298 - Tail
Just because the materials are not ready does not mean the pharmacists gathered at the annex of Siegwald's Residence can disband. The Mustaine Medicine was still in trial and could hardly be called fully complete, and it would be a disaster if an incomplete prescription were taken back to the Sedovara Church and spread around. Therefore, the pharmacists were confined to the residence annex until results from the revived Mustaine Medicine came out, and they spent their time relearning the meticulous techniques of material preparation. At first, they seemed to struggle with keeping the pot at a constant temperature, but now the five pharmacists, including Barbara, were doing it with straight faces. Once the pharmacists grew accustomed to the material preparation procedures, Barbara seemed to start researching how even slight deviations in procedure could change the properties. She took notes repeatedly, conducted experiments, and took notes again.
...Today was supposed to be checking the delivered materials and ingredients for the preventative medicine, was it not.
I heard the ingredients for the Greenwich Pox preventative medicine could be gathered without issue in Wiack Valley. The materials and ingredients delivered yesterday and being checked today were part of that, and since not everything was ready, compounding was not yet possible. But considering that even the Mustaine Medicine had required remaking materials from raw ingredients, it would be best to confirm the materials early. Above all, the pharmacists were motivated. Since they were willing to relearn material preparation that even apprentices could be taught, I should capitalize on this motivation. After all, a practicing pharmacist pointing out that "this preparation method is wrong" would be more readily accepted by those around them than an apprentice saying the same thing.
"...Yes?"
Tap tap tap came knocking at the small carriage window, and Solana opened the wooden shutter. On the other side of the small window was Giselle's face. Of the two guards assigned to me, Aaron was on horseback around the carriage while Giselle sat on the driver's seat guarding it. If the small window was being knocked, there must be something she wanted to convey inside the carriage.
"A report from Aaron. It seems we are being followed by a carriage with suspicious movements."
"...Eh? Could it be some kind of mistake?"
"To check whether it is mere coincidence or deliberate tailing, we will be changing course slightly. The carriage may shake, so please hold onto something, young lady."
Once I gave my assent, the small window was closed. Now then, wondering where to hold on, I looked around the carriage and was embraced by Solana, who had taken a seat beside me. It seemed Solana would be my seatbelt. Solana held me as if to fix me to the seat, while firmly gripping the seat back herself.
"Wah!?"
The carriage must have changed direction sharply, as my body was thrown about violently. If Solana had not held me in advance, I might have been flung from the seat.
By the time I had buried my face in Solana's not-very-large chest for the fourth time, I finally realized.
...If we keep turning left, are we going around the same place?
I see. Indeed, with this method, one could distinguish between a carriage merely heading in the same direction by chance and one deliberately chasing this carriage. If it were just a carriage heading the same way, even if it turned the same corners, it would eventually enter a different road. And if it were tailing this carriage, no matter how many corners we turned, even if we returned to the same road as before, the carriage would keep following behind.
...This is definitely deliberate, then.
As I was caught in Solana's embrace for the fifth time, I was certain. Since it kept following even as we went around and around the same path, I could safely consider this a clear case of being tailed.
"Aaron will move to suppress the tailing carriage. Please be sure not to step out of the carriage, young lady."
"Eh? Just Aaron alone?"
Worried about whether that would be alright, I tried to stop Giselle on the other side of the small window, but Giselle only gave a wry smile. If it was just a few thugs coming out of the carriage behind us, Aaron alone as a Silver-White Knight would be more than enough, she said.
The carriage pulled over to the roadside, and I think we waited only a few minutes. I had been afraid that sounds of a brawl would come from outside, but what I heard from outside was a high-pitched child's voice.
...Hmm? This voice, have I heard it somewhere?
There was no sound of Aaron's angry shouts or thugs' screams at all. Only a high-pitched child's voice could be heard in fragments, before it eventually fell silent.
...Whose voice was that?
As I was wondering where I had heard that voice, the carriage door was knocked. At the sound of Giselle's voice from outside, Solana unlocked the inner latch that had been fastened.
"Giselle, what is happening?"
"Well... we stopped the tailing carriage and suppressed the inside, but..."
In any case, I was urged to step outside, and I peered out while listening to her explanation. As I descended the carriage steps with Giselle's escort, I could see Basilia standing imposingly in front of the rear carriage, glaring at Aaron.
"Um... Basilia-sama?"
"It is I!"
At Basilia, who seemed inexplicably angry, I remembered. No wonder the voice sounded familiar. I had heard Basilia's voice any number of times.
"...Why are you angry? And more to the point, was it Basilia-sama who was tailing us?"
"I have done nothing so unrefined as tailing!"
Basilia was tilting her face away haughtily with her hands on her hips, but if following behind another person's carriage was not called 'tailing,' then what was? Unable to handle Basilia, who was clearly angry, I turned my gaze to Aaron, who was confronting her. Catching my gaze, Aaron explained the situation.
Apparently, when leaving the royal castle, an unfamiliar black carriage was parked beside the castle gate. That alone would not have drawn attention, but the carriage began moving after mine, and even after turning corners, indeed even after repeatedly turning left to deliberately circle the same area, it kept following, so he judged we were being tailed.
"I would judge it as tailing too, if it went that far."
I could make that judgment, but I had no reason to be tailed by Basilia. Wondering what this was all about, I turned my gaze back to Basilia to ask for an explanation, only to find her face bright red with shame after having her actions pointed out by Aaron in his flat, matter-of-fact tone. She had claimed it was not tailing, but upon hearing her own actions described by another, she must have realized they were, by any measure, tailing.
"Basilia-sama, why were you tailing me? And first of all, what is this carriage? Do you not usually use the carriage with the Markov family crest?"
If the crest had been on it, Aaron probably would not have judged it as tailing. He would have realized the carriage contained Basilia, decided it was a child's mischief, and allowed the tailing with a warm, indulgent eye. But precisely because it was an unfamiliar carriage, this time it aroused suspicion instead.
"I know, you know. I hear you have been coming to the noble district quite frequently lately."
"That is... true. It is not every day, but it might be frequent if I had to say."
Since I was going to Siegwald's Residence, I had been coming to the noble district more often than when I first arrived in the capital. I almost never went to the Inner City, but Siegwald's home felt like a place I could now visit freely.
"But what does my coming to the noble district have to do with Basilia-sama tailing me?"
"It is because you never come to visit me at all!"
Basilia seemed to be angry that despite coming all the way to the noble district, I never turned my steps toward her home. Hearing the reason, it was jealousy so typical of a little girl.
"I left Eliana at the mansion."
I looked around for Eliana, wondering if Basilia's governess had not stopped this outrageous behavior, but she was nowhere to be seen. I thought she might be in the carriage, but before I could say anything, Basilia answered, apparently reading my thoughts from the movement of my eyes. Knowing she would be stopped if she told the truth about wanting to visit the detached palace without an appointment, she had left the mansion saying she was going shopping in the Inner City, apparently.
"Basilia-sama."
"What is it?"
I tried to suggest she make friends other than me, but stopped. The words reached my throat, but I held back. I was sure I had said the same thing before and made her cry spectacularly. Even if the noble district had few passersby, I could not let a little girl burst into tears on the street.
"I am heading to work now, so I do not have time to keep you company today, Basilia-sama."
Now that I understood the reason for her sudden assault in the form of a tail, I wanted to politely ask her to leave. Basilia was someone who listened to reason, so if I spoke properly, she would back down.
"There is no way someone your age is working."
And if it were noble work, it should be done at the royal castle, Basilia said. The noble work Basilia imagined was probably the territorial lord work her father Jemian did in the city of Lagarette, or the paperwork that ministers and civil servants did at the royal castle. She probably could not imagine that there was work to be done coming out of the royal castle into the noble district.
"There are commoner children who work even at my age, you know. I am technically a commoner myself."
"Christina-sama is the daughter of a Merit Peerage house, are you not! I have heard it from Shestin big sister. Besides, with that Leonardo-sama as your big brother, there is no need for you to work at your age."
Whether she thought I was being deceived, I could see Basilia's mood gradually souring. The moment I saw her brow furrow, the creases began to deepen by the minute.
"I have a secret job that I can do even at my age, you know. If you doubt me, please confirm with Felicia-sama or Alfred-sama."
I tried to prod Basilia by suggesting that the words of a princess and prince would surely be believable. It might be a bit difficult for Basilia, who could not enter the royal castle where the detached palace was located on her own, but I hoped I would be forgiven this little bit of teasing. After all, I was the one caught up in this troublesome little girl's jealousy right now.
"...That is mean. You know I cannot enter the royal castle alone."
"There is also the method of sending a letter."
"That is even meaner."
For Basilia, who could not even deliver a letter to me, sending a letter to a princess or prince would likely be difficult. Basilia, presented with an unreasonable challenge, puffed out her cheeks once, then changed the subject as if to reset her mood.
"If you are working, then I shall help you."
I understood that this was her way of thinking she could be together with me, but I had no choice but to refuse. Even the pharmacists of the Sedovara Church were carefully chosen. I could not bring Basilia to Siegwald's Residence just because she was my friend, and she would not be of any use anyway. Basilia could not read Japanese, nor did she have any compounding skills.
"As I said before, this is a secret job, so I cannot have you help."
"I know. You have gathered several pharmacists, do you not? I have investigated that much."
If she had investigated that much, I wished she would give up. I could not bring Basilia to that place.
...Right, let us talk about something else.
I tried to think of a good topic to steer the conversation away. There was no way I, who hardly ever went out, could come up with topics Basilia would like, but if there were none, I would have to force one.
"Speaking of which, Basilia-sama, will you not be returning to Lagarette for the Divine King Festival? If you spend it in the capital, your parents would miss you, would they not?"
"I do not think Father would worry whether I am by his side or not, but my mothers would be concerned. I will return to Lagarette for the Divine King Festival."
That was why she had wanted to play once before that and had been waiting for me to invite her, Basilia said, pouting with her lips pursed. Her little-girl jealousy was a bit troublesome, but I found this tsundere cute too. Perhaps I should have been a bit more considerate.
"...I will come play once, before Basilia-sama returns to Lagarette."
I continued, saying I would bring manjuu as a gift since I had borrowed a cook from Ethelbert. Finally having drawn out the words she wanted from me, Basilia's face lit up, and then she turned away shyly. "It is a promise, you know," she said, pouting just slightly.
Writing this reminded me of those romance simulation games where you defuse bombs. The kind where just meeting someone means you have to regularly invite them on dates or the bomb goes off on its own.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.