Chapter 482: A Completely Ridiculous Excuse

I was pressed by Alex-niisan and Sister-in-law Daniela to talk about the restoration of the holy sword. Both of them seemed quite interested and asked in-depth questions. I wonder if Alex-niisan is also interested in the holy sword? Unlike Cain-niisan, I had the impression that he wasn’t particularly fixated on swords, but as expected, he is a guy after all.

On the other hand, Sister-in-law Daniela seemed like she was probing for information about the holy sword. Perhaps the Spencer Kingdom really does have a holy sword. And maybe it’s currently unusable. She’s not going to ask me to fix it, is she?

This time, I only managed because it was the holy sword Gatekeeper, which I know very well. There’s no guarantee things will go as smoothly next time. I really don’t want to disappoint Sister-in-law Daniela.

“I’m curious about the book Julius read.”

“Yes, me too. Do you remember where you read it?”

“That’s the thing… I don’t remember if it was at a bookstore in the capital, the royal castle’s library, the Heine Count family’s archive, or somewhere else entirely.”

I realize I’m the one who said it, but that’s a really unreasonable excuse. I can’t imagine they’d buy that. But neither Alex-niisan nor Sister-in-law Daniela pressed any further.

Did I… get away with it? It feels suspicious, but I’ll leave it at that for now. Silence is golden; speech is silver.

The topic then shifted to the “sacred coating agent.”

“I had no idea Mira-chan’s fur had such properties. No wonder we couldn’t say anything.”

“If word got out, Mira-chan would end up hairless.”

“That makes it even more impossible to say anything in public.”

Sister-in-law Daniela’s eyebrows formed a sorrowful shape. Even her melancholic expression was beautiful. As expected of my sister-in-law—she’s like a living painting.

When I stared at her for a moment, for some reason, she pulled me into a hug. Wh-What? Her chest… I feel a mix of guilt and envious stares.

Alex-niisan, it’s not like I did anything. Isn’t it wrong to be jealous of me?

“We’ve ended up having to make legendary armor, but I couldn’t think of any other way to improve Erwin-sama’s chances of survival.”

“Erwin-sama is probably planning to fight even at the cost of his life. Then, yes, legendary armor would be necessary.”

Alex-niisan had an expression that said “it can’t be helped.” Sophia-sama and Erwin-sama would surely keep the legendary armor a secret. That’s probably why they told us about the secret hideout.

Only a very limited number of people should know about the hideout. Perhaps even His Majesty the King doesn’t know. We definitely can’t speak of it. We must be careful.

“You seem quite knowledgeable about the legendary armor—could it be?”

“Yep. It is what you’re thinking. The Heine family already has several pieces of armor coated with it.”

“I had no idea. Alex, when we return to the Heine estate, I’d like to see them.”

Sister-in-law Daniela looked up at Alex-niisan. From his perspective, she probably looked like she was pleading with upturned eyes. As expected of Sister-in-law Daniela—she uses every tool at her disposal. Truly the future Margravine.

“Ugh, fine. It’s okay to show her, right?”

“I think so. I plan to use it freely if necessary. Maybe you could try blasting it with magic to test it.”

“Well, yeah. It’d probably nullify everything, though.”

“That much?”

She widened her eyes and stared at me. When I told her about how it completely nullified fire magic, she nodded repeatedly in agreement.

“That’s definitely legendary armor. Maybe we should give it a name now, while we still can.”

Sister-in-law Daniela muttered to herself. It seems she wants to leave the armor’s name in history. Please don’t.

If people find out that the Heine family has multiple pieces of legendary armor, I can only see strange rumors spreading.

It seems I wasn’t the only one who thought Sister-in-law Daniela’s current state was dangerous. Alex-niisan quickly changed the topic and escorted her out of the bath.

We somehow managed to get out of the bath safely, and I dried my hair with magic. But apparently, Sister-in-law Daniela saw me. Now that I think about it, the Raven Kingdom still hasn’t installed hot-and-cold air dryers.

“Julius, did you just dry your hair with magic?”

“Yes. Would you like me to do yours too, Sister-in-law? It was very well-received when I dried Rosalia’s hair.”

“Really? Then I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“Leave it to me.”

I’m not that dense. I can pick up on a woman’s feelings. And it wouldn’t help to feign ignorance here. Rather than trying to dodge it, I should make good use of the situation and boost her favorability.

I conjured a perfectly balanced breeze, like a luxury hair dryer, with magic. I’ve done it so many times now, I’m used to it. This is probably how I gradually improve my magic.

I finished drying Sister-in-law Daniela’s long hair in no time. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it seemed shinier than usual. It had a moist, beautiful texture. Maybe I’ve been overdrying it until now, making it too brittle?

“It’s all done, Sister-in-law.”

I called out to her, but she was holding her hair in her hand, staring at it.

What should I do? Should I run?

“Julius, how did you do this?”

“What do you mean? I just used magic to dry it.”

“No, this isn’t normal. Hair doesn’t turn out like this normally. Tell me what kind of magic you used. If possible, I’d like our servants to learn it.”

She grabbed both my shoulders firmly and leaned in. Too close! And her eyes were serious. She genuinely wants to know what magic I used. It’s not a special kind of magic, but it does require technique. Whether the servants can learn it depends on them.

“F-Fine. I’ll teach you as much as I can.”

“Of course, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thank you.”

Apparently, she thinks it’s some kind of secret magic. And perhaps because he thought things were getting weird between me and Sister-in-law, Alex-niisan also came over. I took the opportunity to dry his still-damp hair, and he accepted it without issue.

“Julius, please teach that magic to my servants too. Of course, we’ll keep it a secret.”

“Y-Yes, of course.”

I didn’t intend to keep it secret, but somehow, I’ve ended up with even more secrets…