Chapter 4

“Put up a notice. We’re recruiting a healer.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Conrad was puzzled by Cain’s sudden command, but he answered immediately. His master had always had a tendency to be difficult to read.

“And…”

Uncharacteristically, Cain paused as though he were contemplating something. Then, at last—

“If a pink-haired woman visits the ducal residence, report it to me.”

“Yes, understood. Are there any other distinguishing features?”

“Hmm. Her hair is fluffy…”

Fluffy?

The strangely cute word coming from Cain’s mouth made Conrad briefly wonder if he had heard correctly.

But Cain himself had no time to care about whatever irreverent thoughts his aide might be having.

His mind felt strangely stuffy. Whenever he tried to recall the woman’s face, something kept coming to mind, only to slip away.

A squirrel?

It was somewhat similar, but… no. It was something softer and fluffier than that.

“A squirrel?”

“Pardon?”

Hmm.

Cain hummed in satisfaction. At last, he had figured out the source of the strange sense of familiarity he had felt earlier.

Her soft, slightly curly hair looked just like the fluffy fur on a squirrel’s tail.

And the way she looks…

He remembered how she had stared at him with wide eyes and scolded him as though he were a child, without even knowing who he was.

The more I think about it, the more ridiculous that woman is.

The corner of his mouth unconsciously lifted.

“She looks like a squirrel.”

One completely devoid of fear.

“Pardon?”

What? What did he just say? A squirrel?

Conrad looked utterly bewildered.

He tried to imagine a squirrel with pink fur, but that only left him even more confused.

Cain, however, offered no further explanation. He simply continued on his way.

It was exactly the sort of behavior one would expect from the indifferent dragon-blooded duke.

The next day.

“Huh? So he really meant it?”

I rubbed my eyes as I stared at the notice posted on the wall covered in ivy.

[The Ashelln Ducal Residence is recruiting a skilled healer to work at the estate.]

It definitely hadn’t been there yesterday. A brand-new notice had appeared overnight, exactly as the man had predicted.

If I meet the qualifications, there’s no reason not to apply, right?

I was carefully reading through the notice when Catherine, standing beside me, gaped at it in astonishment.

“Huh? What? The ducal family is actually hiring someone? I’ve lived here for ten years, and I’ve never seen a notice like this before.”

Catherine was a friend I had made while living in the village. Heyron Village was her hometown, and she occasionally came back to visit her mother. Since we were around the same age, we had naturally become close.

“Wow, they don’t even require a letter of recommendation? They must be in a real hurry to hire someone.”

“Right? Maybe someone suddenly quit?”

Even I thought it was strange.

Noble houses were notoriously closed-off. Even when hiring maids, they usually went through thorough identity verification and personal recommendations.

Yet they were recruiting a healer like this?

It was quite an unconventional approach.

Maybe I can apply after all…

The Empire had something called a healer certification examination.

It was a test that evaluated one’s basic healing techniques and ability to prepare medicines.

After passing it, one could choose to become a physician who primarily treated people, or, like me, become an apothecary and study medicine more extensively.

Most people choose to become physicians, but I’m still technically a healer too.

I was lost in thought when Catherine suddenly clapped her hands.

She then looked at me with eyes full of expectation.

“Either way, this is great! You’re going to apply, right? You said you came here looking for a job.”

“I am going to apply, but don’t get your hopes up too much. Honestly, I probably won’t get it.”

It was a position as the personal healer of a duke’s household.

Realistically, someone like me, whose experience wasn’t particularly extensive, would have a hard time getting the position.

But I wasn’t discouraged.

It doesn’t matter!

My real goal in the first place wasn’t getting a job. It was getting an opportunity to meet Cain.

Even if I applied and got rejected, I had nothing to lose.

Catherine, however, seemed to misunderstand my reaction and patted me firmly on the back.

“Hey, with your skills, you’ll obviously get it! Don’t you remember? You completely cured my mother’s chronic illness last year!”

“That wasn’t even a serious illness to begin with. Anyone could have done it, even without me.”

Catherine shook her head from side to side.

“Haah… This is why geniuses are impossible. Even their modesty is a sin.”

Melody, who had been quietly listening, began shaking her head along with Catherine for no apparent reason.

“Melody, you agree with Auntie, don’t you? Your mommy is amazing, right?”

“Woo!”

Melody proudly puffed out her little chest, looking pleased as though she herself had just been praised.

Pfft.

These two really get along.

I couldn’t help bursting into laughter, prompting Catherine to give me a stern look and push me forward by the back.

“This isn’t the time to laugh. I’ll look after Melody, so hurry up and go apply.”

“Huh? Right now?”

“Good jobs always attract a crowd. Don’t underestimate unemployment in the city.”

“Woo!”

You don’t even know what unemployment is, you little kid.

Even so, Melody nodded as if she agreed wholeheartedly.

And so, a short while later…

I grabbed only the necessary documents and headed straight for the ducal residence.

But now that I think about it, the timing really is incredible.

The Ashelln Ducal Family had never particularly needed apothecaries or personal physicians.

As dragon-blooded people, their regenerative and healing abilities were on an entirely different level from those of ordinary humans.

Of course, that didn’t mean they were invincible.

If anything, there are certain peculiar illnesses that only they can suffer from.

But those weren’t exactly things that could be completely solved through medicine or pharmacology anyway.

So I had never imagined that they would put up a notice recruiting a personal healer.

I’ve really been lucky in so many ways.

It was all thanks to that man warning me beforehand. Somehow, he had ended up helping me quite a lot.

If I happen to meet him again, I should at least thank him.

…Come to think of it, who was he?

If he were merely an ordinary monster hunter, there was no way he would know the internal affairs of the ducal residence.

Hmm. Then was he perhaps a knight?

The Silver Dragon Knights of the ducal family were famous for exterminating monsters not only around Winterbald but throughout the Empire.

If he was one of their members, everything would make sense.

But just as I was trying to picture the man in my mind—

“Huh?”

A strange sense of dissonance came over me.

Why?

I couldn’t remember his face at all.

He had definitely had an extremely striking appearance, hadn’t he?

Yet his features, which I had seen up close, were now blurred as though I were looking at them through fog.

I couldn’t even remember his voice.

It was almost as if I had been placed under some kind of spell.

“Maybe I’m just nervous.”

No, that wasn’t quite it.

Something felt strange.

Could it be…?

I was imagining other possibilities when I realized that I must have unconsciously quickened my pace.

I had already reached my destination.

“Wow…”

An exclamation escaped me before I could stop it.

The structure towering before me looked less like a mansion and more like a gigantic fortress.

No wonder everyone calls them the Ashellns.

I had heard that if all the documents detailing their vast wealth were bound together, they would fill an entire library rather than merely an encyclopedia.

The old-fashioned, magnificent exterior was beautiful, but at the same time, it radiated an almost suffocating sense of authority.

The intimidating guards standing watch over the tall iron gates made my shoulders instinctively hunch.

But I can’t turn back after coming all this way.

I hadn’t done anything wrong.

I’ll just walk in proudly!

I clenched both fists and headed toward the main gate.

However, the moment I came face-to-face with the guards standing rigidly at the entrance, all the confidence I had just gathered disappeared.

“A-ah, hello…! I, um, I’m here to apply for the healer position…”

As expected of the people guarding the mighty Ashelln Ducal Family, their gazes were intimidating.

I hadn’t even done anything, yet I suddenly felt as though I were guilty of some crime, so I nervously glanced around.

The other applicant standing beside me seemed to feel the same way.

Soon, the two guards began whispering to each other with grim expressions.

“She seems to be the one, right?”

“Definitely.”

W-what?

Did I do something wrong?

I haven’t caused any trouble yet…!

I was becoming even more nervous under the tense atmosphere when—

“Would you please wait here for a moment? I’ll call someone to escort you inside.”

“Oh, yes! Thank you.”

Contrary to my worries, the guard responded politely.

I nodded in relief, and the guard went through the iron gate. Shortly afterward, he grabbed one of the servants.

“Go tell Sir Conrad immediately. The squirrel… Ah, yes. Tell him Miss Squirrel has arrived.”

“Pardon? Squirrel?”

“Just do it! Hurry! It’s His Grace’s order!”

People were hurriedly moving about beyond the bars and saying something to one another, but they were too far away for me to hear.

Besides, I was too nervous to hear much of anything anyway.

Hoo… Haa…

I hurriedly took several deep breaths.

While I was doing so, the guard returned with a neatly dressed servant.

The servant immediately led me inside.

After walking for quite some time through a long, high-ceilinged corridor, we finally arrived at what appeared to be a reception room.

“The interviewer will be here shortly, so please make yourself comfortable.”

“Yes, thank you.”

The inside of the reception room was even more lavish than the exterior, but I barely noticed it.

My nerves were getting worse by the second.

I really have to do well from here on out… Who’s going to come?

If possible, I hoped someone close to the duke would come.

That would make it easier to ask them to let me meet His Grace.

Don’t stammer because I’m nervous. Make sure to greet them brightly. What else should I keep in mind…?

I was diligently running through an imaginary interview simulation in my head, fidgeting with my fingers as I waited.

Click.

At last, the door opened.

Without realizing it, I stopped breathing.

The person who entered was someone I had never imagined would come.

Silver hair that shimmered like threads of silver.

A cool forehead revealed beneath neatly swept-back bangs.

And beneath it, eyes as red as blood.

The man’s face was beautiful, but somehow that made him even more frightening.

There was something distinctly inhuman about his appearance that sent a shiver down my spine.

His distinctive features made him instantly recognizable.

It can’t be anyone else.

Cain Ashelln.

The man who would become Melody’s father in the original story.

For some reason, one of the main characters from the original novel had personally come to see me