Free Web NovelChapter 2020: Chapter 2020: Moon Bay Region and Birthday
The emotion in those emerald eyes was so sincere it felt as if it could turn into flames and burn Shard’s soul. The sudden confession stunned the Outlander for a moment. He wanted to respond to Lecia, but Her Highness the Princess covered his mouth:
"Look at your expression. Now I really have to wonder, is it you who captured the girls of the House of Cavendish, or we who captured you? All right, all right, I still have to go have dinner with Father and Mother later. Stay with me for a bit longer, then go back to Saint Delan Square. I’ll remember to send a carriage to pick you up for the Opera House at seven in the evening."
Lecia’s burning feelings were no joke. Shard nodded lightly:
"All right, so where are we going this time? The Draleon Royal Opera House, the Tobesk Grand Opera House, or Queen Maria’s Opera House?"
As he spoke, he put his arm around Lecia and sat up. Although she still wanted to lie down a while longer, she remembered they still had time in the evening, so she let him help her up as well:
"The Draleon Royal Opera House. There’s a good piece on tonight... What are you looking at?"
She noticed Shard’s gaze pass over her shoulder to behind her, and turned her head to see him looking at the map hanging on the study wall.
It was a huge world map, covering the Old Continent, the New World and the Ocean regions. The scale was extraordinarily precise, with landmarks and cities all listed one by one. It even had some troop-deployment information; you could only find such a map in Yordle Palace or the army.
"I noticed you marked out the Moon Bay Region, and even wrote in a date for next month. What does that mean? Oh, if it’s nothing major, you don’t have to answer."
Shard respected the girls’ privacy, so he had only asked casually.
As for the Moon Bay Region, like Coldwater Port City, it was located on the West Coast of the Old Continent. The difference was that Coldwater Port lay in the northern Old Continent and was Draleon territory, while the Moon Bay Region was in the central Old Continent and belonged to the Kingdom of Carsonrick.
The "Moon Bay Region" was quite special. It was itself an excellent north–south-facing seaport. Before the New World was discovered, before the order of the entire Old Continent had been set, it was already a wealthy West Coast region of the Old Continent renowned across the Old Continent. A city led by great merchants and nobles, during the period when Carsonrick and Draleon were still fighting the Old Continent War, it was even an independent area. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
But later, the War between Draleon and Carsonrick ultimately spread to Moon Bay, and in the end Carsonrick, at the price of allowing the Moon Bay Region to retain extremely high autonomy, persuaded the nobles of Moon Bay to agree to become part of Carsonrick.
Thus, even now, the Moon Bay Region, with "Moon Bay City" as its core, although nominally belonging to the United Kingdom of Carsonrick, was quite different from most of the Kingdom of Carsonrick. It did not belong to any county; it was one of the few "Special Administrative Regions" of the United Kingdom.
A few years ago, there was even news that Moon Bay would become independent as a Duchy, but later the matter just fizzled out... because the United Kingdom of Carsonrick’s Ace Agent Grey Hawk assassinated a local Grand Noble with separatist leanings. This incident remained a taboo that no one in today’s Moon Bay Region dared mention lightly. The reason the Outlander knew so much about the "Moon Bay Region" was that among the landscape photos Detective Sparrow Hamilton had left in the attic of his house, many were of Moon Bay scenery.
The Moon Bay Region was so named because its shape resembled a crescent moon. The entire region was larger in area than the Green Lake Region, which included "Green Lake City" and "Mikaela Ironworks City." The region, centered on the port city "Moon Bay City," was a large territory consisting of a complex mix of coastal mountains, forested plains, marshes, and so on.
Affluence, independence, and the pursuit of Wealth were the deepest impressions that region left on outsiders. If the stories Detective Sparrow left there were compiled by a novelist like Dorothy, they could probably form a massive work titled something like "Moon Bay Legend."
"It’s nothing I can’t tell you. You know I’m running some small businesses."
Her Highness the Princess said casually, picking up her clothes from the carpet and letting Shard help her put them on:
"Next month, a sizable batch of goods will be transshipped in Moon Bay. And the birthday gift I prepared for you has already been sent to Moon Bay as well; it should arrive in Tobesk in about half a month."
"A birthday gift?"
Shard looked at Lecia in surprise, and she nodded: freewēbnoveℓ.com
"Yes. I asked—fine, Dorothy asked Luviya—and she said you take the day you awakened and met the doctor as your birthday. Isn’t that a month from now? Sunlight Moon, that is, June 22nd. Look, today is already Rain-Prayer Moon 27th, so there’s less than a month left until your birthday."
"But it’s not like I’m turning eighteen. At my age, is there any need to celebrate a birthday?"
Since the Outlander had no idea how old this body actually was, he had always assumed he was twenty-two. Although nearly a year had passed, he showed no sign of aging at all, so he thought he would probably stay at twenty-two for many years.
"How could that be? This should be your ’first’ birthday; of course we have to celebrate it properly."
Lecia no longer talked about "Moon Bay," but instead kissed Shard:
"You don’t have to do anything; we’ll take care of it. Speaking of which, you still remember the gifts the three of us prepared for you at the Year-End Festival, right?"
Shard nodded. He certainly could not forget the passion of that last night of 1853, and of the three Female Sorcerers.
"For this birthday, I’m very sure you’ll get even more. What, even so you still don’t want to celebrate it?"
Lecia asked with a smile, and the Outlander had no choice but to admit he really had been persuaded.
For their date in the evening at the Draleon Royal Opera House, Angelina was indeed there in addition to Lecia, since it would look strange if Lecia came to see the Opera alone.
Lecia did not immediately shoo Angelina away, but truly watched the Opera together with her younger sister and Shard.
Halfway through, she even went out for half an hour, leaving the time to Shard and Angelina, which could be considered her showing the generosity of an elder sister.
And after getting Lecia’s hint that she wouldn’t be back for a while, Angelina expressionlessly shifted her position, sat where her sister had just been sitting, and then took the initiative to hold Shard’s hand.
The two of them didn’t say any unnecessary words. The Little Princess was thinking about that night in the Green Lake Hotel when she was locked in the wardrobe, about those scenes she saw through the crack in the wardrobe door, so she softly asked a question:
"Shard, last time’s ’Vase Appreciation’ was interrupted by those damn Francois Restorationists. Do you want to continue?"
Shard turned his head to look at her. The Little Princess, who had just become a Female Sorcerer, looked at him with a flushed face, her eyes blinking, and then, with a sense of revenge for the Female Sorcerers she had seen through the crack in the wardrobe door, she suddenly threw herself into his arms.
When Lecia returned with the Maids, she indeed noticed that Angelina’s lipstick had been freshly applied, and Shard’s clothes clearly had been pressed and rumpled.
She sniffed with her nose, and when she didn’t smell anything strange, she knew that Angelina’s courage really wasn’t that great. She waved her hand to signal that Angelina could leave. This time, although the Little Princess still reluctantly said goodbye to Shard, her mood was quite good as she went out to stand guard.
"See? Angelina really is an easy girl to understand. She’s probably still thanking me in her heart."
Lecia said with a smile, but this time she didn’t reach for Shard’s shirt again. Instead, she lay sideways in Shard’s arms:
"Let’s watch the opera together. Time alone like this is really hard to come by."
The enthusiasm of the Female Sorcerers of the House of Cavendish made life, which had become a bit leisurely after the Battle of Green Lake, much more interesting. But Shard’s entanglements with the ladies of the House of Cavendish were not over for today. When the carriage sent him home at night, he actually found lights on in the house.
When Shard went upstairs, he discovered that Miss Galina was waiting at home with the Maids.
"So you went on a date with Lecia?"
The Duchess said with a smile, and then brought Shard a piece of good news:
"Tomorrow, that is, Wednesday morning, we’re very sure there will be no one else in the Council. Bring His Excellency the Speaker’s hair, Miss Feliana’s notebook, and the [Poetry Cards]. Tomorrow morning I’ll take you to the Council. Don’t worry about the Magic Potion and ritual needed to assist in activating the Sublimation Incantation, we’ll handle that. When the time comes, in order not to disturb you, we won’t stay with you in the Council. You know yourself how to exit the Council."
This was indeed good news. The possibility of seeing Miss Feliana again tomorrow made Shard unable to help but show a smile.
"If you ask me, the relationship between you and your Academy’s Founder is definitely not just as simple as teacher and student."
The Witch teased, telling Tifa to step back, and then walked over herself to help Shard take off his coat.
But as she held the coat, she still sniffed it:
"Not only is there a strong scent of Lecia’s perfume, there’s also Angelina’s perfume. Shard, you really are the nemesis of the Female Sorcerers of the House of Cavendish."
"I feel like you’ve all taken me as a communal lover."
"Is that supposed to be a complaint?"
There was still a smile on her face:
"It’s a bit late to complain now. The treasures that the Royal Family’s Princesses set their eyes on will never be easily let go of. Tifa~ You and the other Maids go rest on the first floor. No matter what sounds you hear, don’t come upstairs. Oh, and don’t forget to take Shard’s cat downstairs."
She said this while holding Shard’s hand.
But the price of her forbidding the Maids from coming upstairs under any circumstances was that when Megan, a little after ten at night, excitedly came out of the basement, the Maids were unable to inform the Duchess of this immediately.
As for the angry and shocked screams that came from upstairs afterward, as well as lines like, "What are you two doing?!" "Oh, Megan, leave now, what did you come here for?" "Galina, you’re still moving!" "Don’t lift the blanket—oh, I told you not to lift it!" and so on, the Maids heard them all clearly on the first floor.
It was just that after a long time, none of the Witches came downstairs, and the voices of the two Grand Witches quarreling also disappeared after the house’s master spoke, followed by a series of chaotic sounds and thuds.
The Miss Maids, who were fully focused on listening from the first floor, ready to rush upstairs at any moment to help their mistress, soon heard sounds coming from upstairs again. It was that same bewildering noise that had been going on for over an hour.
Seeing that Mr. Hamilton had already made the two Grand Witches get along harmoniously, they also knew they wouldn’t have any chance to go upstairs.
The Maids dispersed. The first floor of Shard Family’s house was very large, enough to sleep more than ten girls. But there were still some who worriedly asked the black-haired Head Maid:
"Tifa, is Mr. Hamilton going to be all right? They’re two Grand Witches, after all."
The Head Maid shook her head, and when she looked up toward the floor above, no one could read the look in her eyes.
