Chapter 60
“—Calm down, Enrique. There’s a right time for everything, isn’t there?”
I spoke slowly, looking Enrique in the face.
Liera had stepped back a little and was watching us.
And you there, Liera—don’t look so excited.
“Timing? No offense, but haven’t you been slacking off a little lately?”
Enrique’s face twisted.
Apparently, Enrique thought I was starting to let my guard down after succeeding in that last incident.
I answered, “No, what matters is timing.”
...Well, I may have laid it on a little thick, but there was only one thing I wanted to get across here.
TIMING.
In other words, I had no intention of making any more flashy moves with Enrique.
But when he heard me say that,
“Timing, huh...” Enrique began pondering something.
Watching him, I thought,
No. Seriously, I’m begging you.
It was true that I was the one who’d relied on him and dragged him around all night.
I admit that.
I could understand how Enrique, an ordinary adventurer who’d been stuck at F-rank forever, would get swept up in a situation like that.
I mean, it was the sort of thing that might happen once in a lifetime, if that.
But still.
For now, please just behave yourself a little longer.
“Well, think it over.”
I decided to press my point further.
I had a good feeling about my chances.
Enrique enjoyed fighting, to an extent. Well, he was about the same level as Kuzutos before entering the academy, so I couldn’t exactly call him strong.
That was why I figured that if I appealed to his instincts as a warrior and talked him around with a convincing-sounding argument, he’d surely understand.
“Isn’t it the same in battle? Attacking isn’t the only thing you can do. Sometimes you need to retreat, and defense that throws off your opponent’s rhythm is important, too. And all of that comes down to timing.”
“Well, that’s true... but...”
Honestly, I was starting to lose track of what I was even saying, but I stood right in front of Enrique.
—Enrique’s gaze met mine.
A sharp gaze for a former F-ranker (or so it seemed).
“It’s all right, Enrique.”
I smiled at him gracefully.
“One of these days, I’ll prepare the greatest stage for you.”
Maybe in about twenty years, if the world is still safe from the final boss’s clutches, I’ll humor him and play chuunibyo with him.
“...I see.”
“...”
Silence. Not a word.
Enrique stared at me seriously.
What was this? Even if I had to lock eyes with someone, why him...? I started to feel a little sad.
In the future, Sieg-kun would be flirting with beautiful girls and gorgeous women, just like the protagonist of an 18+ game, so why was I gazing at this shady man?
...Feeling a little awkward, I silently glanced at my teacup.
Incidentally, this “Gradiol” tea was an item that appeared in the game, too.
The game text said something like, ‘Slightly restores stamina and calms the mind. Also used as a beverage...’ Apparently, it had a calming effect in this world, too.
Liera had bought it for me, saying, “Apparently, it’s popular with warriors!”
It was a little pricey, but basically, I’d been escaping reality for the past two weeks to the point of becoming addicted to tea.
But then, suddenly,
“I see. That tea—is it from Gradiol?”
“...? Oh, y-yeah.”
“So that’s it. So that’s what this means...! Heh heh... Hahaha!!!!”
For some reason, Enrique burst into laughter, saying, “I see now.”
...I had no idea what he meant.
“What’s the tea got to do with anything?”
“No, no. I get it, young master.”
Enrique nodded, looking utterly breathless.
“Well, I agree we should keep things quiet for now. Maybe I’ll stop by a guild or two and gather some information.”
“Oh...!”
I was moved.
Those were the only two words that came to mind.
I couldn’t believe it. He finally understood.
Enrique had agreed not to do anything strange.
And on top of that—
“Gathering information, huh? That’s a good idea.”
Enrique said he’d gather information at the guild.
Come to think of it, Enrique was supposed to have been kicked out of the guild for saying too many embarrassing things...
...Well, whatever.
I’d heard adventurers’ guilds were full of eccentrics, so they were probably well-equipped to deal with chuunibyo.
They might even treat Enrique kindly, since he was returning after such a long time.
At the very least, that had to be better than hearing Enrique say, “Let’s start the greatest festival ever!!” around the clock.
Just the other day, he’d come at me with that same energy at eight in the morning.
Before any “greatest festival,” I was the sort of person who wanted to eat an ordinary breakfast.
And so,
“All right. Sorry to have bothered you—young master. And you too, little maid.”
“Yeah, yeah. See ya!”
I replied.
I watched Enrique leave in a whirlwind.
◆
“But... you know.”
Liera, who had been watching Enrique’s back with me, spoke up.
“If Enrique-san is going out for a while to gather information, Ultos-sama might get a little lonely.”
...Liera.
“I’ll have you know—”
I turned toward Liera, who’d uttered such nonsense, and smiled gently.
“That’s the one thing that won’t happen.”
—However, relieved that I’d somehow managed to talk Enrique around, I failed to hear what he said as he left the room.
As he was leaving, Enrique had said,
“What’s this, young master? You say I’m slacking off, but your fangs haven’t dulled one bit,”
laughing cheerfully.
――――――――――――――――――――
Protagonist
→ Tries to stop Enrique, the wandering, rampaging chuunibyo locomotive. It seemed to work at first, but...?
Enrique
→ Thinking Ultos was getting complacent after his performance in Lyon, he confronts him. In the end, he seems convinced by something and decides to gather information at the very guild that once kicked him out.
※
Last time, I announced, “I won some kind of award,” in a ridiculously stupid way that no working adult should use. To be specific, I won both the Comic Walker Award and the Special Award.