路地の入口の辺りに構えていた露店の商品が怪しい、と最初に気づいたのは騎士団長令息のアレクだった。
呑気な騎士団員の街歩きを装っていたと思っていたのだが、それはどうやら私だけで、王太子をはじめ、彼らはきちんと見回りをしていたようだ。
たっぷりのケシの実の餡をジャガイモのパイ皮で包んだ菓子パンの屋台を見つけたアレクが、
「お嬢様、あれを召し上がりませんか。」
と言ったので、あら、分かるじゃない、とまたカールに買いに行かせ、皆で分け合って食べているときに、アレクが切り出した。
「士長、あそこの露店の品ですが。」
下士官を装っているので、士長は王太子である。
「あぁ。魔獣だろうな。」
それを聞いてちらりと目をやる。店の前には赤や青の色とりどりの石を使った装飾品が並んでいる。その中に白い石のようなものをつなげてネックレスやブレスレットにしたものがいくつかあった。どうやらそれは魔獣の角や爪を加工したものらしい。私には何か動物の骨か貝殻にしか見えないのだが。
「聞き込みからはじめるか。」
「あれだけの量だ。以前の魔獣出現時のものとは考えにくいぞ。」
「継続的に仕入れているかもしれない。クルムスと繋がりをもっている可能性もある。」
男たちは露店の調査をどうするか相談している。
ここハイリゲンクロイツ王国で魔獣は平時現れない。聖女の加護があるからだ。聖女が生きていれば、その加護は国全体に及び、魔獣の発生を抑えてくれる。
聖女が誰と分かっていなくても存在するだけで効果があるが、聖女が交代する時期にはその加護が切れる時期が出る。聖女が天寿を全うすれば、ほどなくして国の中で聖女の力、光の魔法の力を持つ者が現れるのだが、その期間は数日のこともあれば数年に渡る可能性
もある。
聖女が誰であるか探すのは、聖女が不慮の事故に遭わないように保護するためで、聖女が年老いて病気にかかれば、聖女の加護に切れ目が生まれる可能性に備え、魔獣の発生に対策をする必要があるのだ。
今のところ聖女は明らかになっていない。光の魔法を使うということは魔力持ちの可能性が高いので、王立アカデミーの３年になるときに行われる魔力判定の儀式で聖女が明らかになるのが、先々代、先代の聖女、そしてこれから明らかになるのがミアだ。
もっとも亡くなるまで結局誰かわからないままだった聖女も何人かはいる。魔力を持っていることに気づかないまま一生を終えたのだ。その際には、北の山を中心に魔物が発生した。幸いにしてあまり期間をおかずして次の聖女が生まれたので、大事には至らなかった。
そういうわけで、まだミアが聖女と分かっていなくとも、聖女が生存しているので王国に
は魔獣は出没しない。魔獣の角や骨を手に入れるとすれば、先代の聖女と当代の聖女の入れ替わりのときに出没した魔物のものか、もしくは北のクレムス国とのつながりだ。
以前の記憶では先代の聖女が亡くなって数か月で新しい聖女がうまれている。ミアは私と同じ年のはずだから15年は経っているはずだ。綺麗な状態の魔獣の骨が大量に残ってい
るとは考えにくい。となると、北の山を越えた先の国、クレムスからの密輸品か。
魔獣の骨には幻覚作用があり、しかも依存性や致死性もあるので、「魔薬」として国家間で厳しく取り締まりがなされている。クレムスは聖女の加護、光の魔法の加護がないので、わが国との国境の山を中心に魔獣が時折出没するのだ。正規軍が基本的には討伐にあたっているが、賊も魔獣を倒して、その骨や角を密輸して稼いでいる。
以前の私は、ミアの魔力を込めた魔道具をクレムスに輸出してはということも進言していた。クレムスでの魔獣の発生を抑えればわが国の魔薬被害も収まると思ったのだ。もちろん舞踏会やお茶会にしか興味のないミアと、王太子を含む彼女に夢中な取り巻きたちに即時却下されましたけどね。
「お嬢様、われわれは用ができましたので、少し失礼します。」
クラウスが恭しく言った。
「わかりました。私はこの先にあるケーキ店に行っていますから。この先
の広場で落ち合いましょう。」
「すまないな。」
ルドルフが申し訳なさそうに言う。
「いいえ。くれぐれもお気をつけて。」
私は小さく首を振った。
私はカールを連れて通りの先にあるケーキ店へ向かった。ルドルフとクラウス、アレク、そして兄のエリアスと護衛騎士のデニスは件の露店に向かった。魔薬をつくることができる魔獣の骨を扱っているとなれば、そのまま逮捕、牢獄行きだ。すぐに警備隊に引き渡すだろうし、それほど時間はかからないだろう。
ケーキ店はとても小さな店で、行列がなければそのままうっかり見過ごしてしまうところだ。ハンナや王太子宮の侍女たちも噂に聞いたことがあるという、最近できたばかりのそのケーキ店は、素朴なケーキがかえって新しいと評判だ。
カールによると今日はむしろ短い方だという列の最後尾に並ぶ。
「どうかした？」
カールが不思議そうに見ているので、私が尋ねると、
「いえ…侯…令嬢が並ばれるのだなと思いまして。」
思わず侯爵家の名を口にしそうになって飲み込んだ。
「なぜ？皆並んでいるわよ。」
「そうですが…」
「侍女に買いに来させることもあるけど。店頭で見て選ぶ方が楽しいわよ。」
＿なんだろう。順番を抜かすように見えるのだろうか。皆買いたくて並んでいるのだ。いくら権力のある家の令嬢とはいえそこまでひどいことはしない。まぁ、侍女に先に並ばせて順番が来たら交代することはあるけどね。あ、権力、使ってるな。
しばらくして私の番が来て、名物のトルテを買うことができた。小麦粉とアーモンドパウダーにバターと卵と砂糖を加え、表面にラズベリーのジャムを塗って、格子状に生地が重ねられたしっとりしたクッキーのような堅めの生地は素朴で食べごたえもある。
＿看板メニューのトルテと…あぁ、あれもこれも食べたい…じゅるり。あぁ。涎が出そう。
小柄な可愛らしい女性の店員にケーキを注文し、一緒に来ている”騎士たち”のために焼き菓子も購入した。
思いの他大荷物になってしまったので、店員が包みを一つにまとめてくれる。この店に店員は２人しかおらず、私と同じ年頃に見えるのに立派に店を回している様子に私は感心した。
「ありがとう。」
「またお越しくださいませ」
荷物はカールが持ってくれ、店員の愛らしく明るい笑顔に送られて私たちは店を出た。
It was Alec, the Knight Commander’s son, who first noticed that the goods in the stalls set up around the entrance of the alley were suspicious.
I had thought he was posing as a simple knight’s walk through the streets, but apparently it was just me and the Dauphin and the others were making their proper rounds.
When Alec spotted a stall selling pastries filled with poppy seed filling and wrapped in a potato pie crust, he said
“Miss, would you like some of that?”
I sent Karl to buy some more, and we were all sharing it when Alec interrupted, “Chief, the stall over there.
He went to buy some more food from the stall over there, and as they were all sharing it, Alec cut in.
He was posing as a junior officer, so he was the Dauphin.
He was posing as a junior officer, so he must be the crown prince. It must be a hexenbiest.
Hearing this, I glanced at him. In front of the store are ornaments made of red and blue colored stones. Among them, there were several necklaces and bracelets made of white stone-like objects connected together. Apparently, they were made from the horns and claws of magical beasts. To me, they looked like bones or shells of some animal.
Let’s start by asking around.
“That’s a lot of stuff. It’s hard to imagine it’s from a previous magical beast encounter.
They could be buying continuously. It’s possible he has a connection with Krummus.
The men are discussing how to investigate the stall.
Here in the kingdom of Heiligenkreuz, no demonic beasts appear in normal times. It is because of the blessing of the saint. If the saint is alive, her blessing extends to the entire country and suppresses the occurrence of demonic beasts.
The mere presence of the saint, even if no one knows who she is, is effective, but when the saint changes, there will be a time when her blessing expires. When a saint lives out her natural life, someone with the power of a saint and the power of light magic will soon appear in the country, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for several years.
The period of time may be a few days or even years.
The search for who the saint is is to protect the saint from accidental exposure, to prepare for the possibility of a break in the saint’s blessings if the saint grows old and falls ill, and to counteract the outbreak of magical beasts.
So far, the saint has not been revealed. Since the use of light magic means that she is likely to have magical powers, the saint will be revealed at the ceremony to determine her magical powers when she becomes a junior at the Royal Academy, the previous saint, the saint before her, and the saint who will be revealed is Mia.
However, there are several saints whose identity remained unknown until their deaths. Some of them died without realizing that they possessed magical powers. At that time, demons were generated mainly in the northern mountains. Fortunately, the next saint was born not too long after, so it did not become serious.
So, even though Mia is not yet known to be a saint, the kingdom is not infested with demonic beasts because the saint is still alive.
The saint is still alive, so there are no demonic beasts in the kingdom. If we were to obtain horns or bones of demonic beasts, they would either belong to demons that appeared when the previous saint and the current saint were replaced, or they would be connected to the northern kingdom of Krems.
According to my previous memory, a new saint was born a few months after the death of the previous saint. Mia must have been the same age as me, so it must have been 15 years. It is hard to imagine that there are still a large number of beautiful bones of magical beasts left.
It is hard to imagine that there are still a large number of bones of a beautiful magical beast left in the world. So the bones must have been smuggled in from Krems, a country beyond the mountains to the north.
Since the bones of hexenbiests have hallucinogenic effects and are addictive and lethal, they are strictly regulated among nations as “magic medicine. Since Krems does not have the blessings of the saints and light magic, the monsters occasionally appear in the mountains on the border with our country. The regular army is basically in charge of defeating them, but bandits also earn money by killing them and smuggling their bones and horns.
In the past, I had also suggested that magical tools filled with Mia’s magic power be exported to Krems. I thought that if the outbreak of magical beasts in Krems could be suppressed, the damage caused by magical potions in our country would also be contained. Of course, this was immediately rejected by Mia, who was only interested in balls and tea parties, and her cronies, including the crown prince, who were crazy about her.
We have some business to attend to, young lady,” Klaus said reverently.
Klaus said reverently.
I understand,” Klaus said reverently. I’m going to the cake store down the street. I will meet you at the square ahead.
I will meet you in the square.
I’m sorry,” Rudolf said apologetically.
Rudolph said apologetically.
No,” Rudolph said apologetically. Take care of yourself.
I shook my head.
I took Karl to the cake store down the street. Rudolf, Klaus, Alec, my brother Elias, and Dennis, the knight escort, went to the stall. If they were dealing in bones of magical beasts that could be used to make magic potions, they would be arrested and thrown in jail. They would hand him over to the guards immediately, and it wouldn’t take long.
The cake store was very small, and if there was no line, we would have overlooked it. Hannah and the ladies-in-waiting had heard rumors about the recently opened cake store, which had a reputation for rustic cakes that were rather new.
We get to the end of the line, which according to Karl is rather short today.
“What’s wrong?”
I ask, as Karl looks at me curiously.
No, I was just wondering if the Marquis…the Marquise…was in line.”
I swallowed as I almost mentioned the marquise’s name.
Why not? Everyone is lined up.
I know, but…”
I sometimes have my maidservant come to the store to buy. It’s more fun to look at them in the store and choose.
I wonder if it is _. Does it look like I’m skipping a turn? Everyone is standing in line because they want to buy. No matter how powerful the daughter of a powerful family is, she would never do such a terrible thing. Well, there are times when they let the maidservantes stand in line first and take turns when it’s their turn. Ah, power, you’re using it.
After a while, my turn came and I was able to buy the famous torte. Flour and almond powder are mixed with butter, eggs, and sugar, and the surface is coated with raspberry jam. The dough is layered in a grid pattern, and the moist, cookie-like consistency is both rustic and satisfying.
_The signature torte and…oh, I want to try that and that…sizzling. Ahh… I’m drooling. I’m drooling.
I ordered a cake from the petite, pretty lady clerk and also bought some baked goods for the “knights” who were coming with me.
It was a bit more than I had expected, so the waitress wrapped it all up in one package for me. There were only two clerks in the store, and I was impressed by the way they ran the store so well, even though they looked to be about my age.
Thank you.
Please come again.”
Carl took our luggage, and we left the store with the shopkeeper’s lovely, bright smile on our faces.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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