Friends
“By the way… you guys did not forget to bring souvenirs, did you? I brought you Key fruits, which are the specialty produce of our fief. We had a good crop of the sweet ones this year.”
“I brought rare novels from the Cynthia Kingdom. My family is a household of vestment nobles, so we don’t have any territory. Besides, you love to read, right, Alice? Don’t tell your maid, okay? Some of the contents are a bit too sensitive.”
Anon brought sweet fruits similar to peaches. And Keena was my reading friend, so she brought me books. In case you’re wondering, the books I can usually read have a stamp that says they’ve been censored with some contents removed. So I put the books away before Alicia took them.
“You are quite dishonest, aren’t you, Alice? I always wonder where you keep your stuff?”
“It’s a secret. I have a special migratory bird figurines for you. It grooms itself and moves when you channel magic power into it. And also defensive charms that my Father got for me.”
I used Quick Draw to take out the figurines and the bracelet-type magic tools and handed them over to the two of them. I will give it to Sharon when I meet her.
“… This is made out of Blue Crystal, isn’t it… isn’t that super expensive…”
“The bracelet is cool. The maker has good taste.”
While Keena seemed to be a bit put off by the price of the item, Anon was happy with the bracelet. Alicia also said that Blue Crystals are surprisingly expensive, but they are not that expensive in Arland, because they are quite common minerals over there. The reason for their expensiveness is their rarity in other countries, so they are subject to high tariffs.
“They are not that expensive in Arland. I really wanted to install an alarm function for you, Anon… but it ended up upsetting Alicia, so it only grooms itself now instead.”
Currently, there was an adhesive bandage-like substance on Alicia’s forehead. That was also a magic tool, a disposable one, but it increased the speed of wound repair to an extraordinary degree. It cannot be used on large wounds, but it does not leave scars, so I am currently running a trial with it. If it doesn’t work, I will remove the scar for her myself.
“You inflicted an injury on a maiden’s forehead before her marriage… your maid is truly nice to you.”
“No, don’t experiment on people in the spur of the moment like that. This is why she always looks angry.”
“It’s fine… she’s used to it already… besides, she wasn’t injured that much… I don’t get it, though, I even used softer materials for it…”
The cause was excessive magic power for such a simple movement. The alarm bird that violated Alicia’s forehead like a woodpecker at ultra-high speed was currently sitting on my Father’s desk in his office. It was taken by Mr. Volken as a watchdog to prevent my Father from falling asleep after some modification.
I negotiated with Mr. Volken. So that I could cover up the damage I had done to Alicia’s forehead… well, I did apologize to her quite firmly. Thanks to that, she secured a tour of my Treasury next time, but she forgave me with a bitter smile.
“So, how do you use this magic tool!?”
Anon was a rather positive girl. Since there was no damage to caused to herself, she immediately dismissed the conversation as finished. She was more interested in the defensive magic tool she now wore on her arm.
“It activates when you chant ‘Activate’. If you use it, it will break, so use it only when in serious danger. I feel sorry for my Father, but I don’t need it because I can handle barriers myself.”
“You definitely don’t need disposable magic tools… why did he give you these?”
This would be more useful if held onto by my parents, and all sorts of other ways. It’s not a very good gift for a girl like me, who always has a way to defend herself, either by chantless magic or by spell retention.
“He said he doesn’t need it.”
“So it’s just a disposable item for your family… and these look quite expensive too… Alice’s household is pretty strange.”
“Isn’t that just fine? Unlike Alice, we can’t get our hands on things like this, that’s why Alice gifted them to us, for emergencies, right?”
Well, yes. Anon, you are surprisingly perceptive. It’s possible that she is aware of my preparations. However, even though she has her own thoughts, she didn’t pursue anything in particular.
Basically, people who belong to the noble class—people in this world are the general term for humans and other races alike. We think of self-preservation first and foremost. Basically, nobles are targeted in various ways. For example, in Keena’s case, she holds a hereditary position, so she is targeted by the nobles who want to live tax-free. It’s mainly to see if her family is involved in any scandals for blackmail purposes, but if there is a noble who feels stuck against a wall, they may do something bad, such as kidnapping Keena.
The risk of kidnapping is always present. There are many dangers for us, young noble ladies, as some perverts are attracted to young ladies sold into slavery, or girls forced to work in shady places.
Therefore, I often see children wearing a lot of magic tools in this academy, as well as other means of self-protection.
“I have Alicia, and Coote is strong as well, so it’s not a problem for me. Besides, I can at least manage to run away.”
“You have a lot of confidence for someone who can’t do sports. In exercise class, you always fall down first.”
Muuh, I’m not a physically gifted person, that’s all. Besides, in the worst-case scenario, I can switch my position with Coote through the Emergency Evasion Type 1, so there’s little danger to me. The moment someone touches me, I will be replaced by an angry Mr. Coote… It’s quite disadvantageous to fight Coote without being prepared for it.
“You are using magic all the time. You have to move a little by yourself, or you will get fa… I guess you should gain some weight.”
“So rude!!”
I’m a girl. There’s no way I’m getting fat.
“No, you are like a stick. I think it would be better for you to eat a little more.”
“I’m sure your Mom told you that children won’t grow tall if they don’t eat.”
I’m not good at eating… At the academy, I basically eat at the cafeteria, but it is difficult to eat the fixed amount of food they give, and it also takes a long time to eat it all.
Since it would be bad for many people if I didn’t finish the food, I do my best to eat it all, but I can’t move after eating… I often rest in the shade of a tree during lunch break because of my bulging belly.
Muuh. I want to grow bigger.