If only it hadn’t been for the voice that suddenly rang out. The person who opened the door and entered was a good-natured-looking man with long navy hair neatly tied back. At the sudden appearance, Van readjusted his grip on the dessert knife in his hand. Of course, regardless of who came in or not, Rowy’s spoon didn’t stop. However, the unexpected guest, Seilan, knew well how to catch Rowy’s attention.
“Here, this wasn’t on the menu so I figured you didn’t order it. A mango smoothie.”
“Mango smoothie!”
Rowy’s face lit up as he immediately reached out his hand. Seilan placed the mango smoothie in that hand. Watching him eagerly suck on the straw, Seilan grinned and sat down in an empty seat.
“You’re still the same. You.”
“Who are you?”
Rowy asked without even looking at Seilan. At those words, Van was horrified and snatched the mango smoothie from Rowy’s hand.
“You don’t know who this person is?”
“Give it back!”
“How can you so readily accept food from someone you don’t know?”
Having had the mango smoothie taken away before even properly tasting it, Rowy stretched out his hand. Van firmly shook his head.
“Why are you nagging?”
Rowy stabbed his fork down onto the plate, full of irritation. An unpleasant screeching noise spread. Of course, Van didn’t budge an inch.
“Why are you ignoring me?”
Seilan quickly interjected in the meantime. However, Rowy still had an expression that said he had absolutely no idea who this was. Who are you?
“Why don’t you know me! Josef and you and me! We even ate together at the Academy!”
“Huh?”
Rowy paused at the familiar name Josef. Seeing that Josef’s name seemed to work, Seilan raised his voice even more. You know me! Seilan! Well… they had only eaten together once. But anyway, they had eaten, hadn’t they? Seilan brazenly lifted his head.
“I heard you came to the city after a long time, so I just came to give you an invitation!”
“I absolutely hate things like balls.”
“Who would invite you to a ball!”
Rowy, who had caused a scene at his coming-of-age ceremony, was under a ban from attending balls. Of course, since no one had invited Rowy to begin with, Rowy didn’t know this fact.
“Anyway, it’s not that kind of thing—there happens to be an auction, so I came to give you an invitation.”
“Auction?”
“Yeah, didn’t you come out to the city to have fun? I heard you bought a slave.”
Seilan’s expression as he said this was mischievous. Rowy recalled the slave merchant. He talked a lot, and his mouth is loose too. It was a merciless assessment. Well, buying a slave itself wasn’t a secret. Rowy nodded halfheartedly.
“I heard you bought a bedroom slave, and completely…”
Seilan’s eyes moved toward Van’s lower body. At the awkward conversation, Van unknowingly stabbed down into the pie.
‘He bought me not as a combat slave but for the bedroom?’
Van’s eyes shook violently at this shocking fact. Van hurriedly looked at Rowy, but Rowy was naturally poking at his ice cream without a care in the world.
“Well, I have zero interest in your private life.”
Seilan murmured slyly.
“A large magic stone came in, you see.”
“Magic stone…”
Only then did Rowy realize why this man had bothered to approach and speak to him.
‘It’s an unprocessed magic stone.’
If that’s an auction item, then within this city, Rowy would be the only person who could buy it.
Only mages could turn unprocessed magic stones into the commonly used form of processed magic stones. Therefore, magic stones were usually bought in bulk by the Magic Tower, processed, and then sold—this was the most common case.
However, unprocessed magic stones occasionally came up for auction like this, and in the case of large magic stones, selling them to individuals rather than to the Magic Tower would fetch a much higher price.
“But processing magic stones is annoying.”
Rowy’s expression immediately became lukewarm. Why would I bother processing it myself when I have enough money to buy processed magic stones? Besides, right now I’m actually in a state where I can’t process magic stones… Seilan quickly stood beside Rowy, who had lost interest again and was poking at his ice cream, and spread open a catalog.
“Just listen, customer. It’s the size of a fist, you know? Magic stones this size are hard to come by!”
“I wonder. What would I even use that for?”
“Why wouldn’t you have a use for it? It’s perfect for demon summoning, which you love so much!”
Demon summoning? Did he hear wrong? At the shocking words he heard again, Van perked up his ears.
“Demon summoning, demon summoning!”
Seilan now started waving both arms in front of Rowy to some strange song. He seemed to be imitating summoning magic in his own way. Van’s expression changed from confusion to disdain.
“Hmm…”
It was disgraceful. Watching that spectacle, Rowy finally remembered the man before him. He had run into him a few times at the Academy.
“I remember now.”
“You finally recognize me?”
“Scammer.”
Scammer? Van’s eyes whipped back to Seilan. Having been badly deceived by scammers, Van became even more wary of the man before him. That innocent-looking face certainly did seem like a scammer’s. He had been fooled by faces like that far too many times. It was Van’s painful past.
“A scammer! What if someone hears you!”
“It’s true. You. You scammed me.”
“What are you talking about!”
Seilan, who had raised his voice, quickly looked around. Even though they were in a private room, how good could the soundproofing be in a dessert café frequented by young ladies? And without a doubt, the young ladies coming and going from this place were customers several times more important than the Rowy before him. He couldn’t afford to lose all his customers just trying to sell one magic stone that wasn’t even his main business.
“Watch your mouth. Our trading company is always based on trust…”
“You sold me mushrooms saying they were demon claws.”
“The problem is the person who actually thought they were real demon claws!”
…Why would you need real demon claws? Van’s wavering eyes turned back to Rowy.
“Anyway, I don’t really need magic stones. It’s annoying. I’m not really interested in demons anymore either.”
“You were singing about demons, demons, so why all of a sudden?”
Rowy didn’t answer and buried his face in his ice cream again. Haa, so I can’t sell the magic stone. If I can’t sell this, I’ll starve… I even bought a mango smoothie on my tight budget… Seilan muttered pitifully. Of course, Rowy didn’t pay any attention.
“Ugh, it’s my fault for expecting anything from you. Taking on that magic stone for nothing.”
Finally, Seilan let out a deep sigh.
“But come anyway. We brought in a lot of interesting things this time. It was nice seeing you after so long. I’m glad you seem to be doing well.”
At the unexpected greeting, Rowy glanced up at Seilan. However, Seilan turned around and left just like that, as if he’d never been clinging to him. Only the catalog remained in the spot where he’d briefly sat. Somehow losing his appetite, Rowy put down his fork.
“Was he a friend?”
“Uh, yeah. I guess so.”
At Rowy’s ambiguous response, Van tilted his head. Rowy picked up the catalog. When he unfolded the folded section, the magic stone appeared immediately. He was thorough to the end. After spreading the catalog out on one side of the table, Rowy reached out to Van again. Van placed the mango smoothie in that hand and skimmed through the catalog.
Indeed, as he’d said, it was a magic stone the size of an adult man’s fist. When even a pinky-fingernail-sized magic stone could semi-permanently operate small everyday magic, if it was that size, although he couldn’t say for sure, its value would be tremendous. Of course, only if it could be processed.
Had Seilan come to sell it thinking Rowy could process a magic stone that large, or was he trying to scam him as Rowy had said?
“Ugh.”
Having greedily sucked in the smoothie, Rowy clutched his tingling head and made a tearful face. Van quickly reached out and rubbed Rowy’s head. Rowy whined like a child. Could a child like this process magic stones? …No matter how he looked at it, he really did seem to be a scammer.
“So you’re a mage.”
“Uh-huh. But that one’s too big. I can’t process it…”
Rowy was currently in a state where he couldn’t use magical tools for some reason. With the magic power he could use now, processing such a large magic stone would be impossible. Van nodded as if this was obvious. He wasn’t some archmage. How could he process a magic stone that large? Besides, demon summoning and whatnot for someone who looked like an angel… It couldn’t be, right?
“…Do you perhaps want to summon demons?”
“Hm? No.”
Phew. Van inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Even if he’s a friend, buying something you don’t need is wasteful. If you don’t need it, you don’t have to purchase it.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Half-listening to Van’s words, Rowy’s attention was quickly stolen by the cake. The chocolate-covered strawberries seemed to suit his taste, as the cake was left bare with only the strawberries picked off.
‘A mage…’
When the young nobleman had been wandering around empty-handed from the start, Van had figured there must be something, and if he was a mage, it made sense. Even if his own achievement was low, if he used artifacts made by high-ranking mages, it would be enough to protect himself.
Of course, when changing his clothes, Van hadn’t seen any artifacts, let alone magical tools… The naked body that flashed before his eyes in an instant made Van unconsciously swallow his saliva. At the time, he was too busy comforting the crying child to think anything, but it seemed to have been firmly imprinted on his brain.
‘That I was a bedroom slave.’
