CH 9

「So, Toto-dono, where am I going to be dragged this time?」

「Err, sorry」

It seems like I’ve only been dragging Lutie for a while now, and the number of open street stalls has changed. I haven’t seen any of them since a while ago.

「But you know, I didn’t really expect Toto-dono to be this strong, I didn’t expect to be physically overwhelmed and dragged, only able to follow along」

「Well that’s just how it is」

Fufum~, I am a powa type after all. No not that.

「This place, where?」

「Etto, Unn, ah, we are now close to the southern district, you can already see the battle stadium over there」

There was a really tall wall at the place where Lutie pointed, and that probably is the battle stadium.

I wonder if there’s a competition being held right now, I’m a little curious about it.

「Battle Arena, they doing something there?」

Asking her, Lutie waved her head.

「No, we don’t really use it every time. The most times it is used is for the training of the Royal Knights」

「I see」

It will certainly be good to use it for the training of the Knight Order, or maybe it is just a good place to train. But right now it is a festival, and maybe she didn’t hear anything about it. While I was thinking about such things, Lutie continued.

「But you see, they say that a fighting tournament will start tomorrow」

「Fuu~nn」

When thinking about things like that, it would be a trope for shounen manga, which I’m not really that interested about. Isn’t that the kind of event where they determine the top warriors?

I also like fighting to test my strength but not that much, and I also don’t want to beat people up who are not truly bad. And more than anything else, considering my age if I participate, it will really make me stand out.

「By the way, they say that the grand prize, which the winner will receive is a million Griss」

Let’s go, where can I register for the competition?

「Oh right, The knight grandmaster-dono who was the previous champion participates every time, and I think he will also be participating again this year――」

Stand out? Who cares about that? Money is Justice, and I will be able to do whatever I want if I have money. Yes, I had the same motto in my past life, and that is 『Even sentenced to hell for the right amount of money』, and surely this will mean much more in this world since money also exist here.

「Heeey, are you listening?」

「Register, when?」

「Well, let’s see, the registration should start at 10 o’clock tomorrow, that is if you want to participate in the even… wait no way, don’t tell me, Toto-dono, do you plan to join the battle tournament!? That’s just impossible, and it’s really dangerous too!!」

「Don’t worry, will beat them all」

「It’s not fine at all!! It’s just impossible you know!!」

Lutie was desperately trying to stop me and was even trying to drag me away from the stadium, but all that effort was useless. I won’t be stopped by that level of power. Ironically, because Lutie was trying her best to stop me, you could see drag tracks forming on the ground.

「There is no way the receptionist would allow you to register you know! There’s no way a cute little girl like Toto-dono would easily be accepted by the receptionist!!」

But you know Lutie, the 『cute little girl』you are talking about, is currently effortlessly dragging you, even though you are already resisting with all your strength. Well, I guess she was too focused on trying to stop me so she didn’t notice this at all.

After walking for some time while dragging Lutie, I heard the ringing of the bells which returned me to my senses.

「Nn, what’s that」

「Fugu」

Lutie who was holding onto me slipped and fell because of I suddenly stopped. Lutie was lying on the ground in大 shape probably because she was tired from getting dragged by me.

「What are you doing?」

「You’re too terrible you know!?」

I lend her a hand and pulled her up.

「Bell sound just now, what is it?」

「Bell you say? Ah, it’s the 4 o’clock bell signaling the stalls to prepare for closing and to clean-up their area. After that the bell will be rang again at 5 o’clock, which will be the signal for night shops to open.」

Is that so, it’s already 4 o’clock, I guess now it is just the right time to return home considering the time spent wandering until we reach here.

The battle tournament’s registration will be open until 10 o’clock tomorrow, so maybe I’ll just register tomorrow.

「Retun」

「What, why, what happened?」

「Must return home, promised mom」

「Do still remember your way back?」

I look around *Kyoro *kyoro but didn’t know where I was at, I could grasp the direction from where we came from, but the area around the factory district was kind of complicated.

I think that it would be much safer if I asked Lutie to guide me back.

「Dunno, can’t find way」

「If you are returning, is it ok if I guide you all the way to Jewel Inn?」

「Un, JiwelInn」

「Okay, understood」

I was thinking that Lutie would only guide me a little, but it’s great that she kept accompanying me until we reached the Inn. When we were wandering around, we were passing through unknown routes that Lutie suggested on the way, but this time she said that we won’t go back using those paths. Basically we will be using the main streets to travel back.

「Lutie. Sorry, wasn’t able to play a lot」

I wanted Lutie to enjoy herself, but because of me, when we were walking around she explained about certain places, and the time passed like that. I wonder if it would have been much better to turn back and have Lutie enjoy it some more.

「Well, you don’t have to worry because I also enjoyed looking around the stores, that’s good enough」

「Is that so, then it’s good」

Well, since she did enjoy it and smiled at me, all I could do was to smile back at her. Even though I was thinking of playing around, I really did not find any shops aimed at children, like shooting stands or goldfish scooping. Is there even anything like that? Would we find some if we look around some more?

After walking for a while, we finally reached Jewel Inn, and it was just a little time before 5 o’clock. I might have calculated more than the amount we actually travelled.

「Will you be fine if I guide you until here?」

「Un」

「Well then, thank you, I also had fun today」

「That, thanks」

After bowing my head thanking her, I saw her off while waving my hands until she turned a corner, then I entered the Inn.

◇――――――

When I entered our room, I found my mom who probably had a lot of free time looking at a booklet that she placed in the room.

「I’m home」

「Welcome back, did you enjoy the trip?」

「Un, Lutie guided me around and it was fun」

「Lutie?」

「People from station guards, was really cute」

「Is that so, that’s great」

And then, I took out the box in my shoulder pouch. It was the soft healing box that I’ve bought as a present.

「Here, souvenir」

「Oh my, is that the soft box?」

She was pleased and gave me her thanks. I guess she was old enough to use such things, if it is what I was told.

I hand out the package to mom.

「How to use it, want to see」

「Alright, it’s fine」

When the box was opened, the smooth rubbery box was lightly crushed as if she was rubbing her hands. Then fluffy green balls that look like marbles started floating around surrounding us.

I see, so this is magic.

It made my body feel warm and comfortable, it felt like I was floating. The closest sensation I could compare this to is the feeling of being immersed from a hot spring.

It felt much more comfortable than I expected, it really was an item worth 4 meat skewers after all, and it would really be an indispensable item after a long trip.

Since it seems like mom hasn’t fully recovered yet and was still feeling heavy, she decided to look at a booklet which I also got curious about and was staring at it.

It was obviously not a handwritten one because the characters were evenly spaced, suggesting that there is some kind of printing technology in this world.

It seems different from the book that Rikka-chan showed me before, which was not a printed one. I still don’t know what level the printing technology of this world has. It seems like the booklet I see right now is the《 Standard 》type, but I didn’t know if Rikka-chan also has the 《 Standard 》 type ones.

I’m thinking that handwritten ones should be more expensive, but mom’s words stopped my train of thoughts.

「Thank you Toto, that really took a lot of my tiredness away」

「Nn」

「So then, will you tell me about what you’ve seen today? You enjoyed your time, right?」

「Nn, well you see, there is this festival and, and —」

What I told mom about were the things I saw in the neighborhood. The time when I met Lutie, the time when we were looking around west district, I also told her that I had a great time while being guided around by Lutie.

That day, I told her all about the things I did, then we ate dinner and took a bath.

◇――――――

When the two of them went to sleep, there was a girl with black hair and golden eyes— the doppelganger standing in the corner staring at Tote who was asleep.

「Finally, it’s almost time is it? Let’s wait for a bit more」

She faded into the darkness without anyone hearing what she muttered. Then she appeared close to Toto and grasped her back.

「Hey, little girl, wake up」

Saying that loudly, she attempted waking her by rocking her from her back, but there was no reaction from her, as if not hearing anything at all. Even though she was already at the point of shouting, the results were the same.

「How long is this one going to make me wait…」

She sighed after her failed attempts and flopped down on the ground, and then the girl with black hair and gold eyes, before anyone noticed, disappeared as if assimilating with the landscape.