There was a person standing here who is infinitely embarrassed and bewildered by having to face an unknown culture without prior notice. Her name was Daisy Fager. That was me. At first glance, Rue received suspicious people. Situations like these required objective thought and judgment. I looked around calmly and organized my thoughts.
Where were we? The airship Rue called for is small, but it doesn't look like one of those made in series. It must be expensive. The time? 14:30 hours. We are back to Midwinterre. What was the situation? When I boarded the airship, people knelt and said something to Rue. Who was here? About thirty people. Foreigners. They wear Nordic-style clothes and white veils, so only their chins are seen. Most are men. There are about two women. Northern-style garments. …Indeed. When I look closely, everyone is wearing clothes from the Northern Continental Union. The clothes looked more like the traditional style of clothing I used to read about in books, not modern garments.
It had long and wide sleeves, enough to cover the hands, and a narrow waist. There was a waistband and earrings adorned with pearls and gold. Furthermore, with the thirty people dressed in the same white color, it seemed as if they were all going to participate in some religious ceremony or ritual. Let's make sense of this. Thirty people are gathered in a space as if they were going to perform a ritual. The conclusion I reached was as follows: Swindler! My God, Rue. I had thought it, but I didn't expect him to actually be a cult leader!
I looked at Rue, burning with desire to confirm my most logical conclusion. However, contrary to my expectations, Rue showed no reaction to the extreme hospitality shown to him. If he had looked at the people with an arrogant expression, as if this display of devotion were something natural, then it would have added credibility to my reasoning. He walked silently between the masked men on both sides, as if he couldn't see anything. His way of walking seemed neither arrogant nor complacent.
Was my assumption incorrect? Then what are these people? What was that big welcome? For some reason, I felt a little uncomfortable. No, not just a little, I felt this was very strange. A military atmosphere filled the air, with an aura of rigidity. Fervent shouts were heard, as if blindly invoking a hero in turbulent times. It seemed as if everyone was demonstrating a submissive posture before a conqueror. All these elements coexisted in one same space. How not to be strange?
And, above all, —Calepa! Calepa! At some point, I understood the word they kept chanting. Calepa? Was that Rue's real name? I turned my head and looked at Rue again. While he walked quietly forward, I noticed he had returned to his original form.
Following Rue, I picked up a white cloth embroidered with golden threads that reached me with the wind and went deeper into the ship. After going through four more hallways adorned with paintings, the atmosphere calmed instantly. Then I saw an enchanting landscape, nothing like anything I had seen before. Protected by a glass wall was a greenhouse. —Wow. A small bird with a red tail flew overhead. I could hear the sound of a nearby stream flowing along with the song of the small bird.
The airship was clearly a confined space, and yet, even with the presence of a body of flowing water, there was no excessively humid feeling in the air. Beyond the glass wall was a vast expanse and a forest. At my feet seemed to be the gate of a garden like the one in heaven. How much money did he invest in this ship? Maybe Rue was much richer than I expected.
At that moment, a strange crowd began to gather around Rue. There were three people who entered silently, like shadows. Armed in white from head to toe, like those who welcomed Rue, they approached him and began to fiddle with his hands. Then they began to undress him. Are they crazy? Why were they taking it all off in front of me? Rue didn't even seem to bother to pay attention to them as he continued walking, not caring if they were taking off his clothes or not.
It seemed this kind of conduct was natural. I guess it's his way of being. I can't be offended because Rue leaves me alone. Anyway, I wasn't in a position to get off this ship right now. I didn't like seeing people take off their clothes, so I focused my attention on the greenhouse. But even with that thought, I couldn't look away from Rue for a long time.
What… This was because they even touched the part where Rue could be, his little... They were taking off his garments one by one carefully, as if he were a child who couldn't take care of himself. Are they really going to go that far? Was Rue the kind of child in the family who was even hand-fed? Rue didn't seem to care at all where and how the perverts touched him. It didn't seem like something he had gone through only once or twice.
If it were a family tradition, as she was a stranger, she should have tried to understand it. I don't want to understand. For some reason it was very unpleasant. I hated it and that bothered me even more. Why was it so unpleasant? Was it because I felt everything would be uncomfortable if I were in Rue's place? Or did I simply hate seeing an adult man being treated like a child? I don't know.
Only one thing was clear. I didn't like it. I wanted to stop it. Then I only had one choice. —Hey. The three people, men and women, stopped and looked at me. I declared to them: —I'll take it off. From now on, I'll take care of changing Rue's clothes. As if it were a way of paying him for the free ride in the airship. Refusal is not an option.
Ah, right. Those people were foreigners. Could they understand me? My worries were eclipsed. The man who was taking off Rue's clothes looked at me more enthusiastically, bit his lips while he spoke. —How ungrateful you are! Saying something so disrespectful in front of Calepa… Disrespect? Is it rude that outsiders take off Rue's clothes here? They had all kinds of strange rules.
But the man didn't hesitate to criticize me. —Pay for the disrespect with your death! Death? No, that's too much. The man approached me and I, instinctively, slapped his cheek. This was in self-defense. It's not like I can die if you order me to, right? —Agh! The pervert's body stumbled slightly. However, he didn't lose his courage, as he pretended to fall and then tried to reach for my neck. So I slapped him on the other cheek too.
The man passed out. In the prolonged silence, I defended myself with a somewhat guilty voice. —Self-defense. The other two individuals looked at me with incredulity before quickly turning their heads and shaking their shoulders. All they could do was grab the half-removed sleeves of Rue's shirt and swallow saliva. —…Ha. It was a brief burst of laughter that replaced the silence. No, to be exact, the laughter was supposed to be short, but it turned into a longer one.
I stared at Rue's face as his shoulders shook and he laughed uncontrollably. I had never seen Rue laugh so helplessly; it made me wonder if I was seeing right. Rue, after having let out his emotions as he pleased, stopped after a point. He looked at me with a strange expression, slowly brushing his lips before throwing his shirt, which hung reluctantly from his arm, into the distance.
After taking off his shirt with such confidence, Rue turned his body to my side and then… —Miss Daisy. When our gazes crossed, a chill ran down my spine. His expression, crazed and blissful, transformed into a gaze full of intense joy and happiness, as he stroked my cheek with his fingers.
—If you wanted to undress me that much, you should have said so. Shyness and madness intermingled. Before that captivating beauty, my words were momentarily caught in my throat. You're not Morian right now. Why do you put on that face if you're not Morian? What was this? I felt as if I had discovered an unnecessary secret.
When I hesitated and stepped back, Rue looked back. He turned his head and pointed with his chin at the two remaining people. It was clearly a signal to indicate them to leave. —But Calepa. —We are here to serve Calepa… The reluctance of the man and the woman faded when Rue looked at them in silence. In an instant, they gasped and quickly lowered their heads. After kneeling briefly and greeting hastily, they disappeared from the greenhouse.
A bird sang somewhere. Rue, who looked at something without any expression, turned slowly toward me. Then, he opened his arms and said: —Well, I'm ready now, so take the rest off me. I reconfirmed it today. He was a madman. It wasn't even worth bothering to write "madman" correctly. I'll simply call him *mi* (loco/crazy) now. —No, Mr. Rue. Take it off yourself.