RAC

Chapter 16 – A Hostile Noble

I came out of the examination hall and was walking toward the carriages when I heard somebody shouting up ahead. What’s the commotion?

“That a base commoner such as you should cut across in front of me! Is it not ordinary for a commoner to take pains not to appear in a noble’s sight at all? Do you not know even that! This is precisely why base commoners are so hateful. That a creature of this kind has set foot inside the Royal Academy is a lamentable thing.”

…What? What kind of thing is that to say? Are there people who say that? I doubted my own ears and went toward the source of the commotion to see who was saying it. And there was a boy with striking red-brown hair, dressed as a high noble’s son would be, throwing those words at a quiet-looking brown-haired boy in clothes about the standard of what I wear at home. That commoner boy is the one who went to the interview rooms with me. He has his head down and is enduring it without a word back, and he’s shrunk so small and he’s shaking so badly that he looks likely to fall over.

What do I do. I feel for the boy and I want to help him, and me stepping out might only pour oil on it. And that noble boy is probably a son of the hostile camp. Are hostile nobles all people who think like this? If so, the school life ahead of me is too depressing to think about.

“You. Apologize, would you!”

“…I am terribly sorry. To have cut across in front of a noble was a very sorry thing to have done. How I might make amends, I…”

The commoner boy said it kneeling and bowing his head low. That boy can use fluent formal speech. And he took the interview too, so poor clothes or not, isn’t he an extremely able child?

“You had only to apologize at once like that, and you put me to the trouble! I shall educate you as my father does. Raise your head!”

Told that, the commoner boy raised his head fearfully. There were tears gathering in eyes that looked golden, and they were about to fall. Being set on by a high noble in a place like this is beyond frightening.

When the boy raised his head the noble boy swung his arm up. Wait, is he going to hit him? That is not allowed! The moment I thought it I’d taken a step forward. And I caught the hand the noble boy had raised to strike with before it could reach him. I’ve gone and done it without thinking, and now what. I hadn’t thought about a single thing that comes after this.

I glanced at the onlookers who’d gathered round, and their eyes slid away too quickly. Nobody wants to be involved…

“What are you! To interfere with my education, what is the meaning of this! And to touch my hand without leave: I shall have you executed for disrespect!”

No, in this country you can’t actually be executed for disrespect over touching a noble. Though if a noble were to, say, beat a commoner he disliked badly enough, covering it up is something a noble can do. Rank really is a hateful thing. Then again, I have a ducal house behind me, so could I afford to be firm? No, but bringing trouble down on Lord Richard…

“I am very sorry. It is only that the boy was careless as well, so if you would show mercy.”

In the end I chose the road of apologizing along with him. If he’d leave at that it would do. As I thought it, it didn’t go so smoothly.

“Are you telling me you do not want my education!”

No, your education is simply hitting somebody. Nobody calls that education; do you not even know that? Is this boy stupid, or not stupid but taught by somebody who was terrible? Then again, if he’s a hostile noble his parent presumably thinks the same way he does, so it may be the teacher who was terrible.

“It is nothing of the kind, only that putting you to the trouble would be a sorry thing.”

“That is not for you to decide! Enough. I shall educate the pair of you together! Come to my house now. This is an order!”

Are we going there? This is turning into something enormous. Should I be calling Lucien… Except he doesn’t seem to be nearby. Seriously, what do I do. Could I use House Townsend’s name?

“Stand up, quickly! Follow me! If you will not do as you are told I shall tell my father!”

The noble boy swung a fist up at me this time. Perhaps once he’s hit me he’ll be satisfied. I can heal it with healing magic straight away… I shut my eyes to take the impact, and in that instant a voice I know very well arrived.

“Stop that.”

It’s Martine. Of course, royalty take the examination too, so she’d be here. I was deeply relieved by Martine’s arrival. Nothing bad will come of it now.

“Y-Your Highness. It has been a long while.”

“You were Arthur of House Preauvert, were you not?”

“Yes. My name is Arthur Preauvert. I am honored to meet you.”

House Preauvert is the foremost of the hostile nobles, the house I was told to be most careful of. To have got into a quarrel with them from the very start. The road ahead really is something to worry about. So this boy is Lord Arthur. I’ll remember that.

“Your shouting could be heard a long way off. Is that not unbecoming in a noble?”

“Th-that is, these people are the ones at fault! These people were trying to do me harm!”

And now we’re the ones who were trying to harm Lord Arthur. Nobles who flaunt their rank and do as they please are genuinely hateful. I glanced at the commoner boy still kneeling beside me, and he seems to be shaking still.

“Oh, Leon! It has been a while!”

Martine spoke to me as though she had only now noticed me. …Weren’t we not acquainted? Is it all right to be acquainted? I looked up at her thinking it and got a bright smile. So I should play along?

“Your Highness. It has been a long while.”

“Lady Catherine came to the palace two weeks ago, so it is two weeks since I last saw Leon as well. Have you been well?”

“I have been passing my days without incident.”

“I am glad of it.”

“Y-Your Highness! You are acquainted with that creature?”

“I am. Leon is a commoner, but he is very able, and he has House Townsend’s patronage. He was coming to the palace for a time as Lady Catherine’s attendant, so we know one another by sight.”

“A-acquainted with a commoner! The royal house will be defiled!”

What sort of education has Lord Arthur had? He holds views so lopsided that I’m almost curious.

“Leon, what has happened? Your Highness, it has been a long while.”

Lucien came into the conversation with obvious deliberateness. I’d seen him nearby a little while back, watching how it went.

“Lucien, it has been a while. Leon is affiliated to your house, is he not? It seems he has run into trouble with Arthur.”

“Has he. I am sorry to have put you to the trouble. You are Arthur of House Preauvert. Has Leon done something?”

When Lucien asked him, Lord Arthur shouted at him with the face of somebody looking at something dreadful.

“Is it true that you are patron to that commoner?”

“It is true.”

“I had heard that House Townsend talks nonsense about how able commoners ought to be raised up, but to think you were going so far as to be a commoner’s patron and put him into the Royal Academy! Do you understand how dangerous a thing you are doing? My father laments constantly that the sacred sphere of the nobility is defiled by base commoners!”

So the cause of this boy’s thinking is his father… Which means the Duke of Preauvert. A man I never want to meet. I’d been told there was a hostile camp, and hating commoners to this degree is beyond what I expected.

“I do not consider commoners base. There are a great many able commoners, and without commoners the country would not stand at all. It is better for the country that able commoners be able to exert their strength. Able commoners gather at this Royal Academy too, do they not. I do not consider those people inferior to us.”

“That is impossible! Commoners are savages and they will break the country, beyond question! That commoners are accepted at this Royal Academy at all is what is wrong.”

“That is a tradition of long standing! This country developed in the first place by nobles and commoners joining their strength. Have you forgotten that history? Have you forgotten the Apostle’s teaching?”

“Whether the Apostle even existed is doubtful! Most likely base commoners deceived everybody. The country turns perfectly well with us nobles alone, without joining strength with commoners. Commoners need only listen to a noble’s orders!”

“You…! Would you disparage the Apostle?”

This is bad, it’s escalating. Being of equal ducal houses, they can say as much as they like to each other, and that’s what’s heating it. Lucien was calm at the start and seems to be getting angrier by degrees. If Lucien loses his temper there’s no controlling this.

Listening to the two of them go at it, though, the root of the quarrel among the nobility comes into view. Essentially it divides into nobles who still revere the Apostle, and nobles who would throw the Apostle’s teaching away and enlarge their own profit.

The Apostle’s teaching, if I remember, was that nobles, in exchange for receiving privilege, guarantee commoners a minimum of livelihood and personal safety; and that nobles do not rule over commoners but live helping one another.

Thinking that teaching over again, it’s a hard one for a world with a class system to accept. That it was accepted means the Apostle must have been respected enormously and had enormous influence. But however much somebody is respected, it thins with time. Which suggests House Townsend’s camp may be slightly the weaker of the two.

Then again, more people act for present advantage than for an ideal or a future. So the camps being evenly matched must mean the Apostle’s authority hasn’t gone. And, as Lord Richard said before, there must be a fair number of nobles who think that if noble power grows stronger than it is now and commoners are held down, the country will eventually be ruined.

But the longer this runs the worse it looks for House Townsend’s camp. Because the hostile camp finds it easy to draw people over. Dangle a little advantage and plenty will lean their way.

Which is where I come in. If the Apostle won’t appear, then scoop up the able commoners and show where they can be used for the country’s sake. If I were the Apostle it would have been simple: announce the fact, be treated as a special case, and be given high noble rank without graduating from the Royal Academy at all.

But I’m not the Apostle, so it has to go the long way round: make a show of being outstanding at the Royal Academy at everything except the attributes, and then, once graduating brings noble rank, reveal every attribute and be made a high noble. Revealing every attribute before I hold noble rank would leave me hunted from every direction, by nobles and other countries alike, which is exactly why it’s arranged this way.

It’s a tangle, and this country’s situation and my own place in it are coming together in my head. I’d had the information before and it never felt real. The people around me were basically decent, all of them. Which is why having Lord Arthur in front of me is making it real.

Feeling it is all very well, and this situation is no better than it was. If I cut in to stop Lucien it’ll get more tangled, and leaving it to Martine isn’t right either. Martine is a princess, and this country still holds firmly to the idea that governing is a man’s business. Which is why only a man can become king, and only a man can inherit a title. So Martine must find it hard to put a word into this.

I was standing there worrying about it when the crowd parted suddenly and a boy came toward us. It’s Lord Stephane! The strongest help there is. Martine must have sent for him. Thank you, Martine.

“You there. What is all this noise?”

“Your Highness…! It has been a long while.”

“It has been a long while.”

“What is the commotion? Quarreling where this many people are watching is an unsightly thing.”

“I am very sorry. The cause is this commoner; he cut across in front of me! Punishment for this commoner, if you please.”

At those words I felt the boy beside me flinch. A punishment from a prince would be frightening. But Lord Stephane wouldn’t do that, so it’s all right! I encouraged him with that inside my head.

“Arthur, cutting across in front of you is not a crime.”

“B-but this man is a base commoner! To set foot in the Royal Academy in clothes as shabby as these… the noble sphere will be defiled!”

“Arthur, what you think of it is your own affair, but the Royal Academy proclaims equality without regard to station. If you are a noble, keep the rules.”

“Is the royal house on House Townsend’s side…! Do you shield a commoner?”

“That is not it. I say only that the rules are to be kept. Traditions and rules that have continued from of old have meaning in them, and the royal house holds that meaning dear. Yet it is also important that rules unsuited to their age be changed. Precisely because both of those are true, one must not forget to keep the rules that exist. Forget that and the country falls into confusion.”

Martine told me before that the royal house wants to support House Townsend’s camp. Except that announcing it openly carries a high risk of revolt by the hostile nobles, so the royal house says nothing and declares support for neither side. The royal house is in a difficult position too…

“…Certainly.”

“Then withdraw. Standing here arguing is in everybody’s way. My apologies to all of you.”

Lord Stephane really is the First Prince. There’s a weight to him, and it’s cool.

“…Then, if you will excuse me.”

Lord Arthur went off at speed toward the carriage stop. I watched him go and got to my feet. And spoke to the boy who was still kneeling beside me.

“Are you all right? I’m a commoner too, so there’s no need to be tense. Rough luck.”

“Er, thank you, truly. For helping me…”

“Sure. What’s your name? I’m Leon.”

“I’m Ronnie. Leon, thank you, truly…”

The boy who gave his name as Ronnie is still holding his bag hard against himself and making himself small, as though something still frightened him. This boy could use formal speech and there’s a chance he passed, and I hope this doesn’t make him give up on enrolling.

“Then, I’ll be going…”

“Oh, wait. Listen, I’ll probably pass this school, so if you pass too, let’s be friends. Commoners together, right?”

“But you know the prince and the princess, Leon, and you’ve got House Townsend’s patronage. I can’t be friends with somebody like that.”

“Knowing them is only as an attendant. I’m an ordinary commoner, so don’t let it bother you. I wanted a commoner friend I could talk to as an equal. So if you pass, enroll properly, all right?”

It may have been a bit forceful, and when I said it Ronnie gave a small nod. If a clever boy passed and then gave up enrolling over this, that would be too much of a waste.

“All right. Then… see you.”

“Yeah. See you.”

So I saw Ronnie off. He went away quickly with his body still small. It would be good to meet him at the Royal Academy again.

“Leon, was that boy all right?”

Lucien came over and asked me.

“Yes. He seemed frightened, but I think he should be all right.”

“To try to crush a commoner with the backbone to take the Royal Academy’s examination… The hostile nobles really are a nuisance.”

Lucien murmured it at a volume only I could hear. He’s exactly right.

“Leon, that was rough luck.”

Martine and Lord Stephane came over as well. There are a great many people about now, and there were a great many onlookers a moment ago. A considerable number of people have learned that I have House Townsend’s patronage and that I’m on terms with Martine and Lord Stephane.

Farewell, my quiet life. Hello, my extremely loud one.

“Thank you for helping me. And thank you for your assistance, Your Highness.”

“There is nothing to thank me for. This is not a problem of yours and Leon’s; this is the nobility’s problem. I shall have to report it to my father…”

Lord Stephane murmured that at a volume the people around us couldn’t catch. The royal family must find this situation galling too.

“Then standing here obstructs the way, so let us disperse. We shall meet again at the Royal Academy.”

“Certainly. Then we shall take our leave of you.”

“Excuse us.”

So we parted from Martine and Lord Stephane and went back to the carriage with Lucien. I can go home at last. I only went to take an examination and I’m genuinely worn out.

⁂

“Richard, have you heard what happened at the Royal Academy’s entrance examination?”

It is the middle of the noon break. The officials have gone to the dining hall, I have had the room cleared, and there is nobody in the study but Richard and myself. Richard heard my question and a bitter look came over his face at once.

“I heard it from Lucien. That House Preauvert’s heir abused a commoner on the ground that the boy had crossed in front of him, and that Master Leon was drawn in for shielding him. His Highness came to their aid, I understand…”

“House Preauvert, then, and the several houses that follow its lead. Do you not think there are simply too many actions past bearing?”

“It is as you say. The law of this country forbids the unjust oppression of commoners in the first place. It has certainly become a dead letter at some point along the way, but that law still stands.”

That’s precisely it. There is such a law, so how much easier it would be if the royal house could punish openly. …Why did my grandfather and my father not enforce it severely? Well, it was an age of fierce war. That it was hard to turn their eyes inward, I understand. And yet I cannot help thinking that if they had enforced it, matters would not stand as they do now.

“Richard, if a punishment were laid on House Preauvert’s heir, what state of affairs would you predict?”

“Let me see… at worst it would come to civil war. And short of that, we would be asked why we are suddenly enforcing what we have left alone all this while. Against that, rebuttal is difficult, and I believe we would be made to conclude some agreement on terms unfavorable to the royal house. At the very worst there is a possibility the law itself would be changed.”

If the law were changed and the country came to stand against Micheline’s teaching, this country would be ruined before long. Why do we go on keeping Micheline’s teaching? There is of course the feeling of respect owed to the Apostle, this country’s founder. But more than that, it is because Micheline’s teaching is excellent at the work of keeping a country safe and making it grow.

If it were openly allowed that some few nobles hold power and hold down the great mass of commoners, the country’s destruction within a short time is certain. And under a structure like that, able people go on being buried, so no growth can be hoped for either. Why can the hostile nobles not see it? It is a genuinely lamentable thing.

“What did Master Leon say? He hasn’t given up on this country, I hope.”

“I heard it from Master Leon yesterday as well, and there was no sign of that.”

“That’s a mercy in the middle of misfortune. Once he has enrolled at the Royal Academy he may well be set upon again as he was this time. I shall tell Stephane and Martine to give him proper help if it happens.”

“Then I shall tell Lucien as well. Their Highnesses will have things they cannot put into words, given their position. Lucien, as an equal ducal house, should find it easier to argue back.”

“Indeed. I leave that with you. …If Master Leon would reveal what he is, a great many problems would be solved.”

If we could present Master Leon as the Apostle, the hostile nobles would fall considerably in number, and making them keep Micheline’s teaching would become easy.

“Though it will not do to leave it to Master Leon. I must do what I can myself.”

“Then I shall lend my hand as well.”

“Yes. I look to you from here on.”

“Certainly.”

We had got that far when the officials seemed to be coming back, so I had the door opened and called the valet in again. Now then, back to the work of governing. There are other problems piled high besides.

Chapter 15 – The Entrance Exam

Today is the day of the examination at last. I slept soundly and woke clear-headed, and then got on with the morning a little nervous after all. Something in me won’t sit still. It’s like going through the day of my university entrance exam a second time. Though I was far more nervous that day. I was aiming a rank above myself, so passing was borderline. The day the results went up I was in a bad way with nerves. When I found my examinee number I very nearly wept. Set beside that, today is a university student sitting a primary-school entrance exam. Thinking of it that way may take some of the nerves off.

I ate less breakfast than usual so my stomach wouldn’t turn on me, and finished getting ready. Right. Let’s do this. I came out of my room and went to the entrance hall, and the carriage was already waiting, and Lucien appeared in the hall at almost the same moment.

“Lord Lucien. Good morning.”

“Leon, morning. Let us both do our best today.”

We greeted each other briefly and got straight into the carriage. The guards are outside it, so it’s the two of us in here. A short while when we can talk without the formality.

“Leon, we are alone!”

“So we are. There’s always a valet about too, so we don’t get much chance to talk like friends.”

“I should like you to talk like a friend at any time.”

“Hmm. That’d be difficult.”

A commoner like me calling Lucien by his bare name and dropping the formal speech would look wrong, obviously. And if I got into the habit of relaxing in front of other people too, I’m certain it would show somewhere. Somewhere I was meant to know my place, and out comes the bare name. That’s exactly the mistake I’d make, so keeping it to when we’re alone is easier to hold on to and I’m grateful for it.

“Well, quite so. There is no helping it. More to the point, today’s examination is something to look forward to.”

“You’re looking forward to it?”

“Meeting nobles of my own age is something I have not done since the party for the Spring Moon. One can hardly talk at a party, so I am looking forward to it.”

Noble children apparently have almost no contact with anybody their own age until they enroll at the Royal Academy, so looking forward to it may be fair enough. A noble child from a house with a domain spends the whole of their time at the domain, except for coming to the capital for the Spring Moon party. The only nobles without a domain are the ones holding a knighthood, so most noble children reach the age of ten without a close friend.

“It’d be good if you made a lot of friends at the Royal Academy.”

“Yes, I am very much looking forward to it. Though there are also a great many nobles it is better not to keep close company with, so one must take care with those nobles’ children. I am looking forward to meeting the children of our own camp. Leon, you had better take care as well, being affiliated to House Townsend.”

“Right. I’ll be careful too.”

He’s thinking that far ahead already at this age. That part really is the noble’s son. And I do have to be careful. For a start I’ll keep away from the children of houses hostile to House Townsend. If I’m to be friends with anybody it had better be children of our camp, or neutral houses at the very least. Then again I’m a commoner, so whether I can be friends with any noble’s child at all is another question.

I need to be especially careful about the children on the watch-list Lord Richard gave me. He passed me a list of people to be wary of through Roger a little while back. It had the names of nobles who present a danger to me set out one after another, and there were a great many of them. Seeing how many there were took the heart out of me. At the moment I’ve only memorized the houses that particularly matter, and I mean to learn all of them in time.

I talked with Lucien a while longer after that, and then the carriage slowed and stopped. The Royal Academy isn’t far, so by carriage it’s no time at all.

“Lord Lucien, Master Leon. We have arrived at the Royal Academy.”

The coachman opened the carriage door for us. I got down a little nervous, and where we were was a carriage stop inside the Royal Academy’s grounds. There are carriages of every size around it, and children of about my age getting out of them. Coming out of a carriage presumably means most of the children are nobles’ children. I braced myself again.

“When the examination is over, please come back to this place. I shall be waiting.”

“Understood. Then we are going.”

“Thank you. I shall be going.”

“Go safely.”

The coachman bowed low as he sent us off, so Lucien and I walked toward the buildings. The carriage stop is in the space to the left as you come in through the Royal Academy’s main gate. Even from a rough look the grounds are very wide and there are a great many buildings. And the grounds appear to be enclosed by a high wall. There are knights at the gate; nobody but those with business can get in.

As you walk toward the buildings, the first thing you see is the largest one, straight ahead. In height it’s about three storeys, and it’s enormously wide. A building with lavishness coming off the very look of it, with something of a noble’s mansion about it. To the right of that building is a smaller, plainer one. This looks older. Of course it would be lavish enough if it stood near my house, and set against the central building it’s several grades below. Could the lavish central building be the one high nobles attend, then, and the one on the right be for lower nobles and commoners? Is there a distinction like that? In this country it would hardly surprise me…

And to the left of the lavish central building is one a little smaller but no less lavish. What’s that used for? Hmm, no working it out from the outside. And further left of that there’s a very large building as well. If I had to compare it, it’s like a school gymnasium. A training hall, perhaps? That’s everything visible from the front. There’ll be a tour of the facilities once I enroll, and that’s something to look forward to as well.

So, taking the grounds in as I walked, there were Royal Academy staff directing the candidates. According to them, nobles go to the lavish central building and commoners to the gymnasium-like one.

“Lord Lucien, I shall go over there. I wish you well.”

“Yes, and I wish you well too, Leon.”

“Thank you.”

I parted from Lucien and made for the building where the commoners gather. Desks are lined up at the entrance with several people on reception. I went to a free one and handed over my admission slip, and the person on reception seems to have been checking whether I was on the register.

“Thank you for the admission slip. I return it to you. You are confirmed, so please go into the hall. Show your slip to a member of staff inside and they will show you to your seat.”

“Thank you very much.”

Inside, the hall had much the feel of an exam hall in Japan. Desks and chairs set out at even intervals, about three-tenths of them already filled. It’s quite large, though, so the staff look to have their work cut out. I was taking that in and feeling something like nostalgia when one of the staff came over.

“May I see your admission slip?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Thank you. Master Leon, is it. Your seat is a little way off, so I shall show you.”

I followed the man and my seat was well toward the front. The entrance is at the back, so it’s quite a distance.

“This is your seat. Please sit and wait until the written examination begins.”

“Yes. Thank you very much.”

I sat in the chair I was shown to and looked round the hall. The candidates in their seats are fidgeting and unable to settle. Watching them starts to make me nervous too. Waiting does feel long. I should have brought some study material.

So I fidgeted my way through a while of waiting, and then three staff came in through the front entrance, the hour having presumably arrived.

“We shall now begin the Royal Academy entrance examination. The time is one hour. Leaving partway through is not permitted as a rule, so please take note. Speaking is strictly forbidden, and any violation means failure. The papers will now be distributed.”

The paper handed out was two largish sheets, with the questions and the answer spaces together on them. Rather like a test paper from a primary school in Japan.

“Then, please begin.”

At the word I started on the first question. Arithmetic first. Easy. Extremely easy. I got through the arithmetic without trouble, then the reading and writing, then the history. And I’m finished already. I don’t think ten minutes have gone. I can pass this, certainly. Looking it over roughly, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong.

With an examination of this content I can see why the ducal household talked as though passing were a given. Even so it would be difficult for an ordinary commoner. Most of them can’t read or write to begin with, and even with a little of it, a little wouldn’t solve these questions. Put it this way: it’s like me sitting an exam in Japan where even the question text is in English. This history section, if it were written in English, I’m confident I couldn’t answer a single item. And even if I knew the answer I couldn’t write it in English. That is the state ordinary commoners come to sit this in. Education really does matter. It would be good if commoners had more chance at it.

I turned all that over with about fifty minutes of examination time left on my hands, and then the examiner finally called time.

“The examination is over. We shall now collect the papers, so please do not leave your seats until every one has been collected.”

At the word the staff started collecting papers from the back. There are a lot of candidates and a lot of staff, so the collecting seems to have finished quickly.

“That is the end of the written examination. After this, only those we name will be interviewed. And please note that the magic practical will not be held. Please wait where you are for about ten minutes.”

Most of the staff stayed in the building, and a few examiners went out of it with our papers in their hands. …So the magic practical isn’t happening this year. And the interview isn’t everybody either. What are they going on when they name people?

…Come to think of it, might it be only the people who look likely to pass on a quick check of the papers? That does seem plausible. A commoner candidate staking a thread of hope, or somebody sitting purely for the memory of it: if the paper is blank at a glance, the failure is certain, so an interview would only waste time.

Which raises the question of why so many people sit it when the failure is a near certainty. I looked round the hall again wondering about it. The back half or so is nothing but people dressed the way I usually dress, and there’s no imagining they had any chance to be educated. Even the fare for the shared carriage to get here is money thrown away, and ordinarily I’d think it wouldn’t occur to anybody to sit at all. Then again, my own mom and dad know about the Royal Academy, so its existence has certainly spread among commoners. In that case somebody who really can read and write only a very little may be under the impression that they could pass. A frog at the bottom of a well.

Among commoners, being able to write your own name and read a few of the commonest words is enough to boast that you can read and write, so people like that may be sitting it and going down in flames.

“Here, could you tell what any of it said?”

Behind me people had started muttering to each other, and among them the voice of a boy who was louder than the rest reached me. I found myself listening.

“No chance of understanding words that hard. And nobody told me it’d be this hard. Wasn’t it supposed to be enough if you could read and write?”

“Right? I wrote my own name and that was me finished.”

“I came all this way on the shared carriage. I’d have done better buying a grilled skewer with the fare.”

“Too right. My little brother says he’s sitting it next year.”

“Talk him out of it.”

“But it’s embarrassing, saying you couldn’t do any of it. You want to say you did pretty well and only just missed, don’t you.”

“…True enough. I might say I got about half of it.”

“See?”

That explains it. People who couldn’t do any of it saying they managed some, all that face-saving, and the difficulty of the exam gets misunderstood.

“What’ll you say if somebody asks what the exam was like? I couldn’t understand one bit of it.”

“That’s easy, there were numbers written on it, weren’t there? So it’ll be arithmetic questions, won’t it.”

“You’re a genius! Right, I’ll tell my brother he might pass if he can do arithmetic.”

“That’s the way. Can your brother read and write?”

“He can write his own name, obviously. And he managed another word the other day. What was it? A food, I think it was.”

“That’s something, that is. Your brother might pass after all.”

“If he passes he’ll be on good money!”

Right. I don’t think the brother’s passing either. Without an education this is where you end up. Should I be teaching Marie various things? Though in practice, if you live an ordinary commoner’s life, the system has been built so that not reading or writing isn’t much of a handicap. Still, knowledge can’t hurt, so perhaps I’ll teach her a little.

“Now, only the people whose names are called are to remain where they are.”

The examiners came back with the word, and the hall went quiet again. Then exactly twenty names were called, and everybody else was dismissed. My name was called, of course. That I was nervous enough to feel relief the instant it was called is between me and myself.

“Then those whose names were called, please follow us. We are moving.”

I looked at the clothes of the twenty walking after the examiners, and nearly all of them are wearing what counts as fine clothing among commoners, so you can tell they’re the children of merchant houses and the like. In this country money really does have an enormous effect on education. Except that one of them, one child, is wearing much what I usually wear. I’m a bit curious where that one learned. Not that I can go and talk to them.

While I was in two minds about it we seem to have reached where we were going. There are a number of doors, and we were lined up several to a door.

“Then go into the room in the order you are standing in. One at a time; when the person before you comes out, the next goes in. From the front, if you please.”

I’m second in the queue at the leftmost room. The boy in front of me heard the examiner and knocked and went in. Then, waiting a while, the first candidates at the other rooms came out one after another and the second ones went in. And the boy in front of me still didn’t come out. I was standing there getting tense and rubbed at by a slow, grinding impatience when he finally came out.

I took one deep breath to settle myself, knocked and went in.

“Excuse me.”

Inside was a single round table with two examiners at it. I was offered the seat opposite, so I sat down.

“Then, without more delay: your self-introduction, if you please.”

The examiner who said it looked unexpectedly kind, so I straightened my back, pulled myself together and spoke.

“Certainly. My name is Leon. I was born to parents who keep a restaurant on the outskirts of the royal capital. My family is my father, my mother, myself and my younger sister. Through a connection I have been given the backing of House Townsend, and I have sat the Royal Academy’s examination today.”

At that greeting, both examiners’ eyes went wide with surprise. What surprised them? They’ll already know about House Townsend’s backing, so it must be the speech.

“Thank you. You use formal speech remarkably smoothly. Now, we shall give you a topic, and please talk about it as you like. In truth the greeting alone would have been quite enough, but it is the rule.”

The kind-looking examiner smiled at me, and then the slightly gruff one beside him gave me the topic.

“The topic is your family. Go ahead.”

My family… That’s an abstract, awkward sort of topic. But on my family I’m confident I could talk for as long as you like. Because all I have to do is talk about my sister, the most adorable in the world, Marie!

“Then I should like to talk about my sister. My sister’s name is Marie and she is three years younger than I am. Marie possesses an adorableness that would, beyond any doubt, turn the heads of a hundred people out of a hundred, and on top of that her character is bright and kind and honest and clever; she is, quite simply, an angel. My family keeps a restaurant, and the men who come in on the pretext of a look at Marie, with their faces gone soft—you would not believe how many, how very many. At first I was on guard against her being abducted, but such feelings appear not to arise in the face of Marie’s adorableness, and there has never once been an incident. Marie’s smile is unmatched, after all. It draws the poison out of a bad man. And this adorable and splendid sister of mine gave me a slice of her lunchtime steak the other day! When I asked why, she said her big brother looked tired. I was so moved when I heard it that the tears very nearly came… She is a child capable of that much thoughtfulness. I am truly happy to have so splendid a sister. Oh, and when we went to the forest the other day, Marie also—”

“L-let us stop there a moment.”

Cut off, just when I was enjoying myself talking about Marie. Saying any of it to Mom and Dad only gets me a rueful smile, and it’s the same with Nikola and Luke, and this was a fine opportunity to talk about how adorable Marie is.

“Is something the matter?”

“It looked likely to run a little long, so I stopped you. I do apologize. We are obliged to ask a question about what the candidate has said.”

The examiner said that much and then smiled awkwardly. And spoke to the examiner beside him in a low voice.

“I don’t know what to ask.”

“Nor do I.”

Excuse me, gentlemen, I can hear that. And there ought to be any number of possible questions.

“Any question at all is quite all right.”

“Ah, you heard us. I do apologize. …Then, one from me. Let me see. This is awkward to ask, but your, ah, love for your sister? What sort of love is it? No, if you would rather not answer that is quite all right. It is only that a Royal Academy student committing a crime looks badly for us…”

I only talked about how wonderful Marie is. How did we get to crime?

“Why has this become a matter of crime…?”

“No, it is only that, in this country marriage between siblings is not permitted, so if for instance you were to keep after your sister despite her being unwilling, it might become a criminal matter…”

“Marriage? Keep after her? No, no, nothing of the kind. My liking for Marie isn’t that sort of thing at all. It’s affection, family feeling. And the most important thing to me is Marie’s happiness, so if Marie were to marry somebody, I should be sad, and I’d rather not imagine it yet, but of course I should bless it. Though if the man were a brute I would oppose it.”

At that, both examiners looked relieved at the same moment. No, honestly, not about my sister. Being suspected of that had never crossed my mind.

“I am glad of it. Had you answered otherwise, we should have been in some difficulty over how you were to be handled. If it emerged that we had known in advance and done nothing, we ourselves would have to be punished.”

So depending on my answer, failing was a possibility?! Talked about how wonderful my sister is at the interview, got suspected of stalking her and failed: that genuinely isn’t funny. No, I’m truly glad. Glad this examiner is the sort of man who checks with me properly…

“Thank you for checking.”

“Not at all, I am glad we cleared the misunderstanding up on both sides. Then that concludes the interview. The result will be sent to the affiliation written on your admission slip, so please wait for it.”

“Yes. Thank you for today.”

“And thank you. Take good care of that sweet little sister.”

The kind examiner said that at the end. He’s an extremely good sort. I’m glad he was my examiner. Coming out of the room, there were no candidates queuing at the other doors any more. A single member of staff was waiting and indicated the exit.

“Please go out that way and make your way home.”

“Certainly. Thank you for today.”

I made a proper greeting to him too and went out by the exit he’d shown me. Right, over at last. I think I’ve probably passed… though the interview has left me uneasy. Roger did say the written examination decides it almost entirely, though, so it should be all right. Yes, it should be fine. Telling myself that, I set off walking toward the Royal Academy’s entrance.

Chapter 14 – Before the Exam

The season that had been the dead of winter at the Founding Festival has been putting more warm days together lately, and the Royal Academy’s examination is finally a week away. I go to the ducal house today, and I’m to spend the week there getting myself into condition. At the moment we’re all waiting for Roger to come and fetch me.

“Leon, do your best at the Royal Academy examination. You’ll be fine.”

“Leon, take it steadily and you’ll be fine.”

“Mom, Dad, thank you. I’ll go and do my best.”

Today it’s Mom and Dad who can’t sit still. They tell me to be calm and the two of them are the ones fidgeting.

“Ha… You two calm down. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re right. You’ll be fine, Leon. Mom believes in you, of course.”

“Dad too. But what if your stomach starts hurting, or a noble picks on you? There’s all sorts to worry about…”

“Dad, saying that makes me nervous instead.”

“S-sorry!”

Dad got even more flustered and started walking circles round me. Dad, settle down… Though watching the two of them is having the reverse effect and calming me down. There’s nothing like somebody else’s panic for making you calm.

“Big Brother, you’re taking the school’s exam, aren’t you?”

“That’s right. Pass this exam and I can enroll at the school.”

I don’t know how much of it Marie follows, and she listens seriously to what I say and nods.

“Then, I’ll give you this! Big Brother, do your best.”

What Marie held out to me was a small orange flower. The kind that grows in the forest now and then. They aren’t common at the roadside…

“Marie, thank you. That makes me very happy. Did you go to the forest for this?”

“Yes! I went with Luke and Nikola yesterday.”

“Did you. Thank you, truly. Now your big brother can do anything.”

This is more than I can take. Now I feel nothing but certain of passing. I thought I’d probably pass from the beginning, and now failing feels impossible. Marie’s power is remarkable. Because she went all the way to the forest to pick her big brother a flower. Marie is too good and too adorable!

“Good!”

Marie beamed up at me. Ugh… Marie is so adorable it hurts. There’s no little sister anywhere as accomplished as this. Ours is the best.

So while Mom and Dad walked about being unable to settle, I was being healed by the most adorable Marie in the world, and there was a knock at the restaurant door and a voice saying, “It is Roger.”

Hearing it, I tore myself away from Marie and went to open the door.

“Master Leon. I have come to fetch you.”

Opening the door, there was Roger, the same as ever. Roger always comes for me like this, so my whole family has got used to him.

“Thanks. I’m all packed, so I’ll come straight away.”

I picked up the luggage I’d got ready and turned back to Mom, Dad and Marie.

“Mom, Dad, and Marie. I’m going to go and do my best.”

“Yes. Do your best.”

“You’ll be fine, Leon.”

Mom and Dad had slightly awkward smiles on, presumably trying not to let their worry show. Seeing their faces made me laugh.

“Ha… You’re both making a very strange face. There’s no need to worry that much.”

“You’re right. I know. Do your best.”

“And if it goes wrong there’s no need to be down about it.”

Mom said hers as though telling herself, and Dad put the failing case into words. Both of them think the likelier outcome is that I don’t pass. Well, to a commoner the Royal Academy is above the clouds. Even taking the examination is mostly done for the memory of having tried, so thinking the chance is small may be fair enough.

“Thanks. Then I’ll be off. Marie, I’m off. I’ll carry this flower and do my best.”

“Yes! Big Brother, do your best! I’ll be waiting for you to come home.”

“Thanks. When I’m back, let’s go round the stalls together again.”

“Yes!”

So I left the house, got into the carriage with Roger and set off for the ducal residence.

Arriving at the residence, I was shown straight to the usual guest room. Guest room, though it’s already become my room. Lady Elisabeth’s gifts are in it, and it’s the room I’ll live in while I attend the Royal Academy.

“Master Leon, might I go over the arrangements for the day of the examination?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. On the morning of the examination, you will go to the Royal Academy in the ducal house’s carriage with Lord Lucien. The carriage can only enter partway, so from there you will go on foot to the examination hall. The hall differs by station, so please take care not to go to the wrong reception. And this is your admission slip; please hand it in at reception.”

What Roger held out as he said it was a small piece of paper. My name is on it, and my examinee number, and an affiliation. My affiliation appears to be House Townsend.

“What do people without an affiliation do?”

“Those without one rarely take it at all. A noble’s child has his own house as the affiliation, and among commoners the children who take it are mostly from merchant houses, so the trading company is the affiliation. Where they belong to neither, it seems usual to put the church of the district they live in. The affiliation is where the result is delivered, so somewhere easily found is chosen.”

So that’s the system. A commoner affiliated to House Townsend is going to stand out a great deal.

“Are there others who are commoners with a noble house as the affiliation?”

“Almost none, I understand. Though a knight who holds a knighthood will occasionally send a commoner with a talent for the sword to the Royal Academy in order to make him a knight.”

So a commoner affiliated to a ducal house is unheard of by ordinary standards. It would be good if I could simply make friends… I can only see a future where I’m either feared or bullied out of envy. I’ll be as pleasant about it as I possibly can.

“Then, to continue with the arrangements: when the examination is over, please return to the place where you got down from the carriage in the morning. The ducal house’s carriage will be waiting, so I hope you will come back with Lord Lucien.”

“Understood, thanks. …And how long does the examination take?”

“That is not precisely known. The written examination is held all together and is fixed at one hour every year, but the rest will change depending on what the other examinations are. Last year the interview was about five minutes each, and the magic practical was optional and about ten minutes each.”

Right, it does change with whatever this year’s examination turns out to be. I hope it isn’t something I haven’t anticipated at all.

“That’s true. Thanks for telling me.”

“Not at all. Please ask at any time if further questions arise. Then, as there is nothing in particular arranged for today, please rest at your leisure until dinner. You will be dining with the family in the dining room.”

An hour or so until dinner. I’ll take it thoroughly easy and build up my strength.

“Then I’ll take it easy until dinner. Could I ask for some tea?”

“Certainly. One moment, please.”

So I spent an unhurried stretch of time drinking the tea Roger poured me. I think the examination will be all right, and I am a little nervous all the same. More than worrying about passing, I’m worried about walking into noble society. Then again, being too casual about the examination is no good either. Exam days come with unforeseen incidents. Was there anything when I sat exams in Japan? This is the moment to make use of experience.

Which reminds me, there was the time I forgot to bring spare leads for my mechanical pencil and the lead started running out mid-exam. I remember it clearly even now. I just about got to the end of the paper, and I failed that one, as I recall. Panicking really does ruin it. On the day I’ll keep from panicking and hold on to an ordinary state of mind.

Hang on… I got that far in my thinking and noticed a serious mistake. I don’t own a pen! Do you bring your own pen to an exam in this world? Pens are expensive items. Could I still buy one now? This was a problem several steps before any state of mind. I hardly ever have occasion to use a pen, and I always borrow one on the spot, so it never occurred to me.

“Roger! Do you use your own pen at the examination? I haven’t got one…”

I asked it in a flap, and Roger answered calmly.

“Master Leon, the school lends pens to those who have none or have forgotten one. There is no need for that much alarm. And your pen and ink have been prepared by the master.”

He’s had even that prepared for me? That is beyond kind. I can never repay it.

“This is Master Leon’s own pen and ink.”

The pen Roger brought was a simple thing that looked easy to use. The pen I borrowed at the bank was much like it, so this must be the ordinary kind. It’s made of metal and you dip it in ink to write.

“Thanks. Is there anything else I need on the day?”

“With the pen and ink and the admission slip, there should be no difficulty.”

I’ll take those three and absolutely not forget them. I’m truly glad that didn’t turn into a disaster. After that I let myself sink into the sofa and rested properly, and when the hour came I went down to the dining room and had dinner with the household.

The next morning. I got up, had breakfast, and found myself with time on my hands in my room. I came a week early because a long carriage ride is tiring and it was better to get into condition, and there’s nothing whatever to do. By rights I should be pushing the last of my exam study, and the content is too easy to need any pushing. At home there’d be restaurant work and housework and plenty else, and at the ducal house the servants do all of it, and when I try to help I’m told that I’m a guest and can’t be allowed to. I’m thoroughly bored…

“Roger, what does Lord Lucien usually do in the house?”

I thought I’d take Lucien’s way of spending the day as a model, and asked.

“As a rule, lessons with his tutor, or sword training.”

He does swordsmanship! Couldn’t I be allowed to do it with him? I’m interested in the tutor’s lessons as well.

“Do you suppose I could join in with that?”

“Let me see… I cannot judge that myself, so I shall ask the mistress.”

Roger asked Lady Catherine, and the result is that I can sit in on Lucien’s lessons. I’m looking forward to it enormously. The lessons are apparently held in Lucien’s room, so Roger and I went straight along to it. Going in, the teacher hadn’t arrived yet and Lucien was sitting on the sofa.

“Leon, morning. I am glad to be taking lessons with you.”

“Lord Lucien. Good morning. I am honored to be allowed to join you.”

“This morning is etiquette and dance, and the afternoon is swordsmanship.”

Etiquette! That’s welcome. I’ve wanted to know the correct forms by station. There may be some special observance I don’t know about. Dance, though… That I’d rather avoid. I can’t believe I have any talent for it. It’s a field I never touched at all in Japan.

“Lord Lucien, is dance something one must be able to do?”

“It is. If you cannot dance you would be shamed at a party, would you not? And the Royal Academy has dance among its classes.”

The Royal Academy has dance too?! …Then I’ll have to learn it in earnest. Being able to learn it before I enroll may be a mercy. I’ll take it seriously.

A little later the teacher came into the room. I stood up to receive her.

“Lord Lucien, I look forward to working with you again today.”

“Yes, and I with you. Leon here will be taking the lesson with me today. Is that acceptable?”

“My name is Leon. I look forward to working with you.”

“Master Leon, is it. Of course, I do not mind how many take the lesson.”

“My thanks. Leon, this is my teacher of etiquette and dance.”

So she teaches both. A slightly slender woman with soft, downturned eyes and a kind face. We sat down at the table with her and the lesson began at once.

“As there is not a great deal left to teach Lord Lucien, and since Master Leon is here today, might I suggest teaching whatever Master Leon would like to know?”

“That is a good idea. Leon, is there anything you want to know?”

Let me see… I’ve never properly learned either, so I’d like it from the basics.

“I have never studied either of them properly. I am a complete beginner at dance in particular, so I should be glad to be taught from the basics.”

“Oh, is that truly so? Your speech is very correct for that…”

“What etiquette I have I learned by watching, and from what I have picked up, so I do not know the proper forms.”

I’m always on edge about whether what I’m doing is right. I copy the people around me and nobody has corrected me so far, so I think it’s all right, and I’d like proper knowledge if I can have it.

“Then for etiquette, I believe it would be best to study from the book Lord Lucien has. Teaching all of it in a single day would be difficult, and Master Leon appears already to have etiquette in hand, so filling in the knowledge from the book afterward should be quite enough.”

“That is a good idea. It is a book the teacher wrote and compiled herself. It is set out very clearly and I found it invaluable. I shall lend it to Leon for a while.”

The teacher wrote it herself. If Lucien says that much of it, it must be a good book. I’ll be glad to borrow it.

“Thank you very much. Then I shall borrow that book.”

“Master Leon will have etiquette in hand very soon, I am sure. Then, rather than etiquette, let us make today’s lesson dance.”

Once the teacher had settled that, the three of us moved. Where we arrived was a wide room with nothing in it but a sofa and a small table at one end. This must be the room for practicing dance.

“As Master Leon is with us today, we shall go over the basics again from the beginning. The basics are important, so please practice in earnest as well, Lord Lucien.”

“I understand.”

“I look forward to it.”

And from there a punishing dance practice began. It started with practicing the posture that dance is built on, and no amount of it would pass. I thought I was standing properly and got picked apart for nearly an hour before I finally passed.

“Master Leon, that posture. You dance while keeping that posture. On no account may the back round. Nor may the chest arch. You keep the vertical, purely. And no strength in the shoulders; relax them.”

This posture is genuinely hard until you’re used to it. Being told to stand well makes you want to arch your chest. I must be using muscles I never use, because my whole body is getting tired… I’ll ache tomorrow.

“If you are conscious of that posture from day to day, you will also look well. Please live in that posture from now on.”

I live my whole life in this?! It would look well, granted… And it’s tiring. Nobles are formidable. Though I had been thinking how good everybody’s posture is. I’ll work at being thought the same.

“Then let us try walking in that posture. On no account let the posture break.”

“Yes.”

So I started walking, and walking breaks the posture.

“Master Leon, the posture is breaking. You must not arch the chest so far.”

“Certainly.”

“Master Leon, there is strength in the shoulders. A little more looseness, please.”

“Yes.”

After that it was picking apart from end to end, and the lesson finished on keeping the posture. That alone left me thoroughly tired. A dance practice, and it ended without any dancing.

“Once you can hold that posture naturally, all that is left is learning the steps. Practice every day until you enroll at the Royal Academy and you will not struggle in the class.”

Told that, there’s nothing for it but doing it daily. I’ll get the steps taught too and work at it.

“Teacher, thank you for today. And Lord Lucien, thank you for letting me use your valuable lesson time.”

“It is my work. Master Leon practiced in earnest, so it was a pleasure to teach.”

“I have already been taught the whole of it once, so it is always revision for me. Having Leon here made the revision go better.”

“It is good of you to say so. Thank you very much for today.”

So the morning’s lesson ended, and I had lunch with Lucien. The afternoon is swordsmanship. After lunch and a short rest, I changed into training clothes and went out to the garden.

Hm? Has the teacher not come yet? I went to the garden and there was nobody there, and I was thinking that when Jacques stepped out in front of us. He usually stands behind Lucien with a sharp eye on everything. What’s going on?

“Then, shall we begin the practice?”

“Jacques, Leon is here today, so from the basics, if you please.”

Jacques is the teacher! Though a guard is with him all the time, so he may be exactly the man for it.

“So you are the teacher.”

“That’s right, and I’m strict.”

Jacques said it in a slightly clowning tone.

“Then please be strict!”

When I answered, Jacques broke into a grin on the spot.

“Plenty of willingness, then. So, Leon, have you ever held a sword?”

“I have not.”

“Then we start with the grip.”

I took the wooden sword Jacques handed me. There’s more weight in it than I expected.

“Lord Lucien, please do your practice swings.”

“Understood.”

Lucien is apparently doing his swings on his own. …That’s impressive. It looks thoroughly like the real thing and it’s cool. I want to be like that.

“As for the grip, the basis is right hand above, left hand below, both hands on it. Though for a left-hander there are some who take it the other way round.”

“Understood. If the sword is held two-handed, is a shield not carried?”

“The overwhelming majority don’t carry one. There’s the occasional man with a shield, but the defense is basically the armor. And even if you carry a shield in the future, the two-handed sword is the basis, so there’s nothing lost in doing the basics.”

“Then I shall work at the two-handed sword first.”

“That’s the way. Now take hold of it.”

I gripped the wooden sword, recalling what he’d explained, and held it thrust out in front of me. Held like this it’s quite heavy. Jacques corrected the grip, and then corrected the position of my feet and the whole set of my body as well. Posture again, after the dance.

“Is this right?”

“Yes, that’s fine. Then the most basic practice swings first. Do it without breaking the posture. Fifty cuts, from above downward. It’s really a hundred, but you’re a beginner so I’ll cut it down for you. Begin!”

“Yes!”

I started swinging the wooden sword down from above. This is harder than I expected… The wooden sword is simply heavy and my arms go solid, and the edge and the speed drain out of it stroke by stroke.

“Twenty more! Don’t slow the pace!”

“Yes!”

Don’t slow the pace, he says. That’s unreasonable. I’ve been doing stamina work and strength work alongside the magic practice, and swinging a sword is this hard. The muscles are completely different, and a child’s body makes it worse.

Lucien is sweating and still swinging away, though. Building it up daily is what counts. I’ll work at it too. I could use body strengthening magic, and that spell raises whatever physical ability you already have, so the more the body itself is trained the stronger you get. Which is why I want to train without it, except in a real fight.

“Fifty!”

Hah. Hah. Done at last… My arms hurt and I’m breathing hard. This is punishing. I suppose it’s because I’ve been putting the magic practice first and leaving the stamina work till later. I need to do more.

“Next, downward from upper right to lower left. Fifty again. Begin!”

“What?! There’s more?!”

“Of course that isn’t the end of it.”

Seriously? Upper right to lower left means there’s the reverse of it coming as well. Seriously… I whipped my tired body along and somehow started swinging again.

“One… two… three… forty-nine… fifty!”

“Hah… hah… hah…”

That’s it, my arms are solid and they won’t lift. I put my hands on my knees and stood there breathing roughly. I’m soaked through. Jacques is far too strict!

“Ready for the next?”

“W-wait a moment, please! May I rest a little?”

“All right, I suppose. Only a little.”

The instant I heard it I sat straight down on the ground. To be this hard… Does Lucien do practice this hard every day? I looked over at him with that thought, and he seems to have finished his swings and to be starting practice of the real kind with Jacques.

Jacques holds a guard and Lucien attacks it, and the practice is breaking through the guard, apparently. Lucien really is remarkable… To my eye he handles that sword entirely as he pleases. Isn’t that considerable ability? And he’s only ten.

Having done the swings myself, I can tell that handling a sword as you please takes a great deal of training. He must have put in an enormous amount of work. I was thinking that when Jacques came back over. Lucien seems to be taking a break.

“Jacques, Lord Lucien looks to have considerable ability. Is being able to handle a sword as well as Lord Lucien the ordinary thing for a noble?”

“Not at all. It’s true that a noble’s second son and below either becomes a knight or a civil official, so the ones aiming at knighthood are at a fair level. But the eldest son who inherits, and the ones aiming to be civil officials, often barely handle a sword at all. There’s a swordsmanship class at the Royal Academy, so a noble can manage the minimum, and few train beyond that.”

Ah. If you’ve no reason to train at the sword you wouldn’t want to do anything this punishing. But Lucien is the eldest son, so why is he this serious about it? Jacques must have caught the question in my face, because he spoke.

“Lord Lucien simply loves the sword. He took an interest in it when he was small, and he has trained every day without missing one since. And he seems to have a talent for it as well. He is only ten and his ability is considerable.”

So that’s it… I keep saying it and Lucien is remarkable. I’ll work at it so as not to fall behind. I got to my feet with my resolve back up.

“Please carry on!”

“Good! Next is downward from upper left to lower right.”

“Yes!”

After that came the upward cut from lower right to upper left and the upward cut from lower left to upper right, and the practice swings were over. I’m too tired to want to move a single step…

“I didn’t think you’d get to the end. Anybody with that much grit suits the sword. Train every day from here and you’ll certainly get strong. Keep that sword; it’s lent to you.”

“Thank you very much!”

I found myself oddly moved by the sense of having seen it through. I’ll practice with this wooden sword every day! I was settling on that when Lucien came over.

“Leon, did you get through fifty of each? That is remarkable. I was certain it was impossible. Even I would find that hard.”

“What? But Jacques said a hundred is the ordinary number…”

“That would be Jacques’s ordinary, would it not? I am still a child, so I started at ten of each, and I am at thirty of each now.”

What?! I knew that was too punishing to be right!

“Jacques!”

“Sorry, sorry, it was meant as a bit of mischief. Only you worked harder at it than I expected, so it got enjoyable and I let you go on, and you went to the end. Going by the look of you, though, Leon, you train a fair amount, don’t you? So I thought your body wouldn’t give out and it would be all right.”

Jacques is scratching his head with a rueful smile. Honestly, I got through it and it was genuinely hard!

“It was extremely hard, I’ll have you know!”

“I know, I know, sorry. But you’re trained, Leon, so I do think you can start from around this number. If we cut it, thirty of each. Once you’re used to it, better to increase it quickly. If it isn’t hard there isn’t much point. Lord Lucien, you might increase yours a little as well.”

So from now I’ll start at thirty of each and increase it as soon as I’m used to it.

“Very well. Then I shall raise mine to forty of each and try that.”

“I think that would be good. Then shall we call today’s training finished?”

“Yes. Jacques, thank you.”

“Thank you very much.”

So the swordsmanship lesson finished too and we each went back to our rooms. Back in mine I washed the sweat off in the bath at once. It was enormously hard work, and sweating that much and washing it off felt wonderful.

And then for several days I passed the time taking lessons with Lucien. I managed to learn the dance steps after a fashion, and I borrowed the book so I could fill in the etiquette knowledge. I trained at the sword every day too, and the other day I had my first bout with Jacques. Hopeless, of course, and it turned into the reason I mean to work at the swings and the strength training all over again.

Passing days as full as that, tomorrow is finally the day of the Royal Academy’s examination. I’m about to have dinner with the household and go to bed early tonight. Lord Richard, Lady Catherine and Lucien are in the dining room.

“Leon, tomorrow is the examination at last. Are you all right?”

“Yes. I believe I shall be all right, but I shall keep my guard up and do my best.”

“Quite so. I shall not be careless either, and shall do my best.”

I’m not especially nervous, and Lucien seems the same as ever and quite all right. Well, Lucien is clever too, so failing is out of the question.

The Royal Academy’s entrance examination isn’t all that difficult in the first place, for a noble who has had the chance to learn. The written examination is basic arithmetic and reading and writing and simple history, and nothing else. Study honestly up to now and failing is close to impossible. The children of noble houses who do fail are, in most cases, apparently turned out of the house. In this country you can’t become a noble or a semi-noble without graduating from the Royal Academy, so it’s cruel and presumably unavoidable.

Except that it’s only easy for a noble; commoners, for whom the chance to learn is hard to come by, almost never pass. The commoners who pass are nearly all children of very rich merchants, the people who can spend money on a child’s education. There are a great many commoner candidates staking a thread of hope on it, and of those, apparently, only a genuine handful actually pass.

“Leon, from when will you live in this house?”

Lord Richard asked it. The talk has moved on to assuming I’ve passed, plainly. Not that I think I’ll fail.

“I was thinking of moving in a few days before enrollment. Would that be all right? I should like time to prepare what I need as well.”

“A few days before enrollment. Then I shall tell the servants so.”

“Thank you very much.”

“So from now on I shall be living with Leon. Something to look forward to!”

Lucien is thoroughly pleased about it. I enjoy being with Lucien too, and living in the same house is something to look forward to. Though being away from my family is the lonely part.

“I am looking forward to it as well. I know very little of noble society, so please teach me a great many things.”

“Yes, of course!”

I really am glad I became friends with Lucien. Thinking about the life ahead, he’s an ally worth a great deal. It would be good if everybody were decent people like the household of House Townsend… There will certainly be a great many who are not. I’ll go at it with a strong mind.

“Leon, the magic lessons with Her Highness have finished until you enroll at the Royal Academy, but do teach me magic now and then from here on as well.”

“Lady Catherine, of course. Whenever you call on me I shall teach you.”

“Thank you. And now we shall be living in the same house, so I can be taught a great deal more than before.”

The magic lessons for Martine came to an end as enrollment drew near. Part of it is that most of it has been taught, and part of the reason is apparently that from now on we can meet at the Royal Academy whenever we like.

My acquaintance with Martine is officially only as Lady Catherine’s attendant. But Martine said she would make some opening at the Royal Academy, so I expect we’ll be acquainted there before long. Being able to talk to her is wonderful, and I can picture the standing out and the envy perfectly. There’s no help for that part. Nothing to do but endure it.

So dinner went along with talk about life after enrolling at the Royal Academy, and ended in an easy mood.

“Then, both of you, rest early tonight and do your best properly tomorrow.”

“Yes, Grandfather. I shall go and do my best.”

“Certainly, Lord Richard. I shall give it everything I have.”

Back in my room, once the bath was done, the tiredness of training day after day caught up with me and I got sleepy, so I lay straight down. And I fell into a deep sleep resolving to do my best tomorrow.

Chapter 13 – The Founding Festival

The Founding Festival starts tomorrow at last. The whole capital has been in a rush over the preparations for days. Our restaurant is no exception; we’ve been busy with one thing and another for days. We put a stall up in front of the restaurant on the first day of the Founding Festival and on the fourth. As a rule the families who run restaurants close the shop for the festival and run a stall instead.

Our stall this year is rolled omelet. Egg seasoned with salt and herbs, with finely chopped vegetables and meat worked in for a lavish version, sold on a bamboo skewer. The whole-cabbage stew is generally made and eaten at home, so stalls mostly sell other things.

“Big Brother! Dad says come and help him put the stall together!”

“Coming. On my way.”

Marie called me from the restaurant side. The lunch service has just finished, and Marie is wiping the tables while Mom and I wash the dishes and put them away. Dad is on the stall.

“Mom, is it all right if I go?”

“There’s hardly any left, so go on. Jean’s probably struggling to get the stall together, so give him a hand.”

“Right.”

Coming out of the kitchen into the restaurant, the front door was open and I could see Dad outside. Struggling badly, from the look of him.

“Dad, are you managing?”

“Ah, Leon. Could you hold this board for me? Keeping it steady while I tie the rope is the hard part.”

A Founding Festival stall gets used once a year, so building a simple one each year is the normal way. It goes together with rope alone and no nails. There are holes bored in the boards, and you pass the rope through them and pull the knots tight. It isn’t especially strong, but it’s only for a few days and nothing heavy goes on it, so this is apparently good enough.

“Do I hold it here?”

“Yes. If you would.”

I held the board while Dad passed the rope through, wound it round and pulled it tight. Being able to build it by tying is a good thing. Drive nails in and taking it apart is a job too.

“Now hold this side.”

“Right.”

So Dad and I put the stall together. It has a roof of sorts, so rain won’t stop it. Getting this built is what makes it feel as though the festival has started.

“Is that it finished?”

“That’s it. Now I’ve got to get the things to sell ready. There won’t be enough eggs yet, so I’ll go and buy more, and I need to put an order in for meat so we can collect it early tomorrow.”

“Right. Is there anything else I can help with?”

“That reminds me, Leon, you’re going to the ducal house. When do you have to be there?”

“Nothing’s fixed. I’m only going today and staying the night so I can be at the festival tomorrow. But earlier would be better if it saves a rush. It gets cold once it’s dark.”

“It does at that. Loana! There’s nothing else you need Leon for, is there?”

Dad called through to Mom as he came into the restaurant, and Mom came out carrying a basket.

“No, we’ll manage from here on our own. I was just about to go and buy the eggs.”

“Then let’s go together. Marie, are you coming?”

“Yes!”

“Then Leon, get ready and we’ll all leave together. You can pick up the shared carriage on the way.”

The time for going to the central district wasn’t fixed today, so I’m taking the shared carriage.

“I’ll do that, then.”

“Big Brother, you won’t be here tomorrow, will you?”

“No. Tomorrow I’m in the central district. But the day after I’ll go round the stalls with you, so look after our stall tomorrow.”

“…All right. Leave it to me!”

Marie looked a shade lonely about it, but I’ve been going up to the central district practically every week lately, so she may be a little used to it, because she nodded with a smile.

“Right, let’s go.”

So I got ready and left the house with the others, and took the shared carriage up to the central district. I got down at the plaza at the entrance to the central district, and after that it’s on foot. Walking slowly along a road I usually take in a ducal carriage. The central district is busier than usual today too. Stalls are going up everywhere, and some places are converting the terrace seating outside a shop into something stall-shaped.

With a festival, the preparation is sometimes the best part rather than the day itself. I’m fairly firmly that type. So walking through the streets the day before is enormously enjoyable. Where is the plaza they set the stage up in, I wonder. There was nothing that looked like a stage in the plaza where I got off the carriage. Perhaps it’s a plaza a bit further into the district. I was walking along and arrived at the ducal house in no time. It shouldn’t be that close, and when you’re enjoying yourself it goes in a moment.

I walked up to the gatekeeper and he spotted me at once. I know a good many more of the ducal house’s people by sight now. I showed the crest and he let me straight in.

“Master Leon. I have been waiting for you.”

“Roger, isn’t that far too early to come and meet me?”

The moment I was inside the grounds Roger came out to meet me. That’s too fast even coming from the house. Don’t tell me he was waiting at the gate.

“I thought it about the hour Master Leon would arrive, so I waited in the gatekeeper’s lodge.”

“Really? …Well, thank you. But I don’t mind waiting, so there’s no need to go that far. You’ve got other work, haven’t you?”

“No. I am Master Leon’s valet, so there is no difficulty in making Master Leon my first priority.”

So that’s it. Well, that is what a valet is, I suppose.

“If that’s all right then. But don’t push yourself.”

“Certainly. Then I shall show you to the house.”

So I went up to the house with Roger. After that I had dinner with Lord Richard and the others, rested in that enormous bath and went to sleep.

Then, the first day of the Founding Festival at last. I’m in the plaza where I arranged to meet Martine. It’s a wide, handsome plaza inside the central district, and it’s the one with the stage. The palace orchestra is playing at the moment, so it’s tremendously lively. The sword dance is scheduled for the afternoon.

“Roger, have you ever been to the Founding Festival?”

Roger is with me today as well. Martine will have at least a maid and one guard with her, so I’m with Roger to match. I’d have thought a princess walking about the central district was a problem, and apparently if she keeps her clothes restrained and the guards and attendants to a minimum, she isn’t recognized.

Martine’s face isn’t all that widely known in the first place, and central-district festival or not, nobles hardly attend, so there’s no need to worry about being spotted. The main people at the central district’s festival are the commoners and semi-nobles who work there, and their families. Nobles apparently spend the Founding Festival enjoying parties and large tea parties at home. Martine has several tea parties she’s committed to as well.

“I have attended, when it was work.”

“Right. So you’ve never taken a day off and enjoyed the Founding Festival?”

“I have not.”

“I see. Then today’s work, but let’s forget that as far as we can and enjoy it!”

“…Forget the work. That may be a little difficult.”

I’ve worked it out over the time I’ve known him: Roger is a complete creature of work, the type who wouldn’t know what to do with himself if you took the work away. Or rather, most people in this world are broadly like that. The idea of not having days off is the thing that gets me. They only take time off work when something makes it unavoidable, or when their health gives out.

“I won’t press it, but enjoy yourself too, Roger.”

“Certainly.”

We were talking when a carriage pulled up in the plaza and Martine got down from it. The guard is Lord Frederick, and the maid is the same one who came to our restaurant. The carriage is an ordinary one and Martine’s clothes are several grades quieter than they are at the palace, so nobody would take her for a princess.

“Leon, good morning.”

Martine gave her greeting with a thoroughly delighted smile.

“Your Highness. Good morning.”

“Ah, no formal speech today. I have had Frederick and Masha allow Leon to leave it off. You know Frederick, I think, and Masha is somebody I can trust as well, so it is quite all right. She has been my maid since I was small.”

“Is that all right…?”

I asked it with a look at Lord Frederick and at the maid who’d been called Masha.

“Yes, no difficulty. There’s nobody here to make a fuss about it.”

Lord Frederick gave me a broad grin. Masha nodded at the words as well.

“I am grateful to you for being a friend to Her Highness. What matters most to me is that Her Highness passes her time happily and with a quiet mind.”

“The two of them say so, so it is all right. Yes?”

“Then I’ll do that. Lord Frederick, and Masha, is that all right? Thank you, both of you.”

“I have not greeted you properly yet. Forgive the lateness: I have the honor of serving as Her Highness’s maid. My name is Masha. I am glad to make your acquaintance.”

“I’m Leon. Glad to know you. Oh, then let me introduce my valet too. This is Roger.”

I introduced Roger as the moment offered, and Roger bowed beautifully from his place at my shoulder without moving from it.

“I have the honor of serving as Master Leon’s valet. My name is Roger. I am glad to make your acquaintance.”

“So Leon’s valet is called Roger. I have never had the chance to meet him.”

“Right, because when I come to see you I go as Lady Catherine’s attendant. Oh, does Masha know about my…”

I checked with Martine in a low voice and she nodded.

“She knows. She is always with me and she can be trusted, so I told her. Hiding it would be harder, and unnatural, I thought.”

“Right. That’s good. Thanks.”

Hiding a thing too stubbornly starts to show, and telling the people you can trust sometimes makes it easier to hide. Martine is badly placed for sending maids and guards away, so having one ally there must make it enormously easier.

“Yes. …Then, since we have introduced everybody, shall we start enjoying the Founding Festival?”

“Yeah. Where shall we go first?”

“What would Leon like? Is there anywhere you absolutely want to go, or anything you want to do?”

“I want to see the sword dance! I’ve been really curious about it.”

“That is a fine idea. I should like to see it as well. What hour does the sword dance begin?”

“The sword dance is due to begin in this plaza at two in the afternoon, Your Highness.”

“Masha, thank you. Then let us be back here by two. About three hours from now.”

Three hours. Then let’s spend them going round the stalls and eating. Eating your way along at a time like this is genuinely fun.

“Then shall we go round the stalls and eat until the sword dance? Are you allowed to eat things we buy, Martine?”

“Masha is with me, so it is quite all right. Then let us eat our way along!”

So we made our way from the plaza toward the main street. There are stalls in the plaza as well, but the plaza has benches and tables set out in numbers and works as a place to rest while watching the stage, so the main street has overwhelmingly more of them. Everything from food stalls to stalls selling trinkets and clothes.

“Martine, what do you suppose that stall is selling?”

The one that caught my eye was a stall hung with a great many cut flowers. I wondered whether plain cut flowers would sell at the Founding Festival. And seeing this many flowers in winter is unusual.

“Cut flowers, is it? I should think few people buy those at the Founding Festival…”

“It is a bit odd. Shall we go and look?”

“Let us.”

Coming up to the stall, the keeper was a calm woman in her thirties. She noticed us and spoke to us pleasantly.

“Welcome. My stall sells flower ornaments made from cut flowers. Choose the flowers as you like and I can make one up in a few minutes.”

She makes the ornament up here and now. That hadn’t occurred to me. This is a stall that could only work in a central district with money in it.

“Oh, you make them here? How lovely. And there are so many kinds, in winter.”

“I grow flowers that bloom in winter, every year, for the Founding Festival.”

“Is that so. It really is lovely.”

Martine said it looking over the flowers with her eyes shining. Which makes having one made the only option.

“Then let’s have one made. Could you make something to suit her?”

“Leon, may I?”

“Of course. It’ll suit you, definitely.”

“Thank you.”

The smile she gave saying it was so genuinely happy that it warmed something in me too. Being with Martine is enjoyable and puts a smile on my face without my arranging it.

“Then I shall make something to suit. Is there a flower you are fond of?”

“Let me see…”

Then a few minutes of agonizing over kinds of flower and colors, and a very pretty ornament that suits Martine was finished. This woman is extremely quick about it and has taste.

“Masha, would you put it on for me?”

“Certainly. I shall touch your hair, then.”

Masha set the ornament in Martine’s hair in a perfect position. Masha is a professional too.

“Leon, how is it?”

“It’s very pretty. It suits you.”

“Truly? I am glad.”

Martine colored a little in the cheeks and smiled, delighted.

“Then let us go on!”

And with the flower ornament on and Martine that much prettier for it, back to the stalls. Martine genuinely looks as though she’s shining. Even in a crowd like this I can find Martine at once. Whether that’s a royal aura she can’t hide or whether she only shines to my eyes, I have no idea.

“Leon, let us go to that stall next!”

Martine pulled me by the hand. There’s no need to think about anything difficult right now. Let’s simply enjoy today.

“Yeah! What’s that stall?”

“The whole-cabbage stew. You have to eat this if it is the Founding Festival.”

“So it’s the same in the central district. I’d wondered whether it was only a commoners’ custom.”

“It is not. Cabbage is difficult to grow well, apparently. So stewing a whole cabbage and eating it counts as a luxury, and that is how it became the festival’s dish. And there is a sense of celebrating a good harvest in it as well, because if the cabbage crop is good the other vegetables should be good too.”

Among commoners it only ever came down as the Founding Festival’s famous dish, so I never knew. I’ll pass that on to the others.

“So that’s what it means. Among commoners the whole-cabbage stew gets made at home so the stalls don’t sell much of it. Do they sell a lot of it in the central district?”

“There are a great many stalls for it. Each is a little different in flavor, and comparing them is part of the fun.”

“Right. Then let’s eat a lot of it.”

“Let us!”

So we made for a stall selling the whole-cabbage stew. Simply coming near it, the smell is wonderful.

“Excuse me. Could we have two?”

“Certainly. One moment, please.”

The stall had a good many customers and a bit of a queue, so we joined it and bought two whole-cabbage stews. Two of them means a whole stewed cabbage broken up and divided, so it comes as two servings in smallish deep dishes. The meat at this stall looks like chicken. The meat is where each shop plants its flag: some use beef, some pork, and among the beef ones the cut differs, and so on.

“That looks wonderful.”

“It does! Then let us eat at once.”

“Your Highness, I have secured a bench, so please come this way.”

“Masha, thank you.”

“Master Leon, I shall take the food for a moment.”

“Thanks.”

We handed the food to Roger and Masha for a moment and went to the bench they’d secured. There are places to sit and rest built here and there along the main street as well. When we sat down Masha tasted Martine’s portion. It looks like a nuisance, but there’s no avoiding it. Roger handed mine straight to me.

Dishes and cutlery are brought from home as a rule under this country’s stall etiquette, so Roger and Masha served ours into the dishes they’d carried. At commoners’ stalls there are places that put the food into the stall’s own dishes, and in that case the rule is to eat there and give the dish straight back. Then it gets a quick rinse under water and goes to the next customer. I can’t stand that, so when I go to a stall I always take my own bowl. If I’ve forgotten it I don’t buy anything with soup in it.

“There is nothing amiss, so please go ahead.”

“Thank you.”

The tasting is done. Masha handed Martine her portion.

“Then, Leon, shall we eat?”

“Yeah! Itadakimasu.”

“Itadakimasu.”

I spooned up a mouthful of the whole-cabbage stew and got it into my mouth. Oh. This stall is a good one. The chicken stock has come out nicely and it’s extremely good. The cabbage has stewed down to something that melts. Sweet, and superb.

“It’s good.”

“It is. It is extremely good. Eating this makes it feel like winter.”

“Ha. It might, at that.”

Martine and I talked like that and enjoyed our whole-cabbage stew.

“Then shall we go to the next stall!”

“Yeah!”

So we went round a great many stalls after that and made the most of the Founding Festival. I’m full and thoroughly satisfied.

“Martine, shall we head back to the plaza? The sword dance starts in about ten minutes, doesn’t it.”

“So it does. Then let us go back.”

“Yeah. I wonder who does the sword dance.”

“I do not know either. Frederick, do you know?”

“Yes. Three of the Royal Guard are due to perform as well.”

“Are they. Something to look forward to!”

“What does a sword dance actually involve? I’ve never seen one, so I can’t picture it.”

My vague image is dancing while holding a sword, and I don’t even know how many people do it.

“I have only seen it once myself, but there was one person dancing as though flowing, and two clashing swords together, and something with about five of them dancing in unison. Every one of them was beautiful, without exception, and splendid.”

“Right! That’s making me look forward to it even more.”

A bit different from what I’d pictured. So there’s sword-clashing in it too. Stage combat, then? When we got to the plaza a considerable crowd had already gathered. A lot of people want to see the sword dance. Which may mean nowhere to sit…

“The seats are full already.”

“They are. Then shall we go to the front of the standing area? From there even we should be able to see without difficulty.”

“Right. Let’s move.”

Whether because we’re children or because we had a valet and a guard with us, we got to the very front without trouble. It’s a little far off, but the stage itself is clearly visible, so it should be enjoyable.

“A few minutes to go? I’m thoroughly excited!”

This is the first entertainment of this sort I’ve seen since coming to this world, so I’m looking forward to it enormously. Put on a stage show in this world and the house would be packed, surely.

“Oh, the music has started.”

The orchestra that was playing on the stage in the morning is playing below it now. As the playing began, a single woman knight appeared on the stage. And she began to dance, swinging the sword in flowing lines with the music. That really is extraordinary. I don’t know how to put it; simply beautiful. I can’t look away.

“That’s very beautiful.”

“It is…”

We said it in murmurs without taking our eyes off the stage. When the dance, which felt like something out of a dream, was over, the music changed to something forceful. This time two men came up onto the stage. Their swords met with a great ring of noise. That was the signal, and the music turned fierce and their sword dance turned fierce with it. It looks less like a sword dance than a straight fight. One step wrong and somebody would be badly hurt. I was watching in a state of nerves when their dance finished. That was tense.

“That was tremendous. It made me nervous.”

“It did. I could not look away, in a different way from the woman knight.”

“Do you suppose all of that is decided in advance?”

“Frederick, you look as though you know.”

“Those movements are settled beforehand. Otherwise they would be badly hurt. They learn the movements and the two of them practice a great deal to bring it into shape.”

“So I was right, then.”

Well, of course. Nobody could do that unrehearsed. How much work does it take to get to a sword dance that good? I’m starting to want to learn the sword myself.

“Five knights have come out this time.”

I looked at the stage at that and three men and two women knights were up on it. This time the music that came was exciting, like something out of a Japanese game. And to it, the five of them gave a sword dance without a hair out of place. This one is forceful and it isn’t a fight; it’s more like a form. This one is really cool as well.

Then my heart was carried off by the sword dance for a while, and when it finished I was applauding without having decided to. It was genuinely splendid. Beautiful, and so cool.

“Martine, knights are cool, and a sword dance is extraordinary…”

I was too moved for vocabulary and that was all I could get out.

“It is. I am moved by it however many times I see it.”

“It’s made me want to learn the sword.”

“I am learning it.”

“What? You are!”

“I am. One has to exercise, to build up one’s stamina. And the Royal Academy has swordsmanship among its classes.”

So this country has men and women both doing swordsmanship. And Martine swinging a sword. That would be cool and beautiful, no question.

“I’m looking forward to the Royal Academy’s swordsmanship classes.”

“Yes. If Leon works at it, you will come to be able to do a sword dance too.”

“Do you think? I’ll work at it.”

Her saying that got me thoroughly fired up. I’ll put my back into the swordsmanship classes. I do the strength work and the stamina work properly these days, so all that should be left is handling a sword.

“I shall look forward to the day I can watch Leon’s sword dance.”

“Yeah!”

“…Then, shall we go? I am sorry for it, but the time has come.”

“Right. Is it that time already.”

It really did go in a moment. There must have been hours in it, and it feels like less than one. Because it was so enjoyable. I want to go out with Martine like this again.

“Today was genuinely enjoyable. Thank you for coming to the central district.”

“I enjoyed it enormously too. Thank you for inviting me. If the chance comes again I’d like to go out with you like this.”

“So would I. Let us certainly go somewhere again. What I can reach is generally no further than inside the central district, though…”

“Then I’ll come to the central district. There are still plenty of places in it I’ve never been.”

“Then I shall show you.”

“Thanks. I’ll look forward to it.”

Neither Martine nor I wanted this stretch of time to end, so we talked on and stretched it out a little longer.

“Your Highness, unless you leave soon your time will be past.”

“Yes… Then, Leon, until next time. And thank you for the lessons.”

“Yeah! Until next time.”

We made our farewells brightly at the end, and I parted from Martine. Watching her get into the carriage and go back to the palace, I felt a loneliness I couldn’t put a name to. Martine is my age, and because she has been educated as a member of the royal family she is very grown-up. So we can talk, and we simply suit each other. Being with her is comfortable.

I turned to Roger as though shaking off the loneliness of parting from her.

“Roger, you’re taking me all the way home today, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I shall take you by carriage.”

“Is there still a little time to enjoy the festival?”

“There is, but was there somewhere you wished to see?”

“No, it’s that you haven’t eaten anything all day, have you? So let’s eat now.”

The three of them besides Martine and me have had nothing all day except the tasting, because they were working. They must be starving. They couldn’t eat because there was nobody outside to relieve them, and part of the cause of that is me.

“No, I am quite all right, so please do not trouble yourself.”

“Don’t hold back. Or do you not want any?”

“No, it is not that…”

“Then let’s eat. Won’t you keep me company a bit longer?”

“…Certainly. Then I shall accompany you.”

Roger’s face eased a very little as he answered.

“Right, let’s go!”

So after that I enjoyed the stalls with Roger, made the most of the central district’s festival and went home. It was a genuinely enjoyable, happy day.

Chapter 12 – Homecoming and Souvenirs

The day to go back to the royal capital came at last. Going to the port town, practicing magic with Lucien: I spent a genuinely worthwhile stretch of time at the ducal domain. We leave early this morning, so I got up early, finished getting ready, and now we’re all gathered in front of the house.

“Father, Mother, I shall be going.”

“Yes. Apply yourself properly. I shall look forward to seeing how you have grown when we come to the royal capital.”

“Lucien, mind you are not a nuisance to anybody. Take care of your health and work hard.”

Ugh… Living apart from your parents at that age has got to be lonely, and sad. This is where you cry. A parting between parent and child is where you cry. I was standing there with tears gathering when everybody turned puzzled faces on me.

“Why is Leon on the point of tears? Have you got something in your eye? If so you had better go and wash it out at once.”

And then Lucien said that. No, no. I was in tears over the sight of a family that has to live apart! Wait, none of you are crying? Isn’t this the tearful farewell scene?

“Excuse me, Lord Lucien. Are you not lonely?”

“At what?”

At what, he says. At living apart from your parents!

“At being separated from Lord Christophe and Lady Sophia. Are you not lonely?”

“Hm? I am not lonely. What is Leon talking about? Going to the capital at this age is a matter of course, and besides, my father and mother will both be coming to the capital before long, for the party that celebrates the Spring Moon.”

…Wait, will they? So it isn’t going to be a long time before he sees them again? And what is the Spring Moon?

“More to the point, I am very much looking forward to it! At the Royal Academy I may make friends, and it is thoroughly exciting. At parties I have never had much chance to talk with children of my own age. One talks on the day, and then there is no seeing them again for a long while.”

…So he’s looking forward to it. Give me back my tears! And tell me what the Spring Moon is!

“You are looking forward to it. By the way, what is the Spring Moon?”

Lucien’s face registered considerable astonishment at that.

“Y-you do not know?”

“No. This is the first I have heard of it.”

Presumably it’s something like a calendar, and I don’t know this world’s calendar. Whether by luck or the lack of it, I have got this far without ever once asking. I had even wondered whether there might not be a calendar at all.

“The Spring Moon, the Summer Moon, the Autumn Moon and the Winter Moon make one year, and it goes round and round like that. Surely?”

“I see. Then how many days are there in the Spring Moon?”

“Eighteen weeks. Ninety days, obviously! Do you truly not know?”

“It has not spread among commoners.”

“…Has it not. It is not something worth setting on the Royal Academy’s examination, so unless one sets out to learn it one would not know…”

Lucien looks shaken. Things too obvious among nobles to appear on an exam and yet not known among commoners: that’s where the biggest holes in my knowledge are.

“Grandfather! Leon does not know the calendar…”

Lucien ran over to Lord Richard, who was talking to a valet near the carriage, and reported it. And Lord Richard looks considerably astonished as well. So it really is that basic. I’m glad I asked now.

“Then we shall talk about it in the carriage. If we do not leave soon we shall not reach the town we are to stay in tonight, so we depart.”

“…Certainly. Then, Father, Mother, this time I really shall be going.”

“Yes. Off you go.”

“Leon, get into the carriage as well.”

“Yes. Lord Christophe, Lady Sophia, thank you for taking even me into your house on this occasion. I look forward to the day we meet again.”

“Yes, come again whenever you like. I look forward to meeting in the capital as well.”

“Look after Lucien for us. It would please me if you were friends.”

So we made our farewells to everybody and got into the carriage. Once it started moving and we were out of the residence’s grounds, Lucien pressed in on me.

“Leon, do you truly not know? When you know so many things that are far more difficult!”

My knowledge really is lopsided. Because I know an odd assortment of things, people assume I must already know the elementary ones and never tell me: it happens all the time.

“There has never been an occasion to learn it.”

I had heard people talk about going to the ducal domain at the end of autumn, or the examination being at the end of winter, but it never occurred to me that those were the calendar itself. I thought they were simply naming the season.

“Is that so… It is a shock. Then you had better learn it now. There will be occasions to use it at the Royal Academy.”

“Very well. Then I shall teach you.”

“Thank you. I would be grateful.”

To gather up what Lord Richard taught me: a year is four months, from the Spring Moon to the Winter Moon; one month is eighteen weeks, ninety days. So a year is three hundred and sixty days. The year seems to turn over at the first week of the Spring Moon, which would be April in Japan.

“Then the party celebrating the Spring Moon that Lord Lucien spoke of earlier, is that a celebration of the new year?”

“No, the party for the Spring Moon carries more the sense of celebrating spring’s arrival. In this country the new year is not much celebrated at all.”

“…I see.”

The seasons have very nearly gone round twice since I was reincarnated, and I had been thinking that there had never been any festival for the new year. There simply isn’t a custom of celebrating it. That is something of a culture shock. And being in that position is exactly why I ended up half worrying that there was no calendar.

They should make a festival for the new year and spread the calendar among commoners while they are at it. This country has one celebration, the Founding Festival in the middle of winter, and beyond that no events whatever. There is room for a good many more. Japan took in events from abroad as well: it started at New Year and ran on through Setsubun and Valentine’s Day, the Doll Festival, White Day, Tanabata, Halloween, Christmas. And a great many others besides.

“Is there anything else about the calendar I should keep in mind?”

“Let me see… the beginning of spring means the first week of the Spring Moon. The end of winter means the eighteenth week of the Winter Moon. Those are used often, so you had better remember them. The same holds for the Summer Moon and the Autumn Moon.”

So that’s what those meant. I’d been taking them for the season, plainly… There was no way of working that out.

“Then if one says the beginning of autumn, that means the first week of the Autumn Moon?”

“It does. If you have what we have discussed, you should not be inconvenienced. If any question comes up again, ask me at once.”

“Thank you.”

So the carriage went along while I got a piece of new knowledge into my head. The return’s by the same road as the way out, though, so the views and the towns went past without much to make them new. The one difference was that the deputy Morgan was gone and a guest room had been prepared for me. Not much time had passed since I spoke to Lord Richard, so I was a little surprised the matter had been settled already.

After that the journey went along without incident, and several days later we arrived safely at the ducal residence in the royal capital. It was late at night by then, so I stayed the night and went to sleep in the bed in the usual guest room.

Then the next morning. I ate breakfast and decided to set off home at once. Lucien came to see me off. Everybody else has work piled up and they’re busy with it. Being away from the capital for days on end really does cost them.

“Leon, is the next time we meet the examination?”

“No. I come to the central district to teach Her Highness magic, so I think we’ll see each other fairly soon. The lessons are once a week.”

There were no valets or guards within earshot, so I answered without formal speech. Lucien must have told them to withdraw.

“That is true, so it is. Then I shall look forward to your next visit to the house.”

“Yeah, so am I. Here’s to more of the same.”

“Of course.”

We waved each other off, both smiling, and I got into the carriage with Roger and went home. Seeing Lucien again is something to look forward to.

Watching the streets go by from the carriage, the feeling of having come back to somewhere I know settles me completely. Going somewhere unknown was enjoyable, though it does tire you out. And being with the ducal household the whole time has its own tension in it. I’ve got a good deal more used to it, though I’m not entirely used to it yet.

I was gazing out of the window and we arrived near my house in no time. After hours in a carriage on the way to the ducal domain, it feels very close.

“Master Leon, we have arrived.”

“Yeah. Thanks for bringing me all this way.”

“Please do not mention it. It is no more than a valet’s duty. Then when next you come to the ducal residence, I shall serve you with everything I have.”

“Thanks. I’ll be at the ducal house soon for Her Highness’s lesson, so I’ll see you then.”

“Certainly. I shall be waiting for Master Leon’s arrival.”

So I parted from Roger, got down from the carriage, and came home for the first time in a while.

“I’m back!”

Going into our house after so long, Marie and Ian were in the restaurant.

“Big Brother! Welcome home!”

“Leon, welcome back.”

Marie jumped up in her delight. Marie, are you that pleased…? Your big brother’s very glad. I put the things I was carrying down on a table and spread both arms to hug her. And Marie went not to me but to the luggage I’d put on the table.

“Big Brother! What’s in the wooden box and the sack? Are they souvenirs?!”

Ugh… Marie likes souvenirs better than her big brother. I’ve lost to a souvenir! I was sinking under that when Mom and Dad came out of the kitchen.

“Leon, welcome home. You weren’t hurt? Are you feeling all right?”

“Leon, welcome back. Did you have a good time?”

“I’m home, both of you. Mom, you worry too much. Not a scratch anywhere and I’m fine, so don’t worry. And it was tremendous fun.”

Hearing that, the two of them let their faces soften and smiled in relief. They had been worried. Having people who worry about you unconditionally is a wonderful thing. Living together is going to stop being possible before long, but I’ll work so that we can live together again one day. My final goal is probably all of us in a comfortable house together.

“That’s good. So what’s inside that luggage? It’s a good size.”

“These are souvenirs for everybody! The wooden box has good things from the sea in it, and the sack has beach sand and shells.”

The box holds seafood packed in ice. The sack holds sand and shells from the beach, plus the small glass bottles I bought in the central district. What I’ve got in mind is arranging the sand and shells inside the bottles neatly, for a souvenir you can stand on a shelf.

“The sack can wait for another day, but tonight I’ll cook what’s in this box for everybody. Oh, but are we open this evening?”

“Leon’s home, so we’ll close for tonight.”

“We will.”

“Thanks! Then I’ll cook once the lunch service is finished.”

I’ll put my back into making it good. I want them to know how good things from the sea are. And their reaction will tell me whether seafood could be accepted by the people of the capital. I bought oil and everything else I needed in the central district on the way, so I’m fully prepared.

“Big Brother’s cooking is good, so I’m looking forward to it!”

“I’d like some too. Is it all right if I stay and eat?”

Marie was thoroughly happy about it, and Ian, watching her, said that with a great deal of envy in it.

“Of course you can eat too, Ian. There’s plenty of everything, so it’s fine.”

“Really?! Leon, thanks!”

Ian is genuinely delighted, and threw in a fist-pump with it.

“You’ve never eaten anything from the sea, though, have you? And you still want it that much?”

“Of course! I’m never going to get another chance at food from the sea. Anybody wants to try something rare, don’t they!”

Well, true enough, a rare thing has value simply for being rare.

“Then let’s leave this for now. The lunch service is about to start.”

“So it is. Oh, that reminds me. Mom! There’s somebody I want to invite to dinner. Is that all right?”

“I don’t mind, but who?”

“Marcel. None of you have met him yet, have you? I’ve wanted to introduce him properly, and I want him to eat some of the seafood. And I told him about going to the ducal domain, so I want to report that I got back safely.”

I’d meant to introduce Marcel to my family, and in the end no occasion for it ever came up. I want it done properly once.

“Marcel. It’s true that Mom and Dad have both been wanting to meet him. He isn’t a man who minds about manners and so on, is he?”

“No! I don’t think he minds about that in the slightest. So can I invite him?”

“Of course. Then, Leon, go over to Marcel’s during the lunch service.”

“Mom, thanks!”

“Marie and Ian, back to getting ready.”

“Yes!”

I put the wooden box down in a corner of the kitchen and left the house for Marcel’s workshop. Home really is enjoyable after a while away, and settling, and it warms something in me. The road I’ve walked a hundred times felt like something special.

I reached Marcel’s workshop and knocked, and Marcel put his head out at once.

“Marcel. It’s been a while.”

“Leon. Back, are you. Not hurt?”

“Not a scratch anywhere. My first journey was tremendous fun.”

“Good.”

At that Marcel’s face broke into a gentle smile. And seeing Marcel like that makes me glad in turn.

“I came today to invite you to dinner at ours. The truth is I brought a lot of seafood back packed in ice as a souvenir. I’m cooking it for dinner tonight, so won’t you come? I wanted to introduce you to my family as well.”

“That’d be a pleasure, but… wouldn’t I be in the way of a family evening?”

“In the way? Nothing of the kind! And Ian is there, the lad who works at the restaurant, so it isn’t only family anyway.”

“Right. Then I’ll impose on you.”

“Really?!”

I’m glad Marcel is coming. It would be good if he and the family got on.

“Yes. What hour should I come at?”

“Let me think… around five in the evening.”

“Understood. I’ll look forward to it.”

“Yes! I’ll cook something extremely good!”

So, having invited Marcel to dinner, I went back home. The lunch service must have just finished, and everybody was clearing up.

“Leon, how was Marcel?”

“He’ll come a little before the evening bell.”

“Oh, good. Then we’ll have to make something good.”

“Yeah. I’ll do my best!”

Then we all ate what was left of the lunch service for our own lunch, rested a while, and it was time to make dinner. I went into the kitchen with my sleeves up. Mom and Dad are helping cook, and Marie and Ian are apparently watching. They’re thoroughly curious about seafood.

First the wooden box onto the counter, and the lid off. The large box holds the iced seafood; the smaller one holds the seasonings I bought in the central district.

“Is that ice? Why is there this much ice?”

Ian said it, puzzled. He’s right. In the depths of winter you can get ice by leaving water standing outside, but it’s only the beginning of winter yet.

“One of the ducal house’s people lent me a magic tool, and I made this ice with it.”

I can’t reveal much about my ability, so that was my answer. Commoners understand a magic tool as roughly a convenient device that nobles use, so in most cases saying magic tool settles it.

“Ah. Magic tools really are handy, aren’t they, if they can even make ice.”

“They are. Makes you envious. And what’s inside the ice is the food from the sea.”

I laid the seafood out one item after another on the big wooden board spread over the counter.

“From this end: yellowtail, horse mackerel, Spanish mackerel, scallops, octopus.”

I was pointing them out one by one as I explained when I caught sight of everybody taking a step back.

“What’s the matter with all of you?”

“L-Leon, what is that?!”

“What do you mean, what is it?”

Ian shouted it as though he were frightened of something, and Mom, Dad and Marie were all shaking their heads violently in agreement.

“Er, what’s the matter with all of you?”

“Th-that, that revolting-shaped one! The one right on the end!”

“The octopus?”

…Right. If you have never seen one, an octopus does look extraordinarily strange. Being frightened of it may be fair enough. True enough, on Earth as well, in countries that don’t eat octopus people were all frightened of it, as I recall.

“The look of this may be revolting, but it tastes good, so it’s all right.”

When I lifted the octopus with both hands, everybody let a little of the tension go, half believing me.

“And that hard-looking one, what’s that? Can you eat it?”

“The hard-looking one, you mean the scallop? Scallops are fine, you eat the inside. You don’t eat the outside.”

“Right. That’s all right then.”

Ian is finally reassured. They’ll have seen fish, since there are river fish, but the rest don’t live in rivers, and being frightened of something you have never seen is only natural. Which makes me think that getting the people of this capital to eat fish and shellfish, when many of them have never even eaten river fish, is a high bar.

In this capital they hardly eat river fish either. Now and then somebody who’s caught fish in the river goes round selling them, and even that you barely see. Meat is completely and utterly the main thing. River fish are for the few fish-lovers who catch their own and eat them.

“So, Leon, how do we cook it?”

Dad’s eyes look brighter than usual. A cook does enjoy having a new ingredient to work with.

“They have to be cut up first, and that part’s difficult, so I’ll do it. They taught me at the port town. Mom, Dad, could you cook the fish once they’re cut? I’ll tell you the recipes.”

“Right you are.”

What to make. There’s no oven here so baked scallops are out. In that case… garlic with salt and pepper in a pan will do. I made sure to buy garlic and pepper in the central district. The horse mackerel can be crumbed and fried and the octopus deep-fried, as before. Spanish mackerel had better be meunière. Meunière is salt, then dusted with flour, then fried well in oil, if I remember. And then butter in after that. Trying one new thing should be all right.

That leaves the yellowtail, and with yellowtail all I can think of is salt-grilled, or the sweet-soy glaze, or simmered with radish. But the glaze and the simmered one are both plainly short of the seasonings. Plain salt-grilled, then.

Right. The frying looks likely to take longest, so let’s start there.

“So, Mom, could you chop the leftover bread up fine with a knife? I want it really fine. As fine as mincing, near enough.”

“That fine?”

“Yeah. I don’t think it’ll work unless it’s fine, so please stick at it.”

“All right.”

“Thanks. And, Dad, I want you to make a sauce. Have we got any of the dried tomatoes in store? I’d like a tomato sauce from those.”

“There should be a little, I think. You don’t need much of it?”

“No. A small amount is fine.”

“Then I’ll make it.”

“Thanks.”

So with Mom and Dad set on, I started cutting up the horse mackerel myself. I worked carefully, trying to recall what Nasser had shown me. Tiring, but not a bad result.

With all the horse mackerel done, I started preparing the octopus. Once enough of the slime was off, I cut it into chunks. Preparing it was harder than I expected and I ended up using body strengthening magic. But it’s done. Nowhere near Nasser, but I have at least succeeded in cutting them up.

“Mom, I want you to put flour on this cut horse mackerel, then dip it in beaten egg, then get breadcrumbs all over it. Can I leave that with you?”

“Of course. And after that you grill it?”

“No. You fry it in a lot of oil. Put oil about halfway up this pot, and when the oil’s hot, put the prepared horse mackerel in. I’ll do the first ones.”

When I explained that, both Mom and Dad went round-eyed.

“Leon, halfway up this pot. I misheard that, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t. You may think it’s a waste, but that oil can be used for other dishes afterward, and more than anything it’s needed for what we’re about to make. I’ll use the oil I bought, so it’s fine.”

“Well, if that’s so…”

“So, Mom, could you get the horse mackerel ready and see to the oil alongside it?”

“All right.”

“Thanks. Dad, how’s the sauce?”

“Just finishing. What next?”

“Then I’d like you to season the octopus with salt and pepper. And once it’s stood a while, the octopus gets flour on it and gets fried too.”

“Understood. I’ll get the seasoning on it for now. How much pepper should I use?”

“Hmm, a bit less than the salt, I’d say.”

“Right. I’ll do my best with it.”

Dad gazed at the pepper with his eyes shining and picked it up as though it might break. Pepper is one of the seasonings a commoner cook dreams about.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

With all sorts of things handed to Mom and Dad, I started cutting up the Spanish mackerel and the yellowtail. Those two are salt-grilled and meunière, so they aren’t much trouble. Cut, seasoned, and into the pan.

While I was at it Dad had finished with the octopus.

“Leon, the octopus is ready. The sauce is done too.”

“Thanks. Then can I ask you for the Spanish mackerel and the yellowtail?”

“Of course. What do I do with these?”

“The Spanish mackerel wants salt on it and a dusting of flour, then into the pan. When it’s coming along, put a little butter in for the flavor and it’s done. The yellowtail is easier: salt on it and grill it, that’s all.”

“Understood. I’ll get it ready.”

“Thanks.”

Dad started seasoning and getting the pan ready for the Spanish mackerel I had cut. A while after that the Spanish mackerel and the yellowtail were all done.

“Leon, are your hands free?”

Mom called me straight away.

“Yeah. I’m free.”

“The oil’s ready. If you tell me what to do I’ll do it, shall I?”

“Then I’ll do a bit of it. After that it’s yours.”

I fried one crumbed horse mackerel and one piece of octopus, and took them out at what I thought was very slightly overdone.

“I want you to fry them like that. I think they’re cooked through, but could you check to be sure? If it’s cooked through and a little tough, that means too long, so I think you can shorten the frying time a bit.”

“All right. Leave it to Mom!”

“Thanks.”

With the frying left to a thoroughly willing Mom, I got on with the last thing, the scallops. Scallops need the meat taken out first. I set about working the meat out of the shells with a cooking knife. This takes a fair amount of strength and a knack, and it’s hard going.

“Leon, can I try that? That looks like something I could manage.”

I was wrestling with the scallops when Ian offered.

“You’ll do it? Thanks. The truth is I was getting fairly tired.”

“I’ll take over. I’ve been watching how you do it, so I think I’ll be fine.”

Ian took the scallops over for me, so in the meantime I minced the garlic and got ready to cook them.

“Leon, they’re all done.”

“Thanks! That was a real help.”

I took the scallops from Ian and patted the moisture off with a clean cloth. I had put Purification on the cloth beforehand. I would hate for anybody to get an upset stomach from bacteria on a cloth.

All that’s left is the cooking, and Mom is frying and Dad is cooking fish, so there’s nowhere to cook the scallops. Dad looks nearly finished, though. Mom still seems to be struggling.

“Dad, are you nearly done there?”

“Just finished this moment. The smell is wonderful; it opens the stomach.”

“Wait a bit longer. Once these are cooked we’re finished.”

“Is that the inside of the hard-looking things? Scallops, was it?”

“That’s it. These get cooked with garlic and salt and pepper.”

“Then Dad will cook those too. Leon, could you take out whatever is ready? Ian and Marcel are coming, so let’s use the dining room.”

“Understood. Then I’ll leave it with you. Ian, Marie, shall we get dinner laid out?”

“Sure.”

“Yes!”

So Marie and Ian and I went through to the dining room to set the table. And at exactly that moment there was a knock at the dining-room door. I hurried over and opened it, and it was Marcel.

“Marcel! Thank you for coming.”

“That’s my line. Thank you for the invitation. That’s a fine smell, though.”

“Yes. It’s finishing right now.”

“Big Brother, who’s that?”

Marie asked it, puzzled, while I was showing Marcel in and talking to him.

“This is somebody who does a great deal for me. His name is Marcel.”

“I’m Marcel. Would you be Leon’s little sister?”

“Yes! I’m Marie!”

“Marie, is it. You’re to call me Marcel.”

Marie thought about that for a moment, and then, taking her time over it, spoke.

“Marcel… Grandpa?”

Marcel heard it and his whole face melted into a grin on the instant. Well, I understand how he feels. Marie, you have a great deal to answer for…

“Yes, that is it exactly! Will you call me Grandpa Marcel?”

“Yes! Grandpa Marcel, I’m glad to know you!”

Marcel, having taken heavy damage from Marie’s beaming smile, gripped himself somewhere around the chest and froze. Marie’s adorableness really does work on anybody. On Marcel’s generation it may be lethal.

“Marcel, I’m Ian. I work at this restaurant. Good to know you.”

Ian made his greeting while keeping an eye on the state of Marcel. At which Marcel came back to reality with a start and turned to face him.

“Forgive me for greeting you late. I’m Marcel. Good to know you.”

“Then, Marcel, I’ll go and get Mom and Dad, so please wait a moment. Marie, show Marcel to a seat.”

“Yes! Grandpa Marcel, please sit here!”

I saw Marcel take the seat Marie offered him, looking delighted about it, and went through to the kitchen. Dad had already started clearing up and Mom seems to have just finished frying. The smell really is wonderful; it opens a hole in you.

“Mom, Dad, Marcel’s here.”

“I noticed. My hands were full so I couldn’t come and greet him. And I’ve just this minute finished the frying.”

“Then shall we carry it through? And I’ll introduce Marcel.”

The three of us carried all the finished dishes through, and when we came into the dining room Marie was in the seat beside Marcel, talking happily. And Marcel’s face as he listened to her was… a sight. Where has the sharp-eyed Marcel who faces a magic tool gone? Marcel likes children, evidently.

“Marcel, my mom and dad.”

I put the plates on the table and introduced them. Marcel stood up from his chair and turned to face them.

“My name is Marcel Roncoli. My apologies for the lateness of my greeting. I am glad to make your acquaintance.”

Mom and Dad froze for a second at how thoroughly formal that was, and then softened into easy smiles and spoke. Between the princess and Lord Frederick of the Royal Guard coming here, both of them are getting used to it by degrees.

“I’m Leon’s mother, Loana. Marcel, it sounds as though you’ve been helping Leon in all sorts of ways, and thank you.”

“Leon’s father, Jean. Leon’s told me all about you, Marcel, and thank you truly for giving him a hand.”

The two of them used the bit of formal speech I had taught them while keeping their usual way of talking. Formal speech really isn’t something you pick up that easily.

“There are things Leon teaches me and things he helps me with as well, so we’re even.”

“If Leon is any use at all then I’m glad. Now, no time like the present, the food will go cold, so let’s have dinner.”

“Quite so. It’s a very fine smell.”

“Isn’t it! These are the ones I fried. Do try them.”

“Then I’ll have those first.”

So the introductions ended in an easy mood and we all took our seats at once. Time to eat, at last.

“Leon, thank you for a wonderful souvenir. Itadakimasu.”

“Itadakimasu!”

We all said it together and each reached for whatever had caught their eye. What shall I have…? The Spanish mackerel meunière first. Whoa, this is dangerous. The moment it goes in your mouth the butter opens out, and then the sweetness of the Spanish mackerel with the salt lifting it. Dusting it with flour gives it a crisp edge as well, and it’s absurdly good.

“This Spanish mackerel is fantastic! Everybody try it!”

I said it out of sheer astonishment at how good it was, and everybody reached for the Spanish mackerel at once. Marie took one mouthful and beamed. Ian took one mouthful and froze with a look of surprise on him.

“Big Brother! This is so good!”

“This is astonishing…”

“It is. To think it could be this good. Sea fish has soft flesh and it’s delicious.”

“And this seasoning is good too.”

Dad and Mom took to it as well, which is a relief. Ian finally came back from being surprised and is on his second mouthful.

“Ian, is it good?”

“It’s unbelievably good. It’s so good it startled me.”

That was all he said, and then Ian settled down to eating nothing but Spanish mackerel. Being this pleased with it makes me glad.

“This one Loana recommends is extremely good as well.”

Marcel said it with the crumbed horse mackerel in his hand and no attempt to hide his astonishment.

“That is crumbed horse mackerel.”

I’ll have some too. Crisp… Mm, that texture is the best of it! And the tomato sauce does suit it.

“The crumbed horse mackerel is the best! That’s Mom and Dad for you.”

“Isn’t it? If I say so myself it came out beautifully. Jean’s sauce suits it too.”

“Big Brother, do I put this on it to eat it?”

“You do. But it’s good with salt on it instead of the sauce, too.”

“Understood!”

Marie answered brightly and ate her crumbed horse mackerel with tomato sauce on it. Marcel, having heard that salt was also good, seems to be trying it with salt this time.

“I like this! It’s crispy and it’s good!”

“It does work with salt… I’ve never eaten anything as good as this in my life.”

“If it suits your taste, Marcel, then I’m glad.”

After that we all traded our verdicts on the dishes and gave ourselves up to the food from the sea. It was the best and most enjoyable dinner.

“Big Brother. All of it was so good!”

“It was. This is the best souvenir there is.”

“It really is. It was extremely good, and making it was fun too.”

“Every one of them was genuinely good.”

“It’s been a long while since I had an evening as enjoyable as this. All of it was as good as anything I’ve eaten.”

To have them that pleased with it makes me glad. I’m glad to be a member of this family. The thought put a smile on my face without my arranging it.

“I’m glad to hear you say so. Thank you, everybody. If I get another chance to go to the sea I’ll buy souvenirs again, so let’s do this again.”

“Yes! Big Brother, you promise.”

Marie answered nearly on top of the sentence. Marie has no defense at all against good food. Everybody has a slightly rueful smile at the sight of her.

“Marie, I promise.”

“Yes!”

So a happy dinner ended. Being with family really does settle me, I thought.

Then the next day. I woke early, so before breakfast I got the other souvenir ready. I bought four of the small bottles, so one is Martine’s souvenir and the other three are for the family. First the sand goes into the bottle, and then the shells and something like a starfish go in on top.

This sort of thing is all about taste. I have the impression they were common in Japan and looked extremely smart, and when I do it the result comes out looking somehow tacky. Is there too much sand?

So, turning the bottles over and resetting the contents any number of times, an hour of trial and error. It finally came out at something I would call a pass. And with them finished I put cork stoppers in the three for the family. Martine’s looked likely to shift about on the journey, so I decided to leave hers unstoppered, to be put right on arrival.

“Mmph. Tired. My shoulders are stiff.”

“Leon, are you awake?”

Something answered my talking to myself and I jumped. I had concentrated too hard to notice Mom coming down.

“Morning, Mom. I was making souvenirs for everybody. There’s nothing to do with them but stand them somewhere, but aren’t they pretty?”

“Oh, they are. They’re very pretty.”

“This is sand and shells from the beach at the sea.”

“The look of it is nothing like ordinary sand.”

“It isn’t. There’s plenty of sand left, do you want to touch it?”

“Yes… it’s silky. That feels lovely.”

“Doesn’t it! It’s thoroughly habit-forming.”

I was touching the sand with Mom when Dad and Marie came into the living room.

“Dad, Marie, morning.”

“Morning. What are you doing?”

“The other souvenir. Sand and shells from the sea. I put them in bottles nicely, so stand it in your room.”

“It’s very pretty. Leon, thank you.”

“Yeah! One for Marie too.”

“What is this, it’s so pretty!”

Marie took the bottle and gazed at the contents with her eyes shining.

“If you tip it the inside shifts about, so be careful with it.”

“Yes! Is this mine to keep?”

“Of course. It’s a souvenir.”

“Big Brother, thank you!”

Marie threw her arms around me. Marie is too adorable… This will keep me going for a good while.

“Then Mom’s goes in the living room. Marie’s in the bedroom, shall we? And Jean’s in the kitchen, how about that? Then you can see one wherever you are.”

“I’ll do that! Then I’m taking mine upstairs!”

And Marie went out of the living room carrying her bottle as though it were precious.

Then, several days later, I was at the palace for Martine’s lesson. I’m back in the capital, so we started again straight away. Except that when I got to the palace it wasn’t a lesson; it turned into a tea party with just Martine and me.

“Martine, was it all right to skip the lesson?”

“Yes, because I wanted to hear about it. Leon went to the sea, did you not? I have never been.”

“Right. You’ve never been outside the capital at all, have you?”

“I have not. As a rule the royal family does not leave the capital.”

Royalty comes with a lot of strings attached… You get the life of splendor, and you don’t get much freedom.

“So how was the sea? The sea is the very first place I want to go one day. I hear it is enormously wide and beautiful.”

“Yeah. The sea goes on and on until you can’t see the end of it, and it really was beautiful. Look at the whole of it and it’s blue. The blue of the sky and the blue of the sea spreading out forever, and if you look at it a long time it gets a bit frightening as well. You feel how vast nature is.”

“Is that so… I should like to see it once.”

Martine said it gazing off into the distance, longing for it and a little forlorn with it. I wanted to give her something to be pleased about, so I took out the souvenir.

“Martine, I brought you a souvenir. Will you take it? It’s nothing much…”

I put the bottle on the table as I said it. I set the contents right earlier, so it’s perfect.

“It is so pretty! Leon, what is this?”

“Sand and shells from the beach by the sea. Put them in a bottle like this and stand it somewhere, and isn’t it lovely?”

“It is very lovely. If I stand it in my room I can feel the sea whenever I like.”

The smile she gave saying it had none of that forlornness left in it.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“It is the best souvenir there is. So the sea has sand as beautiful as this.”

“Yeah. I hope you get to go someday.”

Travel may be difficult in Martine’s position, but some official duty may take her toward the coast. If we could go together then, that would be good…

“Yes… And what did you do besides going to the sea?”

“Ate a lot of food from the sea, I suppose. Fish and shellfish dishes. Have you ever had any?”

“I ate the thing called dried fish once, long ago, I believe.”

So dried fish did come into the capital after all. Going by Martine’s face she may not have liked it much. She has an ambiguous expression on.

“You didn’t like it?”

“I do not remember the taste well, but I do remember thinking that I did not need any more of it…”

“Ha. Right. Go to the port town and there’s fresh seafood, and cooked fresh it’s wonderful.”

“Truly…?”

“Of course. Once ice makers spread, transporting it to the capital should become possible before long. Try it then.”

When that happens I’ll pass my recipes to the palace cooks for her. They’ll certainly make them better than I do.

“Is that so! Then I shall look forward to it. Let us have a tea party where the two of us enjoy food from the sea.”

“That tea party sounds tremendous.”

“Then it is a promise.”

“Of course.”

So Martine and I laughed together. Talking with Martine really is enjoyable.

“That reminds me, Leon, there was something I wanted to say. The Founding Festival is coming, is it not? Will you not go with me?”

“The Founding Festival, that’s the one in the middle of winter, right?”

“It is. The ninth week of the Winter Moon is the Founding Festival. A celebration once a year.”

The first year I never got to the Founding Festival, because I was reincarnated after it had finished. And the next year I went to the commoners’ festival. At the commoners’ festival there are far more stalls out than usual, and then there is the whole-cabbage stew the day is known for. A whole cabbage goes into a big pot, and it is seasoned with meat and salt and herbs. Because it’s a festival they are lavish with the seasoning, so my memory of it is that it was extremely good. And we shared it out among the family and Nikola and the others, which made it fun.

“Do they hold the Founding Festival in the central district too?”

“Of course they do. The Founding Festival is held all over the country. A stage is set up in the plaza and the palace orchestra plays. And there is a sword dance by the knights. A great many stalls are set out, and every year it is tremendous.”

An orchestra and a sword dance! The central district sounds enjoyable too. The Founding Festival runs a week, so going to the central district’s festival first and spending the rest at the festival near home should work.

“That sounds tremendous. Is it all right for me to come with you? Or rather, are you allowed out of the palace at festival time?”

“Of course! As far as the inside of the central district, I am told it is all right so long as proper guards come. I have been several times.”

“Right. Then let’s go together.”

“Yes, something to look forward to!”

So I spent that day at an enjoyable tea party with Martine and left the palace. The Founding Festival is something to look forward to.

Chapter 11 – Micheline’s Happy Day

“Leon, the divine object is in that very palace! If you’d only touch it, we could talk…”

Oh, it’s so frustrating! I failed at reincarnating the soul I brought over from Japan, and ever since I’ve been peeking in on Leon now and then and turning over every way there might be to reach him, and not one good idea has come to me!

Sherifie told me to try an oracle, but when I thought it through properly, my divine power only runs to about one oracle inside the divine domain. Meaning I can only send an oracle into the worship room of the church in the central district of the country Leon’s in.

If the king of that country, or Leon, would only come inside it, everything would be perfect, but neither of them shows the least sign of coming. Honestly, have a little faith in me! Though it isn’t only the king and Leon; almost nobody shows a face in there at all… The only one who comes to pray devotedly, near enough every day, is a single young woman. Besides her there’s an old man now and then, and an old woman who doesn’t pray at all and only rests on a chair a while. That’s the whole of it.

Suppose I spent precious divine power on an oracle to one of them. That young woman, say. Suppose I gave her an oracle to hand Leon the divine object in the palace: if she passed that on to the people around her, would they believe her…? Probably not. Even I can see that much. The likeliest end of it is being brushed aside with something about how she’s prayed so hard every day that her mind has gone. Then the old man who comes now and then? He’d only be taken for senile, or for hearing things… Honestly, what am I supposed to do in a state like this!

“Leon, this is very good!”

“I’m glad. Your cooks really are skilled, aren’t they. It’s pretty close to the taste I remember.”

“Is it. So I am eating the food of Leon’s previous world at this moment. That makes me happy somehow.”

Oh, honestly! Leon, you’re actually inside the palace and this is no time to be making eyes at a princess! When the divine object is right there. A short walk on through the palace and it’s in the treasury. Though nothing’s been passed on to him, so it’s unreasonable of me. As things stand, the chance of Leon happening to pick up the divine object is as near nothing as makes no difference. And he only goes to the palace to teach this princess magic, apparently.

Still. That pasta looks extremely good. I want something to eat as well. But creating things costs divine power too, so no. It isn’t as though I have any trouble going without food. And yet I want some. I want something sweet.

Sweet things are my very favorite. I love them enough to live on them and nothing else! Which is why I was planning to have Leon make me all the sweets there are in Japan, and that’s out of reach too while I can’t reach Leon.

I’m a rather pitiable goddess. I work hard at all sorts of things and none of it’s rewarded. Perhaps one would be all right? I want to make those sweet pancakes Leon was making. But the divine power…

Oh, I can’t bear this! I stopped peeking at Leon eating delicious food. And decided to go to Sherifie’s instead. Sherifie did say I might come and visit again.

“Sherifie!”

“Micheline. Here again. What became of the soul you took from Earth?”

“Leon, you mean. It’s going nowhere at all. Not one good method comes to me… I peek in on Leon and there’s no sign of him touching the divine object, and peeking uses a little divine power too, you know? So I can’t keep watching forever either…”

“Nothing’s been passed on to Leon, has it. Then his touching the divine object would be a miracle… Still, he’s a soul you went all the way to Earth for, so keep at it and don’t give up.”

“I know that, but let me rest a moment, pleeease. My divine realm’s got nothing in it, and no attendants, and I’m simply bored!”

When I let that out, Sherifie put on the face of somebody at the end of her patience.

“Your divine realm is beyond bleak. And you’ve kept to none of the practices recommended to a god. Ordinarily you furnish your realm and make at least three attendants, so the mind doesn’t break. Don’t tell me you didn’t know.”

“Of course I knew… But divine power seemed too precious to spend, so I put it off, and before I noticed there wasn’t any of it left to spend on the realm.”

“Micheline, you truly have no forward planning.”

She may say so, but I did mean to make a human world like Earth in my first one! And before I noticed it had turned into a world of monsters with no hope of any culture developing…

“I’ve got planning. It’s only that I’ve got no luck… I think.”

“Indeed. Then you haven’t been using divine power on sweets? You keep telling me you’re short of it, so surely you haven’t been.”

“S-suuurely not. As if I’d spend it on any such thing. I very nearly made pancakes a moment ago and I held myself back and came here instead!”

“You held yourself back a moment ago. Which means the rest of the time you make them, doesn’t it?”

Sherifie fixed me with a long, steady look.

“I-I hardly eat any. About five a day. That’s about the same as the divine power that comes back in a day, so it hasn’t gone down.”

“Micheline! Then your divine power will never increase, will it!”

Sherifie’s thunder came down. She looks so gentle and she’s genuinely frightening when she’s angry.

“But there’s nothing I can do, and without some little pleasure…”

“I do understand that, but the humans of your world are close to dying out! If you don’t want it to go the way the last world went, then work at it!”

Of course I don’t want it to go the way the last world went. Honestly, why am I so hopeless? Nothing but mistakes, and everything turning the worse way. I was sinking under it when Sherifie leaned in with a worried face.

“Micheline? I said too much. I’m sorry. Let’s have a change of mood, then! My divine realm has places to play in and companions to play with, plenty of both.”

Earth’s divine realm has every kind of building and every kind of country set out across a range so wide that walking it at a human’s pace would take months. And Sherifie has hundreds of attendants. So it’s lively here whenever I come, and bright, and enjoyable. I’d like my own realm to be like this one day. Mine’s got one desk, one sofa and a few shelves. The gap is remarkable…

“Shall we view the blossom? Or the autumn leaves? There’s skiing as well. Sea-bathing would be pleasant too. And I built a new amusement park the other day. We might watch a film at the cinema. Today I’ll let Micheline decide what we do.”

“I get to decide?”

“You may. Today’s special.”

“Sherifie, thank you! Then blossom-viewing! With a great many sweets!”

“Micheline really does love sweet things. Then today, as a special case, I’ll make you up to ten kinds.”

Usually it’s three, because divine power’s too precious to spend. Sherifie’s generous today!

“Sherifie, I love you!”

I threw my arms around her, and Sherifie looked faintly put upon and hugged me back. I truly am glad Sherifie’s my friend. No, friend isn’t a word that covers it any longer. Family? Well, there’s no need to put a name to it!

“Then first the dango and the sakura mochi! And I want the dorayaki and the warabi mochi. And the sakura roll cake and the baumkuchen. The ones I had before were genuinely wonderful! And then the cheesecake and the cream puffs and the chocolate gateau. And the last one is… the strawberry daifuku!”

“It really is only Japanese sweets that Micheline knows anything about.”

“Naturally!”

Something this good, that makes you this happy: you couldn’t forget it if you tried!

“Then I’ll create them.”

Sherifie waved a hand and one sweet after another appeared on the desk. Wonderful… This place really is paradise.

“Ashina. Are you there?”

At Sherifie’s call a girl appeared who’d look about ten in human terms. Fluffy brown hair tied up in a ponytail, and large striking eyes. She’s Sherifie’s favorite and she’s often near her. Ashina loves Sherifie too, so she serves without a word of complaint. Or rather, an attendant loves her master without exception. Though looking at Sherifie’s attendants, their characters seem to be all over the place.

“Yes. I am here! Did you need something?”

“Would you pack these sweets into a basket? Micheline and I are going to view the blossom.”

“Certainly! Oh—Micheline, you have come to visit us!”

“Ashina. It’s been a while.”

“Yes! I am so glad to see you again!”

Ashina’s always kind to me too; she truly is a good child. Every time I see her I want an attendant of my own… I really do want more divine power. If I were worshipped more… which is a difficult matter.

“Ashina, will you come to the blossom-viewing as well?”

“May I come with you?”

“Of course. Then I’ll make the ohagi that Ashina likes too.”

“Really?! Thank you very much!”

Sherifie’s so soft on Ashina. She might be a little softer with me. All I get is scolding.

“Then let’s go. Flying would take an instant, but it’s quite near. Shall we walk?”

“Then let’s walk!”

Earth’s divine realm is enjoyable simply to walk through. Flying’s dull.

“Then off we go.”

We followed Sherifie out of the house we were in. The house is a building Sherifie’s particularly fond of; the Heian period, was it, and something from that age called a shinden-zukuri, apparently. It seems to be like an old Japanese building, and why she goes to the trouble of living in an old one is entirely beyond me. A god can create anything that’s existed even once in the past or present of the world they made, so ordinarily you’d make the newest thing, wouldn’t you? She says something about its having character. I don’t follow it.

“It really is a large building.”

This shinden-zukuri thing is large enough to make you wonder how many hundreds could live in it.

“It’s got a solemn air to it. Isn’t that fine? I was fond of Japan in this period.”

“It isn’t bad, certainly… How many live here?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but about ten of them should have rooms. Which reminds me, I made a new attendant the other day! That one is here as well.”

“You made another?”

“I did. This time I thought I wanted a sweet pet, so I made a large dog. There, that’s him over there.”

Where Sherifie pointed was a large brown-furred dog. The moment he caught sight of Sherifie he came racing over.

“He’s large.”

“He is adorable! Choco, come here!”

The dog she called Choco arrived at very nearly a flying leap and set about swinging his tail. This one doesn’t speak… Surely he isn’t simply a dog?

“Sherifie, can’t this one talk?”

“I made it take time for him to become able to take human form. One wants to enjoy this much sweetness for a good long while, doesn’t one?”

“Does one, though…?”

Well, he’s sweet enough, I suppose. I’m not that fond of animals myself.

“Micheline, may Choco come to the blossom-viewing as well?”

“I’ve no objection. Then let’s hurry!”

After that we talked cheerfully as we walked, and about ten minutes on we reached a plaza with dozens of cherry trees in full and riotous bloom. A stream runs through the plaza too, with cherry petals floating down it. Beautiful.

“Loooovely every time I see it. Exactly the color of sakura mochi.”

“Micheline, you’ve no sensibility whatever. Be more moved than that. By this splendid scene of Japan.”

“It truly is beautiful. I love this place!”

“Ashina understands it, as you’d expect. Micheline should learn from her.”

“Yeees. Now, let’s eat the sweets!”

“Honestly, you understand nothing at all. Well, never mind. I’ll spread a cloth, so let’s sit there and eat.”

So we spread a large cloth at about the middle of the plaza, and Ashina laid out the sweets she’d carried. What a magnificent view! Better than the cherry blossom; I could look at these sweets for the rest of my life!

“Can I eat?”

“You may. Then let’s all eat. I’ll have the mitarashi dango, I think.”

“Mitarashi dango’s a fine thing too! Will you trade me one for one of my three-color dango?”

“If I must. There you are.”

“Sherifie, thank you!”

Mm, the chewiness of the three-color dango and that faint sweetness: unfairly good. And the mitarashi dango with its sweetness and its saltiness together is wonderful! Happiness…

“Micheline, will you trade me the ohagi for the sakura mochi? I like sakura mochi too.”

“Of course I will! I like ohagi as well.”

“Which would you like, the kinako or the anko? This kinako one has no bean paste inside.”

That’s… not decidable. Which would be better. This is the hardest choice I’ve ever faced. I love the flavor of kinako, and the anko’s got its sweetness and the scent of the beans, and…

“Micheline?”

“One moment. I’m working on the greatest problem I’ve faced since I was born a god. Kinako, or anko…”

“Then why don’t you halve it and eat both?”

“Ashina! You’re a genius!”

“Oh! Then please take both.”

“Thank you. The sakura mochi’s yours.”

“Thank you very much!”

Ashina truly is a good child. I want to take her home to my realm. But a god can move between worlds and an attendant can’t…

“Here you are, Choco. The pudding you like.”

“Pudding! Choco, are you being given pudding?”

“Honestly, Micheline, you’ve got ten kinds. Don’t go after Choco’s as well.”

“I-I’m not going after it. I only thought the pudding looked good too…”

“Very well, there’s no helping you. A trade, then. Choco’s pudding for one of your sweets.”

“Truly? Sherifie, I love you! Choco can eat anything, can’t he?”

“He’s an attendant. Naturally he can.”

“Then I’ll give him half of this roll cake.”

The roll cake’s large, so half of it is no great loss. A bitter decision all the same…

“A trade, then. Here’s the pudding.”

“Thank you!”

Mmm! The pudding’s ridiculous as well. That strange texture and the sweetness are habit-forming. It melts in your mouth… If only these sweets existed in my own world. I really must find some way of reaching Leon.

“That reminds me, Micheline, let’s play table tennis. My losing by so narrow a margin last time was a mistake of some kind!”

Sherifie created a table and paddles and a ball. We fought it out at table tennis the other day and I won by a narrow margin! I’ve got good reflexes, you see.

“Of course! And I’ll win again.”

There are all sorts of things I have to think about, and enjoying this time now is surely allowed!

And so I enjoyed a happy blossom-viewing with Sherifie and the others, surrounded by delicious sweets. Genuinely enjoyable, and happy… I want to make a space as happy as this in my own world too.

Chapter 10 – Richard and Christophe

When we returned from the port town to the ducal residence in Tarzelia, Christophe called me to his study.

“Father, how was the port town?”

“The cooking they make with what the sea gives them was delicious. It would be a fine thing if we could carry that as far as the royal capital.”

“I heard about it from Lucien as well. Something about Master Leon having cooked.”

“He did. And the food was astonishingly good. Even you would like that, Christophe.”

Christophe has never shown much interest in what comes out of the sea, but that crumbed fish was genuinely delicious. And the one by the name of deep-fried octopus will win an explosive popularity as something to eat with a drink. The baked scallops are refined and handsome enough on the plate to be added as a course at a noble party.

“As good as that… I should like to have eaten it myself.”

“Then ask Tony to send Nasser here. He cooked alongside Master Leon, so he will know the recipes.”

“Then I shall have it made here once. And when I do, I shall try out the ice maker.”

The ice maker is registered under Master Marcel’s name, but it is a magic tool Master Leon developed. A most useful thing, and I hear that orders are so far ahead of production that they cannot keep pace.

“The ice maker has arrived?”

“It came a few days ago. I had a water-attribute man with a mana capacity of five and a wind-attribute man put mana into it, and it worked without difficulty, so it is in use in the kitchen now. With an ice maker, carrying what the sea gives us from the port town to Tarzelia would become easy as well.”

“It would. Then try it. Once we are able to secure several ice makers, I should like to consider transporting seafood as far as the royal capital. As preparation for that, it would be as well to put a carrying system in place between the port town and Tarzelia.”

Dried fish was never accepted, but cooking of the sort Master Leon made will certainly find its public in the capital. If we can put a carrying system in place a step ahead of the other domains with a coastline, a considerable profit can be expected. This is a thing to do early.

“Certainly. Then I shall move promptly and prepare the ground for a carrying system as far as the capital.”

Christophe has grown into a genuinely dependable lord. And Lucien is growing up sturdy. House Townsend is secure.

“I leave it with you.”

Having got that far, Christophe drank a mouthful of tea and his expression turned severe.

“Then, Father, may we come to the real business? It concerns Morgan.”

So that was what this was. I must hear this out properly myself.

I was genuinely shocked when Master Leon told me. Morgan had served me since the days when I was lord of the domain. Embezzling the ducal house’s money, however, is not an act that may be forgiven. Money must be returned into the town, or in time the town withers. That he cannot see even that much.

And if it had stopped there it would have been the lesser evil. Morgan’s gravest offense is having driven Master Leon into a servant’s room. And the reason those rooms could not be used was that he had sold the furniture off for money. That cannot possibly be allowed to stand. It happened to come right only because Master Leon is a gracious soul who let slip not one word of complaint at being assigned a servant’s room; when I consider what it would have meant had he taken offense, my blood runs cold.

I did think of asking him to use my own room. But a commoner in the eyes of the world taking the guest room while I, the former duke, took a servant’s room: that could not be carried off, guest of the ducal house though he is. That day took years off my life. And we are to stay in that town on the return journey as well. Before then the rooms must be put right, whatever it takes.

“Of course. Tell me.”

“Certainly. First, on the matter of the deputy’s guest rooms, which has been troubling you: I have had furniture sent from the ducal residence so that guest rooms for Master Leon and for Lucien can be made ready. I have instructed several of the residence’s servants to go as well, so it should be arranged without difficulty.”

That is good to hear. One anxiety disposed of.

“At the same time I sent several of the house’s soldiers. My instruction is that Morgan is to be seized for the present and held at the town’s soldiers’ post. Morgan being a semi-noble, I did consider whether more caution was called for, but he appears to have cut his ties with his family, so that much consideration should not be necessary.”

“Good. That will do for the present. The problem is what to do if no evidence comes to light…”

There is a possibility that he has disposed of the evidence cleanly. In that case, what then. Though we should be able to get testimony from the servants this time, and once it is plain that the furniture is gone there will be no talking his way out of it.

“I believe the evidence will be found easily in this case. If we find the dealer he sold the furniture to, it should be simple. I cannot imagine him selling to a reputable merchant, so my expectation is that he sold to black-market men or some such, people who work in the dark. And furniture is troublesome to move, so he cannot have sold to men who travel far. If we look in that town, or in the towns and villages nearby, I believe he will be found. I have given instructions that the evidence is to be sought once Morgan is in custody.”

“Quite. Then as soon as the evidence is found, have Morgan escorted to the royal capital. I shall deal with the rest.”

“Certainly. Then the rest is in your hands, Father.”

“And in the unlikely event that no evidence is found, dismiss him. For the reason, discourteous conduct toward a guest of the ducal house will serve.”

“As you say. We have no need of a man who behaves discourteously to a guest of the ducal house on the ground that the guest is a commoner.”

Ordinarily a guest of a ducal house is treated as befits one, commoner or not. And on this occasion I had sent word myself that Master Leon was a guest and was to be treated with courtesy. To behave in that fashion even so means that contempt for commoners has been stamped into Morgan. The ducal house has no need of such a man.

We shall have to be more careful in future when we take a semi-noble into service. Morgan’s family, if I recall, held a neutral position. So the lesson is that one must judge not only the family but the man’s own thinking. To lessen the danger to Master Leon even a little, I shall take care over who is chosen.

“Then, Christophe. The rest is yours.”

“Certainly.”

So Christophe and I talked through what was to come, and I left the study.

⁂

Gone at last, that loathsome commoner! A commoner, and a guest of a ducal house; there is a limit to insolence. Unable to keep my irritation down, I made for my study with my feet loud on the boards.

“You there. Come here at once!”

I called the butler the moment I was inside. Slow-moving fellow.

“Master Morgan, what may I do for you?”

“It has become necessary to prepare two more guest rooms. See to it now.”

“B-but… there is no furniture to be put in guest rooms. That is… because Master Morgan sold it…”

“You wretch. Are you telling me the fault is mine?!”

This is precisely why commoners are so hateful. Useless, and employed here only by my own charity, and when anything goes wrong the whole of it is my fault. There is a limit to being no use.

“N-nothing of the kind, sir.”

“If there is no furniture, then buy some.”

“B-but there is no money for that either…”

“Then have a workshop make it cheaply, must I say it?! A commission from a noble and they will weep with gratitude. All the more when the commission comes from me. That you cannot work out even this much: incompetence at this pitch is a sorry thing to see.”

“Only… the work could not be finished in time…”

“Then have them work without sleep! Go and place the order, quickly!”

“Ah… yes, sir!”

Gone at last. He truly is too useless to keep. Perhaps it is time he was dismissed. Still, with the guest rooms in order everything will be perfect.

For several days after that I passed my time in the peace I am accustomed to. Simply not having that loathsome commoner about is a splendid feeling. What I want now is for the harvest season to hurry along. Until it comes, no great sum comes in. And selling any more of the furniture is genuinely unwise. Some better method must exist.

Then the boards began to thunder.

What is that noise? I was on the point of getting up to reprimand whichever servant was making the racket when the study door was flung open. And I had been just about to hit upon a good idea, too. The butler came running in.

“You there, that is too loud! Can you not move more quietly!”

“M-Master Morgan, soldiers of the ducal house are here!”

What? What business have the ducal house’s soldiers here? I was still thinking it when soldiers came into the study without leave.

“You are Morgan. An order has come from the ducal house that you be seized. Take him!”

“Sir!”

Before I could understand what was happening, two soldiers came to me and bound my hands with rope.

“Y-you wretches! Do you imagine you can do this to me and have it end there!”

“This is the decision of the ducal house.”

The decision of the ducal house?! Why has it come to this!

“Walk. Come along, at once!”

“I am a noble! Hear me out!”

“There will be all the hearing you like at the post.”

Why is this happening to me?! I am a noble!

Chapter 9 – To the Port Town

Yesterday was genuinely hard going. After lunch I was set on by everybody, all of them interested in what I know, and asked about magic on top of it, and by the time I noticed it was night. Thoroughly tired. Except that today I’m keyed up enough not to feel any of it. Because today’s the day we go to the port town!

Food from the sea to look forward to. Maybe I’ll get to see the sea and some boats for the first time in a long while. I finished getting ready in a fidget the whole time. The ones coming to the port town are Lucien and Lord Frederick, Lord Richard and Lady Catherine. Everyone else apparently prefers taking it easy at home to anything the sea has. Passing up seafood is unthinkable to a Japanese person.

At a glance Roger looks as expressionless as ever, but his face is softer than usual and you can tell how much he’s looking forward to seeing the sea.

“Roger, we finally get to see the sea.”

“Yes. I am glad to be in Master Leon’s service. I am very much looking forward to it.”

Roger’s eyes are shining brightly enough that I want to ask what happened to the usual blank face. Being told he’s glad to be in my service is lovely, except that if the reason is getting to see the sea then it wouldn’t matter whose service he was in! I’ve lost to the sea. That’s a bit deflating…

“Er, that is. Serving Master Leon is very enjoyable. Master Leon gives thought to the servants as well, and expresses his gratitude, and it makes the work rewarding. To be able to see the sea besides is why I am glad to be in Master Leon’s service.”

Roger seems to have worked out why I’d deflated, and said it in something of a hurry. So that’s what he thinks… That’s rather nice. Very nice, in fact. He does still finish on the sea, but I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that part.

“I’m glad you think that, Roger. Here’s to more of the same.”

“Yes. I shall serve you with all my heart from now on as well.”

“Thanks. Then it’s about time, so shall we go?”

“Certainly.”

So Roger and I made our way to the drawing room beside the entrance hall. I was first there, but all five of us gathered almost at once. Lord Richard was last.

“Everyone is here. Then let us go.”

The five of us got into the carriage and set off for the port town. It apparently takes about three hours to get there. A day trip would be hard going, so the plan is to stay a night in the port town.

“Is the port town a large town?”

“Let me see… it is not especially large, but it has life in it. Nearly everybody there makes salt or fishes, so there are a great many rough-built men. They do heavy work and eat a great deal, so there is no shortage of restaurants.”

Lord Richard answered my question. I can more or less picture it. A different feel from the capital, and it sounds like fun.

“Do the people of the port town eat food from the sea?”

“Yes, every day, so I hear. Those who live inland do not know how good it is, though, so it does not occur to them to buy it or to come and eat it. As a result almost none of it is sold to other towns. Dried fish could be sold at a distance, but there is no demand for it.”

It’s a waste that something good doesn’t spread. Even if fresh is impossible, dried fish is good too. Anybody who tried it should notice… Or maybe the look of it puts off people seeing it for the first time? True enough, on Earth as well, in places that don’t eat seafood people used to call the look of it revolting. I still think if they ate it they’d understand.

“It would be good if food from the sea reached the other towns as well.”

“I attempted it once when I was duke, but taking dried fish to the royal capital never really caught on.”

So it has been tried. Why didn’t it catch on…? I’d have thought some people would take to it if they ate it.

“Was there nobody who tried it and got a taste for the dried fish?”

“There were a few, but it was not accepted by any great number. They said it was awkward to eat, that there were few places to eat it, that it smelled.”

Well, there are bones, and it is more awkward than meat. And there’s less flesh on it. I don’t think the smell would trouble anybody much if you grilled it, though it may depend on how the fish is dried.

I’d teach them a way of drying fish that kills the smell if I could, except that I don’t know the first thing about drying fish. With no phone to hand, I really am scraping the bottom of what I know. If I only had a phone I could look anything up. It shows me exactly how much I leaned on the thing.

Anyway, the upshot is that for most people dried fish isn’t a taste worth forcing down. And I suppose if you aren’t used to it you never do notice how good dried fish is.

“I see. Are you fond of food from the sea, Lord Richard?”

“Yes, I am fond of it. Though I prefer the cooking one eats in the port town to dried fish.”

“I like it too. It’s a different sort of flavor from meat, and it’s good.”

“I love it as well. Though I do not often eat dried fish.”

So Lord Frederick and Lady Catherine like it too.

“Lord Lucien, have you ever eaten food from the sea?”

“Neither my father nor my mother eats it by choice, so I never have. Which is why today is something to look forward to.”

“Then I am very much looking forward to it as well. Let us eat a great deal of it.”

“Let us!”

Then three hours of swaying along in the carriage, and it seems we’ve reached the port town. I opened the carriage window and a sea wind came in. …The smell of the sea! Something about the smell takes me straight back. The sea smells the same even in a different world. The carriage went on through the town for a while and stopped in front of a house slightly grander than the ones around it. This seems to be the town’s deputy’s residence.

It isn’t a large town, so the residence is a smaller thing than the ones we’ve stayed in. There are apparently just barely enough rooms for us. Not having many rooms seems to be one of the reasons Lord Christophe and the others didn’t come. And what rooms there are aren’t grand ones.

In front of the residence stood a sun-browned, healthy-looking man. Built extremely solidly.

“It has been a long while, all of you. And a first meeting for the young gentlemen. My name is Tony.”

“I am Lucien.”

“I am Leon. I am glad to meet you.”

Tony is apparently a commoner deputy. Small towns don’t get a semi-noble hired for them; instead the ablest and best-liked among the commoners are educated at the ducal residence and sent out to the towns as deputies.

“I expect the house is a cramped one for all of you, but we’ll entertain you with everything we have.”

“Thank you, Tony. Only the one night, but we shall be glad of the rest.”

“Please make yourselves comfortable. I’ll show you to your rooms.”

The room I was shown to wasn’t grand, but it had been cleaned beautifully. A deputy’s residence with no noble in it doesn’t have the sewer laid on, though, so the toilets are the kind you empty by hand, several of them about the house, and there was no bath. Well, in a small town out in the country there’s nothing to be done about it. For the moment, making one toilet completely clean only costs about half the mana I currently have, so I may as well.

Which is another thing. My mana capacity has grown a great deal, and making a single toilet clean still uses half of it, so Purification’s efficiency is terrible. It would help to have a good image for it. I got the toilet gleaming. Clean as new, not a mark on it. Purification is impressive stuff. Incidentally, cleaning the toilet pleased everybody more than I’d expected. That kind of toilet is filthy and it smells, so I understand it. I dislike them too. Using one indefinitely is more than I could stand.

After that we were to rest in our rooms until lunch, so I spent it drinking tea slowly to get the travel out of me. Then lunchtime came and we all gathered in the dining room. The food is about to be brought in.

“I was told all of you wanted food from the sea, so I had the cook make a lunch with plenty of it. I hope it pleases you.”

Excellent, fish at last! Presumably nothing raw. Then again, if it’s fresh there may be a culture of eating it raw. And if not raw, grilled? Even plain grilled fish would make me very happy!

I was waiting in a fidget of anticipation when the servers brought the food in. The meal here isn’t in courses; everything for one person is laid out at once. At a glance there’s nothing raw, so that culture doesn’t exist. A slight shame, though raw is dangerous unless it’s genuinely fresh and handled carefully, and cooked is safer and better.

“Then let us eat.”

“Itadakimasu.”

I started with a soup that was giving off a wonderful smell. …Delicious! That flavor is prawn, definitely. It’s a prawn stock. This is dangerously good. I feel as though I haven’t tasted proper stock in a very long time. The capital’s cooking has developed, but it had no stock in it. I drank the soup straight down.

“Master Leon looks very happy eating that. Prawns are at their best about now, once it starts to get cold.”

Tony said it, and I’m embarrassed… Though it is fantastic, so there’s nothing to be done about that.

“It is delicious. Excuse me, what is this white fish?”

“That’ll be Spanish mackerel. It’s mostly caught in the hot season, but we still get it this time of year. It suits any dish you like.”

“Ah. Then I shall try this next.”

Extremely good-looking Spanish mackerel. I took one mouthful on the fork and put it in. Mm, that’s good! This is cooked in butter. The butter comes up through your nose and the flesh of the fish is sweet, and luxurious, and better than it has any right to be. I finished the Spanish mackerel in butter without looking up.

Two dishes left. One is octopus leg grilled with salt exactly as it is. The other is grilled scallops. Octopus first. Chew, chew… That’s a very springy octopus. But the more you chew the more the flavor comes out, and it’s good. Deep-fried, this would be superb, I’m certain of it.

Is there no deep-frying here? Not much of it, maybe? Then again I’ve eaten something plain-fried once, so the method must exist. In that case there’s nothing so strange about me making some deep-fried octopus. If they’ll let me use the kitchen later, I want to make it! And if I’m frying, crumbed fish would be good as well. I’ll ask this evening.

Last, the scallops. Bite… Delicious! Butter here as well. They must have grilled the scallops and melted butter over them. Enormously good. Even the liquid left behind is good. I’m thoroughly satisfied. I really am Japanese: I like meat too, but it’s food from the sea I find myself wanting.

Then, after an excellent lunch and a short rest, the afternoon found me swaying along in a carriage toward the sea. Lucien’s with me. Everyone else has seen it already and doesn’t feel the need to go and look.

“I am very much looking forward to this. The sea is so wide you cannot see the end of it, is it not?”

“Something to look forward to, right!”

There’s nobody in the carriage but Lucien and me, so no need for formal speech. The valets and guards are apparently following on foot. The town isn’t big enough for a carriage to get up much speed, so walking keeps pace.

“Lucien, after the sea I’d like to go to the market and the food stalls where they sell things from the sea. Is that all right?”

“Walking about and looking a while should be all right. Jacques is with us as guard.”

“Really?! Excellent!”

“Is there something interesting there?”

“I thought if I bought some good-looking fish they might use it for dinner. And there’s something I want to cook myself, so I want to buy the ingredients for that too.”

“Leon, you can cook?”

Lucien is quite startled. Which reminds me… I never told him my family runs a restaurant.

“My family’s place is a restaurant.”

“Is it. Then I should like to eat something Leon has cooked.”

“Then if they let me use the kitchen when we get back, I’ll make something.”

“In that case we shall buy a great deal. I have money from my grandfather.”

“Have you? Then I’ll spend it without holding back.”

We laughed about that. Then a while more of swaying along and it seems we reached the shore. I got down from the carriage and the wide sea was spread out in front of me.

…The sea, after so long. The wind off it feels wonderful. The sea is the same enormous thing in any world. I catch myself wishing the impossible, that Japan were on the other side of this water. The sea is genuinely beautiful, and something about looking at it brings an ache up in me.

I looked at it quietly for a while, and when I’d had my fill I turned round toward Roger. Roger was gazing at the sea with his eyes shining. He has a child’s face on. That’s another one I’ve never seen.

“Roger, what do you make of the sea?”

“Ah, Master Leon. It is extraordinary! To be so wide and so beautiful. I am glad to have seen it.”

“It really is beautiful. Roger, you were watching it with a face like a child, all lit up.”

“I… I am certain I was not making any such face.”

Roger is denying it with everything he has. There’s no need to deny it that hard. And now the usual blank face is back. He’s changed a great deal from the start, though. His expression moves often these days, so he must be letting his guard down with me. I’m glad we’ve got closer than we were. There’s no awkwardness in being together any more, either.

“I think you were.”

“No. I was not. More to the point, Master Leon, were you not going to collect sand?”

Roger turned the subject on me. But that matters too. I’d thought I’d take some of the sand from the beach and some shells home as souvenirs for Marie and Martine. The beach here isn’t wide, but there’s sand enough to collect plenty.

“That’s right. Could I have a sack?”

“Please use this.”

“Thanks.”

I got a sack from Roger and went over to Lucien.

“Lord Lucien, the sea is very wide and very beautiful.”

“Leon, it is extraordinary! To think there is this much water. It is so wide, and beautiful.”

Lucien is gazing at the sea with his eyes shining. Seeing it for the first time does move you. What moves me is how much I miss it.

“It really is beautiful… Lord Lucien, I was thinking of collecting some of the sand here to take home. Might I go and gather some?”

“Take it home? The sand here is fine and clean, certainly.”

Lucien answered while running his hand through the sand.

“Yes. I thought it would make a good souvenir.”

“That is a fine idea! I shall collect some as well.”

Lucien had his valet get a sack ready too. Whatever else he is, Lucien is a child as well. Which I can hardly say, when I’m collecting sand myself.

“If we are collecting, let us find clean sand. Over there looks better. Leon, come on!”

“Yes. If there are nice shells we should pick those up too.”

“Quite so. Let us look for those as well.”

Then for some tens of minutes Lucien and I enjoyed collecting sand and hunting for shells. Partway through it may have turned into simply playing in the sand, but we did collect plenty of both. I’m thoroughly satisfied. Playing like this now and then really is good.

“Master Leon, I shall carry that sack.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Leon, the market next.”

Once Lucien and I had finished with the sand and were content, we got back into the carriage and went to the market near the harbor. Getting down, the entrance to the market was right in front of us. It’s full of life and the feel of it is thoroughly enjoyable.

“Lord Lucien, may we stop if there is a shop I am curious about?”

“Of course! I want to see a great many shops as well.”

“Then let us go.”

At the market they had wooden boxes filled with water, with fish and shellfish and octopus sorted into them by kind. First I want octopus, since I want deep-fried octopus. Then a white fish for the crumbed fish. But which fish would be right? Hmm, no idea, so the Spanish mackerel from lunch will do. Anything ought to be good. And if I’m crumbing things, crumbed horse mackerel is good as well. If they have horse mackerel I’ll buy some. And yellowtail if they have it. Salt-grilled yellowtail was a great favorite of mine.

I was walking along looking over the stalls with that in mind when I found one selling octopus.

“Lord Lucien, may I buy some octopus?”

“Of course. Let us go to that shop.”

“Thank you.”

We went over, and I spoke to the fellow standing out front.

“Hello. I’d like to buy some octopus.”

“You wouldn’t be nobility, would you…?”

He said it half under his breath, and looked at us with a shade of anxiety.

“I’m not, but this is Lord Lucien of House Townsend.”

“House Townsend, that’s the lord of the domain! To have you come to a place like this, I’m grateful, I’m sure…”

He started bobbing his head at Lucien over and over. Maybe nobles never come round here.

“Forgive us for arriving without warning.”

“Not at all, not at all, we’re grateful.”

“Do nobles never come round here?”

“Course not, a town this small and the market of all places! Even House Townsend only ever came as far as the deputy’s house.”

He told me that in a low voice, meant for me alone. So I’ve done something out of the ordinary again. Lucien nodded so easily when I said the market that I’d assumed Lord Richard and the others came too.

Sorry about this, Lucien… Though I expect there’ll be more of it.

“I see. Lord Lucien is a good sort of noble, so there’s nothing to worry about. So can I buy the octopus?”

“Course you can. Better than that, having nobility buy from me is something to be grateful for. There’s some lively ones in today. Let me see… the ones in that box are the best.”

“Then three good ones out of that box, please. And I want Spanish mackerel and horse mackerel and yellowtail. Where would I go for those?”

“Three along from here, they land good lively ones.”

“Do they? Thanks.”

So I bought the octopus, had Roger carry it, and went to the next shop.

“Hello. I’d like Spanish mackerel, horse mackerel and yellowtail.”

“Right you are! How many of each?”

“Hmm. Three Spanish mackerel, one yellowtail and six horse mackerel, please. Pick good ones.”

The woman at this next shop was full of energy. She isn’t troubled in the least by what we’re wearing. She may take us for merchants’ children.

“These do you?”

“Yes! They look wonderful.”

“That they do. My man’s good at the fishing.”

So I bought fish from a thoroughly cheerful woman, and the mission’s accomplished. I made ice in the wooden box Roger is carrying, where nobody could see me do it. Now I don’t have to worry about time.

The shopping’s done, so next is eating our way along the stalls. This market doesn’t only sell fish; there are things you can eat as you walk about too.

“Lord Lucien, is there anything you would like to buy?”

“I do not really know what there is, so I shall follow Leon. All of it is new to me and enjoyable.”

“Then shall we eat our way along a little? Or would that be out of the question for Lord Lucien?”

“No, today of all days it should be all right.”

Excellent! Lucien’s valet had a face that wanted to stop him, but since Lucien is clearly enjoying himself he seems to have decided not to. What to eat. There’s fish cut open and grilled, octopus on skewers and grilled, shellfish grilled. Hard to choose, but what I want right now is shellfish.

“Lord Lucien, shall we have scallops?”

“Ah, the ones we had at lunch today. I liked those.”

“Then let us make it scallops.”

We went over to a shop selling scallops. Coming up to it, a wonderful smell of grilling seafood rolls out and opens a hole in your stomach at once.

“Hello. Could we have some scallops? How many… will all of you eat?”

I asked Lucien’s guards and valets. They shook their heads straight away.

“No, we are on duty, so we shall decline.”

“No, you should all eat. Once in a while is all right.”

“But…”

“There is no need to hold back.”

“We are on duty, however…”

Lucien and the valet each seem entirely unwilling to give ground. The man who put an end to that fruitless struggle was Jacques.

“We’ve got the chance, so let’s all have some. Thank you, Lord Lucien.”

That seems to have settled everybody on eating. Roger’s the same way; are valets mostly this serious-minded?

“So how many is it?”

“Er… five, please!”

“Five it is. I’ll grill them now, so wait a bit.”

The woman at the stall grilled five scallops for us as soon as we’d ordered. Then she worked the meat out of the shells with something like an iron skewer and salted them. They’re still hot enough to be hissing. This looks fantastic.

“There, they’re done.”

“Thanks! Lord Lucien, please. Ah, should somebody taste it first?”

“I shall do it.”

Lucien’s valet ate a little and checked it, then handed the scallop to Lucien.

“Thank you. Then let us eat.”

“Yes! Itadakimasu.”

I got my teeth into the scallop properly. The meat’s so big I can’t finish it in one bite. What is this, it’s outrageously good! Chew and the flavor comes flooding out and fills your whole mouth. Only a little salt, so the taste of the thing itself is doing the work, and it’s wonderful. Food from the sea really is about freshness and coming straight off the grill.

The scallop was big, and I finished it in no time. That was the best.

“Lord Lucien, that was very good indeed!”

“It was so good it startled me! If I were hungrier I should have wanted more.”

“Then let us buy scallops to take back as well. Could we have twenty scallops?”

“Course you can. Thank you kindly.”

So we carried our spoils back to the deputy’s residence in armfuls.

Getting back, there were two hours left until dinner. Preparations for it will presumably start before long. If I can I want to cook with what we bought, and I want to eat what I cook at dinner. I asked Roger to arrange a meeting with Lord Richard, and decided to ask, with nothing much to lose, whether I could make dinner.

The meeting was allowed at once, so Roger and I went to Lord Richard’s room.

“Master Leon is here.”

Roger knocked and announced me, and Lord Richard’s valet opened the door. I sat on the sofa I was offered.

“Lord Richard, I am sorry to come without warning.”

“There is no need to mind that. Any time at all is fine where you are concerned, Leon. Now then, what is it?”

“Thank you. The truth is that there are things I should like to make with the food from the sea for dinner, and I wondered whether I might have permission to use the kitchen.”

“You would make them, Leon?”

“If permission were given…”

“You can cook?”

Lord Richard said it looking considerably surprised. Right, to a noble, cooking is entirely the cook’s work, so somebody who isn’t a cook not being able to do it is the normal case. Not that my cooking is good enough to call being able to cook.

“My family’s place is a restaurant, so a little. And I thought I should like to cook with the food from the sea, so might I have permission? And if I may be greedy about it, I should be grateful for the cook’s help as well.”

“Cooking by Leon. That is something to look forward to. Then I shall tell Tony and the head cook that you will be using the kitchen. And I shall ask the head cook to help you. Go along to the kitchen a little later.”

“Truly?! Thank you very much!”

Excellent, now I get to eat the seafood dishes I want!

After that I went back to my room, killed a little time, put on an apron to cook and went to the kitchen. Inside was a gentle-looking man of middle years.

“Master Leon. I am the head cook. My name is Nasser.”

“I am Leon. Thank you for letting me use your kitchen.”

“Not at all. I hear Master Leon knows dishes that are unusual in this country. I am very much looking forward to seeing what they are. I shall be helping, so please ask me for anything at all. This wooden box holds what you purchased.”

“Nasser, thank you. I do not really know how to prepare things from the sea, so may I ask you to do it?”

“Of course.”

Nasser smiled and nodded. I’m glad he’s a kind man. If he’s helping, the cooking should go smoothly.

First I made the ice disappear where Nasser couldn’t see it, and checked over what we’d bought. Octopus, Spanish mackerel, horse mackerel, yellowtail, scallops. The octopus, Spanish mackerel and horse mackerel are going to be fried. The octopus deep-fried, and I want the Spanish mackerel and horse mackerel crumbed. Which means they need cutting up first.

“Nasser, would you prepare the Spanish mackerel and the horse mackerel?”

“Certainly. In what form should I cut them?”

Hmm, crumbed fish had the tail on and was a sort of triangle shape, wasn’t it. Would having the horse mackerel opened out flat do it? Except these are fairly large and thick. Half of an opened one may be better.

“Could the horse mackerel be opened out flat? And then I would like that split in half. A two-piece fillet, would that be?”

“Entirely possible.”

“Then the horse mackerel that way, please. The Spanish mackerel is very large, so… could you cut it to about the same size as a halved horse mackerel? And I would like both of them boned.”

“Certainly. I shall have them done quickly.”

Nasser set about the fish, and his hands were quick and neat. That really is what practice looks like. A professional, obviously… Right, my turn to get ready. The crumbing first. Crumbed fish was flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, then fry, if I remember.

I put flour out on a flat dish, broke eggs into a bowl and beat them. Then I got yesterday’s leftover bread from Nasser and worked at chopping it fine. There was no grater, so I did it with a knife, and it was hard going. The crumbs came out a bit coarse, but that gives them some bite, so it’s fine.

“Master Leon, they are all prepared. What should I do next?”

That was fast! Nasser is astonishing. Then next… I’ll have him cut up the octopus.

“Then could you cut the octopus into chunks? About one bite each, please.”

“Certainly. Octopus needs preparing first, so it will take a little time. Is that all right?”

Octopus needs preparing? Of course. The only octopus I know is the kind they sell in a supermarket. That must come already prepared. Come to that, supermarket octopus wasn’t raw octopus in the first place.

“Yes. Please go ahead. May I watch how it is prepared?”

“Of course.”

I decided to watch a while and learn how it’s done. Nasser used the knife deftly to take out what looked like the innards, then rubbed salt all over the octopus and worked it in. He kept at that for a while, and once a good deal of slime had come out he rinsed it away with water. Then he set about cutting it into chunks. So the innards and that slime are what have to come off.

“Would this size do?”

“Yes. About that, please.”

“Certainly.”

Nasser had the octopus done in no time as well. I took the chunks and rubbed salt and pepper into them to season. Pepper being simply kept in stock is impressive. Among commoners it’s expensive enough that nobody ever uses it. Right, and then flour on them just before frying.

Next… come to think of it, crumbed fish has no flavor of its own, does it? Salt again would be dull, so can’t I make some kind of sauce? Hmm, the only thing I can think of that this world can make is tomato sauce, but can you get tomatoes this time of year? At my house the cold-season vegetables were mostly radish and cabbage, I think. No tomatoes.

“Nasser, are there tomatoes at this time of year?”

“Tomatoes? I would think the season for them is well past…”

“I see… Then tomato sauce is out.”

“It is tomato sauce you want, rather than fresh tomatoes? In that case it can be made.”

“Really?!”

“Yes. We keep dried tomatoes in oil, so with those I believe a good tomato sauce can be made.”

“Then may I ask you to?”

“Yes. Leave it to me.”

Nasser took it on with a smile. Genuinely grateful. Now the crumbed fish can be eaten properly too. Oh, but before that I want the yellowtail cut up…

“Nasser, I am very sorry, but could you prepare the yellowtail first?”

“Of course, that is no trouble.”

Without Nasser, cutting these up would have taken me an age and come out a mess. It would certainly have been several grades less good. I really am glad Nasser is here. And I’d like to learn how to cut fish myself.

“Nasser, may I watch you prepare the yellowtail as well?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.”

I watched his hands closely, and Nasser kindly taught me the knack of it as he went. I think I have the general method now. Whether I can actually do it is another question.

“I shall leave the yellowtail here. The tomato sauce next.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

While Nasser made the tomato sauce I got on with the scallops. What I want to make with those is baked scallops. I loved them in Japan and always ordered them at the restaurant near us. I’d tried to reproduce them at home too, so I have a rough idea of how it goes. I don’t know how the oven here works, but I’ll leave that to Nasser. Thank you very much, Nasser.

Oh, does the oven need lighting in advance? Better to tell him early.

“Nasser, I should like to use the oven. Does it need lighting in advance?”

“It does. There is a little time between lighting it and its being usable. Shall I get it ready?”

“Thank you. Please do.”

I left the oven to Nasser and started on the scallops. For baked scallops you separate the shell from the meat first. Then wash the hollow half of the shell, and wash the meat too and pat it dry. The black part of the meat comes off, if I remember. Then the scallop goes back in the shell and it’s the seasoning. The seasoning I like is the garlic one. Do they have garlic?

“Nasser, do you have garlic?”

“Garlic? It is over there, but that is for making the smell of beef less noticeable.”

That’s all it’s used for?! Now I think of it, I don’t think I’ve had a single dish with garlic in it.

“It is not used for anything else?”

“Not to my knowledge. It only came to be used in cooking at all quite recently.”

“Ah. But this dish is much better for garlic. May I use it?”

“I leave it to Master Leon. Though might I watch how you use it?”

“Of course.”

Garlic is a hugely useful thing to cook with, and I want Nasser to learn how to use it and go on to develop more dishes with it.

“You chop the garlic fine, like this, and putting it into a dish makes it a great deal better. It is good in tomato sauce, and good in stews as well.”

“In tomato sauce, and in stews… I shall try it.”

“Please do! It suits almost anything, so use as much of it as you like.”

I chopped the garlic fine and put it over the scallops. Then salt and pepper, and breadcrumbs on top. That’s them finished. Nothing left but the oven.

“Nasser, is the oven usable now?”

“Yes. Are those going into the oven?”

“They are.”

“It is dangerous, so please leave that to me.”

Nasser took the scallops from me, laid them on an iron sheet and put them into the oven.

“We shall look at how they are coming along in a while.”

“Please. Then in the meantime I shall finish the other dishes. The yellowtail is to be grilled with salt. May I ask you for that?”

“Simply salted and grilled?”

“Yes. I want something plain as well.”

“Certainly.”

While Nasser grilled the yellowtail, I got on with the frying. I was given oil, put it in a pot and heated it. And while the oil was heating, the last preparations. Flour on the octopus; flour then egg then breadcrumbs on the horse mackerel and the Spanish mackerel.

By the time the preparations were done the oil was hot, so I fried everything in turn. That sound frying makes. That sound is what starts you off. …I’m hungry.

Ten minutes or so and everything was fried. By then the baked scallops were done and the yellowtail had been grilled as well. That’s everything! It’s entirely thanks to Nasser, but I think it came out better than I expected. Now they only have to find it good and it’ll be perfect.

“Nasser, thank you very much for helping. Without you I could never have made any of this half so well.”

“I am a cook, so helping is a matter of course. It is I who got to see a great many new dishes, and I have learned a great deal from it. Thank you. Now, Master Leon, please go along to the dining room. The servers and I shall carry the food in.”

“Understood. Thank you.”

I thanked Nasser again and left the kitchen. Roger was waiting outside, and one glance at me and his face pulled into a frown.

“Master Leon, let us change your clothes in your room before you go to the dining room. They are dirty.”

“Are they?”

Looking down at myself, there is flour on me and there are crumbs of bread. Yes, dirty.

“You’re right. Let’s be quick, or it’ll be dinner.”

I changed in my room and went to the dining room. I changed in quite a hurry, and everybody was already seated when I got there.

“I am sorry to be late.”

“No, you were making our dinner, were you not, Leon? Being late is only natural. And your cooking is something to look forward to.”

“I am very much looking forward to it as well. I have never eaten anything Leon has made.”

Lord Richard and Lady Catherine seem to be looking forward to it a great deal.

“You used what we bought earlier, did you? I am looking forward to it too.”

“Will it be different from what we usually eat? I have hopes.”

Lucien and Lord Frederick look thoroughly eager as well. Expectations this high are quite a weight. What if they find it no good…?

I went a bit weak at that and was about to say “please don’t expect too much,” and then the food arrived. Nothing left but to pray it suits them. From the little I tasted it was extremely good, so it should be all right.

The dishes the servers brought in were beautifully arranged on the plates and looked like expensive cooking. I can’t believe I made them.

“I do not know whether it will suit you, but I hope you will eat.”

“It looks very good indeed. Then let us eat.”

“Itadakimasu.”

Everybody started with whatever had caught their eye most. Lord Richard began with the crumbed horse mackerel.

“What… what is this? The crispness of it is new and interesting. And the flesh is plump and very good. It goes with the tomato sauce as well. This is beyond anything…”

“It truly is… I have never had better.”

What Lady Catherine is eating is the crumbed Spanish mackerel. The crumbed fish seems to be rating highly.

“L-Leon, this is far too good! Is this the octopus?”

Lord Frederick has evidently eaten the deep-fried octopus. Deep-fried octopus is at the level of making you ask why it’s this good. I understand completely.

“It is octopus cut into chunks, seasoned with salt and pepper, and deep-fried.”

“It is genuinely delicious… I could eat it every day. It would go with drink as well.”

Deep-fried octopus is the very type of the thing you eat with a drink. So you arrive at that opinion in another world as well.

“I like this one! This is the scallop, is it not? Why is it this good?”

Lucien seems to have taken to the baked scallops. He’s already onto his third.

“The crispness of the breadcrumbs and the flavor of the garlic make the scallop better still. Other seasonings are possible as well, adding butter and so on.”

“This is genuinely extraordinary. I could eat it every day.”

“Is it as good as that? Then I shall have one as well…”

So everybody ate the dinner I’d made and looked thoroughly happy doing it. That makes me very glad. And of course I enjoyed an excellent dinner myself.

Which of them was best is a hard question, but for me it’s the baked scallops. The crisp bite and then the flavor flooding your mouth. The garlic working, and the salt, and it was genuinely superb. The salt-grilled yellowtail was good as well. Though the salt-grilled yellowtail may have been a slight mistake, because it made me want white rice more than anything. Salt-grilled fish does go with hot white rice. It would be good if there were rice somewhere in this world, but I never see it anywhere and everybody I ask has never heard of it. Finding rice may have to be one of my goals someday.

So a thoroughly satisfying dinner ended, and I was tired enough that day to fall asleep at once.

Chapter 8 – Magic Lessons and Compound Magic

In the event, no seafood at dinner. It takes about three hours by carriage from the port town to Tarzelia, and since ice makers haven’t spread yet, getting it this far is apparently difficult. This season it would probably be fine, but the thinking seems to be that there’s no need to go out of your way to eat something that carries a risk.

Which is fair, and I understand it, and I want to eat things from the sea! Ice makers need spreading, urgently. Commoners can’t buy one, though, so it’d have to be the ducal house buying them and lending them out. And then you need somebody watching them so they aren’t stolen, which means the staff for that, and if they’re used often you need somebody who can put mana into them. That’s quite a lot of work.

There’s also the question of whether the ice makers themselves can be made in quantity. I don’t know how much magic iron and magic stone there is to go around… It’d be good if there were enough to reach commoners as well. The problems are piled up. Well, for now, let’s get to the port town and enjoy what the sea has.

That night I lay down early and went to sleep. Then, the next day.

“Master Leon, good morning.”

Mmm… Roger’s waking me. But I’m still sleepy.

“Master Leon, were you not to teach Lord Lucien magic today? Unless you rise soon you will not be ready in time.”

“Yeah, I’m getting up…”

That’s right, I’m teaching Lord Lucien magic today. I promised him yesterday. Me turning up late won’t do… Right. Up. I got myself out of bed on willpower alone and stretched.

“Morning, Roger.”

“Good morning. A message from Lord Lucien’s valet: Lord Lucien is very much looking forward to being taught magic by Master Leon today, and asks that if possible you come earlier than the appointed hour, as soon as you are ready.”

“Really? So I’d better hurry, then.”

“Yes. Lord Lucien appears to have finished breakfast already.”

Isn’t that far too early?! How much was he looking forward to it? And hold on, that means he’s waiting for me right now! Me waiting is one thing, but keeping him waiting won’t do. Hurry!

“Roger, get breakfast ready right away. I’ll get dressed.”

“Certainly.”

So I got ready faster than I ever have. Tired already, and it’s morning.

“Master Leon is here.”

Roger knocked at Lord Lucien’s door and announced me. Outside would be better for practicing magic, but I’d been called to his room. The door opened and I went in, and Lord Lucien was sitting on the sofa waiting with his gold eyes shining. My first impression of him was keen and dependable, but going by the drawing room yesterday and by this, his real nature runs to curiosity. Well, he’s nine.

“Lord Lucien. Good morning.”

“Leon, morning. Sit down.”

“Excuse me, then.”

“Everyone, once you have prepared tea for Leon, would you withdraw?”

At Lord Lucien’s word the servants briskly set out the tea and nothing more, and went. The guard withdrew without any fuss either, so I seem to be fairly well trusted.

“Leon, you are going to teach me magic today, are you not?”

“Yes. Lord Lucien is fire attribute, I believe. What is your mana capacity?”

“Leon, we are the same age, so there is no need to speak to me as formally as that! You are my first friend, and I want us closer than this.”

Told again… Between Martine and Lord Lucien, do these people understand that I’m a commoner?

“But I am a commoner…”

“That has nothing to do with it. In public, or where others are present, formal speech is certainly needed. When there are only the two of us it is all right, surely?”

I’m already on first-name terms with Martine, so alone with him it’s probably fine. The problem with this is that I get used to talking casually and then let it slip somewhere with people around. I’ll be careful about that.

“Then, only when it’s the two of us.”

“Thank you! And call me Lucien.”

“Got it. Lucien it is, then.”

At that his whole face broke into a grin, genuinely delighted. If it makes him that happy, then good.

“So will you teach me magic? My mana capacity is four. Is that all right?”

“Yeah, any capacity is fine as far as teaching goes. I only wanted to know roughly where you run out of mana.”

I’ve been told I’m not to teach magic until I’ve graduated from the Royal Academy, with the exception that I may teach people who know about every attribute.

“Good. It is fire magic, so outside would be better, would it not? There is a practice ground for magic.”

“You’ve got one of those. Then let’s go there.”

The magic practice ground is behind the house, an open stretch with rocks and targets set out on it. Lucien’s valet and one guard, and Roger, are all waiting some way off. Far enough that they can’t hear us talk.

“Lucien, do you hold an image when you use magic?”

“I do. I picture fire.”

“So you picture fire burning, and use fire magic. That’s it?”

“That is it.”

“Then I’d like you to add the image I’m about to teach you to that one.”

From there I explained air and oxygen again. He likes swordsmanship, so I’d wondered how his head was, and in fact he was quick about it. His thinking is flexible and his memory is good. Strong with a sword and clever with it: he’s going to be absurdly popular when he gets to the Royal Academy.

“Leon, I think I have the feel of it, so may I try?”

“Yeah, use the spell with that image and put a Fireball into that rock.”

“Understood. Fireball.”

Whoa, that’s got real speed on it. Lucien may have a gift for magic as well.

“How was that? Less mana than usual, I think?”

“Leon, this is extraordinary! It took half the mana I have used until now, or less.”

He managed it, which is the main thing. I let some of the tension out of my shoulders in relief.

“Right, so don’t lose that image. If you can call it up straight away, you’ll be able to use it at a moment’s notice too.”

“Understood! Leon, thank you.”

“It’s nothing. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

When I said that, Lucien’s face lit up all over again. Maybe a lord’s son can’t make friends at the domain either. Being a noble does look harder than I’d expected.

“We are!”

“Then shall we finish up and go back?”

“No, before that, will you show me your magic?”

“Magic? I showed you yesterday…”

“Yesterday was not attack magic, was it? Will you show me attack magic?”

“But your valet and your guard are watching…”

“Those two know about Leon’s every attribute, so it is all right. I have brought nobody who has not been told properly.”

So that’s it. House Townsend apparently tells only the most trustworthy of the servants attached to each master. It’s certainly better than having it come out by accident.

“Right. Fireball, then?”

“Hmm. Leon, you can use the magic of every attribute, can you not? Can you not do a spell that combines them?”

Ugh… For him to notice that is impressive. I can, and the power’s too high. If I showed him that, wouldn’t it frighten him?

“Er… I can’t.”

I denied it, and my eyes wandered a bit while I did, so Lucien could see straight through me. He fixed me with a flat stare.

“Leon, lying is not good.”

“Ugh… but the power’s too high.”

“Then hold the power back and do it.”

Well. That’s fair, actually. Rock Tornado is genuinely out of the question, so if I’m showing him anything it had better be Fire Bullet.

“…Then I’ll try the spell called Fire Bullet. It’s an arrowhead made with earth magic, with fire wrapped around it by fire magic.”

“What is that! That sounds extremely cool!”

“I think so too.”

Getting praise for a spell I invented myself made me quite happy. Until now I’d only practiced in the forest, so nobody’s ever watched me do it. I’m a bit fired up.

Now, how much mana was it for a small one? Lately it’s been nothing but healing practice and I haven’t used this in a while. For now I’ll remember the last time and put in about as much mana as I did then. It only buried itself in a rock that time.

That was the thinking, and I said Fire Bullet out loud and used the spell. Purely because it sounds cooler that way.

“Fire Bullet.”

This is bad! I registered it the instant the Fire Bullet left me, and threw up a solid Wall in front of us with a great deal of mana in it. And at that moment the Fire Bullet crossed to the rock at enormous speed and blew the rock apart.

The bang was tremendous, the Wall got there by a hair so neither of us took any damage, and then the silence came down. This is bad, isn’t it. I have definitely done it now… Why did it come out with that much force? I’m sure I put in about the same mana as last time. Unless my capacity has grown so much that I can’t control it finely any more? Healing magic uses a good deal of mana, and it doesn’t need fine control. I have seriously done it. I should have kept practicing.

Looking around, the ground near where I made the Wall has sunk, and small fragments of rock are scattered everywhere. Off in the distance Roger and the others seem to be standing rooted. I looked beside me, and Lucien’s mouth was open and he was gaping at it.

How am I supposed to clean this up? Somebody help!

The first to come back to himself was Lucien’s guard. He came at a run and stopped in front of Lucien.

“Lord Lucien, are you hurt?!”

That seems to have brought Lucien round at last.

“Ah, no. No, I am not hurt. I am quite all right.”

…I’m about to be shouted at, aren’t I. Because that was endangering a ducal house’s son. I won’t get arrested, will I?! I’d just worked that out and gone cold with it when Lucien turned to me with his eyes shining.

“Leon! What tremendous power!”

“I put in a bit too much mana. Sorry… and I broke the rock.”

“That is nothing at all; one can simply bring another rock. Neither you nor I is hurt, so there is no problem. And it was cool!”

“Thanks. I’m glad you liked it.”

Then it hit me. There was a guard right there and I wasn’t using formal speech! I was looking back and forth between the guard and Lucien in a flap when the guard, who seems to have worked out what I was panicking about, spoke to me.

“I won’t make a fuss about it, so you’re all right. And thanks for getting friendly with Lord Lucien. He’s always acting grown-up, so it’s good to see him his own age for once.”

That embarrassed Lucien, evidently, because he went red and reacted.

“Jacques! Do not say that.”

Jacques, then. Jacques is smiling gently at him. They’ve built a good bond, master and man. Jacques is a good person.

While the three of us were talking, Lucien’s valet and Roger came running over too. And then Lord Richard, Lord Christophe and Lord Frederick came out of the house.

“What has happened?!”

Lord Richard asked it in a considerable flap. There’s no covering this up… Better to apologize honestly.

“Lord Richard, I am sorry! I was showing Lord Lucien some magic and I misjudged the power…”

“What manner of spell produces this?”

Lord Richard asked it carefully, with a slightly rigid face. It is a frightening amount of power, isn’t it. Part of it is that I’m out of practice, but a compound spell uses two spells at once, which makes the power much harder to regulate. And it tips toward the stronger of the two as a rule.

“It is something I call compound magic. A spell that combines the magic of two or more attributes.”

“Combines…? Such a thing is possible?”

“Yes. What I used a moment ago was a spell called Fire Bullet, compounding earth magic and fire magic.”

When I answered, Lord Richard’s face went difficult and he sank into thought. Lord Christophe and Lord Frederick had the same difficult look on.

“Leon, would it also be possible for two people to use magic and compound it between them?”

That’s a thought…! It had never crossed my mind. But with practice it might be possible. And if it were, wouldn’t that be fairly strong?

“I do not know, but it may be possible. Has it never been tried before?”

“When magic is used to attack, it is in war or against monsters. As a rule the fighting is done with swords and magic plays a supporting part. Even at a mana capacity of five, a spell of attacking grade is not one you may use many times over.”

So attack magic hasn’t developed very far. If you can’t use it repeatedly, a sword is better, obviously. A weak attack you can use any number of times beats a strong one you get once, every time. And with a sword, the more you polish the arm the stronger the attack gets.

“I follow. But in that case, will compound magic not go on being unnecessary?”

“No. If Leon comes to be teaching magic, people will be able to use far more spells than they can now, will they not? In that case it may be worth stationing someone in the rear whose specialty is magic.”

If I teach the image, the average person should manage at least three times as many casts as before. In that case attacking from the rear with compound magic might well be worth it.

“That is true. Then shall we try it? I shall make the arrowhead with earth magic, and I would ask Lord Lucien to wrap fire around it with fire magic.”

“Understood. I do it as in the spell I saw just now?”

“Yes. Here we go, then.”

“Bullet.”

“Fireball.”

Lucien wrapped his Fireball around the arrowhead I made in the air.

“Let us send them off on three, two, one. Here we go. Three, two, one.”

There was a sort of thud, and my Bullet and Lucien’s Fireball both flew off toward the rock. Except mine was faster and the Bullet got there first, and the Fireball hit the rock after it. Hmm. Even like that there’s an effect, since the Bullet gets heated, but it’s marginal. And this way the Fireball is only doing the job of heating the Bullet. Matching the speeds is going to be seriously hard. With a lot of practice it might be possible, but using it in a real fight would be difficult. Rock Tornado doesn’t need the speeds matched and it covers a wide area, so that may be the better one.

“Matching the speeds is difficult with this one. There is another compound spell, one called Rock Tornado, and that one may be easier to bring off.”

At that Lord Richard made a face somewhere between astonished and exasperated: “There is another one?”

“Then I should like you to try it.”

“Certainly. This one uses earth magic and wind magic. Is there anyone who can use either?”

“I can use earth magic.”

The hand that went up was Lord Frederick’s. So Lord Frederick is earth attribute.

“Then could you make several arrowheads with earth magic?”

“The things you were making a moment ago?”

“Yes. I shall make a Tornado with wind magic, and I would like you to create the arrowheads inside it.”

“I cannot make a thing created with earth magic float. Would creating them and throwing them in do instead?”

Er… Would throwing them in from outside actually work? I have a feeling they’d be flung back out. And this time there’s no need for the arrowheads to float; they only have to be created inside the Tornado.

“There is no need for them to float this time. Creating them inside the Tornado is enough, but can you create them at a distance?”

“I have not done it often… Let us try.”

Lord Frederick tried his earth magic, and an arrowhead was created in the air a good way off. There was a small click as the Bullet that had appeared in midair dropped to the ground.

“The mana cost goes up, but it seems it can be done.”

“Then that is all we need this time.”

I meant to go straight on and try the spell, and Lord Frederick was staring at me. Er… What is it?

“Is something the matter?”

“What must one do to make a thing created with earth magic float?”

“Er… it is not needed this time.”

“I want to know all the same. Will you tell me?”

…Explaining that is fairly hard work. I looked around for somebody to stop Lord Frederick, and every one of them was waiting for my explanation with open interest. Nothing for it, then.

From there I started with the fact that this world has gravity and worked all the way through to zero gravity. To make a thing created with earth magic float, the image of zero gravity is the best one. Try to make it float with no image and it takes a great deal of mana, enough to be impossible for an ordinary person.

“Then may I try Rock Tornado?”

“Yes. I am sorry for taking us off the track. Please go ahead.”

“Certainly. I shall make the Tornado. Since it would be dangerous if the arrowheads came flying this way, I shall put up a wall with earth magic as well. I shall leave a hole large enough to see through.”

“Thank you.”

“Wall.”

I walled in the place where I was going to make the Tornado. Now there’s no chance of an arrowhead flying out and hurting anybody.

“Here we go. Tornado. Lord Frederick, if you please.”

“Understood. Bullet.”

Lord Frederick made his Bullets appear inside the Tornado I’d raised. There we are, the Bullets are rampaging around inside it. Yes, this one goes together without any trouble. The power would be easier to judge if I threw something in. Could I use one of those targets?

“Lord Christophe, may I put one of those targets into the Rock Tornado? It would show the power more clearly, I think.”

“By all means.”

“Thank you.”

With Lord Christophe’s permission I tossed one of the targets, a scarecrow sort of thing made of wood and cloth, into the Rock Tornado.

There was a splintering, cracking run of noise.

The instant it touched the Rock Tornado the target broke apart into pieces. …This spell really is vicious. Without thinking about where you use it, you’d be left with something horrific.

After that I kept control so the Bullets wouldn’t scatter, weakened the spell by degrees and let the Tornado go. The Bullets were made from real earth, so they’re still lying there.

Earth magic can create earth out of mana, but using earth that’s already to hand costs less mana, so in almost every case you use the real thing. Which is why I can’t make these Bullets disappear. If a Bullet were made from mana alone, the caster could dispel it as he liked.

Right, it worked, which is what matters. Satisfied that the compound spell had gone well, I turned around. And every one of them was frozen with astonishment on their faces. They’re fairly shaken, then. Well, it’s a pretty vicious spell.

“How was that? The spell worked, at any rate…”

“Yes. The power is so great that I am genuinely astonished. This may serve well against monsters.”

When Lord Richard said it the others seemed to come back from their astonishment as well, and then went difficult and thoughtful again. They must be working through the situations it could be used in. But once they start that discussion it’ll run long, won’t it. I’m tired and I want to go back inside. It’s past noon and I’m hungry.

“Excuse me. Might we go back to the house first? It is past noon…”

“Is it that hour already! Yes, let us leave the thinking for later and go back for now. His Majesty will need to be consulted about this as well.”

Lord Richard left that ominous line behind him and went back into the house. So this is another matter that needs taking to His Majesty. I’m trying not to stand out. Why do I keep overdoing it?

Tired, and a little heavy in the legs, I made my way back to the house.

Chapter 7 – The Current Duke’s Family

I woke the next morning clear-headed, ate breakfast in the dining room and got ready to leave. Perhaps because I’d told Lord Richard the night before, meeting Morgan didn’t put me on edge the way it had.

Then it was time to go, almost at once.

“Thank you for stopping in this town on your journey. I pray for the safety of your road.”

“Yes. We are obliged to you. We plan to stop here on the way back as well, so we shall be in your hands again. There will be one more of us returning, so have two additional guest rooms prepared.”

Morgan’s face stiffened a little at that, and then went back to the usual smile, and he bowed.

“Certainly. We shall be waiting.”

So we got into the carriages and set off for Tarzelia. How’s Morgan going to prepare two more guest rooms? Furniture is made to order as a rule, and the furniture a ducal house would use is expensive. If he’s already sold it he’ll be short of both money and time.

Well. Not my problem. I’m under no obligation to worry about that man.

The road after that went extremely smoothly. The deputy at the residence where we stayed on the second night was a gentle, unhurried man, and he had a proper guest room ready for me as a matter of course. No looking down on the commoner, and I got a real rest. If every noble and semi-noble were as peaceable as that. But men like Morgan yesterday make up more than half of noble society, don’t they. Which means the Royal Academy will be full of children of that stamp. Thinking about it depresses me thoroughly.

I want to live quietly for a year. I’ll be lodging at the ducal house, but if I walk to the Royal Academy on my own, maybe I can keep from standing out? Turning up in a ducal carriage would be far too conspicuous.

Except that I promised to give the ducal house’s camp a push, so I have to make the backing visible. Which means standing out badly and getting picked at by somebody tiresome. In that case the thing to do may be to get friendly with this Lord Lucien I’m about to meet and have him clear the tiresome ones away for me. Right. I shall work hard at being friends.

I’d just settled on that when we finally arrived in Tarzelia.

“Leon, we are in Tarzelia. We shall be going up the main street now, so you had better look at the town.”

“Yes.”

I opened the window I’d shut out of boredom with the endless identical view. There are more houses about than there have been. We must have only just entered the town, though, because they’re still scattered. We went on a while and drew near a place where the houses were packed close.

At first there were a great many people walking about in rather poor clothes, like the district my house is in back in the capital, and then bit by bit the clothes grew finer. This part seems to be the district for the merchants who deal with nobles. This is the main city of a ducal domain, after all. It looks thoroughly prosperous. Then we passed through that as well, and the ducal residence came into view ahead of us in all its splendor.

Astonishing. The scale and grandeur of the house are no different from the one in the capital, but the grounds are enormous. Twice the size of the capital house, easily. This is their own land, so they can take as much of it as they like. Hard on the gardeners.

The carriage went in through the gates without stopping and halted in front of the entrance. Standing before the house were a young man and woman, a boy about my own age and a boy who looked about two, with the servants drawn up in a long line behind them. Those must be the current duke’s family. I got down from the carriage and stood facing them.

“Father, Mother, you must be tired after so long a road. You are very welcome here. Frederick, good of you to come as well.”

“Christophe. It has been a while. Lady Sophia and Lucien look well, which is the best of news. Is that child the new one?”

“Yes. He is called Albert. He has just turned three.”

Three years old. Still soft around the edges and thoroughly sweet.

“Albert, greet your grandfather.”

“Grandfather. How do you do. I am Albert.”

Lord Albert made his greeting in speech that still stumbled, and gave a little dip of a bow. He must have practiced it a great many times. He seemed pleased with himself for having got through it, because afterward he broke into a smile. That’s extremely cute. Just plain cute, no argument. What even is this child. I’d assumed a boy of about that age would be a cheeky little thing. Perhaps because he’s being brought up as a noble he sits quietly, and he doesn’t seem shy of strangers either; he’s looking us over with open interest. If little brothers come like this, I want one!

I was writhing about internally over that, and Lord Richard and the others appear to be feeling much the same. Every one of their faces has gone soft and slack. Lord Richard, there’s no dignity left in your face at all.

Lord Richard stayed in that state for a while, then came to himself with a start, coughed in an obviously manufactured way and got his serious expression back.

“Albert, if anything ever troubles you, tell me. And when there is something you want, tell me at once.”

Lord Richard, weren’t you just putting the dignity back on? He made a slightly stern face at the start of it and then went straight to being a grandfather looking at an adorable grandchild. Promising to buy the boy anything he wants: the textbook indulgent grandfather. Lord Albert didn’t seem to follow it, and tilted his head.

Lord Christophe watched that with a rueful smile.

“Father, please stop offering to buy Albert whatever he asks for. It will be a nuisance if he grows up spoiled.”

“Well. That is true… Then I shall buy whatever he needs.”

Lord Richard is determined to buy the boy something. Not only Lord Christophe but Lady Sophia and Lord Lucien have rueful smiles on now as well.

“Thank you. I shall tell you if anything is needed.”

“Yes. See that you do.”

“Yes. And you must be Leon. Forgive me for greeting you late. I am the current head of House Townsend, Christophe Townsend. This is my wife Sophia, my eldest son Lucien, and my second son Albert.”

Lord Christophe turned to me and made the introductions. He has brown hair and gold eyes and a kind face.

“I am honored to meet you, Lord Christophe, Lady Sophia, Lord Lucien, Lord Albert. My name is Leon.”

“Christophe’s wife. Sophia Townsend.”

“The eldest son. Lucien Townsend.”

“I am… Albert.”

Lady Sophia has blue hair and blue eyes and is slender and lovely; Lord Lucien has blue hair and gold eyes and, at nine, already a keen set to his face. Something about him looks strong and dependable. Lord Albert has brown hair and deep blue eyes and is, above all, cute.

“Well, the introductions are done, so let us go inside.”

Lord Richard and the others followed Lord Christophe into the house and I went after them. It feels rather like being the one outsider at a family gathering, and it doesn’t settle me. I trailed along at the back, keeping myself small.

Where we arrived was a very large drawing room. There are two big sofas with a table between them, and one of them would comfortably take six people. Lord Christophe’s family sat on one and we were to sit on the other.

I hesitated over whether I was allowed to sit, but Lord Christophe said, “Leon, sit down too,” so I took a place on the sofa. This is nerve-racking. I wiped the damp off my palms on my trousers as unobtrusively as I could.

“Father, Mother, and Frederick. Thank you for coming to collect Lucien.”

“Grandfather, Grandmother, Uncle. Thank you.”

Lord Lucien is so composed that it’s hard to believe he’s nine. Is this what a noble education produces? I’m nine as well, but the inside of me is a grown adult, so there’s no comparison to be made.

“Lucien, if anything happened to you it would be a serious matter. Coming to collect you is no more than natural.”

Lord Richard presumably meant that to sound impressive, and his face was too soft for any impressiveness to survive. It isn’t that he goes to pieces over small children; he goes to pieces over grandchildren.

I’ve been thinking it for a while, but House Townsend is remarkably good at being a family, for nobles. My mental picture of the nobility was grim family relations all round. I don’t know many other noble houses, so I can’t really judge, but this one feels like a special case among them.

Getting to know Lord Frederick first was extraordinarily lucky. Meeting Marcel too. With other people I might have been used and thrown away, or shut up somewhere.

…Which is frightening to think about. It really did come right.

“Lucien is enrolling at the Royal Academy already. The months go by quickly.”

“They do. He has not passed the examination yet, though.”

Lord Christophe answered Lord Richard’s musing with a rueful smile.

“That is so. He is hardly going to fail that examination.”

“Failing is certainly hard to imagine… Still, there is no telling what may happen before the day. And the content of the examination changes a little every year.”

Wait. The content of the exam changes?! That’s the first I’ve heard of it!

“Excuse me. Is the content of the examination not the same every year?”

I couldn’t leave it alone, and put in before I could stop myself. Every face in the room turned to me.

“Has nobody explained the details of the examination to Leon?”

Lord Christophe put the question to Lord Richard, who thought for a moment and then handed it on to Lord Frederick.

“Did Frederick not give him the study materials?”

“I did, yes… Though I believe I only talked to him about the content of the written examination. Leon knew about the Royal Academy’s examination to begin with, so I took it that he had the details from Master Marcel.”

Lord Christophe heard that much, let out a small breath and turned back to me.

“Leon, it seems nobody told you the details. I am sorry.”

“No, it is quite all right. I had it in my head that there was only the written examination, so I never asked. And so, what other examinations are there?”

“Last year, if I recall, there was a magic practical and an interview. But it changes often in recent years, so last year is not much of a guide. And everything besides the written examination counts only for a small number of additional points. Pass or fail is decided essentially on the written score, so there is nothing you need do by way of preparing for the rest.”

Is that all it is. Then I can stop worrying and just study for the written exam, can’t I.

“Thank you for telling me. That sounds manageable, and I am relieved.”

“Yes. From everything I have heard, Leon will not be failing. Nor will Lucien, for that matter.”

Lord Christophe said it with a rueful smile. Going by the study materials, anybody who’s actually studied is unlikely to fail.

“Leon! You enroll the same year as me, is that right?”

Lord Lucien had been listening to me and Lord Christophe, and his face brightened a little as he asked it.

“Yes. That is the plan.”

“Good. You are the first friend I have had of my own age. I look forward to it!”

Lord Lucien turned an entirely unguarded smile on me as he said it. There’s a boy in there after all. And he’s friendlier than I expected, which is a surprise.

“I look forward to it as well.”

“Leon, which class are you looking forward to? I am looking forward to swordsmanship!”

“You are fond of the sword?”

“I train properly, every day. The sword is good because it makes you stronger for exactly as much work as you put in. That is why I like it.”

That’s a formidable thing to think at his age. Swordsmanship, though… I’m looking forward to that too. I have to keep every attribute hidden so body strengthening is out, but with anything you start by getting the basics into your body. More ways to attack is better, and magic isn’t much suited to fighting up close. I shall put some work into the sword myself.

“I am looking forward to swordsmanship as well.”

“Truly?!”

Lord Lucien’s eyes shone brighter still at my answer. When he isn’t holding his feelings down in the noble manner, every one of them shows on his face and he’s easy to read. It looks as though we can be friends, which is a relief. I was talking happily with him when he stopped moving all at once. Then, after something like a moment of hesitation, he asked Lord Christophe in a low voice.

“Father, may I speak about Leon’s abilities here and now?”

“Let me see… Would all of you withdraw a while?”

Lord Christophe sent every servant out of the room.

“Lucien, here you may speak of it. As a rule you must take care that not even the servants hear it.”

“I understand.”

Lord Lucien settled that with his father and then turned back to me.

“Leon, you can use the magic of every attribute, can you not? Will you show me some magic? I am fire attribute, and I want to be better at magic than I am.”

Lord Lucien knows about every attribute too. I was startled by that, and Lord Richard filled it in for me.

“In truth I had meant not to tell the children, but Prince Stephane and Her Highness came to know of it, and the two of them will be in company with you often at the Royal Academy, so we decided to tell Lucien as well.”

Martine did find out, and once she had, it was always going to reach Lord Stephane. I’ve no objection at all to being told about by people who judge it necessary. Having people who know makes things easier for me, so it’s to my advantage too.

“I understand. Lord Lucien, if I am good enough for it I shall both teach you magic and show you some.”

“Truly?! Leon, thank you!”

“Leon, if you are willing, would you use the magic of every attribute here and now? I have had it from my father in a letter, but I should like to see it for myself.”

That was Lord Christophe. Hearing about it and believing it are fairly different things.

“Certainly. I shall start with fire magic, then.”

I used the spells that carry no danger in a drawing room, in the order fire, water, wind, earth, body strengthening. And last, the healing attribute.

“The last is the healing attribute. If anyone has an injury I can heal that, but there is also a spell for examining whether there is any illness. Shall I look at the state of everyone’s bodies?”

I’ve been practicing healing magic every day since then, to the very edge of my mana, so the spell for identifying trouble in a body and its cause has become more precise. I’ve been at it with my family and with Martine all this time.

I can cover a whole body with less mana than I used to, and I can now make out things like headaches and stomach aches that aren’t caused by a virus. But while I can remove viruses, pathogens and malignant cells, I can’t cure a plain headache. A stomach ache I can clear if it comes from something eaten, and one that comes from the nerves I can’t. So the magic isn’t all-powerful.

“That is very welcome. Are you able to see everyone here?”

“Yes. Curing an illness costs mana, but examining does not cost much.”

“Then please do.”

“Certainly. Who shall be first?”

“My father, I think.”

I went over to Lord Richard and covered his whole body in healing-attribute mana. …Hm? There may be something like a small tumor low in his abdomen. It’s still very small, and I’m glad to have caught it now. At this size I can cure it without using much mana.

I was still working out the state of him when Lord Richard, made uneasy by my going quiet, leaned in to look at my face.

“Leon, is something wrong?”

“Ah, forgive me. There appears to be a small growth low in your abdomen. May I cure it now?”

Lord Richard’s face registered considerable surprise.

“I have felt perfectly well…”

“I do not think it has grown far enough to affect how you feel. It can be cured easily now, so there is nothing to worry about.”

I smiled to put him at ease, and his own face eased a little.

“I see. It is a good thing you looked at me, Leon. Please go ahead.”

“Certainly. I shall cure it, then.”

I drew the mana I’d spread through him in to his lower abdomen and poured more in after it, and it seems to have healed completely almost at once, without much mana spent. Catching a thing early really does make it simple.

“That has done it.”

“Thank you, Leon. You do nothing but rescue me. It seems I have a great deal to repay.”

Lord Richard said it with a rueful smile, so I answered smiling as well.

“Lord Richard and the ducal house are very good to me. This is no more than my due. Then Lady Catherine will be next.”

I checked Lady Catherine and Lord Frederick, and nothing was wrong with either of them, so I turned back toward Lord Christophe and his family. And they were sitting there open-mouthed, as though astonished at something. Er. What’s the matter?

“Is something wrong?”

“…Ah, forgive me. Was my father’s illness truly cured by that? To cure it as easily as that is genuinely astonishing.”

I see, it’s the first time they’ve watched it, so maybe that’s what startled them.

“Since there is no visible change in Lord Richard, I understand it is difficult to tell…”

“That is so, but the mana was giving off a most holy light.”

A holy light…? When healing magic is used, the part you’re pouring mana into glows unless you deliberately suppress the light. But not an ordinary light?

“Is it not an ordinary light?”

“No. When other healing magic users heal, the light is nothing like as bright, surely?”

…That’s true, actually. Martine and Lady Catherine don’t glow anything like that much. So is it my quantity of mana that makes it shine…? In that case I’d better take care not to let it glow from now on. The size of my mana is another thing better hidden as far as possible.

“That may well be so. Then from now on I shall take care not to let it shine much.”

“Yes. For not standing out, that would be best.”

“Thank you. Then may I go on to Lord Christophe?”

“Yes, please do.”

“Excuse me, then.”

After that I examined Lord Christophe, Lady Sophia, Lord Lucien and Lord Albert in that order, and none of them had anything wrong.

“There was nothing wrong with any of you. If any of you should feel unwell in the future, please tell me at once.”

“Leon, thank you. That is a great reassurance.”

“It has set my mind at rest as well. Thank you.”

“I am glad it pleases you.”

We talked about nothing in particular for a while after that, and then we were to be shown to our rooms. A rest in the room, and then dinner. Will there be things from the sea? I’m looking forward to it enormously.