https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/36/
Retaliatory Battle
The feeling of floating. It is an awful thing to feel when you are just waking up. And then the impact of hitting the floor brings you to full attention.
“Ugh….Lily-san?”
After I rubbed the haziness out of my eyes, I saw Lily peering at me from over the bed. She’s smiling like a kid who just pulled off a successful prank.
“I told you we needed to wake up early. But you wouldn’t wake up no matter what I did. It makes me appreciate all the hard work Melia-san put in until now.”
Some clothes fell on my face. I shook them off of me and dragged myself to my feet. I thought something was weird and looked out the window after painstakingly standing up. It’s still dark out. I wouldn’t even call this morning yet.
“Hey….it’s still dark.”
“Morning training. I have a routine I complete before eating breakfast every day. After I work up a sweat, I head for the bathroom, dry my hair, and put on makeup. If I cannot get it done quickly, I will not have time to eat breakfast.”
“Don’t tell me, you want me to attend this training too?”
“Naturally. If I were to leave you alone in the room, someone may stop by and target you again. I will need you to match me at least a little.”
I’m the one intruding on her room, so I can’t just do whatever I want I guess. While I reluctantly picked up some of my clothes, I found a pillow and my underwear sitting close to each other.
The pillow was probably put there by Lily to break my fall before she kicked me out of bed. The underwear is the pair I was wearing last night which were soaked with alcohol and honestly stink after festering on the floor for several hours.
“My, and you’re naked. Do you prefer to sleep with nothing else on? Or maybe you were hoping to try and seduce me?”
Surprised by Lily’s voice, I spun around and found her still laying on her stomach on the bed. She had her chin resting in her hands and was staring at the lower half of my body. I immediately grabbed a pair of dirty pants to cover myself.
“P-Please don’t look…. I just took them off because they were wet from all the alcohol.”
Lily’s eyes opened wide at that, and her face turned a bright red. Did she not realize what she was doing?
“Ah, that…. um…. I got too excited last night. I apologize, Liffy. Please use this”
Lily removed a pair of pearly white underwear from her bag and handed it to me. They were like a work of art decorated with fine embroidery and lace. A craftsman must have spent days working on it. I can’t even imagine the amount of food I could buy from the market that would have gone into just this set of underwear.
“N-No, no way! I can’t borrow something that expensive!”
“I am the one telling you to put them on. Now hurry up”
Where did that bashfulness from before go? With the conviction behind Lily’s tone, it was certain that I would be robbed of my own slightly dingy underwear.
I turned my back to Lily and put on the underwear she gave me. But, it’s a little tight around the chest. Now that I think of it, these were probably custom made to perfectly fit Lily.
Then I remembered seeing Lily’s naked body in the bathroom. I never really thought about it before, but her boobs are kind of small. Definitely not the same size as me at least.
“So…. um…. the bra is kinda…. well…. it’s pinching…. my chest.”
Lily immediately seemed to understand what I was getting at and took back the bra, but I caught her whispering, “I’m still growing,” from under her breath as she did it. I didn’t mean to undermine her good intentions however I couldn’t help but notice her eyes were focused on my chest throughout her training and while we were in the bath.
♠
After we finished getting ready, I entered the hall of the usual venue. It wouldn’t be good if rumors were to spread through the public or reporters, so I split from Lily shortly before we arrived and kept my distance.
There were many girls already there who were carrying big bags with them. They’re the ones who are probably looking to head to the suburbs and subjugate monsters.
A large bulletin board was set up in the middle of the hall. I could see dozens upon dozens of sheets of paper all tacked on, and a huge crowd of people were cramped together in a group right in front of it. Those must be the requests we will be tackling.
I’m curious about what kind of requests are actually posted up there, but first I should check around the venue to find my team.
I found Melia and Peony standing at the far end of the hall. Melia noticed me the same time I noticed her, and she waved at me before rushing forward to meet me halfway.
“Lily-chan! Good morning!”
“Morning Melia. Peony”
“You…. sounds like you had it rough last night.”
Peony had a mixture of worry and curiosity in her face.
“Uh, yeah. But thanks to Melia, I’m able to manage somehow.”
For some reason when I said that, Peony looked like she had just eaten something bitter and turned away from me.
Before I could ask her about it though, Dahlia entered the circle. I had a flash from what happened last night, and my body naturally ended up distancing itself from her, clinging on to Melia’s arm instead. I never told Melia Dahlia was the culprit from last night, but she seemed to understand something from my response and started stroking my back.
I was more focused on myself, so it took me a second to notice that Dahlia’s right arm was cast up and hanging in front of her. It looked like it hurt. Something obviously happened after she threw me out the window, but I have no idea what.
“What uh, happened to your arm?”
“I got drunk and fell out a window”
I recognized her answer as code for, “Someone did this, and I’m not telling you who.” It felt good honestly considering everything she did to me out of undeserved resentment.
“Oh my. Dahlia-san, how are you?”
Olive effortlessly cut in through the awkward tension. Dahlia’s body shook when Olive placed her hand on Dahlia’s shoulder, so some force must’ve been put into it.
“Elm….call me if you are ever in trouble. I’ll come running right away.”
She’s using someone else’s name, but since she’s looking right at me, I could tell Olive was talking to me. Elm was the name of Olive’s brother right? It’s not something I really want to think about, but I can’t help but guess that she’s overlapping what happened to me last night with what ended up happening to him. That would explain why she’s suddenly being so nice to me.
“Ah….Olive-san. Lily-san is calling for you over there.”
Olive turned her head and glanced at Lily and the others. As she turned back towards us, she made an obvious point to hit Dahlia’s right arm hard.
“Now that I think of it, I came over here to call Peony-san. Shall we depart?”
Peony didn’t seem to quite pick up on what was going on here, but despite her obviously confused face, she followed Olive in leaving the circle.
Dahlia opened her mouth as soon as Olive was out of earshot.
“You sure have a talent for flattering nobles. Flattering men, flattering nobles. A dancer’s way of life.”
I haven’t “flattered” anyone. I happen to be on good terms with Lily, but she hasn’t once lent me her strength in regards to the auditions. As for Olive’s attitude, well, her calling me by her brother’s name was kind of weird.
Honestly though, that’s rich coming from Dahlia, the woman whose whole plan involved flattering a merchant. But she’s going to be an important force for me in the next week. Rather than satisfying some temporary resentment, I would much rather focus my attention on passing the first round.
“Melia. Can you heal Dahlia’s arm?”
“Hmm…. Well, is it broken? Or just bruised?”
I ignored Dahlia’s sarcasm and asked for Melia’s help. For her part, Melia began insensitively poking at Dahlia’s arm with her finger. It must have hurt because Dahlia’s face kept scrunching up each time.
“I see. So she’s the reason you were able to recover so quickly even after everything I did. It’s only because of other people’s help that you….*eek*….”
Dahlia hadn’t lost her fighting spirit. At least until Melia forcefully twisted her arm halfway through an insult, and she could no longer speak from the pain.
“Dahlia-san. We’re friends right? So let’s get along. Neither Lily-chan nor I can fight, but we’re cuter than Dahlia-san and have our own special skills. I can fix your arm for instance. Although, do you like feeling good?”
Melia’s eyes were scaring me. Her healing always gives someone a sense of pleasure proportional to the extent of their injuries. My bruises and broken bones gave me pleasure enough that I ended up passing out. If Dahlia gets treated here, everyone in this hall is going to end up hearing her voice.
When Dahlia agreed, Melia guided her over to a corner of the hall covered in shade. Immediately after, I heard a loud scream that definitely resembled Dahlia’s voice. Every other person in the hall started looking around, wondering what was going on, but since the noise only lasted a moment, their attention soon returned to what they were doing before.
When they returned from the shadows, Dahlia’s skin looked glossy, and her expression was dazed. Doing a small prayer that another addict wasn’t just created, I sent Melia a signal with my eyes. She sent me back a wink.
I couldn’t help but feel that in that moment, there was a vast difference in what me and her were thinking.
Experimental Translations 