Volume 2Chapter 7

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.