Lucia Takes Shelter From the Rain

In the end, it seemed that there was no change in my mana usage, crystal or not.

“I really thought using a crystal would’ve let you use it without fainting.” Eric pouted as he stared at the crystal.

“That would have been a big help...”

As Eric and I spoke, Shiro came back over to me, flapping his little wings. “Kyuu!”

“Oh yeah, holding Shiro restored your mana before, right? We should test that out too.”

“Gyuu!” Shiro did his best attempt at a scary growl in response to Eric’s suggestion.

“It looks like he refuses,” I said.

“Kyuah!” The little dragon squeaked, as if he was agreeing with me.

“Oh, geez, really? We’ve got nothing to lose here!”

“Yes we do. It’s called time.” Commander Agliardi popped his head into our conversation. “Now, Eric, it seems as if you’re done with your experiment. Breaktime is over.”

Eric pursed his lips. “Don’t you have some intellectual curiosity too, Commander?”

“I do, but purification comes first. You can do all the research you like once our journey is over. Or at least, you can if Lucia agrees.”

“Luciaaaaa...” Eric whined.

Shiro gave another little squeak in response. “It doesn’t look like Shiro wants to be researched, though.”

“Geez, you’re such a brat for such a little...” Eric leaned in, giving the happily squeaking Shiro a look, when he was suddenly lifted up. “Uwah!”

“We’ve got all the littles together over here, huh? Come on, we’ve gotta go. The border isn’t getting any closer.” Sir Gaius threw Eric over his shoulder, walked over to his horse, and forced the struggling boy onto it.

“What are you doing, you bear!?”

With Eric promptly settled, Sir Gaius turned and called out to me, “You’d best get back to the carriage, little lady. We’ve gotta get going.”

“Ah, alright,” I replied.

“Why am I the only one you forced!?” Eric cried out.

“Because you wouldn’t listen to me even if I asked.”

“I don’t speak bear!”

“You might not speak ‘bear,’ but you speak ‘spoiled brat’ pretty well.”

Sir Gaius and Eric were as friendly as ever as they walked off. Now, I should be getting to the carriage!

◆ ◆ ◆

The Vatis Duchy was actually quite far from Kyriest. Though it took us over half a month to get to the border, we were still a long ways off from the Cristallo Sacro of Foristarn.

“Oh, it’s raining.” We all looked up at the carriage’s roof when we heard the rain start suddenly.

“It rains quite a bit in Vatis,” His Highness said. “Since we’ve entered the meadow month of Prairial, it would just be getting into the rainy season.”

“Ed, does your country have a rainy season too?”

“The climate in Banfield doesn’t change all that drastically. But you had one in your country, didn’t you, Maria?”

“Yep. Rainy season starts in June — the sixth month — in Japan. Having it rain every day sucks!”

The carriage stopped slowly as we chatted, and soon after Commander Agliardi knocked on the door. “Your Highness, I believe it would be best to stop at Admina Village up ahead due to the heavy rain. May we have your permission?”

“That’s fine. Do as you wish, Fernando.”

Looking out the window, I could see how hard it was raining. We were dry in the carriage, but the others must have been soaked to the bone. I hope none of them get sick.

“Is that the village he’s talking about?” Miss Maria asked as she pointed out the window. Since it was the only thing we could see coming up, I thought it must be, but the prince was the only one who knew anything about Vatis.

“I believe so, seeing as we’ve just crossed the border...” His Highness pulled out the map, spreading it on his lap. “Here is Kyriest, and... yes, we should be here. Admina is the only village in the area, so that must be it.”

The area near the border was seemingly empty. There were other towns and villages spotted across the map, but they were all blocked off past the mountains; getting to them would be rather arduous.

As we continued to peer into the map, we reached the village and came to a stop. Lord Reynard had gone ahead, and explained our situation to the villagers.

“Your Highness, Sacred Maiden, please come this way.”

Commander Agliardi opened the carriage door and escorted the two out and led them inside a detached house. Even though they were wearing rainproof cloaks, the rain just splashed back up off of the ground and soaked their clothes. After following them inside, I went to work using Soap to clean and dry everyone off — all our clothes were absolutely drenched.

“Thanks. That helps a lot.” Sir Celes gave me a smile in return. Thank goodness! I was glad to be of help.

The villager who had shown us inside brought another man to us.

“Welcome to Admina Village,” the man began. “I hear that you all are the Sacred Maiden’s party. I am the village chief, Belio.”

He bowed deeply to Miss Maria following his introduction, and started speaking to Commander Agliardi. “Please, rest for today.”

“Thank you for your offer, but we haven’t got any time to waste.” Miss Maria refused the village chief’s offer, straightening out her back.

“Sacred Maiden?”

“We need to purify the trees as soon as possible, don’t we? That’s my job, after all. Am I wrong?” she said with a beautiful smile. “My companions and I will definitely purify all of the Cristallo Sacro. So please, just wait a little bit longer.”

“Oh, Sacred Maiden... What heartening words...!” Belio and the other villager both broke down in tears. “The fact that we were able to help you will be the pride of our village!”

As they both praised Miss Maria, His Highness glanced over them. Then, putting a hand on Miss Maria’s shoulder, he declared in a majestic tone, “My name is Edoardo Hristo Banfield. I am the first son of Elvira Vera Vatis, Princess of the Vatis Duchy, as well as the Crown Prince of Banfield. Like the Sacred Maiden said, we will certainly purify the Cristallo Sacro, and bring you a world without the menace of monsters. Please, allow us to stay here until the rain lets up.”

The villagers bowed deeply once again as the prince introduced himself. It made me realize once again how special everyone else was.

Miss Maria was the Sacred Maiden; Prince Edoardo was the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Banfield; Commander Agliardi was the Commander of the Knight Regiment; Lord Reynard was Commander Agliardi’s Aide-de-camp; Sir Celes was the Dragonslayer, and the Captain of the Third Regiment; Eric was a young genius mage from the Academy; and Sir Gaius was also a knight.

I stood out a lot, being largely an ordinary person, aside from my magic. Even my clothes make me stand out, I thought as I tugged at the slightly faded deep blue skirt of my apron dress. I hadn’t thought about it before, but I just looked so out of place, it was embarrassing. Why on earth am I here? What was His Majesty thinking, sending someone like me along with this elite group? All of them must have been handpicked.

It was true that my magic was unusual for being able to calm monsters, and, though I fainted doing it, it was also useful in helping cleanse the sacred trees. My powers might fit in, but I was just so plain that I spoiled the bunch. Ah, I should change my clothes. I had thought that my normal clothes would be fine, but I should be wearing my good dress if I was with everyone else.

I sighed softly, so no one else would notice. I was late realizing, but I was just no good. If I didn’t spend more time on my appearance, I’d be the one who’d end up embarrassed.

◆ ◆ ◆

When the rain stopped a while later, we thanked the villagers of Admina and headed back towards the horses and carriage.

“That rain was coming down really hard. You were soaked. Have you warmed up at all?” Once we left the building, I started chatting with Sir Celes.

“I’m fine. You dried us off. I thought we’d have to stay wet all day.” He responded with his usual blindingly bright smile. “I mean, we do have changes of clothes, but it’s not like we could all change in front of you ladies.”

We walked along the path on the edge of a field towards where the horses were tied up. I loved peaceful places like this, and it was a change of scenery compared to what you’d find in Arldat.

“By change of clothes, do you mean you have another uniform?” I asked.

“Nope. I actually brought some normal clothes with me too. No chance to wear them, though.”

“No chance?”

“You know how our uniforms were made in the Academy, right?” Sir Celes said, as he motioned up and down his armor. “You never know when we’ll get attacked while we’re traveling like this. Our normal clothes don’t have any defensive enchantments, so we even have to wear our uniforms to sleep. The most we can do is take off our jackets, but that looks sloppy.”

I was quite sure that Sir Celes would still look quite handsome no matter what he wore.

“Is that dress your favorite?” he asked.

...Having the person you love point out that you only have one outfit feels terrible! I should have bought myself more clothes.

“I, I do like it, but, um...” I turned away in embarrassment. “Clothes are expensive, and I wanted to pay off my debt as soon as possible...”

“Ah...”

Our conversation dropped off into an awkward silence. Oh, I wish I could just crawl into a hole and hide!

“Kya...!”

“Watch out!”

It seemed that the ground heard my wish, because it crumbled under my feet. If Sir Celes hadn’t caught me, I’d be covered in mud!

“I’m so sorry! The soil around here is mixed with sand, so it’s not very stable,” one of the villagers showing us the way back explained. “Sometimes the beaten path ends up collapsing where it touches soft soil after it rains.”

“I’m glad I managed to catch you. You didn’t twist your ankle or anything, did you, Lucia?”

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

Moving away from Sir Celes, I looked at the crumbled path. The edge had collapsed down towards the fields. It wasn’t actually that much, but it was enough to trip someone up.

“The crop yield around here still won’t amount to much even when the monsters are gone, but I’ll be thankful when we can leave the village without worrying about getting attacked. We’re all hoping for your success.”