The boy stared at the wooden stick carelessly tossed aside for a long while, then slowly reached his hand toward the hilt. A chilling sensation was felt beneath his hand. Though an inanimate sword couldn’t possibly have body heat, Anya felt warmth from Haebing that was different from other swords. It was different from the cold, chilling metal sensation he felt when he grasped other swords in the training ground armory. Ban had wrapped several layers of clean leather straps around the rusty sword handle when repairing it. Anya’s index finger swept over the leather once.
“……”
A rough but pleasant texture.
After hesitation, the boy drew Haebing from its scabbard. Anya recalled the fencing scenes of his siblings that he had stolen glances at from afar during his prince days. His body quickly turned sideways and simultaneously the needle-thin Haebing extended in a straight line. But stronger and more nimble.
Just then, footsteps were heard from behind. Anya whirled around at the sudden presence.
“M-Master…!”
Haebing stopped right before the innkeeper’s nose. When the innkeeper fell backward unsightly, Anya came to his senses and immediately sheathed Haebing.
Oh my. The innkeeper grasped his throbbing tailbone, got up, and quickly clasped his hands together.
“I-I’m s-sorry.”
Anya said while catching his breath once.
“S-sorry, you say!”
The innkeeper hastily waved his hands, thinking of Tildyen’s lord Evernight, who seemed like not a drop of blood would come out even if stabbed. His face flushed red from how flustered he was.
“Wh-what is it?”
“Well… these little brats came looking for you, and no matter how many times I chase them away, these kids keep insisting on seeing the mistress…”
He nervously watched for signs, worried that the fastidious mistress might blame his incompetence.
“I wondered if perhaps you had made some promise with them.”
Though there couldn’t possibly be any promise between a person of high status and poor Northernmost brats, the Northernmost little ones who came from morning wouldn’t listen no matter how many times he chased them away.
*’You brats! Don’t carelessly interfere with what high-status people are doing. If you’re not careful, you might face great disaster too big for you lot to handle.’*
Unfortunately, the warning didn’t work.
That mistress used magic…!
What, magic?
Hey, don’t say it!
Several of them blocked one whose mouth was itching, and they continued to throw tantrums asking to meet the Master. Since the neighborhood was so small, the innkeeper who knew the faces of these kids’ mothers well eventually ended up here after chasing them away repeatedly.
“J-Joel and R-Ronan, you say?”
“How do you even know their names?”
“Ah… I h-happened to get to kn-know them near the w-wall.”
Anya quickly grabbed the robe hanging on the tree and immediately followed the innkeeper back down to the first-floor dining room. In the sparse morning inn’s first floor were several silhouettes that didn’t belong. The Northernmost kids were occupying an entire table with bored faces, chins propped on hands. Having already been nagged by the men at other tables to be quiet, they were barely keeping their mouths shut.
“J-Joel! R-Ronan!”
At Anya’s call, a different light appeared in the little ones’ eyes. They stretched their necks long and smiled brightly like baby birds welcoming a mother bird bringing food. Then they immediately got down from their chairs and flocked toward Anya in a group.
“Hello, Master.”
Though they used much more polite speech than when they first met, their behavior was very friendly and warm.
“You look wonderful every time we see you!”
At the little ones’ excited praise, Anya didn’t know what to do with himself. He was a bit embarrassed… he had very weak immunity to such praise.
“By the way, is Duke Evernight not here?”
Joel looked around. His young green eyes shone clearly with longing and respect. Pride welled up that his husband, who was only frightening to him, was so respected, but at the same time, a strangely disappointed feeling arose.
*’I’m a petty person.’*
Anya hastily shook off the negative thoughts and invited the little ones to sit. Five or six little ones cozily occupied one inn table. Just then, a gurgling sound echoed from one kid’s belly. As if the sound were contagious, embarrassing sounds leaked from the other little ones’ bellies in turn. Joel, the oldest among them, scratched his cheek in embarrassment.
“Is there, is there something the ch-children can e-eat here?”
When Anya asked the innkeeper, Joel hastily shook his head.
“No! No! We’re fine!”
Right, at least they have some sense. You brats. The innkeeper glared at the little ones behind Anya’s back. Winter in Northernmost was an especially harsh season. Originally this place had extremely poor agricultural yields, and there were almost no merchant guild associations that would come all the way here through the cold wave.
“P-perhaps is the k-kitchen situation not g-good? I’ll p-pay the p-price sufficiently.”
The innkeeper glanced at Anya with a strange expression. How could a person of high status care so attentively for such lowly little brats?
“Ah… yes. I’ll ask the chef.”
The innkeeper had no choice but to nod reluctantly and return to the kitchen to give instructions to the cook. The Northernmost little ones looked up at Anya with reverent eyes. They had now completely disarmed themselves regarding this new mistress of Tildyen.
“Thank you for the meal!”
“Thank you, mage… I mean, Master!”
The little ones scraped their bowls clean like stealing crab eyes. The food was crude and consisted of menus that didn’t consider children’s tastes at all, but the kids didn’t complain. Well, if they complained even a little, they would never be able to set foot in this inn again.
The Northernmost people sitting at other tables were taking in this scene completely. They whispered quietly. Finally, hadn’t God bestowed blessings on this forsaken land? To think there was such a benevolent and kind noble. And naturally, they became curious about which noble family this good-hearted mistress—though male—belonged to.
In Northernmost, where visits from outsiders were almost nonexistent, it could take approximately 2-3 months on average for even empire news, even Tildyen Rock news, to arrive. They still hadn’t noticed at all that this young mistress of Tildyen was of Claicer blood, who had plunged Northernmost into the abyss.
“B-but… why did you c-come here?”
Ah…!
Only then remembering their purpose, Joel tapped Ronan’s shoulder. Ronan fumbled in the leather pouch at his waist and pulled out something.
“It’s meat pie my mom made. Thank you for helping us then.”
A savory smell wafted from between the damp paper. Following Ronan, Joel also took out something and placed it on the table.
“This is a bracelet made at our house. If you wear this, monsters won’t approach you.”
It was a thread bracelet woven from various fabrics. Joel narrowed his brow as if doubting whether this could really protect from monsters, even as he spoke.
“This is a lucky stone!”
“It’s honey milk. If you drink it at night, your stomach gets warm and you sleep well too.”
Miscellaneous items popped out from the other children’s pouches too. The table was quickly filled densely with odds and ends.
“……”
Anya examined them carefully with a slightly dazed face. He had an eye for such things. Having grown up seeing the rare treasures of the imperial palace, he could tell at once how trivial these crude and rough things were. But what moved Anya’s heart was not those rare jewels but such trivial things.
“Is it too shabby? I’m sorry, mage… I mean mistress.”
Ronan nervously watched for signs with a tense face.
“Still, please take it and don’t be angry. It’s a thank-you gift for helping us.”
“N-no… it’s n-not like that. Th-thank you.”
Anya learned anew that day that tears could come from joy too. When he wore the thread bracelet on his wrist, the little ones all clapped without exception.
“Even if they’re emotionless monsters, if they see a bracelet braided strand by strand with earnest wishes, wouldn’t they hesitate to kill? It’s that kind of clumsy superstition.”
Someone added from a table beyond. Before he knew it, everyone in the dining room was looking this way. Over their equally shabby expressions, faint hope was sprouting.
“It’s w-wonderful. Really a w-wonderful c-custom.”
Most of all.
Anya carefully put the lucky stone the little ones gave him in his pocket and asked the innkeeper to cut up the precious food they had brought into pieces. This time the innkeeper readily granted that request.
Finally, Anya earnestly asked him to keep this fact secret from Evernight, then took the little ones to the back courtyard and shared the food together under a tree.
“Can mages feel magical power?”
The Northernmost little ones were very interested in magic. They practically poured questions onto Anya. When one kid’s question ended, another kid’s question started as if they’d been waiting. It was the first time in his life he had talked this much. His tongue, which had only been stiff usually, felt like it had become soft and pliable like others’ by the end.
