Liliana hugged Kaori with relief, offering a glimpse of her big, blue eyes and apparent beauty hidden by the hood. Her eyes squeezed shut as she began to cry, speaking to Kaori quietly between sobs.
“I also did not think I’d find Kaori in this place. It is… good fortune. It seems that I haven’t exhausted my luck yet.”
“Lily? What’s wrong?”
Kaori didn’t quite get the meaning of Liliana’s words, but she noticed something was off and pulled back. Liliana put a finger on Kaori’s mouth, urging her not to use Liliana’s name.
Apparently Liliana was alone and had managed to slip into the caravan to get this far. Kaori gave a sympathetic look as she tried to emphasize with the struggle the princess must have faced.
“Kaori, are you guys done?” Hajime interrupted, oblivious to the mood.
Liliana gave Hajime a blank look. Suddenly, Liliana raised her voice and shouted “Hya!” Looking up at Hajime from within her hood, a light bulb seemed to go off in her head and she immediately began to greet Hajime.
“It’s Nagumo, isn’t it? Long time no see. We had heard about your survival after the fall. The strength and ability to survive is worthy of respect. It was good you survived. While you were missing, Kaori was a wreck.”
“Wait, Lily, we’re fine now.” Kaori spoke in a fluster.
“I heard about how Kaori confessed to Hajime from Shizuku, but you’ll have to tell me more about it later.”
Liliana was teasing Kaori in a fun tone, smiling from the back of her hood. Kaori turned bright red from embarrassment.
The princess’s smile must be very popular with the public. There was no doubt that if she aimed it at the young and old alike, they would fall for her. However, Hajime wasn’t particularly moved by her smile.
Without reading the atmosphere at all, he eyed her suspiciously and demands,”…And who exactly are you?”
“Heh?”
If Hajime didn’t interrupt them, Liliana and Kaori would undoubtedly keep talking about the status of all the other students in the kingdom. Hajime didn’t have the patience to be subtle. He wanted a direct answers.
Liliana was a princess with a great personality and who was loved by everyone she met. She was shocked to be addressed so improperly by a man who normally wouldn’t even be worthy of meeting the princess, thus she let out a goofy voice involuntarily.
The panicked Kaori immediately tried to smooth out the situation on behalf of the dazed Liliana. She spoke in a low voice so no one else could hear them.
“Hajime you… Princess! It’s the Princess! It’s the Heilig Kingdom Princess Leliana that you’re speaking to!”
“……………………………………….. Ah…”
“Gusu (sobbing), you’ve forgotten me, haven’t you? Gusu.” Leliana whined.
“Lily! Don’t cry because of that! Hajime-kun is kinda whatchamacallit. He’s special. No one normal would forget Lily. So you don’t need to cry!” Kaori attempted to smooth things out.
“Hey, can you not say those rude things so casually?” Hajime sighed.
Since Liliana’s watery eyes looked quite terrible, Kaori was desperate to comfort her. Hajime involuntarily tsukkomi’d, however Kaori gave him a dirt look that said “be quiet right now!” Meanwhile, Liliana was explaining “No, it’s okay Kaori, it just hurt my pride a little…” Across the board, the conclusion from the conversation seemed to be that Hajime was wrong for having completely forgotten who Liliana was.
With the atmosphere already delicate, a man from the caravan approached them.
“It’s been a long time…. It looks like you’re in good health…” the caravan leader stated.
“From health drinks…” Hajime responds
“Really? A health drink? A company that can make that must be a famous and wealthy company. Can you give me their name?”
“Oh-, no, nevermind. But how are you, Mottou?”
“Yeah, I’m glad you remember Mottou from the Yunker trading company. This is the second time you helped us out of a dangerous place. It looks like we were fated to meet again.” The man laughed and shook Hajime’s hand.
It seemed like the leader of the caravan was the man they escorted to Fhu-ren from Brook town some time ago.
Hajime also remembered when his commercial spirit got the better of him and Hajime had to put him in his place. Hajime had learned a bit about human nature from the man named Mottou. Although it seemed like Mottou’s commercial spirit hadn’t declined in the slightest. He casually touched Hajime’s ring of storage as he let go of his hand. His eye’s weren’t laughing, but seemed to ask “Are you sure you’re not going to sell that soon?” Maybe it was just Hajime’s imagination.
Shia explained to Kaori and Lily their relationship with Mottou.