I'll Never Set Foot in That House Again! Volume 2

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7183-4900-1
Verlag: J-Novel Heart
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Reihe: I'll Never Set Foot in That House Again!

After becoming a research fellow at the Royal Research Institute, Chelsea spends her days studying her [Seed Creation] Skill with Glen and Tris. But one day, she gets a top-secret request from the former emperor of the neighboring Radzuel Empire for a cutting of the Spirit Tree to save his people suffering from the miasma. As the contractor to the King of Spirits, Ele, Chelsea alone would be able to plant the cutting to call for Spirits to cleanse the miasma. With Glen, the King of Chronowize's younger brother, Roize, the former emperor of Radzuel, and the fox-person chef Mika, she sets out for the Empire to help its citizens!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Milli-Gram

Weitere Mitwirkende

Kana, Yuki

Hemphill, Emily

Leseproben

“Thank you,” I said, slipping it onto my left wrist without thinking. But suddenly, it shrunk with a swish, fitting right around my wrist. I shook my arm in shock, but it wouldn’t come off. “Huh?! I can’t take it off... Is it cursed?”

Lord Glen looked closely at the bracelet from his spot beside me as I sat there at a loss. “I’ve appraised it, but it’s just a bracelet to keep the miasma away. No curse at all. It also has something called an ‘Everything Storage Function,’” he told me, whispering in my ear so that the coachman and the guard knights outside wouldn’t hear.

“What does it do?” I said, trying to be unspecific.

Ele answered as he pushed the box’s lid back into place. «The bracelet is connected to a personal storage room for you in the Spirit World. Anything you want to be stored will be sent to the room at your request.»

“So it’s the Spirit version of an Item Box...” Lord Glen mumbled.

«Similar, yes.»

“What is...an Item Box?” I asked quietly.

“An extra-dimensional spot where you can put things in or take them out. You can take whatever you want inside or out, no matter the size or weight. But time stops inside, so you can’t put anything living inside.”

“Is that how you sometimes pull things out of nowhere?”

Lord Glen stayed silent, giving me a cheeky smile and a nod.

«Try putting the bag of sweets in your hand inside.»

Following Ele’s directions, I looked at the bag and whispered, “Please take this.” The moment I did, the bag disappeared.

«There are Spirits assigned to your storage room in the Spirit World. They’ll always be waiting for you to call them, so please use it every now and again.»

I looked at the bracelet in shock, and it glittered back at me.

«The Spirits taking care of your belongings are too low ranked to come to this world, so they’re looking forward to you leaving things with them.»

“How do I get things out?” I asked.

«Think of the name and quantity of what you want to withdraw, and either whisper or think that you want it back. Then, it will fly out. But unlike an Item Box, please don’t put in things that will rot after a long time left alone. The Spirit World runs at the same time as this world.»

I nodded, then whispered again, “I’d like the sweet bag I just put in back.”

The moment I did, the paper bag appeared...and almost dropped to the floor before Lord Glen caught it.

“Thank you.”

“Good thing your cookies didn’t break,” he said, smiling.

«I told you that it would fly out...» Ele shook his head at us, but no one would expect it to fly out of nowhere! «I’ll be resting more. Since I’m constantly using magic, I need more rest than normal.»

With that, he curled back up on the box and fell asleep. I saw the bag with my book out of the corner of my eye, so I thought that I’d like for them to take it. It still surprised me when it disappeared.

“The bracelet isn’t only pretty, but has an amazing function, too, huh.”

“Yeah. It’s handy, and a beautiful bracelet...” For some reason, Lord Glen looked like he had mixed feelings.

+++

Because we’d practiced staying at inns before, our trip went smoothly, without any incidents. Normally, when nobles went on trips, they’d get a warm welcome in the territories they passed through, and would buy lots of different things in the territories, villages and towns as thanks.

“They want richer nobles to do lots of shopping and help with the development of the region.”

However, we weren’t getting that kind of welcome on our trip. The reason being that I hadn’t had my debut into society yet. Sometime in between awakening your Skill at twelve, and becoming an adult at fifteen, you’d debut into high society. Until then, you wouldn’t publicly meet with other nobles. And since Lord Glen was headed to the Sargent Margraviate on a royal job, he was refusing all of the welcomes by saying he was in a hurry.

“I’m fine with doing some shopping in town, but I don’t like getting greeted like that,” he explained with a strained smile.

On the afternoon of our tenth day of travel from the capital, we reached the main town in the Margraviate’s territory. The town was filled with brown-bricked houses, and I couldn’t get enough of the difference in mood from the capital. Margrave Sargent’s manor was on the west side of the town. It was called a manor, but it was big like a castle, and about the same size as the Research Institute and the lodging house combined.

As I got caught up looking at it through the little carriage window, we stopped in front of the entrance. The door opened, and Lord Glen stepped out first. Then, he took my hand and helped me down.

Ele didn’t move from his spot on the box with the Spirit Tree cutting, as he said he wouldn’t. The guard knights said they’d carry him inside with the box, so we headed for the entrance hall. There, lots of people like maids and attendants were lined up to greet us.

“Welcome to the Sargent Margraviate. Though it’s a small manor, please take the time to relax here.”

In the middle of all the people was a tall man with pale golden hair and the same purple eyes as mine... My adoptive father and maternal uncle, Lord Jamesfort, the current Margrave Sargent. He bowed to Lord Glen.

“Thank you,” Lord Glen replied, with a fake smile I didn’t see often. Then, he glanced my way and shot me a gentle smile before whispering, “See you later.”

Since he had to act like a royal from now on, we’d be moving separately. He said that we’d have to act by the book, because we weren’t sure who was watching.

My adoptive father glanced at me too, and smiled. Then, as Lord Glen started walking, he joined him and walked inside the manor. As I watched them go off, Lady Ariel, my adoptive mother with her glossy black hair and black eyes, quickly walked over, standing directly in front of me.

“Welcome home, Chelsea.”

“T-Thank you, Lady Sargent,” I said, giving a very nervous curtsey.

She tilted her head, troubled.

“You’re our family now, so you don’t need to act so formal. And since we’re family... Can you call me ‘Mother’?”

“O-Okay...Mother.”

She smiled softly and gave me a tight hug when I called her ‘Mother,’ and the servants watching all smiled too.

“You must be exhausted from the long carriage ride. I’d like to tell you that you can rest, but you should meet your grandmother and grandfather first!”

“Alright.”

She led me inside the manor, and then even farther inside.

“Deeper into the manor is where we live as the Margrave’s family. The front is where the people involved in the management of the margraviate work, and guest rooms.”

The area when we first entered was decorated with vases and paintings, and looked really extravagant. But the farther in we got, they all disappeared, changing into cute furniture and colorful flowers. It looked like the inner section was decorated to the family’s tastes.

When we got to the sunroom in the deepest part of the manor, Grandfather and Grandmother looked at me in shock. Grandfather had the same pale gold hair and purple eyes as my adoptive father, and Grandmother had green eyes and the same light pink hair as me.

Still looking shocked, they rushed up to me, touching my head, cheeks, and shoulders. I froze, since I hadn’t expected that.

“Mother, Father, you’ve surprised poor Chelsea,” Mother chided them.

They came to their senses and stopped touching me, but then just started staring at my face.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t think you’d look so much like Sophia... I’m Jakefort. You can call me Jake.”

“Welcome, Chelsea. I’m your grandmother, Emma.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Grandfather Jake, Grandmother Emma,” I greeted them with a curtsey, and they smiled.

Nervous, I looked over at Mother, but she was smiling too. They urged me to sit down on the sofa, so I did.

As I ran my hands over the sofa fabric, Grandmother whispered, “She’s nothing like her on the inside.”

“Her” was probably comparing me to my birth mother. Mother had told me that my behavior was similar. What did she mean by saying I wasn’t like her on the inside?

“Um... What kind of person was my birth mother?” Mother had told me to ask them about her, so I did. They smiled gently back.

“Hmm... To put it simply, she was a tomboy,” said Grandfather.

“‘Tomboy’ doesn’t cover half of it. She’d chase after her brothers, climb trees, swing swords... She was nothing like a noble lady,” sighed Grandmother.

“She was always wearing the same shirts and pants as her older...