The Abandoned White Magician’s Tea Life - Chapter 87 : Consultation (2)
Translator: Sunnyshies
[unedited]
Chapter 87 : Consultation (2)
Yugo has moved from Leonardo’s shoulder to his lap, “Today I did the laundry, went to Eva’s to help her peel the beans!” he said, proudly describing today’s assistance. Leonardo listened to Yugo’s story with a smile, even though he must have been tired, and stroked his hair, saying, “Well, that’s great.”
‘Really, you guys are getting along great…’
Smiling at their parent-child-like exchange, Amalia placed a plate of tea and cake on the table. Immediately, she could see by the look in Yugo’s eyes that he had set his sights on the cake, so she nailed him with the words, “You ate it earlier, Yugo.”
“…so, what’s going on?”
Leonardo drank his tea and cut out the cake as he ate half of it. Yugo had moved to the corner of the room and was playing with his usual wooden puzzle. His back was turned to them, but he was probably listening to what they were talking about.
Leonardo put down his cup and stuck his hand into the luggage he had left at his feet.
“Actually, I received a letter from the guild. The reason why I just got here was because the letter got redirected to the headquarters, so it took a while…”
Leonardo placed a slightly worn envelope on the table. It was addressed to Leonardo, but it had the address of the guild headquarters in the Leandra royal capital written on the envelope as a notice.
‘…what? This letter――’
Unexpectedly, she quickly picked up the letter and turned it over. Amalia gasped when she saw the name of the sender.
“Director…!”
“Yes, the director and I exchange news from time to time. This was finally sent to me the other day.”
“That’s right. How’s the Director?”
The envelope was already opened, but Amalia hurriedly handed it back to Leonardo. However, Leonardo shakes his head with a smile and gently pushes the letter back to her.
“If you read through it, you’ll see that this is also addressed to Amali-sana. Would you read it?”
“What…is that okay?”
“Yes. I would like to discuss the contents of this letter with you.”
Amalia nervously took the letter out of the envelope as Leonardo told her to do so. By the time the letter reached Amalia, a considerable amount of time must have passed, but when she took it out, she felt a pang of pain in her chest because she thought she smelled the orphanage.
The Director’s handwriting was generally large and angular. Only certain letters were oddly small or slanted, and the letter Amalia is now reading had exactly the same habit.
Leonardo sent a letter to the orphanage in late autumn last year, informing them of Amalia’s whereabouts. This may be the reply, but it would take more than a month round trip from this area on the eastern edge of the Kingdom of Leandra to the southwest of the country where the orphanage is located. Furthermore, since the letter was addressed to Leonardo, who never settled down as a mercenary, it took a long time to be forwarded to him, and it must have finally reached him in the spring.
The letter was full of words of relief upon hearing that Amalia was safe and sound. Since some parts of the letter seemed to have been written by someone other than the Director, it was easy to imagine a scene where the group of sisters crowded around the Director’s desk and wrote in a huddle.
[If Amalia is safe, we have nothing to say. If she decides not to see us, that’s understandable…but if she has changed her mind, we’d like to talk about Rufina’s memories, etc., so if you’d like, you can talk to Amalia about it.]
Rufina was the name of Amalia’s mother. As she remember was about ten years younger than the Director, but it seems that it was the Director who was “in charge” of her mother when she entered the orphanage as a child, and after her mother’s death, she took Amalia’s place as a mother.
Amalia reread the letter several times and looked up. Leonardo seemed to be sipping his tea, but he felt her gaze and looked at him.
“…to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I should show this to Amalia-san. You have already decided not to go see the Director and the others. That’s why I was hesitating whether to show you something that would shake your resolve.”
“…”
“But…I’m sorry, but I, too, would like you to meet the Director, if you could…it has been eleven years since you left the monastery. I’m sure that the director misses you.”
“…I know…of course I know. But…”
“Do you mean the way you look?”
Leonardo asked gently, and Amalia nodded.
Normally, Amalia should already be thirty-two years old. However, while she was taken by Yugo to the Demon World, she jumped over ten years in time, and so, she still looked like a twenty-two years old woman.
Amalia knew that if she showed her current appearance, people would be suspicious of her. However, Leonardo, who was just a child at the time, Alphonse, Esmeralda, and others seemed to think that Amalia was just “looking young” when they saw her in her current state.
‘…does that mean that I can say that I’m 32 years old and just look young…?’
Although she would be grateful if she could persuade them, at the same time, she felt a strange sense of helplessness. However, she doesn’t want to cause more heartache for the Director and the others, so she may as well just make an excuse that she was fortunate to look so young.
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