If It's the Golden Spiral, It Can't Be Helped (5)

The Auzaerhorn Palace, the closest palace to the royal castle of the Kingdom of Riddle, was the one most often used to house guests, and it had been chosen for Princess Tsetsilia's stay as well.

Princess Tsetsilia had already arrived at the palace and was currently resting to recover from the fatigue of her journey.

Once she had finished getting ready, she would have an audience with His Majesty the King and attend a banquet. Monica would greet Princess Tsetsilia after the princess had finished preparing herself.

With nothing to do until then, Monica walked through the gardens of Auzaerhorn Palace, checking for suspicious people or objects.

The spring garden was filled with beautiful flowers. Everywhere she looked was vivid with color and sweet fragrance.

In particular, this palace, where foreign guests stayed, also served as a place to showcase the Kingdom's technology and authority to other nations, so it contained many rare varieties of flowers.

At the roots of the roses planted beside the outer wall, magical formulas had been engraved. They had been set up by 〈Thorn Witch〉 Raul Roseberg, and formed a trap that caused rose vines to entangle anyone who stepped on them.

All the traps had been placed beside the outer wall, in flowerbeds sectioned off with bricks, so there was little chance of a guest accidentally stepping on one.

Among the Seven Sages, 〈Silent Witch〉 was taking the lead in this escort mission, while 〈Thorn Witch〉 and 〈Abyssal Curse Mage〉 were waiting at the castle to provide support.

〈Cannonball Mage〉's magic was far too powerful for escort duty, 〈Star-Seer Witch〉 was not suited for combat, and 〈Barrier Mage〉 was on vacation.

For that reason, the Seven Sages' Young Trio would be working together on this escort mission.

Naturally, the Royal Guard and the Magic Corps were also joining forces with the Seven Sages to handle security. An intruder would not only be unable to approach Princess Tsetsilia, but would not even be able to lay eyes on her.

(But apparently a lot of people oppose this marriage... I have to stay on my guard.)

As Monica reminded herself of this, a shrill scream came from the far end of the garden. It was the voice of a young girl.

"Eek—! What is this, what is this, whaaat is thiiis?! Help! Somebody!"

Monica hurried toward the voice. She found its owner almost immediately.

A young maid with black hair was tangled in vines hanging from the branch of a large oak tree, swinging back and forth.

It was the trap Raul had set in the tree after saying, "Only gardeners and intruders ever climb trees!"

The gardeners had been informed in advance about the traps placed around the garden, so the only person who should have been caught was a suspicious intruder who had climbed the tree. Why, then, was a maid caught in it?

(Could she be an intruder disguised as a maid...?! )

Monica steeled herself and called out with a sharp, serious expression.

"Um... are you an intruder?"

If Louis Miller had been there, he probably would have smacked her on the back of the head for that.

The maid, who had been swinging back and forth, noticed Monica and brightened at once. Her catlike eyes, reflecting Monica's image, were a light brown tinged with orange like the evening sky.

"Hey, hey! That carving on the outer wall over there! If you look closely, the decorative pattern is a golden spiral!"

The carving she pointed to was a spiral shell-like design on the outer wall.

If you drew a rectangle with sides in the golden ratio and removed the largest possible square from it, the remaining rectangle would also have sides in the golden ratio. If you repeated the process—removing the largest square, then the largest square from what remained—and connected the corners of those squares, you would create a spiral. That was the golden spiral.

While Monica was captivated by its beautiful design, the maid spoke with her feet swinging in the air.

"So I wanted to see it up close, and when I climbed the tree, the vines went slither-slither and then this happened."

The maid beamed at her innocently, leaving Monica at a loss as she took another look at her.

She looked to be somewhere in her mid-to-late teens. She was petite and slender, with black hair tied into a large bun at the back of her head and no hint of makeup.

Even so, tangled in vines and swinging back and forth, she looked like a cat that had gotten itself caught in a ball of yarn while playing a prank.

She was far too innocent to be an intruder. Also, her voice was very loud.

"Um... you're not an intruder, are you?"

"Nope! I'm Tsetsilia-sama's maid. Ah, well, maybe a low-ranking maid? Ladies-in-waiting are those nice young ladies from good families, right? I'm not from a good family or anything... Oh, but maybe I count as a lady-in-waiting this time? An official lady-in-waiting? A pretend lady-in-waiting? ...Oh, shoot! Important people told me not to say anything unnecessary. Whoops, whoops!"

As Monica stared in bewilderment, the self-proclaimed "pretend lady-in-waiting," who had been caught while admiring the golden spiral, smiled cheerfully at her.

"I'm Carina. Will you help me?"

The clothes Carina wore were the same as those worn by the Empire's maids. She did not appear to be carrying any weapons.

Even if Carina were an intruder and a mage, Monica, who could cast without chanting, would be able to make the first move.

A maid from another country climbing a tree was suspicious in the extreme, but...

(If it's the golden spiral, it can't be helped. Yeah.)

Monica accepted this with utmost seriousness, then used silent-casting magic to create a blade of wind and cut the vines. As Carina fell, Monica immediately caught her with a cushion of air.

Caught by the soft wind, Carina opened her catlike eyes wide.

"Wow! What is this, what is this, magic? But you didn't chant just now! Is it a magical tool? One of those magical tools? Oh, wait, is that wand a magical tool?"

With the quickness of a cat pouncing on something unusual, Carina closed the distance between them and stared intently at Monica's wand.

Even when Monica said, "Um... um..." Carina paid her no heed.

"Hmmmmmm, it doesn't look like the wand has a wind magic formula engraved on it? But it's amazing! This wand has three kinds of mana amplification and mana control assistance effects built into it! The wand itself has been reinforced like crazy with protective magic, so it's sturdier than some weapons! Oh, and the decorations are incredible too! This must be the work of a master craftsman, right? Wow, this is exciting!"

Not just anyone could see through the effects of Monica's wand at a glance.

As Monica grew wary and tensed up, Carina began circling around her. Apparently, she was examining Monica's robe.

"Hey, hey, that robe is cute too! I always imagined mage robes as being all baggy, but the silhouette of yours is really modern! Was it made by a young craftsman?"

"Um, this was... a friend remade it for me..."

"They've got some great skills!"

"...... Hehe."

Carina's praise of Lana eased Monica's wariness a little.

Carina restlessly moved her small body around, looking over the hem and decorations of Monica's robe while making excited noises like "Wow!" and "Whoa!"

"The embroidery is amazing too! Weaving magical formulas into gold and silver thread must be incredibly complicated, right? Embroidery isn't my area of expertise, but if Mr. Korvitz saw this, he might dance for joy!"

"...Mr. Korvitz?"

"Oh, he's someone I know. An old guy who loves embroidery and lace."

He seemed like someone who would get along well with the eccentric embroidery artisan, Mr. Pollock.

As Monica was thinking about this, Carina suddenly looked up and covered her mouth with one hand.

She looked around nervously, confirmed that there was no one else nearby, and patted her chest in relief.

When Monica looked at her in confusion, Carina grinned like a friendly cat.

"Hey, hey, my Riddle Kingdomese is pretty good, huh? I used to do business with foreign customers, so I'm good at it. But for this job, everyone keeps telling me, 'You're noisy, so don't say anything unnecessary. Pretend you don't understand the language.' So I kept completely silent the entire journey. Have I ever been this quiet in my entire life? That's how quiet I was. I was dying to chat with someone, just dying to chat..."

"U-uh-huh..."

"Oh, sorry, I was the only one talking. Come to think of it, I haven't asked your name yet, have I? What's your name?"

"...Monica Everette."

Most people who heard that name would realize that Monica was one of the Seven Sages, 〈Silent Witch〉.

Carina, however, merely smiled and said, "That's such a cute name!" Apparently, as someone from the Empire, she did not know the name of 〈Silent Witch〉.

As Monica wondered what she should do, Carina leaned in and peered at her face from point-blank range.

"Monica-chan, how old are you? I'm nineteen!"

"W-we're the same age..."

"The same age! Wow, you look young. Well, people tell me that too, but just the other day, someone said I looked sixteen. Maybe it's because I can't sit still? Ahahahaha! Still, it's amazing that you're going in and out of the palace at nineteen. Do you belong to the Magic Corps? You have such a nice wand and robe... Aha, I see! You're a promising young talent!"

Promising young talent or not, Monica was at the very top of the nation's mages.

Monica stammered, but nevertheless tried somehow to tell Carina that she was one of the Seven Sages.

Carina, however, must have been so desperate to talk that she continued speaking without waiting for Monica to finish.

"Hey, hey, while I'm staying here, would you be my conversation partner if you don't mind, Monica-chan? I only have one job, so I'm pretty bored. Please!"

"Y-yes."

When Monica nodded, swept along by Carina's momentum, Carina hopped up and down, crying, "Yaaay!" She looked much younger than Monica while doing so.

Her overflowing energy and friendly, somehow endearing nature reminded Monica of the ever-energetic nineteen-year-old Glen Dudley-kun.

If Glen was a large, friendly dog, then Carina was probably a cat that knew exactly how to win affection. As Monica thought this, she heard a middle-aged woman's voice calling Carina's name from the palace.

"Carina! Carina Barl! Where are you?"

There was unmistakable anger in the woman's voice.

Carina narrowed her eyes like a cat caught misbehaving and stuck out the tip of her tongue.

"Wow, Head Maid Call-san is calling me! I have to go. See you later, Monica-chan!"

With that, Carina flipped the hem of her apron and ran noisily back toward the palace.