Chapter 89: The Travelling Merchant
Ren was making his way at a trot along a road where the westering sun still lingered.
A small burlap sack hung from his shoulder.
Inside was the meat of a horn rabbit, already dismantled.
Today, after the request to organise the reference room, he had gone out hunting for a little while before the sun went down and had somehow managed to bring down a single horn rabbit. While he was about the bleeding, he brought down several three-eyed eagles too, so he had secured material for char quill pens as well.
Breathing a little hard, he headed for the baron’s mansion up on the hill.
A rugged grey mansion of stone.
A conspicuously large building for these parts.
Today, something was different.
An unfamiliar carriage stood beside the gate.
It had a canopy, and some sort of mark was faintly painted on the side.
Wooden crates on the cargo bed.
Long wrapped bundles.
Something that looked like lengths of cloth.
“…A merchant?”
Ren stopped walking. This was unusual.
He had heard that travelling merchants came a few times a year. But over the past year he had been out on apprentice adventurer work so often that he had never once seen a travelling merchant visiting the mansion.
Tilting his head slightly, Ren went round to the back door.
When he put his face in at the kitchen’s back door, a wall of heat hit his cheeks. Mixed into it he thought he caught something like a savoury, faintly sweet smell.
“Ah, Young Master. Good work today. …If that’s meat, would you leave it over there?”
“Ah, yeah…”
The cook glanced at Ren, then went straight back to his work.
(He looks busy…)
Ren picked a relatively cool spot, set down the meat wrapped in large leaves, and left the kitchen so as not to get in the way.
When he stepped into the mansion, a lively air of some kind was drifting about.
Wooden crates were stacked in the corridor, and voices could be heard from the direction of the living room.
“Young Miss, we’ll take this in a little here.”
“Is it not uncomfortable?”
“Oh, it suits you beautifully!”
Looking in from the doorway, Ren saw Liese standing in the middle of the room in a pale green dress. It seemed to be at the fitting stage; pins were fastened along the sides and the hem.
Unlike her usual plain clothes, she looked resplendent.
Someone who appeared to be the dressmaker was arranging the hem.
Liese wore a slightly ticklish smile. She looked pleased, as though she liked the dress.
Their mother sat in a chair, looking at the fabric with a faintly tired face.
“Could that lace be made a little more restrained?”
“But madam, it’s an occasion for celebration, so I think about this much would be better.”
“…I suppose so.”
Beside them, Yuan’s eyes were shining. He was holding a sword in both hands. Against Yuan’s build it looked a very large sword.
“Father! Can I draw it?!”
“You may.”
Their father’s voice came. He must have been in a blind spot from the doorway, out of sight. When Ren shifted his angle a little to look, his father was talking about something with a different merchant.
Yuan drew the sword with vigour. There was a ringing, metallic shing.
The polished blade caught the light of the setting sun.
“Ohh…!”
Yuan’s face lit up.
“Amazing! Look at this!”
“Yuan, that’s dangerous.”
Yona said it reprovingly. Yona was wearing a pale blue dress and was standing before a number of pairs of shoes that had been laid out. She moved a little, away from Yuan’s sword.
“It’s not dangerous! I’ve got the ‘Swordsmanship’ skill!”
“Leaving the sword drawn is dangerous.”
“I said it isn’t.”
Just as Yuan, still holding the sword he had drawn from its scabbard, was about to come closer to Yona, their father spoke to him.
“Yuan. It’s a good sword. But put it back in the scabbard now.”
“Ehh? …All right.”
Yuan pushed his lips out, a little dissatisfied, but he obeyed readily enough and returned the sword to its scabbard.
Liese noticed Ren.
“Ah, Ren.”
Every gaze gathered on Ren.
Ren’s shoulders stiffened, just slightly.
Their mother looked at Ren for an instant, then turned straight back to the merchant.
“And Liese’s shoes?”
“They’re over there.”
The talk with the merchant went on.
Ren alone was left a little adrift there.
“Ren-niisama!”
Yona came running over. From her pale blue dress, one ribbon had come half undone and fluttered as it went.
“Ren-niisama, look! It’s a new dress.”
Yona pinched up the hem of the dress, delighted.
“Yeah. It suits you well.”
“Ufufu.”
When Ren praised her, Yona laughed happily.
Yuan, still standing near their mother, held up the sword with its scabbard on.
“Ren-niisan, look at my sword too!”
It was a sparkling smile. Ren narrowed his eyes just a little.
“…Yeah. It’s splendid.”
“Isn’t it?”
Ren had meant it. Yuan smiled, satisfied.