Leave a comment

“A Hihiirokane ID… so it’s authorized by The God Emperor directly?! And the surname is Gravis?! What kind of, why did she……?!!” Grunting, Ms. Christy grasped her forehead tight, looked up at the ceiling, pondered a bit, before she straightened up her body and reached for my ID, speaking in a decisive tone. “I will be the one keeping this ID secure. Just in case you haven’t shown it to anyone, have you?”

Since she asked, I honestly told her about the incident at the Adventurer Guild.

“…I see. If that’s all that happened, then I don’t think anyone has noticed it yet. Royce, for caution’s sake, go and confirm it first thing tomorrow.”
“Certainly.”

Mr. Royce nodded reverently.

“Jill. I am sorry about this, but you must conceal the name Julia Fortuna Gravis for the time being at my discretion. I would assume that this is what Mentor had in mind.”
“—I understand.”

That was how I said goodbye to the pseudonym I had used for only half a day.

“Instead, you will henceforth use the name Julia Fortuna Brandmüller.”
“Huh… HAAH?!”

Ignoring me, Ms. Christy spouted forth a torrent of speech.

“You are the daughter of a distant relative, and due to your talent for Magic Art, I decided to adopt you into the Baron house of Brandmüller. That’s a common enough practice amongst magician houses, so no one would find it too strange. Am I understood, Jill?”

Okay about what? Things were being decided left and right so fast, I had no time to process it… For now, I’d just vocalize the first question that popped into my mind.

“…Does that mean, starting now, I will address you as Mother?”
“…”

Ms. Christy stopped moving altogether at my question, her face scrunched as if she just swallowed a nest of bitter bugs. After a full 20 breaths passed, her brain finally rebooted, and she leaned forward to me with a smile decorating her face —though eyes so serious, it’s deadly scary— and spoke in a tone of voice that neither denied nor agreed to my question.

“Given that our relationship as sister disciples does not change, please be nice to your elder sister from now on. Am I understood, Jill?”
“Aah, yes. I understand very much, my dear sister.”

Baroness Christiane, 45 years old, single. She was at a troublesome age, one way or another.

“Royce will attend to your appearance and such starting tomorrow, but for tonight, make use of the guest room.”
“Would it be all right if Vier came with me?”
“I won’t separate a familiar from her master. You have my permission.”

Relief came over me when Ms. Christy magnanimously gave her okay, but then, she made a face as if she just recalled something, then asked me for a favor.

“In return… well, not exactly, but would you be willing to work with a client tomorrow in my place?”

Her sudden request confused me.

“Me, as your substitute, Ms… err, sister?”
“Yes. It really should have been me, but the death of His Imperial Majesty brought endless work to every single noble in the capital. I, too, must make my appearance in various places since early morning. Therefore, as the adopted daughter of the Brandmüller family, to have you serve as the representative of the household would be incredibly helpful.”

I understood the logic, but being tasked to be the representative of the household 5 minutes after being adopted into the household felt a little bit too unreasonable.

“I see. However, I don’t know the first thing about the Brandmüller household, since I’m just a bumpkin fresh out of the hermitage. I’m not confident I can play the part of a noble daughter with the rusty mannerism of one.”

When she heard me trying to decline, Ms. Christy for some reason gave me a meaningful look… then snickered.

“This is an upstarting household with me as the first-generation’s head. You don’t need to worry too much. Well, if you are still worried regardless, then you can ask Royce or someone else available later for a brief overview of our family. …well, at most you’d only learn one or two extra things from what you already heard.”

Seemed like she did hear the conversation Mr. Royce and I had had earlier.

“Besides, considering the person who will be coming tomorrow, it is much easier to have you deal with our guest.”
“Is it… someone I know?”
“Yes. It is Sir Eilmer’s son, Sir Lucas.”

I didn’t expect to hear his name now, just the mention of it brought back Luke’s pretty face in my mind.

“It’s Luke?! I see, of course, I don’t know anyone else in the city, after all.” Strictly speaking, I did know Sir Eilmer the Dragon Knight, but since he was also a member of the noble class much like Ms. Christy, he should also be busy. “Speaking of, you did mention that you were Luke’s home tutor, sister.”

When I brought up the chat that we had in Tenebrae Nemus, perhaps reminiscing her time there, Ms. Christy began to slip away from talking formally and started to ramble.

“Yeah. And because of that, he’d often come to whine… err, to ask for advice.”

So they had a personal relationship built upon trust. How wonderful.

“Oh? If so, wouldn’t it be tasteless if I showed up instead? After all, he is coming to ask for your advice, elder sister.”
“Well, pretty much. Although, I feel like it’s good for him to get a different point of view or idea and consult with different people every once in a while. After all, I can tell that he’s coming to consult about—”

She cast a meaningful gaze toward me for a moment. “?”

“It will be about his marriage with the Ragweed… I mean, with Princess Syltianna, after all.”
“—!?!”

My breath was caught.

“The engagement between Sir Lucas and Princess Syltianna was supposed to happen this spring. However, due to the passing of His Imperial Highness, they were forced to postpone it. …no, on the contrary, it became a good excuse for the postponement. You see, Sir Eilmer has been secretly asking me to persuade Sir Lucas to agree, but I told you before, I’m not exactly inclined to. Especially now that I know better.”

Aah, we did talk about it before, didn’t we?

“That is why, Jill, I want you to have a talk with Sir Lucas. I’m just hoping to see some progress, you know?”

Wait, wait, you want me to listen to the woes about the marriage between Luke and Syltianna?! What is that, torture?!

“Uhmm… the long trip has taken a lot from me, not to mention the physical and mental stress from the disappearance of our mentor. If you would give me a couple of days to rest, that would be great.”

Ignoring my blatant aversion, Ms. Christy’s smile deepened. Then, as if to punctuate each word, she added. “You will do it, won’t you? You are partly responsible, after all.”

Ah, the cat is out of the bag, huh? It would only be prudent to assume that Regina’s letter spilled absolutely everything.

“Well, I look forward to being family with you starting tomorrow, Jill.”
“…I understand, my dear elder sister.”

Without any other choice left, I agreed with the task, shoulders dropped.

Still… I was supposed to be living the life of a Witch with my mentor in some dark woods somewhere to get away from all the troubles of living the life of an aristocrat, and yet I was as good as being a Baroness now. Where did it go wrong…?

Translator’s note:

I give up translating the Author’s note. Here’s a summary.

In Europe (England), the middle class is clearly defined, with a minimum of three people working for them (a cook, a kitchen maid, and a cleaner maid).
Number of servants can range from dozens to nearly 100 in upper class families
Ms. Christy has a total of 50-60 servants, but only keeps about 10 in her temporary residence in the imperial capital.
A long ramble and a correction of timeline regarding Christiane’s age.

Was that information correct? I don’t know how to fact-check it, so I don’t know.