Chapter 44
“Something Miss Vanilla likes… you say?”
Elstern blinked his absent-looking eyes a couple of times.
I quickly nodded.
“Yes. I thought you might know her well, Elstern. You’ve spent a long time with her, and you teach her too.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Though I hadn’t really praised him, Elstern lifted his nose slightly and made an ahem sound. It was a bit absurd, but since I needed information from him, I let it slide.
Elstern rested his chin in one hand and gently closed his eyes, his face sinking into deep contemplation.
“Hmm. Something Miss Vanilla likes… I don’t know young ladies all that well, but Miss Vanilla seems a little different from other girls.”
“Different? In what way?”
Different, huh. What exactly was different?
Elstern slowly opened his eyes and spoke.
“Most young ladies enjoy playing with dolls or pretend tea parties—cute little things like that, don’t they?”
“That’s generally true.”
“But Miss Vanilla has absolutely no interest in those things.”
“Hm.”
I quickly abandoned my idea of trying to lure her in with Axion’s dolls.
If she wasn’t interested in dolls, then what was she interested in? Sword fights? War games—things boys usually liked?
Just then, Elstern spoke as if he’d read my mind.
“That said… she’s not interested in war games or sword fighting like young boys are either.”
“Really…?”
Ugh. Then what on earth does she like?
As I frowned, Elstern grinned at me, curling his lips upward.
Hey now. He wasn’t enjoying my suffering, was he?
When my eyes narrowed, Elstern quickly cleared his throat—ahem!—and rose from his seat. He walked toward the window and pointed at something with his index finger.
“Rather than that, she seems interested in things like this.”
“…?”
He was pointing at the window.
“She’s interested in architecture? Or interior design?”
“No, not that… this.”
I stepped over to his side to see what he was pointing at. His long finger indicated the joint where the window met the wall.
More precisely—
“You mean the hinge?”
“Yes. Hinges. Miss Vanilla shows a lot of interest in structures like these. Tools created to improve human convenience, you could say. At the Academy, they call this sort of thing engineering.”
“Ah.”
Engineering.
So… mechanical engineering? That kind of thing?
It was a field completely foreign to someone like me, who had a purely humanities background. The confidence I’d felt earlier—when I’d been determined to get close to Vanilla no matter what—seemed to deflate like a balloon losing air.
I was terrible at that sort of thing.
“But why are you asking about this? Are you planning to give Miss Vanilla a gift? As far as I know, her birthday is still a long way off…”
“Well. Something like that.”
I answered Elstern vaguely while clutching my head.
Phew. Engineering, huh. Would there even be something like that around here…?
If only there were something that could catch Vanilla’s interest…
“Ah!”
Suddenly, the image of a burly, muscular middle-aged man flashed through my mind, and I sprang up from my chair.
“Gah! My lady? What’s going on all of a sudden?”
“Thank you! Elstern, this helped a lot. I’ll see you later—I’ve got somewhere to go.”
“W–wait…”
Leaving Elstern behind, I hurriedly borrowed a Siastar family carriage and headed to the capital.
Axion was due for his nap, and Kal would probably be leisurely drinking carp broth while preparing for afternoon childcare, so there wouldn’t be any problems if I stepped out for a bit.
Once I arrived in the capital, I practically ran into a certain shop.
Clang! Clang!
The loud sound of metal striking metal filled the place.
“Is anyone here?”
This was the shop I’d visited before to make agricultural machinery—
the one called “Bulging Muscles, Bursting Strength—You Can Make It Too, That Machine.”
Back then, the owner, Ralph, had said:
‘Let me guess—you’re here to ask for an automatic rotating table for tea time, or an endlessly operating fan. So your makeup doesn’t run from sweat.’
An automatic rotating table for tea time. An endlessly operating fan!
What incredibly useful machines those were.
Surely Ralph could make something that would catch Vanilla’s eye!
“Yo. Long time no see.”
Ralph came trudging out from the back of the workshop, which was filled with scorching heat. His bulky, muscular frame was the same as ever.
He glanced at me, leaned against a table, and scratched the back of his head.
“I haven’t finished what you commissioned yet. Uh… was it urgent?”
I shook my head vigorously.
“No, that’s not why I’m here. I wanted to ask you to make something else.”
“And what would that be?”
A look of anticipation lit up Ralph’s eyes.
“D–don’t tell me His Majesty the Emperor needs some kind of machine…?”
“Sorry to disappoint, but no. I was wondering if you could make a machine for me.”
“…Hmm. What’s it going to be used for?”
Clearly disappointed, Ralph slumped his shoulders as he asked. I raised my hands and drew a circle to show the rough size, then sketched the shape with the pen and paper on the table.
“Well, it should be about the size of my face, and look something like this…”
After listening to everything, Ralph snorted with a laugh and bang! slapped the table.
“This is something the Emperor needs, right? If it’s this much, it’s easy as pie. I’ll make it right away. Hahaha!”
“Ah—wait…!”
Before I could stop him, Ralph had already disappeared into the workshop.
Well… improving the relationship between Dazar and Vanilla did contribute to the empire’s peace… maybe?
And that helped Leticia… somehow?
While I was sinking into those thoughts for a brief moment, Ralph went clang-clang and then—ta-da!—produced the finished product.
“Th–thank you…?”
“Bwahaha! Looks like I was too fast and surprised you? Even if I look like this, you see, this body of mine…”
I stared at the toy placed in my hands in the blink of an eye, nodding along as if I were listening intently to Ralph’s bragging.
Oh. Yeah—Vanilla would definitely like this.
I couldn’t stop the grin creeping onto my face.
* * *
Slide… whoosh! Pababat! Slide! Whoosh! Pat!
The familiar sounds echoed again today. In this place piled high with sand, I sat facing Axion, letting out a breath filled with anticipation.
Every time I turned my head, Vanilla still hid herself quickly.
Hehe. But today, she wouldn’t be able to resist coming out.
I subtly took out the toy—no, the machine—I’d brought from Ralph’s shop.
“…?”
From afar, I could feel someone tilting their head at the object I’d pulled out!
Vanilla had started to take an interest.
Smiling inwardly, I held the toy out to Axion.
“Axion, Mommy brought a very interesting toy today.”
“Ua?”
“Now, this is called an excavator. If you turn this part like this… ta-da! It digs the sand all by itself.”
“Ua!”
Flinch!
The twin ponytails sticking out from beside the tree shook violently at my words. I continued.
“And if you turn it the other way… ta-da! Now it drops the sand right here. Wow, that’s amazing, isn’t it?”
“Kyaa!”
“Should our Axion try it? But it’s hard for Axion to do it alone, so it’d be nice if someone helped him…”
As I let the words trail off, I began to hear the sound of pat-pat-pat running from far away.
Vanilla, her black twin ponytails neatly tied, came running in her red dress, skidding to a stop right in front of me.
Her momentum almost startled me, but I didn’t show it.
“Oh my. Miss Vanilla, what brings you here…?”
“I–I can help!”
“Pardon?”
“The excavator!”
She must have run at full speed—Vanilla was panting heavily, her cheeks flushed red like ripe tomatoes.
“That! I’ll help! So… so…”
Vanilla clasped her hands together and lowered her head slightly. She peeked up at me timidly and spoke in a small voice.
“So… can I touch it?”
“…!”
Agh. She’s too cute.
It was a new kind of cuteness I couldn’t feel from Axion, a baby boy. Before I could even savor my sense of victory, it felt like my heart had taken a critical hit, and I hurriedly clutched my chest.
Forcing my trembling voice to steady, I desperately tried to show that I wasn’t completely falling for Vanilla’s cuteness.
“O–of course, Miss Vanilla. Would you like to play together with Axion?”
“Mm!”
“Ua!”
And so, Vanilla gently sat down beside me and began playing excitedly with the excavator I’d brought.
“Sion! Thiiis is called an excavator. Got it?”
She spoke while teaching Axion, sounding quite like a proper big sister, as if she hadn’t forgotten the reason she’d come over.
Just then, something caught my eye at Vanilla’s waist.
‘A doll?’
It was a doll about half of Vanilla’s own size.
