“So, what do you recommend?”
The girl who was hiding her face with a tray pointed at the neighboring table. On it was a dish with a honey grilled baby chick wrapped in piecrust.
“And what’s the recommended wine?”
The girl pointed at a wine that had been served to another table, a well-aged Gernew wine.
Then Kirche said in a surprised tone, “Ah, Familiar-san is flirting with a girl!”
The girl came out from behind the tray and stared around the room with sharp eyes.
Everyone in the group except for Kirche shouted.
“Louise!”
Louise noticed the broad grin on Kirche’s face and realized that she had been tricked, and once again hid her face with the tray.
“It’s too late, La Vallière.”
“I’m not Louise.”
Louise spoke in a shaking voice. Kirche pulled on Louise’s arm and laid her on top of the table. Kirche grabbed on to the right arm, Guiche on the left, Tabitha grabbed the right leg and Montmorency held on to the left leg. The immobile Louise faced to the side and said with a shaky tone,
“I’m not Louise! Let go of me.”
“Really, what are you doing here?”
Louise would not answer. Snap! Kirche snapped her fingers and Tabitha cast a spell. With the power of the wind, Tabitha coiled the air around Louise and controlled her. Louise bounced on top of the table to a seiza pose.
“Wha-, What are you doing?!”
Kirche snapped her fingers once again. Silently, Tabitha waved her staff. The mass of air which controlled Louise became multiple invisible fingers and started to tickle her body.
“Ahahaha! Stop! It tickles! Stop!”
“So under what circumstances are you working here?”
“I’m not saying! Ahahaha!”
The fingers of air continued to tickle Louise but she wouldn’t confess. Eventually her body went limp.
“Such a tight-lipped kid. You've been hiding many things recently.”
“If you understand… then leave me alone…”
“Will do.”
Kirche picked up the menu dully.
“Hurry up and order something.”
“This,” said Kirche pointing at the menu.
“I can't tell, which?”
“Well first of all, everything written on this menu.”
“Huh?”
Louise stared at Kirche blankly.
“Just bring me everything.”
“You're really rich… I’m so envious.”
Kirche then said to Louise,
“Oh, of course it’s your treat. I’ll happily accept the offer, La Vallière-san.”
“What? Don’t sweet-talk! Why do I have to treat you?!”
“Or I’ll tell everyone in school that you're working here.”
Louise dropped her jaw.
“If you say it… I’ll, I’ll kill you.”
“Oh my, I wouldn’t want to die. So could you bring all the food quickly?”
Louise sadly dropped her shoulders and disappeared toward the kitchen while hitting many things on the way.
Guiche said shaking his head,
“You really are a nasty woman.”
Kirche happily replied.
“Don’t misunderstand me, I just don’t like that girl. We're basically enemies…”
Kirche cut off her speech and fixed Tabitha’s disorderly cloak.
“You should really fix that habit of messing up your hair and cloak when you cast spells. Women are about appearances and smarts are secondary.”
Kirche was fixing up Tabitha’s hair like an older sister taking care of a little sister or a mother worrying for her daughter.
Guiche looked at Tabitha. Why does this mean Germanian woman trust Tabitha and only Tabitha? thought Guiche. Although it was summer vacation, the two didn’t go home and stayed together at school. Moreover, they seemed to be communicating telepathically. Maybe it’s because Tabitha rarely speaks, but they were able to understand each other by just exchanging looks and were as close as sisters.
But… Guiche puzzled over his memory. They weren’t this close when they first enrolled. I'm not sure because I was fooling around with other girls too much but didn’t they even start a duel?
Just when Guiche wanted to inquire about it, a group of new customers came into the bar.they were good-looking nobles. They were wearing hats with large brims furnished with stylish feathers and had sword-shaped wands sticking out their cloak. They seemed to be officers from the royal army.
They probably had been training the whole day; they came in without a care and started to look around for tables.
The officer started to talk about the different girls in the bar. Many different girls poured the wine but none seemed to satisfy the officers. One officer noticed Kirche and winked at her.
“Isn’t that a noble girl? Women that could be together with us will have to carry a wand around!”
“That’s right! This is a rare break that her Majesty has given to us, the officers of the royal army. We can’t just have some commoners pour our wine.”
While saying such words, they were loudly deciding whom would go and pick up the girls. It seemed Kirche was used to these kinds of things and continued drinking wine calmly, but Guiche was feeling uneasy. He supposed himself to be in a position where he should be escorting the girls, but couldn’t be firm in front of nobles that were officers in the royal army. He would probably get beaten up.
Eventually the decision was made for whom to go talk to them. One of the nobles stood up. He was a handsome man who was just over twenty years old.
Full of confidence, he played with his mustache and elegantly bowed to Kirche.
“We are the officers that belong to the Navaaru regiment. We were stricken by your august beauty and would like to invite you to our dining table.”
Kirche answered without even looking.
“Sorry, but I’m having a good time with my friends.”
The officer’s friends started hooting. If he got rejected now, it would bruise his pride. He tried to persuade Kirche with enthusiastic words.
“I will plead you to ignore that. Please bestow a moment of happiness upon us who have nothing but unforgiving battle awaiting us.”
But still, Kirche just waved him off.
The noble disappointed, went back to his friends .
“You’re not popular with women,” said an officer. But the young man shook his head.
“Did you hear her accent? She has to be a Germanian woman. Quite suspicious as a noble, if you ask me!”
“But I heard Germanian women are really lewd. Quite rare to see a woman with firm conduct.”
“Probably a Protestant to boot!”
Maybe it was partly because of the alcohol, but the officers started throwing insults against Kirche. Guiche and Montmorency looked at each other and asked Kirche if she wanted to leave the bar.
“But we were here first,” muttered Kirche as she stood up. Her long hair seemed to be burning as though it was a wild inferno. Other customers and waitresses and practically everyone who was watching the whole incident fell quiet.
“Ah, so have you changed you mind and decided to accompany us?”
“Yes, not with goblets… but with this.”
Kirche smoothly pulled out her wand.
The men fell out of their chair laughing.
“Don’t even try, young lady. We are nobles and will not point our wands at women.”
“Are you scared of Germanian women?”
“Ridiculous!”
The men continued laughing aloud.
“Then I will make you draw your wand.”
Kirche swung her wand. Fireballs equal to the number of men came out of the tip of her wand and instantly incinerated the decorative feathers on their hats. The bar stirred. Kirche stood up to bow to the audience.