Chapter 15: Lydia’s Pleasant Day

About four months after escaping the giant tree.
Lydia was making sweets in the kitchen, where she could see the trees beginning to turn color through the window.
What she was making today was a pound cake she had been baking often lately.

She put butter, sugar, and eggs into a bowl and stirred them briskly with a whisk.
She added finely chopped dried fruit and nuts, then folded in the leavening agent.

Two squirrels perched on the worktable watched her mixing with great curiosity.

“Hehe, it’s interesting, isn’t it?”

Lydia chuckled at the sight and poured the batter into a mold.
She apologized to the rabbit at her feet and had it move aside before placing the mold into the oven she had preheated.

She glanced up at the clock and murmured, “About forty minutes, I suppose,” before offering the leftover nuts to the squirrels.

She smiled as they accepted them with both paws and nibbled away, then cut leafy greens from a potted plant in the kitchen and gave them to the rabbit at her feet.

Incidentally, these animals had started visiting the house about two months ago.
When she planted flowers in the garden, they had come over with curious expressions.
Remembering the small animals who had kept her company inside the giant tree, she had grown nostalgic and begun feeding them, and they soon started visiting regularly.

Lydia removed her apron and brewed some tea.
She sat down on a kitchen chair and opened a book that had been left nearby.

It was a book about medicinal herbs that grew in the Republic of Serenia, which Emma had lent her.
She had been told it was interesting, and after reading it once, she had become completely absorbed.

As she read intently, a rich buttery aroma drifted out from the oven.
About forty minutes later, she opened it to find a pound cake that smelled irresistibly delicious.

“Another success today!”

She almost reached for it but shook her head vigorously.
There was somewhere she planned to take it today.

She covered the cake with a thin cloth and went upstairs.
She changed into a cotton dress suitable for going out.

Opening the front door, she stepped outside and called out to Leohart, who was working outdoors.

“It looks like we can head out soon.”
“Understood, I’ll be right there.”

Leohart stood up and walked over.
At the collar of his white shirt, the silver pendant with the blue stone Lydia had given him glinted softly.
Standing before her, he gently narrowed his long eyes.

“You look like you’re having fun.”
“Yes, the cake turned out really well.”
“I see.”

Leohart affectionately patted Lydia’s head.
Saying, “I’ll go get ready too,” he went back inside the house.

Lydia lightly touched the spot where he had patted her.

“…Lately, it feels like our positions have reversed.”

Before, Lydia used to pat Leohart’s head, but recently Leohart had started patting hers instead.

(I’m the older one, though.)

Even so, she thought this feeling wasn’t so bad either.

After that, Lydia packed the cake into a basket, put on a hat, and stepped outside.
Leohart was already waiting, his glossy black hair slightly damp as if he had just washed it.

After locking the gate, the two began walking toward town.

As she walked, Lydia turned around to look back at the house.
When they first arrived, it had been just a house standing in a forest clearing, but now it was surrounded by tall walls covered in green vines.

Leohart had built them over the course of a month, saying it would be troublesome if anything happened while he was away.
When she suggested making something simpler because it looked so hard to build, he had replied seriously,

“Protecting Lydia’s safety is only natural.”

And so she left it to him, resulting in extremely sturdy walls.
According to Leohart, they were built using fortress construction methods and wouldn’t break easily.

The two passed through the lively main street and entered the adventurers’ guild.

The middle-aged woman always at the reception desk, Miranda, greeted them with a “Good afternoon.”

Lydia returned the greeting, waved to Leohart with a “I’ll be back,” and headed deeper into the guild.

She walked down the hallway and knocked on the room at the far end, where Apothecary Emma opened the door with a broad grin.

“Hello, I’ve been waiting for you!”
“Hello, thank you again today.”

Inside the room sat a small woman wearing a robe pulled low over her head.
Her name was Hannah.
She was a quiet, nerdy girl who worked as a magic tool craftsman affiliated with the adventurers’ guild.

“Alright, let’s get started!”

At Emma’s signal, the three began working while discussing various things.
What they were working on was,

“A magic tool that can store recovery potions without losing quality even when carried for long periods.”

Emma and Hannah had already been working on it, and Lydia had joined them to provide magical knowledge and raw magic power.
Once completed, they planned to apply for a joint patent together.

Hannah took out a box-shaped magic tool.
Inside were rows of potion bottles.

“This is the one we prepared a week ago.”

Emma opened a bottle and began checking for changes in quality.

“The effectiveness is down by about ten percent!”
“Mm, that’s good.”
“We might want to weaken the magic just a little more.”

Taking the results into account, the three continued working while discussing various ideas.
Emma created new prototypes, Lydia infused them with magic, and Hannah filled the bottles.

When they reached a stopping point, the three moved to the edge of the cluttered table.
Lydia cut the cake she had brought, while the other two rummaged around for their own snacks.

After brewing tea in beakers, the three said, “Let’s eat,” and began.

“Sweets after work really are the best!”
“Mm, Lydia’s cake is delicious again today.”
“Hehe, thank you, and these cookies and chocolates are delicious too.”

As they chatted idly, Lydia felt happy.
Back in the elven lands, she had always made medicine alone without rest, so this was very enjoyable.

(Is this what having friends feels like, I wonder.)

As she thought that, Hannah sighed and said, “By the way.”

“The next experiment might have to wait a bit.”
“Huh, really?”

Emma sounded surprised, and Hannah nodded.

“Mm, one of the materials has stopped coming in.”
“A material?”
“‘Frostwood.’
The one imported from the elven lands.”

Hearing “elven lands,” Lydia felt a jolt and tilted her head.
Frostwood was indeed a specialty of the elven lands, but it grew slowly and had never been harvested in quantities large enough for export.

(They were exporting that, so what does that mean…?)

As evening came, Lydia said goodbye to the two and returned to the guild reception.
Leohart was already waiting there, talking with male adventurers.
When he noticed Lydia, he immediately walked over.

“Are you finished?”
“Yes, I’m done.
What about you, Leohart?”
“I just got back a little while ago.”

After saying their goodbyes to the adventurers in the guild hall, the two began walking through the town in the evening.
The streets were bathed in orange light, and a cool evening breeze had begun to blow.

As Lydia walked lost in thought, Leohart looked at her with concern.

“Is something wrong?”
“Huh?
No, it’s nothing.”
“Is that so?
You look troubled whenever you furrow your brow like that.”

Lydia gave a wry smile.
She felt like everything about her was being seen through lately.

Gazing at the long shadows stretching at her feet, she spoke.

“Today, I heard something about the Elven Kingdom, and it made me think.”
“…The Elven Kingdom?”
“Yes.
It just caught my attention.”

When Lydia answered honestly, Leohart spoke in a more serious tone.

“I’ve wanted to ask you for a while now, but why were you imprisoned in that giant tree in the first place?”