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Chapter 67

The Unclear Motive Behind Sybilla’s and Emmy’s Jewelry Store Shopping Tour

 

Sybilla moves the bracelet in her hand to make it shine.

Compared to the one I bought for Emmy, hers has more gems in it and clearly looks more luxurious.

 

Still, that design sure looks familiar to me. I think it was the one I used as a comparison when I bought one for Emmy… I can kind of tell since that was the only time I took my time looking carefully at jewelry.

Wait, don’t tell me… she’s not trying to compete with it, right?

 

「Oi oi… just because I didn’t buy one for you, do you really have to buy one by yourself? And such an expensive one at that.」

 

「Isn’t it fine? It’s your fault for not buying one for me, Russell. Besides, it looks good on me, doesn’t it?」

 

It does suit her to an infuriating degree actually.

That said, I don’t have the slightest intention to say it out loud.

Especially when the luxury item she boasted so much about was the one I intended to buy for Emmy, nope, nu uh, no chance in hell I can honestly compliment it——.

 

「It suits you so much, Sybilla-san!」

 

「Nn~ Emmy-chan is an angel after all! Russell, go learn a thing or two from Emmy’s cuteness, would you? If I were an interviewer at the school, I would have dropped you in the entrance exam, you know?」

 

——Before I could praise her, Emmy, who didn’t know better, praised Sybilla, and as expected, she immediately started running off her mouth.

How unreasonable……

 

It is now just before noon, and we are outside the inn with the full power of the sunlight pouring down on us.

We’re currently heading out in the city while gazing at the cloudless blue sky.

 

Today, I’m wearing light clothing, not so much of a swimsuit, but something simple and easy to move around in.

The reason was, of course, because we won’t be exploring the dungeon today.

As for Sybilla, she’s wearing a one-piece dress. To be honest, her atmosphere was so different that for a moment I thought, “Is this really Sybilla?”.

 

『If one of the Needle Earth Dragons came from the second dungeon, then that means, other than the first dungeon, there is no floor boss at the lowest floor in Seiris’s dungeon now. As expected, even that Demon Lord wouldn’t be able to supply enough magic power to revive the floor boss of the lowest floor so quickly.』

 

——was what Sybilla explained to us before leaving the inn.

I asked Sybilla, who had correctly expected the unexpected several times since we were together, if it would really be okay.

But the answer she gave me was unexpectedly convincing enough.

 

『When do you think he was furious the most?』

 

『It was when Eve got him from behind, right?』

 

『Correct. And at that time… what did he summon then?』

 

Right… at that time, the Demon Lord chose to summon Needle Moose.

Not only that, from how messy the summoning was, he was undoubtedly driven by rage and lost his self-control.

He summoned the strongest monster he could to kill Eve.

 

——That’s right, it wasn’t the Black Gigante or the Blue Gigante.

 

It was weird how he didn’t choose to summon a monster from the third dungeon to kill Eve.

That meant he hadn’t been able to replenish his magic power enough to summon Gigante-type monsters, let alone floor bosses.

That’s why he could only summon monsters from the lower floor of the second dungeon.

 

Currently, other than the first dungeon, there are only a few monsters in the dungeons, and it’s highly likely that the Demon Lord is running low on magic power.

That’s why there won’t be monsters overflowing outside the dungeons for a while. So in the meantime, we can enjoy the city and do the things we want to do.

 

As for this thing that we want to do…

 

「……The fashion street, is it?」

 

「That’s right! This is our destination for today!」

 

A main street sandwiched between clothing stores, including the one where we had bought clothes for Eve previously.

 

「This thing that you want to do is… buying clothes?」

 

「Hmm~ Not quite, but close!」

 

「What do you mean “close”? So you do want to buy something here? But if it’s not clothes… You don’t mean to look for more jewelry, aren’t you?」

 

Although I had a bad feeling about it, I still half-jokingly said that, since as expected, there’s no way she would look for another jewelry after buying one without permission.

 

「Correct!」

 

That was supposed to be a joke, oi.

 

「Are you serious? Don’t you think you’re suddenly spending too much money?」

 

「Emmy-chan, surely you’d be interested in visiting a store full of beautiful jewelry, wouldn’t you?」

 

Hey, trying to win Emmy to your side like that is cheating!

Emmy looked at me confused, but answered honestly.

 

「E-Eh? Um, t-that’s… I do, but…」

 

「It’s two against one, that’s settled then! Let’s go—!」

 

Emmy awkwardly made an apologetic gesture, but I shook my head and told her that it’s not her fault before giving up and followed after her and Sybilla.

It’s not like I don’t want to go. But when it comes to battles of wits like this, against this girl, no less, it’s better to give up early.

 

Eventually, Sybilla stopped in front of a magnificent building.

Among the other stores with simple white buildings, this store has such excessive decoration that I might mistake it for a small castle or something.

Somehow, I just don’t doubt that this is the store she was looking for.

 

Sybilla immediately entered the store in front of her with a proud look on her face and nodded in satisfaction as she looked at the golden ornaments displayed on the shelves.

Emmy, who had been scratching her head with a wry smile just a few moments earlier, let out a 「whoaaa…!?」 and hurriedly jumped up next to Sybilla the moment she entered the store.

 

Maybe it’s because I’m a guy, but I’ll probably never understand women’s fascination with these things. And I think it would be rude to pretend I understand everything.

Still, even to my amateur eye, I think they all look elegant and beautiful.

 

The bracelet I bought for Amy was simple so as not to ruin Emmy’s own charm, but the one sold in this store has so many ornaments that I feel like it was overly decorated.

Just like the bracelet that Sybilla is wearing right now.

 

「Welcome, dear custo…—mers!?」

 

As I blankly looked around the store, a female clerk approached Sybilla with sparkly eyes.

 

「This is the first time I’ve seen someone as beautiful as you, dear customer…! I’m sure that our products will make you shine and stand out even more! If you don’t mind, I can show you around myself.」

 

「Oh my, that’s great~ I would also like to discuss a few things.」

 

「Yes! As you wished!」

 

I’m not surprised… if you look at Sybilla wearing a dress, she’ll actually look like a princess from some country.

When I looked at Emmy, she stepped back and returned to my side.

 

「Guh… I knew it already, but standing next to Sybilla-san made my heart die of an inferiority complex as a fellow woman.」

 

「There’s no use comparing yourself, since, well, no human ever can match THAT, so give it up. You’d have to at least bring a noble lady to get the same reaction.」

 

「No humans, you say…」

 

Emmy suddenly came to a pause.

 

「What’s wrong?」

 

「No, it’s just, I think I might know just one human adventurer who can match Sybilla-san…」

 

……Seriously?

Someone who can match THAT Sybilla, and it’s not even some noble lady… but an adventurer?

 

「She’s a mage who joined Vince’s party the day after you left, and she was so beautiful that she looked like a walking goddess statue, and not only that… she was also very powerful, more so than Jannet even. She was taller than me, and on top of that, her assets were… like this.」

 

She then started making gestures with her hands like she was holding a sphere and moved them in a circular motion on her chest.

……Oi oi, just what kind of woman taller than Emmy and breasts bigger than Jannet’s? Or rather, there’s no way someone like that is just an adventurer.

 

Hm? Wait a second…

 

「That Vince, wasn’t he being cautious at all? Or did he just…」

 

「There’s no way Vince would say no to someone like Katie-san. I mean, she was wearing clothes with very minimal fabric, and his eyes were glued to her all the time. Ah, Katie-san is this woman’s name, by the way.」

 

「Katie, huh…」

 

It’s a name I’ve never heard before… Well, I guess there’s no way I’d know someone whom I’ve never even seen before.

 

Still, this is news to me.

Is there a reason why Emmy hasn’t mentioned this new person until now, I wonder?

 

「From what you told me, I can sort of imagine how Vince could play an active role in her recruitment, but… the fact that you never talk about this new person at all, could it be that you two didn’t get along?」

 

……Now that I think about it, maybe that was a bit of a thoughtless question.

Emmy faced down, and her expression turned sad.

But… her answer surprised me.

 

「I think we got along pretty good. I mean… she idolized me, treated me so well, and she even taught me a lot of things. She talked to herself a lot, but… she was such a nice person that I couldn’t find any flaws in her, inside or outside.」

 

Then, just why do you look so pained like that….?

 

I was about to follow up with another question——had Sybilla’s scream didn’t suddenly echoed from the second floor!

 

「——Russell! Emmy-chan!」

 

「That’s just a baseless accusation, don’t you think!?」

 

When we arrived, Sybilla was being confronted by a different clerk than before.

Judging from his appearance, he’s probably someone like this store’s manager or owner.

 

「My apologies, dear customer. From what I was told, it was for sure this item.」

 

「But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to suddenly put a one-sided suspicion on me! That’s like, so rude, don’t you think!?」

 

Sensing the strange situation, Emmy immediately rushes over to get between the two.

 

「I’m an adventurer of Seiris, the 【Holy Knight】, Emmy. She’s a member of my party. What seems to be the problem here?」

 

「H-Holy Knight-sama…!?」

 

A man who was trying to grab Sybilla’s hand was unable to move once he got his arm grabbed by Emmy and he instantly breaks out in a cold sweat.

……Once you get grabbed by those hands, you won’t be able to move, no matter how hard you try, like you’re embedded in stone.

 

While that was happening, I walked up to Sybilla.

 

「What happened, Sybilla?」

 

「Listen to this, that guy suspected that I was the one who had been using counterfeit currency in Seiris.」

 

Counterfeit currency, you say…!?

 

Sybilla normally doesn’t carry any coins with her.

She usually makes all payments from the recorded information on her adventurer guild tag.

She never pays with cash, I mean, she even said, 『It’s the age of cashless payment』 after all.

 

Just as I was about to step forward to argue with the manager, Sybilla put her palm in front of me.

 

「Russell.」

 

「Yeah?」

 

After she took a side glance at Emmy, who was holding the guy in place, Sybilla brought her face closer to mine… and whispered.

 

「I finally have some leads. Let him keep his suspicion on me and listen to his story for now.」

 

……What does that even mean?

What leads? Does this incident about counterfeit currency have any connection with Sybilla’s grand plan?

 

Although I still had my doubts, in the end I decided to leave it to Sybilla’s decision.

 

「For now, can we go with him to the back and listen to what he has to say? Nothing’s sure yet at this point, but I might be able to help them out with this case.」

 

「…G-Got it…」

 

The man let out a big sigh of relief when Emmy let go of his hand and led us to the back of the store.