The Retired Magic Knight Runs An Inn On The Frontier (2)

The elderly woman had left behind most of her furniture because she could not take it with her to her new home.

The interior, with all its furnishings still in place, was enveloped in a somewhat melancholy silence. Outside, the warm spring sunshine filled the air, but inside the house, it was dim and chilly.

Upon entering the house, I poured some milk into a small bowl and placed it on the floor. Then I called out to it.

“Brownie. If you’re here, come on out.”

After a brief silence, a house fairy known as a brownie timidly poked its head out of the kitchen.

Brownies varied in size, ranging from the size of a thumb to the height of a grown man.

This brownie stood nearly a meter tall, making it one of the larger ones. It had probably been attached to this house for a very long time.

The fairy, with its brown hair and green eyes, regarded me suspiciously.

“What do you want, mage?”

“I am Lydia Venesca, the new owner of this house. Do you wish to continue living here?”

The brownie gave a small nod.

“Then serve me. How does a bowl of milk every day sound as payment? It’s from a Milhy cow.”

The brownie swallowed audibly.

Brownies absolutely loved milk from Milhy cattle.

“I shall serve you. Lydia Venesca is my master.”

“Very well. Then you can start working immediately. My horse and cow are in the stable. Take care of them.”

“Understood.”

The brownie nodded and disappeared.

Green brownies were fond of fields and skilled at tending plants. Brown brownies, on the other hand, loved living creatures and excelled at caring for animals. Since this house’s brownie had brown hair and green eyes, it could handle both farmwork and animal care.

Leaving Olivia and the cow in the brownie’s care, I headed straight for the kitchen.

As befitted such a large house, the kitchen was spacious and impressive.

Although old-fashioned, everything had been meticulously polished.

The stove was particularly wonderful.

It had an oven in the middle section and a large opening in the upper section where pots could be placed. There was even a separate oven for baking bread.

All sorts of cooking utensils hung from the walls, from large and small pots to frying pans.

“It’s absolutely perfect.”

Alone in my little castle, I couldn’t help smiling.

I had once been a magic knight.

Magic knights were both mages and knights. People possessing the aptitude for both were rare and highly valued, so I had taken great pride in my profession and had been confident in my abilities.

However, I had suffered severe injuries while protecting Crown Prince Philip from an assassin.

The wounds had struck particularly unfortunate places, damaging my dominant arm and magical circuits. When the doctor informed me that I would never be able to work as a magic knight again, I sank into such despair that, for a time, I wished I could simply disappear.

After spending some time in despondency, one day, I suddenly realized something.

I had protected His Highness. Wasn’t that enough?

Certainly, I had lost almost all my magical power. I could no longer work as a magic knight.

But that didn’t mean every last trace of magic had vanished from my body.

I could no longer erect a towering wall of flames, but I could still kindle a small fire sufficient to simmer a pot of food.

I could no longer summon a storm, but I could dry my laundry in no time.

Some people had offered to arrange a transfer or find me another job in the royal capital, but I wanted to retire completely, leave the capital behind, and live an entirely different life.

It was a remarkably early retirement, but I had resolved to make the most of the many years ahead of me by spending my days preparing extraordinarily elaborate, time-consuming meals.

And so, in a rural town on the frontier, my second life began.

—Six months later.

Thin clouds floated across the sky.

Whenever these clouds appeared, spreading like a thin veil across the entire sky, there was a high probability that the weather would turn nasty.

“Looks like we’re in for some rain.”

After spotting the clouds through the kitchen window, I hurried toward the clothesline.

A brownie had already arrived and offered to bring in the laundry in exchange for a cookie. I accepted the deal.

“All right. I’m counting on you.”

Next, I intended to bring the horse and cow into their stalls, but before I could, another brownie called out to me.

“One cookie if I put the horse and cow in their stalls.”

“All right. Change the water for both of them, too. And give them some fodder if they haven’t eaten enough.”

It was already late autumn. Unlike in summer, the grass in the pasture was beginning to wither, so the animals needed supplementary fodder.

“I’ll clean the chicken coop, too.”

“Then I’ll give you a spoonful of cream as well. Come to the kitchen and collect it later.”

The brownie narrowed its eyes in satisfaction.

Nearly six months had passed since I moved into this house.

Before I knew it, the number of brownies had increased, and there were now about four of them.

After closing the windows on the ground floor, I went upstairs and closed the windows there as well. Just as I shut the last window, large raindrops began falling with a loud pattering sound.

Glancing out of the upstairs window toward the main road, I spotted two men on horseback galloping toward me from the direction of the mountains.

It was only about five kilometers from here to town, which would take fifteen to twenty minutes on horseback.

They might intend to ride all the way to town, but they might also decide against pushing their horses, already exhausted from crossing the mountains, through the cold rain.

Apparently, the men chose the latter.

When I saw them pass through the estate’s gate, I hurried downstairs.

The doorbell jingled, and a tall man entered the dining room.

This house had once belonged to a large farming household that required numerous workers during harvest season and other busy periods. Consequently, its dining room was quite spacious.

There were seven tables of various sizes and more than thirty chairs.

At present, however, there were no other customers in that spacious dining room.

The man was surveying the interior with a sharp gaze.

“Welcome.”

When I greeted him, the man blinked in apparent surprise.

He had a rugged face, though his features were reasonably handsome.

His voice betrayed a hint of wariness as he asked,

“Was there always an inn out here?”

“It was originally a farmhouse. I only started running an inn very recently.”

“I thought so. I’ve never heard of it.”

“I see.”

I couldn’t help looking up at the man, who had spoken with such certainty.

Although his traveling clothes were rather plain, the sword at his waist was clearly of exceptional quality. He appeared to be a knight of some sort.

However, the rain had soaked him and left his appearance rather disheveled. Brushing his wet black hair away from his forehead in annoyance, he spoke again.

Black hair was a common sight here in Goran’s territory.

“I was born and raised on the frontier. I come through here often. You aren’t originally from this region, are you?”

“That’s correct. I moved here recently. Sir Knight, will you be staying the night?”

The man fell silent for a moment.

Mountain weather was unpredictable.

Sometimes the rain stopped almost immediately, while at other times it continued for hours. Furthermore, autumn was well underway, and the sun was setting earlier with each passing day.

“Could we rest here for the time being?”

“Of course. If you like, I can dry your clothes while you rest.”

“That would be helpful. Oh, I have another companion with me. And our horses, too.”

“You’re welcome to use the stable.”

“We’ve already taken the liberty.”

The man made no move to hand over his cloak. Presumably, he didn’t want to risk having anything slipped into it.

Since he preferred to take care of it himself, I showed him to the drying room.

It was a small room I had built myself by combining fire and wind magic stones. When magical power was channeled into them, the entire room warmed up and air circulated throughout it.

“This is quite nice.”

His admiring remark filled me with pride. Mages were naturally delighted whenever someone praised something they had created.

“Thank you.”

“It must have cost a considerable amount of money.”

“Not really. The magic stones are only spent stones. They’re surprisingly inexpensive.”

Magic stones were ordinarily expensive. However, once the magical power stored inside them had been exhausted, they became so brittle that they could be crumbled by hand, and their colors grew dull.

At that point, they could no longer fulfill their original purpose as magical mediums, but they still retained a tiny amount of magical power.

I had purchased a collection of these spent magic stones and attached them all over the room.

“Really?”

His interested response encouraged me to elaborate rather enthusiastically.

“Once magical power is channeled into them, the effect lasts for approximately thirty minutes. The drawback is that I have to supply more magical power every half hour.”

The spent magic stones could only warm the room a little and generate a slight circulation of air.

And even those effects lasted only thirty minutes.

Since there were hardly any mages in the world with time to spare, this invention wasn’t particularly useful to anyone other than me.

The man suddenly looked down at me and spoke.

“So you’re a mage, then?”

“I don’t have much power left anymore, but I used to work in that profession.”

As for the man himself, he was an active-duty magic knight.

There was no mistaking it. He had the unmistakable air of someone in my former profession.

He possessed everything I had already lost.

“…………”

The man seemed eager to ask more about my background, but I ignored his unspoken questions.

“Your companion should be joining us shortly. Would you like something to drink?”

“A glass of water, please.”

Internally, I clicked my tongue in irritation.

He was the very picture of a cautious knight.

For someone like me, who had dropped out of the profession, a capable former colleague was almost painfully dazzling.

Before he could notice my jealousy, I quickly ushered him into a chair in the dining room and gave him some water. I was about to add more firewood to the fireplace to strengthen the flames when he spoke.

“If you have magic stones, I’ll use those instead.”

Between the cost of firewood and magic stones, magic stones were actually cheaper. Well, to be precise, the price of magic stones varied enormously, with higher-purity stones commanding higher prices.

Magic stones intended for use as fuel were relatively low in purity and belonged to the cheaper varieties.

However, activating a magic stone required magical power of the corresponding element. With my magical circuits damaged, I could no longer supply all the fuel needs of this house using magic stones alone.

Feeling bitterly frustrated by my own limitations, I accepted his offer.

“Then I’d appreciate it.”

Leaving the fireplace to him, I decided to get on with my own work.

The kitchen was connected directly to the dining room at the far end, with an open layout that allowed me to see what was happening in the dining room from the kitchen.

I entered the kitchen and began making scones.

It was almost time for an afternoon snack, but I had promised the nut cookies to the brownies, so I needed to make something else.