CH 40

No, well, certainly since I used such a flashy magic like that, it couldn’t be helped that I became a rumour.

Hm-m. Did I overdo it?

But I was quite desperate at that time.

When I was thinking about what I should do, Noir who was riding on my shoulder rubbed my cheek and said, “Nyaan”. Then, Purun who was riding Noir’s back moved to the shoulder opposite to Noir and rubbed my other cheek.

Ahaha. Both of you, that tickles-!

“Oh my, Yuuri-chan. You’re awake?”

Along with the sound of the door opening, Amanda-san came in bringing breakfast. I wonder why? She usually ate meals in the dining room.

Perhaps my face expressed my question, since Amanda-san said, “Ah, about this,” and lightly lifted the tray she was holding in her hands up.

“I heard that there was a noble I didn’t really want to meet coming here, so I’m evacuating.”

Noble, huh…Could it be…?

When I reflexively turned to look under the window, Amanda-san placed the tray and looked under the window as well. Then, she had a sour expression.

“Whoa. Isn’t that Count Rainier? This is the worst…”

“You seem to know each other?”

“He’s a regular customer at my family’s company. He has an innocent-looking face, but he’s quite a sharp and able person. Anyway, I’m glad that I don’t have to meet him.”

“What happened?”

“He approached me with the intention of making me his second wife.”

“Eh, but Amanda-san has Georg-san, right?”

“That’s right. That’s why I turned him down, but he was quite persistent…Count Rainier’s son, Lansley is also here in the Izel fort, so I had tried to turn him down from him, but he wouldn’t give it up. Certainly, it’s true that normally it’d be a great story if the daughter of a merchant family can get married to a noble, moreover quite a wealthy noble, but Count Rainier is a lot older than me, you know? Besides, I don’t plan on marrying someone other than Georg!”

Awawawa. Amanda-san, your voice is too loud!

Sure enough, the racoon-looking person called as Count Rainier looked up. I closed the window in a fluster, but I felt like our eyes met.

“This is bad…Although I was supposed to be away investigating the Demon Forest, my lie might be exposed.”

Or rather, I think that it’s certainly exposed. Since our eyes met just now. Moreover, I felt like the dwarf-san next to him called Krumm was also looking up at me.

I hope nothing will happen…

But my anxiety hit the mark perfectly.

I thought that I could spend my time locked up in my room while Count Rainier was staying by asking Virna-san’s cooperation to bring me my meals, but when I was summoned by Serena-san for a magic training…

–He was there. The black-bellied racoon.

“What’s the meaning of this? It’s supposed to be Yuuri-chan’s magic training.”

Amanda-san put her hands on her waist as she reproached Serena-san at the entrance of the underground training grounds. That figure of hers clearly showed anger no matter how you looked at it, but the red pupils that flickered due to the anger was incomparably fascinating.

“Count Rainier is an Earth magician. He was going out of his way to teach some Earth magic that I couldn’t teach. I thought that you’d be grateful, so I don’t know why you’d get angry instead.”

Serena-san didn’t falter from Amanda-san’s sharp gaze, and her beautiful blue eyes were looking at us intently. In her eyes, I couldn’t see any ill intention especially towards Amanda-san.

“Have you asked for the leader’s confirmation?”

“Why must I? Am I not this fort’s head magician? Even if I don’t ask Leonhart-sama, this is still within my authority.”

“—You haven’t heard, huh? Yuuri-chan, let’s return.”

When Amanda-san turned her heels to leave, Count Rainier who had been silent all this time called and stopped her.

“There isn’t any need to return this quickly, right? It’s been a while since we last met. Let me see your beautiful visage for a while more.”

As Count Rainier said that, Amanda-san silently took out and curled up a paper from her pocket. I saw it before, it’s a puff ball that’s used here instead of letters.

Amanda-san blew on the puff ball and it quickly became white clumps of snow and flew away.

“The leader’s going to be here soon, so if you’d like to see some beautiful face, I think you can just see the leader’s face.”

“Hahaha. Strong-willed as usual. That’s why you’re good, don’t you think so, Krumm?”

“Dwarves prefer meek women…”

“Don’t you think it’s good to have a strong-willed woman who will turn meek just to me? Really, dwarves are no fun.”

Count Rainier was laughing, “Kukuku…,” like a villain. Meanwhile, Krumm-san who was next to him turned his gaze away from Amanda-san, signalling his disinterest.

Really. Although he’s Gazad-san’s friend, why is Krumm-san serving Count Rainier who seems quite detestable? It’s a mystery!