7

(What in the world has happened to Noel-sama?)

(They say he has gone mad.)

(They say he spends all day talking to a disgusting bug.)

(They say he gives that bug precious goji berries.)

(Has he been possessed by a demon?)

Whispering voices from beyond the greenhouse reached his ears, but Noel paid them no mind.

“Ah, I worked up a good sweat.”

With the ridges of the new field completed, Noel was all smiles.

He had been remodeling the greenhouse since yesterday.

He intended to plant peonies here. They were splendid as medicinal herbs, but above all, they looked beautiful.

A large flower field of peonies would surely be able to make that girl smile.

“Hey, Dora, it’s mealtime. Hurry up and come here.”

Using search magic to the fullest, Noel had tracked down the ugly stray cat that had stopped coming to the greenhouse, and after finding it lazing about at the tavern landlady’s place, he had paid an outrageous reward to take it in and called it back to the greenhouse.

He had not remembered its name, so thinking that Beth, straightforward as she was, would probably name it this, he named it Dora. Then, while being scratched many times, he gave it a bath for the time being, fed it delicious food, and since there was no need for it anymore, he laid out the mat Ezra had woven in a sunny spot exclusively for Dora’s naps.

“Nana-chan, wait a moment.”

Following happily behind Noel with a slow, lumbering movement was a gigantic banana slug unlike anything one would normally see.

And the most honored man in this country was doing as Beth had done, opening the greenhouse window just a little, thinning the grass, drawing water from the cold spring, and watering the plants.

“Noel-sama! So this is where you were. Please hurry to the council!”

“Noel-sama, please have Ezra-sama take over the work of the Magic Institute and quickly begin preparations for your wedding with Eugenia-sama!”

“Noel-sama! Noel-sama!”

A large number of officials were shouting loudly outside Noel’s greenhouse.

In this country, there was no one who could match Noel’s magical ability, and even if there were, they would likely only be among the members of the Magic Institute.

Taking advantage of the fact that they could not break the greenhouse barrier Noel had made, he was creating a splendid greenhouse, just like when Beth had been there.

“Have you gone mad, playing at being a gardener in a place like this, Noel-sama?! Foolish lost child, I have gone to the trouble of coming here to bestow a blessing upon you. Surrender this barrier at once, this very instant!”

The Great Priest of the Temple, furious beyond measure, shouted at Noel. He had even prepared the staff used to bestow blessings in his hand, so he was likely determined to make Noel receive a blessing no matter what.

“I see.”

Noel said only that and watered the violets at the edge of the garden. The violets received water from Noel freely and looked very happy.

Without even glancing at the officials and priests clinging outside, Noel devoted himself to farmwork.

The angle of the light from the window changed a little.

When Noel changed the position of the crystal by the window, the greenhouse filled with countless little children of rainbows.

Since the day Noel returned to the Magic Institute and collapsed, he had not taken a single step out of this greenhouse.

He wanted to reproduce, even just a little, with his own hands, the heaven Beth had created.

Noel had already completed the elixir. Princess Eugenia had awakened from her sleep.

After Eugenia’s awakening, Noel no longer wanted anything at all.

Not the royal family, not the Temple, not the Saratoga family, nothing.

Noel abandoned all his work and was spending quiet days in the greenhouse.

“Ah, I found a mantis.”

Noel found a large mantis, placed it on his finger, and looked truly happy.

“Noel-sama, you look like you’re having fun again today! A mantis, huh? That’s cool! I brought today’s lunchbox. Shall we take a break soon?”

Rodney broke part of Noel’s barrier and lightly slipped into the greenhouse. The officials who tried to follow behind him were sent flying by the barrier that immediately recovered.

“Ow, ow, ow!”

“They really never get tired of this every day.”

Rodney gave a wry smile.

“Ah! Sorry as always. Thank you.”

As if Rodney breaking the barrier was not something worth minding, Noel invited Rodney to the sofa.

Rodney, too, seemed to take it for granted that he would sit on the sofa and eat together with him. Noel used magic with little flicks to draw water from the spring, and the two of them washed their hands.

“Noel-sama! Noel-sama! If it has come to this…”

Outside, a court magician was holding a council deliberation document while chanting some kind of curse. It was a type of decay magic that made everything it touched rot. Apparently, he intended to make the barrier decay.

Noel frowned slightly and activated weather-related magic.

The sky suddenly darkened, hail began to fall all around, and a great bolt of lightning formed outside the greenhouse.

“Aaagh!”

“It is the wrath of God!”

The people who had been making a commotion outside scattered in every direction.

(There’s no one except this Noel-sama who could activate weather magic this easily…)

Rodney stared at the man dressed like a farmer before him with a chill running down his spine.

Weather magic was a great magic treated as an arcane art even among magic.

Even on this small scale, it was a great magic that required as much magical power as an ordinary magician would produce over an entire lifetime.

As if none of that mattered, Noel opened the lunchbox before him and was in an excellent mood.

“Oh, it’s chicken today! Lucky me.”