Vol. 3 - Chapter 96 - Katariona Goes on a Family Vacation to their Villa
TL: Guys, I\'m sooo sorry for this late post. Anyway, darn with daylight savings, but I\'ll try my best to post ASAP. Thank you for treating me with patience and continuing to read this novel. It\'s much appreciated.
The southern part of the Marquisate de Grandeur faces the sea.
On the beach, there lies our family\'s villa. This was where my mother trained with Toruka-sama in the trials of the gods.
The only other family members who accompanied us to the villa were the head butler and Marie.
"Wow! Look, the sea is glittering. Leon, let\'s go for a swim!"
We arrived at the villa last night.
The villa had a janitor who was waiting for us. So we were able to use our room as soon as we arrived.
My room is facing the ocean. Its windows were connected to the balcony, so I could see the ocean from my room.
And the room next to mine is my brother\'s, and the one across the hall is my parents\'. May is still small, so she sleeps and rests in the same room with them.
"We haven\'t had breakfast yet. And swimming on an empty stomach is not good for your health."
Leon, lying on his bed, looked disgruntled.
Having woken up early, I went out on the balcony and looked at the ocean. The sun was shining brightly and the ocean glistened so beautifully. I can\'t wait to go to the beach and see the ocean up close. And I wanna swim too.
Marie entered the room with a discreet knock.
"Goodness, milady. Are you already awake? Did the sound of the waves wake you up?"
"Good morning, Marie. The sound of the waves has nothing to do with it, but I did wake up early today. Come here, Marie. Look at how beautiful the sea is."
Marie placed my facial cleanser on the table and headed towards the balcony.
"Oh goodness, it\'s really beautiful."
"Yes! I can\'t wait to see the ocean up close. Last night all I could hear was the sound of the waves."
"Let\'s wash our faces and change our clothes first."
Marie gently discouraged me from going to the beach right now.
When I expressed my desire to go to the sea for a swim at the breakfast table, Mother made a suggestion.
"I found what looks like an ancient ruin when I was subjected to Toruka-sama\'s trials. It\'s close to here. Why don\'t we all visit it together?"
"Where is it, Ellie?"
"On the ocean floor."
The depths of the ocean? I\'m interested in ancient ruins, but I don\'t know how to get there considering it\'s located on the ocean floor.
"Mother. How do we get to the ruins at the bottom of the ocean?"
Big brother asked, remaining calm.
Humans cannot remain in the water for long.
"If we freeze the sea, we can easily travel there."
Freeze? Freeze the ocean?
I would later discover what she meant by that.
I had witnessed a strange event.
I saw the ocean split in half and freeze......
And so did my family, the head butler, and Marie.
Everyone fell silent.
No one had ever seen such a natural phenomenon before. No, no. This was not natural, this was man-made.
"Ice Magic: Ice and Snowflakes."
My mother\'s magic froze the sea in an instant. The ocean quickly froze and turned into a huge snowfield.
"Fufu. I haven’t used it in a while, but I\'m glad it worked. Now, let’s all get going."
Needless to say, everyone in the room shuddered.
Even amid the frozen sea, the marine life continued to swim vigorously.
"Wow! There\'s a fish!"
May innocently peered into the frozen sea. The surface was like glass, so you could see the ocean clearly.
"It\'s as if the sea has been encased in a thick layer of glass. This is highly sophisticated magic.
Even Leon praised Mother\'s magic with great gusto.
After about thirty minutes of walking, we came upon a huge building. It had partially eroded due to the seawater, but the building was still intact.
"This is the ancient ruin? Ellie, how did you find this place?"
"I found it when I was taking a walk with Toruka-sama."
What kind of trials did Mother have to go through?
When we entered the building, there was a blast of cool air.
"It sure gets cold inside."
I shivered and let Marie pull a blanket over my shoulders.
"Thank you, Marie. Even though it\'s summer. You brought a blanket."
"It\'s always better to be prepared, don\'t you think?"
Marie draped the blanket over May, who was in Father\'s arms.
"You can take one too, madam, if you like."
She offered the blanket to Mother as well, but Mother shook her head.
"I can handle the cold. Marie, you should use it."
Maybe it\'s because she\'s a skilled ice magic user, but she\'s quite resistant to the cold. She sometimes wears sleeveless dresses even in the winter.
"If you are feeling cold, please let me know."
Marie put the blanket back in the basket without using it.
"Marie, aren\'t you cold? Will you be okay?"
Even though she\'s wearing a long-sleeved maid\'s uniform, she\'s still a lady and shouldn\'t get cold.
"I have been trained, so I can handle both the heat and the cold."
Marie said, smiling at me.
What kind of training would make her tolerant to both heat and cold?
Speaking of which, Marie always wears a long-sleeved maid\'s uniform, even in the middle of summer. Without breaking a sweat,.......
As we walked further into the building, we reached a place with a solemn atmosphere, similar to a temple.
"There should be a mural around here with ancient magical writing on it......."
Mother briefly scanned the wall.
There was a strange mural with unfamiliar characters painted on the edges.
The colors had faded so much that it was hard to tell what the mural depicted.
However, some parts of it seemed to be the sun and the moon.
"Mother, how did you know it was ancient magic writing?"
"Toruka-sama told me so. But I don\'t know what is written on them."
Toruka-sama is the god of water and has crossed many oceans. He is the oldest god according to Leon and his friends, who call him Old Man. It is no surprise that he can read the ancient magical scripts.
Leon studied the mural intently.
"Leon, can you read these letters?"
"\'Light the pearls of the deep, you who aim for the heavens,\' it says."
As expected of Leon. He\'s no ordinary cat. He\'s a god, so it\'s only natural that he can read the ancient magic script.
"What does it mean?"
"Well. That much I do not know."
Brother took out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket and started to copy the mural.
"Brother. Are you copying the mural?"
"It\'s not often that I see ancient magical writing. Since Leon-sama deciphered it for me, I thought I\'d like to study ancient magical writing.
Is this for a research paper for the school\'s summer vacation?
At the Magic Academy, we are given the task of deciding on a research theme and submitting a paper during our summer vacation.
I\'m going to write a paper on \'What changes occur when you give magical power to plants?"
I\'ve planted a few seeds in several planters, and I\'ve been giving them magical powers every day.
After three days, the sunflowers started to dance. These sunflowers are being taken care of by the dryad maidens of the forest. Leon told me that when they run out of magic, they will turn back into normal sunflowers. Then he got angry and said, "Don\'t give them magic power directly!" .......
The plants that are currently being grown in planters are planted in soil with minimal magical power added.
If they start dancing again, I won\'t be able to write my paper.
"Would you like to have lunch here?"
"Yes. Would you please, Marie."
"A pleasure. Madam."
The head butler had seen us off at the beach, but he was staying at the villa. The only servants that came with us were the head butler and Marie, so they had a lot of work to do.
The application of shadow-walking can be seen here as well. May gazed with sparkling eyes at the baskets appearing one after another from Marie\'s shadow.
"Amazing! Marie is a magician!"
"Yes, she is. Yes, I\'m a magician. Miss Marianne."
Most people in the Kingdom of Findalia are magicians. However, if I mention it, it will destroy May\'s dream, so I kept my mouth shut.
After a while, I climbed onto the mat to find that Marie had finished setting up.
Several kinds of sandwiches and fruit salads were laid out, all of which looked delicious. There was also a rice ball casually placed.
"Alright, everyone. Please enjoy your meal."
Just as I took a bite of my sandwich, however, something strange happened.
The earth seemed to roar, and water spurted out like a geyser.
Out of the water emerged a huge creature with a body as long as a snake.
"Mu! The Sea Serpent Dragon?"
Leon seemed to know the name of the giant creature in front of us.
"Sea Serpent Dragon?
"Sea Serpent Dragons. It looks like a snake, but as the name suggests, it\'s a dragon-type monster."
Upon closer inspection, I could see it had arms and legs. Between its fingers, there were scratches.
"Haha. We have a strong connection with dragons, don\'t we?"
He chuckled softly as he examined the sea serpent dragon.
Three years ago, we slayed a dragon, and thus hold the title of \'Dragon Slayer\'.
"But why are there monsters in the ruins?"
Father asked, tilting his head. May imitated Father and nodded her head.
"It seems that this thing is the guardian of the ruins."
Leon explained as he munched on his sandwich.
Let me appraise the Sea Serpent Dragon.
The results are as follows.
"Sea Serpent Dragon (named Pochi), keeper of the dungeon ruins, race: Dragon (water attribute).
Its name sounds like some kind of pet. Hold on! A dungeon ruin!?!?
"Is this a dungeon?"
"Mugumugu...... looks like it...... mugumugu."
Before I knew it, Leon had changed into a boy and was munching on a sandwich.
"What? Toruka-sama said that it was simply a ruin before. When did it become a dungeon?"
While elegantly eating a fruit salad, my mother admired the Sea Serpent Dragon.
How can my family be so relaxed in front of a monster?
The sea serpent dragon let out an unearthly scream and came towards us.
We reflexively dodged, only to find that the place we had been in was now covered by the huge body of the sea serpent dragon.
"You, what are you doing! You\'ve crushed my rice ball!"
Leon held up the rice balls in his hands and complained to the sea serpent dragon.
"Is that what you\'re angry about?"
[!