CH 22

“Thanks for the good fight, Fikar. If you don’t mind, we’d like to join you in celebrating your promotion.”

Although Fikar and Lawrence-san nodded in agreement, the atmosphere felt somewhat broken.

I wondered if I was the only one who couldn’t keep up with this shounen-manga-style development of befriending someone you were seriously fighting only moments ago… I tried to object in my mind, but we were soon surrounded by adventurers and the atmosphere became harmonious. Even Degis-san and Kilris-san appeared to have no hard feelings about losing — the mentality of warriors was just too different for a child of modernity. It was too clean, starting and ending with equal abruptness.

Preparations for the feast immediately began in the town plaza, celebrating Fikar’s attainment of the glorious 10-star rank. Kilris-san helped set up the venue with Kontos-san, Tortea’s magician, while Lawrence-san and Degis-san went out to hunt for dinner, guided by Ludo-san. The news of the feast spread quickly through the town, and many people were happily coming and going through the plaza and nearby streets.

The guild was footing the bill for the promotion party, but Fikar donated a gold coin anyway, so the feast was sure to be even more exciting.

Speaking of Fikar, though, he was currently enjoying being my chair since he was told that the star of the show could just wait around until things kicked off in the evening. The chair even had a seatbelt function — his arms were firmly wrapped around me.

“Fikar, it’s hard to do anything when you’re so attached~”

I wanted to help with preparations too, but Fikar was holding me with such firm conviction that I was forced to give up. We also had no choice but to use the square in front of the guild in addition to the town plaza, so we took the opportunity to pay our respects to the Star Stone near the forest’s entrance and sat on a big log to kill time.

Fikar didn’t seem particularly bored, rubbing his cheeks on me more than usual as if to relieve his stress, but I was getting bored, so I made a crown of flowers for him. At first, I stood up, picked up a few flowers, got recaptured by my chair, and repeated, but I gradually started picking flowers while being held by Fikar, and finally had to use flowers that Su valiantly harvested. All four dragons, Lawrence-san’s group’s three northern ohryuus and Su, were displaced from their places in town, so the former were resting in the forest and Su seemed to choose to tag along with us.

The crown was made of ordinary flowers, specifically excluding any wriggling or medicinal ones. Mixing various types of flowers, it became a colorful crown that illuminated the area. A shining crown of flowers to go atop an expressionless Fikar. Alright~!

“Anyway, 10-star rank is amazing, isn’t it? I didn’t think you were so strong that you could defeat the Demon Lord.”

As I finished adjusting the position of the buds in his crown, Fikar nodded and whispered something. I set the crown on him and stroked his head, but when I took my hand off, his dark blue eyes, previously almost closed, shot open as if lamenting the removal of my hand. The way his eyes returned to being relaxed after I put my hand back on his head vaguely reminded me of Su. No, no, it’s entirely like Su, isn’t it?

I wiped his cheeks with my thumbs, removing the dirt from his battle with Lawrence-san, and cupped them with both hands. After staring into his silver eyelashes, comfortably hanging down, I squeezed his cheeks.

“Why didn’t you tell me? It’s fine because you won, but it’s not safe to go and try to beat the Demon Lord by yourself!”

Fikar shook his head, stretching his cheeks even farther.

“You could’ve written a letter on the way or told me when you came home~! You use too few words!”

Fikar apologized with a small “sorry”, his cheeks slightly red. Although his attitude was hopefully a good sign, the colorful flower-crown above him ruined the atmosphere.

“Next time you go out for a long time, tell me how long you’ll be and where you’re going, okay?”

“I won’t anymore.”

“Eh? Uh, when you have to do something–”

“Not going”

The arms around my back held me even tighter, and the flower-crown shone even brighter. As if to show his unwillingness to leave, his fingertips dug into my back. Nearby, Su was busy nibbling off a few extra flowers and setting them aside.

Well, I can’t stay mad if I’m being embodied as something that’s hard to part from, can I? I exchanged my frustration for a sigh and patted Fikar’s back.

“Anyway, congrats. Is there anything you want?”

As Fikar’s arms tightened around me even more, I hit his shoulder. Something similar to the spring roll would make a comeback if he squeezed any harder.

“I think it’d be better if you learned to express yourself verbally more often…”

Fikar simply nodded, so he probably didn’t get it. Despite my winning streak, I decided to leave today’s quibbles there.

With two avaleyu cows caught by Degis-san, combined with Fikar’s gold coin, the square was ready and raring to go. A multitude of dishes was prepared at simple food stalls and the music was blaring. In the center of the circular plaza, a pillar of fire had been erected with magic and the townspeople danced their way around it.

As the sun went down and the area began to darken, it was easy to recognize Fikar with his shining crown of flowers. Everyone was congratulating him and, even though he was still expressionless, he looked like he was enjoying himself as he strolled around the plaza. By the way, Fikar was still holding me, so I was as much of a landmark as his crown.

“Hey, Fikar! Sumire! Eat this bouquet-yaki1 I made from my catch!”

Degis-san called to us and waved his big hand. The area was full of tantalizing aromas.

Bouquet-yaki was made by slicing meat into thin strips and grilling them on skewers. I hadn’t known why such a rich food had such a dainty name, but when I saw the skewer in Degis-san’s hand, I understood. The thin slices of meat were expertly wrapped around the skewer in various angles and, when viewed from the side, it looked like there was a line of roses atop the skewer. It was impressive how dexterous Degis-san’s hands were in contrast with his appearance, and it somehow made the bouquet-yaki look even prettier.

“That avaleyu cow was pretty big. Well~, all it took was a blow from my fist!”

He laughed heartily.

“Thank you, itadakimasu.”

The fresh-grilled bouquet was a gem of irresistibly juicy meat. Fikar, still holding me with one arm, was also quietly devouring one. Degis-san laughed inwardly, probably pleased with the way we were eating, as he returned to folding meat onto another skewer. He must’ve been very familiar with the dish, being so good at preparing it.

“Aren’t Kilris-san and Lawrence-san with you?”

“Kilris, you see, is… He’s over there chatting with the magician. He’s an otaku, so when it comes to magic, he can’t stop.”

“Otaku…”

“Shouldn’t Lawrence be coming back soon–? Ah, there he is.”

Degis-san pointed to the outline of a large dragon in the sky, where the stars were starting to shine. The dragon, its wings flapping leisurely, spun around the plaza thrice before landing in front of the guild.

Degis-san showed a toothy smile and pointed to the dragon with his chin.

“Looks like they made it on time. You guys, please accept this gift from Lawrence.”

TL Notes:

1: “Yaki” foods involve grilling or something similar — in this case, just grilling. I think(?) the most common instance outside of Japan is teriyaki, from teri (照り), meaning glossy/shiny (the effect the sauce is meant to create), and yaki (焼き), as the meat involved is usually grilled or broiled after marination.