Chapter 120: There Were Too Many Guests

Behind the boy with the light brown hair came another boy with hair of much the same colour. Brothers, probably, Ren thought. The one behind had a bow and a quiver slung on his back.

Behind them came a boy with a mushroom cut, who looked round the garden with a sullen air.

The light-haired boy and the boy who seemed to be his brother came running over.

“Hello! Are you the ones from the Cream baronial house? I’m Scott Caramel, of the Caramel Viscount’s house. This is my younger brother, Theo.”

Theo, who had run over clinging to Scott, made a little bow. His quiver tipped and the arrows rolled and rattled inside it.

“Scott and Theo are my second cousins. Ah……, they’d be your second cousins as well, wouldn’t they.”

“” Eh? “”

Ren and Royce let the sound out before they could stop themselves. Lewis and Liese, however, were exchanging greetings without any particular sign of surprise. Scott said brightly, all smiles:

“Our grandfathers are brothers, aren’t they.”

“Our grandfathers?”

When Ren asked it back, Liese looked at him.

“Ren, make your greeting first. ……Grandfather is Lord Brûlée the Margrave’s younger brother, and Lord Caramel the Viscount is Grandfather’s younger brother — that’s it, isn’t it?”

“Eh?”

“Grandfather is the Margrave’s younger brother?!”

Royce’s voice went high with surprise. “Did you know?” he said, looking at Yuan and Yona.

Yuan and Yona shook their heads.

Startled as he was, Ren glanced at Lewis and Liese.

(So Lewis-niiue and Liese-neeue knew……)

“Ah — I said second son of the Margrave’s house, but it’s my grandfather who’s the Margrave. It was confusing, wasn’t it.”

Patrick added the explanation, but what had caught Ren’s attention wasn’t whether Patrick was the Margrave’s son or his grandson. It was that his own grandfather came out of the Margrave’s house.

If Lewis and Liese had known, Ren wanted to hear more, but the other boys had just then come walking up.

“When you said garden, I thought there might be flowers or something……. It’s a very bleak sort of place.”

The boy with the mushroom cut spoke in a sharp tone.

“It’s a place for training. Don’t you train?”

At Patrick’s words, the boy with the mushroom cut pursed his lips sullenly.

“I know about it! You train by hitting those butts, don’t you!”

A boy with black hair caught up in a small tail at the back pointed at the butts. When the eyes turned his way, he began to introduce himself.

“I’m James Vanille, of the Vanille Count’s house. The Fire Magic skill. This is my younger brother Jack — Wind Magic.”

The short-haired, black-haired boy standing at an angle behind James made a small bow in greeting.

James looked over at the boy with the mushroom cut.

The boy with the mushroom cut — Marcus — introduced himself with a vaguely ill-tempered air.

“Marcus, of the Noisette Count’s house. Fire Magic skill. And my younger brother, Frank.”

“Frank Noisette. My skill is Fire Magic.”

Frank bobbed a little bow as well. James supplied the explanation.

“Marcus and Frank’s grandfather, of House Noisette, and our grandmother are brother and sister. And Lady Isabella of House Cream is our grandmother’s elder sister, so we’re second cousins to you as well.”

“Second cousins……, more of them……”

Marcus, the boy with the mushroom cut, and Frank were apparently the grandsons of the Noisette Count, Ren’s grandmother’s elder brother. And James and Jack, who had introduced themselves before, were the grandsons of the grandmother’s younger sister, the Vanille Countess.

“……They really are relatives……”

Royce muttered under his breath. Ren, too, had never dreamt so many second cousins would be gathering. Then his eye was caught by a silver-haired boy standing all on his own behind Marcus and the others.

(Is he a second cousin too?)

As Ren looked steadily at him, the silver-haired boy’s eyes met his. The silver-haired boy bowed and made his greeting.

“Herman, second son of the Sucre Viscount’s house. Wind Magic.”

“The Sucre Viscount’s house……. Mother’s……”

“Yes. Aunt Yasmin’s elder brother is my father. So we’re first cousins.”

“Not second cousins, then……”

Royce muttered.

(That’s a great deal to take in……)

Ren tried to put it in order in his head.

Brûlée, Margrave: Grandfather’s elder brother — the Margrave’s grandchildren: Patrick, Sylvie, Tina

Caramel, Viscount: Grandfather’s younger brother — the Viscount’s grandchildren: Scott, Theo

Noisette, Count: Grandmother’s elder brother — the Count’s grandchildren: Marcus, Frank

Vanille, Count: Husband of Grandmother’s younger sister — the Count’s grandchildren: James, Jack

Sucre, Viscount: Mother’s elder brother — the Viscount’s son: Herman

(There are so many……. I’ll make a note of it later. Five noble houses……. Will they all fit in the annexe? ……Ah, so that’s why the rooms had to be moved round……)

Counting the parents of the boys in front of him, and their escort knights and servants, it would come to a considerable number of people.

The thought came to him that perhaps it couldn’t have been helped, his and Royce’s being made to move rooms; but being told out of nowhere to shift out of his room was still not something he could altogether accept.

“I say. Isn’t there anything amusing to do?”

Marcus, the one with the mushroom cut, said it wearily. Patrick gave a light stretch.

“I’d like to move about a bit. We were in the carriage such a long time.”

“I know. I even brought my bow along. ……I wonder if we’re allowed to use those butts.”

Scott pointed at them.

“Shall we show each other our skills, then?”

Marcus stretched out a hand towards the butt.

“Eh — didn’t you say your skill was Fire Magic? You mean to use Fire Magic?”

“I’m not going to miss a butt that size.”

Patrick had called out to him, but Marcus grinned, with no sign of stopping.

Lewis stepped smartly in between Marcus and the butt.

“Excuse me. It would be awkward if the butts caught fire!”

“It was a joke.”

Marcus shrugged.

“Marcus, even as a joke that’s a poor one. If Fire Magic started a fire here it wouldn’t be a laughing matter.”

James reproved him. Marcus rolled his head lazily and sighed.

“Well, it’s dull, isn’t it. There didn’t seem to be anywhere to go shopping either. What’s there to do apart from showing off our skills?”

“Burning the butts wouldn’t be amusing.”

“I said it was a joke. ……Still, you’re right, it isn’t as if letting off Fire Magic is actually interesting.”

Marcus jerked his head round towards Lewis.

“I say……. Isn’t there anything amusing?”

“Eh……”

Lewis looked at a loss. Liese put on a smile and made a suggestion.

“Shall we show you round the house?”

“Mmm……”

Marcus didn’t seem greatly taken with Liese’s suggestion. He looked at James, and then at Patrick and Yuan.

“What about a contest? Fire Magic against Fire Magic. Swordsmanship against Swordsmanship, that sort of thing.”

Yuan gave a small start. But Patrick shook his head.

“We’re not dressed for a bout, and it would be awkward if anyone were hurt, so I shan’t.”

Patrick refused at once, and Yuan looked relieved. James nodded.

“Fire Magic against Fire Magic would be dangerous too. And you know it.”

“I thought it would be better than Fire Magic against Wind Magic or whatever. Come to think of it……”

Marcus looked over at Ren.

“Your skill — ‘Small Box’, was it? What sort of thing is it?”

“Eh……”

With the point of it suddenly turned on him, Ren was at a loss. Royce turned a look on him with something expectant in it. Marcus, and Marcus’s younger brother Frank, and James, and James’s younger brother Jack, were all looking at Ren. Ren drew a quiet breath in.

(……My skill isn’t a way of killing time……)

He set the corners of his mouth firmly, straightened his back, and spoke.

“……It isn’t anything interesting. ……If you’re bored, shall we try a game?”

“A game?”

“For instance……”

Ren took one of the longer arrows out of the pail where the broken arrows were kept.

With the point of the arrow he drew lines on the ground. Two down. Two more across them. Then he ruled a line round the whole to make a three-by-three grid of squares.

He wrote numbers into the squares as they came to him, then, from a little way off, rolled a pebble towards the grid. The pebble went rattling across the squares and came to a stop.

He read out the number written in the square the stone had come to rest in.

“‘Two.’ That’s a score of two points. You play for points. You could total them up by group as well, perhaps.”

“……Let’s give it a try.”

The corner of Marcus’s mouth went up.