Chapter 100

Martha’s Grandfather [Part 3]

“Huh? Are kairo and haramaki[1] Jap… Imperial Japanese?”

Come to think about it, the siblings had used neither of those things in this world.

[T/N 1: See Chapter 99 for clarification]

So how did Martha know?

……hm?

“That reminds me, back when I passed out from eating matsutake mushrooms, Martha didn’t understand what I said but was able to catch the words, huh?”

Going back to Emma’s memory of a year and a half ago. Certainly, Martha at that time…

When Emma had muttered, “Ahh… I wanted to drink a can of beer, at least!” in Japanese, Martha had turned towards her and responded with, “That’s right. Everyone was yelling similar things! What kind of spell is that?”

What did it mean?

It wasn’t a word, but a sentence, albeit a short one. Seeing how Joshua struggled, it should have been impossible for her to recognize them as the same words that she had heard a few days ago.

“……? What is it……?”

Martha tilted her head when the three siblings and Joshua stared at her attentively.

They were looking at a Kingdom person who seemed able to speak Imperial Japanese with no trouble.

What’s this? Wasn’t this something greatly shocking to His Majesty the King, the diplomats, Grandmother, and even Joshua?

“Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. Martha’s grandfather… has a thing called kainyo in his possession, which is a magic stone. Is that right?”

Joshua rubbed his temple as he thought.

“Y-Yes. Unlike Joshua-sama‘s magic stone, it can’t freeze water, but the stone emits slight warmth even during winter.”

It was no doubt a hand warmer, but just how did someone store magic that could only warm your stomach in such a rare magic stone?

“…actually, there’s a report from the company that Imperial Japan is rich in magic stone deposits. As for the Kingdom, it had always collected magic stones for use in the event that a magician appeared. However, in recent years, the Kingdom’s deposits have been exhausted, leading to a scarcity of magic stones. Magic stones can only be charged once with magic and cannot be reused. At this rate, even if a magician appeared, we would not have magic stones to charge with barrier magic.”

Joshua ended his explanation by telling them that any barriers would disappear upon the magician’s death if the magic wasn’t charged into magic stones.

It finally made sense why the King had been so shocked that he seized Emma by reflex.

What the Kingdom wanted, out of the diplomatic exchange with Imperial Japan, was magic stones. No country would part with their precious magic stones. With their deposits mined to exhaustion, the Kingdom was desperate for magic stones and would do anything to get them.

“A, a priceless magic stone… Why does someone like my grandfather have it?”

The more Martha understood the situation, the more confused she became.

“The fact that Martha could pick up Imperial Japanese might mean that Martha might be descended from Imperial Japanese… Most likely, Martha’s grandfather is Imperial Japanese. Marha, has your grandfather ever taught you anything else? Something related to Imperial Japan, for example?”

Joshua got Martha to sit on a chair and asked her questions after she calmed down.

Martha covered her mouth with the back of her hand and thought a while, then suddenly raised her face.

“Back then, when I would lose something, my grandfather taught me a spell! He taught me to draw a symbol, a good luck charm on my things so I wouldn’t lose them!”

A good luck charm… Was there something like that?

They couldn’t tell what it was because they didn’t have any knowledge of Imperial Japan.

Yosui Ino** started singing in their minds[2], but this was because they were Japanese, and this wasn’t the time to be dancing.

[T/N 2: A reference to Yosui Inoue’s song ‘Yume no Naka e’. The lyrics mention to ‘stop searching for that something and just dance it away’.]

There is always pen and paper ready in Emma’s room for making dress and embroidery designs. They placed them in front of Martha and asked,

“Martha, do you remember that lucky charm symbol? Could you draw it?”

“Well, I used to draw it on each of my belongings when I was young, so…”

Upon saying that, pen in hand, Martha drew the symbol slowly and carefully.

There on the paper, she had written “Ono Maasa”[3].

[T/N 3: Ono Maasa here is written in Japanese characters (小野真麻). ‘Maasa’ sounds identical to how the name Martha is pronounced in Japanese. This further supports the theory that Martha’s grandfather is Japanese.]

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Author’s note: Several servants from Palace also accompanied the Stuart family to the royal capital. One of them was Martha, who was asked by Melsa to come due to her valuable ability to scold Emma.