The Bat Lord

Five days had passed since Frieda Blanke came to stay with House Albright.

Awaking before sunrise, Frieda slipped out of bed and stood by the window in her nightclothes.

After she had waited there for a while, a bat flew in from somewhere. It was a large bat, about the size of a cat.

When the bat approached the window of Frieda's room, it gently dropped the letter clutched in its feet onto the windowsill.

"Thank you again today."

When Frieda spoke to it, the bat gave a single sharp squeak, as though it understood human speech, and flew away.

Frieda unfolded the letter the bat had delivered.

Written in slightly peculiar handwriting, it contained a brief message.

'The shadow behind the bookshelf in the storage room on the second floor is the perfect hiding place. If Baba-sama bullies you, you should hide here.'

Frieda turned the letter over, but there was no addressee or sender written on it.

She had a pretty good idea who the sender was, but for now she called them 〈Bat Lord〉.

Letters from the 〈Bat Lord〉 had arrived every single day since the day after Frieda began staying at the mansion.

Some days brought only a letter like today's, while on others, an amulet or medicine was enclosed as well.

Just yesterday, an ointment had been enclosed with a message that read, 'Use this if you are cursed with athlete's foot.'

So far, Adeline had not bullied Frieda, and Frieda had not been cursed with athlete's foot, either.

The 〈Bat Lord〉's concern was completely misplaced, but this misguided thoughtfulness was rather endearing, so Frieda smiled faintly and put the letter away in her trinket box.

＊　＊　＊

Since she had been told to do as she pleased during her stay, Frieda had spent every spare moment over the past few days cleaning the mansion.

House Albright had servants who cleaned, and the mansion was kept spotless every day, but there was always more cleaning to be done if one felt like doing it.

Frieda was good at cleaning. Back in Valmberg, they had been unable to hire servants for the task, so Frieda had taken the lead herself.

Cleaning was not quite a hobby, but she liked it well enough. Best of all, the results were visible.

When Frieda had first asked Mick where the cleaning supplies were, he had given her a strange look, but he had not tried to stop her from cleaning.

Apparently, the servants of House Albright had a policy of doing no more than their wages required and not meddling in anything. Their ability to draw such clear boundaries was rather likable.

Today, as usual, Frieda wore an apron over her dress and walked through House Albright's halls with cleaning supplies in hand.

Her destination today was the storage room on the second floor.

She had already checked with Mick whether she was allowed to clean it. Mick had given his permission without a second thought, saying, "Go right ahead."

According to the 〈Bat Lord〉, the storage room on the second floor was the perfect hiding place.

When Frieda went there, she found it overflowing with belongings, making it seem like an ideal place to hide. It had also accumulated a decent layer of dust.

(This looks like it will be quite satisfying to clean.)

Frieda looked around the storage room, wondering where she should begin.

The wall immediately to the right of the entrance was lined with wooden crates stuffed haphazardly with dolls, bundles of what appeared to be hair, old clothes, and other things. Nearly everything looked so ominous that she felt she might be cursed just by touching it.

Several shelves stood along the left wall, including a bookshelf. This was apparently the hiding place recommended by the 〈Bat Lord〉.

(It looks like a perfect place for a child to hide.)

Perhaps the 〈Bat Lord〉 had used it to hide from his grandmother when he was young.

As she wondered about that, Frieda approached the bookshelf and reached for a book on a whim.

The books packed tightly onto the shelves were all magic books or books on curse magic. Frieda could not understand them at all, even after flipping through a few pages.

Having decided to air the books out on a sunny day, Frieda put one back on the shelf. Then she noticed a thin, string-bound book wedged between the thick volumes.

It was clearly different from the other books.

Wondering whether it might be some sort of research notebook, Frieda opened the cover.

'A silent wind blew, stirring the leaves without a sound

Beneath the shifting sunlight filtering through the leaves, a lady's brooch reflected the light

I watched the lady's pale, slender hand softly trace the brooch, sparkling like a star in the sunlight

Ah, if I were a jewel, would those fingers have loved me...?'

"............"

It appeared to be a handwritten poetry collection.

The handwriting was slightly peculiar. Frieda recognized it as handwriting she'd seen only recently.

As Frieda silently continued reading the poetry collection, the storage-room door creaked open.

"Oh my, you really are cleaning."

Blocking the doorway with her bulky frame and looking in at Frieda was Adeline.

Her heavily made-up face wore a broad, amused grin.

"Did you find anything interesting?"

"Yes, fairly interesting."

Frieda nodded without shrinking back and returned the notebook to its original place.

It had been several days since Frieda had seen Adeline. After greeting her on the first day, Frieda had not encountered her once.

...And yet, she had always felt eyes on her.

Adeline was observing Frieda.

Why was she observing her? Even if Frieda asked, Adeline would probably only play dumb.

So Frieda chose her words carefully and asked instead.

"Why did you choose me as Lord Albright's fiancée?"

"It was harassment. Nothing more, nothing less. You poor thing, getting dragged into it. Kihihihi."

Who was that harassment meant for? Her grandson, Ray Albright, or perhaps...?

"Did you have some history with my grandfather?"

"Did that man tell you that?"

"I don't know the details. He kept saying that curse mages were terrifying."

At once, Adeline lifted her sagging chin, leaned back, and began laughing. "Kiiii-hihihihi!"

She laughed as though it were the most delightful thing in the world.

"So he did, so he did! The 〈War Wolf of Valmberg〉, no less! That's enough to make any curse mage's day!"

The War Wolf of Valmberg—the key figure in the war fifty years ago. What sort of history did her famed, courageous grandfather share with this curse mage?

As Frieda wondered about that, Adeline came lumbering toward her.

Frieda was quite tall for a woman, so Adeline had to crane her neck to look up at her face.

The pink eyes reflecting Frieda's image gleamed with an eerie intensity.

"You resemble that man, you know. Those eyes... They're a wolf's eyes. Kihihi, plucking them out and keeping them wouldn't be bad."

Any timid person would have trembled at the old woman's words, but Frieda replied with a perfectly straight face.

"That sounds difficult to maintain."

"............"

Adeline lowered her purple-painted eyelids and glared sullenly at Frieda.

"What an uncharming girl. You don't even complain about your situation."

"Complaints? Of course I have some."

Frieda voiced the complaint she had been carrying with her constantly over the past few days.

"It's lonely eating alone. Would you join me?"

Adeline opened her pink eyes wide and slowly studied Frieda's face as though licking it with her gaze.

"You don't look like you feel lonely in the slightest."

"I do. In Valmberg, we all used to eat together before my older brother, grandfather, and younger brothers went into service. I prefer a lively table."

Adeline fell silent, seemingly taken aback by Frieda's words, but eventually snorted.

"Wanting to eat while looking at the face of an old hag like me is quite a peculiar taste. Very well. From today onward, you may eat while looking at this appetite-killing old hag's face."

"Rest assured. My own old geezer... I mean, my grandfather, is no less off-putting."

Frieda's grandfather was an incorrigible old man who launched into bloody tales about enemy generals' heads during meals. Sometimes he even took off his clothes to show off his old wounds.

Having grown up eating with that grandfather, Frieda was confident that it would take more than that to ruin her appetite.

When Frieda stated this matter-of-factly, Adeline clutched her stomach and burst into raucous laughter.

＊　＊　＊

"Ah... What should I write in today's letter...? What else should I tell her to watch out for with Baba-sama...? Yes... That's it..."

In the 〈Jade Room〉 of Ridill's royal castle, Ray Albright, the 〈Abyssal Curse Mage〉, muttered to himself as he wrote a letter.

After agonizing over it for a long while, the message he finally wrote on the stationery was a short one.

'When Baba-sama is in a bad mood, you can cheer her up with raisin cake.'

When Ray nodded with satisfaction, a voice came from behind him.

"I know, I know! Raisin cake is delicious, right? My grandmother likes it too! By the way, I recommend the kind from a shop called Oldrich..."

Ray let out a shriek and spun around to see Raul, another of the Seven Sages. Apparently, Raul had been peeking over his shoulder at the letter.

Ray glared at Raul resentfully.

"...H-how tactless can you be, looking at someone else's letter without permission...? You probably think being handsome lets you get away with anything, don't you? You do, don't you? May you be cursed... Be cursed..."

"Ahahaha, sorry, sorry. By the way, you've been writing a letter every day lately, haven't you? Is it for your fiancée?"

"I-it doesn't matter what it's for..."

When Ray quickly hid the stationery behind his arm, Raul sat down beside him as naturally as could be.

Ray rolled his pink eyes and glared at Raul, who grinned broadly, showing his white teeth.

"Hey, Ray, listen to this! I came up with a plan to help you get close to your fiancée!"

"...I have a bad feeling about this... It definitely has to be something awful..."

"There's going to be a party at Mary-san's mansion next week!"

Mary Harvey, the 〈Star-Seer Witch〉 and one of the Seven Sages, was the daughter of a marquess and loved banquets. She regularly held tea parties and evening parties.

As another of the Seven Sages, Ray had received invitations to several of the parties Mary hosted. Naturally, he had never attended a single one.

"I got your fiancée invited, too!"

"...What?"

Raul patted the dumbfounded Ray on the shoulder with a cheerful smile.

Raul had probably meant it as a light pat, but Ray's frail body reeled from it alone.

"Meeting for the first time at a party is super romantic, right? Oh, that's right, Mary-san said she'd prepare your formal outfit, too! This is going to be fun!"

Mary Harvey, the 〈Star-Seer Witch〉, was a gentle person, but she was also famous for her love of beautiful boys.

Several beautiful boys with their knees showing served at Mary's mansion, waiting upon her.

──A formal outfit chosen by her! I can't imagine anything but a frilly blouse and shorts!

Ray buried his face in his hands with an expression as though he had witnessed the end of the world.

He absolutely did not want to go to a party. But this time, the 〈Star-Seer Witch〉 was working with Raul.

The 〈Star-Seer Witch〉 was a lady who, in her own way, gave young people no say in the matter—just like those martial old men, but for entirely different reasons.

(I-I don't think I can escape...!)

As Ray groaned that this was the worst and that he wanted to die, Raul smiled at him with an utterly carefree expression and said, "This is going to be fun!"