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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: 19
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But surprisingly, no one objected.
“Goodness, Hishin, that boy’s got quite a set of pipes on him…”
“Anyone would think we were trying to gobble up the young lady.”
“Can’t we even look, you scamp!”
Instead of cowering or growing angry, the people spoke to the burly man with a familiar ease.
It was as if this kind of situation was a common occurrence.
Mabel, her ears still covered by Ella, remained utterly bewildered.
`The people at the Grand Ducal Castle are the same way... Do none of them fear, well, their superiors?`
She saw Jacques, who’d told Sigmund to serve himself, and the villagers, who showed no fear of knights, as if they were one and the same.
It was a relief, at least, that the intense, scrutinizing gazes of the crowd had finally receded.
Once the situation seemed to have settled, Hishin turned to face Mabel and Ella.
“It’s settled.”
“Alrighty~”
Ella, having removed her hands from Mabel’s ears, also seemed perfectly at ease with this man, Hishin.
Ella then gestured to the man and introduced him.
“Allow me to introduce him, Young Lady~ This is the splendid knight who will be escorting us today~”
Hishin, a man easily two heads taller than Ella, immediately bowed his head before Mabel.
Even hunched over, he loomed large over Mabel, who appeared to be no more than five or six.
He introduced himself in a stiff, unyielding voice.
“It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Young Lady. I am Hishin, your escort for today.”
She’d met plenty of the maid-sisters at the Grand Ducal Castle, but this was her first time meeting a knight.
The man, with his short-cropped brown hair and monolid eyes, looked young, but his unexpressive face made Mabel feel a little nervous.
`But first impressions are important!`
“Hello!”
Mabel, after a moment’s hesitation, quickly bent at the waist in a deep bow.
With the motion, the rabbit doll backpack she wore slid down the back of her head.
The sight alone was so heartwarming that Ella’s upturned lips refused to straighten.
But Hishin’s expression remained utterly unchanged.
“Please rise.”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
As Mabel straightened, Ella gently adjusted the rabbit ears on her backpack.
“That’s right~ No need to be so formal~”
“B-but, he’s a knight…!”
“It’s fine~ Hishin is still just a provisional knight~”
“Provisional knight…?”
Mabel stole a quick glance at Hishin.
He looks like a mighty bear... No, more like a seasoned veteran of a hundred battles?
`And he’s so stone-faced...`
But as if Ella’s words held truth, Hishin remained perfectly still.
“Young Lady~ Do you happen to remember the story I told you before~? About conquering a mercenary band and integrating them into the knight order~”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
It had been a preposterous tale, but Ella’s captivating storytelling had made it quite entertaining.
But why bring up that story now?
As Mabel tilted her head slightly, Ella suppressed a giggle and pointed at Hishin.
“Hishin was the youngest member of that mercenary band I conquered back then~ That’s why he’s still provisional~”
“…What?!”
Mabel was so startled she practically leaped out of her shoes.
The rabbit doll’s ears stood straight up, making Mabel look like a startled rabbit herself.
“T-then, that was real?!”
“Oh dear~? Did Young Lady think I was telling a fib~?”
“N-no, well…!”
Ella was tall, but her physique was remarkably slender.
Furthermore, her perpetually gentle expression, soft-spoken manner, and graceful bearing made her appear the very picture of a refined lady.
Ella, who looked utterly incapable of fighting, was said to have climbed trees at three, wrestled bears at five, and what else was it?
It was simply beyond belief that she had done any of those things.
When Mabel seemed unable to shake off her shock, Ella nudged Hishin’s side with her elbow.
Hishin, who had remained silent throughout, suddenly snapped to attention and spoke.
“Lady Ella’s words are correct. At the age of fifteen, Lady Ella began by caving in the mercenary leader’s face with a flying kick, then proceeded to…”
*Poke, poke, poke!*
Ella poked Hishin’s side harder than before, as if telling him to stop with the unnecessary details.
“Ugh. Anyway, Lady Ella did not lie to the Young Lady.”
“Oh, I see…”
His tone was so rigid, that was all Mabel could manage to say.
Breaking the awkward silence, Ella beamed and clapped her hands together with a *clap!*
“Well then, shall we begin our delightful outing~?”
To think such a kind and gentle maid was a hidden master.
“Let’s go!”
Mabel, marveling inwardly, replied, taking Ella’s hand firmly in one of hers and Hishin’s in the other.
Hishin flinched, then quietly withdrew his hand.
Oh, was that too impolite?
Feeling a pang of embarrassment, Mabel let the hand that had held Hishin’s fall to her side.
She felt a strange, needless emptiness, but it was alright.
Because Ella was still holding her hand tightly.
Mabel continued on, holding only Ella’s hand.
***
The market held within the inner city walls truly had everything imaginable.
Spices piled high like mountains, colorful fruits brimming in wooden crates, dried ingredients draped from stall pillars, and fish flopping in large basins!
Mabel was utterly captivated by the rare and fascinating sights, things she rarely got to see.
And scattered among the stalls were desserts, their sweet aromas wafting through the air.
“Is that candy…? Caramel…?”
When Mabel couldn’t tear her eyes away from the strange candy wrapped around a stick, stretching long and thin, Hishin quickly darted to the stall and returned.
“Red, blue, lime green, yellow—they all have different flavors.”
Mabel was secretly touched by Hishin’s unexpressive gift.
But she couldn’t eat all four of them.
“It’s before a meal, so just one~”
Ella’s educational policy was that no matter how adorable a child was, certain rules had to be followed.
“Uh…”
When Mabel couldn’t easily make up her mind, Hishin, after casting a sharp glare at Ella, procured a new candy stick from somewhere.
He then cut small pieces from all four candies and carefully wrapped them around the stick.
“This way, it’s just one, but you can taste all four flavors.”
“Wow!”
Mabel’s face lit up as she looked up at Ella.
Though the amount had increased slightly, Ella smiled and nodded, signaling her approval.
Thanks to this, Mabel could savor all four flavors while exploring the market.
Hishin gave the remaining candy to other children.
After a good while of exploring the market, Mabel was resting by a fountain when she belatedly recalled the purpose of their outing.
“Uh, I need to go to the workshop now!”
The reason Mabel had come to the inner city today was precisely to visit a workshop.
It was because a brilliant idea had struck her yesterday while discussing Aselt with Ella.
Aselt, being a Basilisk Beastman, could perceive objects using his sense of smell.
However, no matter how keen his sense of smell, he couldn't read text by scent alone. So, Sigmund had apparently made him a blindfold from loosely woven fabric.
`No matter how soft, if it's woven on a loom, there will be limitations.`
Thus, Mabel intended to seek out a clothing maker today and commission a specific item.
`When it comes to fabric that's soft and easy to see through, something comes to mind.`
That was nylon!
That very fiber used to make stockings.
`But to create Nylon 66 fiber, I'd first need to produce hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid.`
Still, it seems ammonia will soon be successfully synthesized in large quantities…
As Mabel mulled this over, she involuntarily flinched.
“Young Lady?”
Ella, sensing the subtle shift, stopped and called out to Mabel.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Mabel shook her head and resumed walking.
But Mabel’s expression, unlike a moment ago, had subtly clouded over.
And for good reason.
`How do I know all this?`
Even if her modern memories had resurfaced, how could she rattle off such complex chemical compounds so effortlessly?
`Could I actually be the reincarnation of Marie Curie or Theodore Richards?`
Mabel chuckled inwardly at the thought.
`No way.`
It would make more sense to be the Saintess of Alchemy.
Mabel, having quickly sorted her thoughts, once again gripped Ella’s hand tightly and headed towards the workshop district.
*Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!*
A man was sweating profusely, stoking a fire in a fiery red melting furnace.
The heat emanating from the melting furnace, which looked incredibly hot even at a glance, caused heat haze to shimmer around the workshop.
“Ah, hot…!”
Just walking past, the air was so dry and hot it felt as though her skin would bake.
Hishin quickly shielded her from the heat with his body, explaining to Mabel.
“This is a glass workshop.”
Now that he mentioned it, there were small, broken pieces of glass scattered around.
“The artisans at our Grand Ducal Castle’s glass workshop are truly exceptional~ To the point where even cathedrals in the capital commission them for stained glass~”
Ella spoke with a voice brimming with pride.
“Stained glass…?”
“Yes, we have it in our castle’s chapel too~ It’s glass imbued with sparkling, beautiful colors~”
Stained glass… colored glass…
Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed through Mabel’s mind.
`This is it!`
She’d just thought of an even better way to make Aselt a new blindfold!
