The Abandoned White Magician’s Tea Life - Chapter 60 : The Fated Man (2)
Translator: Sunnyshies
[unedited]
Chapter 60 : The Fated Man (2)
“Thank you for your patience. This way, please.”
“If everything is here, then that’s fine. I don’t know much about tea utensils. You go back now.”
“Yes, sir.”
The maid bowed and stepped back―― at the same time, she glanced at Amalia.
She was rather clerical and monotonous in her tone, towards Alphones, but when she looked at Amalia, she lowered the corner of her eyes just a little before leaving.
“Look at this, Amalia. This is the finest tea utensil in the kingdom of Kyros.”
She turned his gaze from the maid to Alphonse as she heard his voice.
The cart that was shown to her was indeed full of glittering, ornate tea cups, matching teapots, and fruits and herbs that would be used to brew the tea.
‘This is…you’re royalty, even if you are corrupt. The quality of the fruits and herbs are very good…’
The purines are bigger and fresher than any of the ones she bought at Polk, and each leaf of the herbs, such as Ravi and murum, is glossy. The tea utensils were also quite impressive, but she could predict that even the individual materials would be eye-poppingly expensive for Amalia.
“You are good at making tea, aren’t you? Here, make me a cup.”
“R-right now…?”
“Obviously…You’ve been hiding the fact that you’re capable of something other than white magic, haven’t you?”
Amalia thought her heart would stop when she heard a voice with a hint of gloom in it.
‘Is that…tea you’re talking about? How did you know that――’
She looked at Braulio, who was standing beside her, thinking, “No way.” He nodded and quickly removed his hood.
He had crisp dark brown hair and sunken eyes. She had always thought that he had a grim and unhealthy appearance since he was a young man, but now that he was almost thirty, instead of getting healthier, he was becoming more and more creepy like a ghost.
Braulio is Alphone’s childhood friend, and unlike the trio who attacked her before, he is a black magician who Alphonse rather relied on. As dark and gloomy as he looked, he was not a cheerful young man, and he was a complainer.
He was subtly concerned that he couldn’t use white magic. Even when Amalia treated him, he kept complaining about her “mediocre talent…” and “Subtle results..” in every situation.
When she told them that she doesn’t treat people who complained, he would tell them, “Oh…so that’s how you discriminate…haha.” He stared at her as if she was the bad guy. She was so annoying that she was really reluctant to treat him.
‘It seems that those three guys were fired, but Braulio has always been heavily used by Alphonse…’
Unlike the trio, he was cooperative with Alphonse and polite to Esmeralda, which gave him an opportunity to win. Amalia was sure that he is eating better than he was used to, but the fact that he still looks as unhealthy as ever is probably just his constitution.
Braulio was such a keen researcher when it came to magic, and was sharp in many ways.
‘He used to stare at my brewed tea, or stick his finger in it, then mumble something. But maybe he had been aware since then…?’
When he met Amalia’s gaze, Braulio smiled mockingly. Whenever she sees him, the way he laughs is the opposite of refreshing. As if he mixed Leonardo’s toe nail in his drink and drank it.
“…it’s been a long time, Amalia. Alphonse is right, you look young, as if you haven’t aged a bit. Looking carefully, you’ll even look younger than us.”
“…Braulio, do you have any opinion about my tea?”
She didn’t dare to ask him about his age, so she just decided to ask about her tea.
Braulio laughed low and gestured to the tea cup.
“What do you mean? I’ve been wondering about this for a while. When you were brewing tea, our battle results were strangely good. However, since you stopped making tea, we have not been doing well. In addition, the tea that you brewed by hand had a slight hint of magic in it, so I knew that you must have done something to it.”
“…”
“But unfortunately, you were lost in Dragon Mountain, and were never found alive…I looked for you in the beginning, too.”
“He wanted to study the magic of your tea. You’re already dead, anyway―― ah, no, I was telling him to give up, since it was uncertain when he would see you again.”
‘Now I’m getting their real intention …well, that’s good.’
Amalia raised an eyebrow and looked up at Braulio.
“So..you’ve been trying to find me for your research, but you couldn’t find me, huh?”
“Yes…but the other day, when I happened to be gathering information about the area around the Dragon Mountain, I heard that a villger nearby mentioned the name Amalia.”
“…”
“Amalia is a common name in Leandra. In fact, I have heard the same name many times in the past ten years of my research. This time, I thought it would be another person with the same name, but I received information that the woman named Amalia was good at brewing tea.”
“…”
“Unfortunately, that’s all the information I could get from the villagers. However, I decided to bring you back with Alphonse’s permission, as I was sure this would be a great source of food for you.”
“Braulio has recently developed a talent for space magic. Thanks to him, I was able to protect you safely.”
Since a while ago, this black-haired man has been saying a lot of unnecessary things.
‘What kind of “protection” is that?! You kidnapped me with no explanation, and you keep using nice words!’
As much as she wanted to say something back, she thought of just staying silent to gather information. Alphonse had always been a short-tempered boy who was prone to losing his temper, and even now, if she were to offend him, she might get beaten to a pulp with the sword he carried on his hip.
“If Braulio is right, and your tea has some kind of magical effect, I’d like to use it―― no, I’d love to get your help to get rid of the demons, so brew a cup.”
“..”
Amalia dropped her gaze and looked at the tea set.
If she was in Polk, she would have been thrilled to be able to brew tea with such expensive tea utensils. The fruits and herbs are of very good quality, and she would be very eager to brew the best cup for Yugo and his friends.
‘But…it’s not Yugo or Leonardo, who would drink this.’
There are not the people in which Amalia wishes to taste her tea or be healthy.. Alphonse and the others want to see if Amalia’s magic is real, that’s all.
She doesn’t like the idea of making tea for such a person, but she dreads the thoughts of what would happen after she said “No.”
“for now…I have to obey his orders. Even if I don;t feel like it, even if I’m depressed, I have to do as I’m told in order to survive…’
“…I understand. I’ll need a little time.”
“Ha~a…it can’t be helped. But hurry as much as possible. I have official business to attend to, so I don’t have much time.”
‘Hmph. Esmeralda has run out of love for you, and you’re being chastised by the people, and I’m sure you don’t have any good official duties.’
Amalia spit out poison in her mind, while she cleansed her hands with a hand wipe from the cart, then she pulled over the basket of fruits and herbs.
‘I can’t wait to see what I can make for Yugo, Leonardo, Eva and the others, but now, I can’t come up with any good ideas at all…’
Somehow, she felt bad for the fruits that would be consumed for such a thing. She somehow didn’t feel like using purine, so she decided to use moreh and ravi to make a simple herbal tea.