## Chapter 204 – For Elise
“Where’s a clothing store!”
I recalled shopping with Winia, but that place was a genuine high-end clothing store, beyond my current means. I grabbed Elise’s hand and dashed around like Lü Bu, trying to find a place that sold simple, standard women’s casual wear.
“Clothing—store!!! Where is it!!!!”
“Sir! Please, calm down! I can buy my own clothes!”
“No, but I’m the reason you need to buy them.”
After running around for a while, Elise grabbed my arms with both hands and stopped me. No, after all, the need for casual clothes is because of my situation, so it seems right for me to buy them in many ways.
“It’s for the public good, and for Paradise. If that’s the case, it’s no different from my own work, so there’s no need for you to buy me clothes.”
“Is that so? What a shame.”
The plan to buy Elise clothes was thwarted by her fierce opposition.
“O-of course, I’m really grateful for your concern, sir.”
“Hehehe.”
The time was still early morning.
I wandered around with Elise like we were sightseeing, looking for women’s clothing stores. Looking at it like this, it feels like a date, but strictly speaking, we’re friends and like siblings, so it’s wrong to see it that way.
“So, the poor are a bit wary of that Eternal Life Church thing. Some even seem to be afraid of it… I haven’t heard the details, so I don’t know much yet.”
“Is that so? It’s definitely a suspicious story. A new religion nesting in such a place…”
While looking around the city, I talked about what I had investigated over the past few days.
Most of the poor seemed quite reluctant about the Eternal Life Church, and showed really suspicious reactions.
Are they hiding something as a group?
It doesn’t seem likely that the poor would be systematically hiding information to that extent. It’s likely that some kind of external pressure, or the overall atmosphere, is creating that wariness.
Those factors would ultimately include violence or hints of an ominous future. The weaker people are, the more likely they are to succumb to such things.
“It’s a difficult problem.”
“Well, let’s look at clothes first. We need that to investigate.”
Right now, I’ve taken off my precious equipment and am wearing a shabby tunic, brown work pants, and my boots. All I’ve brought is a sword belt with my sword.
Not having armor greatly diminishes my self-esteem, but I can’t approach the poor with such murderous gear. Elise was just wearing her combat-purpose nun’s habit.
“Damn, there are no stores.”
After searching the commercial district for a while, a small square with a fountain appeared. We decided to take a break since we had moved around too much and sat on a bench.
“I’m not really tired.”
“I’m tired. Let’s rest for a bit.”
“…Okay.”
I feel like I’ve dragged Elise around too much. Even if she says that, she must be tired since we’ve walked a lot. It’s important to take breaks from time to time.
Elise, who was sitting next to me, said.
“Sir… you sometimes do things I don’t understand.”
“Things I don’t understand?”
Is she talking about my uncontrollable impulses?
“Ah, it’s not a strange meaning. It’s just that you’re too kind to me… I’ve never received so much favor in my life like this. And, even now. Didn’t you say we should rest because I might be tired?”
I’ve been caught.
She’s younger than me, but that’s it. Her attitude, posture, and insight surpass me, an adult. Perhaps the true adult is Elise.
“I’m just a macho man.”
To that question, I revealed my feelings without hiding them.
“A… macho man, you say?”
“Yeah. Well, as I keep saying, I’ve received a lot from you. You say it’s nothing, but it’s really big to me. You know, back when we went to destroy the Kobold Shrine? When we first met.”
That was quite a while ago.
After my party members screwed up a quest with their nonsense, I got beaten up by gremlins and spent 2 silver on Madecassol to treat my wounds, and my equipment, which was almost in tatters, was also repaired, leaving me broke. Elise’s request was literally a godsend.
“You could say that the 1 silver I received from you back then made me who I am today. I’m just grateful. So, when I see you, I want to do something for you.”
Meeting Cloudi, resolving the conflict with Winia, and forming the trio couple, all of that, broadly speaking, is all thanks to Elise.
“A macho man never forgets a favor.”
Thanks to that, I made a lot of money in the Necropolis too.
We even spent the festival together.
Being able to defeat the Kobold Queen was all thanks to Elise.
So, it’s natural to be grateful.
A macho man is a man who doesn’t forget a favor. He repays grudges five hundred million times over, and repays favors as much as he can, even if it’s not that much. That’s what I learned from my father, and now that I’ve become a true macho man, I had to put that teaching into practice.
“…For some reason, my body is hot.”
“Ah, that is called ’embarrassment’.”
Elise, who had been listening to me quietly, blushed.
“Your body gets hot.”
“…A-anyway, let’s start moving again.”
“Let’s do that.”
It’s a story that’s embarrassing for others to hear.
My stamina has recovered a bit, so I moved again to find a clothing store.
“So, what exactly is a macho man?”
“A conviction that doesn’t yield to anything.”
“Conviction, you say?”
“With a heart of steel and a will of iron.”
If you ask, it’s human nature to tell you.
“He doesn’t agonize, doesn’t hesitate, and doesn’t fear.”
I pointed to the sky and said.
“Therefore, he goes straight ahead for justice without compromise.”
Elise listened to me with a serious attitude.
“That’s the kind of man I am.”
That is a macho man.
“…I envy you. Being able to be so sure of yourself.”
When I spoke with the very essence of solemnity, Elise looked up at me with a face that seemed moved. Confidence in myself, huh? Yeah. I went through a lot of trial and error to get there, and there were a lot of difficulties.
But I did it.
“Isn’t that the same for you?”
Elise is also the type to have confidence in herself. She’s a girl who doesn’t hesitate to smash the heads of evil beings.
That’s not something you can do with just any resolve or ideology.
Only born warriors or serial killers can do that.
“…That’s not true. I have many fears, and I’m always in agony. It seems I’m still far from following in your footsteps, sir.”
“No, why are you following me…”
“Hehe, you don’t seem to realize it, but you are a person with a lot to learn from. Ah, isn’t that a clothing store?”
Elise, who was talking with a smile, pointed to a store.
It looked like a clothing store at first glance.
“I guess so. Let’s go in.”
When I entered the store, there was indeed women’s clothing on display at reasonable prices. I recommend something like a brown robe. That kind of color and design is easy to blend into the slums.
“Hmm… I don’t know what to choose. It’s my first time buying casual clothes like this… It feels a bit difficult.”
“Then I’ll pick out one for you at a time.”
She’s only been living in the church, so she hasn’t been able to do what girls her age normally do! I felt sorry for her and picked out clothes for her… Those damn Light Saint Cross bastards!
They always make her do hard work and never do anything like this for her!
Elise received the robe I handed her with trembling hands.
“That’s the fitting room over there? Go in and try it on.”
“…Okay.”
—Swish.
Elise entered the fitting room and closed the curtain with an awkward gesture. —Clatter, clatter. I heard the sound of her unfastening the light armor she was wearing. She’s about to take off her clothes, so I felt awkward listening any further and looked around.
“Not bad.”
The store looked good.
Looking at the price tags attached, the prices were generally cheap. After waiting for a while, Elise came out wearing the clothes.
“S-sir? How is it?”
Just a brown robe.
When you think about it, I didn’t feel that much of a difference from the blue nun’s habit she was originally wearing, but after all, isn’t any clothes 100% about who’s wearing them?
She looked more like an innocent girl than a nun, so she was cute.
“Oh, I get the feeling. Let’s go with that. It’s good because you look like a normal girl, not a nun. You look like a store clerk, haha.”
“…A normal, girl, you say?”
Elise spun around and looked at her clothes.
Then, shall we calculate the price now?
The clothes are a cheap price of 40 coppers.
The admission fee is excessively generous.
When I tried to take out my wallet, Elise grabbed my wrist.
“Wait, sir. Can I look at some other clothes for a bit?”
In Elise’s eyes, which said that, there seemed to be an undisguised joy. Elise is indeed a fresh girl. What suits a girl is not the bloody brain soaked in the blood of heretics and monsters, but this purity.
“Of course! Now you pick them out yourself!”
“…Thank you!”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
Well, maybe the investigation can be a little late.
It felt good to show the world to a child who had just come out into society for the first time. Elise, who picked out clothes herself, went into the fitting room, and asked how the clothes were every time she came out.
Why am I looking at women’s clothes so much these days?
“Hoo, it’s an outing fashion. When you wear that, you look like a mage. If you hold a staff instead of a mace.”
“Heh, hehe. Is that so? Thank you for the generous evaluation.”
This time, she came out wearing a white, fluttering dress. Elise, who was showing off her clothes, looked very happy.
That would be the biggest achievement.
Kim Kat’s life was not wrong!
My true sister, Elise!
After spending time like that, I bought one of the brown robes she had worn for the first time and came outside. Elise, who had changed back into her nun’s habit, stopped me from trying to pay.
“Then let’s go back to the inn first, put down our luggage, change clothes, and then start the investigation.”
“Okay. I’ll guide you this time.”
The place where Elise was staying was a small, shabby wooden inn near the Adventurer’s Guild. She could have chosen a better place, but choosing such a place shows her pious personality.
—Creak.
I went up to the second floor, opened the door, and went in together.
It was a very small room.
“…Sir. You need to change your clothes.”
“I followed you in as if possessed.”
I waited outside for a while. I heard the clattering sound again, and Elise came out not long after.
“Now, let’s depart.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Elise came out in plain clothes. As expected, she didn’t have the usual ferocity and felt like a girl her age.
“Hmm? Elise? Didn’t you bring a weapon? The security there is a mess, so you might get attacked.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Elise, who smiled, took out a mace from her sleeve. She had hidden it in her sleeve. Elise, who was showing it, looked somehow confident.
“Hehehe, no worries. As expected, Elise. You’re very prepared.”
“Since we’re going into the den of evil beings, weapons are definitely necessary.”
The face of her looking at her mace was not the freshness of a girl her age, but the eyes of a fanatic.
After all, her true nature can’t be helped.
“If they are found to be cultists, immediate action must be taken.”
“No need to say it twice! For the peace of the world! For Paradise! Let’s slaughter all the evil beings!”
“Of course! All for the God of Order!”
“For Hwanung!”
“Hooray, and hooray again!”
Unstoppable tension.
I also shouted to God.
“Our holy war will always be dedicated to God!”
“And so, we go forward without hesitation!”
“Divine!”
“Friend!”
“Woo-oo-oo-oo-oot!!!!!”
“Oo-oo, oo-oo…!!”
To be honest, I was praying that they were all cultists right now. It was an opportunity to legally beat them all to death and plunder their property and money.
But it seems like Elise is the same.
“Now, let’s depart! On a journey to destroy evil beings!”
“Oh! Let’s go! I’m going to kill them all!”
“There is no Paradise for them!”
“You bastards!”
“It is right to destroy them all!”
“Macho Kim Kat and Elise are deploying!”
Somehow the purpose of the investigation seems to have been a bit distorted, but it doesn’t matter.
Hooray, hooray, a thousand hoorays!
