“I think I might’ve ticked him off for real…”
A gloomy cloud hung over the girl sitting in the corner of the workshop hugging her knees. Grumbled complaint after complaint exposed her emotional turmoil.
“I know I’m being overly optimistic, even for me, but I feel like I’ll just be dragging Goddess Yuna’s name through the mud if I attain victory by cheating.”
Lambert clearly heard her mumbles while he was making the final adjustments to her broom and gave his opinion without looking at her. “Naw, you’re better off not cheatin’. Sylmia hates cheaters.”
He placed the broom on his shoulder and thrust it forward, squinting to make sure the handle wasn’t bent.
“By the way, can I ask? You and Lord Sylmia aren’t…father and son, are you?”
“Not by blood. I used to be an orphan, and now I’m his adopted child,” he answered in his usual laid-back way. Her heart dropped.
Fidgeting with the uncomfortable mood she’d caused, she timidly apologized. “Um…I’m sorry.”
“Why’re you apologizin’? I couldn’t care less ’bout that kinda thing.”
He looked at her and laughed without a care. He lifted the accessory hanging from a leather strap at his chest and lowered his eyes to the distorted silver motif there.
“By the time I’d become self-aware, I was livin’ in a filthy back alley. This is the only clue I’ve got, but I’ve never stopped believing I’ll find my birth parents someday.”
“I see…”
Grinning to lighten the mood, he placed the broom on the desk and popped his stiff shoulders.
“But maaaan, I had it rough at the time. I was living in a place called Shasta that’s far to the south from here. Pickpocketin’ was ’bout the only way for a snot-nosed brat to survive.”
“Ah, umm, that…” That must’ve been tough. Nichika couldn’t say something so unsympathetic, so she panicked as she searched for the right thing to say.
She was so easy to read, Lambert could barely contain his laughter. “You either say exactly what’s on your mind or can’t say anything at all, huh?”
“Ugh. I have good reason for that…” She had come to watch her words since Oswald made a fool of her every time she spoke without thinking. Pushing her fingers together, she turned her gaze out the window. “I can’t say I understand your pain.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “That’s the right choice. This pain is mine alone.”
“But I can be on your side and encourage you. Let me know if there is ever anything I can help you with!”
Lambert quietly gasped and then, for some reason, flashed a sarcastic smirk. “…You mean it?”
“…?”
Of course she meant it. What he did in the past was water under the bridge now that he was helping her. She wanted to return the favor.
“Is it more troublesome to have someone worthless like me helping you?” she quietly asked, gazing up at him from under her lashes.
“Naw, I’m thrilled by the offer. Really.” Keeping his eyes from meeting hers, he forced them back to the original topic. “Ah, right, you wanted to know how I got adopted, yeah? Wind magic has been my only real talent for forever now. Sylmia saw potential in me and took me in. Said he’s gonna make me his successor.”
“Wait, does that mean you will become the Great Wind Spirit someday? Humans can become spirits?”
Nichika was stunned by that unexpected tidbit. She’d been completely under the impression that the Great Spirits were either born that way or were chosen among powerful magic spirits.
Lambert brought over a polishing cloth and began rubbing varnish on the broom. “There are several types of spirits: those who are formed by a group of mana coalescing into one body, ritualistic items that’ve been worshiped for centuries gaining sentience, a soul with an unbending will to live ascending after death, and so on. Sylmia ascended after death. I heard he was originally a bird that nested in this area.”
“A bird…?”
He must have been a strikingly colored and extremely attractive bird. As Nichika started imagining what bird he was, Lambert picked up a different file and worked on the other side.
“Anyways, it’s late. Tomorrow’s the real deal and you won’t have time to practice. Get to sleep and recover what little stamina ya can.”
Sure enough, it was so late the date was about to change. The village lights beyond the window were flicking off one by one. But Nichika was reluctant to leave.
“But you’re not done—”
“I’ll handle the rest. Or what? Uneasy leavin’ it in my untrustworthy hands?” He threw the same line back at her.
Smiling wryly, she shook her head. This was as good a time as ever to leave it to him.
“I guess I’ll go ahead and get some shuteye.”
“Use the room at the far end of the second story. The washroom is right across from it.”
“Thanks. Goodnight,” she said softly and left the room. She tilted her head outside the door. “Huh?”
Lambert had been acting strange ever since they arrived in this village. She assumed he wasn’t misbehaving because his adoptive father was around, but that didn’t explain why he wouldn’t look her in the eye and stared uncomfortably at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.
Is he worried I’ll embarrass him in front of everyone? Ugh, that’s likely…
Coming to that conclusion, she decided to hit the sack like he suggested and hopefully decrease the odds of an epically embarrassing loss by even a little.