Chapter 114.
Arcanta sighed when he saw the personal details of the trainees that Glont brought out.
One person was near the top but not at the very top of the list, and would have likely been a.s.signed to a normal local town office or a district office in the capital.
However, the problem was the other one. The person had the top grades but narrowly missed being within the top 5%. Even so, of all the people, this trainee was the one that Arcanta had been eyeing.
The prime minister sighed as he placed the personal information doc.u.ment of ‘Den von Mark’ on the desk.
"Adventurers’ Guild Director. Unfortunately, it overlaps with a talent that I want. Is there a particular reason that it has to be this person?"
Glont shrugged. "Well, since Prime Minister-nim is eyeing him, it means he is capable enough that I don’t necessarily need a reason, right?" He flashed a lopsided grin.
Arcanta was fl.u.s.tered by the smile. He knew the other’s habits well as he had known the director for a long time.
Glont"s current smile was the smile he showed when he was going to stubbornly push ahead with his agenda.
As far as Arcanta knew, there wasn’t a time when things did not go the way Glont intended when he had that smile.
"Is there any reason why Prime Minister-nim has to pick him?"
Arcanta nodded.
"There was a recommendation from Pelgrant von Bologneo, a former treasury civil servant and my direct subordinate. He asked me to put him in the treasury office because he is a talent I want.”
In a way, it sounded like a request.
Most of the cabinet members in the conference room had been acquainted with Pelgrant since he was still a member of the treasury office before he was appointed as the director of a district office. The ministers gathered here did not know why the man had gone to the district office as if he was half-retiring.
But they knew that Pelgrant was not the type of person to ask for anything.
The cabinet conference room was full of tension courtesy the battle of nerves between Arcanta and Glont.
-o-
If there was a word that could explain my current situation, it would definitely be a servant.
After being dragged around for shopping by Alice and Yuria, both of my hands were already full of shopping stuff.
Is there any other word to express such a sight other than a servant?
Oh, there’s slave!
"I"m sorry. Unfortunately, my pocket s.p.a.ce is full."
I shook my head at Yuria"s apology. "No, it"s okay."
The size of a pocket s.p.a.ce was determined by the amount of mana possessed by the person creating that pocket s.p.a.ce. Since Yuria could create a pocket s.p.a.ce, she was likely a great magician just in front of the wall of the Magic Way. But perhaps because she was still young, compared to the level she was at, her mana capacity was small.
Of course, as a b.u.t.terfly, her small amount of mana was still 10 times larger when compared to Alice of similar age.
Alice was said to possess a large amount of mana compared to her cla.s.smates at the magic school, but from my point of view, small was small, so I couldn’t tell the difference.
In any case, considering the amount of mana that Yuria had, the size of the pocket s.p.a.ce was likely as small as 10 pyeong and as large as 13 pyeong.[1] At that size, there was enough s.p.a.ce for experimental tools and magic catalysts, so it would not be a problem. But it was a little small to put in additional things.
"I think I’m actually holding less things.”
Because I was servant No.3, I had less luggage than servant No.1.
I asked servant No.1, Pushover, "Do you want me to hold some more?"
Lisbon shook his head at my consideration. "No, it’ll be hard with those thin arms.” Saying so, he flashed a refres.h.i.+ng smile.
In terms of pure strength, I would be the strongest, but I didn"t refuse Pushover being considerate of me.
Lisbon’s pushoverness had already exceeded 530,000, causing the meter to almost explode. It made the kindness inside me feel sorry for him.
"Wow! Den! Look at that!" Alphonso, the servant No.2, waved Yuria’s loot and pointed to a private stand.
"Kyaak! Alphonso! Don"t shake it!"
Startled, Yuria put down her belongings and hit Alphonso on the back. Among the things Yuria bought, there were magical catalysts that would break when struck like gla.s.s.
Mmm, if I were her, I would hit him too. To dare to treat a precious magic catalyst recklessly, it was not allowed.
"Now that I think about it, didn"t Alphonso say that he created a pocket s.p.a.ce too?” Lisbon asked.
Alphonso nodded. "Yeah!"
What?! Alphonso"s answer surprised me.
I was in no place to talk since I was only six years old when I made my first pocket s.p.a.ce, but creating a pocket s.p.a.ce was a very difficult magic. At the least, Alphonso"s magic skills would not allow him to create a pocket s.p.a.ce. Of course, it wasn"t completely impossible since I could also teach someone who didn’t know anything about magic how to create a pocket s.p.a.ce. However, even if it was taught, the size of the pocket s.p.a.ce was determined by the caster"s mana. Therefore, if one didn’t have the ability to make a pocket s.p.a.ce, then it would be completely useless. To be honest, considering Alphonso"s mana, even if he made a pocket s.p.a.ce, it would be less than a foot long.
Alice looked at Alphonso full of astonishment as if she had long known of his skills. "Then can’t we put the luggage in the pocket s.p.a.ce?”
Alphonso shook his head with a sullen face. "My pocket s.p.a.ce is too small, so it won’t fit everything."
"How big is it?" Lisbon queried.
Alphonso opened his index finger and thumb to about 10 centimeters wide. "About this much?"
It was smaller than I’d expected, but it was still surprising. I thought I should probably have an earnest conversation with Alphonso later.
-o-
Hillis went back to the room with the lights off. The owner of this room was her older sister, Vibrio. A stream of light entered through a crack in the dark curtain, but the room was still dark.
"Unni?"
Vibrio was sitting on the floor in the middle of the dark room meditating. If up till now, Vibrio’s face was full of haggardness, her current meditating visage contained peace.
But Hillis felt ominous about the serene facade. Even though it was the peace from her sister, she felt something was different.
"Unni." Hillis called again
Vibrio slowly opened her eyes. She picked up the sword next to her and slowly got up. "Have you come?"
It was the face of her usual caring sister. It was the voice of her sister who she was proud of more than anyone else. But Hillis somehow felt something was off. "Unni, are you all right?"
Vibrio smiled as if she was looking at a shrewd villain and stroked Hillis’s head. "I’m all right. Unni is invincible."
Ah ah, she was the usual sister. It was the smile she always held toward Hillis, like when Hillis was scolded for causing trouble like a delinquent before becoming a saintess.
As Hillis felt tears come up, she slipped into Vibrio"s arms and buried her face into her shoulder. Vibrio patted her on the back.
“Are you all right now?” asked Hillis.
“Yeah, I am.”
Vibrio gave her a gentle hug. Her eyes were like the deep sea, an abyss where not even a single ray of light could reach.
“Yea, I"m fine,” Vibrio muttered.
-o-
After a shopping spree, it didn’t seem like we could go around like this any further, so we went back to the boarding house and put down the luggage.
"Wait, Den. Where are you going?" Alice put down her luggage and asked.
"What do you mean where am I going? I’m going to put away the luggage."
I picked up and showed Yuria and Alice their luggage. But Alice looked at me like I was trying to be sneaky.
"But why are you trying to go to the second floor where your room is?”
Tch, you"re so quick-witted. I was going to go up and sleep, but I was blocked.
"That—"
"Just put it down over there and come."
Alice stopped me from making excuses and beckoned me to come back.
I sighed inwardly, put down my luggage and approached Alice.
Ah ah, is this how the head of the family feels when he is forced to go on a trip during his break?
Unfortunately, I decided to give up on relaxing today. While I was feeling dejected, Yuria took Alice by the arm with an excited face and held up a pamphlet that she seemed to have picked up from somewhere.
"Aly! Look at this. There"s a special play at the New Year"s Festival! Let"s go watch it!"
The pamphlet read, "The Last Queen and the Traitorous Knight’. It seemed to be the t.i.tle of the play.
"Oh, this."
Alice looked at the pamphlet and pretended to know it.
"Do you know this play?"
Alice nodded at Yuria. "Oh, it"s a play based on a famous legend. It"s performed almost every year at the New Year’s Festival."
Alice made a slightly bitter face as she spoke.
I could roughly understand Alice’s mood.
It was probably like watching the same program on TV of a kid at home alone during the holidays. Even if the content was fun to watch, it would be hard to keep watching it over and over.
Yuria also read Alice"s expression and looked sullen. Then she glanced at me.
Considering Yuria had lived on Mount Everest, deep in the Alps mountain range, one of the restricted lands, she probably had never seen such a play. Since a play like this would be a first for me, who had lived deep in Olympus Forest, it was probably the same for her too.
To be honest, I wanted to eat tangerines alone in my room and read novels or magic books rather than go to plays like that. Or mess around with a magic circle like making a computer program.
"If you really want to watch it, let"s go watch it."
I smiled and shrugged. Whether I was dragged off to a play or shopping, I wouldn’t be able to relax anyways.
In the first place, I gave up being able to relax today. Honestly, if I had to choose between shopping or the play, the play was better. At least the play wasn’t draining like shopping.
I definitely had a strong body of the Crow Tribe, but somehow, being dragged around by girls for shopping felt difficult.
"I"ve never seen this play before, so it might be good to give it a try."
Yuria"s sullen face brightened again at my words. She was as clumsy at hiding her expression as Alphonso.
"Yes! Let"s go!" Yuria took my hand with a happy face, shook it vigorously up and down, and shouted towards the kitchen.
"Al! Let"s go see the play!"
"A play?!"
When Yuria called Alphonso, who was eating bread from the kitchen, he ran over energetically like a puppy being called to go for a walk.
"What play? I"ve never seen a play!"
Alphonso"s response left Alice unable to continue expressing that she didn"t want to go. She snuck up on me and asked, “You really haven’t seen this play?” She looked at me with doubtful eyes.
It made sense for Yuria and Alphonso who grew up in the Alps Mountains, but it seemed she didn’t believe that I hadn"t seen it.
Just how often was this play performed that you would look at me with such suspicious eyes for saying I haven’t seen it?
"Yes, I lived in a remote area so far that theater companies didn’t come."
If you compare the danger level of the restricted lands, Olympus Forest was several times higher than the Alps Mountains. Wouldn’t a normal theater company be immediately attacked and killed by demons and monsters the moment they sat foot in the forest? Even if they got escorts from a village, they probably wouldn’t be able to make it considering the distance was 1,000km and that the perilous path of the Alps was called a paradise on earth.[re]Paradise on earth for monsters/demons.[/ref]
"Really?"
Alice looked me up and down helplessly.
1. 1 Pyeong is ~35 sq.ft