Chapter 176: The Sword Witch (2)
From the first impression, the first thing that Riley noticed was the black blind on her eyes and the staff. He then noticed her tattered clothing and pure white skin. Riley tilted his head to the side.
‘What is this?’
Riley was not certain. Perhaps it was a sense of déjà vu. Maybe sothing just felt mysterious. He felt a strange sensation that could not be described in words.
“Excuse … Everyone?”
The blind woman tilted her head to the side. Because Riley had not responded, she was wondering if she had heard sothing wrong and mistaken it as people coming to visit her ho.
“Ah, the thing is…”
Riley kept silent and just stared at the woman. Instead of him, Nainiae opened her mouth and started to glance around.
She was not sure if she should just ask straight out ‘are you the Sword Witch?’ or if she should ask indirectly by saying ‘do you know about the Sword Witch?’
“If it is a long story, then why don’t you co in? I’m not able to endure the wind from outside for long…”
Riley was sure that the woman couldn’t see because of the blind, yet it looked like the woman was not weary of the visitors. Instead, she was trying to invite the guests in. Panicking, Nainiae started to ramble on.
“Ah, well… That is… Young Master, what would you like to do?”
Nainiae whispered and asked. Riley pondered about it for a mont and took a step forward. He said,
“Well then, we will accept your generosity.”
“Yes, please co in.”
Tagak… tagak…
Perhaps she had difficulties with her vision. The woman with the blind on her eyes used the staff to feel the ground and went back into her ho. Riley exchanged a look with Nainiae and followed in.
“Earlier, you said ‘the children are not here.’ So, I presu you do not live here by yourself?”
Having heard Riley’s question, the woman walked toward the fireplace and sat on the chair nearby. She said,
“Yes, because my eyes are like this… It can’t be helped. My pupil is helping in daily living.”
The woman looked bitter and sad as she muttered. She was fiddling with her blind. Riley entered the ho as he looked around inside and sat at an empty chair. He asked,
“A pupil?”
“Yes… She has a tendency to rush things, but compared to other children of her age, she is a good child.”
The woman was feeling the warmth from the fireplace. It seed she was thinking about her pupil. There was a faint smile on her face. Nainiae, the one who entered the house after Riley, made a suggestion as she looked around inside,
“Excuse . If it is all right with you, can I please use the kitchen? If you are uncomfortable with doing so, then I won’t, but… Since you allowed us to co in, I was wondering if I could make tea for you.”
Having heard Nainiae, the woman with blind on her eyes turned her head toward Nainiae and nodded. It seed she was pleased with the idea. The woman said,
“Yes, thank you.”
With the woman’s permission, Nainiae promptly moved toward the kitchen. She noticed that the kitchen was a ss. She looked around the kitchen in disarray and sighed.
‘Should I tidy it up a bit?’
Because she was trained as a maid, she was unable to leave such a ss be. Thinking it could not be helped, Nainiae started to show off her stuff.
‘I am sorry, Ms. Willa. I don’t have ti, so I’ll use it for a mont.’
Nainiae apologized inside to Willa, the head maid of the Iphalleta House who must be at the mansion at the mont. She used two telekinesis magic spells at the sa ti and cleaned up the ss at the kitchen and the living room as she boiled water.
‘You didn’t have to bother with those.’
Riley watched Nainiae quickly starting the cleanup. He then redirected his gaze at the woman.
“The house looks pretty old. It looks like you had been living here for a long ti?”
“…”
The woman was keeping her mouth firmly closed. Having heard Riley’s question, she lifted her head which was directed at her laps. She directed her face toward where Riley was and asked back,
“Excuse , but…”
“…?”
“Where did you co from?”
“…”
Inside, Riley thought, ‘you are finally asking that?’ and complained.
“I am thankful for being treated with tea even though I’m just a stranger. Still… I need to ask why you have co to et an old woman like myself.”
Listening to the woman, Riley wondered where she was getting at. He furrowed his eyebrows.
“Old?”
“I should know if… you are here to steal gold jewelries or just here to be a conversing partner to an old woman, don’t you think?”
“…”
“Well, I don’t think there is anything here that’s worth stealing, but still…”
For so reason, the woman was not concerned. She seed to be assured with lots of margins to spare. Riley stared at the woman and responded as if he was making an excuse.
“If we are thieves, then we wouldn’t be sitting with you and talking to you or making tea for you. We would have bounced after packing what we ca for.”
“Huhu. That makes sense.”
In response to Riley’s answer, she laughed quietly. Facing Riley, the woman asked again,
“Then can you please tell ?”
The woman was asking where they ca from and why they wanted to see her. Nainiae was bringing the tea. Riley glanced at her and sent a ssage through telepathic communication.
She tilted her head to the side and responded in telepathic communication,
Riley asked Nainiae to give a brief summary to Nara and have him coback with her. Riley gently slid the tea cup toward the woman and said,
“Please have so tea.”
“The aroma slls wonderful. It must be the winter herb. It probably was not easy to extract the flavor from it. She must be very skilled.”
The tea didn’t have a particularly strong sll, yet she figured out what it was. Nainiae looked quite surprised. She looked at the woman.
“The scent… You can sll it?”
“As blind as I am, my sense of sll is quite good.”
Having heard the woman, Nainiae thought about Sera, her fellow maid. She sniffed and sniffed, but her gaze ran into Riley’s gaze. She tumbled and prepared teleportation magic.
“… First, how about we introduce ourselves?”
The woman felt around the table and grabbed the tea cup. Riley also followed suit and grabbed his tea cup and introduced himself.
“My na is Riley.”
He thought about giving a fake na. However, he felt like she might notice, so he decided to tell her his real na. However, he skipped his family na.
“Riley?”
“I believe this is my first ti eting you. Do you know that na?”
“…”
The woman with the blinds shook her head. It seed that she was thinking hard about sothing. She said,
“No, this is my first ti hearing that na. However, I think it has a great aning.”
She promptly introduced herself.
“My na is Inaril Esodams.”
“Esodams?”
“It is not a nobility’s na. It’s just a na.”
Earlier, the woman had praised Nainiae for her superb tea brewing skills. She realized she could no longer hear Nainiae’s breathing. The woman perked up her ears.
“The young lady who ca with you…where did she go?”
“She went to the restroom.”
It seed Riley had prepared a response. He answered imdiately.
Riley asked the next question right away.
“This is a question I didn’t get to finish asking earlier. Have you been living here for a long ti? The building is pretty old and the furniture’s are pretty old too. Everything looks very old?”
“Yes, it has been… quite a while.”
Having heard Riley’s question, Inaril fiddled with top of the cup. She nodded and said that was the case.
“Ever since I beca blind, my sense of ti had been fading. It would be difficult for to tell you how long it has been since I settled in this place.”
She added that it had been pretty long since she had settled here. Next, she asked about Riley.
“So, Mr. Riley… Considering how your voice sounds, you must be quite young?”
“Pardon? Ah, yes.”
“That young lady earlier… Are you two lovers?”
“What the, that’s so out of the blue…”
“Um, what should I say? The atmosphere?”
‘You can’t even see, so just what atmosphere are you talking about…’
Riley looked dumbfounded. He felt a presence from the rear, so he casually turned his head.
‘… They are back?’
“Um? Wait…”
Riley turned his head around to look, but he casually moved his eyes back because of what Inaril said.
“…?”
“That just now… Perhaps it was just my mood. The young lady who brew a cup of tea must be a mage. She is quite skilled on top of that…”
Inaril’s blind was directed exactly at Nainiae who had just appeared before Riley.
‘How did she know?’
She talked about the atmosphere between two people. Although she shouldn’t be able to see, she figured out exactly who it was that had just appeared through teleportation. Riley narrowed his eyes and glared at Inaril.
“Are you really blind?”
“Yes, I cannot see.”
Having heard Riley’s question, Inaril brought her hand toward the blind on her eyes. She started to slowly untie the blind that was wrapped around her eyes.
“What are you doing all of the sudden…”
The blinds that covered her eyes was untied, and… her face that was hidden underneath was revealed. Riley’s mouth opened on its own.
“…”
“Will this be enough as the proof?”
On Inaril’s face… On her eyes to be precise, there was a long cut wound. It appeared to be the result of soone cutting across her eyes with a sword.
She showed her scar which went across both of her eyes. She covered her eyes with the blind and said,
“… Sound of the breathing…”
“Pardon?”
“I think another guest ca? Am I right?”
Inaril faced toward Nara who had just arrived here by following Nainiae and tilted her head to the side. Nara still had not figured out the situation yet, so he started to whisper to Nainiae.
“W… Who is she?”
“First, can you please check her color?”
“Color?”
Nainiae said she will answer his question later. Inaril had a small smile on her face.
“Huhu…”
It was not that she was laughing to belittle and let it be known that she knew what they were up to. It was a bitter, sad smile. To let them know she heard it all, she added sothing about Nara.
“Since you are talking about colors, it seems you also brought soone who is a basilisk. I was not trying to hear it, but I ended up hearing it. Because my eyes… are like this…”
Nara looked at Inaril, the woman with blinds who was sitting at front of the fireplace. Nara furrowed his brows, took a step toward her and asked,
“… You, what are you?”
“…”
It was not because it had been found out that he was a basilisk.
“Is the color purple?”
Nara was standing behind Riley. Riley asked Nara as he glared at Inaril. Nara opened and closed his mouth a few tis like a fish and said carefully,
“… No.”
‘No?’
“This woman…”
As if he could not believe it, Nara blinked his eyes several tis and stared at Inaril. He explained about her color that he tried to observe.
“… does not have any color.”
* * *
It was at the entrance of the Rolla Village. There was Iril, a girl who was wearing a wide and flat hat. She looked back at the young man who was following her. She clicked her tongue.
“Ryan. Stop dragging your feet. Follow quickly.”
“No, wait. Just what are you trying to do so suddenly? Also, the master is by herself, isn’t she? If it is not sothing important, won’t it be better for you to go by yourself…”
“Grandmother is all right. On the contrary, it is better to take care of things like this quickly. Grandmother does not have much ti left.”
“Um? Not much ti left? What do you an?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“I won’t understand unless you explain properly.”
“There will be a test.”
“A test?”
Iril was leading the way. Having heard what she was saying, Ryan had a puzzled look on his face. He suddenly stopped walking.
“Um? What are you doing? I told you to follow quickly?”
“…”
Ryan was following Iril to the outside of Rolla Village. He had a reason for stopping all of the sudden.
It was because he found soone he knew.
Among rcenaries, this old butler was more famous across the land than Count Stein, his father. The butler was walking toward the Rolla Village. Their gazes t and the butler stopped walking.
“… Young Master Ryan?”
Iril floated a question mark on her face.
“Uuuing? What’s this? Soone you know?”
The rcenaries called him the rcenary hero.
“Ian…”
The Iphalleta Family’s butler was facing Ryan in hooded cape who was on his way out of Rolla Village.
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