Chapter 6: Tiny Blue Bird
This time, I really stood up and left the shop. I walked while feeling annoyed. To avoid being followed, I needlessly turned corners multiple times in the market, almost getting lost, until I returned to the inn, Aura.
Suppressing my turbulent heart, I entered through the back door of Inn Aura and stood in the backyard. It’s quiet here, and my heart feels calm.
The backyard is filled with lush flowers, and in addition to the well and laundry area, there is a small shrine. Unlike Japanese shrines, it has a miniature shape like a Roman temple. Inside, there is a stone statue of a goddess about the height of my knees. I clasped my hands together and said, “I have returned safely” as a gesture of gratitude.
“Hmm?”
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that a small amount of golden powder was coming out from the back of the statue’s head. It was so little that I had overlooked it until now. The golden powder occasionally flowed out from the back of the head and fell to the ground. When the golden powder touched the ground, it disappeared after a while.
Perhaps due to the effect of the powder, the flowers around the shrine were flourishing and blooming vibrantly. The vigor of the flowers was clearly different from those in a distant place. Intrigued, I cupped my hands and gently caught the overflowing golden powder from the statue.
It feels slightly warm. The powder disappears, but a gentle warmth gradually spreads through my body from the palm of my hand that caught it. Magic is amazing. Why is this statue emanating magic? I should ask Modal-san about it later.
“What are you doing, Haru?”
Startled, I jumped at the voice that came from behind. When I turned around to the familiar voice, it was indeed Victor-san.
“You followed me?”
“I just came to find your whereabouts because I still have something to discuss.”
So he says he came to find me.
Victor-san glanced briefly above my head. Curious, I looked up and saw a tiny blue bird, about the size of a hornet, flying in circles above my head.
“Wow, what’s this? It’s so cute!”
I reached out my arm, and the tiny bird stopped flapping its wings and perched on the tip of my index finger. It seemed satisfied as it preened itself there.
“Hey! What did you do to the Familiar Bird?”
“What? I just thought, ‘I wonder if it will land on my finger,’ and it did.”
“Can you see it?”
“Well, of course I can. My eyesight is not bad. It’s so cute. I want to have a small bird like this too.”
Victor-san was silent, but when I looked at his face, he was opening and closing his mouth.
“Those without magic should not be able to see Familiar Birds. Moreover, since I’m monitoring, no one other than me should be able to see them, not even wizards.”
“Oh, really? Even though I’ve been thoroughly examined and confirmed to have no magic, I can still see the blue bird.”
“Blue… It’s true. I can’t believe it.”
Saying that, Victor-san made a motion as if grabbing something in the air, like a conductor stopping the orchestra’s sound, and the little bird disappeared.
“Oh… It disappeared. So, it wasn’t real?”
“In that case, what were you doing here, or rather, what were you doing, Haru?”
“What do you mean? I was just catching the golden magic overflowing from the statue of the goddess with my palm.”
“Huh?”
“You’re so noisy.”
“Can Haru see it? No, is magic emanating from the statue?”
“It is, look, a little golden powder is coming out from the back of the head. It’s scattered around, and the plants and flowers are thriving, aren’t they?”
Victor-san shook his head and approached the statue.
“I can indeed sense a faint flow of magic. This must be a point where the earth’s magic wells up. But still, being able to see surveillance birds and magic without any magic. . . Could it be because you’re from another world? Perhaps this is evidence that the prophecy of the visionary was correct. . .”
“What are you muttering about? Anyway, this is my workplace. Please don’t disturb my work.”
“I-I didn’t mean to. I see, this is an inn. In that case, I’ll stay here for a while. I’m currently living in inns anyway. I’ll stay here until the mystery of Haru’s powers is unraveled.”
Oh no, how annoying.
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“So, I’d like to stay here for a while.”
“Please wait a moment.”
Modal-san said that and pulled me into a room behind the counter.
“Haru, is it okay? That person, the one who summoned you. If you don’t like it, I can say we’re fully booked and refuse him.”
“No, it’s fine. He’s a customer, so please make a good profit. It doesn’t matter to me anymore, no matter what he says.”
“Is that so? If he does or says anything unpleasant, immediately tell us, okay? Got it?”
“I understand. Thank you for your concern.”
In this way, Victor-san became a guest at the Aura Inn. And he specifically requested me as his room attendant. Sigh. I accepted because I didn’t want to cause trouble for Connie-chan and the others if I refused.
As a result, Victor-san turned out to be a gentlemanly guest who only asked me questions when I had free time. He even started using friendly language with me, as if we were already friends.
During my conversations with Victor-san, I learned that the golden powder of magic cannot be seen by anyone else. Wow, I was surprised.
In that case, I want to know why magic is welling up from the statue in the shrine in the backyard. Maybe someone other than me, someone who can see magic, chose that spot to place the statue?
I should ask Modal-san about it.
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