“It doesn’t feel real. I’ve had my magic since I was just a little girl, but...I don’t feel sad about it? I’m just thinking ‘oh, it’s gone.’”
My magical soap bubbles had been with me for as long as I could remember. But, maybe because it wasn’t something I could see, I didn’t feel any sadness or sense of loss, like I did with Shiro.
“Do you really need it?” he asked, looking down at me.
I thought over it all again at Sir Celes’s question. Need... Did I need it for anything...
“I might need it for cleaning really tough stains.”
“Right.”
“But since there won’t be any more monster attacks, your uniforms aren’t going to get as dirty.”
After Shiro and the dragon that attacked us disappeared, we hadn’t seen even a single sign of any monsters, no matter how far we went. Eric thought that maybe they had all disappeared. If that was the case, I wouldn’t have to get those blue stains out anymore.
“So really...I don’t need it.”
That’s right. I’m fine without it. That might have been the main reason why I wasn’t feeling sad.
“You didn’t really rely on it much.”
“Well, of course. It was only some boring spell to get stains out at first. I’d never thought it would work on monsters.”
I felt Sir Celes chuckling behind me as I called it boring. “Our Sacred Maiden doesn’t think much of her powers, huh.”
“I’m not a Sacred Maiden! I’m just a normal, powerless, ordinary person.”
Without my extraordinary powers, all that was left was me — an ordinary person. But I’ve always been ordinary, so it’s not a shock or anything.
“Ah, but without my Soap, I’ll probably lose my job at the castle. I already temporarily retired, anyway.”
It had been about three months since I’d left Arldat. And as long as the knights existed, they wouldn’t leave an unfilled opening for laundrymaids. And now that I’d lost my bonus soapy magic, I wouldn’t be worth rehiring.
“I’ll have to look for another job.”
“I think it’ll be fine. You left to join us on the King’s orders.”
“Yes, but the knights’ laundrymaids ended up losing a member, which would mean they’d have to do more to make up for it. I was only hired to fill an empty spot in the first place. The laundry waits for no one, you know!”
Sir Celes groaned at my answer. “Even if you can’t get rehired,” he started, sounding a bit embarrassed, “I wouldn’t mind if you just stayed at home. I wouldn’t stop you if you want to work, though.”
Home! I remembered something incredibly important just then. Since I didn’t have my laundrymaid job anymore, I’d have to find another place to live. I’ll be on the streets if I don’t start searching for a place! And since most of my pay went towards paying off my debt, I didn’t have much actual money. I’ll be getting a reward for the journey, so I’ll have to use that for my job and house searches!
“I’m going to have to find myself a place to live!” I exclaimed.
“That’s true. Where do you want to live? I’m fine with anywhere, as long as it’s near Arldat’s castle. I can’t go very far, since I might get called out suddenly.”
“I can’t live near the castle. It’s far too expensive. Actually, I don’t even know if I’d be able to get a place in the capital without a job...”
“Don’t worry about the rent,” he said, almost dismissively.
“Why?”
“What?”
“Huh?”
I turned back, surprised, only to see Sir Celes giving me a similarly surprised look.
“Just checking, but...” he started.
“Okay.”
“You’re going to marry me... Right?”
“Of course I am,” I replied with a firm nod. Why does he sound so worried?
“Oh, thank goodness. I was starting to think us getting engaged was just a dream.”
“I don’t know what I’d do if it was just a dream. But even if we’re engaged, I can’t just have you pay my rent,” I refused, not wanting to depend on him too much, but he just gently shook his head.
“Lucia. I’d like to make it official as soon as possible, if you’re up for it. And if you’re going to have to pay for somewhere to live after quitting your job, I want to go with you. After all,” Sir Celes smiled softly, before whispering lowly into my ear, “I’d be too lonely without you.”
“Ah...!” I blushed bright red, nodding as he burst out laughing. Oh, he’s so mean!
“Anyway, I’d be fine if you just stayed home — actually, I might prefer it — but you said you had fun working, didn’t you? So if you’re going to go job searching, I’d like for you to look for something in Arldat. Even if we won’t be going out to exterminate monsters anymore, we in the Third Regiment can’t really go far from the city.”
“I wonder if I’ll be able to find one...”
“Take your time to find something you like. Something that you really want to do.”
A job I really want to do? I had no clue what that might be. For me, working had just been something necessary for survival, so I’d never thought about likes or dislikes.
“Like instead of just getting whatever job you can, or going for something difficult that pays well, you should go for something that you find fun, or interesting. Arldat is Banfield’s capital, so there are a lot of different jobs there. You’ve got a lot of potential.” He smiled, gently patting my head.