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Volume 6 Chapter 1 Part 15

Translation: Kurehashi Aiko
Editing: Team Foxsunes

Goodness gracious, enough of this! It will only make me feel even worse if I will keep on thinking about it so much! So it is better for me to just stop caring! Right about now, I should be focusing my attention entirely on the Princess rather than having concerns about my own outfit! I must be ready to help her and be on standby, always being available in case the Princess would require something out of me at any given time. Think of it as of war. And the most important aspect of every war is this: you cannot fight it effectively on an empty stomach. So let us think of this banquet not like your normal meal, but rather keeping your batteries charged up and at full capacity. Telling myself that over and over again, I direct my gaze back at the plate, and after taking a hold of my fork once more I sink it in the huge portion of mutton that was still in front of me. But just as I was about to deliver that juicy piece of mutton into my mouth, I could hear that there was some sort of commotion happening all around me. I stopped my hand with a piece of meat still halfway to my mouth, and then I let out a deep breath upon seeing that was the cause for that commotion.

 The cause was no one else but Medium-sama, another star of the evening who up until this point was only sitting quiet or eating alongside the Princess. All of a sudden he stood up, looking as though he was about to deliver a speech. It might have been my imagination, but I was getting a feeling that for some reason his brown eyes were looking straight at me. And right after that, I can feel that the eyes of everyone present focus entirely on me. And the best part of this gaze was that I was unable to look away for some reason. It was the kind of gaze that seemed to be even stronger than that of that man. At the same time, it was hard for me to get a read on Medium-sama’s emotions, since his face right now was an emotionless mask.

I wonder if Medium-sama was able to hear what I was talking about with that man? No, it should have been impossible, not with all that commotion and all those people around. But if that was somehow the case, then would it not have been very bad? I was sure that right now I must have been sweating quite a lot, but Medium-sama only tilted his head in puzzlement while looking at me. At the same time, the gem stones decorating his hair made a beautiful rustling sound every time his heart shook and swayed.

「You there, what did you do?」

「Ehh?」

 For a short moment out there, I felt like my brain was unable to process what was happening. Was he talking to me? And even though I happened to understand what Medium-sama had said, the exact meaning of his words was escaping my comprehension capabilities. The shock was even so great for me that I happened to let the fork go out of my hand.

「What did you do, as if……?」

「So, are you not even aware of that? Ever since you have come in here, my dear friends have been scared all this time. What did you do to hide your wounds, and why would it induce both fear and anger in my dear friends?」

「Medium-sama’s…… dear friends?」

Whatever that Medium-sama might be talking about? I was here all this time, and I am fairly sure that up until that point in time, I have not spoken to the local or interacted with them in any kind of way. So I have no idea what could have possibly made anyone in here angry for whatever reason.

Speaking of which, ‘dear friends’? Where have I heard those words before? Wait, is it not the same thing that Medium-sama said during the bandit attack? Just as he came to our rescue when we had just entered the desert? But just before I was able to connect all of the dots that were appearing inside of my mind, there was a certain woman that appeared right next to Medium-sama. That woman seemed to be Medium-sama’s caretaker, or at least someone closely resembling that position. That woman looked towards me as well, and the look in her eyes was not friendly in the slightest.

「Medium-sama’s dear friends are the spirits themselves, our dear companions and invisible neighbors.」

 Those words were more than enough to make me gasp for breath once more. What made it even more shocking was the fact that that man who was right next to me reacted to that in more or less the same way I did.

Medium-sama’s fingers pointed towards the scars and wounds that were all over my body, but were now remaining hidden. Some of those scars were so old that they dated to when that man and me were nine years old or even younger. That particular scar was a result of the failed summoning of the greater spirit that I wanted to conduct together with that man when we were children, using the ritual described in one of the books that I have snuck out of my father’s study. The resulting scar alongside my spine was a result of the burning claw of the fire spirit that slashed me, and it was the kind of wound that would not disappear, no matter how much healing magic from the water spirits would be applied to it. And due to that very wound, I had lost the protection of the spirits that were initially in my possession. So, if Medium-sama’s ‘dear friends’ are indeed the spirit themselves, it was only natural for him to be suspicious of someone devoid of protection of the spirits, since he has no idea about my circumstances in the slightest.

 But even so, it is literally impossible to be aware of things from such a distant past with that level of detail to it. Only a selected few from the royal palace are aware of my condition, since it was something that was strictly confidential and kept away from public knowledge all these years.

I could feel my hands clench into fists over my knees as I was looking for the right words to explain this situation. It was then that I could feel a pleasant warmth overlapping with my hands once more.

 「This woman is not at fault here. The negativity that causes unrest to the spirits comes from me, and me alone.」

While holding my hand tightly with his own, that man declares so in a loud voice, looking Medium-sama straight in the eyes. Their gazes collide with one another when the dark eyes meet the bronze eyes. For a moment or two Medium-sama was gazing at the man with utmost curiosity and intensity, before eventually he nodded his head as if he just made sure of something.

 「It seems that it is indeed just like you say.」

 Once he said that, Medium-sama casually went back to his sitting position, as if nothing ever happened in the first place. His clothes were rustling and moving just like the feathers of some fantastical bird with his every single, even the smallest, move. Moving my eyes away from the Medium, my gaze naturally starts to seek out the Princess. Just as the surrounding people started to focus on the banquet once more, you could see a slight light of concern lighting up inside of the Princess’s amber-colored eyes. I wanted to consult her and hear from her that everything was going to be okay, but with so many people still gathered around, there was no way for me to be able to do that. I have also decided that I shall apologize to the Princess later, for causing her yet another concern while she was already having enough problems of her own.

Gradually, the people focused on themselves and their plates once more and the banquet proceeded as planned without any further incidents.

* * *

The banquet came to an end right around the time when the moon was hanging at its highest point in the night sky. Its gentle bluish radiance was even more magnificent in here than it was around the royal capital and its surrounding areas. And since I was unable to fall asleep for some reason, I have decided to quietly leave my assigned room and go towards the bank of the spring on my own. After going for some time, the well-built stone path gradually started to shift into more rough, natural sandy ground. And although there were trees surrounding the spring, the sandy area was much larger and more common no matter how you look at it. It seemed as if the water was floating on the sandy ground like some magic phenomenon.  

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