Like we're of a single mind, the cool beauty and I worked perfectly together to quickly dispatch of all the summoned monsters in the area.
"It got away," the cool beauty said, staring up at the sky where the Imp flew away.
The Imp who casted the dark summoning magic got away on our watch, as we were too preoccupied prioritizing the safety of the soldiers and adventurers.
"We can't go after it now," I said.
I did attempt to take it down with magic, but it was able to shield itself with an invisible barrier. It seems to be more powerful than the regular Imp. It's also evidently intelligent.
"Do you know what it's doing here in the capital?" I asked.
"No," the cool beauty flatly denied.
She doesn't seem to be lying. Even so, it seems to be particularly wary of her. But that could easily be attributed by her irregular strength. Any monster would naturally be afraid of her.
"H-Hey! Please wait!"
Without as much as a word, the cool beauty suddenly sheathed her sword and begin to walk away. I tried to follow behind her, but we were both suddenly stopped by the loud voice of a knight. The authorities have finally arrived.
"Excuse me, you two. Please, we have to take you in for questioning," the knight said.
We both obediently followed, and then we were taken to the knight station to be questioned.
"I see. So you were just a bystander who came to help..."
I told my story. I didn't have that much to tell them about, so my questioning finished quickly. However, they kept me along to verify the cool beauty's story. As it turns out, the sole reason we were taken in the same room at the same time was so we can verify each other's story.
According to her, she was visiting the church, when the enemy Imp suddenly bursted out from the mouth of one of the church nuns. It immediately attacked her, and when it figured out it couldn't defeat her, it tried to run away. That was the start of the later incident in the city square. I couldn't exactly verify the initial part of her story, as I wasn't there, but the authorities accepted the entirety of it as the truth in the end.
"This might be the work of the Dark army..." one of the knights mutters.
They just attacked the capital exactly a month ago, and they're already back on scheming. As expected of the Dark army. Fortunately, no matter how strong their forces are, they could only rely on unorthodox tactics as they're horribly outnumbered by the human nations.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
Finally, the knights let us go.
They quickly moved on to question the other witnesses. They were in a particular hurry to get the side of the story of the nuns and priests of the church. Apparently, the corpse of the nun from where the Imp removed itself had already been found.
"I'll take my leave then," the cool beauty excused herself.
"Please wait! Your name is Lucy, right?" I said.
I can clearly remember her awkwardly introducing herself to the knights.
"Yes," she replied with her monotone, yet feminine voice.
"I want to thank you. You made my job a lot easier."
If it wasn't for her, the situation could've gotten a lot more difficult. Thanks to her, the incident resulted with zero casualties, and the damage caused by the monsters to the nearby buildings was limited. Not to mention, she prevented the potential friendly fire I could've inflicted if I was forced to use magic.
"There's no need for you to thank me. I was already involved before you came."
"Even so, you helped me a lot, so let me at least pay you back."
It's unfair for me to shoulder the safety of some unrelated bystanders or the integrity of irrelevant houses. They're not really my responsibility. Hence, I have no reason to express my gratitude to her at all.
In reality, I'm only making a selfish excuse to get acquainted with her.
"Hmm..." Lucy cutely cupped her chin. "Then, I'll take you on your offer," she said and finally turned around to properly face me.
"R-Really?" her blatant response caught me off guard.
That went easier than I thought...
"Please take me around the city and give me free food."
My brows twitched a little. I wasn't expecting her to be so straightforward. There wasn't a hint of hesitation on her expressionless face at all.
"Are you perhaps new to the city?" I asked.
"No. I live here."
"Well then, I'll treat you to whatever you want, but I want you to guide me instead."
"I can do that."
And so, that's how I became acquainted with the horribly broke Lucy.
"Um! Excuse me!" a young soldier suddenly called out to Lucy.
"Yes?"
"Thank you for saving me!"
It seems that he was the same novice soldier who she saved from that orc.
"You're welcome," she flatly said, immediately shutting down the conversation.
"My name is..." still, the novice soldier introduced himself, and then he asked for her name right after. "So you're Lucy-san," blushing to his ears, he whispered.
He's totally smittened by her...
"Do you have a lover, Lucy-san?"
"No."
"W-Well then! I like you! Please go out with me!"
Amazing! He's got a lot of balls to be able to confess to a beauty like her...
"Ah... You seem to be mistaking something," fixing her square glasses, Lucy explained. "I'm a man, so I can't go out with you."
"Eh...?"
The novice soldier and I stiffened, our mouths agape. We both stared at the cool beauty Lucy with clear disbelief. I'm sure we're both thinking: there's no way...
Sure, she's flat chested, but her slender figure cannot be that of a man. Furthermore, her pretty face that's half-covered by her slick dark-blue hair, can only be that of a woman. We can only come to the conclusion the she's telling a lie.
However, the more we look at her, the more we're convinced she's telling the truth. It's not that we begin to see her as undeniably a man, but only something that could fit in between. Indeed, she could pass for both a cool boyish woman, or an unbelievably feminine man.
If Lucy was telling the truth, then the novice soldier would surely give up—is what I thought.
"Even still..."
But contrary to my expectation, he continued on his confession.
"Even if you're a man, I still like you! Please, go out with me!" he repeated his previous line.
For some reason, he's blushing harder and seems to be even more dedicated than before...
"No," but Lucy's answer was the same. "I like women. Let's go," HE said as he nonchalantly took my hand.
Just like that, the young soldier was mercilessly turned down and turned into dust.