Risou no Himo Seikatsu Vol 3 Chapter 4

Chapter 04: Zenjirou’s Daily Life

In the Capital.

He sat collected on the chair for the Prince Consort next to the throne while dressed up nobles came to in front of him one after another, bowing their heads.

This year again, my humble self will be at your service together with my wife in the mansion of the Pantoja Family in the Capital. I retain my enduring loyalty to the Kingdom and the Royal Family unchanged.”

When Zenjirou said that and nodded, the middle-aged man in front of him— Baron Thomas Pantoja deeply lowered his head once more, then slowly stepped back.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Zenjirou-sama. My name is Brass, the previous head and knight of the Bobone Family. The family has detached my old self to serve in the Capital this year again.

“Okay, Sir Brass. I will let Her Highness Aura know about your unchanged loyalty.”

Next up, a young knight stepped forward.

Everyone was practically saying the same.

A formal exchange, so to speak.

The custom had originally started from the connotation of a “hostage” to the royal family, but nowadays, there were many merits for both the royal family and the feudal lords, so it was continued without any ill will in particular.

The gathering of these influential nobles in the capital stimulated its economy greatly. And the richer the economy, the more common people congregated in the capital from the countryside.

Each noble family had its own ulterior motives when they detached a representative of their families to the capital. Once every year, that person then announced its delegation to the Queen and got permission to stay in the capital.

(The usual substitutions involve all kind of troublesome formalities and regulations, but otherwise it’s just simple greetings. Better let me handle these things than to bother Aura with it.)

Right now, Aura ought to have a difficult conference with the emissary from the Twin Kingdom of Sharrow and Jilbell in a different room of the royal palace.

Of course he wasn’t making an unaccompanied appearance at important events, which could be interpreted as a “shift of power” from the Queen to the Prince Consort, neither was he taking care of matters that required complicated decisions.

It were hardly worthwhile jobs, but doing them “helped” Aura, which was more than enough for him.

The middle-aged nobleman that had just kneeled in front of Zenjirou, was of that kind.

The countryside has nothing to offer when faced with the capital, but you cannot help but miss it during this season.”

But the nobleman didn’t notice the petty change in him and rattled on.

Upon his words, Zenjirou tensed up his expression and narrowed his eyes to slits a bit.

At the present time, Aura and Zenjirou were the only royalty in the Carpa Kingdom, not including their baby Carlos Zenkichi. If Zenjirou, as one of the two royalty, left the capital for a “summer resort”, then Aura, as the Queen, would naturally have to remain in the capital, since it was the hub for politics.

(Aw, I guess he also thinks that I’m discontent with my current standing?)

In consideration of the patriarchal values in this country, his position could certainly only be seen as insufficient.

(Well, be it out of good-will or out of ill-will, there’ll never be an end to people, who suggest things like this. But it’s annoying how I can’t just ignore them.)

“Oho, that sounds appealing. I certainly would like to pay a visit with my wife when Zenkichi has come of age.

These playfulish words probably translated to something like this: “I’ve not the slightest intention to separate from Aura right now.”

The true meaning must have been conveyed to him.

“Good. I will keep it in mind.”
Zenjirou answered, pretending not to have noticed the change in the noble of middle age at all.

The work in the royal palace lasted as long as the sun was out in order to regain a bit of the time that was lost during the nearly three hour break at noon during the hot season.

Guided by a waiting maid with a metal lantern for light, he made it back to the living room in the inner palace, where he curtly thanked the maid and opened the door by himself.

The first thing he did in the already dim living room was to switch on the LED floor lamps.

Zenjirou slowly took of his clothes in the now illuminated living room.

All of them were made out of fabrics with a high air permeability, as it was customary for a southern country, but the formal dress was still hot, since it was a tight fit.

“I can’t. The ice won’t be enough for the night when I take it out now.”

Instead, he took out the silver jug from the refrigerator and poured its contents into a glass, emptying it in one gulp.

His whole body started to sweat, pretty much like immediately oozing out the fluid he had just taken in.

Tempted like that, he unconsciously directed his gaze at the shelf with the bathing goods and then remembered something.

A few days ago, he had started to try his hand at making soap from lye and vegetable oil, but his effort was hardly paying off for now.

Did the problem lie with the lye? Or the oil? Or maybe his performance? He just didn’t know. For the time being, it definitely meant a lot of trial-and-error.

There was no end to his troubles.

Leaching ashes was a way older technique. The making of soap became so much easier by using caustic soda when available.

Zenjirou knew of two methods to make caustic soda.

Therefore, he was considering the second one right now.

So it required “calcium hydroxide” and “sodium carbonate” at the beginning.

As for the other compound: The sodium carbonate could be obtained by heating up sodium bicarbonate aka “baking soda”.

Speaking of “shells” and “natural baking soda”, these two happened to be relevant to the glass manufacture as well, so Aura already held a certain amount of them available in the royal palace for it.

However, making “caustic soda” from “shells” and “natural baking soda” naturally involved various working steps.

Even when thinking positive, he ought to be prepared that it took a couple of months to clear each step.

Moreover, the substance was difficult to handle because it could change by reacting with the carbon dioxide in the air or liquefy through absorbing water vapour.

“Okay, I’ll continue with the current method for a bit longer. Its more or less emulsifying now anyway. Guess I’ll make a diagram with the lye and oil percentage on the x- and y-axe, respectively, and track its tendency.”

“First I’ve to prepare various types of ashes to make lye. A couple of different vegetable oils are a must, too. Maybe I even ought to blend them? No, I’ve to gauge the general tendency first.

In the end, he sat in front of his computer like that and immersed himself in drawing up a plan for the future course of action until Aura came back.

Night-time after the sun had set.

“Ehm, then it’s pretty much set in stone that the Prince and Princess of the Twin Kingdom will pay us a visit?”

Aura, clad in a thin casual wear in red, nodded to his question while retaining the wrinkle between her eyebrows.

His wife talked about the upcoming trouble in a matter-of-fact tone, whereat Zenjirou made no pretence of his annoyance and sighed.

In reaction to his question, Aura re-crossed her legs on top of the couch while shaking her head.

However, it is not so easy for us, because we will accommodate foreign royalty in our palace for a long period of time. I have to assign a special budget and people for the preparation.

With so much people, goods and money involved, keen people will notice the truth, no matter how careful we are.”

Zenjirou was convinced by that. Even if they kept the matter itself a secret, it was nearly impossible to hide the flow of money or goods from the eyes of nobility.

Even if he was frowning, her husband was still somewhat treating it as someone else’s problem, so the Queen said with a cautionary tone.

“Ugh…”

He must have imagined how the nobles would come probing for the truth of the matter with all kind of means.

A long sigh escaped his mouth.

Anyway, it would be a shame to spend their time alone with just a gloomy topic.

“Reminds me, you have the day off tomorrow for a change, right? Do you have any plans?”

“Th- Thanks. Yeah, since I’ll have the time, I want to try out my soap. Some of the soap I made yesterday turned out really good, so I want to test it for pleasantness with the help of the maids.”

But even that “finished product” would never be finished in its actual meaning as long as he didn’t test it for comfortableness.

Zenjirou was a bit reluctant to actually use it on the delicate skin of women, but there was nothing he could do about it by himself.

Unless a lot of people tried it out, he couldn’t guarantee its safe application.

Ever since she had married Zenjirou, Aura was always using the body soap, facial soap, shampoo and rinse from Japan. She nodded convinced.

Although it does get rid of the dirt when you wash your hair with body soap, it will make the hair rough, hurting it instead.

To be honest, there was no hope to achieve it before the stock of shampoo was used up.

Zenjirou tried to lift his blue Kiriko glass from the table like always, but it slipped through his fingers.

It was already too late by the time he exclaimed.

The blue flinders in all sizes and the melting ice scattered over the well-polished table, whereas the fruit juice dripped from the table down onto the carpet.

“Argh, now I’ve done it!”

It was a rather harsh setback to him. On Earth, he could just buy the glass anew, but in this world it was an irreplaceable item he would never get his hands on again.

Nevertheless, he had no one else to blame but himself for breaking it out of carelessness.

Saying that, Zenjirou reached out for the bell on the table. At that moment.

Aura was half-rising from the opposite couch and mumbling to herself on the quiet, then stopped Zenjirou.

“Aura?”

Whether she noticed her husband’s scruple or not, Aura stood up straight and went towards the scattered glass flinders on top of the table, holding out the palm of her right hand with its five fingers spread.

Never ever use it in front of people. That naturally includes leading personalities in our country like General Puyol or Marquis Guzzle, but it also applies to my loyal retainers such as Fabio and Espaldion.

With the palm of her hand still directed at the broken glass, she firmly looked Zenjirou, who was looking up to her from the couch, in the eyes and said with a strict tone.

From her tone, Zenjirou realized that it was no time to joke around, so he obediently consented.

Aura nodded short as the reaction of her husband was to her satisfaction, and vitalized the light of magical power slowly rising from her entire body, chanting a spell.

It had a dramatic effect.

“Uwah!? …Eh!?”

With his eyes widened in surprise, he muttered to himself.

Just looking at the result made it seem like a magic to repair things, but taking Aura’s earlier chant into consideration, it obviously was something different.

“Indeed. The nature of the ‘bloodline magic’ from the Carpa Family is far too different for that. It is the hidden magic of my family: ‘Time Reversal’.”

Zenjirou was overwhelmed by the phenomenon that had occurred in front of his eyes, and he muttered that.

Might as well call it “fascination”.

Even at the time Lady Octavia had shown him the “water sphere” spell, he hadn’t been this fascinated.

Aura must have noticed the change in her husband.

“I am sorry to spoil your fun, but this magic is actually not as impressive as it looks.”

Zenjirou averted his gaze from the repaired glass and looked at Aura sitting across of him again as he asked back.

“First off, ‘Time Reversal’ can only be applied to ‘things without magical power’, so it is almost impossible to use it on living beings. The only exceptions are lower life forms without magical power such as insects or small fishes.

‘Time Reversal’ consumes an enormous amount of magical power, so surprisingly few objects legitimize the application by a direct descendant of the royal family.”

It was clearly evident that “something, neither a living being, nor a magic tool” with a value high enough that it warranted a repair through the hidden magic of the royal family, would not be all that common, considering the values of this world.

If she had to name the most useful application, it would be how she secretly repaired the pipe of her father, the previous king, when she had broken it by accident. It was hardly anything important.

It is extremely unprofitable.

Therefore, the existence of this magic has to remain an absolute secret. Do you understand that, Zenjirou?”

With the glint of exaltation remaining in his eyes, he looked Aura, sitting across of him, into the eyes and asked with a slightly shaking voice.

“W- Well, yeah.”

In his thrilled state, Zenjirou didn’t notice his wife’s strange behaviour and showed a bright smile. Then he rushed into the corner of the room.

Saying so, he pointed at an electronic appliances: The “air conditioning” that hadn’t been put to use since he brought it over from Japan.

Aura inclined her head puzzled as she still didn’t know what Zenjirou was getting at, but answered his question truthfully nevertheless.

When I save my magical power for one day and have nothing scheduled for the next day, then it is feasible by night of said day.”

However, as the Queen of the Carpa Kingdom, she was the only person that could use the “Teleport” magic, which was a trump card for emergencies.

Her answer was attached to conditions, but it seemed to satisfy Zenjirou regardless.

“Yes, yes, yes! I can finally start to assemble the ‘air conditioning’!”

His sentence was accompanied by a gush of emotions.

However, a broken air condition was no longer “beyond repair” with the “Time Reversal” magic.

Even when he didn’t succeed on the first try, he had as much attempts as necessary. There was nothing to be afraid of, knowing this.

Saying so, Zenjirou drew closer to her with the same smile as a “man begging his wife for some urgent spending money”.

Chapter end