Chapter 40
Hmm..
This is my first time walking around without my hat, so I'm a little nervous.
I'd taken my hat off when sleeping in the same room as the Hero and on similar occasions, but this is different since I'm outside now.. I'd always worn my hat whenever I was outside, but walking around with it off feels strange.
How strange.
I used to walk around without a hat in the first place, but now I feel anxious if I don't have one. While I was wondering what to do since it was too bulky to carry around, the Hero offered to store my hat in his personal subspace. He said he'd return it when we got back to the lodging, so I nodded.
You might think not wearing a hat is no big deal, but don't you get that empty feeling when something you usually carry around suddenly disappears?
That's exactly how I feel right now.
“I think this is the first time I've seen Lumia without her hat..”
Cecilia said that as she walked around me.
At first, I had holed myself up alone in the inn, preoccupied with my own worries, and ended up separated from the others, making me wonder whether I'd have to travel with only the Hero from then on. Fortunately, we managed to meet again with the help of some other people while we were wandering around.
It seemed Cecilia and Ruril had been looking for the Hero and me as well.
“Your hair is really fascinating..”
Ruril, who had come up beside me, said that as she ran her fingers through my hair.
My hair was a little unusual-looking.
How should I put it.. If I were being generous, it was fascinating and strangely beautiful hair, but if I were being unkind, it looked as if someone had poured blueberries into mint and mixed them together. Actually, the latter might be the most vivid way to describe my hair.
The thing is, since I kept worrying that I'd make a mistake while trying to act as if I couldn't hear despite actually being able to, I was wondering whether I should use magic to make myself genuinely unable to hear. Just now, since she'd asked me something while running her fingers through my hair, I had a legitimate reason to turn around.
It was hard to imagine things would always be like that from now on, though..
It would be nice if I could instead use magic to get the gist of what they meant even if I couldn't hear their words.. I didn't know whether something like that had been possible in the game, so I couldn't act rashly.
How had we communicated with one another in the game?
If there was paper, I could just communicate with them roughly through writing, but when there was no paper like now, wasn't there no way to talk to them? Even so, I wondered again whether I really needed to use something like telepathy for an issue like this.
Telepathy did consume a fair amount of mana, but if Lumia were the one using it, it wouldn't be enough to pose much of a problem. Even so, I wasn't using telepathy simply because Lumia wasn't the sort of person to use it for something like this.
I had decided to be sincere with the Hero, but that meant acting like Lumia without hiding my feelings, not forgetting Lumia entirely and acting however I pleased.
Even in the game, when Lumia spoke—that is, used telepathy—she would only address someone at important moments. Otherwise, she would always smile and quietly put up with whatever prank they played,
Even when a prank went a little too far, she would merely stiffen her expression and never say anything via telepathy.
That was simply her natural personality, and touching my hair now was hardly an excessive prank; they were only touching it out of fascination. So I merely smiled and looked at the two of them.
“Hmm.. Hero.”
“Hm?”
“Does Lumia really not hear what we're saying?”
In response to Ruril's question, the Hero answered yes with a solemn expression.
Cecilia already knew that I couldn't hear because she'd been traveling with me, so she had no reason to ask, but Ruril was different. Ruril had only recently met me, so she'd merely heard that I couldn't hear or speak and hadn't had much time to realize it for herself.
It wasn't strange for her to ask.
“I see..”
Ruril looked at me with pity, then soon stopped giving me that look.
She had probably done so out of consideration for me.
Even if you can look at someone who isn't feeling well with pity for a moment, continuing to stare at them that way feels extremely unpleasant from the perspective of the person being stared at. As for me, since I wasn't actually impaired, I didn't feel particularly bad even when people looked at me that way.
“There's something.. about Lumia that always feels like such a shame.”
“Hm?”
Meanwhile, Cecilia, who had been looking me over, spoke with a deeply thoughtful expression. I wanted to ask what on earth she meant, but as I always reminded myself, I couldn't hear, so I held back and merely tilted my head at Cecilia, who was staring at me in deep thought.
“Lumia is incredibly pretty and cute, too, but.. she never properly dresses up..”
Huh?
“That's true.. We haven't spent all that long together, but whenever I've seen her, she's always wearing the same clothes.. Of course, I understand that we're traveling, so that's to be expected, but with that drab robe and that huge, ill-fitting cone hat on her head, it is a little.. I want to see her dressed up!”
Ruril seemed to be won over by Cecilia's words and said that while looking at me.
What kind of fresh bullshit were these two suddenly spouting..?
What? They want to dress me up?
No, what was that supposed to mean..?
Cecilia said that and turned to look at the Hero.
As though she were asking the Hero what he thought, I turned my head to look at him as well.
“Uh.. So.. Lumia, they said they want to dress you up?”
“..?”
Why did you have to say it so bluntly?
I knew he had no choice but to say it bluntly since he was the one conveying what they were talking about.. but nothing like this had ever happened in the game, so I had no idea how to react. Cecilia realized I was floundering, her eyes lit up, and she took my hand.
Uh, wait a second.
“We need to get her into proper clothes first if we're going to dress her up!”
“Whaaa..?!“
“I'm coming too~!”
R-really?
Were they really planning to dress me right now?
More importantly, I hadn't even properly answered yet, so why were they taking me along and running off as if they were caught up in the mood? As a Saint, Cecilia should normally have been weak, but for some reason, I couldn't pull my hand free from hers. Could it be that, since I couldn't even break free from Cecilia, who was a Saint, I was actually the weakest person here?
Come to think of it, Lumia's stats had been bizarre, with only her mana abnormally high.. I vaguely remembered Cecilia's Strength stat being much higher than Lumia's, too.
Since I couldn't pull free and couldn't speak, either..
Oh, dear..
“Hero, you come too!”
“Uh.. Y-yeah!”
Right, money!
There was no need to dress me up, so it would just be a waste of money, wouldn't it? Couldn't I press that point? At least in the game, I had been the one calling the shots, so something this sudden had never happened, and I didn't know for sure, but that was what Lumia's personality would have done!
Judging by the Hero's flustered expression, he had never experienced anything like this in the past.
He definitely hadn't.
- H-Hero.. I-it'll be a waste of money, so stop them quickly..!
“G-guys..”
Yes, good!
I looked at the Hero with an expression full of anticipation.
“Lumia says it would be a waste of money, so she thinks you shouldn't do it.”
“What?”
I thought he'd say it like a man, but he hesitated quite a bit.
Still, it was a relief that he had told them at all.
I looked at the two of them as if asking what they thought, but Cecilia wore an expression that seemed faintly amused.
“So, you're saying we don't have enough money?”
“Huh? No, that's not it..”
“Don't worry. I have more than enough money.”
Saying that, Cecilia took a pouch from inside her clothes, set it in her hand, and tipped it over.
The gold coins inside began spilling out with a clatter.
There were so many that several coins even fell onto the ground.
The Hero's mouth fell open.
“What do you think? I received very generous support as a Saint, after all. The Holy Kingdom will continue supporting us, too, so we won't have to worry about running out of money. This much is fine.”
Insane.
Then why on earth had I paid for everything with my own money in the game?
If the Saint had that much money, why hadn't a single coin ever come my way? Just by eyeballing it, there was several times as much gold as the bounty I'd received earlier. Ruril had somehow gathered all the gold that had fallen on the ground and handed it to Cecilia, who put it back into her pouch.
“How about that?”
Why?
She ought to have looked impressive, but Cecilia seemed frightening today, for some reason.
“We have lots of things to buy before we leave on our journey, too.”
At this point, Lumia no longer had any grounds to refuse. The only reason I'd refused in the first place was that it would be a waste of money, but there was more than enough money, and the person spending it said it was fine, so I had nothing to say.
“Shall we go?”
Cecilia said so with a smile in her eyes.