Stigma Effect

Proofreader: kuroneko_chan

When the festival starts, you can determine people's preferences.

People who do not like crowded places and do not want to go near festivals, and people who want to look around and attend all the events.

Yuriel was obviously the latter.

'œI want to go see the festival'¦.'

Locked up in a room and cleaning up guns was not in her spirit. Since the festival started, she had been repeatedly disassembling and reassembling guns for three days.

Now, she was able to reassemble a gun even with her eyes closed, but she was not satisfied.

Yuriel looked out the window blankly and muttered.

'œThe sky is very blue. The weather is very nice....'

Though she was lost in thoughts, her hands were steadily assembling the gun.

In less than a minute, the gun returned to its original shape.

Yuriel has good dexterity and could do anything quickly, and was also good at handling guns. She was good at anything, but she wasn't the type to be proud of it.

After putting the gun down on the desk, Yuriel took a deep breath and looked gloomily out the window. She was filled with the desire to run to the street with Raphlet right away and enjoy the festival of the Imperial Capital.

She'™d never been to a festival with Raphlet before.

It was a pity that the good opportunity to come to the Imperial Capital and see the festival was blown away.

If she wanted to go out with Raphlet, she would have had to wait for the time when the rumors about her to subside and she could once again roam freely. Once the festival is over, the monster subjugation would begin again, so even if there was a festival in summer, she wouldn't have time.

She was very nervous because she had to make an appointment for next year's spring festival.

A futile worry ran through Yuriel's head that next spring might never come.

It can't be.

Time with Raphlet went by quickly, so unlike waiting for him at Mogris Estate, next spring would come sooner rather than later.

At this time next year, she must go out with Raphlet.

Yuriel's mouth, which had been imagining holding his hand secretly, avoiding the eyes of others in a sparsely populated place, loosened.

When she goes out, she would have to learn the streets of the Imperial Capital in detail. Especially the places where there would be fewer people.

There was little heat on the gloomy face.

Someone raised the corners of his mouth and spoke to Yuriel, who was imagining something insidious, in an anxious tone.

'œAre you going out?'

It was Baraha with an apparent tendency for the former and did not even go near the festival site. He asked Yuriel, who was grinning as she looked out the window.

Seeing Yuriel muttering that she wanted to go to the festival, he looked uncomfortably nervous.

He looked like he wanted to prevent Yuriel from leaving. Yuriel shook her head and replied to him, who was nervous.

'œI can'™t go out, Lord Raphlet is worried. Why don't you go out.... No, you've never been here before, so why are you coming into my room like this these days?"

The place where Baraha went was not anywhere else, but Yuriel's room.

Yuriel welcomed Baraha, who suddenly came to her room on the morning of the first day of the festival.

Since then, Baraha had been staying in Yuriel's room, making excuses.

He also told Yuriel, who was bored because she couldn't go out, about practicing gun assembly, and that he would watch her reassemble it.

'œAll the other commanders are busy, don'™t you have anything to do?'

When she asked questions one after another, Baraha looked away and muttered.

'œNow you are doing well. It's fast and accurate with nothing missing."

Yuriel narrowed her eyes at Baraha, who was talking for nothing.

He lowered his gaze to the gun and was clumsily avoiding Yuriel's gaze.

It wasn't his usual bored expression, but a complicated face. Baraha fidgeted with his gun and murmured as if speaking to himself.

"I'¦ I can't protect anyone. That'™s what Commander Raphlet and Helio do.'

It was a crawling voice.

It was also a very random statement.

She wondered if the topic of protection would come up because of the assembly of guns, festivals, and Baraha's sudden visit to her room, but she couldn't think of any connection.

Yuriel tilted her head as she saw him muttering as he touched his gun.

He suddenly came and watched the guns being assembled for three days, and now he confesses his feelings out of nowhere.

If she hadn't been bored, she would have just ignored it, but she was extremely bored because she hadn'™t been able to leave the room for a few days. Yuriel asked, thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to listen to him seriously.

'œDid you want to protect anyone?'

'œ'¦ Maybe.'

A mysterious answer came back. Baraha said while disassembling the gun that Yuriel had worked hard to reassemble.

'œMaybe, I did.'

Once more. A brief murmur followed. He stared blankly at the parts of the gun that had been disassembled in an instant.

The black parts in the place where Baraha's gaze touched felt desperate.

His curved shoulders and dark hair that covered his forehead were as unpretentious as his voice.

'œYes, maybe. Even if it was me, I might have done it as well as Commander Raphlet. I didn't intend to make and deliver a gun like this, but I guess I could have protected them from having to pick up a gun right next to me....'

There was a gloomy feeling in his low voice. It was a tone dripping with envy that did not suit Baraha.

Yuriel, who was listening to Baraha with a light mood, straightened her body.

'˜Maybe I did.'™

'I didn't intend to make and deliver a gun ....'

It was a story from the past.

He was confiding his feelings to Yuriel for the first time. He had never shared his thoughts with Yuriel even though they had spent time together at Mogris Estate.

He even showed jealousy but she didn'™t even know who it was towards.

She always thought guns were an ineffective weapon for the knights since they used swords to deal with monsters, but she didn't know that the gun was originally not meant for the knights.

It occurred to Yuriel that maybe the reason Baraha developed the gun was so that the person he could not protect would have had something for self protection.

A gun not for a trained knight, but a weapon made for ordinary people to easily deal with enemies.

Did the person he wanted to protect die helplessly?

Yuriel looked at his face with concern. The gloomy eyes suddenly turned towards her.

Yuriel looked at her old friend and said in a calm voice. She wanted to appease him, who looked depressed.

'œBaraha, it'™s good to want to protect other people, and I think you would have done well if you were protecting someone. But I think you are missing an important point. '

'œAn important point?'

Before thinking that he wanted to protect another person, he had to change his mentality regarding his life. He needed to value his life rather than think it didn't matter if he died or not.

'œYou always say it doesn'™t matter if you die or not. If you want to protect someone, you have to change that attitude first.'

"That'¦.'

'œI don'™t know what you are thinking, but from now on, take care of yourself. If you take care of yourself, you will naturally learn how to protect others.'

So did Yuriel. After Raphlet left Mogris Estate, she continued to struggle to take care of herself. When she met Raphlet again, she had to be in good health to be able to assist him.

As she took care of herself, she naturally learned how to serve others.

Baraha fiddled with the disassembled gun without answering, and handed it to Yuriel as if he wanted to speak again.

'œWhether it'™s in your pocket, between your underwear, or your shoes. Anywhere is good, so hide it all.'

Yuriel, who was about to have a serious conversation with him, raised her eyebrows in disapproval. She thought he wanted to confide in her, but he spoke casually as usual.

The confession that started abruptly ended just as abruptly. It seemed that Baraha was not yet ready to share with Yuriel what was in his heart after all.

Yuriel sighed and answered his words.

"Now?"

"Now. Don'™t forget to remember the order so that you can take it out and assemble it.'

'œUmmm'¦. I think it will be difficult.'

Yuriel could now reassemble a gun even with her eyes closed, but that was only if done on the desk. Reassembling a gun when they were hidden here and there was an entirely different matter.

Yuriel traced the uniform she wore all the time except during training.

While Yuriel was hiding the parts all over her clothes, he was looking at her with a strange expression.

'œBaraha. Turn your head.'

He didn't look away even as she lifted her skirt. When Yuriel noticed him and rolled her eyes , he turned his gaze away.

Yuriel tucked the last part into the garter belt holding the stockings up by raising the skirt while Baraha half turned his head.

As Yuriel organized her clothes, Baraha looked at Yuriel. Baraha, who slowly looked at Yuriel's body, nodded as if that was enough.

Yuriel moved her body in place to make sure that the fixed parts did not come off. It didn't come off even when she moved violently.

Baraha watched Yuriel moving with subdued eyes.