by Fujino Omori
…What if…
What if Lilly accepts his offer after hearing what he has to say…? What’ll I do?
This labyrinth I’m stuck in doesn’t have an exit. I stay in the chair, staring at the ceiling for I don’t know how long, trying to find an answer.
Lilly was still struggling even as everyone gathered to eat dinner together.
She acted like everything was normal, participating in conversation like usual. She sealed away the heavy feelings in her heart to keep the mood light around the table, even smiling and laughing along with everyone else.
Mikoto and Haruhime were in charge of preparing dinner tonight, and they received many compliments before they were soon deep in their own conversation, enjoying each other’s company. Welf was busy chowing down and didn’t try to engage Lilly in conversation. Hestia, however, could tell something was wrong. Her deep-blue eyes would occasionally glance in Lilly’s direction, but the goddess said nothing and joined Mikoto’s conversation like she normally did.
Bell looked anxious, and she noticed him looking in her direction more than once, but she pretended as if she hadn’t.
Dinner ended soon after. Lilly didn’t go to the living room, and instead started heading back to her own.
“Um, Lilly…do you have a minute?”
“!”
She was just about to go up the stairs in the main hallway when she heard Bell’s voice behind her.
A small jolt ran through her body as she froze in place. All the uneasiness and emotions that had been building since last night came to a head. She was extra conscious of the young boy at the moment.
“Wh-what is it, Mr. Bell?” Lilly responded in a jumpy, forced voice. She turned to see that Bell seemed embarrassed.
“There’s, um, something I need to tell you…”
Since she wasn’t sure of her own feelings, she probably should have refused him. But he asked so nicely that she made an awkward nod and the two of them went to an unused room on the second floor. Going inside, they turned on a magic-stone lamp.
Then—
“An offer of marriage for Lilly…?”
“Y-yeah…”
Lilly opened her chestnut-colored eyes as far as they would go. Bell had told her about an offer of marriage from another prum. Earlier that evening, Finn Deimne had asked Bell directly to arrange an in-person meeting with Lilly.
With a stunned stare, Lilly looked up from the sheet of paper Bell handed to her. The boy trembled as he nodded to confirm.
Why would the Braver be interested in her? That was the first question to pop into her head, but it didn’t stay there for long.
There was something more important. Lilly clenched her lips together and looked at her feet.
As expected, in Mr. Bell’s eyes, Lilly is nothing more than…
The fact that Bell had delivered this proposal of marriage sent her into a tailspin. The fact that Bell offered another man’s proposal to Lilly, instead of his own, gave sharp claws to the emotions coursing through her heart. She had already been dealing with the Aiz incident from last night, and now this. Her gaze didn’t move from the floor.
Bell took one look at the girl, hunched over and trying to hide her reaction, and knew that his words had made her upset. Starting to panic, he quickly tried again.
“Y-you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to! Finn said he didn’t want to force anything, so I can go tell him you’re not interested…!”
She understood Bell’s position. Lilly knew the boy could never turn down a request. Especially if said request came from Finn, the head of Loki Familia. Considering what they had done for him, Bell would never reject them.
But…
She didn’t want to hear it.
She didn’t want to hear that news from Bell. The pain tearing through her at that very moment was all because he delivered the message. That thought alone filled her mind.
Presenting another man’s proposal showed Lilly exactly where she stood with him.
Bell thought of her as an ally, a member of the familia. If he loved her, it was as family, not in a romantic way.
Her eyes quivered. The pain, the anguish, and the loss in her heart forced tears to well up in her eyes. All the feelings crammed into her chest were about to burst. She had not heard anything he had been saying.
Lilly didn’t look up as she forced words through her trembling lips, somehow making it past the storm of emotions swirling within her.
“Your thoughts, Mr. Bell…?”
She wanted to know his opinion about the offer and how he would respond depending on her answer.
The night sky was barely visible through the slightly open curtains covering the windows. The room’s magic-stone lamp illuminated only one side of Bell’s face. She could see uncertainty in his shaking eyes.
“I…I, um…”
He started to open his lips, body swaying side to side, but no words came out.
Seeing him flustered was the last straw. Thundering anger roared to life within the storm of emotions and it all rushed straight to Lilly’s head. Teeth clenched, fists shaking, she felt her chestnut-colored eyes flash menacingly as she looked up at him.
Her head started to rise—and then a heartbeat later, all the built-up anger exploded.
“Lilly hates that you can never make up your mind!”
Her shriek rang inside the room, every word raining down on the boy in front of her like hammer strikes.
“That settles it! Lilly will meet the Braver!”
“You what?!”
“An offer of marriage from the Braver? Lilly will be the envy of not only other prums but every woman in the city!! He has it all—power, money, fame! Yes, it’s the wealthy marriage Lilly has always dreamed of!”
“L-Lilly, don’t you think you’re sounding a little desperate…?”
“Lilly is not desperate!!”
They matched each other tit for tat, almost like a quarreling couple. More harsh words tumbled out as they continued to go back and forth.
Lilly’s face turned red as her ranting intensified, which made Bell only more defensive.
“Finn Deimne is so, so, sooooooooo much better than some indecisive, womanizing blockhead who can’t even understand emotional signals obvious to a child, like Mr. Bell! He’s a class act, the perfect gentleman!!”
Lilly’s last verbal blow had the same effect as a knockout punch. “Ge-hah?!” Bell staggered backward, bent over at the waist.
Being compared to Finn, not only as an adventurer but also as a person, shook Bell to his core with feelings of inferiority.
Lilly turned sharply on her heel, but Bell wasn’t able to make a sound.
“!!”
Flinging open the door, she ran out of the room.
“Lilly!”
Bell stepped forward and yelled at the top of his lungs, but it wasn’t enough to reach her. The girl was already out the back door.
Passing through the rear metal gate, she dashed into the city sparkling with streetlights.
Lilly let her emotions take over as she ran headlong into the city.
“—Riveria, I’ll be away from home all day tomorrow as planned. Keep an eye on things for me.”
The home of Loki Familia, Twilight Manor.
Their residence was composed of a group of several high towers, one of which contained the office of the general. Finn’s room was decorated with a thick rug that was as colorful as a garden, a marble fireplace, and a tall grandfather clock. Every item in the chamber was high quality and fitting for someone of his rank. But the most striking feature inside the spacious room was, without a doubt, the tapestry on the wall—an image of a goddess wearing armor, with spear in hand.
Finn was sitting in a chair behind a black wooden desk that was covered in stacks of paperwork. He filled them out while talking about tomorrow’s plan with his second-in-command, Riveria.
“…This is unexpected.”
“What is?”
“I
am well aware of your personal mission, as you’ve told me on many occasions since we met. It would be unreasonable for me to feel any different after all this time. However, you don’t seem to be showing much interest in romance. Your extremely assertive approach…surprises me.”
The elegant elf’s long jade hair flowed down her back below a small ribbon that tied it back to the nape of her neck. She stood quietly, analyzing Finn’s face from beside him.
Proposing marriage to someone of his own race was much more proactive than anything he had ever done.
At the same time, ignoring the fact that it was part of his mission, the prum hero appeared to be looking forward to it.
“…I’ve been far too busy to reach this stage, but now it feels like taking it into consideration might not be such a bad idea. That and…there might come a day when I lay down my life in service to this familia. Taking recent events into consideration, I can’t help but feel that day draws near.”
“…”
“Of course, my will is just as strong as ever.”
Finn’s feathered pen kept moving throughout their conversation. He stopped writing and looked up from the paperwork.
“I might be getting on in years,” he said to Riveria with a strained smile.
Saying that his forwardness might be his own way of having insurance for the future, the small prum adventurer added one more thing.
“But above all…I was lucky enough to meet someone special. Seeing one of my own kind do what that girl did that day left quite an impression on my heart.” Finn closed his eyes as if remembering the moment he first saw her. Leaning back in the chair with a smile on his face, he slowly looked out the window and up at the moon rising over the city.
“Now, will she come?”
The darkness of night faded, replaced by light appearing in the east. Morning had arrived.
Many adventurers were already on their way toward the Dungeon. Lilly trudged her way through the crowd on South Main Street.
“What am I doing…?”
Head low, she whispered to herself while looking at the stone pavement beneath her feet.
She went directly to the Gnome Trader after running out of her home last night. Of course Bom, the owner, was surprised to see her, but he didn’t turn her down when she asked him to put her up for the night. She stayed there until morning…As for the out-of-breath white-haired boy who came looking for her, she asked the owner to tell him she wasn’t there and to send him home.
It was all out of desperation. How shameful. Had she wanted Bell to feel anxious, worried…or perhaps jealous?
How shallow, Lilly scolded herself as an air of gloom enveloped her. She had run away to avoid hearing what she didn’t want to hear, to turn a blind eye to what she didn’t want to see.
“…”
It shouldn’t be a big deal, but she didn’t know how to face Bell now. What could she do? How could she apologize? Could she go home?
Her feet stopped in front of a certain building as she pondered these questions. It was the place described on Finn Deimne’s note; the place where he was waiting for her.
She had walked a long way from the main street, passing through several alleyways to get here. Coming this far, she might as well see it through to the end. She had hit rock bottom and was perfectly fine with letting the cards fall where they may. Why not? she thought to herself as she stood on the front doorstep.
The building indicated on the note was surprisingly small. Located in the west-southwest area of the city, it was on the outer edge, close to the city wall. Almost no one frequented this area, so the café known as the Hidden Home of the Prums was very difficult to find among the other tall buildings on this narrow street.
It also happened to be a bar, by the look of it.
“So this kind of place can be found in Orario, too…”
Lilly passed by a big sign that said PRUMS ONLY! written in big Koine letters, before placing her hands on the wooden door and opening it with a soft creak.
Everything inside was built with prums in mind—in a word, small.
Not only were the ceilings lower, but the tables and chairs looked suitable for children of other races. Quite a few patrons were already inside despite it being before noon. The customers, the waiters on staff, and even the bartender behind the counter—every single one was a prum.
All of them fit right in with the size of the café, and no one felt out of place. However, if someone of a different race, like a human, saw what went on here, they would likely be quite shocked. After all, no one expected to see what looked like a bunch of children sitting at a bar, downing ale. Even Lilly, a prum herself, felt it strange to see prums sitting in chairs and their feet touching the floor.
Despite its location, the prum-only bar did some brisk business—maybe it was because many of the patrons felt a sense of pride coming here because of how exclusive it was. Lilly was standing just inside the front door, taking it all in, when one of the prum waiters came to greet her.
“Welcome. If you’re by yourself, there’s a spot at the counter—Wait.” The rather discontented-seeming employee froze on the spot once he got a good look at her face.
The hood of Lilly’s robe shifted as she tilted her head in confusion. But then—
“Ah!”
“Lilliluka Erde?! Hestia Familia?!”
“Might you be…Mr. Luan?”
Lilly recognized the man who had shouted as he pointed at her.
With large, round eyes and brown hair, he looked like a child whom nobles would hire to take care of odd jobs.
Luan Espel.
An adventurer and former member of Apollo Familia, Hestia Familia’s opponent in the War Game.
Lilly and her friends had emerged victorious from that encounter and, as a result, exiled Apollo from Orario. Former members of Apollo Familia had been released and been given the chance to join another familia of their choice…Luan, it seemed, had taken a job as a waiter at this bar and café.
Luan’s surprise quickly turned to anger. He glared at Lilly with seething hatred.
“I-it’s all your familia’s fault that I’m stuck here cleaning tables instead of down in the Dungeon as an adventurer! So, what are you going to do about it?!”
“Wasn’t it your side that hunted Mr. Bell and declared the War Game to start with? There is no reason for Lilly to do anything…But yes, there were a few dirty tricks involved.”
By the sound of it, Luan had been rejected by every other familia after the War Game.
Prums were already subjected to discrimination, and he was just a low-class adventurer who had never leveled up. He might have been a former member of the middle-class Apollo Familia, but unlike third-tier members like Daphne and Cassandra, no one came to him with an offer.
Even when he went to offer his services, all the talk turned to his apparent “betrayal” during the battle at Shreme Castle. The obstacle was too much to overcome, and he had been shown the door every time.
…His reputation as the “Trojan Horse” had spread throughout the city, when in fact it had been Lilly, disguised as Luan using her Magic, Cinder Ella, who stabbed Apollo Familia in the back. The real Luan never made it to the battlefield and spent the entire time locked in a storage container somewhere in the city. Apparently, all the attention had been on the battle taking place outside the castle, and there were no witnesses to Lilly’s big reveal, when she deactivated Cinder Ella. Therefore, the dramatic shift in the War Game was blamed on Luan…He couldn’t escape the stigma.
Although it was common practice to devise strategies before the War Game to reduce an enemy’s fighting strength before battle—Welf, Mikoto, and Lyu themselves had been hindered by a mysterious robber while in transit to the battlefield—Lilly still felt they had wronged Luan in their pursuit of victory.
“But Lilly has heard that Lord Miach offered you a place in his familia. Lilly also heard his offer was rejected…Why didn’t you accept?”
“E-wh…
I-I was a member of Apollo Familia, you know? Why the hell would I join such a weak familia that’s drowning in debt?”
Lilly looked at him with her eyes narrowed in a pointed stare, clearly unswayed by the short adventurer’s excuses.
It wasn’t as though she didn’t understand the stress that came with a loan…but more than that, she felt it was Luan’s trivial pride that was stopping him. As proof, Daphne and Cassandra had chosen to join that “weak familia that’s drowning in debt” of their own accord.
“Well then, how about joining Lilly’s familia? Lilly will ask Lady Hestia herself,” she suggested with a hint of sympathy in her voice.
“Like hell I would! You guys have even more debt than Lord Miach’s lot!” He shot down the suggestion. He brought up the bombshell of her own familia’s financial situation. Lilly could see there was no point in trying to help anymore and gave up.
“…Someone is waiting for Lilly, so Lilly’s going inside.”
“Whatever.”
She brought the fruitless argument to an end. Luan turned his back, seething with anger.
A little put off by his rudeness, Lilly stepped past him and onto the dining floor.
She started looking for the one who invited her to this place—and found him immediately.
He was sitting at a table at the back of the bar, next to an open window. Illuminated by incoming sunlight, he was extremely easy to find due to all the excited whispers and people looking in his direction.
“—Oh, you decided to come.”
Finn Deimne had been reading a small book, one sized for prums. Noticing Lilly’s presence, he looked up from its pages as she approached.
Perhaps to hide his identity, or perhaps as a fashion statement, Finn was wearing glasses.
They gave him an air of intelligence and suited his combination of childish visage and mature aura, which was one of the main reasons he was so popular with female adventurers all over the city. Lilly could see that firsthand now.
He gave her a friendly smile, stirring onlookers into a small frenzy. No one would have guessed that Lilly was the person the famous top-tier adventurer, beloved by his people and proud holder of the title “Braver,” was waiting for.