Magi Craft Meister

Magi Craft Meister 621

18 King Klein's Treatment Arc

19-08 Friends

"It's almost time, Father."

Jin had gone to take a nap about an hour ago, excited by the fact that they had finally come across some dried bonito flakes, also known as katsuobushi.

Following his instructions to wake him up in an hour, Reiko entered Jin's room.

"Mmm…"

Jin got up while rubbing his sleepy eyes, which was soon followed by a big yawn.

"Ah… I think I'm a bit more refreshed."

And after washing his face in the washroom, Jin was looking pretty refreshed.

"…It's already lunchtime, huh? Maybe I'll call Elsa and Hanna over here for lunch."

Jin was looking forward to having some miso soup made with bonito flakes.

"Father, about that…"

"Hmm, did something happen?"

"Well, the thing is, Hanna has brought a friend."

"Huh? Is it a friend she met at Loizart?"

"Yes. Her name is Shide."

"Hmm? Shide?"

The name was familiar to Jin.

"Um, is she about the same age as Hanna, with fluffy blond hair and blue eyes?"

"Yes. You and this child are already acquainted, Father."

The first time Jin met Shide was in the mine in Yada Village in the Egelia Kingdom, then they met again in the city of Tellurus in the Celuroa Kingdom. Reiko knew all this because she was with Jin on both occasions.

"Is that so…"

Jin thought that since it was such a rare thing for Hanna to bring a new friend she had just made, he wanted to go give her a warm welcome.

"For that, I'll have to wait a bit before enjoying my miso soup…"

Jin decided to let his beloved miso soup wait for him for a moment, and to go welcome Hanna's new friend first.

"I'll spend the night in the new mansion. First of all, it's time to go back to Loizart."

＊ ＊ ＊

As soon as Hanna returned to Jin's mansion with Shide, they were greeted by Elsa.

"Welcome, Shide."

One of Golems guarding Hanna, Iris, had returned to the mansion a little earlier to announce the arrival of their guests in advance.

"Ah, you're the lady from that time."

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"Elsa… Can you heal Shide's injury?"

"Huh?"

"You see, Lady Elsa…"

Then Belle recounted what had happened in the park, explaining that the two girls had been so obsessed with picking up Castani nuts that they bumped into each other and fell on their buttocks.

"I'm alright, but Shide got a few scratches on the palms of her hands when she fell…"

"Hmm, I see. …Come here, please."

"Yes."

Elsa then took Shide to the washroom.

"This may sting a little."

She then rinsed the wounds with clean water to remove any soil stuck to them.

"Are you OK?"

"Yes…"

"…'Sterilization'. 'Behandern'."

Elsa then cast a spell to disinfect the wounds, and then another to heal them. The scratches on Shide's palms disappeared completely, and were now as good as new.

"Wow, thank you, miss!"

Shide bowed bouncily, and Elsa smiled at her.

"You're welcome."

Once they returned to the reception room, Shide's butler Hauro thanked Elsa.

"Lady Elsa, thank you for healing the young lady's injuries."

"Oh, no, it's no big deal."

Around that time, Jin also came back.

"I'm home… Oh, hi, Shide."

"Oh, it's you, big bro! …Ah, sorry to intrude."

"Welcome back, Brother Jin."

"Welcome back, big bro!"

"My name is Hauro. I apologize if our sudden visit is inconvenient…"

After exchanging such greetings, Jin invited them all for lunch.

"Welcome to my house. I hope you'll join me for lunch."

Hauro asked if it was really okay, continuing to express his being sorry for intruding, but Jin paid his concerns no mind and instead went straight to leading them all to the dining room.

There, Peridot 102 started serving the meal, completely unaffected by the fact that they had sudden visitors.

The menu was white bread, vegetable soup, plain omelet, and fruit juice.

On top of that, there were some baked sweet potato-lookalikes made with "itopos", which were this world's equivalent to sweet potatoes.

Just like with regular sweet potatoes, slowly heating itopos promoted the conversion of their own starch into sugar. The best way to do this was to bake them slowly over hot stones.

"Is it really okay for me to join you at the table?"

The butler, Hauro, seemed to be unsure how to deal with the fact that Jin had invited him to join them for lunch as well.

"Sure, please, take a seat. …So, you're traveling here to Loizart this time around…"

Shide's father, Viscount Terrence Odeo Sekat, was an assistant to the lord of Diziel, a provincial city in the Egelia Kingdom. He himself was not in a position to travel at a moment's notice.

"Yes. The viscountess' younger sister has been married into a family from the Shouro Empire. Her second child was born recently, so the viscountess thought about bringing Lady Shide here with her."

Viscount Odeo's eldest son Edem seemed to have returned to Diziel, while Shide traveled with their mother, Viscountess Marilia, to the Shouro Empire.

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"Oh, well, I believe congratulations are in order, then."

Jin went along with the expected lip service and congratulated Shide's family for the newborn child. Meanwhile, Shide and Hanna were happily enjoying their meal while chatting.

"This is delicious."

Shide was happily enjoying her baked "sweet potatoes". Jin was glad to catch a glimpse of her joyful expression.

Jin had this feeling that young girls love baked sweet potatoes. At least that's what he had seen throughout his time on Earth.

"Yeah, it's so tasty."

Elsa also liked baked sweet potatoes. Hanna was stuffing her cheeks as well.

All three girls were sinking their teeth into their baked sweet potatoes, paying no mind to the bread at all. Jin smiled and took a bite of his baked sweet potato as well.

During their after-meal tea, Jin turned to Hauro, while Hanna and Elsa talked with Shide.

"I see, so the Egelia Kingdom wasn't affected by the long rains, huh?"

"That's what I heard. However, the Celuroa Kingdom is going through a bad time."

Even though it was part of the Egelia Kingdom, Diziel was a provincial town close to the border with the Celuroa Kingdom, so the viscount was worried about how the situation in the Celuroa Kingdom would affect Diziel.

"And it seems that the Klein Kingdom is in an even worse situation than that."

"…"

Jin knew the outline from Laojun's report, but after listening about their situation as recounted in a way that seemed closer to someone who had experienced it first-hand, it felt a bit more true to life to him.

He then began to wonder if it wouldn't be a bad idea to consider sending some food aid to the Klein Kingdom.

"…So, it took half a month to get from Tellulus to Jiron."

"Oh."

Meanwhile, Shide was telling Hanna about her travels.

It seemed that, by the time Shide was crossing the Naudaria River, the battle with the Unifiers had just ended, and the Celuroa Kingdom was still in a state of confusion, so it understandably took her more time than expected.

Elsa was just listening to Shide's story, while Hanna was the one asking questions.

"What happened after that?"

"…Everything went well right after crossing the riverWe passed through Scabia, Tansten, Asta, and so on… I can't remember the names of all the towns."

"But it looks like it was fun!"

"Actually, it was really hard at times. I had a fever once as well…"

It seemed that there was still a lot to talk about regarding Shide's travels, but before they knew it, the time had just passed the 2 o'clock mark.

The butler Hauro bowed to Jin and promptly got up from his seat.

"Young lady, I'm sorry to interrupt your entertainment, but it's time for us to go…"

"Oh, is it already that late?"

Shide's face turned to a sad expression.

"Aw, are you going already, Shide?"

Hanna also looked sad.

"I'm sure Shide and Hauro have things to do as well, right? Remember that they're always welcome to come visit us again anytime.

Jin tried to comfort Hanna with these words.

"…Yeah, that's right. Come again sometime, Shide!"

"Yes, Hanna, I'll come visit you again one of these days."

While still seeming reluctant to go, Shide took Hauro's hand before leaving Jin's mansion.

Hanna stood at the gate and saw them off until they disappeared from sight.

Incidentally, Belle had decided to soak the Castani nuts that Hanna had picked up in water so that they could be eaten later.

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