Chapter 2 – Alexis’s Joy

Even now I catch myself wondering whether what I saw a little while ago was a dream that happened to suit me. My daughter Martine fell ill some time in the winter, and a few days ago I was even told that there was no telling how many days she had left. When I went to her room I saw the truth of it: she had wasted so far that the light of her life looked ready to go out where she lay.

Then Master Leon used healing magic, and a gentle light closed over the whole of her, and by degrees the color came back into her face. A few minutes later, when the light went out, her breathing had steadied and the wasted look was unmistakably gone. Thin she still is, certainly. But the life is back in her, if that is the way to put it.

I was astonished as I watched it, and under the astonishment came a relief that went all the way down. I was not going to lose my daughter after all. I cannot thank Master Leon enough for it. A power of that size will become a seed of conflict sooner or later, and when it does I intend to be of use to him.

“Your Majesty. May we send word to Her Highness the Queen and His Highness the Prince?”

Master Leon had gone from the room by then, and Martine was in the middle of sharing her joy with her servants when her guard put the question to me. She is right. The two of them should be told at once.

“Yes. See to it.”

“Certainly, Your Majesty.”

A few minutes after that came a commotion outside the door, and Elisabeth and Stephane came into Martine’s room. Neither of them is ever noisy, which is the measure of how worried for her they had been.

“Martine! Is it true that you are cured?!”

“Mother. Nothing hurts me any more.”

“Martine… I am glad. Truly, truly glad.”

Elisabeth gathered Martine into her arms and wept. Stephane’s eyes had filled as well. It came right in the end… Without Master Leon these would have been the tears of a family that had lost her, and that they are tears of joy instead is his doing from first to last.

“Martine, are you all right now?”

“Brother, nothing is hard for me any more. I shall be well again very soon.”

“I see… I am truly glad.”

“Yes. It is thanks to Father, who had a celebrated apothecary brought here from another country.”

“A celebrated apothecary…?”

Something in that had snagged on Elisabeth, and she tilted her head.

“Alexis. I have heard nothing of your sending for any such apothecary.”

This is bad… Elisabeth is angry, and I have no idea why. Why? There shouldn’t be a single false note anywhere in the story.

“If it had come to nothing, your hopes would have been raised for nothing, would they not? That is why I said nothing of it.”

“Is that the truth?”

“Of course it is the truth.”

I’ve never been any match for that look of hers when she means to have the truth out of me… Stop. Please stop. I was praying it when she took her eyes off me and turned back to Martine. Hah… Saved.

“Alexis. We shall talk after this.”

The cold voice came almost at once, though. Settle me first, then drop it on me… that’s Elisabeth for you. Since I’d been meaning to tell the family about Master Leon in any case, the timing does me no harm. We shall clear the room afterward and talk it out.

We stayed with Martine a while longer, then left her to her maids, and the three of us went out. The moment we were in the corridor, the Elisabeth who had been smiling so happily a breath before turned on me the face that means business.

“Let us go to your room.”

“Very well. We shall talk there.”

We reached the room, had a valet bring tea and nothing else, and sent every servant out.

“Alexis, tell me the truth. It is not possible that you should send for an apothecary and keep it a secret from me.”

“Yes. I shall tell you all of it. Martine was cured because I asked it of a user of healing magic who can cure illness. His name is Master Leon, and he is the Apostle of God.”

“Surely not… the Apostle has come down to us?”

“He has. It makes a long story. Will you hear it from the beginning?”

“Of course.”

So I told Elisabeth and Stephane the whole course of it, from the first I ever heard that Master Leon existed, and I hid nothing.

“That the Apostle should have come down at this hour of all hours… we must be grateful for it.”

“We must. That Martine was saved at all, I can call nothing but fortune.”

“I should like to thank him.”

“Then I shall make an occasion for it before long. But we are not to treat Master Leon as the Apostle. He says himself that he is not the Apostle, and Richard and I talked it over and settled that pressing the title on him against his own word would not do. He may have reasons of his own for keeping his standing to himself.”

“That is true. I shall be careful.”

Elisabeth nodded, deeply. She had taken the point, which was a relief.

“One thing more. If Master Leon’s ability becomes known the danger of his being made a target is high, so I want it spoken of to nobody until he has noble standing of his own. Stephane, that means you are not to tell a soul either.”

“I understand. But Master Leon is to be in my year, is he not?”

“He is.”

“Then I shall have a good deal to do with him. May I tell him myself that I know what he can do?”

“Of course. That is no trouble at all. When Master Leon next comes to the palace I shall tell him from my side as well, that the two of you know.”

“Thank you, Father. I would be grateful.”

“My dear, what would do for Master Leon’s gift? And when are we to be able to meet him?”

When he next comes up to the palace would do, presumably. The magic lessons will begin once Martine is well again, and that leaves time enough to have a gift prepared besides.

“When Master Leon comes to teach Martine magic, I shall make an occasion after the lesson.”

“Certainly. Then I shall have the gift ready against that day. Do you know of anything Master Leon wants?”

“No, I don’t. Would ornaments or clothes not be safe enough?”

“Oh, that would do very well. I shall have something worthy of Master Leon prepared.”

Elisabeth has thrown herself into it entirely… She’s likely to send something outrageous, but this is the man who saved Martine’s life; however dear the gift, it’ll be cheap at the price.

“When the day he comes is settled, I shall send word.”

“I shall look forward to it.”

“So shall I.”

So our talk ended, the three of us together. That we are able to sit and speak quietly like this is Master Leon’s doing entirely; my family’s smiles have been kept safe, and I am more glad of that than I can say.

Chapter 1 – Healing Magic

I didn’t sleep a wink in the end. Her Highness’s condition sat on me all night. What if the light goes out of her while I’m lying here like this? That was the whole of the night, and there was no sleep anywhere in it. On the other hand, lying flat with my eyes shut has brought a good deal of my mana back. On schedule, then. It should be perfect by this afternoon, and I can go to her.

“Master Leon. It is time to rise.”

“Got it. I’m up.”

Roger had come to call me, so I hauled myself out of bed. Then he looked at my face, and something concerned came into his own.

“…You appear tired. Shall I have breakfast changed to something easier to eat?”

Now that he mentions it, I don’t have much appetite. If meat turns up I might not manage it.

“Yeah. I’m not that hungry, so I’d be grateful if you would.”

“Certainly.”

He is hard to read, but that was worry. Roger already knows I can cure illness with healing magic, and I told him yesterday that I was going to heal Her Highness; Lord Richard said I could tell Roger essentially anything. Which makes him a deeply trusted and very capable servant, doesn’t it. I’m lucky they put someone like that with me.

At first I had him down as expressionless and unfriendly and decided we were never going to get along, and I was completely wrong. He is just bad at showing what he feels, I think. We haven’t known each other long, but I can tell that Roger is looking after me properly.

“I shall go and tell the head cook about the change, so please use these.”

He set a pail of hot water and a cloth on the side table by the bed. I washed my face with it, changed, and got myself ready; the clothes are on loan from the ducal house. Washing with warm water did settle me a little.

“Master Leon, breakfast will be ready in about ten minutes, so please wait a little longer.”

Roger came back with that just as I finished dressing.

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Then may I go over today’s schedule while we wait?”

“Sure. Is something on?”

“The tailor is due to call this morning. If Master Leon would rather decline, I shall arrange it… how would you like to proceed?”

Right, yesterday they did tell me a tailor was coming and I should have some clothes made. So much has happened that I forgot it completely. What to do… I could put it off, except then I would have nothing at all to do this morning and I would spend the whole of it worrying about Her Highness. Better to be busy with something. My mana isn’t going to be back until the afternoon anyway.

“I’ve got nothing else on this morning, so let’s do the clothes. It’ll take my mind off things.”

“Certainly. Then we shall keep to the schedule.”

While we were going through the day there was a knock, and another servant wheeled breakfast in on a trolley. Roger took it from him and laid it out on the table. Not a wasted movement anywhere; it is lovely to watch.

“Master Leon, breakfast is ready.”

“Thanks. I’ll eat.”

Breakfast was a warm bread porridge in a salted broth, with a small omelet beside it. The quantity was exactly right and it was very good, and I got all of it down without forcing anything.

“That was really good. Thank you.”

“I am glad you were able to finish. Then please rest until the tailor arrives. Shall I pour you some tea?”

“Please.”

“Certainly.”

I sat for half an hour or so after that, drinking tea and doing nothing much, and then the tailor arrived. He took proper measurements, and I ordered three outfits at about the level a lower noble would wear, so they would do for the Royal Academy as well; then two sets of nightclothes; then one set of good clothes fit for going to the royal palace. Once they are finished he will deliver them to the ducal house.

While I was thinking about clothes I managed not to think too hard about Her Highness, so I am glad I didn’t send the tailor away. It was a change of air and it steadied me a little.

“Roger, is Lord Richard back yet?”

“Yes. Word came a short while ago that he has returned. He asks that you come to the master’s room once you have finished with the tailor.”

“Right. Let’s go now, then.”

“Certainly. I shall send word, so please wait a moment.”

My mana is very nearly all back, so there should be no problem using healing magic. The rest is just me doing my best, and hoping there’s enough of it.

I waited, not very calmly, for Roger to send word, and then went to Lord Richard’s room. Inside, the room had already been cleared: nobody there but Lord Richard and one valet.

“Leon. Has your mana come back?”

I came in and sat down on the sofa, and that was the first thing he asked. Lord Richard is a little rushed himself. Which tells me how little time Her Highness has…

“Yes. My mana is almost entirely recovered, so I can begin Her Highness’s treatment whenever you wish.”

“That is good to hear. Then, to business. Let me explain how this will go. If you simply come up to the palace in the ordinary way and cure Her Highness, you will certainly be suspected of holding the power to cure illness. That would put you in danger, and I want to avoid it. So His Majesty and I have worked out a way to keep you out of it.”

What he explained came to this: the royal house has chosen someone trustworthy who will come up to the palace as an apothecary from a distant country, and I am to go along as the assistant. A veil over the face, as that country’s custom, so that nobody can tell. And honestly, with all that in place, I can’t see who would connect me to anything.

“So I go out past the central district after this, meet the person playing the apothecary there, and we come up to the palace by carriage. Is that right?”

“Yes. Do it that way, if you please. There are about two hours until the appointed time. Have lunch and take it easy until then.”

“Certainly. I shall do that.”

So Lord Richard and I talked the plan through, and I went back to my room.

“Master Leon, what would you like for lunch? Something light again, as this morning?”

“No, an ordinary lunch is fine.”

Getting measured and moving about had made me hungry. If I let myself get run down I can’t cure anything, and if I can eat properly then I should.

“Certainly. I shall have lunch prepared, so please wait a little.”

What arrived a while later was beef stewed until it fell apart. The sauce was superb, and I dipped bread in it and finished the lot. I even had a second piece of bread. Stomach full, mana full. Not perfect condition, but the best condition available today. If I can cure Her Highness on top of it, that will make it perfect. I am going to cure her. I settled that with myself.

After lunch I rested on the sofa until it was time, and to get the mana efficiency of my healing magic as high as I could, I dragged up whatever medical knowledge I had ever seen or heard in Japan. All I have is manga and TV dramas, but it beats not remembering. I was sitting with my eyes shut, pulling things up, when there was a knock at the door.

“Master Leon. It is Alban.”

Alban! I healed him yesterday and then heard nothing more, so I had been a bit worried.

“Roger, let him in.”

“Certainly.”

“Master Leon, thank you for giving me your time.”

Alban came into the room and bowed low straight away. Good. Set beside the man lying in that bed yesterday, he’s beyond comparison. The weight hasn’t come back yet, but he moves briskly, the way he did when I first met him, and his color is good, and some of the worn-out look has gone out of his face. I’m really glad.

“No, please don’t think of it. Has there been anything strange in how you feel?”

“Nothing of the kind. I feel exceptionally well. I came today because I wished to thank Master Leon again.”

If nothing is off, that’s a relief. He was the worst case I had ever treated and I had been a little worried. And if Alban is fine, then as long as I can cure Her Highness she will be fine too.

“Thank you, truly, for curing my illness yesterday. I could not thank you enough in a lifetime. In truth I had thought I was finished. That I should be this well and able to work again is like a dream. My thanks come from the heart.”

Alban bowed low again. There were tears standing in his eyes. Mine nearly came up to meet them, and I hurried to get him upright.

“I’m glad I could cure you. If anything at all feels wrong, please say so and don’t hold back.”

“Yes. Thank you, truly. I shall be of use to Master Leon without fail from now on, so if there is ever anything, call on me.”

“I will. Thank you.”

And Alban went out, bowing over and over and thanking me deeply the whole way. Getting a power that earns thanks like that: I’m glad of it.

Alban went out just as it came time to leave the house, and Roger and I set off from the ducal house in the carriage they keep for going about unnoticed. It took me as far as the edge of the central district and I walked from there to the meeting point, which was another precaution, so that nobody can tie me to a foreign apothecary.

At the meeting point stood a single carriage, solidly built but dingy and old. As I came up, a man got out of it. Forties, I would guess, with a kind face. Hair color, eye color, height and build all match what Lord Richard described, so this is him.

“You’d be Leon?”

I nodded firmly, and he waved me straight into the carriage. Then we sat facing each other inside.

“Has the Chancellor told you what the plan is?”

“The Chancellor… who would that be?”

“Ah. Lord Richard, the previous Duke of Townsend.”

Lord Richard is the Chancellor? I had absolutely no idea. Though it does add up, when the man can get in to see His Majesty at once and knows the state of Her Highness’s illness. You would have to be very close indeed to the throne for that.

“I had no idea Lord Richard was the Chancellor. He did explain the plan to me.”

“Good. Then let us get started. First, change into these, and put this veil on your head.”

What he handed me was a pair of very wide trousers, gathered tight at the ankle, and a coat that came down to the ankle as well. The coat was a little like a Japanese yukata in shape: you lap the front over and tie it closed with a cord.

“Are these clothes from another country?”

“They are. Worn by people of fairly high standing in a certain small kingdom, apparently. It has almost no dealings with this country, but we import a little of its spices and medicinal herbs.”

“You know a lot about it.”

“His Majesty taught me a great deal, so that I would have answers if anybody asked.”

They have thought even that far. This is a properly built operation.

“How do I put the veil on?”

“Hand it here. I’ll do it.”

“Thank you.”

So I changed, chatting with him as we went, and picked up a bag full of assorted herbs and mixing tools, and that was that. I look like nothing on earth but an apothecary from another country.

“That reminds me, names. Mine is Sunhwan. Yours is Namhee.”

“What? My name’s Leon…”

“False names, obviously. It would be strange for someone from another country to have a name from this one.”

“…That’s fair. So I’m Namhee and you’re Sunhwan. What should I call you? Lord Sunhwan?”

“You’re my apprentice in the story, so ‘Master’ would fit, wouldn’t it.”

“Then, Master Sunhwan, I’ll be in your hands.”

“Right. Same to you. Off we go.”

With even our names for each other settled and the story boiled down, the carriage started and we made for the royal palace. Half an hour or so and we reached the palace entrance.

“Halt. Do you have a crest or an invitation?”

An old carriage with no noble crest on it got stopped by a knight, warily. Naturally enough.

“I am Sunhwan. I have been summoned by the king of this country, an apothecary, come from abroad. This is the invitation, from the king of this country.”

The man’s whole atmosphere had changed. Somewhat difficult, but able: that was the apothecary he was giving off now. He had even made his speech a little halting. In another life this man could have been an actor.

“I shall confirm it. Please wait a moment.”

The atmosphere and the invitation between them changed the knight’s manner, and about ten minutes later he came back, having got his confirmation.

“Thank you for waiting. It is confirmed, so please go in.”

“Thank you.”

The knight saw us off respectfully and we went in through the palace grounds, and after a while more the carriage slowed and stopped. Then somebody knocked at the door.

“Lord Sunhwan. Welcome to the Kingdom of Lathlasia. May I open the door?”

“You may.”

The man playing the apothecary answered, and after a beat the door was opened from outside. A palace servant was standing there.

“Again, our thanks for coming the whole long way to the Kingdom of Lathlasia. I shall take you to His Majesty at once. Is this gentleman your pupil? Will he be coming with you?”

“This is Namhee, my assistant. I want him with me.”

“Certainly. Please come together, then.”

“Thank you.”

So the palace servant led us, and we arrived in front of a magnificent door.

“This is His Majesty’s study. Ordinarily we would show you to the drawing room and His Majesty would receive you in the audience chamber, but the instruction for Lord Sunhwan was the study, so I have brought you here.”

“Understood. Thank you.”

“Then I shall announce you to His Majesty.”

The servant knocked at the study door and called through it, “Lord Sunhwan and his assistant Namhee have arrived.” The door was opened at once from the inside.

“Please go in. I shall take my leave here.”

He stepped back, and we walked into the study. Inside were Lord Richard, somebody in magnificent clothes who was presumably this country’s king, valets to the two of them, and several guards.

“You are Sunhwan?”

“Yes. Thank you for calling upon me on this occasion.”

“I hear you are very skilled. My thanks for coming so far. There is somebody I very much want saved.”

“Yes. I shall give it… everything I have.”

“Thank you. Then to the point: would you mind if we moved? The illness is quite grave and I want her seen as soon as it can be done.”

“I have brought all the herbs and instruments I need, so there is no difficulty. The treatment also requires my assistant, Namhee. Would the two of us be acceptable?”

“Of course. Let us go at once.”

There are still a lot of people about, so the apothecary story has to hold.

We left the study and walked through the palace behind His Majesty. He had told the guards earlier that we were going to the North Palace, so perhaps that is where the royal family live. Is the palace divided up into parts? I am a bit curious, but the mood isn’t one where I can ask.

We walked in silence a while and came to a door. Two knights stood in front of it, and they snapped up a salute as His Majesty approached: the salute I know, right hand flat at the upper right of the face. Bowing, saluting. This world has a great deal in common with Japan, and it makes me wonder whether there is something deliberate in it.

“Open the door.”

At his word the knights opened it immediately. Nobody asked anything about me or about the man playing the apothecary, so presumably whoever His Majesty brings gets through. I had assumed there would be a room on the other side, but it turned out to be a long covered walkway. And there were two more knights on the far side of that same door. This is very heavy security. Perhaps the North Palace is through here.

At the end of the walkway there was another door, and knights opened it for us the same way, and we went through and walked a while and arrived at a very grand door. Two knights stood in front of this room, both of them women, which said it was Her Highness’s.

“Your Majesty! Is something the matter?”

“A celebrated apothecary has come from a distant country to treat Martine. Open the door.”

“At once, Your Majesty!”

The two of them opened it immediately. They gave us a slightly wary look, but nobody stops a person His Majesty has brought. Inside the room were three of Her Highness’s maids and two guard knights, all of them drawn back to the walls with their heads bowed.

“All of you. A celebrated apothecary has come to us from another country. Would you step out a while? You as well.”

His Majesty’s own guards withdrew into the corridor at once, but Her Highness’s looked unhappy about it.

“But to leave Her Highness’s side while a stranger is present…”

“The treatment includes methods held in confidence, so the number of people must be cut to the minimum. Richard and I have been given leave to stay, and there is no danger in this room. It is all right.”

“…Certainly. Then, Her Highness is in your care.”

Her Highness’s guard knight could hardly argue further with His Majesty, and nodded reluctantly and withdrew. Once everyone had gone the door was closed, and that left His Majesty and Lord Richard, me and the man playing the apothecary, and Her Highness lying in the bed. With only the five of us in the room, Lord Richard spoke to me straight away.

“Leon, thank you for coming all this way. Was there any trouble?”

“No. This gentleman did all of the answering, so all I had to do was follow him.”

I said it with a hand toward the man playing the apothecary.

“That is good to hear. And thank you as well.”

“Not at all. Then I shall wait at the edge of the room until the treatment is finished.”

The man shifted his manner again, bowed to His Majesty and Lord Richard, and withdrew to the corner of the room. His whole part really was just getting me here.

“Then, Leon, let me introduce you. This is the king of this country, His Majesty Alexis Lathlasia. He knows everything about you, so you may be easy.”

His Majesty knows everything too. If Lord Richard told him, then he’ll be on my side, and I couldn’t ask for a better person to have there.

“Your Majesty. My name is Leon. I am honored to meet you.”

I made a proper greeting and bowed low, and was told at once to raise my head.

“Richard’s told me about you. And Martine told me she went to Leon’s house to play and enjoyed it enormously… Leon. Please. Please cure Martine. I’m counting on you.”

Perhaps he was remembering Her Highness as she had been; there were tears in His Majesty’s eyes as he bowed his head to me, deeply. Being bowed to by His Majesty is more than I can sit still under, and I got him to lift his head at once.

“Th-that is, please raise your head. I want to see Her Highness smiling again as well. I shall give it everything I have.”

“…Yes. Yes, that is so. I want to see it again as well. I am counting on you.”

Uh-oh. I’ve gone very tense all of a sudden. If it turns out I can’t cure her after this… no. I’m not thinking about that. I’m going to cure her.

“Then I should like to use healing magic straight away.”

“Understood. This way.”

At his prompting I went to the bed where Her Highness was lying. She had been so full of life, and that smile of hers had been so sweet, and now she has grown terribly thin and her face is drawn with the pain of it. Her breathing is very rough as well. His Majesty sat down on the chair at the bedside and took her hand.

“Martine. Are you all right?”

“Fa… ther…?”

At his voice Her Highness opened her eyes a little and got a cracked whisper out. Moving her body even slightly, making even a little sound, is clearly agony. Illness really is a vile thing. It comes down on a child this small with no warning at all. What is this one… can I cure it? Covering her whole body in healing magic and having a look might tell me.

“Leon. My daughter. Martine. I put her in your hands.”

Lord Alexis got up from the chair and asked it of me again, in a voice thick with tears.

“Certainly. I shall give it everything I have.”

I answered with my fist closed tight, and took the chair he had been sitting in.

“Your Highness. It has been a while. It is Leon.”

I looked into her face and gave the greeting slowly, and Her Highness opened her eyes a little more and looked at me. And when our eyes met, the faintest smile came.

“Le… on. You came? I was… hoping… to see you… again.”

Her words and that smile of hers nearly had me in tears. It was a frail thing, a smile that looked as though it might go out at any moment.

“Your Highness, it must be hard for you, so there is no need to force yourself to talk. I am going to cure your illness, so let the strength go out of your body and rest easy.”

When she heard that, Her Highness shut her eyes and tried to let the strength go out of her. The labored breathing did not change. I wanted her out of it as fast as I could, so I covered her whole body in healing magic at once.

And there is a great deal of something bad in there. The response is different from Alban’s, so I don’t think it is a virus. Bad cells, is it? And… they are moving?

The bad cells are moving in a way that looks as though they travel with the flow of the blood. Or is it that the bad cells lie along the blood vessels? I can’t tell exactly, but this is probably a disease of the blood. I have no medical knowledge, so that is as far as I can get. If I had gone to medical school I could have made far better use of this ability.

…But I don’t need to diagnose it. I only need to cure it. All I have to do is put every one of these bad cells back to normal. So I held the image of all of it returning to normal, and used healing magic.

Ngh… this costs a serious amount of mana… The image is too vague, as I thought. But there is no studying medicine at this point, so nothing for it: I’ll settle this with sheer volume. It is probably going to be touch and go whether the mana is enough, though her body is small, so I might just manage… After that I held onto a consciousness that kept trying to slip away, and poured mana in.

I don’t know how long it took. It felt like hours to me, and it may in fact have been only a few minutes. That was how long it took, and then the treatment was done at last. And the instant I registered that it was done, everything in front of me went dark and I lost consciousness.

Wait… where is this? I woke with a ridiculously grand ceiling in front of me. Was I staying at the ducal house? …No! I treated Her Highness and lost consciousness on the spot. What happened? Did it work? I wanted the result badly enough to sit bolt upright, and I was still in Her Highness’s room. I had been laid on a sofa, and on the sofa opposite sat His Majesty and Lord Richard.

“Leon. You are awake?”

“You lost consciousness so suddenly you gave us a fright. We took it for mana exhaustion and let you sleep. Are you all right?”

“Yes, my mana seems to have come back a little, so I think I am all right now. But more to the point, how is Her Highness? I believe I cured her completely…”

“Martine is still asleep. After you lost consciousness we talked a little and she dropped off almost at once. She said her body had become enormously easier, though, so I think she’s probably cured.”

So I did it. Thank goodness… It felt as though the tension had finally been let out of me.

“Leon. Thank you, truly. I couldn’t thank you enough.”

His Majesty bowed his head to me again. How many times has he bowed his head to me today? He isn’t in a position where he ought to be bowing to anybody that often.

“Your Majesty, please do not bow to me like that. I am only a commoner… I am glad I could help.”

“I don’t think of Leon as only a commoner. Every attribute, and healing magic that cures illness on top of it… It’s a truly wonderful power. By rights it’s something to be proclaimed and taken pride in, but the power is simply too strong, and at your present standing, making it public would bring danger on you and on your family. We have you keep it secret because there’s no help for it, not because it’s anything less than a power to be proud of.”

“To have you say so much means a great deal… thank you.”

“It’s fact. Ah, and there’s the other thing, which has been on my mind a while. You need not call me Your Majesty. Alexis will do. You don’t call Richard ‘Chancellor,’ so use my name for me as well.”

“But to call Your Majesty by name…”

“From Leon it’s quite all right. Use my name anywhere that isn’t a public occasion. You saved my daughter’s life.”

Put like that, it is difficult to refuse. Well, it isn’t as though I am going to be seeing him often. All right.

“Then I shall call you Lord Alexis.”

“Yes. Do that.”

Lord Alexis has a slightly childish streak in him, doesn’t he. He is easy to be around, though, and I think I rather like him.

“So, Leon. Is there anything you want? I want to give you something for curing Martine. If it’s in my power I’ll grant whatever I can.”

“…Is that all right?”

“Of course.”

What to do… There are all sorts of things I want, a house full of magic tools and so on, but when the king of this country is offering to grant a wish, it’d be a waste to ask for something I could get for myself. Which makes this quite hard, in fact.

In the end, for protecting myself and my family: standing and power. There’s a limit to how far I can get either of those on my own.

“If it is possible, I would like standing and power, so that I can protect myself and my family. It seems my abilities would be quite dangerous if they became publicly known.”

Lord Alexis heard that and a look of real surprise came over his face. Did I ask for too much? Maybe money on an appropriate scale would have been the thing after all. I noticed it, and I was opening my mouth in a bit of a hurry to change the request when a wry smile came onto his face.

“It was so thoroughly unlike anything a child would say that it startled me a little, that’s all. There’s no need to be so flustered.”

Oh. Is that all. That’s a relief.

“I shall grant what Leon wishes as far as I can. A noble’s standing, however, can’t be given until you have graduated from the Royal Academy, so that will have to come after. As for power, I shall put shadows on Leon and your family as guards, so you need not worry.”

Shadows as guards are very welcome. That does let me relax a bit. I can manage on my own, but I’d been thinking how bad it would be if my family were taken as hostages.

“Thank you very much.”

Just as we got that far there was a sound from the direction of the bed, and Lord Alexis ran straight to Her Highness.

“Martine. Are you awake?”

“Fa… ther…”

Her voice was too cracked to come out properly. Lord Alexis poured water from the jug into a cup and gave it to her slowly. She can drink water, at least.

“…Father. My body, that was hurting so much, so much, does not hurt. And to drink water without feeling sick…”

She got that far and then wept, quietly. Lord Alexis was holding her tight and it looked as though he was crying too. They’re going to set me off as well…

“Martine. Thank goodness. Thank goodness, truly…”

For a while the two of them shared the joy of the illness being gone, father and daughter.

“Father, is Leon here? It was Leon who cured me, was it not?”

“It was. Leon, come here.”

“Yes.”

Lord Alexis called me over, and when I came to the bedside Her Highness was sitting up with a cushion propped behind her back.

“Your Highness, how are you feeling? Is anything hurting?”

“No. There is no pain, as though everything until now had been a lie.”

“I am glad to hear it. Then may I use healing magic once more, to check?”

I had enough mana back to scan her whole body, so I asked, and Her Highness nodded with a smile.

“Of course. Please do.”

“Thank you. Excuse me, then.”

Oh, excellent. Everything bad, and there had been so much of it, is gone. Good. She’s going to be all right now.

“You appear to be completely cured.”

“…Leon. Thank you. Thank you, truly.”

And now Her Highness smiled, prettily, the way a flower opens. …That’s it. That’s the smile I wanted to see again. I’m so glad I could save her, and that this smile is still in the world.

“I am truly glad I could cure you. A smile does suit Your Highness, after all.”

“Now I can come and play at Leon’s house again, and see Marie. I’d thought I might never…”

“If you eat properly from here on and move about a little at a time, you should get back to what you were. Come and visit whenever you like once you are well again. It may be difficult, but I could come here as well.”

“Leon… thank you. I shall work hard at getting well.”

We talked like that, and then the two of us were laughing together. Every time I see Her Highness smile I feel my chest go warm.

“Martine, it’s not good to overdo it yet. Are you sure you don’t want to lie down?”

Lord Alexis asked it anxiously. His child nearly died of an illness, so of course he’s going to be overprotective.

“Yes. Sitting like this does not hurt.”

“Ah. That’s good, then.”

“That reminds me, it was Leon who cured me with healing magic, was it not? I have never heard of magic so extraordinary…”

Her Highness tilted her head, puzzled. Well, she would wonder. But I don’t know how much I am allowed to say, so I decided to leave the judgment to Lord Alexis.

“Lord Alexis, how much may I tell her?”

“Let me see… There’s nothing that needs hiding from Martine. She’ll feel the extraordinariness of Leon’s magic more than anybody, and hiding it clumsily would be the unnatural thing. Martine has been educated as a member of the royal family, so she can keep what must be kept.”

So that’s how it is. Royalty indeed. I hadn’t wanted to keep things from her, so that is welcome.

“Certainly. …Your Highness, the truth is that I am better at magic than most people, or to put it plainly, I can use the magic of every attribute. And with healing magic I can also cure illness.”

“E-every attribute… then, Leon, are you the Apostle?”

Astonishment came over her face. So it really is that startling a fact. And that’s the Apostle question again; I’ve lost count.

“No, I am not the Apostle. But I can use the magic of every attribute. I do not really understand the reason for it myself…”

“That such a thing should be possible… Then why is it that healing magic can cure illness?”

“That is the power of the image, and the fact that I have a great deal of mana. First, for reasons I do not understand, my mana capacity increases the more I use it. It is already several times what any of you have; no, several dozen times. If I bring that much mana to bear, illness can be cured too. And making the image clearer raises the efficiency with which the mana is spent, so the two of them together let me cure Your Highness.”

Once I had explained that much, it wasn’t only Her Highness: Lord Alexis and Lord Richard had astonishment on their faces too.

“Leon’s mana capacity was outside the standard as well…”

Ah. I was so taken up with every attribute that I never mentioned the mana capacity. And I hadn’t noticed it was increasing, to begin with.

“It seems so. The reason for that is as much a mystery to me as the attributes…”

“Leon, what do you mean by the image? For instance, what sort of image do you hold while using magic, to raise the efficiency with which the mana is spent?”

“That… would be difficult to explain here and now. Without the knowledge it rests on, it cannot really be pictured…”

Being told out of nowhere about cells and viruses would be no use to anybody. I don’t understand it well myself…

“Is that so? Then why does Leon have that knowl… no. Please forget what I just said.”

Her Highness glanced past me, then broke off oddly and closed the conversation. But I knew what she had wanted to ask: where I got the knowledge. And it is true that a plain commoner like me having knowledge a princess does not have makes no sense on the face of it.

I had never got as far as that point. Once I told Lord Richard and Lord Alexis about every attribute I thought I had nothing left to hide, and there was still one secret, the biggest one. That I was reincarnated. That is the one thing I don’t want found out… there is no guarantee somebody wouldn’t call it demon possession.

For now she has withdrawn the question, so I’ll ride along with that. And I want to keep the source of the knowledge good and vague. ‘I thought of it myself’ is too much of a stretch, so somebody I met on the road taught me, perhaps? I had better work that excuse out in advance.

“Leon, to change the subject: would you teach me healing magic?”

I was turning all of that over in my head when Her Highness changed the subject for me. And landed something extraordinary again… teaching Her Highness healing magic is far too important a part for me to carry.

“No, I am not in a position to be teaching anybody…”

“That is not so. The achievement of having cured my illness is ability enough by itself.”

“But…”

“Actually, that might be a fine idea. Martine’s mana capacity is five, and she has the healing attribute.”

“Father, you agree as well! I want to be able to cure the sick myself.”

Lord Alexis agrees?! Sure, I saved her life, but is it all right to put a commoner boy that close to a princess?

“Leon. Would you teach Martine magic?”

Asked like that, I can’t refuse… and it isn’t that I don’t want to, only that it is a weight.

“…Then I shall teach you. But please understand that it may not be possible. If anything, I think that is the likelier outcome.”

“That would be the question of mana capacity, I suppose?”

“It is.”

“But if you teach me the image you spoke of, there is at least some chance, is there not?”

“There is certainly a chance that is not zero…”

“Then I should like to ask it of you. Leon, may I?”

“If you understand that it may not be possible, then I have no objection.”

“Leon, thank you! I am very glad.”

Her Highness said it and smiled, delighted. Ugh… I’ve got no defense against that smile. Turn it on me and I want to do anything at all for her.

“Your Majesty, if Leon is to teach magic, where and how are the lessons to be held?”

Lord Richard put the question, and it is a large one.

“What about at House Townsend? There’s no difficulty in Leon going to House Townsend, is there. So we send Martine to the ducal house as well.”

Come on, a princess can’t go out that often.

“Without some reason, Her Highness visiting our house frequently would look odd…”

Just as I thought. Every time I have met Her Highness it has been incognito. Her position must make an official visit anywhere difficult.

“Then how about the pretext of having Catherine teach her magic?”

“Catherine’s healing magic is certainly excellent, but ordinarily it is Catherine who would go to the palace.”

“Hm. Quite so… Then bring Leon along as Catherine’s attendant. There will be male attendants among those who do not wait on her person, will there not?”

“Certainly there will. In that case there should be no difficulty.”

So somehow, without my quite following it, I am to be a regular visitor at the royal palace. Playing Lady Catherine’s attendant this time. Well, I don’t mind what part I play as long as nothing goes wrong.

“Then, Leon. Will you come as Catherine’s attendant and teach Martine magic?”

“Certainly.”

“Leon, I shall be in your hands from now on as well.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Once Martine’s health is back, Leon is to come to the palace. Richard, speak to Catherine about it as well.”

“Certainly. Catherine will be delighted at the chance to see Her Highness.”

That was the end of the talk about my magic. Next came what happens now.

“Then, the order of things from here. We tell Martine’s servants and guards that Martine has recovered thanks to Sunhwan and Namhee. We show everyone how well Martine is, and Sunhwan and Namhee go straight home. I shall have one of my guards see you out of the palace, and from there take the carriage back to the far side of the central district.”

“Certainly.”

“Martine, you are to say that you drank a medicinal decoction Sunhwan brewed and your body became clean and light. Leon is Sunhwan’s assistant, Namhee.”

“So that is the story under which Leon came here. I understand. Sunhwan is the gentleman standing over there?”

“He is.”

“Understood. I shall keep to the story.”

“I am counting on you.”

So we all went over what was to happen, and Lord Richard opened the door of Her Highness’s room and called the guards and servants back in.

“All of you. Thanks to Sunhwan’s treatment, Martine is entirely well.”

“Is, is that true?! Your Highness, you can sit up without any distress?!”

The first to run to her was one of the maids. She looked at Her Highness sitting up and the tears came pouring out of her. Her Highness is loved by the servants too.

“All of you, I am entirely well. That I was in such pain seems like a lie now. It is all thanks to Sunhwan, who is standing there, and to his assistant Namhee. Thank you, truly.”

“Your Highness is too kind.”

“Thank you for saving Her Highness. We are grateful to you.”

Her Highness’s maids and guards bowed low to me and to the man playing the apothecary.

“No, I took a commission and did a job; that is all. Your Majesty, may we take our leave before long? There is another patient we must go to.”

“Yes. With skill like that you will be in demand everywhere. Thank you for your trouble in coming so far on a busy day. Payment has been prepared, so take it with you.”

At Lord Alexis’s word one of his valets brought a magnificent box with the payment in it and handed it to the man playing the apothecary, and then a guard offered to see us to the exit. We followed him out of Her Highness’s room.

“We shall take our leave of you all.”

Then we walked and walked through the palace again and got back to the carriage we had come in.

“We go back the way we came, to where you got in. Change your clothes there and we are done.”

“Understood.”

Talking like that, the carriage rolled out past the central district, and at the place where I first got in I changed and got down. A short walk and Roger was waiting with the ducal house’s unmarked carriage, and I climbed in.

Phew. Now I can relax. I had been tense the whole time, keeping the cover up.

“Welcome back, Master Leon. We return to the ducal house today, if that suits?”

“Yeah. That’s fine.”

“Certainly.”

And so I went back to the ducal house. I was thoroughly tired, but I had cured Her Highness, and my mood was several times brighter than it had been on the way out. I’m so glad I could cure her.

⁂

My body was heavy and hot, and my breath would not come, and I was cold and sick, and I thought that I might be finished. That I might be about to die. All I wanted was to be let out of the pain, and it was while I was wanting only that, that Leon’s face appeared in front of me.

Until then all I ever saw was Mother and Father and my brother, and the apothecary and the maids and the guards, so I wondered why Leon should be here. But the reason did not matter at all. I was simply happy to have seen him one more time. I shall never forget the day I became Leon’s friend, a little by force on my part, and imposed myself on his family’s home. It was a treasure of a time to me. It was the first time I was ever able to enjoy myself with no reserve in front of anyone outside my family, the one stretch of time in which I could forget being a princess.

I had thought that to see Leon’s face at the very end, even if it were only a vision, was enough. And then the Leon I was looking at spoke to me. I was astonished. It had not been a vision after all. And then, immediately, Leon cured this illness of mine.

Being wrapped in something warm, and the pain going out of me and going further out, was a moment I have no words for: happiness and release, and above all the relief of knowing that now I would be saved, that I would not have to hurt any more. And then I slept a little, and when I woke my body was better than I could believe, and it was then that I understood at last that it had not been a dream. And that Leon had saved my life.

If ever Leon is in pain, this time I want to be the one who helps. No. I shall help him, without fail. I settled that inside myself and smiled at Leon, wishing as I smiled that Leon might smile always as well.

Prologue

Yesterday astonished me. To think that I should see a miracle of that kind with my own eyes…

The apothecary had told me Alban might last another four weeks, and perhaps not that. And Master Leon cured him in a single instant. A single instant. He is the Apostle; there is no doubt of it whatsoever. To accomplish something no less than God’s own work… even now I can scarcely believe what my eyes showed me.

Last night, having been permitted to see what Master Leon can do, I lay in the dark on the hope that Her Highness might yet be saved by it, and did not sleep a moment. Her Highness’s condition is said to be very grave. Master Leon’s mana has not yet come back, so there is nothing my impatience can buy, and still I cannot keep from hurrying. Whatever else, I must get to the royal palace and tell His Majesty.

I was out of bed earlier than usual, dressed, and had myself ready to go. His Majesty begins work in his study early every morning, so arriving somewhat ahead of the hour would present no difficulty. I had just told my valet to bring the carriage forward when there was a knock at the door. Who would be about at this hour?

“Master. It is Alban.”

Alban? Recovered enough to be up and moving this early in the morning… the man astonishes me. I had my valet show him in, and there he stood, upright and steady as he had been before the illness, with the color back in his face.

“Good morning, Master. Forgive me for coming to you so early.”

“No, never mind that. How is your health?”

“It is that report I have come to make today. I am entirely well. My strength has not come back yet, but I am fit enough to work from today. Thank you, truly, for troubling yourself over me. From now on I intend to work with all my heart, so that I may repay the kindness.”

Fit enough to work from today, of all things. Yesterday he was as weak as that, and this is the effect of it. What an effect. Master Leon’s power, the Apostle’s power, is a marvel after all.

“No. If you must thank someone, thank Leon. I did nothing.”

“Very good, Master. But it was because you troubled yourself over me and asked Master Leon that I was saved. My gratitude to you as well.”

Alban bowed low. It was only then that the fact of it reached me: Alban had been saved. Yesterday Master Leon’s magic was too great a shock, and I had no attention left over for anything else. I am glad, truly glad, that Alban is well.

“That is fair. Then I shall accept your thanks.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“Alban. I am going to report yesterday’s business to His Majesty, and it is possible he will say he wishes to hear it from you directly. You would have to come up to the palace in that case. Would that suit?”

“Of course, Master. I should have no objection whatever.”

“Thank you. Then hold yourself ready.”

By the time I had finished with Alban it was exactly the hour to leave the house, and I set out for the royal palace.

When I came into His Majesty’s study he had already begun the day’s work as he always does, and his officials were all gathered there with him. The ordinariness of it steadied me a little, and I opened my mouth slowly.

“Good morning, Your Majesty. There is something I must bring to your ear at once, so I would ask that the room be cleared.”

I said it with barely a courtesy in front of it, and surprise came over his face. My haste has the better of me after all; I cannot have managed to seem as I usually do.

“It’s been a long while since I’ve seen Richard in this much of a hurry. Would you all step out a moment? Leave it as it is, no need to tidy.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Excuse us.”

The officials withdrew, and the study held nobody but His Majesty and myself. With the ordinary morning gone out of it and the quiet settling in, my impatience began to climb again. Even so, I could hardly commit the discourtesy of standing to speak, so I first took the sofa His Majesty offered me.

“So what’s happened? In such a rush.”

“Your Majesty, hear this calmly. Master Leon came to the house yesterday, and it appears that with healing magic he can cure… even illness.”

“What? Illness?! Is that true?!”

His Majesty came to his feet in one movement and shouted it. It is no wonder he should be as shaken as that. Until now illness has been met with medicinal herbs and little else, and a great many illnesses could not be cured at all once they had taken hold.

“It is true, Your Majesty. Alban, the ducal house’s butler, had a high fever and a cough that would not stop, and he was wasting away; the apothecary gave him some four weeks. Last night Master Leon was good enough to put healing magic on him, and he came back very nearly to what he was. His strength has not returned, but this morning he was already telling me he could work.”

“To be able to work a miracle like that… The Apostle really is something outside anything we can imagine.”

His Majesty murmured it, and sat down on the sofa all at once, as though the strength had gone out of him.

“Richard. Do you think he might cure Martine… might cure Martine’s illness as well?”

He put the hope into words with expectation in it, and a little fear underneath. It is rare for His Majesty to let so much show, which tells me how dangerous Her Highness’s condition has become…

“I thought of it myself, and I have already asked Master Leon. He says he will treat her with everything he has.”

“Truly?! Thank goodness… thank goodness… Then is Martine going to be saved?”

“I cannot state it as certain, but I believe the chances are good. Beyond that we can only trust Master Leon.”

Having seen what I saw yesterday, one wants to believe he will save Her Highness as well, and still nothing is certain. Even an Apostle cannot be counted on to cure an illness however far it has gone. If only Her Highness’s illness is of the kind that can be cured…

“…That’s so. There is nothing else left to try. We’ll trust Master Leon and leave it with him. So where is Master Leon now, Richard?”

“He is at the Townsend house. Curing Alban yesterday left his mana unrecovered, so I expect he is resting his body. By Master Leon’s own account it will come back this afternoon.”

“Understood. The moment he’s fit, will you bring him to the palace? I want her seen as early as it can be managed.”

“Certainly. Then I shall go back to the house first, and come up to the palace again with Master Leon.”

“Yes. See to it. The trouble is how we’re to keep Master Leon’s existence hidden. He has no rank yet, and while that’s so, it is very dangerous for what he can do to become common knowledge.”

I have feared the same. For Master Leon’s own safety we have had him conceal every attribute, and if it becomes common knowledge that he can cure illness, all of that effort goes for nothing.

“I fear it as well, Your Majesty. I advised Master Leon myself that his being able to cure even illness had better be kept secret, and it must not be allowed to spread through his curing Her Highness. On that we cannot yield.”

“Agreed. We’ll tighten his guard and make him safer, and at root we have to take pains that word of what he can do never travels at all.”

“Yes. And for that, how he is to come to Her Highness is the point.”

If Master Leon visits and Her Highness’s illness is cured immediately afterward, attention falling on him will be unavoidable. Even taking him to her with as little contact as we can manage, meeting some few knights and servants cannot be avoided.

Her Highness is in the North Palace, the royal family’s residence. The royal palace is divided into the Central Palace, which holds His Majesty’s study and the audience chamber; the East Palace, where the officials chiefly work; the West Palace, where the knights chiefly work; and the North Palace. Of the four, the North Palace is closely guarded and its servants do not change much, so a new face stays in the memory.

“It wouldn’t be unnatural for Richard to visit Martine, would it? How would it be to have him attend you as your valet?”

“That is a good thought, certainly, but I expect the room will have to be cleared when Master Leon uses healing magic. To leave only my valet in the room at that point would be unnatural in itself… And if Her Highness is well again immediately afterward, attention will certainly gather on Master Leon.”

“Hm. You’re right, of course… Then how about this. We pick one trustworthy person whose face isn’t known, put them forward as an apothecary, and have Master Leon go along as the assistant. A celebrated apothecary from a distant country, sent for by me because the herbs of that country may answer for Martine. We’ll say that.”

Other countries are said to have all manner of herbs and treatments this one has not, so the story might well hold. And if we explain further that the apothecary did not wish the face known, and went home once the fee was paid, there will be no pursuing it afterward.

“That is certainly a good plan. Who is to take the apothecary’s part?”

“Let me see. I’ll pick one of the royal house’s shadows, one of the most trustworthy of them. There is no trouble in a foreigner going veiled, so we’ll do it that way and cover the face as far as we can. Best of all if nobody sees Master Leon’s face.”

“Certainly. Let us do it that way, then. In which case it would be better for Master Leon to come to the palace by carriage from somewhere other than the ducal house.”

“Good. I’ll have the shadow playing apothecary and a carriage waiting in a back alley near the central district, and Master Leon can make his way there.”

So His Majesty and I fixed the exact place where the carriage would wait, and had everything ready for Master Leon to come up to the palace.

“Your Majesty, I shall go back to the ducal house first. I shall put it to Master Leon, and then return here.”

“Understood. I leave it with you.”

I held my impatience down, and left His Majesty’s study at a fast walk.

Bonus Story – A Sign of Summer

On a fiercely hot summer day I had come to Marcel’s workshop. Whenever I’m not out at the forest or the food stalls with Marie and the others, this is where I am.

“Marcel, it’s been way too hot lately.”

“It’s summer. Nothing to be done about that.”

“Don’t say that, think of something!”

“Sluice yourself down with water, why don’t you?”

“It feels great while I’m doing it, but I’m hot again the second I stop.”

On hot summer days I do sluice myself down often, and it feels wonderful, and I’m drenched in sweat again a minute later. Summer here isn’t as hot as a Japanese one, but there’s no air conditioning. Which makes it worse than Japan on balance.

“You can make ice, can’t you? Make ice and cool the air with it.”

“You’re right!”

Of course. I’ve been so careful to hide having every attribute that I use nothing but healing from day to day, and it simply never occurred to me. In this workshop it should be all right!

But only producing ice is dull… That’s it, shaved ice! Could I make shaved ice? Shaving the ice would take… magic iron, I think. Magic iron takes whatever shape you picture, so I ought to be able to make both the blade and the body. Magic in this world is genuinely convenient, since anything you can picture works so long as you have the mana for it. I had better be grateful to this mana of mine that keeps mysteriously increasing. Anyway, let’s try it right now.

“Marcel, could you lend me some magic iron?”

“That’s fine, but what are you doing with it?”

Marcel was watching me the way you watch something you expect to go wrong. You’re certain I’m about to do something outrageous, aren’t you! I don’t do things that outrageous!

“I thought I’d make shaved ice.”

“Shaved… ice?”

“It’s a dessert. You shave ice and eat it.”

“And that tastes good?”

“It does! You pour syrup over it, and—”

And there I stopped. There’s no syrup! What is syrup made of, anyway? Sugar water? Would that alone really make it that good? Something I could use instead… That’s it, wouldn’t jam work? There should still be some of the raspberry jam we made at home.

“Marcel, I think it would be good with jam over it, and I haven’t brought any jam, so I’ll make it next time I come.”

“Is that so? I don’t follow any of it, but whenever suits you.”

“Next time I’ll definitely make you good shaved ice!”

So a few days later I came back to Marcel’s workshop, properly equipped this time. I have jam with me.

“Marcel, today I really will make shaved ice!”

“Aye. I still don’t follow it, but I’ll look forward to it.”

“Yes! So, could you lend me the magic iron?”

“Use this.”

“Thank you!”

I took the magic iron from Marcel and started on the blade for shaving the ice. The blade in a shaved-ice machine sits in a round iron disc with just a little of its edge standing proud of the surface. Then the ice turns on top of the disc, and the shavings come out underneath.

For turning the ice, I could hold it on something like nails set into a disc above it, and turn that with a handle. That part should sort itself out, since magic iron takes any shape I like.

The problem is the blade. If that isn’t right, I suspect it won’t come out as shaved ice at all. I made a round disc of magic iron and set about testing it, pushing the blade out through the surface a little at a time.

If I can manage it, I’d rather have the fluffy kind that was popular in Japan than the old-fashioned sort. I went and ate that with friends exactly once, and it was extremely good.

To get that fluffiness you let the ice melt a little beforehand, I think. And then the blade only stands proud by a hair. Anyway, trial and error, and let’s get on with it!

First I have to build the body of the machine, and I don’t remember the details. Well, it only has to shave ice, so something roughly right should do.

I started with a sort of small round table standing on four legs. Then I carried those four legs on upward, past the tabletop, and stopped them about thirty centimeters above it. Across their tops, centered between the four, I formed a handle. From the middle of that handle I ran a shaft of iron back down toward the table, and stopped it about twenty centimeters down. On the end of the shaft I made a second disc, and set several short nails into its underside. Fix the ice onto those nails, turn the handle, and the ice should turn with it.

That leaves the blade, which goes into the tabletop disc. I cut a long, narrow slot in it running from the center outward, and formed the blade along the slot. Hmm. Is that about right? It’s standing two or three millimeters proud. Let’s try it and see.

Ah, I have to make the ice first. I looked around the workshop for a vessel of a decent size, and found Marcel staring at the shaved-ice machine as though it might go off.

Why that expression?

“Marcel, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing. Only, you said you were making a food called shaved ice, didn’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right…?”

“And that strange object is for making shaved ice?”

“It is. It’s finished, so all that’s left is to make the ice and fine-tune it.”

“That’s it finished?! I can’t begin to guess how the thing is used.”

“It’s quite a simple mechanism. I’ll show you once the ice is made. Only I haven’t got a good vessel for making the ice in…”

I wanted something the right size for the machine I’d built, and while I was looking around the workshop Marcel gave me a look of pure exasperation.

“You can use earth attribute as well, Leon. Make a vessel.”

Ah… Yes. I could. If anything the question is why it didn’t occur to me. It’s because I keep myself from using magic day to day, so it doesn’t come to me when I need it. What a waste, when I can use every attribute! I have to hide it, but where I can use it, I should use it properly.

“You’re quite right. I’ll make a vessel too.”

I said it and built a cylindrical vessel of the right size out of earth-attribute mana. Then I made ice inside it. Yes, perfectly clean ice. Now I wait until it melts a little, then shave it, and it’s done! I may as well get the bowls ready while I wait.

“Marcel. I’m waiting for the ice to start melting a little, and I’d like to get bowls and so on ready in the meantime. May I borrow some?”

“Aye, go on. They’re in the kitchen upstairs. I’ll fetch them.”

“Can I come with you?”

“I don’t mind.”

So Marcel and I went up to the kitchen, and came back to the workshop with two bowls and two spoons. And the ice seemed to be melting nicely.

“The ice looks about right, so let’s try it.”

I took the ice out of the vessel and set it on the cutting disc. Then I pressed the nailed disc down onto the ice from above so the nails bit and held it, and turned the handle. And I didn’t forget to put a bowl underneath to catch the shaved ice.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

That sound is not encouraging. That is absolutely not fluffy. I pulled the bowl out and looked. Very coarse shaved ice indeed. This is not what I’m after! It’s perfectly good in its own way, of course, but I want fluffy.

The blade must be standing out too far. Let’s bring it in a little more…

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Not the slightest difference! Perhaps it wants to stand out so little you’d wonder whether it could shave anything at all.

After that I went around and around with it, and finally built the shaved-ice machine I wanted! I’m thoroughly worn out… But now I should get good shaved ice out of it! I braced myself, set a new block of ice in place, and turned the handle with a certain amount of tension in me.

Shff. Shff. Shff.

Ohh, that’s perfect! There’s hardly any resistance as it turns, and above all it isn’t crunching. I looked into the bowl, and there it was—proper fluffy shaved ice. I shaved away in a blank sort of trance for a while, and one bowl of shaved ice was done.

“Marcel, it’s finished!”

Marcel had watched with interest at the start, and since nothing worked at all he had gone off to do something else partway through. At my voice he looked over again.

“That’s it finished? It’s certainly very pretty… but you’ve only shaved ice, haven’t you? Is it good?”

“I thought you’d say that, and it tastes wonderful! Pour jam over it and it’s done.”

I poured a generous quantity of raspberry jam over the shaved ice, and it was complete.

“Raspberry jam shaved ice! Try it before it melts!”

“Aye. I’ll have some, then.”

Marcel plainly still doubted it, and he loaded his spoon high and ate it. And then, after one mouthful, he froze without a flicker of reaction. Did he not like it?

“Marcel? Was it bad? Ah! Have you got a headache?!”

Of course. Eat something cold too fast and your head hurts. There’s no reason anybody in this world would know that; they have nothing like a freezer. I should have warned him properly…

“Marcel, I’m sorry… I should have warned you…”

I had gone from cheerful to flattened with nothing in between, and Marcel spoke up in a hurry.

“L-Leon! No! I don’t know where you got that idea, but it was good and I was startled, that’s all. And I’ve never eaten anything this cold, so it surprised me.”

“So your head doesn’t hurt?”

“It does not. Though I’ve no idea how we got onto heads hurting…”

Oh, good. He hasn’t been made ill, at least.

“If you eat something cold all at once, a pain shoots through your head. I hadn’t told you that, so I thought you’d frozen from the pain…”

“That happens, does it. I’ll be careful in the future. It didn’t this time, though. What I meant was that it was good enough to startle me.”

“Really?”

“Aye. There’s nothing special in it, and I can’t work out why it should be so good. A man would want this in summer. And the way it melts away soft in the mouth, you’d not stop at one.”

I’m so glad he thinks so. Summer really is shaved-ice weather! I once tried it in Japan in midwinter, tucked up warm indoors, thinking that sounded good too, and all I confirmed was that shaved ice belongs to summer. In a world like this one with no air conditioning, it must taste better still.

“May I have a mouthful too?”

“Of course you may.”

So I had a mouthful myself. Mmm, that is extremely good! Cold shaved ice on a hot summer day really is the best thing there is! And I’ve reproduced a genuinely fluffy texture. It doesn’t reach what I ate in Japan, but I think I’ve come fairly close. I’m thoroughly satisfied with it.

“I poured raspberry jam over it this time, but you can change the flavor by pouring something else on.”

“So you can. As it happens I’ve honey in the house. Would that suit it?”

“You have honey?! May I try it?!”

“Yes, yes. Go on. That’s quite a pounce.”

“I love sweet things!”

At that, Marcel looked enormously pleased and got straight to his feet.

“I’ll fetch it. Wait there.”

“Thank you!”

So this time I poured the honey Marcel had fetched over a bowl of shaved ice of my own. I’d shaved it industriously while he was away fetching the honey.

Hmm. Honey as it comes is too thick to pour well. It would be better if I could make it more like syrup. Dissolve it in water? Except that would water down the flavor with it.

Come to think of it, in Japan there was honey lemon. Which suggests mixing in lemon juice might do it. No lemon to hand, though… I may as well try it as it is.

So I took a spoonful from where the honey lay thickest and put it in my mouth. Too sweet! It’s good, but this is a great deal too sweet. Which may be exactly why you mix it with lemon.

“It’s good, but it seems to be a bit too sweet for me. Mixing it with lemon or something sour might work.”

“Is that so… Then how about this raspberry jam?”

“You know, that might suit it.”

Raspberry jam has sugar in it and it’s still sweet-sharp, with real tartness, so it might go with honey. I put a reasonable amount of raspberry jam onto the part of the shaved ice where the honey was sitting evenly. And took a mouthful.

Mmm! Delicious!! The sweet-sharpness of the raspberry jam and the sweetness of the honey match perfectly! This combination is exactly right.

“Marcel! Pouring these two on together is wonderful!”

“Is it now? Then I’ll try it myself.”

So Marcel poured the honey on and carried another spoonful of shaved ice to his mouth.

“This is…! Better than the last.”

“Isn’t it!”

After that the two of us savored our shaved ice in silence, and both of us cleared our bowls.

“Haaah. That was very good. And the heat has eased off now that I’m cooler.”

“So it has. This temperature is about right, as it is now.”

“Summer really is shaved-ice weather!”

“It’s a rare luxury, but once a man knows about it he can’t leave it alone.”

“Then let’s do it again sometime!”

“Aye. The magic iron is yours to borrow whenever you like.”

“Thank you!”

After that I spent a while in the workshop, which felt a little cooler now, talking about nothing much with Marcel. The hot summer air and the warm wind were both pleasant now, and I sat there thoroughly content while the time went quietly by.

Side Story – My Son, Changed

I truly thought my heart would stop that day. Leon lost his footing coming down the stairs, fell the whole way from the top, and struck his head hard. I was the one who’d called him down from upstairs, so I saw the whole thing happen. The way he fell went strangely slow, the way things do in a dream, and I couldn’t reach him in time, and he hit his head and lost consciousness where he lay.

I ran to him and called his name and got nothing back at all, and I thought, he’s going to die like this, and I screamed for Jean. Jean came running, and the two of us called to him, and there was no response of any kind. I was starting to think it was hopeless, and I’d got as far as deciding to carry him to the clinic even if it did no good, when Leon opened his eyes. A miracle.

That was the most relieved I have been in my life.

And the next day he woke as usual, and I thought that was the end of it. Except that ever since he woke, Leon has been a little strange.

To begin with, he has become quiet and extremely well-behaved. Until then he was, to put it kindly, a lively child, and I used to wish he would settle a little. Now, all at once, he speaks and behaves like an adult. At first I thought he had taken the fall as a lesson, but that isn’t it. His nature seems to have changed. Could striking his head have changed the sort of person he is?

Then there is how particular he has become about cleanliness. He washes his hands before he cooks, without fail. He washes them before he eats. He washes them when he comes in from outside. He wants to be washing them constantly, and he wants us washing ours too. When I said there was no need to wash hands that weren’t the least bit dirty, he told me there’s a great deal of dirt on them you can’t see. How does Leon know there’s dirt you can’t see? I can’t make sense of it at all.

And he is so gentle with Marie now. The two of them used to squabble constantly, and lately he never answers back at all, so Marie wins every time, after all those years of scrapping over everything. Marie thought it odd at first too, and got used to it very quickly.

There are so many things I don’t understand that I could go on all day. His table manners turned refined overnight. He announces that he’s thought of a recipe and starts cooking. And those pancakes of his turned out to be a marvelous dish you can do all sorts of things with. I was certain at first that anything that gloopy couldn’t possibly taste good, and when I tried it I was genuinely astonished.

That Leon thought of that… I can hardly believe it.

I was thinking about all this when Leon came into the kitchen. What is it this time?

“Mom, I want to hang the bedding out in the courtyard…”

The bedding from the bedroom? Nobody wets the bed any more, so there should be no need to wash it. Unless… did Leon wet the bed? If he did, the kind thing would be to pretend I hadn’t noticed.

“Leon, did you take soup or something up to the bedroom and spill it? I’m always telling you to eat in the living room.”

If he nods to that, the bed-wetting stays hidden. That was the kindness I was offering him, and Leon shook his head.

“No. As if I’d do that. It’s not that, it’s that if you don’t dry them in the sun now and then they get full of tiny insects.”

Well. Not bed-wetting, then. Insects, though? If there are insects in it, catch them and put them outside.

“If there were insects you should have put them outside.”

“Not that kind. There are lots of insects in there you can’t see.”

Things you cannot see, again… Could striking his head have made him see things that aren’t there? Perhaps I really should take him to the clinic after all.

“Leon, has hitting your head made you see strange things? If it has, we’re going to the clinic.”

“It hasn’t! Um…”

Leon’s face went troubled and he fell silent. That happens often lately as well… What’s he thinking about, with a face like that? I really should take him to the clinic…

“That’s it! Don’t you think they’ve smelled a bit lately? So I’ll wash the bedding, and you help me hang it out.”

The subject changed rather suddenly. What became of the insects? Well. Children do say things out of nowhere. Leon has been so oddly settled lately that seeing him like this is a comfort, if anything.

“Then call me when you’ve finished washing. I’ll come and help.”

“Okay! Thanks, Mom!”

We only washed the bedding a few weeks ago, though, and it hadn’t begun to smell. Perhaps children have sharper noses.

After that, once he had washed the bedding within an inch of its life and hung all of it out, he went upstairs with a broom. Wasn’t he sweeping upstairs yesterday as well? He never used to clean unless he was asked…

And the next day again. Today he seemed satisfied with the cleaning at last, and asked for hot water because he wanted to get himself clean. It felt like the first ordinary request in a long while. I got the water boiling right away, before he could change his mind.

“It’s hot, so be careful. Use the washtub to get the temperature right.”

“Okaaay! Thanks!”

Leon laughed like an innocent child for the first time in a while. So it was the fall down the stairs that made him strange for a while after all. Well, whatever it was, I am glad he is back to himself.

I was settling into that relief when Leon came straight back, and asked for more boiling water.

“Mom, could I have one more pot of hot water…?”

Cut the first lot with cold and there would be far more than enough to wipe himself down with a cloth. It made no sense to me, but I made him another pot and handed it over.

“What are you doing with that much hot water?”

“Soaking in it!”

Leon said it beaming and went off to the courtyard. Soaking in it? Puzzled, I went out after him as soon as the work gave me a pause.

And there was Leon, sitting in the washtub of hot water, naked, curled up into as small a shape as he could manage. Well… what is Leon doing, exactly?

“Leon, what is that you’re doing?”

“It’s a bath.”

A bath? Whatever is that? I have never heard of such a thing in my life. This sort of thing happens now and then lately… Where does Leon get these ideas?

“What’s a bath?”

“A bath is when you soak in a lot of hot water with no clothes on.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Why… because it feels good?”

“Does it?”

“Well, really it feels good when you soak in a big one with plenty of hot water in it… but this is better than nothing.”

He talks as though he has soaked in a big one with plenty of hot water. And the expression on his face is a grown man’s. An old man’s, even. My child is only eight years old…

“Oh, do you want to get in too, Mom?”

“No, thank you.”

I have no wish to do anything so ridiculous, and it looks neither enjoyable nor pleasant.

“Well, the tub is too small for you, Mom. Shall we buy a bigger one?”

The size of the tub is not the issue! Since he went strange Leon has been so grown up, and at the same time he is further off the mark than he ever was.

“Wiping myself down with a cloth is quite enough for Mom.”

I said it, and left Leon sitting there in the washtub with his face going soft and satisfied, and went back to the kitchen. For now, let’s say I didn’t see any of that. That’ll be best.

Then the winter ended and spring came on, and Leon is as odd as ever. If anything he is getting worse rather than better…

Jean must think the same. Somehow I have never managed to raise it with him, but surely it’s time. Marie and Leon are both out at the moment… I can’t go on carrying it by myself.

I stopped in the middle of the evening prep and turned to face him.

“Jean, about Leon… you’ve noticed it too, haven’t you?”

At that, Jean glanced over at me, then went back to the prep as he spoke.

“I’ve noticed. Since he hit his head, Leon’s gone serious and settled, like a different person.”

“So you have. It was after he struck his head. I keep wondering whether that injury is still doing him harm.”

“Hmm. Did it, though?”

Jean answered as if it hardly signified, and went on working.

“This is our son! Take it seriously!”

“Sorry, sorry. But Leon has changed, and it isn’t harm. If anything he’s settled down and got clever and grown up, hasn’t he?”

“That’s true, but… he says and does more and more things that are outside anything ordinary. And there are times when Leon doesn’t feel like Leon to me.”

The look that crosses his face when he isn’t thinking about it is strangely lonely—the look of a man who has given something up. It isn’t a face a child makes. And he learned a noble’s bearing and a noble’s formal speech out of nowhere, and built his own connections, and went into the central district, and in the end brought a princess home. None of that is anything like the Leon I know.

“I feel that sometimes too. But Leon is Leon. I can see he loves this family, and he protects Marie the way a brother should. He’s a bit off the mark here and there, but he never does anything that troubles anybody.”

“I know, but…”

“Taking the Leon he is now, all of him—that’s what a parent’s for. Isn’t it?”

That brought me up short. So somewhere inside me I have been refusing the Leon he is now. Setting conditions on loving my own child.

“I’ve failed as a mother…”

“You haven’t. You just worry about him too much, that’s all. There’s no parent alive who doesn’t worry about their child. But believing in them matters too, doesn’t it.”

Jean, you good man. I chose well when I married him.

“Jean, I’m glad I married you.”

At that, Jean gave me a gentle smile and said,

“And I’m glad I married you, Loana. You hold this family so dear.”

What a good man he is. I threw my arms around him for a moment, and then went back to the prep. I’ve got to work, for this family’s sake.

“Jean, let’s put our backs into it today as well!”

“That we will. Let’s get to it.”

Epilogue

The winter ended. About the time the warmth of spring became something you could feel, Anne turned up at the restaurant without warning.

“Anne! What brings you here?”

“I have brought a letter for Master Leon, from the master.”

“From Lord Richard? What would it be about?”

“I do not know myself, but he said he would like you to read it soon.”

“Understood. Thank you for coming all this way. I’ll read it at once.”

“Yes, if you would. Then I shall take my leave.”

And she made to go straight back.

“Anne, won’t you have some lunch? It’s just the right hour for it…”

“Thank you. But I am working at present, so I must go back immediately. I am sorry.”

“No, if that’s how it is, there’s nothing for it. Thank you for bringing the letter.”

“Then I shall excuse myself.”

Anne said it, smiled gently at me, and was gone. Unhurried in manner and very fast in fact. That is a ducal house’s maid for you. More to the point, what is Lord Richard writing to me about? He wanted it read soon, so I had better read it now.

I told Mom and Dad where I was going, went through to the living room, and opened it.

The letter began with what in Japan would be seasonal greetings and ran on through a good deal of ornamented phrasing, but the content came to two things. One was an invitation: they are going to the ducal domain around autumn, and would I come with them. The other was that I should come to the ducal house sometime soon.

Why would I be going to the ducal domain with them? Where is the ducal domain, come to that? I have never seen a map of this world or even of this country, so I have no sense of where anything is in relation to anything else.

Still, an invitation from a ducal house is very nearly an order. I could hardly refuse it, and they’ve done a great deal for me, so I’d rather answer it well if I can. And I’d wanted to go outside the royal capital. The only places I’ve been in this world are the central district and the western outskirts. It might be genuinely enjoyable.

As for the other one, coming to the ducal house soon, what is that about? Something to do with the trip to the domain? Well, that I can find out by going. Sooner is better, so perhaps tomorrow.

I went through to the kitchen and asked Mom.

“Mom, would it be all right if I went to the ducal house tomorrow? The letter says they’d like me to come as soon as I can.”

“Yes, we’ll manage here, so off you go. Mind your manners.”

“I will!”

While Mom and I were talking, Dad had the look of a man turning something over.

“What is it, Dad? Is something worrying you?”

I asked it, and he shook his head slowly as he answered.

“It isn’t that. Not a worry. Only, you’ll be away from home more and more from now on, and once you’re at the Academy you’ll have left home altogether, won’t you. So I thought we might do better to take somebody on.”

“That’s true, isn’t it. It would be hard on Marie by herself, so perhaps we ought to take one person on.”

“That’s true… I’m sorry.”

An ordinary child would help with his parents’ work and then take it over, so this problem would never have come up. I was thinking that and sinking a little when both of them came at me in a rush.

“That’s not it, Leon! Nothing about this is your fault. Dad and Mom ran the place with just the two of us before. It’s only that we’ve more customers now, and taking somebody on is the ordinary thing to do.”

“Of course it isn’t. And thank you for all the help you’ve given us, sweetheart.”

Being told that does lift the weight off. Still, I’ll work properly until the new person is up to speed! Come to that, how do you even advertise for staff? A notice on a wall would be no use when so many people can’t read…

“I’ll work hard until the new person finds their feet. How do you go about hiring, though?”

“You post it at the church. You go and tell them the terms and the wages, and they write it up and pin it to the church’s board. People looking for work go there to look. And for anyone who can’t read, the church people read it out to them. It’s a great convenience, really.”

So that exists. The church really does do everything. It’s a town hall with an orphanage and a hospital attached.

“So that’s how it works. I hope somebody good comes!”

“Wouldn’t that be nice. A hard worker would be such a help.”

“Dad will go and post it soon. Leon, don’t worry about the restaurant. You do what you want to do.”

“I will! Dad, Mom, thank you.”

They are far too good to me… I am absolutely going to be a good son to them.

And the next morning. I took a shared carriage out toward House Townsend, wearing the clothes they gave me the other time. If I’m going to the ducal domain I ought to buy a few more.

I was thinking about that while the carriage rocked along, and then we reached the square where the central district begins. From here it’s on foot. I learned the way when I came before, but it is a fair distance, so I had better get walking. It would be nice if there were some way of getting about other than walking. Teleportation magic, say, or flight magic. This world has no convenient magic of that kind. And the fantasy-world staple, an item box! I would like one of those. It would be enormously useful.

I walked along thinking about that and arrived at the gate of House Townsend.

“Excuse me, I’ve come because I had a letter from Lord Richard. This is the letter.”

“I shall confirm it. Please wait a moment.”

The gatekeeper took the letter and went into what looked like a gatehouse. After a while he came back.

“It is confirmed, so please come in. Someone is being called to collect you, so if you would wait a little longer.”

“Yes. Thank you very much.”

At his prompting I went inside the grounds, and after a short wait Anne came to fetch me. Beside her was a man who looked to be in his late teens, in a servant’s uniform. I don’t remember seeing him before, so perhaps he’s new.

“Master Leon, thank you for coming all this way. This is Roger, one of the servants. For as long as you are at this house, Roger will look after you.”

“My name is Roger. I hope to serve you well.”

“Thank you. I hope you’ll be good to me too, sir.”

Roger gave his greeting without a flicker of expression, and without smiling. That felt rather unpleasant. Does he dislike being made to wait on a commoner? I must have been looking at him with something showing on my face, because Anne gave a small rueful smile and explained.

“Roger is extremely capable, but he is far too serious, and I apologize for his want of warmth. He is like this with everybody. It does not mean he objects to waiting on Master Leon.”

“I see…”

I’d rather have had somebody friendly I could get on with! And his expression hasn’t moved at all, and he can hear every word of this. He looks difficult. This doesn’t bode well.

“Then I shall leave you here. Roger, take care of Master Leon.”

“Certainly. Master Leon, I will show you to your room.”

Anne handed me over to Roger and went off somewhere else. Being alone with Roger is hard going, Anne, come baaack. Roger said he would show me the way and then walked without one further word. Do you have any intention of getting along with me?!

We passed some very uncomfortable minutes like that, and the room he showed me to was the same guest room as before.

“Master Leon. This evening, after dinner, Lord Richard is expected to have something to discuss with you. Until then you may do as you please. However, you will be bathed and changed before dinner, so please plan accordingly.”

“Understood, sir. What should I do about lunch?”

“Lunch will be brought to this room. And I am a servant of this house while Master Leon is a guest, so there is no call to speak to me that way. No formal speech, and no ‘sir’. Roger will do.”

“But you’re older than me, and I’m a commoner.”

“No. That is not relevant. No formal speech, and no ‘sir’, please.”

Ngh… A pair of eyes that won’t take no for an answer is fixed on me, out of a face that had no expression on it a minute ago. Speaking down to somebody older than me is something I’ve never got used to. Then again it may well be necessary from here on, and getting used to it in this house might not be the worst idea.

“All right. Roger, then.”

“Yes. I look forward to working with you.”

“Same here.”

“Master Leon, there is a stretch of time after lunch before dinner. Will you be going out anywhere? If you are, I shall have a carriage prepared. If you would rather rest in your room, I shall arrange tea and something light.”

What shall I do… Sitting in this room with Roger the whole time would be uncomfortable, so perhaps I’ll go out. I did want to go to the bank.

“Then, could I go to the bank?”

“Certainly. I shall have a carriage ready after lunch.”

“Thanks.”

So I ate a still slightly uncomfortable lunch with Roger waiting on me, sat a while to let it settle, and got into the carriage for the bank. Roger was apparently coming along.

My purse had been getting light, which was why I wanted the bank, and I drew out another ten silver coins in case I needed them. That leaves the account at twenty-four platinum coins and three gold, which is about twenty-four million three hundred thousand yen. My purse holds ten silver and eight copper, a hundred and eight thousand. That should last a while. I do have a fair amount of money, but I have no idea what is going to cost what from here, so I want to keep as much of it as I can.

After the bank I had nothing else to do, so I went straight back to the mansion. There were preparations to make for dinner.

“Master Leon, we begin with your bath.”

That was the first thing Roger said when we got back. The man thinks about nothing but efficiency. Would a little small talk kill you? I went along to the bathroom and found a bath waiting at exactly the right temperature. Roger must have arranged it. Perhaps he really is good at the job.

So I bathed with Roger’s help and changed into the lavish clothes that had been laid out.

“Master Leon, I shall set your hair. Please sit here.”

“Sure. Roger, you’re really good at this.”

I want to get on better terms with Roger, since I expect to be dealing with him a great deal from now on, so I decided to start with praise.

“It is my work. Naturally.”

He said it as flatly as ever, and I am fairly sure his mouth softened. The first thing that has crossed that face all day! Straightforward praise, then. That is the way in with him.

“That is done. Let us go to the dining room.”

So I went to the dining room. Lord Richard, his wife Lady Catherine and Lord Frederick were there, the three of them. Lord Julien, Lord Frederick’s elder brother, seemed to be absent.

Lord Frederick ought to be at the knights’ dormitory, and here he is at the ducal house again. Does this concern him as well?

“Thank you for the invitation this evening.”

“It is I who should apologize for summoning you. Let us enjoy dinner first.”

After that the time passed easily, with the sort of conversation that goes nowhere in particular. And as dinner was drawing toward its end, Lord Richard began, without ceremony, on the matter itself.

“What I called you here for, Leon, is what the letter said: I wanted to talk about the journey to the ducal domain. My eldest son, Christophe, has succeeded to the dukedom, and his own eldest, Lucien, is your age. The boy is moving to the house in the royal capital shortly, to be settled before the Royal Academy. So we go to collect Lucien, and I would like you to come with us, meet Christophe, and see the domain. I have already told him about you by letter, so there is nothing to worry about.”

“Yes. Going to the ducal domain is no difficulty at all. I have been wanting to see somewhere other than the royal capital.”

Well, an invitation like that can hardly be refused. I hope Lord Christophe and his family are good people. Given the rest of this house, perhaps I needn’t worry.

“I am glad to hear it. I shall give you the details of the schedule later.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“There is one more thing. Leon, you have no clothes of the kind a noble wears, have you? A tailor is coming tomorrow, so you should take the opportunity to have some made.”

That’s very kind, but what will it cost? Clothes from a tailor who calls at a ducal house sound ferociously expensive. Made to measure, presumably? I’d be perfectly happy with something secondhand…

“That is very kind of you, but if it is too expensive I won’t be able to pay for it…”

“Ah, you need not worry about the money. The ducal house will pay for all of it, so put it out of your mind.”

What?! Having somebody else pay for something that expensive is more frightening than the price on its own.

“I couldn’t. It’s expensive, so I’ll pay for it myself. I do have a little money.”

“No, no. Think nothing of it.”

Being told that doesn’t stop me thinking about it! Then can I do something in return? What have I got to give… I can make magic tools, but I have no materials. Healing magic, perhaps? If somebody were injured or ill, that might do as thanks.

“Then please let me do something in return. I could use healing magic, and if there were materials I could make a magic tool.”

“Wait a moment. You can make magic tools, Leon?! I had assumed Master Marcel was making them…”

Ah! Was that a secret? Marcel has gone to the trouble of keeping me out of it and I have just said it out loud. I clapped a hand over my mouth, too late. Though when I think about it, they already know I have every attribute, so there may be no need to hide it. Marcel, I am sorry! I apologized to him inwardly, and decided to explain about the magic tools.

“I’ve been allowed to make magic tools in Marcel’s workshop. Um, Marcel has done nothing wrong, so please make sure he isn’t charged with anything…?”

“Ah, you need not fear that. But this is a surprise. Then the magic tools registered recently are all things you made?”

“Y-yes. But I can’t register them myself, so he registered them under his name.”

“I see… I had wondered how he could be inventing so much, and from Master Marcel’s name I thought you might be involved, so I put in a word to have them registered smoothly. It seems I was not wrong. Although I had assumed Master Marcel was doing the making and you were advising. That you made them yourself… They are all new techniques, and it is being said that magic tool research has advanced all at once. They are to be made public and put on sale.”

Now that I think of it, Marcel did ask whether I had connections in the upper reaches of the royal palace… So it was Lord Richard. It seems this has become a rather bigger matter than I had understood.

I may be further outside the normal than I think I am… That’s a little depressing. I know about far more convenient machines, so whatever magic tool I come up with never strikes me as much of an achievement. I should be careful.

“Forgive me, I was surprised and we have gone off the subject. Leon, from here on you had better stop developing magic tools for the time being. If you do think of something, I shall arrange the magic stone and magic iron for your own personal use. But hold off registering anything until you have graduated from the Royal Academy.”

“Yes. Marcel said the same, so I was already thinking of stopping for now.”

“Then that is settled. Now, we were speaking of your doing something in return.”

“Yes. But if magic tools are out, all I can really do is use healing magic…”

Although I should be able to cure illness as well, so perhaps that could serve. Is there anybody with a cold about the place?

“I haven’t tested healing magic much, so I don’t know how far it will go, but I was able to cure a cold the other day, so there’s a chance I can cure illness too.”

“What?! Is that true?! Then there is something I would very much like to ask of you… Alban. Would you heal Alban for us?”

By Lord Richard’s account, Alban the butler has been unwell for about six weeks and has been growing steadily weaker. Alban’s son and the other servants are somehow covering his work between them. The old butler had handed none of it over yet, so it has been hard going.

“Alban’s family have served this house as butlers for generations. We think of Alban and his people as family… It does not matter if it fails. Will you look at him?”

“Yes. I don’t know whether I can help, but I’ll do everything I can.”

“Leon. Thank you…”

Lord Richard said it and bowed his head to me. With a man like that bending his head to me, failing is not something I am allowed to do… I felt the whole weight of it settle, and my hand closed into a fist.

Afterward Lord Richard said tomorrow would do, but I thought sooner was better and had them take me to Alban. Lord Richard and Lord Frederick came as well. Alban normally lives in the servants’ quarters, but he has been moved to a guest room to make him easier to care for.

We walked a short way with Roger leading, and reached a guest room. Alban was in here. Roger knocked at the door and called through it.

“Lord Richard, Lord Frederick and Master Leon are here.”

At which there was a short flurry of movement inside, and the door opened. The room reeked of medicinal herbs; they must be using a great many of them. Treatment for illness in this world really has not developed at all.

“Thank you for waiting.”

The one who opened the door seemed to be a servant of the house. Perhaps they take Alban’s care in shifts. When we came in, Alban was in the bed and struggling to sit himself up. He has grown a great deal thinner and more worn than when I last saw him.

“Master, Lord Frederick, Master Leon. Forgive me for letting you see me in such a state. Cough. Cough, cough.”

Alban got himself upright somehow and began to speak, and the effort of it set him coughing.

“Alban. I think nothing of the kind. And you need not force yourself upright. Lie down.”

“Quite so. Better not to put any strain on your body.”

With both of them pressing him, Alban lay back down. It must be very hard on him.

“Leon. How does it look? Can you cure it?”

Lord Frederick asked it quietly. I answered him just as quietly.

“I don’t know yet. But I’ll try.”

I said it and went to Alban’s side.

“Alban, I am going to use healing magic now. I can’t promise it will cure you, but may I try?”

“Yes. If there is even a little chance of a cure, please.”

“Understood. Make yourself comfortable.”

I put a hand to Alban’s forehead and it was very hot. A high fever. And the cough. He was clearly in distress a moment ago and his breathing itself looks like work now. I have no medical knowledge so I can’t say for certain, but perhaps a virus has inflamed his lungs. Working from that guess, I covered Alban’s whole body in healing-attribute mana.

The harmful things are centered on the lungs, as I thought. Marie’s case doesn’t begin to compare with this. If I don’t hold the image properly, the mana may not be enough. An image of destroying the viruses and bacteria doing him harm should serve. My knowledge is thin so I can’t picture it in any real detail, and that on its own is going to cost a great deal of mana. But my capacity has grown, so here’s hoping it’s enough. Lately it has climbed to more than a hundred times what it was when I first started using magic. This should be possible.

I took a deep breath, settled myself, and braced. Then, holding that image in my head, I used healing magic on the harmful things in Alban’s body.

Ugh… it is taking an enormous amount of mana… Not yet, though. The viruses aren’t gone. Strangely, when I use healing magic I can tell, more or less, when a thing is fully healed. Perhaps that is part of my odd ability too. I kept pouring mana in while I thought about it.

Not yet… A little more… Done!

I was breathing like someone who had run a long way. There was almost no mana left in me and I could only just stand. That had taken very nearly all of it. Curing sickness costs far more than I had understood.

I got my breathing under control and spoke to Alban.

“Alban, it’s finished. How do you feel?”

At which Alban sat straight up, easily. Then he got to his feet and began walking about the room.

“This is extraordinary! The breathing that was such a struggle is no trouble at all, and my body feels light. Master Leon, thank you, truly. I will not forget this kindness as long as I live. If ever you need anything, I will help you without fail.”

Alban said it with tears standing in his eyes, and made me a deep bow.

“I’m glad you’re better. It isn’t anything so grand as all that.”

His color is a great deal better and he should be all right now. All that’s left is some recovery work to make up for the weeks in bed. I’m genuinely glad I could cure him.

Thoroughly relieved, I turned to leave the room and found Lord Richard and Lord Frederick standing there, stunned. What? Aren’t you pleased?

“Is something the matter, both of you?”

“Ah, no. It is only that he really is cured, and I am astonished…”

“Leon. You really are something else…”

The two of them were still dazed. I brought them back down to earth somehow and we left the room. Roger’s blank face had cracked too and he looked thoroughly startled, so I may have done something rather far outside the normal… Well. A bit late for that now.

We came out of Alban’s room and I was about to go back to my own when Lord Richard stopped me. His face was very serious indeed.

“Leon, I need to speak with you. Would you come to my room?”

“To speak? Of course, though…”

“Then let us go.”

He said it and set off for his room at a fast walk, so I followed him. When we arrived he had the room cleared, and it was the three of us: me, Lord Frederick and Lord Richard. Both of them look grave. What on earth is this?

“Leon, that you can cure illness must be kept absolutely secret. If it were known, you would be in very great danger. I know that, and even so there is one person I must ask you to heal. I will pay whatever you ask. Will you cure them…?”

So it is better kept secret. And knowing that, he still has somebody he wants healed. His face was deadly serious. If it is something I can do, I want to help.

“Of course, if it is something I am able to do…”

“Truly?! Thank you… Could you see them at once?”

At once? Is it as bad as that?

“I have almost no mana left just now, so I could see them tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, or the day after. But is the illness really so far along?”

“Yes. I am told the condition is very grave…”

“I don’t know whether I should ask this, but… who is it?”

I asked, and Lord Richard’s face took on a look of real pain before he answered.

“It is Princess Martine. Her Highness has been ill since around winter, and they say she has not long…”

What? Princess Martine…? My hands went cold. Then my feet, and then the feeling went out of the whole of me. She was so full of life when I met her. She walked to the forest and back rather than take the carriage. She is still a child.

That I might never see that smile again… Can I cure her? And if I fail, then Princess Martine will…

I had got that far, and my thinking was about to go down into the dark, when Lord Richard spoke.

“There is nobody left who can save her but you. I am asking you.”

That’s right. What is the use of my giving up? If I don’t save her, nobody else is going to. I steadied myself and lifted my head.

“I will save Her Highness. Whatever it takes.”

“Truly. Truly, thank you… Then I shall go to His Majesty first thing tomorrow morning and tell him. Leon, will you rest and recover your mana?”

“Yes. I will.”

At which Lord Frederick, silent until then, spoke.

“Leon. Her Highness is in your hands.”

“Yes. Everything I have.”

So I went back to my room. I lay down on the bed to get my mana back, and lay there a long time without sleeping.

Chapter 17 – A Fire-Magic Tool

Quiet, ordinary days went by for a good while after that. I practiced magic and trained on every one of them, and I think I have got considerably stronger. My mana capacity has climbed a long way too. I don’t intend to get comfortable about it, though; I mean to keep pushing. I have never fought a monster or a knight, so I have no idea how strong I actually need to be. Well. It’s hard to see how being stronger could hurt.

I was living days like that, and the first real signs of winter were coming in, when Marie caught a cold. There are no thermometers in this world so I can’t be sure, but from the feel of her forehead the fever was high. Her breathing was rough and it clearly hurt.

The fever came on last night, and by this morning it hadn’t gone down at all. If anything it felt higher. I was badly rattled. Medicine in this world is a long way behind, and even an ordinary cold might turn into something that kills her. And if it wasn’t an ordinary cold but something worse, it might not be curable at all. We had been giving her medicine bought from the apothecary and it wasn’t doing anything I could see.

“Marie, are you all right?”

“…Big Brother. I’m all right.”

She answered with no strength in her voice and her face pulled tight. She ate nothing last night and nothing this morning either. What do I do. Is there anything I can do. And I know nothing about medicine… Ah, everything I learned in Japan is useless here! Somebody should have told the version of me back there to stop messing about and study something. Shouting it at him now doesn’t put it in my head.

What I can do… Wait. Healing magic! I have only ever used it on injuries, but I have wondered whether it might work on illness. I decided to test it on myself first and went through to the living room.

Right. When you cast Heal you picture the healing clearly and pour mana into the injured place. Except that with an illness I don’t know where to pour it.

Which means what, pour it through the whole body? I covered myself in healing-attribute mana to see. And suddenly I could feel the state of my own body as clearly as if I were holding it in my hands. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with me, but if I do this to Marie, wouldn’t I be able to find what is wrong? And then heal that with healing magic. That might actually work!

Now that I had a way to help Marie I hurried up to the bedroom. She seemed to be asleep, though not comfortably. I stood beside her and covered her in healing-attribute mana, and I could feel it: in her nose, in her throat, somewhere down the windpipe, things that were doing her harm. Viruses, presumably. So I poured mana into those harmful things the way I would cast Heal, and they thinned away and thinned away until there was nothing left of them at all.

I stopped the flow of mana and looked at her. The strain had gone out of her face and the fever seemed to have broken. Healing magic is extraordinary. The mana cost is brutal, but it can cure sickness! My capacity has grown a long way, and that took very nearly all of it, which means this is probably beyond anyone else alive.

I looked down at Marie’s quiet sleeping face and thought, with everything in me, that I was glad to have this strange ability.

She slept about three hours after that, and the Marie who woke up was the usual one, full of energy from end to end.

“Morning! I’m better!”

She came down the stairs announcing it, at speed.

“Marie, are you feeling all right now?”

“Nothing hurts any more?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Come here a moment.”

Mom said it and put a hand on Marie’s forehead.

“No fever now. Oh, thank goodness. Are you hungry?”

“I’m starviiing!”

“There now. Lunch is just coming.”

“Really?! Yaaay!”

Watching all that, I felt the relief come up so hard my eyes went hot. Marie must have spotted it, because she came straight over.

“Big Brother, what’s wrong? Are you sad?”

“No. I got something in my eye. Thank you for worrying about me.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“It’s fine now. Shall we go and eat?”

“Uh-huh!”

Walking through to the living room with her, I was already thinking about how to keep Marie from catching cold again. She caught this one because the season turned and it got cold… Winter here doesn’t go as deep as a Japanese midwinter, but cold is cold. The nights and the early mornings especially. And apparently it snows occasionally.

Wealthy houses may have fireplaces. Commoner houses have nothing of the kind: you put on every layer you own and take your warmth from the kitchen. At night you pile on cloth and everyone sleeps in a heap to get through it. It would be strange if a person didn’t catch cold.

I was told a fire-magic tool is impossible because it melts the magic iron. But is there really no way to make one? I want a stove badly enough that it hurts. Magic practice and training have eaten my time and I haven’t been to Marcel’s in a while. Perhaps it’s time I went.

So a few days later, today, I am on my way to Marcel’s house. I may not be able to buy a magic tool myself, but nothing starts until the thing exists.

I can do a passable stove with fire magic and wind magic on my own, but it eats mana, and keeping it going takes concentration and wears me out.

“Marcel, it’s been a long time!”

I opened his door and called into the house. A voice came back from the depths of it telling me to come in, so I went straight through to the workshop.

“Good afternoon, Marcel.”

“Been a while, Leon.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to come.”

“No matter. So what brings you today?”

“I came because I want to work out a fire-magic tool. Winter’s coming, and it’s cold enough that I want one badly.”

At which Marcel turned to me with a slightly rueful look on his face.

“Everyone says exactly that when winter comes on, and starts researching fire-magic tools. But a fire-magic tool won’t work, Leon. The magic iron can’t take the heat.”

“So I’ve heard. Which is why I’d like to put some proper thought into it. I might come up with something.”

I sat down, set a magic stone and a piece of magic iron in front of me, and started thinking about what would make a fire-magic tool work. A magic tool works by fitting the magic stone into the magic iron, which makes the magic built into the stone manifest. And it manifests from the stone. Water comes out of the stone in a tap. The stone glows in a light orb. Wind comes off the stone in a blower. With fire magic, fire comes out of the stone, and the magic iron can’t survive it. That’s the failure.

How do I get around that… Wrap the magic iron near the stone in some kind of insulation? Except what would insulation even be in this world? Hmm. Earth or stone are all I can think of. And if I packed earth around the magic stone, how would I hold it there? Earth is also, frankly, dirty. Magic tools are things nobles use, so it would never be accepted. Which leaves stone, and working stone is far too much trouble, and stone is heavy.

So insulation is out… Or rather, more than that: the magic stone has to be in contact with the magic iron, so however much insulation you pack around it, the heat comes straight through at the point where they touch. No. Insulation is dead.

Some other approach, then. What is there? It would be simple if the fire manifested somewhere away from the magic iron.

Hmm…? Hold on. The ice maker I built. Didn’t that make wind magic manifest away from the stone? It did! So couldn’t fire do exactly the same thing?!

How did I never notice? I had it fixed in my head that magic from a magic stone comes directly off the stone. When I built the ice maker my whole attention was on getting ice out of it and I never saw what I was doing. I want to try it right now!

“Marcel! Magic from a magic stone manifests directly from the stone, doesn’t it?”

“Obviously it does. It’s a magic stone.”

“But when I built the ice maker, I had wind magic manifest away from the stone.”

“You did use wind magic. Wasn’t it blowing out of the stone?”

“No! It came from the middle of the box and from the outside of it. Away from the stone.”

“Surely not… Can that be done? And yet, now that you say it. How has nobody noticed…”

“It’s a fixed idea. The things you’ve assumed are the things you can’t see. So, may I try it with fire?”

“Aye. Go on.”

I started by reshaping the magic iron. I wanted a stove, and if I made the body of the stove out of magic iron the body might melt, so I made the magic iron a single thin plate with a socket for a stone in the middle. Then I set into the stone a small Fireball, to manifest about thirty centimeters above the plate.

I fitted the stone into the iron, and a Fireball appeared, properly, thirty centimeters up in the air. Success! I had been thinking that if the magic iron melted anyway I could put stone or something in between, but heat goes upward, so it seems to be fine as it is.

“Marcel, it works! Now if we put an ordinary iron grille or something round the outside, it’s finished!”

“What?! It genuinely works… Leon. To have the thing we all gave up on made in front of me, and made this easily… Well. It’s you. I shall have to accept that…”

What is that supposed to mean?! I’m not that far outside the normal! Marcel had started off astonished and was working his way steadily toward exasperated.

“I’m not that far outside the normal! But this is going to make life much easier.”

“That it is… though it may be better not to file this one with the royal palace.”

“Why not?”

“The ice maker drew a good deal of attention as it was. Add a fire-magic tool on top of it and it will draw far more still, and somebody will certainly go digging. Likely enough somebody will get as far as you. You would rather not stand out, would you?”

“That’s true… but would it really attract that much attention?”

“Of course it would! In the several decades since anyone started making magic tools, only four have ever reached the market. Four. Register several inside a single year and of course you will stand out!”

Ah… Put that way, perhaps not registering is wiser. Except, hold on. In the ice maker I already made wind manifest away from the stone, didn’t I?

“Marcel, in the ice maker I already made wind manifest away from the stone. Isn’t it only a matter of time before somebody notices that?”

“Ngh… Aye, that’s so. The ice maker I built for the registration has already been handed over, so somebody noticing is only a matter of time.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better to register the fire-magic tool as well, before somebody else gets there first?”

Marcel sat with that for a while and then gave me a reluctant nod. He had worked it out, I think: once anyone realizes magic can manifest away from the stone, it comes to the same thing anyway.

“Very well. We register this time. But this is the last! From here on, once you have a position of your own, you file them yourself.”

“Yes, I will! And, um, could I keep one of these for myself? It occurred to me that I can’t buy magic tools because I’m not a noble, but you can, can’t you?”

I had taken Marcel at his word when he said he couldn’t sell me anything, because every magic tool goes to the royal magic tool workshop. But there are magic tools in Marcel’s own workshop.

Which made me think that even if I couldn’t buy from Marcel’s workshop, one could presumably be bought at the royal workshop or at a magic tool shop. A commoner couldn’t buy it. A noble could.

“Well. Aye, that’s so. I can’t sell you anything out of my workshop, true enough. But there’s nothing to stop me selling you something I bought at a magic tool shop. That way there’s no difficulty.”

“I knew it! Then could you buy me just the stove?”

“Aye, that’ll do.”

Yes! I’m getting a stove! Marie won’t catch cold, and none of us will be shivering under a pile of heavy cloth!

After that I made the magic-tool parts of a cooking range and a water heater as well, and drew rough plans for the parts that would be ordinary iron. If we were going to register anyway, I thought, I might as well build every fire-magic tool I could think of. Marcel will take the tools and the plans to a workshop he favors, and they will finish them there. Then he will take the finished articles to the royal palace to register. He promised to secure my stove for me too.

“Once all of this is registered I’ll put the money into your account while I’m about it. I’ll take the cost of the magic tool out of it.”

“Yes! Thank you very much! Ah, that reminds me. When I looked at my account the other day there was more in it than the figure you gave me. Why was that?”

“That was a payment for having found a new use for water magic. That’s the difference.”

“They pay for that too? Thank you for passing it all on!”

“I wasn’t the one who discovered it. It’s yours by right.”

He could perfectly well have kept quiet and taken it, and instead he handed it over. Marcel really is a good man. I must have been grinning at him like an idiot, because he apparently found it embarrassing and abruptly started throwing me out.

“Leon, isn’t it about time? You had best be getting home.”

He was flapping a hand at me, go on, off with you.

“Yes, yes. I’ll head home, then.”

I said it with a wry smile of my own, left Marcel’s house, and started walking slowly back toward ours.

A few days after that I went to Marcel’s house and found the stove, the cooking range and the water heater all finished.

“They’re done already!”

“Aye, and registered. There was a nasty moment when they doubted I was really the one developing them, and then an instruction came down from above and it went through at once. Leon. Do you have connections in the upper reaches of the royal palace?”

Marcel fixed me with a long, suspicious stare. I don’t have an acquaintance in the royal palace, and in any case the only nobles I know are the Townsends.

Ah. Although, wasn’t Lord Richard working at the royal palace? Well, I don’t really understand it, and if it got registered, what’s the harm.

“I’m not really sure, but perhaps House Townsend? Anyway, it got registered, so surely that’s all right.”

“Wait! You have connections not only with Lord Frederick but with the whole of House Townsend?!”

“Hm? Didn’t I tell you? I was invited to the mansion the other day.”

“Invited to the mansion?! That is…”

Marcel muttered away under his breath after that. Something about how, as abnormal as I am, of course they would take an interest. Something about whether I was useful material to the Townsend camp. Eventually he seemed to make his peace with it.

“Never mind. Where you’re concerned, the less deeply I think, the better. In any case it’s registered, so I’ve put fourteen platinum coins and five gold into your account, with the price of the stove taken out.”

Something about that does not sit right with me, but arguing that I am not abnormal would carry no weight coming from me, so I let it go.

“Thank you. I’ll check it later.”

“Do that. And how do you mean to get the stove home? Shall I lend you my handcart?”

“I’d be very grateful if you would! I’ll bring it back tomorrow.”

So I borrowed Marcel’s handcart, loaded the stove onto it, threw a cloth over the top and went home.

“I’m home! Dad, could you give me a hand?”

“Welcome back. What’s the matter, Leon?”

“This is heavy. Could you help me carry it inside?”

“Of course, but what is it?”

“It’s a magic tool. This one we can actually use at home.”

The words magic tool stopped him where he stood. As far as he knows, magic tools are things nobles have. I would like a great many more of them in this house, but the cooking range can’t be installed without rebuilding the kitchen, so that’s out. Nobody will do the installation work for a commoner’s house.

Flush toilets and running water are out too, because in the central district they work off a sewer system and we have none. The bath is the same, and on top of that there’s nowhere to put a tub.

Marcel’s workshop has magic tools installed, but the state apparently ran a sewer line to it by special exception. I am extremely envious.

I did once think I could make a purification tool by setting Purification into a magic stone, and when I asked Marcel it turned out not to be feasible. Purification eats a great deal of mana, and putting it into a magic tool doesn’t make it cheaper. Cleaning a toilet once would drain a fully charged magic stone and want it charged twice more on top. That’s no use to anyone.

So magic tools in my house are more or less impossible across the board. A stove, though, works anywhere you put it and needs no building work, which means it works in my house! And Mom and Dad can charge it. I would love to fill the place with magic tools and make it convenient, but that is asking for too much. Being able to use a stove at all is plenty to be grateful for. Though I would still rather like to be a noble. It looks more convenient.

I had got that far in my head when Dad finally came out of his astonishment.

“A-a magic tool, that’s the thing nobles use, isn’t it? Why do you have one, Leon?”

He asked it quietly. So it is better if people don’t know we have a magic tool. It could be stolen, too. We’ll use it in the living room and the bedroom.

“I’m friendly with Marcel, so I was able to get hold of one. Marcel makes magic tools, remember?”

That seemed to satisfy him. Between the nobles I know and everything else, he is gradually getting used to it. Mom and Dad both have a way of deciding not to think too hard about me.

“Well then, let’s get it inside quickly.”

“Yeah!”

Dad and I decided to put it in the bedroom for now. Mom was astonished by the magic tool as well, and seemed to settle once Dad told her Leon had brought it home. I am not sure whether to be pleased that this now settles matters. Well, never mind. Marie didn’t seem to have much idea what a magic tool was, but she was delighted about it being warm.

That night, in the bedroom, I taught Mom and Dad how to use it, and the image to hold while charging it.

“The image when you put the mana in is a small Fireball, made about thirty centimeters above the magic stone.”

They’re both fire attribute, so I expected them to manage it right away. But their mana capacity is low, and nothing came.

“Leon, Mom and Dad haven’t much mana, you know? Neither of them can make a Fireball at all.”

Ah… That does make it harder. But if I taught them the idea of oxygen and drilled the imagery, mightn’t they get there? That image cut my own mana cost enormously.

So I explained oxygen to Mom and Dad and had them practice sharpening the image as far as they could. I was nervous at first, expecting to be asked how on earth I knew such a thing, and when I said I had read it in a book at the noble’s mansion they accepted it instantly. That excuse is convenient. I expect I’ll be using it again.

“Does that make some sort of sense?”

“A little of it, I think. Though what does Mom do with it, sweetheart?”

“I can’t believe any of that is going to let Dad make a Fireball.”

“Let’s just try it! It’s dangerous in here, so let’s go out to the courtyard.”

So the three of us went out to the courtyard. Marie had worn herself out and fallen asleep while we were talking.

“Right, make a Fireball with that image. A little way off your palm, and picture it small.”

They both tried it, gingerly, and they both produced a small Fireball. Amazing! The image really is what matters. If this method spread, the strength of magic in this world would rise a long way. It might make our enemies stronger too, though, so I need to be careful with it.

“Leon, you’re amazing! Mom really can do it!”

“Thank you, Leon. It’ll be useful about the house, and it’s a way of defending ourselves.”

“I’m so glad it worked! I think you can charge the magic tool now, so come back and try!”

We went back to the bedroom and both of them put mana into it, and both managed without any trouble.

“Now we can sleep warm whenever we like.”

“Oh, that is a joy. Mom used to wake in the night all winter, it got so cold.”

“And it should stop us catching colds.”

I was glad they were both so pleased.

“But this is better kept from the people around us. The magic tool, and that way of using magic as well.”

Mom said it with her face gone rather serious.

“The magic especially. That could change a great deal. Leon, you mustn’t teach that to people lightly.”

They’re right, of course. If I spread it, it will be when I can admit to every attribute.

“I know. Will you two keep it secret as well?”

“As if Mom and Dad would ever say a word that put you in danger.”

“That’s right.”

“Mom, Dad. Thank you.”

I think the two of them have noticed by now that I am not the Leon I was. And they say nothing, and go on loving me exactly the same. It makes me happier than I can say. I’ll be careful not to put my family in danger. And I’ll build the strength to protect them. That was what I decided.

We ended the conversation there, turned the stove on and went to bed. The room was warm and the bedding was warm and I dropped straight into a deep sleep. Stoves really are the best…

Chapter 16 – The Monster Forest and Attack Magic

Things had been hectic for a while on account of Lady Martine’s visit, and at last ordinary life came back to us. So I decided to read the history materials Lord Frederick had lent me, and took them through to the living room.

The book was an account of the last several decades. They weight recent history heavily, then. I read on, and what I found was a rough stretch of it.

Up until a few decades ago this world was fighting a war on a very large scale. Then, around twenty years ago, the king of this Kingdom of Lathlasia annexed every nation that had designs on expanding its territory, concluded ceasefires with the rest, and brought the world to peace. For a time the mood was one of celebration. And then, almost immediately, the monster forest appeared. Now the knights stand against that instead, and hold back its advance. There is a great deal of detail in the book, but broadly, that is what it says.

What is the monster forest… For a start, there are monsters in this world? And if they are holding back its advance, that means it is spreading, doesn’t it? At what rate? And where is it, come to that?

There isn’t nearly enough here for me to work any of it out… I want to ask somebody who knows. The best-informed person I have access to would be Lord Frederick. He’s a knight, so he should have the current picture. I’ll ask him the next time I can get hold of him.

That was as far as I could take it, and there was nothing to be done about any of it now, so I shut the book on the vague uneasiness it had put in me and went to help set up for the dinner service.

Quiet days followed for a while after that. I thought up magic tools at Marcel’s, helped at home, went to the forest with Marie and Nikola and Luke, made the rounds of the food stalls, and studied the history book.

And the weather, which had been on the chilly side when I was first reincarnated here, turned hot enough that a long stretch outdoors became genuinely unpleasant.

All through those ordinary days, the monster forest stayed lodged in my head. I asked Marcel about it, and he knew nothing beyond what was in the book and had nothing current on it either. When Marcel was a student it does not seem to have been much of a problem yet.

I wanted to ask Lord Frederick, but I didn’t have the nerve to present myself at the ducal house uninvited, so all I could do was wait for him to come to us.

I spent a good many restless days like that, and at last Lord Frederick came into the restaurant.

“Welco… Lord Frederick! You’ve come at last!”

“What? Leon, what’s got into you? Did you need me for something?”

“There’s something in the history book I very much wanted to ask about, and you weren’t here, so I had no way of asking…”

“That was my fault, then. I’m sorry.”

Lord Frederick gave a wry sort of smile. Oh no… I’ve been wanting to ask about the monster forest for so long that I came out sounding as though I were blaming him. He’s under no obligation whatsoever to come and see me…

“I-I’m sorry! That came out with more force than I meant…”

“It’s quite all right. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner. You’re right that you ought to have some way of reaching me.”

And he handed me a coin, a rather large one, with something like a crest cut into it.

“What is this?”

“Proof that you are connected to the ducal house. Show it to the gatekeeper and give your name and the name of whoever gave it to you, and they will let you in. Then you can leave a message with Alban, or anyone.”

Isn’t this a pretty big deal?! Am I allowed to have it? I’m a little scared just holding it…

“May I really accept something this important?”

“You may. Only take care not to lose it. I’ll have your name and description passed to the gatekeepers, so even if somebody else picked it up, they’d be very unlikely to get any use out of it.”

“I’ll be absolutely careful not to lose it!”

If there is one thing in the world I must not lose, this is it. It goes in the back of my purse and stays on me.

“Now then. What was it you wanted to ask?”

Which was the moment I realized I hadn’t shown Lord Frederick to a table yet!

“I-I’m so sorry! Please, take a seat first! Will you be having lunch?”

“Ah, thank you. Then I’ll take lunch first.”

By the time Lord Frederick had finished eating, the other customers had gone and the lunch service was over. Mom and Dad said we could use the restaurant, so the two of us stayed there to talk.

“So. Was there something you couldn’t follow?”

“Yes. I was reading the book and the monster forest caught my attention. What is the monster forest?”

“The monster forest…”

The moment I said the words, Lord Frederick’s face went hard. Then he looked down, as though assembling his thoughts, and after a while he spoke.

“The monster forest is not an ordinary forest. It is a forest that monsters live in, and the plant life in it is nothing like an ordinary forest’s.”

“Monsters? What are monsters?”

“Yes. A monster is an animal that can use magic. A weak one even an ordinary commoner can put down; a strong one takes several knights together. They’re a considerable nuisance.”

“Where is the monster forest?”

“At the eastern edge of this country. Two weeks by carriage from here, at least. Monsters will never reach the royal capital, so there’s no cause to worry.”

Animals that can use magic. That sounds terrifying… Lord Frederick says it’s far away and we’re fine, but are we really?

“The book said the knights are holding back the monster forest. Doesn’t that mean it’s spreading?”

“Well… it does spread, yes, but the knights cut the trees back and cull the monsters along its edge at regular intervals, so it’s all right. The force spreading it and the force holding it are about even.”

He said that, and put on a smile that had a faint smell of a lie about it. It would have fooled an ordinary child. It isn’t going to fool me. It might be that the force spreading it is the stronger of the two… and if it is, then the places where people live are being swallowed a piece at a time.

I want more information. But Lord Frederick doesn’t look likely to tell me any more, and there may be restrictions on it. A general panic would be its own disaster.

Except that if villages or towns are being swallowed, how are they concealing it? Move people out first with some plausible reason, then close the area off? Well. Nothing I can settle by thinking about it now… What it does mean is that this, too, is something I have to gather information on.

I don’t know whether there’s anything I can do. But I’ve got every attribute, so raw ability is the one thing I do have. For now, then: train hard, and make that ability count for something.

“Lord Frederick, thank you for explaining. If the knights are holding it back for us, then that’s a relief.”

I said it with a nice childish smile, the reassuring kind. Better to look as though I have noticed nothing. If this got taken as Lord Frederick letting something slip, it would land on him.

Even after he had gone, I went on turning the conversation over. So there are monsters here. I had thought there was very little in this world that could threaten anyone, so I have never once practiced attack magic. From now on I ought to.

I can use every attribute, so combining them might give me some genuinely strong attack magic. I should have picked up a way of defending myself long before this. Whenever I have the time, I’ll go into the forest alone and practice.

And my mana capacity grows the more I use it. Marcel said the capacity you are born with never changes, so that appears to be mine alone. Another strange ability I have no explanation for, but since I have it I had better make it work for me. All the more so now that I know what is out there. Magic practice in the forest, then. Let’s get to it!

I had got that far in my thinking when Marie’s voice arrived in my ear.

“Big Brother!”

I was so deep in it that being called made me jump clean out of my skin.

“Big Brother, what made you jump?”

“Nothing. Your voice just surprised me, that’s all.”

“Did it?”

Marie peered up into my face, puzzled.

“Yes, I’m fine. So what did you need?”

“Big Brother, did you forget?! Dad’s got things to do today, so we’re going shopping with Mom. We said this morning!”

“S-sorry! You did, didn’t you.”

I looked around, and Mom was standing there too, with the shopping basket in her hand.

“Leon, what are you doing lost in thought with a face like that? We’re going shopping.”

“R-right! Where’s the basket I’m carrying?”

“On the table.”

I grabbed it in a hurry and followed Mom and Marie out. I pushed everything I’d been thinking about into a back corner of my head, decided to concentrate on the shopping, and fell into step beside Mom.

A few days later, in the afternoon, I went out to the forest to practice magic. Not the fringe of it where I usually go with Marie and the others, but a little deeper in, an open patch near the river. Almost nobody comes out this far.

Now, where to start… I may as well get down what I actually know about magic. I crouched, found a fallen branch, and started scratching it out in the dirt.

Attributes first. Magic divides into six of them: fire, water, wind, earth, body strengthening and healing. Officially I am healing. In fact I can use all six.

Magic makes the phenomenon you picture happen, which means it cannot really be sorted into types. It changes with the strength of the image. But the range of magic available to you is fixed by your attribute, in that a water-attribute person cannot use fire magic. And as far as I know almost everyone says the name of a spell aloud when they cast, which supplements the image. You can cast perfectly well without saying anything, though.

The power of a spell rises with the amount of mana you put into it, which is why a person with little mana can only manage weak magic. But picturing the thing in fine detail cuts the mana cost enormously, so training the imagination should let even a low-capacity person manage something reasonably strong. Since I am working from knowledge I picked up in Japan, though, I don’t think anybody but me is doing that yet.

And mana capacity is fixed at birth, with me as the sole exception: the more I use, the more I have. More is better, so I may as well keep pushing it up while I’m at it.

That is about the whole of what I know. The image is what matters. So which spell should I practice first? If I am imagining a fight with a monster, then something with real offensive power. Fire, then. An arrow of fire. A Fire Arrow. That sounds cool! It ought to have more penetration than a Fireball, and hit harder. Let’s try it once.

I faced a large rock at the water’s edge, pictured an arrow of fire flying fast, and cast. One flew dead straight at the rock. Amazing! It worked!

Except that the arrow struck the rock and vanished. I looked at the rock: not a mark on it. Not enough power? I tried again, this time picturing it moving considerably faster. And again, not a mark.

Why not? It can’t be the speed. Was the rock simply too hard…? Ah! Of course. I have been thinking of fire as something without substance, so giving it any penetration may simply be impossible.

Hmm. What do I do about that. A Fireball has burning power but it would end the same way. Come to think of it, if I can use every attribute, shouldn’t I be able to combine them? Make an arrow of stone with earth magic, wrap it in flame, and send it off. That sounds ferociously strong.

Right. Earth magic for the arrow, fire magic wrapped around it. That was the plan, and making the arrow with earth magic turned out to be quite hard. Shaping it was fine; lifting it and driving it fast ate a great deal of mana. After a good deal of trial and error, picturing it as weightless was what worked best and cost least. And drawing the arrow out of actual earth, rather than conjuring the stone out of mana, cut the cost a great deal further.

Then I wrapped the arrow I had made in fire and sent it at the rock. As fast as I could manage it. Picture a bullet out of a gun.

Whump. Ohh, that made a good loud noise. Obviously more powerful than anything I’d managed so far. I looked at the rock and the point of the arrow was buried in it. Success! Success, but do I actually need to make anything but the point? It’s mana that drives it, so it doesn’t need to be arrow-shaped at all. And does it need the fire? Hmm. Then again, if it’s wrapped in fire the enemy might catch alight, which is damage the impact alone wouldn’t do. Keep the fire for now. The arrow shape can go.

I pictured something more like a slightly pointed bullet instead, made it out of earth, wrapped it in fire and sent it off. It sank into the rock about as deep as the last one and cost a great deal less mana.

Complete success! The tip really is all you need. This is going to be an extremely serviceable spell. What do I call it? Fire Arrow won’t do, since it isn’t an arrow any more… It’s a bullet, near enough. Fire Bullet, then! Yes. That sounds cool. Not that the name matters in the least. It’s a question of how it feels.

Next. Fire Bullet is single-target, so I should work out something with area. For area, wind? A Tornado! Let’s picture a smallish one and see.

That ate a great deal of mana for very little offensive power. It is genuinely hard to picture wind cutting something. I have never seen a whirlwind slice anything in my life. So what if I put the bullets from before inside the whirlwind?

What I got was an attack that shreds everything caught in it, indiscriminately, which is horrifying. I fed a reasonably thick branch into it and what came out the other side was splinters… W-well. Power is good, I suppose.

At any rate I have something strong now. It does eat a lot of mana. I’ll think of it as my finisher, for when things get really bad. The name… Rock Tornado.

After that I went on developing and drilling attack magic. Water Jet, from water magic: only enough force to scrape a little off the rock, but the low mana cost is the appeal. Fireball, from fire: I tried raising the temperature of the flame, so that the heat itself does the damage. Wall, from earth: heap the soil up into a barrier. The sturdier you make it the more it costs, so I can’t push the strength very far, but it should be useful for defense.

I turned out a great many spells that way. That is more than enough attack magic. If anything I may have overdone it, and looking around me rather confirmed it. The rock is cracked through from being hit so many times, and the trees look like the aftermath of a storm. Is this bad? Well, I did come a fair way into the forest, and nobody comes out this far. Probably.

More to the point, I want to try the attack magic on something real. I can hardly go to the monster forest, and I have been told this forest has ordinary animals in it, bears and boars and the like, so perhaps I should bring one down. I don’t like killing, even an animal. But if I have never done it, and I hesitate in front of a monster, and I am killed for hesitating… that is the worst of all the outcomes. I ought to have the experience.

I put the animal-warding bell away in my pocket, kept the river in sight so I would know my way back, and pushed deeper into the forest. About thirty minutes of walking, and I heard something moving in the undergrowth. I looked all around me and listened hard, ready for an animal to come from any direction.

A rustle.

Behind me! I spun around, and there was a pitch-black bear already charging. Oh crap. I put Build Up into my legs and threw myself sideways as hard as I could. Branches raked my arms and my legs, and there was no time to care about that. I got up and turned to face it.

Are bears this aggressive?! And it is enormous. If I had been a moment slower noticing it, that would have been very bad. Magic alone isn’t enough; I have to train my body as well. I was thinking that when the bear came at me again.

So I aimed a Fire Bullet at its head. The Fire Bullet passed just above the head, struck a tree behind it, and blew the trunk apart.

No good, I missed! Hitting a moving target is far harder than I expected. I threw myself sideways again to get clear. Then, to be certain of hitting it this time, I put a Fire Bullet into the body. It hit. The bullet buried itself somewhere around the right shoulder, and the wound didn’t look mortal. The fire had caught and the fur was starting to burn, and that wouldn’t kill it quickly either. This is bad. I may simply have made it angry.

The bear came at me again, furious now, and I threw a Rock Tornado at it in a hurry. When the tornado died away, what lay on the ground had presumably once been a bear.

Ugh… I think I’m going to be sick…

Rock Tornado really is too much. I am not using that again except in genuine danger.

Haaah. That was far too close. Now that the danger was actually past, the relief took my legs out from under me and I sat down where I was. I think I had been overrating myself, just because I can use magic. I need to practice putting the shots where I aim them, and I need to train my own body. From now on it’s magic practice and conditioning.

I had got that far when it hit me. What time is it? For that matter, is my watch broken?! I checked it in a panic, and the watch had survived. Thank goodness… but it’s already past five!

That’s bad! I have to be home inside the hour! I closed the scratches with Heal, cleaned my clothes up with Purification, and ran the whole way home. There wasn’t much left before the dinner service by the time I got there, but I made it.

Chapter 15 – Her Highness and the Pancakes

For the days leading up to Lady Martine’s visit we threw ourselves into the preparations. The restaurant closed for a few days and Mom and Dad turned the house out from top to bottom. I told Uncle and Auntie that a noble was coming, and went out to the forest to find where the raspberries were growing. I picked some while I was there and put them by at home as a reserve, in case it rained on the day and we couldn’t get to the forest at all.

So we prepared everything we could prepare, and at last the morning came. It was around nine, and the whole family was gathered in the restaurant. I was about to tell them the truth.

“Everyone, there’s something I need you to hear.”

“Is it the sort of thing that needs a face like that?”

“Huh? Am I making a face?”

Dad said it, but am I really? Well. I am certainly nervous.

“Big Brother, your face is scary.”

If even Marie is saying it. I made a deliberate effort to loosen everything above the neck, and looked around at my family.

“Don’t any of you be shocked. I said the girl coming today was a distant relative of Lord Frederick’s, and that isn’t true. The truth is that Lady Martine is… she’s the princess.”

“What? Leon, what did you say? The princess? Is that what you said?!”

“Leon, is that true? Truly, truly the princess?”

Dad and Mom fell straight into uproar. Well, that’s what happens when somebody says princess. Why on earth would she come to a restaurant on the outskirts of the royal capital? I still ask myself the same thing.

“Mom, Dad, she really is the princess. If word had got out beforehand that a princess was coming it would have been dangerous, so I couldn’t tell you until today. But don’t worry. You can go on exactly the way you were going to. A noble and a princess aren’t all that different, are they?”

That got a little of their composure back.

“W-well. Yes, I suppose that’s so. Noble or princess, from where we stand there isn’t much in it.”

“Th-that’s right. We’ve done the preparing, so it’ll be all right.”

Mom and Dad were talking themselves level, more or less. Marie, on the other hand, had clearly not followed a word of it. She was tipping her head to one side, puzzled.

“Is a princess someone amazing?”

“She is. She’s a very important person. She’s the child of the most important person in the whole country.”

“Wow! That’s amazing, isn’t it?”

Marie said amazing without looking as though she knew what was amazing about it. I don’t think she has a firm grip on rank yet. At five, fair enough.

“Mom, Dad, Lady Martine is the princess, but if anyone finds out she’s the princess there could be a real fuss, so when you speak to her, call her Lady Martine. That’s the only thing you have to be careful about. Marie, you call her by her name too.”

“I just call her by her name?”

“That’s right. You like it better when people call you your name, don’t you?”

“Uh-huh! Then I’ll call her by her name!”

And Marie went off practicing it, saying Lady Martine over and over. Marie really is a lovely, good-hearted kid. That’s my sister for you.

After that we all waited in the restaurant, fidgeting and quiet, until at last somebody knocked at the door.

Knock, knock.

“Lady Martine has arrived.”

A woman’s voice I didn’t know. Her maid, presumably.

“Of course.”

I answered and opened the door, and there they were: a young maid, somewhere in her twenties; Lady Martine, beaming from ear to ear; and Lord Frederick, watching Lady Martine with a wry sort of smile. She was dressed more simply than she had been before, perhaps so as not to stand out, and the maid and Lord Frederick were dressed to be overlooked as well.

“Thank you for coming. Please, come inside.”

All three came straight in at that, so I shut the door and followed them. Lady Martine turned to me at once.

“Leon, it has been too long. I have been looking forward to today so much!”

“I’m very glad to hear it. May I introduce my family?”

“Yes. Please do.”

“My father and mother, and my sister, Marie.”

Dad and Mom scrambled to bow their heads, and Marie beamed at her.

“Leon’s father and mother, I am sorry to have forced myself upon you today.”

“N-no, not at all, it is most honorable, and, ah, we do hope your enjoyment today is very good.”

“If it pleases you… we would be glad. Greatly.”

Dad and Mom were doing their level best with polite speech neither of them has used once in their lives, and it was coming out sideways and at odd angles.

“And you must be Marie. Let us be friends.”

“Uh-huh! Lady Martine, you’re so pretty!”

“Am I really? That does make me happy. You are very pretty yourself, Marie.”

“Really?! Thank you!”

Listening to that exchange, Dad and Mom went steadily paler. But Lord Frederick and the maid were watching it with obvious fondness, so it should be fine.

Once the greetings were done, Lady Martine looked around at everybody.

“One does not usually introduce one’s attendants or one’s guard, but I shall introduce them today, purely as a formality. This lady is my maid, and this gentleman is my guard. Please pay them no particular attention.”

The two of them answered that with the smallest of bows and nothing more. So attendants and guards aren’t introduced and aren’t spoken to, as a rule.

“Now that the greetings are behind us, what shall we do today?”

Lady Martine turned a pair of shining eyes on me as she asked it. Ugh… that expression on a beautiful girl has far too much destructive power.

“Today I thought you might look over my house, and then we would go to the forest. We would gather raspberries there, and then make a dessert called pancakes together at home, using the raspberries. How does that sound?”

“Wonderful! I have never heard of a dessert called pancakes. Is it something in fashion among commoners?”

“No. The recipe is one I thought up myself.”

“You thought of it, Leon?! How splendid! Now I am looking forward to the pancakes even more. But first, an expedition through the house!”

“Lady Martine! I’ll show you!”

“Thank you, Marie.”

And Marie took her by the hand and towed her off toward the living room. Lord Frederick and the maid followed her out of the restaurant, and I was about to follow them when Mom stopped me.

“L-Leon. The way Marie is speaking to her. Won’t she be punished for disrespect?”

“No. Lord Frederick told me not to worry about how anyone behaves, so it’s fine. Which means you and Dad could relax a bit too, you know. Your words were coming out very strange just now.”

“Were they. Well, that’s a relief. Speaking of which, Leon, how is it you can use formal speech like that? I’m fairly sure we never taught you any…”

“Dad’s been wondering about that as well. Using it as naturally as all that. Who taught you?”

Ah… I don’t think I have ever used proper formal speech in front of Mom and Dad before. I barely spoke when Lord Frederick came, and in any case the two of them were in such a state that they weren’t listening.

What do I say. I’ve told them about the attributes, but I do not have the nerve to tell them about being reincarnated…

“Um, well… Marcel taught me.”

Will that do? It has to do, really.

“Did he? But you haven’t known Marcel very long, have you? Could anyone learn it that quickly?”

“Um, well… that’s it! Marcel said I was clever!”

Ugh, I’m running out of road here. What do I do…

“I see. That’s our boy.”

I had a cold sweat going down my back by then, and Dad said that and stroked my hair. Thank you, Dad! And I am so sorry for lying to you… I was sinking under the guilt of it when Lady Martine’s voice came from the back of the house.

“Leon, whatever is the matter? Are you not going to show me anything?”

“Coming right now! Mom, Dad, I’m going.”

“Yes, off you go. And you can teach Mom some formal speech one of these days.”

“There may be more call for it from now on. Will you teach Dad as well?”

They don’t doubt me, they believe me, and on top of that they want to learn the same thing… I really am glad I ended up in this family.

“Sure! Of course I will!”

Still carrying a little of the guilt, but a good deal brighter than I had felt a minute before, I went after Lady Martine.

She turned out to be in the living room, and came straight over the moment I got there.

“Leon! I saw the well just now. It really is true that the water comes up out of the ground. I had studied wells, but seeing that one genuinely exists is quite moving!”

“I’m glad. For us commoners, water is a thing you draw out of a well.”

“Marie drew some for me a moment ago. Seeing a thing for oneself really does teach one so much! May I see the bedroom next?”

“Yes. You may look at anything you like.”

“Then I shall.”

“Of course. This way.”

“Big Brother, are we going to the beds?”

“That’s right. Will you show Lady Martine the way?”

“Uh-huh!”

So we all went up to the second floor and I let her see where we sleep. It must look dim and cramped and dirty to her, and not one flicker of that reached her face; she listened to Marie in complete earnest. She really is a kind, good-hearted girl.

“I always sleep here! Mom and Big Brother are next to me, and Dad’s on the other side of Mom.”

“How lovely, all of you able to sleep together.”

“Uh-huh! It’s warm when everyone sleeps together! Maybe a bit hot in summer though.”

We finished with the bedroom on that note, then went through the storeroom and the restaurant and everything else, and came back to the living room. Looking at the time, we needed to be leaving for the forest or there would be no time left for the pancakes.

“Shall we set out for the forest, then?”

I put the question to Lady Martine and got a puzzled tilt of the head in reply. What was that? Had I missed something? I was running my brain at full speed trying to work it out when she asked me.

“What are we doing about lunch? Are we taking it to the forest?”

Lunch. I had completely forgotten about lunch! Oh, I have made a mess of this. The pancakes had crowded everything else out of my head, but of course, at this hour pancakes are an afternoon snack. I was flailing for an answer when Dad spoke up, tentatively.

“Ah. We could make you something from the restaurant menu. We got it ready in case you wanted it.”

“Oh, I should like that very much! I have been wanting to eat food from the restaurant.”

Dad, thank you! Mom, thank you! I hadn’t thought that far ahead and they had it prepared anyway. That’s my parents. I thanked them both with my eyes and carried on with Lady Martine.

“Then shall we eat lunch here and go to the forest afterward?”

“Yes, that will do very well.”

“The menu here is steak, or stir-fried vegetables with pork. Which would you care for?”

“Let me see. I should like the stir-fried vegetables with pork.”

“Certainly.”

Then I took everyone else’s orders, and we all had a very cheerful meal. Lord Frederick and the maid didn’t eat, though. They were on duty, and confined themselves to tasting Lady Martine’s food for poison.

With the meal behind us, it was finally time for the forest. Mom and Dad were staying at the house, so the party was me, Marie, Lady Martine, Lord Frederick and the maid: five of us.

I had assumed Lady Martine would go by carriage, and it turned out she meant to walk with the rest of us. She does basic conditioning and swordwork as a matter of routine, apparently, so walking presents her with no difficulty at all. It surprised me a little to learn that girls train too. Well, a body is healthier for being worked.

“Lady Martine, have you ever been to the forest?”

“I have never been, no.”

“Then I’ll show you! I’m really good at picking raspberries!”

“Thank you.”

Marie said it beaming, and Lady Martine thanked her with the gentlest look on her face. I have no idea whether any of this is being done correctly, but Lady Martine is enjoying herself, so it must be all right.

We walked and talked and made a good deal of noise about it, and eventually the forest came up in front of us. It took longer than it usually does, and I don’t think that was Lady Martine slowing us down so much as the fact that I normally walk it in near silence and today nobody stopped talking.

“So this is the forest. There really are a great many trees.”

“All sorts of trees, all growing wild. What I would like to do today is find the raspberries among them and pick them. Is that all right?”

“Yes. I shall pick a great many myself!”

Her eyes were shining and she was thoroughly braced for battle. Her speech is every inch a princess and her manners are exquisite, and then her face goes curious and childish, and it is extremely endearing. I caught myself watching her and smiling.

“Leon, what are you smiling at?”

At which she narrowed her eyes a little, puffed out her cheeks, and gave me a look that was supposed to be angry. It was not frightening in the slightest. If anything it was cute.

“I beg your pardon. I only thought how cute you looked just then.”

I said it honestly, and Lady Martine went scarlet from the neck up. What? That embarrasses her? I’d have thought she heard that sort of thing constantly, and a reaction like that is starting to embarrass me too.

To get us out from under the atmosphere that had settled on us, I made a show of rolling my shoulders as though I were limbering up for something.

“R-right. Let’s pick as many as we can!”

“Y-yes. I shall pick more than you, Leon!”

“I don’t intend to lose either!”

Having got that awkwardness out of the way, Lady Martine and I hurried over to where Marie was.

“Marie, did you find the raspberries?”

“Uh-huh. They’re here!”

Oh, good. I’d found the place beforehand, but if somebody else had come through and stripped it there would be nothing left. It seems nobody had.

“There are lots of them. Lady Martine, please use this bag.”

“Thank you.”

Lady Martine watched how Marie was doing it and then set to work in dead earnest. That should be fine, then. I may as well get picking myself.

“Leon, can these be eaten as they are?”

“Yes. There is nothing wrong with eating them as they are, but I think you will find them very sour.”

“Will I? I do not dislike a fruit with some sharpness to it.”

“Lady Martine, these are sweet, they’re really good! I love them!”

“Are they. Then perhaps I shall try one.”

And she put a raspberry in her mouth without hesitating for a second. Two or three chews in, her face contorted and she froze solid. Yes. They are sour. I ate one once and resolved never to eat another one raw as long as I lived.

“Lady Martine? Are you all right?”

Her eyes had gone watery, and she seemed to get it down somehow.

“I… I am quite all right…”

She was extremely not all right, and that sourness stays in your mouth for a good while. I was about to call her maid over, on the theory that a drink of water would help, when Marie got to her first.

“Lady Martine, was it good?”

“Y-yes. It was very good indeed.”

Lady Martine put a perfect smile together and gave it to Marie. She is far too kind. And this is royalty. If the royalty of this country are made like this, then I think the country will be all right.

“Then I’ll give you one of mine!”

Marie said it with an innocent smile. I know she means nothing but well by it, but that has to be more than even Lady Martine can take. I moved to stop it, and before I could, Lady Martine had thanked her and accepted the raspberry.

“Thank you, Marie.”

And put it in her mouth without hesitating, again.

“It really is good.”

“Isn’t it! They’re even better in pancakes!”

“Then I have that to look forward to!”

Not letting a flicker of that sourness show was impressive enough on its own, and then she had taken a second without a moment’s pause. Belatedly, I got in between the two of them so she would not have to eat another.

“Marie, if we eat too many there won’t be enough left for the pancakes, so let’s hold off for now.”

“Oh. Okay, I’ll hold off!”

“Good girl. Shall we get back to picking, then?”

“Okaaay!”

Marie threw herself back into it, so I turned to Lady Martine and spoke quietly.

“Lady Martine, I’m very sorry. Raspberries are extremely sour eaten raw, but Marie and the others seem to like them that way…”

“They were extremely sour.”

“Thank you for taking such care of Marie’s feelings. Truly. A drink should make it a little easier, so please do take a rest.”

“That was nothing to thank me for. It is you who should be thanked, Leon, for all the care you have taken over a visitor who more or less forced her way in.”

“Not at all. I am enjoying the time I am spending with you.”

Which is the honest truth. I’d expected to spend the whole day too nervous to do anything but come out of it wrung dry, and instead Lady Martine is genuinely kind and good and clever, and being around her is a pleasure.

“I am glad to hear you say it. Thank you, Leon. I shall go and rest.”

She said it, and smiled at me, and it was a beautiful smile, and then she walked off toward her maid. That last smile caught me completely, and I stood there staring after her for a while like an idiot.

She came back before long and we all picked in silence for a time, and once we had more or less cleared the patch we decided to head home. We had less in us on the way back than we’d had coming out, tired, I suppose, and we kept our legs going with only a little conversation here and there.

The walk back took us a little less time than the walk out had. I opened the door and had Lady Martine and the others go into the restaurant first, then followed them in.

“We’re hooome!”

Marie announced it and scrambled up onto a stool at the counter, and Mom and Dad put their heads out from the kitchen.

“Welcome home.”

“We got loads of raspberries!”

“Well done. You’re making the pancakes next, aren’t you? Go and wash your hands and get changed.”

“Okaaay!”

Marie had that exchange with Mom and then went straight off to the well to wash her hands. Marie does exactly as she pleases.

“Lady Martine, would you like to change as well?”

I asked, and it was her maid who answered.

“We have brought a change of clothes for her, yes.”

“Then I shall change. Leon, might I borrow somewhere to do it?”

“Of course. Once everyone has finished washing, please use the living room.”

“Thank you.”

Then we washed at the well, put away the things we’d taken to the forest, and went through to the kitchen.

Mom and Dad had already laid out every tool and ingredient we needed, so there was nothing left to do but make them.

“Mom, Dad, thank you.”

“This is about all we can do, so it’s no trouble at all. I’m glad to be useful to you.”

“That’s not true! You two help me all the time.”

“Is that so. It’s a fine thing to hear you say it.”

Dad’s face went soft and he ruffled my hair. Harder than usual…

“Dad! You’re wrecking it!”

“Ha! Sorry, sorry.”

We were in the middle of that when Lady Martine came through, changed and ready, so it was time to start on the pancakes.

We made them in two teams: me and Marie on one, Lady Martine on the other. I would rather have had everyone make their own, but we only had two bowls the right size.

“We shall begin. First, break the eggs into the bowl, add the sugar and the water, and mix. Please mix it thoroughly.”

Marie started the moment I said it. She has made these enough times to know her way around them. I had thought I would have to guide Lady Martine as we went, but her maid was assisting her, so I could stop worrying about that.

“Once it is well mixed, add the flour and keep mixing. Please mix until there are no lumps of flour left.”

At that, everybody tipped their flour in at once and set to. There is something lovely about watching children working that hard at something. I thought so, having briefly forgotten that I am also a child.

“Leon, is this about right?”

“Yes. That’s perfect. Now, last of all, put in about ten raspberries.”

Last time we made these I crushed the raspberries and stirred them through, to spread what sweetness there was. With sugar in the house there’s no need for that. Better to keep a few whole for the texture and turn the rest into jam to pour over the top.

“Once you have done that, all that is left is the cooking. We shall start with yours, Lady Martine.”

Mom had lit the fire and brought the pan up to heat, so I put butter in and poured the batter. One bowl makes exactly one pancake. A very large one, admittedly.

“Now we wait a while for it to cook. After a little, lift it and look at the underside, and if it has browned properly, turn it over and cook it again. And it is finished.”

“I can hardly wait! I find I have become quite hungry.”

“A little longer, please. While the pancakes cook, let us make the jam.”

“Is the jam made from those raspberries?”

“Exactly so. Raspberries with sugar cooked into a jam become extremely good. And they go better with pancakes than anything.”

“It’s soooo good! I used to like raspberries best just as they are, but now I like pancakes and jam better!”

Marie has been thoroughly captured by sugar over the last few days. She still says plain raspberries are good, but once she’s used to sweetness, raw ones will start to taste sour to her. I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad one. Either way I’ve decided to buy sugar in bulk so we always have it in the house, and to keep topping it up.

“Now the jam. Lady Martine, would you put the raspberries into this pot? Everything in that bowl, if you would.”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. Now we put it straight over the heat, and stir, crushing the raspberries with a wooden spatula as we go. Would you like to do it?”

“I should like to try!”

“Then please do.”

I handed her the spatula and she started stirring the pot with a very serious expression, which left me free to get the sugar and the lemon ready. Sugar doesn’t circulate among commoners, but making raspberry jam is apparently something plenty of people do, and it was Mom who told me a little lemon juice improves it. You want about half as much sugar as fruit. Mom and Dad seem to prefer rather less, but Lady Martine likes sweet things, so I went heavier today.

“Lady Martine, we add the sugar now, and a little lemon juice.”

“Yes, I see.”

“Now we let that reduce for about thirty minutes, and it is done.”

You’re supposed to strain the raspberries through a sieve for a smooth jam, but I’ve grown fond of the seeds and the texture, so I leave mine as it is. Straining is a nuisance, and plenty of people seem to eat it unstrained.

While we were busy with all that, the pancake started to come along. The smell was extraordinary.

“Lady Martine, I think your pancake is nearly there.”

“Really?!”

“Yes. Please come over here.”

I took the spatula back from her and steered her to the counter in front of the pancake, leaving the jam with Dad.

“Lift the pancake a little with this spatula and have a look at the underside.”

“I understand. …How does it look?”

I had a look under it myself. Perfectly done.

“Perfect. Now we turn it over and cook it a little longer, and it’s finished. Turning it is difficult, so may I leave that to my mother?”

“Yes, please do.”

“Mom, if you would.”

“Leave it to Mom.”

Mom picked up the spatula and the pan, looking slightly nervous, and flipped the pancake over cleanly in one go. That’s my mom!

“How wonderful! You made that look effortless!”

“Th-thank you.”

“Ohhh, the smell is glorious. Will it be ready soon?”

“Yes. Just a little longer.”

We waited a while after that, and the first pancake was done.

“And that is it finished.”

“Oh, this is the one I made, is it not. I am so pleased!”

“Would you like to eat it right away?”

“I should like to, but nobody else’s pancakes have finished cooking yet.”

“You are very welcome to start…”

“No, we have come this far. I want to eat with everyone!”

“I see… Then it is a little ill-mannered, but might I offer you one piece here, as a taste? We shall of course have some as well.”

“What a splendid proposal!”

Lady Martine agreed, so I cut the finished pancake into bite-sized pieces and handed them around. Lord Frederick and the maid could surely manage a single mouthful. That was my thinking, and even that they turned down.

“We are on duty. I am afraid not.”

“Leon, it’s a kind offer, but…”

“Both of you will have some. You are on duty, but you have not been relieved today either, so a little can hardly hurt, can it?”

At Lady Martine’s word Lord Frederick evidently decided to eat at once. He was on duty last time as well and ate perfectly happily, so presumably it is the maid’s presence that has him behaving today. The maid is a great deal too serious and looks constitutionally incapable of letting her shoulders down. The exact opposite of Lord Frederick’s slightly slack air.

Not that she looks down her nose at us. There were moments when Marie and the others used no formal speech at all and she said nothing and watched them fondly, so she isn’t a bad person. Just rather too serious.

I handed a bite-sized piece to everyone else after that, and told Lady Martine that they all had one.

“Lady Martine, everyone has their pancake.”

“Then let us eat!”

She popped hers into her mouth, looked startled for a moment, and then began to chew in earnest. When she had finished it she spoke.

“This is extremely good! The texture is fascinating, and the sweetness of the sugar against the sweet-sharpness of the raspberries is exquisite.”

She seems to have liked it. Good.

“She’s right. That’s a texture I’ve never had before, and it’s delicious…”

“It really is…”

Lord Frederick and the maid liked it as well. Relieved, I put my own in my mouth. Yes. Reliably good. Chewy, sweet, sharp with raspberry. A great deal better than the first sugarless pancakes we made. Sugar really is essential.

Milk and baking powder would make it better still. You can get a little milk in winter, but it barely circulates at all. It comes back to there being no refrigeration, doesn’t it. Butter, at least, we can get. Well, I’m satisfied with this as it is. Complaining about this would be asking for a thunderbolt.

We cooked the rest of the pancakes then, and finished the jam, and all the cooking was done. We were sitting around a table in the restaurant now, with pancakes and jam in front of every one of us.

“Then let us eat.”

Everyone said Itadakimasu after her and started. I put a generous amount of jam on my pancake and took a bite. Mmm, that’s good! I really do love this jam. The seeds and the texture make it.

“This… this jam is absolutely delicious!”

“I’m very glad to hear it. Straining it through a sieve makes a smooth jam, but I like the texture of the seeds, so I left it as it is. What do you think?”

“I like the seeds as well! I had wondered what the difference was from the jam I usually eat, and it is that you have kept the texture. I shall have the head cook make this jam.”

The head cook has surely been straining it so carefully precisely for Lady Martine’s sake, and being told the unstrained version is the better one is going to be a blow… I’m sorry, head cook.

We ate our pancakes and talked for a good while after that, and everybody cleared their plate.

“Leon, the pancakes were truly delicious. And thank you, all of you, for indulging me in all of this today. Today has been enjoyable enough that I may call it the finest day of my life! If ever the chance comes again, might I visit here once more?”

She looked thoroughly content saying it. Underneath that, she looked a little sad.

“Lady Martine, it may be difficult to arrange often, but please come whenever you wish.”

“I want to play with Lady Martine again!”

“Leon. Marie. I shall absolutely come again. Thank you.”

And she smiled, and the whole of her lit with it. It really is a beautiful smile.

She left very soon after that. She had apparently been due to leave rather earlier, and there was no stretching the visit any further.

A tiring day. And a good one. I meant that with my whole heart.

Chapter 14 – The Goddess’s Mistake

“Oh nooo…! That was a soul I brought all the way from Earth and I went and botched the reincarnation!”

Why do I have such awful luck?! I finally get a soul out of Japan, out of Earth, out of Sherifie herself, and this is what happens! I built a whole world modeled on Japan because I love it so much, and this is what happens!

All right, that child I sent down as my Apostle last time turned it into something closer to medieval Europe than to Japan, so I picked the wrong one that time. Even so, I was looking forward to seeing where it all went next. And instead. And instead… why did I have to go and fail, stupid, stupid me!

If things stay as they are, this world gets torn apart by monsters and the humans die out all over again. Absolutely not! And who knows how long it would take to build up enough divine power for another world after that. First things first. I have to go and see Sherifie!

“Sheriiifie! Heeelp! That soul you gave me the other day, I botched the reincarnation! What do I do?”

“Micheline, what do you mean, you botched it?! That soul came out of my world. I told you to be careful with it!”

Sherifie was furious, that beautiful black hair of hers flying everywhere. I made myself as small as I could and apologized.

“I’m sorry…”

Being meek about it did nothing at all for Sherifie’s temper. She came over and started grinding her knuckles into the top of my head.

“Ow! Sherifie, ow, that huuurts!”

“It’s your own fault, isn’t it. Hold still and take it.”

“It hurts, it really hurts! I’m sorryyy!”

I apologized for all I was worth, and at last she stopped.

“So how did you manage to fail?”

“The thing is, there was a body in my world that fit that soul exactly. Then, of all the luck in creation, that very human died at the exact instant I was moving the soul across, so his own soul had just come loose. The empty body pulled, and the soul I’d brought from Japan went straight into it…”

“A body and a soul from two different people, fitting each other exactly? Can that even happen? And if it did, what about the body? It should have been rotting by now.”

“It’s true! I don’t tell lies! The body repaired itself the instant the soul got inside it.”

“So that sort of thing does happen… What extraordinary odds.”

“Sherifie, this is not the time to be impressed! Think about what I do next!”

I was going to put that soul from Japan into a child of the royal family, as my Apostle. It ended up in the body of a poor commoner!

“All right, all right. Your world was the one being eaten into by the monster forest, wasn’t it, and you wanted to save the humans, and that was what the reincarnation was for.”

“That’s the one! I was going to explain everything to him in the divine realm and then grant him his abilities and put him into the highest rank there is…”

“You couldn’t grant the abilities either?”

“Magic in every attribute and comprehension of every language, those I managed. It was lucky that reshaping the body was easy while it was repairing itself. But I couldn’t hand him the divine object he needed to talk to me, so I can’t reach him. He’s a poor commoner and he doesn’t even know what he was sent for.”

I was supposed to keep in touch with him after the reincarnation, regularly, and steer him through saving the world. I was going to have him pull that medieval-Europe mess of a world of mine back toward Japan, too…

“How long have you got before your world is overrun? And when can you next send someone down?”

“A bit over ten years, that’s all… And I can’t reincarnate anyone again for several hundred. I’ve used so much divine power I’m all but empty.”

“What did you spend that much divine power on?!”

“Well, the humans in my first world died out, and I really did want a world with humans in it, so I made this one as well, didn’t I. Building a brand-new world took an enormous amount of divine power to start with. On top of that I wanted humans to appear in this one quickly, and I wanted the climate close to Japan’s, so I kept meddling with every corner of it and running time forward. That took almost all of the rest.”

In the first world I made, I gave mana to every living thing, and the monsters wiped the humans out. So for the second world I worked out that I only had to give mana to humans! Clever of me, don’t you think? I built it in the image of Japan, that country in Sherifie’s world that I love so much. I worked terribly hard on it. I even gave it the same sort of plant life!

There are one or two differences, because of the mana. And there’s no rice. I left the rice out, because rice was what made the monsters multiply in the first world. Well. Small details. Nothing worth worrying about!

Then, for the finishing touch, I brought one person down out of Japan as my Apostle, and that child turned around and said medieval Europe was nicer than anything Japanese, and my world stopped looking remotely Japanese. Even so, I liked it. If only I hadn’t made that mistake…

Because I made one serious mistake when I built this world, and it was only a bit over three hundred years ago that I finally noticed. Of all things, I had punched a tiny hole between my first, failed world and this one!! Whatever was I thinking?!

The hole kept getting bigger. Plants and animals came through into this world, and out of them the monster forest grew. There were never supposed to be monsters in this world at all. If it goes on like this, the humans will be destroyed by the monsters exactly the way they were in the first world.

Which is why I dropped a divine tool and a book into the world so the hole could be sealed! I do try! Except that nobody found the tool or the book. By the time somebody finally did, the humans who could read that language had been all but wiped out in a war, so nobody could make sense of it. Or so I gather.

So the monster forest spreads and spreads. This time I was going to send one more person down to seal the hole for me, and I never dreamed I would fail at it…

“If there’s really nothing left you can do, then all you can do is pray that human moves on his own and saves the world for you. Anyway, monsters are cute. I wouldn’t mind a world of monsters.”

“I like humans! I want a world with humans in it! Your world is a human world too, Sherifie!”

“I didn’t set out to make it a human world. It just seems that in a world with no mana, the clever humans are the ones left standing. Shouldn’t you have made a world without mana as well, Micheline?”

“But you were the one who told me! You said a world with no mana falls apart eventually.”

“Well, that’s true enough. When humans use an energy that isn’t mana, the world seems to break down bit by bit.”

“So I made a world with mana in it to stop that from happening!”

Up to that point it should all have been fine. Where did I go wrong? No, wait! I didn’t go wrong at all. I was just unlucky.

Enough looking backward. I need to think about what comes next. He goes by Leon now, I think? Then Leon is the one who has to seal it for me. If only I had some way of getting a message to him…

“Isn’t there any way at all to reach him?!”

“An oracle would hardly cost you any divine power.”

“Sherifie! That’s it!”

Of course! With an oracle I might get word to him without ever speaking to him directly. Oh, but hold on. Nobody in this world has the slightest faith in me… what do I do? Would anyone believe an oracle if I sent one?

“Sherifie! I’ve just remembered, nobody down there believes in me. What am I going to do…”

“What are you going to do? You brought that on yourself. In any case, nobody has any faith in me either.”

“That’s gods for you, isn’t it. …Is it really hopeless? If I sent an oracle, do you think they’d believe it?”

“Not without a good deal of time, I expect. For now all you can do is watch. If it doesn’t work out, you can always come and visit Earth again.”

“That’s very kind of you, but I’d rather have my own world…”

“Well then. Do your best.”

“You don’t mean a word of that!”

“Yes, yes. I’ll have the next volumes of your manga waiting for you next time you come, so cheer up.”

“Really?! Sherifie, I love you!!”

“Honestly, you’re so easily bought. Anyway, watching is all you can do for now. It’s about time you went back to your own world.”

Sherifie said it with a wry smile, waving me off.

“Yes, all riiight. But there has to be something I can do. I’m absolutely going to save those humans, just you watch!”

And with that settled, I went home to Miyusolute, my own world.