“Sorry! I’m sorry. Are you all right?!”
“I’m fine. I should also apologize for running into you.”
“Ahhh, I’ll help you pick that up!”
“Thank you.”
Hilmes hurriedly grabbed the bag off the ground and handed it to the woman. But when he saw her face, he froze. His eyes widened and he stared intently at her.
“Hmm?” Noticing his stare, the girl blinked and tilted her head. “Um, is something the matter?”
“Huh? Oh, no! It’s nothing! Ha ha ha ha…” Hilmes hurriedly forced a smile and laughed off the woman’s question. At the sound of his happy laugh, Leticiel could feel the temperature of the air around the brown-haired girl sitting in front of her drop by about ten degrees.
“Phew, what a relief…,” Hilmes said, stroking the front of his shirt reassuringly as he returned to his seat. Even after sitting down, he glanced back at the departing women.
“Do you know them?”
Still gazing toward the exit the women had left through, Hilmes answered, “No. Well, I know who she is. If I’m right, she’s…”
Beside him, Mirandalette, who was emitting an icy aura, picked up her fork and silently stole the slice of block cake from Hilmes’s plate.
“Huh? Lulu! Why?!” Hilmes’s gaze flickered between Mirandalette and his own plate. Finally, he seemed to realize his error after seeing the confused looks on the other three and Mirandalette’s grumpy profile. “Lulu, you’re misunderstanding! There’s a proper reason…”
“Yes, I’m sure there is. I know. It doesn’t bother me.”
“It totally is bothering you, though! I said sorry!”
Hilmes did his best to explain and stop Mirandalette from sulking, but the girl was still in a bad mood. Leticiel couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. From beside her, Zeke sent her a curious glance.
“Oh, I was just thinking how adorable they are together,” she explained.
“Aha ha, that’s true.”
After leaving the café, the group stopped in front of a small shop comprised of bricks. There were plants in the flowerbeds in front of the shop. Though it seemed old-fashioned, it had a peaceful and serene exterior.
“What is this place?”
“It’s an antique store I often come to on errands. They have a lot of unique antiques, so you might even see some fanatical nobles,” Zeke explained while quietly pushing open the shop’s door. The sound of a ringing bell echoed throughout the shop.
“Uwaaaah!” A young boy’s cry followed the bell. Wondering what was going on, Leticiel paused at the shop’s entrance and peered toward the back of the store.
At the back counter, a young man was trying to soothe a young boy of about six years old. The boy was crouching down and crying, “I’m sorry, Papa,” through his sobs.
“Hello, sir.”
“Ah, it’s you, Zeke. Welcome.”
When the boy saw Zeke, he clung to Zeke’s legs. “Did something happen?” he asked worriedly, petting the boy’s head.
The shop owner scratched his head, frowning. “Well, my son accidentally broke a clock that I had on the counter.”
“You mean the clock your family has treasured for generations?”
“Yes. It seems like he feels sorry for breaking it…”
Leticiel, who had followed Zeke further into the shop, glanced at the counter. On it was a table clock made of dark wood. It was rather compact, just the right size to be held with both hands. From the way the paint was peeling off in some places, she could tell that it was extremely old.
What looked like clock parts were sitting on the counter next to the broken body. There was a variety of jagged disk-like pieces of metal in different sizes and other small parts that she couldn’t even imagine what they were used for.
“I want to send it out for repair, but that won’t be possible until we’ve sold a few more items. I don’t even know if it’ll be possible to fix when it’s fallen apart like this.”
Next to Zeke, who was talking with the shop owner, Leticiel stared at the clock as if she could burn a hole in it.
There were clocks at the academy and Leticiel even had one in her own room, but now that she thought about it, she had no idea how they worked. When she had asked, she was told that they worked with some sort of contraption, but how had they put a device that kept time and ticked from morning to night in this small box without using magic or sorcery?
“Miss…” Leticiel was so focused that she almost missed the small voice that came from her feet. Looking down, she saw that the boy from earlier was looking up at her with eyes full of tears.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I broke Papa’s really important clock,” the boy murmured, tears welling. Leticiel’s eyes widened slightly. “Miss, how can I put Papa’s clock back together?”
Leticiel couldn’t stand to do nothing for the boy who was trying to help his father in such a praiseworthy way. Without thinking, she said, “I’ll try and fix it.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” The boy tilted his head, worried, so Leticiel crouched down and patted his head. She would try using sorcery on the clock. She didn’t know how to fix clocks, but nothing would happen if she didn’t at least try.
A pale light enveloped the clock and the parts around it. When the light finally melted away and disappeared, it left behind a clock that had been beautifully repaired. But only in appearance.
The hands aren’t moving. I guess I can’t fix it if I don’t know how it works.
The little boy had been anxiously looking up at her the entire time. She wanted to grant his wish, plus she was personally interested in learning more about clocks. I wonder if I can borrow it in order to fix it?
Momentarily tearing her eyes away from the clock, Leticiel turned to the shop owner and said, “Um, sir…”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Would you mind me taking this clock for a while?”
“What?” The owner stared at her with wide eyes, stunned by her sudden proposal.
“It seems to be important to both yourself and your son, so I want to help you.”
“Huh? Erm, but that’s…”
“Please don’t worry about the cost. I don’t plan on asking for payment.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I couldn’t possibly trouble a customer in that way…”
The shop owner was hesitating. Leticiel waited patiently for his answer, not rushing him, but someone jumped in with an unexpected lifeline.