330 - Misjudged Who to Pick a Fight With
...I'm bored.
Since I'm laid up with a fever, being bored can't be helped, but still, I'm bored. I tried sleeping hard to bring the fever down quickly, but for some reason it just got worse. Now I'm a full-on cold sufferer.
"I'm boooored~"
When I waved my arm around to distract myself from the boredom, hearing the commotion, Kokumaro rested his chin on the edge of the bed. He seemed worried about me, so I reached out to pet his head, but Kalisa opened the canopy with an angry face, grabbed my arm, and stuffed it back under the blanket. I want to argue that the reason the fever turned into a cold is because I'm using a blanket despite it being summer. I think the fever evolved into a cold because I kicked off the blanket while sleeping.
...I know that sleeping warmly is the best thing, though.
Normally it feels like I'm not doing anything, but I'm actually doing a surprising amount of things, so when I'm stuck in bed all day, I feel strangely at loose ends and can't settle down. I think I could kill time by reading a book, but they said my shoulders would get cold and this time I was forbidden from doing anything but sleeping.
"What if I sewed a wearable blanket, would Kalisa be satisfied then?"
"...A wearable blanket?"
Kalisa asked back as she moved Kokumaro's chin off the edge of the bed. When I tried to have her bring me a writing board to draw an explanation, even that was rejected. Apparently today they won't allow anything but sleeping.
"It's a blanket with sleeves and buttons attached. It wraps around your body, so it should be warm."
When I said it was a great item that you could move around in and it wouldn't come off no matter how much you moved, Kalisa made a strange face.
"...If you want, I could add cat ears and a tail too. The color is up to you."
Since I was going to be made to wear animal costumes for a while anyway, I resigned myself and gave permission to add cat ears. Kalisa immediately got motivated, so if there's a problem, it's that my cold will probably be cured by the time it's finished.
...Well, that'd be fine too? I can just use it in autumn.
I watched Kalisa bustle out from under the canopy, then looked up at the ceiling again. Well, not so much the ceiling as the face of a black dog plushie.
...If I said "Curry Rice" with really clear pronunciation, it might sound like "Kalisa."
My thoughts were starting to wander in strange directions from sheer boredom. I thought this was really bad, so I checked on the state of the detached palace.
...Let's see, Solana was being used by Alfred-sama to run errands all over the place to clean up after my disappearance.
I recalled the sight of Solana appearing with a report that she'd been called out by Alfred before leaving the detached palace. She looked thoroughly displeased, but recently I've been sensing a strange dissonance from that Alfred, so maybe Solana doesn't need to be wary. I don't think that should be the case, but it feels more like Alf than Alfred.
...Felicia-sama came to visit with Henrieta, but I can't exactly pass a cold to a royal princess, you know.
I know refusing a visit is rude, but even in my previous life where there were various medicines, people died from colds. In this world there are fewer medicines than in my previous life, so I can't let my guard down just because it's "just a cold." When you have a cold, refusing a royal visit is probably the wisest course.
Speaking of Felicia's horned owl, it seems the owl itself knew I was safe. Since it can't speak human language, it couldn't tell Felicia I was okay, but apparently it refused to move from its perch, disobeying Felicia's order to send a message using the owl. I think it was the owl's way of indicating there was no need to act regarding my disappearance, but as expected, its intent didn't get through to humans. When the owl wouldn't budge an inch, they decided to use carrier pigeons, but when the messenger tried to head to the bird house, the horses wouldn't move, and when he ran to the bird house, even the pigeons wouldn't fly. Apparently it was a complete mess. It seemed I was even being admired in a strange way. "As expected of the Spirit's kidnapper." They said the animals were blocking the humans trying to search.
...Actually, they weren't getting in the way of the search. The animals were showing in their own way that I was safe without needing to search.
At lunchtime, Rebecca brought me congee. Not risotto, congee. This is important, so I'll say it again. Not risotto, congee.
...I mean, I don't really know the difference between risotto and congee, though.
Kalisa had made congee in the Napaji style that she learned from Ethelbert's cook. Among the Napaji seasonings I received the other day that are still rare in this country, there were surprisingly bonito (Outakku) flakes. To me they're katsuobushi, but in the local language they seem to be called "bonito (Outakku) flakes." I'll make sure to remember that and ask Leonardo for some for my next birthday.
...But really, Rebecca has gotten used to me too, hasn't she?
A year ago, she was saying she didn't want to look after sick children, but now she's busily taking care of me. Apparently she had trauma from a child who died despite her nursing, and didn't want to get near sick children, but it seems she overcame that trauma without me noticing.
Leaving my watching and care to Kalisa and Rebecca, Ulrika is gathering information from outside the detached palace. The kidnappers were spirits and the Divine King, so I don't think any human will be framed and judged as the culprit, but since I probably won't be able to leave my bed for a while, I was worried about what was happening outside.
Elke and Petrona were taking out the winter costumes that had been put away in spring and caring for them. At this rate, it really seems like I'll be made to wear animal costumes even outside of winter.
...Thank goodness the fashion values in this world are along the lines of "if it suits you, it's fine."
There's no manufactured trend that everyone chases after, and even if clothing looks like nothing more than cosplay to a Japanese person's sensibilities, no one laughs as long as it suits the wearer. The closest example would be Solana. As the milk sibling of the Eighth Princess, she's actually over twenty, but with her flat chest, short height, and baby face, she looks at most fifteen or sixteen. Solana seems to know well what clothes suit her, and with her frilly maid uniform and blonde twintails, from a Japanese perspective she was a full-fledged moe maid. If I think positively, as long as Solana is by my side, even if a twelve-year-old like me wears cat ears and a tail, it shouldn't stand out too much.
...Probably.
While I was sleeping, an apology letter regarding this incident arrived from the Menhishumi Church. I suppose it did serve as the trigger for the spirit-led disappearance, but I don't understand the meaning of sending dresses and hair ornaments along with the apology letter.
"...It feels like they're apologizing a bit excessively, doesn't it?"
I asked Ulrika, who had been out gathering information, if she knew anything.
"A story has spread through the Inner City that the Spirit's Favored Child was hidden by spirits as a result of the Menhishumi Church trying to forcefully take her away. It seems to be said that while she safely watched over the rites last year, the fact that she was taken by spirits this year alone is the Menhishumi Church's fault."
"And who manipulated that information?"
It's a bit strange for the story to have spread that far in just one day. If the rumors were spreading through the royal castle because she went missing there, I could understand, but it felt unnatural for the story to have spread to the Inner City including details from last year. In the first place, would the people of the Inner City even know that the Spirit's Favored Child was staying in the capital?
And it seems that strangeness wasn't just my imagination.
"The information was leaked on the orders of Alfred-sama. I think it also serves as a check to prevent the Menhishumi Church from approaching Christina-sama any further."
"Does it have other meanings too?"
"Well, even if it was the work of spirits, a Spirit's Favored Child was taken..."
It seems a sacrifice was needed for people who love to wave around righteous indignation. Apparently Alfred diverted the attacks from zealous Itsurateru Church followers who rushed the royal castle claiming "creating a situation where spirits hide the Spirit's Favored Child is unacceptable," redirecting their anger at the Menhishumi Church.
...How should I put it, the Menhishumi Church really can't catch a break.
Or rather, they picked the wrong person to pick a fight with.
"If they'd followed the initial decision, this wouldn't have happened, would it."
"Spirit's Favored Children rarely appear. So the Menhishumi Church must have a considerable longing for the Recollection Festival to be watched over by a Spirit's Favored Child."
...From the spirits' perspective, it seems like there's no meaning at all in a reincarnator watching over the Recollection Festival, though.
A Spirit's Favored Child is a soul brought from another world after the incident that gave rise to the Recollection Festival. I'm sorry they're treating me with such reverence, but it's like being made to watch a performance of "we're reflecting on our actions" from the perpetrator's side, even though I'm a complete third party. Thinking about it, maybe I could refuse next year.
...Well, silence is golden, though.
Thinking there was no reason to accept them, I had the gifts from the Menhishumi Church sent back. Just accepting the apology letter should technically count as accepting their apology.
...But still, it's a problem to be kindly kidnapped by spirits just because I got a little irritated.
No matter how I look at it, it's going to give the people around me ulcers. The cause this time was that I was intimidated by the attitude and words of a man who seemed to be from the Menhishumi Church, but that's a situation that could easily happen to me since I'm shy around strangers. If I could spend my whole life shut up in the detached palace or the Grenore residence without meeting new people, there might not be a problem, but realistically that's impossible. That means I'll have to work on overcoming my shyness little by little.
...For now, I have time until next spring, so maybe I'll make an effort to increase my acquaintances a little.
For starters, I might need to follow up with the Menhishumi Church, which seems to be unilaterally suffering damage from this incident even though they can't really be called the perpetrators. I don't want to get near that man in formal wear, but if it's a calm person like Guide Anna, I can talk to them to some extent.
"What kind of place is the Menhishumi Church in the capital?"
"The capital is vast, so there are five Menhishumi Churches. One of them has no classrooms for teaching and is a full printing workshop."
Apparently there are no Menhishumi Churches in the noble district, and they're built a bit closer to the Outer Town for the commoners. Only the Menhishumi Church that's treated as a full workshop is located closer to the center of the Inner Town, where printed books are transported through well-maintained main streets to other towns and villages.
...A printing workshop, huh. I'm planning to ask them for help making a bobbin lace guidebook, right?
I'd been wanting to ask about points to keep in mind when making the manuscript, too. In Grenore, I could rely on Nils, but here in the capital, Nils isn't here. Even if I want to ask about printing, I need to make a move myself.
...Yeah. At a printing workshop, that man probably won't be there, right?
When I muttered about whether I could tour the workshop, Ulrika said she'd look into it for me. Whether I go to the Menhishumi Church's workshop or leave the detached palace, there's no way my guardians will give me permission to go out until I cure my cold first. Thanks to the story Ulrika brought me, I managed to kill some time, so I decided to sleep with determination.
Time is up.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.