Chapter 54: Was It Mint To Be?

The Black Librarian lunged for Page. It was all in slow-motion in Arpeggio’s eyes, however. She easily slipped between them in a single step. In the midst of it, she was impressed that the man with Page was taking the correct action in pulling her away. He seemed to be going for something on his hip, as well. Perhaps he could make it in the Company, after all.

In the Black Librarian’s eyes, Page was there one moment, and then Arpeggio the next. She tried to cast a spell through her hand, but all the air left her lungs so suddenly, with the Princess Knight’s fist digging into her gut.

The onlookers scattered, creating a circle around her. Page and Kalender, however, clearly saw what happened. Harmony’s Watch came running with swords and brigandine.

“S-she saved me!” Page said, trying to convince the incoming Watch that the mysterious and shady figure was actually a good guy.

“We know,” one of the Watch stopped and said, before facing Arpeggio. “Your Highness, we’ll take it from here.”

Another pair of Watch picked up the Black Librarian. The others were scratching their heads over how to pick up the writhing Backalley Bandits, since they squeaked in anguish with even a single movement.

“ ‘Your Highness’ ?” Kalender said. A short Appraisal of the mysterious figure led him to snort a little loudly.

Arpeggio eyed him. “You did something rude, didn’t you?”

Page came between them, surprising Arpeggio. “Kal isn’t mean!”

The sheer audacity of this girl! … was a breath of fresh air. Goddess above, finally. Arpeggio grinned. “Oh, but little girl, I can’t permit an offhand Appraisal.”

“T-that’s the obvious thing to do when you encounter mysterious figures!” She read that in a book, once.

Incidentally, Arpeggio had also read the same book. “Me? Mysterious? I’m just an ordinary woman passing by~”

“Lies!” Page stomped.

“My, how am I ever going to be compensated for that man’s rudeness?”

Before the pointlessisms continued ad nauseum, Kalender put a hand on Page’s shoulder with a sigh. She looked over, wondering what was up with him. “It’s pointless,” he said. “She’s … she’s way too stubborn.”

He faced Arpeggio—no, he was facing royalty. He wasn’t sure how to deal with them, not when there was a distinct possibility of getting executed for messing up a pronoun or something.

But … what’s this? His Interpersonal Bubble was showing him that this ‘Arpeggio’ personage was, in reality, quite withdrawn and reserved, at least that was as far as he could tell from how she didn’t extend her territorial bubble beyond herself. He’d assumed that royalty would act more like “Ho-ho I own all of you and your cow!”—but apparently not this girl.

Also, her Occupation was “Princess Knight of Lyrica.” Comparing that against another Knight he knew, and this one was probably a decent person … overall.

The biggest tell was how Page was still so defiant against her. Sure, Page didn’t know she was facing down someone who was effectively her boss, but Kalender was just made aware that she could physically sense others’ emotions.

“Do you think she’s okay?” he asked her.

“Hng… She’s messing with us.” Page pouted. How lax of her.

“What are you two saying?” Arpeggio said.

Kalender faced her. “I can give you”—he held up two fingers—“two scoops of ice cream.”

Arpeggio just barely managed to stop herself from recoiling at the suggestion. This man’s absolute fearlessness in front of her, treating her like a problem child… How dare?

“Three,” she countered.

“If you give us your story,” Kalender said.

Now, Arpeggio actually, physically took a step back. She’s never been asserted against like this her whole life. Not even her father could try!

“A-alright,” she said.

Now it was Kalender’s turn to be surprised. Why’d she stutter? Did he just accidentally pop a seam along her janky personality?

The onlookers cleared a way for them as they watched the trio leave. Among them was a despondent Goldtooth. This operation was supposed to keep their budget from going into the red! Now they had to push back the timeline on the main operation! Damn it all!

***

Over in the ice cream parlor, it was vanilla-strawberry for Page, coffee crumble for Kalender, and, for the sake of all that was damned and unholy, the trifecta of mint chocolate, black licorice, and salted cheese for Arpeggio. Kalender had picked out these flavors when both girls waved him off with a “whatever you want” and a “surprise me”—that last one was followed by royal snickering.

Kalender thanked the old lady and counted his change. As he did, Arpeggio nodded to the old granny behind the counter. The granny nodded back. Page noticed this, adding more credence to her theory that the granny had a long history, maybe as long as—gasp—one of her hidden scars, maybe?

Kalendar came back with a tray with three goblets of ice cream, sitting down with a contented sigh. Arpeggio eyed the grinning granny. She’s breaking out the aesthetics, huh?

“So… Your Highness,” Kalender said with some edge, “what brings you to these parts?”

Arpeggio bit into the chocolate mint. “O ice cream of betrayal! This man has good taste!” she thought.

“ ‘Your Highness’ ?…” Page mumbled between teaspoonfuls of ice cream.

“Oh, don’t be so suspicious,” Arpeggio replied. “I am here to heed the duty of the blood of Selisie.”

Kalender squinted. “Stopping low-level thieves instead of macro-managing the economy?”

“ ‘Macro-managing’ ?…” Page was still left out.

Arpeggio snorted. “F-for someone with only one name, you are far too enlightened…”

“So?”

“D-don’t be so suspicious!” Arpeggio bit into the black licorice. “My duty only calls later this afternoon!” Why am I acting this way? She double-checked her status panel just in case there was something weird going on, but there was nothing, which could only mean … a gap in her personality was being filled? —N-no! She did not have the mindspace to deal with these sorts of issues!

‘This afternoon’ ? Kalender recalled what important stuff was supposed to be going down today…

“Oh, the duel?” he said.

“Indeed!” Arpeggio said. “I am supposed to be overseeing it so that the Last Priest of the Harem God doesn’t become the the last.”

“Ohh, are you the referee?” Page asked—a little bit missing the point, but she was doing ok.

“Referee and judge,” Arpeggio replied. She Appraised Page for a bit. “You’re a Turner?”

“W-whuh, did you Appraise me?!” Page pouted. “Rude.”

“H-huh.” The tables—were turned on Arpeggio? Page swiped half a scoop of salted cheese from her cup. Arpeggio was … processing these events.

Kalender snorted. “If only she knew…”

“Hm? What was that, Kal?” Page asked.

“Nothing~”

Arpeggio watched these two fools have the sheer audacity to be relaxed around her. It felt like … she was breathing air she never had before. She’d known, at an academic level, that Violentum’s social and physical air was stuffy. She’d always felt more at home when on expedition out in the frontiers, traveling among the Soldiers and Knights, and fighting tooth and nail for her life and others’ deaths.

You see, out here, you could punch the things causing you problems. The most she could in Violentum, though, was make others want to punch her, instead. She was good at that. They bit the bait pleasingly often.

Though neither in the chambers of Violentum, in the marches of Harmony, nor on the mud-tracked roads between them, had she ever been captured by anyone like the cool air and fireplace that were Page and Kalender. Her brain greedily fed on the oxygen transfusing between blood and cell; her lungs filled with it; her heart beat slowly, but deeply, squeezing out as much as it could from the overflow.

This could be bad. This could be an addiction.

Kalender and Page both noticed her stuck in a trance, with the salted cheese on her teaspoon dripping back into the cup, mixing with the swirling, black-green puddle of chocolate mint and black licorice, now topped and dotted by yellow cream. Now … what did that taste like?

“Your … Highness?” Kalender called. She snapped out of it, shoveling in the last bit of still-iced cream.

“Your relationship is admirable,” she said. It was out of nowhere for Page and Kalender.

“T-thanks?” Page said. “Are you okay? You’re looking a bit … black-yellow-blue.”

“I don’t know what that means,” she said. Though it sounds somehow right, she thought.

Kalender’s Interpersonal Bubble was at it again. Arpeggio’s bubble hesitantly teased at the edges of his, prodding like a curious, nervous animal.

‘Black-yellow-blue’ was what Page said. There was something deep going on in Arpeggio, for sure—that must’ve been what the black stood for.

He paused. Colors’ associations with emotions was a cultural thing. He could make a critical mistake if he didn’t confirm that the color associations weren’t the same. So, no black-yellow-blue clues for him.

… Still, though! She’s obviously downcast! He didn’t need a frickin’ magic to tell!

“We could talk again soon, if you want,” he said.

The offer surprised Arpeggio. “You would?”—but a thought interrupted her hope, and she held up a hand before Kalender could continue. “No, rather, it would reflect poorly on my standing if I were to treat you favorably. A sense of distance must be enforced between ranks, after all.” She looked longingly out the small window on the other side of the parlor. Passers-by came into frame and left it in split seconds. “Were people to see us act so familiarly, they would be made to think that commoners could approach me too easily—you understand, don’t you?”

Kalender nodded. Social expectations were always a pain. The other nobility, however, was rightfully confused.

“Um”—she raised her hand—“who are you, anyway?” Really! How high is your rank that it’s a problem to just talk to people!

Arpeggio and Kalender narrowed their eyes at her.

“I don’t have an Appraise Skill and I can’t pronounce the spell, okay!” Page protested, with a light slam of the table.

Kalender snorted. Arpeggio stood up and curtised. “Princess Knight of Lyrica, Arpeggio Selisie.”

“Wh-” The sound wouldn’t leave her mouth. “Wh-huh—” You can do it. “H-wh-huhh?”

“Oh my god, stop making stupid sounds!” Kalender said as he covered his face.

Arpeggio sharply turned to Kalender. ‘Oh my god’? The only people who said that were …

She observed the man, properly this time. As he covered his face with his hand, part of his sleeve rolled down, exposing one of the Inquisition’s anti-charm cuffs.

As Kalender’s chuckle turned into a laugh—because Page was making dumber sounds by the second—his sleeve continued riding down his arm, exposing more and more cuffs.

Arpeggio didn’t know what to do. He was so kind, but, not just a cursed reincarnator, he was one sanctioned by the Inquisition!

“Don’t worry about it, dear,” the old lady said from behind her. She didn’t even hear her footsteps. Surprised, she turned around to see the granny shakily holding a cup of vanilla ice cream—just one scoop. “It’s on the house.” The granny smiled.

So… She knew. If she knew, then perhaps this Kalender personage was … safe.

Arpeggio thanked her and sat back down, shaving off strips of ice cream with her teaspoon, eating in a prudish manner, legs crossed, and not showing her teeth.

“Are you with the Inquisition?” Arpeggio asked. If the guy did anything … well, she wouldn’t be fazed. She was the Princess Knight of Lyrica. The only one.

The question blew away Kalender’s mood. He realized that his sleeve had ridden down his arm, and he hurried to pull it back up, but … that just made him feel a bit guilty by hiding something that had already been exposed.

But Page just saw the whole scene like it was out of a spy book. She was pretty sure this exact scene had been written somewhere. The protagonist is exposed! How will he escape? She already knew that Arpeggio didn’t have any ill intent with the question. Rather, she was just trying to distract herself from the real meaning of the question, naked before her eyes.

For a moment, Kalender wasn’t sure how to reply, debating with himself, “It should be fine, right? She’s the boss of my sponsors anyway, right?”

“U-uh…” He tried not to let Arpeggio’s … sad eyes distract him. There was something else riding on the question. He could only answer honestly. “Not exactly?”

“Please. Don’t lie.”

“I mean, really,” Kalender said, “they just helped me out. If they told me to do something, it’d be more like doing them a favor. In the first place, they don’t really tell me to do anything in particular.”

“I see.” Arpeggio solemnly ate ice cream. “Those cuffs.”

“Yeah…” Kalender’s eyes were downcast. “It’s been rough.”

Arpeggio looked to Page. “This girl.”

“My responsibility,” he said. “Ah, we’re just friends, though.”

Arpeggio squinted. “Lies.”

“It’s true!—er, Your Highness,” Page interrupted. This absolutely needed clarifying! She clung onto Kalender’s arm, and poked and prodded at his face. “See! He even lets me annoy him like this! It’s totally fine! He’s great!”

Arpeggio squinted further. “That’s not very convincing.”

Kalender sighed lightly pushing Page away with one finger. “You’re doing a terrible job at explaining.”

Page pouted and stopped, properly behaving herself, arms crossed. Arpeggio almost chuckled, but she forced the corners of her lips back down.

“Jyn can give you a more levelheaded breakdown of events,” Kalender continued.

“Another ‘friend’ ?”

Arpeggio froze. She didn’t intend on the edge in her voice, but the words had been let loose.

Kalender frowned. “I don’t want to take offense, but I do.”

Arpeggio winced. She might’ve just blown her chances with that small quip. “I need to make sure about you. Please understand.” She stood up. “I did not mean to sour our day.” She turned away. “The duel will start soon. Excuse me—”

She’d only taken a single step when Kalender asked, “Did you want to be friends?”

She didn’t turn around. “I did.”

“I’m not a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ type of person. We can talk again.”

Arpeggio nodded, showing only the side of her face. She put on her hood, exiting out to the street.

“I don’t think she’s bad,” Page said.

“You”—Kalender shook his head—“you surprisingly don’t care as much about her being a Princess than I thought you would.”

“Everyone’s just the same set of colors to my eyes now, y’know?”

“Hm? Are you really Page?”

“Can’t I say something cool once in a while?!”

Kalender chuckled.

“But, are you okay with that?” Page asked.

“Not everything’s in our hands.” Kalender thought for a while. "Let’s … not pass through the plaza for a while.

The two passed the time talking about Page’s new magic and what, exactly, she was experiencing. No matter what, however, their encounter with the Princess stubbornly stuck out in random quips in conversation.