CH 196

Damsel Scarlet stretched after we left the party venue.

“Mmmhhmm! Now then, what are you going to do next, Lady Indra?”

“I’ll head back to our base for the moment. …Originally I came to this academy because of a request. And I extended my stay here because of your request, but the formalities for dropping out are already all finished. I’ll go back to being an adventurer again.”

“Oh my, so I can meet you only if I visit your base, right?”

“…Yeah, I guess that’s how it’s going to be…”

Damsel Scarlet clapped her hands together with a loud slap.

“Okay, then I shall use my school vacation to visit your mansion, Lady Indra!”

“”Haahh!?””

Sword’s and my voices overlapped.

“Inviting a school friend and being invited over by them is something common! Right? Lady Indra, you are a cheat anyway, and besides, you have maids at your mansion, so it should be okay for me to visit normally, no?”

…It’s probably going to be alright.

“Forgive me, but just as I told you before, I’m a freeloader. That “camping van” called Char, the mansion, and everything else belongs to Sword. The maids and servants were brought along by Sword, too.”

When I made an evasive statement, Sword cried out, “Ahh! Damn, you girly! Don’t push all the responsibility on me!”

But, it’s a fact either way.

“Very well. Hero 【Thunderclap White―”

“S-Rank Party 【Allrounders】!!”

Without letting her finish, he immediately corrected her words.

“…Hero Sword, I would like to be invited to Lady Indra’s mansion, who is a friend in spirit and study, so would you give me your permission?”

Sword spat out a sigh.

“…Well, the mansion’s staff is composed of servants who’ve served the nobility anyway. Even the veteran servants have come to us, so we’ll somehow cope with it, I guess.”

“Yahooo!!” Damsel Scarlet danced in joy with her arms in the air.

That’s definitely cute to look at, but is it okay for a ducal daughter to act like that?

＊

With the permission of the owner obtained, Damsel Scarlet’s visit was set in stone. We headed back to our base without making any detours and explained the circumstances to the mansion’s residents.

“…I’ve become friends with Scarlet Chaudgal, the daughter of the Duke Chaudgal family. Given that she also possesses a broad base of knowledge, we immediately connected. Her knowledge is based on a different perspective of mine. …Anyway, you see, I did tell her that I’m a commoner, but…somehow she insisted on visiting our mansion for a vacation.”

“Oh my! Congratulations, Lady Indra! For you to be able to make a friend at the academy, and moreover, for that friend to be the young lady of the Duke Chaudgal family is wonderful news! Nothing less of you, Your Ladyship!”

The maids were overjoyed, and for some reason the head maid nodded while looking all proud.

“No, that’s because she’s a kin of my soul. It’s the same reason as with Brave Amato. …Also, Damsel Scarlet’s manners as ducal daughter might be flawless, but just like me, she was a commoner at the homeland of her soul. That’s probably why she wishes to relax at this mansion. I’d like you to welcome her while keeping that in mind.”

“””As you wish, Your Ladyship!”””

Now then, I left the rest to everyone (including the head chef) who were all super excited about this for some reason, and continued the work I had left unattended.

Once I headed over to the brewer’s team, “Oh! Lady Indra! Welcome back!”, I was greeted by my lovely, beautiful Plana….

“Oooohhh! Did you possibly complete it!?”

Plana’s face, as she looked at me, was beaming with an excessive amount of pride and joy.

“Ehehe, I managed to do it one way or another～ I ran some tests and I think it should be about right like this. But, if you make it bigger, it’ll become difficult to control the heat, so I had to wait since I need to rely on your great knowledge, Lady Indra.”

She already finished the still that I had designed to be as tall as I am! It’d allow you to distill alcohol by heating it over an in-built stove through manual operation instead of a magic tool.

Yep, yep! Plana, you’re a genius!

“That’s really incredible! And how did it work out in practice? Were you able to properly distill alcohol with it?” I asked the brewer’s team.

The chief brewer nodded deeply, “It’s fairly difficult to control the temperature, but I’ve got a good feeling about this. No, when I considered that this whole process had been handled by you alone thus far, my admiration of your magnificence was confirmed anew, Lady Indra.”

No, look, I’m a mage, okay? Constant temperature control or some such isn’t needed, so it’s not such a big deal, you know?

“Alright, the manual operation is working well! Next we’re going to increase the device’s size and turn it into a magic tool. Plana, if you have any understanding of magic tool creation, let us build it together.”

“Okay!” Plana answered with her face gleaming in happiness.

Yep, yep, she’s pretty and adorable.

＊

Next up was the tableware.

Sahad made large amounts of bottles for us. I got him to teach me the work process and then installed magic tools for the simpler work steps. While it still required quite a chunk of manual labor, his assistance was a huge help.

“Thanks, Sahad!”

“No, I just thought that Plana did her best as well, so I can’t lose to her…,” he said and scratched his head bashfully.

How beautifully innocent.

“Also, I made tableware and Ms. Coral was so kind as to add some painting to them. Here, take a look! Isn’t it truly gorgeous?”

I was surprised. It was so wonderfully made that it wouldn’t be strange to put them up for sale. When I suddenly looked back, I found the head maid standing there with an embarrassed look.

“…Because I have served Lady Isadola who loved embroidery and painting, I have seen my fair share of such art being performed. Of course I had not expected in my wildest dreams that I would paint ceramics one day myself, but it is quite fun… Please forgive me if it offends your eyes.”

“…No, I was just surprised. As far as I know, these can be labeled as tableware of considerably high quality. If we sold them like this, we could earn many gold coins, you know? Or rather, I thought it wasn’t a custom to decorate tableware with paintings in this world, so you did really well to come up with such beautiful designs. They’re lovely.”

“…Thank you kindly for your praise.”

Her words sounded dispassionate, but seeing how her mouth relaxed somewhat, she’s probably happy. I think?

“Is it okay for me to leave this work to you? This looks like it’ll become fine material to brag in front of Damn Scarlet. Did Mr. Amato see it already?”

“Yes. He said, 『It’s high-quality porcelain ware as you’d receive it only as congratulatory gift』…”

Oooh, I see.

“Yep, it’s just as he says. Back in Mr. Amato’s homeland, you’d receive celebratory gifts from your friends and work colleagues, not to mention your family, when marrying. Most of the time it was money, but sets of such cups and plates were popular choices as well. You wouldn’t buy expensive tableware for yourself, would you?”

“Oh, I understand,” the head maid smiled wryly.

“I thought of it as interesting figurative speech, but it sounds like it has a proper reason attached to it.”

Well, anyone would think so if they don’t know the custom, I suppose.