Then, the next morning.
“Oh.”
The pain that had continued throughout my body until just before I fell asleep was gone, and I felt refreshed all over.
“Ugh, my wing… Just a little longer….”
After wrestling my wing free from Lucy, who had fallen asleep clinging to it as though her life depended on it,
I scooped the blanket she'd pushed into the corner up with my foot and roughly covered her with it.
“What awful sleeping habits.”
As I always notice, whenever this girl crawls into my bed, I can't cover myself with anything.
That was how, on my way to the garden to do a few simple stretches,
I spotted familiar pink hair sneaking down the hallway with unmistakably suspicious movements.
“Hey, what are you doing over there?”
Never mind that the voice in my head had woken earlier than expected;
Frederica's room was on the other side, so I called out, wondering what was going on.
“Eek―!?”
Frederica startled like a thief caught in the act.
“What's that in your hand?”
As Frederica turned her head with a stiff, startled motion, I saw a familiar object in her hand.
It was a talisman belonging to Huey, a thin yellow paper covered in mysterious red markings.
“A-ahaha….”
…Apparently, she really had been caught stealing.
“I-I was actually planning to ask politely, b-but Mr. Huey was sleeping so soundly….”
“Couldn't you borrow it when he was awake?”
At her absurd excuse, I quietly glared at her and spoke.
“……”
Frederica began to sweat profusely.
“Tell me honestly. What were you doing?”
“…Trying to make a doll….”
Only then did she begin fidgeting her fingers and making excuses.
“What kind of doll?”
“…For a hobby?”
Judging by the way she pouted, whistled, and avoided my gaze,
it didn't seem to be for any good purpose.
“No, wait… hear me out? Materials from otherworlders are incredibly valuable, you know…?”
She thrust the talisman in her hand toward me.
“And even for me, asking for someone's fingernails or hair just because I wanted to make a doll felt a little awkward….”
“…So you broke into your guest's room while he was asleep, collected his hair and fingernails, and took a trophy with you as a bonus?”
Frederica answered my question by turning her head away.
“Sigh.”
Since she'd already done it, I supposed it couldn't be helped.
“Don't go overboard.”
I'll take her to Huey later and make her apologize with me.
Honestly, apologizing was normally the captain's job.
“Yes.”
After sending Frederica back to her room,
I headed toward the yard.
“The weather's disgustingly nice.”
The rain we'd had until recently must have been the result of Osmund's influence.
After looking up at the clear, sunny sky as usual, I gave myself a light stretch.
“Phew.”
I spent a while stretching, intending to loosen up my body for the first time in a while.
“Ah.”
Huey emerged looking tousled, as though he'd only just woken up.
“G-good morning.”
“Yeah. Good morning.”
Even then, perhaps seeing me had reminded him of yesterday.
He blushed and avoided my gaze, making a ridiculous spectacle of himself.
“I left a basket of eggs in the kitchen, so use them if you want.”
The voice in my head said that handing over eggs I'd laid was a harpy's courtship ritual, but
…to be honest, they seemed too delicious to just smash and throw away.
“Oh, okay….”
At first, I had been horrified by the thought of eating something that had come from my own body.
It's all that guy's fault. He cooks far too well for no reason.
“Anyway, I worked up a sweat, so I'm going to wash up.”
“…Yeah.”
After washing up, leaving Huey behind as he sighed deeply while looking at the sky,
-Fwoosh.
“Oh, this works now too.”
It was while I was drying myself and checking that my flames came out normally.
-Knock. Knock.
-Ren. Are you there?
It seemed Lucy had already woken up; along with the sound of knocking came her voice.
“Yeah. I am. Why?”
-Master asked if there's anything you want for breakfast.
“Tell him to make whatever.”
-Understood.
Since what Huey picked was generally tastier than what I did anyway,
I answered perfunctorily, then laboriously put on my clothes and headed straight to the dining room.
“You arrived at just the right time. Master says it'll be ready soon.”
“Wow, look at how fluffy and dry your wings are, Ren. Could I hug you just once, too?”
I found the two women already seated and waiting.
“Huey's been busy since morning.”
“Well, I think he wants to calm his muddled mind thanks to a certain someone.”
“…I have no idea what you're talking about.”
At Lucy's words, I tried to erase from my mind the image of myself laying eggs yesterday evening with my butt raised in such an undignified manner,
and waved one wing to stir up a breeze and cool my burning face.
-Flap!
After fanning my face with the breeze I'd created,
“Ren. Don't ignore me—I'm saying, let me hug you just once, too.”
I fixed a cold stare on the witch, who continued spouting nonsense.
“…Aww.”
Only then did Frederica quietly deflate, and I took my own seat as well.
“Oh, perfect timing.”
Before long, carrying a huge tray piled high with food,
Huey entered the dining room.
“Why is there so much food this early in the morning?”
“Haha. It just kind of happened?”
Starting with a huge pudding that was clearly intended just for Lucy,
Huey laid out scrambled eggs, crisply fried bacon, and various other dishes on the table.
“But how am I supposed to eat?”
“Oh, about that….”
“Ahem. Don't worry. I'm here.”
Frederica said she had a suggestion, having happened to run into Huey while he was heading to the kitchen and thinking about a breakfast menu I could eat comfortably.
Cutting Huey off, Frederica wiggled her finger.
Then, following Frederica's finger, a teddy bear climbed onto the table.
“Kyuu.”
With a soft, plush sound, the teddy bear scampered all the way to me.
It soon lifted the utensils in my stead with its adorable little hands and wore a proud expression.
“…I've been wondering this for a while, but what exactly is this?”
For one thing, there was that bizarre cry… sound? Whatever it was.
And the way it made expressions as though it were alive.
Since I couldn't make any sense of it, I asked Frederica with a distinctly uneasy feeling.
“Oh, that's not a doll, you know?”
“…Huh?”
“Come to think of it, did I never tell you, Ren? These days, Betty and I are researching magical lifeforms—that is, homunculi.”
She said that she directly controlled it during combat, but otherwise it acted autonomously for the most part.
“Well, I'll control it while we're eating, so don't worry.”
Frederica smiled brightly.
“Oh… a homunculus? That sounds amazing.”
“Somehow, looking at it makes me feel a little strange….”
After watching the two of them react differently to Frederica's explanation for a while,
“…I don't know.”
I remembered the story of a wanted fugitive who had spent his whole life being pursued by inquisitors after conducting similar research,
but decided to keep it to myself.
Because sometimes, it's better not to know. Yeah.