CH 27

They Say Cleaning Cleanses the Mind

Two hours later, when I was reading in my room, I heard a knocking sound along with Alvin-sama’s voice and said, “Come in.”

The door opened immediately, and Alvin-sama walked in. He sat down next to me on the sofa and looked down at the book in my hand. This was the book I had asked my escort knight to borrow from the library a while ago.

“I’m sorry about earlier. What are you reading?”

“No, it’s all right. This book is about, well, forbidden magic. I’m curious about what happened earlier.”

“…. Nina doesn’t need to know about that.”

Smiling softly, Alvin-sama closed the book with one hand. Then he naturally took it away.

“Is Erica okay? She was acting kind of different than usual, so I was worried….”

“She’s fine. She’s not used to blood and injuries, so she must have been surprised.”

“I see….”

Although I felt some discomfort, I decided not to ask any more questions. From Alvin-sama’s smile, I could feel that he didn’t want me to ask.

“The man from earlier hasn’t woken up yet?”

“Yes. Do you care about him?”

“I’m worried about his injuries, and also, I was curious what it was that he wished for so badly that he risked his life by using the forbidden arts….”

If it was a wish to cure a family member’s illness, I thought there might be something I could do to help.

Alvin-sama’s eyes widened for a moment, but he eventually furrowed his eyebrows and displayed a slightly troubled look.

“Nina doesn’t have one? Such a wish.”

“I have many simple wishes, but I can’t think of anything that I would risk my life for…. Do you have one, Alvin-sama?”

“Me? I had one.”

“Had?”

“Yes. Because it already came true.”

I didn’t know what he had wished for.

However, for such a wish to come true, it must be a miracle and a joy to him.

“I’m glad that Alvin-sama’s wish came true.”

“…. Yes. I’m glad, too.”

Then, Alvin-sama smiled and patted my head.

◇◇◇

The next day, I went to the forest in the morning. The escort knights were watching over me from a distance.

I came here to clean up the river.

“Ugh, it’s getting dirty again.”

The other day, when I was taking a walk in the forest, I found that the stream flowing through the forest was terribly muddy.

I asked the knights about it, and they told me that water pollution had been a problem throughout the country for the past year. The country had been taking various countermeasures, but they hadn’t been able to improve the situation.

The water used for domestic and agricultural purposes was filtered properly by magic, so there was basically no problem. However, the plants and animals were drinking and absorbing the water as it was. It was definitely not good.

Although I knew it could result in nothing, as someone who had a lot of free time on their hands, I continued to apply purification magic to the water. Since there was a high possibility that it would be pointless, I didn’t report it to Alvin-sama.

“Purification Purge──….. Phew, I wonder if it’ll work.”

As I tried to wipe the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve, one of the knights gently offered me a towel from afar.

“Thank you very much. I appreciate it.”

“It’s nothing.”

Although the knights were escorting me well, there was always a strange sense of distance between us. When I accidentally touched them before, for some reason, they apologized to me on their knees.

It was only the other day that I realized that Alvin-sama was putting some mysterious pressure on them.

“Right.”

Wrapping the towel around my neck, I put my hands into the stream again without worrying about the eyes around me.

Considering the amount of water connected to this creek, I knew there was no end to it. However, I never used magic except when I was teaching Erica, so I just kept pouring my magical power into it.

It was better to do this than do nothing. Believing this, I returned home, having exhausted my magical power to near the limit.

“Huwaa, I’m getting sleepy…. Come on, Cheryl.”

Later, after taking a bath and having a very late lunch, I was quite sleepy.

Not having the energy to move to the bed, I laid down on the big, fluffy sofa and hugged Cheryl, who also looked sleepy.

I decided to take a nap for a couple of hours and then returned to the royal castle.

I closed my eyes and, exhausted from the overuse of purification magic, instantly fell into a deep sleep.

“Excuse me, Catheri──…… Nina?”

I didn’t know that an unexpected visitor would appear after that.