[V4C24] Love Talk
Translated by Jodas 4: Flying Through the SkyRukiye came back with a freshly-brewed pot of tea and set it on the desk, then opened the lid on the basket she brought earlier.
Inside the basket was bread, ham, cheese, and such things. It also came with pickles and bean paste.
Sophie, who had missed the chance to eat breakfast, couldn’t hide the sparkle in her eyes.
“I also brought some light snacks to munch on. Feel free to eat some, if you want.”
“Don’t mind if I do!”
Sophie grabbed a piece of bread and munched on it, then washed it down with a sip of tea. This time the tea actually tasted good.
“Sooo goood…. Rukiye, thank youuu….”
“You’re welcome.”
Rukiye’s voice was flat and disinterested, but she didn’t sound mad.
Everyone else also grabbed whatever tea and snacks they wanted with abandon.
Once Sophie finished eating the one piece of bread, she spoke up quietly.
“Thanks so much everyone… Um, about yesterday…”
“That thing about your family?”
Ella gingerly held her teacup in both hands, and spoke calmly.
Roswitha also spoke between bites of her cookie.
“You said something about how you came to the Wedge Tower because you didn’t want to curse people to death.”
“Y- Yeah…”
Sophie nodded.
The Schwarzenberg Family Curses existed to make people die painfully. That was how they made their money, and how the family kept afloat.
However, what the Wedge Tower demanded was not the power to curse people to death.
They wanted people with the ability to control the Abyss, said to be the source of cursecraft.
“I thought that if I worked here, I wouldn’t have to do the Schwarzenberg Family’s job… S- So I applied… Do you think that’s… cheating?”
Rukiye, who had been drinking tea, snorted.
“Are you asking us to say ‘I don’t think that at all, that must have been so hard for you!’ or something?”
“Don’t say it like that!”
“You’re too easy to read. Anyone could tell you’re just asking for people to take pity on you.”
“Geez, aren’t you even gonna try to cheer me up!?”
With an uncaring attitude, Rukiye took out a wooden cylinder and some colored strings.
It looked like she was about to start working on the handicrafts she usually did on her days off. She really wasn’t much of a talker.
Sophie gritted her teeth and groaned irritably, when Tia started to mimic her. She’d rather Tia stopped trying to harmonize with other people’s groans.
When Sophie stopped gritting her teeth, Rukiye spoke up again while stretching the colored threads on the wooden cylinder.
“You didn’t want to have the family business forced on you, so you made the choice that best fit your circumstances, that’s all. To flee is not to abandon your choices. It’s a choice all of its own. There’s no need to pity you at all.”
Sophie’s mouth hung open as she tried to take in what Rukiye had just said.
Was this her way of giving her approval?
“Wait, are you trying to encourage me? Wow, Rukiye being nice? …Are you an imposter?”
“…Can I just leave?”
“It’s just a joooke!”
While Sophie panicked, Sevil and Roswitha stole each other’s snacks. These two really liked sweets.
Tia nibbled on her snack with tiny bites, and Ella smiled widely as she savored her tea.
By the time Ella intervened to arbitrate the conflict between Sevil and Roswitha, Sophie had regained her bearings.
This was a girl’s party. The girl’s party she’d always dreamed of.
“Um, guys, since this is a girl’s party and all, let’s talk about something more girl’s party-like!”
Tia, who’d just finished with her snack, chirped “Piyo?” while tilting her head dramatically from side to side.
“What do you do in a girl’s party? Do we all sing together?”
“Why would we be singing? When someone says ‘girl’s party,’ it has to be that, you know. That.”
Sophie giggled, and Ella and Roswitha responded plainly.
“Oh, magecraft discussions!”
“Yeah, that’s the only thing it could be.”
Sophie suddenly understood why Ella and Roswitha had been able to get along so well. These two were both magic idiots.
Sophie, with the poise of a knowledgeable older sister, shook her head in disapproval.
“Oh~, no no, you don’t get it, do you~? Look, it’s a tea party with just us girls, right? You get it, right, Sevil? Princesses are supposed to be pros at tea parties.”
“A tea party? We usually discuss politics, I suppose. Discussions about my brother suffering another coup d’état were particularly thrilling.”
Beyond just shattering her dreams, that kind of talk was way too violent.
Sophie pounded on her lap and insisted.
“When you’re talking about a girl’s party, it’s love talk! We should be talking about romance!”
“I’ll pass. If you make me talk about stuff like that, I’ll just leave.”
Rukiye spoke while weaving colored threads. Given her attitude, you wouldn’t believe she was the one who suggested the girl’s party in the first place.
Sophie pouted, and Tia stared into Sophie’s face.
“Sophie, do you want a reproductive mate?”
“Don’t be so direct about itttt! Just something like ‘who are you into?’ and stuff~! Isn’t there anyone you’re interested in, Tia?”
With a mischievous grin, Sophie poked Tia’s legs with her fingertips.
“There is!” Tia nodded with a smile.
“Dammer, from the Extermination Office!”
The sound of “Ehhh…..?” could be heard from several places in the room. Even Rukiye, who seemed not to care about such things, raised her eyebrows.
The Extermination Office’s Dammer was a man no one ever heard good rumors about. He got into a fight with Roswitha, Tia dragged him off by her feet and flew away, and he constantly came to the Guidance Office to complain about those things.
Roswitha stared at Tia with a face of utter disbelief.
“Hold on, you’re kidding, right? That guy’s the worst!”
Sophie was also quite concerned, so she stopped poking Tia’s leg and spoke more seriously.
“Tiaaa… Don’t let bad men fool youuuuu~~~”
“He’s not fooling me? Dammer is really easy to understand! And his smile is wonderful!”
Tia’s taste in men was concerning. And to begin with, wasn’t there a more than ten year age gap between them? For all she knew, that gap might even be closer to twenty?
“I’m worried for Tia’s future… Uhh… How about you, Ella?”
“I’m currently occupied learning everything I can about magecraft, so I don’t really have time for romance… Oh, did you have anyone in mind, Sophie?”
When Sophie smoothly directed the flow of the conversation towards Ella, she deftly directed that flow back towards Sophie.
That said, while it was disappointing, Sophie fiddled with her hair as she pursed her lips.
“Me~? Well, I don’t think any of the Apprentices are really my type~ or something~? Wren’s pretty, but he has no tact; Finn’s a coward; I can’t figure out what Gerald and Oliver are thinking for the life of me; and Rose is all fuzzy, you knowww~?”
“Piroro…. The fuzzy is the best part though…”
Her taste in men really didn’t gel with Tia’s.
However, before Sophie could reply to that, Roswitha whispered.
“Well, I’m not interested in any of the Apprentice boys, but I don’t think Finn is a coward.”
Sophie was surprised.
She never expected to hear Roswitha complimenting another person. Not to mention Finn, the smallest, least studious, and weakest of them all!
“That kid’s got some real guts. He’s not a coward at all.”
“Eh? Eh? Does that mean… you’re into him? You’re into him? Tell me more, tell me moreeee~!”
Sophie’s voice persistently dogged her for answers, prompting Roswitha to glare at Sophie with narrowed eyes.
“I said it had nothing to do with romance! If I could be with anyone, then I only have eyes for Möbius.”
“What?” Sophie’s eyes widened at the word ‘Möbius.’ Many of the others also reacted in surprise, and Tia was the only one who chirped “Who?”
Sevil explained it for Tia.
“She’s referring to the Headmaster of the Wedge Tower. White Smoke, Golden Needle, Water Bubble — He’s the highest authority who rules all three Spires.”
Headmaster Möbius was an extremely talented mage, befitting of his position as the Wedge Tower’s highest authority.
He’d come to visit the Schwarzenberg Family a few times, so Sophie had met him before.
His tall and toned body certainly left an impression. He was cool and all, but…
“…Isn’t he even older than Director Hegelich?”
Roswitha was around thirty years younger than him.
Sophie muttered her point quietly, and Roswitha glared at her again.
“You’ve just been poo-pooing everyone this whole time. Let’s hear what you have to say!”
“I, you know… I think a guy like a prince would be nice? I heard that, in the next country over, a shaman cured a curse that the Prince there was suffering from. Hey, hey, don’t you think that, if I’d been there, the Prince would have asked me to marry him?”
That tragic prince, suffering from a curse — He must be a handsome, blond, blue-eyed Prince — would turn to Sophie, who freed him from this curse, smile with an enchanting face, and say:
“Thank you, Sophie. I love you. Won’t you marry me?”
“Or something like that! Something like that! Kyaa! Kyaa!”
Sophie held her hands on her cheeks and let her legs dance up and down. Sevil, who had been stuffing her mouth with food, looked like a thought just struck her.
“…Hm? Sophie, you can’t just cast curses, you can remove them too?”
“Well, yeah I can. I’m a Shaman after all~!”
The concept of curses itself wasn’t terribly common in the modern day anyway, but she could do it if it ever came up. Sophie had trained for such things.
With Sophie’s response, Sevil twisted her lips in thought.
“As I thought, the Emperor who drove out the Schwarzenberg Family was a fool. He let go of a valuable method of lifting curses.”
“…Um… Is it okay for you to say that, Sevil?”
She was glad that Sevil would take her side on this.
However, the Emperor who drove out the Schwarzenberg Family was one of Sevil’s ancestors.
In fact, knowing that was the reason Sophie had a hard time talking to Sevil.
Regardless, Sevil’s attitude was unshaken.
“It’s the truth. I can only assume the Emperor at the time wanted to cozy up to the Church too much. He was foolish.”
“…Sevil, have you ever thought about marrying a Prince?”
Among them, the one who had the best chance of getting close to a real life Prince was none other than Sevil. In fact, Sevil’s older sister was already set to marry the First Prince of a neighboring kingdom.
Sevil, who had been slicing the solid chunk of ham with a knife and munching on the pieces, took a sip of tea before beginning to speak.
“I suppose, in accordance with the girl’s party rules established by Sophie, I shall allow you to hear my so-called ‘love talk’.”