[V1C4] The Self-Proclaimed Frail Pretty Boy’s Suggestion
Translated by Jodas 1: The Wedge Tower“Oh, thank goodness, sir. I’m far too scared to do this alone…”
The boy who ran up to them looked up at them with wide open puppy eyes and an adorable face. Add on top his back-length untied hair, and he looked almost like a little girl.
The boy knitted his fingers together in front of his body and smiled with flushed cheeks.
“I’m not very good with maps, sir. I haven’t a clue where I am supposed to go.”
“Oh, so you’re an applicant too, boy?”
“I am, sir.”
Filled with the ease of a child who has finally found an adult he can rely on, the boy nodded.
Tia stared at him through the sides of her eyes. She looked at him intently and inquisitively.
What’s the matter? He made a strange face when he noticed Tia’s glare.
He didn’t avert his eyes. From that reaction, Tia was confident.
(He’s not a weak creature.)
Weak-willed creatures will always either shrivel or avert their eyes when stared at.
This boy was a strong creature that simply wore the illusion of weakness.
Tia asked the boy:
“Why were you following me?”
“Huh? Whatever are you talking about?”
“You’ve been following me for a long time now.”
Tia’s ears were quite good. Besides, the boy was merely an amateur at stalking, so she could clearly hear the sounds of him stepping on grasses and branches.
Whether or not he realized that it was no use lying to Tia who asked her question with confidence, the boy blushed and twiddled his fingers.
“I’m very sorry. I’m just far too embarrassed… but when I saw you and that mister join hands, I panicked and jumped out.”
The boy now directed those eyes away from Tia and towards Seitz.
It wasn’t like his eyes were busily darting around at all, but it strangely felt like he was keeping watch of their surroundings. His eyes weren’t focused on any one thing in particular; he kept his field of vision as wide as possible.
“Mister, I beg of you to teach me the secret behind the keys.”
“Oh, uh, ah, of course. Then, let me just see your key…”
“Wait, hold on!”
As if he had noticed something, the boy cut off Seitz’s voice and cautiously looked around.
Then, he held a hand up in front of his mouth and whispered quietly.
“It might be dangerous to talk here…… I just saw an applicant with a scary face over in that direction. If he heard what we were talking about……”
“Then how ‘bout we go to where the closest X mark is?”
“Yeah, uh, sounds good.” Seitz nodded uncomfortably to Tia’s suggestion.
The boy peeked at the sword hanging from Seitz’s belt.
“Mister, I see you have a sword. Can you use magecraft as well?”
“Obviously, why else would I want to get in to the Wedge Tower? Can you two?”
Tia knew absolutely nothing about magecraft, so she cheerfully raised her hand and answered.
“Not at all!”
“I can use a little bit of attack magic……”
“Hmm.” Seitz nodded and stroked his chin.
“Then I will take the lead. You kids follow me.”
“Yes sir! I will protect you from behind, mister!”
Led by Seitz, and with Tia and the Boy side-by-side behind him, the three of them walked off.
It seemed as if Seitz had memorized the map, as he made no moves to pull the map out of his bag.
The boy gave Tia a friendly smile.
“I’m Wren, Nice to meetcha!”
“I’m Tia!”
Should she give him a handshake?
Were handshakes something people did while walking? While Tia hesitated, the boy—Wren—offered his hand to her as they walked.
“Tia, let’s shake hands!”
So it is okay to give handshakes while walking!
Learning something new about manners, Tia reached out her hand, which Wren grabbed forcefully and pulled towards himself.
“Pyoeh!?” Tia chirped, but Wren leaned into her ear and whispered.
“Let’s run.”
Why? Tia wanted to ask, but then she realized.
Seitz, who had been walking in front of them, had turned around as was looking at them. His face showed no sign of the smile he had earlier.
Emotionless, Seitz reached his hand towards the sword on his hip.
“Shit! Go! Go! Go!”
Wren shouted, pulling Tia’s hand as he took off running.
At around the same time, Seitz came running after them.
“Pyoeh!? Whatwhatwhat? Why are we running? Whyyyy?”
Tia shouted as she ran with stilted legs. Wren dropped his cute act and shouted back at her with spit flying as he spoke.
“That old fart was trying to steal your key! That whole thing about a trick was bullshit!”
“You’re pretty attentive, boy.”
Seitz laughed as he ran after the two of them. He laughed like he had nothing to worry about.
His expression spoke volumes of what he thought two children would be capable of.
Wren clicked his tongue and headed for an area where the trees were more densely packed.
“Let’s hide over there!”
The two of them dove into the dense grove of low trees. They landed on a steep slope and, tangled together, rolled down the hill.
“Pyoeeehhh….”
“Ngh…. Ow…. Dammit!”
Wren picked up a stone nearby his feet and threw it as far as he could.
It landed with a plop. There was a pond nearby.
Seitz’s footsteps became more distant, heading towards the pond.
“Now’s our chance. Let’s go.”
Wren headed in the opposite direction of the pond, trying to hide in the shadows of the trees as he tiptoed away.
What should I do? Tia wondered, but quickly decided just to follow Wren.
Wren ran out of breath after a while of running in front of Tia. They weren’t running for very long, but his legs were already starting to drag. He must not have much endurance.
Tia wasn’t terribly fast, but she had plenty of endurance, so she happily continued walked as she talked to Wren.
“Can’t you use attack magic, Wren? Aren’t you going to use it?”
“I can’t use magic, dude!”
“Pyoeh?”
Tia blinked rapidly. Wren stretched his shoulders and took a shaky breath.
“If I said I couldn’t use magic just after you did, that old fart would have just attacked us right then and there! Stealing keys from a couple of powerless kids would be like stealing candy from a baby!”
So it seemed like he lied about using magecraft in order to keep Seitz at bay.
“But you didn’t think he was suspicious at all? Didn’t you notice that old fart’s sketchy smile and sliky voice!?”
“Uhm….”
Tia peered at Wren’s face.
“Don’t you have those too?”
Wren had just used his silky voice to great effect.
“The fuck’s that supposed to mean!?” Wren stuck out his lip and made an intimidating face, but Tia simply spoke her honest thoughts.
“The old man’s voice sounded a little more natural than yours. Maybe he’s more experienced!”
“Hey, look at me. Look at this beautiful pretty boy face. Does any part of this look sketchy to you?”
“Ehhhh…..”
Tia grumbled as Wren drew his face even closer.
His brilliant golden hair; his rosy cheeks; his wide eyes framed by long lashes; his shapely lips.
I see. If he stayed quiet, he truly would be a pretty boy. If he opened his mouth, it would all go to shreds.
“Um, there’s something more important I want to ask…”
“Is there anything more important than beholding my pretty boy face?”
“Why did that old man want my key? Didn’t he have is own key already?”
Wren’s face contorted in response to Tia’s question, but he managed to keep his pretty boy gloating under wraps and looked over their surroundings.
“That’s… Oh, perfect. Look, that’s where the X mark is!”
Wren pointed at a pile of stones in front of them. The pile, made of many large stones stacked up, appeared to have been manmade.
Getting closer, they could see a metal box fixed among the stones.
On the face of the box was a round indent. Seeing the pattern on the indent, Tia came to a realization.
“Oh, this is the key. The pattern on the key.”
Tia reached under her clothes and pulled out the piece of wood that served as the key.
If you assembled four of these wooden wedges, they would form a perfect circle.
“Now you get it, right? All of these keys are the same, but it only works as a key if you have four of them. That’s why that old fart tried to steal our keys.”
“Why can’t we just have four applicants work together?”
“Didn’t you see the map? How many Xs were there?”
“….Oh! Three!”
Even if you got four people to work together to open the locks, there were only three Wedge Medals—That meant there would be conflict no matter what you did.
“Then why did you save me, Wren?”
The test was designed to make it difficult to work with other people.
Even then, Wren ran away with Tia before she could have her key stolen.
Wren pointed a finger at Tia who wracked her brain for an explanation.
“You were the last one to arrive at the testing site, right? You rolled right over that bowl-cut four-eyes!”
“Yep!”
“That means you probably don’t already have a teammate. On top of that, you looked like the weakest one, so I called out to you.”
Wren flipped up his shiny bangs and twisted his body into a strange angle.
Was that pose supposed to mean anything?
“I can’t use any weapons, nor can I use magic. All I have is this pretty boy face beloved around the world!”
Wren closed one eye with a flash.
Tia finally realized: this was probably an attempt at showing off his pretty boy appeal.
“If I tried to ask for anyone else’s help, they’d probably just attack me. After all, I’m just a frail and delicate beauty!”
Leaving aside his looks, his words were the opposite of frail and delicate.
The self-proclaimed frail and delicate pretty boy declared his magnanimity to Tia.
“Therefore, I had no choice but to team up with the weakest person here! And the weakest-looking person I saw, was you.”
“I look weak?”
“Less weak, and more dumbass. I feel reassured knowing you’re incapable of deceiving me. Oh, that was a compliment by the way.”
“I’ve been complimented!”
Being complimented was a good thing.
Tia smiled. Wren offered his right hand to her with a smirk.
“That’s how it is, so how ‘bout you work with me? I bet it would be impossible for you to collect enough keys be yourself.”
“Hmm…”
Tia was bad at thinking about difficult things. And betting.
So it would really help if a smart guy like Wren was with her.
“Okay. Wren is smart, so I’ll work with you.”
“Start by complimenting my prettiness! Well, it is true that I am smart, though.”
Tia shook Wren’s hand, and Wren returned the gesture with a face that said it could be worse.