Kays Translations

Chapter 16- While Fiona teaches him to study

Fiona has already been by his side more than ever since Ren started spending time at Elendil. As she’s two years older than him, she can't allow herself to be just a shy, pathetic girl, she thought to herself.

"---- I'm fine now."

Fiona turned to Ren when her skin tone had calmed down.

Before she knew it, he had left his seat and started brewing tea with the equipment provided in this room.

“Would you like some, Fiona-sama?”

“Yes please. Fufu…I'm really looking forward to the tea you're going to brew for me---“

“Haha ...... I hope it suits your taste this time too. Please wait a little while.”

Fiona said she would help, but by that time Ren had already finished most of the preparations, so there was nothing she could do.

A few minutes later, a nice aroma wafted from the teacup that was brought before her.

Naturally it tasted good too. Unlike Fiona's brewing, it was superb without any unnecessary astringency, and Fiona knew instantly that he had improved his skill again.

Fiona has also improved her skills since then, but Ren seems to have improved even more.

"That’s it."

Ren, who had returned to his seat opposite Fiona and was drinking tea as well as Fiona, said.

Fiona, who was happily drinking the tea Ren had brewed, asked with a puzzled look on her face, "What's wrong?"

“I was having trouble understanding something about the assignment. If you don't mind, I was hoping that you could help me. ......"

Fiona's cheeks flushed with joy at being asked to help.

With a bouncy voice and a sparkling smile, she nodded.

“I’ll be happy to help!”

Then, a necklace swayed on Fiona's chest.

It wasn’t the necklace of the magic breaker she used to wear in the Baldor Mountains. It was the necklace with the star agate charm that Ren had given her.

Ren looked embarrassed when he saw it,

“I'm really happy that you cherish it, but is it okay, I didn’t really process it well?"

The star agate that adorns Fiona's bosom is almost always in its rough form.

It is a little bit too shabby to adorn the bosom of a marquis’ daughter.

“Yes. I like it just the way it is.”

It would be tactless to tell her anything more than that since she said it so happily.

And since Fiona returned to the topic as if to express her happiness at being asked to help Ren, he didn't touch the topic of the necklace any further.

“What is it about it that you don't understand, Ren-kun?”

Fiona leaned her body slightly forward on the desk, bringing her body closer to Ren.

“This is it. This is the assignment that my alchemy teacher gave me, but I don't understand why I have to use this medicine.”

"Well, it's a little difficult to calculate with the other necessary materials. The formula is like this: ----“

Fiona slides her pen into her notebook.

The handwriting was lovely, flowing and rounded.

“What do you think?"

When asked, Ren’s cheeks twitching as he failed to understand the explanation.

Fiona saw his dry smile and laughed apologetically, "Ha ha ......" and got up from her seat. It wasn't a chuckle at Ren's failure to catch on. It wasn’t possible for Fiona to do so. She got up from her seat to go to the seat next to Ren.

“Let's start with the formula over here----First of all."

Fiona slides her pen into the notebook next to Ren.

She began to teach Ren, this time more carefully and from a different perspective.

Fiona hand-combed her own hair over the notebook and gently looked at Ren.

Her cheeks almost reddened as she watched his serious face as he looked at the notebook.

“It goes like this----."

Fiona, who had finished her explanation, turned to Ren.

Perhaps it was because they were physically close to each other, but the scent of flowers spread softly from her hair.

Fiona's smile, which even looked mysterious, shimmered more than the spring sunlight. Ren saw that smile and immediately thanked her.

“Thank you, Fiona-sama! I finally understand!"

“Fufu, I'm glad."

Fiona then gets up from the seat and returns to her original seat, leaving behind a sweet scent.

She wanted to sit next to Ren as it was, but her cheeks would have turned red again if she did so, so that was her limit for now.

The only thing she couldn't help but feel was that her heart was beating fast.

An hour or two passed by as Ren worked on the assignment.

Wanting to take a break, Ren stood up and walked towards the open window.

There, the breeze reminded him of the time when he cleaned this room. He remembered one of the books he had lined up on the bookshelf, a book that had caught his attention.

Ren quickly walked over to the bookshelf by the wall and picked up the book he had lined up the other day.

He returned to his seat and opened one of the books, which had "Monsters of the Demon King’s Army" written on the cover.

(All those monsters I don't know.)

There were many powerful illustrations in the book, but all of them were monsters that Ren had never seen before, from their names to their appearances.

Most of them haven’t survived to the present day. It’s written that they have died out due to the resistance of various countries, including the party of the hero Ruin.

Some of them contained information about monsters that are said to live in the area where the Demon King's castle is located, which is called the Demon Continent.

Ren's fingertips stopped at a certain page.

He was struck by a monster walking in the wilderness, which seemed to be a battlefield.

“Oh ...... wow."

Then Fiona heard his voice,

“Is that an illustrated book?”

"Yes, it is. I've been wondering about it since the last time we cleaned with Klonoa-san.”

Hearing his reply, Fiona got up from her seat and came around behind where Ren was sitting.

She asked him, "Do you mind if I take a look too?" He replied, "Of course”.

“This monster seems to have been one of the generals who led the Demon King's army until the Demon King was defeated.”

The huge five-mail armor is jet-black with gold ornaments, and the picture conveys its dismal appearance. It has four arms and as many huge swords on its back, and a stained blue cloth on one shoulder.

There is no body of flesh in the armor, instead it is filled with dense magic power.

The magic stone is said to be floating in that magic.

“It seems that too little information is available to rank them.”

As Ren says this, Fiona, peering into the book, reads a sentence.

"It’s a monster that has become even stronger since it started following the Demon King. It has never followed anyone other than the Demon king, and before that he was called the Sword Demon----"

The next sentence was read by Ren.

As one would expect from a general in the demon king’s army, his nature was also something he had not heard much about.

“It seems to be classified as a dragon species. It looks like a dragon, but I heard that it has organs similar to those of the dragon species beside the magic stone.”

After all, it is only a classification.

The other characteristic is vitality. Ren understood well from his battle with Asval how much vitality he could boast, since he was a dragon, not an undead.

Since it is written that there were several such monsters at that time, the ferocity of the Demon King's army was immeasurable.

However, the Seven Heroes fought one of them on the Demon Continent and won the battle.

(Is it natural to be defeated by the Seven Heroes?)

They also defeated the Demon King, so it was only natural.

Ren immediately closed the book and put it back on the bookshelf.

“Speaking of which, Ren-kun, how are you going to spend your next consecutive holidays?"

If I spend a few more busy days in the selection of representatives for the Lion King Festival, I will have no school activity for the entire next week. It is not that this year is special, but it was a common consecutive holiday.

“I don't have any particular plans. It seems that Licia-sama has to work with the Clausel family almost every day.”

“Haha... actually me too. My father is coming to the Imperial Capital and I'm stuck with work. ---- Oh, that's right! Actually, my father entrusted me with a letter for you, Ren-kun!"

She would have liked to invite Ren to go somewhere with her, but that was not going to happen.

Fiona took out an envelope from her bag and handed it to Ren, feeling sorry about it.

When Ren heard that it was from Ulysses, he immediately opened the envelope and checked inside. The letter said, "Let's go to the blacksmith town together next week”.

Ren wondered what it was about,

(Is it about a new armor?).

He immediately understood and decided to acknowledge the reply on the spot.

“I'm sorry. May I ask you to deliver my reply?”

“Yes, I'm at your service.”

Ulysses specified that they would meet up in the evening next week in the imperial capital.

Ren, who was beginning to look forward to that day, set about the remaining tasks for the time being.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

As promised, in the evening in the capital.

Ren met with Ulysses one day during the holiday weekend.

“Are you okay without an escort?"

“I've got you by my side and I'm only half joking, I'm sure he's hiding somewhere.”

He made a joke about it, but not because he doubted Ren's ability.

“I'll explain what I just said properly, I meant that with you, I don't need an escort to hide behind, is that understood?”

“...... Give me a break on all kinds of things."

Ulysses chuckles at Ren triumphantly.

“How's the work of the committee members going?”

“I told you earlier, it's a lot of fun. At first I didn’t intend to do anything, but I'm glad to be involved in the festival as a member of the executive committee.”

“I'm glad to hear that. However, listening to you, I also think back to the time when I was a member of the executive committee.”

“----“

"Hey? What’s that all of a sudden?”

“I'm sorry, but I was surprised to hear that you had also been a member of the executive committee.”

The two---- or mainly Ulysses, but he’s not concerned about his own status and walks the blacksmith street with Ren. The bustle that occurs as the Great Festival of the Lion King approaches seemed to be even more so these days.

“Didn't you ever compete in any speech contests or anything?'

“Haha! I lost interest in it once I entered! I tried to see what it was like to be a member of the executive committee, and it was a lot more fun!”

"Heh... By the way, how was it fun?"

“I remember feeling a kind of pleasure when I watched the nobles of my age and thought Oh, that's how they move when they get excited.”

“---- Uwaa."

Ren looked at Ulysses with a drawn look. Ulysses was pleased to see Ren's unreserved gaze, and his lips lifted and his eyes lowered.

Ulysses said something more teasing to Ren.

“I'm most happy to see that look on your face right now.”

Ren wondered if there will ever be a time when this man's composure will disappear.

Ren, walking next to him, wondered without saying it out loud.

“By the way, do you know why I called you here today?”

“Is it about the armor made from Asval's horn?”

“That’s correct. I was told that it would be ready soon, so I contacted you last week.”

“I thought so. But, Verlich-san has been working on a new product so quickly since we last spoke.”

“I thought about that, too. It's only been a week or two since I delivered the materials to Verlich, but I can't help but think it's very fast.”

Ren was looking forward to hearing the story and his cheeks relaxed.

Ulysses, who had always behaved like an adult, peeked in on Ren, who looked somewhat like his age, and had a calm expression on his face that showed none of the strength that had made so many nobles weep.

After another short walk, they arrived at Verlich's workshop,

“Oh, I've been waiting for you.”

Verlich, who had noticed the visitor's presence, appeared from inside his workshop and greeted them with a big smile on his face.

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