The next day.
I visited the ojousama and the other’s room first thing in the morning and when I got in, many of the adults were groaning.
“Ugh… Ryouma-kun… Sorry, but… Could you make that… dicine again?” [Reinhart]
“ too. I know it’s unsightly considering how old I am, but… I drank too much, it seems…” [Reinbach]
“ too… Thanks…” [Elize]
They were really happy yesterday, after all…
Even Arone-san and Lilian-san don’t look so good. It was a celebration, so they too drank a little, but it seems they can’t hold their liquor either.
Of the adults, only Sebasu-san was alright. I was sure he’d drank a lot, but he seems perfectly fine. As for the ojousama, although legally speaking it was fine for her to drink, she only drank one cup to be safe.
Anyway, I went to the drugstore and the grocery store just like last ti and bought the ingredients, then I went back to the inn and concocted the dicine.
After Reinhart-san and the others drank it, they told to accompany Elia.
“Ryouma-kun, sorry, but could you watch over Elia today?” [Reinhart]
“With the sorry state we’re in, we really can’t look after her right now.” [Reinbach]
“What he said. Thanks.” [Elize]
Maybe it’s because we won’t be eting soon for a while, so they’re basically telling to go make so mories with her?
If that’s the case, then I can’t refuse here.
“Sure thing.” [Ryouma]
As I said that, they said thanks and went to their bedrooms. It seems they really do have a hangover, though.
After seeing the three off, I talked to the ojousama.
“Well then, what should we do for the day?” [Ryouma]
“Ryouma-san, don’t you have work? Aren’t you busy?” [Elia]
“The employees can take care of the store by themselves already, so I just need to show my face once in the morning and in the evening.” [Ryouma]
“…Then can you show what you normally do?” [Elia]
“If that’s alright with you, sure…” [Ryouma]
Is she really fine with that?
“I’ll be looking forward to it then!” [Elia]
Like this I ended up accompanying the ojousama. Sebasu-san also ca with us as our guardian. We dropped by the store once to show my face, then we went to the mines.
When we got to the mines, I started treating the cloths as usual. There were so things I did that weren’t part of the norm, but that was just letting the ril birds play around in my Dinsion Ho. That’s sothing that happened before I started working. And then there’s the ojousama helping out in my work.
I wonder if she’s really okay with just this?
Naturally, I ended up thinking like that, but I had no idea what activity we could do, so I asked the ojousama.
“What are we doing next?” [Elia]
“Nothing in particular. After telling the sticky slis to treat the cloths with their sticky liquid, then all that’s left is to wait for them to finish drying. We have a lot of free ti now. Normally, I’d train or make dolls during this ti.” [Ryouma]
“Oh, I see… I thought you were always busy at work.” [Elia]
“Well, I used too. But after the store beca self-sustaining, I’ve gotten plenty of free ti. Do I really look that busy?” [Ryouma]
“You always seed to be working from dusk till dawn without any rest, so yeah…” [Elia]
“There are tis when I’m doing nothing too, so I’ve had to find ways to kill ti too. Like making stones to make buildings with or sothing. I’m quite leisurely, you know.” [Ryouma]
“Really?.. By the way, you ntioned making so stones to build a house with. Does that an you’re really going to be living here?” [Elia]
“Living here would make doing my rounds easier. I can also train my magic here without causing other people problems.
“When are you going to start building your house? You’re not going to live in this tunnel, are you?” [Elia]
Hmm…
“I was thinking of just making a simple shed with the stones or digging out a hole in the tunnel to live, then slowly building my place for a while, actually.” [Ryouma]
“In that case, can we talk for a bit?” [Elia]
“Of course.” [Ryouma]
We left the workshop and went to a well-lit place outside, where I made ourselves so chairs using earth magic.
“Ojousama, you’ll be going to the academy starting this year, right?” [Ryouma]
“Yes. All noble children have to attend the royal academy starting at 12 years old. Well, it’s not like we actually have to go, but if we don’t go, my reputation among nobles will decline.” [Elia]
“I see.” [Ryouma]
“…Actually, I don’t want to go either, but it can’t be helped.” [Elia]
“Really?” [Ryouma]
“Dad, mom, and even grandpa says they wouldn’t let go if it weren’t customary.” [Elia]
“…Why?” [Ryouma]
“The gates of the Royal Academy are also open to commoners, and every year, a lot of them would enrol. While in the school, there’s no difference in status, but there are still a few people who can’t help but cause problems.” [Elia]
“And as for the subjects, well… You could study them by hiring so tutors, but in the school…” [Elia]
The ojousama paused there.
“But in the school what?” [Ryouma]
“…There’s a chance it might be hard to study things that one should be studying.” [Elia]
“What’s the point of the school then?” [Ryouma]
“I don’t know either, actually. My parents just told to go make friends, and to be careful not to be overly influenced by the atmosphere in school. They said it didn’t matter if my grades were bad or if I couldn’t do what was taught in school, but I had to train like I was taught back at ho.” [Elia]
Huh… Those three are going that far?
I should ask Sebasu-san too.
“Noble and affluent families can all prepare specialized teachers on their own, but society has its own requirents, and as such, one has to study a variety of things regardless of one’s status. It is open, though. Of course, Ryouma-sama, there’s no need for you to go.” [Sebasu]
“That’s why dad didn’t invite you to go, right?” [Elia]
“Ah, co to think of it…” [Ryouma]
He certainly hasn’t said anything of the sort.
“Is it really not needed.” [Ryouma]
“If you go, you’ll surely be an excellent student who will attract the eyes of all nobles. At the very least, I’m sure you would in swordsmanship and magic classes.” [Elia]
“And your problems will increase too, in both the bad and the good sense.” [Sebasu]
“I see…” [Ryouma]
“That’s why I don’t feel like it. If it weren’t a custom, I would much rather train with you.” [Elia]
Hmm… I never enjoyed school life either, so I can’t really say anything here… Anyway, the ojousama is the duke’s daughter, so she probably wouldn’t be bullied, right?
“That’s true, but I don’t have anyone I can call a friend either. Everyone is too scared of my status and my mana to approach .” [Elia]
Oh, yeah. She said sothing like that when I made my status board, right?
But putting her status aside, is her mana really that terrifying to others?
I don’t think it’s that scary, though.
When I asked her that, she beca sad.
“I once made a blunder…” [Elia]
She did say that having too much mana can make control difficult. Is that why?
“I was 5 at the ti, I believe.” [Elia]
It seems that was when the ojousama started training in the basics of magic.
“I specialized in fire and ice, so I was learning to freeze a cup of water. A relatively safe exercise. But I always froze the table along with the cup.” [Elia]
She puts too much power, huh.
“It was always like that for , but one day, a slightly older boy ca to our house. Apparently, his parents wanted him to get along with .” [Elia]
Erm… why does it feel like the atmosphere changed all of the sudden?
I quietly listened, and as it turns out, that child was the son of a noble family acquainted with the Jamil family. They were probably looking to marry their son to Elia.
When they t, their parents told them that they had sothing important to talk about and told them to go play on their own, but the two of them didn’t know what to talk about, so they ended up talking about magic instead.
“He said he was good at magic and that he wanted to show his to … The fireball he showed at the training area at our place was certainly good. ‘It was a safe spell, very much unlike my own,’ I told him.” [Elia]
But he was a boy, and probably the proud sort, so he offered to train with . He said he would teach . And we did just that, but after trying the spell out several tis, the results wouldn’t change.
“Because of that his mood worsened.” [Elia]
“He probably wanted to act cool in front of a girl…” [Ryouma]
I”m a guy too, so I can relate. But they’re still kids…
And at the age of an elentary student, soone older would only be about a middle school student, right?
Considering the ojousama’s social standing, there’s no way that a kid could teach better than her usual teachers.
While Elia continued to fail to make any results, the older boy’s mood continued to worsen, until eventually, an incident occurred.
Because the ojousama wanted to make the next spell a success, she ended up pushing herself too hard and released too much mana.
Without any control, the spell?ruptured.
“I ended up casting my spell at the opposite direction of the target, and… I froze him.” [Elia]
Although only several parts of his body were frozen, he tumbled in surprise and injured himself on the frozen ground. After that the whole thing blew up, but in the end, his life was safe. Their parents scolded their own children and didn’t pursue the issue any further. Everything ended amicably.
But ever since that day, rumors spread that the ojousama of the Jamil family would cast spells on people she didn’t like. Others would say that she would cast spells on people whenever she was in a bad mood.
Exaggerated rumors like that spread among the nobles.
“So that was the disaster…” [Ryouma]
“Well, it’s true that I ssed up.” [Elia]
I think I might have just stepped on a minefield. I would like to change the topic please.
But if I go about it too obviously it would be in poor taste, so I better talk about a similar experience of my own.
“Ryouma-san, have you ever experienced anything like that?” [Elia]
“Yep. When I was still in the village, we had a school, well, no… It wasn’t big enough to be called a school, but anyway, the adults were teaching the village children, and so I joined.” [Ryouma]
This was actually about PE ti back in my middle school days.
Kendo was a part of our school’s PE curriculum.
This was my first blunder in 1st Year middle school.
“At that ti, they were just supposed to explain to us how stuff worked.” [Ryouma]
We did so warm-up, then they taught us how to put on the armor, then we started training the basics. After that the teacher called for the experienced practitioners to raise their hands. He wanted the experienced practitioners to have a demonstration match, so the others could see what it’s like.
Several raised their hands at first, but the very first one the teacher called was bad.
He was a famous athlete. He’d gone to several Kendo tournants and had won several 1st and 2nd places. He’d even co up in the discussions from ti to ti. That was actually the reason why the teacher called out to him.
He walked to the front like it was a given, then the teacher started looking for soone to have a match with him.
Unfortunately, no one wanted to answer the call. They probably thought they couldn’t win and didn’t want to lose in front of the class, so in the end, only my hand was left raised.
“So, that’s how you got into a match with him…” [Elia]
To keep things brief, I easily won.
It seed he wanted to end things quickly, so he attacked right from the bat, but I hit him in the forearm with the bamboo sword and ended the match in my favor instead. No more than 2 seconds after the match had started, he was crouching on the ground in pain.
“Although we were wearing armor, his wrist was broken. The match and the class ended there, and since then, no one wanted to be involved with . Rumors even spread that I’d injured him intentionally.” [Ryouma]
In fact, the person himself insisted just that on the very next day. He said I laughed while he was crouching.
I never intended to do that, though. If anything, I was shocked, but we were both wearing our headgear at the ti, so our classmates couldn’t see our expression.
If the truth is vague, then people would just choose whoever they trust more.
“And because he was popular, I didn’t stand a chance. Well, he avoided since then, though, so it was as if nothing had really happened. For so reason, hearing myself say that makes kind of sad.” [Ryouma]
“U-Umm… You don’t have to feel so down… Umm…” [Elia]
Before I knew it I was the one being comforted.
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