Trails with Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Author Note:
Although the answer (based on the game) is already known, this is a chapter about exploration and simple reasoning.
Thank you for the typo reports as always.
Chapter 029 – Fufufu, son. It’s the May Field Trip② [A]
In a short amount of time, Rean and his friends fulfilled their task while providing a topic for daytime gossip for the residents of the port city, and they finally decided to go to Raquel.
They thought they would have to spend a lot of time walking to Raquel, but they were able to rent horses at Ordis.
Apparently, a stablemate noticed Rean holding a flag and thought that if they, who were currently a hot topic in Ordis, were to ride their horses, it could be good publicity, so they tried to strike a deal.
Since there was no reason to refuse, Rean and his friends gratefully borrowed three horses and they all rode towards Raquel.
Rean rode alone while holding the flag, Elliot was riding behind Gaius, while Emma was riding behind Alisa.
Rean wanted Emma to ride behind him, but since the flag couldn’t be removed for publicity reasons, he reluctantly decided to ride alone.
Furthermore, when they rented the horses,
“We’re already that famous……”
“Well, I guess that’s normal.”
“These are pretty good horses.”
There were comments from three different people.
Emma didn’t say anything in particular.
“Raquel is a city for entertainment, right? People might say things if we came in uniform, so maybe it’s better to change into civilian clothes.”
“You’re right. Let’s buy some clothes in Ordis and change into them.”
“Fumu…… I don’t know what to choose when it comes to clothes of the Empire’s style.”
“Then we’ll take care of Gaius’ clothes as well. Since we’re already here, let’s use this opportunity and try your hands in fashion. It’s also a study about the outside world, after all.”
“Then——”
“Rean-san, let’s buy some clothes and change into them, okay?”
Emma stopped Rean from taking out his clothes via Osbon.
Although Emma also utilized it like a four-dimensional warehouse, at a time like this, Emma wanted to enjoy shopping like an ordinary girl.
While choosing clothes, Rean also took the opportunity to have Emma take a look at his choice of clothes.
[“Fufufu, son. It seems you still need to improve on how you treat women.”]
{“Did Osbon, who said something like that, escort your wife properly before?”}
[“By the way, Miss Emma, how was the clothes——”]
“I can understand that your wife had a hard time.”
[“If I have to say, she’s somewhat similar to Miss Emma.”]
“Eh?”
“My mom is similar to her……?”
[“If her hairstyle is changed, they will actually look quite similar.”]
After being told this, Rean stared at Emma.
Emma turned her head around and tried to escape from his gaze, but unfortunately, Rean wasn’t kind enough to let her get away with it.
Just when Emma was about to give in to Rean’s gaze, they heard Alisa calling for Emma.
Emma escaped using that opportunity, but surprisingly, Rean didn’t chase after her.
Emma’s face flushed red and Rean reflected that staring at her—— was also a reason, but he also wanted to put his thoughts straight.
“So that’s the reason why Emma feels like a mom sometimes.”
[“Fufufu, you don’t seem to be conscious of that. Miss Emma just happens to have such a temperament.”]
{“Umu, Rean should use this opportunity to keep an appropriate distance.”}
After enjoying shopping and changing their clothes, the group arrived at Raquel.
They stopped their horse in a suitable spot and were about to enter the city, but before they could, Alisa snatched the flag from Rean and sat down on the ground while holding onto it.
“If you want to bring this to the entertainment city, I’d rather just wait here!”
“A-Alisa…… I understand how it feels, but on the other hand, isn’t it more dangerous to stay here alone?”
“Then Elliot could stay with me here.”
“U~hn, that’s certainly an attractive idea, though.”
As Emma judged that they might not enter Raquel at this rate and how the flag might make them conspicuous in a bad way, she confiscated the flag.
Rean also thought that jaegers might be around and thought that there was no need to insist on it unnecessarily, so he obediently followed.
Since it was only stored via Osbon, they were worried that if they took their eyes off, Rean might deploy the flag again, but since Emma warned Rean about it, Alisa was convinced.
By the way, at this time, Alisa realized Emma’s daily hardships and decided to treat her to her favorite dessert.
And just like that, Class VII Group A finally set foot on Raquel.
Although the entertainment city, which was rare in the Empire, was more active during the night, it, even during the day, welcomed Rean and his friends with its unique atmosphere.
“Well then, the jaegers in question appear to be at the casino.”
“Rather than directly jumping in, it’s better to collect information first. With our current appearances, we can talk to people around us, acting as travelers rather than students.”
“Then let’s pretend to be college students from Roer.”
“Eh, why Roer……?”
“No, it’s just that Professor Schmidt belonged to the Institute of Technology there before, so I just came up with it. Does Alisa have some concerns about that?”
“N-no. There’s no problem, so let’s go with that.”
“Alisa-san……?”
Emma was suspicious of Alisa, who reacted strangely at the word Roer.
Alisa said it was nothing, but her reaction clearly hinted that there was something.
I’ll ask her for more details later at night, thought Emma as they decided to go to a popular restaurant called Decken for lunch.
But the moment they entered, Rean stopped.
“Ouch, what’s wrong Re…………”
“……………Rean-san?”
Elliot, who bumped into Rean’s back, tried to raise his voice, but when he turned to the side and saw Rean’s face, his expression was so serious that Elliot wondered if this was really the Rean Schwarzer he knew that he couldn’t continue.
Emma was suspicious at Rean’s sudden behavior, but she quickly supported Elliot and moved to the side.
Two men passed in front of Rean.
To put it mildly, the men didn’t look like they were in a good mood, and like they were restraining a lot of anger inside such that they could be expressed to be like fuses on the verge of exploding.
If one thought normally, they would think that Rean, who didn’t want to cause commotion, simply gave way for the men to pass, but seeing his gaze were fixed on the men even after they left the restaurant, the other members also noticed a sense of incongruity.
As they remained silent, Gaius called out to Rean on the group’s behalf.
“Rean, what’s wrong with those two?”
“No, I thought they were angry about something since they had a bad look on their face…… I think I heard the word jaeger in their conversation.”
“Eh?! I didn’t hear anything though……”
“You weren’t focusing on them and I immediately moved Elliot away after all. It can’t be helped that you couldn’t hear their whispers in that state.”
“If that’s the case, it means we got the jackpot right away……”
“——Everyone, I have something-“
“If Rean-san is going to tail them using his senses, then everyone can just follow along, right?”
Before Rean completed his sentence, Emma interrupted his words.
Rean’s intent was guessed and he stammered.
Elliot, who sensed that Rean intended to commit arbitrary action based on Emma’s words, shouted to reproach him.
“Eeh, that’s not good! You shouldn’t do things alone……”
“I have no intention of forcing myself. I just want to find out their lodgings and behavior patterns.”
“But that doesn’t mean you should do it alone……”
“If it’s me, I can run away immediately even if I was detected.”
“Are you satisfied that you’re the only one working, Rean?”
Gaius’ strong and clear words made Rean gasp.
“We are here as a team. It’s true that there is a clear difference in our abilities. But isn’t it a little arrogant of you to not allow us to do anything at all?”
“…………That’s right, Rean can certainly do a lot of things and we might be hindrances to you. But right now, we are ‘comrades’ in the same team, right? I think we can at least offer our advice.”
Alisa’s words contained her determination about how even though she acknowledged they weren’t much help, they still couldn’t let Rean act alone.
Rean was slightly moved, but leaving aside Gaius, Elliot could guess Alisa’s hidden meaning.
After all, he also felt the same way.
If we let Rean act alone, things will definitely get weirder, after all……
There was no lie in her serious words.
But on a similar or greater weight, Elliot could sense a strong sense of duty to prevent further problems from arising, from Alisa’s words.
“So Rean-san, you won’t mind, right?”
“Sorry about that. For now, I will take the lead, so everyone can follow.”
Although the feelings of Group A weren’t unified, they ran through the streets of Raquel in pursuit of the men.
Rean’s ability to sense presences allowed him to sense people from 100 arges away, and he proceeded while paying close attention to their movements.
Rean saw the men stopped at a certain building and when he confirmed they went inside, he called the other four and they approached said building…… but Group A stopped when they saw two bunny girls standing in front of the building.
“Is this place… a casino?”
“It seems so. They seem to be already open during the daytime, though……”
“Would we be able to come in?”
“I think it’s possible to enter, but if people found out we are students, we would have to depend on Aurelia-san in a different meaning.”
“I don’t like that…… but is it okay to assume that a casino is a place for gambling?”
“Aah, is Gaius familiar——”
Rean then stopped his words and stared at Gaius.
As Gaius was stunned by the sudden gaze staring at him, Rean looked away and asked the opinion of the other three.
“If it’s Gaius, won’t he pass as an ordinary adult?”
“Ah…………”
“He certainly could pass as one, but……”
“Rean, what do you mean?”
“I’m going to ask Gaius to go inside the casino and investigate those men. You don’t have to make direct contact with them, but I’d like you to find a place nearby and listen to their conversation.”
“I don’t mind that, but I wonder if it will work out?”
“There’s no other good idea, and if we take too long, those men might finish playing and just go back to their lodgings.”
“Fumu…… Okay. I don’t know how far I can go, but I’ll try it.”
Nodding at Gaius’ determination, Rean secretly whispered to Emma.
[“Emma, can you use magic to share vision with Gaius?”]
[“It’s not like that’s impossible, but……”]
[“Okay, let’s pass that off as the result of an experiment from the Schmidt’s Classroom. I’ll have you cast the magic on this thing so we can see what Gaius sees. If I recall correctly, you’ve been conducting experiments of imbuing magic into ARCUS, right?”]
[“Yes. It’s done as part of controlling the magic knight…… in other words, it would be fine if I just project Gaius-san’s field of vision onto the ARCUS, right?”]
[“Please do.”]
Rean handed Emma the sunglasses he took out via Osbon, and she chanted magic on it.
The mana light illuminated the sunglasses, and at the same time, Rean opened ARCUS, and he saw the vision through the sunglasses projected there.
[“As expected, you’re so reliable.”]
[“Thanks for the praise.”]
While smiling at Emma who looked embarrassed, Rean turned to Gaius.
“Gaius, try wearing this.”
“Aah…… my vision gets a little darker, but it’s still within acceptable range.”
“Okay, that’s one of the experimental works of Professor Schmidt. Take a look at this.”
Saying that, Rean showed the image of Gaius’ vision relayed by Emma’s magic to ARCUS.
“This is……!”
“Amazing…… it looks like ordinary sunglasses, but what kind of technology is packed into it?”
It’s just ordinary sunglasses without any mechanism, answered Emma with her expression.
“I don’t know the details either, but it’s something done by Professor Schmidt, after all. Gaius, leave the ARCUS in call mode and put it in your pocket so that it’s easy to hear.”
“Okay…… Like this?”
“Elliot, come here.”
“Eh?”
Rean took Elliot and left the place.
He asked Alisa and Emma through Gaius’ ARCUS to have a conversation, and they had a chat.
Rean and Elliot moved to a place a little further away into the crowd.
“Elliot, do you think you’ll be able to hear the conversation properly in this state? Look, even though it’s daytime, it’s still a crowded casino. They’re likely noisy, so even if contact is established, there’s no point if you can’t listen properly to the voices.”
“Ah…… Yes, there’s no problem if it’s just this much. I’m focused unlike before, after all. Distinguishing sounds is important in music, after all.”
Elliot had a question mark on his head, but he seemed to be convinced upon hearing Rean’s explanation, and listened to the three’s conversation.
When Rean and Elliot returned to the three, Elliot told them what kind of conversation was taking place, and upon knowing his answer was correct, he got the right feeling.
“Okay, now we’re all set. Alisa, give the ARCUS to Gaius. If he’s at a loss for words, please give him follow-up.”
“I guess Gaius has it hard…”
While saying that, Alisa plugged in an earphone, which was an auxiliary tool for ARCUS, and attached another to one of Gaius’ ears.
Alisa’s ARCUS was attached on the back of Gaius’ clothes, and with this, the conversation could be shared to everyone.
“Okay, Elliot will listen to the men’s voices, and Gaius can basically move freely. You can act as a Nord traveler visiting the Empire. After that, we’ll occasionally send instructions and Gaius should act accordingly… is there anything else you would like to add?”
“No, it’s fine. In fact, I’m amazed you could come up with such ideas quickly.”
“It’s the result of Schmidt’s Classroom, I guess.”
“So you’re doing a lot of stuff there. The image I got there was fighting against that Divine Knight…… but if a tool like this pair of sunglasses were developed, I might have gotten a little interested.”
Alisa seemed to be very interested in the sunglasses that Gaius was wearing.
Emma hurriedly interrupted the conversation so she wouldn’t get caught.
“Then Gaius-san, we’ll be counting on you.”
“Roger that. I’ll try to extract as much information as possible from them.”
“Talking directly to them is the last resort. For now, concentrate on picking up their conversations.”
“Okay, then I’ll be going.”
With that, Gaius departed for the casino “Alisha.”
There was a scene where Rean said “I wonder why I can’t help but smile seeing him being surrounded by bunny girls, considering his personality,” which made Elliot laugh, but Gaius safely became a member and stepped into the casino.
On a side note, the membership fee of 1,000 mira was divided among the five of them and later each gave 200 mira to Gaius.
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