123 - The Ruler of Lagarette
I enjoy the croissant sandwich prepared for breakfast. From my perspective, I can not help but think of them as crescent moons (croissant), but in this world it seems they are called nassaworuku (crescent moon). Whatever I feel inside, I need to be careful not to call them "croissants" when I speak out loud.
...Nassaworuku, nassaworuku... Okay, I have got it.
I happily chow down on the nassaworuku sandwich, formerly known as croissant sandwich. Each small bread was filled with egg, roast beef, cheese, and vegetables. I like egg sandwiches best, but the nassaworuku with roast beef is quite tasty too. The warm potage soup is elaborate and delicious, but there are not really any solid ingredients, so it felt a little lonely.
...I kind of miss Leo's chunky vegetable soup.
Not that I have had Leonardo's vegetable soup even once since leaving Aurelia's house. But since I ate it at nearly every meal for a while, it feels a bit nostalgic. Leonardo's cooking has a rough-and-ready quality to it, but maybe because he seeks texture, the ingredients are large. They are a bit too big for me to eat comfortably, but I feel like it had its own charm.
...Well then, where should I escape to today?
Even if I shut myself in my room, someone will interrupt and I will not be able to do embroidery anyway. In that case, it is better to just go out from the start so I can give up on it.
...But the sweet shop Cidur-san recommended did not suit my taste, did it?
Perhaps the selling point was that it is a safe place where women and children can go alone, but if it does not suit my taste, it is not a shop I want to visit that many times. That said, the recommended shops were not limited to just one, so it might be nice to try visiting others.
...The places he recommended were the sweet shop, the general store, and where else was it?
The sweet shop I can go to during snack time. There is also the general store and tourist spots. There are many sights, like the fountain plaza decorated with works by famous sculptors, and the Lagarette Menhishumi Church said to rival those in the capital. As I was thinking about where to escape to, Kalisa suggested an art gallery on the main street.
"An art gallery, deshu ka?"
"...I saw it from the carriage yesterday. I have already confirmed with the manager."
The gallery on the main street has plenty of foot traffic and a wide-open entrance, so it seems Cidur gave it his stamp of approval that it would be safe for me to go out there. However, apparently he did not recommend it at first because he did not think I would enjoy going to a place like a gallery. But if I was going to escape a restless child, he apparently said it was the most highly recommended place. A child making noise in a gallery would be quickly thrown out by the gallery staff, supposedly.
"Sounds interesting, deshu ne. Let us go, mashou."
Since it is a gallery, the destination is indoors. And I can probably view various artworks like paintings. I do not have the financial means to buy paintings, so I would just be browsing, which feels a bit bad, but not everyone who visits a gallery buys paintings, so I am just one of those people. Best of all, noisy children are automatically removed.
Learning from yesterday's failure, I spent today in my room until the very last moment before the carriage was ready. I waited in my room for the Black Knight acting as coachman to call for me, then secretly slipped out of the hotel. I do think, "Why do I have to go through so much trouble just to go out?" but it is starting to be a bit fun, so I will let it slide. At any rate, today I managed to escape Diet safely.
I observe the cityscape from inside the gently rocking carriage. Perhaps the scale is different, but the city's atmosphere is completely unlike Grenore. I do not see soldiers or Black Knights standing on street corners, but instead, as if in their place, there are people with escorts. They are probably people belonging to the wealthy class. In Grenore, the areas with many wealthy people were within my range of activity, but there seem to be more people belonging to the wealthy class here than in Grenore. Whether to call it good clothes or not, there are many people with unique sense of style.
...Well then, no one would bat an eye at my cat ears.
I idly touch my cat ears, which I am wearing again today, and before I know it, we arrive at the intended gallery. I descend the carriage steps with the coachman's escort and look up at the gallery anew. When I think "gallery," I somehow imagine a place renting a room in a building like in my past life and selling paintings, but it is completely different. Far from being a room in a building, the entire two-story, impressive building was open as a gallery. Impression-wise, it feels more like an art museum. Kalisa explained that only works by artists favored by the gallery owner are displayed, and the purpose is to sell works and mediate between artists and patrons, encouraging the creation of new works.
...Right, I understand this is not normally a place for a child like me to come.
I do not have any particular understanding of or interest in art anyway. Feeling a little apologetic to the artists, I decided to walk along the edges so as not to get in the way of people visiting the gallery for its proper purpose.
...There does not seem to be any trends or set painting methods?
Or perhaps the gallery owner who selects the artists to display has a wide-ranging taste. Various paintings, including landscapes, portraits, and abstract works, were painted with truly free brushstrokes, spanning both oil and watercolor. And what is displayed is not just paintings. There are all kinds of works, from large standing sculptures like carvings to small miniature gardens like bonsai.
...Wow, amazing!
I came to the gallery with a browsing mindset, but I involuntarily stopped in front of a landscape painting done in embroidery.
...It is huge! Beautiful!
At its overwhelming size, at how much time it must have taken, at the complex use of colors and how many shades of thread were used. Trivial thoughts like these pile up one after another in my chest. At the flow of thread without a single disorder, I have no choice but to tip my hat to the passion and perseverance of the artist who sewed this. The magnificent flow of thread makes me want to touch it, but I clench both hands tightly to avoid doing something like carelessly touching it.
"If you like it, shall we buy it, Tina-sama?"
As I was staring intently at one spot, Kalisa said something like this to me. It was a tempting proposal, but I hurriedly shook my head. Even if I bought it, it would not be with money I earned. I could not even imagine the price of artwork, and having Leonardo pay an amount I could not imagine was more than just off-putting.
...Besides, if I am going to have someone pay for something, I would rather it be for materials.
Embroidery is fun, so if I am going to the trouble, I would rather buy materials and sew it myself. I do not think I can sew something as magnificent as the paintings displayed in a gallery, but surely I can indulge in making things myself as a hobby.
I took Kalisa's hand and moved away, thinking that if I kept looking at the same work, word would get back to Leonardo. I was reluctant to leave, but as I looked at other paintings, the embroidery piece faded from my mind.
...Huh?
I suddenly felt a sense of deja vu at one of the paintings I was casually looking at, and stopped. When I looked at the painting again, it had a truly eerie atmosphere. It was a scene of a man bound tightly in chains, standing in flames, his hair dyed red-black with blood, shedding tears of blood, and clawing at his chest with an anguished expression.
...Who was it? I feel like I have met this man somewhere...?
The eerie atmosphere makes me want to quickly pass by this painting, but my feet will not move, as if sewn to the floor. If I can remember who he resembles, maybe I will be satisfied, so I search my memory for a face similar to the man in the painting, but I cannot find a matching face. Wondering if there is a hint, I lower my gaze to the painting's title.
...What does it say?
I can tell a title is certainly written there, but I cannot read the characters. If I forced myself to interpret it, it would be something like ■■■■■. I can recognize that there are characters, but it is impossible to read them, as if they were censored or painted over.
...Is even the censored title part of the artwork?
Unable to let it go, I asked Kalisa next to me in a small voice.
"What does it say, deshu ka?"
"It must be based on a myth. This is..."
Kalisa bent down to try to read the title, but a middle-aged man called out from the side, so I could not hear it.
"Did you like that painting, young lady?"
"Umm...? Well, I think it is amazing, deshu ne."
I cannot honestly answer that it is creepy and unsettling. Giving a neutral response, I turned my gaze to the middle-aged gentleman who had suddenly spoken to me.
He was a well-dressed man. I wondered if he was a painter selling his own work at the gallery, but he looked more like someone on the patron's side than a painter.
"If you are interested in this painter's work, come to my mansion. There are many of his paintings there."
"It is a kind invitation, but I cannot accept invitations from strangers, deshu."
It was a textbook suspicious-person line, but Kalisa did not seem particularly wary. Since he is a well-dressed man, he is probably not the kind of suspicious person who requires real caution. Understanding that, I freely refused with a childlike response.
"A stranger? You are right about that."
With that, the gentleman straightened his back, corrected his posture, and gave a bow.
"Jemian Markov. I have heard about you from my daughter, Basilia."
"So you are Basilia-chan's father. Nice to meet you, I am Tina, deshu."
Since he gave his name, I gave mine too, but Kalisa quietly whispered in my ear, "Jemian Markov is the name of the ruler of Lagarette." I had heard beforehand that Lagarette is a city ruled by a territorial lord, so if he is the ruler, then Jemian is the territorial lord. In other words, a noble. And if I connect the dots, that means Basilia, who I made cry yesterday, was also a noble.
...I made a noble's daughter cry, huh.
I thought it might be a bit bad, but it is too late now. In terms of having made a noble cry, I have even made a prince cry, so it is really too late for regrets.
...Ahh. How am I going to report this to Leo?
While I was worrying about such pointless things, Jemian invited me to his mansion once again.
...What is it, I wonder? What reason would he have to invite me twice?
I suppose I should be more careful with my responses now that I know he is a noble, but it is probably better not to get close to trouble (nobles) without my guardian (Leonardo) knowing. I made a slightly troubled face and refused Jemian's second invitation.
"I am following my brother's instructions while he is away, so I cannot go play at the home of someone my brother does not know."
I gave an example that would be hard for the other person to deny, saying that if Basilia went to play at a stranger's mansion while he was away, he would be worried. A father with a daughter could not deny that, surely. As intended, Jemian appeared to accept it, at least in principle.
"Hmm... She has been well raised."
Stroking his well-groomed beard, Jemian narrowed his blue eyes and looked down at me. I did not recognize Jemian's face, but his black hair and blue eyes reminded me of where I had seen the man in the painting who I had felt I had seen before.
...The person who talked with me about various things on the night of the Divine King Festival.
I never learned his name. He was just someone I happened to meet and talked with briefly. We were not on the kind of terms where we would introduce ourselves.
...Huh? Where did I meet him again?
I remembered who the man resembled, but I cannot remember where I met him. What is more, the more I try to remember, the more the things I was certain of become vague and scatter away. I try to hold onto the fading memory, but my thoughts are interrupted by Jemian's voice.
"...Is not life at the hotel boring?"
...How does he know I am staying at the hotel... Ah, he heard from Basilia-chan?
"I am an acquaintance of your brother, you see. I am very concerned about leaving Leonardo's precious little sister alone at a hotel from a security standpoint. So how about this? I would very much like to invite you to my home..."
"Personally, I think an adult who keeps inviting me after I have refused is suspicious in itself, I think, mashu."
Having been invited so many times like this, even if it came from genuine kindness, it makes me want to suspect it. The claim of being Leonardo's acquaintance is also suspicious. If there really was someone in this city who would look after Leonardo's sister, Leonardo would have either left me with them from the start, or told me about such a person before leaving.
As I stepped back a few paces to create distance, Jemian gave a wry smile. For someone introduced as Leonardo's sister, she is quite clever, he said.
If anything troubling happens, do not hesitate to come to the mansion, Jemian said, and left. He persistently invited me to his mansion, but he does not seem to be the type to use his status to forcefully take me away. How much of Jemian's story I can believe or not, I simply do not know right now.
[Author's Note]
I want to return to Grenore within the year (wishful thinking). I switched to every-other-day updates to have more leeway, but the big cleaning still is not done (reality).
I will fix typos and errors another day... I have corrected the typos and errors I have found.