Taboo Mansion Again
It was a place that was far too bizarre to be called a mansion. It’s undoubtedly the place where Asch＝Dahl resides, but there are as many gravestones as they are to fill the lawn. It reeks so badly of corpses that any ordinary person would feel nauseous. At the center of all that is a building built with cold black metal so enormous that one can even say that it’s like a fortress.
People called that place,『Taboo Mansion』.
“I’m, back”
Perhaps it was Asch’s imagination, he opened the door that feels heavier than usual.
The time is 7 in the morning. Since Hogner Magic Academy starts at 8 o’clock, if one takes into consideration the 45 minutes of travel time, he won’t make it if he doesn’t hurry up and prepare.
“Welcome back. How are you feeling?”
Expressionlessly, she receives Asch and bows deeply.
“Aah, there’s no problem……by the way, you didn’t come to my date’s location by any chance, did you?”
While intimidating the voyeuristic butler who has a previous record, he removed his outdoor-use super high-class robe and handed it over. It’s an order-made customised first-class item, but it’s become extraordinarily heavy from yesterday’s rain.
“No. I was not at that location”
Upon hearing that answer, Asch pats his chest down inside his heart in relief.
“It was an extraordinarily enjoyable date. While strolling down the dazzling street at night, we were chatting away with the highest grade wine, and then, while enjoying the romantic night view……oops, I can’t say any more than this……kukuku”
“Is that so……it did not seem that way to me though”
Asch’s feet stop at Mira’s single cold sentence.
“……were you watching?”
He unconsciously opens his eyes widely.
His heart is going,『Just now, didn’t you say that, you didn’t come』.
“My apologies, my words were insufficient.『From what I, a doll, was seeing with a pair of binoculars from afar, it looked like you were stood up for 13 hours in this pouring rain, and both your heart and body are enervated, so how are you feeling?』, was what I was asking”
・・・
“……waiting is also, part of the date”
At the words that Asch squeezed out, Mira, thought.
‘It has surpassed humourous, and is already tragic’
“Is that so? All it seemed to me, a doll, was that you were stood up”
“Fuu……Mira. Do you know what is called neglect play?”
At those words, the super-competent butler’s hands stop.
“……Asch-sama. I have never found myself as glad to be a doll as I have today. Otherwise, I would have probably frozen to death with the unending chills I got from those words of yours”
Without wavering at Mira’s sarcasm, the narcissistic Magician continues talking.
“I guess you’re a boorish doll at the end of the day huh. Listen up, alright? A date, is not just about the meeting. What you call a date, includes that period of not being able to meet. No, rather, it’s the period of not being able to meet that fosters a man and woman’s romantic emotions”
“……I could pretty much, not comprehend what you are saying, but in essence,『An excursion is not just going. An excursion is going and coming back home』, is that it?』.
“Well, that’d be it if I were to put it in a non-romantic way”
“……”
Mira has no emotions. However, she possesses the capacity to think. That capacity to think passed a judgement on Asch.
‘How hopelessly stupid’
“……still, speaking of excursion, isn’t there an excursion with my special class next time?”
The Dark Magician’s signature move; forcefully changing the subject.
“Yes. It seems to be an annual event at the Hogner Magic Academy, and the students are also really looking forward――”
“I was just in need of manpower”
“……huh?”
The super-capable butler, whose capacity to think can’t catch up with, Asch’s words.
“You know, the Pietra Grass at the Sirisasa Mountain. It’s the material I need for the magic that’s presently in development, right. I was grumbling that it’s troubling that I can’t quite hire people even though I’m trying to look for it, right”
“……”
Sirisasa Mountain is, a mountain that boasts to be one of the most perilous even in the entire of this Narsha Country. Also, because there exist lots of fearsome monsters and Demon Insects, people naturally don’t get close to it.
Asch had put up a recruitment for Pietra Grass harvesting in the Guild and such, but he couldn’t get anybody at all, and endless complaints, grumblings, and disparagements were coming from Asch. For him to actually, make the students take on such a quest of highest difficulty……an ill-nature Magician who goes overboard even when it comes to abusing authority, he is.
“After all, the speed of the research is speeding up rapidly. I can’t drag the thing down with the lack of materials. By the way, how’s the condition of him, that number one research contributor?”
“Yes. Shall I give him a call?”
“No, it’s fine. Even if I praise him, he won’t understand anything after all”
“……”
Lloyd. This genius Dark Magician, who once tried to render Asch dead, had his soul taken out and transformed into a living doll. Inside the closed laboratory, he doesn’t need the flexibility of the capacity to think like Mira. He was modified into an existence that just, spends every day putting his master’s order into action and devoting himself to the research.
“Do you sympathise with him? As fellow dolls”
The Dark Magician observes Mira with a twisted expression.
“……no. More importantly, you are late for your lesson. Please hurry up”
“Ooh, that’s right. Immediately, prepare the breakfast and the bath for me”
At those words, Mira thought.
‘……this fellow, he has no intention of hurrying up at all’.
