I’ll Never Set Foot in That House Again! Volume 2 Page 4

  He was right: Brother Felix would only be able to hear Ele’s words as meows, so that wouldn’t work.

  Lord Glen looked troubled, frowning. “You could probably infer from looking over there, but I was giving her a lesson,” he said, pointing at the table. “There’s nothing odd going on here.”

  Brother Felix turned and looked, and the expression on his face changed into one of surprise. On the table was the world map and animal dolls. “This is how homeschooling teaches worldly affairs...isn’t it?”

  Homeschooling was the basic teachings that tutors or family members gave to children from childhood to when they enrolled at school at age thirteen. All noble children learned it.

  By the way, though children went to either the Royal Academy or private schools, learned aristocratic manners and studied as a group, since I’d become a research fellow, I wouldn’t be going. Back at the Eucharis manor, I didn’t learn a single thing from tutors or my family. I only knew basic reading and writing and math because the gardener, the maid, and the chef taught me. If they hadn’t, I would’ve been illiterate...

  “Back at the Barony she was born in, Chelsea had no opportunity to study. I’ve been teaching her when we have the chance, but... The reason I cleared the room was because I thought it best that no one outside her close acquaintances learned that she was uneducated.”

  When he heard Lord Glen’s explanation, Brother Felix teared up, just like Grandfather had. “You had it rough, huh... But your big brother will be here for you from now on, okay...?”

  “Thank you...?” I still didn’t get it, but he patted me on the head when I thanked him.

  “It looks like the misunderstanding has been resolved. We’d just been taking a break, but... Felixfort, let me ask you for your opinion,” Lord Glen said with an impish smile. “Chelsea would like to give her family flowers. What kind would you suggest?”

  ...I’m giving my family flowers? Oh, but it might be a good idea to do, to show that I want to become closer! I stared up at Brother Felix’s face.

  “F-Flowers?” Despite the sudden question, he crossed his arms and started thinking. “What about...lilies, maybe? Grandmother and Mother love them.”

  “You can draw them, right?” Lord Glen continued confidently, only for Brother Felix to give a strong nod back.

  “Of course!”

  After Lord Glen cleared the world map and dolls off of the table, he rang a bell to summon a maid to bring paper and something to draw with.

  Brother Felix looked proud as he stood in front of the paper. “I’ll draw it, then — [Picture],” he cast, drawing a large picture of a lily in just a second. It was beautiful and so realistic that I almost thought it was still blowing in the wind.

  “It’s so real...” I whispered in shock, getting a happy smile back from my brother.

  “My Skill [Picture] lets me draw anything I’ve seen exactly how I saw it. These lilies were decorating the halls a few days ago,” he explained emotively as I was entranced by the picture. “You knew what my Skill was, Your Highness?”

  “I’m a nationally-approved Appraiser, after all,” Lord Glen replied, smiling like a little boy who’d just succeeded in pranking someone. “Your picture will be helpful, since it’s so lifelike. Thank you.”

  “T-Thank you...” Brother Felix went a bit red, having been praised.

  After that, he reluctantly left the room, having sword practice to attend.

  “Let’s plan things with this lily as a base,” Lord Glen said after clearing the room once again.

  “Alright.” It was easier to make seeds if I imagined something close to reality while I cast. Beside the picture that my brother had drawn, we drew a half-moon-shaped seed about the size of my thumbnail. Real lily seeds were smaller than my pinky nail. I made them bigger because they would be harder to lose that way.

  «Spirits are the ones who purify the miasma, so you should make the flowers absorb it instead,» the kitten-formed King of Spirits suggested, puffing out his chest proudly from his perch on the wooden box.

  Lord Glen nodded, adding to the drawing. “How about we make it so that after it absorbs a set amount of miasma, it produces another seed before wilting to become fertilizer?”

  «If it fertilizes the soil, it can revive the land that was made barren by the miasma.»

  I nodded at their suggestions. “Should I make it so it blooms immediately after being planted?”

  “That’s a good idea, since we want the problem fixed as soon as possible... We should be finished, now.”

  I read the blueprint made from Brother Felix’s drawn lilies, my drawn seeds, and Lord Glen’s written plans for the lily seeds that would absorb miasma over and over again.

  “Okay, I’ll try to make one,” I said, getting nods back from the other two. “Make a seed for a lily that will absorb the miasma — [Seed Creation].”

  With a light click, a blue, half-moon-shaped seed plopped down on the table. Lord Glen looked closely at it, using his [Appraise] Skill.

  “It’s called a ‘Blue Lily.’ It blooms into a bright blue flower, which absorbs miasma before withering to become fertilizer... You did it.”

  I clapped my hands happily.

  “With your mana pool, you should be able to make about twenty-five more seeds.”

  “Then I’ll make as many as I possibly can!”

  I want to get rid of all of the miasma flowing into the Sargent Margraviate, I thought, making seed after seed. After using my Skill so many times, we had a little mountain of them on top of the table. I was a bit tired and out of breath, but I wanted to keep going, for the sake of the Margraviate! Thinking that, I cast again: “Make a Blue Lily — [Seed Creation].”

  The moment I did, my vision warped, and I fainted.

  Interlude 2: Glen and the Blue Lilies

  I barely managed to catch Chelsea after she swayed and lurched forward. It was really close, since we were sitting across from each other... Checking her status, I saw that she’d overused her Skill and fallen asleep, having used up all of her mana.

  “She had to overdo it again...”

  «Yes. Should she not have realized she was nearly out of mana from the loss of breath and fatigue?»

  “She should have, since I cured all of her status ailments, but...Chelsea might just be so used to pain that she didn’t realize.”

  «We must scold her for that, later,» the kitten said, looking worried from his spot on top of the box holding the Spirit Tree cutting.

  “They’re going to get the wrong idea about us again...” I muttered, laying her down on the sofa.

  For now, I collected all of the seeds that she had made to absorb the miasma—the Blue Lily seeds—and put them in my Item Box. Then, I rang the bell to call a maid and have Chelsea carried to her room.

  ＋＋＋

  A few hours later, James, the current Margrave Sargent, and I stood on a wide span of wasteland to the southwest of the manor. There, a dark, black, muddy gas—the miasma—was gathered. It writhed, almost like a living thing, but was kept in place on the wasteland by a barrier of [Wind Magic].

  “It’s really dense. Just getting close to it makes it hard to breathe,” I said, despite the fact that the strong body my [Reincarnator] bonuses gave me made it hard to feel. All of the knights that had come as our guards looked to be in pain. “Let’s plant the seeds that Chelsea made.”

  “These?” James asked, looking curiously at the blue half-moon-shaped seeds in the palm of my hands. The very oddly-colored seeds were the ones that Chelsea had created to absorb the miasma.

  “Do your best not to faint from the shock,” I advised everyone present, thinking back to when she had planted the Spirit Tree, or the plants in her personal garden. James gave me a (slightly twitching) smile in return.

  I slipped a Blue Lily seed in a small fissure in the ground by my feet. The moment I did, a sprout popped up, then some leaves... A second later, the flower was at my waist. A big blossom appeared, blooming into a la
rge lily. The flower, just as bright blue as the seed it was grown from, swayed in the breeze.

  Using my [Appraisal] Skill, I saw a pie graph sort of thing displayed, and the blue circle quickly turned black. That must mean that it was sucking up the miasma. As soon as the circle was fully black, the flower withered, produced a single seed, and disintegrated, becoming fertilizer. Then, the new seed that had fallen went to bloom again...and again, and again.

  The knights who had come with us were all staring in shock, jaws to the floor. James was frozen, gaping at the sight before him.

  “Just what I’d expect from Chelsea. They’re absorbing miasma and becoming fertilizer, just as we planned in the blueprint. But I didn’t expect them to grow and wither quite this fast,” I commented with a smirk. Chelsea was the one who made the seeds, but for some reason, I felt just as proud as she should be. “Now, let’s plant more around the perimeter of the miasma to get it all gone.”

  I handed the half-moon-shaped blue seeds to James and the knights. Everyone looked on in awe at the seeds they planted.

  We all stood there for a while, watching the Blue Lilies bloom and wither over and over again. It gradually became easier to breathe, and the knights looked more comfortable. Visually, the murky black mist started fading, disappearing gradually. Once all of the miasma in the wasteland was absorbed, the flowers stopped withering. That meant that there wasn’t any miasma left in the area.

  “Looks like it’s done.”

  Everyone there silently nodded at my words.

  “It was like a storm when they were growing again and again, but now it’s like a calm sea...” James murmured, watching the blue lilies sway in the breeze.

  “Are there other places you’re keeping the miasma contained in?”

  “Yes.”

  “What she made today probably won’t be enough. We’ll have to ask her to create more tomorrow.”

  3. The Former Emperor’s Envoy

  I woke up in my own bed that evening. I’d promised I wouldn’t overdo it, but I ended up using all of my mana anyway. Even though it wouldn’t help anything, I couldn’t help but sit there on my bed, holding my head. A few minutes later, I snapped myself out of it and got up.

  I wanted to know about what happened afterwards, so I headed to Lord Glen’s room. When I knocked, I was immediately let inside.

  “Hey, Chelsea. Looks like your mana has regenerated,” he said with his usual angelic smile, urging me to sit on the sofa.

  «Really! There’s only one of you, Mistress. Why do you always overexert yourself!» yelled kitten-form Ele from his spot on top of the wooden box nearby.

  “I’m sorry...” I apologized.

  «Treasure yourself more!» he said with a sigh, feeling bad. Ele stood on his hind feet, front paws on his hips angrily, but I nodded obediently because I knew he was just worried.

  “So, what happened after I fainted?”

  “After I had a maid carry you to your room, Lord James and I headed to one of the places they were trapping the miasma to plant the blue lily seeds,” he told me, pausing to smile amusedly. “After they bloomed, sucked up the miasma, and then withered and left a seed over and over and over again, all of the miasma in the area was absorbed. Since they had other spots where they were gathering the miasma too, I left the rest of the seeds with him.”

  “That’s great,” I said, sighing in relief.

  “When Lord James saw them bloom, he said it was like the ocean.”

  “I’ve never seen the ocean. I wish I could have seen...”

  “Let’s take a little detour to see them on our way to the Empire.”

  “Really?” I asked, getting a nod in return.

  For the next few days, I made more blue lily seeds. This time, in order to keep my promise not to overexert myself, I only made twenty a day. I thought it was a bit of a waste to leave ten seeds worth of mana unused, but I was told I should always have some to spare in case anything happened.

  After I finished making the seeds, I gave them to my adoptive father, who then had the margraviate’s officials, soldiers, and mages plant them in the spots where the miasma was gathered.

  With that, the Sargent Margraviate’s miasma problem should be over. Next is the Radzuel Empire.

  ＋＋＋

  Someone who called herself the former Emperor of Radzuel’s envoy had come to the manor’s parlor. The lady, who was a bit taller than me, was smiling and looking my way. There were big fox-like ears poking out of her near-orange blonde hair, and a big fluffy tail sticking out from behind her, so I knew she had to be a beastman. I’d heard that they could take both human or animal form, but it seemed that they could make just one part of them animalistic, too. She has the ends of her hair braided, kind of like Gina, I thought.

  “Nice to meet you! I’m Micah, a foxgirl~ I’m normally a chef~!” she said, spinning in place before giving us a smile.

  Is that how people in Radzuel greet others? While I was surprised, everyone else introduced themselves.

  “My name is Glenarnold Snowflake. I’m both the current Duke Snowflake and the King of Chronowize’s younger brother.”

  “I am Jamesfort Sargent, the current Margrave Sargent. I’m here today as an observer. This is my daughter Chelsea.”

  I curtsied when my adopted father introduced me. I was surprised again that he didn’t specify that I was adopted.

  Lady Micah clapped happily when she saw me. “You seem just like the little noble girls I’ve heard of! Super cute~!”

  My face burned beet red at suddenly being called cute by someone I’d just met. When I hid my face in my hands, she just smiled even wider.

  “Let’s sit down and talk for now.”

  Lord Glen and Lady Micah each sat on single-seat sofas, while I sat on a three-seated one with my adopted father. Beside the sofa where I sat was the wooden box with the Spirit Tree cutting, with Ele sitting on top.

  Once the maids had brought tea in for us, my father cleared the room of servants.

  “Lady Micah...”

  “Just stop right there~!” she said, raising a hand to stop Lord Glen. “I’m an envoy, but I’m normally just a normal chef. Just call me Micah~”

  It seemed that she didn’t like being called “Lady.”

  “Then how about...Miss Micah?”

  “Nnnnn... I guess I can live with that~”

  Seemed like “Miss” was safe, though.

  “Then let’s hear the details again,” said Lord Glen, only for the foxwoman to nod.

  “I’ll start by telling you about Lord Royz~” she started, pulling a sheet of paper the size of both my hands together from her pocket. It was definitely bigger than her actual pocket... She might have been able to use Item Box, just like Lord Glen. “This is a portrait of him. He’s a dragonman, and was the Emperor of Radzuel up until three years ago~ He’s also my foster father, and he taught me how to cook, too!”

  The former Emperor Lord Royz was a man with long hair and pointed ears. On the top of his head were two thick, straight horns. Since it was all drawn in black, I wasn’t sure what color his hair and eyes were.

  “Three years ago, he fell ill and had to step down as Emperor~ A while after that, when he went to the castle to see how the new emperor was doing, he was exiled~ Now he lives in a house near the Demonic Forest and Chronowize’s border, spending his retired life defeating monsters every day~”

  I had heard that he’d abdicated after falling ill from Lord Glen before, but I didn’t know anything about him being exiled or fighting monsters every day despite his illness, so it was surprising to hear.

  “Next is some info about His Current Majesty, Emperor Bearsley. They held a huge battle tournament after Lord Royz stepped down, and Emperor Bearsley the bearman won~” This time, she showed us a portrait of a very rotund man with little round ears poking out from his short hair. “Emperor Bearsley is a dummy who only thinks of fighting. That’s why all the civil officials had to work hard to keep the country going~ An
d Emperor Bearsley...made friends with a fake fortune-teller in a bar and believed him hook, line, and sinker~!”

  “How do you know he was a fake?” Lord Glen asked.

  Miss Micah pointed at Lord Royz’s portrait in response to his question. “Lord Royz has the [Appraisal] Skill, so he knew at first glance~ Apparently, his Class was listed as Swindler~!”

  “I see...”

  It has to be true if it’s what [Appraisal] said about him.

  “The fake fortune teller told Emperor Bearsley, ‘If you walk around with shards of Spirit Trees, the miasma can’t get you. You should have all the trees cut down and distribute the shards to the citizens to protect them.’ And then he DID!” She puffed her cheeks out angrily. “He really is a dummy, believing that when eeeeeeveryone knows that if the Spirit Trees are cut down, the Spirits can’t come and purify the miasma anymore~!”

  “What?!” I gasped out from surprise.

  In Chronowize, not many people knew that Spirits purified the miasma. Back when I first made the Spirit Tree Seed, Lord Glen and Lord Tris only found out about it from reading the ancient scroll.

  When I looked over to Lord Glen and my adopted father, both of them had their hands covering their mouths, eyes widened in shock.

  “Why do you know that without the Spirit Trees, Spirits won’t be able to come here and purify the miasma? In our kingdom, it was only written on an ancient scroll, and just a few people know...” Lord Glen asked her exactly what I had been thinking, and it was her turn to be shocked.

  “Humans live such short lives, the oral tradition may have died out~ In Radzuel, it’s a famous folktale that parents tell their little kids before they go to bed~”

  Since I’d lived in a shed away from the Eucharis manor, going to sleep and getting up on my own since I could remember, I’d never had a bedtime story read to me before. I wonder what it’s like?