Chapter Text
A few days have passed since I collected the Meagrughen, which grows in the mysterious hot seawater off the coast of Alexandria. Today, the prestige of Leidenschaft remains as high as ever, and the Zine water continues to be delicious. Just as the sour shekwasha juice is delicious when you go to Okinawa, it seems that in the summer you want to take in vitamin C. I will not think about the question of whether such nutrients exist here.
The beloved fish that were placed in the time-stopping magical device were kidnapped by Ferdinand and other staff members of the Magic Fish Research Institute, and have not yet been delivered to me. I am also afraid of those large jagged teeth and the jumping power of the fish, and I would not be able to bear the sight of a poisonous fish, so I have no objection to the Magic Fish Research Institute investigating first. Still, they are fish. Who can stop the heart that wants to eat them as soon as possible? I spend my days praying to the sea goddess Fairfuremere and the cooking goddess Kwekarula to let me eat delicious fish.
……Fish, fish, la la la la la♪ A gift from the sea goddess♪ You'll become smart♪ It's true♪ Mestionora's favorite food♪
As I was driving Lesser while humming, I noticed that the people around me were choking back laughter. It seemed that I was getting excited and my voice was leaking out naturally. Brother Cornelius spoke in a hushed voice.
"Rozemyne really loves fish. You eat it every day."
"But it's fish! Unknown fish! Ah, what heart-fluttering words!"
"I get it. I get it, if you get too excited you'll collapse before lunch."
...No good. It's too sad to be so excited about fish that I can't eat it!
"Pray to Fairfuremere, the sea goddess!"
I raised both hands and blue lights of blessing flew from my whole body. Unlike before, in order to promote prayer in Alexandria, you can pray as much as you want. So when I get excited like this, I bless them at the right time and release my magic. This has become a regular routine and the people around me smile deeply, but it seems like they can't be bothered by it anymore because it's a normal thing.
...... Yeah. I feel refreshed.
"Let's go, Lady Rozemyne," Lisoletta said with a smile, and I arrived at the dining room to have lunch, careful not to get too excited. I was thinking about today's fish when I was pulled a chair and Ferdinand arrived.
"I saw some kind of blessing light just now, are you excited about fish again?"
"But it's fish! Lord Ferdinand, you know how much I like fish, right?"
Ferdinand said in amazement, "I know, but it's going too far" and "It's a waste of magic," but it's fish that are the sinner. In the 14 years since I was born in Yurgenschmidt, I hardly ate any fish. It's only been half a year since I started living in Alexandria, which overlooks the sea, so how could I ever get tired of fish?
Lord Ferdinand tapped his temple and said, "I guess I should give you this after all," handing me a black Shumil stuffed toy. My attendant, Gretia, checked it and handed it to me. Since he wasn't wearing any clothes yet, I could see the magic circle on his stomach clearly, but it was too complicated to decipher at all. The civil servants behind me peered at it, twisting their heads repeatedly.
"Lord Ferdinand, what is this?"
"This is a labor-saving version of the magic circle that transfers magical power. It can transfer magical power from one point to another. Of course, it uses magical power to transfer, so it's less efficient, but it's better than letting it all go to the sea like you're doing now."
...Isn't that the one that transferred magical power from the royal palace to the country’s foundation!?
"Just put it in your mount before you eat. There is a magic stone inside, and once it absorbs your blessing and accumulates a certain amount of magic power, the stone on its forehead will light up. Once that's done, you can decide on a destination and put it to work, and you can make effective use of the excess magic power."
"...That's amazing, but is it necessary?"
When I asked carefreely, he said, "You can't go outside in the middle of summer or winter, so you should at least help out with your magic power."
...Ugh. It's hard to refuse when he says that, since he's been taking care of me.
"Plus, you'll have to put less magic power into maintaining the research labs and the like, so we can make the library city faster in the end."
"That's great! Completing the library city is the most important task!"
"Yeah. Since we're going to each of our research labs, you can bless us as much as you want before meals. The magic trees and magic fish that were raised with your magic power are very interesting."
"Hmm?"
...But Ferdinand-sama can allocate his magic power to research, so isn't he the one to gain more?
There is a lot of calm conversation during meals. The content changes from time to time, but it is always about Ferdinand's research and Letizia's progress in her studies.
"The fish we caught the other day when we were collecting meagrughen were separated into the poisonous and non-poisonous. I will give some to you and take the rest to the Magic Fish Research Institute to observe their ecology."
"Wow! As expected of Ferdinand! When should we eat them?"
My magical power swelled up again. Ferdinand said "Gretia" and brought the stuffed animal closer to me, and pressed it tightly against me. The blessing that overflowed from my body was absorbed into the stone on the stuffed animal's forehead, and was absorbed by the stuffed animal, leaving only a small sparkle. When I looked at the stuffed animal after it was released, the color of the stone on its forehead had faded. It looked like it would start glowing if I blessed it again.
...I feel like a human battery. Oh, I know I'm late in saying that.
"Have you calmed down? I'll continue. The fish we caught the most was called Zanfrighe, but it doesn't look like it's edible to me. Well, I need to distribute the ingredients to my aides, and you won't know until you see it, so I've kept it. In case we can't eat it, I put in the other fish that were caught in the net."
"Thank you. Since we're here, let's eat Letizia together at the temple! I'd like to show you how it's dissected."
"That's what I was planning from the beginning."
I'd also like to check how you're doing with your studies. I need to make sure you're doing well at the temple, and I want to check on the other blue apprentices. I told Ferdinand about this, and he told me to wait a week while he made the necessary adjustments.
"Well, I'll give you all a task. When it's done, I'll give you some sweets. I'll give you a list of the tasks later."
( *^-^)ρ(^0^* )
The next Saturday morning, I went to the temple with my aides and a cook to prepare fish. In Alexandria, I will be the temple master until I reach adulthood. After that, I plan to have Letizia, who might become Aub in the future, take over as temple master. Letizia must have all attributes and obtain a Schtappe in the Garden of Beginnings by the time of the third year's blessing ceremony. This will undoubtedly be one of the criteria for the next Aub.
The temple is in sight. When I strengthen my body, I can see Fran and the others welcoming me. It's a small thing, but I'm happy to see their consideration every time.
"Welcome back, Lady Rozemyne."
"I've just returned. First, please bring the time-stopping magic tool to the hidden room in the temple master's room."
"Understood."
After entering the temple master's room, Ferdinand took the gray priests and several guardian knights to give instructions for the hidden room to be prepared, and Hartmut went to the head priest's room. I ordered Hartmut to check on the work. After a while, Zam guided Letizia to the temple master's room and asked to enter.
"Welcome, Letizia."
"Lady Rozemyne, thank you for inviting me."
"It's a fish from the foraging that Letizia also participated in. Let's all enjoy it."
"Yes."
Today, Letizia is also wearing her compounding clothes. Her sleeves are narrowed and her hair is tied up. The amulet necklace I gave her the other day is swinging from her chest. I offer Letizia tea and ask her a few questions.
"Are you having any problems at the temple?"
"Yes. Fran and the others are very careful, and I think you've built a good relationship with the temple's entourage."
Letizia still has few aristocratic entourages. Only one survived the battle at Lanzenave, and there are few female aristocrats who want to accompany her to the temple. A season has passed since then, but the disdain for the temple, especially the aversion to flower offerings, is deep-rooted. However, that will change once the next Lord's Conference is over. She is currently at the temple most of the time, so the gray priests and gray maidens make up for the lack of time. The gray priests watched Letizia calmly from behind.
"How is your study going? Is there anything difficult?"
"I've gotten pretty good at first-year arithmetic by playing cards with the other apprentices and helping out at the temple. Thanks to Rozemyne's picture books, Ferdinand said that I'm okay with the first-year level of theology and magic. I can manage history, but I'm having a bit of trouble with geography."
"You seem to be working hard."
Letizia said the last part a little awkwardly. Girls often struggle with geography. I'll talk a bit about what's difficult for her, and then I'll suggest some countermeasures.
...Maybe I should try making a puzzle or something.
"Besides, I found myself in Ahrensbach, so I don't really know what it's like in the cold north."
...Ah. I guess you've never seen snowy mountains. We don't have TVs here, that's how it is.
"Hmm. Snowy country, huh. Search for 'Grutrissheit'... Ehrenfest... scenery..."
Everyone was surprised when I suddenly brought up Grutrissheit and started searching. Letizia asked while staring at Grutrissheit.
"What are you looking for in Grutrissheit?"
"I'm looking for scenery from other territories that remain in Grutrissheit. Grutrissheit is a book that was created when a person who absorbed the will of God rose to a great height and their memories were gathered at Mestionora."
"Memories of the deceased?"
"Yes. It seems that it's not all of them though."
...Hmm. My Grutrissheit is a tablet, so I think I might be able to do that. How should I go about it?
I imagine the video search sites I would occasionally visit in my past life. I wonder if it would be possible to display videos on Grutrissheit like that.
...Something like, when you click, the picture would start moving immediately, and if possible, related video suggestions would appear immediately, and a function to post your thoughts... Ah, maybe it would be good to have something like a memo? I'd like to be able to bookmark videos that I watch often. It would be a pain to have to look for them every time.
However, since the tablet is palm-sized for ease of holding, it feels a bit small when you want to show it to someone. It would be even better if it had the ability to project images onto walls. All the buildings built in Entwickeln have white walls. Even if that wasn't the case, white cloth isn't that expensive.
As I was thinking about this, a button appeared on the top right corner of the tablet. Is it because videos are the domain of the muse of art? A white triangle with a pointed right side is drawn inside a yellow square. If you think the play button has turned yellow, you're probably right. I press it with high hopes, but it doesn't start. It seems to require a spell and magical power.
... Shall I do it? I should just say play, right? Osamu-chan used to shout that every now and then.
I take a deep breath and get pumped. Here we go! Play video!
"Resurrection!"
When I press the yellow play button along with the spell, the familiar video playback screen appears. When I press the button that is flickering at the bottom right, a light extends from the center of the short side of the tablet and reaches the wall of the temple master's room, projecting an image.
"Wow,"
"What's that?" Everyone around me is surprised, as they're used to my strange behavior. Only Clarissa gets excited and congratulates me. There is cloth hanging in place of wallpaper, so I adjust the position by placing a box under the Grutrissheit and when everything turns white, it's time to play.
"Start."
When I pressed the button on the Grutrissheit in my hand and started playing, everyone's excitement grew. The image showed many yellow cloaks and commoners from Ehrenfest.
"Ah! This is Ehrenfest."
"There's the border gate. Is it Kirnberger?"
"There are a lot of foreigners. This image may be from about two hundred years ago."
"Next, this snowy scene is Haldenzel. I recognize the buildings."
"The mountains are pure white."
Nobles and commoners alike don't often travel to other territories. Everyone was so surprised and moved that they lost themselves in the sight. As I was doing so, Letizia, who had been captivated by the snowy scenery she was seeing for the first time, turned to me and began to speak.
"Um, Lady Rozemyne, can we also show you Drewanchel? I want to see where my father and mother live."
"Of course. Where in Drewanchel? Do you know their exact names?"
A light of respect shines in Letizia's eyes. I am very pleased that she is so proud of me as her future adoptive mother.
... Ufufu. Please rely on me as much as you can!
As we were getting excited receiving requests from the other aides one after another, Ferdinand, who had finished preparing and come out of the hidden room, saw our enthusiasm and froze for a moment, saying "What is this?"