V1C2 Part2

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

I was so absorbed in the hunt that I didn’t watch where I was going and tripped over a tree root, and then got thrown down a steep slope.

“Milady!”

Thor grabbed my arm and pulled me into a protective embrace, and we fell down the slope together.

“...Uuu, uuuu. Thor, I’m sorry. It’s all because I didn’t pay attention.”

As a result, Thor’s arms, cheeks and legs were scraped all over.

I had no injuries. Because I rolled down the slope, there were a lot of leaves and branches caught in my hair, making it look like a bird’s nest.

“The injuries are not serious. It is much better than when I was being kicked or punched.”

“Those aren’t things you should make comparisons with!”

I sniffled and took out from my bag a small bottle of the potion I just made this morning.

“Use this. It’s the ‘Ribito Salve’ I made this morning.”

“Eh. Is that...safe?”

Thor put himself on guard. It was true that this was a potion I repeatedly failed at making many times.

“I succeeded in making it perfectly this morning! Here, please be a test subject for my medicine.”

“And you were crying so touchingly a second ago…”

It was made by boiling the flesh of the big aloe fruits grown in the O’Drielle’s family’s greenhouse and hairy grey heather, then mixing in Red Powder No.8, salt from the Salt Forest, and the saliva of the Ribito frog before boiling it all down.

It was a thick, deep pink ointment. When I applied it to Thor’s injuries, the cuts disappeared before my eyes. It was completely clean.

“Ooh. There might not be much of a difference from the healing power of the Master’s medicine. It is amazing, is it not?”

“Exactly, exactly! Well, I can also do it if I try.”

Praised by Thor, I crossed my arms in pride.

“But it smells somewhat strange.”

“T-that’s because I boiled the herbs too much. ...I’ll be careful next time.”

That Thor, he noticed these kinds of things immediately. He patted my head with a straight face in contrast to my pouting lips.

“What. You’re treating me like a little kid?”

“No, I just thought that you really were a genuine witch, milady.”

“But didn’t you say I was ‘normal’ yesterday?”

I had a sulky look on my face.

As Thor pinched my cheek with his hand, squeezing it and toying with it,

“That was...because you were crying a lot harder than I thought you would after you failed, so I thought you were normal, acting like a child your age would. That word came out of my mouth because you usually aren’t all that normal.”

“...Is that so?”

“Also, you are unexpectedly a crybaby, milady.”

“Aah. That...might be so.”

A magician must not be emotional.

However, Mother and Father said that one must learn to cry while one is a child. When you cry, the magical energy within your body becomes cleaner, but it seemed that people forget how to cry once they become adults.

“I misjudged you when I first met you, milady. I assumed you were a high-handed, selfish noble lady.”

“Ah.”

“But you were far beyond my imagination, milady. Or rather, you aren’t on the dimensions of high-handed or selfish.”

“Hmm? What do you possibly mean by that, Thor?”

“I don’t mean it in a bad sense. Milady is sometimes self-important, but you’re such a hard worker that it’s astonishing, and you take care of yourself almost all the time instead of leaving it up to the servants. But even so, I still worry about you...You sometimes sleep in strange places.”

I was sleeping in a jute bag this morning, so I can’t make any excuses…When I was thinking that, Thor bowed his head.

“Nonetheless, I am sorry if I made you get the wrong idea. You truly are amazing, milady.”

“Huh? No, you don’t have to apologize, Thor. I was the one who misunderstood on my own, and it just fired up my fighting spirit!”

“Fighting spirit?”

“L-like a sense of rivalry! You surpassed me so quickly after all…”

I said shyly as I poked my fingers together.

I had to reflect on myself. I assumed that everything Thor said was sarcastic. Even though Thor was just watching me closely.

“That is...surely because everyday is so fulfilling and fun. Seeing you work so hard at your magic makes me think I have to work hard as well. I want to be of use to the O’Drielle house as soon as possible.”

Those were unexpected words. When I looked up, Thor also looked a bit embarrassed.

Was it because they were honest words? So that meant he really…

“Really? Really? You’re having fun every day? Your life at our house, I mean.”

“Eh, ah, yes. I like it.”

“Then, will you stay at the O’Drielle house forever?”