by Miya Kazuki
“A seven-year-old born in the summer named Myne? Very well.”
After leaving them to wait in the chapel for a bit, the High Priest returned with a flat white medal, which he handed to Gunther. It was the medal Myne had stamped with blood during her baptism. These served as a show of government approval for the burial, and as substitute gravestones for poor commoners who couldn’t afford their own.
With the medal in hand, they went to the graveyard outside of the city. As there was only a light box on the board, the men shouldering it were able to walk quicker than they usually would. They were also quieter than usual, since none of them knew Myne very well.
They buried the box in the corner furthest from the graveyard’s entrance. It didn’t take long to dig the grave since the wooden box was so small. Gunther pressed the medal against the grave marker he had carved. It stuck tightly to the board, which he then stabbed deep into the ground so that it would stand upright, just like those marking the surrounding graves.
Graves for the rich had words carved into the marker, but since few poor people could read, the nearby graves didn’t have any words on them—people would instead identify them based on the shape of the wood or where the medal had been stuck onto it. Myne’s grave, however, had the words “Our Beloved Daughter” beneath where the medal had been stuck.
With the burial finished, the funeral was complete. There would have been discussions of wills and succession had she been the head of a house, but none of that was necessary for Myne, since she had died so soon after her baptism.
Everyone returned to their daily lives the next day. Lutz was back to his normal schedule, too: he left his house, raced down the stairs, past the well, and then up another set of stairs, before knocking on a door. Tuuli answered, a curious look on her face.
“Morning, Lutz. Did something happen?”
“Did something...? Oh!” Now that Myne was Rozemyne, he wouldn’t be walking her to the temple anymore. He wouldn’t need to watch over her and stop her from wandering all over the place. He wouldn’t have to make sure she was staying healthy. He wouldn’t be making anything with her. He wouldn’t be hugging her whenever she needed it. He wouldn’t be there when she was in trouble and needed a shoulder to cry on. There was nothing for him here anymore.
“...Myne’s really gone, huh?” There was a part of him that had expected Myne to still be there, but as Rozemyne, she needed to live as the proper daughter of an archnoble. Myne was gone, and now that she was Rozemyne, would never again be the girl that Lutz had known and spent so much of his life with.
For the first time, Lutz truly understood that Myne was gone. He trembled, and the tears that hadn’t come out during the funeral suddenly burst forth. Tuuli gently stroked his head until he calmed down, just like she used to do with Myne.
“Lutz, you can still talk to Myne through work, can’t you?”
“...I can talk to her, but she’s not Myne anymore.”
“That’s true. But Myne said all the way till the end that even if she can’t talk to us like normal, she at least still wants to see us,” Tuuli murmured, thinking back on her last conversation with Myne. She couldn’t call them family, but Myne still wanted to see that they were doing okay. With that in mind, she would probably want to keep talking with Lutz, even if just about business.
“Well, Lutz, could you take me to the Gilberta Company today?”
“Huh? Why, Tuuli?”
“I want to keep my last promise to Myne,” Tuuli said before going to the bedroom. She came back with the tote basket Myne had always carried around, inside of which was the toy she had made for Renate and Myne’s diptych. “I promised to join Mrs. Corinna’s workshop, become a first-class seamstress, and make Myne’s clothes for her. I want to go meet Mrs. Corinna so I can make that happen. You made your own promises to Myne, didn’t you?”
Tuuli’s question made Lutz remember all of the things he had spoken to Myne about. He had promised to make and sell books together with her. He had promised to make all of the things she thought up.
“...Guess now’s not the time for me to be crying.” He had to make enough books that Myne could spend all day every day lazing around in her room reading them.
Lutz wiped his eyes and picked up his stuff, and with Tuuli beside him, opened the heavy door leading outside.
Freida—A Visit to the Noble’s Quarter
“Oh my, it’s already time.” I noticed while changing for bed that the color of one of the feystones on my bracelet was a little different. The bracelet had a bunch of tiny black feystones lined up along it, one of which was now no longer opaque.
As a Devouring sufferer signed with a noble, my master had given me this magic tool to contain my overflowing mana. Feystones changing color was a sign that the bracelet was getting full with mana, which meant that I needed to go see Lord Henrik, the noble I had signed with and my master.
“Grandfather, please request a meeting with Lord Henrik. The feystones have begun to change color,” I informed Grandfather the next morning. We needed special permission to enter the Noble’s Quarter, and as I was underage I would need him to accompany me there.
“That time already, hm?”
“Yes, indeed. Shall I bring some more pound cake as a gift?”
“That would be wise. He seemed to have quite liked it last time.”
“Very well, then. I shall bring pound cake mixed with rumtopf this time.”
We had invented a new form of pound cake last winter by thinly slicing the rumtopf Myne had taught us to make and mixing it into the cake batter. It took much trial and error to find the ideal amount of rumtopf to add, but thanks to Leise’s efforts, the cake ended up quite delicious. It had a strong alcoholic smell, which made it fairly popular among male nobles.
However, since the rumtopf itself had been made experimentally, there wasn’t enough for us to make too many pound cakes. Leise was determined to make much more rumtopf over the coming summer, though.
“I believe it is about time for us to expand our repertoire...” Grandfather said, sending a meaningful glance to the kitchen where Leise likely was. Both she and I were thinking the same thing.
“I will have to get hold of Myne again soon.”
That was easier said than done, however, given how thorough Benno was when it came to hiding her from the world. All of her Guild paperwork was delivered by the Gilberta Company, and even the yearly financial report that needed to be delivered and discussed in spring was handled by Benno.
Despite being a member of the Merchant’s Guild, Myne showed up less often than any other foreman or forewoman, and yet she was selling enough that her workshop was quickly becoming one of the largest in the city. Plant paper, picture books, the toys she had made and sold as winter handiwork... At first glance, the Myne Workshop’s overall output was rather low, but everything they made was priced high and brought in significant profit—and that wasn’t even including all of the new products that the Gilberta Company had bought the rights to.
“The Gilberta Company keeps coming out with new products as well. It is easy to forget that they’re supposed to be a store for clothing and accessories.” The rinsham, hairpins, and uniquely shaped hangers were close enough to their main business focus, but the plant paper, picture books, toys, and diptychs weren’t related to clothing or accessories in the slightest.
“And Myne is getting involved in more than just products, isn’t she?”
“Indeed.”
Many of the contracts that passed through the Merchant’s Guild with Myne’s name on them were significant—a contract with the Ink Guild, huge orders for the smith she was a patron of as well as various carpenters, a joint investment with Benno for an eatery that was due to open soon... They all involved a lot of money moving around.
“And she joined the temple as an apprentice shrine maiden, too. Just what in the world is she doing? It seems to me that she’s trading at a much higher value than most other merchants.”
Even though our contract over the pound cake had ended, I had not heard from Myne or even seen her in the Guild for a long time. Does she not mind if I just continue monopolizing pound cake? Because if she doesn’t send word soon, that’s exactly what I intend to do.
About ten days after the first feystone had changed color, Lord Henrik permitted us to meet him. I waited until fifth bell the day of, then departed for the Noble’s Quarter with Grandfather.
“It’s time, Freida.”
“Yes, Grandfather. See you soon, Mother.” I got into a carriage and sat next to Grandfather before the door was shut behind me. The bracelet on my wrist shook as the carriage bounced, making it impossible to ignore.
“There certainly are quite a few stones that have changed color there.”
“We must give it to Lord Henrik at once so that he can empty it out again.” Whenever we gave the bracelet to Lord Henrik, he would empty it of mana and return it to me. That was our only business there, but the emptying process took enough time that we were always invited over for dinner.
“If only this were lunch, I could feel more at ease right now.”
“The fact that he invites us to dinner is proof that we are being treated as proper guests.”
“I know. We cannot refuse.”
Being invited over for dinner of course meant that the gates would be closed by the time we were due to come back, which meant spending the night in Lord Henrik’s mansion. And staying the night meant bathing.
“Bathing has been easier on me ever since I took Myne’s advice and started spending less time in the hot water, but I still dislike noble baths.”
“...That is something you will have to grow out of,” Grandfather said with a short laugh. He always made me bathe for a really long time, during which he would have business discussions with Lord Henrik’s head attendant.
I puffed out my cheeks in a small pout. “You know that I prefer business over bathing too, and yet I bathe anyway. I am more than mature enough already.”
Our carriage took a right turn after reaching the temple at the end of the main street. Towering white walls made of the same material as the temple stretched on into the distance. They separated the lower city from the Noble’s Quarter, and following it for a bit would lead to a gate.
“What we know as the Noble’s Quarter today was actually the whole city hundreds of years ago, right? I learned about that the other day.”
“That’s correct. It’s said that the city expanded when the first Ehrenfest took control of the duchy from the previous line of archdukes.”
It was standard practice that when nobles from one duchy invaded another, and its archduke couldn’t protect his city from them, the new archduke would become whichever noble had the most mana. The new archduke would then use their more sizable power to expand the city.
“The previous city was rebuilt as the Noble’s Quarter, and then a lower city for commoners was built on the southern side, correct?”
“Yes. Furthermore, what used to be an inn that served as a front gate to investigate travelers was repurposed as the temple. I heard that nobles still use the so-called Noble’s Gate within the temple, but that has nothing to do with either of us.”
We commoners entered the Noble’s Quarter using a small gate on the north end of town that had been used for guards, according to Grandfather.
The north gate was guarded by several commoner soldiers and laynoble knights. We paid the entry fee, then gave several products to the knights as gifts. We were then asked why we were entering the Noble’s Quarter, where we were going, and whether we had the proper authorization. The knights obviously looking down on us for being commoners made me deeply uncomfortable, but I couldn’t let that get to me. Otherwise, I would never survive when I moved here in the future. It hadn’t taken me long to get used to returning even their scornful gazes with a smile.
“You both check out. Go into that carriage over there.”
“Understood.”
Lower city carriages were dirty enough that we had to switch to a noble carriage before passing through the north gate. Once that was done, we were traveling smoothly down the road between the pristine white buildings of the Noble’s Quarter without any bouncing or shaking at all.
“If only we could have carriages like these in the lower city...”
“That wouldn’t be an easy feat. My understanding is that they use magic tools to dampen the shaking.”
As a laynoble, Lord Henrik’s estate was comparatively close to the north gate. Land closer to the gates being cheaper seemed to be the same in both the lower city and the Noble’s Quarter.
“We are glad to see you, Miss Freida.” The head attendant welcomed us in and led us to a guest parlor. It resembled the parlor in our home, but that was because Grandfather had specifically modeled our home after Lord Henrik’s. There were still significant differences between the two though, given that they used magic tools like they were second nature here.
“Apologies for the wait.” Lord Henrik arrived shortly after. He was seventeen when he signed with us, which made him around twenty now, and he was as kind and as honest of a noble as his appearance would suggest. His father had died two years ago, and it seemed he was working hard to serve as the head of his family despite his young age.
Lord Henrik had a first wife with whom he had children, but no second wife, and as a commoner I would be counted as a mistress rather than a proper wife. It would be fair to say that he was somewhat relying on my family for financial support. But ironically, the source of his money problems was the diligent and warmhearted nature of his family, which was why Grandfather had arranged for me to sign with him in the first place. He wouldn’t abuse his authority to drain money from us, nor was he likely to be involved in any back-alley deals. There was no noble more ideal for me to sign with.
“May this meeting ordained by the gods be blessed on this fruitful day given life by Flutrane the Goddess of Water’s healing. It is good to see you after so long, Lord Henrik.” Grandfather and Lord Henrik exchanged the lengthy greetings of the nobility, which were especially tricky to learn since the gods one needed to name changed each season, and while listening I suddenly remembered the picture book I had bought from Myne.
...Oh, I recall that she wanted to make picture books for all of the subordinate gods as well. I wonder if she ever finished those.
Myne had been making picture books that could easily have their covers swapped out. They were black and white, but the illustrations were still beautiful and the gods were described in simple and clear language. I intended to give the books leather covers once I had a full set.
“Freida, your hand,” Lord Henrik said, bringing me back to reality. I extended my left hand so that he could see the bracelet. He struck it lightly with a shining stick he took out of seemingly thin air, then murmured a quiet word that made the bracelet grow in size to the point that it could finally be removed.
“Ah, yes, quite a few feystones have changed color. Are you feeling alright?” Lord Henrik asked worriedly after taking a look at the removed bracelet. He never acted arrogantly or like he was superior to me, even though I was a commoner who had signed my life away to him, so my impression of him was a very positive one.
“I’m feeling fine, thank you. I appreciate the concern.”
“Glad to hear it. May we meet again at dinner.”
“Indeed.”
Lord Henrik left with the bracelet, at which point his head attendant came in and began discussing business with Grandfather. Female attendants would soon call me to take a bath before dinner so that I could dress properly for the meal. The most difficult part of coming to the mansion would soon begin.
After finishing a long and exhausting bath, I sat at the dinner table, where most of the topics discussed were concerning the circumstances in the lower city. I effortlessly partook in discussions of market trends and my own education, then talked about the new flavors of pound cake that Leise had been spee
dily developing.
“My younger brother who just came of age and recently left home is quite fond of your pound cake. I myself am not too fond of overly sweet foods, but this pound cake has a strong scent of alcohol, and the more restrained sweetness makes it easier to eat.”
It seemed that Lord Henrik’s knight younger brother liked sweets more than him. That little brother in question had been given guard duty at some point during last fall, but committed some grave error that had resulted in a hefty fine. Grandfather and I had paid the fine on his behalf, but we had no idea what he was really like. I had not met him yet.
“Master Henrik, do you have a moment?” A servant with a pale, anxious expression whispered something into Lord Henrik’s ear, and he immediately stood up.
“My apologies, Freida. There is an emergency elsewhere. I must take my leave for today.”
Lord Henrik left the dining hall with the servant at once. As pressing for details would be uncouth and unwise, Grandfather instead passed the time by harmlessly discussing the food served.
“Well then, Grandfather. Goodnight.”
“Yes, sleep well.”
A male attendant escorted Grandfather to his guest room while a female attendant took me to mine. It was the same room I always used, even when changing for the bath.
“Here you are, Miss Freida.”
“...Oh?” My things had been brought here when I went for my bath, but now they were nowhere to be seen. I tilted my head slightly as I walked to the bed at the attendant’s guidance, where she pulled the bed curtains to the side.
“If you would like, you ca— Kyaah?!” The attendant let out a squeal. There was a man lying down on the bed I was to use. He looked much like Lord Henrik, and his brows were tightly knitted as he groaned in pain.