by Mamare Touno
Nyanta put tomato stew on a piece of bread he’d carefully torn off, then took a bite.
“The People of the Earth have a kind of aristocracy, mew see. They may be bewildered by the atmosphere in Akiba.”
“‘Bewildered’…” Serara trailed off.
Serara had lived almost exclusively in Akiba. She’d been in Susukino for a short while, but she’d spent her time there in hiding, and she couldn’t say she knew what the town’s atmosphere had been like. As a result, she wasn’t familiar with the atmosphere and customs of People of the Earth towns, but she thought it would be sad if discrimination and violence from aristocrats were routine.
However, the People of the Earth were the other protagonists in this world. They had the right to conduct their own culture and lifestyles as they wished. In fact, the Adventurers might be the ones who had no right to upset the system. She’d heard Nyanta and Shiroe say something along those lines. The words hadn’t really made sense to her before, but now they soaked heavily into her heart.
“Well, even so. Our town is our town. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Smile when mew eat delicious food. Enjoy mewrself at festivals. …When it looks as though a fight may break out, we’ll just have to be careful together, that’s all.”
In response to Nyanta’s words, Serara nodded, relieved.
While this festival was for Serara and the other Adventurers, it was also the very first event to be opened to People of the Earth. They might get more of the sort of trouble they’d had today. Still, they had no intention of turning back. Serara thought, without needing to be told by anyone, that this was necessary.
Inside the pub, the warm, noisy atmosphere had returned. The minor trouble of a few minutes before might have left doubts and unease inside their hearts, but apparently there were no Adventurers who would let that discourage them. If a fuss that small could have unsettled them, they’d never have managed to live in another world.
These past five months had trained the Adventurers of Akiba very well.
…And so things would be all right. Reassured, Serara smiled at Nyanta.
2
That same night, somewhere else, another pair was working with desperate energy.
It was Marielle and Henrietta, the beautiful (?) duo who led the Crescent Moon League. They fired off a storm of orders, one after another, moving forward with preparations for the temporary shops and show that would open the next day.
The Crescent Moon League currently had sixty-five members. Their numbers had grown with the Hamelin incident, but at this size, they were still firmly midclass. Naturally, they didn’t have the strength to set up stalls on a huge scale like the three major production guilds.
However, there was also the fact that this festival had originally been proposed by the small and midsized guilds.
New ideas weren’t produced exclusively by the big guilds. All it took for all sorts of new products to be created was a skilled artisan with a flash of inspiration. That was what Akiba was like at present. When the item was created at a big guild, they were able to announce it far and wide. However, if the artisan belonged to a small guild, in terms of strength, the guild had trouble promoting that item.
The idea that had been thought up in response had gone through various incarnations before becoming the current Libra Festival.
In other words, since the Libra Festival would attract participants and visitors from all over, if the small and midsized guilds participated, it would be easier to make sure lots of Adventurers and People of the Earth merchants saw their items.
The Crescent Moon League was planning to bank on this effect and set up stalls as well.
Of course, the internal circumstances were extremely cheerful. Even Marielle and Henrietta had continued working until this late hour only to enjoy the cultural festival-like atmosphere to the fullest. …But did that mean it was simply a game, with a complete disregard for profit? Not at all.
In the current situation in Akiba, it looked as though even the small and midsized guilds would have the opportunity to make a bundle, and all such guilds, including the Crescent Moon League, welcomed the atmosphere.
It was already the middle of the night.
Their Crescent Moon League companions were probably down for the count here and there around the guild hall. The center of the room they were in held a table that was about the right size for a game of Ping-Pong, and wooden crates were stacked up around it. The layout of the new guild hall, which had room to spare, had created this work space.
Marielle, who’d been packing vegetable-dyed tunics into a crate, rolled her shoulders, paused for breath, then spoke to Henrietta.
“Say. Don’t’cha think we’re about done?”
“Mm…”
On the other side of the table, Henrietta checked several documents, wrote numbers on some nearby tags, then pasted them onto boxes.
“Let’s say yes, shall we?”
At those words, Marielle drew in a big breath.
The Libra Festival would begin in earnest the next day.
At the intersection of the two big streets that divided Akiba into quarters, many stalls would be set up according to the assignments they’d been issued in the Liaison Committee’s lottery. The Crescent Moon League had also received a modest exhibition spot on the central avenue. They were planning to resurrect Crescent Moon there and sell the legendary Crescent Burgers for the first time in a long while. Of course, the prices would be considerably lower than what they had been back then.
“That was price gougin’, wasn’t it.”
“It certainly was.”
Tired from packing crates, the two continued their conversation, their expressions dazed.
As they drooped in the workroom, both Marielle (the Crescent Moon League’s big-busted, beautiful, Kansai-dialect-speaking guild master) and Henrietta (the glasses-wearing, intellectual, sophisticated type that everyone wanted to be scolded by) were no different from ordinary female Adventurers.
Henrietta, who thought they were in danger of taking naps right there, said, “Marielle, straighten up,” and shook her partner’s shoulder. However, as a rule, Marielle wasn’t terribly disciplined to begin with. She nodded in agreement, but she still slumped listlessly.
Coaxing Marielle along, she’d managed to bring her to the sofa, but then Marielle seemed to have put down roots on it. If she was going to sleep, her bed would be better, but she stubbornly said she wanted to shower first, leaving Henrietta at her wits’ end.
“If you want to shower, then shower.”
“I’m just takin’ a li’l break. My hit points are in trouble.”
“Your HP bar is completely green. In any case, if you’re in trouble, you can just heal yourself, you know.”
Adventurers’ physical specs were high. Even Henrietta, a Bard, only felt a little warm, as if she’d been exercising, although she’d spent ten whole hours packing boxes. She was far from being worn down enough to be exhausted.
Henrietta thought that Marielle’s state was probably mental fatigue, rather than physical weariness from working.
“Lemme rest a li’l.”
With a deep sigh for her fretful friend, Henrietta sat down beside her.
“What is it, Mari?”
“Nothin’.”
“You lie.”
Henrietta shrugged her shoulders. Marielle’s attitude was too cute; she didn’t feel like taking the time to meticulously prepare a nuanced, profound verbal jab.
She could imagine why Marielle was sulking, after a fashion.
It was probably the matter she’d been teasing her about for the past month.
Henrietta ran her cursor along the menu she’d pulled up in her mind.
“—Yes. It’s me. Yes, mm-hmm. …No, no, I apologize for calling at such a late hour. And, in advance, yes.”
Having established a connection, Henrietta spoke into thin air. She was using the telechat function. Since the audio from the other party was played back insi
de your ears, it looked as though you were talking to yourself, but this magic contact made it possible to talk with faraway acquaintances.
Marielle knew this, and so she showed no signs of wondering whether Henrietta was talking to herself. However, instead, her dazed expression grew gradually serious, then began to look flustered and confused.
“Henrietta? Who’s that? Who’re you talkin’ to?”
“Fu-fu-fu-fu. Yes, yes. That’s right. Honestly! She’s so limp she hardly bears looking at. And the sulking, for goodness’ sake. Mari is just toooo adorable. Her chest is quivering like jelly, you know.”
“Who is it?! Who are you talkin’ to?!”
“I’m in the middle of a telechat, Mari. Could you be quiet, please?”
“How’m I s’posed to be quiet when you’re talkin’ about me?!”
Henrietta kept chuckling, and Marielle began to shake her shoulders. However, Henrietta had been her friend for a long time, and she was quite used to this. She tickled Marielle behind the ear with a white finger, then heartlessly tore her away and pinned her back against the sofa.
“Yes, mm-hmm. We have mountains of cargo here. If you’d be so kind as to help us out, Naotsugu— Yes, Marielle will be delighted as well.”
Completely ignoring Marielle, who’d frozen at the word “Naotsugu,” Henrietta calmly continued her telechat.
“If you would, please. Yes. Yes… We’ll see you shortly, then.”
Turning with a sunny smile, Henrietta saw a Marielle who was sulky and dismayed at the same time.
“Why’re you pickin’ on me, Henrietta?”
“I’m not picking on you. You misunderstood me, Mari.”
At that, Marielle scowled, looking as if she wanted to say something. In her face, with its smooth oval outline, her expressive, shining eyes were quite attractive. That said, even if Marielle was adorable, Henrietta had no intention of showing her mercy. Persecuting her and encouraging her were both Henrietta’s hobbies.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right like that? Naotsugu should be here in a bit less than an hour to help.”
“Now?! In the middle of the night?!”
“Yes. After all, as ladies, it will be hard for us to transport everything on our own,” Henrietta answered nonchalantly. As though someone had suddenly switched on her power, Marielle stood up straight, snatched up a nearby cardigan, and broke into a run. She was probably headed back to her room to take a shower.
“I-I! I’m gonna go pick some flowers!!”
Marielle ran off, leaving a transparent euphemism for “freshening up” behind her. Henrietta waved at her back, saying, “Give it your best,” then sat down on the sofa.
Mari is as cute as always. I doubt this will turn into anything anytime soon. Goodness gracious me. But, that aside…
Henrietta flipped through a sheaf of papers she’d taken from her bag.
She’d heard a bit from Naotsugu about what Shiroe had been like, and it had reminded her of something that had been bothering her.
They were materials that had been compiled by the Liaison Committee: A list of guilds, shops, individuals, and groups that hoped to exhibit. The exhibitor fees had been set low, but even so, the revenue from those alone would be significant. That was how far beyond their expectations the festival had grown.
The main cause was the People of the Earth. Merchant traders and noble merchants were coming, not just from Eastal but from the West as well. Akiba’s economic scale was larger than could be inferred from its population. People of the Earth society had noticed this and begun scrambling to make inroads into Akiba, and this was the result.
Calasin and the other members of the Liaison Committee had anticipated this as well, but a closer look revealed that the level of attention had been far higher than they’d predicted. At the festival that would begin tomorrow, the small and midsized guilds in particular would be startled by how good business was.
Most of the stalls, which were treating this like a school festival “by Adventurers, for Adventurers,” would probably sell out in a heartbeat. After all, the People of the Earth merchants had come to lay in stock. They were fundamentally different from Adventurers, who’d carefully examine the items they wanted and buy them for themselves, one item at a time.
But…
Henrietta pushed up her glasses with a fingertip.
Her slim, silver-rimmed glasses, which were practically her trademark, glinted very slightly over her expression as she concentrated. Something was tugging at her: Her experience as a working adult. Although she could never have called herself a veteran of such a thing, her experience with flipping through the books as a self-acknowledged accountant was telling her that something wasn’t quite right.
The mysterious, murky sensation was unpleasant, and Henrietta bit her lip.
What would Master Shiroe…?
She remembered the young man’s profile, which had grown familiar to her somewhere along the way.
Come to think of it, his profile was all she remembered. It wasn’t that she’d never talked to him face-to-face, but Henrietta seemed to remember always watching that obstinate young man’s important scenes from the side. During the conference where the Round Table Council was established, and at that meeting where Raynesia had taken a stand. Henrietta had always played a supporting role, watching that profile from a step away.
The young man whose profile held a strong will and sharp intuition might expose the true form of Henrietta’s unease for her.
She was so tempted by that thought that she scanned through her address menu, but in the end, she didn’t contact him. This was a conclusion she’d reached after repeated consideration.
Shiroe already had his hands full with odd jobs for the Round Table Council.
Calasin and Henrietta had made a pact not to trouble him with miscellaneous tasks for the festival. Of course, it hadn’t been said in so many words, but they were both aware that the Round Table Council was driving Shiroe too hard.
Besides, at this point, Shiroe had Akatsuki and Minori. From Henrietta’s perspective, both girls were as appealing as could be.
Akatsuki, a lovely girl with black hair like a Japanese doll’s and a smooth, slender, graceful figure reminiscent of a swallow.
Innocent Minori, who was delicate and made you want to hold her close, yet seemed to embody strength and a sense of responsibility quite unlike a young girl.
When she looked at the feelings those two harbored for Shiroe, there didn’t seem be any part left for her to play.
Henrietta considered herself plantlike by nature.
She couldn’t really understand the animalistic emotions that surrounded romance, and communication founded on the sort of physical affection Marielle demonstrated seemed alien to her. What she did with Akatsuki was done in the spirit of dressing her up and admiring her, and Henrietta understood that it was different from the romance between men and women that everyone talked about.
Because Shiroe came to mind frequently, she thought it might be that sort of thing. However, it wasn’t so strong that, as in popular songs from the old world, she was madly desperate to meet him or form a connection with him.
“The best there was, for a man.”
Henrietta had once evaluated Shiroe that way.
Although they were very pale, she was aware that her feelings were that type.
In short, I suppose I have an indifferent nature…
The fact did make her feel a little lonely. Having the face of a beloved someone in mind day and night was something she admired quite strongly, but she was aware that she didn’t have that sort of tenacity of purpose, though it was probably fun in its own way.
To Henrietta, Akatsuki was adorable and a friend she wanted to treasure, and Minori, a new face, was also a friend she felt close to. She was glad she’d be able to get by without cutting in on their romance.
She couldn’t support either one, but she was prepared to congratulate the one Shiroe chose.
As for Shiroe…
She wanted that unparalleled con man with the severe profile to be happy.
Henrietta thought Shiroe might be the type of person who could make the people around him happy only by first becoming happy himself.
Although those three are maddening to watch.
Henrietta sighed.
In that sense, both girls and Shiroe seemed incredibly clumsy. They might be the type who’d manage to have a brush with disaster just by going to an empty, grassy plain for a picnic. They were a troublesome trio, and it was frustrating not to be able to help them.
At some point, as she thought about the romantic circumstances of their companion guild, Henrietta had forgotten about the feeling of wrongness from a moment ago. Akiba was terribly busy these days, and there was just too much to think about.
3
Dawn broke.
In the early morning, the town of Akiba was wrapped in brisk October air. At this hour, when the sun wasn’t really up yet, the air was damp, cold and filled with silence.
The topography and general structure of Akiba were the same as Akihabara in the old world, but naturally, some things were different.
The town was enveloped in greenery: It was enfolded by ancient trees, and moss and grass grew on its broad avenues and in its scattered plazas.
Deciduous trees and bushes with tiny, jewellike fruit covered the town. Akiba’s mysterious landscape fused the ruins of tall buildings with nature.
Onto that greenery, an autumn morning mist fell softly.
Feeling its drops on her advancing toes, Minori hurried to the guild center.
It was the morning of the second day of the Libra Festival.
Unlike on the first day, when anticipation toward the kickoff festivities had gradually built from noon onward, the second day was packed with a solid series of events.
This festival’s main events were the exhibitions and sales, the dinner party being held in Princess Raynesia’s name, and the Akiba “Everything” Market that would be held from the evening of that day—the second day—through the night and continue into the third day. Yes, the main Libra Festival began today.