Chapter 48 — In which people pack
“Where did you put that pale violet overcoat Our Lady likes?”
“Uh? Wasn’t it in the white bag on the right…?”
“Well, where is the white bag on the right?”
“Huh? That’s weird… I was holding it a moment ago…”
While Tangeri looked around with a confused expression and Apric tried to sort the bags by their monetary value.
Craya entered the room, holding a plain cloth bag of something.
“I got nuts.”
She said with an expressionless face.
“What?”
“Didn’t you always…?”
Tangeri and Apric appeared very confused.
Craya shook her head and then opened the bag and took something out.
On her open palm laid a shelled walnut.
The other two ladies-in-waiting looked at it with even more confusion drawn on their faces.
“Why did you get nuts?”
“Our Lady said that she needs ‘something for cracking’.”
Then three pairs of gazes turned towards Saffra, who was sitting in the corner, reading some random knight’s work schedule.
Feeling their gaze, she looked up and blinked.
“My Lady, Craya got you nuts.”
“Yes?”
“For cracking.”
“… Ohh.”
Saffra looked at the walnut and then quickly nodded as she was struck with a realization.
“Yes. Thank you, Miss Craya.”
She accepted the bag of nuts.
It was quite heavy.
It indeed appeared good for cracking people if enough force was used.
Saffra could make use of it.
“I found it!”
Then Tangeri found the lost bag somewhere and shouted happily.
Afterwards, the chaos of packing continued.
Saffra, who was observing them from the corner of her eye, smiled wistfully.
‘Me and Am had to look similar when we were packing things for Ver…’
Though Ver was highly attentive to the other people’s situations and cared greatly about the health and happiness of those around, he had a tendency to forget about himself.
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He often disregarded his own health and comfort, and it was quite a miracle if he managed to keep a proper diet and sleep schedule by himself.
Therefore, whenever Ver would be leaving for a trip, Saf and Am would flock around him, packing everything he needed, less he forgot that needs to have clothes to change into.
Lost in thought, she looked outside, where the rays of the late morning sun sparkled in the garden stream, turning the purple foxtails into shinning lights.
‘I hope you’re alright. Wherever both of you are.’
*-*-*
“So where do you actually live, big brother?”
“In the research wing of Archmage’s mansion… Please don’t call me big brother.”
“But aren’t you our big brother now?”
“… I’m younger than you guys.”
“I don’t see a problem.”
“Me either.”
Sangria sent a SOS signal towards Cuprit, but the guy just smiled apologetically and turned towards the carriage window.
“So, big brother~”
The two similar voices from hell called towards Sangria again.
He looked at the twin sisters, Durio and Rambeta with a hollow eyes.
The two women seemed to be enjoying themselves greatly, and Sangria could already foresee his horrible future.
Perhaps he should be glad the two didn’t try to call him father.
He shivered just at the thought of it.
“Huh? Big brother, what were you thinking just now?”
“Nothing. I just had a glimpse into hell.”
“Oh! So big brother can look into other realms?”
“No wonder big brother’s eyes look so hollow right now.”
“Yeah, like two pits of despair. The hell must be really horrible.”
Sangria did indulge a notion that maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him again, but then he remembered that Young Master Vern assured him this morning that he did indeed force him to adopt three older than him people.
— Don’t worry, Master Sangria, it wasn’t a dream. Your three fresh and beautiful siblings are waiting just outside, ready to bring their things to your residence to live a completely real life together.
Sangria was a bit worried if Young Master Vern’s assurance was real, because Young Master Vern looked so dark as if he was a ghost when he talked about siblings, but when Grandmaster Scarlen came with some of the last paperwork, Sangria had to believe that it really happened.
Currently, he was in a half-automatic carriage, heading to the place where the three siblings lived before.
For the staff’s safety, Grandmaster Scarlen decided to relocate all of his workers working at the auction, which became a good excuse for the siblings to secretly come under Sangria’s wings.
Sangria was worried that getting associated with him would cause problems with siblings, but Lord Crimo stated:
— Getting associated with the Magic Exchange, where ‘Crow’ sold his spell, is probably already much bigger trouble than you could get them into.
And Sangria couldn’t help but agree.
There were quite a few Magic Exchange’s staff members entering the Archmage’s mansion, so siblings relocating to his quarters wouldn’t be that strange either.
Soon, the four arrived in a bit rundown district.
The buildings here were old and though it wasn’t a poor area, it also wasn’t the best one to live in.
There was a strange, smokey smell in the air, as if residents often burned some unknown things in their furnaces.
Sangria followed the siblings without commenting.
At the siblings’ place, which was a one bigger room, there weren’t a lot of things to take.
Some clothes, books and trinkets of small value.
That was all.
“Oh! Oh! Big brother!”
Sangria, who spaced out a bit, was suddenly brought back to reality by the horrible title.
Durio pulled something out and showed it to him.
“Can you use it?”
She was holding a stack of cards.
“What is it?”
“Magic cards! We heard that they show the future.”
“Right! But you need to summon a ghost.”
Suddenly Rambeta was on this other side.
Sangria stiffened at their words.
“Fake. Not real. Can’t do that.”
“Oh, c’mon big brother. Help us.”
“We can’t cast magic, so you are the only one who can help us.”
“You have Cuprit.”
He tried to look towards the man, but the twins blocked his view.
The sisters’ expressions suddenly turned serious.
“We would never make our little brother do something dangerous.”
Sangria just sent them a gaze ‘Then why are you making me do it’, at which he received a quick answer:
“But you’re our big brother, so that’s fine!”
Did those two have demonic blood in their veins?
A few moments later, Sangria found himself sitting at the table with cards before him and three excited people around.
He didn’t know why there were three of them all of a sudden, but apparently Cuprit shared his sisters’ interest about future and ghosts.
‘Let’s just mumble some nonsense and spread mana. It’s not like you’re really summoning a ghost…’
Sangria calmed down his shaky breath and spread his palm above the stack of card.
Using an old language from the time of His Reverence Vermillian, he recited:
“O wandering spirits, unbound by rivers and lost to heavens and earth. Tell me about past, presence and future.”
Then he spread a bit of mana, which under his stimulation lit up a bit, with bloody red color.
‘That should do…’
Sangria, satisfied with his performance, was about to withdraw his hand, but then froze.
At that moment, in the eyes of everyone in the room, the stack of cards scattered on the table on its own.
And then, two cards were flipped, revealing their content.
Wheel of Fortune and Death.
The two cards were flipped again, hiding their content. In exchange, three other cards were reveled.
Magician, Chariot and High Priestess.
Those three cards soon also flipped and the last two cards appeared.
Judgment and Fool.
There was a silence for a moment in the room.
And then uproar.
“Whoaa! It worked!”
“What does it mean, though?”
“Dunno, looks mysterious.”
While the three siblings tried to figure out the meaning of the cards.
Sangria just stared at the figure that only his eyes could see.
The figure in a bloody robe, with empty sockets, raised a ripped corner of their lips.
Then waved their hand as if saying hello.
When Sangria just stared without blinking, the figure shrugged, left the cards on the table, which they were playing with before, alone and left…
By merging with a wall.
Sangria tried to very slowly take a deep breath, while repeating in his mind:
‘It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.’
*~*~*