Chapter 1-35 : The Girl And The Dark Elf Are Having A Tea Party (part 1)
Ingrid put her hand on the rusty doorknob and tried to open the door. Howeverー
「…Tsk. It’s stuck again…」(Ingrid)
「What’s wrong? Did you lose the key?」(Elle)
「No. I never lock my door in the first place.」(Ingrid)
「Eh? Why? Aren’t you afraid that someone will steal your stuff?」(Elle)
「No worries. This door has been enchanted with a spell to prevent intruders.」(Ingrid)
「I see.」(Elle)
Elle remembered that Moritz cast a similar spell on his door a long time ago.
Ingrid said she was a magic tool engineer, but since she was wearing a magician’s cloak, she seemed to be good at magic as well.
「So, what’s the problem then?」(Elle)
「This old door sometimes gets stuck, so it’s hard to open… Khh…! Dammit!」(Ingrid)
She tried turning the doorknob, pulling and pushing it several times, but the door didn’t open.
As if she had lost her patience, she stretched her leg backward andー
「Hmmpp!」(Ingrid)
ーkicked the door.
It then immediately opened.
「Phew, finally…」(Ingrid)
「Is everything good…?」(Elle)
「Yup. It’s a bit messy inside, but feel free to come in.」(Ingrid)
「U, un…」(Elle)
As she nodded to Ingrid, Elle wondered, “If she’s an engineer, why didn’t she fix the door?”
She wanted to ask that, but then she decided to save it for another time and followed Ingrid into the run-down house.
「Light on!」(Ingrid)
It was dark inside the house, but as soon as Ingrid uttered some kind of command, the magic stone lamps hanging on the walls turned on all at once and brightened the interior.
「Wow!」(Elle)
Elle was surprised. She had never seen lamps that automatically turn on with a verbal command.
To turn on a magic stone lamp, normally, you had to activate a fire magic stone and put it into the lamp.
Elle was fascinated by the automatic lamps, but then her attention was drawn to how messy the room was.
Lots of junk, tools, papers that seemed to be blueprints, books, magic stones, bottles of liquid, oil stains, and many other things filled the room. They were scattered on the floor, on the chairs, and on the table.
「”A bit messy,” huh…?」(Elle)
「Uwah… It reminds me of Moritz’s libraryー No, I think this place’s worse than that…」(Yoyo)
「This is wild…」(Neige)
「Hm? Did you guys say something?」(Ingrid)
「No, nothing. Don’t mind us.」(Elle)
「Alright. Please have a seat.」(Ingrid)
「Umm… Where can I sit…?」(Elle)
Elle looked around, but there was no space to sit. There were a couple of chairs, but there were things on them.
「You can sit there. Just remove the stuff and make some space.」(Ingrid)
「A, alright…」(Elle)
Elle carefully walked toward the chair so as not to step on the things on the floor, put away the books and the papers on the chair, and then took a seat.
「Wait a moment. I’m gonna ‘extract’ some drinks for us.」(Ingrid)
As Elle sat on her chair, Ingrid was about to approach the door leading to the back room, but Elle quickly stopped her.
「Wait!」(Elle)
The word ‘extract’ made her worry for some reason. She thought Ingrid would draw a drink from a well or something, and judging from how polluted this area was, she doubted it would be safe to drink.
「Hm?」(Ingrid)
「I can make tea. Umm… Consider it as my thanks for letting me spend the night here.」(Elle)
「Well, alright then.」(Ingrid)
Elle felt relieved that she didn’t have to drink some mysterious liquid drawn from this polluted place.
As Ingrid cleaned up her chair and sat on it, Yoyo and Neige did the same and sat side by side next to Elle.
Elle wondered what kind of tea she would make. Since it was night and her heart was still pounding after being chased by the soldier, she decided to make apple blossom tea which has a calming and stress-relieving effect.
After cleaning up the clutter on the table to make some space, Elle took out two tea cups, saucers, tea spoons, a jar containing dried apple blossom, and a magic teapot from her magic bag.
While watching Elle taking the tea set out, Ingrid leaned forward and looked at the magic bag. She seemed interested in it.
「What is that?」(Ingrid)
「Hm? Do you mean this bag?」(Elle)
「Yeah. All these cups and other things clearly don’t fit in that bag. Is it a magic tool?」(Ingrid)
「Yes. It’s a magic bag.」(Elle)
「How does it work? What kind of spell and magic stone was used to enchant it?」(Ingrid)
「I don’t know. My late master made it. It was a gift from him.」(Elle)
Elle’s magic bag was one of Moritz’s best creations. Even if Elle knew how it worked, she wouldn’t be able to explain the details.
Ignoring Ingrid, who was looking curiously at her bag, Elle took out a water magic stone to produce water, poured the water into the magic teapot, and activated the teapot.
The water then boiled almost instantly.
「Whoa! Is that teapot also a magic tool?」(Ingrid)
「Yeah.」(Elle)
Ingrid leaned forward even more and observed the teapot closely.
「I see… It has a fire magic stone installed at the bottom that will transfer the heat to the water above. That way, you don’t have to boil the water separately on a stove. You can just put the water in this pot and it boils instantly. How fascinating! It’s a simple magic tool that has a simple concept, but it’s truly an incredible work of art! Did your master make this too?」(Ingrid)
「He did.」(Elle)
After she replied to Ingrid, Elle put some dried apple blossoms into the boiling water, closed the teapot with the lid, and waited for about five minutes. She then poured the freshly brewed tea into the teacups.
The sweet aroma of the tea drifted throughout the room as if it kicked away the surrounding polluted air.
「Here you go.」(Elle)
「Thank you.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid took her teacup and brought it closer to her face. She sniffed and enjoyed the nice aroma before taking a sip.
「Mmm~ It’s delicious. It’s been a while since I’ve had this kind of tea.」(Ingrid)
It seemed that the tea suited Ingrid’s taste well.
「I’m glad you like it. Oh, right!」(Elle)
Elle remembered that she still had some cakes she got from the ship and chocolate from Charlotte.
She took them out and put them on small plates.
「You can have some snacks too.」(Elle)
「Wow. Cakes and… chocolate? It’s expensive, right? Are you sure?」(Ingrid)
「Un. I have a lot.」(Elle)
「Where did you get it?」(Ingrid)
「Well, it’s a long story. A lot happened on my way to this city.」(Elle)
「Hee~ Seems like you were having a big adventure.」(Ingrid)
「You can say so.」(Elle)
Elle took a sip of her tea and put a piece of chocolate into her mouth.
While enjoying the sweetness of the chocolate melting in her mouth, she wondered what Charlotte was doing. If she wasn’t so stubborn, she might be sleeping in Charlotte’s room by now.
「By the way, that magic bag and magic teapot of yours really are something. I bet your master was a talented magic tool engineer.」(Ingrid)
「He was. But, you’re talented too. These magic lamps are amazing. They turn on automatically with your command.」(Elle)
「Haha! Right? I knew you would say that. These lamps are one of my best inventions. But… Unfortunately, they don’t sell very well.」(Ingrid)
「What? These incredible lamps don’t sell?」(Elle)
「Yeah. I have a hard time selling them, especially to nobles.」(Ingrid)
「Why? Surely the problem is not the price, right? Nobles are rich after all.」(Elle)
「Yup. It’s not the price. They don’t want to buy my lamps simply because they don’t need them.」(Ingrid)
「The don’t need them?」(Elle)
「Since you’re not familiar with nobles, let me tell you something. Most nobles are proud people. They really care about their status in society, and one of the things that can boost their status is the number of servants they can hire. The more you hire servants, the more you gain respect from others, so they think.」(Ingrid)
「And what does it have to do with your lamps?」(Elle)
「Well, do you know what will happen if you hire too many servants?」(Ingrid)
「Umm… The servants won’t have much work to do?」(Elle)
「Correct. Too many servants but too little work to do. Because of that, many servants have free time, and such servants usually only have one simple job, which is turning the lamps on and off.」(Ingrid)
「So… Nobles pay people just to turn the lights on and off in their mansions?」(Elle)
「Exactly.」(Ingrid)
「Uhh… Such a waste of money and labor…」(Elle)
「I know, right? Nobles like to waste things. Anyway, because of that, they don’t need my automatic magic lamps. They have servants to do the job.」(Ingrid)
「I understand now. But still. It’s a shame that not many people appreciate your amazing products.」(Elle)
When Elle said that, Ingrid opened her eyes wide and smiled.
「Your words make me happy. Thank you. Well, enough talking about my products. Let’s move on and talk about your remarkable magic stone, shall we?」(Ingrid)
「Ah, alright.」(Elle)
Ingrid looked so excited.
Elle almost forgot that the reason why she was invited to Ingrid’s place was to talk about her magic stone.
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