Chapter 60: Chapter 60: The City of Cornus

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

And here’s one more Yuuri chapter for the week! Expect the next one on Sunday as usual.

“Haster!”

“Yeah?”

“It’s the ocean!”

“So it is. We’ll have to buy some swimsuits.”

“I want a cute one.”

“Er, you two know we came here to catch a thief, right?”

It has been a week since then, and nothing happened along the way, allowing us to safely arrive at Cornus.

We went through the entrance inspection, and the expanse before our eyes was a massive harbor, and a beach.

“Sea bathing… That’s something we can do too, isn’t it?!”

I gazed at the glistening ocean with equally glistening eyes.

With a beach this large, forget a week, I probably wouldn’t mind staying here for a long while.

Anyway, we need to grab an inn, and immediately take in this coastal city!

I urge mister Oreas along to guide us towards the inn they’re lodging at.

“Oh my, Yuuri and Yig. Been a while, huh?”

“… You seem well, miss Bella.”

“Agya!”

When a voice called out as soon as we entered the inn, my excitement immediately dropped away. Oh right, she’s here too.

“Hm? Did mister Haster not come along?”

“What do you… Oooh, he couldn’t win against his “advancing age” and had to stay home.”

“Who’s “advancing in age”?!”

He delivered a firm fist onto the top of my head.

What did you expect me to do? It’s annoying explaining that you’re Haster.

“He’s actually right here. He says he’s using magic to disguise himself, since he’s famous.”

“Yeah, been a while, Bella.”

“Eh… A young boy?! I hadn’t considered that possibility!”

“Miss Bella, please don’t come any closer. This is mine.”

“Shaa!”

Yig and I intimidate her as she draws near while drooling.

Oh yeah, after the orc incident at Comb, accidentally going into heat and pushing him down, I’ve gotten used to him in this form too.

As such, my desire to show ownership of him is in full effect. I’m not giving him to anyone.

“Aah, I’m not gonna take him, so relax? I’ve got someone I started going out with too.”

“Uuu”

“Speaking of, where is Bhav?”

Miss Bella is at the inn’s counter. For some reason, mister Kale and mister Jack are in the kitchen, washing dishes.

It’s true, I don’t see Bhav anywhere, huh?

“Oh, he’s out trying to solve what happened with the memories of the people who saw Livyatan’s face when we caught her last time. It seems he’s diligently working to see if he can stitch a likeness together with whatever information they have besides where their memory cuts off.”

“Collecting information on what happened is certainly important, but… Doesn’t look like we’re getting anywhere with it.”

“Because it’s highly probable that some [Memory Manipulation] is being used. Actually, if our enemy is a magician, then wouldn’t it be more effective to stake out shops that deal in those sorts of items?”

“Oh, I see… We’ll have to look into those types of places. Leave it to good ol’ Haster.”

Obviously. He’s a sage, after all.

Of course I hold that title too, but I’m less knowledgeable about the world…

“More importantly Haster, let’s hurry into the city to go sightsee-… I mean, go on a preliminary inspection.”

“Just now, were you about to say sightseeing?”

“You’re imagining things?”

“Well, it’s not as if this is the only area where the next crime could be, so sightseeing may as well be an inspection.”

“Hrm, mister Haster seems to have some kind of sweet atmosphere about him…”

“Ah, yeah, apparently they got married. Give them some congratulations.”

“… Huh? Who and who did?”

For a moment, an expression of trying to comprehend what was just said passed over miss Bella.

Hmhmm, it’s us, us!

“Sir Haster and Yuuri did.”

“Good heavens… To think the sage was in to little girls?!”

“I’m not! I absolutely am not! I married her because she’s Yuuri!”

He shouts in denial. Unfortunately it’s not very convincing.

I dragged him along as he proudly refuted it, and we embarked on our sightseeing.

~*~

“First we’ll go to the beach to…”

“No we won’t. Shouldn’t we finish our job first?”

“Ugh… I guess so. Then shall we head to the knight order’s headquarters?”

“Yeah, I suppose. Since this city has a knight order, I’d like to hear what they have to say.”

A damper was put on the sightseeing mood, but our first stroll through the city with just the two of us isn’t so bad either.

“Agya!”

“Yes, of course, you’re with us too, Yig.”

Since he’s been staying behind a lot lately, he seems to have become more intensely self-assertive, see?

Even if it’s not as much as in Solkalis, exuberance flowed from us as we walked through the streets.

Along the way, someone in a stall recommended some accessories to me, but I’ll have to control myself. Control—

“Oh, these shell earrings are so cute.”

“Why not try them on?”

“May I, shopkeeper?”

“Sure ya can. Go right ahead an’ have a look see.”

—I couldn’t control myself.

I took a peep at the roadside street vendor, some small pink shell earrings caught my eye, and I ended up trying them on.

They clinked and clanked at the bottom of my ears with a cooling ring, making the harsh sunlight feel a little gentler on me.

“What do you think? How does it look, Haster?”

“It looks mighty fine on ya, ’cause ya’lls cute, little miss.”

“Yeah, doesn’t it look good?”

Haster piggybacks on the shopkeeper’s flattery.

It suited my tastes, so I bought a set, and wrapped one of them around Yig’s horn.

“Now we match, Yig.”

“Ugyu~”

“Well, ain’t that cute. This little guy… Ain’t a winged lizard, huh. Don’t got front legs, so could it be he’s a wyvern?”

“Yes, due to some circumstances, a wyvern’s child was put in our care.”

“Wyverns and the like that get familiar with people are so much wanted by them there knight orders that they’ll be adroolin’ over ’em.”

The shopkeeper unflinchingly strokes Yig’s neck.

Now that I notice, this shopkeeper is quite young too, huh? Is she even an adult?

“You look rather young; are you watching the store for someone?”

“Naw, this here be my shop. Look see, here’s my store openin’ permit.”

“Oh, my apologies.”

A store opening permit is something that authorizes a shop to open within the city.

In a city this large, there are plenty of dubious shops, and it’s easy for them to cause trouble, so the government issues these permits as a measure that grants peace of mind to travelers out shopping.

As proof that a business has the trust of the city, they’re obligated to disclose their permit when opening a store.

“My apologies, you just looked so young that… Eh, 16?”

“Sure am. Pretty awesome, huh.”

I was surprised when I saw the age on the certificate. This girl only has a one year age difference from me?

She’s quite relaxed… Actually, for a merchant, she gives off a carefree impression.

Mister Elric, for example, hides a sly side within his mildness that calculates his interests, but…

She has the atmosphere of a cat sleeping in the sunlight. Thanks to that, I don’t feel the slightest weariness of her. That probably draws in the customers though.

“Well, I underestimated you.”

“All good. Name’s Levy. Usually I open shop right ’round here, so come on back sometime.”

“Oh, my name’s Haster. This is Yuuri. We’ll come by again; would you mind giving us a discount when we do?”

“Ahaha, ya’ll be the shrewd type. I’ll be thinkin’ ’bout it.”

She squints her eyes and her mouth takes on a “w” shape as she replies with a smile to us.

Her whole face is actually like a cat’s. Just looking at her makes me feel warm and fluffy. I want to pet her.

“By the way… I’ve heard there’s a robber calling herself a phantom thief breaking into places around here; is it safe for a girl like you to be opening shop?”

“Naw, that thief don’t come ’round these parts. ‘sides, I ain’t heard anythin’ ’bout the phantom thief hurtin’ anyone, which really gives some peace of mind.”

“Is that so… If anything happens, I’ll do whatever I can, so feel free to contact me at the inn managed by the guild.”

“Eh? Ya look like a little boy, but yer an adventurer? That there’s a surprise.”

“Mm, oh. Not me, but some people I know. We’ll just get you in contact with them so they can help you.”

“Haw, can’t say I approve of ya’ll borrowin’ someone else’s authority at your age, y’hear?”

Miss Levy knits her eyebrows and her face seems to be saying, “bad boy,” as she pokes his forehead.

… Isn’t she acting just a bit too friendly with him?

“That’s not really what I mean…”

“Hmmmph!”

“Wh-hey…?”

While he tries to continue the conversation, I pull on his sleeve with every ounce of strength I have.

“Hehe, looks like I made yer girlfriend jealous, so how’s about we stop this here.”

“Y-yeah, sorry.”

“I am not jealous. We just have places to be.”

“Ah well… Sorry fer keepin’ ya’ll.”

“It’s because you had such good merchandise. Don’t worry about it.”

“Glad it suited yer fancies. I should have some new merchandise in stock tomorrow, so drop on by.”

“Yeah, later.”

With a light wave of the hand, we parted from miss Levy.

After walking for a bit, he made one of his rare complaints.

“Yuuri, I thought we’d managed to get some info on the city, and yet…”

“But don’t you think you might have been a little too friendly when getting it?”

I puffed my cheeks out like a blow fish and replied with my own discontent.

“No, that was just small talk about the state of things in the city…”

“Hmph, by the way, the citizens don’t seem very afraid of this phantom thief, do they?”

“Yeah, based on what Oreas told us there hasn’t been much damage, so that may just be the case.”

“Ugyu—!”

Yig found a skewer stand, and brought my attention to it by pulling on my hair.

“Owowow… That hurts, Yig. Yes, I get it already!”

“Well, it’s almost noon; why don’t we eat while we walk?”

Saying so, Haster ordered ten skewers. Isn’t that a little much?

“Four for me, and four for Yig.”

“Agya!”

“And two for me?”

“You gonna eat three?”

“No, I actually probably can’t even eat two.”

“HAHAHA, my skewers are huge. You’ll burst yer belly eating three of ’em, don’t you think, little lady?”

The stall owner said that in good humor… But they certainly are big.

I take one of the grilled sausage skewers and immediately try biting down on it, but it’s so thick it won’t fit in my mouth.

“Munch… Chew…”

“By the way, sir, I’ve heard there’s a phantom thief in this city…?”

Haster is trying to gather information just like he did before.

The result was the same as the last vendor. The klutzy phantom thief is actually something the citizens laugh about, and they’ve grown oddly attached to her it would seem.

“Well, what she’s doing is bad, of course. It’s just with how she always messes things up, it’s hard to hate her.”

“And besides, there have only been three incidents so far. There’s no guarantee she’s still in the city, huh?”

“Ooh, yeah. The next target could be in some other city, huh. That feels kinda sad in a way.”

What’s this about? Has she become one of the city’s attractions already?

With ten grilled skewers in hand, we courteously waved as we left the stall.

After that we asked around at several more places, but the results were the same as before. They don’t seem to feel there’s any threat.

“Is there any real meaning in getting rid of her at this rate?”

“Well, it’s a request, after all. Besides, she may be harmless now, but that will probably change in the future.”

While I eat the skewer in my right hand, I feed the skewer in my left hand to Yig, who’s on my head.

This kid has a bigger mouth than I do, so he’s easily chowing down on it.

While we ruminated on the stories of the non-threatening phantom thief, we came to the knight order’s headquarters.

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Author’s Note: We finally arrived at Cornus. It’s already the 60th chapter…?!