Sunday!
A day of rest! A day of heaven before the devil’s day of the week—Monday!
And—!
…Um, if nothing’s planned in particular, it is simply a day with nothing to do…
Oh my god, I’ve nothing to do!!
I really had an empty schedule today. Father went to visit his friend, a count, who had been in an accident, and Theodore was at practical training with the knights which had started two days ago and only would return two days from now. So, he was not home. My friends have been busy lately, I couldn’t get in touch with them.
…In short—
I.Am.So.Idle!!
Killing time was not my forte. I needed to have a full schedule for the days to pass by. It would be even better if work was included in that schedule. I was that type of person.
I had no idea how to spend my time when I suddenly had nothing planned. I didn’t really have any hobbies other than eating sweets, and I wasn’t a big fan of reading nor hunting. I found horseback rides enjoyable, but… I was not in the mood for that.
I felt like asking our chef for a feast of all-I-can-eat homemade sweets! But… recently we had some bad luck with our ingredients supplier for our sweets, so we were out of stock of any decent ingredients other than the sugar that I had been purchasing directly.
In other words, I couldn’t have that all-I-can-eat buffet… I had nothing to do…
Aaaah, if at least Theodore was here, he could keep me company in this time of idleness!
It was only at these times that the knights decided to have their practical training…
Theodore started to have more and more engagements with the Knights Order and the Ministry of Magic. We weren’t together as much as we used to be. It just highlighted how much was expected of him, and that Theodore was indeed a genius.
*sighs*
But… I’m so bored… Isn’t there anything I can do? Anything fun… If only Theodore was here, fun would have been guaranteed… Regardless of whether we stay at home or go outside… Now that Theodore is gone, I should do what we usually do without him… I wonder what it is… What can I do?
Suddenly, it occurred to me: Yes, let’s go to town!
The royal capital, the capital city of Janvangar, faced the sea to the south and a river to the east. The royal palace, where His Majesty the King resides, was built on top of a mountain in the middle of the river, with the townhouses of the higher nobility lining the bottom of the mountain and the merchant quarter along the lower reaches of the river and the coast. The commoners and lower nobility settled on the west side of the capital; further west, on the outskirts of the capital, were the farmlands.
I left the Minusle townhouse and headed for Natcheil, located between the merchant district and the noble residences in the lower reaches of the river—where shops were lined up— also known as the largest shopping district in the capital. There were a lot of shops in there, from commoner run storefronts to high-class shops that even the nobles could hardly afford.
As the largest shopping district in the capital of Janvangar, Natcheil had heavy traffic of both people and goods. And… What could I say; this was the treasure trove of sweet shops!
So, on this particular Sunday with so much free time on my hands, I decided to spend the day here in this town.
Yay!! A tour of sweet shops!!!
I couldn’t possibly do this with Theodore; he can’t handle sweet food that well! For now, I’ll just go to the five shops I always frequent, then wander around to find the places that catch my fancy, and be the foodie I am—eat until I’m happy and full! Firstly, let’s go to Applepea—a shop famous for Tarte Tatin!!1 Let’s go!
“Oh! Mr. Urschel! I’m so sorry! All our tarts were bought up…”
“What?! You’ve gotta be lying…!”
“We don’t have any more Tarte Tatin ready to bake today, so we’re sold out. You’ll have to come back another day.”
“No way….”
Ugh, I started off on the wrong foot! But there were still other shops to visit.
Next stop, creme brulee2!
“Waaaa, I’m shoo shoorrryy! Urschel-sama! Just now, everything was shooold outttt!! If I knew Urschel-sama would be coming, I’d have saved up some for youuuu!!”
“It can’t be helped. Here, let me give you a handkerchief so you can stop crying. I’ll come back next time.”
But seriously, even the creme brulees? Ummm… Th-this is just a coincidence, right? Anyway, next!
“…Urschel-sama, we’re really, really… sorry…”
“Sold out?”
“Yes… all the Deluxe-Super-Tornado-Sparkle-Shiny-Fruit-Cakes were eaten by a customer who came just a while before…”
“Is that so? I was looking forward to eating Deluxe-Super-Tornado-Sparkle-Shiny-Fruit-Cake, but I’ll come again…”
“I apologize. Next time, I’ll prepare the best Deluxe-Super-Tornado-Sparkle-Shiny-Fruit-Cake for you.”
I think I’m going to cry.
But! But, surely the next one would be okay! Right?! If they also don’t have any stock left, I’m gonna cry for real!
“…”
“…”
They didn’t… I was nearly in tears…
“How was the Gulab Jamun3 also sold out…”
“Urschel-sama, I’m sorry. Some boy ate them all up with tremendous momentum. That child could just munch on Janvangar’s second sweetest dessert like he was eating a staple food, and then he left.”
""
Gulab Jamun was a sweet that looked like a doughnut (hole) soaked in syrup. Its brain-piercing sweetness was said to give you heartburn after just one bite. It was the second sweetest sweet in Janvangar–the first was custard pudding. But still, to casually eat Gulab Jamun as if it were a staple food…
I couldn’t hide my shock at the fact that it was sold out, but I’m sure I could hit it off with that guy!
Alas!
I also want to eat sweet things!
Next!
“Urschel-sama! Please listen! There was a very terrible customer!!”
“Could it be…he ate everything, so it’s now sold out?”
“YES! That customer licked his plate clean and ate up all m-my Golden Balls! What should I do… It’s all empty now! He drank to the very last drop!”
“…Would you please stop shortening the name of that assortment of gold king kiwis cut into ball shapes as ‘Golden Balls’? It’ll only lead to misunderstanding4.”
Wuuuuuu… Not here too! No way, all the shops I always frequented wouldn’t be sold out, right? Not all, right?
I’m already half-crying! What do I do!
I had come all this way for sweets! I was desperate for sweets, so I visited every shop I could find. However, not only the usual shops, but all the sweets shops I saw had all their goods either completely consumed or bought up.
“W-Why….”
How could I be so unlucky? My sweets… I couldn’t believe my happiness was nowhere to be found…
And apparently, this was caused all by the same person: a boy with a sweet tooth and a huge appetite. And he seemed to be a very fast eater, eating up his dessert in seconds… Really, just what sort of person is he?
In terms of having a sweet tooth, we seemed to be on the same level, but now I kind of resent the guy. Why did he finish off everything…? Couldn’t he at least leave some for me…
Ha~ It was at that moment when I let out a sigh…
“N-NO…!”
“Shut up and just come with us!” “We’ll be troubled if you don’t behave, young boy.”
…that I heard disturbing and unsettling voices.
Natcheil had a labyrinth of back alleys just off the main street. The back alleys, which were built by successive landlords since the beginning of the Janvangar’s history without any consideration for convenience or rationality, were unorganised and complicated. It has been said that if a newcomer enters this place, they would never be able to leave again because of the many narrow streets, twists and turns, and even trap-like cul-de-sacs.
However, if you knew how to use magic to some extent, exploration magic could be used like a navigation map and walk without getting lost.
The sound of a scuffle came from one of these back alleys.
“No…! NOOO!”
“If you want to hate someone, hate your friend who abandoned you.”
“What a typical story of a gullible guy. When you were made a co-signer of this loan, you were already treated as a convenience from the start, you know.”
“D-Didi isn’t someone like that…”
“Ha-ha-ha, you’re a real softy! You! The debt has grown to a little over 150 million. Would you pay for it with your tearful friendship?”
“150mil?! H-how could I pay…!”
“You will! No matter if you’ll have to spend the rest of your life crawling through mud, you’ll still have to pay!”
“No way… Didi… Why did you…”
“For the time being, I think I could use your pretty little face. You’ll get customers.”
“Right. Make him into a gigolo, or should we also sell him to male customers…?”
“S-stop it! I’m a noble! If you do that…!”
“Huh? So, sweetie boy, you’re going to return to your parents? You know what? Can I go to your house and ask your parents to shoulder their son’s debt?”
“…uh! N-no… If they found out about this, I’d be disowned…”
“Then shut up and just do our bidding!”
I hid in the shadows nearby and began to listen for a few minutes.
Hmmmmmm. That sounds pretty pitiful. Right now, the man is surrounded by two debt collectors. The one in debt has apparently been betrayed by a friend or something similar and is about to be forced into prostitution. That’s an act of crime. But wait, a debt of 150 million is quite astronomical…
From the shadows, I caught a glimpse of the poor victim.
…Ah, I know this guy!
A delicate-looking body. Blue hair and light blue eyes… He had an androgynous look: a very pretty, beautiful boy, who could pass for a beautiful girl whose eyes were brimming with tears.
AD
If I’m not mistaken, he’s the son of a viscount—his name… Aiden Forgath.
And here it comes: Delusion-kun.
Aiden Forgath… That pretty boy called the flower of the Viscount’s family? Haha, interesting. I knew he had a terrible family situation, but I didn’t know his friendships were terrible as well. It would be a good idea to spend a little more time with him, get some footage of him prostituting himself, and use that footage as a threat against him in the future. If need be, I could also use his family to blackmail him—
STOP!!
NO-NO! Delusion-kun, you’re way too vicious! Just what on earth are you saying! I’ll never do something like that! Haa… I really didn’t want to hear that. Those words only made my ears dirty. Stop it already. Damn you, Delusion-kun.
Anyway, I couldn’t just leave him be. Sorry to these loan sharks, but I need you all to allow me to renege on that debt!
“Now, follow us.”
“We’ll have you back home by midnight, okay?”
“Hee… No! Somebody, help me…!”
At the sound of his voice, I stepped out of the shadows. I made sure to fast so that the debt collectors would not notice me.
“Ugh!” First, I used the most reliable technique—a hand-chop—to render the first guy unconscious.
“Awww…!” As for the other guy, I thought of giving him a concussion, enough for him to lose consciousness. So, I used magic to send stones flying at him at high speed. Yes, a clean hit to the brain! The two guys fell down almost simultaneously.
It took only 2.65 seconds! Phew, that was a new record. As someone who had been learning how to assassinate people, I should be able to do something like this.
Aiden’s eyes widened in surprise at my sudden appearance—probably because, from his point of view, the two guys had fallen in an instant, and I stood in their place.
“W-who are you?!”
Of course, he would react like that.
But I’d rather wait to introduce myself. Even though they were unconscious, it would be a bit unnerving to converse here without knowing when these two might wake up. Once these people were out of the way, I’d prefer to talk somewhere else, somewhere cleaner.
“Hold on for now. We’ll introduce ourselves later. I’m going to dislocate their joints and tie them up with ropes. Oh, and if you have any personal grudges left, why not take it out on them now? Throw ’em in the river, burn ’em, sell ’em to some mad scientist who sells cadavers for dissection, whatever you desire?”
“So brutal.”
While tying them up, I removed from their clothes the contracts for the debts that Aiden had cosigned. There were a total of five sheets; all of them reported a considerable amount of money.
Yeah. Under Janvangar’s law, if this flimsy piece of paper was lost, there would be no way for anyone to collect these debts.
What a good law, right? As long as there was no contract, it was easy for anyone to escape debt… This loose wording couldn’t be found in other countries. Well, in the current situation, it was a very good thing.
I took out the contract, looked at the signature line and… I placed it in my pocket straight away. Hmm, I probably shouldn’t have taken a second to look at it.
Then, I said to Aiden, “Hey, this is not exactly a good place to hold a conversation. Do you want to have tea with me?”
Sunday!
A day of rest! A day of heaven before the devil’s day of the week—Monday!
And—!
…Um, if nothing’s planned in particular, it is simply a day with nothing to do…
Oh my god, I’ve nothing to do!!
I really had an empty schedule today. Father went to visit his friend, a count, who had been in an accident, and Theodore was at practical training with the knights which had started two days ago and only would return two days from now. So, he was not home. My friends have been busy lately, I couldn’t get in touch with them.
…In short—
I.Am.So.Idle!!
Killing time was not my forte. I needed to have a full schedule for the days to pass by. It would be even better if work was included in that schedule. I was that type of person.
I had no idea how to spend my time when I suddenly had nothing planned. I didn’t really have any hobbies other than eating sweets, and I wasn’t a big fan of reading nor hunting. I found horseback rides enjoyable, but… I was not in the mood for that.
I felt like asking our chef for a feast of all-I-can-eat homemade sweets! But… recently we had some bad luck with our ingredients supplier for our sweets, so we were out of stock of any decent ingredients other than the sugar that I had been purchasing directly.
In other words, I couldn’t have that all-I-can-eat buffet… I had nothing to do…
Aaaah, if at least Theodore was here, he could keep me company in this time of idleness!
It was only at these times that the knights decided to have their practical training…
Theodore started to have more and more engagements with the Knights Order and the Ministry of Magic. We weren’t together as much as we used to be. It just highlighted how much was expected of him, and that Theodore was indeed a genius.
*sighs*
But… I’m so bored… Isn’t there anything I can do? Anything fun… If only Theodore was here, fun would have been guaranteed… Regardless of whether we stay at home or go outside… Now that Theodore is gone, I should do what we usually do without him… I wonder what it is… What can I do?
Suddenly, it occurred to me: Yes, let’s go to town!
The royal capital, the capital city of Janvangar, faced the sea to the south and a river to the east. The royal palace, where His Majesty the King resides, was built on top of a mountain in the middle of the river, with the townhouses of the higher nobility lining the bottom of the mountain and the merchant quarter along the lower reaches of the river and the coast. The commoners and lower nobility settled on the west side of the capital; further west, on the outskirts of the capital, were the farmlands.
I left the Minusle townhouse and headed for Natcheil, located between the merchant district and the noble residences in the lower reaches of the river—where shops were lined up— also known as the largest shopping district in the capital. There were a lot of shops in there, from commoner run storefronts to high-class shops that even the nobles could hardly afford.
As the largest shopping district in the capital of Janvangar, Natcheil had heavy traffic of both people and goods. And… What could I say; this was the treasure trove of sweet shops!
So, on this particular Sunday with so much free time on my hands, I decided to spend the day here in this town.
Yay!! A tour of sweet shops!!!
I couldn’t possibly do this with Theodore; he can’t handle sweet food that well! For now, I’ll just go to the five shops I always frequent, then wander around to find the places that catch my fancy, and be the foodie I am—eat until I’m happy and full! Firstly, let’s go to Applepea—a shop famous for Tarte Tatin!!1 Let’s go!
“Oh! Mr. Urschel! I’m so sorry! All our tarts were bought up…”
“What?! You’ve gotta be lying…!”
“We don’t have any more Tarte Tatin ready to bake today, so we’re sold out. You’ll have to come back another day.”
“No way….”
Ugh, I started off on the wrong foot! But there were still other shops to visit.
Next stop, creme brulee2!
“Waaaa, I’m shoo shoorrryy! Urschel-sama! Just now, everything was shooold outttt!! If I knew Urschel-sama would be coming, I’d have saved up some for youuuu!!”
“It can’t be helped. Here, let me give you a handkerchief so you can stop crying. I’ll come back next time.”
But seriously, even the creme brulees? Ummm… Th-this is just a coincidence, right? Anyway, next!
“…Urschel-sama, we’re really, really… sorry…”
“Sold out?”
“Yes… all the Deluxe-Super-Tornado-Sparkle-Shiny-Fruit-Cakes were eaten by a customer who came just a while before…”
“Is that so? I was looking forward to eating Deluxe-Super-Tornado-Sparkle-Shiny-Fruit-Cake, but I’ll come again…”
“I apologize. Next time, I’ll prepare the best Deluxe-Super-Tornado-Sparkle-Shiny-Fruit-Cake for you.”
I think I’m going to cry.
But! But, surely the next one would be okay! Right?! If they also don’t have any stock left, I’m gonna cry for real!
“…”
“…”
They didn’t… I was nearly in tears…
“How was the Gulab Jamun3 also sold out…”
“Urschel-sama, I’m sorry. Some boy ate them all up with tremendous momentum. That child could just munch on Janvangar’s second sweetest dessert like he was eating a staple food, and then he left.”
""
Gulab Jamun was a sweet that looked like a doughnut (hole) soaked in syrup. Its brain-piercing sweetness was said to give you heartburn after just one bite. It was the second sweetest sweet in Janvangar–the first was custard pudding. But still, to casually eat Gulab Jamun as if it were a staple food…
I couldn’t hide my shock at the fact that it was sold out, but I’m sure I could hit it off with that guy!
Alas!
I also want to eat sweet things!
Next!
“Urschel-sama! Please listen! There was a very terrible customer!!”
“Could it be…he ate everything, so it’s now sold out?”
“YES! That customer licked his plate clean and ate up all m-my Golden Balls! What should I do… It’s all empty now! He drank to the very last drop!”
“…Would you please stop shortening the name of that assortment of gold king kiwis cut into ball shapes as ‘Golden Balls’? It’ll only lead to misunderstanding4.”
Wuuuuuu… Not here too! No way, all the shops I always frequented wouldn’t be sold out, right? Not all, right?
I’m already half-crying! What do I do!
I had come all this way for sweets! I was desperate for sweets, so I visited every shop I could find. However, not only the usual shops, but all the sweets shops I saw had all their goods either completely consumed or bought up.
“W-Why….”
How could I be so unlucky? My sweets… I couldn’t believe my happiness was nowhere to be found…
And apparently, this was caused all by the same person: a boy with a sweet tooth and a huge appetite. And he seemed to be a very fast eater, eating up his dessert in seconds… Really, just what sort of person is he?
In terms of having a sweet tooth, we seemed to be on the same level, but now I kind of resent the guy. Why did he finish off everything…? Couldn’t he at least leave some for me…
Ha~ It was at that moment when I let out a sigh…
“N-NO…!”
“Shut up and just come with us!” “We’ll be troubled if you don’t behave, young boy.”
…that I heard disturbing and unsettling voices.
Natcheil had a labyrinth of back alleys just off the main street. The back alleys, which were built by successive landlords since the beginning of the Janvangar’s history without any consideration for convenience or rationality, were unorganised and complicated. It has been said that if a newcomer enters this place, they would never be able to leave again because of the many narrow streets, twists and turns, and even trap-like cul-de-sacs.
However, if you knew how to use magic to some extent, exploration magic could be used like a navigation map and walk without getting lost.
The sound of a scuffle came from one of these back alleys.
“No…! NOOO!”
“If you want to hate someone, hate your friend who abandoned you.”
“What a typical story of a gullible guy. When you were made a co-signer of this loan, you were already treated as a convenience from the start, you know.”
“D-Didi isn’t someone like that…”
“Ha-ha-ha, you’re a real softy! You! The debt has grown to a little over 150 million. Would you pay for it with your tearful friendship?”
“150mil?! H-how could I pay…!”
“You will! No matter if you’ll have to spend the rest of your life crawling through mud, you’ll still have to pay!”
“No way… Didi… Why did you…”
“For the time being, I think I could use your pretty little face. You’ll get customers.”
“Right. Make him into a gigolo, or should we also sell him to male customers…?”
“S-stop it! I’m a noble! If you do that…!”
“Huh? So, sweetie boy, you’re going to return to your parents? You know what? Can I go to your house and ask your parents to shoulder their son’s debt?”
“…uh! N-no… If they found out about this, I’d be disowned…”
“Then shut up and just do our bidding!”
I hid in the shadows nearby and began to listen for a few minutes.
Hmmmmmm. That sounds pretty pitiful. Right now, the man is surrounded by two debt collectors. The one in debt has apparently been betrayed by a friend or something similar and is about to be forced into prostitution. That’s an act of crime. But wait, a debt of 150 million is quite astronomical…
From the shadows, I caught a glimpse of the poor victim.
…Ah, I know this guy!
A delicate-looking body. Blue hair and light blue eyes… He had an androgynous look: a very pretty, beautiful boy, who could pass for a beautiful girl whose eyes were brimming with tears.
AD
If I’m not mistaken, he’s the son of a viscount—his name… Aiden Forgath.
And here it comes: Delusion-kun.
Aiden Forgath… That pretty boy called the flower of the Viscount’s family? Haha, interesting. I knew he had a terrible family situation, but I didn’t know his friendships were terrible as well. It would be a good idea to spend a little more time with him, get some footage of him prostituting himself, and use that footage as a threat against him in the future. If need be, I could also use his family to blackmail him—
STOP!!
NO-NO! Delusion-kun, you’re way too vicious! Just what on earth are you saying! I’ll never do something like that! Haa… I really didn’t want to hear that. Those words only made my ears dirty. Stop it already. Damn you, Delusion-kun.
Anyway, I couldn’t just leave him be. Sorry to these loan sharks, but I need you all to allow me to renege on that debt!
“Now, follow us.”
“We’ll have you back home by midnight, okay?”
“Hee… No! Somebody, help me…!”
At the sound of his voice, I stepped out of the shadows. I made sure to fast so that the debt collectors would not notice me.
“Ugh!” First, I used the most reliable technique—a hand-chop—to render the first guy unconscious.
“Awww…!” As for the other guy, I thought of giving him a concussion, enough for him to lose consciousness. So, I used magic to send stones flying at him at high speed. Yes, a clean hit to the brain! The two guys fell down almost simultaneously.
It took only 2.65 seconds! Phew, that was a new record. As someone who had been learning how to assassinate people, I should be able to do something like this.
Aiden’s eyes widened in surprise at my sudden appearance—probably because, from his point of view, the two guys had fallen in an instant, and I stood in their place.
“W-who are you?!”
Of course, he would react like that.
But I’d rather wait to introduce myself. Even though they were unconscious, it would be a bit unnerving to converse here without knowing when these two might wake up. Once these people were out of the way, I’d prefer to talk somewhere else, somewhere cleaner.
“Hold on for now. We’ll introduce ourselves later. I’m going to dislocate their joints and tie them up with ropes. Oh, and if you have any personal grudges left, why not take it out on them now? Throw ’em in the river, burn ’em, sell ’em to some mad scientist who sells cadavers for dissection, whatever you desire?”
“So brutal.”
While tying them up, I removed from their clothes the contracts for the debts that Aiden had cosigned. There were a total of five sheets; all of them reported a considerable amount of money.
Yeah. Under Janvangar’s law, if this flimsy piece of paper was lost, there would be no way for anyone to collect these debts.
What a good law, right? As long as there was no contract, it was easy for anyone to escape debt… This loose wording couldn’t be found in other countries. Well, in the current situation, it was a very good thing.
I took out the contract, looked at the signature line and… I placed it in my pocket straight away. Hmm, I probably shouldn’t have taken a second to look at it.
Then, I said to Aiden, “Hey, this is not exactly a good place to hold a conversation. Do you want to have tea with me?”
