By Miss Larna, he meant Larna Smith, the head of the Magical Tool Laboratory and an unbelievable magic nerd. She was quite the character. Her fascination with magic was so strong that she sometimes got carried away and shoved her actual job to one side, so she was also sometimes a bit troublesome.
Larna has a job for me personally? What could it be?
“Indeed. It appears she is working at the palace today, so she would like you to deliver some items she needs. With Larna out of the office, I’m going to have my hands full covering for her. That means I won’t be able to help you with your Dark Magic training this morning, which in turn means your schedule should be clear, so can I entrust you with this task?”
I thought it was going to be something much more urgent, but in the end it was just an errand. With Larna out of the office, Raphael had his hands full, meaning he couldn’t help me with my Dark Magic training. Larna probably figured I’d be free anyway, so why not ask me to run errands for her?
“Very well,” I answered.
Laura, standing next to me, spoke next.
“Oh my, I wonder if our darling Miss Katarina will be all right going on this errand by herself?”
I couldn’t believe she said that.
Raphael gave a slight, wry chuckle.
“The palace is just as safe as the Ministry, so I’m sure she’ll be fine. Besides, it’s not as if Miss Katarina has as poor a sense of direction as Mr. Hart.”
Yep. Mr. Hart, Laura’s constant work partner (at least according to everyone else) undoubtedly tends to get lost. His sense of direction is so poor that he sometimes gets lost on his way from this office to the toilet.
“Oh my, but look how cute she is. What will we do if some foreign royal falls in love with her at first sight?”
“L-Laura...” I started to object.
Aren’t you starting to sound like my grandma? You might as well have said, “My granddaughter is so cute, sometimes I worry about her.”
I was beginning to feel so embarrassed that I could hardly stand it. I hoped that Raphael would say something to contradict Laura. Instead...
“I guess you’re right,” he agreed with a straight face. “That could be a risk.”
What?! You’ve got to be kidding. Is everyone here a comedian?! We need a straight man... I thought to myself, my embarrassment creeping toward max levels.
“Nah, though I don’t know how cute Miss Katarina looks to you, she’s pretty eccentric, so I don’t think she’ll be that popular. Of course, you couldn’t say the same about someone as beautiful as I am.”
That was a perfect comeback, thank you so much, Mr. Cornish. Although, I didn’t really know how I felt about being labeled “eccentric” by someone who came into work wearing frilly, billowing, shiny clothing that made everyone need to squint. Won’t you have a look at Miss Norman? She’s giving you a seriously cold glare, Mr. Cornish. Please notice her.
“Oh, but our Katarina is so cute. She’s so very popular,” said grandma—or rather, Laura—seizing upon yet another opportunity to gush.
You’ve boasted about your granddaughter enough already. Please realize that.
“Guy Handerson, you must be completely blind. But if you’re so concerned about her, just go with her.”
“Excuse me, why are you using my real name? My full name, at that... I’d like nothing more than to go with her, but I really don’t like visiting the palace.” Laura said the first part in a deep, menacing tone, but then she went back to using her usual cutesy voice.
Seeing an opportunity to change the subject, I piped up.
“Miss Laura, you don’t like visiting the palace?”
Come to think of it, I’ve never seen her go out on the kind of business that would take her to the palace.
“I really don’t. Whenever I go there, I’m treated with suspicion, and people keep questioning me. I hate it,” said Laura while pouting.
Well, I kind of felt like that couldn’t be helped. I entirely expected the palace staff would stop a strange macho-man type in women’s clothing to confirm his identity. If I were part of their staff, I would too.
“Hmph, just announce yourself with confidence, no matter how many times they question you. One day they’ll give you a nickname and you’ll have their tacit approval to enter,” said Cornish confidently.
“This guy’s nickname is ‘Frills,’” Miss Norman murmured via her doll.
Well, it can’t be that pleasant to get to the palace and hear people there say, “Hey, look, Frills is here.”
While we were having this perplexing conversation, before I knew it, it was time to get to work.
“I go there all the time, so I’ll be fine,” I declared, trying to comfort Miss Laura and Raphael, who were still worried about me.
With Larna’s documents in my hands, I set off for the palace. Given that it was Larna we were talking about, I was worried at first that I’d be given some incredibly dangerous magic tools to carry, but in the end it was only some documents. But I still wondered why there was a need to specify that I should personally deliver them.
“Miss Larna said she’d like you to read this on your way there,” Raphael said as he passed me an envelope.
The answer to my question turned out to be written inside. Aboard my carriage, I opened the envelope to find a single sheet of paper folded inside. After unfolding it, I saw that it read, “Today, I am not visiting the palace as Larna Smith. Thank you for understanding.”
In fact, “Larna Smith” was only an alias. Her real name was Susanna Randall, daughter of Marquess Randall and the fiancée of Jeffrey Stuart, the firstborn prince of the kingdom—a very notable person indeed. When Susanna made her mind up to work at the Magical Ministry, she changed her name and her appearance to become Larna Smith.