It"s been a month since I"ve returned to Cucurouge.
Will seems to have gotten quite used to living at this place. Unexpectedly, his reputation among the witches is superb too. Currently he still lacks sociability and motivation, but just looking at the way he works is enough to know that he"s an earnest young man. Him being handsome seems to be adding to the charm too.
He seems to still get played around with the children as usual. Getting caught up in hide-and-seek, pestered to read picture books and becoming a victim of the newly learnt magic.
Will always goes along with them while complaining. He must be good at taking care of others. Citrine also seemed to be attached to him so he must be easily liked by the kids.
He silently does all the housework.
Although the house is vast, the only ones living here are me and Will, so the workload isn"t much. Besides, my house has a lot of magical tools for the household ch.o.r.es. To say it simply, magical tool is a gimmick which moves by using magical power as the energy.
There were many useful tools in my previous world. Unfortunately, the woman from my past life didn"t fully understand their mechanism , but I"ve tried to reproduce them in this world in my own way. I think that both the cleaning and laundry are much easier to do here than in other houses.
“Wouldn"t you become a billionaire if you sold this washing machine thing?…”
When I taught him how to do laundry at my house for the first time, Will was trembling.
The washing machine is a barrel-type magical tool that sequentially performs washing, rinsing and wringing thanks to the precise composition of fire and water spells.
But its cost performance is terrible so commercialization would be impossible. The spell is too complex so it breaks often and consumes ma.s.sive amount of magical powers to do laundry just one time.
Most of the magical tools at this house can only be used by people like me and Will, who have large amount of magical powers inside of their bodies. For ordinary people to use them, they would need to purchase magical crystals in large quant.i.ties and if such magical tools are thoughtlessly spread, it might result in the magical powers in nature being exhausted. In fact, there are even kingdoms which have been laid to waste due to overusing magical tools.
If you have money, not only would employing a laundress be cheaper, it would also be environmentally friendly.
The inventions of the witches are rarely for the greater good.
Well, they invent things in order to make their lives easier so that cannot be helped. Exchanging something they created by exhausting their wits, magical power and time for mere money wouldn"t be something that witches would find amusing.
Personally, I don"t feel like profiting from the idea that somebody from my previous life thought of. More than anything, if Mistria was destroyed because I ma.s.s produced washing machines…it sounds kind of interesting, but I think I"ll still refrain. It would mess up various things.
That"s why, Will is devoting himself to the house ch.o.r.es at the expense of pouring his own magical power into magical tools.
It seemed that he had extra time left, so I decided to also have him help with the preparation of medicine.
His tasks are all easy like grinding medical herbs and watching the mixing pot on the fire, things that even children can do, but he has been working earnestly. Possibly because I haven"t told him what kind of medicine it is, he"s been very adorably timid.
“That reminds me, apparently a famous performance troupe is going to come to Azurro soon.”
“Oh, so it is that time already. I wonder what this year"s program will be?”
We were having an idle talk between the tasks.
Will talked about the time when he went drinking with Phantom and the rumors he heard while doing groceries, while I talked about the books I read recently and the love stories I heard from other witches.
It"s not particularly exciting. The topic usually ends with「Really?」or 「Hmm」. We are both choosing harmless and inoffensive shallow topics so it cannot be helped.
Though Will occasionally glances at me with a serious expression.
I wonder if there"s something he wants to say? Or is it something that"s worrying him?
I"m a bit curious but I"m pretending that I haven"t noticed anything. Because it"s not worth listening to if he wants to talk about wanting to leave the village.
On such one day, Sanigue finally contacted me.
Apparently a messenger had come from the royal capital and had something to talk with me and Will about. On the surface, it might be this and that about the annulment of the engagement, but in actually there"s no doubt that it must be royal family"s response to my proposal.
My proposal of keeping silent about the truth from 20 years ago and cooperating in the defense of the western border if they left us alone.
In the dragon carriage heading towards Brother"s mansion, I asked Will with a grim expression.
“Will, do you loath His Majesty to the point of wanting to kill him?”
“Loath…if he were in front of me, I might"ve slashed at him.”
I guess I didn"t even have to ask. The King of Mistria killed Will"s parents in a cowardly way. He made Prince Rain into the subject of the secret contract and is still confining Miss Emerald in the castle.
Perhaps unconsciously, Will put his hand on the sword. But immediately shook his head and took his hand off.
“But if I kill His Majesty, Mistria will fall into great turmoil. That"s why…I don"t have any intentions to take revenge.”
It seems like he"s reasonable enough to worry about the aftermath of the revenge.
Even if these are troubled times, things are still peaceful now.If he kills the King out of personal grudge and the Kingdom falls into chaos, other nations might take advantage of it and invade the territory. As long as there"s a possibility that people could end up being sacrificed, Will cannot move.
Although if he could trust Prince Rain who"ll take over after, he might have had thought about the revenge.
“Are you not holding back?”
“Frankly speaking, I don"t know. Recently I feel like everything happening is distant and out of my hands.”
Will stared at me.
“If my existence is in your way, I don"t mind if you abandon me. I don"t want to inconvenience that village.”
For example, if the messenger demanded Will"s life in exchange for accepting my proposal. Will seems to be anxious about that.
I felt moved. Will, who hated witches, is concerned about Cucurouge.
“It"s alright.”
I stretched my arm and poked Will"s cheek. I smiled sweetly to Will whose body had stiffened.
“You don"t have to worry about anything, Will.”
That man introduced himself as Nephra Conrad.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
His age is…probably in early twenties. Too young to come to place alone as the King"s messenger.
Perhaps because of his fair complexion or the silver-rimmed gla.s.ses, he looks like a scholar. Feels like the 2nd or the 3rd son of the n.o.ble, which exceeds in academics…is what I was thinking and it actually turned out to be true. Conrad family is a so-called lower cla.s.s n.o.bility and seems to be a family of pract.i.tioners of magic for generations.
“You must be truly surprised that a greenhorn like me came as the messenger…”
As soon as only three of us were left, Nephra let out a dark voice.
Yes, as of now, only me, Will and Nephra are in Aspinel family"s reception room. At first, both Brother and Judia were attending, but I asked them to leave when it was time to get to the main topic.
I and Nephra sat opposite of each other, while Will was standing behind me.
“Am I that excellent, do I have the King"s trust, or do we just lack human resources. How did Sonisama think?”
Indeed, I do think that it"s a little strange.
The previous messenger, Sednyl, was the King"s confidant. If somebody was coming on place of such a person, you would think that they would have an appropriate status, right?
“If I must say, all of them, I guess? There still seems to be another reason on top of that.”
“Very perceptive of you. I appealed to his Majesty myself, because of my desire to see Sonisama. Everybody else ran away because this role was dangerous, so it was decided easily.”
Nephra cracked a dark smile.His predecessor, Sednyl, managed to get away only with losing his voice, but n.o.body what will happen if I"m put in a bad mood again. That"s why, without anybody wanting to take up the role, Nephra, as the one who volunteered himself, was chosen…is that what he means?
I thought so, but looks like I was wrong. Nephra put decorated box on the desk.
“First of all, I apologize. My predecessor acted very rudely. You may not believe me, but most of it was out of his own will and does not reflect His Majesty"s intentions. I do not know if this would be appropriate as a proof, but I would, by all means, like Sonisama to receive this…”
He opened the box.
The first thing that entered my eyes was a ring with a big, red jewel inlaid in it. No, this isn"t a jewel but rather a magic crustal. It"s a lump of the fire-attribute magical powers and of a quite good quality at that.
If it was just that, I could just sneer at it for being a bribe or an attempt to curry favor, but the ring wasn"t the only thing fitted into the box.
At first I thought that it was a ring pedestal. That"s how much its color was different from the original.
A man"s wrist was settled into the box. Wrinkled, mud-colored skin; There seems to be a coating done with magic to prevent corrosion. The ring was on its index finger.
Behind me Will seemed to be frenzied, so I held him back with my hand.
“This is my first time receiving such an distasteful gift.”
Even though I went to the trouble of leaving him alive…no, he"s not necessarily dead yet.
Seems like Sednyl provoked His Majesty"s anger with the failure the other day. Now I"m not surprised that there wouldn"t be anybody who would want to take the role of the messenger except for Nephra.
“Was it not to your liking?”
“That"s true. I am troubled by how I should react to this. But…I did understand that His Majesty properly addressed his servant"s misconduct. That feeling alone is enough. Please take that thing back as it is.”
“Is that so? What a pity.”
As if nothing had happened, Nephra nonchalantly closed the box. This man…is a bit hard to deal with. I don"t understand what he is thinking.
“Well then, once again, I will relay the intentions of my lord, the King of Mistria, to the witch Sonisama. If one is willing to forget the things from 20 years ago, the events that happened at the marriage ceremony and Lord Sednyl"s impoliteness the other day, then from now on royal family of Mistria will not lay even a single finger on Sonisama"s surroundings. Please live soundly on the Azurite territory. And it would be joyful if you could lend your a.s.sistance to Mistria when needed.”
It was an answer that implied the acceptance of my proposal.
“Those words are the best I could ask for , but would it be alright? to keep me and Will alive.”
“Yes. It is not worth fighting with you. Now that we have learnt about Sonisama"s strength, keeping you nearby is frightening, but on the other hand, it would also be troublesome if you ended up crossing over to another country. Therefore, it would be the best to be separated by the distance in the kingdom and not interfere with each other. For both sides.”
“So you are giving up on the immortality?”
Behind his gla.s.ses, Nephra"s eyes narrowed.
“It seems that as long the Rose Gem does not end up in anybody"s hands, it is not a problem. His Majesty has adherence to his position, the throne. He desires to remain the King until he dies. That"s why, right now he regards the mystery incidents which stirred the public more dangerous than Sonisama.”
The King of Mistria doesn"t think that I"m involved in the mystery incidents. And he"s concerned whether the mastermind of the mystery incidents might produce the Rose Gem and target the throne…it seems. It must be hard to have so many worries, Your Majesty.
“However, fortunately or unfortunately, after the marriage ceremony, the incidents have suddenly stopped occurring. We took over Prince Rain to torture…no, interrogate the witches he caught, but we still have not gotten any clues. It seems that they were only the small fries which were not told the details. Although we did find out that they seemed to be the witches, which came from Tonitrus (トニトルス) and Catarata (カタラタ).
We were underestimating them because of the sloppy methods of the mystery incidents, however, seeing that they still have not given themselves out, the mastermind seems to be an opponent that must not be underestimated. Where you okay on your side?”
“There are no strange phenomena within the vicinity of me or Cucuruge.”
“I see. Please do take plenty of care. If anything happened to you or the recipe of immortality, the King"s heart would be restless. Please report immediately if something happens.”
“Yes, definitely.”
Then I quickly confirmed the promises.
Mistria Kingdom will not harm me or my surroundings; will not coerce me to continue the immortality research; will not engage in acts to oppress the witches, like the witch hunts.
I will not speak about the truth 20 years ago; will not give the Gem"s recipe to anybody; will not leave the Azurite territory without a permission.
It"s merely a verbal promise. To say nothing of the enforceability of the contract magic, it does not even have the power of legal binding.
However, this is by no means meaningless. When the promise is broken, we won"t have to hold back at each other. If the time comes, everything will end without any wavering or hesitations.
“Will Obsidia, as for you, we would like to restrict your actions as well. Accompany Sonisama and do not leave Azurite territory without permission. Also, would you mind promising to not get in contact with the Prince and his followers?
For His Majesty, it would be preferable to confine Will in a distant place from where the vengeful blade would not reach him. Personally for me too, that"s the best I could ask for.
It would be enough if he just obediently nodded, but Will became silent. However, after the silence that was definitely not short, he bitterly consented.
“…..Understood.”
—
Notes:
the wringing is 脱水 and the dictionary says that it"s “evaporation; dehydration; dessication”. Well, washing machine probably can"t also dry your clothes right after washing to I a.s.sume that wringing is the closest term.
Composition 構成
This term came up in the 8th chapter – 術式 (jutsushiki), it can also be technique but I feel like neither this nor the art fits it well. Feel free to drop me some better suggestions.
洗濯婦 – laundress, laundrywoman
Sonia says 世のため人のため which is something like “for the world, for the people” so “for greater good”
おっかなびっくり nervous, timid
Nephra Conrad ネフラ・コンラット
Tell me about mistranslations, typos and weird/awkward grammar so I could fix it
P.S Is the font f.u.c.ked up? the editor has been super b.i.t.c.hy for some reason.