I had finished cleaning up after dinner and was heading back to my room.
“Amelia, the documents and letter have arrived.”
My father handed me a letter.
I wasn’t told who it was from, but Theo was probably the only person who would write me a letter, and the documents were probably copied from a book about minerals by Alfie. When I took it from my father and quickly looked at the envelope, I saw that it wasn’t just one letter, so it seemed to contain a bonus letter from Alfie as well as Theo. I quickly hid Alfie’s letter under Theo’s letter. I couldn’t bring myself to say his name in front of Alice. She would definitely misunderstand and things would get complicated.
“Thank you, Dad. I’ll go back to my room and read it right away. Good night, Alice and Sylphia.”
At night, Alice and Sylphia slept in my father’s room. My father slept on a bench that was prepared for him to take a nap on when he was working in the workshop. There were a lot of things in the workshop that shouldn’t be touched, so he couldn’t let them sleep there, and it seems that Alice, who usually sleeps on a nice bed, gets itchy on the hay bed and can’t sleep. So, my father lent her his bed, and I made her promise not to touch the cupboards and other things without permission because there are sometimes dangerous things stored in my father’s room.
However, anything that is truly too dangerous has been temporarily moved to my room.
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
It was still early from my father and I’s perspective, but Alice was still young and usually went to bed early at the temple, so after dinner she took a bath and fell asleep.
After parting ways with them, I suppress the urge to run up the stairs and head up as usual. I don’t want to look too excited and make them interested in the letter.
When I closed the door, my mouth naturally turned up in a grin. I wonder if Alice will find me suspicious? I put the paper and the letter on the desk and took a deep breath to calm myself down.
“I thought it would take longer.”
My lips naturally turn up as the second letter arrives sooner than I expected. The envelope from Theo has a patterned border around it, and it’s different from the last one I got from his workplace. I wonder what kind of expression he had when he went to buy something from this unfamiliar general store. He has a troubled look on his face, but my heart warms when I imagine him searching for me.
Although it was a cute envelope, I was curious to see what was inside, so I quickly opened it with a paper knife and took out the letter.
[Dear Amelia.
Are you doing well and not doing anything reckless?]
“Of course.”
His opening remark sounded as if I couldn’t be trusted, and I instinctively blurted out a rebuttal, but quickly covered my mouth.
It’s not outrageous that Alice, the saint, would come charging in and I would give her a cooking class. It’s just the way things are.
[Things are a bit hectic for us, but Alfie has managed to resign from his position as a priest and become an apprentice to an alchemist. He’s still receiving contact from the temple, so he hasn’t completely severed ties yet. However, Alfie said that he feels sorry for causing trouble to Amelia with the Saint by becoming an apprentice.]
…The call from the temple must also be related to Alice.
The alchemist had communicated Alice’s location to the temple, so Theo must have known that Alice had come this far as well.
However, today is the fifth day since Alice arrived. I’ve reached the halfway point, so I only have a little time left to look after her. It’s only been five days, but her cooking skills have improved dramatically. I’ve given her tips on how to keep the frying pan from burning, and I’ve also taught her how to taste the food. That alone should have made her food evolve from a toxic substance to a normal dish. I’m sure the next priest to eat it will be amazed.
…I want to surprise them, but when I think of the hardships that Alfie and Alice have gone through, I feel a little sad that I won’t have the chance to shove poisonous food into the mouths of the priests anymore. Maybe I’m just a mean person. When I spend more time with Alice, I end up favoring her, especially since she’s younger than me.
[I wish you’d tell me if they were causing you any trouble, but unfortunately I’m not close enough to come and help you right away. It’s a shame to say I’d help you. A priest should be there soon. I hope you can squeeze a lot of money out of them.]
“No. I wouldn’t rely on Theo for something like this.”
In the first place, there is no way to physically remove Alice, the saint. There is no role for Theo. But I’m glad that he’s worried about me, and it tickles me a little.
[Our new home has been decided as one of the apartments run by the alchemist who became Alfie’s master. When I told him I was looking for a place to rent, he lent me a sunny spot that was relatively close to the temple. In return, he asked me to keep an eye on Alfie while we’re together to make sure he doesn’t get taken to the temple. It seems he’s worried that now that Alfie has gained knowledge of alchemy, they might try to bring him under their control again. Having grown up as an orphan, Alfie has been imprinted with the idea of not being able to defy priests and saints of noble birth.]
Just how dangerous must the temple be to keep an eye out for? Surely the temple’s people, who serve God, wouldn’t do something as dangerous as kidnapping… right?
I thought that if Alice refrained from going out, it might be a little easier for Alfie to get by, but with regards to his knowledge of alchemy, it looks like trouble will continue to follow him.
It must be so hard to be an orphan. I feel sorry for Alfie’s situation.
[I had taken a long break from work, so I was prepared to be forced to quit, but I was still registered, so I continued to guard the Saint as before. However, before I returned, she went on a purification journey and only just got back, so now I’m mainly guarding the door.]
Ugh. What a waste.
Considering Theo’s abilities, I think he would be more useful if he was guarding the site rather than standing in front of the door, but the fact that he was guarding the door could be because he had been away for too long? No, but it could be because she had just returned from a trip, so the Saint is on vacation.
I’m worried about the lack of information, so I’d like to see more details, but if we write too much about the Saint’s private life, it could be a problem if our secret dealings are revealed. Of course, I don’t intend for it to be revealed, but I’m afraid I might accidentally reveal information that would be better left unknown, so if Theo decides not to reveal it, I’ll follow his decision.
[That’s right. I’m sure you understand that monster honey and beeswax are hard to come by, so please don’t worry. It seems that they used it to make beauty products such as hand cream and lip balm. The results were met with mixed reviews from the Saintesses, but they were very well received among the nobles and priests. I’ll be careful not to be asked to do such unreasonable things in the future.]
Since Alfie was a priest, it was an unreasonable request, I feel a bit relieved that Theo, a knight, will be fine.
Still, the hand cream is a bit strange among saints. Could it be because of the light-element magic?
Considering what Alice said, it seems that girls with light attributes don’t need beauty products. …On the contrary, I might need them more. Looking at my tanned arms, I wonder if I should make something for myself.
If I ask the landlady for advice, she’ll give me advice on such matters, but I feel like she’ll tease me. I wonder if my father knows about it too?
[Alfie has already borrowed a book about minerals from the alchemist school library and is copying it, so I’d like you to read it. I wanted to help him too, but there were so many words I didn’t understand that it took so long to copy them down, so I wasn’t much help at all. Sorry.”
No. The manuscript is the payment Alfie made to become an apprentice to the alchemist. So Theo, please stop paying me more than I’ve given me.
[I’m sure you think I’m giving too much back, knowing Amelia, but I can’t not give anything back after receiving such an amazing letter box. I just haven’t found a good way to give you something in return, so I’ll ask to do it later.]
Ah, I did. Come to think of it.
You don’t really need to worry about it. I would have liked to hear more about ease of use and such, but I continued reading, thinking that. However, he only described it as an amazing letter box, and there was no comment on how it felt to use. …But if you think about it, it’s a letter box that only you can open, and if someone else tries to open it, it will catch fire, so it’s no different from a normal letter box when used normally. So there’s no usability to it at all. You can’t intentionally burn the contents, after all.
It seems that it is still being used, so I’m glad that it appears to be fulfilling its role as a letter box without any problems.
[I’m too far away to come right away, so don’t push yourself. I’ll send you another letter, so I’d like a reply if possible.]
Having finished reading through to the end, I let out a sigh of satisfaction.
I am very happy that Theo is urging me to reply. I was thinking about writing him about the cooking class I had with Alice, but then I realized that I hadn’t read Alfie’s letter yet, so I quickly put the letter back.
I’m in too much of a hurry.
Alfie had kindly written me a letter and sent me some documents, so it would be rude not to read them properly.
Apologizing in my heart, I opened Alfie’s letter and began to read it.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
