Maurice bowed to Claude, whose eyes were sparkling at the sight of the colorful mushrooms. “Please rest assured that the mushrooms will be stored in the…designated location.”
“Right. Well then, Agnes, shall we go?” Claude held out his hand to her.
“Um, uh, yes…”
Where is the designated location? Agnes wondered. What if Claude is bringing them to our new house? What if there’s an entire mushroom room there? The thought creeped her out.
Would her new married life begin surrounded by mushrooms?
Agnes tried to put aside those nebulous doubts, and they made their way through the meadow. It wasn’t maintained, so it was a little difficult underfoot, but Claude held her hand so she wouldn’t trip.
Seriously, he would be the perfect prince if he wasn’t so obsessive about mushrooms. But seeing as Agnes was a Mushroom Queen, she supposed it had all worked out to everyone’s benefit…
“When you’ve got a lot on your mind, it’s best to go somewhere out in nature and look at the beauty all around. Do you feel a little better?” he asked.
“…You brought me here for my mental health?”
“For me, too. Because I want to see you smile. Come on, Ciel. Stretch those legs of yours for once.”
As Claude stroked the cat, it suddenly grew from kitten size to the same height as Agnes. At the same time, a popping sound rang out, and a mushroom with a gray-brown cap and blackish-brown warts grew on Ciel’s head. Ciel, now in the form of a white tiger, ran off across the meadow, Amanita spissaceabobbing on his head, as if he was yelling, “Wahoo!” Ciel now ran faster than any beast, and the slipstream sent Agnes’s pink hair flapping.
“Claude, if Ciel is in his large form, won’t it consume more of your magic?” she worried.
“It’s not a big deal. We’re in Visage, after all. I can support him being bigger for a bit.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t lie to you, Agnes.”
Agnes wasn’t quite sure it was as minor a thing as Claude was making out. But she felt confident that at least it wouldn’t drain Claude too much. He might hide the truth from Agnes sometimes, but he would never outright lie to her.
Agnes felt a little relieved, but by then, Ciel had already disappeared from view.
“I hope Ciel doesn’t run into anyone…” she said worriedly. It would be quite a shock to find a huge white tiger barreling toward one at lightning speed in a meadow.
“Agnes.”
She turned to Claude, who placed something on her head. Looking up, she caught a glimpse of petals. A flower crown?
“Yes, that really suits you. Adorable,” Claude smiled.
Curious, Agnes lifted the object off her head. It was a flower crown.
“You made this, Claude? It’s so well done… Are these…mushrooms in it?”
Woven in between the colorful flowers were the Sparassis crispa and Lactarius indigo mushrooms. Agnes had never seen a flower crown with mushrooms in it before. Though the colors did look very nice.
“I got really into drying mushrooms and making decorative strings of them for a while.” Claude’s fungus flag was flying again.
“A prince who weaves flower crowns is romantic, but a prince who dries strings of mushrooms is, hmmm…” Agnes wasn’t sure how to feel about that one.
“Can you make flower crowns too, Agnes?” he asked.
“Yes, I grew up a commoner, so we often made these as part of our games.”
Agnes placed the mushroom flower crown back on her head before bending down to pick flowers. She hadn’t done it in a while and was surprised how easily flower crown making came back to her. Quickly, she wove one and placed it on his head.
She’d added a lot of white and yellow flowers to provide a strong contrast with Claude’s Prussian blue hair, and it turned out great. He looked in every respect the dashing prince, not like a mushroom freak at all.
“You look lovely too, Claude.”
“Thank you.”
Claude stopped smiling gently then and his expression grew suddenly severe. Before Agnes could blink, Claude pulled her against his chest, one arm reaching out, as lightning struck the meadow.
“Eeek?!”
The flash of light and the shaking of the ground startled Agnes, and then there was the smell of something burning.
“C-Claude?!”
Claude loosened his grip on her, and Agnes turned to see that part of the meadow was black and smoking. A curl of black mist rose from the ground and dissipated into the sky. Claude had used magic of some sort, clearly, but all Agnes could see was burnt flowers. She had no idea what had just happened.
“Your Highness!” Maurice came running over from the carriage.
They had traveled some way from the carriage, but she could see the driver was standing on guard now too. What happened?
“Was it a monster?”
“Yes. Wouldn’t have expected one to show up at a place like this,” Claude said.
The ground rumbled, and a muffled roar ripped through the air. Ciel returned at top speed with something odd in his mouth. It looked like a jet-black bird, but there was a sort of black mist coming off it in waves, which was a bit creepy.
Could this be a monster? Agnes took a step back out of fear, and Claude put his arm gently around her.
“Well done, Ciel, you can eat it,” Claude approved.
“Rawr!” As if he’d been waiting for this cue, Ciel started chomping on the bird.
Agnes was glad there was no splashing blood, but all that black mist… And there was this odd sound, like air through a broken flute, which creeped her out. Was that the monster crying out?
“Are… Are you sure it’s safe?” she wondered.
“Sacred Beasts like Ciel live off my magic power. Monsters are more like snacks to them.”
Some snack!
“So, the monsters… They look like birds?” she asked.
“No. They come in various shapes and sizes. They often resemble animals, but they don’t have what you would call flesh and blood exactly,” Claude explained. “Look at it.”
With every chomp of Ciel’s jaws, the monster began to lose its shape and eventually disappeared into a black mist. Ciel swallowed with relish and licked his chops with satisfaction.
“When you defeat one, it turns into mist and disappears,” Claude continued. “It’s essentially like a mass of magical power.”
So, the magic Claude had cast just before was an attack against a monster. It had turned into black mist before Agnes could even see its true form.
“Won’t Ciel get a stomachache?” she worried.
“He’s a sacred beast, so he’s probably fine. But humans are in great danger from these monsters. They attack any living thing on sight. It’s not unusual for some of them to slip through the hole in the wall and escape, but… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Claude sighed a little and patted Ciel, who was still licking his chops. Oh, but he wasn’t patting Ciel… He was plucking the Amanita spissacea off his head. “The monsters tend to break through the wall in waves. I’ve got a feeling a major wave is coming.”
Maurice furrowed his brows at his words. Judging from their grim expressions, this was bad.
“There are knights stationed near the hole in the wall, so if anything happens, they’ll contact us,” Claude said. “Armand is also stationed there, so the worst probably won’t happen.”
If Claude says so, it’s probably fine. Agnes hoped. But there was still a part of her that remained uneasy.