“Okay, so are Rein-nii and Belche coming?”
“Yes. I invited them, so they should be here the day after tomorrow.”
Jin informs Elsa about Reinhart and Belche’s arrival.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
After that conversation is over, Martha approaches Jin.
“So, Jin, will Saki be staying at your castle?”
“Yes, that’s the plan.”
“Then I’ll stay too.”,
Says Elsa, jumping into the conversation.
“Oh, sure. Well then, Martha, won’t you join us for dinner at Nidou Castle?”
Jin invites Martha and Hannah, saying that food tastes the best when shared with everybody. Mine will also be going as a waitress.
“You’re right, eating together once in a while is great.”
“Ah, I’m looking forward to it!”
Both Martha and Hannah agree, so they all go over to Nidou Castle.
The caretakers in duty are Sara and Butler-A.
“I’ve wanted to come to your castle ever since the banquet, Jin.”
Martha seems to be rather cheerful about it.
“Ah, Master Jin, welcome home!”
Bere comes out of the castle to receive Jin and the others.
“Hello, Bere. How have you been?”
“Great! Barrow and I are doing just fine! Are we having guests today?”
Bere asks as she sees Saki. She recognizes Martha, Hannah, and Elsa, but Saki’s face is the first one that she notices.
“Ah, this is Saki. She’s my guest today. She’s an alchemist from Shouro Empire.”
“Wow, is that so?”
After seeing Bere’s reaction, Saki asks Jin a question.
“Jin, is she from there too?”
“Yeah. Both Bere and Barrow, the other apprentice butler, are from Shouro Empire as well.”
Then, Bere continues Jin’s explanation.
“That’s right. I used to work in the Celuroa Kingdom, but the family of nobles that I worked for fell into ruin and had to let me go.”
Bere gives out a very resumed explanation about her situation, rather than going into too much detail.
“I see, you’ve been through a lot.”
“No, I’m glad it turned out this way, I get to work here instead.”
“Bere, you can’t just stand there talking… Welcome, Master Jin.”
Barrow appears from inside the castle, reprimanding Bere.
“Ah, I’m so sorry.”
Bere quickly apologizes and asks everyone to go inside the castle. Saki looks at Bere with a pleasant smile.
The group enters the dining room on the first floor and resume their conversation.
Saki seems to be captivated by Martha’s personality and listens carefully to all of her stories.
“So, you come from far away country, don’t you, Saki? You give off a slightly different feeling than Jin.”
“Can you tell?”
“I can. You two have a slightly different way of speaking.”
What Martha means by their “way of speaking” is their accent. There are almost no dialects or anything like that in such small groups of people, but it is inevitable that the accents would differ across the various regions.
Incidentally, Jin has a Klein Kingdom-like accent, so he didn’t feel out of place back when he first appeared.
Because of his long relationship with Reinhart and Elsa, and the linguistic knowledge he had obtained when he was summoned, he’s unconsciously able to change his accent depending on whoever he’s speaking with.
“Jin-nii, how was Belche? Did she look pretty?”
Elsa is very interested in talking about the wedding.
“Ah, yes, she was very beautiful.”
“Come on big brother! Give us more details!”
Hannah is very interested in that as well.
Just as she finishes saying that, the chime of a bell echoes through the room.
“Huh? What?”
The one to answer Jin’s question is Butler-B, who comes into the room.
“That is a ‘Time Bell’. It chimes at 7 AM, at Noon, and at 5 PM. We’re still testing it, but it seems to be quite popular.”
“I see.”
Jin had thought about asking if this was Laojun’s doing, but kept silent in front of Martha. That’s most certainly the case. That Laojun is doing a great job.
“Dear guests, it is 5 PM. Shall we begin preparing your meal?”
Barrow speaks with a determined tone of voice and demeanor. Mine nods at the fruits of his education.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Understood.”
His back facing the kitchen, he seems to have become more reliable than before.
Saki seems to enjoy the unusual flavor of the dinner, which is a combination of Kaina Village and Shouro Empire dishes.
After the dinner, Jin poured actual green tea for everyone. This is the green tea that he received from Reinhart earlier.
“Oh, this tea is delicious.”
“I like this taste!”
“… Green tea?”
Martha, Hanna, and Elsa all show their impressions of the tea. Jin regrets having eaten all of the biscuits.
Martha and Mine return home before dark, and Elsa stays together with Saki.
And as for Hannah…
“I don’t want to bother your guests, so I’ll be heading home now. See you tomorrow, big brother!”
After speaking in such a mature way, she returns home together with Martha.
“Even Hannah has grown up so much.”
Jin is impressed, and at the same time, a bit nostalgic.
“Well then, the bath will be ready if you two want to get in.”
Jin prefers taking a bath before a meal, but today he missed his chance for that since he had gotten caught up in conversation.
Nidou Castle also has a bath for visitors. But sadly, there are no natural hot springs here, so it’s not exactly like the ones one would find at a Japanese-styled bathhouse.
There’s a family-sized bath on the first floor, and a public-sized one in the basement.
Elsa and Saki go to the family-sized one.
“Oh, it’s not a shower, but sort of like a bathtub? This is nice!”
So says Saki, as she puts one foot into the water after undressing in the dressing room next to the bath.
“But the onsen back at the village is even better.”
Says Elsa, adding to Saki’s statement.
“Onsen? What’s an onsen?”
“It’s a huge bath that uses natural hot springs from underground. It’s Kaina Village’s specialty. Shall we go there tomorrow morning?”
“Ooh, yeah, let’s!”
Saki submerges for a second and then emerges, stretching her limbs.
“Aah, taking a dip like this feels nice. This is great!”
“Saki-nee, do you still live as unconventionally as ever?”
Elsa asks her question as she stretches out as well. Saki makes an ugly face in response to that sharp question.
“Ohoho, that’s embarrassing! But hey, I made Ehr the other day, so things are getting better.”
“Even the way you laugh is still the same.”
“Oho, everyone tells me that. Does it make you uncomfortable?”
“Well, I think it’s very ‘you’.”
“Ohoho, that’s so cute, Elsa!”
Saki smiles and strokes Elsa’s head. Elsa asks Saki another question.
“About that automata… you said you made him together with Jin-nii and Rein-nii, right?”
“Yeah. It was lots of fun. And you, Elsa? Edgar, was it? So, you made him?”
Saki replies to Elsa’s question with a question of her own.
“Yeah. I was able to do it because Jin-nii was there with me.”
Saki stares at Elsa.
“You sure have grown, Elsa. You seem different than how you were before your journey here.”
“Is that so?”
“Did you experience many things in your travels? Could you tell me about it in detail?”
“Sure.”
And so, Elsa and Saki cheerfully share stories for the rest of their bath and continue talking about them until they get back to the guest room.