Chapter 64: Pretty Cool
After Charlotte posed that question, I turned to look at Nathan. Though Rae's strict lecture about friendly fire had also happened in the story, there wasn't actually an option to console her or give advice.
Because the protagonist wasn't supposed to be able to even attract her this early in the first place. But ironically enough it wasn't even Nathan that did it, but the actual protagonist, Natan, that had somehow wooed her.
Charlotte's eyes seemed to sparkle somewhat, while her lips formed a small frown. Unlike her normal stubbornness, she seemed quite vulnerable at this point. Despite not looking at her, I'm pretty sure Nathan could tell, as a somewhat serious expression appeared on his face.
I wondered what he would say.
After letting out a sigh, Nathan spoke.
"You're asking if your fighting style is bad?"
Charlotte hesitated before responding.
"Y-Yes."
Nathan closed his eyes and responded relentlessly.
"Of course it's bad, isn't that much obvious from what happened today?"
Charlotte let out a sad hum.
"I-I see. I guess I should change it."
The corner of my lip twitched. From what I knew, this was definitely not something that he should've said. While Charlotte's fighting style indeed was reckless, it still works. That much was clear from the results of the battle. We were basically able to take down two people effortlessly with her overbearing distraction.
While playing with her would frequently make us rather pissed off because of the friendly fire damage, it still didn't change the fact that she was a rather strong asset. Despite her personality, she was quite powerful in both magic and in physical strength. And that fighting style was just how she worked.
But this was his decision anyway, so I decided not to interfere. Yet, right when I thought that he was just going to leave it at that...
Nathan raised an eyebrow.
"Huh? When did I say to change it?"
Charlotte's eyes widened slightly in confusion.
"Eh? But you said it was bad."
Nathan frowned rather deeply. It was almost like he was pouting like a spoiled child.
"Yeah, it's bad, but that's just how you've learned to fight, right?"
Charlotte let out a small gasp, pushing herself up slightly.
"W-Wah! How did you know?"
Nathan rolled his eyes as a wry smile formed on his face.
"That much is obvious from how different it is from everyone else."
Charlotte tilted her head to the side slightly and shifted her position on her piggyback ride.
"Oh..."
Nathan took a deep breath.
"Of course, if you're working with people that don't understand what you're like, there's no chance you will be contributing in a good way. But with people that have realized how you are and have figured out ways to work around it, then you'll become... a reliable partner."
Charlotte blinked a few times. It seemed she wasn't really getting the message.
"Is... that a good thing?"
Nathan let out a long sigh, trying to settle down his irritation.
"Ok, ok, let me say it like this. You probably never get to know, because all you're doing is just swinging your swords around like an absolutely mindless barbarian, without even looking back once."
He smirked.
"But looking at your back from afar is incredibly reassuring. You swing those greatswords keeping all the threats at bay, like a protector. So long as I remain behind you, and you're still standing, then I won't have to worry about a thing."
Nathan paused.
"And... I guess that's pretty cool."
Charlotte blushed fairly hard and pressed her head down against Nathan's shoulder. Her voice came out muffled.
"M-Mh. I-I already knew that idiot! You... don't have to tell me."
She squirmed rather intensely, prompting Nathan to yell at her.
"Stop moving so much! At this rate, you're going to fall!"
Charlotte calmed down somewhat but was still incredibly flustered. Raisa whispered to me with a confused expression.
"Is he serious?"
I guess she didn't see her as that amazing after experiencing the friendly-fire queen firsthand. With a bitter smile, I whispered back.
"Um, he's definitely exaggerating a little bit. But... it's not exactly a lie."
Though to be honest, I felt like that kind of compliment was more fitting for a guy, but it seemed Charlotte wasn't bothered by that kind of thing. The two of them continued on silently.
When it did come time for Charlotte to be sent off on her own, she ended up resisting getting off. At the end of the day, there was almost no power in her arms, so she was essentially just dangling from Nathan with her legs wrapped around his waist.
Charlotte was throwing a tantrum, rocking back and forth. Nathan nearly lost his balance several times, and was yelling rather loudly at her while desperately trying to stay on his two feet.
I watched silently with Raisa next to me.
A soft breath escaped me.
"He always does this..."
Raisa turned to me with a questioning look.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
A complicated expression formed on my face.
"I suppose the best way to put it is that his personality always gets him into trouble he doesn't want. This isn't the first time that someone has stuck to him like this."
I laughed and put a hand in my pocket.
"He couldn't even tell that girl liked him at the time. In his mind, she was just an incredibly annoying friend. When I tried to bring it up with him, he thought I was lying to him for the longest time. It was only when she ended up confessing right to his face that he believed me."
Raisa's lips parted ever so slightly.
"S-So, what happened after that?"
It took me a little while to respond.
"Things didn't work out between them."
Raisa had clasped both her hands together, rubbing them back and forth slowly.
"Is that so?"
She looked at me with a bit of hesitation. Feeling the conversation was more or less over, I decided this was a good time to leave. Yet, when I took a step forward, she ended up grabbing onto my arm.
"Wait, would you like to come over to my manor? I... I held off on asking yesterday!"
I turned to look at her strangely.
"Right now? Isn't there like some sort of process that nobles have to go through?"
Raisa pouted.
"But you said before that there's no need to prepare between friends!"
I blinked a few times. Hm. After thinking back, it does appear that those words did in fact come out of my mouth.
"Then..."
The first thing that came to mind was if I could come into contact with her father. Since he was an incredibly greedy man that wanted to completely devour other nobles, it would probably be pretty easy to talk to him. After all, if the biggest desire of someone was known from the start, there were many tricks you could do to tiptoe around it to get other things you wanted.
"...Alright, let's just go."
But it would probably be better to slowly break down some barriers before trying to push for anything big. For starters, I should discreetly urge her to break some rules so she voluntarily does it herself.
After breaking some simple ones, she wouldn't find it too jarring to break some bigger ones. At that point, I may not even need to beat around the bush and can directly ask her to do some things.
And eventually-
"Bryson? Come on, let's go!"
"Ah, right."
Raisa dragged me along with one hand. A bright and innocent smile formed on her face. Yet, before we got to her carriage.
"What do you think you're doing, your Highness?"
Jess interrupted, grabbing onto Raisa's wrist. That last part came out rather forcefully, as though she really wanted to make Raisa's status as an archduke clear. There was a nasty frown on her face, and while her eyebrows were arched downwards so far they appeared to be digging graves.
A tired and annoyed expression formed on Raisa's face.
"Excuse me. I've decided to go on an excursion with my friend. This matter is unrelated to you, Jess Arden, so why don't you let go?"
She emphasized the friend part rather antagonistically. Jess narrowed her eyes, while the frown on her face deepened.
"This matter involves an Arden family member visiting the predatory Darcy family. The difference in status makes it crystal clear that you are using your power to oppress others into agreeing with you."
Raisa grit her teeth.
"What! I never..."
She started off incredibly enthusiastic but gradually lost the power in her voice as a realization came over her. That I may have only been agreeing to be with her in the first place because she was an archduke.
Honestly, I felt she was rather stupid for not thinking about it before, but from the lost expression on her face, it appeared to be some world-shattering revelation. She looked at me with a pleading expression.
"Y-You really don't have to come if you don't want to, I just wanted to extend the invitation!"
Jess narrowed her eyes.
"That's difficult to believe when the daughter of an archduke lays their hand on another."
Raisa flinched before letting my arm go, prompting Jess to do the same. Still distressed, Raisa bit the bottom of her lip before looking at me with sparkling eyes.
"W-Was I really being forceful?"
I blinked a few times. Honestly, Jess was somewhat working against my plans. In my opinion, brazenly going against Jess and agreeing to go with Raisa like this was some shitty love story felt like too much.
While I doubt Raisa would catch onto anything, people with a discerning eye on the outside may catch onto the strangeness of how willing I was. In particular, I was worried about her father noticing, even if he wasn't here.
But... at the same time, this was like good cop bad cop. The juxtaposition between the two of our attitudes will make her more willing to trust me, so this was still a win in the end.
A helpless smile formed on my face.
"Maybe we can come to a compromise. I don't feel any hostile intentions coming from Raisa, but Jess probably doesn't agree with that sentiment. What if instead, we both go out to the slums to hand out food as we did two days ago?"
Raisa looked disappointed, but that only lasted for a second before she nodded enthusiastically.
"Ok!"
Jess looked between the two of us several times. From the look on her face, it wasn't hard to tell she still didn't like it when I had any interaction with Raisa, but it seemed she was still intimidated by the difference in status.
"...Fine."
And so, Raisa ended up coming with us to our manor, much to her servants' surprise. When we reached there, we only took a few moments to set everything up and set off once more to the slums.
Despite the fact I had been here not too long ago, it felt like a while since I had been here. In the back of my mind, I suddenly remembered needing to contact the Honest Truth cult and tell them about the results of using Dark Arts.
However, I couldn't figure out what memory I had lost. It was surprisingly hard to recall a lost memory. Though, I guess that made a lot of logical sense since a forgotten memory was unrecallable in the first place.
Once we had gotten there, I got off the carriage and got ready to get a chair out of the carriage, but I ended up meeting another familiar face before I could start.
Bernie.
He had a solemn look as he stood there, with his arms behind his back.
Raisa and Jess both frowned deeply when they saw him. Although they hated each other, it seemed their hate for this guy was greater. Raisa pointed at him.
"Did you not remember his words? You are hereby banned from sitting at this table!"
Jess narrowed his eyes.
"Step. Away. From my brother."
Bernie slowly raised one hand silently, bringing the attention to himself.
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