Chapter 172. Joining (2)

When I went outside, the intense sunlight made me squint my eyes. The scent of sweet spices, unique to street food, brushed against the tip of my nose.

Enoch looked around at the scenery in front of him.

Under the bright daytime sky of the 19th outsourcing district, numerous people were bustling about in the central square paved with stones.

It was certainly no lie that all the floating population of the city was here, as Ronto had said.

A countless crowd filled the central square area and was strolling around here and there.

“What, this place, it suddenly got so crowded!”

And in front of Enoch, an excited Sirocco and Nano were trotting ahead.

“Well, I did suggest it.”

April, who was walking beside them, asked Nano with a worried look.

“Is it really okay for us to be playing like this? There isn’t much time left until we depart. In case, Nano, if you have any maintenance left to do…”

“Ah, it’s fine! A genius engineer doesn’t waste time!”

Nano smiled refreshingly as she gently stroked the drone that was floating and following behind her.

“This outing also serves as a test run for the drone!”

“What’s a test run?”

When Sirocco asked from the side, Nano grinned.

“It’s like this!”

And then, she lowered the thin, mechanical-designed metal visor on her head with two fingers.

The sleek visor, when seen from the front, only half-covered her refreshing eyes, and when combined with Nano’s beauty, it looked like a unique accessory.

She seemed to have worn it when welding in the workshop last time, so it must be an artifact that also functions as a VR display linked to the drone.

Nano pointed to the visor and grinned.

“Simply put, if there’s anything you want, just let me know! I’m planning on trying out various things with the drone outdoors!”

Nano pointed her index finger up to the sky.

As if responding to Nano’s will through magic, the cross-shaped drone was spinning around in the air, guarding Nano.

The way it responded to commands in a refreshing manner somehow resembled its owner.

“Hmph, you, do you like that thing so much?”

As his gaze was stolen by Nano and the drone, he suddenly felt Sirocco’s coy gaze from the side.

“…As expected, is it because I haven’t grown yet and I’m lacking?”

Sirocco said, lifting her chin proudly. At her ruby-like eyes that seemed somewhat displeased, Enoch tilted his head.

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Sirocco replied with slightly pouting lips, then turned her head and muttered, openly glaring at Nano’s chest who was walking beside her.

“You, you need that big-chested female, don’t you?”

“……Chest? What?”

While Enoch was tilting his head for a moment, Sirocco crossed her arms by herself and muttered coyly.

“Hmph, I’ve known your taste as a male for a while now.”

“……”

“That silver-haired maid, that pink-haired one, the Saintess, and the brown-haired girl.”

“No, I mean, what does that…”

Before Enoch could say anything, Sirocco turned her head with a swish, and with her ears perked up, she lifted her chin at Nano who was beside her.

“Hey, you, your name is Nano, right?”

“Yes! Did you call me!”

“Hey, then shall I test that thing for you?”

Nano immediately turned to Sirocco and asked back refreshingly.

“Oh! A test, you say, how so?”

“You said you’d fight with us anyway. I want to be convinced of your skills too.”

“Ah! Then what should I do?”

“Well, I’ll try to catch that drone, so you move it and try to avoid me! I’ll be super gentle!”

Sirocco triumphantly placed her hands on her hips and gave a provocative smile, as if asking, can you really do it?

When Nano smiled cheerfully and said, “Ahaha! Alright!”, the drone suddenly flew over Sirocco’s head and started spinning around as if to tease her.

“It’s already started? Hmph, alright!”

Sirocco jumped up to catch the drone, but the drone, made of cross-shaped panels, simply rose up into the sky above her as if to tease her.

And then, the drone wiggled its body in the high sky as if laughing cheerfully from side to side.

Sirocco, as if provoked by its appearance, revealed her small canines, stomped her feet, and clenched her fists.

“Ugh, that thing!”

Sirocco immediately started jumping up and down, wagging her tail at the drone flying in the sky. Then, Nano also grinned and followed her.

“It’s better not to go too far! The drone can be controlled even from a distance, but there are a lot of people around!”

Nano suddenly stopped, glanced back at Enoch, and asked with a bright smile.

“Ah! Direct lineage-nim, is it okay for us to play like this?”

“Are you asking for my opinion?”

“Yes! And you can speak comfortably to me!”

Nano smiled brightly as she faced Enoch. Her long hair fluttered in the wind.

“Anyway, as you said earlier, it would be better for me to temporarily join Lord Enoch’s squad to help this outsourcing district. Wouldn’t it be more convenient for you to command the squad if you speak comfortably?”

“That makes sense. Then let’s do that.”

Enoch, as if he had been waiting, naturally spoke comfortably, glanced around, and asked Nano a favor.

“There are a lot of people around. It seems better to refrain from making a commotion as much as possible. Don’t be too loud.”

“Yes! Then I’ll send the drone to a place with no people!”

Nano gave a playful salute with two fingers, and then lightly walked after Sirocco who was chasing the drone.

“I’ll go with you too!”

And so, the wolf-eared girl who seemed a little heated and the drone that was circling the sky took the lead.

And behind them, the slender engineer with white-gold hair fluttering, disappeared far into the square, laughing brightly.

Enoch sighed as he watched the two of them.

…Somehow, it seemed that Nano and Sirocco got along quite well, one way or another.

Enoch, who was watching them for a moment, suddenly realized that the gazes of Ronto and April, who were left beside him, had become even more peculiar.

When he looked to the side, April, who was staring at me blankly, muttered with a somewhat fed-up expression.

“W-wow, look at him speaking comfortably right away…”

“Is there a problem?”

“Ah, no. It’s more natural that way.”

April sighed for a moment, and then pointed to herself with her finger.

“Ah, and you can speak comfortably to me too. In the first place, it’s more uncomfortable for me if a client who is a direct lineage of the Elsyde Domain doesn’t speak comfortably.”

Enoch nonchalantly nodded and replied.

“Alright, then let’s do that.”

“…H-he really replies instantly. It doesn’t matter, though.”

He ignored April’s even stranger gaze and started walking. Then, Enoch glanced around and asked nonchalantly.

“So, what I’m curious about is, what on earth is this festival?”

He had come out to look around for a bit, but he was concerned. A festival in an outsourcing district on the verge of a large-scale battle with magical beasts. He had a hunch that it wasn’t just any ordinary event.

“─It’s the Lantern Festival.”

Just then, a familiar male voice echoed from a high place behind him. Enoch stopped for a moment and looked up at that place.

The voice was coming from on top of an iron structure that looked like an installation-type crane used at construction sites.

“We, the non-mages, are also stepping up our preparations since there are only a few days left until the event.”

As Enoch was looking at the figure silhouetted against the backlight for a moment, Ronto, who had stopped abruptly beside him and lifted his head, widened his eyes and exclaimed.

“Master!”

A man with an unkempt beard, wearing a hood.

A person that Enoch also knew. The one who was related to Ronto when Enoch visited the Underground last time.

Was he the leader of the guard of the [Underground], a group where non-mages gathered in the 19th outsourcing district?

But why was he in the central square, not the subway platform where he usually hid?

Meanwhile, the guard captain, as if he was puzzled in his own way, glanced at Enoch and then looked at Ronto again and sighed.

“We meet again, Ronto. It’s only been a few days since we last saw each other. Who on earth is that big shot you’re with?”

“Do you know me?”

At Enoch’s reply, he slowly nodded his head.

“Of course. Aren’t you the dangerous direct lineage of Elsyde?”

“Dangerous, you say.”

“There’s too little known about you compared to the rumors. Usually, in such cases, it can be assumed that a rather bad background is involved. I don’t trust any of the Main House humans.”

“…”

“…Hmm, don’t take it to heart. It’s just a complaint.”

He sat on the iron structure, lifted his head from under the hood of his long robe, and looked up at the sky. Then he pointed to the sunny sky.

“The Lantern Festival is an event where the citizens of the outsourcing district, who don’t know when they will die, fly lanterns with their life’s wishes on the night of the festival. I hear the lights can be seen from very far away.”

He said so and naturally lowered his arm, this time pointing to his side.

In the distance of the square, the non-mages of the Underground were making sky lanterns by weaving bamboo frames at a simple booth, with their hoods pulled down.

“Ah! Those people, I’ll go help them too!”

Ronto, as if he knew them, immediately turned to Enoch and asked for permission. As soon as Enoch nodded, Ronto disappeared in that direction.

Enoch, who was watching his back for a moment, suddenly had a puzzled thought and opened his mouth.

“Is it okay for the non-mages of the Underground to come up to the surface like this and participate in the festival preparations?”

“Even the non-mages who are ostracized in the outsourcing district are not attacked by even Scavengers during this Lantern Festival. That’s how meaningful the festival is.”

The guard captain stood up, saying something ominous like, a unit of Scavengers was annihilated by freelancers hired by merchants when they did that at a previous festival.

His head was inadvertently nodded at those words. Well. I guess the citizens of the outsourcing district have a bit of a temper too.

As he was naturally looking around, his gaze suddenly shifted to the area around the square.

Seeing the oriental design of the sky lanterns being made at a booth under a tent, Enoch naturally tilted his head.

“By the way, it’s strange that there’s an event in the Magic Empire where they fly sky lanterns with no magic in them.”

“Well, because it’s not a culture that started in the Empire.”

“What do you mean?”

At Enoch’s question, the man shrugged his shoulders.

“They say that making and flying sky lanterns with wishes is a custom of one of the large kingdoms of the ‘Eastern Lands’ that used to interact with the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain in the past. It’s said to be the place where they brought in the tea time culture of the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain.”

“The Eastern Lands.”

“That’s right. They say it’s a place you have to cross a huge sea outside the Empire to get to. They say they are people who can’t even use magic, but it seems they have their own culture.”

Enoch tilted his head. The Eastern Lands was a region that was only mentioned occasionally in the original work.

If there were stories of such cultural exchanges, could there be a country of considerable size in the east outside the Empire?

The guard captain continued.

“It takes some effort to make the sky lanterns by hand, but it’s one of the few events that even non-mages who can’t use magic can somehow make and participate in.”

“The purpose seems good.”

“The outlook in reality is not so good. It’s an event where non-mages can at least openly show their talents in this outsourcing district, but the budget provided by the council has been continuously reduced……”

He added gravely in a low tone.

“And with the situation as it is this time, it seems this Lantern Festival won’t be held on a grand scale.”

“I suppose so.”

Even if it was a festival, suddenly canceling a large event could cause unnecessary confusion in the outsourcing district.

So the outsourcing district probably decided to go ahead with this festival, but it would be difficult to hold a grand festival on the eve of a massive attack by magical beasts.

The guard captain sighed on top of the structure.

“Go and enjoy the festival. It won’t be good for your reputation to be seen with a non-mage like me and a direct lineage of Elsyde.”

“I don’t particularly mind such things.”

Enoch nodded. He had to follow Sirocco and Nano, who had already disappeared in the distance.

“Then, next time.”

“Be careful on your way.”

Leaving his meaningful gaze behind, Enoch slowly turned and walked away. From the side, April, who was left alone, shrugged and followed him with a patter.

***

As the two of them walked in the square in silence for a while, perhaps she was bored by the silence. April threw a word at me.

“So, it’s just the two of us left? Direct lineage-nim.”

“It seems so.”

When Enoch replied nonchalantly, April, with her eyes half-closed under the brim of the ball cap she was wearing, asked suggestively.

“You know, the way you spoke so easily, and all that. Are you always that nonchalant?”

“Probably.”

She glanced at me for a moment, and then, with an expression that seemed unsure of herself, she tilted her head and muttered.

“Hmm. It’s strange, it’s a way of speaking that gives me a sense of déjà vu for some reason?”

At her voice, which was filled with a strange doubt, Enoch flinched and stopped talking.

Since his voice was not heard clearly because it was covered by the visor when he was active as a freelancer in the outsourcing district, there was no fear of being caught by this much.

…Probably.

April stared at me for a moment, and then suddenly turned her head to the side and looked over the festival grounds.

And then she spotted something and pointed to it.

“Ah! I’m bored, shall we try that?”

A cork shooting gallery with a modern atmosphere, different from the quaint feeling of the surrounding square.

Looking around the festival grounds for a moment, it seemed to be a street stall operating on a trial basis before the festival. It was a strangely large and well-equipped facility, with a display on the high ceiling showing the score.

Enoch was led to the front by April.

Looking at the information sign, the higher the score on the target, the smaller it became, and the system was to shoot 5 shots and choose a prize according to the high score.

A few people were already shooting at the shooting range, but it was so difficult to hit that only sighs were erupting from here and there.

- Hah, this gun. It doesn’t hit where I’m aiming at all!

- Even the lowest score target is too small to hit!

- Did they rig this or something? Jeez.

Enoch, who had been watching the surrounding participants with faces full of complaints for a moment, added.

“It doesn’t matter, but that toy gun’s accuracy is not very…”

“Hey, why are you so picky? Then let’s go!”

April grabbed Enoch’s sleeve and dragged him to the front, raising her hand high.

“Here, one, please~!”

April received a toy gun from the event staff, inserted a 5-shot clip with cork bullets into the chamber, and pulled the charging lever on the side with a click.

Enoch, who was watching April, who seemed strangely full of motivation, asked with a little puzzlement.

“Is there a prize you want here or something?”

“Well, there’s no prize I want here, but! Yo!”

April suddenly spun around and shouldered the gun, her pink hair fluttering under her ball cap, and then she leaned over the shooting range and brought her eye to the mechanical sight.

And then, she held her breath and pulled the trigger.

The next moment, with a cheerful clanging sound, the thin metal plate hit by the cork flew back coolly and fluttered back and forth.

A direct hit on the highest score target.

Before Enoch could even be impressed by her lightning-fast movement, April moved the muzzle of the gun like a knife, changed her aim to the next target, reloaded, and pulled the trigger.

Hit, hit, hit, hit.

A clear metallic sound rang out in succession on the highest score target, and immediately, a fanfare erupted on the huge display screen on the ceiling.

Immediately, a recorded electronic voice from the speaker spread a congratulatory message in all directions.

─[Full score! Full score! First prize hit! It’s a hit!!]

-Wow, wow, how did she hit all of them…….

-Could it be magic with some kind of aim assist?

Amidst the sudden news that a full scorer had appeared, and the gazes of the many customers around were all focused on her.

“Ahaha, this much is nothing!”

April triumphantly put the cork gun on her shoulder and swept her pink hair back. Then, she looked back at Enoch with a smiling face.

“How was it, direct lineage-nim? Did you see that?”

“You’re a good shot.”

“Hmph! Of course, of course~♪”

She lifted her chin and placed her hands on her hips.

“For the super-talented sniper April-nim, a toy like a cork air gun with no zero adjustment is no problem at all, you know? Did I earn some points to be entrusted with future missions with this?”

April, who had returned the air gun, stood in front of the prize display, and hummed an unknown song, “Then~ what should I choose for the prize~♪”, and tapped her fingers.

Enoch, who was watching her from behind, asked quietly.

“There was no prize you wanted, is it okay for a freelancer to waste their talent in a place like this?”

The previous April that Enoch had seen was ashamed of her shooting talent.

The only talent recognized in the Empire’s society was magic. Therefore, her marksmanship, which she had learned to cover up that flaw, was also something to be ashamed of.

…At least, that was what April herself seemed to think.

Above all, for that reason, she didn’t seem to have boasted of her shooting skills so openly, so had there been a change of heart?

Just then, April lifted her head with a swish.

“Well, someone told me not too long ago. That I could be a little more proud of my shooting skills!”

April placed her hands on her white waist, which was exposed under her short tank top, and smiled.

“Actually, my marksmanship is a trick I learned by myself to cover up my shortcomings as a mage, you know?”

She tilted her slightly flushed cheeks.

“I never thought that such a trick I had practiced alone would be recognized by someone… and be needed.”

“……”

“Actually, I’ve always desperately hidden it from my clients while working as a freelancer.”

“Hidden?”

April shrugged for a moment, and then walked gracefully in front of Enoch, lightly clasping her two hands behind her back.

“I was afraid I’d be considered a flawed freelancer who was just struggling because I had no talent for magic. But last time…”

April turned around with a twirl and smiled brightly. Her pink hair fluttered in the sunlight and held a translucent light.

“So, well, I’m going to try being proud for once!”

Enoch nodded his head silently as he faced her. Was she remembering the words he had said in the outsourcing district?

Just then, April looked around quickly, came closer, poked her head in, and whispered.

“…By the way, is that person really not coming to this operation?”

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