Volume 10 - Chapter 8 – Gloria Ohlstat (1/2)
10-08 Gloria Ohlstat
Is she training, Jin thought as the woman with short light brown hair ran towards their group from the other end of the street.
She was in an outfit that looked like it was easy to move in.
She had grey pants. They looked comfortable and very easy to move in indeed. Her top was a white T-shirt with sleeves tailored similarly to raglan sleeves. She was wearing short boots.
Just by looking at the color and lustre of the clothes one could see that they were made out of good cloth. The leather of the boots also seemed to be high grade judging from its flexibility.
Once the woman got closer Jin saw that she looked to be in her early 20s. She was tall, slender, and gave the impression of having a toned body without being slim.
Once the woman saw Jin’s group she slightly slowed down her running pace.
“Excuse me, could I ask you something?”
Jin called out to the woman.
“What is it?”
She replied and stopped.
“Might you know where the Fahlheit house is?”
“Hmm, the Fahlheit house you say. Yeah, I know. Turn right at the corner over there, it’s the second house you’ll see.”
The woman told Jin, who bowed his head and thanked her.
“Thank you very much.”
The woman then waved her hand as if it was no problem and,
“What, it was nothing. Incidentally, it seems you’re an Honorary Magi Craftsman of Egelia Kingdom?”
After seeing the half coat Jin was wearing the woman asked to confirm.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Hmm, I don’t know what business you’ve got with the Fahlheit house but the head of the family Nicholas and his daughter Lithia are both away, you know? Only they lady and her maids should be around.”
This was because both Nicholas and Lithia were still at Tetrada. Oh right, Jin thought but didn’t say it aloud.
His primary objective wasn’t to meet with Lithia but to return the sword after all.
“Is that so, then that’ll have to do.”
Jin said. The woman seemed to be pondering something and then asked,
“Could you perhaps be the Magi Craftsman who repaired Lithia’s sword?”
“Eh, um, yes, I believe so.”
Far from just believing so, he had the sword in question with him.
“Ah, I see! My name is Gloria Ohlstat. Right now I’m the vice-captain of the women’s Imperial Guard troops among other things.”
“Oh, I… My name’s Jin.”
Jin also gave his real name. Since he had been recognized as an Honorary Magi Craftsman it seemed like if he tried to poorly deceive her it would spell future trouble.
“Jin-dono, huh. No need to be so humble since you’re from another country and all, just call me Gloria.”
“Thank you very much, Gloria. These girls are my sisters. And she is an acquaintance of mine from here, Virgo. And this is Reiko.”
“Virgo.”
“I’m Hannah!”
“Elsa.”
“Reiko.”
Virgo greeted her normally, and Hannah energetically. Elsa pinched her skirt lightly and did a so-called curtsy. Seeing Elsa’s greeting, Gloria looked a bit impressed.
“Huh, you sure know your manners, Elsa-dono. It’s as if you were a noble’s daughter.”
It was just natural with her originally being a viscount’s daughter, but Elsa still blushed a little when praised. Finally, Reiko’s greeting was with a small nod of the head.
“Jin-dono, what is it that you came to this country for, I wonder? Since Celuroa Kingdom is between our country and Egelia Kingdom traveling surely isn’t easy? Not to mention right now in these times of war.”
The battle with the Unifiers was on the 23rd, and the Unifiers became Nostalgia on the 24th. And today was 27th. It seemed like enough information hadn’t arrived here yet.
“Well, to broaden my horizons, should I say?”
Jin gave a noncommittal answer. Gloria seemed to more or less realize it,
“Hmm, oh well. I don’t know what business you have with the Fahlheit house, but once that’s over with, I wonder if you could pay me a visit? My house is over there.”
She said and pointed at a largish house behind Jin.
“I’m off duty today, you see. Just now I returned from my habitual morning training. So could you please come visit after I’ve finished dressing myself, let’s say at around eight o’clock?”
Right now the time was probably around half past seven. No matter how Jin looked at it there wasn’t a lot of time until eight o’clock. Maybe the thought was apparent from his expression as,
“Haha, a knight doesn’t spend time on eating or dressing. Twenty minutes is enough to do anything necessary. So, I’ll be waiting.”
Gloria said, then without even waiting for Jin’s reply opened the door to her house and disappeared inside it.
“Sigh, she’s a little pushy, isn’t she. Virgo, do you know her?”
Jin let out a sigh and asked with a strained smile.
“Just the name. Just like she said, she is the vice-captain of the women’s Imperial Guard troops. She’s from a Baron’s house, and of course is a Ritter.”
Since knighthood was a social status rather than a title, it was enough to call her a knight from a Baron’s house.
“As she’s rather strong, I’ve heard she also serves as the instructor for the female knights.”
“Ah, that’s why she knows Lithia, huh.”
Jin’s guess was on point.
“Well then, shall we first get the errand done with?”
Jin said began to walk towards the house that was pointed to them. Hannah and the others followed.
“Reiko, could it be that you and Laojun too knew that Lithia hadn’t returned yet?”
While walking, Jin spoke about what he was thinking of. Reiko nodded.
“Yes. However, since we thought that if Father were to hand the sword over to Lithia-san directly she’d wonder why you had the sword she had lost at Tetrada, so me and Laojun decided to stay quiet.”
Indeed, Jin thought after hearing that. It would be very bad if the connection between Jin and Machina was known.
Knowing that Reiko and Laojun had stayed silent for Jin’s sake, he reflected on his own thoughtlessness..
Simultaneously he felt happy knowing that instead of blindly obeying him Reiko and Laojin judged on their own what was the best when working for him.
Well, had he been told beforehand he probably would’ve obeyed them, Jin thought, but didn’t say a word since him not doing that wasn’t completely unthinkable.
The second house around the corner. Indeed, the gates had ‘Fahlheit’ carved on them with small letters.
“This is it.”
After verifying the house Jin handed the sword over to Virgo.