Volume 5 Chapter 221, Until Silva Gets Used To It_1 (: Grey)

Translator: Nonon

Proofreader: Silavin

 

POV: Gray

 

It was an early morning on one winter day, when white snow was piled up but not falling, making you feel the urge to create a snowman or some other snow-related creature.

Lady Apricot and I were out to show Kriem and the others around Shiki, something we were not able to do yesterday because of that mysterious accident.

I think Kriem and the other two would’ve been just fine on their own like yesterday, but for some reason Lady Apricot offered to show them around so I also decided to tag along. I can’t say it for certain, but I think Lady Apricot offered to be a guide in connection with yesterday’s accident.

 

“Ahaha, it’s cold! It’s white! No one’s awake! Yahoo~!”

“Kriemhild, you need to calm down a bit. You are not acting like an adult!”

“Hehe, age and gender don’t matter in front of a snowy landscape covered in fresh snow, Silva! Look, isn’t it exciting to leave a footprint where no one else has?!”

“I understand how you feel, but—“

“DIIIVE!”

“That’s dangerous so don’t do it again!”

 

Kriem was running around excitedly at the edge of the garden of our mansion that was covered in snow. Perhaps because she was about the same height as me and petite, she looked younger than her actual age, and her smile was reminiscent of a small dog.

Silva… Lord Silva tried to stop Ms. Kriem, but got hit with a small snowball, and after a while his retaliation devolved into a snowball fight. As I was watching, Kriem said, ‘why don’t you join in too, Gray?’, so I looked at Lady Apricot.

“You’re welcome to join them, my Disciple. Having friends to play with is a precious thing”

“Yes!”

 

I replied, put the magic canister with the hot drink I was holding close by, and joined in the snowball fight.

I’ve been busy dealing with a lot of things, including a cold, these past few days, so it’s been a while since I’ve played in snow. What’s more, I was with Kriem, who was very friendly even though I was younger than her. I had to have some fun.

 

“Still, we did not have to do it the first thing in the morning, did we?”

“There was a song in a book I read once about how early mornings are the best in winter. When I think of winter, I think of clear, sunny mornings.”

“Hmm, I think I understand what you mean.  By the way, what kind of song was that, Golden Lion with Crimson Eyes (Ms. Mary)?”

“Well, it was called ‘Spring is the Dawn”–

 

While we were having a snowball fight, Lady Apricot, dressed in her usual clothes and Lady Mary, clad in only simple winter gear like a scarf, watched over us with a smile from a short distance away. Perhaps because they weren’t that far apart in age, they seemed somewhat like friends.

If it were me from before, I would have been reluctant to let the two of them talk alone and would have stopped them. It’s not like I have completely let my guard down now, but… compared to Lady Mary I met before… At the school festival, the current Lady Mary felt a little more familiar, so I didn’t feel the need to be particularly wary. It’s hard to verbalize how exactly she has changed, but right now I’m just fine with her.

 

“Ahahaha, fear my deadly underthrow hop-up!”

“You little–, take this! Two-handed-, Ghb?!”

“Sil—“

“Silva!”

 

Lord Silva, holding palm-sized snowballs in both hands, suddenly tripped and fell on the snow with his hands up.

Noticing this, Kriem called his name and tried to quickly run over him, but Lady Mary, who had just been speaking with Lady Aprict, ran up to him faster.

Her quick movements, despite being on top of snow, were strangely beautiful, even though she wasn’t used to it.

 

“Are you okay?!”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. The snow acted as a cushion…”

 

While Lady Mary seemed flustered and worried, Lord Silva seemed a little confused as he reported that he was fine.

He blushed a little at having his body checked for injuries, but he quickly stood up and assured that he was unharmed.

Seeing this, Lady Mary seemed relieved… I don’t know how to put it, but she seemed like an overprotective Older Sister worried about her Younger Brother.

 

“Please be careful in the snow. It’s easy to get tripped up.”

“No, it wasn’t snow. I tripped over something… Hm?”

“You tripped over something? You mean… eh?”

 

Kriem and I ran over to see if he was okay, but Lord Silva insisted that he had tripped, and looked at the spot where it had happened. As we followed his gaze, we saw a spot that was clearly not the color of the ground.

 

“Brown… skin?”

 

Then, as if responding to what we were saying, the thing, with what appeared to be brown skin, began to move and squirm, rising up.

 

“A monster?! Wait, it’s a person?!”

“Ms. Mary! G-get behind me!”

 

Lady Mary and the others became wary. Lord Silva stood in front of Lady Mary as if to protect her, and Lady Mary put her hand on Lord Silva’s shoulder, ready to step forward and protect him at any time.

As the person started to get up, the snow covering them gradually fell down and their silhouette became clearer.

 

“Oh, good morning, Big Brother Gray and the others. It’s a lovely day for a nap.”

“Good morning, Brown. Were you taking a nap?”

“Yeah. I got a little dizzy, and then started to feel sleepy, so I squatted down here and went to sleep…. huh, that’s weird. The Sun is in the east now.”

 

As expected, it was Brown. He was still as tall as ever, something I often envied. I wonder if I’ll grow taller if I sleep like him.

 

“Good morning, Brown. Geez, you know it’s not good to sleep under the snow. If you’re going to sleep, do it in your own room!”

“Yeah, okay, Big Sister Kriemhild… Then, I’ll head home now and go to bed. I’ve already finished my afternoon nap anyway.”

“Ahahaha, good boy. They say kids grow when they sleep, so make sure to tuck yourself in well before sleeping. Oh, you forgot your sword.”

 

Kriem handed Brown, who was rubbing his eyes sleepily, his weapon, a sword that was taller than her, and waved goodbye at him with a smile.

Lady Apricot then walked over to us and after checking that Lord Silva had no injuries or frostbite, she pointed her cane towards the church and told us.

 

“Well, now that the snow fight has reached its conclusion, we should go too. Let’s start from the church where morning prayers are being held.”

“You’re right. Oh, I will get the luggage.”

“Here, it’s the luggage my Disciple brought. There’s no need to go get it.”

“As expected from you, Lady Apricot!”

“Wait! Is this the kind of an issue I should just ignore?!”

 

This was normal for us, so we were about to begin our tour when Lord Silva asked us while looking flustered.

This panic meant that something terrible had happened or that he didn’t understand something, but did he come across something that strange?

 

“Umm… this is the first time I’m seeing that person too. Who is he…?”

 

Lady Mary also asked us, unusually looking as if she could not understand something.

However, unlike the flustered Lord Silva, she was trying to be as calm as possible. Anyway, if a question has been raised, I have to answer it.

 

“He’s Brown. He often plays and trains with me and Lady Apricot, and he often plays in all sorts of places.”

“When I first met him, he was sleeping in hot spring water, and even after that, I often found him sleeping standing up.”

“I saw him sleeping under the snow last year and the year before that too, it’s dangerous, so I’ve also told him to be careful, but… he seems to be fine due to some strange protection, so there’s no need to worry.”

“I see…”

“… I need to calm down. I met some unusual people yesterday too. I can’t panic yet…

As we explained, Lady Mary looked at Brown’s back in disbelief, while Lord Silva muttered to him for some reason.

Then, as if having realized something, Lady Mary looked at me.

 

“Huh, it’s unusual for you to refer to somebody so familiarly, Gray. Usually you refer to them as Lord or Lady.”

“It feels strange to refer to a younger friend with honorifics. Therefore I call him more casually.”

 

To me, most people are worthy of respect.

It was standard for me to use honorifics with them, but Lord Clo told me that being too humble could be rude to the other person, so unless they’re a guest, I’ve made it a point to call younger people by their names.

 

“…Younger? How old are you, Gray?”

“Eleven years old.”

“…. How old is that person?”

“Seven years old.”

“… He’s still growing. He’s about the same height as Mr. Clo, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he’s grown in the last few months and now he has already passed Lord Clo.”

“Oh, really? I was just thinking he seemed taller since the last time I saw him.”

 

By the way, Lord Clo was shocked by that fact. Although he’s probably also taller than average, he seemed shocked to have been overtaken by Brown, who he thought of as a child. Seeing this, Lady Violet muttered, “it’s easier with our current height difference…”, though for some reason her face turned red afterwards.

 

“Let’s calm down. Even a human child would grow up well if they lived freely in the countryside. It’s not strange… a seven year old is still in the middle of growing…”

 

Lord Silva again muttered to himself. Brown is a mixed race of elf, dwarf, human and orc, but he looks like a human and it doesn’t look like he’ll listen if I try to talk to him now, so I’ll correct his misunderstanding later.

 

“A-alright, let’s go then. Umm, I think we were supposed to… visit the place with the nun in certain clothing we saw yesterday…”

“Yeah, the church where Cyan, who wears a sexy outfit lives!”

“Ugh… I even went out of my way to be vague about it…”

“Kriemhild, a girl shouldn’t use such words.”

“Ahaha, but the outfit *was* sexy, right?”

“… That’s her religious outfit, after all. No, that deep slit has nothing to do with the doctrine.”

 

Lady Mary replied to Kriem’s words with a difficult look on her face.

I haven’t seen many nuns, so I don’t really understand it, but is Lady Cyan’s outfit that unusual? The other nuns I saw at the school festival were certainly dressed differently.

 

“…  That woman was, um, dressed provocatively, so I think it might be better to avoid her instead.”

“Her outfit is certainly provocative, and we might end up only seeing the free-spirited Ms. Cyan due to yesterday’s incident…”

 

While Lord Silva seemed a bit reluctant to go, Lady Apricot struck a pose with a slightly smug smile. Her movements were as beautiful and cool as ever. Someday, I hope to be able to make such gestures naturally like her.

 

“However, she’s undoubtedly a splendid Sister. At this rate, you’ll probably end up misunderstanding her. You’ll understand once you see her during morning prayers.”

“Is that… so?”

“Yes, it is.”

 

Lady Apricot led the way with a fearless smile while Lord Silva looked skeptical.

My teacher is still as reliable and respectable as ever.

 

“… Hmm.”

 

However, when she turned that smile towards Lord Silva, for some reason, a vague feeling of uneasiness washed over my heart.

 

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Author’s note: Approximate height of each character (as of January)

Clo: Close to 180 centimeters (~5’10”)

Violet: Mid 160 centimeters (~5’4″)

Gray: Around 150 centimeters (~4’9″)

Apricot: Mid 150 centimeters (~5’1″)

Kriemhild: Under 150 centimeters (~4’8″)

Mary: Around 170 centimeters (~5’5″)

Silva: Around 160 centimeters (~5’2″)

Brown: Over 180 centimeters (~6’3″)