CH 39

Maybe it’s a bit rude to say that it’s obvious, but Kaya isn’t an expert at handling angel bear materials.

Sieglinde and I know we can’t count on her, so we decided to take the angel bear materials to the ministry of magic and hand them to someone who knows how to handle fur the next day.

We agreed to meet in the same cafe as always, so I’m here waiting for Sieglinde while drinking coffee.

By the way, Kaya wanted to stay in my place for a while, but Sieglinde made her move to the ministry of magic. I have no idea what she’s up to now.

Maybe we’ll never meet again. I wouldn’t really care.

I’m not a good person.

“Sorry I’m late.”

I hear, and so I raise my head.

Sieglinde is a little out of breath, surely because she hurried here. She sits in front of me, takes a deep breath, and wipes sweat off her forehead with a handkerchief.

“It’s all right. I did push that trouble onto your lap yesterday. So… Whatever happened to Kaya?”

Worst case scenario, she’ll be thrown out of the capital. Neither Sieglinde or me… Or the capital in general, have an obligation to take care of her. From an uninvolved person’s point of view, Kaya is just a suspicious person that I brought here without asking anyone.

Sieglinde is looking at the menu with those sharp eyes of hers, and then starts speaking plainly.

“…That girl is living in a residence managed by the ministry of magic. We could send her back to her village, but when we brought that up she clung to my leg and started wailing. She kept yelling about pancakes too, and there was no way to get through to her.”

I didn’t spend a lot of time with Kaya, but I have no trouble picturing that in my head. I’m sure Sieglinde’s brow was wrinkled the whole time.

“…Sounds like that was a lot of trouble.”

“It sure was. Weiss, what the hell were you thinking bringing her along?”

“She just sort of followed me. It doesn’t matter to me if the population of the capital grows by one, so I really had no reason to shoo her away.”

“You’ll be responsible for any trouble she causes.”

She stops there to order.

I figured it’d be just coffee, but she orders pancakes too. I guess she’s planning to be here a while.

“And if you cause trouble, the responsibility is going to fall on me. Make sure you remember that. Well, I don’t think you’re one to listen, but…”

“No, I’ll be careful. I don’t want to cause any trouble either, especially when Ririi is about to go to school.”

Having a parent with a bad reputation might influence her school life. I’m planning to sit tight and not do anything until she graduates.

“Speaking of which, do you have everything you need?”

Asks Sieglinde while taking a sip of the coffee that was just served.

She really is planning to stay here for a while today. She has this laid-back attitude to her.

“Mostly. I just need the hat.”

“Hat? You’re going that far?”

Hats serve to stabilize magic energy, and generally speaking they are worn by upperclassmen.

Of course, students all have varying levels of magic energy, but I’ve never heard of a student that needed a hat right at the start.

Sieglinde is surprised because she also knows all that.

“Yes. To be blunt, Ririi’s has a lot more magic energy than a kid her age should. More than I had when I was an intermediate student.”

Magic school has twelve school years. Students are considered underclassmen in the first six, intermediate students during the next three, and upperclassmen in the last three.

But it’s not like you have to stay for all twelve years to be considered a sorcerer. Some people join part way, and some take jobs related to magic sooner than others. It all depends on every individual’s strength.

In my case, the last three years were pretty much pointless, but I stayed because there was nothing in particular I wanted to do.

“…It’s really incredible how much of a difference race makes.”

Whispers Sieglinde, sounding a little sad.

Back when we were in school, she could never beat me, and now there’s this being that might surpass me back when I was an intermediate student. She must be really feeling that absurd ‘difference’ between them.

I think her brain is something that’s just as much reason to be proud of, but sometimes what you want and what you get aren’t the same.

“…H-having less magic energy doesn’t mean I’d lose in an actual battle.”

I think I need to be the strongest for a while longer to preserve her dreams.

It’s a pretty small price to pay for her sake.

“Ahh… I sure hope so. You are the man who beat me, after all.”

I don’t know if she knows what I’m doing, but her expression softens as that slightly bitter but strangely relaxing coffee smell fills the air around us.

“Have you decided what materials you are going to use for the hat? I’m assuming you’re too fired up about all this to go with an already made one, but there isn’t that much time until school starts.”

It’s in less than two weeks, and I haven’t even received the robe and staff yet.

I have a lot to do.

“I have a few options in mind, but I can’t decide which one. Do you know of anything, Sieglinde?”

I’m thinking about dark flame dragon, centaur skin, or something like that.

Everything I have in mind is rank SS or S, but I have experience hunting them all. Centaurs have good materials with excellent properties relative to their strength, so that’s the number one prospect at the moment. They’re not too hard to work with either.

Sieglinde has access to everything that gets caught in the ministry of magic’s giant information web every day, so I’m sure there’s a lot she knows that I don’t.

I’m expecting something good, as she slowly starts speaking.

“…The country of fairies. It’s said that there is an outstanding hat maker there. Have you heard of it?