Where the Gaze Lingers
The sound of hooves striking earth rang on for a long while.
From the far side of the magic circle came Rachel's voice, threaded through with a sigh.
"Hey, Blow. You serious?"
"Yes. The negotiations are finished."
"You little—do you even know the meaning of thinking something through?"
"What are you talking about? Do you have any idea how much Young Master Blow agonized before he decided?"
Yulia shot back, as if she couldn't believe her ears. Rachel clicked her tongue, then went on in a voice thick with regret.
"Hey! You didn't sign anything on the Imperial Capital side, did you?"
"There's a condition that any future expansion of the business has to be discussed with me!"
Yulia answered in Blow's place, and her cheeks had flushed a deep red. Her fingers were trembling, her breath gone thin—there was no mistaking how thrilled she was.
"Thorough as ever, Yulia Edfolk."
"Of course! You would have done exactly the same, Lady Rachel."
"Fine. I'll grant you this much—you staked your claim. No idea how you managed to cook that guy so thoroughly, though."
"If you knew how much effort I put in, you'd be shocked speechless!"
"Haah. Why does this get me so worked up? I think it's worse because she never used to be like this."
Hoofbeats sounded for a moment, and then Rachel's irritated voice came through again from beyond the circle.
"Blow, if you signed a contract, send me a copy. I'll mobilize every connection I have in the Imperial Capital and dig out every poison clause and loophole..."
"Lady Rachel? Let's agree not to cross each other's lines."
"Oh? Your voice is shaking a little. Feeling a bit uneasy, are we?"
"As if. From where I'm standing, our Lady Rachel seems the one who's thoroughly annoyed."
"Fine, I'm a little annoyed. There'll be other ventures anyway."
"Oh dear, what am I to do? Young Master Blow has already told me about the other ventures he'll be undertaking with me in the future! He even named the company for me!"
"...What's the name?"
Yulia let the silence hang for a beat, then snapped her fingers as she answered.
"Yulia Amore...!"
A remark tossed off in passing seemed to have swollen out of all proportion, and Blow cleared his throat. She was more excited than she'd ever been over a plate of corn cheese, eyes sparkling, and the sheer innocence of it dragged a laugh out of him before he could stop himself.
"What even is that? What I don't understand is why you aren't the one naming it, Yulia."
"It's a cosmetics company. And the name is exactly to my liking, you know?"
"Blow, selling cosmetics? What next—dolls and potions?"
Blow, caught out the instant he heard it, scratched his head as he answered.
"I'm sorry to say we're already selling them."
"...Since when?"
"We opened yesterday. The potion shop."
"Oh? Then we're good. Haha."
At the ease that had returned to Rachel's voice, Yulia muttered, plainly displeased.
"I, Yulia Edfolk, truly cannot fathom what exactly is 'good' about that."
"Well, once you start doing this and that, you might need my help, no?"
"Oh, please. I'll make sure it never comes to that."
"Haha. Let's talk it through more seriously when Black Bridge comes around."
"Suit yourself."
"You checked the letter, right? The banquet at the gathering—you're the one preparing it."
"Yes. It's being held in Caipol, after all."
"Then I appreciate it. As if I could trust that Greig."
They had been bickering like children and then, without warning, slid into business, and Blow was still trying to match their temperature when the communication circle lit once more.
"Hey, Blow. Also, a bit of a variable came up."
"What kind?"
"Rosalyn says she'll be unveiling their new liquor that day."
"What an enormous variable."
A sigh escaped Blow, who knew all too well what sort of person she was.
"You know, right? How she wears people out?"
"Extremely well."
"So I told her to go ahead. Just so you're aware."
"Anything else?"
"A few marriage announcements?"
"Those will be difficult to react to."
"Do your best to congratulate them like you mean it."
Marriage. He had thought it a distant matter, and the sudden nearness of it made him scratch his head.
"None for you, my lady?"
"Me? If you've got a decent one, introduce him. Someone stronger than me."
"Does a person like that even exist on the continent?"
"Why are you taking this so seriously? Honestly, I don't care. So long as he's sharp."
Blow, who had been turning it over, soon tilted his head and asked her, "And you're asking me that right now?"
"Guess I am. Anyway, call me again sometime next week. Make me wait this time too, and I'll find out whether your new restaurant wins, or my sword aura does."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Haghia."
"Yes, my lady."
"Give him one high-grade mana stone. For Blow."
"Yes, understood."
Startled, Blow hurried toward that side and called out.
"My lady? What are you saying? A high-grade mana stone?"
"It's an opening gift."
"Wouldn't that be far too expensive?"
"Lose the cow once, and you'd better fix the barn properly! Over."
The circle went dark before Blow could get an answer out. While he stood there blank, Haghia offered him a bow. Beside him, Yulia had covered her face with both hands and folded forward at the waist.
"Senior?"
Worried, Blow stepped closer, and when Yulia lifted her head, a smile had bloomed wide across her face.
"Haha, I'm fine. Young Master. Haha."
A little later the laughter cut off clean, and Yulia walked over to the tables where the other guests sat.
"We... were a bit noisy, weren't we?"
Faced with her poised bearing, every guest glanced around, taking the measure of the room. Yulia looked them over and added a line, making no effort to hide her delight.
"By way of apology, I, Yulia Edfolk, will be covering all of your meals today, so please eat to your hearts' content!"
"Whoa!"
A cheer burst from the guests. Blow went to her and tried to stop her.
"Senior! Do you even know how much that'll come to?"
"Young Master, listen."
Yulia paused, then went on in a voice gone soft and pleased.
"I am in such a good mood right now. Hearing Lady Rachel's... flustered voice, I mean. So... I beat the Lady, didn't I? Ten years of pent-up frustration just cleared right out."
And with that, Yulia returned to her seat. Blow watched her beam and grin, and decided that if she was happy, then it was a good thing.
"Hey, Blow. What is this?"
Cindy was staring at him as if she couldn't believe it, and Blow turned the question back on her.
"What?"
"When did you get so close with our PR chief?"
"Mm... after the spar?"
"And Lady Rachel?"
"After the spar?"
"Haah, what in the world happened at that spar I was the only one who didn't see?!"
Cindy raked her own hair into a mess, looking as if the injustice might kill her. She was this furious because she had been the one left holding every last bit of the cleanup. Twisting her whole body under the unfairness of it, she was met by Yulia's voice, quietly boastful.
"Chief, Young Master Blow was incredibly dashing back then, you know?"
"...Didn't some sphere come out?"
"Before that."
Yulia cut it off clean, and Blow, for no particular reason, straightened his clothes. Cindy looked at him, then shifted her gaze to Skadi and Herbena.
"Is that true?"
"Well, I mean..."
"......"
Skadi scratched her head and mumbled past it. Herbena's face went red. Seeing that, Cindy let out a hollow breath.
"What is this lukewarm reaction? So it really happened?"
"......."
"Agh, I should've gone when Indoor told me to!"
"Enough with the regrets. Why don't you just eat?"
Red and Yellow and pork ribs came up onto the table. What caught Cindy's eye first was the sausage dish she had eaten once before in the PR department—the one she had liked far too much. Recognizing the curry powder dusted over it at a glance, she couldn't help marveling as she spoke to Blow.
"Oh, this is curry powder? So when you said that dish was going to evolve one more time, this is what you meant?"
"Yeah. Try it."
"Young Master! What is this?"
"Ah, it's the pork rib, braised down together with the sauce—"
He was in the middle of explaining the ribs to Yulia when praise kept spilling from Cindy, who had bitten into the Red and Yellow.
"Hey, hey! This is just insane."
"So I did it right."
"Yeah—the best thing I've ever eaten! Seriously, what is this! Can I order everything else too?"
"Of course. Judging by your reaction, Melo must be in good form today."
"Melo?"
"Our head chef."
At some point Melo had peeked out from the kitchen and was watching them with a silly little smile. Cindy took in a frame even smaller than her own, and she was already on the small side for her age; her brow drew tight, and she shot Blow a sharp look.
"What is this, a crime scene of child exploitation...?"
"Does she look like you?"
"...A little."
"Hard to call it exploitation when you see how much Melo loves cooking. And she gets paid what she's worth."
"What? How much?"
"The contract still has to be opened up, but... not counting incentives and her guarantee, more than fifteen gold a month?"
Cindy startled, then spoke while trembling.
"Don't bullshit me."
"Strange, how you react like that even when I tell you the truth."
"......"
Fifteen gold was about what an ordinary grown man earned over several months. And that was after something else had already been taken out? Tears welled in her eyes as her own situation—being ground down for nothing—passed through them.
"Hey, Blow Deblique."
"What."
"You're not hiring more people? I'm ridiculously good at the work."
"You graduated from a magic academy. A talent like that's too expensive. No."
"Seriously... haah... I'm not even doing Finance next year. Please, just use me!"
"If the business gets huge, I'll think about it."
"That just means you won't!"
Cindy's gaze slid over to Yulia, who was watching them with open fondness.
"I attended school so diligently... why does it feel like that guy is pulling ahead of me?"
"Young Master Blow is a special case. And Cindy, you'll be entering the Imperial Palace once you graduate, won't you?"
"...I'm not so sure, actually."
Blow looked at Cindy's sullen face as if he couldn't understand her.
"What the hell are you talking about? If you can get in, of course you should."
"Do you have any idea how much a commoner has to walk on eggshells in the Imperial Palace? Even just after graduation, honestly, ugh..."
"Ah. Yeah. Fair enough."
Blow nodded along. Meanwhile Cindy looked at Herbena, who was sipping her beer.
"Herbena."
"Yes, Senior."
"But why are you stuck to this guy? Seriously, our Finance kids debate it every single time. Go explain it to them."
"Mmm..."
"With talent like yours... you could do whatever you wanted, couldn't you? Why cling to him?"
"She's right, Herbena. Now that I think about it, he turned me down once too."
Even Yulia said so, and the air became one in which Herbena could not stay silent. Blow watched her with a blank face, as if it hardly concerned him, and the fact that he took it as a matter of course shamed her until her face went as red as a tomato.
"I... received... the Young Master's kindness."
"Oh my, really?"
"Wow... romantic."
"Senior... what are you going to do after graduation?"
"Me? Well, for now—"
Once she had opened her mouth, Cindy began laying out one possibility after another, starting from university. And through all of it, Skadi drank her beer alone, listening to their conversation in silence.
....Everyone's striding ahead.
What Skadi felt now was exclusion. It was like being the only closed bud among flowers in full bloom.
Cindy could talk like that all she wanted, but she was skilled at magic besides, and good at the work—a talent every noble had their eye on. Herbena possessed the gift of an archmage, which went without saying. These days, whenever she went to class, the teachers kept her after it ended, so she often ended up heading to the next lesson on her own. Blow, too—Skadi had thought he still stood on her side of things, but he had bloomed completely. Enough that even haughty Cindy would joke about asking him for work.
And then there was Yulia: the backing of an immense house, an officer of the student council, and a strong chance of becoming its next president. Business sense on top of that. Skadi, whose entire claim amounted to a named house and a face people occasionally called pretty, couldn't even muster jealousy toward her. When Yulia was managing a hotel and preparing the banquet for the gathering, Skadi couldn't so much as choose a dress on her own.
Everyone's blooming so beautifully.
And I feel like I'm rotting, still just a bud...
Thinking that, Skadi sank into gloom and lowered her eyes. Someone tapped her, and when she looked up, Blow was watching her with worry on his face.
"What are you doing?"
"H-huh...?"
"Why the funeral face? Food not sitting right?"
"...No, no! Let's have a drink!!"
She was the most lacking one here. She couldn't wreck the mood on top of it. Skadi hauled the corners of her mouth up in an exaggerated smile and raised her voice.
"...Yeah. Let's have one."
Blow let out a thin sigh and touched his cup to hers. Just then Linne and Rowbedi, changed out of their work clothes, came up to Blow and reported.
"Boss. The hall's almost cleared."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. Miss Megan and Mr. Hans said they'd handle the remaining guests, and told us to join you here."
He looked toward the kitchen, and the two of them nodded at him. Something occurred to Blow, and he beckoned Megan over.
"Megan, bring Jane. I'll watch the hall for a bit."
"Yes, understood."
"If she's not in her room, she's probably at the potion shop."
"Yes, Young Master."
"Ah! I-I'll go to the potion shop! I, um, left my assignment there yesterday."
"Do that."
The moment he gave permission, Megan and Linne started out of the restaurant. Linne headed straight for the potion shop. Megan climbed to the second floor, where their lodgings were, and knocked on Jane's door.
"Miss Jane."
She called for a long while, and no answer came back. She opened the door a crack and checked inside. The bed was empty, the blankets neatly folded and put away.
She must be at the potion shop. Linne went to fetch her, so they ought to be out by now.
Thinking so, she shut the door, came back down to the first floor, and looked toward the potion shop. But Jane and Linne, who should already have come out, were nowhere to be seen.
They said the two of them do something like experiments at the potion shop. Is she in there watching?
Even so, Megan started for the potion shop. Jane was the person on whom the gaze of Young Master Blow Deblique—the young master to whom she had pledged every ounce of her loyalty—lingered the longest. Long enough that her friend Herbena was openly, visibly jealous.
Calling to mind Herbena's face, which became so easy to read the moment anyone mentioned the Young Master, Megan let out a soft little laugh and turned her steps toward the second floor.
But the closer she drew, the more snatches of Linne and Jane reached her—words she could not believe.
"H-how am I supposed to keep th-this a secret!"
"Linne, I'm begging you. Please...."
"N-no. This is...."
"Linne, that's why I'm asking you like this. Okay?"
"A p-potion for s-suspended animation? I... I absolutely can't!"
Linne's voice, shouting loud enough to empty the potion shop—something Megan could scarcely imagine. She froze where she stood, and her breath stopped dead.