Chapter 45
Seaira, who had been standing blankly next to her, quickly lowered her head after following Alice’s lead.
“I’ll follow you as a sister too.”
Gremory, facing Seaira’s small and round crown, couldn’t help but smile.
“Alright. When tomorrow comes, escape from the tower and come to the Edel Duke’s carriage. Hold this. I’ll call you when the time comes.”
Gremory gathered black mana in her hand and created a black gemstone. When the signal was sent, the energy would intensify in the gemstone.
“Yes, I’ll always be ready, sister.”
Having gained useful younger companions, Gremory smiled victoriously as she disappeared.
As the day broke, Cheshion called Gremory aside in front of the carriage.
“So, how do you plan on getting Seaira and her nurse out? It’d be best if we could call them right now.”
“I’ll call them now.”
“…How is that possible?”
“There’s something that connects witches.”
“Indeed, the power of the northern snowfield clan is impressive.”
Gremory shook her head. It seemed he was never going to believe she was a witch. She just focused her attention on the gemstone she had given Alice.
Soon, the sound of something enormous approaching could be heard.
“Duke Edel-!”
“Brother-!”
Alice, carrying Seaira, was running at an incredible speed.
The two of them reached the carriage. Seaira bowed her head to Cheshion.
“Greetings, I am Alice, Seaira’s nurse. I used to serve the ‘Mori’ family. Please, take us to the Duke’s mansion!”
“Of course…”
Just as Cheshion was about to respond, Severian, who had barely managed to catch up, blocked Seaira’s path, panting.
“No! Cheshion, what exactly are you planning? Huff What justification do you have to take Seaira without our father’s permission?”
“I’ll get Father’s permission later.”
“What? Who do you think you are?”
Cheshion crossed his arms and surveyed the surroundings. He noticed knights running from a distance.
As expected.
“…Alice! Get Seaira into the carriage, now!”
“Ugh!”
Cheshion tripped Severian’s legs, causing him to fall.
In the meantime, everyone boarded the carriage, and it hurriedly started moving.
The knights at the main gate hadn’t yet heard the news that Seaira had escaped, so they cleared the way without suspicion.
Later, when the Emperor received the news, he merely grumbled in annoyance but didn’t send any pursuit forces. He had remembered the incident where Severian sent an assassin previously, so he decided to let it slide. Besides, he didn’t want the commotion of moving the knights during the banquet period just to capture Seaira, who was useless to him.
Arriving at the Edel Duke’s mansion.
Alice’s eyes sparkled as she admired the grandeur of the mansion.
“My goodness! This is way better than where I used to live!”
The news of the new arrivals spread, and Anna and the maids came out to greet them. Alice, now dressed in a maid uniform, gave off an extraordinary air among the other maids.
“Oh my, now that I’m here, I’ll have to work. I can’t live like a parasite! You there, maid, could you do me the honor of teaching me how to work?”
Anna, after looking around at the other maids, hesitated before making a reluctant gesture.
“W-well, there’s no need to start working right away, but… if you really want to, come over here.”
Gremory found Alice’s unusually proactive attitude suspicious but decided to watch quietly for now. Later, she and Cheshion took care of Seaira. Seaira, smiling happily, had learned from Alice and made sure never to bring up anything related to being a witch.
After washing Seaira, changing her clothes, and feeding her something delicious, a scream echoed from somewhere.
“Ahhh!”
“Anna?”
Without looking back, Gremory rushed toward Anna. Could it be that Alice, that damned witch, had been tormenting Anna?
The scream came from the cleaning supplies storage room. Anna stumbled out of the room, terrified. As soon as she saw Gremory, she rushed to her with a tearful expression.
“M-Mori! Alice…!”
Grinding her teeth, Gremory rolled up her sleeves and headed toward the storage room.
“Did Alice torment you? Wait, I’ll give her a proper lesson.”
“No, miss, it’s not that! Alice… she caught a cockroach for me!”
“…A cockroach?”
Before Gremory could process it, Alice came out of the storage room, holding the cockroach with her bare hands, walking confidently.
Anna, hiding behind Gremory, chirped happily.
“Alice isn’t scared of bugs or insects at all! As long as Alice is here, we won’t have to worry about cockroaches anymore.”
Gremory already knew Alice’s strange snack preference for bugs and insects. Alice, unaware, had almost brought the cockroach to her mouth but stopped when she noticed Gremory’s sharp glare.
Alice opened the window and tossed the cockroach far away. Anna and the maids cheered at having a new bug exterminator.
“Wow, Alice is the best!”
“Thank goodness Alice came! From now on, we’ll leave the bug extermination to her!”
“We trust Alice!”
Alice puffed her chest proudly.
“Hmph, is this all it takes? Hmph! Just trust me! Ho-ho!”
Anna kept praising Alice to Gremory.
“We’ve had Alice do some housework, and she’s really good at it. Oh, I also heard she’s great at cooking!”
Alice’s chest swelled with pride. Alice had been a battlefield warrior from her youngest years and had gone through tough training. She had worked swiftly on the battlefield in the demon realm and was highly skilled at miscellaneous tasks. Once, she had even been a cook, so she was great at cooking. After all, if she couldn’t cook as a young soldier, she would have been punished severely.
“Doing work like this is easy. I’ve been through much worse… I mean, 20 years of rough training. So, Anna, how about you teach me kitchen work?”
“Sure! Follow me!”
Anna was as happy as a farmer who had just gotten a good cow. She excitedly left to teach Alice what to do.
Cheshion’s thoughts were as follows.
“Alice really is a good friend. She’s beautiful too.”
“Yeah, she’s a witch.”
“Well, not as beautiful as you, Mori, but still. Anyway, it seems like all the important stuff is done now. Mori, we have a monster-slaying meeting at four o’clock. Will you be attending?”
“Yeah.”
Four o’clock. There were still about two hours left. For some reason, Gremory felt unusually tired that day, so she decided to take a nap.
And she didn’t wake up.
Gremory had a fever all day long. Cheshion went around asking people if Gremory had drunk some strange tea again.
In the end, Alice stepped in to calm Cheshion down.
“The northern snowfield clan often suffers from fevers for unknown reasons. It’s like human body aches… Anyway, if she eats well and rests, it will pass, so don’t worry too much.”
“Is that so?”
Alice presented a meat soup prepared in a way that witches could eat.
“Yes. This is a soup brewed with herbs that are good for the northern snowfield clan. If she drinks it, she’ll recover quickly.”
“Then I’ll feed her…”
“I’ll feed her. Now, please step out.”
Alice firmly pushed Cheshion out and closed the door. Her previously kind expression turned harsh as soon as the door was shut.
“I knew this would happen. The emotional seal broke too quickly, and now it’s causing problems with her body. I warned you about this before!”
“That was a warning? I thought you were just teasing me?”
“Well, there was some of that too. Now, eat. You need to get better.”
Alice scooped up the soup with a spoon and held it out in front of Gremory. Gremory groaned as she sat up on the bed.
“You don’t have to do this much for me.”
“I’m not doing this because I want something from you. It’s because I like this mansion, and you’re just so charming. Now, just eat.”
Gremory looked at Alice’s face, then slowly took the soup. Since it was made in a witch’s way, it wasn’t disgusting enough to refuse.
“If I were charming, I should have been let out of that solitary cell earlier. What were you doing during those ten years I was locked up in there?”
“I had a lot of complaints about that too. But as you know, I was the weakest among the upper echelons. I wasn’t a noble, and I started out as a cook, slowly rising up. How could I interfere with the work of noble witches? Even you were ranked higher than me. So, I couldn’t get involved in your situation.”
Alice sighed deeply and served more soup. Gremory accepted it, and though it didn’t taste great at first, it became more tolerable as she ate.
“I see now why you decided to settle here. The mansion is nice, and these humans are quite warm, just like the witches from 200 years ago.”
