Maydare Volume 1 Chapter 7 - The Search for the Failed Student (Part 2)
As we ran around the streets of Miladriede in our uniforms, many people called out to us.
“We’re selling some nice iron pots! Your potions will never fail!”
“The latest trend in robes is going back to the basics and wearing black. It was deep green a while ago though.”
“Would you like some wand polish? Oh, are students wearing rings these days?”
And so on and so forth. Since the royal capital was a place where many magicians tended to gather, there were many businesses that catered to them.
We lost sight of Frey midway.
There were a lot of people, but it was also a city with many waterways, so if you went back and forth between similar-looking bridges and complex alleyways, you would end up not knowing where you were.
“It’ll be quicker if we split up and search. If one of us finds him, we’ll communicate with our spirits.”
“Alright.” “Understood.”
And with that, we split up at the central square where the road divided into three. I was walking down the main street in the middle when I saw Frey Levi walk into the galleria, so I followed him. The galleria was a shopping district with an arched glass ceiling high overhead, and it was crowded with people today, as always.
“Really...even in a place like this, that man is still calmly walking on the walls.”
The crowds didn’t seem to bother Frey Levi. He ignored gravity and walked with his feet clinging to the building’s walls and ceiling. So his constitution was effective against things that were attached to the earth. In combination with the crowd, the man’s constitution seemed to create an optical illusion, and I felt like I was drunk.
Just when I thought I passed through the galleria, Frey Levi was already far far away from me, entering a narrow alleyway. I ran after him while feeling disheartened, but I lost sight of him.
And just when I went around the alleys in circles and thought I lost my way, I bumped into someone at a corner and fell onto my backside hard.
“Ow ow ow…”
“Oi, are you okay, Makia.”
“Nero!?”
Amazingly, I met up with Nero here. I let him pull me up.
“The capital’s terrifying. Crowds are scary. I want to go back to the countryside…”
“It seems you’ve received the baptism of the city. Well, I get how you feel.”
Nero, while more or less sympathizing with me, then said,
“I happened to see Frey Levi in this alley just now.”
“Yes! I saw him go in here too. And then I got lost…”
“It’s the same for me. It feels like I’m being played by that guy.”
Indeed. Frey Levi seems to be accustomed to the royal capital itself, even.
Nero looked up at the sky, called Fugue and ordered her to search for Frey once again.
We went through this alley first. Nero remembered the way back.
We walked out to what seemed to be a bustling commoners’ fresh market.
It sold vegetables, grain, meat, and fresh seafood.
As I was gawking at the market, I saw a certain item and stopped in my tracks.
“Rice…?”
“?”
“There’s rice... , Nero, there’s rice! Rice rice rice!”
Well, I did expect that they would sell rice, since Miladriede was famous for its paella and risotto.
But, the truth was, I have never eaten rice since I was born in Maydare.
I regained my memories, and something that was bothering me was my craving for the food from my previous life. Even though I especially wanted to eat rice, there was not a lot of demand for it in this country other than in the capital, and it wasn’t something you can get your hands on in the remote region of Deliafield.
“Oi, what are you doing...I’m going to leave you behind and go.”
“Whoa, hey hey hey, wait a minute, please!”
Forgetting my original goal for a moment, I made Nero wait as I hurriedly bought about 500 grams of rice. Most of it was imported from a large eastern country, and the price tag had “From the Kingdom of Kirin*” written on it. It was the biggest country in the east. I felt pleased with myself for getting rice, and then,
(TN: So this country is called 麒麟国 or Kirinkoku. I'm 90% sure this is supposed to be fantasy China but I'm unsure on how to translate it so I'll probably change it in the future. If any of you have read novels with a fantasy China, let me know about how they translate it.)
“Aaaah!”
“What now?”
“Apricots! There’s apricots! If there’s rice, there has to be that.”
It seemed that it was the season where the pretty orange apricots were being harvested, and they were being sold like mountains. “What are you using them for?” Nero asked and made a strange face again.
“Fufufu. I’m going to make umeboshi* with these. I can substitute citric acid with lemon juice, and I have special salt from the Salt Forest I can use...This can work!”
(TN: Umeboshi is pickled dried plum.)
“...I have no idea what you’re talking about, but good for you.”
Nero, of course, looked like he had no idea why I was so happy about rice and apricots, and the word umeboshi didn’t seem to ring a bell for him.
My hands were full of rice and apricots, so Nero said, “I’ll take them,” and took the apricots for me. Wow, he’s surprisingly a thoughtful gentleman…
Just then, Fugue descended and told Nero something.
“Oi, it seems that Frey Levi is on the roof of Diemo Cathedral.”
The Diemo Cathedral was the largest Vabelist cathedral in the capital, and located in a square in the eastern section of the city.
At the top of the spires stood the golden statues of the ten creator gods, their eyes silently looking down on the city.
We met up with Lapis here. The large doors of the cathedral right at that moment, and people dressed in bishop’s clothes came out in succession. Lapis joined the gathering crowd and stared at the scene.
“I heard a great bishop came here on a pilgrimage from the Vabel State*.”
(TN: So Vabel is actually called ヴァベル教国 in Japanese. It literally means "Vabel Religion Country". According to the map in Vol 2 it's located in the Frezier Empire so it's basically like Vatican City. I'll just translate it as Vabel for now.)
“Oh really…”
The bishop at the head, wearing a bishop’s mitre*, glanced in our direction.
(TN: A mitre is a hat a bishop wears. Think of the pope's hat.)
For a moment, I felt like our eyes met through the veil that hung from his mitre…
“Makia, I think there’s a staircase going up.”
“Ah, yeah!”
Lapis called out to us, and we went up to the roof from the stairs right next to the cathedral.
We had to pay a small fee to get up there, but…
“Uwaaaah…”
This was a good place to see the statues on the cathedral’s spires, as well as the carvings on the pillars and arches, up close.
We could see Miladriede Castle and the distant mountains.
On the roof, there was a boy from Lune Ruschia lying on an installed bench.
“We're sorry to disturb you when you’re sleeping so soundly, but could we have a minute?”
“Nnnagh?”
It was just like Frey Levi to even wear an eye mask and take a nap.
When I called out to him, he took off his eye mask and yawned as he got up.
And then he took one look at us and said,
“Oh....what’s this? A confession!?”
“I’m not sure if it’s a confession, or scouting.”
“Aw, sorry. I have a rule of only taking up the offers of older women. Anyways, you guys kept chasing me. It was annoying, so I kept shaking you off though.”
Frey Levi said, and then flopped down again. We looked at each other.
“We’re recruiting team members. You still don’t belong to one, right?”
At Nero’s frank words, Frey Levi, still laying down, only directed his eyes towards him.
“Oh--. I thought I’ve seen you somewhere. You’re my silent roommate, aren’t you?”
He finally noticed his roommate, Nero.
“Oh, I see. The first year’s team decision. But it’s such a pain~.”
This guy was idling about like a little kid…
“Are you not planning to advance?”
“Nope, not at all. I won’t have a good life even if I graduate. I’m fine with being a freshman forever. Besides, I’m not interested in younger women.”
Frey Levi looked at Lapis and me and let out a big sigh.
Seeing him like this actually convinced us that it would be okay to include him in our team.
“That’s fortunate. Also, did you notice the contradiction in the words you spoke? If you say you’re fine with being a freshman forever, then that means that one day even the fourth-year seniors will be younger than you.”
“Ah…”
He looked like he realized that just now. So, this man was...an idiot?
“You’ll be assigned to a team in a month anyway. You’ll be put together with the leftovers. So what does it matter, right?”
“What’s the benefit of me joining your team?”
“We’ll always be aiming for number one. That’s to say, you’ll be able to get good grades!”
When I said that with a triumphant look on my face, Frey Levi looked plainly uninterested and turned over.
“I’m not aimin’ for that. Being number one means standing out. I don’t wanna stand out.”
“...Why?”
“You’re so noisy. It’s cuz there’s people who would be bothered if I stood out.”
“You’re standing out in a bad way even now, though,” Nero muttered.
“Ah, geez, you guys are so annoying. Go away.”
As expected, it seemed that he was beginning to get annoyed, and we felt that there was no use saying anything more, and were about to leave. But I didn’t want to give up on Frey Levi, so I turned around and asked him something.
“Just out of curiosity, but what are the favorable terms for you?”
“Ah, a woman who’s without a doubt older than me.”
Something difficult for a first-year team…
“What kind of older woman, for instance?”
“Ah...there’s a senior I’m going after, but I doubt lowly first-years like you would be useful.”
“Her name?”
“It’s Senior Nagie Medite. She’s the head of the girls’ dorm, so you know her, right? She seems like she’s a flower on a high peak and not easy to deal with, but it’s that kind of thing that tickles the curiosity of an older lady killer.”
“Ooooh,” I said, and gave a big nod.
“Big Sis Nagi certainly is a wonderful girl who’s easygoing and reliable.”
“Oh, you get it then.”
Frey Levi got up energetically. I secretly gloated.
“Actually, I’m Senior Nagie’s cousin.”
“...Cousin?”
Frey Levi rudely muttered, “You don’t look like her at all.” And I, being me, told him this bluntly.
“I don’t think Big Sis Nagi has any interest in frivolous men.”
Big Sis Nagi was a reliable senior who led the girls’ dormitory, but apparently recently, an older male royal magician had toyed with her heart...I heard her declare boldly that she would never be fooled by men again.
Thinking about it, a frivolous playboy like Frey Levi might be completely out of the question.
“But, there might be some hope for an obedient, serious, and gallant younger man.”
Frey Levi made a complicated expression that was half interest, half caution.
He sat cross-legged and began to listen to me earnestly.
“The only thing there is to do now is to get results from the Potions field trip. Big Sis Nagi is the daughter of the Medite family. She would probably hate men who don’t properly show up to the herb collecting field training.”
“Kuh...you’re trying to take me in with that.”
“It’s a rare opportunity, so why not get taken in? I’ve got a special role for you.”
“Role?”
“Big Sis Nagi asked me to make her an elderflower herb cordial. I’ll have you deliver it to her this time. If you say that you were asked to do it by me, who is in the same team as you, that would at least give you something to talk about, wouldn’t it?”
“...”
Perhaps that was effective, because after a long sigh, Frey said,
“Haa...okay, okay. Then, I’ll join your team on that condition. In return, make sure to tell Senior Nagie about my heroic figure during the field trip.”
“What’s a ‘heroic figure during the field trip’?”
“Haaa? Let me tell you something. You’ll regret it if you underestimate field training just because it’s the first one. Lune Ruschia’s teachers don’t go easy on anyone. They've set up a lot of traps.”
“...”
“But I’m not worried, because I’ve been through it once last year.”
He was awfully proud for someone who had to repeat a year. But it was actually reassuring to have a team member who experienced the field training once. I knew we couldn’t let this guy get away.
“All right. I will do my best to fulfill your wishes. You should use us and show your cool side to Big Sis Nagi. ...No matter what the results are.”
“I’m an older lady killer. The results can be clearly seen. I just didn’t have the opportunity.”
“Yes yes. Well, even if you aren’t interested in us, your teammates, remember our names at least. I’m Makia O’Drielle. This is Lapis Twilight. And over here is your roommate, Nero Pachelbel. We’ll be applying as a four-person team at once.”
“Who’s the team leader?”
“Pardon? Team leader?”
“It’s the rule for a team leader to be chosen when you apply. I don’t want that bothersome role.”
And then, Frey threw himself down again. Lapis, Nero and I looked at each other.
Lapis and Nero both shook their heads at the same time.
“...It can’t be helped, huh. Okay, I’ll be the team leader.”
Thank you for the chapter
ReplyDeleteOhh... A team full of misfits. This novel is surprisingly interesting.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this chapter!!