CH 107

107 - The Old Man From The Countryside Is Asked For A Consultation

“Hmm… are we still good for ingredients?” I asked myself.

On the way back from Valder’s smithy, I walk while thinking about the pantry in my house.

I’m sure there was still room for ingredients. Both myself and Miu are completely occupied during the day, so when choosing ingredients, I place importance on whether or not they will last for a long time. Maybe it’ll be fine.

Miu has been eating a lot lately.

She was originally at the age when she’d be having growth spurts. Up till now, she couldn’t eat too much because of her life, and the nutrition for her body was probably not enough.

Usually, when she eats, she eats with gusto, to put it nicely, and she eats noisily, to put it badly, but it’s soothing to see children eating a lot of food. I want her to grow up big and strong.

By the way, the culinary situation at my home is going to buy groceries once every few days, and then I and Miu will consume them.

I haven’t been going out to eat much lately, partly because of the escort mission of Prince Glen and Princess Salacia, so maybe I could take Miu out to eat again.

“I’m home,” I said.

As I was busy thinking those matters over, I come to my front door that’s now become familiar to me.

It’s a house I got from a strange connection with Lucy, but there’s nothing wrong with my living with Miu. It might be a little cramped if there is another person here, but so far there are no plans for anyone else to move in.

Well, if someone does, it will likely be my wife. Again, my plans for that are all like dew on the grass, evaporating in the morning sun. There may be some pitiful parts to me, as a man.

“Mm, welcome back,” Miu said.

“Ooh, welcome back,” a familiar, younger-sounding voice added.

“… Hmm?” I went.

I see it again: a familiar young-looking person alongside Miu.

Lucy’s back and relaxing like she owns the place. Sure, this was Lucy’s house before, but now it’s our house, so I think it may be better to be more strict with her.

“Welcome back, Master,” a third voice added.

“…… Huh?” I went.

As I walk up to Lucy thinking I should at least make small talk with her, I stopped and noticed another shadow in the living room.

“Is that you, Thyssel?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”

A black-haired woman dressed in the Magic Division robes sat a bit casually while sipping tea from a cup she held with both hands, which Miu might have served to her.

By the way, this may be the first time for a former disciple to visit my house. Still, I didn’t think Thyssel would be the first to come.

“Head Magus brought me here,” Thyssel said.

“Oh, I see…” I said.

As usual, Thyssel has little emotional ups and downs, or basically just a smooth monotone at all times. That’s her personality, so I’m not going to say anything.

“Hmm? What happened to your sword, Beryl?” Lucy asked as she noticed it.

Well, the red scabbard certainly does stand out. I was worried of how such a flashy weapon would look on a boring old man like me, but on the contrary, I stand out even more now that I have changed to a normal sword.

“Let me explain,” I said. “I’ve left it at the blacksmith. This is like a loan weapon.”

All that being said, there aren’t any alternatives to it, so let’s answer honestly.

“So then, what are you planning to do?” I asked.

I’m already used to Lucy doing crazy things, but on the contrary, she never does anything when she has nothing that needs doing.

I wonder if she’s got some business now since she’s brought Thyssel with her. Whether or not I hear her out is another matter.

“Right,” Lucy said. “I need a consultation with you about something.”

“Hmm,” I went.

A consultation is a little unusual. Due to Lucy’s personality, most of the ‘somethings’ she brings up are either orders or compulsory requests.

Well, let’s listen if it’s a consultation. I gave her a simple nod and took a free seat.

The table in this house seats four.

Miu is next to me, Lucy is across, and Thyssell is next to Lucy.

However, when it comes to having all four people at the table, the house feels a little small. I felt once again that a handful of 2-3 people would be the limit of residents.

“I was wondering, have you been to the Magician’s Academy yet, Beryl?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, I went with Miu several times when she was going,” I said.

“I see I see,” Lucy said.

So it’s about the Magician’s Academy? Aside from my swordsmanship, I’ve got no other skills like when it comes to magic.

“The Academy will be establishing a Sword Magic Department starting this year,” Lucy said.

“Oh, I heard that from Ms. Quinella. So it’s starting so soon, huh?” I said.

A Sword Magic Department. It will be a program for raising magic swordsmen like Thyssel.

I heard from Ms. Quinella that the number of students taking the course is not very large. When it comes to that, I wonder if the problem is the swordsmanship skills you need beforehand. I don’t think I can do anything in particular about that, though.

“Wait, you met Ms. Quinella?” Lucy asked, a bit surprised.

“Yeah, I did,” I said. “She was our guide at the Academy. She seems to be Miu’s homeroom teacher,” I said.

Ms. Quinella is a part of the teaching staff at the Academy, so it shouldn’t be so strange that I and Miu met her, but on that note, how many teachers are there at the Magician’s Academy?

If you have more than a few tens or a hundred, the chances of meeting a particular person are reasonably low.

“Quinella is excellent. You could say her defensive magic is first-class,” Lucy said.

“Really?” I went.

I guess everyone who works there must be excellent, to begin with.

I’ve never seen defensive magic, but will it stop Thyssel’s sword magic? I wonder if they can show me this time. Aside from it being something beyond my capabilities, I’m simply curious.

“We’re getting a little off-topic,” Lucy said. “Thyssel will both be heading and be a lecturer for the new Sword Magic Department.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, my gaze naturally turning to Thyssel.

Yeah, I’ve got a strong sense that though she was my ex-disciple, she’s now more than capable of teaching her own students. Time flies by so fast.

Oh, Thyssel looks a little smug. I wonder what’s up with all my students, why do they keep having these faces?

“But the thing is, she’s terrible at teaching,” Lucy continued.

“Huh…?” I went.

Thyssel’s expression turns to stone. You’d have difficulty reading the emotions from her voice and words, but her facial expressions are extremely easy to read. She’s a bit like Kuruni. Well, Kuruni is easy to understand in everything she says and does.

“Umm… Thyssel?” I asked.

“… Some people are better suited than others,” Thyssel said, turning her face to the side.

“I, see…” I said.

I’m a little relieved that she’s still acting her young age.

However, although Lucy called her teaching bad, the story changes depending on how bad she is. I don’t think she’s a domineering sort of teacher, since she’s Thyssel.

“… I like Professor Thyssel’s class, though,” Miu said, joining in.

“… Hmm?”

Professor Thyssel… Professor Thyssel? Huh? Is Thyssel one of Miu’s teachers?

“Mui is under the Sword Magic Department,” Thyssel said, the smug face returning. “It’s no exaggeration to say that she’s my disciple”

“Huh, is that so?” I said.

She’s proud, but I’m sorry, this isn’t what we should be talking about right now.

I’ve never heard of Miu taking the sword magic course. She doesn’t talk much about her lessons at school here at home.

“What, you didn’t know, Beryl?” Lucy asked, surprised.

“Yeah… this is the first I heard it…”

So, I’m the only one who didn’t know that Miu was taking the sword magic course. I should have been her guardian.

However, it is surprising that Miu is taking a class dealing with swords.

Although swordsmanship has a lot of elegance, grace, and honor attached to it, it is essentially a technique for dealing with real, messy combat. 1 Sure, they said she might be fit for offensive magic, but it was still unexpected for her to learn the sword.

“If that’s what you were doing, I could have taught you,” I said to Miu. She could have saved herself the hassle.

“… It’s fine,” Miu said. “You don’t have to say it out loud.”

I get the sense she’s embarrassed. I’m getting to know Miu well.

“Hahaha!” Lucy laughed. “It seems like Miu’s idolizing your swordsmanship, Beryl.”

“Hey…!” Miu snapped.

She looked panicky, which is rare. She must really not have wanted me to know this.

Well, I didn’t need to hear it directly from Miu even if I wanted to know, and sooner or later, Lucy would have brought this up.

I was just relieved that Miu’s secrets here at home were just her taking the sword magic course.

But it would be great if my swordsmanship was reflected in a young child like Miu. I’m not just teaching techniques to kill people.

“Damn it… why’d you have to say that…?” Miu hissed.

“Ehehehe, pardon me,” Lucy said, unrepentant.

Embarrassment and shame, Miu’s expression seems to be a complex one where the emotions are all crashing over each other.

Maybe Lucy planned this, knew this was how she was going to react, and provoked it. I still don’t think it was very nice, but this time I saw the cute side of Miu, so let’s let it go. I’ll do that.

“So, what did you need to consult with me about?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s right,” Lucy said.

The story went awry because of Miu’s stuff, so let’s get back to the main point.

This is a guess, but since Lucy has brought Thyssel, it could be that her teaching sword magic isn’t very good. I don’t know much about magic, but I think I have some knowledge about swordsmanship.

In other words, I saw that it was like teaching Thyssel how to teach swordsmanship to her students.

“Beryl, do you want to teach at the Magician’s Academy?” Lucy asked.

“Huh?”

Over there?