The Crybaby of House Edfolk (1)
"Staff the register in pairs. One of the Ain, and one who isn't."
"One of each?"
Every face turned toward him, puzzled. Blow let the silence hang a moment, then went on, calm and even.
"If you ask me, that's the originality of it. A donut shop run by the Ain—that fact alone."
"Young Master."
"It's not as if you've committed a crime. If some difficult customer shows up, I'll deal with them, so don't worry. When it happens, contact Hills. I'll have a communication device set up for you."
At that, Liliane and Ichi, who had been watching the meeting from the side, brightened at once.
Blow stroked his chin, then added, "Well. We can always keep one clerk with a truly terrifying face."
"Then you should be the one behind the counter, Blow Deblique."
"Should I? Mornings might be manageable, I suppose."
Rachel let out a short laugh at his clowning. Sensing something off in it, Blow's eyes narrowed.
"But, Lady Rachel?"
"What."
"I'm genuinely grateful for the feedback. Your stake, though, is in Straight. Why are you weighing in on the donut shop as well?"
"Hmph. This is how you do it. Later I'll claw a little more equity out of you. Isn't that right, Lady Skadi?"
"...Haha. Well, that's true enough."
Skadi answered awkwardly. She had no such intention at all.
Rachel's gaze slid over to Blow, and the corner of her mouth lifted.
"I'll invest on a scale worthy of my name. See that you use it well."
Before she had even said it, she had expected him to put on that signature smile and take her money on the spot.
The expectation missed by a handsome margin.
Blow shook his head, looking troubled.
"I'll accept investment only in moderation, Lady Rachel."
"Why? Isn't more money always better?"
"Mm. For the time being, I'd like to move things the way I see them."
"You don't want my hand in it?"
"If I'm being honest, to some extent, yes. What you said just now was excellent, of course."
"Honestly. Just take the money and spend it however you please."
"Even so, if you put in too much capital, it becomes a burden on me."
"Since when do you stand on ceremony like this?"
"I do observe the proprieties, in my own way. The truth is, I'm afraid of getting sick from eating too fast."
He didn't yield an inch. Björn watched him as if he were looking at something curious.
Rachel let out a long breath.
"So this is why Yulia said making a contract with you is such a hassle."
"Lady Rachel. You have no idea how much Marchen and I suffered when I signed that partnership with Lord Blow."
Blow was scratching his head when Skadi slipped neatly into the gap.
"But if Lady Yulia invests, and Lady Rachel invests, and I do too, we'll all keep one another in check, won't we? So it should be fine, however much capital we put in..."
Yulia and Rachel nodded at nearly the same moment, as if the thought had struck them together.
"That's true, isn't it?"
"It is."
Blow watched them and swallowed a sigh.
You people. That's only because the three of you are the same size.
In order: one of the Four Great Houses, another of the Four Great Houses, and a ducal house.
Blow thought of himself as a shrimp caught between whales. One wrong move and his back would split for certain, so he shook his head, firm, and drove the point home.
"Mm. No. For now, let's each keep to our lines. Lady Rachel, please concentrate your investment on Straight. Lady Yulia, please keep your focus on Hills, as you have been."
"Yes, Young Master."
"Honestly. Fine, have it your way. And Red Forest?"
"Skadi will match that with an investment of her own, won't she? As for the lines between us, we can settle those when we meet later. Lady Rachel can join by communication."
"I'll attend the meetings that way. And in winter, it might be pleasant to meet somewhere like Roten on our own. Somewhere the snow is beautiful."
"That sounds good as well."
With Blow agreeing to Rachel's suggestion, the meeting took on the air of a close.
"Grand Duke, if you have anything to say, I'd be grateful if you'd say it now."
"Well. I don't have much to say."
"Even so, a word, if you would."
"The truth is, before I set out, I received a report on you. Blow Deblique."
"Did you?"
"I did. And now that I've spoken with you, I'm reminded all over again that one ought to see a man with one's own eyes before judging him."
As he said it, Björn turned the gaze he had briefly rested on Blow toward Rachel and Yulia at his side.
"More than anything else, it's impressive that you aren't being led around by those two."
"......"
"I had no interest in the substance of today's discussion. I was watching how decisions were made."
...And here I thought he'd been looking only at Skadi the whole time. He saw all of it.
Blow swallowed dryly and listened.
"You have a mind of your own, and it's clear. The investment, and that matter of the Ain earlier as well."
"I'm trying."
"It isn't an easy thing. A house is one matter, but Yulia and Rachel carry about that much weight."
"Thank you, Grand Duke."
"Thank you for the praise, Grand Duke."
The two offered their thanks, each in their own way. Björn gave them a shallow nod and went on.
"It was quite impressive. In any case, I'm curious to see what you do from here, Blow Deblique. I sat in on the meeting today, but I'll leave the direction ahead entirely to Skadi."
"Thank you, Grand Duke."
"Skadi will have more to learn than the other two young ladies. Teach her well."
"Yes."
"I'll ask a favor of Lady Yulia and Lady Rachel as well."
"Yes," they answered together.
Having heard both replies clearly, Björn turned at last to his daughter and spoke in a tone a little more serious.
"Daughter."
"Yes, Father."
"Just as Lord Blow did a moment ago, you must not let yourself be led around by him either. As an investor, you need to make your own thinking clear..."
Skadi, who had been listening with all her attention, flushed scarlet and stammered into a shout.
"What?! What are you saying all of a sudden!"
"Haven't you done nothing, this whole time, but say how impressive Blow is?"
"That may be, but..."
"If you have something to say, say it plainly, and if something is not so, you must be able to say it is not so. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
Björn looked with satisfaction at Skadi, her face bright red. Blow, watching that with a satisfaction of his own, cleared his throat and spoke.
"With that, we conclude this week's meeting. I'd like to thank everyone who attended."
Applause rang through Hills.
At that same hour, in a practice room of Pétrus Hall.
Cindy, looking somewhat worn after finishing her round of sixteen, jabbed a potion into her mouth and was talking with Hervena.
"Well. I won easy. About like that?"
"I thought you would. I couldn't even picture you losing to Blase, Senior."
"Right."
"Rebecca and Danvers—Rebecca won, of course?"
"Yeah. Rougher than I expected. They're master and retainer, and still."
"They probably figured a match is a match. They're northerners."
"Yeah, seemed that way. Thanks to that, Rebecca's image only got better."
Cindy thought back on the match, which had looked like knights swinging lances at each other from horseback, and shook her head.
"They're both the type who fight with their bodies, aren't they? Like our young master."
"Danvers was better than I expected. If I'd met her in the round of sixteen, it would have been exhausting."
"She's more of a problem because of Rebecca."
"Hm? Why?"
"In some respects, she's better than Rebecca. But she refuses to admit that about herself."
"Mm. I'll give her that—Danvers is the most retainer-like of anyone at our school. Anyway, that's that. How are you planning to face Rebecca?"
"I don't know. If I bind her feet, won't that be enough?"
"That won't be easy."
"What if I spread my magic over a wide area, the way Senior Yulia did?"
"Hm? You left without even watching the department head's match, didn't you?"
"Yes. I left without watching, but I could feel it even from the lab. The thunder was pretty loud."
Cindy, whose spine had gone cold at that magic, spoke in a bleak voice.
"It really was something else. Haah... for the semifinals, I should just count it an honor to have shown up!"
"Oh, come on. Didn't Senior Yulia seem like she was pushing herself?"
"I don't know. She never went into a rampage, and her expression didn't change at all."
"Really? Hmm. Unexpected."
At Hervena's indifferent face, Cindy's expression turned subtle.
Does this girl not think about anything at all? Even so, that's Senior Yulia...
From where Cindy stood, though, this was not the moment to worry about that. The one who had to face Yulia next was not Hervena. It was Cindy herself.
So she undid her twin tails, gathered them into one, and pinned them up, then asked in a tone a little more serious.
"Then tell me what I ought to do. Now."
"All right. First, we have to build the strategy around you, Senior, so—"
And so Hervena's explanation of the match against Yulia began, and Cindy listened more seriously than she ever had.
After the meeting, Blow, Rachel, Yulia, and Jane remained at Hills.
Skadi, set free, set four beer glasses down in front of herself with a beaming face.
"You don't have to go with the Grand Duke?"
"Nope! He told me to go have fun. Thanks to that, I can finally drink beer to my heart's content! Umhaha."
Rachel had been staring at her as she cried out, delighted. Then her gaze turned to Blow.
"Blow Deblique. Are you enchanting even Grand Duke Björn now?"
"Enchanting? What enchanting? And must you talk as if I go around enchanting everyone I meet?"
"I'm saying it because Grand Duke Björn seems to like you that much. He isn't someone who talks much to begin with. Right, Lady Skadi?"
"Well, yes..."
"And Lady Skadi Hetaya. You really are a drinker, aren't you. How many glasses is that already?"
"The tenth..."
At the answer that shrank as it came out, Rachel's eyes narrowed to slits.
"Then why did you say you weren't, at Black Bridge?"
"It's a little embarrassing..."
"Drinking isn't a bad thing, so why? So you're pretty good at it, then?"
"No. I'm just average."
There was not a shred of confidence in it. Blow chuckled.
"Just be honest, Skadi."
"Right. How good? Measured in beer?"
"You can't really measure it in beer."
"Tsk. I think I've heard enough. Next gathering, I'll have to set you against our Rokan."
"Beating Skadi probably won't be easy."
Yulia watched their exchange with a faint smile.
When her eyes met Blow's, he remembered what she had once told him—that she had never been drunk.
"Senior, won't you have a drink as well?"
"I can't keep up with Lady Skadi. When I watched her in Roten, I couldn't follow her at all."
"Ah, is that so? You said you'd never been drunk."
"Strictly speaking, I've never had cause to get drunk."
The more she spoke, the more the life drained out of her voice. Rachel, who had been gazing at her quietly, opened her mouth with care.
"But, Yulia."
"Yes, Lady Rachel."
"Has the Marquess returned to the Imperial Capital?"
"No. He's probably at the hotel."
"Why didn't you ask him to come? He must have been curious."
"......"
Yulia let out a deep sigh at that and gave no answer. Rachel cleared her throat and asked again.
"Did you speak with the Marquess?"
"And since when have you been so concerned?"
"Since the day before Black Bridge?"
Blunt as the question was, Yulia answered as if it hardly mattered. She stared at Rachel, then, as though she didn't know what to make of any of it, turned the glass in front of her between her fingers.
"Honestly. I don't even know if I ought to be glad..."
She looked tired, and she did not look glad. To Blow, she looked as if she needed rest. Skin that had always been smooth had gone rough, and the light that had always sparkled in her eyes was gone.
He couldn't shake the worry. He spoke to her in a careful voice.
"Senior, how about turning in early today?"
"Young Master, I already finished everything from yesterday."
"You've had a great deal of work, so you look a little tired. And the day after tomorrow you have a match against Cindy..."
The hand that had been toying with the glass went still. Yulia murmured, barely loud enough to hear.
"Young Master, if I make you uncomfortable... I'll just go..."
With the words, tears welled in her eyes. Blow, caught off guard, waved his hands.
"No! No! What are you saying?"
"......"
"No—you're always so busy. I only said it because I was worried."
"I just thought you found me uncomfortable."
Her gaze turned toward Rachel and Skadi. They hastily looked somewhere else.
...This is about to turn into a scene.
Blow did what he could to get past it.
"That was a long time ago. These days, nothing of the sort."
"Really?"
"Yes, of course. When have I ever lied to you, my lady?"
"That is certainly true, but..."
Only then did Yulia's expression ease.
Blow caught Jane's eye. She went into the kitchen and came back with a bottle of Ropert malt.
"Shall we all have a glass?"
"Yes."
"I'd like that."
"D-drinking might make you feel better! Senior!! I'll pour you a glass!"
Skadi took the bottle from Jane, pulled the stopper, and filled Yulia's glass first.
Jane thought it would be better if she excused herself from this table, and she glanced around for an opening. Rachel, watching her flinch, spoke with a sly smile.
"Jane Foresti."
"Yes? My lady."
"You aren't thinking of going somewhere and leaving Yulia with a face like that, are you?"
"Of course not! Haha."
Jane sat, as if she had meant to all along, and Ropert malt filled her glass without mercy. After that, for some twenty minutes, they drank in awkward silence, saying nothing at all.
Yulia put away three glasses for every one the others drank. Before long a flush rose in her face, and the gaze that had been fixed on the table shifted to Blow.
"I'm sorry, Young Master. I ought to be showing you what a senior looks like..."
"You already are."
"You know, today I just... I think I wanted to whine a little. Haha. I'm such a fool. Such a fool, me..."
"No, my lady. Everyone has days like that, if they're human..."
He said it warmly. Yulia, who had been staring at him in a daze, let a single tear fall from her eye.
"Young Master, you know. The truth is, the truth is... with my father. Haha..."
She drew out a handkerchief and pressed it hard against the corners of her eyes.
A little time passed. Once she had calmed the feeling somewhat, Yulia lifted the corner of her mouth and barely managed to speak.
"I'm always like this."
"What do you..."
Her eyes looked unbearably sad. Blow, Jane, and Skadi could only stare at her, struck dumb.
Rachel, for whom something had clicked, let out a faint sigh, drew her brows together, and filled her own glass.