[V13C35] Anonymous Potluck Party

Isaac continued practicing the water arrow spell, with a few breaks to squirt water at Glenn and Cyril. By now, the sun was already high in the sky, so it was almost noon.

Noticing Glenn’s rumbling stomach, Isaac lowered his staff.

“I guess it’s about time for lunch? I can make something simple for you guys.”

“Oh, we don’t need lunch since we’ll be going to… Ah!”

Glenn gasped in realization and turned to Cyril, who grew pale as he pulled out a pocket watch from his wet jacket.

“Oh no, we lost track of time…”

“Hmm? Did you have somewhere to be?” Isaac asked.

Putting away the pocket watch, Cyril straightened his back and answered in a hurried tone.

“The members of the Sazandol Mage Association will be holding a celebration party very soon.”

“So we came to get you, President!” Glenn followed.

Isaac smoothed out his wet bangs and reflected on his actions. Cyril was currently soaked, being on the receiving end of a majority of their water attacks.

“I see, then I have to apologize for getting you wet. Cyril, if you’re okay with it, I can lend you some of my clothes.”

“You need to change first!” Cyril replied. “Please hurry!”

“Don’t worry about me. I won’t be attending.”

After all, Melissa had told him yesterday to “come back when you’re not a complete amateur.” He was not welcome at the Mage Association.

In the first place, the man named Isaac Walker was not allowed to step into the spotlight. As long as they celebrated Monica for slaying the Black Dragon of Sazandol, that was good enough for him.

However, Cyril and Glenn continued their pleas in a stronger tone, refusing to back down.

“You have to! Please, change out of those clothes!”

“Yeah, President! You absolutely have to come!”

“But…”

Noticing Isaac’s hesitation, Glenn quickly continued, “Monica asked us to bring you!”

“Got it. I’ll prepare right away.”

If Monica was calling for him, then of course he would go. Isaac had no reason to ignore her calls.

Isaac promptly rushed into the house, leaving Glenn and Cyril stunned at his sudden change of attitude.

Right after entering, Isaac noticed a plate covered with a bowl next to the door, with a note attached saying, “For Master.” He lifted the bowl to find a small sandwich.

(They apparently have food at the party… but well, it should be fine.)

Isaac had been practicing magic since morning, without anything to eat, so his stomach was growling too. Repeatedly casting spells left him a lot hungrier than he expected.

He could not help but wonder how Monica and Cyril managed to get by with such little food after using magic.

Isaac stuffed the sandwich into his mouth as he removed the belt for securing his hidden weapons.

His concealed dagger, hidden pouches, and throwing knives all clattered to the floor right as Cyril and Glenn caught up to him. Both were left dumbfounded.

“President… um, do you carry those all the time?”

“Hfah?”

Isaac tried to ask “What?” with his mouth full, so it was almost inaudible. Not that it really mattered. He decided to ignore them and continue changing.

“…Ike, changing clothes while eating is improper,” Cyril said. “Please take a seat. I’ll prepare a drink and a towel for you…”

Isaac continued chewing as he thought about how nostalgic this was.

He had been quite the impatient child, so eager to go out and play that he often stuffed food into his mouth. His mother often scolded him the same way Cyril was doing now.

Isaac swallowed the rest of the bread, then licked the sauce off the corner of his mouth.

“Sorry, I’m in a hurry. Can you save the lecture for later?”

He then rushed up the stairs, dove into his room, and swiftly changed into a pair of clothes from his closet.

Cyril and Glenn caught up and peeked into his room right as he finished buttoning up his vest.

“Um, Ike…”

Isaac looked over to see Cyril and his particularly drenched shoulder area. He could use a fresh jacket and vest.

While wiping off his wet hair, Isaac gestured toward the closet with his chin.

“You can use any of my clothes.”

“…I will take you up on that offer.”

Cyril looked into the closet and immediately grimaced. Meanwhile, Glenn also peeked in with great interest, even though he didn’t need to change.

“Whoa!”

The right half of the closet contained Isaac Walker’s usual clothes, while the left contained well-decorated garments made from cloth of the highest quality, suitable for royalty.

Since Isaac needed to change clothes before returning to his domain as Felix Arc Ridill, both sets had to be kept in Sazandol.

Seeing Cyril frozen in front of the closet, Isaac put on a smirk.

“What do you think about the second from the left, the exquisite jacket from Dalgushka? If you’re interested, the matching diamond cufflinks are in the bottom drawer.”

“S-Surely you jest.”

Cyril stuttered a response as he turned towards the right side containing Isaac’s usual clothes.

Isaac had given Cyril permission to borrow anything, but that seemed unfeasible due to their difference in height and build. All of the jackets would be too loose, so it was better to go for a vest due to the more flexible fabric.

“This is…” Cyril muttered, picking up a certain summer vest.

It was the one brought by Wildianu a few days ago, depicting a giant rose with eyes and a mouth.

Upon seeing this, Isaac froze in the middle of wiping his hair.

“President, is that the kind of clothes you like?” Glenn asked, trying to contain his laughter.

“That’s quite the accusation.”

Isaac snapped back with a frown due to his sheer disgust at the thought.

Meanwhile, Cyril lifted the summer vest and stared into the giant rose’s eyes, his own blue eyes glittering with excitement.

Isaac put his brain into full gear to come up with a certain hypothesis.

Clifford admitted to designing the vest, but he also mentioned that the eyes and mouth were added by someone else. The person responsible was likely an acquaintance of Lana Colette, and when it came to people who often came up with headache-inducing ideas…

Someone meeting all of the conditions was standing right in front of him.

Isaac flashed back to his days at Serendia Academy.

The student council was responsible for design ideas on many occasions, such as venue decorations, procuring gifts for guests, and selecting toys to donate to the orphanage. The ideas of a certain council member always left Isaac struggling to contain his laughter.

“A while back, Miss Colette consulted me about rose-themed accessories,” Cyril explained. “This must be that vest… It seems they adopted my idea.”

His slightly proud tone left Isaac facepalming.

“So you’re the culprit?”

“…? Culprit?”

Isaac returned the clueless Cyril a piercing glare before changing the subject.

“Use the fourth vest from the right. It’s smaller than the others, so it should just barely fit you.”

To tell the truth, Isaac just wanted Cyril to wear anything but the rose vest. Otherwise, his resistance to laughter would be put to the test once again.

＊　＊　＊

A short distance away from Sazandol, in a small forest clearing, there sat a young woman with beautiful golden hair. For some reason, she wore a maid uniform despite being in the middle of the wilderness.

She seemed to be holding a picnic by herself, judging by the basket filled with sandwiches, a bottle of wine, and a wrapped package of pastries.

Next to her was a black cat leaning against the bottle, a pair of gold and white weasels nibbling at the pastries, and a white lizard sipping wine from a plate.

“Hey, open this one too,” the black cat said, tapping the basket with his front paws.

The blonde maid responded, “Certainly,” taking a meat sandwich from the basket and arranging it on a plate.

The true identity of this black cat was Nero, Monica’s self-proclaimed familiar and the Black Dragon of Worgan.

The white weasel was the white dragon, Thule, contracted to Cyril.

The gold weasel was the ice spirit, Ashelpikeh, also contracted to Cyril.

The white lizard was the water spirit, Wildianu, contracted to Isaac.

Finally, the blonde maid was the wind spirit, Rynzbelfied, contracted to the Barrier Mage, Louis Miller.

However, none of them cared about the identities of the others, nor did they reveal their own names. Because this was an anonymous potluck party.


This all started yesterday, when Nero got into a very bad mood.

He heard about how the humans were throwing a celebration, with feasting and drinks.

And yet, Monica said he wasn’t allowed to come, because he looked too suspicious, whether as a human or a cat.

Nero stomped his paws in frustration.

How could they do this to him when he was the one who saved the day!?

Nero continued hissing in discontent atop the roof of the Mage Association, when suddenly, a powerful wind blew past his whiskers.

Judging by the mana contained within the wind, it was clearly more than just a sea breeze. Moreover, Nero recognized the sensation.

“Greetings, Black Cat-dono, it has been a while.”

A beautiful maid with golden hair landed silently in front of Nero. She was Rynzbelfied, the contracted spirit of Louis Miller.

Apparently, Ryn had come delivering documents to the Sazandol branch of the Mage Association on behalf of Louis, using her high-speed flight.

Without so much as a greeting, Nero started venting his dissatisfaction to Ryn. He explained how the humans were having a joyous feast and he wasn’t invited.

This was unfair. He deserved that meat far more than they did.

Ryn sat in the seiza position and listened to all of Nero’s complaints. However, she remained silent and her doll-like expression did not change a single time.

Once Nero began rolling around the roof and screaming “Meat! Meat! Meat!” Ryn made a certain proposal.

“I’ve recently learned about the event known as a potluck party.”

“You mean that feast thing where everyone brings their own food and drink?”

“Yes. I am quite interested in the idea, you see.”

Nero paused his rolling and lifted himself back up. His black tail swayed from side to side.

“Hold on,” Nero muttered. “A potluck party gets better the more participants you have, right?”

And thus, Nero decided to visit the magical creatures of Sazandol and say, “We’re having a potluck party, so bring some food.”

Many of them had sensitive circumstances, such as Nero and Thule being dragons, and Wildianu being the contracted spirit of the late queen. However, all of the magical creatures invited had no interest in each other’s backgrounds or identities.

As a result, this was essentially a gathering of ‘all the magical creatures acquainted with Nero.’

The mat wasn’t very large, so aside from Ryn, they all transformed into animals to fit. Either way, Nero believed that animal form was superior because according to him, “the food and drink looks bigger that way.”

Ryn remained in human form mainly for the purpose of pouring drinks, serving food, and setting the dishes. She seemed to want the experience of being a server at a potluck party.

After devouring a sandwich as big as himself, Nero shifted his attention to the wrapped package next to the basket. This was something Pikeh had carried in on her back.

“Is there meat in that package? There is, right? I can smell it.”

“Yeah,” Pikeh replied. “When I mentioned the potluck party, Cyril gave it to me and told me ‘not to offend Nero-dono’.”

“I see, Chilly seems like a thoughtful guy.”

Meanwhile, Thule was playing around, rolling back and forth across the mat. He eventually accelerated too fast and accidentally stepped on the tail of the small lizard Wildianu.

Thule paused his rolling and stood up to apologize.

“Did I hurt you? Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, I am fine… But why were you rolling around in the first place?”

Wildianu seemed to be asking out of genuine curiosity.

Thule tilted his small head and answered, “Because this form lets me roll around a lot. It’s fun.”

While white dragons were not as big as black dragons, rolling around his true form would probably still result in a disaster.

Nero swallowed the meat he had been chewing and nodded in agreement.

“I get you there. Also, this form lets you fit into small spaces. Like the gap between shelves.”

“I like hiding inside a moving bag. Right, Pikeh?”

“Yeah, swaying is fun.”

“I prefer staying inside a pocket. It feels very calming to me.”

The black cat, the weasels, and the lizard each shared their thoughts on preferred locations. Meanwhile, Ryn, who was arranging cookies on a plate, tilted her head sharply.

“I cannot comprehend your preference for tight spaces, but I can understand the convenience of being able to fit. The infant in the house I serve often hides toys or socks in the gaps between furniture.”

“Do all human children do that?” Nero asked.

“I believe the tendency to hide things is the same for both children and adults,” Ryn replied while lining up numerous jars of jam and bottles of wine from her paper bag.

Thule exclaimed “Wow!” at the jam, which seemed to be the perfect addition to his pastries, as Nero licked his lips at the wine bottles.

“Haha. You’ve got quite the stash there,” Nero said with a chuckle.

“An adept head maid is privy to all her master’s secrets,” Ryn replied in a strangely proud tone, despite her lack of facial expression.

Wildianu’s thoughts when packing the basket:

(Should I leave some sandwiches for Master…? Assuming Silent Witch-sama is returning today, they will require at least two. But wait, Master enjoys cooking for her, so I don’t want to take that away from him. In that case, I can leave one for Master. Or is two better? One may be enough for most humans, but Master eats more than average… Hold on, if he’s going to cook either way, maybe it’s best not to leave any…?)

After much turmoil, he ended up leaving a single sandwich because he wanted his master to taste it.

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