37 - CHAPTER VI -- A BURNACE AT A PARTICLE

--It was terrible.

Helian lets out a deep sigh as he thinks about the events of yesterday afternoon.

She has managed to clear up the misunderstanding with Levee, but she does not want to remember the incident anymore. I want to erase it from my memory as soon as possible. Otherwise it would be too awkward to look at Lieve's face.

Maybe the same goes for Rieve in terms of awkwardness. Her expression was as usual clear, but her cheeks still had a subtle vermilion color. Furthermore, her tail was moving suspiciously. And his ears, too.

......It was a disgusting case.

I have no other choice but to dismiss it as such.

"You look very tired, owner.

The goblin behind the counter called out to me in a concerned tone.

He is Gobutaro, the manager of this tavern, and also the first stray demon that joined our group.

Helian has come to to (・・・・・・)meet (・・・・・・)a girl again, and is sitting at the counter.

"I'm tired, I guess......... words are hard to come by."

Gobutaro replied with a weak smile, but a question mark appeared on his head.

Incidentally, I asked him to use the same kind of language as he would use with a normal customer.

I don't like it when people give me exaggerated hospitality every time.

It was my first visit to this restaurant since the incident that day, and when Gobutaro in his uniform bowed to me at the most respectful angle, I was puzzled as to which hotelier he was.

Because it is a place that I have a special place in my heart, I feel the need to behave in an easygoing manner.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"No, it's not so much trouble. No, it's not so much trouble as it is something that's already happened. I've decided to forget about it. It's probably for the best for both of us.

"Huh. ....... Well then, why don't you go and have a drink?　If there's something you want to forget, drinking and forgetting is one way to do it."

This is a very bar owner's (master's) kind of invitation, but unfortunately, I cannot nod my head.

I'm afraid I can't nod my head. As you know, I have to talk to an important customer later. I can't let the alcohol dull my brain."

As he spoke, Helian looked at the crystal ornament on the counter. It is a magical tool that contains cloaking, soundproofing, and illusionary techniques. As if to indicate that it is activated, a soft light is emitted from the crystal.

Since it requires magic power to activate, Gobutaro was asked to use it. At the moment, only Gobutaro and Helian are covered up, and the other guests are unaware that Helian and the others are even here. When the guests arrive, they are to be added to the target of the technique to create a pseudo-clandestine situation.

What we are about to do is a secret meeting, so to speak.

It is not something that can be overheard by others, but it is also something that cannot be done in a castle.

By the way, has the visitor arrived yet?

Well, it's about time, isn't it? About 30 minutes ago, I received a message from ......, which is a strange way of putting it, that they will be arriving soon.

"I see."

By "guests," I mean the delegation from Lattestwood.

As before, this is supposed to be an informal visit, but this time, in consideration of the situation at the destination, we have decided to make it a complete escort.

Incidentally, Gobutaro is a liaison officer on a special mission to connect top-secret visitors to the castle, and his role as a bar master is part of that mission.

The group from LATESTWOOD is to visit the tavern to receive a message from the castle as a prelude to a secret meeting.

They are supposed to leave a message for the girl who has come to visit them secretly, but in fact, they have not given her much of a message. This is just a setup.

I think it is a little bit of a trick, but it can't be helped.

I could not think of any other way to communicate with her while keeping my identity hidden.

"I'm sorry to put you in a troublesome role, but I couldn't find anyone else suitable for the job. I'm sorry to put you through all this trouble, but I'm counting on you.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. If I can be of any help to the owner, I will be happy to serve him.

Thank you. Oh, and I'm supposed to act like a normal person when I talk to them. It's an act I'm not used to doing, but it's necessary for the future. As long as that guest is here, you will treat me as such.

"Yes, sir... well, speak of the devil. It seems you are here."

At Gobutaro's words, Helian turned to the entrance of the store.

The badly built door creaked and creaked.

A half-elf stepped into the dimly lit store. Apparently, she had her followers waiting outside. The half-elf girl stands near the entrance and looks around the store as if looking for someone.

Gobutaro manipulates his magic tool and removes himself from the cloaking spell as previously arranged. Immediately afterward, the girl's gaze fell on Gobutaro. The girl walked straight to Gobutaro.

（I have missed this.)

Only about a week has passed since then.

However, Helian nodded his head in deep emotion at the sight of the girl.

There was no way he could have recognized her, even with her hood drawn over her head.

She was the one whom Helian had been waiting for - Leifa.

It's been a long time, Mr. Manager. I've been asked to come here to discuss a matter.

"Long time no see, my dear. The message from the castle, I'm sure you'll understand.

Well, then, I'll get right to it.

Well, well, don't be in such a hurry. You must be tired from the unfamiliar road. Would you like to have a bite to eat anyway?　We can talk about it later.

"A meal, is that it? ......"

Leifua, looking a little confused, hesitates to say anything.

"Yes. By any chance, have you already done so?"

Yes. In fact, I made a quick stop on the way to ...... Oh, no, I'd still like to have a meal. Well, you don't have a menu on ......, do you?"

Leifa smiles as she tries to find the menu list.

Helian also found it inconvenient, but since Gobutaro had told him that it was a , he could not make him prepare a new menu list. Is this also a form of self-imposed restraint?

"Shall I serve the same cockatrice tempura as before?　I'll make sure it's the right size for a light meal.

"Thank you for your concern. But I was wondering if you could give us some other specialties."

"Onya?　I remember you used to enjoy the tempura, but ...... it didn't suit your palate, did it?"

No, that's not true. No, it was not. It was very good. It is a very tempting proposal, but we would be happy if you could serve a different dish this time. I would like to experience a little bit of the culture of this country.

Helian, who was listening at the side, was unintentionally impressed.

He was impressed by the fact that he was not choosing a single meal based on his own preferences, but rather in his position as a leader. It was quite possible that he would be served a dish that he did not like, but he did not hesitate to order only "a specialty dish.

（I must learn from him.)

It's still a learning experience.

And this. This is it.

This is the kind of leadership attitude I want to learn from Leifua.

What she told me that day in this bar was very helpful.

She not only saved me when I was on the verge of losing my mind, but also taught me what a king should be. It is no exaggeration to say that she taught me the ideal that I should aim for.

That is why Helian had a desire to learn "such things" from her in the future. As a member of the royal family, there is only one person whom he can refer to, and that is Leifa.

However, the relationship between Helian and Leifa has already been established.

On the one hand, she is the king of the suzerain state, and on the other hand, she is the queen of a vassal state.

As long as the absolute hierarchical relationship is clarified, the reality is that Helian can only talk with Leifa while wearing the mask of a king. And there is no way for her to have a conversation about the king's knowledge. But..,

(Except as "someone who is not Helian.")

Moreover, as the man who was saved by her that day - as the young man who just happened to meet her in this tavern - it is possible to establish a new relationship with Leifa. You will be able to treat Leifa as a human being.

You can't ask her about the mindset of a leader, but you need to establish a friendship with her so that you can have such a conversation with her someday.

This is the first step and the beginning of such a conversation.

I am very grateful to her for coming all the way from the other side of the world and visiting Alkymyra on her own, despite her busy schedule. Thanks to him, I was able to lead Leifa to the bar in the place where it all began. I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by.

（Yes. (Yes...you never know when such a great opportunity will come around again...) I'll definitely make your acquaintance. ......!)

Helian makes up his mind in secret.

Objectively speaking, this is a pick-up act, but he is very serious about it.

"If it's another specialty, well... ....... Excuse me, can you eat pork meat?"

Yes, no problem. But I'm a little worried about the raw meat.

Don't worry. We'll cook it over a proper fire. Then please wait there for a moment while I put my best effort into cooking.

Gobutaro casually suggests a seat next to Hellian.

As he was leaving for the back of the kitchen, he changed the settings of his magic tool and added himself and Leifa to the effect.

This enabled Leifa to recognize the person sitting next to her, a man (Helian) who was hidden from the public. As she is about to sit down, Leifa suddenly notices that there is a guest sitting next to her, and asks him if he knows where he is.

"Excuse me, may I sit next to you?

"--Oh. No problem."

I took pains to answer in as casual a tone as possible.

Helian, covered by an ash robe, takes a deep breath, conscious of the soft tone of his voice.

Then, after watching Gobutaro disappear into the back of the kitchen, he made up his mind to speak to Leifer.

"Hey, it's been a long time. I didn't expect to see you again.

I thought I was being a bit blasé, but I said the words I had prepared in advance.

But..,

"--?　Um, is it me?"

Leifa looked around curiously, then answered with an expression as if she were wondering if it was possible.

"............ what?"

Excuse me, but have we met somewhere before?　I'm afraid I've never met you before."

--I was shocked.

Had he forgotten me?

The man who was saved by her that day, in this place, at that time.

"Wait a minute. Don't you recognize me?　That's the man you talked to that day."

After he said it, he frowned, as if he were making a poor pick-up attempt.

But then I remembered that I had not even told him my name. No, it would be impossible to continue our relationship as we did that day if I revealed myself as "Helian", but I felt frustrated in explaining that I was the man from that day.

Should I have given him a pseudonym or something?

"You say you are the man of that day ......?"

Leifa frowns in confusion.

She wondered if she was smart enough to notice this, and then Helian recalled the effect of the he was wearing.

This robe is a special equipment prepared by the management for <.

It has the effect of diminishing the impression of the wearer, distracting the viewer's attention, and misleading him into believing that he is just an ordinary person (a mob).

And Leifua is probably not able to resist the deception of this robe. He only perceives himself as .

But he cannot reveal his true identity as he did with Gobutaro.

If the wearer (HELIAN) herself acts in such a way that she reveals her true identity, the deception effect on the subject will be significantly reduced, but she does not want to be recognized as "HELIAN" by the target.

She must be < to think that she is the "man of the time".

If it is not possible to completely detect the true identity, and it is not possible to completely conceal the true identity, it will be necessary to have Loeb's deception techniques break through the half-way mark.

(......) We have no choice.

Helian began to slowly lower the setting (level) of Loeb's deception formula.

If he lowers the setting too much, his subordinates with high resistance to magic might be able to detect his true identity, but at the moment he has his magic tools activated separately from his robe, so he does not have to worry about ordinary customers finding out about his true identity. While paying attention only to Leifa's reaction, he carefully lowers the setting of the robe.

Finally, when I had lowered the setting to the lower limit, Leifa's expression changed as if she had noticed something.

"...... Oh. You may have told me about ...... the story we talked about earlier in this bar."

"Yes, yes, that's him. That's right!"

I know my desperation came through a little, but it can't be helped.

The first priority now is to make them recognize me as "the guy from back then.

It has been a long time. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you sooner. I'm supposed to be good at remembering people's faces, but for some reason I can't seem to recall them. ......

When Leifer tilted his head curiously, I simply told him, "It happens all the time, so don't worry about it. Helian is relieved when he manages to get her to remember. The plan had almost been foiled.

"It's a coincidence, isn't it? I never thought we would meet in the same place again.

"......Yeah, totally."

Leifua has a soft expression on her face and speaks these words.

Not being able to reply, "Actually, I came here to meet you," Helian could not help but agree with her.

"By the way, you haven't told me your name yet. I am--"

"--Wait a minute. Why don't we use pseudonyms here?"

"What?"

Leifua's eyes twinkled as if she had been caught off guard.

"No, I don't have anything to be guilty about, but there's a little situation. It would be helpful if we could use our full names, or rather, pseudonyms, for each other here. ......?"

Without a name, it is inconvenient, but there is the dilemma of not being able to use one's real name.

That is why we propose to call them by their full names.

A pseudonym?

Leifa makes a gesture of thinking for a moment.

Then she changed her expression as if she had thought of something and replied to the man sitting next to her.

He replied to the man sitting next to him, "Well, I don't mind. It's just the right thing to do.

It was a somewhat dubious proposition, but fortunately Leifa was on board.

Perhaps the fact that she was visiting Alkimaira on her own might have helped her to accept the proposal as a convenient one.

"So, my name is ......, right, I'll call myself Reyna. My name is Reina.

With these words, Reyna changed her name from Leifa to Reyna.

She has changed only one letter, but it is a proper name.

It is a beautiful name with a nice sound.

I think I read a book in the university that says that it is better to use a pseudonym that is a play on one's real name, without being too elaborate. If your name is too different from your real name, it will be difficult to react when you are called and you will behave unnaturally.

Not knowing this, the name that came to my mind immediately was <, which I thought of as a good example of Leifa.

Incidentally, the book was placed in the professor's laboratory, but I decided not to think in detail why such a suspicious book was placed there.

There are some things in this world that are good to know and some things that are not good to know.

In this case, it must be the latter.

"Well, I'm ........................ sorry, wait a minute."

...... what to do.

I suggested it as soon as I could, but I hadn't decided on a pseudonym to use.

Perhaps I should follow her example and use a name after , but it seems an uncharacteristic (・・・・・) action for an ordinary citizen to take a name similar to that of the king.

While I was pondering what to do, Leifa, who was watching me, smiled at me.

"You proposed it yourself, but you didn't think about it?"

The question sounded slightly teasing.

The expression on her face is different from the one she wears when she wears her mask as a queen, and is more appropriate for her age.

Helian is aware of the heat in his cheeks.

She feels a slight sense of shame, as if she were an adolescent child.

......Uh, shut up. I'm thinking about it, just give me a minute."

He is lost in thought for a while, swearing to hide his embarrassment.

As he concentrated on his thoughts, he remembered a name suitable for a temporary name.

"Grimnir......, yes, my name is Grimnir."

It may sound a bit long-winded, but it is a suitable name if you want to hide your true identity. In [Tactics Chronicle], you cannot have multiple accounts, but if I had been allowed to create a second character, I would have named it <>, that's how I would have named it.

"Mr. Grimnir, is it?"

"Oh. It's a little long and it's a little hard to call you, so just call me <>."

"...... Well. Then why don't you just call me Mr. Grimm from the beginning?"

"No, I'd like you to call me Grimnir as a name. It's a bit of an obsession of mine. ...... Well, just think of it as me being a bit of a stickler. It doesn't really mean anything."

It really doesn't mean much.

It's just that I've always had a thing about naming things.

"By the way, you're from Latticewood, aren't you? Now that you're here, are you here on business or something?"

In fact, I already knew the reason for his visit, but Helian asked him curtly to get a start on the conversation.

Then..,

"No, it's not like that. My sister has done a terrible disservice to the people of this country, and I would like to apologize for that.

As she muttered, a shadow fell over Leifua's face, and instead, a heavy aura began to drift from her entire body. As if pressured, Helian backed away slightly.

"I see."

"Yes, yes. She's always been a little sister who does crazy things, but lately she's been especially ...... bad.

Leifua's body began to tremble.

It was as if she was holding something inside her that was unbearable. I felt a sense of danger similar to that of a volcano on the verge of erupting.

It seems that he has accumulated more things than he thought.

"...... sounds like it's going to be a tough time."

"Yes, it's hard. It is always difficult for me, but in this case, it is really difficult. How dare you be so rude to her of all people!

"......Well, well, why don't we have a cup of tea and calm down?"

Helian uses to place an order with the new waiter, Oak.

Soon after, drinks for two are placed on the counter.

Leifua lets out a sigh of relief as she sips the hot tea.

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm a little distraught.

"Don't worry about it. I understand a little how it feels to be in a difficult position.

"So, Mr. Grimm, do you have a job where you are in charge of people?"

"............ Well, in a manner of speaking."

"I didn't know that. I've told you before that I'm a bit of a leader myself. I guess we have a lot in common.

"...... I guess so."

With some awkwardness, Helian nods his head.

When the conversation had calmed down, Helian spoke to Leifer as if he had made up his mind.

"Well, thank you for listening to me before. Thanks to your encouragement, I'm still doing my best.

Ever since that day, I have wanted to thank Leifa.

But my official position did not allow me to say so.

When Helian was finally able to thank her, he felt a sense of relief.

You are welcome. I hope my words were helpful.

"It was more than helpful. I'm grateful from the bottom of my heart. I really do."

"I don't think I did much ......."

That gesture of humility.

No, she tilts her head as if to say that she really did nothing wrong.

Helian looked her straight in the eyes and spoke without any embellishment.

"That's not true. You saved me. You made me the man I am today. I was really happy that day. So, thank you."

I know it's a bit green.

Even adolescents would be a little more sloppy with their words.

But this is a sincere expression of emotion.

Helian (Misaki Tsukasa) was saved by a girl named Leifa.

I am grateful to her from the bottom of my heart.

Then it is not something to be hidden, much less something to be ashamed of.

I don't want to be a person who can't say thank you honestly.

"Well, when you say it like that, I feel a little embarrassed. ....... I'm glad I could be of help in any case.

Leifua smiles somewhat shyly and plays with her hair in a deceptive manner.

It was the gesture of a girl of her age.

"Besides, what you said was very informative. I even felt like I was being told off."

"I am so embarrassed. I have spoken with great authority, but I myself am only half a man.

I don't think so.

No, I'm really a novice. I was suddenly put in my current position without a sufficient handover. To tell you the truth, I'm still trying to figure everything out, and I'm doing my best every day to meet everyone's expectations.

Leifa lowers her eyebrows with a bitter smile.

To be honest, this was a surprising reaction.

When I looked at Leifua's face with surprise, I found that her eyes were somewhat dark. She seemed to be covering it up with makeup, but it did not hide the dark circles of her eyes.

It seems that she is very tired.

A question occurs to me.

From Helian's point of view, Leifa seems to be an honorable person as a queen, but I wonder if she ever feels burdened by the name of queen.

As if she did not read Helian's mind, but as if to answer his question, Leifa murmured.

"But everyone's expectations have been heavy lately. .......

-- to the question.

Helian impulsively slammed the glass he was holding onto the counter.

GAGGON!　There was a dull thud, causing Leifa to cower slightly.

Helian, however, does not even look at her, but keeps his eyes on the counter and grits his teeth.

The days that have passed since his first day in the other world until today run through Helian's mind like a running light.

Helian squeezed out his voice while trying his best to hold back what was about to overflow.

"I know ......!"

His hands were shaking as he clinked his glass.

"Super, I know ......!

The voice came out as if muttering.

Although the volume of his voice was not so loud, it was a line that was squeezed out from the depths of his heart, a word of his soul filled with all his feelings.

..................I see."

The response was filled with such heavy emotion that Leifa made a gesture as if she were recoiling.

However, Helian, who was busy holding back the urge that was rising in him, did not notice Leifa's reaction and continued to shake on the spot for a while.

As soon as she regained her composure, she asked Leifa with a hint of wonder in her voice.

"Do you ever have those moments when you are working in your room and you suddenly come to yourself?　If you're prepared for it, but you wonder how it happened, you're losing, or ...... you know what I mean?"

"Oh, oh, I understand. I understand very much. It's something you shouldn't think about, but when you start thinking about it, your thoughts go in the opposite direction and your hands stop moving, don't they?

"Yes, I have. Yes, I have a lot of ......!"

Leifa looked at Helian as if she had found a comrade, and Helian agreed with her wholeheartedly.

What a wonderful conversation!

I'm so glad to see her here again.

Shaking with emotion, Helian began to talk with Leifa about the hardships of the past few days, which had been too intense.