CH 35

35 The This That Came Out is a Soul

「My father has properly given his permission to conduct research on the saint staff. Please stop messing around.」

Luke was pissed off. Bates shrugged his shoulders, his expression as if he already knew about it. Trevor was smiling wryly as he witnessed such an exchange.

「Then, please call me when you need something by pressing the magic tool on the counter.」

「Wait, Ted. Why did you bring these people inside?」

Luke asked the bandana youth who seemed to be the clerk of this store when the latter was about to go back.

「Eh, they’re your friend right, Young Master Luke? I mean, they even brought Aunty Luca’s doughnut with them. I mean, you said that you forgot to buy them when you just come a while ago.」

Ah, the doughnut from the diner, huh.

It was actually for us, but well, I guess it was a cheap price for information about magic tools.

「Do you still have it with you?」

I received the bag of doughnuts and showed its contents to Luke. Seeing that, Luke moaned with an agonizing look on his face.

「… You’re trying to bribe me with doughnuts, huh.」

「Hahaha, as if you can use doughnuts for a bribe. Well if you don’t want it, I’m gonna eat it in your place.」

「WAIT A MINUTE!!!」

He caught my hand when I was about to return the bag of doughnuts to Richard.

「I guess I’ve no choice but to accept it since you went that far to bring it to me.」

Bates and the other adults burst into laughter upon hearing Luke’s words.

Was it that delicious? I thought it was so-so.

Nevertheless, Luke grabbed the bag so tightly as if he didn’t want to let go of it even if he died.

I see you like it so much, huh.

「Then, please teach me about magic tools in return.」

「Dammit, so it really is a bribe.」

Luke seemed to be extremely frustrated. What’s the matter, buddy? It isn’t a big deal.

「Haah, fine, I guess I’ve no choice but to teach you. Now, give it to me.」

I gave the bag of doughnuts to Luke.

Luke embraced it with such care as if he was cradling a baby―― and snapped out immediately. His face flushed red as soon as he realized what he did in front of me.

「I-It’s not like I recognize you just for a mere treat, okay.」

Is he… a tsundere? A male one on top of that?

「Yeah, no problem. Thanks for your previous hint by the way. And also to the fact that I met you and you’re not beating around the bush, I know about what to do next.」

I bowed my head and thanked Luke.

Luke groaned upon seeing that. Are you okay, buddy?

「Humph, since you hope for it, I guess I shall teach you properly then.」

「Yeah, thank you. But if possible, I want to ask Bates-san to teach me.」

I did feel bad for Luke but Bates-san seemed to be an expert in this regard.

Bates patted Trevor on the back, laughing while holding on his sides upon hearing my remark. He didn’t stop laughing for almost dozens of seconds, is he okay?

Luke pouted. Good grief, you shouldn’t pout like a girl you know.

◇

「――Then, Theodore-kun, is it? What is the thing that you want to ask me for?」

Bandana guy(Ted) who had returned to the storefront to take a breath came back with tea and snacks for my attendants. Bates, who had finally calmed down, was also asking for tea.

Uhm, at the end of the day, I want to ask about the one rumored to be my father’s “enemy”, and whether there was a way to restore their relationship.

「Is the one called the Court Mage Department my father’s enemy?」

「You’re not going to ask about the magic tool?」

Luke stuffed a doughnut into his mouth while pouting, and looked like he was in bliss the next moment.

I felt like I had seen something really amusing.

He really loves that doughnut huh.

「I want to ask about that too, but our discussion from before is filled with jargon that is too difficult for my poor brain to handle. That’s why I want to make things clear first. I’m also curious about the remnant of mana that you’re talking about a while ago.」

「The remnant of mana is just as its name suggests, dregs of mana left behind in a magic tool. It’s not a phenomenon that you can find in a normal household magic tool but a rare phenomenon that occurs in powerful magic tools. It’s a phenomenon in which mana remained in the magic tool that already expired and can’t be used any longer.」

Trevor taught me with that simple explanation.

「Is the existence of that dreg of mana the factor that differentiates between legendary magic tool and ordinary magic tool? Like Saint’s Tiara for example?」

That sounds even simpler than I expected. Perhaps they had a tool to measure that dreg of mana.

For some reason, all of this jargon sounded more and more like a game setting.

「Yeah. There’s a tendency of mana remaining when the amount of mana loaded during production is enlarged. The mana dregs which remain in saint’s ornaments for several hundred years are truly a rare case. That’s why it’s hailed as a legendary magic tool. 」

「Moreover, mana dregs have their own traits, just like how a magic tool seems different when it has no mana dreg. Using those traits, we confirmed that the tiara that was returned by your father has that trait, thus we knew it’s the real thing.」

Bates gave an additional explanation.

「We’re trying to restore the saint’s ornaments by using these traits. But then, the research institute judged that it isn’t a magic tool since even with that much mana dregs left in a saint’s ornament, it cannot be utilized at all. It still opened numerous possibilities though.」

「But it’s an antique item, right? Can you even restore that?―― But, wait a minute! Since the research institute has already declared that saint’s ornaments aren’t magic tools, does that mean they revised their judgement? If so, for what reason? I mean, you’re the former member of research institute right, Bates-san?」

「――Has your father never told you about this matter?」

Bates was looking at me, he seemed shocked for some reason.

Eh? Why did he bring my father now?

「… I see. I guess I’m being too hasty with my explanation. I forgot that not everyone is like Luke.」

Bates muttered while apologizing to me.

「Sorry, let’s forget about my previous explanation for now. You’ll hear about this matter sooner or later from your father―― Now, whether the Court Mage Department was your father’s enemy or not, is it?」

He didn’t even hide his intention to change the topic of the conversation.

It seemed the matter of Bates-san’s research on the saint’s holy cane was a state secret. And yet, he readily told me about that matter. In short, my social status was high enough to allow me to know about this secret. He didn’t hesitate to teach me about this matter but held back and told me to ask my father directly.

… Curious. Now I was even more curious about this matter.

「I can’t tell you the details about this matter. The Court Mage Department actually welcomed the tiara returned by Lord Goldberg with open arms and was really delighted with it. The reason being, they get more research subjects. In fact, the research is still conducted even now, but some people misunderstood the situation thanks to that person’s bad habit.」

Eh? Wait a minute, what’s that mean?

「Well, the truth is, Director Greenwell has severe sarcasm issues. I heard that he said 『It seems you’ve no pride as one of the five families.』 to Lord Goldberg, notifying the latter that they’d received the tiara.」

Trevor spoke with a wry smile on his face.

「He’s actually really happy with another research object but… he ended up spouting such nonsense sarcasm since he’s overly worried about the eyes around.」

「It can’t be helped. It’s a royal treasure after all. There’s no way there won’t be any rumor spreading around if such an important item suddenly returned. Father said that he was worried about Lord Goldberg!」

To answer Luke’s protest, Bates spoke with a disgruntled look on his face.

「The problem is the way he spoke. It sounds like nothing more than a complaint to anyone who doesn’t know him. My brother apologized later for the misunderstanding, and we gave our support to Lord Goldberg. And then, it finally turned into a misunderstanding…」

「You say so but, Father said that he already took care of the situation.」

「Ah, yeah. He did say 『It has nothing to do with Lord Goldberg』 but so that’s what he means, huh. Everyone seems to assume it’s the opposite though.」

Luke’s attempt to protect his father was brilliantly crushed by Trevor.

… So that means…

「Everything is just… a misunderstanding!?」

「Well, yeah, exactly.」

「No way… then the reason I can’t get engaged with Muriel is…」

I hung my head down, covered my face with my hands. I felt like apologizing right now.

I was embarrassed to the point that it felt like my soul was leaving my body.

「What do you mean?」

Since Bates asked about what happened I told him about it.

「… That person…」

Bates heaved a sigh as he massaged his temples.

He placed his hands on my shoulder and then,

「Do your best, boy!」

Said those words.

「――DAMMIT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!!」

I can at least rampage in this situation, right?