Life in Another World as a Maid Mage
Volume 1 - Daily Life of A Maid Mage
[←Prev. Chapter] [Index] [Next Chapter→]
14 – Search for lost kids services available. (4)
I guess she was tired after all. On the way back, Shiori dozed off and began to sleep. As I watched her sleep with her face resting on my shoulder, I wondered if she was going easy on me.
Upon arriving at the tent that the search party had put up, I saw Elias and Martin running to me. It seemed they had been dragged back by the knights early since they were a liability.
Lord Klaus!
Elias knelt in front of the blonde boy, Klaus.
"I'm glad… I'm glad you are safe."
Klaus fidgeted nervously, his posture tense.
"... I'm sorry. To you... no, I've caused you all a lot of trouble." Seeing the older servants and the many knights, he seemed to realize the gravity of what he had done. "… I also injured Fran."
The moment Fran's name was mentioned, Elias's face turned grim again. He looked around and shoved people away as he tried to grab Fran, whose limp form was being carried by the knight next to him.
"Stop, Elias! Fran did nothing wrong."
"But he placed your life in danger instead of protecting his Lord with his own life!"
"I'm the one who forced him to come along!"
"If that's the case, Fran should have stopped you! It is the duty of a servant to forewarn his Lord!"
"… Then you! Were you able to do the same when you were an apprentice?! When you had just been assigned to the Head for a short time, were you able to give your honest opinion?"
The young servant was left speechless by his young master's righteous proclamation.
"… I'm totally to blame for this one. Fran has stopped me many times, but I really wanted to play with Fran… as a child."
"…"
Elias finally was left speechless, muttering softly in a way that only those who were very close to him could hear. At this time, I decided to help out. At this rate, we might not be able to return to the city no matter how long it took.
"That's enough. I'm sure the young man is sufficiently remorseful. Any further arguments will only embarrass your Lord even more."
After being told this, Elias came to himself and looked around. Surrounded by the knights of the search team, he noticed that he was drawing attention and his face reddened. As Klaus stepped forward, he straightened up and looked at the adults.
"… I'm so sorry for the trouble I've caused to everyone. I didn't realize how much of a mess my selfishness alone could cause. I realize now how much of an impact my indiscretions will have. I'm really sorry."
A gracious apology. The adventurers and the knights exchanged glances and smiled at the nobleman boy, who folded his waist deeply and bowed his head. Elias reluctantly hugged Klaus's shoulder while Martin stood behind him. Another servant rushed in and embraced Fran, who was still astonished, in their arms. The knights scattered to their respective posts for cleanup.
"… I've caused a lot of trouble for you guys," Martin called out.
"No, it's okay. Don't worry about it. Glad you're not hurt," I replied.
"I'm grateful for your kind words. But is Madam Shiori all right?"
Although her complexion had returned somewhat, Martin looked carefully at Shiori who was still lightly gasping and still had a pale face.
"She's just out of magic. She'll recover after a short break. Well, she might have pushed herself."
"… I apologize for taking her along forcibly. If you think about it carefully, since I called out the three of you, I should have brought you all along with her. No matter how much of a hurry I was in, I lacked composure and lost any kind of consideration, such as taking away a lady I had never met before as if I were abducting her."
Martin laughed at himself with self-deprecation. "… In this case as well, I suppose we're also responsible for the original cause of this incident."
His line of sight turned to Klaus and Fran.
"He was only eight years old when he succeeded the title. His predecessor died when he was at such a young age. Lord Klaus was desperately trying his best to fulfill his duties as the head of the family. I intended to sincerely serve him with all my heart and mind and live up to his wishes, but since I was by his side the whole time, I should have noticed. I didn't think about it because, even at his age, he was performing his duties so well, but the truth is he’s still at an age when he wants to play. I should have paid more attention to that."
A boy who, since taking over the position of head of the household, had been kept away from children his own age and was instead surrounded by adults more than twice his age in order to carry out his duties. He was assigned a servant close to his age and he was no longer able to stifle his childish urges to go play in the wilderness to distract himself.
I really wanted to play like a child. That was the inner turmoil of that noble boy.
"It's a good thing he's figured out his immaturity and cleaned up after himself. He's learned his lesson, and you've learned enough, too, from this incident."
"That's right,” Martin laughed. "In order to be a good vassal, you have to be close to your master's inner psyche as well." Martin wrapped up the topic when he saw a knight rushing over.
"Sir Adventurer. I would like to request an audience, if that’s all right? Is that… her?" The young knight asked respectfully.
Shiori was still asleep. I wanted to give her a little more time to rest, but it was no use. Clemens and I nodded to each other and the knight led us to the medic's tent.In the tent, Fran was being treated again and Klaus was also being examined as a precaution. I gently lowered Shiori into a simple bunk bed that was vacant at the side of the tent. Perhaps awakened by the change in position, Shiori suddenly opened her eyes.
"Oh, I…"
"He wants to talk to you. I'm sorry, but you need to wake up," I apologized gently.
Shiori, who had been looking around in a daze, jumped down, blushing in the next moment.
"I'm sorry, I fell asleep on the way."
I laughed. "Don't worry about it. This time it was your success that took care of things. This isn’t a big deal."
Rurie crawled up and onto Shiori's lap. Shiori, meanwhile, still seemed to be embarrassed and shrunk in on herself. Clemens and I both each sat down on either end of the simple bunk bed, looking at the accompanying knight's momentarily jittery appearance.
"Then I would like to begin this meeting. That said, we will only ask you briefly about what happened at the scene. What we mainly want to ask about is that magic that wiped out the giant spiders."
That's right. That magic. It had decimated such a horde of spiders in only two shots. It's too much magic for a low ranking mage to use.
"From the way the giant spider died, I think she used some kind of dangerous magic…."
Shiori rolled her eyes at the knight's words. "That was just soapy water.”
"Huh?" Our three dumbfounded voices overlapped beautifully. Sure, she had taken out the soap at that moment, but there was no way. No way.
"… Soapy water?"
"Yes, soapy water."
The three of us looked at each other. Not only was it far from being forbidden magic, but it was just soapy water.
"Insects suffocate with soapy water. The insect's respiratory system is covered with fatty oils and fine body hairs, they are designed so that even when they’re covered in water, it gets repelled and they don’t suffocate. However, soapy water blends in with the fatty oils, so it doesn't get repelled, infiltrating the respiratory system track and suffocating them. So I crushed the soap with magic and mixed it into the water magic. I wasn't sure if it would work that well since it's such a large insect, but I'm glad it worked!"
"…"
"However, soap will eventually decompose and return to nature, so it's not dangerous, but it will also get other harmless insects involved and if the amount used is too much, it may still be harmful to the environment. Therefore, I think it’s better not to use this method too much, but if it is unavoidable, I think it’s an effective method. If you use magic, you can chop the soap into small pieces and mix it in water."
"…"
"… Yeah, right…"
"… I-It is helpful."
The fact that it was far from what I expected was disempowering. In other words, she just washed the place. It was quite characteristic of a maid mage.
The knight in charge of the meeting was puzzled, but with a rather interesting look on his face he wrote down what he heard into his journal. Perhaps he intended to use it to exterminate insect-type monsters.
After uncovering the mystery of the magic type that Shiori used, the meeting ended with only a few simple questions as the knight promised at the beginning. When the three of us exhaled with relief, a medic came calling out to us.
"Is this the lady in need of treatment?"
"Eh?"
A military doctor appeared with the medic, and Shiori looked up in surprise. "I have no problem anywhere, though."
"Oh. But Count Enqvist insisted on seeing her. He said you looked so pale that you must have been wounded."
Klaus and Elias were standing within line of sight of the military doctor. Count Enqvist was apparently Klaus. When their eyes met with mine and the others, the young master and servant of the Enqvist family – especially his servant – made an awkward face.
"… I almost threw a rear guard into the middle of the monsters without a vanguard after I forcibly took her. I'm not very knowledgeable about combat, so the—"
"No more excuses. Apologize properly!" Klaus reprimanded Elias for rambling and trying to say something in self-defense.
"I'm sorry for repeating myself. I hear that you used a lot of exhausting magic for me. And that you even got kidnapped and taken away…"
The young nobleman apologized not only for making a big mess, but also for almost putting a lady in danger even though she was an adventurer.
"… Don't worry about it. I'm the one who said I could be of help, so I'm also responsible for this matter. This is a symptom of a lack of magical power and I’ll soon get better with some rest."
Elias muttered another small "Sorry" at Shiori's words.
"But even if you call them adventurers, there are non-combatants such as apothecaries, healers, and scholars in the rear guard professions. Of course, it's impossible for them to engage in solo combat, so I don't want them to be thought of in the same way as the vanguard professions. I'd appreciate it if you could understand that."
Elias and Martin were horrified by Clemens's complaint.
"Well… we have that kind of hardship, too," the medic at his side said, chuckling. "Although I'm learning self-defense, I'm still part of the medical team. We can't fight like a combat-oriented unit, but there are many people who don't quite understand the differences between the two of them. For the time being, we try to distinguish ourselves by our knightly uniforms, but civilians seem to think that a knight is a knight, whether as a medic or a combatant."
"There are certainly times when we get confused. To be honest, when I'm walking around town, sometimes I'm called out to intercede in a rough situation,” the military doctor concurred. We all looked at the young servants, who were completely afraid and cowed by all this, then looked at each other and laughed bitterly.
"Well, that's just the way it is. Keep that in mind if you plan to continue using adventurers in the future."
I concluded the topic and at this point this lost child turmoil has come to an end.
After being strongly persuaded to accept a ride and really given no option to refuse, I and the others returned to the city in the Enqvist family’s carriage and were dropped off at the guild headquarter’s street.
"… We are truly indebted to you this time. I'll make sure to have a letter of thanks and a quest fee delivered to you later."
As we dismounted from the carriage, Klaus shook hands firmly with the three of us in turn and thanked us. As soon as Elias and the others on horseback gave a salute, the carriage started to set off. Now that night had fallen, it meant they'd given up on returning to the mansion by the end of the day. They were probably headed to facilities with first-class accommodations.
"… Shiori. You can go home and get some rest now. We'll take care of the report to the guild."
Shiori almost opened her mouth to say something, but in the end she didn't say anything, she just lowered her eyebrows and laughed. She seemed to have decided to obey quietly.
"Excuse me, I'll have to leave you first. Thank you for your hard work today."
With his head bowed, Clemens watched Shiori's back as she headed home with Rurie, finally exclaiming, "Is that ok? You wanted to walk her home."
"I have to report to the guild. I’m pretty tired, and it wouldn't do to keep the report waiting." After replying, I smiled at Clemens. "You noticed?"
"Well, after what I've seen today… you know. I'm surprised you have a thing for Shiori, too."
"… Is it bad?" I asked back.
”It's not bad, but I find it surprising. You've been so eager to get involved with a woman who's been coming to you, wearing it on your sleeve so casually. I'm surprised."
"I'm not interested in women who bother to come to me. But Shiori is a good woman. She's soothing to be around and I want to heal her. That's the kind of woman she is."
"… I guess so. That's right." Clemens laughed and agreed, then looked down at his feet, stroking the hilt of his twin swords, and said, "… It’s probably our fault that Shiori is so stubborn about hiding her discomfort."
The muttering that was dropped so casually was tinged with self-mockery. I silently gestured for him to continue.
"Since that incident, we've all treated her as if we were walking on eggshells. I'm sure she’s aware. We care about her for her own sake. But even so, she stubbornly refused to accept the hand that was outstretched to her, claiming she was ok."
Clemens's gaze turned to the street corner that Shiori had already turned.
"She was thrown out as a liability and when she returned home she was treated as if everyone was walking on eggshells around her. Knowing her personality, there's no reason she wouldn't care. So I guess I should have actually closed the distance between us, even if it was a bit forceful. After watching you and her today, that's what I thought."
His rugged hand struck his own shoulder in determination.
"She took your hand, albeit reluctantly. She quietly obeyed what you said earlier, because you faced her properly."
He narrowed both of his blue eyes. A slight, regretful smile floating at the corner of his mouth.
"… I'm afraid now I'm too late to the party.”
With that said, Clemens walked ahead as the warm glow of orange lights magically flickered to life up and down the street, heralding the arriving night.
"… Clemens."
I tried to say something and in the end couldn't think of a single word, so I held my tongue, letting out a short breath and walking after him.
- Klaus Enqvist: 11 years old. Head of an earldom.
- Fran: 13 years old. Apprentice escort.
- Elias: 25 years old. A steward.
- Martin: 29 years old. A secretary.
[1] TL Note: Spiders are not technically insects, the word that is used here is "mushi" (虫) which is used for bugs and insect alike. The insecticide method does indeed work but with insects and they are describing an insect’s respiratory system with the corresponding spiracles, but I'm unsure if spiders share the same design. A brief check on Google seems to confirm they can suffocate as can any fully submerged insect, really, so the soap was probably pointless if her goal was merely suffocation (maybe she meant to say she poisoned them), but spiders also have a low metabolic rate and would need to be submerged for long periods of time to properly suffocate, let alone these supposedly giant ones. My educated guess is that smaller spiders would have the insect-like physiology she’s describing here, but larger ones would likely have a different (more complex) respiratory system since insects are genealogically limited in size according to oxygen concentration in the atmosphere.
2 Comments
Finally, thanks for the chapter
ReplyDeleteThanks for the translation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the note