“…”
She dunked them over and over in a bucket of water. Soap bubbled, and the grime on the plates fell off. As the other girls carried over more dishes, she accepted them and kept moving her hands. Quietly, like a puppet.
Ahnya said all of that…But if the days continue like this, what should I do?
Lyu pondered her situation amid the squeaks of the plates she was wiping and the rush of flowing water in the washing area.
There is what Mia said. Eating delicious food is a good enough reason to live by itself. If that’s true, then there’s no reason for me to work here. Actually, I should probably get mad about this ridiculous maltreatment and leave. I could be free and do what I like.
In truth, now that she thought about trying to run away, she would be able to do so. But she didn’t. It was not a sense of duty as a proud elf holding her back. It was because she did not have any goals to accomplish, and she had nowhere to go back to.
I already…don’t have anything…
The emptiness of her revenge. The sense of loss from losing all her comrades. A hodgepodge of feelings dominated her heart. In an instant, her mind fell into darkness. The final support for her heart, the goddess Astrea, was no longer in Orario. Lyu herself had been the one who encouraged her to leave the city.
I cruelly forsook my own principles, and I’ve been stained and burned by the black flames. Why would she ever acknowledge me or let me live with her again?
She no longer had a home to return to.
And now I’m using this tavern in a vain attempt to avert my eyes…
I’m spending peaceful days working hard at a job I’m not used to, forgetting my emptiness temporarily. I’m depending on this idle life and calling it unavoidable as an excuse.
Acknowledging her feelings, Lyu recognized that much. She was not finding a goal. Not thinking about the future. Continuing to drag along her lost past. It was all just avoiding reality.
If I could find some other reason to stay at this place after—
“Lyu, can I help you?”
“…”
Lyu silently looked at Syr as she approached.
I see. It’s because this girl is here.
Here was the reason that she could not break away from this tavern.
“…I’m okay. I’m not too busy, so you can do your own chores…”
“I’ve finished over here, so I thought I’d help out a bit? And this many dishes is pretty rough for one person.”
Easily dodging Lyu’s reservations, Syr lined up next to her. Lyu did not bother hiding her sigh. She had only known her for a little while, but she knew that it would be pointless to say more. They rinsed off the plates in the same wash area together.
Syr Flover…a person who took my hand.
Listening to another set of bubbles and water, Lyu glanced over at the girl. When she had collapsed in the back alley, Syr had grabbed Lyu’s blood- and mud-covered hand. She had not rejected her, despite her elven tendency to prevent anyone she hadn’t accepted to touch her skin, a deeply ingrained habit.
It’s not as if I had acknowledged her…
There was no way she would be able to discern the character of someone she had only just met. That was obvious. She had just accepted the warmth of Syr’s hand without reservations. As though she had felt the girl’s kind spirit, or it was a fated meeting.
Just like Alizé.
That reality was what kept Lyu from trying to leave the tavern. She was the second special person to move her that way, and without realizing it, she could no longer do without her.
“Are you getting used to the job here?”
Lyu was stealing a glance at Syr when her heart jumped at the sudden question. Unusually flustered, she gave a long reply to cover it.
“A-a bit…but I’m still messing up a lot. I’m not as good at dealing with things as you are…”
“That’s not true.”
Syr smiled wryly as she shook her head. “I made all sorts of mistakes when I first started…Hmmm, probably even worse ones than you.”
“…You did?”
“Yes. When the tavern employed me, back when I first started working.”
Lyu was shocked. Syr stopped washing.
“At the beginning, I thought I could at least do this…but I broke a lot of plates, scorched lots of pots, messed up the ingredients I was supposed to buy…Mama Mia got really mad.”
“…That’s hard to believe.”
Surprised, she was pulled into the girl’s story. As far as she could tell, Syr was better than anyone else at all of the jobs in the tavern now.
“It would be nice to be able to say it was all a dream. But it’s true. I’m still not very good at cooking.”
She covered the bottom half of her face with the plate she was polishing as her cheeks slightly reddened, as if she was really embarrassed.
“When I got home, I’d dive into bed and whimper about how bad it was.”
Hearing that, Lyu’s lips opened a bit, and a soft chuckle escaped. Syr had shared an unexpected side of herself.
“—You finally laughed.”
“?”
“Before that, you would never laugh. It seemed like you were always worried about something.”
Lyu was surprised at the warmth in Syr’s metallic-blue eyes. She looked back at the elf as she bashfully covered her mouth with one hand. Syr just innocently smiled.
I was able to laugh…
As Syr’s cheerful smile faded, Lyu thought back.
It was like that before, too.
From Lyu’s perspective, Syr had unnecessarily meddled countless times. Helping her with her work and even making it so she could work at the tavern in the first place. She had given the homeless Lyu shelter from the rain.
Ever since she had collapsed in that back alley, Syr’s dedication had helped Lyu.
“…I…”
“?”
“I don’t understand you.”
As Syr tilted her head, Lyu turned to her.
“Why do you trouble yourself for me like that…? Why go so far? Are you trying to poke your nose into my business?”
She finally asked the questions that had been secretly lingering in her mind.
The girl who had drawn the smile out of her matched the elf’s gaze. The clamor of the tavern continued: the footsteps of staff unhurriedly walking around, the bustle of food preparation from the kitchen, the conversations of customers eating with relish. Quietly watching Lyu, she finally smiled again.
“Lyu, come with me for a bit?”
Heading through The Benevolent Mistress’s back entrance, they walked a bit into the back alleys. Proceeding through countless winding streets, up dozens of stairways, through arches and tunnels, they reached a building. An abandoned church. One of dozens of forgotten churches in the city’s seventh district.
She brought Lyu to the roof of the building. When she crossed the threshold, she was wrapped in a brilliant light, and the sights of a peaceful town spread before her.
“Yep, it’s another beautiful day!”
It was close to the blue sky. Syr raised a celebratory voice at the transparent blue canvas.
“Is it okay to leave the tavern without permission? If I do this, that dwarf owner might yell at me again…”
“You’re always trying hard, so you can get away with a little.”
Syr smiled like a mischievous little child. Lyu had recently come to realize that Syr was talented but a bit lacking in diligence from time to time. Almost like a breeze that could not be contained.
“…Then why did you bring me here?”
“Because it’s my favorite spot. I wanted you to know about it, too.”
The roof of the chapel was a bit higher than all the buildings around it, so it had a great view. Far off in the distance, Central Park was visible, and past that the still-sleeping Shopping District. Lyu could understand why it was her favorite place.
This reminds me
of Alizé, also…
Her old friend had also liked high places. They had often gone to the roof of a building, surrounded by the lovely blue sky as they talked about the future.
However.
In Lyu’s eyes now, that beautiful sky was also—.
—Gray. It all looks gray.
Not just the sky—everything looked colorless. That was what Lyu saw from her shroud of emptiness. As if everything she saw turned to gray.
Lyu’s light green–dyed hair shook as she looked down.
“Higher than this is no good, and any lower wouldn’t work, either. This is the only place where you can see all of Orario and still feel the presence of the people in the streets.”
Perhaps recognizing Lyu’s thoughts, or perhaps not, Syr continued talking as she looked out at the view.
“When you’re here, you can understand what sorts of things the town is thinking.”
“…Understand…the town’s thoughts?”
“Yep. The people holding their head high as they walk, the carriage dashing through Main Street…the adventurers’ arguments, and the children’s laughter.”
Lyu looked up at Syr’s back as she continued speaking.
“For years, Orario was always sad, scared…”
“…”
Orario’s Dark Age. The rise of evil that had been the source of the Evils had brought fear and mayhem to the city. Blood flowed in the endless cycle of destruction. Many non-adventurers were lost, too. Having stood on the front lines where chaos and order clashed, Lyu felt her heart hurt when she thought of the residents of the city still living in fear. She was filled with shame and a desire to apologize.
“But, you know, lately it’s different.”
“Eh?”
“The town is gradually starting to be able to smile. They can celebrate and be happy.”
As Lyu’s eyes went wide, Syr turned around, and said:
“That’s thanks to you guys, isn’t it?”
“—”
Lyu was at a loss for words as Syr smiled.
“Ganesha Familia, Loki Familia, Freya Familia…and also Astrea Familia. You and lots of other adventurers fought, were hurt, and still kept trying…and you protected the people.”
Several familias had been established in order to subdue the Evils. They all had their own intentions, but they had fought the followers of the evil gods in order to drive away the darkness covering Orario. Lyu’s Astrea Familia had also stood for justice and continued to fight to protect people’s smiles. They had tried to destroy evil. And Lyu’s own blade had brought an end to it.
“The neighborhood is peaceful thanks to what you all did. That’s why I have to try to find some happiness for you, too.”
“—”
“If the person who worked the hardest isn’t happy………Well, I don’t like that.”
“You’re wrong! Wrong!” Lyu shouted back. “When my friends were killed, I wasn’t fighting for peace! That wasn’t justice anymore! I just lost my temper for a personal grudge, to get revenge…!”
And the result was this. In the end I got my name on the blacklist, and I’ve incurred the wrath and resentment of lots of people.
Syr continued to smile at Lyu, who had acted as judge, jury, and executioner for the criminals throughout Orario who were suspected of a connection with the Evils.
“Even so, the adventurers who come to the tavern say it…even the gods say it. ‘Orario was reborn.’ ”
As if saying “Look,” she pointed to a street corner below where a performance was happening. On one corner of the main street, a band was playing a song honoring a valorous adventurer. It would have been impossible to imagine such a scene when evil was rampant and public order was crumbling.
Lyu was speechless.
She had missed it while consumed by the flames of revenge. Something she had not noticed as she grieved for her friend and the comrades who had lost their lives, moaning that there was nothing left.
Something still remained of Alizé and the rest: the fruits of their labor. What Lyu had managed to accomplish was compensation for her friends’ lives.
“I’ll say it for everyone else, okay?”
As Lyu struggled for words, Syr gazed into her eyes and smiled.
“You fought so hard for us…Thank you.”
When she heard those words, a single tear silently spilled from Lyu’s eye.
“Now, everyone is able to smile.”
Syr looked out across the neighborhood one more time.
The wind carried the voices of laughing children, just like an ordinary peaceful town. If she listened closely, she felt sure that she could sense the feelings of the town.
The feelings of the people who lived here.
I…
In the midst of everyone’s feelings, Lyu thought she heard a certain voice. An imagined voice amid the others.
She could sense the smiles of Alizé and her friends living on in the town.
Their soft whispers—In our stead…
I…I have to make sure of it myself, I think.
She would have to watch over their legacy in their stead. That was what Lyu thought.
She had decided on a future she wanted to set out for.
The sky…
As the world turned watery through her tears, the surrounding skies cleared up. Like a forest sprouting new leaves all at once, the gray disappeared, and the beautiful blue color returned.
Lyu realized that the heart she had thought was empty now held something. Her tears fell again.
…She’s a mysterious person.
Wiping her eyes, she looked at Syr, who was gazing out over the town. She had unraveled Lyu’s feelings just like Astrea—like a goddess of compassion.
I acknowledge her. Her meddling—her words—brought me back on to my path.
Just what is she?
As Lyu stared at her, Syr turned around and broke into a smile.
“Your eyes became really pretty.”
“…If you think so, then it’s only thanks to you.”
“Really? I’m glad. I like people like you…People who can become beautiful for someone else’s sake.”
As if Lyu was too radiant to look at, Syr’s metallic-blue eyes squinted into a smile, her cheeks blushing in delight for an instant.
“What will you do now? If you’ve found what you want to do, then you don’t need to force yourself to stay at the tavern, you know? I can talk to Mama Mia for you.”
“I…”
She paused for a second before straightforwardly acknowledging her answer.
“I want to repay you.”
I want to repay you for letting me notice what Alizé left behind. For letting me see this beautiful blue sky again.
Those were Lyu’s true feelings.
“…Is that okay?”
“Yes. If not for you, my friends would have let me have it.”
Without a doubt.
Thinking that, Lyu’s face relaxed. As the girl gazed in surprise, a small, neat, flower-like smile appeared on Lyu’s face. Syr grinned broadly.
“Well then, I’m glad you’ll keep working with me at the tavern.”
“Understood. It’s not like I have anywhere else to go. I’ll burden you for a bit longer.”
“Yep. I look forward to it, Lyu.”
Surrounded by the sky, they smiled like old friends, the blue sky warmly watching over them.
“About time to head back?”
“Yes.”
At Syr’s prompt, Lyu nodded. Lyu looked back one last time in order to etch the scene of the beautiful sky and town into her memory as she left the roof, exiting the deserted church with Syr. She headed back, wrapped in a warm feeling that she did not have when she had arrived. Before long, she could see The Benevolent Mistress.
Her eyes leaped to the people loitering in front of the tavern’s rear entrance. It was Ahnya and the rest of the employees.
“Ahnya? Why
are you here?”
“Fufun. I saw that you guys were ditching work, so we wanted to congratulate you, meow!”
“Aren’t you just procrastinating?”
Ahnya responded to Syr’s question with an odd pride, but she yelped and turned red at Lyu’s observation. However, she stared at Lyu’s face and then smiled cheerfully.
“I like that expression better, meow.”
“…Yes. I stopped being so gloomy.”
Lyu smiled slightly back. The other catgirls besides Ahnya looked on happily. The procrastination was just an excuse. Lyu understood that they were waiting for her to come back after Syr had taken her out.
“No more going easy on you, meow! You’re a rival, not just a stray we took in, meow! You better be prepared to put your jaw into it, meow!”
“Back, Ahnya?”
Ignoring Syr’s gentle correction, Ahnya moved closer to Lyu.
“Which is to say, let’s try shaking hands again, meow!”
This is what she’s been after.
The catgirl triumphantly put out her right hand, and Lyu’s hand made as if to grab it. Just as she was about to do that—slap! She knocked the hand away with all of her strength. The atmosphere froze.
…Crap…
Lyu’s hand had reflexively moved as she started to sweat. Even someone as insensitive to people’s feelings as Lyu could understand. The carefully constructed pleasantness had been wrecked. While time stopped for Syr and the other staff, she timidly peeked at Ahnya…and saw a savage cat with a blazing fire behind her eyes.
“I’ll definitely touch you, meow…!”
“W—”
Lyu was agitated as the stubborn catgirl started talking big.
These catgirls are annoying in an entirely different way from Alizé and the rest—!
Lyu was sure of that as Ahnya gradually slipped into a stance, staring daggers at her.
“Haah!”
“Wha—Syr?!”
Syr had suddenly hugged her.
“You let me touch you.”
“L-let me go!”
Syr did not seem to mind as Lyu turned red. Wrapping both arms around her neck, she put her cheek on Lyu’s.
“Myaaaaaaa! Why am I bad and Syr’s okay, meow? That’s impossible! This is a matter of pride, meow!!”
“—!”
“Fugya!”
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu Page 15
