Chapter 31: A Little Boy

Chapter 31: A Little Boy

Nathan began massaging his temple with the base of his palm. He obviously wanted nothing to do with Charlotte and especially didn't want her to sit next to us. However, it looked like he also couldn't bring himself to tell her off too strongly.

In the end, he tried to come to a compromise.

"If nothing's going to stop you from sitting here, then at least stay a little further away."

Charlotte looked up with a proud expression.

"I must sit a reasonable distance away from the nobles to show respect! There is no need to do the same for a commoner!"

While saying that, as if to prove a point, she shifted over even closer to Nathan, until her shoulder was directly brushing up against his. A blissful expression briefly appeared on her face before it turned strict once again.

She had no plans of compromising at all.

This really seemed to tick Nathan off as a pissed-off smile formed on his face. He shot up, getting out of his seat and walking a sizable distance before sitting down. Without a single ounce of shame, Charlotte also stood up from her seat and got back right next to him.

Once again, Nathan stood up and moved over, but Charlotte would soon follow him.

Arianne, Raisa, and I just watched the two of them like we were watching some strange game. Soon, Nathan leaned over and pointed at Charlotte accusingly.

"Why are you following me? Stop!"

Charlotte looked the other way and crossed her arms.

"Following you? Don't jump to conclusions all on your own. I am simply shifting over to a place I feel more comfortable!"

She said it confidently, as though all her actions could be reasonably explained by just wanting to shift over.

Nathan was rendered speechless by Charlotte's superpower called shamelessness. In the end, he thought for a little while before sitting down in between me and Raisa with a smile.

"Hah! You have to sit at a respectful distance from the nobles right? So go off and sit somewhere else!"

Charlotte finally lost her composure, becoming rather flustered and blushing rather hard.

"Wh-What! You... that's unfair!" n--OVeLB1n

Nathan shrugged his shoulders.

"Huh? I just decided to sit here. But you can't sit next to me as you need to keep a respectful distance from nobles, right?"

Charlotte stammered, unable to form a full sentence.

"Y-You... that's because!... b-because..."

With her own words used against her, she was at a loss, not knowing how to save the situation. While Nathan had his arms crossed and a confident smile on his face, he didn't notice that Raisa was looking at him with a frown.

Eventually, without warning, Raisa picked Nathan up and threw him out of the way.

"Move somewhere else!"

She then scooted a little closer while trying her best to keep a neutral expression on her face. While Nathan was dazed on the floor, Charlotte suddenly perked up and hopped on over next to him, pulling him up by the arm.

However, there was an angry pout on her face.

"Be grateful this noble is willing to help you!"

Nathan immediately wrestled his arm out of her grasp before giving her a bow with a forced and angry smile.

"There's no need for you to help this lowly commoner. Just go on with your discussion with the other nobles!"

I could practically see the aneurysm forming inside Nathan's head right now. On the other hand, Charlotte only smiled when she heard what he said.

"It's good you know your place! Now sit down!"

She walked up to him and stood right next to him, close enough for Nathan to feel her unsteady breathing. Charlotte was unabashedly waiting for him to take a seat, so she could go right next to him after he did.

I looked over my shoulder and noticed that a waiter was waiting there awkwardly, unsure of whether or not it was an appropriate time to come closer to hand out the menus. Feeling a bit of pity for the man, I waved to the two of them casually and spoke.

"We need to order our food, calm down a little."

Charlotte turned to Nathan and told him off.

"See? You should learn to calm down a bit, commoner!"

She acted as though it was entirely Nathan's fault all of this happened, rather than her own. Nathan massaged his temple with the base of his palm, still clearly angry, but ended up sighing in resignation and sitting down.

As expected, she sat down next to him right after.

It appeared today, Charlotte's... 'perseverance' won.

The waiter looked at me gratefully before setting down the menus. I wanted to get something different than pottage, but when I looked at everything else that was free on the menu, none of them were particularly appealing.

...Welp, I guess I'm just getting more pottage.

Raisa and Arianne similarly got the same item. Nathan simply waved his hand and spoke briefly.

"The usual."

Charlotte had her eyes on him and seemingly spurred on by his actions, waved her hand in the same way he did.

"I want the same as this commoner!"

When the food arrived, Nathan didn't hold back and ate noisily and messily. While he wasn't all that uptight, this was definitely intentionally far worse in an attempt to disgust Charlotte. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to mind whatsoever.

Instead, she was focused on the pottage in front of her.

She lightly sniffed it a few times.

"So this is what commoners eat? This looks quite similar to the soup, just with lower-class ingredients."

After curiously stirring it for a little while, she took a spoonful. A frown appeared on her face shortly after.

Nathan snorted when he saw that.

"If you don't like commoner food, then you shouldn't have ordered it, stupid."

Charlotte puffed up her cheeks and angrily took a big scoop and stuffed her face.

"I like it a lot! What do you know? I-I can enjoy commoner food too!"

Raisa let out a small chuckle.

"I must say, it definitely is far blander than what I am used to. But after having it for a while, I've realized it is a nice change of pace."

Arianne put a hand on her cheek.

"Ah, is noble food more flavorful?"

Raisa gave a quick nod.

"The biggest difference is that they usually have special spices on top. That's what makes them rather costly."

Arianne nodded in recognition.

"Ah, I see."

As a bit of time passed, Charlotte snuck a peek at Nathan before stretching out.

"Mm... I'm a little tired."

She then leaned over, trying to rest her head on Nathan's shoulder. As I expected, Nathan shifted away like Charlotte was the plague. In the end, her head had nowhere to fall on.

Charlotte lifted her head back up and looked at Nathan as though he had done something wrong.

"Why are you moving away? You should willingly offer yourself as a... soft and fluffy pillow!"

Nathan was clearly against it and the two of them began doing their little push-and-pull fight once more. Raisa glanced over at them, then looked at me. She alternated a few times, and I came to realize what she was thinking.

I cleared my throat and threw out a random comment to Raisa.

"If you're trying to woo someone, you don't want to come on strongly like that when they are clearly rejecting it. You'll only push them away."

Raisa flinched and nodded hurriedly.

"Ah, yeah! Of course! I would... never do something like that."

She was definitely thinking of imitating Charlotte. As for Charlotte herself, she seemed rather flustered as she clenched her fists.

"H-Hey! I'm not trying to woo a commoner! W-Why would a noble like me ever do something like that?"

Nathan didn't say anything, but from the tight smile on his face, he seemed to just barely stop himself from blowing his top off. Though at the very least, Charlotte seemed to calm down considerably, no longer forcing herself onto Nathan.

Though she was still sitting quite close, it seemed Nathan was able to manage it.

Lunch passed by rather slowly, with only some casual conversation here and there. It seemed as though most people weren't that comfortable with one another. Regardless, it seemed everyone made their own effort to spur on their conversation.

Before it really picked up, lunch was over.

Without anything to really talk about, Nathan and I just went to English class like usual. It was boring, as expected. Gym class was pretty much the same, though Rae also gave a few interpretations she had on combat, but only touched on the basics, which was understandable.

From there, the end of the school day had come quickly. I went on my way to the carriage, and Nathan walked back home. Once Jess got on as well, we went back home in silence. I spent my time just meditating.

By the time we got back, I immediately got ready to head off to the slums once more.

As we were getting set up, I went up to a butler as he seemed most comfortable talking with me.

"Hey, for tomorrow I'm not going to be able to sit at the table because I have a ball to attend. Do you think you and your group would be willing to go out and set everything up anyways?"

The butler looked mildly surprised. He looked at all the others who were also working on setting things up before flashing me a small smile.

"I believe that all of us would feel honored to help you with that, Lord Bryson."

To really show that fact, the people who were setting things up all smiled and waved at me. I couldn't help but recall that this was definitely not the way they looked at me before.

It wasn't like they were all that afraid of me, as though I was a tyrant, but they definitely didn't care all that much about me. Chances are, if I died, they would've just moved on and served whoever else they would be assigned to.

But now, it was different.

I guess they were moved by my charitable acts.

Once again, I found myself in the carriage. I spent the time meditating. Except this time, I was trying to manipulate two separate strands of mana in the same way. Even simple movements were rather difficult, but it was something I knew couldn't be rushed.

As always, we set everything up. It was even quicker than usual since it seemed everyone was getting used to it.

I sat down in the middle seat like always. Shortly after, Arianne appeared, hesitating for a moment before sitting next to me.

"U-Um, hi!"

I gave a small nod.

"Hello."

From there, an awkward silence descended upon us. One that I had no intention of breaking. Part of it was because I just felt too lazy to have a conversation, but another part was that sometimes silence was enjoyable too.

The people cooking didn't make much, as the common trend was that most people didn't even bother trying to sit down at the table. And they were right in thinking that.

Although people looked slightly less afraid because Arianne was sitting next to me, at the end of the day they were skeptical people. Most of them probably believed that Arianne was actually paid by me to act like she trusted me and convince others.

Of course, I could try to clear up those misunderstandings myself, but I didn't really care enough about it. If they stubbornly decided to view me in that type of light with what little they knew of me, then so be it. I would only explain myself to those curious and willing to listen.

The food was soon ready, and I expected the only people eating would be me and Arianne.

There were still people watching me, but it was definitely less than before. It seemed like my appearances here were gradually becoming old news. I've become irrelevant before I even gathered a following.

Though, while I was caught up in those thoughts, a little boy rushed up from the crowd. There were several good-natured people that tried to stop him, but he just barely slipped on by.

And when he got within a fifty-meter radius of me, all those trying to stop him were too scared to go out and bring him back.

As such, the boy wasn't stopped as he rushed over to me. Concerned and afraid murmurs immediately resounded among the crowd. Yet, in contrast to all that, the boy himself had a bright smile on his face.

"Hey!"