152 - Two Apprentices
"Ishu thishu Waiyakku Valley? It ishu Waiyakku Valley, right? We are going to Aurelia-san's house, right?"
"This is Waiyakku Valley, and we are heading to Aurelia's house, but..."
Calm down a little, Leonardo says as he holds my head. If we were on the ground, I would have hugged Leonardo to express my joy fully, but we are on a horse. There are limits to my movements too. Within those limits, I still try to convey my happiness as much as possible by pressing my back against Leonardo. When I do that, this time he firmly wraps his arms around me, saying, "Do not thrash about."
"I am not thrashing about, I am happy."
"If Tina gets happy on the horse, the horse will get startled, will it not?"
"I understand, I must not disturb the horse's work."
Leonardo says that I can hug him to my heart's content once we get down to the ground, so I reply that once I am on the ground, I will be going to Aurelia, so I will have no time to bother with Leonardo. The sulking Leonardo rests his chin on my head, but he has started sulking in a somewhat annoying way, so I headbutt him to break his encirclement.
The horse carrying me and Leonardo goes straight through the forest, and soon the cliff on the opposite side where Aurelia's house is located comes into view.
As Leonardo gets off the horse to open the gate, I demand that he put me down first. Perhaps because I said I would have no time to bother with him once on the ground, Leonardo hesitates for a moment. He is truly a brother with a narrow heart.
"At this height, I might get hurt, but I will not die, you know."
In summary, if he will not put me down, I will jump off the horse. Faced with this threat using my own body as a shield, Leonardo reluctantly puts me down from the horse.
"If you land badly, even this height is enough to kill you. Do not think of stupid things."
Falling from a horse is scary, he says, his face grimacing. I meant it as just a joke, but it seems it did not become a joke for Leonardo. For Leonardo, who rides horses regularly, the danger of horses is a familiar experience.
"...I am sorry."
I apologize to Leonardo for saying something bad even as a joke, and he ruffles my head vigorously. I get a little dizzy.
I open the gate, and Leonardo leads the horse into the premises. After closing the gate as it was, I leave Leonardo behind and dash toward the house where Aurelia lives.
"Aurelia-san, hello! It ishu me, Tina!"
Whether because Aurelia does not like visitors, there is no knocker on Aurelia's house. So I knock on the door with enough force not to be rude, then reach for the knob.
"Do not open the door!"
"Hoh?"
At the urgent yell from inside, I instinctively pull back my hand reaching for the knob. Then I press my ear to the door to see if I can hear anything else.
Well, even I understand "not." "Do not" means "must not," right?
The other words were also simple words like "open" and "door," so even I could make them out. Judging from the words I caught, she probably said not to open the door.
Is she doing work where she must not open the door?
As I press my ear to the door and listen carefully, Leonardo comes over after tying up the horse.
"What is it, Tina?"
"It seemshu I must not open the door."
When I look up and answer Leonardo like that, Leonardo also knocks on the door.
"Aurelia? It is Leonardo of Grenore..."
"Do not open the door!"
At the yell heard again, this time Leonardo translates Aurelia's words for me. It seems my guess of "do not open the door" was correct.
"I wonder if she is making some kind of medicine?"
Aurelia's medicine arts are considered secret arts, so if we visited while she was compounding medicines, I can understand that our visit is not welcome. Though I think Aurelia does not welcome visitors even at other times.
In any case, since she says not to open the door, we cannot enter the house or even see her face.
"I will be waiting outside! Please let me know when your work is done!"
When I shout that toward the door, Leonardo points out with a wry smile, "Aurelia does not understand the language of this country."
Come to think of it, that is how it is supposed to be.
Actually, she just dislikes people and is pretending to have forgotten the language. Aurelia pretends to only understand and speak English when it comes to Leonardo, so I have no choice but to go along with it. Leonardo converts my words into English and conveys them, but there is no reply from inside. If that is typical of Aurelia, then it is typical of Aurelia.
The curtains are closed. Was it work that could not let light in?
To pass the time until the door is opened from inside, I stroll around the area. The two windows visible from the garden around the back have thick curtains drawn over them.
I did not notice before, but is this garden field a little strange?
This was a field where I used to pilfer herbs for cooking, but after spending a year at the Fortress Lord's Residence, it feels a little off to me now.
The herbs and vegetables are all out of season.
There are herbs and vegetables here that I never saw in Mey Village, but for the past year, the flower beds and herb garden in the backyard of the Fortress Lord's Residence have been my playground. Bart and Tabitha, who tended them, taught me their names, properties, and how to grow them, so I can now tell them apart to some extent. Looking at Aurelia's field with that knowledge, even though it is nearly the end of spring, the selection includes herbs that are only useful in early spring, summer vegetables, and vegetables whose harvest season is around autumn. It is truly a mix that does not match the season at all.
Is Waiyakku Valley actually a strange space?
When I came before, it was around the end of winter to the beginning of spring, but I do not recall feeling particularly cold. And last time too, we were once enveloped in mist before entering the valley.
Mist does not appear in the same place all year round, does it?
After passing through the misty forest, we arrive at the bottom of the valley before we know it. I cannot say for certain since I was just being carried on the horse's back, but I did not feel like we descended particularly. Yet after passing through the mist, we are at the bottom of the valley, with tall rock walls on both sides.
Now that I think about it, it is a rather strange place.
I had heard there was no magic, so I thought there would be no mysterious phenomena either, but now that I have had the mysterious experience of being taken by spirits, I can believe that the strangeness of this place might also be some kind of mysterious phenomenon.
When Leonardo says he will gather firewood to pass the time, I follow him. Leonardo makes a displeased face, saying my clothes will get dirty, but these are clothes he had made assuming we might sleep outdoors. Even if they get a little dirty, it is not a wrong way to use them.
As I pick up firewood, I ask him about what I have been thinking regarding the valley, and Leonardo tells me that Waiyakku Valley has strange seasons. The Black Knights who transport food here had apparently already noticed the incongruity I sensed. Leonardo, who receives those reports, naturally knew about this too. Why such a phenomenon occurs has not been clarified, but thanks to the strange climate, medicinal herbs can be collected regardless of the season, and there is apparently a cave in Waiyakku Valley where icicles can be obtained even in summer, though its location cannot be disclosed. This valley, discovered by the Saint Yuuta Hiraga, is apparently also called the herb garden of Sedovara, the god of medicine arts. Aurelia seems to be the caretaker who watches over this herb garden to keep it from being ravaged.
Though Aurelia herself is being watched over by the Black Knights.
Carrying firewood in both arms, I return to find a small-statured girl with neatly braided brown hair looking around restlessly. The girl, who has a somewhat relaxed expression, spots us, her face breaking into a gentle smile as she hurries over.
"Sorry to keep you waiting! Master said it is alright to go inside now... ah, did you gather firewood for us? Thank you so much! We were running low on firewood, not just for the bath but even for tonight's dinner, so this really helps... ah, I am Master Aurelia's apprentice, my name is Paula."
Ah, this person is definitely the type Aurelia is bad at dealing with.
The girl who calls herself Paula is, at first glance, clearly cheerful in personality. She shows no timidity toward us whom she has just met, and speaks her mind freely. Bold, or perhaps insensitive, she is a rather careless-seeming girl. Her way of eagerly pressing forward with conversation makes me feel somehow uneasy too.
"Tina?"
I end up displaying my long-unused shyness and hide behind Leonardo. Leonardo, who tilts his head curiously, and Paula, whose eyes sparkle with curiosity, are quite contrasting. A first-time meeting has a little girl being wary of her, but Paula does not seem to notice. She lowers her gaze to meet my eyes.
"Hello! Oh, it is our first meeting. I am Paula. Can you say your name properly, little miss?"
Is that not treating me too much like a child? I feel like that is not something you say to a big child who will soon be ten years old.
"...Tina, deshu."
When I answer, poking only my face out from behind Leonardo, Paula's hand reaches out, so I reflexively dodge by circling around to the other side. My instincts tell me I must not let this girl named Paula catch me.
"Um... you are Paula, correct? It is alright to go inside the house now, yes?"
"Ah, yes. There is only a scary old woman and a scary big sister inside the house, but..."
As I keep evading Paula's hands that reach out trying to pick me up again and again, Leonardo throws me a lifeline. Thanks to Leonardo diverting her attention, Paula's arms reaching for me seem to have stopped for now.
Speaking of which, is it alright to call your master a "scary old woman"?
Paula's voice is loud, so surely Aurelia inside the house can hear her too. Speaking one's mind freely is dangerous.
"Aurelia-shaan!"
I dash into the house, fleeing from Paula, who seems like she might scoop me up from behind the moment I let my guard down. The room, where not all the curtains have been opened yet, is a little dim. Having suddenly jumped from a bright place into a dark room, I am momentarily blinded. Stopping at the entrance and letting my eyes adjust a little while looking around the room, I spot Aurelia's tall figure standing near the shelves.
"It hashu been a while, Aurelia-san."
First, I give her a big squeeze. Rubbing my cheek against Aurelia's body, which smells of herbs and medicinal plants, I feel happy.
"It's annoying. You must not have been a spoiled child."
Aurelia says something in English, but this time I cannot understand what she is saying. Still, from her tone, I can at least tell she finds my sudden hug annoying.
But I do not care. I am a child, after all. I will be clingy when I want to be clingy.
Putting my feelings of love and missed-you into it, I cling to Aurelia's waist. Aurelia lets out a deep sigh, then places a hand on my head.
"Did you grow a little bit?"
She pats my head with a hesitant, uncertain touch. Aurelia says something in English, but as always, I cannot understand what she is saying.
"I am studying English a little. But I still cannot understand it at all!"
Still clinging to her, I look up and say that to Aurelia. Leonardo, who has come into the house belatedly, translates Aurelia's words for me.
"Aurelia says, 'You have grown taller.'"
After telling me that, Leonardo then conveys my words to Aurelia in English. As expected, as long as Leonardo is present, Aurelia continues to pretend she can only speak and understand English.
It is a little inconvenient, but oh well.
I separate from Aurelia and puff out my chest, saying that I have grown so much that last year's clothes have become small. Aurelia seems to think for a moment, then calls me over to the table where the mortar is set.
Who is this?
At the table with the mortar, there was already someone there. A tall, serious-looking woman with dark red hair braided tightly and impeccably, much like Aurelia. Something about her demeanor feels similar to Aurelia.
I am urged to sit in a chair, and I obediently comply. Then a mortar is placed before me, and I understand that Aurelia is prompting me to look at it.
"...What are these pellets, deshu ka?"
The sand-grain-sized things in the mortar are, I think, probably ore or something that was being ground into powder. When Leonardo handled the mortar under Aurelia's instructions, he had made grains about this size too.
"Look carefully! They are not pellets, this is powder!"
When I gave my honest impression and said "pellets," the red-haired woman screamed at me in a hysterical voice. Startled, I look up at her, and even though she is supposed to be an adult woman, she looks like she is about to cry.
According to Leonardo's translation, the red-haired woman's name is Barbara. She is Paula's partner, or rather, Aurelia's other apprentice sent by the Sedovara Church.
"Aurelia-san, did you just give the instruction to make it into powder again?"
I remember her giving a similar instruction, and Leonardo making grains. I recall Aurelia criticizing Leonardo's work as sloppy.
"Aurelia says Tina was able to do it with just that instruction."
"In my case, I think it ishu just that what Aurelia-san calls 'powder' and what I thought of as 'powder' happened to be the same."
I point out that Leonardo also made grains, and then tell her, relying on Leonardo's translation, that she should instruct her apprentices a bit more carefully.
"They are amateurs, so there ishu no way they can work at Aurelia-san's level from the start, right?"
"Wha...?!"
She bangs the table hard, and I flinch in surprise. Wondering what is the matter, I look up at Barbara. Her face is bright red, and she is speechless.
Huh?
Thinking something is strange, I try to peer at Barbara's face, but she turns her face away with force. However, I can tell that I seem to have said something I should not have, so I look up at Aurelia seeking help, but Aurelia just pats my head.
"...Tina, it seems Barbara is an apprentice with experience as a pharmacist."
Ah. So that is how it is.
From what Leonardo translates for me, I understand my own blunder. Intending to defend Barbara, I called a capable pharmacist an "amateur."
Long time no see, this is the machine translation explanation corner.
"Do not open the door!"
"It's annoying. You must not have been a spoiled child."
"Did you grow a little bit?"
She does know "Don't" at least, but I am leaving it as the machine translation is.
Typos and omissions will be fixed later! I have fixed the typos and omissions I found.