Itefeil walked slowly down the main street with La Luna in her arms. It had to be said: whenever Itefeil changed out of her uniform and into something else, she always seemed to shine in a whole new light. Of course, in a way, what she was wearing now counted as a uniform too…
“Oh, Inspector Itefeil! Long time no see. What are you up to on your day off?”
“Ah, Inspector Itefeil! Thank you again for helping us catch that thief last time!”
“Inspector Itefeil, you should stop by my shop sometime when you’re free!”
“Hi, Big Sis Itefeil!”
…………
Lying in Itefeil’s arms, La Luna watched as people all along the street greeted Itefeil one after another. She was a little surprised.
(This little girl’s kind of famous around here, huh?)
Itefeil cheerfully returned every greeting, but at this rate, she definitely wouldn’t arrive on time. Just as she was considering the time, La Luna suddenly spotted a carriage behind them heading straight for Itefeil.
“Meow, meow, meow!!”
“Hm? What’s wrong, La Luna? Are you feeling too hot?”
(Look behind you, you idiot!)
Fortunately, the carriage slowed as it neared Itefeil, then came to a gentle stop beside her.
“Itefeil-chan!”
The carriage door opened, and a woman in a casual long dress hopped out. Her outfit had a soft, understated color scheme, and though her hair looked casually tied up, she wore a hair ornament that seemed quite valuable.
“Oh, Franny-chan! Long time no see!”
Itefeil looked in surprise at the woman who had stepped down from the carriage.
“Franny-chan, didn’t you go to Gattest City with your husband?”
“My husband had some business in Sville City, so I talked it over with him and came along. Then I got an invitation from Feilin. Come on up—we can talk on the way.”
Itefeil nodded, climbed into Franny’s carriage with the cat in her arms, and the moment she got in, Franny started talking up a storm.
“Let me tell you, the roads in Gattest City are such a nightmare! The whole way there, it was nothing but roads covered in sand and gravel. Even with the best carriage driver we could hire, the trip was still rough on us.”
“Sigh… But there’s nothing to be done about it. The two main cities are so far apart, and, of all things, there’s no Divine Road between them.”
“Exactly! Can you believe that blockhead turned down such a great job in the Imperial Capital just to run back to his hometown? He insists on developing the place. Honestly, he’s so stubborn.”
“Haha, Franny-chan, didn’t you say you liked that stubborn side of his? Have you changed your mind?”
“But he should at least think about our child! Compared to the Imperial Capital, isn’t Gattest just some backwater?”
Seeing Franny looking so steamed, Itefeil thought for a moment, then decided to change the subject.
“By the way, you just got back. How did you get an invitation from Feilin? Did he send it all the way to Gattest City months ago?”
“No, but guess who I ran into on my way back?”
“You ran into Feilin?”
“Nope! Guess again.”
“Hmm… Miller?”
“Still wrong.”
“Then it must’ve been Nivina! But where did you meet her?”
“You’ll never guess—Nivina was hunting outside the city!”
“Huh? Are you sure you didn’t mistake her for someone else??”
The Nivina Itefeil was talking about was a bona fide bookworm. If not for her own father, Itefeil probably would never have gotten to know the young lady who usually kept herself shut away in her lofty home.
And yet she’d just heard from another close friend that this bookworm had gone hunting outside the city??! It was as absurd as a molten-rock flying beast going for a swim in a deep-sea glacier!
Itefeil’s first thought was that something might have happened to Nivina.
Because this was just so out of character!!!
