CH 94

Chapter 94 : A Handsome Young Man

「N, Nice to meet you…」(Mary)

「Nice to meet you too, Mary-chan. Are you from this town?」(young man)

「Y, Yes…」(Mary)

「Umm, are you nervous? Don’t worry, it’s not that I’ll eat you or anything.」(young man)

The young man smiled at me.

His smiling face looked so refreshing, but I got goosebumps when I thought that that smile was for me.

「By the way, this food, ‘potato salad’, was it? Can you feed me this?」(young man)

Saying that, the young man faced me and opened his mouth.

Haah? He wants me to feed him? Are you kidding me!?

I looked at Camilla, hoping that she would help me, but she put her hands together in front of her face and looked at me apologetically.

Camilla-san, can’t you just tell him not to ask me to do weird things!?

「Hm? What’s wrong? Is it too embarrassing for you?」(young man)

「U, Umm…」(Mary)

「When you start serving customers in the future, they will surely ask you to do this. Just think of it as a practice.」(young man)

I’m not shy! It’s just… How can I feed a man who is almost the same age as me!?

That’s disgusting!

Hahh… but let’s just do it and finish this bulshit quickly…

I scooped the potato salad with a spoon and put it in his mouth.

Then, the young man smiled at me as if saying, “Well done!”

「Mmm… It tastes simple, but the texture is so soft and pleasant to my mouth… Is it thanks to this mysterious white sauce…? I was wondering what kind of food it was when I first saw this, but this is unexpectedly delicious. Un. I like it.」(young man)

Looks like my potato salad got his approval.

Regardless of my situation right now, I’m glad that someone praised my food.

「Camilla-san, did you make this yourself?」(young man)

「No, I bought it from a traveling merchant. I don’t know how they made it, but it’s without a doubt a delicious food, so I bought a lot so you all can enjoy it.」(Camilla)

Nice excuse, Camilla-san!

「I see. I want to know the recipe, but… that’s too bad. Well, even if I asked the merchant, I doubt they would give me the recipe easily, though.」(young man)

The young man shrugged his shoulders, looking so disappointed.

He then took a sip of sake and looked at me again.

「By the way, Mary-chan, I have a daughter who is about the same age as you. Do you have any recommendations for a good souvenir to give to her?」(young man)

A souvenir for his daughter? I see now…

So this is the main reason why he wants to talk with me, huh?

Fiuhh… I thought he was a lolicon or something.

I feel a little relieved now.

「A souvenir… Umm…..」(Mary)

But, this is difficult…

Well, I’m not an 8-year-old girl after all…

「…You don’t have one? Then, Mary-chan, what kind of thing can make you happy if you get one?」(young man)

「Tentacles meat!」(Mary)

Oh, shoot. I answered without thinking.

「Tentacles…?」(young man)

With a wondering face, the young man looked at Morrison.

「They are monsters that live in lakes. It seems that only a small number of people like their meat.」(Morrison)

Morrison talked to the young man with polite gestures.

Why did he talk so politely like that? Isn’t he the leader of the soldiers?

「Monster meat, huh…? I don’t think my daughter will like it. Mary-chan, is there a toy or something that is popular among children in this town lately?」(young man)

Hmm… Ah, let’s show him ‘those’.

I made them with earth magic, but they’re not something incredible, so I think it’ll be fine if I show them to him.

I put my hand into my dress pocket, secretly opened my item box and took out some stone marbles I made with earth magic.

「Children at Sunday School love to play with these marbles on their desks or floors.」(Mary)

「Hoo… Can I take a look at them?」(young man)

After I gave him the stone marbles, he started playing with them on his palm.

「Where did you buy these?」(young man)

「I didn’t buy them, I made them myself.」(Mary)

「Hee… So you can use earth magic, huh? Can you show me how you make them?」(young man)

He sure is good at asking people for something…

You’re lucky that I love to show off my earth magic. Just a little bit though.

I stretched my hand and showed my palm, then I made a small stone ball with earth magic.

The young man picked it from my palm and looked at it from various angles.

「Hmm… Morrison, can you make something like this?」(young man)

「I will try.」(Morrison)

Morrison made a small gap between his index finger and thumb and activated earth magic.

After about 30 seconds, he finally completed making a stone ball.

No, it wasn’t a ball or marble. It was a clunky dice-like small stone.

He took so long to make something ugly like that. He’s definitely not very good at earth magic.

「Mary-chan, you must be very good at earth magic. Even Morrison can’t even make a stone ball as good as you.」(young man)

「A, Ahaha… Well…」(Mary)

This is awkward.

I didn’t want to make Morrison feel bad, so I just answered vaguely.

「Can I have these stone balls?」(young man)

「Yes, you can have them.」(Mary)

The young man put the small stone balls into his pocket.

「By the way, I was wondering why you were dressing up as a girl at first, but I’ve become even more interested in you, ‘Mary’-chan.」(young man)

After he said that, the young man grinned at me.

「Ehh…!?」(Mary)

So he knew I was a boy all along!?

I looked at Camilla. She facepalmed.

This is bad… Should I apologize?

Ahh! I want to run away if possible!

Looking at my confused face, the young man gently put his hand on my shoulder.

「Don’t worry. I somehow understand, so you don’t need to explain. There are many people who have that kind of hobby after all.」(young man)

No, no! You don’t understand at all!

But, how could he find out that I’m a boy?

My makeup, my face, my dress, are all perfect, but how?

I feel like this person is not an ordinary young man…

He took his hand off my shoulder and continued talking to me.

「Well, your gender doesn’t matter. I just want to talk with you more.」(young man)

Now that he knows that I’m a boy, I don’t need to be wary anymore, so I nodded to him.

After that, we talked a lot about this territory for a while, like, what was trending in the territory, what the education system was like, what kind of monsters lived nearby, and about the surrounding territories governed by other feudal lords.

I hate to admit it, but it was kinda fun talking with him.

Rather than a soldier, he was like a teacher or a scholar.

After we talked for a while, Morrison whispered to the young man.

「It’s about time…」(Morrison)

「I see. Well then, let’s go home now. Mary-chan, it was fun talking with you… Oh yeah, as my gratitude for the stone balls, I’ll give this to you.」(young man)

The young man took something out of his pocket and handed it to me.

It was a silver accessory with the shape of a feather.

「I’ll be patiently waiting for you in the capital. When you visit me there, can you tell me how to make potato salad?」(young man)

「Eh!?」(Mary)

So he also knew that I was the one who made the potato salad!?

「Fufu. As I thought.」(young man)

Looking at my reaction, the young man looked convinced somehow.

Oh, shoot! I fell into his trap!

「If you go to the castle in the capital, show that accessory to the gatekeeper and say that you want to see Tryon. They will let you through.」(young man)

Castle…?

Tryon…?

Wait a minute…..

Isn’t Tryon the name of the current feudal lord…?