Chapter 11
On the way to the market, I said to Lian Qi, “Actually, I was a little surprised. That girl who acted heroically with you… her magic power was blue.”
“What? Is blue rare?”
“It’s alright. But it’s not like you can find them everywhere. She’s probably a Gold-rank adventurer,” I said.
Lian Qi nudged me with her elbow. “Hey, your sister taught me not to pay too much attention to magic color, but you seem pretty hung up on it.”
“Because… I’m only a half-wit when it comes to magic. The only way I can tell if someone is strong is the most direct way: looking at the color.”
“Also, what I was born with isn’t magic, but Holy Light. So I don’t ‘glow’ like mages do.”
“You didn’t listen to your sister at all. Magic color isn’t the only thing that affects the outcome of a battle,” Lian Qi said, glancing at me. Uuu, I feel like I’m being looked down on.
“That’s how Sister taught you, yes. But on the contrary, Sister didn’t want me to learn magic at all.”
I learned all my “Whack-a-Mole” skills from… ‘That person.’
“That just means your sister wants to protect you. That day, I told your sister you were kidnapped, and when she found out, she… she seemed to go crazy. She was terrifying.”
“…Really? I remember Sister being very calm when she came to save me.”
“She just wasn’t showing it in front of you.”
“Is… that so…”
Thinking about it… Sister really is that kind of person. She’s clearly been through so much, but she always acts strong in front of me.
“I think it’s better if I don’t leave your side from now on. To keep you from being kidnapped.”
“…It probably won’t happen again,” I said weakly.
That time was really just an accident. It was my fault for being careless… and getting knocked unconscious. And I ended up making Aijieliya and Lian Qi so worried. I’m really ashamed!
However.
Speaking of not leaving my side…
I stole a glance at Lian Qi’s delicate profile. Ever since she started wearing girl’s clothes, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with her on the street feels much more natural. And finally, passersby won’t mistake her for my boyfriend.
“What? Why are you sneaking peeks at me?”
Lian Qi caught me.
Looking at her reaction, she seems… embarrassed?
“Not really. I just feel that shopping with you is much more comfortable now that you’re in girl’s clothes.”
“Hmph. Is that so? But I… I have a sense of gain and loss.”
“…Huh?”
“Sense of gain and loss,” what the heck is that?
“When I wore boy’s clothes, walking on the street with you… I had ‘face.’ Now, no one thinks you’re my girlfriend.”
“Er, you’re actually upset about that? The whole ‘girlfriend’ thing is really embarrassing, okay—”
Of course, Lian Qi could never understand how shameful it is for me, a boy, to be mistaken for someone’s girlfriend…
“Look at that couple.”
I looked in the direction Lian Qi indicated and saw a boy with black hair and black clothes, and a girl with pink hair. They were at a vegetable stall picking out potatoes.
Oh, so it’s a couple out grocery shopping. As Lian Qi and I passed them, I heard the pink-haired girl say something like, “Raw potatoes are this hard? I’ve only ever eaten them when they’re mushy…” She’s a real airhead. If she’s in charge of cooking, that’s a real worry.
Casually, Lian Qi took my hand.
…I froze for a second. In that instant, we both instinctively turned to look at each other. It felt like everything around us faded away. The next second, we averted our gazes and silently kept walking. Lian Qi looked a little nervous. This ‘state’ was different from when she’s bullying me. And my own heart felt a little flustered.
But… in Lian Qi’s eyes, we’re both girls. So… holding hands is pretty normal, right? Besides, she’s already done far worse things to me—!
We held hands the whole way, only letting go when we were picking out vegetables.
On the way home, Lian Qi had no chance to hold my hand, because both of us were carrying a ton of delicious food in big and small bags. Oh, right. Because Lian Qi was in girl’s clothes, I got to browse an underwear store openly again. There was a really pretty pink nightgown I wanted to buy for Lian Qi, but she flatly refused. With her short, boyish hair, she can’t seem to accept overly “girly” clothes. Oh well. I’ll just buy it and give it to Qifeng. I’m sure Qifeng will be happy to wear it. Hmph.
“Good work. Just put the ingredients in the kitchen.” Back home, I opened the freezer and started stuffing the ingredients in, one by one.
“Eh? Your world shouldn’t have anything as advanced as a refrigerator. How does this cabinet stay cold?” Lian Qi came over and asked curiously.
“Because it’s packed with unmelting ice from the permafrost.”
“Wow, that’s really convenient,” she marveled.
“Mhm. Ice like this is everywhere in our world. But…”
I couldn’t help but put a finger to my lips. I’d suddenly thought of something serious.
“But what?” Lian Qi asked.
“But… I heard that recently, there have been occasional cases of this ‘unmelting ice’ suddenly… melting. I wonder if the freezers in ordinary people’s homes will be affected…”
“Huh? If the ice in someone’s freezer just disappears and their food spoils, I guess they just have to count themselves unlucky.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “That’s true.”
With the adventurers on the front lines, the most direct impact the permafrost has on common people is just their home freezers.
“Are you making dinner now?”
Lian Qi watched me washing vegetables and came over to ask. We’d been shopping for half the day, so it was already getting late. I nodded. “Mhm. Qifeng will be home from work soon, and dinner will be ready. Why don’t you go rest? Look over my class notes and review. I’ll be done soon.”
“No. I’ll help you cut the vegetables,” Lian Qi said, and began to wash her hands.
“Eh—?”
Did Lian Qi find out from Qifeng that I’m afraid of sharp objects, so she’s volunteering to help me cut vegetables?
I glanced at her and smiled knowingly.
“How come you were never this nice to me at Fontainebleau Manor?”
“Because back then… I only thought of you as a maid,” Lian Qi muttered.
”…”
I put down the potato in my hand and looked at her again. But she was… too shy to look at me?
Hearing that… I feel a little embarrassed.
“…Saying things like that all of a sudden can easily cause misunderstandings. Don’t tell me… you don’t see me as a maid anymore?”
“No. You think I’d forget that shameful look on your face when you blush and call me ‘Master’? I really want you to call me ‘Master’ every day, you know.”
Eh???
Why did she suddenly change her tune again?
Hmph. As I thought. She’s just a person who finds pleasure in seeing me ashamed!