Red Magic Tower (3)
I rejoined Clara and Caesius, who had been waiting for me in the lobby.
"…Albrecht!"
Clara greeted me with a bright smile.
"…Was everything all right?"
"Yeah, it got sorted out fine."
"…I'm glad."
Glad was right, just as Clara said. If things hadn't gone the way I'd hoped, who knew what might have happened. I could have been cursed out six ways from Sunday for trying to pull one over on the Magic Tower…
Caesius seemed to have been thinking along the same lines, because she chimed in.
"So you made it out in one piece. I thought those shady types might try something… yet here you are, perfectly fine."
"…You sound almost disappointed. Looking for your freedom, are you?"
"I meant no such thing… Albrecht, just what do you take this body for?"
Was that not it? Never mind, then.
I ignored Caesius's sullen stare and kept talking.
"Separate from the reward, they said they'd prepare a banquet as thanks for solving the request. Let's eat before we go."
"A banquet, you say?"
At the word banquet, Caesius's eyes lit up at once.
"Will there be plenty of delicious food?"
"Probably."
But she'd already stuffed herself last time—was she still not full? A dragon's appetite was a mystery I would never solve.
"No reason to refuse. Let us go eat at once, Albrecht."
Seeing Caesius stride off as if to leave the reception room, I hurriedly caught her by the arm.
"Where do you think you're going? It's not time yet. They still have to get things ready on their end."
"Ah, is that so?"
"Yeah. They told me to wait here a bit longer."
Mention food and she completely lost her head. At this rate, some stranger could offer her a meal someday and she'd just trot after them without a second thought.
"…Albrecht."
"Hm?"
Just then Clara called my name and fixed her gaze on me. More precisely, she wasn't meeting my eyes—she was quietly staring at my arm.
"?"
I looked back at her, baffled, with no idea what she wanted. She reached out with a faintly sulky look.
"…Let go of that."
With that, she forcibly pried my hand off Caesius's arm. Startled by the move, I asked,
"I can't hold her like this?"
"…No."
Clara nodded. Her blunt honesty left me staring at her blankly for a moment.
Why was holding Caesius's arm not allowed? Watching Clara react as if she hated the sight of it made my mind wander into unnecessary territory.
No—maybe it wasn't unnecessary at all. Thinking back on the way Clara had been acting lately…
That was when Caesius chimed in agreement.
"She's right, Albrecht. In this form my arms are so slender that your grip leaves marks."
"…Ah."
So that was it—she'd been worried about Caesius. And here I'd been thinking something else entirely.
I'd nearly made a massive fool of myself. Nearly made things awkward with Clara for no reason.
"I'll be more careful."
"…If you want to hold someone's arm, you can hold mine."
"Huh?"
Clara thrust her arm straight out toward me.
"…Huh?"
"……"
How was I supposed to take that? If it wasn't what I was thinking, then what on earth was Clara doing?
I was still flustered by her behavior when the closed door of the reception room opened and Manager Raynes—the woman who had brought us here—appeared.
"Ah, Mr. Albrecht."
She wore a friendly smile… the kind of polished, professional smile people put on for business, and spoke to me.
"The banquet will begin shortly. Before that, though, let's take care of the remaining business."
"Business?"
"Yes. We still need to settle the request, don't we?"
Ah.
"That's the most important part, after all."
"It is."
I agreed wholeheartedly. After subtracting the five hundred gold coins I'd already received as an advance, I was still owed the remaining five hundred. Heart pounding, I held out my hand.
"If you would."
"Heh. Of course."
Raynes gave a light little laugh for some reason and held out a single sheet of paper. I had been expecting both hands to be filled with the solid weight of gold coins, so I looked back and forth between the paper and Raynes in complete confusion.
Raynes burst into soft laughter as if she'd just seen something amusing, then explained what she had handed me.
"I told you we filed this as an official request through the Adventurers' Guild, didn't I? Take this to the guild and you'll be able to collect your reward."
"Ah."
…Right. Since it had been formally commissioned through the Adventurers' Guild, of course this was how it worked.
Looking closer, the paper contained a statement confirming that I had completed the request, along with what appeared to be the official seal of the Red Magic Tower. It was a certificate of completion.
Feeling a little sheepish, I withdrew the hand holding the certificate and said,
"…Thank you."
"Not at all."
Raynes answered simply. I was still feeling grateful for her tact in overlooking my ignorance when she asked, almost as an afterthought,
"If you're truly grateful, perhaps you'd consider joining our Magic Engraving Department…"
"…I'll have to politely decline."
I hadn't solved the problem because I was some genius at creating or deciphering engravings. There was nothing I could actually do if I joined. I'd be lucky just not to disappoint them.
"What a shame."
Faced with my firm refusal, she didn't press the matter and simply moved on.
"The banquet will start soon, so please follow me."
"Ah, yes."
They'd told me to wait, so I'd assumed it would take longer, but preparations had wrapped up surprisingly fast. At the mention of the banquet beginning, Caesius's eyes sparkled.
"Let's go, Albrecht!"
"Yeah, yeah."
What was I going to do with this glutton?
The banquet hall prepared by the Red Magic Tower was the kind of place that made you understand exactly why the word banquet existed.
Tables throughout the hall were laden with every kind of delicacy imaginable. Even a great noble house would have struggled to put on a spread like this at this hour.
Must be magic.
Cook with magic and a dish that normally took thirty minutes could be ready in thirty seconds. You'd have to control it carefully, of course… but considering this was the Red Magic Tower, it wasn't strange at all.
Spotting us as we entered the banquet hall, Agresia smiled with a touch of pride.
"I hope we didn't keep you waiting too long?"
"If anything, I was surprised at how quick it was."
"Pfft. Was that so?"
Agresia beckoned us over.
"Sit here."
I appreciated the hospitality, but I would have preferred to sit somewhere else. Even if I hadn't been the one responsible, after everything that had happened, being close to her was extremely uncomfortable.
When I glanced around, though, every other seat was already filled with the Tower's mages. Only the seats around Agresia were empty—exactly three of them. As if they had been left for me, Clara, and Caesius.
In the meantime, Raynes had already given a light bow of farewell and gone off to her own seat.
…
It felt like walking straight into a spider's web of my own free will.
I had no choice but to head that way. Agresia smiled and gestured for me to sit. After a moment's hesitation over where to place myself, I chose the seat farthest from her.
"You're going to sit all the way over there? I have a few things to discuss with you. Come closer."
"Pardon?"
Why did she want me closer?
I hadn't done anything myself, but thinking of what Allen had done to her made the whole situation thoroughly awkward. I couldn't help being wary.
Seeing my reaction, Agresia spoke as if to clear up any misunderstanding.
"It's nothing strange. You're going to be learning magic from me from now on, aren't you? I simply wanted to talk about that."
Ah.
"So that was it."
"Just what were you imagining?"
Well…
In that case, I had no reason to refuse. I would sit beside Agresia after all.
But just as I was about to put the chair back and move, Clara suddenly pulled out a seat and plopped herself down.
"…Clara?"
I wasn't the only one startled—Agresia looked thoroughly taken aback as well. When I asked in a bewildered tone, Clara shot a quick glance my way, then turned her face forward again.
"…I want to sit here."
"Uh…"
She hadn't said a word earlier, and now this all of a sudden?
I was puzzled, but I had no way of knowing her reasons. Agresia… looked full of both confusion and surprise. Since she seemed to know who Clara was, she also looked like she couldn't very well say anything about it.
At some point Caesius had already claimed a seat, which left me with nowhere to go except the place I'd first intended to sit. I glanced at Agresia, then reluctantly took the remaining chair.
Fine. If there was something that needed saying, she could always bring it up later.
"…Ahem, ahem."
Only after watching me give up and sit down did Agresia seem to collect herself. She cleared her throat, composed herself, and began speaking as if nothing had happened.
"…This gathering is a celebratory banquet for Mr. Albrecht and his companions, who solved our difficult problem. Please enjoy yourselves to the fullest."
"…Yes. Thank you."
Seeing the effort she was making, I answered as politely as I could.
"…I'll dig in."
"Mm, very well!"
The other two answered in kind. Of course, that still didn't resolve the questions I had about Clara's behavior.
Clara, seated right beside Agresia—as if deliberately placing herself between the two of us—was focused entirely on enjoying the banquet.
I was eating as well, but honestly Clara's actions kept distracting me, and I found myself glancing over again and again. First the way she'd reacted when I grabbed Caesius's arm, and now this…
…Am I really just imagining things?
There was a reason I couldn't be sure. It was because of her pure, kindhearted nature.
Clara knew that things between Agresia and Allen were awkward, so it was entirely possible she had sat there simply to act as a buffer.
In other words, there was a real chance she wasn't doing this to appeal to me at all. That made it hard to just come out and ask why she was acting this way.
…I'll just enjoy the food and forget about it.
So I threw myself into the endless array of delicacies—until Clara suddenly poked me in the side. Wondering what it was, I looked over and found her holding up a fork with a mouthwatering slice of meat speared on it.
"…This is good."
"Oh, is it?"
I see. I should try some too. I started to reach for my own fork—only for Clara to suddenly thrust the fork with the meat on it toward me.
"…Here."
"Huh?"
"…You try it too, Albrecht."
……Clara?