The Upcoming Founding Festival and a Bolt from the Blue for Chloe
The Upcoming Founding Festival and a Bolt from the Blue for Chloe
After Charl returned, time began to pass noticeably faster.
First, magic lessons. Thanks to hiring the contacts Flare recommended as tutors, my magic skill was improving by leaps and bounds, but... They kept insisting early childhood magic education was the most critical and gave me lessons every single day, so I never caught a break. I get that the generous pay got them fired up, but I wished they'd slack off just a tiny bit.
Then there were etiquette lessons with Sir Max. Those got even more grueling as time went on. According to Sir Max, the original goal was to train me just enough not to embarrass myself in the ballroom, but my quick learning made him grow greedy. Something like that.
I'd planned to coast through it, but then... occasionally—no, quite often, Mother would drop by, watch with a pleased expression, and then leave. That made it impossible to slack off. I couldn't disappoint her.
And my three sisters each started throwing themselves into their own work. Charl began assisting Mother with official duties as the heir. Mar focused on the Knight Order. Albert poured her energy into the domain army.
As for Nibuer, nothing much changed. Oh, maybe the one new thing was that she started bringing me various books, claiming they were good recommendations.
She said if I read them and answered the questions she posed, she'd reward me by letting me watch things remotely again, like during the slave purchase.
I didn't understand why she was so invested in making me read those books, but... for someone like me who lazed around the estate every day, the offer was impossible to refuse. So I had no choice but to grit my teeth and read those difficult books anyway.
And finally, there was Chloe. Lately, Mother had been training her, saying, 'With your current skill level, you're nowhere near fit to be my son's personal escort knight.' She was growing visibly haggard by the day.
To make matters worse, the intense cold unique to the North that set in with winter only added to her suffering.
"C-cold. It's cold, Young Master."
As winter set in, all the servants changed into thick winter clothes. The mansion was well-heated, so it was tolerable indoors, but going outside required several layers to avoid frostbite.
Chloe was no exception. Of course, her considerable stage as a martial artist let her endure it better than the ordinary servants, but beastkin inherently disliked the cold, so it all roughly balanced out to net zero.
She usually would have been overjoyed to accompany me instead of training, but this time she looked especially worn out.
"Forgive me for pointing it out, but are you all right, Young Master? Dressed like that in this cold."
"Ah, people of our house endure the cold well. I'm fine."
'Though I only got fine after recovering from the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.'
Of course, I, and more broadly the people of the Nordkirchen household, were naturally resistant to cold. It was thanks to our unique constitution, represented in the game by the trait 'Frost Resistance.'
Which is why I was still in short sleeves and shorts even outdoors in the garden. And why Chloe looked utterly horrified.
She'd seen this last winter too, so I didn't get why she acted so shocked.
'...Still, I do feel a little bad that she had to follow me out here and is now shivering from the cold. Let's stop magic practice here for today.'
"This is enough for today, so let's head back."
"...Yes!"
* * * * * *
Afterward, Yune brought her into his room. It was a considerate gesture, letting her thaw out somewhere warm for a while since she'd been suffering on his account.
"How is it? Warm?"
"Haa... yes."
Only then did her ears, which had been frozen stiff and motionless, droop down. The cozy warmth had eased her tension.
She sat near the fireplace, growing drowsy from the heat. Yet instead of lounging back, she stayed kneeling, a sign that a year and a half of butler decorum had become ingrained in her.
But when it came to Yune, whom she was supposed to serve as a butler, she still thought of him as a younger brother.
'...Isn't he about to debut soon? Dancing with girls and all that. The sort of thing nobles do.'
Yune was about to attend his debutante ball. There was no need to explain how important that was for a young nobleman, but...
He still seemed to have absolutely no awareness that he was a noble son about to make his debut.
"Yeah. That's a relief."
"..."
There he was, smiling so openly and defenselessly in front of a commoner girl. How could she see him as a master to serve? He just came across as a scatterbrained younger brother.
Because of his posture, even a bit of bare skin at his chest was visible. She forcibly averted her eyes. If she stared any longer, she'd lose the battle against the urge to lick his plainly visible collarbone.
...She had no intention of doing that to someone she regarded like a younger brother, but suffering through a beastkin's unique heat cycle left her with no choice in the matter.
"Ahem. Young Master, didn't you say you'd soon attend the debutante ball?"
"Huh? Ah, yeah. The Founding Festival is coming up soon."
She forcibly changed the topic. The upcoming Founding Festival. The celebration where his first high society debut would take place.
"Are you confident you'll do well? Of course, you have practiced quite a lot, Young Master, but..."
"I'm not aiming to do well. Just enough to avoid embarrassment. Just enough not to cause Mother any trouble."
"Is that acceptable? The servants say that for your future prospects, your first debut must be more splendid than anyone else's."
"I know better than them. It's fine, it's fine."
Yune's half-hearted reply showed he had zero intention of making a splash in high society to gain influence.
Chloe let it slide, though she remained skeptical. He was a noble, so he surely did know better than the commoner servants.
"Well, that's a relief then."
"Yeah. But honestly, you should be worrying about yourself first."
"Pardon? What do you mean all of a sudden?"
"When I go up to the imperial capital for the Founding Festival, I'll need constant escort, right? But Mother said it won't do to entrust my escort to just one person."
"That's correct. Guarding against unforeseen situations would be difficult on my own."
"So, rather than dragging around ten escort knights everywhere like at the estate, we decided I'll just stick with Mother. So... Mother will handle protecting me. You'll handle attending to me."
"...!? D-don't tell me."
"Yep. While we're in the imperial capital, it'll be me, you, and Mother. The three of us together the whole time."
At those words, Chloe's face twisted in horror. The constant violence disguised as sparring had left her with a sort of trauma.
Of course, it was still strictly training, so there were no lasting aftereffects, and her own stage was advancing by leaps and bounds every day.
But she was still only eleven years old, just a year older than Yune. Spending day after day with the Northern Grand Duchess, who trained her so harshly, was terribly difficult for an immature girl like her.
Yet she couldn't refuse. The nobles had already decided among themselves, so what could a mere commoner like her do to object?
A year ago, when she'd first arrived in the North, her naive self might not have understood, but now, though her face turned ashen, she could only nod her head up and down.
"Yes. I understand."
"Pfft. Chloe, you're way too scared. You look like an adult on the outside, but inside you're acting your age, huh?"
'....'
Yune, younger than her by a year and far smaller in build. He looked at Chloe with an expression perfectly suited to the words 'Wimp~♡,' and her reason nearly snapped for a moment, but...
She barely suppressed the impulse to pin him down and show him who was truly more mature.
Instead, she spoke in a slightly sulky tone.
"Haven't you, Young Master Yune, not grown a single bit taller in the past year and a half, sir? At least my appearance is that of an adult, which is better."
"...!!"
Hearing that, Yune naturally flew into a rage. He rattled off a flood of protests—how his growth spurt simply hadn't come yet, how he'd soon shoot up and grow as tall as the Grand Duchess, how he was drinking lots of milk to prepare for that, and so on.
But even in his fury, the fact that he never spat out things like 'How dare a commoner speak that way to a noble!' was a very Yune-like point.
She forgot her private worry that she'd been too irreverent and broke into a soft smile.
"Ah! You laughed at me!! Just 'cause you're taller and have a bigger chest, you—!!"
"I apologize, Young Master. Pfft."
"You laughed again!!"
After that, she fended off Yune's lunging scuffles and played along with him.
Because his clothes were so thin, bare skin peeked out here and there, which made things difficult, but thanks to Yune shrieking and laughing like that, the burden she'd felt about having to accompany him alongside the Northern Grand Duchess noticeably lightened.
'Don't worry. No matter what happens, I'll protect you. ...Though if Her Grace is with us, I doubt I'll ever need to step in.'
* * * * * *
Time kept flowing. Two days before the Founding Festival.
"Yune. Are you ready?"
"Yeah! Albert!"
"You've been bubbling with excitement since the day before, packing this and that. Little brother, are you really that thrilled?"
"Of course! It's my first time going to the imperial capital! Last year I was a bit unwell and couldn't go, remember?"
"If it were up to me, I'd keep you from attending this year too, but the debutante ball for a ten-year-old is unavoidable. No matter what happens, do not stray more than an arm's length from my side."
"Hmm... what about the bathroom? And sleeping?"
".........For sleeping, you will sleep with me. As for the bathroom, well. I shall devise a solution."
"Head of House!? Yunes is already ten years old. How could he sleep together with..."
"...It can't be helped. Everyone, keep this a secret from the other nobles. If word gets out, strange rumors will circulate."
""......Yes.""
My family and I chatted idly while standing on the Teleport Magic Circle. Chloe stayed silent, her mouth shut.
As we stood there, a brilliant light poured out from the circle and enveloped us. Then, a moment later, we were standing in a pure white space.
"Ladies of the Nordkirchen Grand Ducal House. Welcome."
The air instantly turned balmy. The scenery changed completely. This was my first time seeing this place, but the familiar reactions of my family around me let me know right away.
This was... the city of dreams I'd vowed to visit when I became an adventurer someday. The city where the Founding Festival—where I'd make my first foray into high society as a debutante—would be held.
The imperial capital, Vanberg.