“That’s it… imagine the Light Spirit sharing its power with you.”
“…”
The faint orb of light hovering above Noah’s palm became increasingly distinct. The sacred light was now twice as intense as before.
Allen was making a fuss with joy and excitement.
“Amazing! Such rapid achievement… You have a natural talent not only for swordsmanship but also for divine power, Noah!”
“Yeaah.”
“Would you like to visit the Grand Temple? You can also read the scripture honoring Lady Calliphe’s achievements.”
Taking advantage of Lynen’s absence, Allen gently tried to persuade Noah.
But he only received a listless head shake in response.
Allen couldn’t keep up his excitement alone when Noah looked like wet seaweed. He could guess the reason well enough.
“Do you want to go to Lady Calliphe and the Duke?”
“…Mmm.”
Noah mumbled.
“I don’t like waiting alone.”
“They were worried you might get hurt somehow.”
“Still. I can use aura now too.”
Noah’s cheeks puffed up as he expressed complaints he couldn’t voice in front of Calliphe.
“I’m stronger than Pimento, so I don’t understand why they say only I’m in danger.”
“Haha, true. You do handle a sword better than Baron Rotten.”
Perhaps because he had been called a genius since learning aura, Noah showed a strange new confidence he hadn’t displayed before.
The child had finally developed self-pride.
“But there are still many dangerous places for you. Where Lady Calliphe and the Duke went is one of them. If you study hard and train diligently, you’ll be able to go anywhere with them later. Okay?”
“…”
Noah reluctantly agreed. The promise of “later” didn’t seem to resonate with him at all.
Allen scratched his cheek awkwardly.
If someone came to spy again, they would find Noah’s attitude suspicious. But he couldn’t force the child to pretend to be calm either.
‘What should I do? What can I say to divert Noah’s attention elsewhere?’
While pondering, Allen’s eyes met with the fake Calliphe’s. It was Lina disguised as Calliphe.
‘H-help me, Head Maid!’
‘Leave it to me!’
Lina, who had been listening to their conversation, put down the book she was pretending to read and said:
“Young… I mean, Noah. There’s something I need help with. Would you do it?”
“Huh?”
“I need something that happens to be in the basement. It would be great if you could find it for busy me.”
“The basement?”
Noah’s eyes sparkled.
The annex’s basement was an unexplored space Noah had never ventured into.
It contained items that remained before Calliphe started using this annex.
Things that were too expensive to throw away or seemed to have sentimental value were gathered there.
They belonged to the annex’s previous owner, Porsche.
“What do I need to find?”
“Well, something like… a precious-looking jewel? Anything will do.”
Lina handed Noah the basement key, being deliberately vague.
“Just pick ten nice-looking items and bring them back. Can you do that? You can take the other children with you.”
“Yes!”
Noah immediately got up and called Mihail, who had been swinging his sword outside. The two boys rushed down to the basement with a clatter.
Lina and Allen sighed in relief.
Lina massaged her tingling eye corners, strained from maintaining her disguise, and said:
“The basement is divided into several spaces and quite messy, so it’s like a maze. They’ll be busy exploring for a while.”
“I hope Lady Calliphe and the Duke return by then. Thank you for your help, Miss Lina.”
“Don’t mention it. Well then…”
Returning to her room, Lina released her transformation.
She had been switching between these two appearances because the other servants would find it suspicious if the head maid kept disappearing.
“It’s fortunate the young master enjoys exploring. Typical for his age. Hehe. I wonder what he’ll find? A knight figurine? An old sword?”
She had no expectation that Noah would discover anything extraordinary in the basement.
※※※
Click.
With the heavy sound of the lock engaging, the door to the basement creaked open.
Noah and Mihail’s eyes widened at the darkness that appeared before them.
“Woooow.”
“It’s l-like the dungeons I’ve only heard about. Noah, did you bring a lamp?”
“Noooo.”
“Let’s go get one right away. It feels like something might come out from there…”
At that moment, a light flashed beside Mihail, and a beast’s face with pronounced shadows appeared.
“Aaahhh?!”
Startled, Mihail grabbed Noah’s neck and jumped into his arms like a princess. Noah was so surprised that he held his breath with a hiccup while catching Mihail.
The beast’s face illuminated from below its chin laughed, “Gotcha.”
The beast was actually Imelen.
The Light Spirit attached to Imelen’s chin spun around, silently laughing.
― ◜▽◝♪
“Ugh… you really scared me!”
Mihail got down from Noah, grumbling.
Having spent more time playing with Imelen, Mihail had grown accustomed to the Light Spirit.
“Why are you here, Spirit? Shouldn’t you be at the Grand Temple?”
“It’s okay for a bit.”
Imelen answered instead, walking forward with small steps. The Light Spirit sat on the capybara’s broad nose bridge, lighting the way.
“What, are you coming with us?”
“Dangerous for two kids alone.”
“…Says another kid.”
“What did you say?”
“N-nothing!”
Mihail quickly replied and whispered to Noah.
“This was supposed to be an adventure for just the two of us. It’s annoying to have someone interfere. Right, Noah… huh?”
Noah was already trotting after Imelen. Mihail pushed out his lips.
“Tch. Guess I’m the only one who’s disappointed. Wait for me!”
The little ones proceeded through the maze-like basement, making small footsteps.
The first room contained antique furniture.
Noah examined the dust-covered furniture.
“Pretty.”
“It’s probably furniture your sister’s mother used.”
“Really?”
Only then did Noah and Mihail realize the identity of the items filling this basement.
‘Then we might find something Lady Calliphe would like!’
More motivated, Noah carefully examined the room as they moved forward.
The second and third rooms contained Porsche’s magic books and clothes. Nothing special.
The fourth room was even more so. To the children’s eyes, it was filled with junk that didn’t look particularly valuable.
But among them, rolled-up papers caught Noah’s attention. When unfolded, they revealed rough sketches.
“Well drawn…”
While Noah unfolded them one by one, Mihail picked up a somewhat clumsily made wooden statue.
“What’s this? Looks like a woman’s statue, but the craftsmanship is terrible. Did someone get ripped off buying this?”
“…Oh? That.”
Noah’s eyes widened slightly as he looked at the statue.
“It looks exactly like this drawing.”
“Huh?”
The sketch Noah found and the statue were very similar in shape.
When they compared other sketches and items, several matching pairs emerged.
“Did someone draw these after looking at the statues and toys?”
“More likely she drew sketches before carving.”
Imelen offered a more reasonable guess.
“Draw first, then carve.”
“Porsche made all these? There are quite a lot.”
While Mihail and Imelen examined the drawings with interest, Noah discovered another picture.
A portrait of a young woman.
A face strangely resembling Calliphe.
“Is this Lady Porsche…?”
The woman in the portrait was smiling at a small box. More precisely, she was looking at a ring inside the box.
Noah stared at the smile of the woman presumed to be Porsche.
‘Her smile somehow…’
It might be his imagination, but…
‘She looks like she’s smiling out of apology.’
Like when adults smile when they’re embarrassed or don’t know how to answer. Somehow the lines in this particular drawing seemed unusually rough.
‘Receiving a ring means getting married, right? Shouldn’t she be happy then?’
Just as Noah tilted his head in confusion:
“Look at this. This drawing seems really detailed!”
Mihail found a sketch of a ring in the corner.
It was the proposal ring from the picture!
Noah began to feel excited.
“Mihail. So far, the objects in the drawings actually existed, right?”
“Yes, most of them?”
“Then could this ring exist too? Did she make the ring?”
“Maybe? But finding something so small would take a long time.”
Good.
Noah nodded eagerly. If he found it and gave it to Lady Calliphe, she would surely be happy.
“Let’s look for that ring!”
“Kek.”
And so, without Calliphe or even himself knowing, Noah began preparing “one big breakthrough.”
Translator
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midori
Thanks! Ohhh! The ring is going to indicate to Yulid that it’s Calliphe! But… Calliphe looks like Porsche. Maybe Porsche had disguised herself while being with Yulid…i wondeeer