Volume 1 - CH 29

Volume 1: Chapter 029: Makia Sneaks Out Under Waving Wheatfields

Day 12: Tooru

Wahaha, I won’t tell you, lol.

Little children should just eat lemon cake.

“Uwaaahhh!! How dare youuu!!! I won’t forget this Tooru, you bastard!””

I am this close to tearing up the note left by Tooru.

“[1] What job? What work? Are you even working? You’re just eating delicious food!”

Isn’t that guy the worst?

How is it that someone going to Karted to work ended up stuffing himself with delicious seafood?

When I questioned mother… she, she, she had also eaten at that Karted Cafetaria!!

“That damned Tooru. He’s just bragging, isn’t he? He’s boasting about eating delicious things before meeee…. that guy… uwaaahhh!!!”

I roll around on the bed, [1] thumping my bedsheets. However, all the thumping in the world cannot reduce the internal screeching in my head.

The words ‘Pearl Salmon’ and ‘Peach Shrimp’ keep dancing in my head making my mouth water. Even though I had never tasted either, I can just imagine it. [1] It must be so much, much more delicious than regular salmon and shrimp, which are already very delicious when prepared by Yuri’s mom…

Curse this! I’m hungry!

I strike my desk with my fist, my anger fizzing up along with my fighting spirit.

Finally, I manage to get my breathing and saliva under control. I lick my lips and grin.

“Fine… it’s fine if you want to play it like that. I have just the thing for you.”

I [1] pull open my desk drawer.

There are a lot of acorns in there.

Day 13: Makia

I made up my mind, I’m going to make you explode.

When you leave your room tomorrow, watch your every step.

Nevermore could you enter this house alive.

Tooru you fool, you will regret making me angry.

With that in mind, I set up even more traps in places I know Tooru would pass by. However, it looks like Tooru had seen through my attack patterns.

From my window, I could see Father, and occasionally, Yodel, fall into various pits and net traps that I had so painstakingly made.

Now and then, Tooru would look up at the window. That made me angrier.

Day 14: Tooru

Most of your traps hit the Master.

What a pity.

Also, I managed to enter the house without any problems.

You go to bed rather early, don’t you?

The note in front of the door cemented my resolve.

Yes, it is time to go to Karted.

Usually, [1] as the noble daughter of the Count, I cannot go anywhere without Tooru.

Moreover, I only travel to Karted once a year. The people in this house treat me like a princess in a box, like some glass lady that would break without supervision. Well, I guess it can’t be helped [1] since that’s the kind of treatment that goes with this kind of status.

However, if I don’t get to see him tremble with fear with my own eyes, I cannot settle the roiling anger in my stomach.

I call out, “Caroline,” and a doll answers me. The doll is a gift from Mother when I was little. I had applied small amounts of my blood onto the doll and spelt it to give answers in my stead.

I activate the spell now.

Caroline-chan has been programmed to mimic my voice, tone and way of speaking.

“Answer in my stead,” I order her.

The pretty doll on the table nods and says, “Understood, Makia-sama.”

She answers me in my voice.

After that, I put up a ‘Currently Studying’ notice on the door. Then, I put on my sturdy outdoor boots and an unassuming brown robe, and jump out of the window.

So long as that notice is at the door, no one in the house would dare enter my room carelessly. So long as Caroline-chan is there, things should be fine until evening.

After sneaking out of the mansion, I make my way towards Karted, keeping my head down and running under the cover of the waving wheat fronds of extensive Delia Fields.

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The sky over Karted is very blue in the afternoon.

Despite the brilliant sun, it has gotten a bit chilly the past few days. Winter is nearing after all.

At this time of the year, the young chimney sweepers could be seen running about here and there, [1] obviously busy with work before the really cold days set in. Come to think of it, Tooru used to be one of them, wasn’t he?

It has been a long time since I come to the port town. It is still as chaotic and full of busy people as usual, [1] all of them going about their business.

People from all over the Southern Continent would gather here to do business. [1] This is a port city after all, and then there are all those immigrants from the Eastern Continent. With so many different people gathered in a place where goods are exchanged, there will be all kinds of rare stuff that can’t be seen in Delia Fields. I’m quite interested in discovering them.

[1] But first…

“Where is that Tooru?”

From what I had heard, he should be busy running around town from morning till night. I have no idea what he’s doing all day, but apparently, it is essential for the new school they are building.

“Stop!! Stop it right there you damn kids!!!”

I am dressed in an unassuming robe, [1] which is not that unusual in this colder weather, and lining up for some fried snacks at one of the stalls when a voice catches my attention.

“… that sounds a lot like…”

When I scan the crowd, I catch sight of Tooru screaming at some children. He is chasing them down looking all sweaty and furious, which is kind of surreal since this is the first time in a long time since I had last seen him even sweat.

However, things got even weirder after that.

The children he is chasing down are a varied lot. There are young chimney sweepers, [1] with their sooty patched clothes, and merchant kids with their colourful and slightly gaudy clothes. The children are all teasing him, going ‘No way, no way’.

“…. Haa?”

Just what the heck is going on?

What happened to the cool and collected Tooru?

He’s… being pushed around by a bunch of brats?

Eventually, the bunch of kids, and Tooru, run out of sight.

… What just happened?

“Heh… Tooru never learned, did he? The children are literally running circles around him.”

“I wonder what he’s teaching them today?”

After Tooru and the group of children left, the people around the stall start gossiping with each other.

I frown: Just what exactly is Tooru doing here?

Then, it is my turn and I buy a packet of fried snacks from the stall uncle. While nibbling on my stash, I start down the street in the direction where Tooru and the children had disappeared to.

After all, I came here looking for Tooru. If I don’t see him, my trip here will be wasted.

However, that thing with those kids had been so unexpected and shocking that it did not even occur to me to chase them down earlier.

As I stroll along the bank, I see a 10-year-old child hanging about some stall. [1] Since the kids I saw just now were all about that age, I might as well see if I could get any information from one of them.

“Hey there, yes, you. Do you know a young man with black hair by the name of Tooru?”

As soon as he hears the question, the boy giggles. He says, “Yeah, I know Teacher Tooru.”

“Teacher?”

“Yeah. He tells us interesting stories at the vacant lot by the church in the city centre. After the story, anyone who answers his quiz correctly gets a candy so lots of us will gather there. Teacher Tooru used to be a legendary chimney sweeper, you know?”

“… …”

A Legendary Chimney Sweeper…

Well, well, that title is growing on me.

I am still not quite sure what he is doing now, but apparently, he’s been teaching kids?

I’m still not sure of what he’s doing, but according to this kid, he’s acting like a teacher to them.

“… By the church, you say?”

I give the child a piece of fried snack and start making my way towards the city centre church. [1] I had only visited there once, but it’s not like the roads in this city are that complicated.

Moreover, it sounds like I will get to see something interesting today.

[Gumihou: Oho…]

[1] Filling in the ‘Unspoken’. Often, when it comes to Japanese novels, the translation might feel a bit lacking since the author deliberately choose to use fewer words and let the reader fill in the blanks through a preset cultural understanding.

If the missing info looks too sparse, Gumi will fill in some of the blanks. This is not to imply that the writer’s craft is lacking, but we do have a cultural gap. Gumi will try to fill in these gaps unobtrusively.