#102
Aaaah!
I barely managed to suppress the scream that was about to escape by pressing my hand over my mouth. Instead, I stumbled backward and ended up falling on my bottom.
“What, what, what… you!”
Even after realizing the identity of the figure that had popped out, my startled heart wouldn’t calm down, so I just pointed and gaped wordlessly.
“Hello. You were looking for me, so I came.”
It was the secret merchant. He lightly jumped over the railing and stood in front of me.
“Why are you sitting there?”
The figure wearing a pure white mask with only eye holes tilted his head.
Geez…
Of all times, why did he have to appear at night wearing such a mask? My shock turned to irritation, but since I was the one in need, I firmly suppressed my rising emotions. Taking a long breath to calm myself, I brushed myself off and stood up, opening my mouth calmly.
“You’re the one going around at night wearing such a ridiculous mask!”
No, I failed to calm myself down. I ended up losing my temper. At least I had enough awareness not to get caught, so I kept my voice as low as possible while grumbling.
“It’s fashion appropriate for the occasion.”
Bisang spouted nonsense. What occasion? It’s not even Halloween. My teeth ground together, but I couldn’t waste time on pointless arguments, so I suppressed my anger again. This time I barely succeeded.
“Well, anyway, good timing. Listen, I have a favor to ask.”
It might seem ridiculous to immediately ask for a favor right after getting angry, but as soon as Bisang heard my request, he obediently nodded.
“Good. The commission fee is 10% of the sales proceeds.”
Oh, he was more reasonable than I’d thought. I’d expected he’d demand at least 20%. As usual, it was fascinating how he knew the situation without me having to explain.
“But I have conditions too.”
Of course—I’d expected that response. So, what do you want to sell? I prepared myself to go broke. Anyway, Bisang probably knew exactly how much spare money I had.
“Come to my booth and act as a shill.”
“A shill?”
Bisang nodded. Did he need shills to sell goods? What Bisang handled at festivals would be miscellaneous items anyway, and Eira’s potions would sell like hotcakes even without shills.
Ah, maybe not. Would they be treated like fake medicine with almost no medicinal effect? Just as I was frowning with sudden worry, Bisang spoke in a somehow excited tone.
“I also do card readings.”
“Card readings?”
“Yes, card readings.”
“You do?”
“I do.”
“……”
Card readings? Fortune telling required good speaking skills, but would that awkward way of speaking be okay? Maybe people would like it for being unique? I wasn’t sure. It seemed both fitting and not fitting.
Anyway, fortune telling itself was a decent attraction for festivals. Many people got readings for fun, and the tougher life got, the more popular such things became. If it drew people in and they bought even one more of Eira’s potions, that would be good.
“Should I just go and ask for a card reading?”
When I asked, Bisang nodded repeatedly.
“Got it, I’ll do that. But how should I deliver the goods?”
“Tell her to leave them at the door the night before the festival with explanations and prices attached. I’ll take care of picking them up.”
“…Alright, I’ll handle it that way.”
The problem was resolved more easily than expected. But as our conversation concluded and it was time to part ways, I suddenly became curious about practical matters.
“What about booth permits or seller registration? Won’t the village people think it’s strange if you just suddenly appear?”
“No worries. I’ll handle it myself.”
“…Right.”
I guess there was no problem since he was an NPC. Well, then that was great for me.
“Then I’ll see you at the festi…”
Just as I was about to say goodbye and send Bisang away.
“What are you doing here?”
The sudden voice of the room’s owner made me jump. Confirming it was Carlisle who had appeared, I turned back to look at Bisang in panic. But where Bisang had been standing, only air swirled like a small whirlwind, and a single dry leaf spun around before disappearing between the railings.
Carlisle, who had walked over slowly, stood beside my frozen form.
Wait, hold on. Why am I panicking? Bisang isn’t exactly my ex-lover or anything. But still, secretly meeting someone on the bedroom balcony is strange in itself.
Because of that damn control freak, I’d developed a habit of getting startled even when there was nothing to feel guilty about. First of all, I wasn’t sure if it was okay to show Bisang’s existence to Carlisle, or if he could even be seen. He seemed to be known to everyone as a merchant who came to festivals, but seeing how he suddenly appeared and suddenly disappeared, he wasn’t exactly a typical NPC either.
While I was doing my best to hide my panic, Carlisle glanced around the balcony. There was only pitch-black darkness, the sound of tree branches swaying in the wind, and distant cries of what might be birds or monsters going “peee.”
“What were you doing in this dark place without even noticing someone approaching? You’re not Juliet waiting for Romeo.”
Finally, Carlisle’s gaze fixed on me.
“Are ghosts or monsters also romantic targets for you?”
He suddenly said something absurd.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Do I look like I have that kind of ability?”
I deliberately put strength in my eyes and acted defiant, so he looked me up and down. Then he tilted his head.
“…Maybe?”
Even with my heart pounding, I was dumbfounded.
“You’re crazy.”
“Maybe I am.”
Saying that, Carlisle naturally wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pushed me inside. He closed the balcony door behind me, looked outside once more, then drew the curtains. With the outside noise blocked, the silence inside the room became particularly pronounced.
“……”
“……”
Being alone together in the bedroom made the silence feel burdensome.
“…You came early today for some reason.”
Feeling awkward, I cleared my throat once and spoke first. Carlisle nodded in response and returned the same question.
“You’re also still awake for some reason.”
That’s because I deliberately stayed up and endured.
“I was waiting.”
Carlisle’s eyebrow twitched.
“For what?”
“What do you mean what? For you.”
“……”
The silence stretched long. What’s with that reaction? Since the question of why I was waiting didn’t come back, I spoke first again.
“I have something to say, but I need to be able to see you first. Were you always such an expensive face to see?”
After saying it, I already knew the answer.
“I was always an expensive face. You were just a special exception. You must have known that, so why act surprised now?”
“……”
That way of speaking, as if I were some special existence when it wasn’t even flirting, was so irritating.
“Anyway, how admirable that you waited. What did you wait for me for?”
Carlisle pulled me to sit together on the sofa and patted my head. Normally I would have shaken him off, but today I had a favor to ask, so I stayed quiet. His expression didn’t seem bad, but I couldn’t tell if he was genuinely in a good mood or just pretending. He probably already knew about the sponsorship… He must have heard about it from people around.
“Well, about the festival. We briefly talked about it when we met at the front door before, but it got cut short.”
Talking about the last day we’d met reminded me of how that bastard had tested me. He’d made me tense by saying he’d come at night, then never showed up in the end. Remembering how foolish I’d felt that morning, my fighting spirit suddenly surged.
“You said it would be good if we could expand the support funds so people could buy and sell more things. I heard the festival coin planning proposal already passed the city committee, but the amount hasn’t been finalized yet. Everyone said let’s try to maximize the amount by requesting sponsorship from various places, and since everyone knows I live with you, they told me to try requesting from you…”
I was rapidly pouring out the story I’d organized in my head, but my courage faded when I reached the important part about requesting support funds. Why was my role always just asking Carlisle for favors? I suddenly felt wronged. Of course, this wasn’t for my personal benefit but for the village’s benefit… No, since it was ultimately a quest, it was for personal purposes too.
My thoughts couldn’t reach a conclusion and wandered, causing my words to trail off, but Carlisle answered simply.
“Alright.”
“Huh?”
“I said alright.”
This easily? At the very least, I’d been prepared to hear all sorts of things like “why should I do that,” “what’s with your meddling,” “I already spend a lot of money on you, do I have to spend money on that too,” “is my bank account the village’s public funds,” and I’d even thought about how to respond and counter-argue, but it all became pointless.
“That’s it? It seems like you’d have more to say.”
Carlisle even encouraged me to make more demands. He couldn’t have noticed that I was going to talk about Eira, could he?
I cleared my throat and subtly gauged his reaction. His expression seemed worse than before somehow. Even though we weren’t actually dating or anything like that, strangely enough, bringing up Eira’s name felt awkward. Because I didn’t know what kind of reaction that control freak would show.
Actually, the potion sales problem was solved, so I just needed to resolve the small issue of Eira coming to have fun. While life and death matters were important, you might wonder why I was even bothering with something like not being able to see a festival, but thinking about it, I was planning to return to reality after owing Eira until the very end.
I’d done enough for Elmer by curing Kate’s illness, and Seiz and Rosie would have a way to make a living. As for Carlisle… he seemed like he’d eat well and live well on his own in any case, and I’d be leaving him my farm too.
But I didn’t know what would happen to Eira, who’d been framed and exiled from the village. If she went back to living well like before, that was fine, but if that didn’t happen… I didn’t want to regret after returning to reality that I should have at least let her enjoy the festival.
But what will really happen to this world when I return?
While pondering Eira’s problem, my thoughts suddenly fixated elsewhere.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
