Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-One: Celebration Party 2
“Sister Karen, welcome.”
“Welcome!”
Sieg and the children greeted them.
The venue was the Ehlertt estate, and Sieg was the host, but Karen had heard that the children had also helped with the preparations. That’s why it was held during the daytime, and though it was called a party, the atmosphere was more like a tea gathering.
Karen said with a smile:
“Thank you all very much for the warm welcome.”
“Mister Harald, welcome too!”
“You can just call me Harald…!”
Seeing Harald’s startled expression at being addressed with “mister” by one of the children, the children exchanged glances.
One of the clever children considerately suggested, "How about Master Harald?”
“Master Alchemist Harald! Do you not like that either?”
“Well, if it’s that…”
Even though they were children, they were still nobles. Seeing Harald looking uncomfortable, Karen reflected on herself. When it came to visiting the Ehlertt estate, she had completely lost her nervousness. She had been nervous during the family meeting, but that was something else entirely.
“Sister Karen, this way.”
“Master Harald, this way too!”
Escorted by Sieg, Karen’s eyes widened in surprise. It was easier to link arms with him than when they had danced together at the recovery celebration before.
“Master Sieg, you’ve gotten bigger.”
“You think so?”
Sieg smiled shyly with delight, while the surrounding children looked up at him with shining eyes full of admiration. From the children’s perspective, Sieg was truly a pioneer. He was older than them, had suffered from the Bloodline Blessing before them, and might have died before them, but he had been saved. And they purely respected Karen, who had saved him, and her apprentice Harald.
The children’s parents were associates of the Ehlertt family, and they had probably been instructed by their parents, but their eyes conveyed their sincerity.
“I had light refreshments prepared, so Sister Karen and Master Harald, please sit here and relax while drinking and eating.”
Saying that, Sieg guided Karen and Harald to a round table prepared in a bright reception room with plenty of natural light.
On the table were sandwiches and various sweets arranged.
From Karen’s perspective, with her particular tastes about food, there were some mysterious dishes, but the sugared almonds and pudding were desserts that even Karen could eat deliciously without complaint.
There were no tables for the other children, and a stage had been set up in front of Karen’s table. Small chairs for the children were lined up on the stage.
While drinking the tea that Sara came over to pour into her cup, Karen called out to Harald, who sat motionless in his chair as he had been told.
“It looks like they’re going to show us something. I’m looking forward to it. Why don’t you have some tea too, Harald?”
“…My throat feels closed up. I don’t think I can drink anything.”
Harald said, pale with nervousness.
Karen tilted her head while munching on sandwiches.
“Harald, you aren’t the only one who’s nervous, you know?”
“It doesn’t look that way at all, though?”
After eating a sandwich full of salty prosciutto and lettuce-like vegetables, she next reached for the sweet sugared almonds.
Harald gave a dubious look to Karen, who had begun enjoying an infinite loop of salty and sweet.
“I don’t mean me—I mean the children.”
“What?”
“Kids that young are probably hosting guests for the first time. And yet they went to all the trouble of preparing things to entertain us, you know? The tea, the food, the sweets—I’m sure they put a lot of thought into choosing them.”
Karen had experience with tea parties with Alise and Waltride. She could tell that the menu laid out was slightly odd for a tea party. The children must have planned the menu too. There were no adults present.
They might be waiting somewhere in this mansion, but aside from servants, there were no adults visible to Karen and Harald. This was purely an event by Sieg and the children younger than him.
“Even if they’re nobles, when they’re small children, they don’t know left from right at first and feel anxious, right? Probably. If Harald, who’s older, doesn’t stay calm and fully enjoy the children’s welcome, what will happen?”
“Older…”
Harald muttered in a daze.
Perhaps because he had been caught up in the thought of being invited by nobles as a commoner, his face showed he hadn’t realized that young children had worked hard to plan this celebration.
“Oh, it looks like it’s starting.”
Harald gasped and straightened his back. Karen put down the sandwich she was holding.
The children who had once left the room returned carrying harps small enough to hold in their arms.
Including Sieg, there were sixteen in total.
The sight of the children lined up on stage holding their harps was adorable, and Karen lamented—what a shame the children’s parents weren’t seeing this—but only for a moment.
She heard the faint sound of sniffling from behind the screen where servants hid to serve, and realizing the children’s guardians were surprisingly nearby, Karen almost laughed.
Fortunately, Harald didn’t seem to notice.
If he had known that adult nobles were hiding there, even if told they were only there to watch the children, Harald’s nervousness wouldn’t have eased.
However, as he watched the children’s faces stiff with tension and anxiety, the strength drained from Harald’s shoulders.
“The first piece is the Song of the Fairies Celebrating Spring.”
The Song of the Fairies Celebrating Spring. It was a folk tune commonly sung by commoners.
At the Holy Tree Festival, celebrating spring around the end of April, charitable musicians played and sang this song at street corners here and there, and commoners danced to it.
She had even seen it sung at the orphanage, so Harald probably knew it too. Rather than thinking it was popular among nobles, it was more natural to think the children had practiced it to perform for Karen and Harald.
Karen closed her eyes and listened to the high, clear sounds the children produced.
It was usually the kind of tune one imagined a cheerful old man singing while dancing, but played on delicate harps, it evoked an image of fairies dancing. Karen didn’t know the performance level of small harps, but even by her past life’s standards, it sounded like quite a skillful performance for young children.
Until now, these were all children who hadn’t had much time to even get out of bed. They probably had hardly any time in their lives to practice the harp, yet how much practice must they have accumulated while Karen was in the dungeon during the investigation?
When the performance ended, Karen applauded. The culture of applause existed in this world too. Harald, who had been dazed, saw Karen applauding and hurriedly followed suit. With earnest, vigorous applause, he praised the children’s hard work.
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