Sigrid Chapter 84

[ … words ]

“Sigrid Ankertna!”

Anger seeped into Arkana’s voice. Sigrid flinched but didn’t back down. It was her first time arguing like this with someone precious to her. Trying to hide her trembling heart, she said:

“It’s not like Seria wants to do something dangerous. She doesn’t have to stay there, she can just commute like a regular job.”

“It’s plenty dangerous.”

“Arkana— uh, you’re a magician, can’t you cast some protection spell or something? That would work, right?”

Sigrid tried her best to find a compromise. She had already promised Seria, and without a valid reason, she couldn’t break that promise just because Arkana pressured her.

“There’s no such thing.”

“Really?”

“Magic isn’t omnipotent. Sure, I could give Seria a magical item to escape if she feels in danger. But what if someone suddenly attacks her from behind? Knocks her out or kidnaps her—”

“…That kind of thing probably won’t happen, though?”

Especially at the Lunatil ducal estate?

Sigrid couldn’t quite imagine it. Arkana approached her intimidatingly and said:

“I never imagined I’d witness my parents being hunted down either.”

Sigrid didn’t flinch or back away. Instead, she sighed and softly called his name, “Arkana…”

“Seria will be fine. The place she wants to go is the Lunatil ducal estate, you met them too, right? So—”

“That’s even worse.”

“Why?”

“They’re on the Crown Prince’s side now. If the Emperor wins, they’ll all be swept away. I can’t let Seria get caught up in that.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

Sigrid said firmly.

The Emperor winning meant burning down the slums, and she couldn’t let that happen again. It felt like the only way to atone for her previous life. Arkana looked down at her gloomily and said:

“No one can be 100% certain.”

“True, but not while I’m alive.”

“What, are you going to assassinate the Emperor if it comes to that?”

Sigrid didn’t answer, just stared at him blankly, and Arkana let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing his face.

“Good grief, Siri, don’t make me have to lock you up too.”

“Ah, you can’t lock me up.”

Sigrid said, tapping her sword. Arkana groaned. Sigrid shrugged and pointed to the door leading to the reception room.

“Let’s go inside and sit down to talk, sit down. I’ll go change clothes and come back.”

“Alright.”

He exhaled deeply. As she was about to go upstairs, Sigrid turned around.

“Oh, and Arkana.”

He looked at her without answering. Sigrid grinned.

“Thanks for coming back safely. Welcome home.”

Arkana smiled unconsciously.

“Yeah, I’m back.”

Sigrid went upstairs with light footsteps, and Arkana, feeling his temper cool, thought ‘I should make something to drink’ and headed to the kitchen. When Sigrid came down after changing clothes, Arkana had made two cups of tea and was sitting in the reception room.

“Is hot okay?”

“Yes.”

Sigrid nodded and sat across from him. Arkana sighed and asked:

“Do I seem too harsh?”

“It’s not typical, but we can’t apply normal standards to your situation.”

“You mean the Lunatil ducal family?”

“Yeah, isn’t their head chef someone Seria respects?”

“Is it a man?”

“I don’t know about that.”

At those words, Arkana grumbled under his breath. He scratched his head and leaned back heavily on the sofa.

“When I saw Beramund, the Lunatil ducal family didn’t seem that bad.”

“Right?”

“Ah, are you taking his side now because he’s your boyfriend?”

“I’m speaking from objectivity. And—”

“And?”

Sigrid said with a sigh:

“Even though he’s my boyfriend, it doesn’t feel real.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…”

Sigrid tilted her head. Arkana looked at her for a moment before asking:

“Then how’s the undercover investigation going? Is it going well?”

“No, not at all. The Imperial Guard doesn’t do anything. If they’d give us some task, I could dig into something somehow. Hey, isn’t there a way to find magical items or something like that?”

“There is a search magic, but if done wrong, it could reveal my location to the other party…”

“That’s a shame…”

Arkana thought for a moment. Various magical theories flashed through his mind, combining, breaking apart, and recombining.

“It’s not that there’s no way at all…”

“What is it?”

Sigrid leaned forward eagerly. Arkana groaned and said:

“Making something react to magical power.”

“To magical power?”

“Yeah, for example— a bead that turns blue when it reacts to magical power. But this kind of thing only reacts when there’s a high concentration of magical power nearby…”

“Make it for me. It’s much better than having nothing.”

“Alright, but there’s no guarantee there will be magical items…”

“Still. It’s hard to search without any clues, right?”

“That’s true. I’ve already requested cooperation from the Ice Tower.”

“Really?”

“Yes. If my master isn’t too lazy, he’ll research immortality magic and send it to us. Then we can predict how things are proceeding. In other words, we might be able to trace it back.”

“That’s somewhat of a relief then. I was feeling a bit lost without any clues.”

Sigrid sighed deeply and drank her tea. Then she smiled playfully and asked:

“By the way, earlier, how were you planning to hire the head chef? They must be expensive.”

“Ah, right. I got a reward from the Crown Prince.”

“Really?”

Sigrid’s eyes widened, and Arkana nodded cheerfully.

“That’s great.”

Sigrid smiled brightly. Arkana crossed his legs.

“Aren’t you going to ask how much I received?”

“Hmm— how much did you get?”

“A box of gold.”

“That’s amazing! But it must be heavy.”

Arkana burst out laughing at Sigrid’s response.

“Yeah, if you hugged it and fell into water, you’d never come up. I couldn’t move it by myself.”

“Ah, if you need strength, just say so. I can move it for you.”

“I’ll gladly ask. Anyway, since it’s my first time earning money, I was thinking of giving out gifts. Is there anything you want?”

“Something I want? Well, not really.”

She had received new armor, Beramund had bought her a sword, she had a house, a horse, and enough clothes. There wasn’t really anything else she needed.

“Hmm, you’re a picky one if you say you don’t want anything. Alright, I understand for now.”

Arkana nodded. Sigrid put down her cup and asked:

“So? Have we concluded our discussion well?”

“Seria’s matter is on hold for now.”

“Arkana.”

“I’ll think about it more and decide. Until then, don’t write that recommendation letter either.”

“And when will that be?”

“I’ll think about it for a week. Is that enough?”

“Alright.”

Agreeing it was reasonable, Sigrid nodded. Arkana thought he should look into the ducal family in more detail during that time.

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Marie-Chez repeated “Oh my, oh my, oh my” and then said loudly:

“A date? With Lord Lunatil?!”

“Yes.”

Sigrid nodded. Marie-Chez moved to sit right next to her and asked:

“How is it? Is he treating you well? Do you feel like you’re falling in love? Does he shine and all that?”

Shine.

Sigrid shook her head. Beramund didn’t seem to shine or anything like that.

Seeing Sigrid’s reaction, Marie-Chez sighed deeply with a regretful face, saying “I see,” then lifted her head.

“So you want me to pick out clothes for your date, right? But the truth is, you don’t have any clothes to choose from. Your dresses are…”

“Yeah.”

“When is the date?”

“Tomorrow.”

“We can’t make a dress in just one day…”

“That’s why I’m asking for help.”

“Hmm.”

Marie-Chez rested her chin on her hand. At this point, it was a matter of pride. Her mind started spinning.

‘I can’t lend her my dresses. If I lend her my dresses, they’ll be too small.’

Sigrid was taller than her, with longer limbs. That meant they’d have to alter an existing dress, which wasn’t easy either.

“Alright! Let’s try on my clothes first!”

Marie-Chez jumped up. Sigrid stood up reflexively as well. Marie-Chez tried putting several of her dresses on Sigrid, but they just didn’t work.

Marie-Chez liked cute clothes with elaborate decorations and lots of lace, but they subtly didn’t suit Sigrid.

“Hmm~”

Resting her chin on her hand, Marie-Chez looked at Sigrid and then said, “Wait a moment,” before going out. Sigrid awkwardly stood in her slip, looking at the two maids who had helped her dress. Thanks to the corset the two had pulled tight, Marie-Chez’s clothes fit perfectly at the waist.

Though it was hard to breathe.

‘How can they pull so hard with that strength when they’re not even Aura users?’

Sigrid inwardly marveled as she looked at her slender waist in the mirror. A moment later, Marie-Chez came in, walking quickly but gracefully. As Sigrid tried to imitate that walk in her mind a few times, Marie-Chez handed a dress to the maid.

“This is something my eldest sister left behind, I think it might suit you well.”

It was a dress in a deep wine color without any patterns. It had green ruffles at the neckline, and the sleeves were teal.

“It’s an old dress, but we can touch it up a bit… The sleeves are short, I have some lace, right? We can add that to it.”

At those words, one of the maids who had been dressing Sigrid quickly went inside and brought back some lace. It was delicate lace about a hand-span wide. When they pinned it to the sleeves, the length was just right.

“We can fix this overnight. And we’ll remove all the ruffles around the neckline—”

At those words, the maid quickly tucked the ruffles inside the dress.

“Bring the fabric ribbon. The one I bought before. Try putting that around the neckline. Oh, no. A necklace or brooch would be better. But the skirt length is good. This should work. I’ll have it altered by tomorrow. And what about your hair and makeup?”

“Um… Something appropriate…?”

“Stay over tonight.”

“What?”

“You said he’s sending a carriage, right? We can just tell them to come pick you up at my house. You can’t do your hair and makeup at all. And it’s not like you have a suitable maid at your house. Come on, just say thank you honestly.”

“Thank you.”

“Good.”

Marie-Chez nodded. The maids pinned the dress to fit Sigrid and quickly disappeared into the sewing room to add decorations according to Marie-Chez’s instructions. They would have to work until dawn with several people.

“Is it okay to borrow your sister’s dress?”

“It’s fine, she left it behind when she got married anyway.”

‘Giving me a discarded dress, that’s reassuring,’ Sigrid thought, and said, “That’s good then,” nodding her head.

“So she’s married.”

“Yeah, both my older sisters are already married, and I’m the family’s troublemaker for not being married yet.”

Marie-Chez grinned. Sigrid was puzzled and said:

“Not getting married is troublesome?”

“Yeah, without even a fiancé. Am I becoming an old maid now?”

Marie-Chez said, placing her hands on her hips.

“But I still want to fall in love. With your heart pounding and fluttering, the whole world sparkling, seeing only that person, feeling full just by seeing their smile, that kind of thing!”

At Marie-Chez’s words, Sigrid gaped blankly.

‘It’s impossible to feel full just by seeing someone smile.’

If such a thing existed, people wouldn’t die of starvation. But love, love. Sigrid blinked as she realized, ‘Is Beramund looking at me like that!’

Her stomach seemed to twist. Or was something bouncing around inside her stomach?

“Siri?”

“Huh? No, it’s nothing.”

“Anyway, it’s a rare date, so enjoy it!”

Marie-Chez grabbed Sigrid’s shoulders. Other people’s love stories were as exciting as spending other people’s money. Marie-Chez decided to enjoy it vicariously to the fullest.

“Then shall we have some tea until dinner? I know a place with good sunlight.”

“Okay.”

Sigrid nodded. As they were leaving the room, they ran into a young man passing through the corridor. He looked to be in his mid to late teens.

“Ah, you must be Lady Ankertna?”

He quickly greeted her, looking at Sigrid with admiring eyes. Marie-Chez went “Pfft—” waving her hand and said:

“Siri, this one’s just a baby, so you can ignore him. Don’t interrupt when your big sister is talking.”

“Big sister!”

The young man’s face turned bright red. He looked like he might jump at Marie-Chez and strangle her at any moment, so Sigrid tensed up. The boy, grinding his teeth, looked at Sigrid and said:

“My name is Ulysses.”

His voice was dying, so Sigrid quickly returned the greeting.

“I’m Sigrid Ankertna. You’re Marie-Chez’s younger brother. Nice to meet you.”

“Yes, nice to meet you! I’ve always wanted to meet you since you’re a Master. Big sister said you help with her swordsmanship too—”

“Yes, yes. Nice to meet you, mm-hmm. Let’s go, Siri.”

Marie-Chez made a shooing gesture and pulled Sigrid along. They could hear Ulysses grumbling behind them, ‘Ugh, really, calling herself big sister,’ but Marie-Chez ignored it.

“Is it okay?”

Sigrid asked instead, and Marie-Chez waved her hand saying, “It’s fine, it’s fine.” The tea room she led them to boasted a fresh atmosphere with pastel tones, as if it had been recently redecorated. Drinking tea, chatting, and having dinner with a friend’s family, how nerve-wracking! Sigrid thought, but Marie-Chez just had their meals sent to her room separately.

Sigrid unconsciously felt a little relieved. She expected they might chat again in their nightgowns in the evening, but what came back was a merciless,

“Going to bed late is bad for your skin, so go to sleep early! Besides, we have to wake up early tomorrow.”