Chapter 14
That evening, the Marquis of Hiohne returned home and received a report from the butler in the entrance hall.
Apparently, there were two guests staying the night. They were the 〈Thorn Witch〉 and the 〈Silent Witch〉, two of the Seven Sages who stood at the pinnacle of this country's magical world.
The Marquis of Hiohne had financed their joint research and provided the land, materials, and other things they needed. His son Cyril was generally responsible for managing and coordinating everything.
Cyril seemed to be acquainted with the two of them.
Apparently, they had met at the castle about two years ago, when the marquis took Cyril there for the New Year's ceremony. They must have found it easy to talk since they were close in age.
(Even so... Is this what parents feel when their son brings friends home for the first time?)
Of course, they were Seven Sages and professional associates. They had not come over to play, and they were staying the night only because their meeting about their joint research had run long.
In that case, he could not allow himself to get carried away... but would it really be so bad if he stopped by for tea and said, 'Thank you for always taking care of my son. By the way, what is my son usually like?'
As he pondered this while crossing the entrance hall, his son's voice rang out shrilly from the second floor.
"I told you it was time for dinner, Monica Everett! How long are you going to keep your nose in that book?! And put the books you've read back where they belong! How did you manage to scramble the order of the bookshelves this badly in such a short time?!"
"Eek, I-I'm sorry... The magic formulas in these books use a different method of development starting from Section Eleven..."
"Arrange the books alphabetically by author! Don't introduce some mysterious system! And Raul Roseberg! Wipe the dirt off before you come inside after going into the flower bed! More importantly, why do you go back into the flower bed after taking a bath?!"
"Because there's a flower bed there!"
"Another incomprehensible excuse... Clean up that mud before Father comes home!"
After silently staring up at the staircase for a while, the marquis's son came down from the second floor.
Cyril was dragging the mud-covered 〈Thorn Witch〉 with his left hand, while the 〈Silent Witch〉 walked beside him with a book in her right hand. When he noticed that the Marquis of Hiohne had returned home, he hurriedly straightened his posture on the landing.
"Welcome home, Father. Um, there were circumstances, and..."
As he looked up at his hesitant son, the Marquis of Hiohne thought:
This seemed like enough to permit him to get a little carried away.
＊ ＊ ＊
After the fierce battle with the giant pea, Monica ended up staying at the Ashley estate, where the servants settled her into a bath, washed off the mud, and changed her into one of Claudia's old dresses.
Since the lady of the Ashley household had died young and Claudia had married into another family, there was no mistress of the house. Perhaps for that reason, the servants were unusually enthusiastic at the chance to care for a woman again after so long.
The dress Monica had been put in was made of elegant blue velvet, with large pearls for ornamental buttons.
The dress's luxurious quality was one thing, but the mere fact that she was borrowing Claudia's clothes made Monica extremely nervous. She absolutely could not stain them.
At dinner, the Marquis of Hiohne said, "If you like, why don't you wear it home?" in a tone that made it impossible to tell how serious he was, but Monica politely declined.
After dinner, Monica held a review session with Cyril and Raul in the room they always used for meetings.
The points that needed reviewing today were obvious.
"Next time, I'll make sure not to mistake the decimal point!"
The man who had mixed up the fertilizer ratios was so cheerful that he did not seem to regret it in the slightest.
Cyril furrowed his brow and sighed.
"...Please do. And as for disposing of the remains of that pea and the roses..."
As Cyril began spreading out the documents, Raul pressed down on Cyril's hand with a stern expression.
"Hey, Cyril. I think there's something more important than that right now."
Cyril thought for a moment, then nodded.
"I see. The treatment of the magic-polluted land."
"No, I mean, since this is a sleepover, let's decide what we're going to play!"
A stabbing chill began emanating from Cyril.
Monica waved her hands around uselessly in a panic and looked at Raul.
Monica's gesture clearly meant, Cyril-sama is getting all cold and angry, but Raul winked at her with an expression that suggested he understood everything.
"Of course you're joining us too, Monica!"
Nothing had gotten through to him.
While Cyril radiated cold and Monica fretted, the quick-acting Raul Roseberg stood up at once, opened the door leading to the hallway, and called out to the servants.
"Hey! Excuse me! Do you have any board games or cards?!"
"Listen to what people are saying! There's no way this house has any such thing..."
"Of course it does."
The person who appeared soundlessly from behind the door was none other than the master of the house himself, the Marquis of Hiohne.
His startling manner of appearing was remarkably similar to his daughter Claudia's.
As Monica and Cyril stared in shock, the Marquis of Hiohne looked from one to the next. His intelligent gaze seemed capable of seeing straight through them.
"Do you have anything in mind?"
In response to the Marquis of Hiohne's weighty question, Raul scratched his head and answered in his usual manner.
"Hmm, actually, I'm not very familiar with that kind of game... Oh, Cyril, what do you usually play? If you have any recommendations, tell me!"
Raul had proposed playing a game himself, then announced that he was not familiar with such things before turning to Cyril.
Normally, Cyril would have snapped at Raul for that, but at the moment he looked terribly troubled.
"...No, I..."
His sharply arched, spirited eyebrows drooped, and his gaze wandered around his feet.
Then Cyril rolled the words around in his mouth and muttered,
"...Father said we mustn't play such lowbrow things..."
The mutter, sounding almost like he was talking to himself, was broken and difficult to hear.
The Marquis of Hiohne looked at Cyril and opened his mouth without changing expression.
"Board games are a historical treasure of humanity. As it happens, I was president of the board game club when I was a student. I actually have quite a collection. Would you be interested?"
At the Marquis of Hiohne's words, Cyril looked up with a start.
"I would very much like to see them, Father!"
For some reason, Cyril's solemn face looked relieved, as though someone had just extended a helping hand to him.
＊ ＊ ＊
Once they decided to play a game with the Marquis of Hiohne as well, Monica became the one with the biggest problem.
Monica was exceptionally good at calculations, so she would usually win far too easily at games that involved memorizing numbers or calculating probabilities.
When Monica apologetically explained this, the Marquis of Hiohne nodded once and spread a board game across the table.
"In that case, something involving an element of luck would be best. Let us start with a simple game so we can get used to how it works."
The game the Marquis of Hiohne recommended involved moving one's piece solely according to the number rolled on the die, with the first person to reach the goal winning. It had no strategic element at all. There was almost no room for Monica's calculations to come into play.
It was a simple game even a child could play, but Monica found it fascinating that tiny stories were written in fine print on the spaces across the board.
You advanced two spaces because you bought a horse, or lost one turn because you got sick.
The game pieces were their avatars, and they encountered little stories on the board. It was a fresh experience.
"I'll use this piece. Here, Cyril, you get this blue one."
"Stop moving things around on your own! Listen to Father's explanation first..."
While grumbling about the carefree Raul, Cyril examined the piece he had been given with surprising seriousness.
Monica accepted an orange piece from Raul and awkwardly placed it on the first space.
"I'm looking forward to it."
When Monica spoke in a small voice, the Marquis of Hiohne nodded with a dignified expression and placed a black piece on the board.
"In the sense that one can vicariously experience a life different from one's own, this game might be similar to reading."
The Marquis of Hiohne's voice had such depth that anyone who heard it could not help but think, "I see."
Beside Monica, Cyril nodded with an awed expression, clearly thinking, "I see. As expected of you, Father."
"At times, the outcome may not go as one wishes. But that, too, is life."
"Yes, Father. I will take your words to heart and face this game with all my strength."
The Marquis of Hiohne's eyes softened slightly at Cyril's thoroughly serious, one-track declaration.
"Yes. A game one plays in earnest can be a great deal of fun."
＊ ＊ ＊
And so, Monica's simulated life began...
"Um, I rolled a three... 'I forgot my wallet, so go back four spaces'... Whyyyyyy? I forgot my wallet last time toooo!"
She kept forgetting her wallet, going back for it, then forgetting it again and going back once more. This was the third time.
Raul, who had already reached the goal in first place, said with an expression more serious than any he showed even during meetings of the Seven Sages,
"This Monica must have forgotten her wallet, gone back home to get it, become absorbed in something else, and then gone out again without taking her wallet."
"Ugh... I could totally do that..."
While Monica held her head in her hands, Cyril rolled the die.
The result was a one. He had been rolling unusually low numbers for a while now.
"'You fell off a horse and lose one turn'... Didn't I just get kicked by a horse and lose a turn? Why did I get on a horse in the first place?!"
Raul was in first place and the Marquis of Hiohne was already at the goal in second, while Monica and Cyril were competing for last place.
However, the two of them had rolled such absurdly low numbers that they had not even made it halfway across the board.
Monica kept forgetting her wallet over and over, while Cyril was being tormented by one horse-related misfortune after another.
Cyril had to lose a turn, so it was Monica's turn next.
Monica wanted to go out with her wallet for once, so she gripped the die tightly and rolled it with a spirited "Hiyah!" The result was a two.
"Um, 'Go out with a friend. Advance one space.' ... Hee hee."
Imagining herself going out with Lana, Monica felt a little happy as she skipped over Cyril, who was losing a turn, and rolled the die again.
The result was a one.
The space she landed on read, 'I forgot my wallet, so go back four spaces.'
Raul patted Monica on the shoulder.
"You went out with your friend, but forgot your wallet again!"
"Take my wallet with me! Meeeee...!"
In her mind, Lana was glaring at Monica with her hands on her hips and an exasperated, "Oh, come on!"
While Monica covered her face with both hands and sobbed, Cyril picked up the die.
"This time... This time..."
Cyril rolled the die with eyes that were slightly bloodshot.
The result was a six. It was the first time Cyril had rolled a number of four or higher, and he cried out, "Yes!" as he cheerfully moved his piece past Monica's...
"'You fell into a pit and lose one turn'...?"
"Cyril, don't you have an awful lot of bad luck?"
"Why...? What have I done...?"
Beside Cyril, who was muttering to himself, Monica gripped the die tightly.
This time, she would take her wallet and go out with Lana.
(Wallet, wallet, wallet, make sure I take it with me when I go out...!)
Imagining herself putting her wallet into her bag, Monica rolled the die.
The result was a five. She had finally escaped the endless cycle of going back to retrieve her wallet... but she had landed on the same space as Cyril.
In other words, 'You fell into a pit and lose one turn.'
"Oh no, Monica fell on top of Cyril! Cyril is definitely getting crushed!"
"I'm so sorry, Cyril-samaaaaa!"
"I'm not crushed! I can catch someone as small as you, Monica!"
Cyril's face turned red as he shouted, and Raul moved his own piece, which had reached the goal, beside Cyril and Monica's pieces.
"Hang in there, you two! I'll come rescue you right now!"
"Enough! Don't start some ridiculous little act! Stay quietly at the goal! I'll reach the goal this time... Ggh, another one..."
Cyril moved his piece one space, then stared wide-eyed at the words on the board. His face went pale with despair.
"'The carriage you were riding in ran wild. Return to the start'... After coming this far, I have to return to the start...?"
Cyril covered his face with both hands and hung his head like a philosopher agonizing over life.
"...I cannot see the end point of my life."
Raul burst out laughing.
＊ ＊ ＊
As he watched the fierce battle for last place, the Marquis of Hiohne silently toyed with his mustache.
Apparently, there was no need for him to ask, 'So, what is my son usually like?' The answer was obvious from this lively exchange.
(He's made some good friends.)
In the direction of the marquis's gaze, the 〈Silent Witch〉 had reached the goal in third place, while Cyril continued rolling the die in earnest, still determined to reach the goal.