The request from the queen is done, so we’re going back to the Minerfort mansion.
It’s all settled for now after we report to Isolte, so we go to the kitchen on the first floor to make Merzelia pie, just like we said.
And Till is here too. She has her sleeves rolled up, and looks ready to start working on the dessert.
When she hears our footsteps, she greets Iris warmly.
“Lady, did you get hurt?”
“Not at all, thanks to Mister Loyd.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
She doesn’t talk a lot, but everything she does shows she cares about Iris.
Their relationship seems less like master and servant and more like big and little sister. Till is the refined elder sister, and Iris the innocent little sister.
“Thank you for protecting my lady.”
And she doesn’t forget to thank me with a bow.
She’s also conscious of me, and never forgets to be polite despite my weak presence.
“I only did what was expected from Iris’ guard.”
I respond to her politeness with respect, and straighten my posture.
And now that the sisters’ reunion is done, they start chatting. It’s a charming sight.
“By the way lady, what is your business here? I assume you didn’t come here just to say hello.”
“What do you mean?”
“Every time you come to the kitchen it’s either to snack or ask for sweets, is it not?”
“You talk like I’m some sort of glutton.”
Iris denies it with her face turning red.
“Aren’t you?”
“You too, Mister Loyd? This is an insult to the representative of the goddess Emeraude.
Hmph, hmph!”
“Sorry Iris. Here, have a macaron.”
I take out a reserve macaron, and throw it briskly into Iris’ mouth like always. And her expression turns into a smile while she chews it.
“Ish good! All right then. I’ll forgive you just this once.”
“It’s like a trainer feeding an animal a treat.”
Is what Till says about our relationship, with an emotionless voice.
We tell her we’re here to make Merzelia pie, but she says she’ll make it for us.
That’s not quite what we planned, but she really is good at making desserts, so we leave it to her.
She gets all the ingredients ready on the table, and my eyes stop at a flavoring.
“What is this?”
“Vanilla oil. You said in the capital you do not like cinnamon, so I thought to use this.”
“You actually remembered.”
“It’s a maid’s job to know your tastes, friend.”
That was just a thing I said over three weeks ago. I’m impressed by her memory.
Merzelia pie can be made with vanilla oil, but that’s Northlight style.
I prefer it that way.
“Thank you. That’s how I like it.”
“I can have it with cinnamon, Till.”
Says iris.
“I see.”
Till responds with a listless tone.
“Aren’t you being really tepid just to me!?”
“If I reacted to everything you say lady, my body would collapse.”
“Gapin.”
I feel like I haven’t heard that in a while. That’s the shock sound effect.
It’s already not in use in the Kingdom of Merzelia, but I guess that’s not the case in Roland.
I thought about it in Roland too, but is Merzelia pie popular there too? Iris said in the capital that it was her first time having it.
“Merzelia pie is sweet and goes down easily, so it’s popular among commoners.”
Says Till, as if answering me.
I see… I feel a little proud about our desert being popular in the neighboring country.
“It’s like that thing, ‘our country really is great’. That sort of expression has been popular lately.”
“Lady, don’t say things that will put a damper on it.”
Right? Why are you looking at it cynically?
You’re making Loyd here sad. You shined brighter when you were playing a hero of justice.
“Did you learn how to make it at home, Till?”
“Yes, I used to make it with my sisters in the orphanage where I grew up.”
Eh… So Till grew up in an orphanage.
So did I, so I feel closer to her.
It’s impressive how she makes desserts from the neighboring country like it’s nothing. I can make Merzelia pie, but I wouldn’t be able to make Roland pie.
That knowledge probably comes from making it every day.
I’ve poured everything into learning about magic, so maybe I know stuff about magic other people don’t know.
“You’re like a professional at making sweets and desserts.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere.”
She says, but she looks happy. She’s not expressive, but I can tell she looks happy, angry, and sad like everyone else.
“She’s right Mister Loyd. Till is stingy and almost never buys anything, so flattering her is a waste of time.”
“I see. So that’s how you see me lady. I understand.
From now on, all your meals will include the bell peppers you love so much.”
“Sorryyyyyy!! Please no!”
Iris instantly falls into a dogeza.
This sort of thing is childish, and makes me laugh. It’s like there’s a gap between this and the representative of the goddess.
But that just makes it really cute.
“By the way, where is the chef, Nero? Isn’t he the one who cooks for Iris?”
I feel like I haven’t seen him lately.
He’s one of her three attendants, and Iris’ head chef. He’s a pro, unlike Till, who cooks for fun.
I haven’t seen him since we returned to Minerva. Did he get spirited away?
“The head chef moved.”
“Moved?”
“He said he was opening a place in Minerva.”
Says Iris.
“Couldn’t he do that and live there?”
“That’s what we said, but he said living in a mansion was making him soft.
He’s been talking about opening a place and moving out on his own for a long time. I think it was just a matter of time.”
Waoh, sounds wild and cool.
It’s easy to just join with others, but going at it alone and doing things for yourself is one of the pleasures of life.
“What kind of place is he opening?”
“Apparently a cafe. Like a refuge in the forest.”
A hidden cafe?
Is he hoping to attract fairies and elves? I don’t really get Nero’s sense.
“I’d like to visit.”
“Then we can go there. I’m sure he would be happy to see Mister Loyd.”
Iris and I go to the gazebo in the garden to chat while Till makes the Merzelia pie, and then, I remember I have something to give her.
“Here’s a present for you.”
“What is it?”
“A bunny hood. I bought it from a merchant because I thought it would suit you.”
I got it from the merchant in exchange for the ten kobold tails, and since it’s very cute, I’m giving it to Iris.
I’ve kept it in the Item Box because I couldn’t find the right time to give it to her until now.
I wish I could give her a bunny girl outfit too, but putting my interests in full display like that would creep her out, so I’m showing restraint.
She won’t think it’s fishy if it’s just the ears.
“It’s really cute. Can I try it on now?”
“Sure.”
She puts on the ears, and it looks really cute when they move with her.
“How is it?”
“If I was a wolf, I’d eat you for sure.”
“Don’t use an example that I’m really not going to understand.”
I’m glad she likes it. I was actually really conflicted over whether or not to give it to her.
“You said you wanted to tame a dire wolf before, so you must really like animals.”
“Animals are soothing. I used to have a gardo.”
“Really? I’d like to be a gardo.”
It looks like Iris likes gardo too, so I should take her to a gardo cafe one of these days.
We kill time by chatting, and eventually Till walks in with a delicious looking Merzelia pie on a big plate.
“I made a Merzelia pie with plenty of strawberries from Minerva.”
“It looks great! Let’s eat right away!”
“Yes.”
Till carefully cuts pieces and puts them on small plates.
““Let’s eat!””
Iris elegantly uses a fork to take it to her mouth.
“It’s so good!”
She says.
“The sweetness is just right, and it goes down easys.”
“I am also pleased to see you like it.”
“You really are serious, Till. You don’t have to be so fussy with us.”
“Yes, as you wish, I will treat you more roughly.”
“W-what!?”
We giggle at Iris’ honest reaction.
“What do you think about Iris, Till?”
“I think she is very cheerful. She used to be an unapproachable person.”
“You make it sound like I used to be bad.”
Iris used to be a private and unsociable person, right?
“I think past Iris sounds like a hard worker, and a wonderful person anyway.”
I say to back her up.
“Hehehe. If you say so, then it’s fine…”
Iris’ rabbit ears move up and down, following her emotions, and Till stares at them.
“Curious about the rabbit ears, Till?”
“Ah, no. Not at all… I just think it’s adorable.”
Does Till actually like small animals?
“Mister Loyd, a moment please?”
Iris asks if she can hand it to her. I don’t mind, but how will Till react?
“Do you want to try it on, Till?”
“Thank you.”
A neat and clean maid with rabbit ears.
It suits her great. The head maid looks even better than usual, I dare say.
“How is it, friend? Does it suit me?”
“It suits you very well. A maid outfit and rabbit ears go well together!”
Till smiles, and although I think most people would miss it, her cheeks are a little red.
And as we keep eating, a question pops into my mind.
“By the way Till, I thought about this before too, but did we meet each other three years ago in Roland?”
“We have never seen each other.”
“I see…”
“But I did send a letter with a request to Ruby’s atelier.”
I knew it.
Ruby typically took the requests in the atelier, and I just gathered the materials she designated. I rarely dealt with customers.
But I did have a right to know how they were, so I always read letters when they were sent.
Wait. I’m pretty sure that request was about healing a friend’s magic stone disease.
I get the feeling that the letter lit a fire under me and I prioritized getting materials for it.
“How is that person doing?”
“Well, it seems. I sent her a letter for the first time in a year.”
“That’s nice.”
I feel relieved after hearing that.
So Till was the one from back then. What a surprising coincidence.
Come to think of it, she always seemed to be friendly towards me, since we first met. It feels nice, because it’s like my work as an exclusive mage is being rewarded.
Eventually, I say goodbye to them, and leave the Minefort mansion.
◇ ◇ ◇
【Till’s point of view】
At the time, I took care of things related to the lady’s everyday life not as a head maid, but as a simple maid.
I was friendly with Nero the head chef, and Sephilia was a complete stranger.
My relationship with the lady was not the cozy one we have now, and there was such a firm social class divide, that I felt saying the wrong thing even slightly would make my head fly.
Let us explain it by way of a pyramid, shall we?
The lady was on the same level as Ghise at the top, and I was a commoner at the bottom. I was not allowed to see her face, let alone speak to her. She would normally wear a mask, that she would not take off even in the mansion.
She would only remove by order of an archbishop or someone above, or when she received a messenger from another country. This meant that most of the country did not know what she looked like.
We became friendlier just before we departed from Roland. Before that, we only spoke a few times. That was also the first time I saw her face.
When she was a saintess, she never smiled, and always performed her duty silently and with an air of indifference. I always saw her as a quiet girl, whose thoughts I could never guess.
Her white mask with no ornaments also felt unsettling, to the point where some speculated that she looked hideous underneath it.
She was actually the most beautiful girl in the country, but the more those rumors spread, the more unapproachable she became.
I’m originally from an orphanage, and I have a lot of family there. Even after becoming a maid, I would go there on my days off, and was in contact with my family every day.
I was not paid a lot, but I led happy days.
But one day, Sapphire, a younger sister I particularly doted on, fell ill with a serious disease called magic stone disease.
As the name implies, this is a disease that gradually turns a person’s body to stone, and the only cure is elixir.
I was at my wits end. This elixir is a very rare medicine that was not sold anywhere in Roland.
Even if it was, I do not think I could afford it, but I was young, so I had not thought about it that far.
When I learned how hard it would be to treat Sapphire, I struggled with what to do.
The only other way to treat it would be through holy power. Word on the street was that holy power was divine law, and it cured all diseases.
The saintess’ job is to ‘heal’ land, not treat townspeople. This meant it was hard to ask her to save my little sister.
That is to say nothing of my social status. Speaking to her might have been seen as an offense that would get me sentenced to death.
She had the most holy power in Roland, but she was a supreme being that no one below an archbishop was allowed to speak to.
And as I felt cornered, Nero told me about Ruby’s atelier.
Surely an alchemist beloved by god such as Ruby could make elixir.
I was not sure if it was enough to request elixir, but I put all my money in an envelope and sent it along with a letter asking that she save my friend.
If this did not work, I was ready to offer my life as compensation.
A week later, I received a letter saying my request was accepted. It seemed that money was enough.
I breathed a sigh of relief, but when I went to check on Sapphire, she was already healed.
I was surprised. It had been less than an hour since the gardo arrived.
I thought it would take at least two months to gather the materials and transmute them.
Gardo sent by ateliers were the fastest delivery gardo, so they would take a day to travel from Merzelia to Roland.
This meant that they received the letter, finished the elixir in a day, and then crossed the countries’ borders to deliver the medicine.
I thought it was odd, but Sapphire told me a mage called Loyd had been there.
For Iris’ friend, this may have been just another request, but for me, that one request was one that saved a dear friend and will remain forever in my heart.
Also, I would hear later from the lady while we were on the run that holy power does not cure diseases. It was a problem that only an atelier could solve in the first place.
It’s now night, and I take out a music box in my room.
This is the only thing I brought with me from Roland.
There are two letters inside it, that I take out and read.
One is the letter from the atelier. A simple note stating that the request was accepted.
The other is a letter written by Iris’ friend with words of encouragement.
It feels nostalgic looking back to those times, when I knew nothing
Join my patreon to support me and read ahead.
