Chapter 7: Aftermath

“So, you scoundrel Reim, you went to the capital and used my tuition fees to learn magic?” Master DeVein sighed as he closed the store door and waved us inside.

“Tch, I had no interest in business or forging anyway. The Magic Academy just happens to have a renowned Ghoul researcher, so I decided to study under him directly.”

“I always suspected you were hiding something from me, you little brat.”

“Old man, I paid back the tuition years ago! Don’t bring up old scores! Is the medical box still in the usual spot?” Reim opened a cabinet in the corner of the shop.

“Yeah, yeah, just grab the bandages and everything. First, we need to tend to those two little girls’ wounds,” Master DeVein said as he began to examine the injuries on me and Yulia.

Though I was used to this level of injury, it seemed Yulia was worse off than I imagined. When Master DeVein touched her shoulder wound, she grimaced in pain.

Looks like I’d better apologize sincerely, I thought, bowing my head earnestly to express my regrets for having torn into her shoulder like a beast moments ago.

Yulia, however, turned out to be more forgiving than I expected. Smiling, she said to me, “It’s okay, after all, I was the one who made the first move. Besides, your wound looks much worse than mine; I’m the one who’s really sorry!”

“Well, I’m an old man who lets you four run wild, so it’s partly my fault. I didn’t expect you two little ones to be even tougher than I hoped. Out of curiosity about your skills, I almost let things get out of hand,” Master DeVein commented while preparing to bandage Yulia’s wounds.

At that moment, Eleanor seemed to finally snap back to reality after the earlier argument and called out to Master DeVein, who was about to tend to Yulia’s injury, saying,

“I really lost my composure earlier. I can use White Magic to heal wounds, so let me take care of this.”

Then, Eleanor took out the ring that had served as a wager earlier and infused it with magical energy. The ring glowed softly, enveloping Yulia’s shoulder wound in its light. After about five minutes, the glow faded, and Yulia’s bite-mark was completely healed.

“No kidding, she’s a noble, I can’t believe she even has White Magic inscribed in a magic item,” Reim remarked from the side.

“Well, this White Magic has a really long chant, so this makes things much easier. Let’s bring Alice over; I can still use this level of magic a number of times. Let me treat her too,” Eleanor said, walking toward me and lifting me up, carrying me into a guest room on the right side of the Weapon Shop. She sat down and placed me on her lap, casting the warm glow from the ring around my wound. She said to me, “Your injury is worse than Yulia’s, so it might take a bit more time. Don’t rush it, okay?”

“Thanks,” I smiled at Eleanor, looking up at her.

While Eleanor healed my wound, everyone else followed into the guest room. Lena also came out from the store with a freshly brewed pot of tea, handing it to everyone present.

After taking a sip of tea, Eleanor looked at me with a strange expression. It seemed she couldn’t hold it in anymore and seriously asked Reim, “This child—she’s not a vampire, is she?”

“Wha—what are you talking about?” Reim was startled by Eleanor’s abrupt questioning, nearly spitting out the tea he had just taken a sip of.

“Ah, I saw how she bit Yulia earlier—it looked just like a vampire sucking blood! Plus, her eyes are as red as blood…”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” Master DeVein interjected. “Anyway, Lena, go to your room and find your old clothes from when you were little. According to our agreement, those clothes should be given to Alice. Just go out for now; we have serious matters to discuss.”

“How annoying,” Lena protested but reluctantly left the guest room, leaving me and Yulia with the three adults.

Thus, in the guest room of the Weapon Shop, Master DeVein and Reim laid out their speculations about my background, while Eleanor accepted the idea that I was a valuable half-breed who had fled from Eil’s Mountain. She stated that coming from the capital, she held no prejudice against demonic species and was willing not to reveal my identity to outsiders.

Yulia seemed to care little about my race. Instead, after the recent battle and my consolation while she cried, for some reason, she began to grow closer to me.

As for the outcome of our fight and the wager tied to it, Reim and Eleanor decided to call it a draw, with neither taking the other’s money. However, Eleanor ultimately offered to treat me and Reim to dinner, apologizing for letting me and Yulia fight today.

Though I felt it was more of a shared responsibility between Reim and her, since someone was treating, I, as a little girl, decided to keep quiet and just enjoy the meal.

Eleanor and Yulia seemed to be important guests of Poseidon Fortress. They had come today to pay for goods and collect the magic items and protective gear they had ordered.

But Eleanor said, since she now knew about my situation, she would help take care of me. After discussing among themselves, the three decided to let me nominally act as DeVein’s adopted daughter. Whenever necessary, I would be registered at the fortress’s office under this pretext.

As for who would take care of me, after a heated debate, Reim and Master DeVein decided that they would take turns, though I would mostly follow Reim as his apprentice Hunter to learn about hunting ghouls in Silya Forest. But I would also have to dedicate at least one day every five days to visit Master DeVein at his shop in town to learn various cultural knowledge, at least to the point where I could recognize letters.

Reim insisted he could teach me how to read, but both Master DeVein and Eleanor decisively rejected it. Eleanor stated that Reim, who showed a complete lack of discrimination when he mixed in Black Magic—Word Spirit—while teaching the Common People language, was simply unqualified to teach children with magical talent like me or Yulia.

Eleanor added that since Yulia and I were becoming close and Yulia was friends with Lena, she would bring Yulia to the shop to play with me whenever she had time, while also helping teach the three children cultural knowledge. After saying that, she added in a tsundere manner that it was to give Yulia more friends her own age, and it wasn’t because she had any special feelings for Reim.

But to me, that was already a pretty obvious hint; I just didn’t know if Reim would understand the maid’s meaning.

As for Lena, after bringing her old clothes over and learning that I was to become her family’s adopted daughter and Reim’s nominal sister, upon hearing Eleanor’s words to Reim, she looked particularly dejected, sighing as she set down the clothes, “Sigh, now all of a sudden I have more competitors.”

As for the meaning of that competition, I had no idea.