Chapter 381

Saki and Elsa

“Okay, so are Rein-nii and Belche coming?”

“Yes . I invited them, so they should be here the day after tomorrow . ”

Jin informs Elsa about Reinhart and Belche’s arrival .

“I’m looking forward to it . ”

After that conversation is over, Martha approaches Jin .

“So, Jin, will Saki be staying at your castle?”

“Yes, that’s the plan . ”

“Then I’ll stay too . ”,

Says Elsa, jumping into the conversation .

“Oh, sure . Well then, Martha, won’t you join us for dinner at Nidou Castle?”

Jin invites Martha and Hannah, saying that food tastes the best when shared with everybody . Mine will also be going as a waitress .

“You’re right, eating together once in a while is great . ”

“Ah, I’m looking forward to it!”

Both Martha and Hannah agree, so they all go over to Nidou Castle .

The caretakers in duty are Sara and Butler-A .

“I’ve wanted to come to your castle ever since the banquet, Jin . ”

Martha seems to be rather cheerful about it .

“Ah, Master Jin, welcome home!”

Bere comes out of the castle to receive Jin and the others .

“h.e.l.lo, Bere . How have you been?”

“Great! Barrow and I are doing just fine! Are we having guests today?”

Bere asks as she sees Saki . She recognizes Martha, Hannah, and Elsa, but Saki’s face is the first one that she notices .

“Ah, this is Saki . She’s my guest today . She’s an alchemist from Shouro Empire . ”

“Wow, is that so?”

After seeing Bere’s reaction, Saki asks Jin a question .

“Jin, is she from there too?”

“Yeah . Both Bere and Barrow, the other apprentice butler, are from Shouro Empire as well . ”

Then, Bere continues Jin’s explanation .

“That’s right . I used to work in the Celuroa Kingdom, but the family of n.o.bles that I worked for fell into ruin and had to let me go . ”

Bere gives out a very resumed explanation about her situation, rather than going into too much detail .

“I see, you’ve been through a lot . ”

“No, I’m glad it turned out this way, I get to work here instead . ”

“Bere, you can’t just stand there talking… Welcome, Master Jin . ”

Barrow appears from inside the castle, reprimanding Bere .

“Ah, I’m so sorry . ”

Bere quickly apologizes and asks everyone to go inside the castle . Saki looks at Bere with a pleasant smile .

The group enters the dining room on the first floor and resume their conversation .

Saki seems to be captivated by Martha’s personality and listens carefully to all of her stories .

“So, you come from far away country, don’t you, Saki? You give off a slightly different feeling than Jin . ”

“Can you tell?”

“I can . You two have a slightly different way of speaking . ”

What Martha means by their “way of speaking” is their accent . There are almost no dialects or anything like that in such small groups of people, but it is inevitable that the accents would differ across the various regions .

Incidentally, Jin has a Klein Kingdom-like accent, so he didn’t feel out of place back when he first appeared .

Because of his long relations.h.i.+p with Reinhart and Elsa, and the linguistic knowledge he had obtained when he was summoned, he’s unconsciously able to change his accent depending on whoever he’s speaking with .

“Jin-nii, how was Belche? Did she look pretty?”

Elsa is very interested in talking about the wedding .

“Ah, yes, she was very beautiful . ”

“Come on big brother! Give us more details!”

Hannah is very interested in that as well .

Just as she finishes saying that, the chime of a bell echoes through the room .

“Huh? What?”

The one to answer Jin’s question is Butler-B, who comes into the room .

“That is a ‘Time Bell’ . It chimes at 7 AM, at Noon, and at 5 PM . We’re still testing it, but it seems to be quite popular . ”

“I see . ”

Jin had thought about asking if this was Laojun’s doing, but kept silent in front of Martha . That’s most certainly the case . That Laojun is doing a great job .

“Dear guests, it is 5 PM . Shall we begin preparing your meal?”

Barrow speaks with a determined tone of voice and demeanor . Mine nods at the fruits of his education .

“Sure, go ahead . ”

“Understood . ”

His back facing the kitchen, he seems to have become more reliable than before .

Saki seems to enjoy the unusual flavor of the dinner, which is a combination of Kaina Village and Shouro Empire dishes .

After the dinner, Jin poured actual green tea for everyone . This is the green tea that he received from Reinhart earlier .

“Oh, this tea is delicious . ”

“I like this taste!”

“… Green tea?”

Martha, Hanna, and Elsa all show their impressions of the tea . Jin regrets having eaten all of the biscuits .

Martha and Mine return home before dark, and Elsa stays together with Saki .

And as for Hannah…

“I don’t want to bother your guests, so I’ll be heading home now . See you tomorrow, big brother!”

After speaking in such a mature way, she returns home together with Martha .

“Even Hannah has grown up so much . ”

Jin is impressed, and at the same time, a bit nostalgic .

“Well then, the bath will be ready if you two want to get in . ”

Jin prefers taking a bath before a meal, but today he missed his chance for that since he had gotten caught up in conversation .

Nidou Castle also has a bath for visitors . But sadly, there are no natural hot springs here, so it’s not exactly like the ones one would find at a j.a.panese-styled bathhouse .

There’s a family-sized bath on the first floor, and a public-sized one in the bas.e.m.e.nt .

Elsa and Saki go to the family-sized one .

“Oh, it’s not a shower, but sort of like a bathtub? This is nice!”

So says Saki, as she puts one foot into the water after undressing in the dressing room next to the bath .

“But the onsen back at the village is even better . ”

Says Elsa, adding to Saki’s statement .

“Onsen? What’s an onsen?”

“It’s a huge bath that uses natural hot springs from underground . It’s Kaina Village’s specialty . Shall we go there tomorrow morning?”

“Ooh, yeah, let’s!”

Saki submerges for a second and then emerges, stretching her limbs .

“Aah, taking a dip like this feels nice . This is great!”

“Saki-nee, do you still live as unconventionally as ever?”

Elsa asks her question as she stretches out as well . Saki makes an ugly face in response to that sharp question .

“Ohoho, that’s embarra.s.sing! But hey, I made Ehr the other day, so things are getting better . ”

“Even the way you laugh is still the same . ”

“Oho, everyone tells me that . Does it make you uncomfortable?”

“Well, I think it’s very ‘you’ . ”

“Ohoho, that’s so cute, Elsa!”

Saki smiles and strokes Elsa’s head . Elsa asks Saki another question .

“About that automata… you said you made him together with Jin-nii and Rein-nii, right?”

“Yeah . It was lots of fun . And you, Elsa? Edgar, was it? So, you made him?”

Saki replies to Elsa’s question with a question of her own .

“Yeah . I was able to do it because Jin-nii was there with me . ”

Saki stares at Elsa .

“You sure have grown, Elsa . You seem different than how you were before your journey here . ”

“Is that so?”

“Did you experience many things in your travels? Could you tell me about it in detail?”

“Sure . ”

And so, Elsa and Saki cheerfully share stories for the rest of their bath and continue talking about them until they get back to the guest room .