“Here. Incantations and usage instructions for non-elemental and wind-elemental magecraft. These are trade secrets, by the way. And I’ll give you a talisman that removes the restriction for basic wind spells. That’ll be ten gold in total.”
“That’s way more than what I have on me.”
“I’ll pay then.”
Renya didn’t have nearly enough cash on hand because he thought he’d be spending maybe about a gold to learn a couple of simple spells. Before he could say anything, Shion dropped a pile of coins on the table.
“Your patronage is appreciated.”
“Hey, Shion.”
“It’s fine. You’ll make it back sooner or later. We’ll just call it advance payment.”
“Well, well, Shion. You sure are putting a lot of faith in the lad,” said Caryl with a smirk as she picked up the gold coins on the table. Seeing that her comment caused Shion’s cheeks to redden a little, her expression softened and she turned to Renya. “Are you really that great of a catch? Anything in it for me if I got in on the action too?”
“How would I know? Don’t ask me,” said Renya with a scowl.
Caryl snickered, then took half the coins she just collected and pushed them back across the table.
“I’ll invest in you too. Maybe something good’ll come out of it.”
“Don’t blame me if you make nothing back,” Renya said sharply, but Caryl’s grin remained unfazed. She clearly had a good impression of him.
There were some people, however, whose impression of him was definitely on the bad side, as evidenced by what happened later that evening.
After consuming the dinner he had prepared, the residents of Renya’s household were nursing their bloated bellies and enjoying a period of rest and relaxation. Their day-to-day meals were prepared by either Renya or Frau. Rona could cook as well, but she tended to be rather careless with the minutiae of flavoring. As for Shion, what she did could technically be called cooking. Technically. On a good day, one might feel generous enough to refer to it as such. Renya, however, wanted to eat good food all the time, so he volunteered to be the house cook.
Meanwhile, Frau certainly lived up to her name. Being a house chore fairy, she was predictably — but no less impressively — adept at cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, and just about every other job around the house. As a result, she and Renya ended up taking turns with the cooking.
The two of them happened to be in the kitchen washing dishes when Frau suddenly looked up at the ceiling and started whispering to herself. Renya glanced at the fairy as he put the clean dishes back to the shelf and, noticing her strange behavior, asked, “Frau? What’s the matter?”
“The house is surrounded,” she answered, the relaxed manner in which she kept washing the utensils at odds with the disconcerting nature of her statement. It was startling enough to cause Renya to freeze briefly. “Lots and lots of people come around here, so it’s easy to miss them. They’re good at not being noticed.”
“Assassins, huh. How many?”
“Fifteen people. Five are women. The poor things. Frau is sad for them.”
Once he had confirmation of their numbers, Renya picked up his katana, which he had leaned against the wall. He was about to leave the kitchen when something occurred to him.
Did I just hear her say that?
He stopped and turned around to look at Frau, who had just said something he was very much not used to hearing. Propped up on a stool, the tiny fairy stood just tall enough to reach over the counter. She was still staring at the ceiling as she washed the dishes. He wondered what she saw up there. Eventually, she looked back down at her hands.
“Everyone is holding daggers and wearing lots and lots of black. And they all covered their faces with masks… Probably, they’re people that nobody would be sad to see gone.”
“Uh, okay?”
“Master, put these dishes back please. Frau is going for a little walk.”
“What? Frau!”
“It’s okay. Frau will be right back.”
She hopped off her stool and handed the dishes she’d just washed to Renya. He watched in a daze as she daintily pattered out of the kitchen. A few seconds later, there was the sound of a door closing. Only then did his wits return to him and he rushed after her. His pursuit, however, ended at the door, because no matter how hard he pulled on it, it refused to open. Being the door to the dining room, it didn’t even have a lock, which meant Frau was the only one who could keep it shut. He knew it was probably some sort of magecraft, but he had no way of undoing its effect.
“Hm? What’s up, Frau?” asked Shion as she took a sip of post-dinner tea. She was lounging in the guest room when she noticed Frau standing in the doorway.
“Miss Shion, keep doing what you’re doing please. Frau just needs to keep the doors closed.”
“Huh?”
“But don’t worry. It’ll only be for a teeny tiny bit.”
The door shut with a thud. Shion gave it a curious look. Then, figuring it couldn’t be that big of a deal, she shrugged and went back to sipping her tea.
After locking Shion in the guest room, Frau proceeded to search for the final member of their household. Sensing that Rona was currently taking a bath, the fairy decided to leave her be.
Renya had a penchant for taking baths, so he heated up a big tub of water on almost a daily basis. Most people in this world did not heat up a big tub of water on almost a daily basis. People who might have the means included the wealthiest merchants, the nobility, and the royal family itself. It was a pretty small club. The way he saw it, though, if he could somehow magecraft his way to taking daily baths, then he sure as hell was going to. Neither Shion nor Rona had the habit of bathing regularly, but they followed suit, figuring it was a waste otherwise. Soon, bathing had become a daily household routine.
Frau thought that the sight of Rona after a good bath, her skin flushed and glowing, was wonderfully luscious, so she kept a careful eye on the water temperature to allow for lengthy bouts of comfortable steeping. Only after confirming that bathing conditions were satisfactory did she step out the front door.
The cool evening wind brushed against her cheeks. She quickly shut the door behind her; a chilly house was a big no-no. Then, she snapped her fingers once. With that one gesture, all the windows of the house darkened as their curtains silently slid shut. Those who were inside were now blinded to the outside world. The sudden closing of the curtains probably startled Shion and made her jump. Judging from the loud thud, she must have fallen off the sofa in the process. It didn’t seem particularly important, so Frau ignored it.
“Dear visitors, do you hear me? I am Frau, maid to this household.” Her voice was even but entirely devoid of emotion. She continued, the calmness of her tone at such odds with her usual demeanor that Renya and the girls’ jaws would have dropped if they saw the fairy right now. “As the one charged with keeping the peace in this household, I regret to inform you that I cannot permit the entrance of uninvited visitors through the front door. I ask that you take your leave.”