Chapter 349: CH.344 Dinner with Cailie

After the concert, as the people began leaving, Ula pulled me towards some backstage area of the concert hall. It was guarded, but only by a single guard, so I think a powerful adventurer could easily force their way to the backstage if they wanted to.

We on the other hand just got past the guard after Ula showed the card she used to manipulate the Castle Dungeon earlier. So it clearly is some high level official card, something akin to a police officer showing their badge and demanding access, maybe? Then again, cops usually need stuff like warrants to get access to places, depending on the situation. And the country.

 

But I don’t have to worry about it. We aren’t cops. We are just … people. Well, I guess I am a noble, so… Am I the bad guy? If I am, I’ll blame Ula. She is the one that got us through. And she is some sort of a government employee, so it has to be her fault.

 

---

 

The backstage area we walked into was very quiet. I suppose because we were in the ‘on land’ section, and today’s performers were all mer-folk. They can’t exactly walk, so it would be difficult for them to use this area. 

But eventually we got to an area where the ‘floor’ was water. You could still walk there, as they had these thin raised metal catwalks. Kind of like the ones used for emergency exits, in some factories and so on. It was actually a somewhat genius way of making both swimming and walking work in the same area.

As we walked over the water, I spotted a few of the mer-folk singers that performed that day swimming under us. One of them even came to the surface and asked if we were after her signature, but that isn’t why we were her, and I don’t even know who she is, so we didn’t stop for one.

 

At some point, Ula stopped in front of a door leading to what I assume is a dressing room. Now my question is, why this door? It doesn’t have a name on it, nor does it have a guard, so how would Ula know that this is the room Cailie is in.

After a knock on the door and no response, Ula opened the door and we went inside. The inside was a … well, I was going to call it a relatively normal dressing room, but it kind of wasn’t. While it had stuff like a big mirror, make-up table, clothes hangers and so on, it also had a floor that was clearly designed to stay wet at all times. The floor was actually about 30 cm under water. This probably was enough to allow mer-folk to crawl on the floor decently, but still not too deep for humanoids to walk. As long as you don’t mind your feet getting wet.

And in the room, there were two mer-folks. One that I knew and one that was quite a bit older than her. The older lady seemed to be consoling the younger one, while the younger one seemed to be crying into her chest.

I wonder what happened to her? I know she left the concert a bit abruptly after she saw me, but that shouldn’t cause this kind of reaction. At least I think as much.

 

And while Cailie didn’t see us walk into the room, the older mer-folk most certainly saw us, so she spoke to us.

“Miss Ula. I don’t think now is a good time.” She said to Ula.

“Oh, I’m not here for a talk. Is it the same with her?” Ula asked.

“Yes. She saw the man again and …”

“So those visions still bother her.”

“She hasn’t had one the past two concerts, so I was hoping it was getting better, but no.”

“Actually, she might be.” Ula said. “I mean, this time he really is here.”

 

… okay? What? Has Cailie been seeing a phantom of me in the audience or something? Cause that is what I’m getting out of this.

“What?!” Cailie raised her head and turned to look at us, after she processed what Ula just said.

“Hi Cailie. Good to see you again.” I just said.

 

---

 

In a flash, okay Cailie isn’t that fast, Cailie was hugging me as if I was a phantom that she thought was going to disappear if she didn’t hold onto it.

“B-Brian? Is that really you?” Cailie questioned.

“... have you forgotten me already? Yes, it is me.”

“Hmm.” Cailie drilled her head into my chest. “... not convinced. What monsters were at the place where Brian got me a wheelchair?” Cailie asked.

“At HomeBase? That would be treants. 28 of them, in case you want the exact number.”

“What monsters did Brian give me to get me out of the prison?”

“Venomweb Spiders, Poison Aloeveras and Sky Hawks. Well, there were some others as well, but those three made the bulk of it.”

“One more. Who took care of me when Brian had to go see a noble?”

“That would have been Alice. Why did you ask the easiest question last?”

“... Brian… What took you so long? You promised you’d come to see me.”

“... sorry. I just wanted you to adjust to your life here.”

“But what if I wasn’t doing well? I haven’t been doing well.”

“Then that is Ula’s fault. She was supposed to contact me if you had any problems.” I turned my blaming gaze towards the cat-girl. “But I’m sorry. I should have come sooner.” Sure I might shift the blame, but I’ll also admit when I was wrong. Most of the times.

 

---

 

“So Cailie. How did you end up becoming a singer?” I asked.

“... It just happened.”

“Well, that doesn’t really explain anything.”

“It was the manager of one of the other singers that located her.” Cailie’s manager answered. “They picked up some flowers for their singer and heard Cailie singing to the flowers. She was then invited to a test and everyone loved her voice.”

“Don’t tell him that!” Cailie complained.

“Why not? I think it is a sweet story.” I said.

“... because it is embarrassing. I never even wanted to be a singer.” Cailie admitted.

“But you are so good at it. I mean, out of everyone that performed today, you were by far the most popular.”

“... I only did it because I thought you’d come to hear my singing if I got popular.”

“Well, you succeeded.” I commended her. “That second song by the way, did you write it yourself?”

“... some of it. But I had some help.”

“Is it about me?” I just straight up asked. I’m not trying to be condescending, but considering what happened, I feel like the chances are high it is about me.

“... yes.” Cailie admitted.

“I see.”

“... is it bad? Should I … stop singing it?”

“Of course not. I love that song. I think it fits you very well.”

“... I never really wanted to sing it… to anyone but you. But…”

“The producer liked it too much, so she was nearly forced to sing it.” Cailie’s manager informed me.

“... that isn’t very nice of them.” I commented. “Songs are only to be sung if the singer wants to sing them.”

“It is business.” Ula said. “If a singer can’t bring in the crowd, they are let go. And building up a rising star is important.”

“... but I never even wanted to be a star.” Cailie admitted. “I was happy just tending to the plants at the store.”

“Then why did you? You could have just refused, right?” I asked.

“... because… I wanted you to be proud of me. So I thought…”

“Well, I feel like you succeeded. I am proud of you, Cailie. You’ve done so well.”

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“T-Thanks.”

 

---

 

Cailie then invited me out for dinner and I had no reason to refuse, so of course I agreed. Though the part I didn’t expect was her asking me to push her in the wheelchair. Of course I still had it in my Storage, so that was no problem. Cailie’s manager tried to give her a bit of an issue about it, because apparently Cailie being seen with a man could cause problems.

But Cailie just said she would quit if she wasn’t allowed to do this, so the manager had to give in. We even ditched the manager, as Cailie didn’t want her to come with us. Ula did though, so it wasn’t quite a one-on-one dinner.

I let Cailie pick the place we went to, though we were turned away from the first place she wanted to go to, because they were full. But at least the second place had some space and we got us a table. It was a reasonably high-class restaurant built right next to one of the water channels in the city, and it even had an area where mer-folk could swim into the restaurant, but of course Cailie was in a wheelchair so we accessed the place from the ground.

 

During our dinner, I told Cailie about our adventurers that happened after I took her here. So everything that took place with Wilma and cat-folk twins, how we took down the Blanken Company in Burch city, I even told her about my visit to the Dragon Coast. That got some good reactions from both Cailie and Ula. From Cailie because… well, I think you know the reason, and from Ula because I may have mentioned my play-fight with Lady Janina. Yes I called it a play-fight, even thought it was 100% a serious fight on my part. I mean, I don’t just summon 3 Divine-Beasts and call it a play-fight. It just is better to call it that when telling others about it.

I’m still surprised that Ula realized what dragon I was talking about, as I only described Lady Janina as the golden dragon, not the divine dragon. I don’t know if she has access to some knowledge left behind from times long passed, or maybe she knows of Lady Janina through the Crystal Empire. I mean, Lady Janina did say that she sometimes visits the Crystal Empire to barter. Or was it that people from the Crystal Empire visit her? I don’t remember.

Now as it came to storytelling, I of course made sure to avoid any mention of HomeBase. I mean, if it was just Cailie and I, I’d tell her about it, but I’m not sure Ula needs to know about it. Sure it is kind of an open secret already, and soon it is going to be even more open, but I don’t feel like telling her. I don’t want to feel forced to invite anyone from the Hero’s country to the grand opening of HomeBase. It would be a pain to bring them over. Well, maybe I will go through that pain with Cailie.

 

“... I wish I could have been there with you.” Cailie said, after I concluded my story. “If only I could walk.”

“Come on Cailie. Just because you can’t walk, it shouldn’t limit your life. There are ways around those little problems.” I told her.

“... like what?” She asked.

“If you can’t walk, you can always fly.” I responded. Sure it is a bit of a ‘if they can't eat bread let them eat cake’ response, but it is kind of true. If you can’t walk, use a wheelchair. And if you don’t like that, I can always develop some mechanical legs for you. Or a floating wheelchair. Or even an anti-gravity pendant. … Actually, the anti-gravity pendant would be easier to make than mechanical legs, because I can just use the levitation magic both HomeBase and Lua’s levitating sickbed use. With that, I could make a levitating wheelchair in an hour or so, and a levitation pendant in a few hours. Well, maybe a bit longer for the pendant, as I’d have to perform some Factory tests, just to make sure it is safe to use.

 

“... but I don’t have wings, so how should I fly?” Cailie asked.

“Do you think wings are required for flight? Well, maybe they are, but you can levitate without wings. It is quite simple really.” As I said that, I levitated myself off of the chair I was sitting on with Telekinesis. Not too high though, as I didn’t want to disturb the other diners.

“... Could I really do that?” Cailie asked.

“Telekinesis is actually a terrible way to float, so I wouldn’t recommend using it. Mana Flight is much better for that. And I think there are other ways as well.” 

“You should keep improving your Wind Magic.” Ula said. “It is the most common way people learn to fly. Lord Brian there is just … abnormal.”

“Wait? Cailie? You can use Wind Magic?” I asked.

“... yes. Just a bit. I learned it from the stagehands.”

“That’s cool. Does she have an instructor in that?” I asked Ula.

“Not as far as I know.” Ula answered.

“Why not?” 

“... because a singer doesn’t need magic. They just need to sing.” Cailie said. “I did want to, but they said no.”

“... I’m starting to really not like this idol work you are doing. They are way too controlling.”

“That isn’t … even the worst of it.” Cailie said. “They almost made me… quit my job at the herb store. Even though I didn’t want to.”

“... okay, the officially suck ass. Ula, can you shut them down?”

“Who do you think I am?”

“... mm… Some sort of an intelligence officer disguised as a tour guide?” I said my honest guess.

“NO! Why would you think that?”

“Oh? So you are even higher ranked than that.”

“Why would I be?”

“... because you have that card. You can’t tell me they give them to just anyone. I know how rare Dungeon cards that can do something like that are.”

“... why did I even think you might let it be?”

“I would, but you asked, so this is on you. Also, honestly speaking, I don’t really care what the truth is. But don’t think I don’t know you are assigned to me to keep an eye on me.”

 

“... Ula? Is that true?” Cailie questioned.

“Not quite, but it is close.” The cat-girl admitted.

“T-then why? Why would you visit me so often?”

“Because Brian paid me to do so.” Ula said.

“That money was meant to help Cailie, not to be your wage.” I pointed out.

“Th-then… the money for my performance dress… and the money to pay for my song..?”

“They came out of the money Brian handed me when she dropped you off here, yes.” Ula confirmed.

“W-why didn’t you tell me?” Cailie asked.

“Because Brian asked me not to.” Ula said.

“Is … Is that true?” Cailie asked of me.

“I don’t recall it that way. I gave that money to Ula in return for her keeping an eye on you, and so she could use that money to help you if you would get into trouble. I never said anything about not telling it is from me.”

“How much did you give her?”

“I think it was fifty gold coins.”

“..fi- fifty? Why would … that much?”

“Because I could. And I wanted to make sure you would be fine.”

“... Brian? Do you … love me?” Cailie asked, almost out of nowhere.

“... I guess in a way. I do think you are extremely attractive, but I don’t love you in a way where I would call it actual love. I just want to take care of you.” I admitted.

“... then… is it fine if I don’t live here? Can I come back? And adventure with you?”

“I don't mind, if you want to.” I told her. “But will it cause problems with your jobs?”

“I’ll just quit. I know Kim will be a little sad to see me go, but she will understand. And I don’t care about what my manager says. She can be disappointed all she wants.” Cailie said. “... but why didn’t you let me stay with you last time?”

“Alrighty then. I like how assertive you are on this. But the reason I didn’t let you stay last time was because I didn’t have HomeBase ready at that time. Now I do, so you can move right there.” I told her. “But I guess let’s sleep on this, and if you still want that tomorrow, I’ll help you quit your jobs. And punch your manager in the face if she causes any trouble.”

“Please don’t do that.” Ula said.

“Sure-e. As long as you can recommend a place to stay for a night.”

“... why are you like this?” Ula questioned.

“Because it is me. If I wasn’t, it wouldn’t be me.”

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