Margine Picks Up a Girl
"It's really cold tonight."
Margine left Rikka's diner around 1 a.m. Winter hadn't fully set in yet, but the road was deserted and eerily quiet in the middle of the night.
"Brrr, so cold! Let's get home quickly and warm up my body in the bath."
Rubbing his palms together, Margine recalled the conversation he had at the diner.
I wonder if Rikka will really grow up into a voluptuous woman....
Margine imagined a grown up Rikka with a voluptuous body.
Hmm, she might actually become my type. Saying I wasn't interested in her, was that too hasty?
Margine tried to imagine what would happen next. Then, the image of the proprietress, hands on her hips, shouting, came to mind.
Will a voluptuous Rikka transform into that, too?
"Yeah, let’s stop."
Margine dismissed those silly thoughts and quickened his pace. That was when he noticed a young girl dressed in fairly fine clothes, sitting alone while hugging her knees under the eaves of nearby building.
This area is close to the red-light district, so maybe she's a courtesan who ran away. No, a courtesan wouldn't be dressed like that.
"You're a member of the hero party, so don't be too kind or pay too much attention to commoners."
Misty's words flashed through Margine's mind. He hesitated, wondering whether he should just ignore the girl and go home or call out to her.
Oh well, I'm not a member of the Hero Party anymore.
"Hey!"
There was no answer.
Surely, she isn't dead, is she?
"Hey, are you alive?"
When Margine shook the girl's shoulder violently, she finally raised her tear-filled face.
This girl.... she is the fool I saved from the wolves a few days ago, right?
"What are you doing here? You'll freeze to death if you stay here!"
The girl looked up at Margine without answering, her eyes vacant.
Tch, something's wrong. Her clothes aren't disheveled, so it doesn't seem like she was attacked by a man.
"Don't sleep here. Let's find an inn or...."
Even though it was within the royal capital city, for security reasons, there were no inns open at this hour.
"Argh, just come with me for now!"
Having recognized the girl, Margine couldn't just leave her alone. However, the girl showed no response. He then grabbed the girl's cold hand and forced her to stand.
"Come on, stand up!"
The girl finally stood up, but still wouldn't move. Margine had no choice but to pull her hand and take her to his house.
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"Hey, are you okay? What happened?"
The girl still gave no response.
"I'm asking what happened. Are you hurt somewhere?"
Feeling her lack of reaction was getting serious, Margine grabbed her shoulders and shook her back and forth.
"You are...."
The girl finally recognized Margine.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Uh, uh, waaaaaaaaah!"
The girl clung to Margine and began to cry loudly.
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~ The girl after parting ways with the Guiding Star ~
The girl entered the noble district and, after searching until nightfall, she finally found the Voltia family mansion, but was stopped at the gate.
“Who might you be?”
Someone who seemed to be a butler asked her coldly.
"Umm, I'm Iris.... Irisflone. I've come to see my father.... Viscount Voltia."
"Have you made an appointment with Master?"
"H-He didn't know I was coming today, but...."
“Unfortunately, we cannot receive anyone without an appointment. I must ask you to leave.”
"T-Then, please tell him that Irisflone has come to see him at least!"
"Once again, I must ask...."
"L-Look at this!"
Iris showed the butler a pendant bearing the Voltia family crest that she wore around her neck.
“Please wait here for a moment.”
The butler, after seeing the pendant, said this and disappeared for a while.
“Thank you for waiting.”
“Did my father…. Viscount Voltia, agree to see me…?”
“Please take this and return to your domain.”
The butler handed her a bag that made a jingling sound.
“W-What is this…?”
"This is the fund for your travel. There are 100 small gold coins inside, which should be enough for the carriage fare to the port and the ship fare.”
"T-That's...."
"My apologies, but I must ask you to leave."
No matter what she said, her pleas were ignored, and the girl left Voltia's mansion in despair. The girl wandered aimlessly after that until Margine found her sitting on the ground under the eaves of a building near the entrance to the slum.
~ Margine’s House ~
"*hiccup*.... *hiccup*...."
The girl finally calmed down after crying loudly for a while.
"If you've calmed down, sit down there."
Margine, having pulled the girl away from him and seated her in a chair, made some instant soup and placed it on the table.
"So, what happened? You said everything would work out once you got to the royal capital."
"He didn't want to see me...."
"Who?"
"My father...."
"Your father is in the royal capital? But why didn't he want to see you?"
"I-I don'tknow.... uh, uh, waaaaaaaaah!"
The girl buried her face on the table and started crying loudly again.
Is this related to nobility or something?
Unable to get any meaningful explanation, Margine decided to use appraisal on the girl.
Hmm, 14 years old with magic power over 300. That's quite excellent. If her magic power increases multiplicatively, it could eventually reach 800…. no, maybe even over 1000. Her fire aptitude is A, her stamina is B, and the others are C and D. This girl could become a valuable damage dealer in a Hunter party with this status.
Magic power increases in two ways: additive and multiplicative. The additive type increases by a fixed amount, so while children may have relatively high magic power and be expected to do well, their growth is slow and they end up being average. In contrast, the multiplicative type shows slow growth in magic power during childhood, but once it starts to grow, it increases rapidly.
Judging from her name, this girl seems to be related to a noble family. Her father refused to meet her, so she's probably an illegitimate daughter or something. It’s probably best not to dig too deeply into this. There is nothing I can do about her family situation, and matters involving nobles are often troublesome.
"Look, you're cold, aren't you? Drink this to warm your body."
"I have no appetite...."
"Then, I will fill the bathtub, so go take a bath."
"Do you have a bath here...? But no, I don't want to take one now...."
Tch, she'll catch a cold at this rate.
"You smell bad, so go take a bath."
Margine said something unnecessary.
"I-I don't smell bad!"
"No, I think your father didn't want to see you because you smelled bad."
"Wha...."
Seeing the girl's angry face turn into a tearful one, Margine realized that he had messed up. He hurriedly went to the bathroom and started filling the bathtub with warm water.
"Come here. I'll explain how to use it since you probably don't know how."
"I don't smell bad!"
"I got it, I got it, so come here!"
The girl kept insisting she didn't smell bad. However, there was no doubt that she looked quite dirty.
“Wash your body first before getting in the bathtub. This is the soap for your body, and this one is for your hair. After washing your hair, put this on your head, then rinse it off. The water comes out if you turn this.”
The girl was surprised. Not only there was a bathtub, but there was also equipment she’d never seen before.
“What is this place…?”
“What do you mean? It’s obviously a bathroom. Do you have a change of clothes?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Where did you leave your backpack?”
Margine didn't see her backpack where he found the girl. Currently, she only had a water bottle and a small shoulder bag. He didn’t think the change of clothes was in that small bag.
"Ah...."
"Did you leave it at an inn somewhere?"
"I didn't stop at an inn...."
The girl's face turned pale in an instant.
"Then it must have been stolen. Just give up. You will never get it back. Which means no change of clothes, huh.... Tch, I guess I have no choice. I will wash your clothes while you take a bath, so leave them outside."
"N-No!"
"Why?"
"Umm, well, my underwear...."
"What's wrong with your underwear?"
"It's embarrassing!"
"Don't worry. I'm not interested in some kid's underwear. I will wash and dry them with magic. Even if there’s poop on them, they’ll come out clean."
“There’s nothing like that on them!”
*bang*
The girl, red with anger, slammed the bathroom door shut with all her might.
"You wouldn't want to wear dirty clothes after a bath, would you...?"
Margine grumbled as he left the bathroom. Thinking the girl probably hadn't eaten anything, he decided to cook something and went to the kitchen. He took out some Boar meat and Okan meat from his item box and minced them. Margine was planning to make hamburger steaks. If the girl still insisted that she had no appetite, he figured that he could just eat it himself.
Margine sautéed diced onions, let them cool, mixed them with the minced meat, and kneaded it. He added salt, pepper, a little herb, and then shaped it. One by one, he patted the patty with both hands to remove the air and pressed a little dent in the center.
Hamburger steak was Mysty's favorite food. I've made them countless times to the point it has become second nature to me.
Margine heated up the frying pan, and as he placed a hamburger patty on it, the girl came out of the bath.
"I could use the towel that was inside the bathroom, right...?"
“Yeah, but your hair is still soaking wet.”
Margine just realized that there was only a small towel inside the bathroom. Since he usually dried his hair with magic, he hadn’t needed a big towel. He then approached the girl.
“W-What is it?”
*sniff-sniff*
"Your clothes still smell."
"They don't smell!"
Margine said something insensitive, then cast a cleaning spell on her clothes and dried her hair.
"That feels much better, right? Don't wear dirty clothes after getting out of the bath."
"W-What did you just do?"
The girl noticed that her dirty clothes were now as clean as new.
"I used a washing spell on your clothes. If you are interested, I'm selling it for 3,000,000 G."
"3,000,000 G!?"
"That's right. Oh no, the hamburger...."
Margine hurried back to the kitchen, where a slightly burnt smell was coming from, flipped the hamburger patty over, added a little water, and put a lid on the frying pan.