Royal Capital Barga (3)
Once we had finished looking over the house, we decided what to do first.
"We should start with cleaning."
If we were going to stay here, cleaning had to come first.
"However…"
Young Master preferred calling someone in rather than doing it himself.
"We'd be better off just cleaning in the time it would take to fetch help."
Young Master and I clashed sharply over it, but the winner was already decided. With Sister Mary and my older sister on my side, it was three to one. No matter how much Young Master argued, he couldn't win.
"Hah… fine."
We dumped our luggage roughly in one place and went around opening the windows first.
"Windows made of expensive glass, of all things…"
It was hard to grasp with the sensibilities of a commoner in this world, but in my previous life everyone used glass windows. Looking outside through glass really was nicer, wasn't it?
After opening the doors and windows of each room, it was time for magic.
The special cleaning spell I had learned from the Master! My skill was still a little rough from lack of practice, but I had learned it precisely for moments like this. I stood in the center of the room and slowly released my holy power.
I designated an area and filled it completely with wind. Then I compressed it.
A few pieces of furniture and objects rattled, but that was all.
When I opened my eyes, a sphere of wind hung before me, flaunting its presence.
"Did it work?"
It was a spell that spread wind through a set area, interfered with it, and gathered everything into one mass—adapted here to pull dust together.
"Yeah, it worked."
My older sister carefully inspected the surroundings that had been thick with dust and gave me the okay.
All that remained was the sphere of wind itself. Ordinarily I would simply fling it out a window and be done, but there was far too much dust this time.
I gently set the sphere of wind on the floor and dispelled the magic. The dust settled in a soft heap on the ground.
"I'll leave the rest to you."
It really was a useful spell. A mage as skilled as the Master could pour enough mana into it to clean this entire mansion in one go.
I went from room to room casting the spell and gathering the dust. Cleanup duty fell to my older sister and Sister Mary.
"We should do the hallway too, right?"
The range was a bit awkward, but I cleared the dust from the corridor with magic as well.
"That truly is a useful spell."
"It's just a parlor trick."
The Master claimed he had developed it himself, though I had no idea if that was true. I had simply watched him use it, thought it looked handy, and learned it.
"There are people who use magic this way, I see."
"Is that so?"
"When people hear 'magic' and 'mage,' they tend to think of strategic weapons."
With the appearance of magic tools, even minor spells could be used by people who weren't mages. That had only hardened the image of mages further in that direction.
Of course plenty of scholars still existed, but from a nation's perspective a mage was first and foremost a powerful weapon.
"I see."
Hearing Young Master's words, I felt I could glimpse something of the Master's unusual nature. Didn't he look at magic with different eyes? I thought I understood why he had considered alchemy worth researching in its own right.
He hadn't viewed magic solely through the lens of destructive power or area-of-effect attacks. If he had prioritized offensive capability, he would have dismissed alchemy as useless and not worth studying at all.
Hmm. I should write the Master a letter.
"Thanks to Miss Julian's magic, the cleaning went easily."
The task that should have taken the longest was finished in no time. Such was the great power of magic.
"See? No need to call anyone in, right?"
"Yes…"
The sun hadn't even set yet, and the basic cleaning was done.
"Then I'll go do the shopping."
Sister Mary volunteered to handle the market run. We had come to the capital and had a kitchen, so she intended to prepare a proper dinner.
My older sister and I didn't know the layout of the city; we would only get lost.
"Young Master still has a lot to sort through, doesn't he?"
"Yes."
Young Master went around checking belongings in various places—the study, the inner quarters, and so on. My older sister said she would roughly clear the weeds in the garden.
As for me? I had meant to rest, but I got bored and trailed after Young Master instead.
"It's strange."
"What is?"
"Well… this place has been empty for several years, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"But no thieves broke in."
Anyone could tell the building was vacant. The weeds growing wild in the garden alone made that obvious.
So why hadn't thieves come?
"Because of the patrols."
This was the capital, close to the royal castle—of course there would be patrols. Even accounting for that, though, it still didn't quite make sense…
"Thieves could still slip past them, couldn't they?"
"True enough. But how many nobles do you think live in the Upper District?"
Hmm? Quite a few, wouldn't it be? There was the Academy, after all… quite a lot?
"If you set aside the truly prominent houses, most nobles live on their own territories, protecting and managing them. Unless it's the social season or they hold a post at the center, that is."
Ah…
"These are the houses of such nobles. What do you think would happen if one of them were robbed?"
Uh…
"Consider that this is the royal capital—the land of the royal family, right beneath the royal castle."
The land of the royal family?
"I don't really follow."
It seemed to involve noble interests, but I couldn't quite grasp it.
"The royal family's competence would be called into question."
Oh? I was starting to understand. Looking at it that way, "the land of the royal family" was no different from any other territory! In other words, the mansions of other nobles here were like villas. They had paid large sums or traded favors to acquire them; for the lord of the land to fail to protect them would be absurd.
"So the royal family is the one guarding them?"
"You can think of it that way. Should a thief ever break in? The royal family would hunt them down with everything they had, punish them, and make restitution."
That practice had continued for over a hundred years, and an unwritten rule had formed even among thieves.
Don't touch the noble mansions of the Upper District.
"It's like poking a hornet's nest, then?"
"Exactly. If things stay quiet, it ends at mere vigilance. But the moment someone makes a move, they'll round up every thief in the capital."
And dispose of them whether they were guilty or not?
"Long ago, there were supposedly a few brave souls who tried their hand at it."
"Really?"
"Yes. But they were caught less than half a day after the theft, and the culprits were executed."
Ex… executed? Even if the royal family's honor was at stake, execution?!
"If it had ended with a simple execution, that would have been one thing…"
To restore their damaged honor, the royal family had also rounded up unrelated petty criminals as an example.
"After that, the unwritten rule took root in the underworld."
Don't touch the Upper District.
"Th-this is just out of curiosity, but…"
Listening to Young Master's story, something else occurred to me.
"D-don't assassination incidents and things like that happen either?"
Young Master's eyes went wide and he froze.
"Ah, well…"
Had I asked something far too out of the blue?!
"I-I've heard that nobles form factions and fight for power, and that they even send assassins after each other…"
Young Master let out a long sigh.
"Well, there are houses like that, yes."
So they really did exist!
"Internal family struggles are one thing, but in factional conflicts they tend to refrain from such extreme measures."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Because it becomes mutually assured destruction."
"Mutually assured destruction?"
"Yes. Suppose one house sends an assassin and kills another house's head. Do you think the bereaved house will simply sit still?"
"There's no way they would."
"Exactly. Naturally, the wronged house will hunt for the culprit. And once they find them, what do you think they do?"
Uh… if it were me, I'd want to pay them back in kind.
"Retaliation?"
"Yes. Ordinarily they would try to return the favor exactly."
Then would the house that suffered the retaliation sit still?
"Ah… so they'd keep trying to get revenge on each other?"
"Precisely. Since no one can afford that risk, they don't resort to extreme measures in factional fights."
So both sides risked total destruction. That made sense.
"Of course, there are probably groups that scheme in secret."
The mindset that it wasn't a problem if no one found out, or something like that? But they didn't move openly.
"That's why, when the balance of power is roughly even, the fighting stays quiet."
The world of nobles was complicated too…
"For all those reasons, thieves never lay a hand on a mansion bearing a noble crest."
I had asked a strange question, but Young Master answered me diligently all the same.
"The rough organizing seems finished."
"I-is that so?"
Young Master had been going through drawers and similar places in the rooms. I hadn't looked at what was inside, but it must have been important.
"Living here shouldn't be a problem. If you need anything, please tell me anytime."
He had finished inspecting the entire mansion in his own way.
"Ugh, finally I can rest a little."
"I don't believe this is the time for that."
"Pardon?"
Young Master looked at me with a worried expression.
"Perhaps you should step outside?"
Outside…?
I approached the window and peeked out. The sun was gradually setting.
"Hmm, it's getting dark."
Was he telling me to go meet Sister Mary because I was worried about her?
"Not that way."
"Pardon?"
Young Master pointed in a certain direction. Following the tip of his finger, I spotted my older sister.
"Oh—Older Sister?"
She was… yanking out weeds with visible irritation.
"Ah—!"
I moved at once.
"I-I'm sorry."
I apologized to Young Master and hurried toward my sister.
"It's fine."
I had been in too much of a rush to properly catch his expression, but I thought he had been smiling.
I rushed outside and approached my older sister.
"O-Older—I mean, Sister!"
"Mm."
"Sorry. It's hard doing it alone, isn't it?"
"Dunno."
Ah. She was sulking because I hadn't paid attention to her.
"Sorry. But I came out, didn't I?"
I gathered the grass she had cut and burned it.
"This ash might be usable as material…!"
Gathering ingredients while cleaning! Wasn't that killing two birds with one stone?
When Sister Mary returned from shopping, we cooked together in the kitchen. There wasn't a single magic tool in the kitchen, so we set up the portable stove we had brought with us.
"No matter how convenient magic tools are, ordinary people can't use them carelessly."
Ah, that was true, wasn't it?
Overuse them and you would faint; push too far and you could die.
On top of that, some dishes required keeping a fire going for a long time. Having a single cook supply mana to a magic tool for that? It was a hundred percent dangerous.
"I understand the reason now."
Considering the mana consumption of water-generating tools and stoves, it couldn't be helped.
Before awakening my holy power, I had never used a magic tool, so the thought hadn't occurred to me.
A proper kitchen combined with proper ingredients raised the quality of the food considerably.
Especially after eating so many mediocre meals at cheap inns—the difference felt enormous.
"Ugh! It's delicious!"
After filling our stomachs, I rested on a soft bed.
To think I could use a plush bed that only expensive inns offered! Was this heaven?
The moment I lay down, my eyes drifted shut of their own accord.
Yeah… it's a little early, but let's sleep…