novelDon't come to the hunting contest in the forest (4)
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Chapter 42: Chapter 42 Don't come to the hunting contest in the forest (4)
Benfork's eyes sparkled. He was not at all interested in swordsmanship until yesterday, but he was a totally different boy today, who seemed to risk everything on it, given his desperate begging. Obviously, meeting the imperial knight seemed to have caused a big shift in his monotonous life, but nobody knew when his newly revived interest in swordsmanship would disappear.
"Well, yes. If I'm off on that day..." Jean reluctantly replied.
When he said that, Benfork screamed in joy, "Wonderful!"
Looking at him, however, Wendy felt embarrassed.
"Don't feel pressured. If you accept his request like that, he will keep coming to you for other things. I will tell them you can't come because you work on that day. So, you don't have to worry." She said that on purpose to avoid getting involved with people around Jean rather than taking his difficult position into account. Although she couldn't help it today, she wanted to avoid this kind of meeting with him in the future.
But Jean clearly had a different idea. He suddenly opened his eyes and shook his head, saying, "No, I can't lie to these children! I'm not that type of person. As an imperial knight, I, Jean Jacque Simuan, can never lie to them."
Again, he emphasized his position as an imperial knight and reaffirmed his promise to the children. She looked into his eyes and said as if she wanted to break his own taboo, "Of course, you can lie to them, Sir Simuan! I enjoyed talking with you today. See you next time when I get a chance to see you again."
Then, she drove him out of the shop, but the chance that Wendy mentioned to him came too early, contrary to her expectations.
She had to admit for a moment that she had forgotten that Jean Jacques Simuan was Lard Schroder's deputy because exactly two days later he visited her shop as if he resembled his boss's persistence.
The boys were were absorbed into spreading fertilizer.
"Wendy, I came to keep my promise. Are the boys inside?"
She clenched her teeth, looking at his bright smile, but she couldn't drive him out of the shop recklessly like she did last time because she knew all of them came back to the shop with wooden swords in their hands, expecting that Jean would come today. She could not turn a blind eye to the boy's eyes filled with pure expectation and excitement.
When he stepped into the shop, they rushed to him from the inside of the garden. He led them back into the flower garden.
"Be careful not to bend the flower stalks. Also, be careful not to tread on flower shoots while you guys are wielding wooden swords!" She shouted at them, but no one listened.
"Whew..."
She sighed a little and grabbed her coin purse to buy some snacks for the boys. After closing the flower shop for a while, she went to a local bakery and a restaurant. She ordered a large order of chicken fries in addition to the Montrapi bread.
She was proud of the boys for not complaining about the fertilizer's smell and working hard. Of course, the boys obeyed her when they confirmed that she was stronger than them at the martial arts center, so it was naive to think they were mature enough to act gentlemanly overnight.
While walking with her hands full of bags, she suddenly stopped because small dandelion seeds, drifting in the spring breeze, landed on her nose. The fluffy dandelion seeds gently tickled her nose.
She gently blew it off her nose. The white, smooth, round puffs floated slowly in the air. As she watched the floating puffs, she had to blink her eyes in surprise when she saw a familiar figure coming toward her.
"Hi, Wendy."
He was none other than Lard Schroder, the captain of the Imperial Knights.
Holding the reins of Balos, he walked toward her with a poker face as usual. She may not have noticed him already smiling at her. He was in cheerful mood like a spring day.
"I was going to see you. Oh, you have lots of bags."
Looking at her with her hands full, he took them from her.
Taking over the reins of Balos and unexpectedly getting his help, she felt awkward, so she stroke Balos's neck helplessly. She wondered if the dandelion puffs she blew off a moment ago was tickling her right ankle. She knew he had tied a handkerchief around it.
"Oh, well..."
Awkwardly looking up at his face, she pointed to his hair as if she had found something. Dandelion puffs sat on his dark hair. She was speechless as she felt the puffs might have been the same as the ones that had landed on her nose.
"Well, you have dandelion puffs on your hair. Around this spot..." She spoke, grabbing her hair to show him where the puffs sat on his head.
He tried to shake his head from side to side to get the puffs off. As he held her bags in both hands, that's all he could do, but the puffs remained, as if mocking his shaking.
"... Stay still. Let me take it off. Would you bow your head slightly?"
Being unable to stand it, she reached over his head. As it sat on his temple, it was a bit difficult for her to get it off initially, but she easily took it off when she walked one step closer to him.
His black hair felt so smooth that she couldn't take off her fingers easily.
She felt good about it.
"Now, it's gone. Let's go."
Trying not to recall his gray eyes at the concert, she turned her eyes away from his face when he suddenly came near her. She didn't want to say something stupid thing again like 'poison' to avoid her difficult situation.
"Are you here to tell me about the Brugonu hunting competition?" She said, breathing in the spring air fully. Walking side by side, he nodded.
"I've brought the invitation for you. It's written by the crown prince himself. I am embarrassed about how to react as the prince was so enthusiastic about sending the invitation."
"Is the rumor true that he wants to have women participate in the contest?"
He looked at her with a perplexed expression when she asked, "How did you hear about the rumors?"
"Well, I heard it from Sir Simuan when he stopped by my flower shop."
"... Sir Simuan?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah, that's right. Sir Schroder, please tell me. Are women also taking part in the contest?"
As she demanded the answer again, he looked at her face for a while and replied reluctantly, "Yes. The crown prince ordered that not only women take part in the competition, but also a man and a woman should form hunting teams."
She frowned slightly as she was recalling the prince's reminder that she could hunt whatever game it was, be it a beast or a beast-like man. She smelled a rat. Obviously, the prince was making up some strange tricks.
"It looks like the prince is a funny guy. As you know, I'm going there reluctantly, but as you have to form a team with a woman, I think I have to follow to save your face. As I have never done any hunting, I don't know what to do. Do you participate in the contest every year?"
"No, the last time I was there was two years ago."
"Did you win?"
"Hmm, you should have luck for hunting, but I was also very lucky."
Although he didn't say directly that he won, his reply suggested he was a winner in the contest. She smiled briefly.
"Well, which lady did you donate your award gift and honor to? Did you have a woman in mind at that time?"
He paused when she asked a barrage of questions. He wondered if she really asked as she was genuinely curious. As far as he knew, she was not the type of woman who asked such questions.
"Well, I gave it to the crown princess out of courtesy. I wanted to save the couple's face since the crown prince hates killing, I just showed my due manners instead."
"Hummm..."
She breathed out with a sigh as if she were a bit disappointed at his reply.
"The crown prince has decided to award an extraordinary prize for the winning team this time. He promised to give the title of Baron to both man and woman of the winning team, with the condition that they can't hand down the title. Nonetheless, this would be a great opportunity for the nobles who are not the successors of their families, even though the title is not that high in the nobles' hierarchy."
Her eyes perked up at the mention of 'baron. '
Giving the title of 'baron' as a prize? She had never heard any imperial family awarding such title as a prize before. Even if baron was the lowest title in the nobles' hierarchy, it was nonsensical to award such a title to the winner of a hunting contest. The rumors that the crown prince was crazy, apparently, extended beyond his love for his violin.
"Baron? That's great."
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