Louise was surprised.
“What's wrong?”
Ignoring Louise's words, Saito faced the people in the street and started stating
“Eeh- Ladies and Gentlemen!”
The passing people stopped, wondering what was going on.
“Eeh- This girl here is a wolf-girl that escaped from the circus.”
“What?”
What is this guy saying?
“Being raised by wolves, she howls and barks! It's really troublesome! But the most amazing thing is that she can scratch her neck with her feet! Now stand by! She will scratch her neck with her foot right now!”
Saito whispered to Louise quietly
“Well, scratch your neck with your foot. Come on.”
Saito taunted her with his chin. Louise stomped on that face with the sole of her foot. Saito tumbled onto the ground.
“What are you thinking?! Y-y-you want me to act like a beast?!”
Saito also got up, pulled on Louise's arm, and shouted
“We have no choice but to perform, right?! Is there any other way to earn money?! Aah?!”
Violently swinging her hair, Louise began arguing with Saito. “She really is a wolf-girl.”
The audience was oddly satisfied.
But soon realizing it was just a quarrel, the audience quickly got bored and left. They didn't get anything. His strength left him and Saito laid down on the ground. Louise was also tired and quickly lost her physical strength, so she sat on his back.
“I'm hungry...”
“Me too...”
To these two sitting like this, someone tossed a copper coin. Saito jumped up and picked it up. Louise stood up with an enraged voice.
“Who is it?! Come out now!”
After saying that, a strange man came out of the crowd.
“Oh my... I thought you were beggars...”
Oddly, he talked in a feminine way.
“Haah? State yourself! You know, I, amazingly enough, am from a Duke's family...”
When she tried to say that, Saito stood up and covered Louise's mouth.
“Duke's family?”
“It-it's nothing! Yes! Her brain's just a bit like that. Yes.”
Muffled, Louise thrashed around, but Saito ignored that and continued to cover her mouth. If they stood out anymore, it wouldn't be a secret mission anymore.
The man looked very interestedly at Saito and Louise. He was wearing rather showy clothes. Guiche's clothes were showy too, but the vector was strangely different. Black hair covered in oil, a sparkling, violet satin-earth shirt opened up at the chest with disheveled chest hair poking out, under his nose was a magnificent split chin and had a stylish mustache. A strong scent of perfume reached Saito's nose.
“Then why are you sleeping on the ground?”
“Well, we don't have a place to sleep or eat...”
“But we're not beggars.”
Louise said bluntly. The man looked deeply at Louise's face.
“I see. Well then, come to my place. My name is Scarron. I run an inn. I'll prepare a room.”
The man said that smiling. The way he talked and dressed was gross, but he seemed like a generous person. Saito's face glittered.
“Really?!”
“Yep, but there's one condition.”
“I'll do anything.”
“I'm managing a store on the first floor. This girl will help. That is the condition. Okay?”
Louise looked reluctant, but she obediently nodded when Saito stared at her.
“Très bien.”
Scarron grouped his hands together and rest them on his cheek, and narrowing his lips, smiled. He acted like a gay. Actually, he couldn't be anything but a gay. Gross. There are gays in other worlds too... And there's that “très bien”... Saito became strangely depressed.
“Then it's decided. Follow me.”
The man started walking, swinging his hips as if to a rhythm. Saito reluctantly took Louise's hand and followed.
“I kind of don't want to. He's weird.”
Saito looked at Louise with blazing anger in his eyes.
“Do you think you're in a position to choose?”
Chapter 2
“Good words! Fairies!”
Scarron said as he moved his hips while looking around the store.
“Yes! Mr. Scarron!”
Cheered the girls wrapped in flashy clothes.
“Wrooooongg!”
Scarron shouted while exaggeratedly moving his hips around, upon hearing the girls' cheers.
“Not Mister, but call me as Mi Mademoiselle, alright?”
“Yes! Mi mademoiselle!”
“Très bien.”
Scarron trembled pleasantly while moving his hips. Looking at the middle-aged man that took him here, Saito felt sick.
But the girls in the store, who were used to this habit, didn't even show a change in their faces.
“All right, we'll start with a saddening notice from Mi Mademoiselle. Recently, the 'Charming Faeries' Inn's sales have been dropping. A shop called a 'cafe' has been bringing out 'tea' that has been recently imported from the East and are stealing our customers... Sniff...”
“Don't cry! Mi mademoiselle!”
“You're right. If we lost to this 'tea', the words 'Charming Faeries' would cry.”
“Yes! Mi mademoiselle!”
Scarron jumped onto the table and posed intensely.
“The Charming Faeries' promise! Un~~”
“Serve with a cheerful smile!”
“The Charming Faeries' promise! Deux~~”
“A clean, sparkling store interior!”
“The Charming Faeries' promise! Trois~~”
“Receive lots of tips!”
“Très bien.”
Scarron smiled in a satisfied way. Then he bent his hips and made a pose. Gastric juice went up his throat, but Saito desperately swallowed it back down.
“Well then, I have a wonderful announcement for you faeries. We get to make a new comrade today.”
The girls applauded.
“Then, let me introduce her! Louise-chan! Come in here!”
Surrounded by applause, Louise appeared, completely red in the face from shyness and anger.
Saito swallowed his breath. The store's hairdresser had put up Louise's pink-blonde hair and made the hair on her left and right into small braided cords. She was also wearing a suggestively short camisole, sticking to her like a corset and making her body's lines more pronounced. It was open at the back, letting off an obvious charm. That appearance was very much like a lovely fairy.
“Louise-chan was about to be sold off to the circus, but just in time managed to escape with her brother. She's very cute but poor girl.”
Sighs of sympathy came from the girls. That was a lie that Saito had come up with along their way to the store. In desperation, he had decided to be Louise's older brother. They didn't look like siblings no matter how one looked, but Scarron didn't get too caught up in that part. It seems it didn't really matter.
“Well then, Louise-chan. Greet the faeries that are going to become your co-workers.” Louise was shaking all over. It seemed she was angry. Intensely. Strongly. A prideful noble like Louise was being told to bow her head to commoners in that clothing. Saito was afraid she'd go berserk and let off continuous “Explosion's”.
But... The sense of responsibility telling her to fulfill the mission suppressed Louise's anger.
Come to think about it, rumors tend to collect at bars. It was perfect for information gathering. Plus, they were broke. Telling herself this was a mission, Louise bowed with a forced smile.
“I-I-I-I'm Louise. Ni-ni-ni-nice to meet you.”
“Okay, applause!”
Scarron demanded. A great applause echoed through the store. Scarron looked at the clock set on the wall. It was finally time for the store to open.
He snapped his fingers. Reacting to it, the magic-made dolls at the corner of the store began to play gaudy music. It was the rhythm to a march. Scarron talked in an excited voice.