MAID ARC ⑰ -SURPRISE-
Irene-san’s husband has finally returned back to the Rainforest domain. He was handsome man and traces of kindness could be seen from his face. I estimated that Cardin-san should be in his early 30s. Cain-bouchama looks just like his dad.
There had been lots of commotion on their father’s long awaited homecoming. Furthermore, Cardin-san was returning together with numerous other mages so this means Irene-san and the other mages who were left behind in the residence could have their burden reduced. The mages were all extremely jubilant about it.
Moreover, from what I heard about Cardin-san from the other servants, he was apparently of royalty too! He was the seventh son born from the previous king and his concubine. If a member of the royalty was unable to use magic, he wouldn’t be considered part of royalty, hence, in general, most of them would be married to another aristocrat mage. Incidentally, the previous king had a fairly large number of sons and daughters, hence, there are many former royal family who are currently the wives or husbands of aristocrats.
The current king was Cardin-san’s elder brother and Cardin-san was working directly under him. Cardin-san is really impressive.
With such an impression, with him being a former royal member and being the master of the Rainforest domain, he is a very popular person. From the day Cardin-san came back, there had been nearly buffet parties every day and the servants in the residence have been stressing it out.
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The day after Cardin’s welcome home party settled down, Claude-san began making arrangements for Cardin-san to take over the work in the Rainforest domain.
In just a few days, I would finally be moving. I was polishing the gla.s.s windows with cloth while feeling pensive and doubtful about the whole moving affair.
Alan’s sword practice had ended and he came along to my side.
(TN: to avoid confusion while reading, for the 2 paragraphs below here, Ryou would be recounting the events that happened in the past few days)
Ever since it had been decided that I would be leaving the residence together with Claude-san, the atmosphere in our 3-person group had become dicier. Afterwards, we hardly ran into one another. I could feel that the young masters were hiding something from me and that they were always doing something behind my back. They might be planning a surprise. Acting on my good judgement, I pretended to not realise anything and feigned indifference to what they were doing.
Mr. Alan had been busy doing for the past few days up till now but finally, today, he came to me with his chest puffed up. He had a big smile on his face. Could this be the day of surprise?
To the best of my abilities, I presented a mood as though I had not seen through anything at all. Acting as per normal, I placed the cloth over the bucket and gave Alan a servant-like bow.
｢Ryou! Come here for a moment! There is something I like to give you!｣ Alan said and took my hand.
I was dragged all the way to a separate building in the residence.
Was this indeed a surprise? I had to be magnificently surprised by it.
I was saying something like, “Oh dear, Alan-sama what is it all of a sudden–, I am still cleaning the windows—“even though I was obediently letting Alan pull me along.
When I looked towards the direction Alan was bringing me to, I saw Cain-bouchama waving at us. It was the unchanging, refreshing smile of a n.o.ble youth.
Alan was guiding me (in a rough manner) to another separate building in the residence. Over here, there were many crystal and minerals that were purchased from merchants.
For magicians like Irene-san, these mineral crystals could be used to make gla.s.s panes, swords and other kinds of equipment with magic.
However, as a venue for a surprise, would this not be a little too plain?
“Why specifically choose this place?” I threw that kind of expression at Cain-bouchama. Cain-bouchama was holding on his right hand, a dagger that was flickering under sunlight.
Eeh! A dagger!?
Huh! Don’t tell me this is how I get imprisoned here!? It wasn’t a surprise party but a surprise jail!? Noo! I thought Alan was a tsundere but to think he was actually a yandere!?
Noticing that I have gone pale, Cain-bouchama hurriedly followed up with, ｢Don’t be afraid! It is okay!｣ I had no idea what he actually meant was okay so his follow-up had no effect. Couldn’t he at least put away that object on his right hand? This was quite a tactless act for a follow-ist.
｢I have specially made a dagger for Ryou before your departure!｣ While saying that, Alan was carefully inspecting each and every mineral crystal piled in the building.
A dagger?
｢Indeed, the dagger I am holding on now was made by Alan.｣ Cain-bouchama showed me his dagger as he said.
It was an unrefined dagger without any decorations. Somehow, the edge had a slight curve but of course, there would not be any problem with using it as a dagger.
｢In this country, when magicians make swords and give it to someone, the sword would be proof of the trust the magician has in that person. In order to pa.s.s it to Ryou before you leave, Alan has been training as best as he could. This dagger of mine was one he made while practicing.｣
Cain-bouchama gave a friendly smile. He appears to be happy with Alan’s maturing and growing.
｢Alright! I shall use this crystal! Ryou, do you have any shape in mind?｣
Alan walked over beaming and must be happy with the crystal he has picked.
｢Thank you so much. It seems that you have worked hard for my sake. I don’t really have any design in mind. If it is made by Alan, anything will do.｣ I smiled while bowing.
A proof of trust…… Somehow, I was overcomed by a feeling of guilt but I will still accept it. It would be convenient to have a knife too.
｢I got it!｣ As Alan said, he put on a cryptic face and tightly gripped on the crystals.
｢Kimi ga tame, Haru no no nii dete, wakana tsumu, wa ga koro mo teni, yuki ha furi tsustu｣
(Literal meaning: For your sake, I will make the fields of spring come, and pick herbs, with my sleeves, despite the falling snowing)
As Alan chanted, the crystal that he was holding on to changed shape, size and colour and slowly took the form of a sword.
Compared to the speed of Irene-san doing her work, Alan’s creation of the sword took much longer but it was neatly becoming a dagger.
However, compared to the dagger that Cain-bouchama showed me earlier, it looked clumsier. The tip of the dagger was wobbly and pointing diagonally.
From his “Ough” groan and the slumped look on his face, it must have been a failure.
I will do it again and sing it in a gentler voice! He said and took a deep breath before chanting a different incantation.
｢Asaborake, uji no kawagiri, taedae ni, araureutaru, seze no ajirogi｣
This time, the dagger he made earlier crumbled into sand, and was collected in a bucket placed underneath in advance.
And holding on to the bucket of sand, he once again chanted ｢Kimi no tame｣, and began his process of trial and error.
Ahh, this looks hard on Mr. Alan. Wouldn’t it be better for him to have made a skillfully made one in advance instead? That was the question I faintly had in the back of my mind.
Cain-bouchama who read the atmosphere and sensed that I was thinking of that explained secretly by my ears, ｢Alan wanted to be able to make it right in front of you, insisting that he wanted to shock you.｣
Alan who had become slightly like an adult was behaving immaturely here and there huh.
And for the time being, Alan continued to use his magic.
I could confidently say that during my time helping Irene-san’s work, the incantations of this world were, for some reason, from the language of cla.s.sic literature in the world where I had previously lived in. These incantations were from the short poems in the “100 poems by 100 famous poets” anthology.
The meaning of the short poems do not seem to be linked with the magic’s effect so I cannot make conjectures on the effect of the magic based solely on my understanding of the short poems. In any case, the incantation to make swords was the poem that started with ｢Kimi ga tame｣, and the poem ｢Asaborake｣ was the incantation to undo the magic.
The incantation that started with ｢Asaborake｣ was used by Irene-san occasionally for other things as well. Hence, it was an incantation not just for undoing swords but also for undoing other magic.
Incidentally, could magic be used just by chanting their incantations? I quietly recited the short poem myself but nothing happened. It seems that one has to be a mage as well to activate magic.
With this and that, roughly ten minutes had pa.s.sed. After Alan struggling with the making of the dagger, he finally made one that he was satisfied with. Alan happily brought the dagger for me to see.
The length of the blade was around 15 cm. It was a double-edged dagger. Unlike previously, the tip of the dagger was pointing straight. Both the colour of it and sharpness was good.
With a contented face, Alan proudly handed over the handle of the dagger to me.
｢This is Ryou’s from now on. This will be a charm to ensure that you will be safe without Cain-anisama and I! I made this while thinking that this dagger would protect in place of me!｣
My my. So you wanted to protect your boss, huh Alan.
Well, given that Alan has now matured somewhat, it might insufficient for him to just be my henchman. Umu, I shall grant you your independence.
I stood upright in an exaggerated manner, respectfully accepted the dagger and gave my thanks.
The solemn feeling that “I would be leaving the residence soon” intensified.