[V9C20] A Man Weak in the Morning and a Witch Good at All-Nighters

Elliott Howard had never been a morning person. His limbs and brain always remained sluggish for an hour or so after getting out of bed.

He vaguely remembered being scolded by Cyril for oversleeping during his time at Serendia Academy. The fact that his memories were so vague only served to show how bad it was.

Back when he was at his family home, the elderly maid who served the Howard family for years was there to get him up. She would often dress him and arrange his hair while scolding him for waking up so late. That said, Elliott had hardly brought any of his family’s servants to the Rainfield mansion.

Either way, Elliott wanted to act as a proper lord, so he often forced himself up with a cup of peppermint tea and pure determination.

“…Ugh… What time is it…?”

Elliott glanced at his surroundings. He had woken up sprawled across the desk of the archive room. Through his blurry vision, he saw piles and piles of documents… as well as a petite girl writing something on the other side of the mountain.

(Monica Norton… No wait, that was a fake name… The real one is Monica Eve… Ever…? …Ugh, what was it again? The Silent Witch, right…?)

Meanwhile, the expressionless Monica continued diligently moving her quill.

Oh right. They had been working late into the night, planning the magical dedication proposed by Monica. This required detailed records of the entire town, including an accurate map, the size of the buildings, and the width of the streets.

Thus, Elliott had guided Monica to the mansion’s archive room, prepared the documents, discussed various details, made permits… and somehow ended up falling asleep on the desk.

Feeling a chill, Elliott stuck out his right hand while still sprawled across the desk. He was attempting to reach for his jacket, but for some reason, it was nowhere to be found, and getting up was too bothersome.

“Hey Nanny, fetch my jacket…”

“Here you are.”

“And get me some apricot jam for breakfast… Make sure it doesn’t have any lumps…”

“I will pass that along to the chef.”

The half-asleep Elliott continued lying on his desk, before he finally realized it. The person responding to him had a completely different voice than the ‘Nanny’ from his memories.

In addition, the elderly maid from the Howard family would always offer gentle scolding, such as, “You are being such a handful, Elliott-bocchama.”

Elliott lifted his heavy head, finding himself face to face with a beautiful woman in a maid outfit, who promptly placed a teacup on the desk.

“I’ve brought you some tea. Please enjoy.”

“…”

Elliott put on a serious face as he sipped the peppermint tea.

“…Hey, Nanny.”

“Good morning, Elliott-bocchama.”

Ryn greeted Elliott, before heading over to Monica and placing a teacup in front of her as well.

“Silent Witch-dono, it has reached the time which most humans would call morning. Elliott-bocchama has just woken up.”

“…”

Monica did not respond, or even so much as glance at Ryn. Her round eyes were completely focused on the numbers and magical symbols on the documents in front of her.

A nostalgic sight. Monica had behaved like this when reviewing financial records as Student Council Treasurer.

“Silent Witch-dono.”

Ryn slipped her hands under Monica’s armpits and lifted her small body. Meanwhile, Monica continued to write in the air for a few seconds before snapping back to reality.

“Ah… Ryn-san, um, could you please put me down…?”

“I highly recommend that you take a break. Adequate sleep is essential for human activities.”

“O-Oh, okay…”

Monica nodded obediently, so Ryn placed her back into the chair.

Watching this, Elliott interjected after another sip of his peppermint tea.

“Were you really working all night?”

“Y-Yes. I’m, um… skilled at pulling all-nighters.”

Was that actually something people could be ‘skilled’ at?

A sweet apple-like scent wafted from Monica’s teacup. It seemed to be a herbal tea with a sleep-inducing effect.

Monica exhaled and glanced briefly at the mountain of documents on the desk.

“I’ve memorized most of the necessary numbers. Next, I will be going out into the town to correct any errors.”

Of course, Monica had not memorized every single detail contained in the mountain of documents, but even so, this was an inhuman amount. What’s more, she had all but finished writing the magical formulas based on those numbers.

After focusing his ears, Elliott could also hear Benjamin playing the piano. The musician had already started practice despite the early hour.

Upon hearing Monica’s proposal yesterday, Benjamin had enthusiastically exclaimed, “This will become an amazing piece of music!” He then immediately headed over to the piano, barely even touching his dinner.

Elliott believed that the word ‘genius’ referred not to people who achieve results without effort, but those who always display an extraordinary amount of passion and concentration.

And that was something he could never do himself.

(So what?)

In that case, his job was to support these out-of-control geniuses, and ensure they perform to their fullest potential.

While convincing himself this, Elliott finished his peppermint tea. With this, his mind was finally awake. There was still much he had to do as the lord.

First things first, he would distribute the gifts from yesterday as a gesture of appreciation. After all, the servants had been thoughtful enough to prepare peppermint tea for him.

＊　＊　＊

After napping in her room for a few hours and having a light meal, Monica went out to the town with Ryn.

The goal was to obtain the precise measurements of the town, which she needed to ensure the success of the magical dedication.

Monica walked from one end of the main street to the other, all while comparing the discrepancies between the data from last night and the actual sizes. Then, she recorded the numbers on a clipboard.

“Ryn-san, the next sheet, please.”

“Here you go.”

“Please bind these sheets together.”

“Understood.”

Once Monica finished writing the numbers, Ryn invoked a gust of wind to dry the ink, then bound the documents together with string.

One of the biggest problems with writing outdoors was making sure the ink dried properly, so the presence of a wind spirit like Ryn ended up being very convenient.

Once she had finished recording all the numbers, Monica took out a special ink and began drawing a magical circle on the ground.

Inscribing magical circles directly onto the ground or buildings allowed for the automatic activation of spells without input from the caster. One example of this was the defensive barrier that Louis had set up around Serendia Academy.

That said, you would of course need permission from the landowner to go inscribing magical circles everywhere.

On a side note, this was far more difficult than conventional magecraft, so Monica had only done it on a few occasions. Such jobs generally fell under the jurisdiction of the Barrier Mage, Louis Miller.

(If only I could cover the entire town with a defensive barrier, then we could hold the festival in the middle of the storm…)

Unfortunately, not even Monica was skilled enough to make a defensive barrier big enough to cover the town. Simply shielding a single building was already a highly advanced technique.

(But now isn’t the time to be wishing for the impossible. I’ll just do what I can.)

Monica continued inscribing the magical circle, ensuring that it would provide the maximum effect while minimizing their footprint. But eventually, the owner of a nearby food stall raised an eyebrow and approached her.

“Hey missy, it takes some guts to draw graffiti in the middle of the street like that.”

“S-S-Sorry… Um, I mean, I have a p-permi…”

“We have received a permit from the lord.”

Ryn explained in place of the stuttering Monica, then retrieved the permit from her bag and displayed it to the man.

After scanning the permit signed by Lord Elliott Howard, the stall owner furrowed his thick brows.

“A permit for drawing graffiti? Right before the festival? What in the world is His Lordship thinking?”

“N-No, this is a, um, magical circle, not graffiti.”

“Magical circle?”

The stall owner gave Monica a suspicious look. She was currently wearing her casual clothes rather than her Sage robes, so she didn’t look like a mage at all.

“Either way, I heard there’s a storm coming on the day of the festival. I have no clue what you’re trying to do, but there’s a high chance that your preparations will end up being pointless.”

“No.”

Monica stared right back at the stall owner.

“Please look forward to the festival day… Because we’re going to do something amazing.”

The stall owner still seemed skeptical.

Without another word, Monica applied a protective spell to the magical circle, then headed towards the next street.

Meanwhile, Ryn followed behind at a brisk pace as she brought up a proposal.

“The plan you envision is well within my area of expertise as a wind spirit. If my assistance is required, you need only ask.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. This is my job.”

For this business trip, Ryn’s job was to support Monica as a maid. Thus, Monica had no intention of borrowing her power for the magical dedication.

“And also…”

Monica glanced back at Ryn and put on a troubled smile. This was something she had decided on when coming up with this plan.

“Ryn-san, I want to impress you as well.”

Ryn fell silent for a moment in thought, then nodded approvingly.

“Then I shall look forward to the festival.”

“Yes! Please do!”

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