By Zephyria 
“It’s really nothing. It’s just, when getting the wedding rings made… I was wondering if other betrothal gifts aren’t usually made together.”
“⋯Ah. ⋯Ah? Ah. ⋯Yes?”
“As you know, I’m ignorant about many common customs. In a country I know, when holding a wedding ceremony, they prepare quite a lot of jewelry, from head ornaments to earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings, for the marriage. But what Ruben intends to prepare this time… is just this one ring.”
“⋯Ah. Is, is that so⋯.”
“I understand that besides a thick ring, a thin ring is also prepared, but I’m wondering whether accessories like earrings or necklaces should be decided in consultation with the child, or if it’s better not to prepare them for the wedding ceremony and only purchase and give them after marriage.”
Even after I had said everything I wanted to say, Sienna Bicov still had a bewildered look on her face.
Was my question that strange? But my close friends had told me that lovers often exchange jewels and flowers. I believed it wouldn’t be much different for married couples, so I was simply puzzled.
Sienna Bicov had stopped walking, so I nudged her shoulder.
“Baroness Vikoff?”
“⋯Ah. Jewels⋯. Jewels. Yes, they do prepare various things for the wedding ceremony. What kind of jewel did you decide on for the wedding ring?”
“The Princess herself brought a Pink Diamond Rough, so I was thinking of making it with that.”
“What is the shape of the rough stone? If it’s oval or elongated…”
“Both were a bit irregular, but they were round.”
“Then⋯. Hmm.”
“Does the shape of the rough stone matter?”
She rubbed her face a few times with her dry hands. Her face, which had been flushed bright red, finally returned to its normal color. I had no idea what she had thought or how she had thought it in that brief moment.
“To process a rough stone into a shining jewel, it’s common to grind the facets. If the rough stone is elongated and needs to be divided, there might be extra gems, but if it’s round, it’s best to preserve the stone’s size as much as possible, making it difficult to create extras.”
“Yes. And then?”
“Jewels used as betrothal gifts are usually made in sets. For example, using the same type of jewel for earrings, necklaces, brooches, and rings. So, in this case… perhaps because you are both men and wish to have a meaningful jewel for the ring, you might be omitting accompanying betrothal gifts… I can only speculate.”
“Hmm. Then, if I were to separately obtain pink diamonds…”
“If you really want to give them, perhaps it would be acceptable not as a betrothal gift, but as a present right after the wedding ceremony. I will also try to find pink diamonds as soon as they become available.”
“Ah. Would you do that?”
“Yes, people who seek rare gems often do that, as they are scarce.”
Come to think of it, neither Ruben nor I have pierced ears, so earrings would be difficult. It’s not that I’m trying to follow the principle of filial piety regarding the body, but rather that women are accustomed to adorning their faces with many decorations, and men are used to wearing heavy ornaments on their large bodies.
Then, what kind of betrothal gifts would men exchange?
“Baroness Vikoff, what did you receive?”
“Well… I didn’t even go to parties, and our marriage was rather special, so…”
“Yes.”
“I received a ship.”
“⋯A ship?”
“The one we saw together in Yulan then…”
“Ah. The merchant ship… that Ivan bought.”
That must be why the talk of starting a new trade came up. Can that also be considered a wedding gift? Given Ivan’s peculiar nature, it’s hard to discern whether it was a decision based on practicality or a form of romance.
“Would it be rude to ask the price of that ship?”
“No, no. I was lucky and bought it at a good discount. It cost about twelve hundred gold.”
“⋯Twelve hundred.”
Should I buy him a ship too?
I thought that since ships can be built in Valentia, I could find a good one even if my judgment wasn’t perfect. Still, Ruben tends to wear a lot of jewelry, so would jewels be better?
After marriage, it’s customary to entrust the household keys to one’s wife, so I wanted to prepare something before then. It wasn’t that I was so poor that I’d tremble over a few gold coins, but it had become a situation where I couldn’t easily spend thousands or tens of thousands of gold, so I was deeply troubled.
❖ ❖ ❖
Walking alongside Sienna Bicov, I entered the art studio.
As when I visited with Ruben last time, a man dressed in a form-fitting outfit was guarding the shop, which was filled with jewels. When asked which jewel I wished to see, I requested a Grimsvein craftsman, as Ruben had instructed, and an old, short man appeared.
However, the subsequent events did not unfold as expected.
“⋯You’re saying that both Sam Marcus and Vivian Grimbswein… were kidnapped?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Please help us. We were truly shocked…”
“No, if something like that happened, why didn’t you contact the military?”
“I did! But they said it would take another three weeks to dispatch a wizard for tasks requiring one. They said the number of unlicensed Spirit Masters has exploded recently, so the queue is very long.”
“⋯It requires dispatching a wizard?”
“Yes, I haven’t contracted with a Spirit, so I didn’t know if this was a task requiring a license, or even if it was the work of a Spirit! Please, just bring my child back. Please?”
The old man’s gaze as he looked at me was very familiar. It was the kind of face I often encountered during my days as a knight-errant, filled with trust and faith. He stared blankly at me, convinced that I would help him and ultimately save him.
It was absurd, but since people I knew were in trouble, I had no choice.
“⋯For now, let’s hear the story.”
The Marcus family had been jewelers in Grimsvein until three generations ago.
The old man’s father was born as the second son of the Marcus Viscountcy. While his elder brother inherited the family, he himself began working with jewels in the capital using the latest fashionable methods. He was always nervous and sensitive, but perhaps because of that, he gained fame for his extremely delicate craftsmanship.
He lived a long life and passed away at the age of nine when his only grandson, Sam Marcus, was nine years old.
And Sam Marcus inherited his unlicensed Spirit.
“At first, I didn’t even know it was a Spirit. I just thought he was playing with rough stones while learning the family trade, but then the child started muttering strange things. I thought he was seeing things and even visited the temple, but they said there was nothing unusual.”
“⋯Hoo.”
“However, he wasn’t acting out, and when I taught him how to handle jewels, his talent bloomed, and he created perfectly balanced jewels far superior to mine. Seeing that, I thought it was probably fine and lived on.”
“⋯How did you know it was related to a Spirit?”
“I found out yesterday, yesterday!”
“Yesterday?”
“Because the children often skip meals while working, I personally come to the workshop to bring them meals. But the children who were there until lunchtime had vanished without a trace, and there was no one coming or going… I thought they had gone out somewhere, but they didn’t return until late at night, so I reported it… The soldiers came and used a tracking Artifact, and it just showed that the children were in the workshop, just sitting there, and then suddenly disappeared.”
I patted the old man’s small back to comfort him as he began to sob.
Drawing strength from my comfort, he sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
“They say you need to contract with a Spirit to use Spirit Arts, right? But neither my father nor I knew anything about that. My father was very taciturn, so I don’t know what he did, but our Sam, Sam didn’t.”
“⋯.”
“He just said that after his grandfather passed away, he could occasionally hear his grandfather’s voice, but he never made any contract. He just listened when he heard it, and did as he was told to cut jewels. I just thought it was words coming from the child’s heart…”
“⋯Yes. And then?”
“They say there will be an additional investigation for using an unlicensed Spirit Art in the heart of the capital! I can’t bear the sorrow and injustice! Your Majesty, please, please save my son and my second cousin’s grandson!”
The term ‘second cousin’s grandson’ must refer to Vivian Grimbswein.
Without much thought, I summoned the Sylphs. Come to think of it, I didn’t get a license either. I contracted with a Spirit in front of Ruben, so perhaps the child somehow managed it. I should ask Marianne about it again later.
Five Sylphs, swirling with a soft rustle of wind, and an Undine, who hadn’t been summoned, popped out.
[Pinky, hello!]
[Long time no see! Busy?]
[Me too! Me too, long time no see!]
“⋯Why are you…”
[Why didn’t you call me? Did you forget?]
“No, it’s not that. These children are five, so I called you first, and then I was going to call you.”
[Yes! I thought so, so I came!]
“Right. Uh, did you hear what I was just talking about?”
Two of them tangled in my hair, three whirled around me busily, and one sat on my hand, acting demurely.
Looking at them now, all the Spirits had grown larger than before. They spoke well, and their movements were more agile than before. Before I became a god, they seemed to be only half this size. Like the Undines of the Golden Turtle, did these children also grow by consuming my Mana?
[Yes! We heard.]
[The gnome went to play with friends!]
No, that’s not the important thing right now.
“The gnome?”
[You can do that if you make strong friends!]
[That’s right, it could happen.]
“⋯A new friend… Uh, perhaps, a girl with silver hair and orange eyes?”
[Was it? I don’t know!]
Through the Sylphs’ bustling explanations and the Undine’s soft speech, I was able to understand what had happened.
Vivian Grimbswein, as the legitimate heir of Grimsvein, had a greater Mana utilization ability than ordinary humans. However, it was only a developed Qi sense compared to ordinary humans, and she had no talent for magic that relied heavily on complex calculations, so she seemed to have lived her life focusing on craftsmanship.
A gnome who had been sticking close to Sam Marcus and giving him advice on how to handle jewels became interested in her. It seemed there was a mistake when she attempted a contract without a Spirit contract Magic Circle.
It wasn’t done with malice, but it seemed the gnome, flustered immediately after the accident, had taken the two children to what she considered the safest place and hidden them.
“⋯Where are they?”
[Here!]
“Here?”
[Yes! They’re inside!]
I stared blankly at the floor where the Sylphs were hopping around in the workshop located in a basement in the heart of the capital. This workshop was currently an ordinary three-story commercial building, and the basement was only one level. But the fact that the missing children were said to be even below the basement floor left me speechless.
“The children… are they alive?”
[Now!]