I became the Villainess's Brother

Reached 10k+ pageviews! This chapter is a little shorter, so I was able to quickly translate it. Really need to start looking for a proofreader… Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 7: Demonic Jewels

Since I promised Ariane to fix her necklace, I decided to go to the library in-between cla.s.ses. What surprised me was that there were a lot of ore related books in the library of the Duke of Jackberry. I slowly started to understand why while reading.

The Duke of Jackberry seems to be located in a territory where many good ores can be mined. While it doesn"t have many gold and silver ores, it has a huge amount of demonic ores. These ores are the main component of demonic jewels which drive most magical products and appliances. A magic washing machine and a magic driven carriage are examples of such appliances and products. However, both of these need a different size of demonic jewel. A magic washing machine will work with a nail sized demonic jewel and a magic driven carriage needs a demonic jewel the size of a thumb.

And it"s our Jackberry Dukedom that possesses a mine that contains magic ores to create those high-level demonic jewels. It can be compared to oil in modern j.a.pan. Multiple events in the game lead to my sister being forcibly engaged to the prince. I wonder why he was so unreasonable.

But my sister ends up being sentenced to turn into a jewel…

The daughter of the Duke gets turned into a jewel just because she brought about the Prince’s displeasure. It truly is a mystery.

I wish I played the prince route in my previous life, it would have cleared many of my doubts. I still believe that bullying the heroine is not enough justification for the prince"s actions. I wonder what the prince would do if the heroine was bullying the Duke’s daughter instead? I don"t condone any type of bullying though. And Fortuna did mercilessly torment the heroine to a disgusting degree.

However, that shouldn"t be enough reason to jewel her. What did she do to make the prince take such drastic actions?

I can"t figure it out, even if I think about it…

I shook my head and turned my gaze back to the book. Since the library has so many books about demonic ores and jewels, it took me a while to find a book about the processing of demonic jewels. It looks like magical power is needed to turn the ores into jewels. Depending on the size of the magic ore that needs processing, the amount of magical power consumption will increase as well and the type of use also has a lot of influence in the creation process. So in order to repair Ariane"s necklace, I will need to use magic power and demonic ores.

Even though I"m still a child, I believe I"m quite talented in using magic. My magic teacher Joshua told me that since I"m the child of a duke, I"m fated to have a high amount of magical power within me.

The problem is…

I take out Ariane"s necklace from my pocket. The demonic stone is about 5 mm in size. Because it is quite small, I won"t need to use a lot of magic power. But on the other hand, I"m not that confident that I can use my magical power in such a detailed fashion.

And there"s also the demonic ore. I need a demonic ore that will be able to mend with the demonic jewel of the necklace. According to what I"ve read, most demonic jewels only mend well with demonic ores that come from the same region.

In other words, I must know the origin of the demonic jewel first. Luckily most mines are located in the territory of the Duke of Jackberry, so I"m confident in obtaining it.

However, it"s her mother"s memento. So Ariane most likely won"t know where the necklace originated from. And in the first place, when purchasing an accessory, you most likely won"t ask where the demonic jewel originated from.

Can"t hurt to ask Ariane though.

I have to see it through to the end now…!

—-

When I went out looking for Ariane, I wound up finding her with Eldor in a shaded spot of the courtyard. As promised, Eldor is eating properly with her every day. They must be finished with their meal by now.

Looks like she smiles a lot when I"m not around…?

Ariane is holding onto a broom while talking happily with Eldor. I can"t hear what they are talking about, but I can tell that even that expressionless Eldor is enjoying the conversation.

Hmm…

"Ariane!"

I somehow ended up approaching her from a blind spot. My voice that seemingly came out of nowhere startled Ariane and she dropped the broom in her hand out of surprise. Eldor caught the broom before it fell on the floor.

If she was holding plates instead of a broom, I"m sure they would be broken. But Eldor is there though, so maybe he can catch a few? I don"t plan on testing out how many he catch though.

"La-La-La-Langlease-sama, you called?"

Ariane looks completely shaken by my arrival. Her shaken peridot colored eyes were opened wide and glanced at Eldor.

Hmm… Suspicious…

"Were you busy singing songs? My name is Langlease, not La-La-La-Langlease, you know."

"Y-Yes, Langlease-sama."

"It looked like you were having fun. What were you talking about?"

"Eh?"

"Were you perhaps talking about me?"

"N-N-No, you"re wrong, we were talking about… eh…"

"Langlease-sama, we were talking about the delicious lunch today. Did you need me for something?"

Eldor steps forward in front of Ariane.

Muu~ (Partyp.o.o.per)

"Not in particular, I was just curious."

“Is that so? Excuse me."

I agree that the food in the house is quite delicious. Even though the servants and I eat different things, both the materials and the chefs are top-notch.

Meals are provided for live-in servants in the morning, evening and night. If you live outside, only lunch will be provided. Ariane is the only exception, she also gets the morning and night meals even though she lives outside. I even asked Sebastian to offer her a little more than the other employees.

"U-uhm… my grandmother also loved the food."

"Grandmother?"

"Yes. My grandmother is my mother"s mother."

Well, yeah, I understood that much. That wasn"t quite what I was asking…

"I love bread, I bring some home with me whenever I can. Even though the bakery in town makes delicious bread, the bread from the Jackberry family tastes even better."

"You bring it home? Are you not eating properly after all?"

I doubt that it"s possible since Eldor keeps watch over her. When I turned to look at Eldor, he gives me a nod indicating that it"s alright.

"I am eating properly, but I"m given so much bread that I can"t possibly eat it all… So Eldor wraps the leftovers as a souvenir to take home."

Eldor also nods to confirm it.

"We had bruschetta, croissants and rye bread for dinner. It was way too much for one person."

"Was it really that much?"

"Yes."

"Every day?"

"Yes."

That is overdoing it, Sebastian! I did ask him to give her extra though.

Even a full grown man would have difficulties eating three kinds of bread, right? No, wait, now that I think about it, was she supposed to take it home? Sebastian would not make a mistake like that after all.

"W-Was I not allowed to take it home…?"

Ariane looked up at me anxiously.

"No, that"s not a problem at all. By all means, share that delicious bread with your grandmother. With your father as well."

"Eh? My father would be a little…"

"Does your father not like bread?"

"N-no, that"s not it, I actually don"t have a father. And my mother died in an accident… So it"s just me and my grandmother that can eat the delicious bread now."

I feel like hitting my head against the trunk of a tree. So Ariane only lives together with her grandmother? That explains why she didn"t become a live-in servant. Must be hard for her to commute between the two.

"Well, you shouldn"t force yourself to eat it if you’re full. You can take the bread or any other leftovers home."

"Waa!~ Thank you!"

A pleasant smile. Ariane looked up at me with a childish smile that I had not seen before. Her smile is very satisfying.

"By the way, Langlease-sama. Did you have an errand for me?"

That"s right. Got to hand it to Eldor. I almost forgot the most important reason for coming here.

"Ariane, I wanted to ask you something. Do you know the origin of the demonic jewel in the necklace?"

"The origin of the demonic jewel…? Sadly, I don"t know."

"Is that so…"

"Langlease-sama. If you are looking for magic ores used for accessories your best bet would be the marketplace in Maken. Most ores used in accessories come from this province."

City of ore, Maken. I remember seeing it on a map that was in the library. If I"m right, it should be a town located north of the Jackberry house. I believe if we ride in a magic driven carriage, we would arrive in a few hours. It is the closest town for ore, and besides, it won"t hurt to check it out once. Fortunately, repairing the demonic jewel is quite easy once I find the right ore. According to the book, the process is self-explanatory once I line the ore and jewel up. So that"s settled.

Let"s go to Maken!

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