Good Days, Good Fun
—
I have updated Re:Pen's picture! Now it's a shot of Meiss looking over his shoulder while readying his authority. Looks pretty cool in my opinion. In other news, my teachers have adapted to the times and are using technology to remotely give us assignments. Sucks man, it sucks.
This chapter is short of my usual 4k-ish, but filler and nice stuff is a work in progress for me. Suffering is where I'm comfortable.
—
Meiss mulls around Arlam village's well. He doesn't know anybody here, and nobody here knows him, so there's no reason to stick around. Yet Meiss stays, he doesn't know why. Is it because he likes to see people happy? The families reunited and friends once more together does bring a smile to his face. Regardless, he had better get going to the mansion before nightfall.
Meiss straightens from leaning on the well and makes his way through the crowd. He hears a few comments about who he is and what he's doing here but ignores them. It takes a bit because the area is so tightly packed, but Meiss is able to squeeze his way through the crowd. He heaves a sigh of relief, only to realize he needs to go the opposite direction. Scoffing, the blonde forgoes trying to worm his way through the crowd again and instead goes around.
"Hey, hey!"
Meiss hears a child calling out behind him. Thinking the child is talking to somebody else, Meiss continues to walk. He is surprised when a short kid with brown hair in a ponytail steps in front of him with his arms spread.
"You live at that mansion, right?"
"Yeeeees?"
"My friend went over there for something! Can you tell her that we miss her?!"
"… Sure."
Shaking his head, Meiss watches the kid run off to a group of other kids. Meiss thinks for a second. Why would a village kid be at the Roswaal mansion? Meiss continues to walk, finding the road that leads to the mansion and starting down it's path. The walk is fifteen or sixteen minutes, the average time it takes to walk about one mile. It's calm and serene.
Meiss slowly opens the gate to the Roswaal mansion's expansive yard. When he starts to climb the steps to the building itself, the wooden doors open. On the other side is the tall blonde maid, Frederica. Meiss dimly notices her hair color is the same as Garfiel's sandy blonde.
"I was not expecting you back so soon, Meiss-sama."
"Well, Subaru managed to convince them to release the Arlam villagers from Sanctuary yesterday, since they have Emilia who can take that trial."
"It seems that things have been progressing nicely."
Meiss shrugs, completing his ascension up the stairs.
"There were some things I didn't like, and I never actually got to talk to Roswaal about becoming an official resident. But that's stuff I can't really change now. I'm curious why he didn't send Rem back as well though."
"An interesting thing to bring up. Despite meeting her mere days ago I feel as if I've known her for years… What is wrong, Meiss-sama? You have a pained expression."
The blonde maid instantly spots the expression Meiss wears after she mentions the familiar feeling Rem gives off. Meiss clenches his hands in his vest pockets, the nails digging into his palms. He tries to calm his expression, yet it seems the small crease of his brows will be unchanging.
"Sorry, It's not something I wish to discuss. Rem and I had a bad experience together once, but there's nothing we could do about it currently."
Frederica nods, and follows Meiss inside the mansion, closing the door behind her. Frederica mentions that he arrived at the perfect time for dinner, and that it is almost ready. Meiss says that he will wait in the dining room since he has nothing to do currently.
It hasn't even been a minute when a child's voice echoes into Meiss' ears.
"F-frederica nee-sama, can you open the door? I don't want to bash it open with the cart…"
Meiss turns his head to see Frederica's hand open a door and a cart be pushed out. The owner of the child's voice and the one pushing the cart is a little ginger girl around the same age as that kid in the village. She pushes the cart near Meiss and pulls a platter off of it. She sets it down on the table and takes the lid off, revealing a perfectly portioned potato-meat stew with a few assorted roasted greens and vegetables.
"Oh wow, I never thought greens could look so appetizing."
"Thank you Guest-sama! I cooked this meal myself!"
Frederica walks up next to the ginger girl and pulls a plate and utensils from the cart.
"This is Petra Leyte, she began working at the mansion yesterday after you left. I am in the process of determining how good she is at cleaning, cooking, and other jobs that us maids have."
"Well, cooking is a passing grade, as far as presentation goes. My name is Meiss, pleasure to meet you."
Meiss accepts the fork from Frederica and shakes Petra's hand awkwardly with the other.
"We weren't expecting anyone today, so the usual tableware was not set."
"It's fine, I don't mind; oh yeah, a kid in Arlam Village was telling me that he missed you."
Petra smiles as Frederica looms over her. Meiss feels kind of scared of the blonde maid for some reason.
"You can visit your friends when buying groceries and seeing your parents."
Meiss doesn't notice Petra's smile widen, or her hug Frederica. He doesn't see Frederica geek out at her big-sister status. No, what Meiss' icy eyes spot is the red dress of a spirit. Beatrice slowly walks parallel to the room's door, glancing inside. Meiss sees her face lose the glimmer of interest when she doesn't spot what she wants to see. She leaves, and Meiss wonders who she was looking for.
—
Meiss is opening doors.
After seeing Beatrice act so weirdly, Meiss couldn't leave her like that. He politely ate his dinner with the maids and excused himself to look for the spirit. Under the pretense that he is going to teach her element stuff, Meiss wants to cheer her up.
"Hey Beatrice, Emilia got private lessons from me. I'm here to ask forgiveness."
A door slams open, nearly taking the blonde's head with it.
"Forgiveness won't come even if you grovel and teach Betty more, I suppose."
Meiss grasps the door handle, and closes the door behind him. This is the second time he has entered the forbidden library. The smell of old books is not one that Meiss finds pleasant, but he can ignore it. Beatrice sits regally upon her stool, reading a book unproportionate to her size. She closes the book and sets it on a table next to her.
"So…"
Meiss pulls the color-coded periodic table from his pocket and unfolds it. Then he flips it around so that Beatrice can't see it. Meiss smirks when she makes a noise of surprise.
"First ten elements, go."
"Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, and Neon I suppose."
"Good, good. Are you confident in not just those ten, but the entire table if you needed to repeat it?"
"You underestimate Betty, she will remember everything she learns in fact."
Meiss flips the paper around and walks up to place it on the table next to Beatrice. Along with the periodic table, Meiss produces another folded paper. He unfolds the paper and places it next to the periodic table. Beatrice looks at it briefly before asking what it is.
"I have a lesson plan with this coming afterwards, but it's ok to jump around sometimes. I hate to ask favors but you're the only one capable of doing this. It's a weapon, plain and simple, made with a manganese alloy that will compensate for the drawbacks of the pure metal. I wouldn't trust anyone but the all-powerful Beatrice to make it."
The spirit looks at the design for a second, taking in the measurements and alloy composition.
"Hmph, don't get used to asking favors of Betty. I'll do this but then that's it! The only reason I've been humoring you thus far is because the mana you leak is quite tasty I suppose."
"… Thanks?"
"Now shoo, shoo! Betty has some planning to do in fact!"
As his feet drag across the floor, Meiss calls out.
"But the lesson! Basic compounds and more electron configuration! Basic compouuunnnds!"
The force pushes Meiss out of the forbidden archive. He stares at the door for a second. It wasn't his intent to suddenly press work upon the spirit and leave, but that's what ended up happening. In the end, Meiss isn't even sure he improved her mood, the small spirit is hard to understand.
—
Last night concluded without any other issues. Deciding not to try and bother her, Meiss doesn't look for Beatrice and bids Frederica and Petra goodnight. A knock at his door is what wakes Meiss.
"Meiss-sama? Why are you sleeping with a time crystal next to your head?"
Meiss slips his hand out from under the bed and grabs the humming crystal. He retracts his hand and the crystal disappears under the covers. Ignoring Petra's expression, Meiss sits up in the bed.
"While I'm thankful you knocked small child, could you do that without entering my room first? You could see something that could scar you for life, like me mumbling about metal in my sleep or hugging a time crystal."
She leaves quickly.
After thoroughly weirding out the small maid, Meiss continues with his day. He eats breakfast in his room while practicing his writing and reading, then goes to the bath and curses every deity for denying him such a spacious bath his entire life. He devotes a lot of energy to that. Then Meiss walks down into the mansion's yard with a log. Even though he had them made, Meiss isn't confident in his throwing skills. So he spends a good portion of time practicing his accuracy with the manganese flechettes.
He spends about an hour practicing his throwing because he has nothing better to do. Meiss has no one to spar with and doesn't want to ask Frederica because she has work, so Meiss doesn't do much with his authority. After his arm tires, the blonde decides to further familiarize himself with the mansion, but before he can begin the self-tour he is stopped by Frederica.
"Would you mind if we talked for a minute?"
"No, not really. But can it wait until after lunch? I was going to help Beatrice with something."
"Sure, whenever is most convenient for you today."
The blonde maid continues to walk down the hall. Wonder what that was about? Meiss thinks that she may instate him as an official member of the land, if she has the power. Maybe she is just going to kick him out, since he has been freeloading and doesn't seem to be changing or doing anything productive.
Meiss is able to locate the forbidden archive, and gives Beatrice some pointers on the weapon. She once more shoos him out when he finishes talking. The lunch was good, a good meal made with good ingredients but not something memorable. Might have been either gourmet sandwiches or some succulent fish.
Meiss finishes without any issues and Petra takes his plate. Frederica stays behind, making sure that the door to the kitchen is closed before turning back to Meiss. She calmly brings her arms in front of her and puts her closed fists together. Blue and red light emanate from the gates on her hands. After the light show, two gloves appear on her hands, like boxing gloves with spikes. Meiss inclines his head to them.
"Insurance. Ever since you returned from Sanctuary you have smelled of the Witch."
"This again… You're more perceptive than Garfiel so blaming it on Echidna won't work."
Frederica shifts when Garfiel is mentioned. Interesting. She must know him. They must be at least acquaintances, though I'm betting more than that. She settles quickly, giving him a hard stare.
"The truth is, I have an Authority of Sin."
This gets Frederica riled up. She pulls her arms back a little bit and steps back to open distance. Meiss raises his hands, showing in the universal way he means no harm.
"Ah, that's expected. Honestly though, I would have done something already if I wanted to. You think I would fight off two other Archbishops and the Hakugei if I was plotting something? Not to mention I've had plenty of opportunities to nab or stab Emilia."
Frederica lowers her arms a small bit. Unlike the time with Ferris and Wilhelm where the emotion of the exchange confirmed Meiss having no ill-will, emotions are not high here and Frederica is a thinker. She isn't totally convinced, but lowers her guard and the gloves retreat back into her fire and water gates.
"Just know that I'm watching you, Meiss-sama."
"Cautious. That means you're good at your job."
"… Thank you."
—
The applications are large in not just weaponry.
Meiss is sitting in his room. He has nothing better to do, so he is thinking about chemistry.
Weaponized gas, explosive powder, irritants. There's also preservatives, medicine, and materials for goods. Meiss shakes his head, he had decided to preserve this historic world by not introducing that much technology from beyond the waterfall, so most of that is a no-go. Meiss starts thinking again about similarities in substances between the worlds.
"Though magic can heal wounds, I don't know if it does anything for sickness. Having simple medicine would help. Explosives as well, the similarity would be the elemental stones. I don't know the strength of a single fire crystal, but I would guess it's roughly equivalent to a common stick of dynamite. It's a shame I never delved as deep into chemistry as my Grandpa, I would know a lot more about chemical structure."
"Huh! He really is talking about weird things!"
"P-Petra?!"
Meiss turns around in his seat to see Petra poking her head around his door. The small maid tilts her head before opening the door wider and knocking.
"It's too late to knock now!"
"Ehh? No it's not, weirdo. Anyways dinner is ready."
Meiss stands up and walks out of the room, ignoring Petra's comment and closing the door behind him. The maid and archbishop walk side-by-side down the hall silently. Meiss has his hands in his pant pockets, having discarded his vest in his room.
"So Meiss-sama… Why are you here?"
Meiss tilts his head to Petra's question. Why is he here?
"Well, I'm a teenager that decided to tag along with Subaru on a whim. We have something in common that nobody else- no two things in common actually that nobody else has."
Petra walks quietly for a second before turning to Meiss. Her lips curve up slightly as she begins speaking.
"Hmm, regardless of your similarities, you couldn't hope to compare to Subaru-sama's achievements. He saved Arlam village from the Witch Cult and… and saved me from a pack of rabid wulgarm by himself."
The small maid turns away after her brief pause in the sentence, though Meiss can see her face take on a shade of pink. This makes the blonde scrunch up his face when he realises how far Subaru reaches. With his face hidden from Petra's view, she doesn't see the emotion in Meiss. It takes a second to process how good Subaru is with people, to this extent even, but Meiss unsticks his face and thinks about her words. Saved her from a pack of wulgarm. Wulgarm are a type of demonbeast if I'm not mistaken. Despite the irregularity of this feat and Subaru's strength, Meiss turns to his one option.
"OooOoo, do you like~ him?"
Despite her short stature and thin frame, Petra is strong. Meiss learns of this fact when she delivers a kick to his shin so hard that the bone shatters and the resulting shockwave shatters every window in the Roswaal mansion and beyond. At least that's what it feels like to Meiss.
"AHH!"
His leg is pulled out from under him unconsciously, trying to distance itself from what inflicted pain. As a result, Meiss has no foot to put forward and sails gracefully into the ground, hitting a decorative table and knocking over a vase. Meiss tries to reach out with acedia to catch the pottery, but misses and the vase shatters against the floor.
Meiss takes in air between his teeth as he holds his shin, trying not to cry. It definitely didn't hurt as much as getting his arm shredded or having his abdomen turned inside out, but it was pretty close since she hit the bone and not muscle.
"FU-there's a child-GOD! OW. It's really going to happen! I swear I'm going to go into self isolation! OW!"
"Woah! What's this cool thing?"
Meiss looks up to see Petra poking his acedia and looking at it in awe. The blonde wonders how she can go from wanting to murder him to staring transfixed in less than a second. Footsteps sound, the little maid snaps to attention when Frederica rounds the corner.
"What happened to Meiss-sama?"
"Uhm-"
"I hit the table, sorry about the vase, Frederica."
Frederica looks at the acedia sprouting from Meiss for a second. Then she glances at the shattered pot for a second before sighing. Meiss rubs his shin.
"Mhm… Petra, please go and replace the pottery. Hurry back or your food will get cold."
"Yes, Frederica nee-sama."
The blonde maid turns around and walks back around the corner, returning to the kitchen. Meiss writhes on the floor for a few seconds more before standing up. He leans on the table to support himself in place of his leg. Looking down, Meiss sees the shattered vase. Petra walks down the hall to get something to clean it with.
When the girl returns, Meiss shoos her away to go get a replacement while cleaning up the pottery himself. It doesn't take long for her to return, but Meiss is already done cleaning by the time she gets back. They trade broken pottery and not broken pottery since Meiss doesn't know where to put the shards.
"Why did you cover for me Meiss-sama? You should have told Frederica nee-sama I kicked you."
"Ehh… I deserved that for teasing you. Anyways let's go, the food is getting cold."
The two walk together the rest of the way to the kitchen, except for Petra taking a small detour to dispose of the broken vase. They enter the kitchen together and see Frederica at her usual spot next to the lord's chair. Petra runs up to stand next to her and Meiss sits down at the table. Steak, salad, and rice.
"Potatoes are good, but I really should give other food a chance. Other food can be just as good as potatoes."
Meiss picks up his fork to begin eating, then thinks of something.
"Hey Frederica?"
"Yes, Meiss-sama?"
"I never told you what I wanted to drink, so would it be a bother to get me some water please?"
"Not at all."
Blegh, major dislike of ordering people around like that. I could get myself water…
Meiss eyes Beatrice's plate for a second. Then he swaps his plate with the spirit's. It was just a silly suspicion, but Frederica is a thinker. If anything… Beatrice wouldn't be affected by poison. Meiss feels guilty for swapping plates, but after dropping the archbishop bomb he wouldn't put it past anybody. Meiss looks over to Petra, who watched him swap the plates. Crap, what if she says something?
"Your water, Meiss-sama."
Frederica returns to the room and delivers Meiss his water. She then returns to her position just as Beatrice enters the room. The spirit looks over the dining room before crossing her arms.
"Hmph, those idiots haven't returned from that place yet? So irritating in fact."
"Do you miss them?"
"I… want to see nii-chan… I suppose."
I want to poke fun at why she paused, but that would be pressing my luck probably. She isn't honest about anything.
Beatrice pulls out her chair and sits down. She lazily spears a piece of tomato with her fork and pops it into her mouth. Meiss chews on a piece of steak as he thinks of a few questions for the spirit.
"We went over electron configuration briefly after we made rhenium, right?"
"Betty remembers it all in fact. S, P, D, and F, I suppose."
"Mind sparing the brainpower for element thirty-two?"
Beatrice cuts up a piece of meat and chews on it before responding.
"Germanium I suppose, P block."
"Good, goo-"
"Hey Meiss-sama, would you mind speaking in our language?"
Meiss turns his head to Petra. She stares back at him, either oblivious or ignoring Frederica's stern look at her side. Meiss continues to stare at her.
"Riddle me this small child, if somebody has ten grams of oxygen gas and excess hydrogen gas, how many moles of hydroxylic acid would be theoretically produced?"
"Uh, uh… Gram?"
That deer-in-headlights look Petra has is one of the best things I have ever seen.
Meiss calmly places a tomato in his mouth as he watches Petra. Frederica is looking at him weirdly. Well, he did just spout some incomprehensible babble along the lines of what your average insane person would say in this world.
"Hydrox…lick… HOW WOULD ANYONE KNOW THIS STUFF!?"
"Come on, a ninth-grader could do this!"
"Nine? Grader… nine… year? A-A NINE YEAR OLD COULD UNDERSTAND THAT?!"
Meiss comfortably leans back in his chair. Beatrice looks like she's about to laugh at Petra's suffering. Frederica stands as still as a statue.
This is nice.
—
Heh.