Chapter 140: A Night of Destiny

The ‘New Year’s Banquet’ at the castle has ended, and now preparations for the ‘New Year’s Banquet’ at our Ducal House begin.

That being said, most of the preparations were already completed last year.

Our band, ‘The Villainesses with Heroine’ (tentative), is also in its final push.

As we finished our practice performance, Pamela-sensei gave a small round of applause.

“You’ve all worked very hard. With this, the guests should be satisfied as well.”

Smiles escaped from everyone at Pamela-sensei’s words. Man… it’s been tough getting to this point…

Pamela-sensei is a smiling Spartan, after all… She isn’t the type of genius who can only teach with vague feelings like, ‘You go gaaah like this, and then gyan!’, but rather, she clearly points out the bad parts, telling us exactly what went wrong every time.

Because she thoroughly corrects those bad parts, naturally, our improvement is fast…

Well, in any case, since we’ve received the teacher’s stamp of approval, our performance should be fine.

Now I just hope we don’t mess up out of nervousness. I don’t think it’ll be a problem since the ‘New Year’s Banquet’ at our Ducal House isn’t some stiff, formal party, and there won’t be anyone there to make us nervous.

However, when I voiced those thoughts,

“Ehh…? His Majesty the Emperor is coming too, isn’t he? I’m going to be incredibly nervous…”

“I wish I could be as calm and collected as you, Lady Sakuraile…”

“That’s only Lady Sakuraile…”

Estelle and the others looked at me with eyes that said, ‘What is she talking about…?’.

Well, it’s true that His Majesty the Emperor is coming, but… once you get used to him, he’s just a good-natured old man, you know?

I was nervous at first too, but seeing him get excited over the stores I summon every single time, that nervousness completely vanished. Getting nervous is just ridiculous, isn’t it?

“Pamela-sensei, you’re going to perform at the Ducal House’s ‘New Year’s Banquet’ too, right?”

“Yes, I’ve formed a small band with a few friends. The Duke granted us permission to participate.”

“What song are you going to play?”

“Hmm, that’s still a secret.”

Pamela-sensei smiled mischievously. At the very least, it probably won’t be a song from this world. In all likelihood, it’s safe to assume it’s music from Earth.

Probably rock, R&B, funk… maybe even jazz? Don’t tell me it’s an anime song?

I’ve had her listen to quite a few anime songs, after all… It’s possible.

Even anime songs can sound incredibly cool if they’re given a jazz arrangement or something. Besides, no one but me would know it’s an anime song anyway, so maybe that’s fine too.

“Ah, it’s started snowing again.”

Bianca muttered that while looking out the window.

Although it was still early for evening, white snow had begun to flutter down like petals from the gloomy, overcast sky.

“I wonder if it will pile up again.”

“I hate it when the snow piles up because the kitchen car can’t move.”

Estelle knit her brows as she watched the continuously falling snow.

The kitchen car’s tires aren’t studless or anything, after all.

Considering safety on snowy roads, I’ve told everyone not to travel in the kitchen car if the snow has piled up even a little.

It would be great if I could summon a tire shop… Wait, even if I could summon one, it would be meaningless if it wasn’t a winter tire shop…?

Before that, can you even change the tires on an indestructible kitchen car…?

In any case, it would be better for Estelle and the others to head home before the snow piles up.

“Estelle, you should head home early today before it piles up. You too, Bianca.”

“You’re right. I’ll go talk to my mother. Ah, Pamela-sensei, you should ride with us too!”

“Is that alright? Then I will take you up on your offer.”

Receiving Pamela-sensei’s reply, Estelle ran off to where Yulia-sensei was having tea with Mother in another room.

The kitchen car can’t exactly be called spacious, but there’s plenty of room for one or two adults to ride in the rear kitchen space. Bianca, who commutes in it every day, even has a special cushion prepared for herself.

Pamela-sensei’s family home is apparently in the Second District, but the luxury apartment she lives in is in the Third District. The Third District, where merchants and wealthy commoners live, is relatively safe, but it’s still dangerous for a woman to walk alone after dark.

Estelle’s house is in the Second District, so it’s a detour, but at the kitchen car’s speed, it shouldn’t even take ten minutes.

Carrying Estelle, Bianca, and Pamela-sensei, the kitchen car driven by Yulia-sensei departed from the Ducal House.

Looking up at the sky, the snow was still falling sporadically, but not in any great amount. At this rate, even if it snows until morning, it probably won’t pile up more than two or three centimeters.

Well, even if it only piles up that much, transportation in the Royal Capital will still be paralyzed. Even though the roads are paved with stone, carriages are still dangerous. The Mage Division will probably be mobilized for snow removal duty right from the morning tomorrow. Thanks for your hard work.

Come to think of it, I wonder if the snow-melting agent I mentioned to Leon has been completed?

It’s annoying to let the Traumerei house snatch the seeds of profit, but it would be convenient to have… I should ask him about it later.

After finishing dinner with my family, I went into the summoned public bath, ‘Fuji no Yu’. If I have spare magical power, I almost exclusively bathe here. Because there’s post-bath milk and a hair dryer.

Naturally, Mother goes in too. Father goes to the men’s bath.

After we get out, the public bath is opened to all the servants, so I leave it summoned.

After that comes my daily routine: just stamping the Transfer Sealing Stamp and going to sleep.

I didn’t use any for myself today, so I can send ten letters.

While checking the addresses on the letters Father handed me before bed, I dripped the sealing wax and pressed the stamp.

As soon as the stamp dried, they vanished from in front of me with a fwip, fwip. What a mysterious sight.

It just occurred to me now, but I wonder if it’s really okay to send letters in the middle of the night like this.

What if they’re taking a bath like we were, and the letter falls right into the bathtub? Well, it looks like he used water-resistant ink, but…

Idly thinking about such things as I pressed the stamp, I noticed a commotion outside just as I reached the final letter. Straining my ears, I heard what sounded like a lot of cats meowing incessantly.

There shouldn’t be any nobles keeping cats around here (or rather, even the neighboring houses of our Ducal House are quite far away)… Are they stray cats?

『Mu!』

“Kohaku-san?”

Suddenly, Kohaku-san, who had been curled up on the bed, sprang up with a start and rushed to the window leading to the balcony.

Deftly unlocking it with his front paws and leaping out onto the balcony, Kohaku-san transformed into his giant tiger form the very next moment.

『Garraaaaaaaaah!』

Eh!? What, what!?

Startled by Kohaku-san’s sudden roar directed outside, I rushed out onto the balcony as well.

Then, I saw several cats meowing loudly near our main gate in the distance. Could those cats be Kohaku-san’s subordinates who were assigned to Pamela-sensei? Don’t tell me something happened to Pamela-sensei…!

For a while, there was an exchange of “Meow, meow!” and “Roar, roar!” that seemed to be a long-distance conversation, and eventually, Kohaku-san turned back to face me.

『It seems the music teacher’s house is burning.』

“Eh!?”

Burning… a fire!? Pamela-sensei’s house is on fire!?

“W-What about Pamela-sensei!?”

『I do not know. It seems the cats’ attention was scattered due to this cold. By the time they noticed, it was already burning. The flames apparently were not that large yet, but I do not know the current situation. They say they came here immediately upon seeing the fire.』

The Royal Capital slopes down gently outward from the Imperial Castle at its center. This means the districts where high-ranking nobles live are at a higher elevation than the districts where commoners live.

Therefore, the flames are visible even from here. I can see them. A small fire glowing in the darkness.

This is it…! This is the reason Pamela-sensei dies!

Jeremy-sensei couldn’t prevent this. He didn’t make it in time… That’s it! A letter!

I ran back into my room and, as if scribbling, briefly wrote on a piece of letter paper that Pamela-sensei’s apartment was on fire. I put it in an envelope, made sure to clearly write Jeremy-sensei’s name as the addressee and my name as the sender, dripped the sealing wax, and pressed the stamp.

The letter was transferred immediately and vanished from before my eyes.

This should be enough… or I don’t know if it will be. But if I don’t do everything I can, I’ll definitely regret it!

I threw off my pajamas, pulled clothes out of the closet, and changed in a flash.

“Lady Sakuraile! What on earth is going on…!?”

Probably hearing Kohaku-san’s roar, Ritsu, who had been on standby in the next room, came rushing in. Father and Mother will probably come soon too, but I don’t have time to wait.

“Pamela-sensei’s house is on fire! I’m going there right now, so please explain it to Father and the others!”

“Ehh!?”

『Little master, get on!』

When I leaped onto his back, Kohaku-san, in his giant tiger form, jumped straight down from the balcony, dashed across the garden, and leapt over the front brick wall.

Strangely enough, even though I was riding him, I didn’t feel like I was going to fall off.

『Let us go!』

“Go!”

Through the darkness with snowflakes fluttering down, we began to run toward the small flames visible in the distance.