“Please have some tea.”

Ristia and I settle ourselves in another room of the royal villa along with Ceries-sama. While I am familiarizing myself with the place, Slatton, Cleisio, and Neimie also join us. The room becomes a place exclusive for us friends.

“Erneacchi, you were incredible. The two oujo-sama(princess) were quite taken by you.” (Neimie)
“No way, those twin oujo-sama are nothing but trouble.” (Slatton)

Neimie and Slatton urge me to reveal what happened. The thing is, I’m the one who wants an explanation. Just whyyy did the twin oujo-sama approach me? I get that it’s related to dragon techniques, but even then, I don’t think that is enough of a reason for them to be so forceful with their sex appeal.

“Why don’t we start by exchanging information? Ernea might be troubled due to not knowing how the situation developed.”
“Yeah, it’s exactly as Ristia said. Right now, I don’t have a clue what it is that just happened to me.

As expected of Ristia. He properly understood the problem and guided us to the correct solution.

Every one of the Yuusha-sama’s esteemed party nods without any dissent.

“Let’s organize this chronologically and start by establishing a rough flow of events.” (Ristia)
“In that case, let’s begin from that explosion. At that time, I was speaking with some aristocrats, so I don’t really understand what happened all that well.” (Cleisio)

Slatton grins at Cleisio’s words.

“No, before that, why were you hugging the twin oujo-sama?”
“Eeeh, I wasn’t hugging them at all. I was the one being hugged by the twin oujo-sama.”

Ah, but if others only saw that from halfway through, I guess it would have looked like I was hugging them. Princesses normally don’t go around giving hugs.

“Erneacchi, the heck were you hugged for?”
“No idea. It just happened out of nowhere.”

Neimie nudges me lightly with her elbow, but I don’t know what I don’t know.

“More importantly, I was taken out of the great hall by the twin oujo-sama after that explosion, but what were all of you doing?”

At around that time, Ristia looked the most ready to take off. No matter how unprecedented the twin oujo-sama are, if they charge out during a situation like that, shouldn’t the guards have chased after them?

“Ah, that time?”
Ristia makes a wry smile.

“The twin oujo-sama are quite incredible.” (Slatton)
“My elder sisters greatly troubled you. You have my deepest apologies.”
“How so?”

I tilt my head to Slatton’s grimace and Ceries-sama’s apology.

“At that time, right after the three of you left, thetwin oujo-sama placed a barrier around the great hall, trapping us inside.” (Ristia)
“Eeeh, when?” (Ernea)

No matter how overwhelemd I get, I think I’d notice a barrier strong enough to trap Ristia and everyone else inside being invoked.

“In all likelihood, I believe they must have prepared that barrier in advance, wa.”
What Cleisio, who is something like an enchantress, says makes sense.

I see, it isn’t that they created a barrier on the spot, but that they invoked one they had prepared ahead of time?Hence, they were able to take me outside without my noticing anything.

“Destroying that barrier took longer than expected, slowing us down in chasing after you three.” (Ristia)
“What happened in the garden? The women surrounding me back then all grabbed me, leaving me unable to move.” (Slatton)

I see, so that’s why Ristia took so long to show up. Also, Slatton, stop saying strange things. Cleisio is glaring at you.

“In that case, I’ll talk about what happened in the garden.”

So, how should I explain this?

“For starters, a magic beast was rampaging in the garden, a large, grey wolf, magic beast to be specific. The guard-san were struggling against it when we arrived.”
“A magic beast!?”

Ristia and Slatton jump to their feet at the word, “magic beast.”

“Yeah, it looked pretty strong. Although, when we arrived, the guard-san ran away not from it, but us for some reason.”
“Well, if the twin oujo-sama were to show up, I think I’d run away too.”

Neimie holds her arms and pretends to tremble.

“Please excuse my useless ane.”
Ceries-sama’s shoulder sag with those words.

“Are the twin oujo-sama that dangerous?”
“Didn’t you feel as if you were in danger at that time?” (Slatton)
“Uuuh…”

I remember upon having it pointed out. At that time, the twin oujo-sama invoked the Boisterous Dragon Spear Dance against the great wolf magic beast.

Would they have invoked it without hesitation even if the guards hadn’t escaped? I did tell the guard-san to escape just in case, but even if I hadn’t, those two might have done so anyway. Somehow, I am convinced.

“Yeah, that was pretty dangerous. Although I was still safe beside the twin oujo-sama, the guard-san were correct in running away.”
“You got it.” (Slatton)

Slatton ends with a laugh, “Haha.” 

“So, was the magic beast defeated?” (Slatton?)
“Eetto, well…”

I’m at a loss over how to explain. Should I tell them the truth or should I lie? If I tell the truth, then I’ll probably also have to tell them about myself too. But if I lie, everything will be exposed if the twin oujo-sama talk about it.

What do I do?

After thinking about it for a bit, I get the feeling the twin oujo-sama have no intention of revealing the truth. Those respectable two give the impression of wanting to make my secret theirs.

“Eetto, the twin oujo-sama used a technique they called the Boisterous Dragon Spear Dance. Once the smoke cleared, the magic beast was no longer there. That level of strength was probably enough to defeat it.”

If I tell them it ran away, there would probably be a search. Although if the twin oujo-sama tell the truth, this story will fall apart. I can only pray that whatever they say matches up.

“The Boisterous Dragon Spear Dance… So my onee-sama-kata used such a dangerous technique while Ernea was present. My sincerest apologies, you weren’t hurt, were you?”

The genuine concern Ceries-sama is expressing makes me feel terrible. I’m really sorry for lying. I’m really sorry for keeping this a secret. Honestly, I’m the one who should be apologizing.

“Ye- yeah, that technique did send the magic beast flying, but I wasn’t hurt.”

---

T/N: I wonder if what we are seeing here is Ernea’s growth in lying??

~Gandire Alea

<81.2 Inside a Locked Room
82.2 The Descendants of a Dragon Slayer>