First, there had been the sachets. Then came the insulated thermal bags. These curious magic artifacts were flying off the shelves in the capital and Friepurae. However, nobody knew who had made them. He’d heard rumors that the Saint—who he’d already invented a number of excuses to become a regular patron of—was close with Aster. Thus Lomigos had come as fast as he could, but it had all been for naught. He stamped his feet.
“Damn, it’s all their fault! If not for them...!” He bit his short nails. Lomigos felt that everyone in high society was looking at him with frigid stares and disdain, despite the fact that he had always shown them a gleaming smile with no trace of displeasure.
It made him feel nauseous for there to be people above him. The more people beneath him, the better. How could he increase that number?
At the moment, high society was abuzz with rumors of the anonymous artifact maker.
“The Aster artifact maker. Their sachets were first sold primarily in the capital. The same went for the insulated thermal bags, with the exception of Friepurae where the Saint lives. The artifact maker must be somewhere near the capital. I swear I’ll bring them under my control. I’ll leave no stone unturned!”
∗ ∗ ∗
“Achoo!”
“Lacey, do you have a cold? Don’t tell me you slept with your stomach exposed.”
“Of course not, Wayne,” Lacey put a hand to her stomach, suddenly doubting herself. “Of course, right?”
The midsummer heat had come and gone, and the backyard field was now full of dead leaves. Lacey had gathered up thin bamboo and tried making a broom. Basically, anything could be found growing all over her backyard now.
The quiet whistling of the wind heralded the usual change in seasons. Lacey swept up the crinkling leaves with her broom. Tee seemed quite happy to be sprawling out on a pile of leaves.
Behind them, Wayne was boiling a large pot over an open fire. “Making oil from coconuts is a pretty interesting concept...”
As he sat on a log and watched the fire, he took a look at the uniformly white, melted contents of the pot. Using the oversized pot in the kitchen wouldn’t leave much elbow room, so they’d brought it outside instead to multitask while sweeping up the dead leaves.
“That wasn’t my idea. Dana came up with it first. Although it was fun to think about since there are a surprising number of possible uses for it,” Lacey spoke offhandedly. From her perspective, all she’d done was taken the hint that Dana had given her before leaving about “maybe my legs feel so smooth after that foot bath because we used coconuts” and rolled with it.
“Seriously, you...” Wayne started, making an exasperated expression, but then sighed. This always happened. “Even if you come up with an idea, actually making it into a real thing is tough for most people,” he murmured. But this didn’t reach the ears of Lacey, who was cheerfully sweeping up the dead leaves with a broom.
“Hey, what are you doing there?”
“I’m cleaning up the leaves on the ground. It’s not quite time for leaves to fall yet, but the seasons are all mixed up in this field, so some of the trees are getting a head start.”
“That’s not what I mean. Why not just use magic?” asked the hero who was busy stirring a boiling pot full of coconut flesh so that it wouldn’t burn. Wayne looked good with the Holy Sword, but a ladle matched him just as well.
Holding the broom handle, Lacey repeatedly blinked in puzzlement. “Magic?”
“Well, you said you used magic when you clean the house. Why not just instantly gather up the leaves with wind magic? I’m not capable of it, but it’d be easy for you, right?”
“It would probably be easy, but I won’t do it,” she demurred. “If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to see the shapes of each leaf. I think there are times when it’s better to do things with my own hands rather than use magic.”
Up until recently, Lacey had considered magic to be nothing more than a method of attacking. She’d learned otherwise when she saw Wayne’s magic and discovered that there were so many more possibilities.
Using magic for everyday tasks was certainly convenient. However, even in the future, Lacey probably wouldn’t rely on it for everything. She knew that there were things that could only be understood through hands-on experience.
Lacey had thought that her shoddy explanation would be met with skepticism, but Wayne was readily persuaded. “Makes sense.”
Wayne was flexible and quick on the uptake. He was smart, so he quickly comprehended the meaning behind Lacey’s unclear words. That was why she was so dependent on him. But for some reason, thinking about Wayne too much would make Lacey’s chest tighten and her heart skip a beat.
No, no, I’m acting a little weird.
She understood why her chest was tight. That could easily be explained as the disappointment she felt at herself for explaining things so shoddily, or something similar.
But she didn’t understand what came after it. Lacey had been thinking about Wayne an unusual amount lately. He was a precious companion who’d been by her side all this time, so that seemed perfectly normal. But on the other hand, there were times when she felt an emotion so painful that she struggled to breathe.
“Am I...in...” Lacey trembled.
Am I infected with something?!
She didn’t say this out loud because there was a worrywart ex-hero right by her.
She was regretting not asking Dana to give her a checkup, but then again, she might be making a mountain out of a molehill. Lacey’s internal conflict raged on.
“Hey, Lacey,” Wayne spoke to her as he checked that the stewing flames were at the right temperature. “Do you want anything?”
“...Why do you ask?” This was out of nowhere. Lacey was naturally puzzled.
It didn’t seem out of nowhere to Wayne, though. “Well, it’s obvious...” he responded impassively.
Just then, a strong breeze blew. Lacey hurriedly tugged the brim of her hat with both hands to stop it from flying away. The broom fell to her feet with a clack and rolled around, dancing in the wind.
Wayne blinked in surprise as he watched. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, somehow I didn’t get blown away... Tee? What’s wrong?”
“Kwee! Kwee kwee kwee!!!” Tee, who had been nesting comfortably in a pile of leaves, had jumped up animatedly. It tensely looked around with a distressed expression, then suddenly slanted its brows.
“NKWEEEEEE!!!”
It was like it was crying out “Here I am!”
“R-Really, what’s got you like that?” Lacey blinked at it, mystified. Just then...
“GRR-OOOOOOINK!!!!!!!!!”
There came a familiar voice. Or more accurately, a familiar grunt.
Its wings spread wide, Tee’s eyes shone. He’s back! It flapped happily.
The trampling footsteps grew louder, accompanied by a “Grr-oink! Grr-oink!” grunt. It was the boar, returning after its absence.
The boar charged in, making all kinds of noise. Lacey tried to greet it with “Oh, welcome back,” but the boar didn’t stop for her.
In the time that the boar had returned home to its family, the field had radically changed. Trees that had been there were no longer standing, and conversely, other plants that hadn’t been there were now shooting up all over. This was all due to Lacey’s unparalleled mana, but the boar didn’t know this. He tried to hit the brakes, but his feet skidded, and his large brown body flew into the air.