Chapter 75 – Self-Loathing

I’ve often heard adults say, “I was drunk and I don’t remember”.

I always thought it was a lie.

In general, I did not believe that alcohol had any memory-erasing effect.

I thought that it was only a ‘pretext’ to say such a thing, and I couldn’t possibly not remember it.

And when I woke up, and thought to myself, “What did I do?”.

I remembered exactly what I did. With great clarity.

That’s why I woke up and stayed calm while holding my aching head down, then my face immediately turned pale.

“Oh, I, f-feel like I was doing something terrible. Ugh, aaaaahhhh! What the hell, me! Yokatin! Moronic imbecile, stupid, idiot!”

When I woke up, I was in a strange room.

Or rather, in a rather dirty room, there is only a bed in a simple room.

On that strange bed I’m writhing in agony.

“What’s more, and… I’m naked!?”

I turned over the sheets to feel a somewhat cool sensation of the passing air, and I was completely naked, not even wearing pants.

『Your clothes are over there.』

“Oh, Tre’ainar!?”

『This is the second floor of the bar. A sort of rest room, you collapsed after making a scene, and were carried here to sleep it off for a few hours.』

When he suddenly called out to me, I looked back, startled at the sound, and saw Tre’ainar, with a look of disgust, his arms folded, by the window of the room.

And, as Tre’ainar said, my clothes were neatly folded.

“Oh, I… took off my clothes.”

『Be grateful for that woman… she washed your clothes by hand during the day, dried them outside.』

“That woman…? Eh?!”

And the next moment, I was suddenly wide awake.

Why, there was an “Exchange Diary” next to my clothes, which were neatly folded.

“Well, no way…”

『Tis the Shinobi woman.』

“Why?! Eh? Because, we separated from Shinobu…… No, I got rice balls in the mountains!”

No way, Shinobu.

Did Shinobu wash the clothes that I took off while drunk?!

『Or rather, you may not have noticed due to intoxication, but…… that woman…… she infiltrated the bar, did she not?』

“Huh!?”

『She changed her name, her attire, and even changed her manner of makeup and dressed in a waitress uniform with an apron on…. well, at first glance you could tell.』

Shinobu… In the bar…… What? That means……

『Of course, that woman saw it, did she not? Your… nudity.』

“Eh!?”

I was seen. Ah, my thing, my son…. oh, to a woman of the same age….

“Ah! I could die!!”

『My goodness…… you should ban alcohol from now on. Witnessing your antics was terrifying….』

“Uugh…… and, it was seen…… meaning…… that, my manhood was….”

Oh no…. with Sadiz, that’s all there was to it, but… I was seen naked by a woman of the same age…… Until recently, the only ones who saw me naked were Sadiz and Tre’ainar…. Now, I want to go back to the past……

“And at the same age…… that was seen by a girl of the same age…. for the first time since I took a bath with the princess….”

『Oi, do not be depressed forever… rather, you, even though you were a child, with that princess…』

Damn. The mental damage is severe.

I can’t look Shinobu in the face for a while.

And also, this Exchange Diary….

“I just wrote a reply, but I didn’t think it would be returned anymore… I mean, didn’t she go home with her brother and friends? No way, does she want to keep this exchange of diaries going?”

Or rather, you’re following me…?

It’s getting a little colder, but when I casually turned over the diary, and on a new page….

“Uuuurgh!”

On the left and right pages of the notebook, the words were written in large letters.

It was scary, so I closed it immediately.

“Oh, why are you asking about Sadiz… ?”

『I suppose she heard you speak of that maid in your drunken stupor.』

“Come on, seriously… aah, scary…”

No, I had nothing to feel guilty about. But I was scared.

『For the time being, you must wake up and consider the future.』

“…… From now on? No way… You mean Shinobu?”

『No, not that. Even though we arrived at the town with great pains, you squandered almost the entire day at that banquet.』

“Ah…… Well, no, I slept for a few hours…”

『Tis already night.』

“Huh?”

What a hell. I wanted to think about shopping during the day, and what to do for money from now on, but I wasted my time with all this other stuff…

“Oh, then, what about… Bro and the others?”

『I left the store after they carried you here. Apparently, they work at night.』

“At night…”

That reminds me.

No, the young people laze about in the daytime and go out into the city at night.

Somehow, this merchant town will transform at night.

『And….. this town at night may be worth your attention.』

“Eh? Why……?”

『I took a view out of the window, but… tis a different bustle than daytime, is it not?』

Tre’ainar standing by the window laughed, and I anxiously looked outside.

It was surprising.

“Oh, aah? Huh? Eh?”

It’s night, but it wasn’t dark. Streetlights lit by fire lined the streets, and an aristocratic troupe, dressed up in the street, went hither and thither in “queer masks”.

Various butterflies, crescent-shaped faces, and so on… Is it a masquerade? No, they’re playing incognito?

What’s more, other young people who have their true faces exposed…… people dressed in the same Kamikaze Gang clothes as Bro and others, walked around the town as if they were guards.

“What… the heck……?”

『I overheard a brief conversation at the bar during the day…. The word ‘Auction’…… was mentioned.』

“Auction?”

An auction at Cantidan? Well, it wouldn’t be strange to hear that, but…… still……

『Perhaps tis not merely an auction. Well, as the wealthy seem to be hiding their faces…… I can imagine…』

“What the hell is that… What kind of auction is it?”

『…… Still within the realm of possibility. You will never know unless you actually go out into town.』

It sounded like he was saying “See with your own eyes” even though what Tre’ainar said made it sound like he understood the general circumstances.

『In the daytime, the mafia had been destroyed, and now the town seems to be run by the hoodlum in the daytime … but they do not live in a haze. They must have means for an income… That is the night of this town. I fear tis likely, they might have coalition with the mafia, to offer assistance as it is…. Well, even so…』

“You want me to see it in person and find out?”

『Huh, I suppose.』

I just woke up and my head hurts a little, but I still cannot afford to rest in my room until morning.

I’ve slept quite a while, so I’m not sleepy at all….

“Hah~, right. Let’s just take a quick look around the town, shall we? What is the difference between day and night…?”

As Tre’ainar said, let’s go out and see with our own eyes.

I put on my folded clothes and prepare to go out.

And then……

『But when you go out…… you may want to be a little careful… you walk with your true face exposed.』

“Heh?”

『Perhaps not only local nobles are out there, but also citizens of the Imperial Capital. Some may know your face.』

“Ah…… I see…”

『That would be much too inconvenient, would it not? Should you go out, you ought to conceal your face as well.』

I didn’t like it. Certainly, it’s a hassle.

There’s something beneficial…… With that in mind, when I reached for my pants…… What?

“What? This…… isn’t the pants I wore…. They’re new.”

The clothes were mine, but only the pants were changed to new ones. Why?

『As they were battered from overuse, the shinobi woman bought a new pair and discarded the old ones.』

“Oh, yeah…. Hmm…… my bad. Not only rice balls, but also new pants…… I’m just being taken care of, I’d better give her something….”

『No, it should be fine… I believe she was satisfied enough with the ‘reward’, but…… Well, you need not mind it.』

“What?”

Tilting my head at Tre’ainar’s grave words, I went outside, wearing clothes that had been washed.