“Lacey is a dear companion to me. I personally recommend not speaking a single word about her in the future. If anything happens to her, I will use every means at my disposal to make you regret it.”
Wayne’s frigid tone made Lomigos’s teeth chatter.
“Now get lost.”
At the hero’s command, Lomigos and his soldiers scampered away like baby mice.
Wayne was the only one left standing there. The young man cracked his neck, loosened up his tense body, and slowly gave a long sigh.
∗ ∗ ∗
Lacey’s interactions with the villagers changed a little more after that.
Actually, they hadn’t changed at all. Maybe it was just Lacey’s reaction to them that changed.
When Wayne came to Plume Village after Lomigos ran away, he had been rather bewildered by the villagers calling him “hero,” but he accepted it with an awkward smile.
Meanwhile, they were all concerned about Lomigos. He had been turned away by force, but given his attitude, there was a possibility that he would come back later to threaten them with an even more powerful army. One day passed, two days passed, and Lacey even tried going to the capital with Allen and Lanze as their bodyguard, but it was completely peaceful. Things had been settled so disturbingly easily that it actually felt rather anticlimactic.
However, that didn’t stop the anxiety from building. Lacey had strengthened the village’s defenses with her magic. Upon his return, Wayne had mysteriously reacted to this with, “I don’t think there’ll be any problems, but it’s good to do these things just in case.” This left a strange impression in Lacey’s mind.
She was determined to beat any encroaching forces to a pulp next time if anything happened. A month of vigilance quickly passed by. In due time, Lacey and the villagers’ tension eased and they returned to a tranquil everyday life, but deep inside, she still felt a little conflicted as to whether things were really okay this way.
She wasn’t complaining about the peace, though. Lacey looked up at the autumn-heralding sky and gave a prolonged exhale, blowing out a white puff of air. The sky’s color was evocative of the season.
Nonetheless, the field behind Lacey’s mansion was still overgrown with spring, summer, autumn, and winter plants all at once, making it distinctly unseasonal. Tee and Noi, acting as if they owned the garden as they defended the crops from wild animals and monsters, seemed to be busy all year round.
My fingers feel kind of cold. Maybe I’ll try making gloves next, Lacey thought absentmindedly with a watering can in her hands, her breath turning white. All of a sudden, a bell chimed from the bag at her waist. It was the sound of the magic artifact that was linked to the mansion’s door and told her when there were visitors.
Who is it? It’s probably Allen, but it’s around time for Wayne to come back again too. I wonder which one of them it is? But when Lacey answered the door, contrary to expectation, her visitor turned out to be a cute, tiny girl.
“Hello. I have a really big problem, so I’m here to get help from the anything shop. Hey, can you listen to what I want?” The girl cocked her head to the side.
“Huh? U-Umm...” Lacey faltered as she looked down at the girl. She was once again reminded of how bad she was at handling unexpected situations, but that wasn’t important right now.
∗ ∗ ∗
The girl was a resident of Plume Village. Lacey had seen her before when Yorma had abashedly tried to offer her popcorn and was promptly turned down. The girl’s curly hair was tied into two ponytails and adorned with acorn accessories. They were probably handmade. She looked around the same age as Yorma and Reeve, so she must have been six or seven years old.
Lacey invited the girl in and she gracefully sat herself down on a chair.
“Hello, I’m Ellie. My father is Theobald.”
“Oh, you’re so polite... I’m Lacey.”
They knew of each other, but they’d never introduced themselves. The name Theobald rang a bell. He ran the only smithy in the village.
Although the girl was young, she was still a client. Lacey wasn’t sure whether to be tense or not. She was really at a loss. But thinking about it again, the girl was a client first and foremost.
“U-Um, Miss Ellie, what’s your problem?”
“Just call me Ellie.”
“Er, Ellie...”
And right off the bat, she’d annoyed the client.
Just recently, Allen had remade the anything shop’s sign so that it was even more prominent. “The signs in the capital are really amazing. After I saw them, I felt like I had to make yours better,” Allen had said with a toothy grin. His latest work was quite impressive. Lacey had felt that the original sign was already great, but the new one wasn’t just engraved—the letters had been made more charming and it also had a decorative border.
Lacey was desperate to live up to the sign and secure this new client. She clenched her fists. “U-Um, Ellie. You said earlier that you have a problem. What is it?”
“Yes. It’s a really big problem.” The girl was so glum that even her ponytails seemed to be drooping. This would very likely be a challenging request, but Lacey vowed that she would get it done.
“Could you tell me more?” Lacey asked Ellie, leaning forward over the table.
Comforted by Lacey’s intense expression, Ellie’s mouth curved into a smile. “This is an anything shop, so I can ask for anything, right?”
“Of course,” Lacey nodded firmly. Although progress had been gradual, she’d fulfilled a variety of client requests. Thus Lacey had gained a sliver of self-confidence.
Reassured by this, Ellie revealed the details of her request. “Then I can ask you for romantic advice, right?!”
Lacey was immediately defeated.
Ellie wanted romantic advice.
Lacey incoherently mumbled. “That’s kind of, um, I’m not really sure, well...”
“What’s wrong, why are you drooping all of a sudden?! I thought you were the Dawn Witch?!” Ellie yelled. But even if Lacey agreed to listen to her woes, it was dubious that she’d be able to give any decent answers.
“What’s the matter?! Now your face looks like you just ate something sour!”
Lacey could only sweat nervously. This already seemed to be outside of her scope. “Well, but, you see, ummmmmm...” she started to reply in a trembling whisper. Then she recalled that Ellie had specifically come to her. She didn’t want to say no and send her away.
B-But really, what should I do? What can I do?
Lacey was already intimidated about whether she could help at all, but suddenly, a voice played in her mind.
“I think the foot bath did most of the job, but I think part of why I feel so refreshed is that I got to talk a lot with you.”
That was what Dana had said to her.
“U-Um, if it’s okay, can I start by listening to what you have to say?!”
If she had her staff out at the moment, she would probably be clenching it with both hands. Lacey had gone bright red after emphatically replying. Ellie blinked at her repeatedly with a blank look, then squeezed her brows close together in a scowl. She was a very expressive girl.
“Well of course! I want you to sit up close and tight and listen to me, one girl to another!” Ellie proclaimed. “All right, let’s go! Right now!” Thus Lacey was dragged along out of the mansion.
Lacey’s energy had been drained and she was now just going with the flow. Tee and Noi watched as she went, chirping and oinking as if to say, Sounds like it’s kind of lively today.
∗ ∗ ∗
“So listen, Lacey. I’ve got a crush on someone...”
“A-A crush?”
Ellie had told her bits and pieces along the way, but now she sounded like she was speaking another language altogether. Lacey set her chin in her hands and scoured her brain for this vocabulary word.
It was okay. She knew the definition. It was just so irrelevant to her experiences that she couldn’t think of it off the top of her head.