Chapter 55

Afternoon, the next day after the devastating defeat.

Sabine-chan came in the afternoon, because I told her I am out in the morning.

Well, I guess it will come to this …

Following Sabine who have sparkling eyes, while holding the mountain bike, we both went to the royal palace.

No, you can’t practice around like that, you know. The royal palace has a lot of wide backyards.

And, in contrast to the full of energy Sabine-chan, guard-ojisan is an old escort with a dull, heavy footstep.

No, as I said, I’m really sorry! Next time, whiskey, no, brandy, I will bring a brandy! I will give it to you! I swear!

The castle gate, of course, it’s a face pass… only for me.

As it is, we went to Sabine-chan’s recommended backyard.

First of all, I’ll explain how the Bicycle Works, how to operate it.

To my explanation, Sabine-chan is nodding silently. Apparently it seems that she understands it properly. That’s right.

And then, I shown my exemplary performance.

Because my high school is in the mountains, I commute with my bike for 3 years. Boys aside, at a school when most of the girls were hiking on foot, I was riding a bicycle up to the top!. Just by applying weight, the pedal will not go down, draw it with both arms and put the power on the hill. (TN: bike experts?)

Because I trained with this, I don’t have physical strength, but I am good at sprinting.

Also, suspension…

Oh, am I good at suspension? Is it because the body is light, because the arm is short and the attracting length is also short? …shut up!

Anyway, I’m good at cycling! I attracted the handle bar and floated the front wheels and made a turn, and drove around quite freely.

While Sabine-chan’s eyes are sparkling….. The guard-ojisan is staring with a blank face.

No, as I said, I’m really sorry!

Oh, I enjoyed it too much…….

Next, wearing a helmet, protector, then it’s finally Sabine-chan’s turn to practice.

…… She fell a couple of times but she quickly got back.

Yeah, I knew the feeling.

While Sabine-chan is practicing for a while, the King was standing behind me. I didn’t notice it while I was guiding Sabine-chan, but when I look around, I realized that there were quite a lot of spectators…. I wonder if someone told the King.

Oh, the first thing that the King would say?, I thought that I would be asked for an explanation, but….

King: 「Mitsuha, Othello tell me how to win.」

Ahh, you lost… did you…

Mitsuha: 「I’m sorry. I also suffered a crushing defeat, and as a result, I was robbed of that」

As he heard my reply, the King drooped down his shoulders.

What? …Was it painful, your Highness …?

Mitsuha: 「Well then, how about playing in shogi? If that’s the case, Sabine-chan will not be an enemy to adults who understand what a battle is.」

The King was about to cry from my words.

Ahh, you lost… did you…

While I was patting the King’s shoulders, the Prime Minister came over.

Prime Minister: 「Mitsuha-dono, Othello and Shogi’s winning method ……」

You too, Prime Minister……

In the end, the mountain bike from her hometown, was taken away by Sabine-chan, from Mitsuha who lost the battle. The King was complaining about something, but he could not blame me for what he did.

So, your Highness, what did you promise?

But then, when Sabine-chan runs around the capital on a mountain bike, the people of the city will get used to the thing called, Bicycle. You won’t complain to the princess, or try to find out the secrets of the bike, would you.

And even if I start riding a bicycle when I had the chance, there is no problem because everyone is used to it!

It will be very convenient when you can use a bicycle in the kingdom. It’s good, It’s good!

[Looking good] is good!

It is not modified! ……maybe. ( 開き直りじゃないよ！　……多分。)

A certain person visited, Mitsuha’s shop that night.

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5 days later.

As for what Sabine is doing every day, for the past few days, when she straddles mountain bike, she tries to escape the escort and jumped out to the city.

Sabine’s thought: [As soon as they know where to go, the escorts will soon comes full of sweat. Until then, I can spend quality time with Mitsuha-nesama without the escort.]

However when Sabine-chan arrived at the [General store Mitsuha].

It was the figure of the guard with the Doya (smug) face with arms crossed, and behind him, was a cross-bike.

Guard-Ojisan’s Smug Face

A young girl on a mountain bike and an skilled adult man on a cross bike. Chasing around the city was not a big deal.

Guard-ojisan’s thought: [From tomorrow on-wards, I will accompany Sabine-sama properly, but today I only went ahead to make a little revenge.]

The escort thought so, occasionally there are times like that.

And then a loud voice reverberated in the shop.

Sabine: 「Mitsuha-nesama, this is terrible!!」

Mitsuha, who was beseech by an escort guard, felt responsible and in spite of some inconsistencies in the setting, he decided to close his eyes and hesitatingly begged for the request.

I haven’t heard about it, but I think that perhaps the Prime Minister’s office was a bit thin.

Originally because the escort always stood for Sabine, he also knew about Mitsuha.

The escort is an implicit conscience that you [treat it as not being there], and never leaks what they heard while escorting. Even if the other party is an employer.

Otherwise, you must keep escorts away from important scenes, scenes that you should keep secret, and you can not do anything if you were attacked at that time.

That’s why, Mitsuha also talked normally with Sabine-chan as someone without an escort. To prepare the mountain bike at Sabine-chan’s request. Besides, it only takes half a day.

Knowing this, the guards knew that it was a violation of the rules, but they thought that they could not protect the princess from danger without being able to escort the princess, so they went to the last resort to appeal to Mitsuha.

Mitsuha knew the circumstances well, and because the cause was her stupid bet, she could not endure guilt and accepted his request.

It was related to Sabine’s safety. Sabine-chan’s destination is only Mitsuha’s shop, but because even if it’s a short time when you come to the store, she will be left unprotected by the escort. I haven’t forgotten about my debut as the Princess Shrine Maiden of Thunder.

And it was in this 5 days that was crucial for the escort to desperately practice outside of working hours, in order to receive the cross-bike and to surpass the skill of Sabine-chan.

Regarding the explanation of the bicycle, he listened and remembered well when I was teaching Sabine-chan. Escort’s objective was to ride, it was natural as an escort.

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On that night, escort grabbed a drink at home, after a long day of work. He received a foreign alcohol along with the cross bike,.

[This [brandy], it smelled nice, the alcohol was strong, and it was delicious. It was very, very delicious.] (TN: A Taste of a Sweet, Sweet Victory)