Intermission – Hibiscus Love (4/5)

“W-Why would you want to do that?”

After a long period of silence, what followed was a question. A question which was only asked after mustering every effort he could to appear dignified. A feat made possible only by scraping his soul bare of every drop of endurance it contained.

“Actually… HA!?”

Suddenly, as if Rishan had noticed something, she started breathing excitedly and her nose twitched, then she curled her hand around her ears to hear better.

“H-Hey… Rishan.”

“SHH! Quiet!”

The sudden change of events left Dordias with no choice but to keep quiet.

In the next moment, Rishan’s eyes opened wide and she lifted the hem of her dress.

“R-Rishan!?”

Without any opportunity to stop her, she had laid bare her healthy legs. Dordias was about to avert his eyes, but unfortunately, the pitiful nature of a man caused his eyes to be taken in by the beautiful slender legs of a maiden.

Sure enough, on her legs was a leather belt from which a rapier hung. Silently, she drew her sword. Like a cat, she nimbly hid herself in the thickets.

“…Mu?”

Dordias, who could only watch as this turn of events progressed, suddenly caught sight of a male elf. If he recalled correctly, this should be the man who served as Elbert and Rishan’s guard.

His handsome face did not change even the slightest as he approached Dordias.

“Do you know where Rishan is?”

“A-Ahh… Rishan is.”

Dordias unconsciously turned his eyes to the thickets, and in the next moment, an angry voice very unlike a young girl resounded as Rishan came thrusting with her sword.

“Dieee!”

Moreover, she was yelling for him to die. It was a conduct truly unbefitting of a daughter of the prime minister.

Nimble as a cat and without the slightest hesitation in her movements. That was a movement that seemed more than able to take down an unsuspecting soldier. Her aim was dead on. Her rapier going straight for the center of the body.

“Oh?”

The elven man looked impressed as he muttered that to himself. He drew his sword from his waist. A fierce smile appeared on his face. The smile of a predator drawn upon that handsome face of his. When Dordias saw him smiling, he thought that was the face of a man who thought nothing of killing people. He instinctively felt that this man belonged to the most dangerous type of people.

The rapier came thrusting for the elven man’s chest, but it only hit empty air.

In the same moment that she jumped out, he had taken a step back and assumed a half-body stance. Using the least movement, he pushed the sword out of its trajectory and used the recoil to knock it off her hands.

As Rishan brought back the hand she used to hold the rapier, Felbi pointed his long sword at her neck.

Rishan glared at the man as if challenging him, but the man only wryly smiled and sheathed his sword.

“Good killing intent. Your plan to take down a stronger enemy in surprise was also good. But the problem is that you yelled. Why would you do that during a surprise attack?”

The male guard calmly analyzed her actions. In response, she snorted and put away her rapier.

“I can’t put my spirit into my sword unless I yell.” Rishan said with a pout.

The male guard wryly smiled. “Well, that’s true even for big men. You need guts to kill someone, after all. Doing it all of the sudden is just too too difficult.”

That was true regardless if it was a human or a goblin.

“…Now then, your guest seems shocked, so I think I’ll make myself scarce and wait outside.”

The male guard sheathed his sword, brushed aside the leaves on her hair, and left. Rishan blushed beet red and Dordias’ brain finally started working again. As such, it finally dawned on him what was going through this girl’s head.

“…Sorry for causing a ruckus, uncle.”

“Don’t worry about it. Who was that man?”

“The person who’s been guarding me since 2 years ago. Felbi.”

“…I see. So he’s the one you want to push down, is he?”

Dordias’ gaze was pointed toward the direction the elven guard had left. When Rishan heard that, she nodded her head and mumbled a very quiet ‘yes’. A stark difference from that earlier yell of hers. Although he couldn’t see her face since she was looking down, he could imagine just how much her face resembled a boiled yarudosu.

Come to think of it, he hasn’t eaten fried yarudosu in a while, hasn’t he? Dordias thought to himself.

“H-He saved me from some thugs two years ago, and I’m going to a sword dojo myself, but he’s really really strong and…”

Rishan was all over the place, but Dordias could more or less understand what she was getting at. He let her talk until she had calmed down, then he asked her.

“So, have you told him your feelings yet?”

“I-I’ve done no such thing!”

This time it was her turn to have her voice crack.

“T-T-T-T-The same is true about pushing him down. That person said that he has his guard down most when doing something…”

“I see.”

Dordias.

This was a grave illness. It seems she’s inherited Elbert’s seriousness, but unfortunately, she’s found a very strange place to direct it to. Dordias fondly thought back on the days he and Elbert studied next to each other.

“But you do have feelings for him?”

“T-That’s… Yes.”

Rishan was acting just like a borrowed cat. Dordias folded his arms and became thoughtful.