Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Outing
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I looked at Jayhan with trembling eyes.
My heart was grateful, but could I really find my way there? I didn't have confidence that my sense of direction was better than that of thirteen professional search parties...
Jayhan's 'Glass Pavilion Garden' was a place whose exact location wasn't even properly marked in the original story.
It was a secretive spot shrouded in rampant rumors, where no one knew its true nature—some even called the shimmering shadows under the moonlight mere illusions.
There were those convinced it was where Jayhan would hide his body at the end of the novel.
A place that thirteen holy search parties, made up of Orelot guards and high priests, scoured the entire continent to find but ultimately failed to locate.
The one spot in Ileneias that even Florang and Bandahen had no choice but to yield to the final sinner.
Mystically sealed within the original work, a place I could only gauge through imagination.
...But stripping away the romance I had as a reader, it was a brutally perilous place.
The moment you tried to head there, you'd circle endlessly in the same area and lose your way; the second hunger set in and you tried to pick something edible, poison would inexplicably appear in the fruit; any living creature from squirrels to tigers would bare its teeth and charge like you'd killed their kin.
Could even a deer that occasionally appeared there spare you with a kick from its hind legs—by Jayhan's standards, or an ordinary person's?
I was clenching my fist amid the chaos of my clamoring friends, about to ask if he could at least draw me a map or something like medicine.
"Thanks, Jayhan. Aiel will love it."
What? I hadn't even received the map yet.
At Mayches's proxy acceptance, the friends' uproar quieted down hesitantly.
Their eyes traveled from Mayches to Jayhan, and finally fixed on me.
Bamper gave an awkward smile and said something incomprehensible.
"...Now that you mention it, yeah."
Bamper pulled his chair closer to the bed. He grinned brightly and met my eyes.
"White Flame, do you know? There's a magical aerial botanical garden in the Orelot imperial palace. My brother Bandahen absolutely loves it."
"Ah...!"
I almost said I knew!
I quickly rolled my eyes and pretended to be amazed to gloss over it.
For some reason, this sparked a change in the others, and the rest of the friends dragged their chairs closer to the bed too.
Suddenly surrounded, I instinctively burrowed under the covers like a hermit crab.
Daluh muttered, "I wonder what's there..." before saying to me,
"There's a waterfall with clear purple water if you follow the dirt path in the temple. It doesn't have much mystical power usually, but it's nice to look at. There's a cave too, but it's dark and not much to see."
"Ah... What about me? All we've got near our house is a snowy mountain. It does calm the mind to look at, though."
"I really have nothing worth seeing. The Baltan Catric guild headquarters is maybe the best?"
...Suddenly, it had turned into a bragging session!
Dumbfounded, I was chiming in with "Yes, yes... I see..." when Yan waved his hand dismissively, saying it wouldn't do.
"No. You're all weirdos, so it's better if she doesn't come."
"You can't give and then take back, bro. I barely scraped together a snowy mountain, so you just do it too."
"It's because it's bad for her health that I'm taking it back... If she really wants to come, fine—hold her hand the whole time with a guardian. Mayches, you block those guys' mouths with magic or give your sister earplugs, whatever."
Mayches—for the first time since his friends arrived—softened his expression and replied, "Sure, why not."
I belatedly startled at Yan's unexpected words.
Gasp, wait a minute. Could this be...!
"Are you... all inviting me?"
"What did you think it was?"
To Daluh's question, I answered honestly.
"Bragging..."
"..."
The cold stares of Mayches's friends turned unanimously to Mayches.
And so, my brother, his friends, and I ended up out on the street.
There was no way to explain it other than "and so."
"They act all nice like they're doing us favors, but it was all just a show, huh."
"It's not polite to meddle in another house's child-rearing..."
"How did you raise her?"
"How little affection do you have to give a kid for her to think that's bragging? And then to us?"
By the time I came to, I was out of the mansion.
It was Jayhan's offhand remark, tossed out while sitting quietly amid his friends' murmurs, that lit the fuse.
"How about taking Aiel out for some fresh air right now."
"..."
"The weather's perfect."
Warm sunlight settled on Jayhan's eyelashes. People were easily persuaded by the visual effect.
Especially Mayches, who had been enduring his friends' nonsense like a condemned criminal, and Calipan, who today felt pity for everyone from my snacks onward, took the lead.
"Yeah. You don't put off something like this."
That was precisely why Mayches was now manually pushing my levitating magic wheelchair from behind.
Smoothly rolling forward about three meters in the wheelchair, I mustered my courage and spoke up.
"Aren't you all here today for official duties?"
Yan didn't bat an eye.
"Doing nothing but work is inefficient."
"But we haven't done anything."
Mayches stroked my head.
"Aiel, you don't need to worry about that."
I decided to just relax. Their resolve already seemed too firm for me to shatter.
Mayches cast magic on us.
It was a facial recognition interference spell to keep people from recognizing us easily.
I felt a bit disappointed.
In Orelot, spells that completely alter one's appearance were illegal, so I'd thought I'd get to wear a robe like Florang or Bandahen in the novel. I hadn't expected him to solve it so plainly with this more advanced perception control magic.
Did efficiency-obsessed Mayches, who fixed everything with a snap of magic, even have an analog sensibility...?
"Take a look around! Take a look!"
Maybe because the weather was nice as Jayhan said, or because it was a bustling district anyway, the streets teemed with people.
In the midst of the lively clamor, my senses began to expand bit by bit—when a boisterous bell rang out from one side, drawing attention.
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding—
"The street play [Six Lights] begins now!"
People halted and turned toward the stage set up in the street.
Those who looked like troupe members clapped to gather the crowd.
"There's a play over there. Should we watch...?"
I turned to Mayches and the friends.
I was about to suggest we watch, but their faces were all equally grim.
"What's wrong?"
"The title already feels ominous."
"R-Really? I don't get it, but... okay. Let's just go."
I turned back to face forward.
Then Mayches leaned toward me and said in a gloomy voice,
"Do you want to see that one, Aiel?"
"Not like I really want to, I was just curious. It's fine—I'll come out alone later and watch a play."
"Don't say such independent things."
What was he expecting me to do...?
Mayches and the friends hesitated on the street before finally making a decision.
"Fine, whatever—let's watch. We're out here for the White Flame today, after all."
"Yeah... But can shame actually kill a person? Mind if I quickly ask a god?"
"Daluh, no running away. Think of it as training. Just."
Yan, who had quietly picked up a fallen promotional flyer from the ground, suddenly snapped in irritation.
"Ah, these bastards..."
"What's up, bro?"
"This was made with Baltan Catric's amateur artist support program. They pretend to do good deeds while racking their brains to mess with me..."
At those words, not just Yan but everyone's faces twisted.
From their expressions, you'd think they'd declared Baltan Catric blood enemies.
I had no idea why they were so outraged.
"But Aiel, don't laugh too loudly."
I also had no idea why Mayches was whispering to me in that unusually pathetic voice.
But in the next moment, I came to perfectly understand why Mayches and the friends had reacted that way.