TFR 100

Martha’s Grandfather [Part 3]

"Huh? Are kairo and haramaki Japa... Imperial Japanese?"

When the siblings thought about it more, they had never used both hand warmers (kairo) and bellyband (haramaki) in this world.

So why does Martha know?

......hm?

"That reminds me, Martha didn't understand what I said when I passed out from eating matsutake mushrooms but was able to catch the words, huh?"

Going back to Emma's memory of a year and a half ago. Certainly, Martha at that time...

"Ahh... At least I wanted to drink beer!"

When Emma muttered that in Japanese, Martha turned towards her and,

"That's right. Everyone was yelling similar things! What kind of spell is that?"

replied like that. What did it mean?"

It wasn't a word, but a sentence, albeit short. Looking at how Joshua was, it was supposedly impossible to know that they were the same words as what she heard from a few days ago.

"......? What is it......?"

Martha tilted her head when the three siblings and Joshua stared at her attentively.

A Kingdom person who seemed like she could normally speak Imperial Japanese was in front of their eyes.

What's this? Wouldn't this greatly shock His Majesty, the diplomats, grandmother, and Joshua?

"Let's sort out the story a little bit. Martha's grandfather... has a magic stone called kainyo, is that right?"

Joshua began thinking while rubbing his temple.

"Y-Yes. Unlike Joshua-sama's magic stone, it can't freeze water, but the stone emits slight warmth even during winter."

It was no doubt a hand warmer, but just how did someone store magic that could only warm your stomach in such a rare magic stone?

"...actually, there's a report from the company that Imperial Japan is rich in its magic stone veins. The Kingdom is constantly collecting magic stones to be prepared when a magician appears at any time. However, in recent years, the Kingdom's vein has been exhausted, and it eventually started to run out of magic stones. A magic stone that has stored magic once cannot be reused. At this rate, even if a magician appears, we will not be able to store barrier magic in magic stones."

Joshua ended his explanation by telling them that the barrier would disappear along with the magician's death if it weren't stored in magic stones.

It finally made sense why the King was so shocked to the point of grasping Emma without thinking.

It was magic stones that the Kingdom wanted from the diplomacy with Imperial Japan. No country would give out their precious magic tones. The Kingdom with dead veins desperately wanted magic stones.

"A-A highly precious magic stone... Why does someone like my grandfather have it?"

The more Martha understood the situation, the more confused she became.

"The fact that Martha can perceive Imperial Japanese might mean that Martha also has the blood of an Imperial Japanese person... Martha's grandfather is very likely an Imperial Japanese. Other than that, has your grandfather ever told you about something else? Something related to Imperial Japan, for example?"

Joshua let Martha sit on a chair and asked her questions after she calmed down.

Martha thought while putting the back of her hand on her lips for a while, then suddenly raised her face.

"Back then, when I lost something, my grandfather taught me a spell! He taught me to draw a symbol, a good luck charm on my things so I won't lose it!"

A good luck charm... Was there something like that?

They couldn't tell what it was because they didn't have any knowledge of Imperial Japan.

Yosui Ino** started singing in their heads, but this was because they were Japanese, and this wasn't the time to be dancing.

(T/N: A reference to Yosui Inoue's song 'Yume no Naka e' The lyrics contain something about stop searching for that something and just dance it away)

There is always paper and pen ready in Emma's room for the dress and embroidery designs. They placed it in front of Martha and asked,

"Martha, do you remember that lucky charm symbol? Can you draw it?"

"Well, I used to draw it on each of my belongings when I was little, so..."

After saying that, Martha slowly held the pen and drew the symbol carefully.

There, "Ono Maasa" was written.

_____________________________

Author's words: Several servants from Palace also followed the Stuart family to the royal capital. One of them is Martha, a precious existence that can scold Emma and is thus asked by Melsa to come.

_____________________________

Translator’s note:

マーサ = Martha (in katakana, which is used for foreign names. The actual Japanese reading is Maasa)

小野真麻 = Ono Maasa (in kanji, how Japanese names are usually written: 2 first characters are surname, 2 last characters are given name)