chapter_0066

66 – Sharen’s Time (2)

66 – Sharen’s Time (2)

Sharen’s house was still located in the middle of Cron’s village.

It was an ordinary two-story wooden house, but over time, Sharen had transformed it into a workshop filled with various magical tools and materials, even creating a brewery.

As a result, it had now been remodeled into a relatively large three-story house combined with the neighboring cottage.

After a long time, the bell rang as I arrived at Sharen’s house.

Then Sharen popped out.

Ding-dong—

“My lord, you’ve arrived!”

“Yes, I’m counting on you for today, Sharen.”

“Of course!”

Sharen was wearing a light white dress that looked like pajamas.

Seeing her in such casual clothes after having seen her in magician robes felt quite refreshing.

Magician Sharen seemed like an older sister, while casual Sharen felt more like a college classmate.

“Then let’s start the ritual right away. Please come this way, my lord.”

“Understood.”

I followed Sharen’s lead.

Sharen took me down to her workshop in the basement.

In the basement, there were books and magical tool materials that seemed to belong to Sharen, and in the center was a red magic circle.

She positioned me in the center and began to draw the magic circle with a red liquid on her left hand, which bore the tattoo of the Mystic Palace.

“To explain briefly, the Mystic Palace of Ideia is currently bound to you, my lord.”

As she drew the magic circle, Sharen began to explain.

She pointed to the tattoo of the Mystic Palace and said, “However, it is only bound to you; it is not yet fully connected to your physical body. Therefore, it keeps summoning itself against your will.”

“Will this ritual fully connect it?”

“Yes, to be precise, it forcibly connects your magical power to the Mystic Palace so that it can be summoned according to your will.”

Summarizing what I understood, it sounded like the current situation was akin to a Wi-Fi connection that was unstable, and this ritual would establish a solid communication network.

Having grasped the general principle, I trusted Sharen and waited, and once she finished drawing the magic circle, she stepped out of it and said, “Now, I will begin the ritual.”

With Sharen’s words, the magic circle in the workshop and the one on her arm began to glow red.

Wow, this is amazing. Is something going to pop out from here?

As I thought this and gazed curiously at the magic circle, Sharen, who was chanting, said, “Yes, it’s done.”

“…That was anticlimactic.”

“To be precise, the start of the ritual is complete. Now, you just need to stay within the range of the magic circle for about a day to provide magical power.”

“How far does that magic circle extend?”

“You just need to stay inside our house.”

“That’s easy to understand.”

So that’s why Sharen wanted me to stay overnight.

As I pondered what to do in Sharen’s house, she said, “It’ll be boring just waiting. How about having a drink since it’s been a while?”

“That sounds good.”

Sharen and I left the workshop and went up to the living room.

It seemed that a drinking setup had already been prepared, as if Sharen had anticipated this.

When did this get set up?

Is there a golem doing the housework?

As I thought this, Sharen came out of the storage room holding a bottle of alcohol.

“This is the fruit wine I made this time. It turned out the best.”

“Since Sharen says it’s delicious, I’m looking forward to it.”

Sharen’s brewing skills were truly top-notch.

It was tastier than most fine wines, and even Hart would ask Sharen for alcohol separately.

I waited in anticipation as Sharen poured the drink.

Once I received the drink, I clinked glasses with Sharen.

Then I took a sip.

And then…

‘This is…’

A flower garden unfolded in my mind.

With a BGM that seemed like it belonged in a cooking manga, a flower garden appeared before my eyes.

The scent of roses and rapeseed flowers mixed with the sweet taste of apples and grapes spread in my mouth, creating a truly fantastical experience.

I never imagined I would feel like I had been reincarnated in another world in a place like this.

“This is really delicious, Sharen.”

“Really! I’m glad it suits your taste, my lord.”

“What’s in it?”

“It’s my special brew made from a combination of rose fruits, rapeseed flowers, apples, grapes, and Dreyhart’s cactus fruit.”

“A one-of-a-kind drink.”

To balance so many different ingredients like that, I wanted to pay my respects to Sharen’s brewing skills.

After taking another sip, I said, “It’s so delicious that I feel grateful to be alive, Sharen.”

“Really, even with all this praise, I have nothing to offer in return.”

“Maybe the next drink will come out?”

“That’s true. You can keep praising me, my lord.”

Since Sharen brought out such delicious alcohol, I took out the snacks I had prepared.

It was bacon and steak meat made in Cron’s kitchen.

“Sharen, can I borrow the kitchen for a moment?”

“That’s fine… Are you planning to cook, my lord?”

“Yes, is there a problem?”

“No, I’m just surprised.”

Thanks to my past life’s experience, I had no aversion to cooking.

In fact, I loved making delicious dishes, so I would sneak into the kitchen to cook and have late-night snacks.

What I usually made was steak, which Lana had tasted, and she even admitted defeat when it came to steak.

I grilled the well-aged steak meat that I had instructed the chef to prepare for two weeks and brought it to the table.

Sharen cut the steak into bite-sized pieces and dipped it in Cron’s famous sea salt.

Then…

“Oh my… this is really delicious, my lord.”

“Right? It’s my masterpiece.”

It was steak meat that I had personally instructed the chef to age for two weeks.

There was no way it could taste bad.

With delicious food and good wine, the rest was a given.

Sharen and I began to drink endlessly.

As the alcohol flowed, we started talking about all sorts of things.

“Honestly, my lord, how far did you go with Noah that day?”

“What do you mean by how far?”

“Did you? Or didn’t you?”

“Pfft! Cough! Cough!”

“Our lord did it.”

“I didn’t!”

When drinking, Sharen became quite straightforward.

While being straightforward was more like Lana, it was still surprising to see Sharen like this after drinking.

“My lord, would you like to see something good?”

“Something good?”

As she said this, Sharen guided me to the third floor.

There was a spacious terrace, and the peaceful night view of Cron was visible at a glance.

“When I settled here, I thought it would be beautiful to look outside from this third floor. And my prediction was right.”

“Yeah, it does seem that way.”

Sharen and I began our second drinking session on the third-floor terrace.

This time, we enjoyed the night view while drinking wine with cheese snacks.

Feeling slightly tipsy, Sharen blushed and said, “My lord, I really love this place.”

She said this while looking at the night view of Cron.

In fact, this was also one of her drinking habits.

“I love that it’s peaceful, that everyone works together, that I’m not discriminated against, and that there’s so much hope.”

She always praised Cron whenever she drank with me.

I thought it was just her usual drinking habit.

But then…

“And I love you, my lord, for creating this place.”

This was a first for her.

Taken aback, she continued.

“I… had nowhere to belong.”

Sharen spoke quietly and sadly.

Occasionally, she would indirectly share her story.

But today, it seemed she wanted to share a bit more than usual.

“I was too sensitive to Spirits to be considered human, and too interested in the world to be considered an elf. I had no place in either the human world or the elf world.”

Sharen occasionally shared various stories from her experiences wandering between the East and West.

It was both her journey and her chronicle of the wounds she had received from the world.

“But for the first time, I felt like I belonged here. Even if it’s because of the Crimson Sorcerer’s power, I was happy that you needed me, my lord.”

“That’s not true, Sharen.”

“My lord?”

At her words, I spoke.

Honestly, I was surprised at myself for being so assertive.

“I may have started as a Crimson Sorcerer, but to me, you are a precious existence.”

“R-really?”

“Yes, really.”

Yes, Sharen is a necessary existence for us in Cron and for me.

As a reliable older sister, she supports us, and I, along with everyone else, have received a lot of help from her.

Before being a Crimson Sorcerer, Sharen’s existence has been a source of strength for us.

“Being needed doesn’t make something precious; it’s precious because it’s needed. So even if you can’t use magic, I still need you, Sharen. Don’t forget that.”

At my words, Sharen’s face turned redder than I had ever seen.

She avoided my gaze and said, “Yes… I understand, my lord. I will never forget.”

Sharen paused for a moment, as if steeling herself, and then asked me with a serious expression, “By the way, my lord, may I ask you something?”

“What are you curious about?”

Why is she asking something so serious now?

“Um… What do you think about hybrids, my lord?”

Is this what she’s curious about?

It’s an interesting concept, but in this world, hybrids don’t strictly exist.

If you’re human, you’re human; if you’re an elf, you’re an elf. There are no races like half-elves that possess traits of both.

In Sharen’s case, her red hair manifested from the human blood in her elf lineage, and she could essentially be considered an elf.

My thoughts on hybrids can be summed up in one word: cool.

“I think it’s cool.”

“Cool?”

“Yes, isn’t it great to have the advantages of both sides? I think it’s cool. If possible, I would even want my children to be hybrids.”

“I-I see.”

Thud—

At that moment, I heard a sound like something snapping.

What was that? Did a clothesline break somewhere?

“Um, my lord, there’s a way to speed up the ritual… Should I use that method?”

“If there’s such a method, I’d be happy to.”

“Got it. Then please follow me.”

At Sharen’s words, I took her hand and headed to her bedroom on the second floor.

What’s going on? Is there another magic circle here?

Just as I was thinking that, I suddenly heard the sound of the door locking.

Click—

“Um… Sharen? Why are you locking the door? And why are you taking off your clothes?”

“This is the method.”

That night, the lights in Sharen’s second floor did not go out.

And the sounds of something stirring did not cease.

It was autumn.

A word from the author (author’s note)

The protagonist is not a eunuch.

Just so you know.

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