Luke, who had come down to the kitchen, immediately began to prepare tea and snacks.
Luke’s movements were busy but, at the same time, experienced.
The preparations for the tea party had been influenced by Renie, who had a long-standing noble life and a fondness for snacks, making him quite adept at it.
In this opportunity, he planned to present the tea he made 100% to Shirud and Helena and casually bring up the idea of commercialization, so he absolutely couldn’t prepare carelessly.
Although the high-end teacup set had been completely broken due to the previous fight between Liv and Pyris, he poured the tea into regular cups and teapots, so the tea was not perfect, but still, Luke did his best.
However, Py was not the type to stay still in such a situation.
“Luke, this is unfair!”
As expected, with the approaching blue figure beside Luke, he sighed.
“Py, there’s nothing for you, so go back.”
Luke waved his hand as if to shoo away a fly, and Py, in spirit form, expressed her sorrow openly, speaking as if about to cry.
“This is unfair! Why am I the only one not having tea and snacks?”
Py’s usual cheerful demeanor was nowhere to be seen, and instead, she looked dejected and sad.
Luke, despite her pitiful gaze, responded even more firmly.
“Even if you look at me like that, it won’t help. This is all there is to it.”
This was because, on the very day they bought the snacks, Pyris had eaten her entire portion.
Clearly, Luke had told her, “You need to leave some for the children when they come tomorrow,” but she had ignored him.
Thus, he had hidden any leftover snacks well out of sight, fearing that the gluttonous Py would eat them all, but Py had managed to find and finish off everything.
Therefore, the remaining snacks were just enough to fill one plate.
If Luke hadn’t thought to hide them in various places, it was certain that there would be none of these few snacks left.
“Now, stop bothering me and go play by yourself. Didn’t you have Meruru waiting for you in your room?”
“But it’s no fun alone.”
“There’s nothing I can do. Go play by yourself for a bit.”
“Ugh….”
With Luke’s continued dismissal, Py wobbled helplessly and flew up the stairs.
Even though Meruru’s illusion would be playing as Luke had set it up in her room, she still couldn’t muster any energy.
After all, there would be no one to enjoy Meruru with, and there were no snacks or tea to eat or drink.
Feeling very lonely, she found it hard to enter her room.
She felt pitiful for having become a cold dish to Luke.
Py glanced at the door across from her room, the door to Luke’s room.
“Do you really not like me?”
“Actually, I like dolls…”
“Hahaha! Really?”
Hearing such cheerful conversations spilling out from behind Luke’s room made Py feel even more forlorn about her own room.
Py hesitated between her dull, gray room and Luke’s room, which radiated a hint of pink.
Her dilemma was brief.
Unable to hold back any longer, Py flew straight toward the door to Luke’s room.
And…
Bang!
“Ouch!”
She bounced right off the door.
Py was stunned.
An object she couldn’t pass through?
This meant that Luke’s room was protected by a powerful barrier spell.
“Magic!?”
Py couldn’t believe it.
It felt as if she had been rejected by Luke.
To compare this feeling, it was like a child who suddenly could no longer sleep with their mother.
Py rubbed her body against the door and cried out.
“This is unfair! Let me in right now!”
It wasn’t a request or a plea.
Just a scream.
Py didn’t expect anyone inside to hear her voice and open the door.
But the response inside was slightly different from Py’s expectations.
“Hey. Shirud, stop teasing me!”
“Huh? What did I do? I didn’t say anything!”
“Didn’t you just sing a song teasing me about liking dolls?”
“Me? I didn’t say anything.”
“…Really?”
Py’s eyes (though in spirit form, she didn’t really have eyes) widened, and she shouted.
“You can hear my voice! That’s amazing!”
In this era, there were very few people who could hear a spirit’s voice.
Aside from Luke, others did not possess such sensitivity.
However, it was certain that the child beyond this door could hear her voice!
Excited, Py immediately began to pry into Luke’s ‘barrier spell’ using her body.
She wanted to see the one who could become a great spirit mage as soon as possible.
But…
Bang!
“Ugh!”
Due to another repelling force, Py staggered and flew back.
That repelling force came from the auxiliary magic of Kate, who detected the external impact.
Kate sent a message to Py.
“Intrusion detected, Py. You are denied access to this space.”
“Why! Just let me in this once!”
“Master’s orders take precedence. This object cannot accommodate your request.”
“This is unfair, unfair, unfair!”
Py shook her body up and down in a rage at Kate’s words.
Receiving only information devoid of any emotion typical of a golem, Pyris felt it was insulting.
“There’s nothing I can do. If you’re unhappy, ask Master.”
“…..”
That was a statement knowing very well that Luke would not grant permission.
Py, feeling frustrated, soon thought of a certain trick.
“Ah!”
Luke’s house was currently operated by the power of the forest.
Even though she, as a spirit, couldn’t touch the mana processed by a mage’s will, unrefined natural mana was as much in her grasp.
So then…
“If I cut off the mana, I can break through the barrier spell on this door!”
It was a very creative idea.
Py was quite satisfied with the thought she had just come up with.
——–
At that moment, Luke was preparing the tea party.
“Hmmm, good.”
Luke smiled at the spread of his snacks on the tray.
On the tray, the sweet aroma of the tea leaves with a bit of sugar and the sweet scent of the snacks pleasantly stimulated his nose, and warm steam was gently rising from the teapot.
He could confidently say that just the aroma alone could serve as a successful product appeal.
Although there was a slight delay because Py flew in and was a bit bothersome, it wouldn’t have been a long wait after all.
The children would have been talking and building intimacy among themselves.
“Now, all that’s left is to wrap it up nicely and serve.”
Just as Luke was about to lift the tray and move…
Thud.
Suddenly, the mansion’s lights went out completely.
“Ahhh!”
And then came Helena’s terrified scream from above, followed by a loud crash.
“What is happening…?”
In the puzzling moment when all the lights in the mansion suddenly went out, Luke hurriedly looked around to assess the situation.
“The mana from the forest that was being supplied just vanished…?”
The reason for the sudden outage of the mansion’s mana was that the forest’s mana supply had suddenly been cut off.
In such cases, the mansion typically compensates with power supplied from the power plant, so there shouldn’t be a problem…
“The mana required for the enchantments can’t possibly be accommodated by the power plant’s mana.”
Luke’s enchantments could not be sustained solely by the supply from the power plant.
If Yerna had installed a “circuit breaker” after experiencing the massive mana surge of three million gil in the past, it would be even more so.
“What on earth is happening?”
For now, he needed to step outside and calmly understand the situation…
“This is what? What is going on!!”
Before doing that, he felt the need to calm the panicking children.
“Wait a moment, my phone….”
Luke reflexively patted his pockets.
But nothing was found.
“Ah.”
Luke then remembered that he had left his cell phone in his room.
He hadn’t taken it with him because he thought the tea preparation wouldn’t take long.
“Hmm, should I go back up?”
But he didn’t want to.
The tea was not yet fully prepared, and even if he went up to convey the message, he would have to come down again to restore the mana.
That was a really bothersome waste of movement for Luke.
Not efficient, nor elegant.
“……”
So Luke thought of one way.
Isn’t it the short-range telepathy that is used at a time like this?
He could simply convey the situation through telepathy.
Luke immediately began to rotate his circle to send a message to the children but suddenly stopped his action.
“Wait a minute… The children probably aren’t too familiar with telepathy shot directly into their brains…?”
Children of this era were all accustomed to telepathy via their phones, but not to the kind that shot information directly into their heads.
Thus, telepathy shot directly into the minds of Shirud or Helena could be dangerous.
In such a situation, it could potentially only exacerbate the confusion.
And in fact, this method had already been significantly restricted due to Luke himself.
After the vulnerability had been revealed that telepathy could be exploited to connect or manipulate someone’s dreams from a distance, counter-spells for that magic had sprung up, and one notable fact was that research had shown that such telepathy was not good for value formation in children under the age of 18, leading to higher levels of prohibition on direct communication telepathy in modern laws protecting children.
In truth, Luke couldn’t know all this.
“……Telepathy must be sent through the cellphone.”
So, Luke decided to use a medium.
——–
A little while later.
He had drawn in the flow of mana from the forest again, so the lights would be back on shortly, and the preparation for the snacks was finally complete.
Taking a deep breath, Luke smiled contently.
Now, all that was left was to take it upstairs to the children.
Due to the brief incident, the children had been waiting for far too long.
They might still be feeling uneasy due to the sudden mana cut-off.
Thus, the snacks, which could help to stabilize their minds, would be even more important.
Luke quickly ascended the stairs and threw open the door to his room.
Bang.
“Shirud, Helena. The mana will be restored soon. In the meantime, I brought something to eat and drink…”
“Ahhh!”
“Ughhh!”
As soon as Luke opened the door, the two children screamed in shock, hugging each other tightly.
“Oops, did I open the door a bit too suddenly…?”
Luke reflected.
He had come in quickly because he was worried the children might be anxious…
Should he have knocked and given them a heads up before opening the door?
By the way, it seemed that they had already become this close in such a short time.
“Sorry, I didn’t have the best timing. To think you became so affectionate in such a short time…”
At Luke’s apology, the two children shouted back angrily.
“Not like that!!”
“Don’t say weird things!!”
