14 Years Old – Q of Hearts Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.
I worked hard today too! I collapsed onto the sofa in the break room in the Magic Building. I finished the job and returned just now. Today’s job, “exterminate the kraken that have been appearing in large quant.i.ties” was surprisingly backbreaking work. The magicians that worked with me are probably resting by themselves as well. Before I start the next job, shall I take a breather? As soon as I closed my eyes, sleep came calling.
“Oi.”
In my dreams, it feels like somebody is calling out to me. …I can kind of hear something, but I’ll ignore it. I’m exhausted.
“Oi, get up.”
So noisy. If you tell order somebody around so arrogantly, won’t people just rebel?
“I’m telling you to get up.”
The owner of the voice began to kick the sofa I was lying on. I can’t sleep like this.
“Ahh, geez!”
I got up in irritation. Because my sleep was disturbed, my mood has taken a dive.
Somebody was looking down on me from right beside me, so I turned my eyes that way. …How troubling.
“Why are you in the Magic Building…?”
The owner of the voice was somebody who shouldn’t have appeared here; the royal prince’s son, Raiga Transbaal. It’s been a while since we’ve met.
“Have you seen Mei”
“I haven’t seen her today, but I just got back to the castle, so… What’s happening with Mei-chan”
“She’s gone missing… Even though she’s never been late to afternoon tea before!”
It seems that each day, Raiga takes a break during the afternoon and has tea with Mei. Him having tea is kinda mismatched.
“But… can you really call just that, ‘going missing’?”
Raiga’s anxiety isn’t normal. When it comes to Mei, he always loses his composure. Enough that he stepped foot into the Magic building that had been turned into a King Faction stronghold. …I’m technically part of the King Faction too, though, you knoww?
“Umm, perhaps waiting a little for Mei-chan…”
“Look for her.”
“Pardon?”
“Look for her with your magic. …You can do it, right?”
Asking for the ridiculous, this guy. I don’t think that I can’t do it, but… when I get ordered with an arrogant att.i.tude like this, you knoww…
“Please listen carefully. If I do it once, from now on I’ll always be able to find Mei-chan’s whereabouts, you know?”
To begin with, detection magic is a magic that follows the waves of the target’s mana, and if you remember their waves once, you’ll always be able to find those waves from then on.
“…”
“If you don’t mind somebody of the King Faction like me being able to do that, I’m fine with cooperating though.”
Raiga’s face that was cold to begin with became even more dreadful. The number of magicians that can use highly accurate detection magic is limited, so he probably has his own troubles too.
“…You can do the searching, right?”
“If I have Mei-chan’s belongings, then searching for her is possible, you know? …From now and always.”
Raiga was thinking about something for a little while, but it seems that he had resolved himself. He held out something fluttery before me.
“It’s Mei’s handkerchief. …Can you find her with this?”
Why is Raiga walking around with Mei’s handkerchief on his person? Contrary to his appearance, this guy is… Won’t I become unable to look at him the same way because of this? After clearing my throat to hide my inner turmoil, I concentrated.
“Well then, I shall be borrowing the handkerchief then.”
After holding the handkerchief in my hand, I activated the search magic. This, is actually supposed to be magic used for searching for monsters, huh. The handkerchief disappeared, and a ball of light appeared in the air.
“Well then, let’s go, Raiga-sama. If we follow after the light, we’ll reach Mei-chan.”
Raiga obediently followed me.
The ball of light went inside a large building in a courtyard of the royal palace.
“It’s locked, isn’t it?”
“Open it with your magic.”
“…Umm, you see, the locks in the royal palace have various magic placed on them, you see, and are made so that outsiders can’t open them.”
“I know that, so just open it.”
What are you going to do if I get arrested for lock breaking!? Unlike Royce-sama, this guy is a tyrant, huh! I really can’t understand a heroine that could fall in love with such a guy. …Let’s leave aside the fact that through the heroine I was completely in a romance with Raiga in the game.
…But still, why does he know that I can open the lock? Even though all of the doors in the castle are made so that they can’t normally be opened by magicians. Was I seen that time, when I was locked in a knight’s changing room that reeked of men by one of Royce-sama’s fans and undid the lock by myself to escape…? In that case, don’t just watch, but help me!!
“If anything happens, please take responsibility, Raiga-samaa.”
I filled the keyhole with magic, and forcefully opened the lock. At the same time that I opened the lock, Raiga opened the door and rushed inside, and I followed after him as well.
“Mei!”
“Mei-chaaaaan”
Tools for maintaining the courtyard, flower seeds, soil… a dusty smell wafted about the room.
“Ra…iga…sama?”
After hearing a weak voice from beyond the pile of stacked manure, I frantically turned that way, and found Mei squatting on the ground. For some reason her clothing was tattered, and she was wounded here and there too.
“Mei…”
Raiga ran over the Mei, and embraced her.
“Raiga-samaa… Wahhhh”
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“That’s…”
Looking like it was difficult to say, Mei averted her eyes.
“Who did this? Making you go through this… Unforgivable!”
“It’s fine, Raiga-sama… I was wrong.”
The two of them were completely in their own world. Sure is master and servant love, huh~
“As if it’s fine! Even though my lover was made to suffer like this, I’m supposed to stay quiet!?”
Oh my, I feel like I heard Raiga say something shocking just now. “Lover” as in… It couldn’t be.
“Ummmm… Are you two going out with each other?”
“What, you’re still here?”
A p.i.s.s off! This guy is seriously a p.i.s.s off! Who do you think you have to thank for getting all the way here!?
“Of course I am. Hurry up and hand Mei-chan over here. I’ll heal her wounds.”
Raiga fl.u.s.teredly stopped hugging Mei.
“Oneesama!”
Meichan sure has grown, huh. Going from “Oneechan” to “Oneesama”.
“Yes, yes, stay still, Mei-chan.”
While I was healing Mei, she told me about her relationship with Raiga.
“About your question just now… Raiga-sama and I, have, umm, become lovers.”
“…I-, I see~[/H-, heehh]”
“Kai was angry for some reason, and went to the castle just now…”
“…I see.”
Has it become some strange incident?
Raiga and Mei are lovers, and Kai went to the castle. It’s all stuff that didn’t happen in the game. Developments different to the game have been appearing with these guys too. If we continue like this, we might be able to avoid the risk of coup d’état to Royce-sama. I can’t be careless, though… As long as Raiga and Mei are dating, the heroine probably won’t end up with Raiga.
“And so, why did you end up like this, Mei?”
It seems that Raiga hadn’t forgotten about his question from earlier. He once again questioned Mei.
“That’s… Because I’m not suitable for Raiga-sama… Because despite being a lowly servant, I took the position of Raiga-sama’s lover…”
“Who said that!?”
“Raiga-sama, if you start bellowing like that, Mei-chan will get scared. Please calm down.”
What a helpless guy, geez. He wasn’t such a pa.s.sionate guy in the game though, huhh.
“Mei-chan, if it’s difficult to say then you don’t have to, but… would it be okay to hear what happened?”
I can sort of guess, but I’m not positively sure, so…
“It’s okay, Oneesama… Um, you see, because it was tea time, I was heading to Raiga-sama’s room, and then I was surrounded by the daughters of the Royal Prince Faction, and was brought here to be locked in.”
Just like I thought, huh. The actions of n.o.bles’ daughters who fall in love with people of influence stick to one pattern, huh. Locker rooms that reek of sweat, and storage rooms with piles of manure, and… even the places they choose to lock you up in aren’t creative at all, huh.
“Did those women give you those wounds?” [Raiga]
“…It was the servants that served them, and they watched and laughed.”
Ahh, I can sort of picture it. Not wanting to dirty their own hands, huh… A bunch of women with bad hobbies. The Mei before me is unlike the Mei of the game, and has a personality unrelated to combat. Without any means to defend herself, she’s a good target. To lock up such a good girl, it’s unforgivable! Raiga is also making a vicious smile behind Mei’s back. Ah. This guy is definitely planning on some kind of revenge. …Meaning that I won’t get a chance to appear, huh. Would I get in the way instead?
“Sorry, Mei. This is because I was careless.”
“Raiga-sama… No way, you weren’t wrong, Raiga-samaa.”
The two of them began falling into their own little world again. There’s nothing more uncomfortable than this. For that Mei to get close to Raiga, who would’ve thought… Even though it was the heartwarming image of a young girl, and an overprotective older sister…
The two of them have reached that age, huh. Leaving the two of them who were getting excited in various senses, I quietly departed from that place.
On another day, I got a wonderful book called 『Encyclopaedia of the Garnet Nation’s Legendary Magics』 as a thank you from Raiga. Guess there’s no choice. Shall I forget about the numerous times he was rude to me?