Chapter 603 – The Geek and the Young Lady

000

If you turn back the time of the sunny Asteris, where there is no quiet day, a little flashy carriage will pass through the castle gate and proceed in a straight line towards the building of the Dark Dragon Company.

Damn dag dag dag dag. I can hear the sound of the horse’s hooves, but the carriage is quite high-quality, the sound of the wheels rolling, and originally, the carriage should vibrate and vibrate to the buttocks of those inside, but it makes for a comfortable journey without even that. There was.

Soon after, the carriage stopped right in front of the storehouse, and the door opened slowly, revealing first a tall woman with a stocky physique wearing a butler’s uniform.

If there is a difference from a normal human being, it is the fact that she is a ‘fish person’ with non-human characteristics mixed in her body.

This woman, whose name is Kshat, is the butler of the Descartes family and a faithful servant who is entrusted with escorting her master.

“We have arrived, lady.”

In a respectful voice, and she cautiously reaches inside her, she takes hold of the hand of the woman she serves.

The escort is her duty her, and accepting the escort, stepping down on the platform that becomes the stairs from the carriage to the ground is a woman dressed like a fairy.

I don’t know what the principle is, but the long silk that floats by itself defies gravity and floats around, and what I wear is a thin dress with a gorgeous color scheme.

It’s a beautiful outfit that seems to symbolize her family’s wealth her, and it makes passers-by automatically look there-

Naturally, when I looked at her appearance her from her feet her, starting from her her feet her and moving my gaze upward, there was a place where the eyes her were focused, as if caught on something in her of.

“Shuu… Koo…”

It was from her side that the bizarre breathing sound that seemed to be wearing a filter was heard.

The black, vicious mask worn over her face was a gas mask with cylindrical filters, one on each cheek.

The lens was indigo blue and had a shield for light blocking, so the pupils inside could not be seen properly.

When her eyes were focused on her shoes and dress her, and when she came to her face her and put on a mask that seemed to destroy all the harmony, people shook her head and watched her steps her on her way her. Continue.

Normally, when a carriage like this arrives, it is thought that it is a procession of local aristocrats, so it is bound to be a cause, but in the case of Fleur of the Descartes family, such a group could not be made.

When Fleur puts his foot on the ground, as light as a feather, his hand her comes out from behind as if he had been waiting for it, and leans his hand on the door of the carriage.

“Ugh… My head hurts…”

When a low, self-suffering voice came from inside Masha, Kshat replied with a wry smile at the person who gave it.

“So, you should have been drinking in moderation.”

“Sorry, sorry… It’s been a while since I came to Asteris, so the tension got a little higher… Ah- the air is cool…”

“It was fortunate that the carriage did not shake. If that was the case, you would have vomited up several times already.”

At the words of the butler who made a terrible noise, it seems that the scene came to mind without difficulty. It was a dark-blue haired woman wearing a white gown, which is difficult to find in the East, making a complicated expression.

With a slightly uneasy expression on her face her, she came down to the ground with the help of Kshat, stretched her body her, and took a deep breath.

“Uhhhhh”

Then, after uttering her pained voice her, Kshat shakes her head as she sighs and gives her careful advice.

“Atis-sama… Since you’re a woman, a little bit…”

“Don’t worry, few people find me attractive as a woman. Are you talking about the smell of alcohol? A person who smells like tobacco.”

Already, she talked as if she had given up on that line, but Kshat shook her head and handed her a sweet voice.

“It is not so. Artis-sama is not only unaware of herself, but she is an attractive enough woman.”

“Hung! Hung!”

From the side, Fleur nodding vigorously as she snorted.

Their encouragement will melt Artis’ frozen and cold heart-

“Ahaha…Even lip service is appreciated…”

-There was no Lee. Her heart had already hardened like the frozen soil of the tundra as her flowery youth was swept away by relics and relics that smelled of earth.

It would take a lot of technique to melt this ice, but Kshat and Fleur looked at each other, shrugged and sighed.

“Now then, let’s go inside~ It’s been a while since we met Herti~ We also prepared a gift~ And, according to Layla’s message~? There will be more fun things to do!”

Artis moves forward in an exaggerated motion while swinging both arms back and forth.

“I’m putting my heavy body in forced tension with alcohol…”

Muttering like that, Kshat and Fleur watched the sad reality of such an alcoholic.

In any case, due to Layla’s urging, Artis and Fleur’s party arrived at Asteris a little earlier than originally planned and passed through the gate of the Dark Dragon Chamber and entered the backyard.

With the Five Elements Festival approaching, naturally, there were more and more things to do at the upper house, so everyone was busy moving their feet and carrying luggage, or checking what was inside a box placed on the ground.

Some of them looked at them and bowed their heads and lowered their waists, showing that they had already met each other.

“It’s still busy here. Uh Calia~”

And Artis walked through the crowd of busy people and called Calia’s name out loud to guide them.

Then, after a while, when I thought I heard the sound of the door opening from the inside, I walked out with the sound of bells shaking-

It wasn’t Calia that Artis was looking for, but Herti, her boss and owner of the business.

Bahamut, who was walking alongside Attis, bristled his fur as soon as he saw Attis and ran back behind Herti, who then smiled as he came down to the yard where Attis was.

“It’s been a while, Artis. Miss Fleur, long time no see.”

“You know it well even with your eyes closed. Well, since you said you were coming together, is it natural?”

Artis raised the corners of her mouth as she spoke, and Kshat and Fleur bowed down to greet her as if they had not forgotten her example her, saying that her opponent her was blind to her.

For one thing, Fleur was the head of an influential local aristocracy called the Descartes family, but her position as the mistress of the Dark Dragon Firm was her position her second to none of such aristocrats.

Besides, in Fleur’s case, there must have been a part of her that she personally admired Hertie.

“Herti. Have you been at peace?”

“Yes, we are unchanged. What about the Eratus-Descartes family estate? Since then, have there been any movements by the regressors or the former head?”

‘After that’, Cleon and his party headed to the plains near Eratus to excavate ruins, and they must have collided with Laplace, one of the leaders of the regressors.

As a result, Laplace lost his life by his party his, and the regressors met the bitter result that two of the originally four executives were defeated by Cleon and his party his.

“Yes. Still something to do. The lady’s grandfather- The former head of the family is disconnected from the outside world, so he must not be aware of Laplace’s death.”

“Okay. I hope it’s not the calm before the storm – before something big happens.”

When Herti said that as if she was a little concerned, there was silence between the four of them for a while…

“For now, shall we talk about that later? I’ve come here at most, but it’s a bit like talking about heavy things.”

Artis, in order to break that atmosphere, puts her voice into focus.

“Atis-nim said that…”

“No, I know how to read the atmosphere too… Can you stop looking at me like a robot without a heart?”

In response to Kshat’s words of her, which seemed a little unexpected, Artis replied, but Herti and Fleur also thought in their hearts of her that there was nothing more inappropriate for her than the expression ‘reading the atmosphere’.

“And, I brought something for Herti as a gift.”

“Wow, a gift?”

Herti looked at Artis with an innocent face like a child reacting to a relative who she hadn’t seen in a while and told her that he would give her pocket money to her.

If her eyes are open, she will be shining enough to shine.

At that moment, Fleur grabbed the sleeve of Kshat standing next to her and she shook it and pulled it.

Little by little…

And say something to the kshat in a voice that is not audible to his ears his, and the kshat replies to his master his.

′′ The contents of the gift… Is it? No. I haven’t even heard of Atis-sama bringing a present. I thought the gift we prepared was an Eratus specialty, but…”

As if Artis’ gift was a surprise that had not been delivered to the two of them, Artis proudly took out something from her gown and held it up.

It was a black metal ring with a circumference a little thicker than a human wrist.

“Tada- demodulation… Link of bond~”

“Something disturbing word just…”

“It’s my mood, it’s my mood!”

Kshat points out that Artis almost accidentally mentioned the tool’s original name, but Artis shook her head as if not to mind.

“…Sorry, what kind of tool is it?”

Of course, Herti did n’t see her thing her, which Artis proudly showed her, so she asked, but Artis approached Herti and held the ring.

“It’s an artifact inside the ruins we found. I brought it because it was relatively effective and not dangerous.”

“Eh, did you steal the relics from the ruins on your own?”

“I’m sorry for stealing it. That it was officially purchased. I’m talking about robbing myself of my own money.”

As Artis said, he looked at Bahamut, who was sitting quietly next to him, and grinned.

Bahamut must have been frightened by her laughter of her, so he raised her alertness even more and gave out a threatening voice.

“So, to explain what kind of artifact this artifact is… It is an object that enables communication between humans and animals. For example, if you put this ring around Bahamut’s neck, the user will be able to read Bahamut’s thoughts of his.”

“Wow! That’s amazing! What principle is it?”

Of course, it wasn’t that difficult to understand Bahamut’s mood just by hearing Bahamut’s footsteps or crying as he had been living for a long time.

But even so, there was a huge language barrier between humans and animals, so I wonder if Bahamut is having an uncomfortable day because of himself…

Herti, if he had been able to read Bahamut’s thoughts for that reason- he would have thought the same thing several times.

Come to think of it- I think I’ve told Artis about that sometime before…

“Do you remember what I said before?”

“Uh? …Uh! Of course!”

There was a bit of a gap until Artis gave a clear answer to Herti’s words, but Herti didn’t care.

‘I absolutely forgot…’

Being a Kshat who can read the atmosphere, he kept those thoughts to himself.

“Thank you! Artis! I really like it!”

With that being said, when Angry Herti lunges at Artis, her large breasts are pressed against Artis ‘relatively flat chest her.

“Ooh… Mu, it’s heavy…”

It’s just that Artis, who has less physical strength than that, stumbles as if being pressed by Hertie’s mass and is almost pushed backwards.

“Then I’ll try right away! Bahamut? Come this way…”

When Herti’s body her falls, Artis corrects her posture her as if she barely lived, watching her find Bahamut and talking.

“Bahamut ran away earlier.”

In the middle of Artis ‘explanation of her, he disappeared from her eyes her while walking so stealthily that he didn’t even make a sound.

“Really, it’s not dangerous…”

“Well, maybe you don’t like wearing something around your neck. Grab a snack later and soothe it well to fill it up.”

As Artis said, she pulled back a little and, as was her custom her, put her hand her in her arms her.

And what he took out was a cigarette he always smoked and a lighter to light a fire.

“I lit a candle at the beginning of the year… “

The next moment, as I copied the phrase I had seen somewhere, the light ignited from the lighter with a clicking sound.

Shock! And if you think you heard a sharp wind cutting, the tip of the tobacco was cut off and fell to the ground before it was lit.

“…”

When Artis turned his head in a cold sweat, the shuriken that passed right in front of him was embedded in the wall of the store building.

“How many times have I told you? Artis.”

And, although it was as polite as possible, it was a woman’s voice with a certain hint of anger.

When Artis’ head clicked and turned that way, there was Calia, her face smiling but her eyes not smiling, approaching Artis.

“Smoking on the premises of the shop is prohibited. Called.”

“Ah, ahaha. That, it was Mi, sorry… No! Still, isn’t it a little too much to cut off the end of the year with a shuriken? What if I do something wrong and get hit in the face?”

“Don’t worry. I will pay for your treatment.”

“Are you throwing without conviction!? I wanted you to say ‘don’t miss’ there! I can’t start the year here anymore because I’m scared!”

When Attis raises her voice like that with her face terrified, Calia walks right in front of her and pulls out the shuriken stuck in her wall.

“That’s good.”

Then, as the tip of the shuriken she held in reverse glowed, and an evil smile spread across her face her, Artis quickly put the cut tobacco in her hand into the portable ashtray.

“Ah, okay, okay… That, more than that. We have to tell Cleon that we came.”

“Hung! Hung!”

Fleur nodding her head beside her, as if she had been waiting for Artis to say those words.

Then Calia let out an exclamation of ‘ah’ and then talked to the two of them.

“Prince Cleon, early in the morning, he went out somewhere and hasn’t come back yet. He said it wouldn’t be too late, so he might be back soon…”

“Huh…”

As if he lost some energy at those words, Fleur stretched his shoulders.

“Okay? Do you know which door you went out through?”

“Maybe it’s the south…”

At Calia’s words, Artis nodded as if she understood, and then she turned around and headed toward the main gate of the shop.

“I will go and wait for Cleon. I have nothing to do even if I am here.”

“…It doesn’t mean you’ve just found a good excuse to smoke, right?”

At Calia’s words her, Artis stuttered and shook her shoulders, but after stuttering her words her, she replied, ‘That, that can’t be so’, and she left the company without any problems.

“Really. They told me to quit smoking and drinking, but I’m too stubborn.”

“Exploring ruins, research… Because what I’m doing is stressful. I’m sure you’ll be able to solve it with something like that.”

“I’m just going to feel bad. Speaking to Mr. Quartz, at least some medicine… Huh? Herti. What are you holding in your hand?”

Calia notices the black ring her herti was holding in her hand her and approaches her.

“Ah, this is a gift from Artis. He seems to be able to read the animal’s mind if used on an animal, so I’ll try to use it on Bahamut later.”

“… Is that ok? It bothers me a little that the item was brought by Atis-sama and not by someone else…”

“To? It will be fine. Even Atis wouldn’t have brought anything dangerous.”

Saying so, Herti bung, bung and shake the ring he was holding in his hand her-

[The Ring of Obedience has received command input. It is automatically equipped toward the highest-risk creature in the vicinity, excluding the user.]

“To?”

If you think that the sound came from the ring, Herti’s hand made her a ‘thump’ sound and it came out into the air.

Just like that, it flew towards Kshat’s neck his, and Chop! It clung to it and wound up with a flat sound.

“Kuu!?”

“Kshat!?”

When her Fleur, with her involuntarily loud voice, looks at her, covering her mouth, Kshat abruptly takes her hand by the loop clinging to her neck, pulls it, and tries, but sees her It was to make sure it did n ‘t come off.

“… Gwa, are you okay?”

When Kalia approaches her with concern for her kshat her, the kshat replies that there is nothing wrong with her her body her, nodding her head and voicing ah-ah.

“Yes, it is fine. I was just a little surprised… No pain, no pressure.”

“It’s fortunate… I suddenly moved and did something. Wait a minute, I’ll have to find a way to peel it off. Rather than researching things like this, I’m going to ask an expert… I’ll go ask Layla.”

Watching Kalia say that and run towards her lodgings her, Kshat fiddles with the unremovable ring that hangs tightly around his neck her.

“… I’m sorry, Kshat. I think it happened because I swung the ring.”

“No. They don’t even have instructions… You never know when or how to react. It’s not something Herti-nim should apologize for.”

To Herti, who bowed her head to herself, Kshat dissuaded her as if she was okay, but Herti raised her head and turned her towards her own study her.

“I-I’ll find a way too! Please wait for a moment!”

When Herti herself takes her responsibility and walks as if to remove her ring her from her neck her, she enters before Kshat has time to stop.

Fleur moved closer to Grunkshat, reaching her hand toward the ring around her neck her.

“Kshat… It’s really good, right?”

“Yes I’m okay. Rather, it could be dangerous for Fleur-sama to stay a little further away.”

Kshat says so, but Fleur ran her finger along her loop-as if she had noticed something in her-her.

“…Is this… What is it?”

It was a small ring, about the size of a finger, compared to the large one now hanging around Kshat’s neck his.

Somewhere, if you touch something that looks like a ring, you can pull it.

Then, when she pulled it tight, something like a leather strap came out, possibly hidden in her ring.

“Wow, wow… Something came with it…”

“A leash… Maybe?”

[I’m glad the lady is safe… I hope Artis brings something safer…]

“!?”

Kshat’s voice, along with the physical sound, was another voice in Fleur’s head.

“Bah, just…”

“…? Are you okay?”

Apparently, what Artis said was true.

To be precise, the person holding this string, the one with the loop on it—though originally it was an animal. In this case, Kshat.

I was able to read her thoughts of her.

“…”

Fleur said so, and she shut her mouth for a moment before she looked at Kshat and asked.

“Keuk, Kshat means. If you’re with me, won’t you be bothered?”

“Yes…? All of a sudden… Um… Nothing like that. It is my mission to stand by your side and protect you.”

[Is the lady anxious…? If I don’t protect the young lady by my side.]

This is what it means to be different from the outside.

Fleur felt a little guilty about listening to her heart, but she let out a sigh of relief.

Yes. It’s not good to read other people’s thoughts. Let’s leave this string on until the people return.

Thinking so, it was the moment Fleur tried to let go of that string.

[But … If Lady Fleur gets married someday, will I be able to stay by her side her even then … That is, if she marries someone like Cleon-sama … There won’t be any time for me to intervene. Map…]

Hesitating, Fleur’s hand her, which was trying to let go of her string her, stopped.

[Fleur-sama is already at the right age for marriage… If you continue like this, you might miss that time completely… You have a beautiful appearance and a good family family, but you refuse all marriage talks yourself.. .Here, as expected, to Cleon. Wouldn’t it be better to bow my head and ask for acceptance… No, but, as an attendant, can I do such a presumptuous thing… ]

Kshat’s expression does n’t change even though she keeps pouring out her inner thoughts of her, saying she can’t hear, but Fleur’s face turns red more and more at Kshat’s worry of her.

[Ah, that’s right. If you ask Cleon-nim even if you sacrifice your body…]

“Fuuuuu!”

Even her worries her would go that far, and Fleur was tugging at the leash of her collar her while stamping her feet with her blushing face.

“Ah, lady!? Why are you like this all of a sudden!? Wow, how strong is that!?”

When he pulls on her string her with a force that is several times stronger than her usual her, Kshat panics and tries to stop her, but the fact that her neck her is caught means that she cannot move her body properly .

“—I’m tired in many ways today.”

Then, along with the footsteps of someone returning from the door, a voice is heard—

“Miss! Calm down for now!”

“Fuuuuu!”

Cleons were to witness the scene in question.

“Oh right, Fleur was there too. But what are you doing?”

Those were the words of Artis, who was the culprit behind the incident and shouldered about 70 percent of the responsibility.