A Flower from the Young Master
The Master and I kept going to the baron's estate to teach the baron's daughter. I wasn't sure I was really needed, but the baron wanted another woman present for his daughter's sake, and I couldn't very well refuse. The Master wasn't the sort to make anyone uncomfortable—but I supposed that was simply a father's heart. So I went along with him, whether I liked it or not.
The real problem lay elsewhere. Coming to teach magic was one thing. I was only tagging along, after all.
But every time we visited the baron's estate, the young master kept approaching me in the strangest ways. At first he grilled me about myself like he was taking a census, and I was so flustered I dodged his questions as best I could and brushed him off.
If that had been the end of it, I wouldn't have complained. But once, when the baron's daughter had something come up and the lesson was canceled, he suddenly invited me to tea.
He said it was by way of apology, and I couldn't refuse, so it was pure agony… Still, the cake was delicious.
I supposed that was what it meant to be nobility… The cake, loaded with expensive sugar, was genuinely wonderful. The coffee used fine beans, too, and tasted excellent…
But didn't a knight have better things to do with his time…?
On another occasion the baron's daughter dragged me along to watch the knight order train. The Master said it would be educational and gave his permission, so there was no escaping it…. The knights' training was genuinely impressive. The only training I'd ever known was the village watch drills, and this was on an entirely different level.
Their movements were crisp, swift, and powerful. I even got to see them handling mana.
That was probably the part the Master had meant when he said it would be educational.
"So rough…."
I'd known it already, but it was rough. If magic was refined and precise, a knight's way of handling mana was crude and raw. That didn't make it inferior to magic. A knight's mana use was fast and fierce. One of magic's weaknesses was its slow casting speed—but a knight's mana release happened in an instant.
Watching the training, the Master remarked that mages would do well to learn that kind of rough, blunt mana release themselves. In a truly dangerous situation, he said, that method was better than trying to cast a spell….
Apparently there were flashy mages who tried to cast magic even in mortal peril and got themselves killed for it.
"I see…."
I won't make that mistake….
More importantly, why did the young master keep waving in this direction…. I glanced at the baron's daughter beside me. Hmm. Because of his little sister after all?
A siscon and a brocon combo… somehow terrifying.
Today, too, I came to the baron's estate with the Master, helped with the baron's daughter's studies, and during the break I slipped out to the back garden for a walk to avoid her.
Being a fake woman stuck with a real one—and a noblewoman at that—was considerable torment. On top of that, I could barely follow half of what the baron's daughter said. She complained about the inconveniences of being a woman, but I'd only been one for a short while. There were far too many things I'd never experienced and couldn't relate to.
Social dances this, etiquette that… topics that had absolutely nothing to do with me…….
So I claimed I wanted a walk and fled to the garden.
"This really is a noble estate…."
To think there was a garden this beautiful on the grounds……. It looked exactly like something out of a comic. And in the center of the garden stood a small pavilion.
I think the proper name was a gazebo…?
Curious, I drifted toward it without thinking. Was all of this marble? The white stone was so beautifully worked that it felt both mysterious and clean. Maintaining this must be a job in itself…? Colorful flowers surrounded it, making the whole place even more striking and atmospheric.
"It's gorgeous…."
Could we decorate the village like this somehow? With mostly wooden buildings it might be hard. A pavilion, though—that seemed doable….
I wandered around looking at the flowers.
"Could I use this as an alchemy ingredient…?"
I spotted a flower I'd seen in a plant encyclopedia. Crushing the petals produced a juice with a mild paralytic effect, weak enough that it was used as a painkiller substitute.
If I used this to make something like an ointment, I'd get a kind of pain-relief cream, right? And if I added herbs with healing properties?
Would that make an ointment good for both pain relief and recovery? It looked promising. I wanted to experiment right then and there, but I couldn't just start plucking flowers from someone else's garden.
"What a shame."
These belonged to a noble. If I got caught picking them, who knew what the punishment would be. Of course, given my connection to the Master, they might let it slide….
"No need to go looking for trouble."
As the saying goes, don't scratch where it doesn't itch. I'd hold back.
"What is dangerous?"
"Eek!"
The voice from right behind me made me jump so hard I nearly pitched forward. Something caught me around the waist and steadied me before I could fall.
"My apologies—did I startle you?"
I turned my head to see who had caught me, and was even more shocked.
"Y-Young Master…!"
I panicked and tried to pull free of his arms, but the difference in strength made it impossible. In a man's embrace! What kind of humiliation play was this?
As I flailed, the young master smiled brightly and set me back on my feet.
"A beautiful garden, isn't it?"
I was so stunned it took me a moment to collect myself.
"Y-Yes…."
I calmed my startled heart, gathered my wits, and answered as naturally as I could, as if nothing had happened…. Or so I thought—but the young master was looking at me and laughing, as if something amused him.
"My mother designed this garden."
"I-I see…."
Why did he keep smiling like that—it was so awkward…! If I'd been a real woman, I probably would have been helpless before that face. But I was a man. Looking at him, I could admit he was handsome, but it also made my skin crawl a little. A physiological incompatibility, maybe?
He seemed intent on staying, so I edged back a little.
"Haha. It seems I've been a bother."
When my flustered silence stretched on, he stepped away from me.
Whew… I was just thinking I could finally breathe again when he came back over.
"This is my apology for startling a lady."
With a graceful flourish, he reached toward my head. I flinched, bracing myself—but nothing happened…. Or rather, nothing of the sort I'd been dreading.
"Well then. Until next time."
What on earth had that been about? I had no idea.
I stood there in a daze for a long while. Only after he was long gone did I come back to myself—and found a small flower resting above my ear.
"This is…."
The flower I'd been looking at earlier…? Had he somehow noticed I wanted it?
I stared at the flower in my hand with a complicated feeling. Why give me this… Somehow my face felt hot. A strange, tangled emotion stirred in my chest, but my attention was already pulling elsewhere. With just one of these, I could try a combination at least once, couldn't I?
I took a handkerchief from my pocket and carefully wrapped the flower.
A flower… Why give it to me……?
"Oh no—have I been wandering too long?"
The lesson would have resumed by now. I needed to get back.
By the time I returned to the study, the lesson had already started. Fortunately no one said anything, but I felt like I was sitting on a bed of nails.
And the moment the lesson ended, I apologized straight to the baron's daughter.
"I'm sorry!"
"It's all right. My brother already told me."
I couldn't understand why the baron's daughter's smile looked so unsettling…. What exactly had the young master told her? Still, I was relieved I could get through this situation at all.
On the way home from the baron's estate, the Master was quiet.
"Master?"
"Yes…."
He was far too quiet. Had he heard something too?
"You needn't say anything."
"Pardon?"
What on earth had been said to make even the Master act like this?!
Back in my room at the old bookstore, I took the handkerchief from my pocket. When I unfolded it, the flower the young master had given me appeared.
"I wonder if it's even possible…."
If I tried combining it recklessly, this precious material would be wasted. That meant I needed to attempt the combination with some kind of plan….
"What a waste."
Somehow it felt like a shame to use this flower as an alchemy ingredient. It was a pretty flower, and… he'd given it to me, so using it carelessly felt a little wrong…….
Quietly, I slipped the flower between the pages of one of my alchemy books and closed it.
"I'll just study Holy Magic instead."
I was nearly finished mastering Holy Magic. Once this study was done, I'd probably be able to graduate from the Master's tutelage.
"But what do I do after I graduate?"
Honestly, I was deeply grateful for the Master's teachings and wanted to repay his kindness, but I couldn't think of anything I was capable of doing.
And besides, I had a goal.
"Should I just ask him……."
As my worries grew, the words on the page stopped sinking in. At this rate I wouldn't be able to concentrate….
"I'll ask."
I needed a clear answer before I could get on with my own work.
"Master!"
I burst out of my room and called for him. As always, the Master was quietly passing the time near the entrance on the first floor.
"What is it?"
"Master, what happens when I graduate?"
"What? Graduate?"
"Yes—once I've learned all the Holy Magic, that's graduation, isn't it?"
The Master seemed to grasp my meaning then, and nodded.
"Ah. So it is……."
"Staying by your side and learning other things wouldn't be bad either, but…."
As my words trailed off, the Master closed his eyes.
"I see……."
A long silence followed.
"Is there something you wish to do?"
"Well… there is, yes."
First would be returning to the village, I supposed. And alchemy… I could practice alchemy here, too, but the scale was small and I wasn't free. I'd also need new tools and materials, which cost a lot of money.
And after that…….
Adventure, probably? To improve my alchemy, I needed a wide variety of materials. And materials weren't something you could get in just one place.
In other words, I'd have to travel through many cities and countries hunting for them.
My sister was already working as an adventurer, so traveling together might not be so bad.
If I so much as mentioned traveling, she'd worry and insist on coming along anyway.
"I'd like to go traveling."
"Travel, is it……."
The Master looked up at the ceiling for a moment.
"Yes. You ought to see the wider world."
Saying so, he told me I was free to leave whenever my studies were finished.
"Though it is a pity."
"A pity?"
"I had thought of leaving this building and these books to you."
"Uh…… what?!"
The building I could take or leave. Selling it would bring in money, but that wasn't the important part.
But the books?! The hundreds upon hundreds of volumes here?! All those varied treatises, and the antiques among them?! If you sold these to an academy or a mage, they'd be worth a fortune!
"Um… could I maybe take back what I just said?"
I asked with an awkward laugh, and the Master chuckled heartily.
"You may return whenever you like, and I shall leave them to you then. Don't you worry."
Yes! It was mercenary of me, but I had no intention of letting an opportunity like this slip away.