Maydare Volume 2 Chapter 5 - The Clown Incident (Part 2)

 I was reading Volume 4 over the weekend and I must say, this series gets really intense really quickly

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“Cough, cough…”

My body was freezing and my teeth were chattering, but I didn’t feel fear.

Because, this magic. This magical power...was his.

The black cloak flapped and enveloped me.

“Milady!”

The one who wrapped me in his cloak was a black-haired knight. It was Thor of the Order of the Royal Palace.

The clown put a distance between us when Thor appeared and shot countless numbers of familiar “mist blades” at us.

Thor swung his sword and jumped back, and only one blade he couldn’t defend himself against grazed his cheek.

In the meantime, the flying “mist blades” literally created mist, and the blue clown melted into it and disappeared.

“Thor…”

“Milady, are you unharmed!?”

Thor started at my voice and peered into my face with his brow furrowed, not caring about his own wound. I also looked up at him.

“Thor, why…”

You were supposed to be protecting Airi.

But Thor hugged me tightly. Tightly and warmly.

“I felt a strong burst of your magical power, milady. I was just flying overhead to patrol, and I was able to find you right away. ...Thank goodness. You’re weak to water, after all.”

I see. Because I forcibly broke the binding spell with the “secret trick”...

“You...know my magical power very well, huh.”

“Milady’s magical power is very easy to know. It’s flashy and dynamic. If I were to use a color metaphor, it would be a bright red. Even if I’m far away, I’ll always come running to you when you release your magic.”

“Ahahaha, what are you talking about?”

I laughed out loud without thinking.

“Even if you say it’s easy to know, it’s probably something only you would know, Thor.”

I was now relaxed enough to talk, so I sat up from leaning against Thor and adjusted my posture. And then, I took a deep breath.

“Thank you, Thor. It’s thanks to you coming here that I was saved.”

Thor looked a little bit relieved. He put his hand on his chest and lowered his head, so I stroked it. Thor didn’t react, though.

“At any rate, I wonder who that blue clown was. I got a very bad feeling from him.”

“...He might be the same criminal who attacked Lady Airi. The palace magician Master Eugene, who is advancing the investigation, says that there is a high possibility that the criminal is blessed by【Water】.”

Thor said matter-of-factly with a meek and obedient look on his face.

“Blessed by【Water】?”

“Yes. Apparently, those who are blessed by【Water】can turn part or all of their body into water. They can change their form into water or mist, deceiving the eyes of those around them and making it easy for them to escape. Also, they are very skilled at water magic.”

“...I see. Actually, when I was surrounded by the ball of water earlier, I felt a characteristic malice. It was the same feeling I felt from the mist blade that attacked Airi at the palace. It’s something like my intuition, though, so it’s not reliable.”

“If it’s coming from someone as sensitive to ‘water’ as milady, then I’m sure that intuition is reliable. It must be the same person.”

Indeed, if the reason why my hot constitution didn’t work was because that clown was blessed by【Water】, then I could strangely accept that.

“As a matter of fact, since milady is blessed by【Fire】and weak to【Water】magic, Lady Airi ordered that you be kept away from this matter.”

“Huh…? Is that so?”

I was surprised, but I also felt frustrated at the same time. 

To think that I was being protected by Airi, who I was supposed to be protecting.

Maybe Airi had stopped seeing me in order to keep me away from her.

Because I covered for her and got hurt.

The reason I felt so miserable and helpless was because I was so weak and useless.

I clenched my fists tightly.

“Milady, are you cold? Your clothes and hair are wet, and you were frozen in ice for a moment.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that! I’ll dry up in no time if I strained myself a little.”

As I was saying that, steam rose from my heat-generating body.

Mm, I was properly blessed by【Fire】. “As expected of milady,” Thor praised me, clapping his hands with a straight face.

“Milady~” “Milady~”

At that moment, my dwarf hamster spirits Popotarou and Donsuke came running up to me.

“Huh, why are you two here?”

“Milady dropped her basket, dechi.”

“We found it and came here, poyo.”

As Popotarou clapped his cheek pouches, Donsuke clapped his back to support him, and a basket that should have been impossible to fit into his little cheek pouches came out his mouth. What four-dimensional cheek pouches…

“You still love using that basket, don’t you, milady?”

“Of course. There’s nothing more convenient than this. My roommate Lapis once told me that this basket was made by that〈Black Demon King〉.”

Thor’s eyes widened slightly, and he quickly said, “Ho, that’s a surprise.”

“I have thought it was without a doubt a magical inheritance from the〈Scarlet Witch〉. The master said it was left to the O’Drielle family.”

“Me too. But you see that dragon’s claw mark over here? That’s what the〈Black Demon King〉engraves on his gifts. But putting that aside, you need to take care of that wound on your cheek. I hope it’s just a scratch.”

“Oh, this? It’s just a scratch. If it’s poisoned, I’ll know right away.”

“...Still, you have to treat it. It’s not bad for a man to have a scar on his face, but you should heal it if you can. I have our family’s Ribito Salve right here.”

I took Thor’s hand and led him out of the alleyway onto the main street.

It really has been a long time since I walked with Thor like this, pulling him by the hand like when we were kids.

Speaking of which...I wondered where that first villainous-looking man I ran into had gone.

“What’s wrong, milady?”

“Nothing! This way.”

Maybe he escaped with the clown, but the villainous-looking man’s obvious murderous intent was no longer there. 

What was the enemy’s purpose for attacking me?

In Miladriede during the evening, the bells of Diemo Cathedral resounded today as well.

We had just boarded a two-seater gondola that would take us through the canals.

It was a magical gondola for sightseeing, so there was no ferryman, and it would move on its own once you set a destination.

When I opened my basket and took out the bottle of Ribito Salve, I noticed the bundle.

A baked sweet wrapped with a thin ribbon. It was the salt apple thing I baked.

The moment Thor saw that, his color plainly changed.

“Is that a salt apple cake, by any chance!? The Deliafield favorite!?”

His eyes lit up like a little boy’s, and I could feel the surprise and joy in his voice. I was a little surprised.

“It certainly is salt apple cake. We used to eat it a lot when we were kids. I baked it just this morning. Want some?”

“Are you sure!?”

“Yes, of course. There...doesn’t seem to be anyone else who will eat it, after all.”

I didn’t tell him that I had actually baked it for Airi to eat.

Thor peeled off the wrapping from the cake, looked at the slice of cake closely, and then brought it to his mouth. He half-closed his eyes and savored it, as though he was nostalgic for the days at Deliafield.

“Aah… The taste of this simple flour, the butter that oozes out, and the perfect salty-sweetness of the salt apples. This is indeed the taste of Deliafield. It’s the taste of home.”

“Thor, you pretty much think of Deliafield as your hometown, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. That place is the place that I must return to…”

Thor raised his face slightly and stared at the distant sky beyond.

It was right in the direction of Deliafield. He might have searched the skies of his hometown many times since he came to the capital.”

“All right, stay like that. Don’t move.”

“Ah, yes.”

I lightly wiped the blood from the wound on Thor’s cheek with a clean handkerchief, then swiped some thick red Ribito Salve with my finger and lightly applied it to the wound, and then chanted an incantation to increase its effectiveness.

When Thor came to our house a long time ago, I used this salve to heal all the wounds on his body.

“Thor. When I saw you at the palace before, I saw a lot of scars on your back. You’ve always been ignorant of your wounds, but you must not neglect to take care of them.”

“Then from now on, milady, you should apply the salve and heal them. We’re both Guardians, after all.”

“Dummy. ...I can’t just casually touch you like I did when we were kids.”

“But then I’ll neglect my wounds unless you tell me not to. It’s always been that way, hasn’t it? And without your magic, milady, my wounds will surely heal very slowly.”

“What kind of far fetched logic is that?”

Was he teasing me, or was he serious? Thor was making an appeal to me in a strange way.

But maybe Thor really didn’t want to apply the salve to himself unless I nagged him about it.

Because he had gotten used to wounds and pain from his childhood enslavement…

“Okay. I understand. From now on, whenever you get hurt, come to me. I’ll heal you for a former lady’s price. Bring me something nice or a souvenir.”

“Oh, good thing I asked.”

Thor laughed with an impertinent look on his face. It was a bit like the exchanges we used to have, and I felt a little happy about it.

He tossed the last piece of salt apple cake into his mouth.

“Milady, your salt apple cake is a little sweeter than the ones Mistress makes, isn’t it?”

“It’s on purpose. I like sweet things. Or are you saying it doesn’t taste good?”

“No, it’s very delicious. I love sweets too. The food and cakes served at the palace taste too delicate for me to grasp. I really don’t understand the pistachio mousse.”

“Ahaha!” I couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh.

“It’s because we were only raised with countryside food.”

“I prefer that, though. Deliafield’s food makes my body happy.”

It was true that Thor didn’t really like luxurious and high-class things.

Our family was a baronial family, but we spent a lot of money on magical materials, so our daily living was quite simple.

“...Milady. I want to talk about something serious for a little bit.”

The atmosphere around Thor changed quickly into a tense one.

As the gondola was quietly pushing its way through the water and passed under a bridge, he chose that moment to begin to speak.

“It’s still unclear who that blue clown was or what he was after, but it’s likely that the Savior and Guardians are being targeted. But unlike the Savior, the Guardians aren’t protected by anyone, as it’s said that replacements can appear.”

I glanced up at Thor.

His brow was furrowed, and his fingers were tightly crossed on his knees from anxiety.

“Ever since you became a Guardian, I’ve been out of my mind with worry. How much better it would have been if I can always be by your side to protect you. We were very lucky this time, because I was free.”

...Free. I could sense all kinds of meanings in that word, and I couldn’t help but feel tears slowly welling up in my eyes.

“I’m sorry… I told you that I would become strong enough to not need you to protect me. But in the end, I had to be rescued by you and made you anxious.”

Crybaby Makia. This wasn’t a situation to be crying in, but I felt pathetic for my lack of strength.

Even though I promised when we were little that I would melt the “chains” that bound you.

“No...I just feel irritated that I can’t protect you first, milady.”

Thor took off his glove and wiped my tears.

Then, with his face close to mine, he told me in a whisper.

“Okay? Don’t do anything rash while I can’t be with you. There are so many terrible things in this world. Don’t do anything dangerous, and if there are people you can rely on at magic school, act together with them.”

Just as we finished passing under the bridge, we saw the harbor that was close to the magic school.

When we reached it, Thor got off first and reached out his hand to me.

I took his hand, which I trusted in absolutely, and got off the boat.

“Then, milady, I’ll see you later.”

“Yes. Farewell, Thor.”

I parted with Thor and then walked across the long bridge that connected the royal capital to the school island.

On the way, I looked back as the strong sea breeze swept my hair up.

Thor was no longer there.

I’m sure he went back to Airi.

It was only jealousy that made me think that the bond that the world set up between him and that girl was like a “chain” that bound Thor’s freedom. Yes. It was jealousy…

If the old me was with Thor, I would have nothing to fear in this world.

With an invincible look on my face, I felt like I could achieve anything I believed in.

But now, I had many things I was afraid of.

I was also afraid of the me who longed for Thor and was jealous of Airi. 

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