Magi Craft Meister 620
18 King Klein’s Treatment Arc
19-07 Elsa and Hanna
“Pleased to meet you. I come from the Nidou family, which has recently been assigned the residence next to yours.”
Elsa took Edgar with her and started by going to greet the family of Earl Woodruff Arvelein von Elm, who lived in the estate to the right of Jin’s.
“My, how polite. Please wait a moment.”
The elderly man who welcomed Elsa, who seemed to be a steward, went back inside for a moment before soon returning with a woman who seemed to be the Earl’s wife.
“Oh, thank you very much for visiting us. You said you’re from the Nidou family, right? Well, thank you very much. You’re from the Nido family, aren’t you? My name is Jenna from the Woodruff family.”
“I’m Elsa Nidou. Nice to meet you. I’ve brought something as a sign of making your acquaintance. Please accept it.”
Elsa handed over the fruit platter that Edgar had been carrying for her.
“Well, Citran and… Pelshika. You don’t see this every day. Thank you very much.”
Countess Jenna seemed to be a very friendly person. She passed her arm around Elsa’s shoulder and invited her inside, taking her into a reception room with a very bright atmosphere.
“My husband is away at work. It gets boring being here all by myself, so I hope you don’t mind indulging me for a little while.”
“Ah, s-sure.”
Shortly after sitting down, Lady Jenna bent herself forward and began to speak.
“…You’re so fortunate to have the Magi Craft Meister as your older brother, right!? After all, he can make almost anything…”
“…I heard from my husband that there were a lot of people at the Technology Expo, right…?”
“…Oh, you’ve been so quiet… I’m sorry, I’ve been babbling non-stop…”
“…My husband is the head of the Technology Department of the Ministry of Magi Technology, you know? Do you think he and your brother are acquainted…?”
“…If you ever need help with anything, please don’t hesitate to come to me anytime…”
“…Ah, yeah, you see, the wife living next door…”
“…Oh, and at the Earl’s party the other day…”
“…Are skirts in fashion nowadays…?”
And so, Elsa kept the Countess company, sitting through her chatter for nearly an hour.
“…I’m tired.”
Although Elsa was already mentally exhausted from all that, she still had no choice but to finish her rounds, so she and Edgar headed to the next house.
The house on the left to Jin’s belonged to the family of Viscount Volker Goldman von Aurk.
Since the viscount was also at work, Viscountess Sharona Goldmann von Tanne received her.
“My, my, what a pretty young lady you are. So the Magi Craft Meister is your older brother, isn’t he? And Her Majesty the Empress herself came to visit you the other day, so you must be some very important people…”
It seemed that, like their other neighbor, the viscountess also had very little to keep herself busy with while her husband was out at work, so once again Elsa found herself sitting through yet another chat session for about another hour.
“…”
“Are you okay, mistress?”
Elsa’s slightly pale complexion had started to make Edgar worry, but Elsa quickly replied that she was fine.
“Only one left to go.”
Of the three houses across the street from Jin’s new residence, the ones to the left and right to Viscount Jorgens Hekerath von Paddock’s residence were still unoccupied, so Elsa would be finishing her rounds after visiting the viscount’s house.
Having never really participated in such high society activities, the chatter of these wives was a complete wonder to Elsa.
(…To be able to talk that much…)
It made Elsa think that this ability to chat for so long was also part of aristocratic etiquette.
(But, I…)
However, she knew that Jin didn’t like noisy people.
(There’s no need for me to change, right?)
No one could answer the questions hidden deep inside Elsa’s heart.
“Oh, how polite. You’re Sir Jin Nidou’s younger sister, right?”
Just like in his previous two visits, the viscountess was the one to receive Elsa in the final house. She was called Lexia Hekerath von Kamerele.
“My name is Elsa Nidou.”
“Nice to meet you, Elsa. I hope we can get along well. By the way, how old are you?”
“A-Ah, I’m… 17.”
“Oh, so you’re of age. Single, right?”
Having looked at Elsa’s left hand, the viscountess asked to confirm rather than to ask a genuine question.
“…Yes.”
“Do you have a partner?”
“N-No, not really…”
The viscountess bit into that answer as if she had heard just what she wanted to hear.
“Oh, is that so? You see, my nephew has a child who will soon turn 21. He has joined the Royal Guard and is still a squire, but he is a good boy with a promising future. What do you think?”
But Elsa couldn’t match the viscountess’ straightforwardness.
“Ah, umm, I… There hasn’t been any conversation about that… in my family…”
While stuttering, Elsa had no choice but to softly decline.
“Really? But you’re such a lovely girl! Oh, could it be that you already have a gentleman on your mind?”
“Ah…”
Elsa’s cheeks blushed just a little at the words “gentleman in your mind.”
“Oh, well, that’s that I guess. It can’t be helped. I would like to ask that person’s name, but it would be rude of me, since we’ve just met for the first time.”
“…”
And so, Elsa somehow managed to pull through her round of introductions around the neighborhood.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Let’s go over there!”
Hanna, who had gone out to do some sightseeing around the town of Loizart with Belle, was walking around energetically.
“Aren’t you tired, Miss Hanna?”
“Hmm, I’m okay.”
After taking a look around the shopping street, Hanna and Belle went to the park.
“There are no flowers here.”
“Yes, we’re already in late autumn.”
“Ah, but some kind of fruit is falling from the trees.”
There was a corner full of round brown nuts.
Hanna squatted down and started picking them up.
“They’re Castani nuts.”
The trees that were dropping these nuts had large leaves that looked like Tengu fans from Japanese culture, though these had turned yellow by autumn.
“Can we eat these?”
“Umm, first you’d need to crack them open or soak them in water.”
Belle herself had never eaten them before, but she had heard about them.
“Hmmm.
Hanna then continued to pick the nuts from the ground. They looked similar to chestnuts.
As she was constantly looking down at the ground, she couldn’t react in time, and found herself bumping her head into another girl’s head.
“Kyaah!”
“Owww…”
“A-Are you okay!?”
Belle, who hadn’t expected them to bump into each other, hurriedly rushed over.
The other girl was about the same age as Hanna. She seemed to be the daughter of some nobleman, and her attendant quickly ran up to her as well.
She had slightly wavy blond hair and blue eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Ah, I’m sorry too!”
The Castani nuts that both of them had collected so far had scattered around the girls, who were holding their heads after having fallen on their buttocks.
“Miss, are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
“Ah, Hauro, no, I’m fine…”
“I’m fine as well.”
“I’m Shide.”
“I’m Hanna”
“Nice to meet you, Hanna.”
“Yeah, nice to meet you too, Shide!”
The girls too seemed to be two nuts fallen from the same tree, as they quickly became friends as if they had understood each other very well, even though they had yet to get back on their feet.
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