Another World Where I Can’t Even Collapse and Die

CHAPTER 34 – WORK AT DAWN (4)

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When the job of stomping alongside Asura was completed, the sun was already setting.
Leaving the shed full of biting wine, I took a deep breath of fresh air as several boys around my age started towards me.
The one who greeted me first was a young man with an unassuming face.
Somehow, it felt like he was part of the soccer team in the other world.

“Good work.
You’re new here, aren’t you? You must be tired from all that stepping.”

“Thanks.
How did you know that’s what I was doing?”

“Because your face is red.”

He pointed at my cheeks and I raised my hands to touch them.
Sure enough, they were warmer than usual.
I hadn’t noticed while we were working, but looking closer, Tarina-san’s cheeks were a little red too.

I guess this task shouldn’t be done by people with weak alcohol tolerance.

“You’re the girl with the Hero… Fikar, was it? What’s your name?”

“It’s Sumire.”

“That’s an unusual name.
Are you together with him?”

“No, that’s not it.”

This kind of scenario again!!

Just when I thought I’d finally escaped from Asura (well, not really, since we’re doing the same work tomorrow), the young Carcathian man was very interested in romance.

It couldn’t be helped that my reply came out weird and a bit too loud, but he kept talking and approaching me nonetheless.

“Then, why don’t we get dinner together? It’s on me.”

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“Sorry, but we’re having dinner at the inn.”

“You should talk to the hostess.
There aren’t many people your age in Tortea, right? Let’s have some fun.”

“Ahh, okay, okay, that’s enough~”

Tarina-san waved him off and the distance between us grew.

“She’s not used to this kind of thing, so don’t do it.”

“Tarina-san…”

“You know, Sumire, new stepper-girls have always been a popular target for guys.
Men want to hook up with a girl who’s a little light-headed with red cheeks and a cute face.
They find girls like that all the time, so you don’t have to be polite.”

“Tarina, you meaniee.”

“You guys never learn.”

I see, it’s like how high school boys hang out in vain at the station closest to an all-girls high school.
I looked around and, sure enough, similar scenes played out here and there.
Some pairs began chatting and others were like Tarina-san.
There were also people who acted over-obediently to try and get the girls to talk to them.

Among that group, Tussa-san was being courted by several young men.
Some of them even brought gifts for her, but she ignored them all and speedwalked away with an icy look.
Must be hard being so beautiful…

After work, the local girls headed home, unless they lived on the other side of town or something.
And Tarina-san was staying at Sisi-san’s house, so we inevitably had to split up as I returned to the inn.
Tarina-san looked worried and said it’d be safer if I went back with Tussa-san, but I wasn’t confident I could keep up with her speedwalking, so I went alone.

The shed wasn’t very far from the inn – you could get there in 10 minutes even with sluggish legs.
Just as I felt relieved to see more familiar buildings, my wrist was grabbed.

I turned around, and the soccer-type man who’d called out to me earlier was there.

“You know, Tarina wasn’t completely wrong, and you’re new around here, no? I’ll introduce you to my friends and we can tell you about the guild.”

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“U-uhh…”

“I know a great shop.
It’ll be my treat!”

It sounded like he was trying to be kind, and I was definitely curious about delicious food.
But, unfortunately, I wasn’t brave enough to not be afraid of a guy I’d never met before coming on to me.
I also wasn’t any good at talking to strangers while eating.

As I was wondering how to say no to the man holding my wrist, Fikar fell from the sky.

“Uwaa–”

The young man stumbled back a few steps, startled by Fikar, who barely missed hitting him as he landed between the two of us.
I was startled, too, but Fikar caught my hand before I could fall over.

“Fi, Fikar-san? Where did you come from?”

Fikar’s expression soured at the tone of my voice.
He pointed straight above us, where a window on the third floor of the inn was open.
Did you really jump from there? The ground was leveled flat, but it was covered in packed dirt and hard as stone.

“You really surprised me… eh? You’re the Hero?”

With a curt nod, Fikar turned back to me and, as usual, put his hands under my arms and lifted me up.
Pulling me in and giving me a squeeze, he said two words to the young man:

“Don’t touch.”

Even I didn’t hear his voice very often, but it sounded a little lower than usual.

The young man blinked, then slumped his shoulders.

“But I heard you’re not together, so isn’t dinner okay? You can come, too, if you want.”

“I refuse.”

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“If you’re not very social, don’t you get tired of just eating at the inn? It’s not like I’m asking you to leave me alone with her.”

“I refuse.”

Fikar pushed the young man away with his signature move of “I refuse”, just like he’d done to the people from the royal capital.
In the end, the young man couldn’t get his point across and gave up, laughing a little.
After that, Fikar, still holding me in his arms, entered the inn through the front door, quickly climbed the stairs to the third floor, opened the door with one hand, and finally set me down on the bed inside.

As always, I was impressed by his stamina, but something was off.
The bed had definitely been bigger than the one I was sitting on, and now there were two of them with a gap and a tall partition in between.
And anyway, our room should’ve been on the second floor.

“N? Isn’t this the wrong room?”

“I changed it!!”

A voice, loud and clear, came from the door, which Fikar apparently hadn’t fully closed.

Tussa-san was standing in the doorway.

“It’s strange that you share a bed even though you’re not a couple! So I told Mom to swap your room with someone who left today!!”

“Ah, thank you for your consideration…”

“We’re full, but when two single rooms free up, we’ll move you there!!”

“I refuse.”

“Ah–”

Before I could stop him, Fikar used the same tactic as before to cut Tussa-san off, then shut the door for good measure.
And locked it.
It was a merciless response for Fikar, who was usually calm and friendly like a big dog.
The sounds of clanking and clomping shoes could be heard from the other side of the door for a while, but Tussa-san eventually left in a huff.

Fikar strode over to the window, closed and locked the wooden shutters, lit the lamp, and returned to me.
Along the way, he picked up a washbasin and a water jug, as well as a wet towel that he began rubbing my hands with.

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I can do this on my own, though.

But Fikar still had hints of a sour expression, so I held my tongue.

“Umm… shall we go eat for now?”

“I refuse.”

He did it to me too.

I must’ve been visibly shocked, since Fikar crouched down and firmly made eye contact with me.

“Sumire, wait for me.”

“Eh? Mhm, got it.”

Fuu~… Fikar let out a sigh.
He looked tired.
There was hardly anyone I knew here, so Fikar was probably way more involved than I was and that must’ve been stressful.
And he was worried about me on top of that.

He even jumped from the third floor.

I wrapped my newly-washed hands around his tense cheeks and gently squeezed them.
Using my thumbs, I traced his slightly messy eyebrows, and I softly ruffled his silvery hair.
Fikar’s eyes narrowed and relaxed as he buried his face in my nape.
After staying like that for a few moments, he looked up and his face was back to normal – absolutely expressionless.  

Fikar, reminding me to “wait for him” again, left the room with the jug and washbasin.

Behind the closed door, I heard a rattling noise.

No, if you lock it, there’s no point telling me to wait… I’m not going to count jumping out the window as an option.

I don’t want you to go around lumping a weak high school girl and someone who defeated the Demon Lord in the same category.