Act 6: Enchantments

Act 6:
Enchantments

 

ONE EARLY AFTERNOON, Jude said something that took me entirely by surprise.

“It’s enchanted?” I asked.

“You mean you didn’t notice?”

He was talking about my hairclip. Of course I hadn’t noticed! We didn’t have anything remotely like “enchantment” back in Japan. “Can you tell what it does?” I asked.

“No, I can just see that it’s definitely got one. It’s reacting to your magic power.”

“It is? And you can tell that, too?”

“Yeah, though you have to train to do it.”

“Huh, is that so…”

It seemed Appraisal Magic was needed to discern an enchantment’s type. Only a few people were capable of casting such magic, and they were, for the most part, employed by large companies in the capital, though a few court mages could cast it, too. What’s more, Appraisal Magic could assess people of sufficiently high level. However, the magic slid off an unwilling subject, and it simply didn’t work on people whose level was too high.

As for enchantments themselves, they could be applied to weapons, armor, accessories, and even tools. The enchantment was always fixed to a focus, such as a jewel embedded in the hilt of a sword. Notably, the focus could be imbued with magic before it was placed into a given object.

To manifest their effects, enchanted objects drew from a person’s magical power, and everyone had magical power, even if they didn’t have enough to actually use Magic skills. That interaction was how those trained to sense magical activity could tell if an enchantment was present. Jude had studied Appraisal at the Royal Academy and was still honing his skills in order to lend them to his family business. What a diligent guy…

“That’s actually pretty interesting,” I mused.

“What is?” Jude asked.

“Enchantments.”

“Huh? Don’t tell me you want to give them a try.” Jude gave me a troubled look.

“Is it that obvious?” I grinned back at him.

What’s with that face? Of course I want to play around with it—it’s not like I could’ve done it in Japan.

“Enchanting isn’t that easy,” Jude said.

“Ah, really?”

“First off, the material components are pretty expensive.”

According to him, technically a ton of focus types could be used, but most enchantment-ready gems, ores, and crystals were both rare and quite costly, even when they were tiny. Plus, only a few people could actually perform enchantments, since it required skilled Magic. Therefore, the price difference between enchanted and non-enchanted objects was…substantial.

Yup. Huuuuge price difference. And the hairclip Albert gave me—with all those little jewels—was enchanted. Ahhh…

“What are you two chattering on about?” Johan asked as he passed by our station.

“Enchantments,” I said.

“Why’s that?”

“It seems my hairclip has some, and the practice piqued my interest.”

“I see.” Johan acted all casual, but he must have already realized what was up with my hairclip. I definitely noticed a slight waver in his eyes when I said the word.

Neither Johan nor Liz had mentioned anything about cost. Maybe this clip just didn’t seem that extravagant to nobles like them? For all I knew, the one I saw in the shop had been enchanted, too, though I doubted it—it hadn’t been that much more expensive than the other accessories. As I mulled it over, I became increasingly daunted by the thought of how much my new hairclip must have cost. I began racking my brain, frantically wondering how I could ever repay Albert for such a lavish gift.

Johan’s next words surprised me. “Want to give it a try?”

“Eh?”

“Enchanting. You just said you were interested, didn’t you?”

Jude and I were shocked at the suggestion.

Huh? Is it that simple to just give it a go? I looked at Jude for confirmation. He seemed to guess what I was thinking, because he shook his head back and forth.

But Johan persisted. “I can make it happen. So? Do you want to?”

“Yes!”

I accepted without hesitation, I think because Johan was the one who offered. Besides, I was pretty intrigued.

 

Johan brought me to the barracks of the Royal Magi Assembly. It was quite far away—even further than the barracks for the Knights of the Third Order—so we traveled by carriage. I was glad we didn’t try to trudge the whole way, though I didn’t quite understand why we were going there. What did we need from them for enchanting? Some kind of magic tool?

Jude stayed behind on Johan’s orders. He was told to focus on his work, which just made me wonder whether it was really okay for me to skip out on my own responsibilities. I didn’t really get the standards for who had to do what.

Once we got there, Johan and I kind of stood out among a sea of people swathed in robes. I couldn’t help thinking they were dressed just like you’d expect a group called a “Magi Assembly” to be. I remembered suddenly that the people who summoned me had worn those exact same robes. Were these the people who had performed that ritual?

“Sei, over here.” Johan beckoned me further inside from where I stood by the door, drinking in my new surroundings.

“Coming.”

There were worktables aplenty, similar to our setup in the research institute. Johan came to a stop in front of one in the center of the room. On the other side of the table stood one of the robed mages, looking a bit nervous.

“I look forward to learning from you today.” I bowed my head to him. He quickly bowed his head in return.

Eh? Is it just me, or does he seem scared?

“I shall now explain how enchanting works,” the mage began with a bit of a forced smile.

What’s up with him? Well…whatever, I guess.

The mage retrieved a partitioned box from the side of the table and set it in front of me. Inside, gems and ores were tidily separated out by type. According to the mage, to perform an enchantment I would first select one of these small foci, and then I would call to mind the effect I wished to bestow.

Effects differed according to the given enchanter’s elemental affinity. For example, those aligned with Fire Magic could imbue an enchantment that called forth flame, while those aligned with Water Magic could instill a similar enchantment that summoned water. Holy Magic like mine bestowed what were known as support enchantments, which enhanced offensive or defensive abilities. Finally, some materials were more compatible with specific kinds of magical effects.

“For support enchantments, I recommend these.” The mage pointed to a collection of gems. “What manner of effect would you like to instill?”

“Good question…” I murmured, thinking it over. What could I do? Support enchantments, support enchantments… Suddenly, I remembered the salamander—that fire-breathing lizard in the western forest. Could I make something to protect people against its terrible flame? “Is it possible to nullify a type of magic?”

“Nullify?” The mage thought it over for a moment. “You may not be able to negate a type completely, but you could possibly lessen its power.”

Hm. Maybe I could try thinking of a way to reduce magical damage instead. “Okay, I’ll try that lessening thing.”

“Then I think this type of stone might be best.”

The mage handed me his recommended focus and I pressed it between my hands. The focus was only about three millimeters in diameter, so I completely enveloped it by doing so. I carefully imagined the type of effect I wanted to bestow and called on my magic.

If possible, it would be better to have general resistance to all kinds of magic, not just fire, right? I thought as I channeled my power into the stone. Yeah, something like that.

And with that, I felt a small jolt against my palms.

D-did I break it?! Ohhhhh yep. I did. I totally broke it.

Timidly, I peeked into my hands. Just as I thought, the focus had broken in two. Panic flared.

“Did it work?” the mage asked.

“Uh, um, well, i-it looks like I broke it,” I reluctantly admitted. I couldn’t stay silent—they’d find out sooner or later.

When I nervously showed the mage, shock washed over his face. “What in the…?!”

Other mages rushed over to see what the ruckus was about.

What’s going on? This is kind of scary. Don’t all stare at me!

But everyone around me remained frozen, including Johan.

“It really is broken,” my instructor muttered, stupefied, and also rooted to the spot.

Please, somebody, do something about this awkward situation!

An ethereal voice cut through the dumbfounded silence. “Did you try enchanting it with a resistance to a type of elemental magic?”

A man approached; he had silky silver hair and, behind a pair of glasses, blue-gray eyes that were somehow familiar. He exuded this cool, intelligent, lordly air, and in this moment, he was like an angel from heaven come to my rescue.

Lord Smarty-Glasses paid no attention to my gawping and took the stone from my palm to examine it. “And truly, all you tried to do was enchant it with a resistance to a single type of elemental magic?”

“Um, no…” I naturally straightened my posture under his cold gaze. I felt like a student being scolded by her teacher.

“Then what kind of enchantment did you attempt?”

“Um, uh… I thought it might be better to increase resistance to all elements, and uh…”

“This focus is inadequate for that degree of enchantment.”

Lord Smarty-Glasses put my cracked focus aside and chose another from the box. It was a black stone about five-to-six millimeters in diameter. Quite a bit bigger than the last one. Was it really okay for me to use? It had to cost a ton.

I glanced at the mage who was supposed to be guiding me and found that he also looked surprised, as did Johan.

“Is it really okay for me to use this?” I asked, looking from Lord Smarty-Glasses to the focus.

Lord Smarty-Glasses nodded and held the stone out to me. I gingerly took it and held it delicately between my hands, just like before. And, like before, I prayed for an enchantment that would resist all forms of magic as I imbued my own power into it.

For a moment, the stone flared hot in my palms—but then immediately the heat died away.

Did I do it?

I didn’t feel any sustained change, so I had my doubts. As I opened my hands to get a look, the smart-looking mage plucked the focus from my palm.

“Appraise,” he quietly commanded.

Ah, so he was one of the few court mages who could perform Appraisal Magic. I couldn’t really say I was surprised. I watched him closely as he worked. His face was impossible to read, a perfect deadpan, and then the corners of his lips curved up the slightest bit. Like the stone’s heat, the tiny smile was there for but a moment before it vanished.

“You succeeded,” he said.

The other mages gushed their admiration, but I only felt relief.

Yay, I did it!

But then a third gem was held up in front of me. It was another one of Lord Smarty-Glasses’s selections. I frowned at him in confusion.

Huh? He wants me to do it again? Nevertheless, I took the focus; it was about the size of the first one I was given.

“Next, you should make one that mitigates the effect of poison.”

“Okay.” I nodded without thinking. I kinda doubted I could refuse him anyway.

This time, I tried to imbue the precise effect he asked for. He had once more identified the right stone for the job because I didn’t break this one either. When I opened my palms, the man picked it up and cast his Appraisal Magic again. I must have done something right because he nodded with satisfaction and handed me yet another focus. I took this too, and he told me again what effect he wanted it to have. After I enchanted that one just as he asked, he seemed pleased and handed me yet another of the same kind of stone.

We did this over and over, with Lord Smarty-Glasses giving me an effect and me enchanting it exactly to order. He Appraised every single outcome and confirmed that they all possessed the correct enchantments. It went on and on and on and on.

It wasn’t easy enchanting all that stuff, either—it took a cosmic heck ton of MP. And I mean, what were they planning to do with all of these anyway?

At first, Lord Smarty-Glasses wanted enchantments for countering poisons, then resistance to elemental magics, things like that, but eventually he started to ask for enchantments to straight up void poison and paralysis. Near the end, he even asked me to enchant foci with two different types of reduction effects.

Halfway through, I was running out of magical power like you wouldn’t believe, but then one of the observing mages casually plopped a few mid-grade MP potions down in front of me. Five of them, at that. It seemed like a lot, but I found myself downing them all when I took a break. It wasn’t that big of a deal since potions didn’t seem to interact with your digestive tract for some reason, so I could keep knocking them back without feeling sick.

Objectively, though, it was still a lot of potions. And all while I was chugging, a certain somebody lurked over my shoulder with the next focus to enchant.

“How long are we gonna do this?” I asked as I finished yet another enchantment. The novelty had worn off, and I was pretty ready to head back to the institute.

The enchanted gems I had produced like some kind of human conveyer belt were lined up all neatly in front of Lord Smarty-Glasses. He looked them over, nodded, and then walked to a locked shelf on the wall. From there, he extracted a remarkably large, clear stone. It must have been over one centimeter. And—that wasn’t a real diamond, right?

Some of the nearby mages audibly gulped. Even Johan gaped.

“This will be the last,” said Lord Smarty-Glasses. “Nullify all status ailments, nullify all magical attacks, nullify all physical attacks.”

Ehhh? Three effects? And all of them nullifying? I wasn’t the only one shocked by the command. The other mages’ eyes were so wide that I expected their eyeballs to tumble out.

For my part, I wasn’t even positive this request was possible. “Hmm, I’m not sure I can nullify magical attacks and physical attacks at the same time. However, I think I could maybe increase magical resistance and physical defense?”

“Is that so? Very well, add those.”

I listened carefully to his instructions, then envisioned an enchantment that would nullify status ailments, increase magical resistance, and increase physical defense. This time, the heat in my palms was hotter than the previous attempts. The whole thing took longer, too, but when I handed it over to Lord Smarty-Glasses for Appraisal, his lips once more curved ever-so-slightly up. Now that’s what I call success!

The mages, who had been collectively holding their breath, broke into an uproar. I let out my biggest sigh of relief yet.

“Good work,” Johan said.

I was simultaneously vibrating with nervous energy and more tired than I had ever been. I wanted to get back to the institute as soon as possible and have some tea.

As Johan and I were about to leave the noisy mage barracks, Lord Smarty-Glasses held out a black stone to me. “Your compensation for today.”

It was the very first focus I had successfully enchanted, the one with increased magical resistance.

Compensation? But isn’t it worth a ton all on its own? Am I really allowed to have it?

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Quite. You certainly earned it.”

“Oh.” I took it gratefully.

The stone seemed to sparkle in my hand.

 

***

 

One week after I went to learn how to enchant objects with the Royal Magi Assembly, one of the researchers told me that Johan was asking for me, so I made my way to his office. There, I found someone unexpected: Lord Smarty-Glasses.

“Pardon me,” I said as I entered the room.

“Sei, you come sit, too,” Johan urged.

I did so while he explained the situation. The other day, it got out that the Royal Magi Assembly had acquired a large quantity of enchanted foci, and now the knights were requesting a share. The problem was that some of the requested items were impossible for the mages to make. When I asked why they didn’t just say “No, sorry, can’t,” it turned out they did actually have the items the knights wanted—but they had all been made by me.

At first Lord Smarty-Glasses simply declined the knights’ requests, but somehow the knights knew exactly what kinds of enchanted objects the Royal Magi Assembly had, and they refused to believe any claims that they were impossible to make. After all, the Royal Magi Assembly was composed of the most competent mages in the kingdom. The knights knew there was nowhere else to acquire these items—if the Assembly couldn’t make them, of course a shopkeeper couldn’t either.

Given all that, Lord Smarty-Glasses had no choice but to come to our research institute to request my help in enchanting more gems according to the knights’ desires. “I realize this isn’t something I should be asking of you,” he said, “but would you grant us your aid?”

“I don’t mind, but…”

I mean, I realized it was my fault that this happened in the first place. I was the one who had asked the Royal Magi Assembly to let me enchant stuff. I had no qualms about helping out, but I needed Johan’s permission to leave to do something outside the scope of my job.

Oh, but I guess there’s always the chance that he might tell me to do it after I finish my work for the day? I glanced at Johan and Lord Smarty-Glasses followed my gaze.

Johan furrowed his brow and thought it over for a long moment before finally sighing and nodding. “Just this once. And it goes without saying that you better pay us our due.”

“Thank you.” Lord Smarty-Glasses’s face remained as impassive as ever, but from the way he lowered his gaze, I could tell he felt truly bad for having to ask this of me.

After a bit of negotiation between Lord Smarty-Glasses and Johan, it was decided that starting the following morning, I would spend the next few days working at the Royal Magi Assembly.

 

The next morning, I readied myself to leave, and once outside, I found a carriage had arrived from the Royal Magi Assembly. Johan told me that Lord Smarty-Glasses had arranged for a carriage to bring me back and forth from the palace each day. Their barracks were pretty far from us, so I was grateful for the ride.

The carriage shook and jostled the whole way to my destination. Lord Smarty-Glasses was waiting for me at the entrance.

“Good morning!” I said.

He took in the box I was lugging in both arms and gave me an inquisitive look. “That’s a sizable chest.”

“And it’s all MP potions. I figured it would be better if I brought a bunch.”

Lord Smarty-Glasses nodded in understanding and reached to take the box from my arms.

“Oh, that’s all right. I can carry it myself,” I insisted.

“There is no need for a lady such as yourself to carry such a heavy thing.”

It really wasn’t all that heavy, but he took the box anyway and immediately turned on his heel to go inside. I jogged to catch up. He brought me to the same workroom that I visited the other day, where mages were already knee-deep in enchanting.

“Do you mages start your day so much earlier than we do?” I asked, a bit flustered to see them all getting down to business. I had hoped to arrive before the time we usually started at the research institute.

“Not typically.” Lord Smarty-Glasses went on to explain that since the knights requested so many new foci, the mages had to pull longer hours than usual. I asked if it would be better if I made a point to arrive earlier the next day, but Lord Smarty-Glasses insisted that I should come at the same time, since my assistance had been specially requested.

“Are we coming up on a deadline?” I asked.

“They asked us to have them properly equipped by their next expedition.” A slight vein popped out on Lord Smarty-Glasses’ forehead as he said that, but I was a little anxious already, so I pretended I didn’t notice it.

My table was in the very back of the room. Another mage had set everything up for me before I arrived, and I found all of the foci I’d need readily available. We placed my box of MP potions by my feet, and then I quickly began enchanting.

At first, Lord Smarty-Glasses stood by watching me. They only needed one type of enchantment from me, so after I finished the first few, it became mindless routine and I was able to do it while chatting without making mistakes. A part of me thought I should be quiet while I worked, but it felt kind of awkward having someone standing over my shoulder, so I decided to ask something that had been on my mind: “Was it the Knights of the Third Order who requested these?”

Yesterday, Lord Smarty-Glasses had only mentioned vaguely that “knights” requested the enchantments, so I had been wondering just which Order was due to receive the fruits of our labor.

“No, it was the First Order.” I glanced at Lord Smarty-Glasses’ profile as he answered and found he wore a sour expression.

Maybe he didn’t get along well with these fellows?

“I apologize. We ordered our people to maintain strict silence with anyone outside the Assembly, but there was a leak,” he growled lowly between gritted teeth, and a chill ran down my spine.

I wasn’t alone. All the nearby mages paled at his tone. It strangely felt like the temperature in the room had actually dropped, but surely that was just my imagination.

“Or maybe it was someone from our institute?” I offered. “I do have a colleague who knew I was coming here to learn about enchantments.”

“And they also knew exactly what variety of enchantments you cast?” Lord Smarty-Glasses asked.

“Oh, no, he wouldn’t…”

I had tried to lighten the mood, but my words had the opposite effect.

Jude was the one other person at the institute who knew about my enchanting adventures, but Johan stopped me from giving him any details. Johan was also the only person from the institute who knew exactly what I had done and, therefore, it was highly likely that it was indeed one of the mages who had watched me enchant who leaked the information to the knights.

I suspected Johan’s grim look yesterday, when Lord Smarty-Glasses visited the institute, was because he also knew about this intentional leak.

The mood of the room continued to drop by several degrees, so I concluded that I should probably shut my mouth and focus on my work in silence. Before long, Lord Smarty-Glasses seemed to decide I would be okay on my own because he stepped away.

The tension in the air immediately relaxed.

However, I continued on without speaking to anyone, picking away at this high-volume order one enchantment after the other. Before long, it was lunchtime. I was so focused that I didn’t hear the noon bell ring. It wasn’t until Lord Smarty-Glasses interrupted me that I realized what time it was.

“Are you not going to the dining hall?” he asked.

“Huh?” I looked around to find that everyone had already left. “It’s noon already?”

“Yes.”

It was a bad habit of mine to get so fixated on my work that I didn’t notice what was going on around me. But I had brought some sandwiches from the institute, so I decided to stay in the barracks to eat. Lord Smarty-Glasses said he intended to take his lunch there as well, so we ended up eating our meals together.

The first time we met, he barely said anything more than what was strictly necessary, so I was worried that lunch would be one big awkward silence, but he actually talked to me quite a bit. Thankfully we focused our chat on work, so our conversation went a lot smoother than it would’ve if we were discussing the latest fashion, or sweets, or something else you’d normally expect a woman to want to talk about.

Lunch came to an end without a hitch, and it was time to get back to work. I kept at it until the end of the workday, taking breaks here and there to pop MP potions. I managed to complete about eighty percent of what I had been asked to make, so I figured it would take me one more day.

As I sighed, Lord Smarty-Glasses came over to see how I was doing. He looked a bit surprised as he took in the piles of enchanted foci. “You managed to make this many today?”

“Yup.”

Lord Smarty-Glasses picked up a handful and cast his Appraisal spell. It was important to make sure I’d successfully met the request, after all. Once he confirmed that they were properly enchanted, I was done for the day.

“Excellent work. I’ll see you again tomorrow.” His entire expression softened as he smiled. I was surprised by how different that smile made him look. It seemed his colleagues were taken aback, too, because for a moment I heard some kind of commotion. That sound made his smile instantly vanish. Too bad.

The next day, I returned to the Royal Magi Assembly to help finish the Knights of the First Order’s enchantment order.

 

***

 

I knocked on the door to Johan’s office. He immediately responded to bid me to enter, so I went inside with an apology for the interruption. Johan was at his desk reading a document.

“Excuse me, but there’s something I would like to discuss. Can I borrow a few moments of your time?” I asked.

“Sure, what’s this about?” he asked as he looked up from the document.

“I was wondering if it would be possible to order some things for me?” I handed a note to him.

He wore a puzzled look as he read over the contents. I wasn’t surprised; they had nothing at all to do with work. “Sugar, honey, and lemon? What do you want with these?”

“I thought I could bake some sweets.”

“Sweets?”

Truth be told, I was initially worried these ingredients didn’t exist in this world, but I had asked Jude and he confirmed they could be found, so I decided that I wanted to bake something sweet for the first time in a long, long while. I used to make sweets all the time when I was a kid but stopped once I grew up and had to be a working adult.

“I want to make them for myself, so I am willing to personally pay however much these ingredients would cost. Would you mind adding them to the next inventory order for the dining hall?” I asked.

“For yourself? You mean you’ll be the only one eating them?”

Aha, it wasn’t the special individual order that was the problem, but the fact that he wanted some for himself.

Well, between him and the chef, I guess I’ll just have to make some for everybody then.

“If you’re interested in having some, then the amount I wrote on that note won’t be enough,” I told Johan.

“Just add however much we need to the order and bring it to me.”

“Are you sure? Aren’t sugar and honey expensive?”

“Don’t mind the cost.”

“Just so you know, I’m only going to pay for myself.”

“Who said you were going to pay anything?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to borrow from the research funds…”

“As if I would!” Johan gasped in shock.

Jude had told me that sweetening ingredients like honey and sugar were quite precious in this world and had a cost to match. I couldn’t even imagine how much we would have to pay to get enough of such expensive ingredients to make sweets for everyone in the research institute. The dining hall had its own budget to worry about, so I doubted we could borrow off that. Of course I had assumed he was thinking of the institute’s research funds, but wait a minute… What if he was planning to pay for it with his own money?

“Anyway, don’t worry about it.” Johan smiled subtly, as if he could read my thoughts. With that, he waved me off, signaling me to leave.

 

A few days later, we received all of the ingredients I asked for. I spent my day off camped in a corner of the kitchen from the wee hours of the morning, dealing with the enormous quantity of ingredients. It would’ve been way too hard to make enough for every single person in the research institute all by myself, so I got help from the chefs. It was good timing, as they had recently asked me to teach them a sweets recipe.

Speaking of which—though we had started with only the one chef, we now had five. They rotated shifts in such a way that there were three on hand at any given time. Word of the delicious food at the research institute dining hall had spread all the way to the palace, so people from the palace dining hall had been dispatched to ours to study under the chef.

Together, the chefs and I poured our energy into baking simple cookies with honey and lemon pound cake. I only vaguely remembered the recipe, but it felt like it came together. What a relief.

When we took the pound cake out of the oven, it was well baked. The other chefs were in the middle of lunch preparations, but they kept glancing at the oven while they were cooking because of the sweet smell wafting out of it. There was no way I could deny them the chance to try it first. The taste test seemed to go well, so I waited for the rest of the cake to cool before cutting it into slices and placing them in baskets.

I left it up to the chefs to distribute those baskets to Johan and the other researchers, and then I set off on my merry way to the barracks of the Knights of the Third Order. I was pretty hyped because I could finally do something I’d been needing to: I was going to repay Albert for the hairclip.

Ever since Jude told me how much the clip was really worth, it’d been bothering me. I felt like I had, had, had to repay Albert for such a valuable gift even if it was because he, uh, apparently, um, fancied me.

That was why I used the black gem I had enchanted to fashion an accessory to give him as a gift. It took me a while to choose what to affix the focus to, but I decided on a necklace. A ring might impede his swordplay, and I didn’t think he wore earrings—and a necklace could be kept out of the way.

I didn’t know what necklaces were typically like in the kingdom, but I made a dog tag since those weren’t unusual menswear in Japan. I engraved a cross on the flat and embedded the focus at the center. It was a safe enough design, if I do say so myself.

Granted, there was no way that I could have actually made such a necklace all by myself, so I had outsourced some of the work to a store Johan introduced me to. He wore an awful smirk the whole time.

Anyway, I still felt kinda embarrassed just bringing the necklace to Albert, so I was going to give him cookies and the pound cake, too. And I thought it’d be the most charming thing to hand it all to him in a basket.

 

When I arrived at the knight commander’s office, the knight posted at Albert’s door beamed as he smoothly announced me. What did it mean that I got to be announced as soon as I said, “Hi, how are you?” I couldn’t have been expected; I came on a fast horse and didn’t remember sending a messenger out ahead before I left or anything.

It probably had something to do with that rumor about Albert and I always riding together. I knew it wasn’t really good for him, but whenever he asked me, I just couldn’t refuse him, and we totally ended up riding together all over again.

Ahhh…

The knight opened the door before I had a chance to put my jumble of thoughts back in order.

“Pardon me for the interruption,” I said as I went inside.

I found Albert at his desk dealing with documents as usual. High-ranking soldiers like him had to deal with mountains of paperwork on top of expeditions and practice.

“What brings you here today?” Albert asked me.

“I made some cookies and a cake, and I hoped we could share some.” I recited the words I had come up with ahead of time, and they caused his expression to immediately brighten. Oh nooo…

Yep. I can’t look you in the eye right now. Sorry. Please don’t ask why!

I handed over the basket. He removed the cloth I had draped over it and examined the contents. They were arranged in such a way that at a glance, he could only see the cookies and pound cake. I had buried the box with the necklace under the goodies.

“This looks divine. Let’s enjoy them right away.”

It was validating to get that response, but as he stood up with the basket, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was really in the middle of a break or if I had interrupted. In any case, now that I had handed over the basket, I could flee.

Then he had to go and speak just as I tried to excuse myself, saying, “Would you like some tea to go along with these?”

Nooooo, I just want to go home before you notice the necklace… But I just couldn’t win against the hopeful look he shot my way… Aaahhh, I surrender!

I gave up and plopped down on one of the reception sofas at his suggestion—and then he sat right next to me. There’s a whole other sofa over there!

Three entire people could have easily sat on it without getting in each other’s way, but nope. Still sitting right next to me. I was a little bewildered by his proximity, but the impulse to flee softened—I guess I was kind of used to this now thanks to riding on the same horse so often?

That familiarity frightened me. How should I put it… Recently, I felt like I was rapidly running out of places to run.

A few moments later, a maid brought in some tea; the gentle fragrance floated through the room. An insightful play by the guard at the door—he must have called her to bring some for us.

The amber drink placed before me was the kind of high-quality tea I hadn’t been able to enjoy since my summoning. I took a sip. It was perfectly astringent and easy to drink. Just what you’d expect tea to be like from the royal palace’s reserves.

For some reason, the maid also thought to bring us two plates, so I took the cake and cookies from the basket and handed them to Albert.

I suppose that knight noticed I brought sweets? Oh, he must have smelled them!

“I don’t generally enjoy sweets, but this is quite delicious,” Albert’s mouth fell into a smile as he took a bite of one of the less sugary cookies.

“I’m glad you like them.”

Of course it made me happy to see him enjoy them so much, and I was lured into returning his smile. At that, his own smile deepened and—ack. The attack power of a beautiful man’s smile is way too high. My face began to burn a little.

Crap. Eye contact is too dangerous!

“Say, there’s something I’ve been wondering about…”

Just as we were enjoying our tea after the treats, Albert pulled the box containing the necklace out of the basket.

I choked. I should have been praised for not actually spitting out my tea just then.

How did he notice it so quickly?! I thought I hid it!

“Why is this in here?” he asked. “It looks like an enchanted accessory.”

“Uhhh…” I glanced here and there, everywhere around the room, trying to figure out how to explain myself.

Ahhhhhhh! I can’t think at all!

I let myself send a fleeting glance in Albert’s direction. He was gazing at me with a mix of happiness and anticipation.

In the end, I reached the limits of my brainpower, so I just went with the truth. “That’s also for you. To express my gratitude for the hairclip.”

His smile grew even deeper and more intimate. “Is it all right if I open it?”

I nodded. It was bitterly hard just sitting around waiting for him to do so, so I ended up telling him all about it. “The other day, I learned how to do enchantments with the Royal Magi Assembly. That’s a focus I made that day.”

The moment Albert silently removed the lid and looked inside, his eyes widened.

“I enchanted it with magical resistances. I was thinking it might be something you’d like to take with you when you go on one of your expeditions.” As I explained, the temperature of my face steadily increased. I was so self-conscious that I couldn’t look at him straight. Because I was staring so hard in any direction but the here and now, I didn’t realize what was happening next until it was already upon me.

My gaze snapped to my right hand when I felt something touching it—Albert’s fingers. He slowly and deliberately raised my hand and then everything felt like it was happening in slow motion.

He has such long eyelashes, I thought recklessly as I gazed down on them, transfixed. This line of thought was absolutely an attempt to ignore what he was doing and escape from reality.

The next thing I felt was something softly brushing against my fingertips.

The last thing I remembered was the passion with which he gazed up at me.

As for how I got back to the research institute, I don’t remember that at all.