Chapter 180: A Chance Meeting Under a Moonlit Night (3/4)

She is being very calm about it, but I get the feeling that she’s actually really shocked… Is it really that vexing for her powers not to work on me?

By the way, the reason she used people close to me, like Hyuzu-san and the others, was because she thought I would talk about my worries if we spoke over liquor. Also, the reason everyone kept talking about Hyuzu-san was because she wanted to get him to spill his worries too.

“Why him too?” [Ryouma]

“Huh?　Oh, it’s my hobby. I’ve been watching people at this manor for a long time now. And during that time, I’ve seen a lot of people become infatuated with each other. At times like that, I would support them from the shadows like this, and use my powers to create a good atmosphere for them. For those with unrequited love, I get them to be noticed by the other party. Ah, but don’t misunderstand, okay? I’m not forcing the relationship or anything. I’m just giving them a push. That’s all. And if everything goes well, I watch over them until they get married. It’s that sort of hobby.” [Yui]

“Are you a matchmaking addict!?”[Ryouma]

“Don’t call me that. I don’t like it. This man and his wife are the 1032nd couple I’ve led to marriage. And if we count just the ones I got to date each other, then the number is five times that. Besides, my name is Yui, which means ‘to join’. If you must refer to me with a title, then you may address me as Marriage Tie Yui.” [Yui]

“And now you’re a self-proclaimed expert? I don’t know the exact figure, but have you really been doing this in secret all this time?” [Ryouma]

“I’ll ask you a question too. Do you really think anyone could endure living hundreds of years without doing anything? It’s easy to get food here, so that’s nice, but food can’t help with boredom… And to be honest, I’m not really fond of humans other than Shiho since they captured me once and sold me.” [Yui]

Just as she said earlier, fairies specialize in magic and have a big mana pool. They look like small humans and are very cute. Moreover, within their bodies that are born from mana, inside their heart, is a high purity mana stone. So for many reasons, be it as a familiar to supplement one’s fighting abilities, as an object to be adored, or to harvest mana stones, since time immemorial, humans have been searching for fairies to capture them and sell them.

“At first, I thought all humans were my enemy, but fortunately, the one who purchased me was Shiho. The people who caught me and sold me have all died a long time ago, so I don’t really care about it anymore, but I still want to avoid people. If I tried to kill my boredom by harming others, I wouldn’t be able to face Shiho, but I figured observing people while helping them get married shouldn’t be a problem. Although depending on how one looks at it, I suppose I am leading humans by the nose.” [Yui]

“Well, yeah, I guess.” [Ryouma]

“By the way, the first couple I successfully led to marriage is none other than Shiho. Shiho was just a commoner, so I had to protect her from the nobles that were fascinated by her abilities while supporting her great love with that great person, who was both her fellow researcher in monster taming technique and investor. I had to pull a lot of tricks to get their marriage to become a reality, such as getting her adopted by a noble to bring their social status closer. It was a marriage made possible only with everyone working together.” [Yui]

It’s an interesting story, but I don’t know if she’s telling the truth or not. It might be an important story, but it’s still troubling for me when she’s going on and on by herself.

“Oh?　Will you look at that, we’ve been talking about nothing but myself.” [Yui]

“You just went and talked about that last part on your own, though.” [Ryomua]

“Ahem! …Putting that aside, can you tell me now if there’s anything bothering you?” [Yui]

“Ah, so we’re going back there, after all. But like I said, there’s nothing troubling me. I’ve been happy ever since I came to this world, and I don’t have any problems that I need help to solve.” [Ryouma]

Can’t she just help me another time?

I asked her that, and she made a sullen look.

“I don’t like appearing before people, so I’d like to settle this now.” [Yui]

“That’s your reason!?

But you’re the one who decided to appear before me!” [Ryouma]

“Fairies are selfish creatures by nature.

What’s fun to them, what’s important, what’s special, or something else altogether…

In my case, I just want to fulfill Shiho’s request.

I’ve lived for a long time, so I can be quite patient, but it would be really troubling if you ended up relying on me for everything just because I helped you once. After all, I don’t really care about you.” [Yui]

“You really said it.” [Ryouma]

“It’s the truth.” [Yui]

We just met and she’s already so blunt. I mean, this is our first time meeting, right?

It’s unfortunate that we can’t get along, but it would be troublesome to be stuck with someone I’m not that close with too.