mtl008 Chapter 1026 The Last Routine 205
Chapter 1026 The Last Routine 205
Chapter 1026 The Last Routine 205
Soon, the music ended.
Alice said happily, "Brother, thank you so much for teaching me such a wonderful dance."
“I am the Princess,” Kobayashi said politely, putting a gentlemanly smile on his face. “It is an honor that you would say that.”
It's over now. If he behaves inappropriately, Claire might kill him. Besides, it's almost over, so he should at least keep up the pretense.
"Um..." Alice said softly, "Brother, do you have time later? There's somewhere I'd like to go."
"Of course." Kobayashi agreed without hesitation. Even if Alice was royalty and her orders were impossible to refuse, she was still his sister, and he would obey any order. "For Princess Alice, I'll go anywhere..."
"Thank you!" Alice smiled happily upon hearing this, and then extended her hand to him, inviting him, "Then, let me take you to see that igloo. It's not as cold as you might think."
"Oh my...?" Kobayashi was led by the hand to the igloo they had just been discussing. Looking at the uniquely designed and stylish igloo with some surprise, she asked in confusion, "Could it be that Alice was the one who thought about how to make it?"
“That’s right.” Alice smiled sweetly and said, “There are also some artworks in the igloo that brother would like. Okay, brother! Hurry up!!”
She eagerly pulled Kobayashi along, heading towards the igloo. To keep her from being disappointed, Kobayashi accompanied her for a while as they strolled around. As time passed, the surroundings became increasingly noisy.
"Looks like it's time." Alice, seeing them looking for her, smiled and said to Kobayashi, "Thank you, brother. I need to greet the guests now, see you later..."
"Please take care," Kobayashi said with a smile.
Because it's a memory for two people, there are even ice sculptures of sukiyaki and stewed potatoes, which is really surprising... They really have everything.
"Oh my, Mr. Kobayashi?" Aqua said in surprise when she saw Kobayashi. "Where did you go? Something terrible happened here."
"Something big has happened!?" Kobayashi was slightly surprised and flustered. He looked at the still noisy scene in the distance and seemed to realize something.
Wiz walked over somewhat awkwardly and said, "That, it's that one. Miss Youyou, she..."
Just then, Youyou rushed over, excitedly saying, "Mr. Kobayashi, please listen to me! I...maybe I can finally make friends!"
"what?"
"When the dance ended, someone told me I could join a friends' gathering. After paying to become a member, all I had to do was invite new friends to join, and my social circle would keep growing—"
"forget it."
"Eh?"
"Forget it, they're not friends." Kobayashi knew what she meant when she heard her say that, so he decisively advised her to give up. At the same time, he glared at the silly goddess next to him with some displeasure and scolded, "Hey Aqua, such blatant behavior, could you be someone affiliated with the Axis Cult?"
"Oh, how annoying." Aqua covered her mouth and chuckled, "The Axis religion isn't illegal."
Even Youyou laughed and said, "Don't worry, that person has told me many times that it's not illegal."
This isn't just not there, it's blatantly suspicious! Wait, want to listen to it?
So, to make sure Youyou hadn't been fooled, or to expose their little tricks, Xiaolin decided to go and find out. "Is it convenient for you over there now? Someone I know seems to have been invited to some kind of friends' gathering."
"Oh my, you're interested too!?"
The woman who was stopped said this with a happy expression, and then talked on and on: "First, you become a regular member. If you advance in level, you can go to Emerald level, then Gold level, and there are all sorts of other features!"
That's really suspicious!
Kobayashi sensed something was amiss, but she couldn't just lose her temper. After all, Claire had taught them to always be mindful of their manners and not cause Alice any trouble. So she gently advised, "I see. But this is the royal city. I think it's better not to try to persuade them like this. The people I know wouldn't participate in this kind of thing."
"Mr. Kobayashi!!?" Upon hearing him say that, Youyou excitedly rushed over and shouted, "Such a rare opportunity...!!"
"Think about it carefully, Youyou. Is it really okay to spend money to make friends like this?" Xiaolin advised gently, while subtly pressuring her to understand the true meaning of friendship. She couldn't just expose her on the spot, that would be too inappropriate.
"Hmm..." Youyou said softly, somewhat reluctantly, "Maybe that's true...but..."
She was very sad. For a withdrawn girl who couldn't make friends through normal means, this might be the only way to make so-called friends.
"Hmph, it's too late to worry now!" The woman proudly pulled out a contract and said with a smile, "This contract has already been signed!"
"long!?"
"Because they said if I don't sign now, I'll miss the opportunity!" Youyou said, sobbing. She never expected to fall for such an obvious deception so easily.
That's why I said that! ...Damn it, Kobayashi finally understands Megumin's feelings now. He couldn't help but sigh, while quickly racking his brains for a solution.
"Do you know about the cooling-off period?" Kobayashi said with a smirk, his tone slightly menacing. "Besides, a signature obtained by force is invalid. Alright, please give me back this contract."
"Oh ho ho! You can't just give this to me. This isn't something you can just walk into and leave as you please." The goddess pointed to the words on it and said, "Isn't it clearly written here in the contract? It's not good for people who don't read these things."
This woman…! Kobayashi clenched his fists, extremely annoyed. This girl had been spouting typical con artist lines since the beginning! He needed to find a way to deal with her, maybe he should just use his skill—
"Oh dear, looking closer, aren't you Miss Kubel, the magical item craftswoman?" While he was pondering, Wiz approached. She seemed to recognize him and said, "I didn't notice because your outfit is completely different from usual. Is today a day for enjoying yourself regardless of status, which is why you're here? Speaking of which, I heard you're short of money lately—"
"Huh!? I don't know, you've mistaken me for someone else." The woman suddenly turned her head away, preventing Wiz from seeing her face, and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Kobayashi nodded and said, "Hmm... Do you know Miss Wiz?"
"You sold me magical items not long ago," Wiz said with a happy smile. "The things you made are all very interesting."
"Um..." Youyou said to her awkwardly, "You told me 'Don't worry, I'm a nobleman' and stuff... were you lying to me?"
"Then!" Kobayashi immediately shouted, "You pretended to be a nobleman to get into the castle, didn't you!?"
"Wow!"
"Your main job is as a magical item craftsman, right?" Kobayashi said with obvious malice in his eyes, "If people find out you're doing fraud, you probably won't be able to stay in this kingdom anymore..."
"Damn it! Get out of the way!!"
Realizing she had been exposed, the woman turned and ran away decisively, shoving Aqua aside as she sped off into the distance.
"Hey, wait a minute!"
"We haven't gotten the contract back yet...! In that case, we'll have to take our chances...steal it!!"
Kobayashi decisively activated his skill, and a flash of light appeared.
"Good! There's a response!...No, what is this?" Kobayashi touched the soft fabric in his hand, looked at the obvious white triangle, and couldn't help but twitch his lips.
The female craftswoman immediately screamed in agony, "Aaaaaah!! Why, why is my underwear...!!"
"Huh? Why?!" Kobayashi was dumbfounded. He quickly explained, "No, no! That's not what I meant!"
"Hey, what's all that noise about!"
While they were arguing, Claire walked over, glaring at Kobayashi with an unfriendly expression, assuming that he was the one who caused the incident.
"My lord! This man is trying to humiliate me!"
"Hey, what did you say—"
"It's you, Kobayashi!!!"
As the female craftswoman continued her tirade, Clarton's expression hardened with rage. Seeing the underwear in his hand, she roared, "Snatching underwear and waving it around during this celebration is utterly absurd!! I thought you'd behave yourself today…!"
"That's not how it works, there's a reason for this! Listen to me—"
"There's no point in saying more! Go to your cell and calm down!"
Claire didn't give him a chance to explain and was taken away by the other guards. During this time, Claire, of course, wanted to thoroughly investigate what had happened, and after understanding the reason—
"I'm so sorry!!"
Claire promptly bowed and apologized, which was only natural, since this guy had thrown her in jail without even asking what happened. Even if Kobayashi was 99% wrong, didn't she also bear 1% of the blame?
"Waaah..." Youyou cried bitterly, feeling very unwilling. "I thought I could make some friends."
"Miss Youyou, please cheer up."
"That's right, that's right. It's all thanks to Kobayashi that we weren't scammed, isn't that great?"
Wiz and Aqua were comforting her. Thanks to the commotion, Yu-Yu was able to get the contract back without being cheated; otherwise, they really didn't know what to do.
"The woman who spoke earlier will be on trial later. Thank you all for your assistance."
"Well, at least you understand... Don't think this is the end of it just because I said that!!" Kobayashi, fresh out of prison, pointed at Claire angrily and yelled, "I'm not so naive as to let things slide after being wrongly arrested! The price is high—"
"Everyone! Something seems to have happened. Are you alright?!" Alice ran in from outside, looking worried, as Kobayashi shouted angrily.
"Oh, it's Alice."
"Lady Alice! Actually, it was Lord Kobayashi in public—"
"Whoa! No, Alice! It was just something I had to do!!"
Before Claire could twist the facts, Kobayashi quickly stopped her. This girl was constantly trying to make Alice hate Kobayashi; it was really going too far.
So he quickly retorted, "Besides, preventing crime before it happens is a good thing to be commended, isn't it?"
"Kobayashi!" Claire retorted angrily, "Didn't I say that being overly intimate with the organizer, Lady Alice, is against etiquette?!"
"Nonsense! Idiot! I don't care about etiquette! I'm a boorish adventurer!" With no one else around, Kobayashi let himself go. Claire trembled with anger, clenching her fists.
"You bastard, how dare you use such foul language in front of Lady Alice—"
"hey-hey."
"Lady Alice?"
To Claire's surprise, Alice laughed happily.
"No, I'm sorry." Alice smiled gently and shook her head, saying, "I still think it's better to have my brother who is the same as always."
"Huh, like that just now?"
“Yes. My brother is the best when he doesn’t fuss over himself and does whatever he wants!” Alice then looked at the female guard and said, “And thank you, Claire. You’ve tried your best to keep everyone’s position from getting worse, haven’t you?”
"No, no...this is for Lady Alice..."
Claire was a little shy.
Wiz smiled and said, "Thanks to Miss Claire, I had a very pleasant holiday. Thank you."
"Me too," Youyou quickly added. "I'm going to put the etiquette I learned this time into practice when making friends!"
Everyone seemed to be thanking Claire for her efforts, which made the female guard, who was not good at expressing herself or taking credit, feel extremely ashamed.
"Well then, that's settled for now." Aqua said, seeing the cheerful scene. "Let's go back to Axel and have some bubble tea!"
"You've already drunk so much, do you want to drink more?"
Kobayashi rolled his eyes. Although he had been with Alice the whole time, he had been keeping a close eye on Aqua to prevent her from doing anything bad. While Aqua hadn't caused any trouble, she had certainly been drinking a lot of sparkling wine. And the high-end sparkling wine, she'd down a whole bottle in one gulp.
"What does it matter!" Aqua said with a smile, "It's a holiday celebration, so the amount won't be reduced!"
"Can I...can I participate too?" Youyou timidly raised her hand and whispered, "I'll bring some snacks sent from the Crimson Demon Village!"
"Hehe, then I'll take the food. Ah, and the new magical items too—"
"No need."
While Wiz was saying this happily, Kobayashi decisively refused her request to bring magical items, which disappointed the magical item shop owner.
Alice tugged at his clothes and said, "Brother! Um... if it's alright, can I visit you later?"
"Of course! But after such a spectacular gala, you might feel a sense of disappointment, right?"
"No, that's not true. Both the formal party and your banquet are wonderful. I want to enjoy both, just like you!"
Alice is not picky.
"Alice is such a good and sensible girl!" Aqua exclaimed. "Alright, I'll be waiting for you at the mansion! You're going to keep making a ruckus until morning!"
"Ok!"
Alice said this with a smile.
Later at the banquet, Alice, just as she had said, thoroughly enjoyed herself.
(End of this chapter)