Ch. 253

“Thanks, Akia. That unsightly hair has somehow become natural. Your skills are almost at a professional level, aren’t they?”

“I put my heart and soul into it, worried you’d regret not leaving it to a professional.”

“I didn’t think you could salvage this.”

Rovenin had chopped off a chunk, and by heavily layering the other side to match, it looked like it had been intentionally styled that way.

It wasn’t a style noble ladies, who considered growing their hair long without damage a measure of elegance, would go for, but I was satisfied with how much lighter it felt.

“When you tie it up, the side bangs won’t stay put and will fall out, but that will look natural in its own way. That’s what’s stylish about naturally curly hair.”

“I owe you, so I’ll treat you to something delicious.”

Standing right behind me, Akia fiddled with my hair, pulling at the ends of my side bangs to see if they were different lengths.

“What are you talking about? I should be the one thanking you. Going to the festival with me is more than enough of a repayment. If I had my way, I’d bring that blue dress right now and see how good it looks on you, Geenie. If only I wasn’t on duty… haah.”

“You said you have the night shift?”

“Yes, so I have to head back for today. Apparently, a law was passed that hospitals have to stay open all night during the festival period. It seems there are so many patients around this time that they still can’t handle them all. That’s why I was called to the capital, too.”

Akia, who had been on duty for several days, repeatedly emphasized the fact that she had tomorrow off.

Visiting a temple when injured was an option only permitted to nobles, so commoners generally went to hospitals or apothecaries.

Even so, the hospitals were different from the ones I knew in my past life. First of all, there were no such things as injections, nor was there a concept of vaccines.

They were only at the level of recognizing the severity of infections, and at most, they provided more specialized prescriptions than an apothecary.

It seemed they performed simple procedures like setting bones, removing infected areas, and suturing severe wounds, but that was the extent of it.

Because of this, the lifespan of commoners was on the short side, and even when they were sick, they often didn’t know the exact cause.

This was just my personal opinion, but I felt that the existence of Divine power and Magic was actually hindering the development of medicine.

“My shift ends in the morning, so after getting a little sleep at my lodging, I’ll grab the dress and come straight here.”

“I’ll probably be up all night with documents… books, and then oversleep, so you can come whenever.”

“Okay! But there’s something I’m a little worried about. Come to think of it, you’re a noble, aren’t you, Geenie? Just the fact that the dress has handmade lace on it makes it an incredible luxury to me, but I’m worried it might not be to your liking. So please don’t get your hopes up too high. Okay?”

Akia suddenly seemed worried that my aesthetic standards might be too high.

“If that’s what you’re worried about, don’t be. I can count the number of times I’ve worn a dress on one hand. Same goes for skirts, if you don’t count my uniform.”

“What? Even though you’re a noble?”

“Skirts get in the way when I train. And I don’t like crowds… there are quite a few nobles who aren’t used to parties.”

Though as far as I knew, that was just me and my family.

“I see… I thought all nobles enjoyed parties. Come to think of it, your name is unusual too, Geenie.”

“My name? It’s common.”

“Of course, it’s a common name among commoners, but it feels a bit simple for a noble to have. Nobles use much longer and fancier names, don’t they? So much so that they’re hard to memorize… Ah, perhaps you use it as a nickname because your full name is too long?”

“That’s all there is. Geenie. Well, it is a bit plain, isn’t it?”

It was a simple name for a noble.

The more prestigious the family, the more they enjoyed using names so complex they were hard to pronounce, and the Crowell family was peculiar in many ways.

The fact that my father’s title would have ended with his generation if I hadn’t established merit and been granted the title of Count must have played a large part in it.

“It suits you well! And it’s easy to say.”

“Thanks. My parents said they had a lot of trouble naming me. They tried giving me a name too fancy for a humble family, and they tried borrowing one from a distinguished person… but they said I just cried no matter what they called me. It was like I was having a fit, as if I hated them all.”

“Oh my.”

“Then… they tried calling me Geenie as a test, and I stopped crying. They said I only reacted to that name. When they called me Geenie, I made eye contact with them for the first time without crying… so they had no choice but to go with that name.”

I had no memory of when I was a newborn.

My memories gradually came back as I got older, and I later realized that my name in this world was similar to my name from my past life.

Being satisfied with this life was a separate issue from the question of why I remembered my past life.

“It’s cool, like you chose your own name.”

“You think so?”

“I’m happy you told me your story, Geenie! I’ve always been the only one talking.”

“It was nothing.”

The story of me being a crybaby when I was little was something I would never have told Chad or Lox.

Far from mocking me, Akia smiled as brightly as if it were a joyous day and whispered affectionately as she drew near.

“To be honest, I was prepared for you to turn down this favor, too. You have no idea how happy I am that you’re coming with me. If I were alone, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of asking Chad out on a date.”

“I respect your taste. But no matter how I think about it, you’re too good for him, Akia.”

“Hehe, to someone else, Chad might be too good for me.”

“No way.”

“I’ll take that to mean you like me more than Chad, Geenie. That’s a good thing. Ah, I should write the notes to send to the men before it gets any later!”

As her shift time approached, Akia became noticeably busier.

She hurriedly moved the two chairs we had taken to the window to cut my hair back in front of the table, brought the quill and ink from beside the bed, and then gave me a couple of sheets of violet-colored stationery that she seemed to have brought herself.

“If you write one to the Leader, I’ll stick them on the men’s door on my way out.”

“Hmm?”

I sat down at the table in a daze, but unlike the motivated Akia, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. As I stared at the blank paper, just fiddling with the quill, Rai propped his head on the table and teased me.

He wasn’t one to miss a chance to make fun of me.

[Are you sure about this, you love-idiot? A letter asking someone on a date is like a love letter! There’s no way the Master can write something like that….]

[I think so, too.]

[What’s with the quick agreement!]

[It’s no fun if humans are good at everything. I’m a cold city woman who knows nothing of love….]

Muttering to myself, I peeked at the letter Akia was diligently filling out.

I wasn’t trying to cheat, just simply copy it, but Akia suddenly crumpled the letter and looked up at me with a tearful face.

“Sorry, I apologize for trying to cheat.”

“…As I was writing, it felt like the most boring invitation in the world! I want to write it more romantically…!”

“Isn’t it an invitation?”

“After writing the date, time, reason for the invitation, and what kind of festival it is, it just sounds like a business report! There’s no excitement! Who would know this is a date request after receiving this?”

No matter how seriously she said it, it wasn’t like I had majored in literature.

Spirit Magic was a useless field of study in times like these, and the same went for medicine.

Sitting across from each other at the table were two professional women who were severely lacking in dating skills.

“Alright. Then let’s just write the main point.”

“How? I’ve never written something like this before… You go first, Geenie. I’ll use it as a reference!”

I’d never seen anyone do well by using me as a reference.

But I wouldn’t stop her if she wanted to follow my lead.

“To Ash.”

“Yes! To Chad….”

Akia’s problem was that she trusted me too much. She was really writing down whatever I said.

“If you don’t prepare a Flower crown and come to the south plaza by tomorrow evening, I won’t let you get away with….”

“Geenie!”

“What.”

“That’s a challenge to a Duel arena, isn’t it?”

“You said it lacked excitement. Is there any other invitation as exciting as this?”

To show I wasn’t joking, I showed her the letter I had written.

I was about to finish the sentence as it was, but Akia made such a fuss, begging me to hold back on just that, that I added one more line.

「To Ash.

If you don’t prepare a Flower crown and come to the south plaza by tomorrow evening, I won’t let you get away with it.

From Geenie, who cherishes you.」

I left the detailed explanation to Akia.

Since the two men shared a room, they would figure out the situation on their own and spend all night searching for flowers for the fast-approaching festival.

I wasn’t sure if there were any flower shops with flowers left.

Every last flower in the vicinity must have been picked clean….

[It can’t be helped. Giving trials is also the fate of a beauty.]

[And you still think the Master has a good personality?]

[I’ve thought about who suffers the most when I’m in a bad mood… You know a certain Metal Spirit named Rai?]

[I-It feels like your imagination is getting crueler and crueler….]

There was one quality of a Mage that had developed thanks to Rai, and that was imagination.

Originally, it was a factor that determined how accurately and specifically a Spirit could understand its master’s thoughts, a sort of precision, but in Rai’s case, it had become specialized for the purpose of tormenting him.

To torment Rai, who acted up all the time, trusting in his mighty physical defense that could even block a Breath, I had no choice but to launch mental attacks, and the fact that my thoughts flowed directly into Rai’s head was my only hope.

By repeatedly and endlessly imagining detailed torture, as if forcibly playing a horror movie in front of his eyes, Rai would tremble, and whether I liked it or not, my imagination was trained in an aggressive direction.

[Kyaaaaak!]

[Stop screaming like you’re being exorcised!]

[Just spare my beautiful fur!]

[I’m going to shave it off in polka-dot patches and then dye just your cheeks hot pink.]

[Cruel! You’re not even human, Master!]

My imagination, with Rai as its sacrifice, was developing again today.