The next day, Parfeil had fully recovered, and she came to visit me in my room. To celebrate her recovery, the white squirrels handed her a white mushroom. Apparently, it was a “snow mushroom,” and they grew all over Diamant. They were quite delicious when grilled.
“Wow! Thank you, everyone!” Parfeil said.
Next, upon seeing me, Parfeil saluted and reported on her condition. “Lady Mille-Feuille, I have arrived! As you can see, I have completely recovered!”
I was relieved that she didn’t seem to be experiencing any aftereffects. “Parfeil, I’m so happy you’re back.”
I embraced her, and we both celebrated the fact that we had returned safely.
“The Dragon Duke’s scroll really saved me back there!” Parfeil exclaimed.
“Indeed. I shiver at the thought of not having had that scroll.”
Parfeil was thankful for the quick aid as her wounds hadn’t left any scars.
“But it still hurt when you were attacked, right?” I asked.
“I actually don’t remember it! I was so focused on trying to protect you that I might not have had time to think about the pain,” she replied.
Parfeil would definitely sacrifice her own life for my sake. I had to be more careful so she wouldn’t have to do that.
“Parfeil, I’m so sorry that I put you in so much danger,” I said.
“Milady, please don’t apologize! The least I could do for you is put my own body on the line to protect you!”
“That’s not true,” I told her. “I wouldn’t be able to go on living without you, so please don’t throw away your own life for my sake. I want to live a happy life with you around.”
Parfeil giggled awkwardly. “That makes me feel a bit embarrassed,” she said. I wasn’t sure if my words had gotten to her, but all that meant was that I had to be more responsible moving forward.
As our conversation petered out, I heard someone knock on the glass door of the balcony again. I peeked out of it and I saw Roche, in his human form, carrying Van as a tiny dragon.
I let them into the room. “I see you’re not a tiny dragon today,” I said.
Roche began to explain the situation while scanning the room, presumably to see if Lady Opera was around. “Yes, milady. We got here by sliding across the mansion walls.”
“Please have a seat over there. Parfeil, could you please serve them some black tea?”
“Yes, milady!”
Van was here today, so we could discuss what to do with the hot spring source that we had discovered.
“We found the source about an hour’s walk away from a nearby settlement. It’s in a wide-open space with few trees around,” I explained.
“I see. Perhaps there are few trees there because of the spring source,” Van speculated.
The only thing left to do now was dig.
“We’ll be using this.” I brought out a magical device to use for that task. I called it “the Shovel”—a spoon-shaped tool made for digging. It was no ordinary shovel, however. While I often asked Van to make magical devices, he had been busy creating the Spring Dowsing Device, so I had instead ordered this to be made by a crafty dwarf connected to Madeleine’s family.
“With this, we could dig through even the hardest of rocks as if they were made of pudding. Even someone as weak as I am would be able to dig holes with ease.”
Van crossed his arms and had a difficult expression on his face. “I didn’t think that you would volunteer to dig,” he said.
“Well, who else is going to do it?” I asked.
“I am.”
“You?”
“That’s right. If the water is too hot, you might scald yourself while digging. On the other hand, I could put up a barrier over myself while I do it,” he argued.
“I see.”
Roche raised his hand to weigh in. “I’m resistant to heat, so I can tolerate the hot spring’s waters.”
“All right then. You and Van will be doing the excavation.”
Though I had to shelve my dwarf-made magic shovel, it really might have been dangerous to excavate the hot spring site by hand. There surely were other uses for a magic shovel like this, so I asked the white squirrels to hold on to it.
And with that, the matter of excavating the hot spring source was swiftly resolved. Van would consult with House Noisette regarding permissions.
“Well, this place is property of the Dragon Duke’s household, so surely they won’t complain. But I’ll still talk to them, just in case,” Van said.
This region was running smoothly thanks to House Noisette’s management. Even if this was the Dragon Duke’s land, it was only appropriate to show them some respect. In that regard, I wholly approved.
“Speaking of House Noisette, I will also file a complaint about Lady Fenetra’s behavior,” Van added.
“A complaint?”
“I heard from Opera. You’ve all been treated poorly these past few days, have you not?”
“Oh, right...” I had been so focused on the excavation of the hot springs that I had totally forgotten about Fenetra’s actions. I told Van that he should refrain from protesting if it would sour relations with House Noisette, but he insisted otherwise.
“She lied to you about the weather on top of treating you poorly. I cannot let this slide. I will need to warn Marquis de Noisette about this.”
“All right, but don’t be too harsh on them,” I told him. We needed the cooperation of House Noisette in order to make Diamant into a successful tourist spot. I asked Van to voice his objections but not to the point of burning bridges between us.
“I understand. This was partly my fault as well.” Van regretted his actions. He’d been careful not to interact with me too much to keep up the pretense of me being an attendant. But as a result, he had created an environment where we had been completely unable to communicate with each other.
Parfeil finally brought us all black tea. The white squirrels had also prepared some grilled snow mushrooms, with help from the cooks, as snacks to pair with it.
“Parfeil, these are some unique tea snacks you have here.”
“I heard from the cooks in the kitchen that these were great with tea,” she explained.
“I see.” The mushrooms had been cut into bite-size pieces and served with oyster sauce. I picked one up and popped it into my mouth. “Hmm?!”
The mushrooms were chewy, and a single bite released all the savory juices stored within. It tasted like bouillon that had been meticulously simmered and prepared over several days. The pairing of snow mushrooms and oyster sauce was simply exquisite.