[V15EX1] The Little Lady and the Walker Brothers

Takes place a short time before the sleepover.

The black rain and the appearance of the Black Dragon of Sazandol had been a huge shock to the people living there, but the Seven Sages resolved the incident with minimal casualties.

Thanks to the teams of mages and doctors dispatched by the kingdom, most of the people hit by the black rain were on the path to recovery.

The chaos dominating the city was now wiped clean. Perhaps this was partially thanks to the magical dedication performed by the Silent Witch at the lighthouse.

While knitting in her armchair, Mrs. Knolles remembered back to the night of the dedication. The unforgettable sight she saw through the window.

(It was like a catalyst, giving us the motivation to keep trying.)

Mrs. Knolles paused her work after finishing several palm-sized motifs. She was currently connecting them into a cushion cover.

She had already finished two cushion covers, so this was the third.

These covers were originally intended as a small gift for their neighbors, so two should have been enough. But then, a third one suddenly became necessary.

A few more stitches would be enough to bring the cushion cover together, but Mrs. Knolles decided to take a short break for tea. Just as she thought that, there was a knock at the door.

“Ma’am, may I borrow the kitchen for a moment?”

The door opened to reveal Mrs. Knolles’s housemaid, Delia. Apparently, she had just finished cleaning.

Delia was an elderly woman close in age to Mrs. Knolles. She had collapsed after being caught in the black rain, but she recently returned to work.

“Delia,” Mrs. Knolles replied. “You don’t have to push yourself to make tea snacks. You’re not fully recovered yet, right?”

“True, but I want to make a small offering to the neighbors as an apology.”

“The neighbors?” Mrs. Knolles asked.

Delia gave a slightly uncomfortable nod.

Their neighbors were a young lady and her servant—no, perhaps it would be more accurate to say ‘servants’, in the plural.

Up until recently, the lady had been served by a gentle-looking, handsome young man. But lately, his older brother had taken his place.

He was a stern-looking young man of similar build, but his eyes were much sharper.

“Are you referring to Walker-san’s older brother?” Mrs. Knolles asked.

“Yes. Remember when you asked him to help with the shopping?”

As Delia was still recovering from the black rain incident, she was not healthy enough to run such errands.

Noticing this, the young man had said, “If you’d like, I can handle the shopping for you. I was about to go out anyway.”

And so, Mrs. Knolles accepted his offer.

However, the young man returned from the store before she had a chance to inform Delia. As a result, Delia thought he was a stranger when she saw him at the front door.

“He looked suspicious to me,” Delia admitted, “So I treated him rather rudely…”

What Delia referred to as “rude” was asking “Who are you?” in a sharp tone and glaring at him. Honestly, this was rather fair behavior when seeing an unknown man visiting an elderly woman living alone.

“Walker-san said he wasn’t bothered by it at all.”

“But ma’am, you know the large scar on his face? I found myself staring at it for a while…”

Although the Walker brothers were quite similar in build, their faces could not be more different.

The younger one was very handsome, with a gentle and mild demeanor. His older brother, however, had sharp eyes and a large scar above his right eye. Most would describe him as intimidating.

That said, once you spoke to him, he acted just as kind and well-mannered as his brother.

Delia had quickly realized her mistake and apologized.

“Since we’ll continue seeing them from now on, I need to make amends for the way I acted.”

“That’s true. In which case, I need to hurry up and finish this cushion cover too.”

After all, the suddenly necessary third cushion cover was intended for the older of the Walker brothers.

Mrs. Knolles gathered the finished motifs and began laying them out again, but then she noticed a brief shower of rain outside the window. It disappeared as quickly as it came.

There was not a cloud in the sky, so they both widened their eyes in surprise, until they saw someone running toward the front door.

A man with sharp eyes and soaked, golden hair plastered to his face. Speak of the devil, he was the older of the Walker brothers.

Mrs. Knolles opened the window and leaned out.

“Oh dear, what happened?”

“I’m terribly sorry. I was practicing magic, and I accidentally launched some water in your direction… Are both of you okay?”

“We’re fine since we were inside the house. Right, Delia?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When Delia nodded, the young man let out a sigh of relief. Though his sharp eyes made his face seem more intense when flustered, he looked like any ordinary young man now.

It was then that Mrs. Knolles noticed the short wand in his right hand.

“Come to think of it, I saw you practicing something in the garden before. Are you a mage?”

“I’m still just an apprentice. Again, I’m very sorry for the trouble I’ve caused.”

“It’s quite all right. You saved us the trouble of watering the garden.”

Mrs. Knolles returned a smile, when she saw another person running over from the neighboring house. It was the young lady, covering her blouse with a large sheet of cloth.

The next instant, Walker started shouting with a dramatic change of expression.

“Monica?! I told you not to come outside!”

“I’m the homeowner, so um, I thought it should be the one to apologize.”

Upon closer inspection, both Walker and the young lady were soaking wet.

Walker bent down slightly and gave the young lady a stern look.

“You can’t go walking around like that, okay?”

“But…”

“No buts. A proper lady would never do that.”

“Ah…”

The young lady drooped her head in defeat, as Walker gazed down at her with both exasperation and overflowing affection.

(Oh…? Oh my…?)

His sharp eyes made him look angry, but she could sense the restrained love behind them.

Mrs. Knolles suddenly realized it.

From the moment the young lady ran up to him, Walker had been standing at the perfect angle to shield her soaked figure from the street.

(My goodness…!)

Mrs. Knolles brought her hand to her mouth and turned to Delia. Her maid nodded back with a look that said, “I understand completely, ma’am.”

As the two exchanged glances, Walker had finished his short lecture.

He turned once again to Mrs. Knolles.

“I must apologize again. I’ll make sure to bring a token of apology later.”

“In that case, how about joining us for tea later? Delia says she’ll be making sweets.”

At Mrs. Knolles’ invitation, the young lady instantly raised her head.

“Yes! …Um, I’d love to!”

“Then we’ll come by later, Mrs. Knolles.”

Walker gave a polite bow next to the beaming young lady.

Then, he headed back home, taking great care to keep the soaked lady out of view.

After seeing them off, Mrs. Knolles closed the window and turned to Delia.

“Delia, you saw that, right? The expression on his face.”

“Yes, ma’am. I saw it very clearly.”

That scene of Walker gazing down at the young lady. His turquoise eyes clearly burned with passionate love.

And what’s more, both of them knew about his brother’s feelings too. The handsome younger brother viewed the young lady with the same amount of passion.

“I can hardly believe it… Two brothers falling for the same girl…!”

“A love triangle… Oh dear, what a troublesome situation…”

The younger brother with handsome features, the older brother with a shadowed air… What would become of their romance with the young lady?

The two women pressed their hands to their cheeks and let out dreamy sighs.

“I’m dying to know how the young lady feels, but… this is no place for us old folks to butt in…”

“Let us watch over them from the sidelines, ma’am.”

“Yes, of course. But surely we are allowed to imagine? …Perhaps she is the daughter of a noble, forced into an unwanted marriage. Then, she fled to this town with the two servant brothers.”

“The older brother said he was an apprentice mage, right? What if the young lady actually has a hidden talent in magecraft, and the three of them went into hiding due to a conspiracy in the Mage Association…?”

Unaware that Mrs. Knolles and Delia were getting carried away like excited schoolgirls, the Silent Witch and her disciple hurriedly changed their clothes, then held an emergency meeting on what to call Isaac in front of the neighbors.

Apparently, this was the results of their emergency meeting:

Sparkly Face = Ike (younger brother)

Scarred Face = Zack (older brother)

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