Getting Up in the Morning

The light in the inn room was hazy in the early morning. Frieren's sleeping posture was as uninhibited as ever: she lay across the bed, her long silver hair spread out like a ball of yarn a cat had played with. One leg rested on the pillow, and she had long since kicked the blanket down to the foot of the bed.

"Lady Frieren! Time to get up!" Ruby's clear voice rang out alongside a knock at the door. "We agreed to go clear out the monsters in the cave to the west this morning! Brother Himmel and the others are already waiting downstairs!"

The "ball of silver yarn" on the bed squirmed, and a muffled, heavily sleep-laden murmur came from it. "No... five more hours..."

"But..." Frieren buried her face in the pillow, her voice indistinct. "Himmel and the others should already be ready... I haven't brushed my hair or eaten yet..."

Ruby pushed the door open and stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. Seeing Frieren like this, she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance:

"Lady Frieren, you're so lazy! Forget it, we'll go on ahead. According to the information we got, they're only low-level monsters, so they're not much of a threat anyway! But—"

She drew out the word, a glint of mischief flashing in her green eyes. "If you don't hurry and catch up... there won't be a share of the monster-slaying reward for you, Lady Frieren! And I heard there's a dessert shop in this town that's especially famous for its honey mille-feuille. If you're late, it'll all be sold out!"

The words "honey mille-feuille" seemed to have a magical effect. Frieren's head shot up from the pillow, and her sleepy green eyes brightened a little at once, though her hair was still as messy as a bird's nest. She sat bolt upright, moving so quickly that she nearly bumped into Lowell in the bed next to hers.

"What?!" she exclaimed, then reached over and nudged Lowell, who was still asleep beside her. "Lowell, wake up!"

Lowell, still groggy from being pushed, buried his face deeper in his pillow. His voice was lazy and nasal. "Huh... I don't have to deal with brushing troublesome hair like yours... you get up first..."

He mumbled indistinctly, then seemed to think of something. Without even opening his eyes, he casually called toward the corner of the room, "...Linié."

The pink-haired girl, who had been standing silently by the window like an ornament, turned at the sound. Her deep blue eyes looked over, and she answered, "Oh."

Then she walked to the bedside, picked up a wooden comb from the dressing table with complete ease, and gently gathered Frieren's unruly silver hair before beginning to comb it. Her movements weren't particularly gentle, and were even somewhat mechanical, but she was exceptionally practiced. Her fingers flew, smoothly undoing several obvious knots, her movements as fluid as if she had rehearsed them countless times.

Ruby, who had been about to urge Frieren on again, covered her mouth in surprise at the sight, her eyes going round. "Huh? L-Linié? You... you're a demon, and you can do that too?" She found it hard to imagine a demon doing an everyday little task like brushing hair.

Lowell kept his face buried in the pillow, his muffled voice carrying a matter-of-fact tone. "Yeah, what else did you think? That those pink twin tails of hers, practically perfect in their axial symmetry, grew that way naturally?"

Ruby was momentarily at a loss for words. She looked at Linié's trademark, meticulously maintained twin tails and said hesitantly, "I-I guess that's true..." Then she looked toward another corner of the room, where Mina was also standing silently, though her hair was somewhat messy, and asked curiously, "Then what about Mina...?"

"She's obviously different." Lowell turned his face slightly, revealing one sleepy eye, and glanced at Mina. "She's the wild, free-range type who hasn't joined any organization. Survival itself is a problem for her, so why would she pay attention to something as 'useless' as her hairstyle? Linié, on the other hand, served in the 'regular army' under Aura. Aura cares a lot about appearances, so perhaps it was some kind of disciplinary requirement."

"Oh..." Ruby nodded, only half understanding, and looked back at Frieren, who was being attended to by Linié. She couldn't help puffing out her cheeks again. "But Lady Frieren, you need to learn to be independent too! Look at me, I'm only ten this year, and I can already do my own hair!" She shook her neatly tied red curls as if showing them off.

Frieren was squinting groggily, seemingly caught between sleep and wakefulness, letting Linié do as she pleased with her hair. Hearing Ruby's words, she answered indistinctly, "Ah... mm... I can do it myself too... it's just too early today..." Her voice grew quieter and quieter, and her head bobbed with Linié's combing, as though she might fall asleep again at any moment.

Linié, completely undisturbed, continued her work without expression. Before long, she had combed Frieren's long hair smooth and tied it into twin tails, giving her that familiar look of an adorable white-haired old-timer.

The moment her hair was secured, Frieren seemed to wake up completely at last. Or rather, her desire for dessert had thoroughly overcome her sleepiness. Her eyes snapped open, her green pupils shining with determination for mille-feuille and the reward, and she nimbly swung herself out of bed.

"All right! Let's go!" she announced concisely, casually picking up the robe draped over the back of a chair and slipping it on in one smooth motion.

Watching Frieren switch in an instant from a lazy koala to being ready for battle, Ruby couldn't help snickering. "Pfft... honestly, Lady Frieren..."

Only then did Lowell slowly sit up, yawn, and run a hand through his already somewhat messy black hair. Looking at Frieren, who was ready to go, and Ruby, whose face was full of exasperation, he curved his lips into a faint, knowing smile.

Morning light shone through the window, illuminating the room, the new day's adventure, and the road to dessert.