488 - The Nursery Spirit's Travel Preparations and Giselle's Return
The Harvest Festival ended with me sending Mirsche to the Three Crows tavern to buy some plate-baked. Leonardo had told me he would accompany me if I wanted to walk around the festival, but I had declined. When it comes to festivals, it is also a busy day for the Black Knights involved in security. I thought it would be inappropriate to drag Leonardo, the leader of the Black Knights, around on such a day, and I had no particular desire to attend a Harvest Festival where I had experienced both terrible and sad things. I do not think I will be caught up in a kidnapping incident every single time, but to be honest, I do not want to go anywhere near an event called the Harvest Festival for another two or three years.
"...Huh? But since it is the Harvest Festival, are you not getting married, Salisa-san?"
When I asked, mentioning that she had successfully won a marriage proposal from Pearl at the tournament, it seemed they had not yet found a room for the two of them to live in. Pearl was busy with work at the fort, and basically, Salisa was by my side. The very act of the two of them going out together to look for a room was difficult.
"If you tell me, I will grant you time off, so please do not hesitate."
"Thank you very much. However, we are not in such a hurry, so we will take our time looking for a room together."
To add to that, Leonardo's place of stay this winter is Fort Mondays. Since Pearl was assigned as Leonardo's guard, it seems Salisa is also arranging to accompany Leonardo to introduce Pearl to Alisa and Iridal.
"Lord Leonardo is going to Mondays this year... I wish I could accompany him as well."
"Lord Leonardo mentioned that Lady Christina would be joining him this year. Preparations are proceeding with that plan."
"...This is the first time I have heard of that."
Since I have escaped the state of being unable to leave the manor as I was last year, Leonardo probably felt like taking me along. Or rather, it might be because if he left me in Grenore, there was a possibility I would arrive at the Mandez Residence without anyone noticing. Rather than taking his eyes off me during the winter, he probably wants the peace of mind of having me where he can see me.
...The mysterious long-distance movements where the nursery spirit was suspected as the culprit have been quiet lately.
Since Salisa, who can manipulate the nursery spirit to some extent, is accompanying Leonardo, it might also be that he can no longer leave me behind at the manor. In any case, if I can accompany Leonardo on his winter move, it is a great victory.
"It seems you will be traveling in winter. What will you do, Kalisa?"
Since she is a fairy born from an Enomena flower in a pot, I wondered if she could not stray too far from the pot. Thinking that, I asked the nursery spirit, who crossed her arms and thought deeply with a hum, then brought an empty pot. This was the pot where the Enomena flower Leonardo gave me at this year's Spring Flower Festival had bloomed.
"...Eh? You are moving the soil from this pot to that one?"
I asked for confirmation, feeling perplexed, as the nursery spirit began moving soil from the pot decorated in the dollhouse to the empty pot with a small shovel. The nursery spirit nodded several times, so moving the soil to the pot must be correct.
"But Kalisa is sleeping in the soil of this pot...?"
While wondering if it was right to dig up Kalisa's remains, even if it was a request from the nursery spirit (Kalisa), I helped the nursery spirit with the work. This was because the work of moving soil to the pot would not seem to end even if it took all night with the small shovel in the nursery spirit's hand.
When I borrowed a shovel from Bart, the movement of soil to the pot ended in an instant. While I was wondering what she would do after putting the soil in the pot, the nursery spirit began digging at the base of the flower she was born from with the small shovel. This next task required delicate care so as not to damage the roots, so I could not help. After watching the nursery spirit's work for a while, the nursery spirit dug out a small bulb from the base of the Enomena flower.
"...Are you planting this bulb in this pot?"
When I asked for confirmation from the nursery spirit, who held up the bulb with a confident expression, the nursery spirit nodded repeatedly. Following her lead, I planted the small bulb in the pot, and the work was finished. When I watered it to settle the soil, the nursery spirit spun and danced on the black, damp soil. I could only watch the nursery spirit's dance and think how cute she was for the brief moment until the dance ended. The nursery spirit's feet stopped abruptly, and the lovely fairy dance ended. Then, an Enomena sprout popped up from the newly planted soil.
"Whoa. Another case where Alf-san will probably hold his head in his hands... well, whatever."
Thinking that Alf has probably gotten used to it by now, I decided not to think about the Enomena sprout that grew in an instant. Anyway, with this, the nursery spirit's travel preparations are complete.
As the end of autumn approached, Mirsche brought news that Cody had arrived. Speaking of Cody, he should have gone to pick up Jean-Jacques and Giselle, so I hurried to the entrance hall, and it seemed Jean-Jacques and Giselle were just entering. The reason Cody was not visible was likely because he had left the wagon with Rannvald or someone. Jean-Jacques and Giselle, whom I had heard from Carlotta were in a good atmosphere, were indeed in a good atmosphere. Jean-Jacques's hand was softly placed on Giselle's hand as he escorted her, but that was not what I was concerned about.
"Why is Giselle's stomach so round!?"
"Is that the first thing you ask without even a greeting!?"
"Rather, what else would I ask!?"
For the first time in a while, the lady (cat) popped off and my true self jumped out. That was the level of shock caused by the change in Giselle's appearance.
To my senses, it had been about four years since I last saw Giselle, but her abdomen was unnaturally swollen. It was a clearly different kind of swelling from obesity where flesh attaches to the face or arms, as only the lower abdomen protruded roundly forward.
"If you're gonna ask why the belly's swollen, Tsoon, then yeah, I can't let a brat hear that."
"I have become seventeen, so I am not a brat, but you can omit that part. Please explain briefly how this happened."
I glared at Jean-Jacques, reminding him that Giselle is a guard borrowed from the King. Surely Giselle's parents, who should be in the royal capital, would not think their daughter had become pregnant without them knowing. For me, it felt as if a daughter of someone else that I was looking after had been impregnated without my knowledge.
"Right, to put it simply—"
According to Jean-Jacques, Giselle apparently did not want to return to the Kingdom of Ivizia. As for the reason, it seemed to be caused by Giselle's lack of ability. If she, as a knight, had fulfilled her role as a guard, I would not have been kidnapped. She had been blaming her own helplessness, saying that I would not have lost my heart, would not have lost my muscle strength, and would not have wasted away and grown thin.
Since she could not be useful as a knight and had become a damaged girl by losing a finger, even if only one, she felt that finding a partner would be even more impossible than before. Even if she returned to the Kingdom of Ivizia, she seemed pessimistic, thinking that the only thing she could do was quit being a White Knight and shut herself away in her territory.
"...So, I wooed her. I told her that if that's the case, I'll make her my wife, so let's go back, and so on."
"I do not know how that connects to result in that, but I know this much. Just wooing her does not make Giselle's stomach swell. ...You intend to take proper responsibility, right?"
I glared at Jean-Jacques, wondering if he had just said whatever came to mind. I do not know what happened between Giselle and Jean-Jacques, but to me, Jean-Jacques is a slightly frivolous adult who teases children. I could not think of him as the optimal partner to entrust Giselle, who is earnest and slightly clumsy, to.
"Responsibility or whatever, my brat is in her belly, so she's already my wife."
"You said that very cleanly and decisively. I do not think marrying a noble is that simple, though..."
I pointed out that to welcome Giselle as a wife, or for him to become Giselle's husband, a certain amount of achievement should be necessary. Giselle, the third generation of the Flower Peerage, achieves things with her own hands, but if she did not obtain a husband with achievements, the child would become a commoner. Since Giselle had given up on achievements for more than half, a commoner like Jean-Jacques might be fine as a husband, but that does not mean everything can truly be given up.
"...About that achievement, I have a bit of an idea."
Jean-Jacques patted the small bag hanging from his waist. Perhaps he hung it there because he kept it close to his body, it was a bag of a size that could fit small items, but not large items like portable food or blankets which are travel necessities.
Saying that he first has a report for Leonardo, Jean-Jacques left Giselle and headed toward Fort Grenore. Giselle, left behind in her pregnant body, was slightly surprised, but she seemed already used to Jean-Jacques's actions. After seeing Jean-Jacques off with a somewhat happy face, she turned her gaze back to me with a complicated expression. Rather than complicated, she might have been feeling awkward. Just as she finally showed her face, her stomach was roundly swollen. If it were me, it would be too awkward.
"Lady Christina, um... how should I put this..."
"For now, let us sit. Your stomach looks heavy, and it would be problematic if you chilled your body at the entrance."
I instructed Salisa to warm the guest room Giselle had been using, and guided Giselle to the drawing room until the room warmed up.
The interrogation regarding the beginning of her relationship with Jean-Jacques and other matters would come after caring for the body of the pregnant woman who must be tired from the long journey.