Volume 5 - CH 3.16

「—」

Looking closely at the surface of Jagielka which Dimitar had brought back the day before yesterday, Quique stared at the exquisite lines of argental that were carved on its surface.

Argental—this name itself was given by Quique though—was a metal of which the conductivity of magic powers was extremely high. Quique used this argental, and at the end of countless trials and errors, he opened up a field called Magic EngineeringTechnologia Marefika. Grasping the success or failure of the mass production of the magic motion swordEspada Marefika lay entirely in the securing of this rare metal.

「…It seems that he had used quite a flashy magic. It got blurred here and there」

Comparing the “magic crest map”Prano Del Hieratika Dimitar had drawn with the actual magic crestsHieratika with his eyes, Quique lit a fire in the kiseru.

「……」

Puffing out white smoke, he looked at a mass of metal that was placed on the desk close to the wall.

Swordsmith Courtois-jiisan, who always helped Quique with his work, brought it in here a few days ago, saying that his acquaintance found it around Romarikku. As a result of a detailed examination, it turned out to contain argental in large quantities. If it was refined well, twenty swords that had magic crests of the same density as Jagielka’s could probably be made with that one mass. If it was the magic crest of simple design on the short sword that Nereida had made, one hundred of them could be secured with surplus.

「If I have that much, I can carry out various experiments and also challenge the prototype model that I wasn’t able to get until now…」

However, he couldn’t keep being very happy and pleased with that.

The fact that a mass of which the purity was so high and, moreover, which was so big was found in Romarikku meant that there might possibly be an argental deposit in that vicinity. If that was the case, a proper research group should be sent in. For the sake of the development of Magic Engineering and the large-scale production of magic motion swords, a large quantity of argental must be secured.

Beside Quique who was sighing while thinking about such a thing, a pink mass was spinning round and round.

「Ru~♪ Raruru~♪ Ru~rarura~♪」

Her axis of revolution was the same as always and had no deviation. It was a splendidly stable rotation. She might have a hidden talent in this field.

Quique took off his monocle and pointed at a wooden box placed in the corner of the room.

「Oi, don’t dance forever, fetch a bit of wine for me」

「Understood~♪」

Bettina approached the wooden box while turning round and round, and when she had taken a bottle of wine out in a fluid motion, she came back to Quique like that and stopped spinning.

「Come come, here you are, Oji-sama」

「You’re especially in high spirits again today?」

「That’s because the reply to my letter has arrived from Otou-sama!」

Letting out an uncontrolled suppressed laugh of “Ufuufuufu”, Bettina took out an envelope from the inside of the visor.

「After I wrote that I had received a decoration from Isaac-sama, Otou-sama was very delighted! Moreover, although it’s little by little, he said that Okaa-sama is also calming down!」

「I see… that’s good」

「Yes」

Bettina, who had nodded greatly, began to dance while humming again.

If one thought about it, the number of times when Bettina’s father sent a reply to her letter could be counted on one’s fingers. For that reason alone, Bettina was overjoyed. Furthermore, when she heard that her mother’s condition was heading for a recovery this time, it might be impossible to tell the girl not to spin round.

Quique, who had re-seated himself deeply on the chair and was drinking the wine, looked at the clock tower of the royal palace, which was visible through the window.

「Oi, I don’t care, but is it all right for you not to go to the queen’s place soon?」

「Eh? Ah, t, that’s right!」

As she had achieved a great contribution in the capturing of the assassin, Bettina received words of appreciation from the king directly. In addition, it seemed that the queen had also taken a liking to her this time, and she was asked to help with the gardening in the royal palace today. It seemed that the pink armour was projected to be very adorable in the eyes of the queen, whose character was easy-going and broad-minded; it was also heard that the Crown Prince and the queen were fighting lightly for Bettina between themselves.

「—Then, I’m off!」

Bettina polished up her whole body quickly and ran out of the workshop with a “gashan gashan”.

While listening to that noisy sound of footsteps becoming more distant, Quique tilted the bottle of wine and talked to himself.

「Bettina is so popular… as an uncle who is acting as her foster parent, it’s a complicated feeling in various ways」

While pouring wine into his favourite glass with a “glug-glug”, he puffed out white smoke.

The days of living leisurely in this workshop, which he was attached to, though it was cramped, were also about to come to an end soon.

End of La crónica del AHMAD Banquet of Flowers; on a Summer Day