It has been one week since I performed magic bestowal at the Court Mage Division.
I heard from a researcher that the Captain called for me and when I went to the Director"s room an unexpected person was there.
It was Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama.
"…… Excuse me."
"Have a seat, Sei."
The Director urged me to sit next to him and told me the reason why I was called.
It seems that a few days ago someone leaked out that there was a large amount of magic bestowed cores at the Court Mage Division. The knights who heard this asked for the cores.
The cores they asked for was of course the magic bestowed cores.
Therein lies the problem. They also heard that the current Court Mage Division couldn"t make the cores that the knights wanted.
If the mages couldn"t make it then it was okay to refuse but because the real thing was at the Court Mage Division, they couldn"t refuse.
Yup, I"m the ones who created the cores at the Court Mage Division.
It was one of the many cores I made a week ago.
It seems that Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama refused at first.
Somehow the knights knew that the real thing was at the Court Mage Division and didn"t believe that the mages couldn"t make it.
In this country, the Court Mage Division was a place where the most excellent mages gathered so the cores weren"t purchased from the outside.
If the Court Mages couldn"t make the core then there was no way that people working at ordinary shops could.
Since things were stalled between the knights and the mages, Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama came to the research inst.i.tute to ask if I, the creator, could help him.
"I know I can"t ask this of you but could you lend me a hand?"
"I do not mind, but……?"
I was the one who originally wanted to bestow magic at the Court Mage Division, because of that something like this happened so I didn"t mind helping out. But since I"m a member of the research inst.i.tute it"s important to get the Director"s approval, right?
Ah, he might say it"s alright if it"s after work hours?
I glance at the Director. Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama notices me doing so, also glances at the Director.
"Just this once. Of course we"ll be receiving compensation for it."
"Thank you."
Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama remained emotionless like usual but unlike the time when we met at the Court Mage Division, I think that he looks really apologetic because he"s looking down casted.
After that the Director and Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama talk and it"s decided that starting from tomorrow, I will be working at the Court Mage Division.
The next morning when I finish my preparations and left, a carriage from the Court Mage Division arrives.
According to the Director, it seems that Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama prepared it.
It seems that the carriage will be picking me up and dropping me off every day until I finish production.
This is really helpful since the Court Mage Division is very far.
When the carriage moved towards the Court Mage Division, Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama waits at the entrance, especially for me.
"Good morning."
"You have a lot of luggage with you."
He said after our rushed greetings. I look at the box in my hands and proudly point out.
"These are MP potions. It is better if I have them, right?"
It seems that Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama agrees with what I said. He nods and takes the box from me.
"Ah, I can carry it by myself?"
"There"s no need for a woman to carry heavy things."
It wasn"t that heavy. He quickly enters the building after he takes the box from me.
I trot after him.
Then when I enter the same room that I performed magic bestowal in, the mages were already bestowing magic inside.
"Huh? Does the Court Mage Division start earlier than the research inst.i.tute?"
"Nope."
I was planning to arrive at the Court Mage Division"s barracks before they started work but when I arrive the Mages are already rushing around and working.
According to Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama, work starts at the same time for both the research inst.i.tute and the Court Mage Division but they received a lot of requests from the Knight Order so they"ve been working since early morning.
I ask if I should come to work earlier starting from tomorrow, but they were the ones who asked me to do this so they tell me that it"s alright for me to arrive at the same time as today.
"Is the deadline soon?"
"We were told to have it done in time for the next subjugation."
When I asked out of concern, I found out that the deadline was too short for the amount of items requested.
I was scared when I saw a vein pop out of Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama"s temple so I pretend not to see it.
The place where I was working was the inner most part of the room.
The preparations had already been prepared by another Mage and the box with the cores is sitting on the work bench.
I place the box with the MP potions at my feet and immediately start bestowing magic.
At first I wait and see and Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama is standing next to me.
"Is the request from the 3rd Knight Order?"
"No…… It"s from the 1st Knight Order."
I got used to it after a few times since I only had to bestow one type of magic so it wasn"t a problem for me to bestow magic and talk at the same time.
I think there are people who work silently because it"s work but there"s a person standing next to me so it"s a little bit awkward. There was something that I was curious about so I thought I"d ask.
The Director and Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama only said that it was a request from the Knight Order so I"m a bit curious about who put in the request.
I glance sideways at Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama since it was a Knight Order that I had no relations to and he has a sour look on his face.
Is he on bad terms with that Knight Order?
"Sorry. I"ve been ordered to remain silent about this but it might have leaked out somehow."
He muttered in a low voice as if he was crawling on the ground and chills run down my back.
It seems that I wasn"t the only one. The other Mages also look pale.
I feel the temperature dropping but it"s just my imagination, right?
"No, it might have also been leaked by someone in the research inst.i.tute since there are researchers who know that I performed magic bestowal here."
"Do they also know what you bestowed?"
"Ah, no they did not……"
I tried to change the cold atmosphere but it backfired.
I only talked about magic bestowal with Jude so I said something like that. The Director forbade me from talking about the kind of bestowal I did, so only the Director and I know about it.
In that case there was a high possibility that one of the mages leaked the information about magic bestowal that only I can do.
The Director was probably sullen yesterday when Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama came to the research inst.i.tute because he knew about this.
Moreover since the atmosphere was cold, I think it might be better not to talk any further so I decide to silently concentrate on my work.
After a while Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama must have thought that it was fine for me to work alone and left.
The atmosphere changed at once.
However since I was allocated a rather large amount, I continue working one after the other without talking.
Because I was concentrating on my work, I didn"t notice that the lunch bell had rang. I finally noticed that it was lunch when Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama called out to me.
"Are you not going to the dining hall?"
"Eh?"
I look around when he called out to me and everyone had already moved to the royal palace.
"Is it already lunch time?"
"Yes."
It"s a bad habit of mine not to notice anything around me while I"m concentrating.
When I tell him that I brought a sandwich here from the research inst.i.tute, we decide to have lunch together.
The last time when I did magic bestowal here, Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama only talked to me when necessary so I"m worried that lunch is going to be awkward. He is mindful of it and this time we chat a little.
Fortunately Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama and I talk about things related to work so I think it got a bit lively.
If we talk about trendy clothes or sweets, I don"t think I would be able to follow it at all.
I"m sorry I"m not like a woman.
Then as soon as lunch finishes, I return to work.
I work until closing time while taking MP potions in between my breaks. I was able to finish 80% of the requested amount.
It seems that I"ll be able to finish this by tomorrow.
When I sigh in relief, Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama came to check the current situation.
"Have you already finished?"
"Yes."
When he sees the amount I had bestowed, his eyes open in surprise. He picks up some of the finished items and use appraisal magic on it.
It"s important to check if the magic was bestowed correctly.
There didn"t seem to be any problems with the random items he checked and my work ends for the day.
"You did really well. I"ll rely on you tomorrow too."
His face soften, it wasn"t just his mouth but also his eyes as well. I"m surprise that he didn"t have his usual emotionless expression.
The surrounding people are also in shock and a commotion occurs.
It"s a bit disappointing that his smile disappeared when the commotion occurred.
The next day, I bestowed some more cores and the Court Mage Division was able to successfully complete the 1st Knight Order"s request.
I knock on the director"s office door.
As soon as I hear a reply from within I say, "Excuse me" and enter. The Director is reading some doc.u.ments at his desk.
"Excuse me. I want to discuss something with you, do you have any time?"
"I don"t mind, what is it?"
The Director turns away from the doc.u.ments and looks at me.
There is something that I want so I want to discuss if we are able to order it.
"It is about this. Would you be able to order it?"
I said as I pa.s.s the memo to the Director.
The Director reads it and looks dubious.
I thought so.
The things written on the memo have nothing to do with work.
"Honey, sugar and lemon. What on earth are you using it for?"
"I thought about making some sweets."
"Sweets?"
Yes, the ingredients written on the memo are for making sweets.
Honestly, I was worried about whether or not this world had the ingredients I wanted but I confirmed it with Jude so I thought I should finally make it.
When I was a student I always made sweets at home.
After becoming a working adult, I stopped making them.
"I was thinking about making it for myself so I am planning to pay for it. I thought that I could purchase it together with the food for the dining hall."
"For yourself? So you"ll be the only one eating it?"
The things I plan to make this time are for myself so I planned on properly paying for the expenses but that wasn"t the part that the Director caught onto.
No, I didn"t plan on eating it by myself, you know?
Do you also want to eat it, Director?
I see.
Well then should I ask the Chef to help me out and make some for the researchers as well?
"If it is like that then the ingredients written on the memo are not enough."
"Then add the necessary ingredients to the dining hall ordering form and bring it to me."
"Is that alright? I thought that honey and sugar is expensive?"
"It"s fine."
"I will only pay for myself, you know?"
"Who said that you"d pay?"
"No way, are you taking it from……"
"There"s no way I"ll do that."
The Director sighs in amazement.
But Jude told me that sweet ingredients like honey and sugar is precious in this world so it"s really expensive.
I think it"d be quite expensive if we purchased such high-quality food for the researchers as well, you know?
The dining hall has a food budget, right? So it"s impossible to include those ingredients in the budget, right? Therefore it wasn"t strange for me to think that it"d be taken from the research funds.
Ha!
Will the Director personally pay for it?
"Well, you don"t have to worry about it."
The Director saw that I"m worrying over who was paying for the ingredients, smiles wryly and waves his hands as if telling me to leave.
The ingredients that I asked the Director for arrives a few days later.
Early in the morning on my day off, I go to the corner of the kitchen and begin preparing the ingredients.
Of course it"s difficult for me to make everything for the researchers as well so I cook with the Chef.
Previously when I told him about making sweets he asked me to tell him the recipe so this is perfectly.
Oh yeah at the beginning there was only one Chef at the dining hall but now there are five.
They work in a rotation of three so not all five Chefs are here at once.
The rumour that the research inst.i.tute"s dining hall has delicious food seems to have spread to the royal palace and they dispatched people here to learn.
In addition to that, since this morning I put in a lot of effort to make sweets with the Chef.
I made simple cookies and pound cakes with honey and lemon.
I only vaguely remember the recipe but it seems that it came together nicely.
I"m glad. That"s good.
The pound cakes that I take out from the oven are nicely baked.
The other Chefs who were preparing lunch also sample it with me. I got a positive response from them.
A nice smell drifted from the oven so the chefs who were preparing lunch kept glancing over here.
They seemed curious so I decided to invite them to sample it with me.
The cake sample tasted perfect so I cool the rest down and cut it up before putting it in a basket. Now it"s ready.
I"ll entrust the rest to the Chef to give to the Director and researchers. My goal today is to go to the 3rd Knight Order barracks. Let"s go!
Yup, was my tension too high?
If it wasn"t this high then I can"t go!
Today I"m going to the 3rd Knight Order barracks for a certain reason.
I thought about giving my thanks to the Captain.
I"ve been worrying over it ever since Jude told me about the price. I thought it was too much.
Even if the other party favours me, it"s still too much.
Then I got a core from magic bestowal so I used it to make an accessory for him.
I was troubled over various things but I made a necklace.
Since he wields a sword, I thought a ring would be troublesome and I have a feeling that he didn"t have piercings so he couldn"t wear earrings. I thought that necklaces wouldn"t get in the way of anything.
I don"t know which designs were common in this world but I made it into a dog tag so that men can wear it.
I engraved a cross in the middle and embed the core into the middle of that.
I think that it"s an acceptable design.
Still I couldn"t make it by myself so I outsourced it.
The shop was introduced to me by the Director.
He had a frightful smirk on his face though.
It was a little embarra.s.sing just to take the necklace with me so I also brought cookies and the pound cake.
I think that it"s fine just to give him the basket.
I arrive at the Captain"s office.
The Knight standing at the door smiles at me and announces my presence. He didn"t mistake me for a suspicious person.
What does it mean when I haven"t even introduced myself yet and he"s already announced my presence?
I don"t remember sending a messenger from the research inst.i.tute to tell them I was coming.
It"s probably that, right? I shouldn"t always go horse riding with the Captain.
I know it isn"t good to do so since rumours float about, but it"s hard to refuse him when he invites me so I continue to go horse riding with him.
Uoh……
"Excuse me."
Soon after bracing myself at the entrance, the Knight opened the door and I enter. The Captain is doing paper work at his desk like usual.
Even if they"re a Knight Order they don"t always train and go on monster subjugations. The people at the top have a lot of paper work to do.
"What"s wrong today?"
"I made some sweets so I came to share them with you."
As I said the words I prepared in advance, the Captain"s face softens.
Yup, sorry, I can"t look at you directly.
Why?
Please don"t ask me!
When I give the Captain the basket, he takes off the cloth and looks inside.
At first glance it looks like there are only cookies and pound cake inside.
Actually the box containing the necklace is thrusted into the corner. It"s hidden by the cookie so he can"t see it.
"It looks delicious. Let"s hurry up and eat it."
The Captain confirms that there are cookies and pound cake inside and stands up with the basket.
Did I come when he was taking his break?
I hope I didn"t disturb him.
Well then, I"ve handed over the basket so I suppose I should head back now.
As I think that and try to say my farewells he says to me, "If you don"t mind, would you like to join me?"
No, I want to leave before you notice the necklace inside of the basket……
I couldn"t win against the smiling face of the Captain……
I give up and sit on the sofa as advised.
Mhm, why are you sitting next to me?
There are sofas over there too, you know?
Was it weird for me to sit on a three seater sofa? The Captain sat next to me.
I"m perplexed by the distance between us but I didn"t feel the need to run away like before. Did I get used to the distance while horse riding with him?
I"m scared of getting used to it.
I don"t know, it feels like the places I can escape to have been steadily decreasing.
A while later, the tea was brought out and the gentle smell of tea hangs in the air.
The Knight standing at the door seemed to have noticed and requested for a maid.
The amber liquid in front of my eyes was a luxury good that I haven"t drank since coming here.
I take a sip of my drink. . The astringency was just right and it was very easy to drink.
As expected of tea from the royal palace.
They use good tea leaves, huh?
For some reason the maid brought some plates so I take out the cookies and pound cake from the basket and hand it to the Captain.
Mr. Knight at the entrance, did you notice that I brought sweets with me?
Ah, did you notice from the smell?
"I"m not really good with sweet food but this is delicious."
"Thank you."
The Captain seems to favour the mildly sweet cookies. He took a bite of the cookie and smiled.
Of course I"m glad he"s so pleased with it.
When I saw that, I was also caught up in the mood and smile. The Captain looks at me and his smile deepens.
An ikemen"s smile has high attack power.
I feel my face getting a little hot.
No, no, looking at him in the eyes is bad.
"By the way, it"s been bothering me for a while but……"
The Captain takes the necklace box out of the basket while drinking tea after he finished eating.
I choke but I want someone to compliment me because I didn"t spurt out any tea.
I hid it so why did he notice?!
"It feels that this has been bestowed with magic. What is it?"
"Mhmmm ~……"
My eyes wonder about as I try to think of an explanation.
Uoh ーーーーー.
This is useless. I can"t think of anything.
I glance at the Captain and he looks like he"s happily antic.i.p.ating something while staring at me.
"That is also for you. It is my thanks for the hair ornament."
I"m making no progress even if I think about it so I answer honestly.
As soon as I told him that, the Captain"s smile becomes wider, he nods and asks, "Can I open it?"
"I went to the Court Mage Division the other day and did magic bestowal. I made that core but……"
It"s painful for me to wait silently for the Captain to open the box, so I told him that I made the core.
As soon as the Captain opens the box and sees what"s inside, his eyes widen.
"The core is bestowed to increase magic resistance. I thought that you could use it when you go out on subjugations."
I could tell that my face is burning while I"m explaining it to him.
It"s embarra.s.sing so I look away from the Captain and because I was thinking about tomorrow I didn"t notice until it was too late.
I returned my gaze when I felt something touch my right hand. The Captain was lifting up my hand.
He didn"t do it in slow motion but I felt as if it was in slow motion.
I looked at the Captain"s eyelashes and carelessly thought, "Wow ~, it"s long". I"m definitely escaping from reality.
I feel it afterwards. A soft feeling touches my fingertips.
The Captain"s feverish look as he releases his lips from my fingertips.
That"s all I remember.
After that I don"t know how I returned to the research inst.i.tute.