Rain was falling that day.
Raindrops poured down incessantly from the leaden, overcast sky. The whole world seemed to be swallowed up in dark fog.
“Oh, yuck…”
When I entered the restaurant, the sky had only been cloudy, and it was just threatening to rain. But by the time I had filled my empty stomach and left the restaurant, the world outside had completely changed.
Something about the pelting rain made it seem like it had been pouring down forever, and it didn’t seem likely to stop anytime soon.
I put up my umbrella and followed the road back to my inn.
I don’t really care for rain. It’s damp, and gloomy, and brings my mood down. But then, even if I spend the whole day reading a book inside, the humidity still dampens my spirits, and I just seem to lose vitality as time goes on. I get stuck lying on the bed unable to move, like a soggy piece of cloth that has soaked up all the rainwater.
Even if I’m not doing anything, it wears me out.
“I think I’ll go right to sleep after I get back today…,” I said as I let out a sigh, utterly unmotivated.
Lately, I hadn’t been able to spend much time leisurely sleeping at an inn, so surely this was the perfect time to get some relaxation in.
But the girl who was walking beside me raised her umbrella and looked at me.
“You’d rather sleep, even with me here? Well…!”
This dramatic display of surprise and sadness came from the girl, or rather, the object, that always accompanied me on my solo journey.
My broom.
Just as weapons will rust and become unusable if you don’t maintain them periodically, so too will magic wither away if you don’t use it from time to time. Especially when it comes to complicated spells like the one that changes objects into human form, if you don’t use them for a long time, you may forget how to do them.
Even if you do it under the pretense of polishing your skills as a mage, it’s important to occasionally cast a complicated spell or two.
To that end, I had turned my broom into a person for the first time in a while, and while she was transformed, we had gone for lunch together. I wanted to perfect the spell that turns Miss Broom into a person, to the point where I could cast it even in my sleep.
However, it was terribly bad luck that on the day I chose to do so, it was raining.
“Isn’t the rain nice? The sound of the rain drowns out the noise of the city. This downpour gives us a little moment of tranquility. I just love it.”
Turning her attention to the streaming rain, she stuck her hand out from under her umbrella and smiled.
“Tranquility, huh…?”
I listened carefully to the sound of the rain. The sound of the rain falling on the cobblestones. The sound of raindrops hitting roofs and bouncing off. Drops of rain plunging into puddles. The raindrops fell incessantly over the city, each making their own kind of noise. Then, just barely audible between the sounds made by the rain, I heard something that sounded like the cry of a puppy.
……
The cry of a puppy?
“Whine…whine…”
Suddenly curious, I raised my head. When I looked over, I saw a black umbrella that had been left sitting open by the side of the road. Under it was a single wooden box. The puppy’s cry seemed to be coming from there.
“…Must be an abandoned dog.”
As soon as I realized that, I headed in that direction. As I was a wandering traveler, I wouldn’t be able to do anything with a puppy if I did pick it up. But at the moment, I was curious, so I wanted to take a peek inside the box.
I hurried, just a little, as I trotted over to the wooden box.
Then I lifted the large umbrella that was covering the box.
“…I don’t really understand how someone could be so kind and so cruel as to heartlessly abandon a puppy and yet put up an umbrella so that it wouldn’t get wet,” I said as I did so.
Then I peered down into the box, but…
“……?”
I tilted my head to one side.
“Whine…whine…”
I could hear the crying voice.
In spite of that, the inside of the box was empty. Never mind a dog, there wasn’t a single thing inside it.
“Lady Elaina, what’s the matter?” my broom asked, trotting up behind me.
In the way she said her words, it sounded less like she was asking if I had found something strange and more like she was confused about what exactly I was doing.
Then she looked at me, saw that I was holding two umbrellas in my hands and tilting my head in confusion, and said, “It’s not the box that is crying, it’s that one.”
“Huh?”
I looked at the umbrella I had just picked up.
“Whine…whine…”
The umbrella, soaked with rain, was crying.
……
What in the world?