I refrained from asking him if it was okay for other people to touch his body so much. I guess the reason he allowed them to do it in the first place was because it was okay. —*Mi*? What's that? Are you trying to act cute? —"*Mi*" means crazy or crazy person. It's a new abbreviation I came up with because I'm tired of asking Mr. Rue if he's crazy or not. I'm not acting cute, okay, *Mi*?
—Ah, that's creative. However, there's no difference between you acting cute and telling me for some other reason. —Crazy. Rue, who tilted his head at an angle, laughed at me. It was his usual laugh. Yes, I felt calmer seeing that and moved on. I saw a large bed on one side of the aerial greenhouse. What? A bed in a forest? It was such a fairy-tale landscape that I ran there without realizing it and threw myself on top.
Oh. —Eh? What an incredibly comfortable bed. How come it's so comfortable? I was speechless by the warmth that enveloped my back, neck, and hips. Rue, with his long legs, followed me slowly and looked at me with a mysterious gaze while I rolled in the bed. He had an unpleasant look. I buried my face in a warm pillow and looked at Rue. —What's up? If you have something to say, say it.
Rue made a grimace that said there was nothing like that. —Just now you were thinking something while you were looking at me, right? —Ah, that. I was thinking it's been a long time since I've seen someone else lying on my bed.
Ah. —Ejem. Rising slowly, I headed for the sofa next to the bed. The sofa was as wide and high as the bed, and probably as expensive. I sat on the sofa as if nothing had happened. —I acted as naturally as if it were my own bed. Now that we won't pretend we're married anymore, I should think a bit more about my actions.
Rue must have thought: “Oh, do you want to share the bed with me? Do you want to take off my clothes in bed? Then, come, take them off.” I thought he would tease me that way, as he was Rue, but he was sitting in front of me. However, psychological discomfort increased because Rue wore nothing but pants. It was even more embarrassing because, even though he was a mage, he had such a perfect body it seemed he had dedicated himself to swordplay for at least five years.
I looked around, pretending to see the garden and asked: —Mr. Rue, is your real name Calepa? The answer was unexpectedly simple. —No.
What did Calepa mean then? At the moment I was going to ask that, someone trampled the grass with his straight footsteps. From behind a small willow emerged someone different from the people I had seen here before. A black-haired man in daily modern clothes. A swordsman. I looked at the long sword hanging from the man's waist. I couldn't hear any resonance. As for his posture and his momentum, it didn't seem like he had very good skills. In other words, it meant he was an excellent enough swordsman to hide his skills even down to the resonance of his sword.
The man opened his mouth and spoke in quite proficient imperial language. —Long time no see, Calepa. I heard you dismissed the *senyots*. I've come in their place. The black-haired swordsman approached and kept his gaze on Rue. Only on Rue. The perverts from before were the same. Was I invisible to the people on this ship? —You must change. I'll help you.
The black-haired swordsman left his sword on the floor and approached Rue. The man sat on one knee in front of Rue and gently grabbed Rue's pants. Then, slowly, he began to pull them down. —Stop! These pervert children had no common sense!
My desperate cry finally made the black-haired swordsman turn toward me. With eyes full of caution, he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword on the grass, ready to cut my throat if necessary. But this guy is different from the perverts before. For this swordsman, undressing Rue seemed more like a task or a duty. The foreigners in this airship were strange in several ways. Even if the action is the same, one can harbor unpleasant intentions while the other can only have a sense of duty.
Physical conversations were reserved only for perverts and scum. Instead, I tried to have a civilized exchange with this guy, like a modern person. —Hello. The other party's surveillance did not decrease at all. There was no way a person who spoke the imperial language fluently could not understand a simple "hello." Still, I pronounced most of my words, trying to be a bit considerate. —I'm Daisy Fager. I'm your Calepa's companion. Calepa needs clothes to wear, he doesn't need to take off anything else.
The man's face seemed stunned for a moment. He turned correctly to Rue and asked him questions. —Calepa, this is… Rue replied indifferently. —Didn't you hear her? We are companions. —Companions… is it really so?
Not knowing if he was disappointed or surprised, I arched my eyebrows. Did he not understand what my companion meant, as he was a foreigner? Well, that wasn't very important. I continued pointing at Rue. —Calepa needs clothes. The black-haired swordsman looked at me again. It seemed he was looking at a madman. This weird guy, so he knew what change meant but not clothes? —Calepa needs clothes! Clothes! This is what I'm wearing! He needs clothes!
Maybe it was fun to see me struggling to make gestures so the foreigner could understand my words, but Rue chuckled. Then he spoke to the man. —What are you doing? Bring me some clothes to put on. She keeps whining. —…Yes, sir. The black-haired swordsman, who tilted his head with a doubtful expression, left the greenhouse.
—What? He understood it! Why did he act so slow? Anyway, as they were acquaintances of Rue, it was inevitable they behaved somewhat strangely. However, once again, I was not in a position to get off that ship. As a result, I got some clothes for Rue and no longer had to worry about those perverts, so I decided to behave.
I carefully observed the airship's greenhouse, clear result of modern magic. No matter how high the quantity and quality of the magic stones used, it was impossible to maintain such a complex ecosystem on an airship during a long-term trip. —Are those 30 people mages? Or was the level of magic they had reached in the North Continents a bit beyond what we could imagine here in the Empire?
—Have you never seen a place like this? Rue asked with a somewhat sleepy voice. Maybe he was looking at me while I contemplated the landscape with my mouth agape. —No. —I'm only going to answer one question, so squeeze your brain well and ask in advance.
Suddenly? I looked at Rue with suspicious eyes. No, I tried to look at him. His chest was so painfully beautiful I couldn't even look at it. It was just a man's bare chest, which I used to see every day when I was in the army, so why did I feel so uncomfortable at that moment? —Does it matter… what I ask? —No.
Little by little I was choosing the question in my mind. It would be best to ask about Rue's true identity or purpose. But if I asked him that question, he would undoubtedly reply something like: "Do you dare ask such a greedy question? Are you trying to feast on an answer when your plant hasn't even bloomed yet?". So I chose a safer one. —How old are you, Mr. Rue?
Meanwhile, Rue was being dressed by the swordsman. The coat he wore was of a slightly darker blue than Rue's hair, and had a traditional northern style with silver embroidery adorned. People definitely looked different with those loose garments. The haughty and arrogant look they transmitted suited Rue well. Rue, moving his chin, as if he were agonizing over the question, finally asked the swordsman. —How old am I?
The man replied lightly. —This year you turned 179 years old. —What? —Already? Mmm. Just take off the last digit and think I'm 17 years old, Miss Daisy. Do you think that's possible? When I heard he knew Dian Cecht, I expected him to be older, but 179 years? Is that possible? The problem is it didn't seem like a lie. Of course, common humans couldn't live up to 179 years. Either he lengthened his life with powerful magic tools, or he reached the level of sword master. It must be one of two things.
I examined Rue's face with pure exclamation. His appearance was incredible, considering he was a grandfather of almost 200 years. —Mr. Rue… you're older than I thought. The black-haired man looked at Rue, suspicious of my words. Rue nodded indifferently. —Yes. —You're very, very old. The swordsman looked at me indignant at my words. Rue apologized halfway for the surprise. —I'm sorry. —I'll treat you a bit more like an old man from now on. —Thanks a lot for that, but please don't say that at home. —I won't.
Then I fell asleep for a very short time. I had closed my eyes with the intention of taking a little nap, but when I opened them, it was already dark outside. Furthermore, as before, I was lying on the bed. —Agh. When I'm with Rue, strangely I slept very well. Shortly after stretching a bit, Rue took me out of the greenhouse. The airship was already docked at Midwinterre's high-speed air station. Did he wait for me to wake up to leave? The black-haired swordsman who guided us through the airship knelt one last time to greet Rue. —See you next time. Take care, Calepa.
After dismissing him, we left the station. Finally I returned home after all the trouble. There was one thing I learned from this excursion. Never, never again would I leave home.