Kays Translations

Chapter 148: Touring the Royal Capital

After listening to Brother Cain’s account, Brother Alex clutched his head in both hands. Then he looked at me with hollow eyes.

“Julius, may I see the Lake Spirit’s blessing?”

He examined the mark on the back of my hand, furrowed his brow, and rubbed at it with a finger. He looked extremely confused. Before I realised it, cold sweat was running down my back.

Was this my fault…? No. I’d only done a good deed. I hadn’t done anything wrong!

“Um, Brother Alex?”

“Hmm. I’ve never heard of anyone receiving a spirit’s blessing before. I’ll look into it later. The real problem is that other people saw what happened. Rumours will almost certainly spread from there.”

“I’m sorry,” Brother Cain said. “I should’ve told everyone to keep quiet immediately…”

“That wouldn’t have worked, Cain. Even if we’d ordered them not to talk, the story would’ve leaked somewhere eventually. In fact, it may be more convenient if word spreads that House Heine has received the Lake Spirit’s blessing.”

Brother Cain nodded with a solemn expression. Maybe he was thinking the same thing I was: if people believed House Heine had a spirit’s blessing, that could discourage other nobles from making trouble for us.

The problem was that the hot-spring district belonged to a different noble family. That part could become troublesome.

“I’ll write to Father myself,” Brother Alex said. “Fortunately, we’re on good terms with the noble family that governs the area around the hot springs. Rather than getting angry, they’ll probably thank us. One of the country’s leading tourist destinations was on the verge of disappearing, after all.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed my actions weren’t going to damage relations between noble houses.

Right. The hot-spring district wasn’t House Heine territory. Causing trouble there would be bad. I’d have to be more careful from now on.

I wasn’t good at dealing with relationships between nobles. Then again, I hadn’t originally been a noble at all, so perhaps that couldn’t be helped.

“Julius, be more careful from now on.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Your best, huh…”

Brother Alex gave me a hard stare. Those eyes said he didn’t believe me.

What a coincidence. I wasn’t entirely convinced either. I could promise to do my best, but trouble had a habit of sprinting towards me on its own. Some things simply couldn’t be avoided.

A servant came to report that my room was ready, so the conversation ended there. After excusing myself, I headed for the room that had been prepared.

The townhouse had a room reserved especially for me, although I’d barely ever used it.

It was smaller than my bedroom at the estate in the territorial capital, but I actually found the smaller room more relaxing. What could I say? I was still a former ordinary citizen at heart.

I took off my jacket, flopped onto the bed, and lazed around until it was suddenly time for dinner.

“May I go out into the royal capital tomorrow?”

I asked Brother Alex over dinner. He tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling as though considering it.

We weren’t due at the royal castle for a while yet. We’d reached the royal capital earlier than planned, after all. That meant there should be time for me to look around the city.

I hadn’t come here because I wanted to, but since I’d made it all the way to the royal capital, I wanted to enjoy the opportunity rather than waste it.

“Cain, you’re preparing for the new academy term tomorrow, right?”

“Yes. There are a few things I can only buy in the royal capital. Wait… don’t tell me—”

“Then it’s settled. Cain, take Julius with you.”

Brother Cain let out a long sigh.

Did he dislike the idea that much? It wasn’t as though I deliberately stuck my head into trouble because I enjoyed it.

“Fine. Julius, don’t do anything on your own.”

“Of course.”

My excellent answer seemed to satisfy him… more or less.

Still, Brother Alex had practically dumped me on Brother Cain. Was there something else he needed to do?

“What are your plans tomorrow, Brother Alex?”

“I have preparations for the new term. We need to choose next year’s student council president.”

The new term hadn’t even started and he already had work at the academy. Being student council president sounded exhausting. But until the handover was complete, Brother Alex probably couldn’t freely participate in the social season. In that case, it couldn’t be helped.

The next morning, the streets outside our carriage seemed less crowded than even the main avenue of the territorial capital. I’d expected the royal capital to be much busier. Was I wrong?

Brother Cain noticed how often I was looking out the window and explained.

“This area is lined with shops reserved for nobles. That’s why you don’t see commoners here. Anyone who looks like one is probably a servant from some noble household.”

“I see. That explains why there are so few people walking around.”

So commoners and nobles used different shopping districts. In that case, the streets where ordinary people shopped must be much more crowded. I really wanted to see how lively they were.

“Julius, you’re not thinking you’d like to visit the shops commoners use, are you? I’m not taking you there.”

“What? Of course not.”

I laughed as innocently as I could, but Brother Cain still looked suspicious.

How did he know?

I turned away from him and looked out the window just as the carriage stopped. Apparently we’d reached our destination.

“Julius, stay quietly in the carriage.”

“Why? I want to go into the bookshop too.”

I could see the shop through the carriage window. There was no mistaking our destination.

A bookshop in the royal capital. What kind of books would they have? I’d come all this way, so I definitely wanted to see.

“I’m only buying textbooks. You probably won’t find it interesting.”

“That’s fine. I can look around while you’re buying them.”

Brother Cain sighed. He must’ve realised there was no way he could talk me out of it. I was absolutely going inside.

“All right. Just stay quiet in the shop.”

“Okay!”

Inside, the store was far larger than its exterior suggested. It stretched surprisingly deep, and every available wall was covered with bookcases packed tightly with books.

While Brother Cain searched for his textbooks, I began looking too. Of course, I was searching for books on magic potions.

Books about magic potions from the royal capital. I was very curious about what they contained.

“There. Could you get me that book?”

One of the knights assigned to guard me reached it down. Guard might’ve been the wrong word—supervisor seemed more accurate. They really didn’t trust me, did they?

The knight checked the book first, decided there was nothing dangerous about it, and handed it over.

It was a magic-potion textbook used at the Royal Academy. Surely no one could object to that.

I flipped through the pages. It skipped the most basic material, so it seemed to be intended for upper-year students. There were recipes for elementary healing potions and similar medicines.

My verdict on the methods could be summed up in three words: this is terrible.

Terrible.

This was an upper-year textbook? Apparently the Royal Academy didn’t put much effort into teaching magic potions. That gave me even less reason to attend.

“Julius, do you want that book?”

“What? No, I was just…”

I only wanted to inspect the contents. I didn’t actually want to own it. But Brother Cain, unaware of that, checked the title and smiled.

“It’s fine. I’ll buy it for you. For all your complaints, you really are interested in the Royal Academy, aren’t you?”

“Huh? Well… yes.”

I wasn’t interested in the way he thought, but he was giving me such a pleased smile that I couldn’t bring myself to refuse.

He wasn’t imagining he’d get me as his junior, was he?

I wasn’t going to enrol, okay?

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