The Letter from the North
The letter was written in elegant, old-fashioned handwriting.
Hendel, I heard you will be enrolling at the Academy this year. Congratulations on restoring your mana circuits. I look forward to the day we meet again.
— Marine Deriposer —
How cute.
A soft smile tugged at my lips as I gently stroked the letter, then rose from my seat.
If things had gone according to the original plan, I would have enrolled at the Academy the moment I turned sixteen and reunited with Marine right away.
Unfortunately, restoring my mana circuits took longer than expected, so I ended up enrolling a year after her.
Marine has changed a lot too.
The little tomboy had matured dramatically with age. When we first parted, she used to send letters every single day, which was honestly overwhelming. But as she grew older, the frequency slowly decreased.
Thankfully, she still visited faithfully once every six months. Even that stopped once she entered the Academy.
Is this what it feels like when your child leaves the nest?
I felt both proud that the villainess had resisted her tragic fate and grown into a fine young lady, and a little bittersweet at the same time.
I carefully tucked the letter Marine had sent after so long into my coat pocket and stood up from the chair.
“Cani, let’s get going.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Cani had accumulated enough years of service to rise to the position of Maid Chief, yet she had graciously volunteered to serve as my personal maid during my time at the Academy.
“I’ve packed everything we need for the trip. You only need to worry about yourself, Young Master.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Cani had entered her mid-twenties now and had matured mentally as well. She still occasionally showed glimpses of the playful maid from the old days, but she seemed to feel a great sense of responsibility in her role as Maid Chief.
I once saw her leading the other maids in their duties, and embarrassingly enough, I found it a little sexy.
Still, she was at the age where she should be thinking about starting a family, yet she showed no interest in finding a partner. That worried me.
“Cani, once we get to the Academy, don’t just follow me around all the time. Try to find yourself a man.”
Cani’s hands paused for a brief moment.
“…I have no intention of getting married yet…”
The average marriage age in the Empire was seventeen. Commoners sometimes married later, but this was starting to get risky.
“If you wait any longer, you might end up alone for the rest of your life, you know?”
With the mature allure she radiated these days, if she put her mind to it, she could easily charm a baron or some other minor noble.
But if she waited much longer, even that might become difficult.
“If I can’t get married, you’ll take responsibility, won’t you, Young Master?”
“Pffft.”
This crazy maid!
I thought she had finally grown up after becoming Maid Chief, but now that she was stepping down from the position, her true nature was coming out again.
What annoyed me even more was that her teasing actually made me blush.
“Oh, your cheeks are turning red.”
“Shut up.”
No matter how mature my mental age was, this body was that of a boy in the prime of puberty. Getting embarrassed by a beautiful woman’s teasing was a perfectly natural reaction.
Yeah, it couldn’t be helped.
“Depart!”
At the escort knight’s signal, the carriage began to move.
I stared blankly out the window at the rapidly changing scenery.
Creeeaaaak. Creeeeeak.
The cicadas were passionately calling out for mates.
I listened to their cries in a daze and muttered, “Even the cicadas are looking for partners, but Cani still can’t find one.”
“Ehh?”
Cani, who had immediately sprawled out in the carriage the moment she stepped down from her position as Maid Chief, sat up in surprise.
I stuck my tongue out at her in a playful taunt, then quickly put in my earplugs and ignored the whining that followed.
When I used the strategy of completely refusing to engage in conversation, Cani grumbled about the difference in our status before flopping back down.
She really was an incredible maid.
The Imperial Academy’s first semester began in September.
Since the journey from our territory to the capital took about two weeks, our group had left in the first week of August with plenty of time to spare.
“Ugh… it’s so hot…”
No matter how comfortable the carriage was, sitting under the blazing midsummer sun was pure torture.
I should have invested more resources into developing air conditioning…
Over the past several years, I had worked with the Carde Magic Tower to release countless inventions into this world, greatly improving the quality of life for the Empire’s citizens.
But air conditioning was the one thing I just couldn’t manage to develop.
We had created many magic tools similar to air conditioners, but true air conditioning proved far too difficult.
I had tried to force it using magic, but the cost-effectiveness was so terrible that we scrapped the project.
“Cani… turn on the air cooler.”
“Yes!”
Among the cooling devices we had developed, the most successful was the air cooler that used water or ice to blow out cool breezes.
It still required mana batteries to operate, making it far too expensive for commoners to even dream of, but it had become wildly popular among wealthy nobles.
Vrrrrrm.
When I pressed the activation button, the mana stored in the battery began to move and operate the pump.
Hssssss.
The mages had done their best to minimize the noise, but since it was powered by mana, there was still a noticeable sound.
“Now I can finally breathe.”
The noise was pretty bad, but the effect was excellent. The carriage interior, which had felt like a sauna, cooled down enough that we could actually catch our breath.
“Move over.”
“Young Master, you’re so mean…”
I pushed away the cheeky maid who dared to stick her face right in front of the cool breeze, trying to hog it all for herself while leaving her master behind.
Shoved away from the wind, Cani pouted, her lips pursed in clear displeasure.
I sighed and patted the seat beside me.
“Don’t hog the cool air all by yourself. Come sit here and share it with me.”
“Okay!”
Like an obedient puppy, Cani quickly plopped down beside me.
She gave off a sweet scent—maybe she had put on perfume? It smelled like cherries. Or blueberries?
Even after dealing with all sorts of fragrances while working on developments at the magic tower, this one was hard to place.
“Cani, did you put on perfume?”
“Huh? Do I smell?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t put anything on, though…”
She hadn’t put anything on…
It seemed I had mistaken Cani’s natural body scent for something sweet.
“Sniff sniff. I don’t smell anything special…”
Cani buried her face in her own chest and started sniffing herself.
I nearly jumped out of my skin at her behavior.
“Hey, you crazy maid! Who sniffs their own chest?”
“But there’s the most flesh on my chest, so that’s where I sweat the most. When you want to check for sweat smell, it’s best to sniff right here!”
“…”
While my adolescent body was busy reacting to her on its own, it seemed Cani didn’t see me as a man at all.
If I had to guess, the way she looked at me was probably similar to how I looked at Marine.
It was a bit of a stretch to say she had raised me, but she had taken care of me since I was little. If she had been conscious of me as a man, she wouldn’t be doing something so shameless.
Without thinking, I gave her plump thigh a light smack like I used to do when we were younger.
“Hic!”
“…”
What the…?
Normally she would whine and I would play along, but this time Cani’s cheeks flushed bright red as she averted her gaze.
The mood just got weird.
“I’m, uh, gonna step out for some fresh air.”
“Ah… okay…”
Unable to bear the awkward atmosphere any longer, I fled the carriage.
Creeeeeak. Creeeeeak.
The moment I stepped out, the blazing sunlight and the chorus of cicadas hit me all at once.
Oh no, this is bad.
The air was so hot it was hard to breathe. I immediately regretted leaving the cool carriage.
I should just go back in.
It would hurt my pride to come straight back after saying I was going out for air, but my health was more important than pride.
“Eek!”
When I suddenly opened the door, Cani, who had been twisting her body around, jumped in surprise.
I scratched my head awkwardly and made an excuse.
“It was way too hot outside, so I came right back.”
“Ah… I see…”
The redness had faded from Cani’s face, but she was still avoiding my eyes.
Well, even if she didn’t see me that way, having her thigh touched would naturally make her self-conscious. She was a grown adult now, and I hadn’t been considerate enough.
I reached out and gave her back a couple of light pats.
“Hngh!”
“…”
She was this sensitive after just one touch to the thigh? I was genuinely taken aback.
“Sorry. You’re a full-grown adult now, and I wasn’t being thoughtful enough.”
“Uh… um…”
“It just reminded me of the old days and I touched you without thinking. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
“N-no, it’s fine!”
“Huh?”
Cani twisted her body shyly, her expression bashful.
“I… I liked it, so please keep hitting me from now on too.”
“…”
What? Did I hear that wrong?
In all my years of living, I had never once doubted my hearing, but the words that had just come out of Cani’s mouth made me question it.
“W-what did you say?”
“I… I liked it, so if you want to, Young Master, you can keep hitting me…”
“Hey, you crazy maid!”
I had no idea until now, but it seemed our maid had a rather perverted preference.
This was probably what happened when someone reached marriageable age but still couldn’t find a partner.
I made a firm resolution that once we reached the Academy, I would absolutely find Cani a suitable match.
