Career Counseling (1)
It's only natural for trivial problems to vanish after witnessing something truly shocking.
“……”
“……”
The only sound in the house was the gentle bubbling of water coming to a boil in the kitchen. The two strangers sat facing each other, staring blankly out the window as if in a daze. It was simply an extension of that same principle.
“……What on earth is that?”
“Don’t ask me. I don’t know either.”
“……Right.”
The administrative officer thought back to the conversation he’d had with the fisherman a few hours earlier and silently berated himself for his decision. I should’ve just gone back and waited until the sea calmed down.
The whirlpool raging across the sea’s surface looked nothing short of ominous no matter how long he stared at it. Even accounting for his limited experience as a fresh recruit, he had never heard of anything like this before.
Could some kind of monster live down there? What if a creature beyond human comprehension—a dragon, perhaps—had coiled itself beneath those waters?
“……I shouldn’t have come.”
“Tsk, tsk.”
Patrick, the wizard who owned the house, clicked his tongue and poured a cup of warm tea as the officer muttered his regret aloud.
“Drink this. It’ll help you calm down.”
“You said you’d never seen anything like it before, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Then how can you stay so composed?”
“If your workplace suddenly collapsed and you were dragged all the way out here because of your superior’s mistakes, you’d probably start taking most things in stride too. I think of it as a rather valuable experience. What do you say? Going through something like this once or twice could be nourishment for life, don’t you think?”
“……I’ll pass.”
The officer shot Patrick a look that clearly said, What on earth are you suggesting? Yet he couldn’t hide how shaken he was by the whirlpool greedily swallowing seawater beneath the surface.
Possession happened, so why not a whirlpool too?
Patrick, however, had lived through far too much to remain shocked by such a sight for hours on end. He also had one more certainty.
The villagers must have seen it.
If so, at least one of them would have come running to tell him. No matter how heavy the rain or strong the wind.
I’ve built enough trust with them for that.
But no one had come to inform him. Which meant the whirlpool was nothing out of the ordinary to the villagers.
“The world is vast, after all!”
“Pardon?”
“The world is vast, so why couldn’t there be an island with a whirlpool like that? Haha!”
Patrick reached his conclusion with perfect ease. Ah, what’s a little whirlpool in a fantasy world?
“……You really don’t know?”
“Know what?”
The officer’s expression showed no sign of relaxing.
“I need to go ask the Village Chief first. Whether this has appeared before.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because the lord obviously needs to know something like this is happening in his territory!”
“And Lord Etienne Eltron would care about the words of a mere herbalist?”
“……Pardon?”
“You said you were a herbalist.”
Patrick’s tone was growing increasingly crooked. I knew it. Herbalist, my foot.
If the lord wanted the herbs that grew on this island, he could simply order the Village Chief. So why send a herbalist out in this foul weather? And with the seal from the lord’s castle, no less? There’s no way a rural territory has a herbalist directly under the lord.
Whirlpool or storm, the first priority was figuring out who this man sitting at his table really was.
“What are you?”
“I-I’m a herbalist……!”
“Fire.”
Whoosh!
A flame the size of a child’s fist blazed fiercely above Patrick’s hand.
“You didn’t even know I was a wizard? Really?”
“……”
Channeling the composure of every detective, thriller, and mystery protagonist he’d ever seen, Patrick put on his most relaxed expression while making the threat. Wow, crap. What am I supposed to say next? His mouth felt bone-dry. What if he still doesn’t talk? Do I actually have to throw this? It’ll hurt…… But what happens if I throw fire at a person?
He had no courage to harm anyone. A lifelong ordinary citizen in both his past and present lives wasn’t about to hurl a fireball at someone’s face.
“Th-thank you! Thank you!”
“Thank you?”
“For the liquor from the Dunbrook brewery. I was ordered to check whether the profits are truly being used for the children’s dreams. That’s why I came. ‘Thank you’ means exactly that, doesn’t it? I had to come secretly. In a way, that’s what this is…… You understand, right? When the higher-ups say jump, you jump. What choice do we have? If you’re on the payroll, you do as you’re told. Here too—if you get on the wrong side of the higher-ups, you’ll never get promoted and you’ll just rot at the bottom. Of course, I personally think this kind of thing creates a society without trust. People should be able to live with trust, don’t you agree?”
The effect of the fireball was immediate. The young officer spilled everything in a rush, far faster than Patrick had feared, then glanced nervously at him with a sheepish smile.
“After looking around your residence, it’s clear there’s no sign of embezzling the profits for personal gain or luxury. Given that you’d open your door to a complete stranger and even serve food, I’m sure you’ve been just as kind to the children. Once the storm passes and the boat can sail, I’ll report everything I’ve seen and heard to the lord exactly as it is—ah, that is to say, that the wizard’s character is truly excellent……”
Whether flattery came naturally to him or he was simply timid, Patrick quietly extinguished the flame. Oh, is that all it was?
If that was the purpose of his “thanks,” there was nothing to worry about. And here I thought he was some inspector sent to audit a sinner running a business. As he’d said many times before, the most terrifying crime in the world was ingratitude. Especially in a world with rigid social classes like this one.
“No need to lie to the lord. Once the wind dies down a bit, let’s go to the Village Hall together. Do you have any idea how much money I poured into turning that place into classrooms and a playground for the kids? I emptied my pockets completely.”
“The Village Hall?”
Wasn’t that just the fishermen’s cooperative workshop? The officer tilted his head at the unfamiliar term, but soon fell silent again as he looked out at the whirlpool. Even on second glance, it didn’t feel like a natural phenomenon.
Snore— Phew— Snore— Krrrk!
“……I shouldn’t have come.”
Though he’d only been an administrative officer for six months, lying on the floor with nothing but a single blanket while listening to the homeowner’s snoring filled him with deep regret. He had planned to head down to the village as soon as the storm eased, but once night fell the wind only grew fiercer, and from outside came intermittent sounds like trees being uprooted or something collapsing. Meanwhile, the wizard of the house slept soundly.
—There’s only one bed, and I don’t let anyone into my bedroom.
Even though the officer hadn’t exactly been invited, he was still a guest. Yet after saying that, Patrick had simply tossed him a blanket and pillow in the living room before drifting off into his own pleasant dreams.
That was definitely high-quality bedding, wasn’t it?
The officer had been given a blanket and pillow stuffed with straw. But he had clearly seen the luxurious bed and cloud-like bedding through the crack in the door when Patrick fetched them.
So he really isn’t embezzling money?
The doubt crossed his mind, but the law was far away and the fist was close, so he kept his mouth shut. Still, it stung a little. When a guest arrives, shouldn’t one at least offer proper bedding even if not the bed itself? Wasn’t that common sense in this world? Even the Emperor’s royal edicts always emphasized treating guests with respect.
“Sniff.”
The officer wiped his nose for no reason.
Tap, tap—
“Get up.”
“……Yes?”
“Wipe your drool.”
“Ah, yes!”
“Tch. I don’t even have that many dishes…… I cooked, so you’re doing the dishes. There’s a spring outside.”
“What? Me? I-I’m not saying I won’t, but…… it’s raining out there……”
“That’s exactly why you should clean them properly.”
The officer nodded blankly at the homeowner’s attitude, which treated ordering a guest around as the most natural thing in the world. He said he came from the capital, but the people there sure are cold-hearted.
He got up awkwardly, folded the bedding, and sat at the table to find a single plate holding an omelet made with a few greens and no vegetables. Well, he did give me an egg at least. Maybe he’s actually kind despite how he talks?
Patrick’s evaluation rose dramatically with just one omelet.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“Already eating? Wait a bit.”
“Pardon?”
“The rain’s almost stopped, so they should be here soon……”
The homeowner muttered something odd while gazing out the window, sipping his black tea without touching the food.
“……?”
If the host wasn’t eating, the guest couldn’t very well start first. The officer was awkwardly standing there with the food in front of him when voices rang out from beyond the window.
“Teacher! Teacher! You stayed home quietly last night, right?”
“You little brat. What kind of way is that to talk to your teacher?”
The ill-tempered wizard leaned halfway out the window and bellowed at the giggling children outside.
“Ehehehe! My mom told me to bring this! She baked it this morning!”
“This is abalone! Dad checked the traps at dawn and found it inside!”
Children who looked about ten years old each carried something as they climbed the hill toward the house.
“Tell them I said thank you.”
“Okay!”
“How’s Grandpa’s knee? He said it was aching more because of the rain last night, right? Here, a towel.”
“He didn’t sleep well either. Ah, thank you.”
“I’ll give you more painkillers to take home later.”
“Yes. Can I take out some peach preserves?”
“They’re in the storeroom. Hey, mister.”
“……M-me?”
The natural way everyone exchanged items and asked after each other left the officer momentarily dazed. Then Patrick spoke again.
“The storeroom’s over there. There should be a glass jar of peaches simmered in honey on the top shelf. Bring one down. We’ll share it with the kids and spread it on bread like jam. Mmm, still warm.”
The officer watched Patrick smile brightly as he took out the bread the children had brought and thought that the wizard’s smile was finally starting to look rather nice.
“B-but why me?”
“The shelf’s too high for the kids to reach. I still have to finish setting the table. Aren’t you going to eat?”
“Ah, yes!”
Patrick acted as if the request was obvious, so the officer found himself heading toward the storeroom. As he went, he overheard the conversation between the children and the wizard.
“Hey, Ben. Did you see the whirlpool in the sea yesterday? What was that? Is it always there?”
“Oh, so it was a whirlpool yesterday? Aw, that’s a shame! If I’d known, I would’ve gone to watch!”
“Right. It’s been a while since we had a whirlpool, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah. Last year the whirlpool never even appeared, remember? There was just that weird cloud.”
“We thought the sea was boiling so a whirlpool would come, but it was just a waterspout, right?”
“Yep.”
The children’s answers were strange. The officer stopped in his tracks.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Pardon?”
“You were waiting for the whirlpool? And what’s a waterspout, or that weird cloud?”
“Well, strange things happen when a typhoon comes, don’t they?”
“They appear when it gets cold too!”
“And when it gets really hot as well!”
The officer froze at their words.
“G-good heavens! Is that true, kids?”
“Huh? Yes. But Teacher, who is this mister?”
“Who are you? Why are you in our teacher’s house?”
“Did you come to arrest our teacher? He hasn’t done anything to repent for, though.”
Thwack!
“What did I do wrong that I’d get arrested?”
While Patrick smacked Ben and prepared to continue the comedy routine, the officer shouted in frustration.
“Spirits! I’m saying there are spirits here!”
“……?”
Why is he stating the obvious now? Patrick crossed his arms and asked incredulously.
“You didn’t know?”
“……Pardon?”
“The kid’s a Spiritist. Ah, is this not something that gets reported normally? No, it should be. The soldiers must have reported it when they caught those scammers.”
“W-well, there was talk about a child with Spiritist talent being born on this island, but…… that’s completely different from spirits actually living here……”
“What are you talking about? Speak so I can understand.”
“I mean, a child being born with Spiritist talent and spirits residing on this island are two entirely different matters. Land where spirits dwell is blessed with mana, and spirits that settle in the human realm instead of the spirit realm have ever-changing attributes……”
“This kid?”
Pop—
—Hello?
Ben summoned the strange spirit he had contracted with from the bamboo forest right in front of the officer.
“Aaaagh!”
Patrick clicked his tongue. Really, that guy. Why’s he like this? He’s forgotten what he was like as a tadpole.