Chapter 94: The Apricotty Forest
Every time Ten entered Sue’s room, she would see a mountain of thick books piled on her desk. She would sometimes open them while cleaning, and they were all about counter-curses.
And now, she had found some unknown mage and insisted on coming here, so Ten had rushed after her.
It was good that her temper had improved, but her sudden, unpredictable actions were giving Ten a headache. Sue was still hiding things, even though Ten had asked her to report everything, so Ten and Nine were becoming increasingly haggard.
Sue and Ten entered the forest, looking around for a building that looked like a workshop. But they reached the end of the forest, and there wasn’t even a small hut in sight.
The sun began to set, and the sky turned red. Sue and Ten decided to take a break at a spot they had seen earlier. It was a clearing with a small spring.
“I think I’ve been scammed…”
Sue slumped to the ground and whimpered, the forest growing dark around them.
This was her only hope.
School was starting next week. Sue, now a seventh year, would inevitably encounter the troublesome Halo. The true protagonist of this world was finally making her appearance.
That meant Enzhe would have even less time to find a counter-curse. She would be spending most of her time with Enzhe, Fritz, and Halo.
Even if Halo didn’t end up with Fritz, it would all be for nothing if she didn’t get rid of the two snakes in her body.
‘Well, I’m the idiot for thinking that obvious scammer was my last resort.’
Sue clutched the dirt, swallowing her tears.
And then, a loud voice echoed through the clearing.
“Master Jean Emilia! Where are you?! If you’re there, please come out…! Your client is here~!”
Ten was shouting Jean’s name through a makeshift megaphone.
“Ten… That’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
Sue looked at her maid with pity.
‘It’s all your fault…!’
Ten’s face flushed red.
She had felt sorry for Sue, who was so dejected, and had decided to try it. But all she received in return was a look of disapproval, reaffirming the fact that Sue Byron didn’t care about her.
“W-wait, what’s that…?”
Sue pointed at the empty clearing, her voice filled with shock.
What now?
Ten turned around, annoyed.
“…What, what is it?!”
A black hut shimmered in the air, as if it were a mirage, surrounded by a white light.
Sue rubbed her eyes and looked again, but the black hut was still there, wavering like a heat haze.
She didn’t know if Ten’s desperate cries had worked, or if it was just a coincidence.
But the fact that the master and servant, who had never liked each other, had the same thought at the same time wasn’t a coincidence.
“We have to go there, Miss!”
Ten grabbed Sue’s arm and ran. Sue, flustered, followed her through the distorted light.
***
“Gasp… Gasp…”
Ten had been right, after all.
Sue, having thrown herself into the light, caught her breath and looked around frantically.
The clearing and the small spring.
The same scenery, but with a few additions.
The black hut she had seen earlier was now solid, no longer shimmering.
There was a round wooden table and chairs in front of it, and a little further away, a rickety pole with a clothesline.
An axe was stuck in a low log near the spring. It was a place that felt lived in.
“Um… the mage must have set up a barrier, right?”
Ten muttered uncertainly. Sue, equally clueless about magic, could only nod.
“What kind of person can even set up a barrier like this?”
A barrier that made part of the space invisible. Only master mages, who could wield the highest-ranking magic, were capable of such a feat.
‘I think Halo used something similar in the last volume of the novel.’
Sue was once again reminded of the profoundness of the world of magic.
They stood before the black hut, which was probably the ‘workshop’. Ten knocked two or three times, but there was no response.
“Is he out?”
“Maybe.”
What a frustrating mage.
It was an opportunity they couldn’t miss, so Sue and Ten decided to wait. Sue wanted to camp out until Jean Emilia appeared.
The forest had been cold, without any sunlight, but the space within the barrier was strangely warm. Sue fanned herself, then took off her coat and handed it to Ten.
She watched Ten sit down on a log bench and rest, then started exploring the clearing. There wasn’t much to see, but as she walked further in, she discovered a small barn.
“There’s a Cribon.”
Sue approached the unfamiliar creature.
It was her first time seeing a Cribon with jade green scales.
Kreeeee!
“Ah! You scared me!”
She had been at least five paces away, but the jade green Cribon screeched and flapped its wings, as if annoyed.
It seemed to have a much worse temper than the Cribons at the academy. As if reading her mind, its black eyes gleamed menacingly.
This is bad.
Sue turned to run.
“Who’s there?”
“Ah!”
She bumped into someone’s chest.
Sue staggered back, clutching her aching nose. A tall ‘someone’ was staring at her with puzzled eyes.
‘A man… maybe?’
The person was strikingly handsome, or beautiful.
“Hmm… You…”
The person frowned and observed her intently.
Sue froze, feeling intimidated, her body stiff under their gaze.
Flowing mint green hair, violet eyes, thick eyebrows, long eyelashes, and slightly droopy eyes that gave them a lazy look. And a beauty mark under their left eye.
His voice was androgynous, and he was wearing a white linen outfit that looked comfortable, but it was loose-fitting, so she couldn’t tell their gender.
“I remember now!”
The person suddenly grabbed her shoulders, their eyes sparkling. He smiled brightly and said,
“You’re that poor girl from back then!”
“Poor girl…?”
Sue was flustered by the absurd description.
The handsome person circled her excitedly, looking her up and down. The jade green Cribon in the barn suddenly flapped its wings.
“Calm down, Rem. This is our valued long-term customer.”
The handsome person stroked the Cribon’s back, which they called Rem. It quickly calmed down. Sue stared at them blankly, and then Ten rushed over from the hut.
“Miss, that person is Master Jean Emilia.”
“W-what? Really?”
Ten sighed inwardly, seeing Sue’s bewildered expression.
Jean, who had just woken up, had opened the door of the hut, his eyes still sleepy.
Even Ten hadn’t recognized him at first. The Jean Emilia Sue had described to her was ‘a strange person with a beard and a cone hat’.
But she had concluded that there could only be one person in this forest, within this barrier, inside that hut. And he had introduced herself to Jean, who was looking at her with a puzzled expression.
‘I’m the maid of your client, Lady Sue.’
And Jean had said he would go see his client himself and had headed towards the barn, which had led to this situation.
“…Hello, I’m Sue Byron.”
Sue introduced herself, her voice a little shaky, surprised that the ‘crazy old man with a cone hat pretending to be a grandpa’ was actually this handsome.
Jean Emilia chuckled, his expression kind.
“I’m Jean Emilia. Come in.”
***
Sue entered the hut alone, which Jean called his workshop. Jean had said he didn’t allow anyone in except for actual clients. So Ten had to wait outside.
Sue sat on a chair, her stiff neck aching, and looked around the workshop as Jean prepared refreshments.
‘It’s ordinary.’
This was the workshop of a mage who could create a high-ranking barrier in the forest and transform a fortune-telling tent into another world. So she had assumed the hut would be extraordinary too.
But it was just an ordinary house.
There was no marble staircase behind an ordinary door, no walls lined with bookshelves, no experimental equipment on every floor.
There was an ordinary wooden table and chairs, an ordinary wooden bed under the window, and an ordinary wooden desk beside it. Even the kitchen, where Jean was, was simple.
“That was just for attracting customers. It’s tiring to look at it for too long. And there’s no need to make my house look strange.”
Jean replied casually, stirring milk with a spoon, as if he knew what Sue was thinking. Even his casual responses seemed familiar.
She sat down across from Sue with a plate of cookies and a mug of warm milk.
“You found it.”
“…Yes.”
Sue awkwardly picked up the mug with both hands. The milk was too hot to drink.
Jean watched her, grinning. He was in a good mood, having just woken up from a long nap.
A long-term Skia client had appeared out of nowhere. How much should he charge?
***