Roserpia
Luce murmured the words written on the signboard as if reading them to herself.
“……Roserpia.”
They had come to a bakery.
Just as the coachman—who had insisted the place was famous—had described, even at this late hour the shop was packed to bursting.
It was the kind of establishment where you chose your bread on the first floor, then went up to the second or third to eat it.
“I’ll pick yours out for you too, mister.”
“Sure.”
Luce chose the bread with easy confidence. She wandered the shop for quite a while, finished paying on her own, and came back to Rodeban.
“Let’s go up. They said they’ll bring it to us.”
Rodeban looked at her with a faintly surprised expression.
“You’ve been here a lot, haven’t you?”
Everything she’d just done had been far too practiced.
Luce nodded.
“Yeah. I ate cake with Ar every day.”
“……Every day?”
Just as they started toward the stairs, someone spotted Rodeban and spoke with eyes gone wide.
“Huh—aren’t you Lord Rodeban? I saw you with the knights!”
Every gaze in the shop snapped toward him. Nearly everyone was staring. A brief silence fell, and then—
—Hey! The hero of Winterfelt?
—What did you say? Please give me an autograph!
—M-me too! My son is a huge fan……
People thronged toward him. In an instant the bakery was turning into a madhouse.
“……Luce. Go on up first.”
“Okay.”
Rodeban fled the shop in a hurry. Behind him, the excited voices of the crowd tangled together.
—Where are you going!
—He’s running away!
—Autograph! Autograph!
Fame’s a terrifying thing.
It wasn’t that he felt bad about it…… but being a nuisance of this magnitude was something else entirely. He could hardly hold an impromptu autograph session in someone else’s shop.
He ducked into a random alley and hid himself.
I should cover my face somehow.
The thought of borrowing a mask from the mansion crossed his mind. While he was turning various options over, he sensed a familiar presence nearby and moved toward it.
The moment he rounded a corner, Rodeban’s eyes went wide.
“Huh?”
The pharmacist Reuron had mentioned was already there.
It was Elise.
“……What are you doing here? Being chased again?”
Rodeban sighed and answered.
“Something like that. I think I’ll have to go around with my face covered from now on. I just tried to step into a bakery and this is what I get……”.
Elise nodded as if she’d grasped the whole situation.
“You tried to go into Roserpia and got chased by people. Did you come alone?”
“No. I came with Luce. By the way, Commander—what were you doing in an alley like this?”
“I was looking for you. I just received a request from Duke Crucias. Follow me. I’ll show you the way.”
Rodeban asked,
“By the way, what brings you to the North……”.
Elise answered in a subdued tone.
“Don’t ask.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Following behind her, Rodeban became certain.
She got demoted.
His expression turned complicated—schaudenfreude and a vague guilt that it might somehow have been because of him sat side by side in his chest.
Elise headed for the bakery’s back door and knocked a couple of times.
Knock knock—
An employee came out to greet them and guided them with a deferential attitude.
“Ah! Young Lady Therezevan has arrived. Please come right in!”
Rodeban went up to the third floor with her. It seemed to be a space reserved for nobles—true to the gloomy nature of their station, it was mostly private rooms.
“This way.”
Following the employee’s guidance into the room, they waited a short while before Luce appeared as well.
“Mister. You came with big sis.”
Rodeban suddenly had a thought. He was “mister,” so why was Elise “big sis”? It was nothing important, yet he felt a little wronged.
There’s only a two-year age difference.
Elise grinned and stroked Luce’s head.
“Luce. Long time no see. What about the Academy? Why’d you come?”
Taking a seat, Luce said flatly,
“They said mister went missing in a dungeon.”
“Oh…… That is important, sure. But shouldn’t you be heading back now? If you’re not careful you might get held back……”.
“Held back?”
“Meaning you can’t advance to the next year. Then you can’t take classes with the friends you used to hang out with. Wouldn’t that be lonely and sad?”
Suddenly Luce stared blankly at Rodeban and said,
“It’s fine, big sis. Mister never even got into the Academy.”
Rodeban flinched.
Why did Luce’s words sound like she was teasing him? Whatever her intention, her skill at needling people was top-tier.
Luce continued.
“Even if I don’t go back to the Academy like this, it doesn’t matter. I’ve spent my time meaningfully enough so far.”
“Oh……”.
Elise marveled at Luce’s words, and Rodeban wiped at the corner of his eye. What was this strangely proud feeling?
See, I did well sending her there.
Now she just needed to graduate. After that she’d learn the sword from the outstanding master Rodeban had marked out……
And the world will become completely safe……!
Just as he was floating in that happy fantasy, Luce added one more line.
“So I’m not going back.”
“What?”
Rodeban shot to his feet. His expression looked like he’d been clubbed over the head.
Rodeban explained everything that had happened so far to Elise. He’d done it because he needed an ally to send Luce back to the Academy—but Elise made a surprised face at an odd point.
“You got ambushed three times on the way here? What are you, royalty or something?”
“Ah, yes. But that’s not what’s important……”.
“Why isn’t that important. You lunatic.”
“……”.
The moment the word “lunatic” came out, Luce nodded silently.
Suddenly a knock sounded, and Elise said,
“Come in.”
Employees entered the VIP room and began setting down plates of cake. One of the staff saw Rodeban’s face, eyes going round, then slipped out.
Once the VIP room was quiet again, Elise continued.
“Perfect. You need a bodyguard anyway. Luce is a perfect fit. Her swordsmanship itself is better than yours.”
Rodeban lowered his gaze with a dissatisfied look. Staring at the chocolate cake on the table, he sighed inwardly.
Ugh.
Elise had completely failed to grasp his intent. He couldn’t help but trash-talk his former superior in his head.
Getting demoted must have hit her hard. Her instincts have gone dull.
Elise pulled the cake Rodeban had been looking at over in front of herself and said,
“That disease the Second Prince’s wife caught—it’s called Black Heart Disease by the public, an incurable illness. Even the top healers in the capital haven’t managed to make a cure. Think you can do it?”
Rodeban said briefly,
“I know the ingredients.”
At that moment Elise’s eyes went wide as she asked,
“……What? How? Who told you?”
He’d seen it in the game. Obviously he couldn’t say that, so he had no choice but to move his lying tongue.
“No one in particular told me. It came up in someone else’s memories I experienced when I bonded with a previous Magic Sword.”
Finishing his words, Rodeban took a gulp of his drink. His throat was dry, maybe because of the blatant lie.
Fortunately Elise nodded without much thought.
“……Really? Lucky you. Honestly I had a little interest in a Black Heart Disease cure myself.”
Elise was an unusual person. Most mages only cared about things related to magic, but she was knowledgeable enough about pharmacology that she sometimes did healer work on the side.
However, unlike Luce, Elise was a character who hadn’t appeared in the game, so he didn’t have any particular thoughts about her. To him she was just a superior he’d known for a long time. A little uncomfortable because she was a noble, that was all.
Suddenly Luce pointed at a yellow cake and said,
“Big sis. This one’s good.”
“Right? That’s the most popular cake here.”
Rodeban looked around the table once. While he was nibbling at a single piece, the two women were inhaling cake like a species that made a meal of bread.
Suddenly Elise changed the subject.
“By the way, the ducal house is a bunch of jokers too. Once you finish the request, shouldn’t they hand over the Holy Fluid like normal? They should go get whatever tribute they need themselves. And you didn’t even argue about it there—you just said you’d make the cure. Seriously…… A sucker’s arrived. A sucker’s arrived.”
“……Hm.”
Rodeban tilted his head. At first it seemed like she was badmouthing the ducal house, but at some point the target of the backbiting switched to him. Truly top-tier trash talk, one might say.
Apparently some residual effects of the demotion remained. She had been an elite among elites who’d only ever lived in the capital until now, so it was understandable.
Rodeban silently watched Elise and thought,
Would a well-fed noble understand a commoner’s bitterness?
At that moment the well-fed noble cleared her throat once and said,
“……So, you said you need a pharmacist. How should I help?”
She asked while awkwardly turning her gaze away.
Only then did Rodeban open his mouth.
“Well then……”.
He told her the ingredients that went into the Black Heart Disease cure. In the game, as long as you gathered the materials the system window would craft it for you automatically, so the exact ratios and the process of refining the herbs would be up to her. Because of that he figured it would take some time.
When Elise heard the list of ingredients her eyes went wide.
“Forget-me-not roots from the western Great Forest, Starlight Herb petals from the mid-slopes of the Tron Mountains in the southern Empire, stems of moonflowers that bloom on the outskirts of Tiliard…… It’s more plausible than I expected?”
Luce finally seemed to have finished her predation; she set down her fork and cut in.
“Really?”
“They’re all ingredients related to purifying the heart and magic pollution. So you know the ingredients but not the manufacturing method or ratios, right?”
Rodeban nodded.
“Yes. Those will have to be handled by you, Commander.”
At the word “Commander” Elise’s eyebrows twitched, then she pointed it out.
“I’m not the Eastern Front Commander anymore. I’m the Knights Cooperation Officer Comprehensive something-or-other Commander.”
“Knights Cooperation Officer Comprehensive…… What was that? Could you say it again.”
Elise suddenly furrowed her brow and cut him off.
“Shut up and just call me Elise. You’ve retired now too. How long are you going to keep calling me so stiffly?”
Why was she making a fuss even when he was treating her with the respect due a noble and a superior? The thought that she was exhausting to accommodate crossed his mind, and at the same time a wicked little jab—so this is why she’s an old maid—rose up and made the corner of his mouth twitch.
“Hmm.”
In any case, the moment he put such a remark into words a fight might break out inside the bakery, so it was right to hold back.
And teasing someone who’s helping you isn’t very polite either.
Rodeban closed his eyes briefly as if considering, then opened them and said,
“……I’ll think about it.”
“Augh, seriously……”.
Elise clenched her fist and trembled.