Magic (12)
I shut myself in my room for several days. Part of it was shame — that I had cried over something so trivial — but it was also because the baron's household kept sending people over, insisting they wished to apologize.
At first I turned them away, saying it was fine. They kept coming back.
When the young lord himself showed up, a chill ran straight through me. The moment I caught sight of his face through the window, my body locked up. My hands and feet trembled, and all the strength drained out of me.
This was… fear etched into my flesh.
Honestly, I wanted to march downstairs and demand to know what he thought he was doing. But picking a fight with a noble was the same as asking to be killed.
So I hid. Thankfully, thanks to Master, I never had to face him directly.
"Is he gone…?"
"Yes. Are you truly all right?"
Master looked at me with concern. I told him I was fine, but I was far from it.
Just that brief glimpse of his face through the window had left me drenched in cold sweat.
"Ugh…."
I couldn't understand why I was reacting like this.
I really needed to leave soon….
The young lord came by the used bookstore every single day. He said he wanted to apologize in person, but to me it was nothing but a nuisance. I even had Master pass along a message that I would accept the apology through him and that he should stop coming — but the young lord refused to listen.
It made my skin crawl. Was this just the arrogance of a noble? At this rate, the only person I could trust might be my sister….
Travel preparations were nearly finished. I just had to hold out a little longer. Once we left the city, I'd never have to see his face again.
Master had been busy preparing something, and it was obvious he meant to give me a gift.
I pretended not to notice. At times like these, the best approach was to act completely oblivious and then look properly moved when the gift was presented.
In my previous life, when my grandparents gave me presents, just seeing a happy expression on my face was enough to delight them. Master was probably much the same.
My sister came back loaded with travel supplies — including a few things that looked rather unnecessary.
"You bought this too?"
Several expensive magic tools were mixed in among them.
"Yeah. I hunted a lot of monsters."
So that was why she hadn't come home for days. She'd been out earning money….
"Well, magic tools will still be useful once we're back in the village, so that's fine, but…."
I hadn't expected her to buy a bulky sleeping bag and even a tent.
"These seem like a pain to carry around."
We'd use them if we had to camp outdoors, but we'd still need to keep watch at night. A single small one would have been enough….
"Need them."
My sister fixed me with a sharp look. Fair enough — sleeping on the bare ground meant the cold seeping up from below, and that was miserable….
"What else have we got…."
There were pots and dishes for cooking, and clothes. The clothes weren't newly bought — they were ones she'd brought from the village.
"You bought a bag too?"
Looking closer, the large pack meant to hold all the gear was brand new. Made of monster hide, by the look of it — extremely sturdy.
"Yeah."
A bag like that would be useful for gathering later, so it was a good purchase. Should I buy a basket of my own? A few mid-sized ones I could hang off the pack to hold foraged materials might work well….
"Sister, do you have any money left?"
She grinned and pulled her wallet from her pocket. What remained was… roughly twenty-three gold?
Considering travel expenses, it was better to save. A shame, but maybe I should give up on the baskets?
"Is there something you want?"
"There is, but we need to save money. We still need travel funds."
"I'll just earn more."
"No. We need emergency money."
"I'll go earn it right now."
My sister wouldn't back down once she saw I wanted something.
"I said it's fine."
Neither of us would yield. We kept insisting the other was being unreasonable, our voices rising — and once voices rose, it turned into a full argument.
"You're being loud."
Master appeared, drawn by the noise of our quarrel.
"What are you two fighting about?"
I got to him before my sister and explained the situation. There was something I wanted to buy, but I'd decided against it for the sake of our travel funds — and now my sister was trying to force the issue. When I put it that way, Master gave a helpless little laugh.
"It's nice to see such a close pair of sisters."
Then he drew a wallet from his sleeve and took out some money.
"Is this enough for what you want?"
"There'd probably be some left over."
The sum Master produced was a full fifteen gold….
"Here. Stop fighting and buy it with this."
Looking thoroughly put out, he handed over the money, yawned, and went back to his room.
"Ahaha…."
That hadn't been my intention at all. I felt genuinely sorry. Afterward, my sister and I went out and bought the baskets I'd wanted. Buying too many would only be cumbersome, so we settled on four — and still had plenty of money left.
"This should go toward travel funds."
"Yeah."
Fortunately, we didn't run into the young lord either. I'd been fretting about what would happen if we bumped into him while we were out….
With my sister beside me, even being outside didn't feel frightening. I felt safe. It was a little embarrassing to admit, but having family — having my sister — put my heart at ease.
That night, I was minding the used bookstore in Master's place when a customer arrived.
Almost no one ever came here, and at such an odd hour — what was going on?
"Hmm. And who might you be?"
"Uh — excuse me?"
I was thrown. I'd thought he was a customer, so why was he asking who I was? On top of that, there was something distinctly noble about him — an air of refinement. He was advanced in years, but imposing, almost archaic in bearing. Even his clothes looked expensive. This was not someone to treat carelessly.
"Is this not Jef's bookstore?"
"Ah! You've come to see Master? He's in his room at the moment…. Shall I call him?"
"Mm. If you would."
I hurried off to Master's room.
"Master, a guest is here."
"A guest?"
Master cracked the door open and stepped out.
"What sort of guest?"
"Well… I'm not sure, but he seems like a noble."
At the word noble, Master's face twisted. He emerged looking thoroughly annoyed.
"A noble? There's no noble who'd come looking for me."
We went downstairs together, and the guest turned to look at us.
"Oh-ho. So you've taken on a disciple?"
Master's expression lit up at once, and he hurried forward.
"That I have. I didn't expect you to come around again."
"I searched the area, but never found what I was looking for. I stopped by before heading back."
"Hah. You've had a hard time of it."
"Hardship is… finding it is what matters."
I had no idea what their relationship was, but the two of them seemed very close.
"Introduce your disciple, then."
"Come here."
"Yes."
"Ahem. This is Julian, whom I took on as a disciple recently."
"My name is Julian."
"Hmm… Holy Power? Is that not the Goddess's Holy Power?"
"It is. A child who bears the Goddess's Holy Power. I had the chance this time to teach her both magic and Holy Magic."
"The Goddess…."
Was this man a mage as well? More than that — Holy Power? The Goddess? Did he mean the Goddess Metis? I couldn't quite keep up with the conversation.
Then Holy Power erupted from the guest. It was a light so powerful I could see it with my own eyes.
"Hmm."
Why was he using his power all of a sudden? Sensing the flow of energy, my sister — who had been resting in her room — appeared as well.
"Enemy?"
"He's a guest. Stand down."
"That child has mana as well."
"Yes. She's my disciple's older sister."
The guest looked back and forth between my sister and me, then dropped a single remark.
"You don't look alike."
Well, of course we didn't. My sister and I weren't related by blood…. I tried to slip away into the background while he and Master talked, but I was caught in an instant.
The guest kept staring at me.
"I-is there some kind of problem?"
"No. I simply sense something from you."
Sense what, exactly?
"Ah, I should introduce him first. He's an archbishop of the Metis Church — a rather well-known cleric."
…What? An archbishop? Didn't that mean he was incredibly high-ranking?!
"An empty title, nothing more."
An archbishop who served the Goddess Metis? Then his reaction to my Holy Power wasn't so strange after all.
"So pure… and a power that makes one bow one's head of its own accord…."
A mad light had entered the archbishop's eyes. What on earth had he felt from me to look like that….
"Might I see you use your power?"
"H-my power?"
"Yes. A simple Holy Magic spell would do."
I fretted over which Holy Magic to use, then settled on one.
"Wind of Comfort…."
I cast the area Holy Magic that restored fatigue. Holy Power drained from me and spread outward as a breeze.
"Ohh…."
The archbishop looked astonished. Master nodded, as if awarding a passing grade.
"You've learned to activate it in an instant."
"Ehehe…."
Master's praise brought a smile to my face unbidden.
"Yes! Yes! This is it!"
The archbishop's reaction was something else entirely. He stared at me with eyes full of a wild, feverish light.
"Your body! Show me your body!"
Huh?! My mind went blank. What in the world was this man saying?!
This was a girl's body, for one thing. And he wanted me to show it to him — what did that even mean?!
Don't tell me — a lolicon?!
I stumbled backward in shock.
I had made the woman I cared for cry….
And over something utterly trivial. The moment she said she was leaving the territory, my mind went white. All I had meant to do was ask where she was going, and why.
That impulse came out all wrong.
Pinning a woman against a wall and looming over her — that was no way for a gentleman to behave. She had been deeply hurt by what I did. Tears spilled down her face, and she wept as if her heart were breaking.
Only then did I understand how wrong my actions had been…. It truly felt like hell.
Even Father, Mother, and my little sister condemned what I had done.
I was told endlessly how I could treat a powerless young woman that way. Even the servants were whispering about it. I had nothing to say for myself.
Regret changed nothing. The damage was done, and there was no taking it back.
After she left the baron's estate, I kept turning it over in my mind. How could I repair this ruined relationship….
There was nothing to deliberate.
"I have to apologize…!"
There was no other way. Apologize, and explain that I had never meant it like that. And then… stay by her side and protect her on her journey to the capital.
As a knight, I could surely be of help.
With that resolve, I went to the place where she and her master lived. But she would not see me. If what her master said was true — that she was still terrified of what had happened that day….
Then I would never be able to stand beside her again.
Regret was too late, and there was no way to undo it. Even continuing to visit might only be a burden to her.
What was I supposed to do…….