Chapter 12 – A Talk with the Family
“I’m home!”
I pushed our door open and called it through, and Mom and Dad came flying out of the kitchen.
“Leon! Oh, thank goodness. You’re all right.”
“Leon! They didn’t do anything to you, did they? I’m so glad you’re back.”
Both of them had tears standing in their eyes, they were so glad to see me. Knowing they cared that much makes me happier than I know how to say. It also makes what I have to tell them terrifying, because there is a real chance it changes the way they look at me. First, though. Get them calm.
“I’m fine, both of you, honestly. They invited me to dinner, and we ate and talked a bit, and that was all of it. They even sent me home with clothes.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s a very fine outfit. That can’t have been cheap.”
“Leon, are you sure it’s all right to take something like that? If a bill comes for it later we can’t pay it.”
And now they were both in a flurry. The stiffness went out of my shoulders all at once and I laughed.
“It’s a present. It’s fine.”
“Is it? But why would a noble give Leon clothes? And why were you invited to dinner in the first place?”
“Leon, explain it properly to Mom and Dad.”
Mom and Dad were looking into my face, serious now. All right. Steel yourself. All of it: every attribute, the Royal Academy, and living at the ducal house.
Just as I’d settled myself to say it, the front door opened.
“I’m home! Oh, Big Brother, you’re back? I’m so glaaad.”
Marie, by the sound of it. She needs to hear this too. She’s old enough to follow it, and I don’t want her shut out of it. I’ll press the secrecy on her harder than on the other two. There are things you’re happier not knowing. But I want Marie to know. That may be nothing but selfishness on my part… except that Marie is family too.
“Welcome home. Marie, I’ve got something to tell everyone. Will you listen?”
“Uh-huh! Course I’ll listen!”
“Thank you. Mom, Dad, will you hear me out as well?”
“Of course we will. Let’s go through to the living room. We were closing the dinner service tonight in any case, so it doesn’t matter how long it takes.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
So we moved through to the living room and everyone took a seat. Start with every attribute? No. Start with how I met Lord Frederick.
“All right, Leon. Whenever you’re ready.”
“Okay. The man who came to invite me to dinner yesterday is called Lord Frederick, and the first time we met it really was pure chance. Then he found out I want to get into the Royal Academy, and he offered to lend me study materials, and yesterday I went to collect them.”
That shook them both badly, and it showed.
“You want to go to the Royal Academy, Leon? But why?”
“And where did you hear about the Royal Academy at all? I don’t think a soul from around here has ever taken it…”
I’d been told plenty of commoners take the exam, but apparently not the commoners around here. Then again, it’s true that I have never once heard the Royal Academy mentioned on this street.
“The man who took me to the central district told me about it. Marcel, his name is. He makes magic tools, and he showed me some. I got interested, and he told me the Royal Academy has magic tools, and that if you become an official you can live with magic tools all around you. That’s when I decided I wanted to go.”
“Magic tools. Those are the convenient things the nobles have, aren’t they?”
“That’s them! They’re incredibly useful, and they change how everything works! And I think they’re only going to keep getting better!”
Mom and Dad laughed at that, softly, almost together.
“You really do love magic tools, don’t you. Your eyes are shining.”
Huh?! Is it that obvious on my face? That’s embarrassing… Although in a world this inconvenient, when something convenient turns up, of course I’m going to throw myself at it.
“I understand that you want to go to the Royal Academy, Leon. Dad and Mom are behind you. Live the way you want to live. That’s all we ask.”
“Me too! I’m cheering for Big Brother!”
“Really? Everyone… thank you.”
A commoner boy announces he wants to go to the Royal Academy, and instead of being told to give up on something so far above him, he gets told they’re behind him. I could not have asked for better parents. If only the conversation could have ended right there. But I don’t want every attribute sitting between us for the rest of my life, and I’ve decided to tell them.
“But can you actually pass it? We can’t teach you your lessons at home, you know.”
“That part’s all right. Lord Frederick lent me the materials and taught me a little, and Marcel can teach me too.”
“That’s very good of them. But why would anyone go that far for us? We’re ordinary commoners and we’ve no money…”
This is the moment, isn’t it. Right. Come on, Leon.
“There’s a reason for that… So, um. You know how my mana attribute came out as healing? Well, the thing is… I can use the others as well. All of them… And people with every attribute are really rare, so they asked me to lend them my strength. And in exchange, they’ll help me.”
When I’d got that much out, Mom and Dad went still, mouths open, and stayed that way. Then, after a while, their lips began working without anything coming out. Wanting to say something and being too shocked to find it, I think. It was Marie who spoke first.
“Big Brother can use all the magic? That’s amazing, that’s so cool! I want to use all of it too!”
Not creepy. Cool. She said cool… Marie is still little and she may not really grasp what she’s just heard, and I don’t care in the slightest. That landed somewhere in me I hadn’t known was open.
“Thank you, Marie. But this is something you mustn’t tell anybody. Can you keep it a secret? If people find out about it, everyone could be in danger.”
“In danger?”
“That’s right. So it’s a family secret.”
“A family secret. Got it. I’ll never ever tell!”
Marie said it with both hands clapped over her own mouth. She’s a sharp kid; she won’t tell. And in the unlikely event that she did, whoever heard it would write it off as a small girl’s daydream.
Marie had given me enough to go on with, so I looked up and met my parents’ eyes.
“Mom, Dad. Do you think I’m frightening? Do you think I’m creepy?”
I meant to ask it looking straight at them, and halfway through my nerve went and my head went down with it. What do I do if the answer is yes… I sat there with my eyes on the floor and my throat going tight, and Mom answered me before I could finish being afraid of it.
“Leon. As if Mom and Dad would ever think a thing like that.”
“That’s right. There’s nothing in any of it to make us find you creepy. If anything we were just sitting here stunned. Being able to use every attribute there is. That’s an astonishing thing.”
“Mom got a terrible shock too, I’ll admit that much. But that’s our boy, isn’t it. You’re a son to be proud of.”
That is what they gave me. The relief and the gladness came up together, and the tears came with them before I could do anything about it.
“Really? Do you really mean it?”
“Of course we do.”
“…Mom. Dad. Thank you.”
I said it with the broadest smile I had in me.
“We won’t breathe a word of it, and we’re behind you. If a noble family needs your strength, and they mean to look after you in return, then there’s nothing to worry about. You give it everything you have.”
“Dad’s going to be lonely, with you leaving home in a year and a bit. But I’m behind you all the same.”
“I’m behind Big Brother too!”
“Everyone… thank you. Really. I’m going to work so hard!”
All of them behind me. Of all the families I could have been reborn into, I got this one.
Nobody had turned away from me. The relief cut the tension so cleanly that the whole day’s tiredness landed on me at once. There was still Lord Frederick to fetch, though.
“Everyone, Lord Frederick has actually come along to explain things. Can I bring him in?”
“What? Lord Frederick, he’s here? Now?!”
“He is. He’s going to explain about the Royal Academy and the rest of it. I’ll go and get him.”
“L-Leon! Wait! We’ve nothing to offer him. And look at the state of us, what are we supposed to do?!”
Mom went straight into a full panic. Dad wasn’t doing much better beside her.
“It’s all right. Nothing needs preparing.”
I told them so and went back out to the carriage, feeling a great deal lighter than I had walking in. Then I brought Lord Frederick back with me, and when we came through the door Mom and Dad were kneeling, waiting for him. Marie was sitting on a chair.
“Please, do not stand on ceremony. I am sorry to have called on you so suddenly.”
“Mom, Dad, you really don’t have to do that. Come on, sit down. We can’t talk like this.”
I got the two of them into chairs and offered one to Lord Frederick as well.
“Allow me to begin again. I am sorry for taking Leon away from you with no warning. I have come today to explain what is to become of him.”
“Th-thank you.”
“You will have heard it from Leon already, but your son has every attribute. We would like that strength put to work for the ducal house, and so it has been settled that he will attend the Royal Academy. I am sorry to be asking your consent after the fact. Will you permit it?”
“Yes. It’s, um, it’s what Leon wants to do, so we’re behind him.”
Dad got that out with his nerves showing, and Mom nodded along beside him. Thank you, both of you.
“You have my thanks for understanding. And for as long as he attends, Leon will live at the ducal house. Will you permit that as well?”
“At the ducal house. Leon, living…”
“Yes. We concluded that it is better both for Leon and for the house.”
“That is, well… thank you.”
Neither of them has much grasp of formal speech, so their answers come out at odd angles as they try their hardest not to give offense. That’s what happens when you talk to a noble. Sorry for dropping this on you with no warning, you two. Hang in there.
“Then when the time comes for the Royal Academy, we shall take good care of him.”
“Please do.”
That was the end of the explanation, and the tension in the room came down a little. Which was when Lord Frederick started again, in a rather softer voice than before.
“There is one more thing I would ask of you. A child of a distant relative of mine has asked to visit here. It is short notice, one week from now, but might the child call on you? Forgive me for the suddenness of it.”
Lord Frederick bowed his head to them, and the pair of them came apart on the spot. When a noble bows his head at you, you have no idea what to do. Believe me, I understand the feeling.
“O-of course!”
“We can’t offer her anything, but…”
“Thank you. You need do nothing beyond what you always do. I am grateful.”
That settled, Lord Frederick got straight up out of his chair.
“Then I shall take my leave. I am sorry to have come down on you without warning.”
“Oh… are you leaving us so soon?”
I asked it, and Lord Frederick looked over at me and gave me a nod.
“Yes. You’ll have things to talk over as a family, won’t you.”
Then he turned to Marie, and stroked her hair gently with one big hand.
“We arrived out of nowhere. Rather a shock, was it? I’m sorry for that.”
“It’s okay!”
“Is it. Thank you. I’ll be coming again, so we’ll see each other then.”
“Yeah!”
“Then if you will excuse me.”
Lord Frederick made one clean bow and went.
Once I’d seen him off, we all gathered in the living room again.
“I was so nervous I couldn’t really follow what he was saying to us.”
“Me neither. So, Leon is going to live at the ducal house?”
“Yeah. If I get into the Royal Academy, that’s what happens.”
“I see…”
They both had that faraway look. I understand it. That is the correct face. Nothing about any of this makes sense anymore.
“And Lord Frederick’s relative’s child is coming to us?”
“He did say something along those lines. His words were so fancy I couldn’t make heads or tails of them.”
“That’s right. She’s coming exactly a week from now, so could I ask you to get a few things ready? It’s a girl, and she’s a noble, so there’s some preparing to do.”
At the word noble the two of them reacted as one.
“A-a noble?! W-well. Yes, of course she is. Now that I think about it, a noble’s relative is a noble. I hadn’t got that far. A noble, here, what are we going to do?!”
“Wh-what do we do? What’s she coming for? We’ll have to buy something we can put in front of her.”
“Both of you, calm down! It’s fine. I’ve already worked out what we’re doing.”
That brought them down a little.
“Have you. Well, that’s a weight off. Haaah. So much has happened today I’m worn out with it.”
“…Sorry for all the trouble.”
I said it with my head a little down, and Mom came straight over and pulled me into a hug.
“I have never once thought of you as trouble. It isn’t as though ordinary people get to meet nobles, and if this is happening to us, then we’re going to enjoy it!”
“That’s right. Dad’ll do the same.”
“I’m going to be friends with her!”
“Everyone… thank you. Really.”
I am so happy I don’t know what to do with it. I love all of them. There may be hard things coming, but I will always treasure this family. I will keep them safe. I settled that in my own head, then and there.
“So, Leon, will you tell us what we’re doing? Why is she coming to us at all?”
“Sure. We happened to run into each other, and she got interested in how commoners live. She wants to try it for herself. Her name’s Lady Martine, and apparently she likes sweet things. So I thought she could look around the house for a while, then we’d go to the forest and pick raspberries, and bring them back to make pancakes together in our kitchen.”
That took a good deal of the worry out of both of them.
“I see. Yes, we can manage that here.”
“Give the house a good cleaning, and that should do it?”
“Yeah. I don’t think anything special is needed.”
“Then I can rest easy.”
While the two of them were settling, Marie latched on to the word raspberries and turned to me beaming.
“You’re going to pick raspberries with her?”
“That’s right. Will you help, Marie?”
“Uh-huh! I’ll pick lots and lots!”
“Thank you, Marie.”
Marie won’t have the first idea about manners, but Lord Frederick told me that was fine, so I’ll have her in on it with the rest of us.
“Big Brother, are Nikola and Luke coming too?”
“No. This time it’s a secret from those two. The girl who’s coming is a noble, so she can’t be around a lot of people.”
“She can’t?”
“She can’t. So this is a secret as well. Another family secret.”
Marie clapped her hands over her mouth again and nodded at me, hard. Family secrets must never, ever be told: she has that filed away now.
“Keeping it from Nikola and Luke is all very well, but those two turn up here without warning. What do we do about that?”
“Hmm. I’ll tell Uncle and Auntie a noble’s coming and ask them to keep Nikola and Luke indoors that day. If I put it like that they’ll stop them, won’t they?”
“They will. Say a noble’s coming and they’ll hold to it absolutely.”
“Then I’ll go and tell them later.”
“See that you do.”
I mustn’t forget that. She is the princess, after all, so the fewer people around her the better, and Nikola and Luke are better off well clear of anything complicated.
I was still sorting out my list of things to do when Dad spoke up.
“Leon, may I say something about that plan of yours? I think it’s a good one, but isn’t a pancake with nothing but raspberries in it a bit plain for a noble?”
“He has a point. They say nobles eat food made with sugar every day of their lives.”
“That’s what I thought too. So I bought sugar, at least.”
I said it, opened one of the bags that had been sitting on the table all this time, and showed them what was inside.
“Big Brother, what’s this? Is it salt?”
“Marie, this is sugar.”
“Sugar?”
“That’s right. It’s very, very sweet.”
“Really? I love sweet things!”
Marie’s whole face lit up at the word. Mom and Dad, on the other hand, looked thoroughly astonished. What has surprised them so much? Is sugar that rare?
“Leon, did you even have money for sugar?”
Ah… I hadn’t said anything about money. I may well be buying more things from here on, so I ought to tell them I have a way of earning it.
“The truth is that Marcel bought an idea off me, so I have enough for sugar. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Bought an idea? What does that mean?”
Hmm. How do I explain this. Neither of them really knows anything about magic tools.
“An idea I came up with happened to be useful for developing a magic tool. So they paid me for it.”
“Does that sort of thing happen?”
Both of them still looked puzzled, but they let the explanation stand.
“Well. We understand that you have money, at any rate. Thank you for buying the sugar.”
“Sure! So, shall we practice making pancakes with sugar in them today?”
“We don’t know the quantities, so a practice run is sensible. And there are a few raspberries left.”
“Then today we make pancakes!”
“Pancakes today?! Yaaay!”
Marie was bouncing where she stood, and Mom and Dad were watching her and smiling. Everyone in this room is laughing. I’ll take it.
After that the whole family went through to the restaurant and made pancakes together. We made several batches, shifting the quantities a little each time, and what came out at the end was genuinely good. With no milk and no baking powder they come out chewy, and they don’t taste the way a pancake tastes in Japan, but the sugar has made an enormous difference. Princess Martine should be pleased with these.