The Lazy Swordmaster

The rising raindrops was a combined effort by Riley’s slow magic and Nainiae’s gravity magic.

‘That’s enough.’

It was at the top of a clock tower.

“Phew…”

Unlike Riley, Nainiae didn’t have as much mana, so she was at a place that would be optimal for using the gravity magic. She slowly took a deep breath.

‘Slowly, slowly.’

With a calm face, she closed her eyes and faced the wind at top of the clock tower. Her hands were exuding steady gray light much like the color of the storm clouds.

‘I must not be negligent in focusing on either side… Slowly, steadily, smoothly… maintaining this…’

She was using the gravity magic with her right hand and cleansing magic with her left hand.

Nainiae, who was using both magic at the same time, furrowed her brows slightly. It seemed there was a problem.

‘Kuk, at this rate…’

Water was obviously going to be harder to clean than to spoil.

‘At this rate, my mana will be depleted.’

Nainiae calculated the amount of mana left and compared it to the amount of water left to be cleansed. She realized it won’t work like this, so she changed the spell.

‘I should gently push the rotten clouds away.’

Both mana and time were at critical point. Like a surgeon, Nainiae’s face was covered in sweats.

‘Focus.’

Nainiae quickly cancelled the cleansing magic on her left hand and immediately used wind magic.

“… Kup.”

It seemed she overexerted herself. A stream of black blood started to flow from her lips and drop below her chin.

‘Did it work?’

The raindrops, which became lighter from gravity magic, started to get carried away by her wind magic.

‘It’s working.’

Nainiae didn’t even think about wiping off the blood flowing on her face. She smiled as she looked at the polluted rain being carried away to the distance.

‘It worked.’

The polluted rain was going to cause a huge casualty, but it was now moving far away from Rainfield. Relieved, Nainiae sighed.

“Ha…”

On top of the clock tower, dizziness suddenly overcame Nainiae. Her legs started to falter, and the rainfall and wind started again after the gravity magic was canceled.

‘I’m glad it turned out well.’

She was having difficulty standing. She struggled to stand and grabbed the lightning pole to support herself.

“Wow…”

“It’s amazing…”

Boom.

Boom.

She could hear the cheering crowd from below, and she could see the firework lighting the sky. Nainiae vacantly stared at the scenery in front of her.

“…”

From the tall clock tower, she could see the waterfall pathway down below.

There were people watching the fireworks.

“… I save them.”

Nainiae looked at the people watching the fireworks. She smiled proudly and mumbled,

“I save them…”

There were people that Riley and Nainiae saved.

They were alive.

“I managed to save them.”

Nainiae watched the people enjoying the beautiful scenery. To Nainiae, who came to Rainfield for the first time to see the fireworks, it was the most beautiful grand scenery.

* * *

The flipping sound of newspaper was like in response to the sound of rainfall from outside.

[Slowed rainfall was observed in Rainfield. A phenomenon like this was the first in the history. Meteorologists and mana experts wondered if a dragon, which is only rumored to exist, passed by the city. The opinions were divided.]

Flip

The newspaper was turned to the next page.

[Also, the slowed rainfall started to rise up, which was a remarkable phenomenon. Combined with fireworks, it created the most beautiful scenery in the Rainfield’s waterfall pathway firework history. This became a big news.]

The boy was vacantly reading the newspaper.

“… Hm.”

Meanwhile, a maid carefully prepared a tea for the boy so she wouldn’t get in his way. She carefully set the tea cup down and said,

“Young Master, here…”

“Oh, leave it there.”

The boy didn’t even bother to turn to look at the maid wearing a mask. He checked the news.

[The story is that the dark mage that appeared in the library recently was still not apprehended. The families of the victims, infuriated, confronted the guards, and this lead to injuries to people. The authorities involved in the investigation said they will quickly find his trace and apprehend him. However, the families of the victims didn’t seem to be believing them.]

Nainiae’s voice could be heard from a close range.

“… So, in the end, it looks like the official story is that the dark mage was not caught.”

Having heard the voice, Riley looked at the maid’s face and furrowed his brows.

“Don’t talk to me from the side so close.”

“M… My apologies.”

Nainiae was reading the newspaper from Riley’s shoulder. She stepped back, lowered her head and begged for pardon.

“Anyway, judging from the news, Basilisk is keeping his mouth shut.”

Riley folded the newspaper and smiled. Nainiae scratched her cheek and mumbled,

“Personally… I wish you got credited for the fact that you defeated the dark mage and saved the people in Rainfield. Just like how it was in Solia.”

Riley didn’t miss what Nainiae mumbled in a quiet voice. Appearing to be feeling unpleasant, he looked at her.

“Are you becoming like Ian now?”

“No, that’s not it. I just… It felt great when I realized I saved people. I was proud too.”

Feeling Riley’s stare, Nainiae avoided Riley’s gaze. Fiddling with her index fingers, she mumbled in even smaller voice,

“I wish you could feel it too.”

“…”

It seemed she struck a chord in Riley. Riley narrowed his eyes and looked at Nainiae. Nainiae pursed her lips.

“Come here for a second.”

Riley slowly raised his hand and cracked his wrist.

Looking at his hand gesture calling for her, Nainiae shriveled her shoulders and stepped toward him.

“…”

‘Is he going to scold me?’

She thought about what she did earlier and realized she overstepped the bound and ran her mouth. Nainiae was looking rather down.

‘Still…’

Nainiae went next to Riley who was sitting comfortably on sofa. Riley bent his wrist to gesture Nainiae to lower her head. Nainiae carefully lowered her body.

‘Not being acknowledged by young master is… Looks like I’ll be getting another knock on the head and told to stop lecturing him.’

Thinking that, Nainiae closed her eye tightly as she noticed Riley’s hand coming toward her forehead.

“…?”

Nainiae, who was prepared for a gentle knock on her forehead, felt Riley’s palm on her head instead.

“Young Master?”

Nainiae opened her eye and vacantly stared at Riley’s face.

“I don’t think I told you this.”

“… What are you…”

“You have done a good work.”

“…”

Riley was patting Nainiae’s head and praising her. Nainiae vacantly opened her mouth.

“How was that? Do you feel proud?”

“…”

She blushed a little. Lowering her chin, she said in a tiny voice,

“Yes…”

“Just keep doing as you have been.”

Nainiae looked overjoyed, and that gave Riley vicarious satisfaction. He turned his gaze away from Nainiae and mumbled, 

“Anyway, I got to enjoy the vacation afterwards… I’m satisfied with that.”

Riley disposed of the dark mage that was causing annoyance like a flying insect, and since then, Riley had been enjoying sweet vacation in Rainfield.

“From time to time, I got to have you learn about the world too… It will make my life easier as well from now on.”

Riley swung his leg a little. He had a bitter look on his face, but he changed it and looked at Nainiae with a mischievous look.

“That’s right, right?”

Nainiae thought about the number of books she read while in Rainfield. She blushed and lowered her head deeply.

“… Yes.”

She read about twice more books than Riley had.

“Should I praise you again?”

“… No.”

She was here to serve Riley, but it felt like she enjoyed the vacation more than he had. It seemed like she was ashamed to face Riley.

“Well then, okay.”

Nainiae looked down. Riley smiled and leaned on the sofa’s back support. He closed his eyes.

“Huuuaaaam.”

Listening to the sound of the rain as lullaby, Riley blinked slowly. He suddenly mumbled,

“Now that I think about it, it is about time we went back.”

“Although we saved time with Mr. Andal’s teleportation, it has been a while since we came here. Soon… it will be autumn.”

Nainiae smiled lightly and said it.

Riley thought about home and asked,

“I guess everyone would be worried, right?”

Having heard the question, Nainiae opened her eye wide as if she was forgetting something.

“… Ah.”

“…?”

Nainiae was just standing there with a blank look on her face. It was afternoon nap time for Riley. He was blinking his eyes from sleepiness. He had a question mark on his face as he asked,

“… What is it?”

“Young Master.”

“What?”

“We… have something we had been forgetting about, don’t you think?”

“Something we had been forgetting about?”

Riley looked up the ceiling and thought about what he could have forgotten. He tilted his head side to side and rolled his brain.

“Um.”

If she was talking about the dark mage, Riley turned the corpse to dust, so that couldn’t be it.

“Um.”

‘Is there a book that I missed?’ Is there a food that I missed? In Rainfield… in Rainfield…’

“No, I can’t think of anything?”

All questions returned the same answer, no.

“Just what is it? Why are you saying it with such a serious face? If it is something trivial, handle it yourself, ok?”

Frustrated, Riley demanded an answer.

Not knowing what to do, thinking she made a mistake, Nainiae cringed and said

“About that…”

“About that what?”

Riley asked her to hurry up.

Almost in tears, Nainiae said,

“… We didn’t do it.”

“Didn’t do what?”

“Contacting them.”

“…?”

“About that, to the mansion… We never contacted the mansion ever since we arrived at the Rainfield.”

“…”

Riley’s mouth opened on its own.

It was because what Nainiae was saying was correct.

He couldn’t recall a time when he contacted the mansion.

“You really didn’t?”

“… That’s right.”

“Not even once?”

“… That’s right.”

“…”

Riley fell to silence. Nainiae injected mana into her leather bracelet and brought out a small mirror.

“It’s this.”

It was a hand mirror that she had gate magic installed before leaving to Rainfield.

It allowed face to face communication from a long distance.

“How do I use it?”

Riley asked, and Nainiae asked back almost in tears.

“What should we do?”

“… T… To begin with, it is your fault that you didn’t contact them!”

Riley thought he was not at fault for this. With his face full of panic, he pointed at Nainiae.

“I... I beg your pardon.”

Nainiae bit her lips hard and lowered her head.

“I’m sorry, Young Master.”

Of course, it could not be said that Riley was blameless on this one. However, Nainiae was thinking it was all her fault.

Looking at Nainiae apologizing sincerely, it was stabbing Riley’s conscious. He made a strange sound and shook his shoulder.

‘… Riley? What are you doing?’

“Ugh!?”

From behind Nainiae, he thought he saw his mother’s face.

“… Ah, no, it is fine.”

Riley gulped big time and stopped scolding Nainiae. He reached for the hand mirror.

It wasn’t that he was scared of his mother.

It was just that there wasn’t going to be answer for this problem even if he talked to her.

“T… this. How do I use this?”

Riley’s voice was shaking without him realizing it. Riley asked Nainiae about how to use the mirror.

“I’ll give you a signal when you open the mirror. When I used the magic and the other side opens the mirror as well, you can have a face-to-face communication through the mirror. Please wait for a moment. Young Master, you are sweating…”

He was about to do a face-to-face chat with his mother through the mirror, and it had been months since he saw her last time. If he looked ill, that would not have led to a good conversation.

“I… is it all right now?”

Nainiae, who wiped off the sweat from Riley, nodded and raised her hand.

“Yes… I… I’ll cast the magic.”

Nainiae was nervous just like Riley. She cast the gate magic to the mirror.

“…”

After a few seconds later, he could see the view inside the mansion. It looked like it was inside Iris’ room.

-    Riley? It is you. Phew.

-    Lady Iris, did you just say… What did you just say? Did you say it is Young Master?!

-    Young Master? Young Master Riley?

Not just Iris’ voice, but Ian and Sera’s voices could also be heard. Nainiae, who was hiding behind and looking at the mirror in secret, shriveled her shoulders after hearing Ian and Sera’s voice.

-    Mr. Ian! Mr. Ian! Please stand back… a little! I can’t see Young Master’s face!

-    Young Master! Why! Why are you contacting us so late! I thought something happened! I should have gone there with you! Huuuurrrrrng!!

They were not giving any chance for Riley to open his mouth to speak.

Riley was initially looking nervous. Listening to Sera and Ian making noises from the other side of the mirror made Riley’s face relaxed.

-    Ian. You were so sure that nothing bad will happen to Young Master. Why are you so agitated… Ian?

Ian’s face, which was filling the mirror until now, was pushed aside all of sudden. Instead, Iris’ face appeared.

-   Did something happen to Ian?

From beyond the mirror, Iris, Riley’s mother, asked with a concerned face.

-    …

Silence continued.

They could not be sure how long it had been quiet like that.

Soon, someone whimpering in pain could be heard.

-    Kuk, my back…

-    Mr. Ian? Ugh, really! It’s not like you are a child! Why are you doing that! Seriously!

It wasn’t much of a response, but Riley could hear Ian whimpering and Sera clicking her tongue.

“… Nice going, really.”

“Puhup!”

-    Puhup!

Nainiae, who was looking at the scene beyond the mirror, and Iris beyond the mirror broke in to laughter.