kscans

Chapter 475 - A Maiden Fair

On the day of the raid against the clan "Highway Star," Parfait was walking alone through the jungle.

At first, she had been moving with Orion’s and Deeger’s clans, but then a fluffy animal had entered her field of vision. It seemed only Parfait had the dynamic visual acuity to spot it, and by the time she noticed, she had been separated from the group.

She wasn’t lost, thanks to voice chat, but Parfait was ashamed of her rash actions. However, Natsu and Chris didn’t reprimand her, acting as if her behavior was only natural.

Since it would be a hassle to rejoin the group now, Parfait ended up acting as a separate unit. It felt like she had been indirectly told to go defeat the Highway Star leader, Rhadia, on her own, but she resigned herself to it, thinking it couldn’t be helped.

Besides, Parfait was interested in Rhadia herself.

Not long ago, Wilnel had called her a monster, and she had started to wonder if she really was a little different from others. She had a vague suspicion, but Natsu and Chris were also quite different from those around them, so she thought it was an exaggeration.

And the adults around her were even bigger monsters. Her masters, Benitsuru and Simon, were prime examples. As a child, she had thought she could become like them when she grew up, but it seemed that was a mistake. There were things you could become and things you couldn’t, no matter how hard you tried.

While she couldn’t deny she had a battle-crazy side, she was hoping there was someone her age who was just as strong as she was. She was counting on Rhadia for that. By doing so, she wanted to believe she was normal.

(Wilnel-chan is strong too, but that’s the result of the Foundation’s training. Come to think of it, she said her brainwashing had been completely broken recently.)

Wilnel’s tutor was someone who believed in restoring the Foundation’s power, and Wilnel had been under that influence. Ronios noticed this and arranged for her to meet Parfait, giving her a chance to break the brainwashing while also making Wilnel listen to her.

Apparently, the intention was to show her that there were people of her own age who were far superior, and that there was no way she could rule over such people, but given Ronios’s personality, Parfait couldn’t be sure if that was her true motive.

However, Parfait had fought Ronios at that time and lost. She might have been able to win in pure swordsmanship, but in an all-out battle, Parfait had been on the defensive the entire time. Ronios mixed in attacks from unseen angles, like flicking pebbles with her fingers, so it wasn’t a proper match.

Benitsuru probably could have won even in that fight. Simon probably could have won too. When she thought about it like that, she felt she still had a long way to go, but apparently, from the perspective of those around her, she was cheat-level.

It was also hard to ignore that Ronios had said Benitsuru was even stronger than Parfait at her age. If that was the case, then Benitsuru and Simon were beyond cheat-level.

So, recently, she had been wanting to figure out if she was normal or a little strange. So far, the ‘a little strange’ side was winning.

But if Rhadia, whom she was about to fight, was her age and stronger than her, then she could believe she was normal. For that reason, she wanted to try fighting one-on-one.

She wasn’t thinking about it that seriously. If she was a little strange, that was fine. The attitudes of Natsu and Chris wouldn’t change, so she just wanted to know where she stood.

(My dad is normal, though. Mom gets called all sorts of things, but that’s just in the game… How did those two get together in the first place? I heard Dad hired Mom.)

As a girl of a certain age, one of the reasons Parfait started playing AFO was because she wanted to know how her parents met. They had apparently met here and gotten married. But she had no idea about the details.

If they had just clicked, or if it was love at first sight for one of them, she could understand. But it was neither. She had asked Diite, who knew about the old days, about this before.

"I could tell you, but I don’t think you’d believe me even if I did. You should ask many different people about them. Even if you get an absurd answer, if many people say it, you’ll be able to believe it."

Diite had said that and hadn’t given her a clear answer. The other adults were mostly the same. Lunaria had started to say something, but Rosalie, who was with her, had covered her mouth, and she couldn’t hear.

(Oh well. Dad and Mom are apparently famous in AFO, so lots of people probably know them.)

After thinking that, she composed herself and was about to start walking again when she heard a woman’s voice.

"Hey, Lucky, a maiden fair doesn’t say things like ‘hyahha-’, right? Anyone who says that is, to put it mildly, a psychopath."

Unsure of how effective it would be in a virtual reality, Parfait held her breath and moved toward the voice. There were basically only three clans on this island. If she wasn’t supposed to meet them here, then the other party was an enemy.

As Parfait approached without being noticed, she saw a girl sitting at the base of a large tree, hugging her knees, and an animal with a mechanical body, probably a cheetah, sitting shoulder to shoulder with her.

"It’s not that I hate Lee-neesan, you know? But ‘hyahha-’ is just… no. And everyone calls me ‘Ojou.’ What kind of organization’s young lady am I supposed to be… well, I guess I am in the Scavenger’s young lady position, aren’t I?"

It seemed like she was doing a one-woman comedy routine, but the cheetah next to her, despite being mechanical and an AI, looked quite troubled.

Setting that aside, considering the situation, she recognized that this must be Rhadia, the leader of the clan "Highway Star."

Long black hair, goggles pushed up on her head, and a white one-piece dress. And on her back, two long, cylindrical guns were crossed.

Orion and Deeger had told her about her general appearance, and from the content of her speech, it was undoubtedly Rhadia.

Then, the cheetah suddenly looked toward Parfait.

Thinking she had definitely been spotted, Parfait stepped forward without drawing her weapon.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Parfait, leader of the clan ‘Mont Blanc.’ I’m working with Cats are God and Cretaceous—"

She thought it was a decent self-introduction, but Rhadia slowly stood up and stared at Parfait with her black eyes.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"About hating ‘hyahha-’?"

"I’ll kill you!"

"For a maiden, you’re the type to silence witnesses…!"

A maiden fair wouldn’t try to silence a witness, she thought. It wasn’t the time for such internal commentary, but perhaps those words were the trigger. Rhadia grabbed the guns on her back with both hands, and Parfait held Beelzebub in her left hand, sheath and all.