Editor:  Currently unedited

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“Uughhh.”

As I regain consciousness, I let out an ugly groan. Falling unconscious due to a lack of energy is really taxing. If I had the choice, I’d never let it happen again but the fact is, I can’t control it. I can attempt to monitor it, but if I don’t pay attention, I end up like I was a few minutes ago.

“I need to pay more attention…”

Pulling my body up, I mutter such a thing to myself when…

“Yeah, a piece of trash like you should be paying attention. You almost died.”

A voice calling me trash started criticizing me. It’s really hard for me to guess who it is… Not. There is only one person that I know like this.

“Sorry, onee-sama.”

“Don’t be sorry you little… Just be more considerate and try not to cause trouble!”

Ehhhh? Is it just me, or does it sound like she cares a little? That can’t be right. Onee-sama was the one person I thought that would never ‘care’ about me. Maybe pretend for Lumi’s sake? But I can’t see Lumi around right now, so it’s not that…

D-did I trigger the tsundere in her?! I must have been ignoring the flags! This is a plus. Wahoo! Now all I have to do is read into the flags properly to avoid causing any death flags… That would not be pleasant!

…Well, I’m just hopeful the tsundere flag has been triggered. It’s wishful thinking, at least.

“Anyway, you’re required to come down and eat with us. They won’t start without you for god knows what reason. Hurry up.”

Ahhh, there she goes. Perhaps, thinking of her as a tsundere would be a bad idea? Nah, it’ll make me feel better so it’s fine. As long as I don’t act like I think she cares about me, right? Easy.

I check my energy levels at the same time as I get out of the bed and have a large shock. It seems I used twice as much energy as normal for some reason. As I can think of no explanation, I shrug it off and think of ways to offput my sickness like usual. Not that it helps at all.

Approaching the edge of the dragon, I realise that it’s impossible for me to get down by myself. Onee-sama told me to hurry down but how can I hurry when I have no way down? Ugh, this sucks.

Oh, of course.

“Yuuki! Come and get me down from here.”

Well, surely she’ll be listening for my orders, right? This is the point of a slave. If she wasn’t, surely I should call her piece of trash and kick her out? I’m kidding… I think that’s what onee-sama would do though. I’m not onee-sama and don’t plan on becoming her.

A few seconds pass before a burst of air comes towards me, followed by Yuuki being next to me.

“…”

Yuuki looks at me expectantly. What could it be she’s trying to portray? Maybe she’s confused as to what ‘get me down from here’ means… That’s not it.

“…How? Or, permission?”

“Huh? How or permission…? Oh.”

I didn’t get it at first but now I do. Yuuki didn’t understand how I wanted her to get me down, so she was asking. Permission is either to touch me, or to decide on her own initiative? Either way,

“Just take me down in the easiest way.”

“… Yes, master.”

Quickly responding to my order, Yuuki picks me up. This is…? This is the ‘princess carry’. What the…? Why? I’m the man! I’m not the princess! Who would dare treat a prince like this?! There’s an extra ‘ss’ for females! This is the wrong way around!!!!! My dignity is lost.

Sobbing silently in my head, I don’t dare complain about it aloud in order to save any face I have left. I can save most of it if nobody sees this so I’ll pray to a goddess. Not the one that put me into this situation though. YOU HEAR THAT, GODDESS? SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOU!

‘Loud and clear. Although, I don’t think asking me how I feel about it would really help you, don’t you? I think you might want to rethink that!’

I hear the goddesses voice in my head after a long time and rather than cheering me up, it just makes me even more depressed. Why do I even bother? Defying her gets just about the same results as following her plans. I end up miserable while she seems increasingly cheerful. It’s not normal.

Having finished my mental breakdown (not a literal one), I notice that we’ve already arrived on the ground and I’m standing up. How convenient. Nobody is looking at us either, so I feel my reputation as a man is in tact. Not that onee-sama would agree with that if I were to say it. I doubt Yuuki cares and Lumi most certainly doesn’t. I’m not sure of the three that are with us as guards though.

Anyway, what was I meant to be doing? Ehhhh, it’s… Joining in with them, right? She said eating… I wonder what type of food it was. If it’s decent food, I guess I can’t really be attempting to improve my ‘Flavour’ Martial Practice. That might seem rude.

While I am thinking about it, I’ve walked over to the group. Yuuki’s gone back to doing nothing but standing around; I’m not going to invite her to eat with us. I’m fairly sure having a close relationship with your slave in public is looked down upon in this place, and I can’t afford to create enemies. Not this time, anyway. Though, if the foods good, I’ll save some and give it to her in secret. Hehehe, being a rebel at any age is fun.

“Onyii-shama, come ofa hyere.”

If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought Lumi had been drinking. However, she’s just stuffed her mouth full of food.

“Coming~”

I reply to her in a sing-song voice, as I really do wish to join in on the festivities. Having fun with your siblings is great! The blissful life of not really having to fight is finally catching up to me. I haven’t had this much fun since one of my reincarnations; I’m fairly sure it would be only after a few – they were pretty standard reincarnations where I basically followed a videogame script before I died again. Those videogames where the hero dies at the end or something? Is there such a thing? Anyway, living a repetitive life like that kinda means you don’t mature a lot, I think.

“G-glad to see your, you’re al-alright. You ha-had us wo-worried!”

The nervous maid said so, following up by grabbing a piece of fruit and biting into it. Was she really that worried?!

“Basically what she said. I don’t want more work added to my job.”

Sarah spoke so while pointing at the maid with her thumb. So honest with her feelings. It’s kinda scary…

“…”

Huh? The one who’s usually covering for Sarah’s bad attitude hasn’t spoken a word! I musta pissed her off real bad. Uhhhh…. Think positive…. Positive… Nup, I can’t think of anything except; `

I’M SCREWED~!

“What’s wrong, onii-sama?”

“N-Nothing, nothing at all.”

“…”

I can feel her glaring at me. Why is she glaring?! Did I really screw up that badly?

“… I can’t tell.”

“?”

Wait, what? What can’t she tell? Maybe she is trying to think of the most suitable punishment for me! I’m so scared.

“Do you like it if the girls in control or if you are?”

I think she actually is drunk. What the hell is she saying. ‘These words are too profound for me to understand’ is what I wanna say, but I can guess what she’s asking. Thing is – IT’S WRONG! Don’t ask such a thing to an eight year old. It’s terrible! Disastrous! What are you teaching in this world? Ehh, well, I could always answer as a joke.

“Why, I have to be in control, of course. Else how would I maintain my reputation.”

Saying so, I lift up my chin a bit, as though I think of myself as high and mighty. This how you do it right?

If I may say so myself, I’m magnificent at pretending to be high and mighty.

“Ahahaha. You’re funny. Have something to eat.”

She says so while slapping her knee. It’s weird to see her like this, when she’s usually the responsible one. Isn’t it? Ahh, what the heck. It may be weird, but at least she’s having fun. I guess that’s important.

Taking some stew-looking thing and placing it in a bowl, I feel like getting a drink. And not the sensible kind.

“Don’t suppose there’s anything to drink for me?”

“… Alcoholic or not?”

“What do you think?”

I want to add ‘you knob’ onto that sentence, but I’m not sure if it’s an accepted phrase in this world. I’m still stressing about those things.

“Kay, I get it~”

“She acts superior to me but it’s not like she actually is.”

Sarah mutter’s that, I am assuming, because she can see how Tomoki is acting. I can understand her feelings a little. Tomoki seems a little like an airhead when she’s drinking. I wonder how much she’s had, though?

While I was spaced out, I was passed a glass with some semi-transparent red liquid in it. Taking a sip of it, it tastes great… But a little off.

“What is this?”

“Sweet El. It’s the sweetest alcohol you can get at this town.”

Oh. It’s alcohol.

“Alcohol?”

Oh, that’s why it tastes odd. I better not drink too much of it or I’ll end up doing or saying embarrassing things again. I will avoid that at most costs.

“Yeah.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to give me an alcoholic drink… Isn’t there laws against underage drinking?”

“No, and even if there were, do you think it’d matter for you?”

“Oh, right.”

I am the prince. Why would it matter? My logic is slightly flawed. Wasn’t there something like this earlier? Well, it was a little different. It’s nothing to fuss over.
Ignoring my thoughts, onee-sama is also drinking this stuff. Perhaps it’s only a small amount of alcohol so it won’t have an effect on her ability to fight? Don’t fighters usually not drink? Or is it the other way around…?

Either way, she’s just not talking to me now; It doesn’t matter, I’ll just spend this time talking to the others then. We’re leaving soon so I’ll enjoy myself while I can.

—–

A few hours passed before everyone other than me (including onee-sama) was passed out on the dragon, ready for us to head onwards tomorrow. They said we’d be taking a shortcut somehow and skip a stop. I didn’t really understand but it’s meant to be a slightly more dangerous path.

Currently, I’m testing out my Martial Practice ‘Flavour’ again. Thing is, I’ve managed to use it on the alcoholic drink. I managed to make it so that the alcohol had a really intense flavour. Problem is, the flavour of the actual drink was completely removed. I’m closer to my goal of detecting poisons though.

With that, it’s time for me to rest.

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