Chapter Two Hundred and Eight: First Year (Julius’s POV)
“Would you like to stay for some tea?”
“I’d love to.”
When Julius escorted Karen to the alchemy workshop, he was invited inside. In the room he was shown to, piles of belongings that hardly looked like furnishings were stacked in the corner. Karen scratched her cheek bashfully.
“Sorry, it’s a bit messy. My brother is living here now. I gave him the room on the second floor and kept telling him to move all his luggage up there, but…”
“Shall I carry it up?”
“No, I’ll absolutely make Thor do it, so please don’t trouble yourself.”
Karen exuded the dignity of an older sister with determination.
Somehow, she resembled Alise when she had confronted Julius with that same commanding presence for him neglecting himself, and Julius found his back straightening unconsciously.
“Wait here for just a moment.”
It wasn’t as though Karen and Julius were alone in the workshop; he heard a boy’s voice. If he recalled correctly, the boy’s name had been Tim. Julius removed his cloak and wiped his sweat with a handkerchief. From outside, he heard the voices of Tim and Karen.
“Should I make the tea?”
“I want to make it into a potion, so I’ll do it. Also, Thor will be home soon, so you can prepare for training.”
“Oh!”
Right, Thor and Harald would be returning shortly as well. There was something he wanted to discuss before then.
Before long, Karen returned carrying a tray.
“The green tea is ready!”
“Thank you, Karen. Is this also a potion?”
“Yes. It’s a potion that cools down the body heat from being on stage. I made it cold-brewed, so it’s refreshing and delicious.”
What Karen brought out was green-colored tea with ice floating in it.
The alchemy workshop’s magical tool ice room should have had the function to make ice as well. Karen shouldn’t have used it before, but she seemed to have skillfully incorporated it into her life.
“I was a bit hot in the cloak, so this is much appreciated.”
When it touched his lips, it was bitingly cold, and when it touched his tongue, he tasted more sweetness than bitterness, making it easy to drink.
Julius downed the green tea in one go.
“Would you like a refill?”
He gratefully received a second cup, and after drinking about half of that as well, Julius broached the topic.
“By the way, Karen, are you free tomorrow? I checked with Harald and Sara, and they said you have no particular business.”
“I’m free.”
For a moment, Karen’s expression showed she was considering something, but that was her answer.
“Then, won’t you go out with me?”
“Do you need some potions? Is it work related to Ehlertt?”
“Tomorrow marks one year since you and I first met.”
“Ah!”
At Karen’s reaction as if she’d just remembered, Julius chuckled.
It would be one year tomorrow since the day he went to meet Karen, the F-rank alchemist who had taken on the commission. He never thought he would come to harbor such feelings for Karen.
“It’s our anniversary, Karen.”
“In other words, this is an invitation for a date!”
At Karen’s sparkling eyes, Julius narrowed his own and asked:
“Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
“What about you, Mr. Julius? Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
“For occasions like this, it’s proper to choose a place the woman enjoys. So tell me your preference first.”
“Then I want to go to the kind of place you would think of when taking a woman out, Mr. Julius!”
At Karen’s response, Julius made a caught-off-guard expression. It was outside the scope of what he’d expected.
“What kind of place do you think comes to my mind?”
“I do enjoy romance novels about nobles, so I’m quite knowledgeable! You go to see operas, visit art galleries and museums, attend parties, right? I want to know what you consider the perfect date course, Mr. Julius!”
Karen spoke cheerfully, but unlike in creative works, the actual aristocratic social scene wasn’t a place of only enjoyment.
It was true that, should Julius one day be wed according to the wishes of the Ehlertt family, those were precisely the kinds of venues where he would have escorted his bride. However, they would hardly be pleasant places for Karen right now.
Though it pained him to shatter her dreams, Julius opened his mouth, not wanting to cause Karen distress:
“Many nobles look down on others simply for being commoners. I don’t want you to have an unpleasant experience on what should be a special anniversary, Karen.”
At Julius’s gentle words of refusal, Karen’s eyes widened slightly.
“…I see. Since I haven’t experienced much unfair treatment, I thought it was only in novels, but there really are people like that.”
Karen spoke matter-of-factly. She seemed to have imagined it to some extent.
Though not as extreme as those knights from the Royal Guard who appeared at the dungeon investigation team, there would certainly be those who would disparage Karen. Regrettably, most of the slander Karen might face would likely stem from Julius himself.
“Hmm. I don’t mind being spoken ill of, but if that’s the case, shall we skip it?”
“That would probably be best. After you make public that you’re a B-rank alchemist, no one will look down on you, but…”
“Before making it public, I want to hire a supporter through the Adventurers’ Guild. Natalia is searching through the Alchemists’ Guild, so I plan to keep it under wraps until I hear from her.”
Karen had the Ehlertt Earldom’s knights as her guards. However, it was not uncommon for an elderly former D-rank adventurer with experience climbing the ranks to be stronger than a well-trained knight.
With the rampage of the female adventurer Mitra, he’d heard that Karen planned to announce her promotion to B-rank after securing her surroundings before attracting any more attention. To be safe, the selection of a former adventurer was apparently taking time.
From C-rank onward, one became a senior alchemist and received treatment equivalent to a noble—though only at the very bottom of the aristocratic hierarchy. But from B-rank onward, one was treated as someone to be revered. Until the announcement—and until Karen was recognized as someone deserving of respect—he had to protect her from malice.
—No matter how much he wanted to show everyone around them that Karen was his.
“Well then, shall I unveil my idea of the ultimate date plan this time?”
Though Karen smiled as she said that, Julius sensed a faint shadow in her expression, yet he could not grasp its source.
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