Chapter 8
“That man… is really bothering me.”
Since she was on a mission, Celine had to play along with Felix to some extent, and that was making things very difficult.
We only met today, but it feels like I keep getting dragged around by his pace.
Being ruled by emotions was a rookie mistake.
Emotions were like a trap that ruined the success of a mission.
…Well, maybe it is because there is nothing ordinary about his face or anything else.
Celine came to that conclusion and sat on the bed.
The wound on her heel from the loose flat shoes stung. Sometimes pain helped her feel reality again.
No need to think about it. It has nothing to do with me.
Celine got up from the bed and slowly walked to the vanity where she had placed her bag. In the mirror, the freckles scattered across her pale nose bridge and cheeks stood out clearly.
“I wish this would disappear too… even a little, like my coughing.”
The medicine Leah had made for her allergy to the polluted city air worked well for indigestion, but it had one side effect.
If she kept taking it regularly, she would get a lot of freckles on her face.
Well, in the face of death, that hardly matters.
Celine looked away from the mirror and opened the bag she had wrested away from Felix. Soon, she shook her head in disbelief.
“Seriously… it is all dresses.”
She had only glanced inside on the train, but the bag Shad had prepared was packed with flowing dresses.
Where is my black suit?
It was gone.
There were day dresses, work dresses, neat teacher’s dresses, and what looked like a banquet dress.
It was not as extravagant as what nobles wore, but it had plenty of lace, so it was clearly meant for formal occasions.
“I thought, why would they make me wear a corset if I am not even getting married?”
There would not be any parties in a mountain village anyway. She missed the agent uniform that fit close to the body and was easy to move in.
Who on earth packed these clothes? She wanted to see the face of the equipment manager right away.
Even the pajamas she had changed into were no different from a dress. Celine found that truly dreadful.
She rolled up the sleeves of the annoying lace pajama to her elbows and searched inside the bag.
After digging for a while, she found a sheet of paper inside.
Make sure to take your allergy medicine when you go into the city. I specially chose the transmutation tools and clothes. Please take care of your health.
— Leah
Haa, so Doctor did this?
Celine recognized who had done it just from the handwriting. Leah had probably bribed the equipment manager again.
As she neatly folded the letter and tucked it away, Celine found something else in the bag that gave her a sense of reassurance.
It was a handgun, the product of alchemy secretly researched by the Empire. It was fitted into a storage frame.
Next to it lay a small box containing handgun maintenance tools.
Compared to a flintlock gun that used gunpowder and a fuse, this one was lighter and fired faster because it used specially developed alchemical powder instead of a fuse.
It was a model with a detachable suppressor to reduce the firing sound.
Celine quietly looked down at the handgun she was strangely attached to and muttered,
“I probably won’t need this in such a peaceful village.”
Instead, her gaze drifted to the small leather pouch beside it.
Inside was the “transmutation tool” used to identify the imperial descendant.
Also called a verilline.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary fountain pen and could be used as a writing tool in daily life.
So this is what I’m supposed to use to find the imperial descendant?
Celine took out the black fountain pen and held it up in front of her. This was the first time she had seen one in person.
She had heard that inside the long pen barrel was a transmutation formula keyed to the Emperor’s blood, one that only reacted to bloodlines from the imperial family.
Click. Click.
When she rotated the barrel 180 degrees, the nib automatically retracted into the body, and sure enough a round metal tip popped out in its place.
“Doctor really made this well.”
If the device touched someone’s skin, the result would appear on the surface of the long barrel after about three seconds.
It was a bit premature to judge, but from appearance alone, the person most likely to be the imperial descendant in this village was Felix.
Still, it is better to be accurate.
There was not much information about the lost imperial descendant.
Other than the fact that the descendant’s mother, the last elf known as Del, had been very beautiful.
No one knew exactly what traits the first child born between a human and an elf would inherit. No one knew whether the child would resemble the father or the mother.
In the past, the child was abandoned and called a bastard. Now they call him an imperial descendant and search for him. Does the princess want to find the descendant and put him on the throne? Or kill him?
…What does it matter to me? However the imperial family stirs things up, it has nothing to do with me. For someone with an incurable disease, even minding other people’s business is a luxury.
Celine twisted the barrel of the verilline and put the nib back in place. Then she took out her mission report from the bag. She unfolded the paper and wrote down the information she had gathered today before she forgot it.
—————–
Imperial Year 550, July xx.
Felix (24 years old)
Occupation: Village chief of Elderwick. Holding the position at a relatively young age.
Traits: Golden-brown hair, sky-blue eyes. Not a typical appearance.
Special notes:
- Possesses incredible strength (observed).
- Seems confident in cooking, but not directly confirmed. Could he be from New Mabel?
- Highly likely to be an outsider.
Lillian (age unknown)
Occupation: Brewer (presumed)
Traits: Blonde hair, green eyes.
Special notes: Habitual drinker. Attempts to bribe by promising a lifetime supply of snacks and alcohol.
(omitted)※ Do not be deceived by the villagers’ kindness.
※ Felix, imperial descendant possibility must be checked.
—————–
Celine drew several underlines under the last two lines and tucked the report deep inside the bag. She also put the gun and the verilline in, then covered them with her clothes and placed the whole bag inside the wardrobe.
Hah.
Celine collapsed backward onto the bed and exhaled while staring at the ceiling. The high ceiling of the two-story building made the room feel wide open.
Maybe because this is deep in the mountains… even though it is summer, it is cool.
She hugged the pillow and ran her hand over the sheets. The bedding was very soft. It smelled nice too.
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
Ah, a summer cicada.
Even that sound here did not feel noisy. It sounded soft and warm, like a mother’s lullaby.
She had never actually heard one, but somehow it felt that way in Elderwick.
Back in the training facility, cicadas never lasted long in the children’s hands.
Slowly, her eyelids kept drooping.
Her body, weakened by the terminal illness, easily drifted into sleep. Celine could not resist it.
“Just for a moment. Just a little while…”
She muttered to herself and fell asleep.
A hearty beef soup, glistening with oil, was placed on a white plate.
It was the best porcelain plate in Felix’s house.
It had been a birthday gift from the village baker, Rosie, and had sat uselessly in the cupboard for years before finally being used.
“I hope the teacher enjoys it.”
Felix also placed a basket of roasted corn and bread next to the soup on the table.
Then a woman with freckles across her pale face and striking purple eyes suddenly came to mind.
I feel like it really was her…
Even for someone like Felix, who seemed to have lived a peaceful life, there was one day he could never forget.
It was the day, in his childhood, when the monastery where he had stayed was bombed.
A bomb planted by an outsider caused the ceiling to collapse along with the cave wall, and the dormitory was buried under rubble.
He thought he might die trapped there, unable to move, until a masked girl appeared with only her eyes visible and saved him and his friends.
“Go out this way! Hurry!”
Her purple eyes were red from what looked like crying.
That intensity had been engraved in Felix’s mind ever since that day.
Purple eyes are not exactly common.
When he received the application form, he had thought nothing of it.
Even when he grew purple cabbage, he had thought nothing of it.
But when he met Celine Ravens at the train station and looked into those eyes, the girl’s eyes overlapped with hers.
He had almost asked.
Have we met somewhere before?
But he had barely managed to keep the words in.
That was because of Lillian’s warning.
When Celine arrived in the village and was too busy receiving bouquets to pay attention, he asked Lillian the question that had been lingering in his mouth.
“You mean the teacher looks like the girl who saved us? That was what you were trying to tell me earlier?”
“Am I the only one who thinks so?”
“Those deep purple eyes are rare, but they are not impossible, are they? Don’t make things hard for the teacher and make her leave the village, Felix.”
Felix remembered Lillian’s warning, along with the way she had jabbed him in the side as they got off the carriage.
Well, Celine Ravens is a teacher…
More than anything, Celine looked too thin and fragile at a glance.
That was also typical of noble ladies who devoted themselves only to studying.
“First, I need to feed her well and take good care of her.”
Felix was confident in taking care of things. In Elderwick—no, in the whole continent—there was no one who could match his skill at feeding something well and raising it healthy.
I have not raised a person before, though.
Still, Felix believed people were not much different from animals.
If you give them affection and trust, and feed them lots of delicious food, they will definitely change.
Celine Ravens’s tiny back, so fragile it looked like it could break, kept lingering in his mind as he thought about the carriage ride over.
