Morning After a Night Like a Dream

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/19/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Hahii~, we drank, we ate.”

I walked the night road, lit by magic lamps, in high spirits.
Kira walking beside me, and Gerda going ahead, were each in high spirits as well.

“No, truly. You said a little, but you can hold it quite well, Asha.”
“A-ahahaha, that’s, the wine was good, so it went down easy, I’m sure.”

I answered Gerda’s teasing with something like a joke.
In fact, as wine of this world went, it had felt like they had tried quite hard.
Brewing technique was low no matter what, so there was a lot of poor stuff… it could not be helped.

Even so.

“Or rather, Gerda, you drank quite a lot, didn’t you?
And your complexion hasn’t changed at all…”

I could not help sounding exasperated.
After that she had emptied two bottles or so by herself, and she looked completely fine.
Well, I had drunk a fair amount too, but it did not bear comparison.

Compared to that…

“Fufufu. You two are strong, aren’t you…
I feel all floaty…”

Kira, with a warm, fuzzy smile.
Her steps seemed a little floaty as well, so I had her hold my arm as I walked beside her.
The way she held on, the way she laughed: reserved, and still adorable.
I wanted to take her home just like this.

No, wait.

“Ah, come to think of it, what’s happening with Kira’s house?”

It occurred to me, and I asked Gerda.
Oh, Gerda stopped as if she had noticed something, and looked back.

“Come to think of it… magicians have collective housing treated like a dormitory.
Kira, did you hear about a room?”
“Ah… come to think of it, I didn’t… hear…?”
“Dominas, that one… I’ll have to have a word with her later.”

Gerda said it with a wry smile.
Indeed, as the person in charge who had taken Kira in, Lady Dominas was probably responsible for the failure to inform her.

“Now, now, Lady Dominas must have been flustered by how sudden it was, don’t you think?”
“It’s true she is not good at adapting… I’m sorry, Kira.”
“Ah, no, that’s… all right, but… what do I do tonight…?”

At Kira’s troubled voice, Gerda and I looked at each other.

“Have her stay at Gerda’s, or stay at the workshop, I suppose.
Fortunately there are spare rooms.”

Being a workshop, it was large enough for several people to sleep.
Gerda’s house was probably large too, I guessed.

“Ah~… my house might be a bit hard on Kira.
In a manner of speaking, it is a dragon’s nest, so it comes to that.”
“I-I… see…?”

I hesitated over whether I was allowed to accept that.
I was not well versed in sky dragon ecology, but when one said a dragon’s nest… I could not deny that images of adventurers’ piled corpses, or the vicinity of a volcano, or other unsavory things came to mind.
And yet, if I showed a look of understanding while holding such images, there was no guarantee Gerda would not be hurt.
In the end, all I could return was a reaction I could not quite name.

“Then tonight, you’ll stay at Asha’s, okay?”
“Ah, that will be best. I’ll see you two there, and stop by the collective housing on the way to explain.”
“I’m sorry, please. …I feel like I’m always in your debt, Gerda.”

Needless to say, the food and drink at Elma’s just now had been Gerda’s as well.
Since coming to this island, from the very beginning, I had been in Gerda’s care the whole time.
I felt terribly apologetic.

“What, I’ll be having the two of you help me from here on, so it’s a kind of payment in advance.
Given your characters, if you’re treated like this you won’t be able to run, will you?”

She said something a little wicked like that.
But the smile she showed as she said it was so kind and warm that I could not take it at face value.

“Fufu. That’s so. From tomorrow I’ll work like a cart-horse, I will.”

But I chose to play along.
I struck a pose as if making a muscle, and Gerda laughed, amused.
Kira was nodding hard beside me. Yes, cute.

“Ah. I look forward to working with you both from tomorrow as well.”

I gripped firmly the hand Gerda held out as she said it.

But at that time, I did not know.
That I would come to regret those words.

 

After Gerda had seen us to the workshop.

“Sleeping alone is lonely.”

Kira said something so cute, so we ended up sleeping in the same room on the second floor.
There was only one bed, so I had Kira use the bed.
Of course Kira disliked it, and insisted she would sleep on the floor, but I could not yield here.

“Then shall we sleep together?”

She said something like that, and I refused for all I was worth.
I could not possibly trust my reason in front of a tipsy pretty girl saying such cute things.

At any rate. I got through this wonderful night, soundly.

And the next morning.

“Fuaa~… Kira, morning.”
“Nn… morning, Asha.”

The two of us woke to the morning sun coming in.
How long had it been since I had slept so well.
It was probably the same for Kira; her just-woken face was still a little sleepy, but her color was very good.

Yes, good.
Thinking that, I stood—and then I noticed.
It was somehow noisy, a stir.

What, what? I thought, and went to the window…

“…Ha??”

I looked outside, and was struck dumb.

“Eh, what’s wrong…??”

Kira, looking dubious at my manner, came over, looked out as well, and her eyes went round.

Below.
People chatting lively, forming a line, were standing in a row.

“W-what’s going ooonnn!?”

I found myself shouting at the top of my voice.