Chapter 10- The Silver Maiden
I stood with my mouth wide open, staring at the building spread out before me. Yes, it was large enough for it to ‘spread’ before my eyes.
I used my day off to pay a visit to Chester’s mansion… However, this was somewhat unexpected.
Someone told me it was a mansion but, looking at the giant building defying common sense, I couldn’t help but mumble.
“…terrible taste.”
“Don’t be like that. I was also young once. It is normal to want to show off. ”
I should not have said that about a person’s house, but it was what I really thought, so it couldn’t be helped.
Since the mansion was this large, there must be quite a few rooms. Just how many of them was he using? I did not intend to criticize the way he spent his money, but it should be safe to say that going to that extent was wasteful.
“That’s enough about the house, isn’t it? Besides, aren’t you always saying that you don’t have enough time? Come in.”
I stood there with a fed-up expression as Chester, not bothering to hide his foolish grin, goaded me inside.
I called him an old fool while walking down the ridiculously long hallway, when I saw a woman standing before the entrance.
She was a remarkable woman with braided brunette hair, wearing what you might call a maid uniform.
“I was waiting for you, Chester-sama, Slava-sama. My name is Linette Myu. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
She held up her long skirt as she curtsied while saying my name.
…She knows my name. I wonder how much Chester told her.
I shot a look at my terrible friend while he still had the stupid look on his face.
“She knows everything. But don’t worry, I gave her an order. She won’t say anything.”
“Chester-sama has ordered as such, so I intend to do just that. You have taken great care of my master. He must have caused you trouble. Please let me thank you in his place.”
“You got it backwards. I’m the one that’s taking care of him.”
Just when and what did he ever do totake care of me? He certainly knew how to mouth off.
“Lynette-dono must also have it tough. Being related to him is troublesome.”
“It certainly is. However, I am used to it. I am grateful for your consideration.”
From the looks of it, using humans as a reference, Lynette seemed to be in her mid-twenties.
At the very least she appeared to be older than Alma. I a.s.sumed that she was older than me in my previous life, and thus treated her with courtesy.
Even if I did pa.s.s 100 years in my human body, in the elven world, I would still be considered a youngster. A hundred-plus years only translated to roughly 20 years in human terms. It was something like that.
Seriously, for such an old man to be considered young among the elves, I felt tears coming to my eyes for some reason.
“Now then, the young lady is waiting. She should be approaching the limit of her patience. Chester-sama, please hurry to see her.”
“Oh, oh. I’m happy to hear you say that. Where’s Shirley?”
“The young lady is in her room. Rasber and Nish.e.l.le are taking care of her but I doubt they can last for long. Please hurry. ”
“I’m troubling them every time. In that case, let’s go Slava. Before my princess throws a tantrum.”
“Don’t push. I’m telling you that I can walk by myself.”
From what I heard, it seemed that his grandchild was really taken to Chester.
A grandkid that I had never met was not to blame. I would quickly give ‘gramps’ an answer.
I walked in front of Chester while pushing away his annoying hand from my back.
“Oh? Are you finally getting into it?”
I simply made my resolve.
I sighed, wanting to answer him, but Chester smiled at the misunderstanding and started to show me around.
…He really did spend a lot of money.
As we were walking along, I saw multiple blinding paintings of terrible taste.
He said that he first started to train for money; however, the main point that was the money had unexpectedly become inconsequential.
…Hmm. I wonder how I would use extra money if I had any.
As long as it was not impractical, a small house was not a problem. There was nothing better than a good meal, but because I always regarded nutrition, I did not prefer luxury. Outside of martial arts, there was nothing that I considered a hobby or interest.
…Hmm. No matter how much I thought about it, I could not think of a way to use that much money. I was actually a rather sad old man.
After comparing myself to Chester, I sighed, realizing how bland I was.
“…are you getting annoyed this far into the game? Don’t make that face in front of my grandkid, alright? Look, we’re here.”
“No, that’s not it… Oh well, I will try my best.”
I wanted to be frank with Chester about what I really thought when he stopped my sighing, but somehow or another I swallowed my words and admitted defeat.
That was not right. I was simply focused on a single hobby. I stood next to Chester as if to make an excuse.
–At that moment, I got goose b.u.mps at a sudden burst of killing intent.
I raised my guard at the sudden burst of magical power coming from the other side of the door.
“Is this the magic power of the grandkid you were talking about?”
“That’s right. Pretty impressive for a 15-year-old, right?”
It was an immense magic power with undisguised anger. It was too much for a mere child of only 15 years, but it was too rough to be that of a master.
It was as if you could see the youth being stained by the torrent of muddy magic power.
I see. Certainly, something like this would make even Chester excited.
It would have been impossible to master the Shijima style which specialized in a smooth controlled flow– but, there was no one better for the Prime fighting style which was full of destruction.
I gave Chester, who was happily laughing, a sidelong glance, when I heard the sound of something smashing.
I instantly changed gears and look towards the noise—I saw a door flying this way.
…His grandkid seemed to have a very…rough temper.
I lightly swung my fist at the door that was most likely thrown out by the resident of the room and destroyed it.
Just when I was about to complain to the master of the house that it was a pretty rough welcome—in the s.p.a.ce blocked by the door, I saw human shapes flying through the air.
When I looked, it was a man and a woman flying out just like the door just now. It seemed that they were both unconscious. It was most likely done by the occupant of the room. I calmly caught the woman flying in my direction.
I put the woman down and looked towards Chester to check on the other one. There stood Chester alone.
I looked away and saw a man with a good build wearing a tailcoat sticking out of a crack on the wall.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});“…It would not have hurt you to catch him. They are your servants, right?”
“I would be happy to if it were a woman, but I don’t make a habit of hugging men. But more importantly… Oi, Shirley. Grandpa’s back!”
It was in-character for him. Thinking back on it, he was always that kind of guy.
I cast healing magic on the two people, who, judging from their clothes, were the steward and the maid. They would regain consciousness soon, but it would be hard for them when they woke up. I decided to at least treat their wounds.
After offering a silent prayer for the poor servants that were made to follow after my rude friend, I followed after Chester, who had just entered into the room.
…In one word, the inside of the room looked bizarre.
The first thing to catch one’s eyes was the disturbingly girly color scheme.
With light pink and white as the base, the room had the type of wallpaper that a little girl would like and was filled with the same kind of furniture.
If it were only that much, it would not count as bizarre.
…What was bizarre was that almost all of it was in shambles.
A stuffed rabbit that had all of its limbs torn off. A bed with its posts smashed and its canopy on top.
In that situation, rather than counting the things that were broken, it would have been easier to count the things that were not.
If all of that was done by a single little girl, she must have been extremely violent.
I stared at the grandfather and granddaughter hugging in the midst of the tragedy while worrying about whether we could really become friends or not.
I purely meant to take a look at the hugging granddaughter-grandfather pair who I would be accompanying for a long time.
…But I froze. It was the appearance of the girl in Chester’s embrace. I saw something unexpected.
My first impression of the girl that appeared before my eyes was ‘silver’.
It was a splendid silver that did not lose out to any precious metal.
Among both elves and humans, it was not strange for old people’s hair to turn white.
However, it was not white. The color that swayed before my eyes was much more n.o.ble.
As I stepped into the room, the girl that had been smiling at Chester focused her eyes on me.
“Grandpa… who is he…?”
She was so ephemeral that you would not think she was the perpetrator of such a disastrous scene.
The girl with the snow white skin, who gave off the feeling that she would break at any moment, approached me timidly.
However, her eyes caught my attention just as much. Her eyes were a deeper red than fresh blood. I had seen those eyes before.
“Hn? He’s… a friend of your grandpa’s, called Slava Marshall. Let me introduce you, Slava. This is my granddaughter, Shirley Prime. My stupid son had her with a djinn… which would make her half elf and half djinn. Hey, Shirley, shake his hand as a sign of friendship.”
–Djins. They were hatefully known as the demon race. They were a race that seemed to be made of cruelty and brutality.
Their special characteristic was their eyes of pure white and red, like they were dyed in the blood of their enemies.
In the past, there was no race known as the demon race or Djin. However, they were so evil that they were crowned with the word “demon”. They were a race born to fight…
I took in Shirley’s introduction and came to terms with that feeling from just now.
The characteristics of the demon race were their white hair that seemed to have lost its color and red eyes. Looking at the mysterious girl with the light silver hair, I could believe that she had djinn blood.
After listening to Chester, Shirley broke into a smile.
…There was no mistake after all. Just like he said, she definitely had djinn blood.
It was a s.a.d.i.s.tic smile that made you wonder where that ephemeral look from just before went.
“I’m… Shirley Prime.”
Her appearance was just like mine, but her bewitching smile was something that should be impossible for a 15-year-old girl.
When I grabbed her extended hand, she squeezed with strength unthinkable for a little girl.
The fact that I could not feel any ill intent was actually scary. There was no pain, but… it was vaguely intimidating for just a friendly handshake.
“Slava Marshall. Nice to meet you.”
“Your hand is warm…It’s been a long time since I did a handshake.”
Shirley’s smile had a hint of childishness. Her expression was fitting for a little girl, the complete opposite of just now.
However, the impressive strength she was giving off did not match her cute expression. Certainly, she would break an untrained child’s hand if they shook hands.
“…I want to play with Slava-kun… I get the feeling that if it’s you, you won’t break…”
“Go ahead. You can use your full strength. You’re ok with that too, right, Slava?”
Chester did not bat an eye at his granddaughter’s disturbing words.
…Oh yeah. I had forgotten but Chester was something like the manager of the underground martial arts world.
This was why the underground world was no good.
“You may come at me without worry. My training is not weak.”
It was true that I simply wanted to spar with the talent that Chester had approved of.
There was not a one in a million chance that I would lose but, it was not a bad thing to look at the potential of someone with talent.
And more than that, I had someone like Chester but…
“Fufu… Ahaha…! Slava-kun, Nice to meet you…?”
For someone that practiced martial arts, it was lonely if there wasn’t some with similar strength.
With that much magic power, it was no wonder that no one of the same age could match her.
Unfortunately for her, not only would I not be losing, I had no intention of ending up in a draw either… but I did not mind at least becoming a goal for her.
Shirley looked this way with a cute smile and sparkling eyes.
Seriously, d.a.m.n old man. Making me compete with an interesting fellow.
Facing this seedling that had yet to grow, I couldn’t help but smile lightly.
“I’m going ahead… Don’t take long, ok…?”
Shirley sprang out of the room without telling me where she was headed.
This was my first time coming to this mansion, so I had no idea where to go, but… it was fine, since I could just ask this old fool… But first I had something to say.
“Discipline her properly, Chester… If you always spoil her, she won’t become a good person. What is with this room? You have to scold her properly if she loses her head.”
I had no idea about her background, but this room was simply abnormal.
It almost became a lecture but, I had to say at least that much.
My lecture was postponed. I continued until Lynette stopped me.