Arc 3 - Chapter 20A: Attack (2/3)

When there was nothing more to say, he stood up and left the room with Ana, which was only used as a rest room.

They were going to eat in the living room where they had sat when they first came here. Since the table in the living room was too short, they had arranged three tables in a row to create a larger space. Yurine was at the head of the table.

"Yu, this is your place."

Since Yu was more than a butler, Yurine had reserved the first chair on his right for him. As the second person of the Virgo Cathedral and the right-hand man of the future Virgo Cardinal, that seat belonged to him.

He took the seat reserved for him. Sitting to Yurine's left, opposite Yu, was Sivina. She too had a special position in the Virgo Cathedral, as tomorrow she would become a Virgo Knight.

Not surprisingly, Ana sat next to Sivina. Next to Yu was Kigaro and after him Dimen. Both roarons had been given sturdier chairs so they wouldn't break. After Dimen came Tobias.

There were also two other people at the table whom Yu did not recognize.

"This is Madame Lesly Marais, Madame Marais; Yurine's father, Yu Valarfin."

Sivina introduced Yurine not as Neko but as the name Yu had given her, adding that Yu was her father.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Valarfin."

Yu smiled and nodded when Sivina introduced the old woman with graying hair and brown eyes.

"Madame? Isn't it called Mrs. here?"

Lesly had no distinguishing features. She was the same height as Yu when she sat down, and they might have been the same height when they stood up, but otherwise she was just an ordinary old woman.

"Mr. Rigal Werin."

Sivina introduced Rigal, who greeted her with a nod.

He was also old, but his short hair was not yet completely gray, there was still a slight blackness and his eyes were orange.

"When we arrived here, we hired the instructors you asked for. Madame Marais will teach you dancing and piano and Mr. Werin will teach you Aram language."

"Thank you both."

He had asked Sivina and Ana to hire teachers to teach him the court dances and the Aramish, the language of Aram Empire. Yu already knew how to play the piano, but he was unfamiliar with the music and notes here. So he wanted a piano teacher just to fit in.

"I already know the piano, but I haven't played it for months. As for dancing, I played the prince in a show in high school. A teacher showed me a few things then."

The show in which he played the prince was Cinderella. In order to create comedy in that play, Yu was brought such feet in front of him that if it were not for the feet of the girl who played Cinderella, poor Yu might have lost all interest in feet that day.

"Aramish is similar to English, at least in grammar. Yurine and I learned grammar and phrases from books on the road."

The grammar of Aramish was a copy of English. Apart from that, most of the words were unique, but sounded similar to German and French.

"Good, then I will give you a test. If you are good enough, our training will be faster," Rigal said.

Yu nodded in agreement. He had gotten the books on the language from the Wizarding Academy and they had left no questions in his mind as he studied. He was sure that he would get a high score on this exam as he had on all the others.

"And did you guys learn? I told you that you should have learned before us."

"Yes, they teach us too."

Ana was the one who answered her, then Sivina spoke.

"I already knew Aramish, actually..."

"Tch... So why didn't you say that before?"

If he had known this in advance, he would not have hired a trainer and would have directly asked Sivina to teach him.

"...but talking to others who know helped me to consolidate my knowledge and Madame Marais is teaching me to dance."

"Piano?"

"I know that too."

Sivina was much more... than he expected.

"Yu, is it okay for you to eat now?" Yurine asked. She had suddenly changed the subject of the conversation.

"I don't think it's a problem, it's a special day and I'm only going to break the routine once."

He was taking a medicine to prevent further crises and it was working.

He had to take the medicine before eating, and after eating he would lie down and sleep without lingering too long.

But since today was a special day, he decided to make an exception to his daily routine. Today he wanted to have dinner with his entire entourage.

"Enjoy your meal." After Maia placed the food on the table, she stepped back and waited behind Yurine.

If they had been in Rolderhelm, he would have found this meal at Lucia's inn ordinary, but compared to the meals the citizens of Mora were having, the table was beautifully set.

Salad, soup, vegetable dish and pork were today's dishes. The soup was still steaming and Yu decided to wait a while as he found it difficult to eat it while it was hot. In the meantime, he tore a loaf of bread into small pieces and threw it into the soup.

"We put the tables together, but there are too many empty seats," Sivina said.

"Yes." Yu turned to the cathedral servants. "So you sit down too. Today is a special day, so let's eat together."

Yu invited the servants to the table. He wanted to get off to a good start with his subordinates, so he had to make today special.

"Us too? But-"

"What's wrong, Maia? If I remember correctly, Yurine told you to obey me."

When the four servants of the Virgo Cathedral were seated, the gaps at the table became smaller. They would eat together, even if the servants had to get up occasionally to take care of things at the table.

They were waiting for Yurine to start. Once Yurine started eating, the others could start eating too.

Yurine took a spoonful of her soup and everyone started to eat. Yu also took a spoonful of his soup, it was vegetable soup and not Yu's favorite dish. But he could eat it with bread.

"I wish the others were here."

Dimen was trying to hold a small spoon with his big hands. It was funny that this man could carry huge weapons with ease and yet he struggled against a spoon.

"I don't think two hundred people can fit in this room."

"That's not what I meant."

He understood what he meant, but he just wanted to talk idly. Every now and then Yu could be idle too when he was bored with serious matters.

"Tomorrow we will bring a few more roaron. When Yurine becomes a cardinal we will talk to the Pontifex to discuss the roaron issue, and over time we will have more roarons around the cathedral, but I don't think we can baptize everyone at once. Because we are a small cathedral, if we have two hundred roarons in the cathedral at once, people might react, so it will be gradual."

It would not be possible to let everyone in at once, nor would it be possible to baptize them all at once. He planned to let them in at regular intervals, baptize them and build houses for the roarons around the cathedral.

"Where are the roarons staying now?" Sivina asked.

"We've set up camp for them near a spring we found south-east of the city, close to the mountains. I'd like to take you there sometime and show you some things."

"Yu! Do you like your food?"

Yurine was jealous of Yu talking to Sivina and wanting to take her somewhere, so she suddenly jumped into the middle of their conversation.

"Yes."

Although he did not like the type of soup in general, it was better than the other vegetable soups he had eaten.

"Yu, then eat that too."

"I haven't finished my soup yet."

"You eat too slow!"

He didn't want Yu to talk to girls so he was trying to stall him. Yu smiled when he realized that was why she started talking like that.

"What are you laughing at?"

"I'm flattered not to be shared by the young lady."

Angered by the revelation, Yurine opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out of her throat as her lips moved to form words.