H-How Does It Taste? (1)
"Marie! I'll be back!"
"T-Take care..."
Bang—
Charlotte finished getting ready in a flash and dashed out.
I-Is she using some kind of short-distance teleportation...?
Barely a few seconds after she left, Marie could already see her sprinting toward the front gate through the window. Once Charlotte vanished from sight, Marie sat in the now-quiet room and started thinking about lunch.
E-Eating something expensive still feels a bit...
As she fretted, Charlotte's parting words suddenly came back to her.
—Marie! Don't just settle for something simple like a sandwich—you have to spend at least one silver coin and eat something delicious until you're full!
D-Did she already know I'd think like this...?
She tried to recall what one silver coin could buy. That was the kind of money you'd spend ordering an expensive steak at a restaurant.
I-It's Charlotte's money, though. I can't just spend it so freely...
As she stared at the gleaming gold coins in anguish, a brilliant idea struck her.
I-I'll buy ingredients and cook it myself! And while I'm at it, I can make dinner for Charlotte too for when she gets back!
According to the guidebook she'd memorized, there was a place selling groceries in the academy's shopping district. Having come up with the perfect loophole, Marie got ready to go out.
She had just put on her uniform and was about to put on her hat when—
Tap. Tap.
W-What was that sound...?
A pecking sound came from the small room beside the door. Tense at the unidentified noise, Marie hurriedly tried to leave.
"Save meee—"
"Eek!"
Now that she could hear an actual voice, Marie collapsed to the floor, unable to move.
T-That was definitely a human voice!
Recalling the ghost-story-like rules Charlotte had told her, terrifying thoughts sprang unbidden to mind.
It's definitely a vengeful spirit haunting Building A...!
Just as she was trying to escape the room somehow, a voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Charlotte! Haven't I suffered enough already! Hurry and let me out!"
I-It's calling Charlotte's name...?
From inside the small room came a voice clearly calling for Charlotte.
M-Maybe it's not a ghost...?
Come to think of it, when Marie had peeked into the room earlier, there'd been something that looked like a giant ostrich. Before she knew it, her fear had receded, replaced by overflowing curiosity.
W-Wow, does the royal family keep talking ostriches too...?
Mages as a breed were humans overflowing with a thirst for knowledge born of curiosity. Those who lacked it were already crushed under the complexity of Magic Circuits plastered with numbers and formulas, and had long since given up and chosen other paths.
J-Just what kind of creature is it...?
Marie, too, was one of those mages who absolutely could not suppress her curiosity about the unknown. The demonic curiosity that had driven her to research Magic Circuits alone until she reached the level of kingdom-level strategic technology began to boil up inside her.
I-I'll just check what it is and close the door right away...!
She crept carefully toward the small room so that not even her footsteps could be heard.
—Screeeech!
Now even a bird's cry could be heard. She quietly turned the doorknob and pushed it open just a crack.
Peeking her head halfway through the gap, an astonishing sight unfolded before her.
I-It's a glow-in-the-dark eagle...!
An eagle as large as a person was flapping its wings, trying to squeeze out through the broken cage. Every time the eagle moved, a bright light-green glow spread in all directions.
I-Is that radiation...?
Marie thought of radioactive materials that glowed green and began to worry about safety.
I-I can't leave something that dangerous in Charlotte's room...!
Marie had begun working as Charlotte's servant. Even if the position had been a loophole appointment just so they could be roommates, she believed her care for Charlotte surpassed anyone else's—so she couldn't just leave a hazard in the room and run away.
Steeling herself, Marie stepped into the room.
"Hm? And who might you be..."
The moment Marie fully opened the door and entered, the eagle's gaze locked onto her.
I-It's terrifying...!
The massive form glowing green in the darkness was far more frightening than Marie had anticipated.
J-Just now. It definitely spoke human words!
Belatedly realizing the situation defied all common sense, Marie's resolve crumbled to pieces. Just as she was about to slam the door and flee, the eagle stopped her with an urgent voice.
"W-Wait! Help me out, would you!"
"N-No way!"
"Please, I beg of you! You there! Are you not planning to cook something for Charlotte? If you free me from here, I shall tell you what foods she likes!"
The eagle's words only made her more terrified, sending chills down her spine.
"H-How do you know that!"
"The wind hears all things. Did you not hum and mutter so in your room? Even if I did not wish to listen, I could not help but hear."
She couldn't fully trust the eagle's words, but it was true that Marie had been muttering to herself about food candidates Charlotte might like while putting on her uniform. Realizing the eagle was telling the truth, Marie glared at it with cold, narrowed eyes.
"S-So you've been listening to everything I say to myself this whole time? Wow, what a total pervert eagle..."
"That is a misunderstanding! I am the wind itself—I hear things whether I wish to or not!"
The thought that this eagle might have creepily overheard her humming in the shower or her private mutterings while writing in her diary before bed—if she hadn't known—made Marie's eyes grow even sharper.
"T-That's really creepy..."
"I am sorry! I shall never eavesdrop again, so please pull me free..."
The eagle making this desperate plea did not look to be in good shape. Somehow the metal cage had been bent wide open, but it was still too small for the eagle's person-sized bulk to squeeze through. Having apparently tried to force its way out somehow, the eagle was stuck between the iron bars, unable to move an inch.
I-It does look pitiful...
Watching it thrash about while stuck midair looked so pathetic that her heart wavered for a moment.
N-No! There must be a reason it's locked up in there! Charlotte probably put it there... It must be an eagle that did something bad!
Marie approached closer to interrogate the eagle. Seen up close, the light source glowing alone in the dark room was extremely dazzling.
"Hah! Have you finally found it in your heart to help me!"
"B-Before that, I want to hear why you got locked up here..."
Stuck on its side with only one eye visible, the eagle turned that eye toward Marie.
"That, you see... I ended up like this trying to hide your secret from my contractor..."
"M-My secret...?"
"As I said earlier, I cannot help but hear many things whether I wish to or not..."
At the eagle's words, chills ran through Marie's entire body.
"Y-You pervert eagle! S-Stay locked in that cage for the rest of your life...!"
"I-I never opened my mouth about it to the end!"
Marie tried to shove the eagle back in. The eagle braced itself and wouldn't budge an inch.
"I have told you, so hurry and pull me out!"
"F-Fine..."
Since she'd made a promise, she did pull it free.
Freed from the cage, the eagle preened its feathers. Normally, a giant eagle flashing its eyes in the dark and showing off its sharp beak would be something to fear. But the more she looked at this light-green eagle, far from feeling fear, she found herself growing more and more at ease.
J-Just what is this thing...?
The contradictory emotions only deepened her curiosity about the eagle.
"U-Um... Mr. Eagle, what exactly are you...?"
Hearing Marie's words, the eagle stopped preening and tilted its head to ask back.
"Did you not hear from my contractor?"
"I-If you mean Charlotte... she didn't tell me anything..."
"It seems my contractor is thoroughly furious with us spirits..."
The eagle sighed and pressed a wing to its head.
W-Wow, that's so cool...
Its human-like behavior only deepened her amazement.
"I am Sylphy, a wind spirit. The spirit contracted to Charlotte."
"I-I'm Marie..."
"I already know your name."
"..."
Somehow she felt that this eagle probably knew every private detail about her. Marie took a few steps back and hid her body behind the wall.
"Why so suddenly? I have not the slightest intention of harming you, my contractor's dear friend—so put your mind at ease."
"Y-Yes..."
She still couldn't feel secure about her personal information, so she didn't lower her guard toward the eagle. Suddenly she recalled that Charlotte had tried to dig up her secrets.
In that moment, the puzzle pieces clicked together in Marie's mind. Charlotte's act of letting her into the room for free. The claim that she'd tried to dig secrets out of a wiretapping specialist spirit.
C-Could Charlotte be...?
To shake off her anxiety, Marie threw a question at the eagle to confirm the truth.
"S-Sylphy... does Charlotte by any chance like girls...?"
"Whatever do you mean by that...?"
"S-She's been treating me so excessively well..."
Sylphy brought a wing up under its beak and pondered for a moment.
"Hmm... I can understand your concern. But you need not worry overmuch. My contractor has no interest in that sort of thing."
"T-That's a relief..."
So Charlotte really had been helping Marie out of pure goodwill after all. As Marie inwardly reflected on having harbored such base suspicions about Charlotte, Sylphy quietly let slip something meaningful.
"Hm? Surely the reason she rejected that engagement wasn't something like that?"
"W-What do you mean by that...?"
Marie didn't miss that quiet mutter and asked back. Sylphy waved one wing dismissively as if it were nothing.
"Ah, it's nothing much. Three years ago an engagement proposal came for my contractor, but it fell through due to her stubborn opposition."
"R-Really!?"
Three years ago would have been when Charlotte was still fourteen.
W-Wow, royalty gets married so young...
The ways of the highborn felt strangely fascinating.
"I believe... it was with the Sword Saint's successor? That was the engagement proposal, you see..."
S-She almost got engaged to Lord Leon...?
Sylphy's bright light-green body dimmed slightly. She didn't fully understand a spirit's emotions, but it felt as though its expression had darkened.