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(Hans POV)

The lady I now serve is quite strange, to say the least.

First‌, her way of speaking is quite unusual. In contrast to her lovely looks, she speaks like a man. If this isn’t unusual, then how else can I describe it?

And it’s not only her speech that is odd. My master, one of the greatest sorcerers in the kingdom, has described her as a sorceress with more talent than him and has stated that there is no one more talented in the kingdom at present. Moreover, she was a wanderer unaffiliated with any faction up until recently; it’s a truly strange thing.

Her talent isn’t limited to magic‌. She can create dozens of magical tools in a single day, and quickly mastered the standard etiquette, something that Lady Adanalbus and even us servants have had a hard time with. Not only that, but she also remembered the kingdom’s history after a single lesson, and with arithmetics, the tutor we have is asking for her teachings instead.

Yet, despite having this innate beauty and talent, she’s kind even to us servants. My lady pays attention to us and makes sure that we servants can rest with no worries. A staple of hers is that she’ll announce that she’ll have a rest, then tell us to have a break before she heads to her room.

Last, there’s the girl that recently joined as the lady’s attendant, Est. She’s currently a colleague of mine, but her meeting with the lady happened during the assault on the mansion. It was likely a plot by one of the master’s political enemies, and she was the main perpetrator during that event.

However, after taking into account the existence of the mind usurping magic item and her status as a slave, the lady took Est under her wing. Whoops, Est being a slave was supposed to be a secret only known to me, the lady, Miss Urania, and Est herself. I was told that this is a secret even to Master Ces and the old Master Kent.

While I was originally a servant employed by the Iglesio household, now that I’m the lady’s personal attendant, my loyalty stands not by the Iglesio household but by the lady herself. Even if it was by the old master’s order, I will never disclose the lady’s secret.

Speaking of the lady, her eccentricity is quite conspicuous. While her mass production of magic items is one example, despite being a sorceress, she goes to the kitchen to cook food and confections that puts the manor chef to shame, and shares it with the servants; an act unlike that of a proper mistress.

And now again, my lady is on to her eccentricity once more. Still, this time is something I’ve also done before.

「Say, Hans. You’ve never seen the spirit before, right?」
「Yes, I have had a considerably long history of driving, but I don’t have any memory of seeing them in the past.」
「Did the snacks disappear every time?」
「Not so, perhaps it was about once every three trips? Although considering what I’ve heard from the other drivers, this seems to happen ‌frequently.」
「I see…」

The spirit that watches over travels. I was still a child when I first heard of it, and I always sat next to my father those times, who was a driver like me, and stared closely at the confection basket. Though we didn’t have as much money as the lady does, so we couldn’t prepare what’s known to be the most expensive confections in the kingdom as an offering unlike this one we have now.

This morning, the lady ‌bought these confections before we departed, and added this assortment to the basket by the driver’s seat in my stead. I’m not quite sure what her gesture of two claps and a bow means, though.

Being extremely curious about the spirit, the lady is constantly monitoring the basket of confections from the other side of the window. Seeing her restless and excited, I can’t help but feel a warmth on my chest. Miss Urania is merrily watching over the lady’s eccentricity‌ as well. Miss Urania always stands by the lady, but I can’t help but feel maturity from her.¹

I’ve done this before, but ‌when I was on the lookout, the spirit would never eat the snacks. Every time I take my eyes off it for any reason, the snacks would instantly disappear. Nowadays, I don’t give any ‌focus to the basket anymore. Still, I do have a slight hope that maybe, just maybe, the lady could confirm the spirit’s figure.

「Hm, my lady.」
「What is it, Hans?」

As she had her complete focus on the basket and hadn’t noticed what’s in front of us, I called for the lady’s attention.

「There’s a carriage behaving strangely in front of us. Their two horses are in good condition, and they have their luggage unloaded‌, but it doesn’t seem like they’re having a break. What should we do?」
「Oh? You’re right…… Did they have a carriage breakdown? But considering that……」

In these cases, the most suitable course of action for me is to summon the Chasseur Dragons back near us and overtake that carriage while staying on high alert. Our only goal is to reach our destination, not to help or to capture any thieves, so my primary duty is to move onward and avoid anything with a risk of danger.

However, my lady doesn’t take that sort of action. If there’s someone who needs help, then lending a hand would be the proper course of action for her. I’d prefer if the lady would take care of herself more, but that is how she is.

「Hans, call the rap-…… Corazon and Rubia back. If I go with the two, then they shouldn’t have any weird ideas, right?」
「Well perhaps so, but……」
「Sorry, Hans. This might be problematic considering your job, but I won’t be able to sleep well if we leave them behind.」
「…… Understood.」

The lady is this sort of person, after all. As I silently lamented in my mind, I followed the lady’s orders.

Pfwee! Pfweeee! Pfwee, Pfwee!²

I whistled through my fingers to call the Chasseur Dragons back near us. They are extremely intelligent, so they’d understand that something has happened with only this and would act with that in mind. After they quickly came back, I slowed down along with them and greeted the suspiciously parked carriage.

「Is there anything wrong?」
「We had a breakdown! Please don’t mind us!」

It seems like they are a pair of merchants, likely married. While the husband was fumbling with the back wheel, the wife answered my inquiry.

As we drew near them, I could finally see that their rear wheel was damaged. It’s likely that they either neglected their pre-departure inspection or crashed into a large obstacle. Fortunately, ‌they have a spare wheel, so while the replacement would take some time, they should have no issues.

In these cases, other people could lend a hand if asked for help, but in most cases, one should generally ‌do the repairs by themselves. They seem to share the same sentiments on this, and we’re in a hurry‌, so we can mutually ignore each other in this situation. As I understand that they aren’t thieves feigning a carriage breakdown, I secretly let out a relieved sigh. Though to begin with, there shouldn’t be any bandits that would even think of attacking us after seeing Corazon and Rubia.

「Hans, halt.」
「My lady?」

However, as if to disregard my relief, the lady gave her order.

1. Lyly: Lol, cute
2. Lyly: It’s a whistle sound effect, and yes, I couldn’t think of anything else, lol