After leaving the castle, we got on a horse-drawn carriage.
After taking a tour of the castle town in a horse-drawn carriage, we returned to Sakura's house.
"Ladies, are you back?" (Kagari)
When we returned to the room, Kagari-san greeted us while drinking tea.
"Kagari-sama, I'm back." (Sakura)
"Kagari-sama, are you alone?" (Shinobu)
Kagari-san was the only one in the room.
"If it was Suzuran, I kicked her out because she was annoying. She didn't need to take care of concubine. However, because of it, she had my alcohol taken away."
Is that why you're drinking tea?
"Drinking alcohol during the day is not good for your health, so I think Suzuran is being considerate." (Sakura)
"So, how was the castle?" (Kagari)
Kagari-san looked at Noa and the others.
"it was fun" (Noa)
"The view from the top was beautiful." (Misa)
"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it." (Kagari)
It's like an older woman looking at a child with warm eyes.
However, she looked younger than Noa and the others, so it felt strange.
"Also, I met a princess. She was beautiful." (Shuri)
Shuri spoke with a smile.
"Princess? Honoka?" (Kagari)
"Then, Shinobu and Juubei played a match against Yuna-sama." (Sakura)
"Why is he going to the castle?" (Kagari)
"It's not my fault. Master set it up. Moreover, he wanted to fight Yuna, so he used me as a substitute." (Shinobu)
Ah, that's what I thought.
He said some plausible things to Shinobu, but in the end it felt like Juubei-san wanted to play me.
"So, you fought against Shinobu and Juubei?" (Kagari)
"Well, just in case." (Yuna)
"I don't care about the match with Shinobu, but I wanted to see the match with Juubei." (Kagari)
"It's terrible that you don't care about my game." (Shinobu)
"If you think so, then you should improve your skills even more." (Kagari)
"Ugh" (Shinobu)
Kagari-san seemed interested in a match with Juubei-san, so I talked to her about it.
"Hehe, he hates to lose, so when he lost to you, he must have laughed on his face and cried in his heart." (Kagari)
Kagari-san smiled.
"Isn’t that normal?" (Yuna)
Everyone wanted to win.
I didn't think anyone would be happy if they lost.
"Normally, that's the case. But sometimes it's different. When you fight an opponent much bigger than yourself, you feel resignation, respect, awe, and all sorts of other emotions, and usually you don't feel like trying again." (Kagari)
Please don't call people like monsters.
"That's right. I don't want to fight a big snake again." (Shinobu)
"Please stop putting me on the same level as a giant snake." (Yuna)
"Yuna is more than that." (Shinobu)
Laughter erupted from those around me.
Then, while talking about the castle, Noa and the others started relaxing.
"As expected, this tatami is nice." (Noa)
"Yeah, it feels good." (Shuri)
Noa and Shuri lazed around on the tatami.
"Noa, don't do it. Shuri, don't copy either." (Yuna)
Be careful of Noa and Shuri who were lying on the tatami mat.
"Sorry" (Noa)
"Ugh, sorry." (Shuri)
"If you're going to do it, wait until you get to Kagari-san's house." (Yuna)
That house was spacious and no one could see us.
You could roll around as much as you like.
Besides, I understood the feeling of wanting to laze around on the tatami.
"I don’t really care." (Sakura)
As Sakura said, Noa was a noble's daughter.
I didn't want Cliff to get mad at me later.
"Noa should follow Misa's example and be a little more like a young lady." (Yuna)
"That's terrible. I'm Misa's role model." (Noa)
"Hehe, Noa-onee-sama is a sister I admire." (Misa)
"Even if you admire someone, don’t emulate their bad qualities." (Yuna)
"Yes" (Misa)
"Misa, please don’t reply to that." (Noa)
Laughter leaked from everyone around me.
"However, I'm glad you like the tatami." (Sakura)
"I want one at my house too." (Noa)
"Then, should we buy it and take it home?" (Yuna)
"Is it okay?" (Noa)
"Yuna-onee-sama, I want it too." (Misa)
"Me too!" (Shuri)
Misa and even Shuri responded to Noa's words.
"Shuri, we don't have a place to put it in our room, so that's not possible." (Fina)
"Ugh" (Shuri)
It's true that Noa and Misa's rooms were spacious.
I didn't know the exact size though. It's spacious anyway.
Even if you put about 6 tatami mats on it, there was still plenty of room.
On the other hand, Fina's and the Shuri's room was about 6 tatami mats, so there was no space for it.
All the floors needed to be made of tatami mats.
When that happened, things like beds, dressers, desks, along with others became inconvenient.
"Shuri. I have tatami mats at my house, so you can come over whenever you like." (Yuna)
"Really!? Yuna-neechan, it's a promise." (Shuri)
I ended up purchasing tatami mats, and Shinobu arranged it for me. "I'm going to go for a while," Shinobu said and left.
"Everyone is going home tomorrow. I'm going to miss you." (Sakura)
Sakura said pensively.
We were scheduled to leave Land of Harmoni tomorrow.
"Yuna-san, where are we going next?" (Noa)
"That's about it. I'm thinking of going to the elf village. Will Sakura and Kagari-san come too?" (Yuna)
When I asked, Sakura and Kagari-san's faces turned into faces of surprise.
"Are you sure?" (Sakura)
"I don't plan on staying that long, that's all." (Yuna)
"No problem. I want to meet Luimin-san." (Sakura)
Sakura raised her voice.
"I see. It's not a bad idea to see his face for the first time in a while." (Kagari)
Kagari-san looked a little happy to meet Mumloot-san.
"Yuna-san, who is Luimin-san?" (Noa)
Noa and the others didn't know about Luimin either, since I didn't talk about it when we were talking with Princess Honoka.
"He's one of the heroes who saved this country." (Yuna)
I didn't lie.
If Luimin wasn't there, the serpent's resurrection would have been hastened, and it might have been a big deal.
"Luimin-san has nothing to do with this country, but she risked her life to save this country." (Sakura)
"Did Luimin-san also fight the serpent?" (Noa)
"Fighting isn't the only thing that makes a hero. It's also important to support those who are fighting." (Yuna)
The same applied for Sakura.
Kagari-san and I were able to fight because Sakura and Luimin poured mana into strengthening the seal and suppressing the serpent.
"So, she assisted Yuna-san in the battle?" (Noa)
"We're going to a place where there are such amazing people, aren't we?" (Misa)
Noa and Misa looked impressed.
"I've met them before." (Shuri)
"Shuri, is it true!?" (Noa)
"Yeah, she's a beautiful girl." (Shuri)
That's it. Shuri had met Luimin, right?
"We played in that lake together." (Shuri)
"Hero, girl, what kind of person is she?"
"She's an elf, so she must be beautiful."
Luimin was becoming more and more beautiful.
Interesting.
"Yuna-onee-chan" (Fina)
While I was listening to Noa's conversation, Fina grabbed my arm and shook me.
"Is it okay to say something like that? Luimin-san is in trouble." (Fina)
"It's not like I'm lying." (Yuna)
"That's right, but……" (Fina)
Luimin was definitely a beautiful girl.
She was a strong-hearted girl who continued to use mana to subdue the serpent by strengthening the serpent's seal even in the face of danger.
It was definitely thanks to Luimin that we were able to defeat the serpent.
Well, normally Luimin was a cute girl who is flustered.
After finishing dinner, Shinobu came back and started doing something on the table with Shuri.
"Shuri, what are you doing?" (Yuna)
"Shinobu-nee-chan is amazing. She can make all kinds of things with paper." (Shuri)
"I get embarrassed when I get praised so much." (Shinobu)
When I looked in front of Shinobu, I saw colorful paper, including birds and flowers made of paper.
"Oh, origami." (Yuna)
"Yuna-nee-chan, do you know?" (Shuri)
"You make all kinds of things with paper." (Yuna)
Crane was famous as a standard.
Unfortunately, I didn't know much about origami.
I didn't grow up in an environment where people played with origami, but I was never a child who was interested in origami. When I was in kindergarten, I folded a crane.
Therefore, I could only make cranes.
I picked up a piece of paper and started folding it.
And the crane was completed.
It's been about 10 years since I last folded it, but I remembered it.
"Bird?" (Shuri)
Shuri asked while looking at the crane I folded.
It had spread wings and a long neck, making it looked like a bird.
"Roughly." (Yuna)
I didn't know if there were cranes in this world, so I would just call them birds.
"Yuna-san, what are you doing?" (Noa)
"I was folding origami." (Yuna)
Noa and the others peeked in.
"This is a bird." (Noa)
I was glad that Noa recognized it as a bird too.
"Shinobu-san, are there flowers or butterflies in front of you?"
"You make things that are surprisingly girly." (Yuna)
"Excuse me. I'm a girl." (Shinobu)
Shinobu's words made me laugh.
"Origami is nostalgic."
"Did Sakura do it too?"
"Yes, I have had it with my mother." (Sakura)
"Um... I'm sorry."
"No, don't worry about it."
Sakura picked up a piece of yellow paper and began folding it.
By deftly folding the paper, she made a three-dimensional flower out of it.
"It’s amazing." (Noa)
"I can’t believe you can make flowers out of paper."
"Sakura-neechan, I want to make it too!" (Shuri)
"Me too"
When Noa and Fina praised her, Shuri said she wanted to make it, and everyone else chimed in.
"Hehe, that's fine. Well then, let's all make it together." (Sakura)
People gathered around Sakura.
"Sakura-sama took everyone away. I was the one who made them first..." (Shinobu)
"Don't say that, Shinobu, let's do this together." (Sakura)
"Even Sakura-sama won't lose." (Shinobu)
After that, we made various kinds of origami until we went to bed.
There were foxes, but no bears, so I was a little disappointed.
Kagari-san looked triumphant as she watched the origami being made.
"I'm sorry. I've never made a bear before." (Sakura)
"Well, we don't normally make bears out of origami." (Shinobu)
"Foxes are a legend, and some people created them." (Kagari)
"I'll make an origami bear before Yuna-sama comes next." (Sakura)
"You don’t have to force yourself to make it." (Yuna)
"No, I'm sure someone knows how to fold a bear. Even if they don't, I'll make it for you." (Sakura)
Sakura said emphatically.
Well, I'll look forward to it.
Author's Note
...
*Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Please note that some kanji have been revised to match the book, so some may not have been revised.