Floria, who had been spending her morning idly in the lounge space, sighed aloud. “I’m so bored.”
Silvia and Wanri nodded in agreement. “You don’t have anything to do today, is that right?” Kousuke asked.
“Ah, it’s just a coincidence,” Floria replied with a sigh to Kousuke’s question.
Floria wasn’t exactly a workaholic, but even after retiring as queen, she remained quite busy. Managing the tower, the deli shop, and the orphanage operated kept her occupied with countless small tasks. From Kousuke’s perspective, she could be considered a dedicated workaholic, but he knew better than to say so, as it would only reflect back on him. Thus, he refrained. So, it was perhaps understandable that if a day opened up, she would repeat the same words from morning.
Therefore, before Floria became too grumpy from boredom, Kousuke devised a plan. “I have errands to run, so I can’t go, but why don’t you go shopping?”
“Wouldn’t you normally say you’re going with us?” Floria gave Kousuke a slightly exasperated look as he hesitated at the prospect of shopping with women.
“No, it’s the truth that I have errands,” Kousuke stated. Fortunately for Kousuke, he had clearly declared at breakfast that he was busy today. The difficulty of accompanying women on a shopping trip was a universal truth that remained unchanged across worlds. Of course, he sometimes did accompany them, but he couldn’t disrupt his existing plans for it. Kousuke made these excuses to himself, not to anyone in particular.
Sensing something, though not necessarily Kousuke’s thoughts, Floria let out a “Hun.” Since she knew Kousuke was busy, she couldn’t really press the issue. “Well, that’s fine. More importantly, killing time by shopping does sound good.” Floria then turned to Silvia and Wanri. “What about you two?”
“I’ll go. I have something I want to see,” Silvia replied. “Then, I’ll go too!” Wanri said with a bit of excitement, following Silvia’s lead. For Wanri, it was a rare opportunity to go shopping with just the women, so she was a little thrilled.
Floria smiled at the energetic Wanri and nodded. “Alright then, let’s go for a bit of shopping (window shopping) to clear our heads.” “Indeed. It would be good once in a while,” Silvia agreed. “Okay!” With the three of them reaching an agreement, Kousuke nodded and said, “Right. Well, I don’t expect anything to happen, but be careful, okay?” As Kousuke said this, as if seeing them off, the three nodded in their own ways.
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Floria and the others’ shopping trip for a change of pace had been going smoothly until they finished lunch and headed to their next destination. However, on the way to the shop Silvia wanted to visit, they were interrupted.
“Hey, ladies. You look like you’re having fun. Why don’t you let us join you?” As Floria confirmed the approach of three men blocking their path, she shivered slightly on her shoulder. Silvia, noticing this, said with a slightly exasperated expression, “Ria. I don’t think you need to be so happy just because you’re being hit on for the first time.” Yes, Floria was pleased by the proposition of being hit on.
As if emboldened by Silvia’s words, the trio of men continued, laughing. “Hey, hey. You get happy from being hit on, you’ve never been before?” “The other guys have no taste.” “Since we’re here, let’s just have fun without worrying about anyone else.” Silvia watched with a cool gaze, thinking that it wasn’t that the other people were stupid, but rather that *they* were the stupid ones. Most importantly, those fools didn’t realize that at all.
Regardless, Floria’s excitement (or was it?) had completely worn off due to the men’s words, and she firmly rejected them. “I’m sorry, but I was impressed by the fact that I was hit on, not that I was happy to be invited by you.” Floria said so, but unfortunately, the men didn’t understand. “Hahaha. What’s the difference in that story?” It seemed they didn’t have the intelligence to discern Floria’s subtle nuance.
Realizing this was hopeless, Floria understood that further conversation would be futile. “I see. You don’t understand, do you? Anyway, trying to invite us is a waste, so give up.” Floria said this and tried to walk past the men. “Hahahaha. Do you think we’d allow something like that…!?” The moment the man was about to continue speaking, a drawn short sword was thrust at his neck.
It was Floria, now expressionless, who had done this. “Give up. No matter how much you struggle, you can’t beat us.” As Floria calmly declared this, not only the man with the sword at his neck but also the other two gulped. The speed of her action was so quick that they couldn’t tell how she approached or when she drew her sword. Even their foolish minds understood that they were no match.
Seeing the man raise both hands in surrender, Floria slowly returned the short sword to its sheath. It was the same one that had been there initially, which she had drawn and pointed with astonishing speed. “Well, consider it bad luck. If you’re thinking of revenge, know that I won’t hold back next time,” Floria warned. The men exchanged glances once and then ran off.
Silvia, watching them leave, tilted her head slightly and asked Floria, “You used a rather rough method, didn’t you?” “Ah, well. I wanted to see what would happen if I did that to guys like them.” Though she had somewhat expected it, she had acted to see if the reality differed from her preconceptions. “And? What was the result?” “Well, it was as I expected,” Floria replied nonchalantly. “Is that so?” Silvia responded in a way that suggested she found it unimportant. To them, the men who had hit on them were only of that caliber.
In the end, as if nothing had happened, Floria and the others continued their shopping (window shopping?) tour. Wanri looked a little sad that she hadn’t been included, but the men were already gone, so there was nothing to be done. No second victims appeared, and the three of them enjoyed the rest of their time, forgetting about the men.
Floria suddenly drawing a drawn short sword. She doesn’t normally do such things, of course.
Thus, this was a template disturbance that I sometimes feel like writing. When someone is around, they’ll completely avoid such situations for you.
