n

nThe next day.

nI visited the ojousama and the other’s room first thing in the morning and when I got in, many of the adults were groaning.

n“Ugh… Ryouma-kun… Sorry, but… Could you make me that… medicine again?” Reinhart

n“Me too. I know it’s unsightly considering how old I am, but… I drank too much, it seems…” Reinbach

n“Me too… Thanks…” Elize

nThey were really happy yesterday, after all…

nEven 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.

nOf 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.

nAnyway, I went to the drugstore and the grocery store just like last time and bought the ingredients, then I went back to the inn and concocted the medicine.

nAfter Reinhart-san and the others drank it, they told me to accompany Elia.

n“Ryouma-kun, sorry, but could you watch over Elia today?” Reinhart

n“With the sorry state we’re in, we really can’t look after her right now.” Reinbach

n“What he said. Thanks.” Elize

nMaybe it’s because we won’t be meeting soon for a while, so they’re basically telling me to go make some memories with her?

nIf that’s the case, then I can’t refuse here.

n“Sure thing.” Ryouma

nAs I said that, they said thanks and went to their bedrooms. It seems they really do have a hangover, though.

nAfter seeing the three off, I talked to the ojousama.

n“Well then, what should we do for the day?” Ryouma

n“Ryouma-san, don’t you have work? Aren’t you busy?” Elia

n“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

n“…Then can you show me what you normally do?” Elia

n“If that’s alright with you, sure…” Ryouma

nIs she really fine with that?

n“I’ll be looking forward to it then!” Elia

nLike this I ended up accompanying the ojousama. Sebasu-san also came with us as our guardian. We dropped by the store once to show my face, then we went to the mines.

nWhen we got to the mines, I started treating the cloths as usual. There were some things I did that weren’t part of the norm, but that was just me letting the rimel birds play around in my Dimension Home. That’s something that happened before I started working. And then there’s the ojousama helping out in my work.

nI wonder if she’s really okay with just this?

nNaturally, I ended up thinking like that, but I had no idea what activity we could do, so I asked the ojousama.

n“What are we doing next?” Elia

n“Nothing in particular. After telling the sticky slimes 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 time now. Normally, I’d train or make dolls during this time.” Ryouma

n“Oh, I see… I thought you were always busy at work.” Elia

n“Well, I used too. But after the store became self-sustaining, I’ve gotten plenty of free time. Do I really look that busy?” Ryouma

n“You always seemed to be working from dusk till dawn without any rest, so yeah…” Elia

n“There are times when I’m doing nothing too, so I’ve had to find ways to kill time too. Like making stones to make buildings with or something. I’m quite leisurely, you know.” Ryouma

n“Really?.. By the way, you mentioned making some stones to build a house with. Does that mean you’re really going to be living here?” Elia

n“Living here would make doing my rounds easier. I can also train my magic here without causing other people problems.

n“When are you going to start building your house? You’re not going to live in this tunnel, are you?” Elia

nHmm…

n“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

n“In that case, can we talk for a bit?” Elia

n“Of course.” Ryouma

nWe left the workshop and went to a well-lit place outside, where I made ourselves some chairs using earth magic.

n“Ojousama, you’ll be going to the academy starting this year, right?” Ryouma

n“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

n“I see.” Ryouma

n“…Actually, I don’t want to go either, but it can’t be helped.” Elia

n“Really?” Ryouma

n“Dad, mom, and even grandpa says they wouldn’t let me go if it weren’t customary.” Elia

n“…Why?” Ryouma

n“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

n“And as for the subjects, well… You could study them by hiring some tutors, but in the school…” Elia

nThe ojousama paused there.

n“But in the school what?” Ryouma

n“…There’s a chance it might be hard to study things that one should be studying.” Elia

n“What’s the point of the school then?” Ryouma

n“I don’t know either, actually. My parents just told me 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 home.” Elia

nHuh… Those three are going that far?

nI should ask Sebasu-san too.

n“Noble and affluent families can all prepare specialized teachers on their own, but society has its own requirements, 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

n“That’s why dad didn’t invite you to go, right?” Elia

n“Ah, come to think of it…” Ryouma

nHe certainly hasn’t said anything of the sort.

n“Is it really not needed.” Ryouma

n“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

n“And your problems will increase too, in both the bad and the good sense.” Sebasu

n“I see…” Ryouma

n“That’s why I don’t feel like it. If it weren’t a custom, I would much rather train with you.” Elia

nHmm… 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?

n“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 me.” Elia

nOh, yeah. She said something like that when I made my status board, right?

nBut putting her status aside, is her mana really that terrifying to others?

nI don’t think it’s that scary, though.

nWhen I asked her that, she became sad.

n“I once made a blunder…” Elia

nShe did say that having too much mana can make control difficult. Is that why?

n“I was 5 at the time, I believe.” Elia

nIt seems that was when the ojousama started training in the basics of magic.

n“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

nShe puts too much power, huh.

n“It was always like that for me, but one day, a slightly older boy came to our house. Apparently, his parents wanted him to get along with me.” Elia

nErm… why does it feel like the atmosphere changed all of the sudden?

nI 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.

nWhen they met, their parents told them that they had something 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.

n“He said he was good at magic and that he wanted to show his to me… The fireball he showed me at the training area at our place was certainly good. ‘It was a safe spell, very much unlike my own,’ I told him.” Elia

nBut he was a boy, and probably the proud sort, so he offered to train with me. He said he would teach me. And we did just that, but after trying the spell out several times, the results wouldn’t change.

n“Because of that his mood worsened.” Elia

n“He probably wanted to act cool in front of a girl…” Ryouma

nI”m a guy too, so I can relate. But they’re still kids…

nAnd at the age of an elementary student, someone older would only be about a middle school student, right?

nConsidering the ojousama’s social standing, there’s no way that a kid could teach better than her usual teachers.

nWhile Elia continued to fail to make any results, the older boy’s mood continued to worsen, until eventually, an incident occurred.

nBecause the ojousama wanted to make the next spell a success, she ended up pushing herself too hard and released too much mana.

nWithout any control, the spell ruptured.

n“I ended up casting my spell at the opposite direction of the target, and… I froze him.” Elia

nAlthough 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.

nBut 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.

nExaggerated rumors like that spread among the nobles.

n“So that was the disaster…” Ryouma

n“Well, it’s true that I messed up.” Elia

nI think I might have just stepped on a minefield. I would like to change the topic please.

nBut if I go about it too obviously it would be in poor taste, so I better talk about a similar experience of my own.

n“Ryouma-san, have you ever experienced anything like that?” Elia

n“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

nThis was actually about PE time back in my middle school days.

nKendo was a part of our school’s PE curriculum.

nThis was my first blunder in 1st Year middle school.

n“At that time, they were just supposed to explain to us how stuff worked.” Ryouma

nWe did some 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.

nSeveral raised their hands at first, but the very first one the teacher called was bad.

nHe was a famous athlete. He’d gone to several Kendo tournaments and had won several 1st and 2nd places. He’d even come up in the discussions from time to time. That was actually the reason why the teacher called out to him.

nHe walked to the front like it was a given, then the teacher started looking for someone to have a match with him.

nUnfortunately, 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.

n“So, that’s how you got into a match with him…” Elia

nTo keep things brief, I easily won.

nIt seemed 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.

n“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 me. Rumors even spread that I’d injured him intentionally.” Ryouma

nIn fact, the person himself insisted just that on the very next day. He said I laughed while he was crouching.

nI never intended to do that, though. If anything, I was shocked, but we were both wearing our headgear at the time, so our classmates couldn’t see our expression.

nIf the truth is vague, then people would just choose whoever they trust more.

n“And because he was popular, I didn’t stand a chance. Well, he avoided me since then, though, so it was as if nothing had really happened. For some reason, hearing myself say that makes me kind of sad.” Ryouma

n“U-Umm… You don’t have to feel so down… Umm…” Elia

nBefore I knew it I was the one being comforted.

n