| Author: Shizuku | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 3419 characters |
| Translator: Nomad | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1699 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
Half a year has passed1 since we all started traveling together, and things are going well.
Olivia, Clarissa, Akane, and Erika are all stronger than average, and our issues with camping at night got solved with the carriage.
Olivia still harrasses me sexually, Clarissa only cares about eating and playing, and Akane and Erika keep fighting around me, but it’s going well.
Whenever we arrive at a city or town, we stay there for a few days or even weeks, enjoying the different cultures as we adventure along. It’s par for the course when traveling, but it’s still a nice way to spend our days.
“Nataliaaaa, I promise I’ve reflected on my actions.”
I’m holding the reins on the carriage’s driver seat when I hear Olivia’s voice from inside. She tried sneaking into my bed last night, so I left her tied up with Steel Silk inside.
“You won’t do it again then?”
“That’s impossible. I’ll exploit any opening to do it again.”
It’s good that she’s honest, but that’s also a source of neverending headaches for me. I raise my hands, furnished with new black cuffs, and massage my temples as I sigh.
“Then just sit like that until we arrive.”
“No wayyy!”
Olivia sounds distraught, but according to the map we should be there in half an hour.
We’re getting closer to the western borders of Seperion, but even though we’re so far away from the capital, the main roads are well built and kept, so it really doesn’t look like we’re in the countryside.
The city we arrive at is around the same size as Bamel, but all the trees on the roadside give it a refreshing green hue.
Here we’re heading to a slightly larger building located in the outskirts of the city.
“Young Lady, we’ve arrived.”
There’s a large sign next to the entrance gates, which reads Barnard Alchemy & Magic Device Research Center, and two familiar figures are standing in front of the sign.
One of them looks shocked at the carriage pulled by Clarissa, but the other remains with her ever unchanging deadpan.
I stop the carriage in front of them, and then quickly release Olivia’s bindings without them seeing, so I can escort her out of the carriage. Once she’s in front of our hosts, I take a step back.
“Welcome, Olivia. I’m glad to see you’re in good health.”
“Thank you for inviting us. And I see you’re doing well too, Christina.”
Yes, we’re in the territory owned by the Barnard family, to which Christina belongs too.
Usually, the difference between Christina and Olivia being a noble and commoner would force them to have certain manners when interacting, but since they’ve been friends for a long time in the Magic Academy, Christina is a lot more lenient with Olivia, at least in private situations.
They mentioned it to me as well before, but just in case I still tried to treat her the way a noble deserved, though it seems that wasn’t needed.
“Sister, it’s been a while.”
“Yes, it’s nice to see you again, Plum.”
Plum takes a step forward next and greets me. Her face is still as emotionless as ever, but somehow I feel like she’s happy.
“Oh right, we should introduce you to our new family members.”
“New family members..? Ah…congratulations!”
“That’s not it.”
Christina covers her mouth with both her hands as her eyes shift to look at my stomach, so I instantly correct her insane misunderstanding.
“Maybe we should do that too though?”
“Never!”
But then Olivia blushes a little and tries to take advantage of the situation, so I have to reject the idea even more. Olivia is always saying stuff like that, but I wish Christina would refrain from making such jokes too.
She was joking, right?
“These two are our new family members.”
Saying that, I introduce Akane who climbed on my shoulder, and Erika who’s traveling on the second cart behind the carriage.
Then I also introduce Christina and Plum to the two. After that, me, Olivia, and Akane are guided into the facility. Clarissa has no interest whatsoever in research so she stays outside, together with Erika who’s too big to go with us. I feel like Erika might feel left out since I’m bringing Akane with me, but I’m afraid that the two would start fighting and make a huge mess outside if I leave them unsupervised. I’ll just have to make it up to Erika later.
There aren’t many researchers beside Christina in the facility, but they all belong to various groups, researching a specific field. Christina isn’t part of a group though, conducting her research alone with only the help of Plum.
The reason why we were invited here, and we traveled for so long, was because I completed the magic device I was prototyping with Annabelle in the Magic Academy, and Christina wanted to see it, and also exchange the results of our research.
“This here is the completed magic device.”
I take out the magic device from my magic storage and place it on top of a workbench. Christina’s eyes widen as soon as she sees it.
“Did you actually use that to make it?”
“Yes, the Young Lady gave me permission to utilize it.”
I followed the suggestions I read in the books I found in the Gardeland mansion’s library, utilizing materials with better compatibility rather than obsessing over using the best materials.
I feel like I would’ve never completed it if I had kept trying to brute force it with more expensive materials.
“I see. I can also tell that you shaped it to better suit its purposes. Though it’s pretty bulky in this form.”
“I just focused on achieving the desired results while ignoring the size it grew into. It’s still just as difficult to operate and has high mana requirements though. As it is, only a direct connection with my Sorcery Core and nerve threads can make it function properly.”
“So it’s basically a device for your exclusive use, I see.”
“And operating it also produces mana dust, so some maintenance and cleaning is necessary after use.”
“In other words it’s a good prototype, so there’s still a lot to be improved…”
“Yes… Oh, Young Lady, are you bored?”
I look to the side randomly and notice that all life has drained from Olivia’s eyes.
I had her accompany us since she’s still my master and I should be following her orders, but I can also see that this conversation is too boring for her.
“Hmm, Plum, why don’t you show Olivia around for a bit?”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. All of the Servants are probably bored too, so maybe you should take a walk together.”
“In that case you should take Akane too.”
It’s only me and Christina that are interested in magic devices, so the rest can do something else. We’ve come a long way from Bamel to get there too, so maybe it’d be nice to let Akane do some sightseeing and expand her horizons.
“Well Plum, do you think you can do it?”
“Yes, I’ll show them around.”
Akane hops over to Olivia’s shoulder, and then she follows Plum outside of the research laboratory.
Akane is a type of Steel Spider monster, so she’s pretty heavy, but Olivia doesn’t even seem to feel her weight. My Young Lady is always so impressive.
“By the way, Natalia. Have you built anything else apart from this?”
“Anything else? Well, I have worked on this…”
There’s another magic device I was working on as a side project, though it’s basically just an imitation of an existing device. The original requires some very delicate and precise machining, so replicating that with my skills meant my version came out four times bigger than the original.
Then again, I did add some features that the original lacked, so it’s not a mere copy.
There’s a lot of vegetation in the Barnard territory, and I can smell the scent of flowers from all my surroundings.
“This territory is blessed with an abundance of timber, which is sold as-is or manufactured into furniture for quite high prices across the entire country.”
Plum is walking ahead of us, and sometimes stops to explain stuff to us like that. And surely enough, there’s a lot of woodworking shops or lumbering stores, as well as carts carrying many fallen trees being pulled by Dwargantaurs on the road.
This reminds me, I feel like we had classes about the local produce of the different parts of the country in the common school I went to before attending the Magic School, or maybe we didn’t…
“Say, Plum. Is this wood also useful when making magic devices?”
“Yes it can. Though when possible Treant wood is the best suited for that.”
“Treants, huh.”
Treants are tree monsters. There’s a large variety of them, but in short they’re trees that were imbued with magic in one way or another. It’s more like a blanket term, like there’s Cedar Treants, Oak Treants, and so on, basically covering all types of trees.
“Are you trying to build something as well then, Lady Olivia?”
“I’m not, but Natalia is. She might need it sometime, so maybe I should buy some for her.”
I’m too clumsy for stuff like alchemy or building magic devices, but I’m sure Natalia could always use more variety of materials.
She’s also been doing a lot for us lately. She always says that she doesn’t need to sleep so she stays up as night guard when we camp outside all the time too. This is the least I can do to return the favor.
“…I’m sure Sister would be happy.”
“I really hope so.”
“Woof, I like Maid and Boss.”
“!”
“Shaa~”
Everyone else also chimes in, they’re all fond of Natalia too. She always keeps putting herself down, so I really wish she was a bit more aware of how much we all appreciate her.
“Okay Plum, take us somewhere that’s selling that.”
“Sure, I’ll do so.”
It’s time to buy some Treant wood2.
Also, Erika really stands out a lot. Everyone we pass by ends up staring at her.
