Kays Translations

Chapter 20: An Unexpected Reunion and an Unexpected Conversation.

A sudden cold wind made Licia hold down her hair. Feeling the chill on her cheeks, she voiced a question that had just occurred to her.

Her interest in the blacksmith had not diminished in the slightest.

“What kind of person is this blacksmith you know, Weiss?”

Weiss folded his arms as he walked. The description that left his mouth used unusually colorful language for him.

“He is a stubborn, peculiar dwarf who hates work.”

“Th-that does not sound very reassuring. Will someone like that really forge my sword?”

“You need not worry. His personality is difficult, but he is a man who honors his obligations. He is an odd fellow—a blacksmith who is also a magic-ship engineer—but his integrity can be trusted.”

“That is remarkable. The more I hear, the more curious I become about him.”

“Indeed,” Lessard said. “He sounds like a most unusual blacksmith.”

The two of them were genuinely eager to see what kind of dwarf awaited them.

Before long, their steps had quickened as though their excitement were urging them forward.

A little more than ten minutes later, however—

“…?”

Licia stopped.

They had just left one of the main avenues and entered another busy street when something at the edge of her vision felt wrong.

Noticing his daughter’s reaction, Lessard turned back.

“Licia? What is it?”

“I am not sure. Something simply caught my attention.”

She could not explain what had disturbed her.

Yet the uneasy feeling would not subside, so Licia turned toward its source.

An old general store was being demolished nearby. A wooden barricade surrounded the worksite, and several small children were walking beside it.

The barricade suddenly shuddered.

Then it began falling directly toward the children.

“Weiss, stay with Father!” Licia shouted.

She strengthened her body with Sacred Magic and rushed forward. Her control had improved considerably since the day she used that power during the battle against Yelquq.

“Please—let me reach them in time!”

While running, Licia drew the sword she carried for protection. She placed herself between the falling barricade and the children, who had frozen in shock while staring upward.

Their frightened cries sharpened her gaze.

She swung immediately, cutting through the sections of timber descending toward them.

The children began to cry amid the confusion. Dust covered Licia as she continued wielding her sword—and then a burst of cold air raced beneath her feet.

“This is…”

There was no mistaking it. This was magic.

The cold was entirely different from the winter air, and Licia recognized it at once.

The chill that reached her feet formed enormous pillars of ice beneath the portions of the barricade that were still collapsing. The newly created pillars stopped the structure from falling any farther.

It was extraordinary magic. Both its scale and precision made its caster’s first-rate ability unmistakable.

The scene before Licia resembled a temple of ice.

Pillars rising from the ground reflected the sunlight as they effortlessly supported the wooden barricade.

“That was close…”

“Was that magic just now?”

Passersby voiced relief, followed quickly by astonishment.

Licia was relieved as well, but she did not forget the magical presence she had sensed. She looked around for its source.

A girl came running toward her.

“I am so glad I made it in time!”

The voice came from behind Licia.

It was light and clear, like a bird’s song—and Licia had heard it before. Covered in dust, she turned and stared in surprise.

Standing there was someone she had not expected to meet.

“F-Fiona-sama!?”

“L-Licia-sama!?”

It was Fiona Ignat, whom Licia had not seen since the party.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

Taking Licia to the blacksmith district while she was covered from head to toe in dust would hardly have been appropriate.

Through Fiona’s kindness, Licia was instead brought to Fiona’s room in the women’s dormitory of the Imperial Military Academy.

Naturally, the purpose was to wash away the dirt.

While taking a shower in Fiona’s bathroom, Licia spoke through the frosted-glass door.

“Thank you for letting me use your shower.”

Fiona smiled from the other side. She paused while preparing towels and other necessities for Licia.

“Please take your time and warm yourself properly. Oh, I have placed a change of clothes here as well!”

“Thank you very much. You have done so much for me—and Edgar-san is entertaining Father and Weiss too…”

“Please do not worry about any of it.”

Fiona had not been walking through the Imperial Capital alone.

She had been shopping with Edgar as her escort when they encountered Licia protecting the children.

Lessard and Weiss were now being received in the salon between the women’s and men’s dormitories. The room was apparently used by students’ parents and by merchants who conducted business with the academy.

“Phew…”

Eventually, Licia finished showering and stepped out wrapped in a towel. The clothes she had worn were being washed by the women’s dormitory staff.

That too had been arranged by Fiona, who lent Licia another outfit in the meantime.

The unfamiliar amount of room around the chest made Licia feel faintly defeated.

“It is fine… I will catch up soon enough…”

Muttering to herself, Licia sat in the chair before the washbasin.

A magic tool had been left there for drying her hair, but she could not find a comb.

At just the right moment, Fiona knocked on the dressing-room door and entered after receiving Licia’s permission.

“I am sorry. I completely forgot to bring you a comb.”

What she carried did indeed resemble one.

It was made of spotless silver and bore an unusual design rarely seen on an ordinary comb.

According to Fiona, it was a magic tool.

Licia could not imagine what purpose a comb-shaped magic tool might serve.

“Does it do something besides combing hair?”

“It does. It is only a little special, but… Licia-sama, would you allow me to comb your hair?”

“Um… what?”

“My hair is long too, so I understand how difficult it can be to manage alone. Please let me help, unless you would prefer otherwise.”

It truly was difficult to handle by herself.

Fiona’s offer would be helpful, but Licia could not ignore the difference in their status. Their emotionally complicated relationship made her hesitate even more.

In the end, however, she was more afraid of borrowing an unfamiliar magic tool and breaking it. Licia nodded.

The quiet sound of the comb sliding through her still-wet hair seemed strangely loud to both girls.

“I am told it makes hair glossier than an ordinary comb.”

Fiona did not sound particularly confident.

“Father gave it to me for my birthday last year. But honestly, I have never been able to tell much of a difference.”

“I-I see…”

“What about you, Licia-sama? Does your hair feel different from usual?”

The honest answer was no.

Her hair looked much as it always did: silky, smooth to the touch, and lustrous with moisture.

Fiona saw Licia struggle to respond and gave a wry laugh.

“I suppose neither of us can really tell.”

The two exchanged awkward smiles through the mirror.

Silence followed.

Fiona soon introduced another subject.

“Today truly surprised me. I thought you were still in Clausel, Licia-sama. I never expected to find you in Elendil.”

“Yes. We came to Elendil for several reasons. Today we traveled to the Imperial Capital to buy clothes, and we also intended to visit the blacksmith district.”

“And then that accident happened.”

As they spoke, a stiffness unlike the atmosphere at the party began to settle between them.

Their words sounded more formal than before, revealing that neither girl knew how she ought to treat the other.

Once Fiona finished combing Licia’s hair, she excused herself from the dressing room.

Still seated before the mirror, Licia released a breath filled with emotions she could not organize. She then dried her hair with the magic tool on the washbasin.

When she was finished, she entered the living room.

The room seemed far too luxurious to belong to a dormitory. At Fiona’s invitation, Licia sat on the sofa.

As at the party, the two nearly found themselves captivated by each other’s appearance.

Neither could think of anything resembling ordinary conversation, so they both gazed pointlessly toward the window.

Large, soft flakes of snow had begun drifting outside.

“Ah…”

Licia’s attention suddenly shifted toward a corner of the room.

A large bookshelf covered part of the wall.

“Do you enjoy reading, Fiona-sama?”

“Yes. It is slightly embarrassing to admit, but I was physically frail, so I spent my childhood surrounded by books.”

As a child, Fiona had passed most of her time in bed.

Her principal pleasures had been reading and speaking with Ulysses.

Licia knew about Fiona’s upbringing, but hearing it directly affected her more deeply. Without Ren, Fiona would have died, and that knowledge made Licia feel a special connection to her.

After all, Licia too had been saved by Ren.

Believing they had finally found an opening for conversation, both girls rose almost simultaneously.

The movement was sudden, but they desperately needed precisely such an opportunity.

They approached the bookshelf and continued speaking while pretending to remain calm.

“Some of these books look extremely difficult.”

“They are. I still cannot read many of them properly. I try, but some are so challenging that I have to work through them with a dictionary. Would you care to look at any of them, Licia-sama?”

Licia could not honestly claim to be uninterested.

She also hoped that sharing the books might ease the strange formality remaining between them.

“I would be delighted.”

The shelves contained difficult-looking academic works, thick novels, and study guides crowded with bookmarks.

One particular reference book captured Licia’s attention.

“This is for the Imperial Military Academy, is it not?”

“Yes. I used it while preparing for the entrance examination.”

Fiona smiled shyly.

She removed the book and showed Licia its cover.

It was an entrance-examination guide for the Imperial Military Academy’s Special Class.

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