I forgot to schedule the post.
My apologies.
"I guess this is about what a prototype should look like?"
The prototype had finally taken shape... I tested it out by moving it around a little.
"It's still a far cry from what I had in my previous life, but it's a world of difference from the one I used before."
I'd shaped it based on memories from my previous life, adding leaf springs to the seat and using frog skin for the tires, so the shocks were considerably absorbed. However, with no brakes, slopes would be dangerous, and while I'd added hand rims so users could move themselves, the chair itself was heavy — someone weak would probably struggle to push it.
"Well, it's a prototype, so I guess this is good enough. Next up would be making it lighter, huh?"
Eventually, I'd like to integrate a Golem into it for automatic operation... but for now, I'd set my sights on making something comparable to what I had in my previous life.
"Seems you're up to something strange again."
"At least knock, Grandpa."
Just when I thought the door had opened on its own, Grandpa walked in and called out to me with a look of exasperation on his face. As for the knocking, he said he'd done it several times — I just hadn't noticed.
"So this is... a wheelchair, isn't it? It's not drastically different from what's commercially available, but I can see it's been modified in places."
Grandpa sat himself down on the prototype without waiting for an invitation and started moving it around however he pleased.
"You might need someone to look after you in a few years, so it might not hurt to get used to it now."
"I'll walk on my own two feet until the day I die! ...That said, it's not a bad ride. But it does seem a bit heavy. For the sick and injured who actually need one, it might be a bit much."
Grandpa had flagged the weight as an issue too, yet he was maneuvering the wheelchair with powerful, effortless movements that showed no sign of the weight at all.
"So the next challenge is definitely lightening it up. And durability, I suppose?"
"That would be sensible... By the way, why are you building a wheelchair?"
"Well, you see... I've been busy with all sorts of things lately and haven't had much time to myself, so I was thinking of taking a day or two to relax... but while I was spacing out, I started thinking about Russell City..."
"So you remembered that thing you'd been meaning to improve whenever you had time, and you just went ahead and did it, huh."
"Well, I had free time... you know."
I'd been busy, so I set the day aside for rest, but working on my day off does feel like a contradiction. Still, once something gets stuck in my head, there's absolutely no way I can relax until I deal with it, so throwing myself into the prototype was definitely the right call as far as stress relief goes!
"Well, if you managed to recharge, then the day off served its purpose. So, this prototype—
Who
are
you
planning
to
show
it
to?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking of bringing it over to Lord Zain. He's been saying he wants to set up a medical school, and more importantly, it would benefit Lady Mizaria. I'm sure he'd gladly cooperate, and he'd probably take care of everything that comes after, too."
"I'm sure there are those who'd cause a fuss about how 'using the royal family is disrespectful,' but Zain seems like he'd cooperate happily. And besides, it looks like a deal that would be profitable for the royals as well—even if it's nothing more than a game to you, Tenma."
Grandpa's putting on that teasing tone, but I'd rather hand my technology off to someone who can put it to some use for society than keep it locked away after I've had my fun with it! ...Let's just go with that reasoning.
"Tenma, we have a guest— ...wait, what is this?"
Jeanne had come to fetch me, but when she spotted Grandpa zipping around the room in his wheelchair, she froze. She'd been in the middle of telling me about a visitor, but it's hard to blame her for losing her train of thought when an old man suddenly materializes before her eyes, joyriding around in a wheelchair.
"Jeanne, who's the visitor?"
"Oh! Sorry about that."
"Lord Albert and the others came by with Primera, so I've got them waiting in the dining hall."
I replied "Understood" and was about to head to the dining hall when Grandpa, apparently having taken a liking to the wheelchair, tried to move while still sitting in it. I thought that was going a bit too far, so I forcibly took it away — but the look in his eyes practically screamed that once the finished product was done, he was absolutely going to have one made for himself.
"Sorry to keep you waiting... Huh, the three of you are more well-behaved than usual?"
When I arrived at the dining hall, the three of them — who normally slouched around or helped themselves to food and drink without asking — were sitting obediently in their chairs waiting... or rather, getting scolded.
"Yo! We came to hang out... y'know?"
"Listen here, big brother. Even if we're close, wandering into the mansion unannounced before anyone can show you around is hardly befitting behavior for the next duke. It's precisely because we're close that you need to be mindful of the details and refrain from doing anything that might give people ammunition against you. There are quite a few nobles who'd love to supplant the House of Duke Sanga and get close to Tenma. If you truly consider yourselves his friends, you should be careful not to cause him any trouble. That goes for you too, Cain and Lion!"
The three of their usual antics apparently seemed inconceivable to Primera. Albert and the others, even though they had Tenma and Grandpa's permission, couldn't really argue since Primera's points were the more correct ones.
Primera was too focused on chewing out the three to notice, but the dining hall door had been flung open rather forcefully, and a well-dressed, large man had slipped in just before all this.
"Lyle, don't stop at the entrance — come inside. Have I decided that today I'm going to spend the whole day petting Shiromaru... or what?"
"Also, I was dragged along because it's my day off, but a knight's holiday is supposed to be spent resting the body so you can perform at full capacity when the need arises. Besides, I hold a position of responsibility as a squad leader, so even on days off there's plenty I need to do! ...Plus, if you'd told me where we were going ahead of time, I would've worn something more presentable... and my hair's been neglected lately too, it's gotten all rough..."
From behind the well-dressed man, a female knight — one who held a far more responsible position than an ordinary knight — also entered. Primera still hadn't noticed the newcomers.
"Both of you, you're in the way! Stop standing around at the door and get inside already!"
"Whoa!"
"Gyah!"
And then, shoved by the third person who had appeared, the well-dressed man and the female knight stumbled forward into the dining hall.
"Oh... oh dear..."
Hearing the sound of the two being shoved and stamping their feet, Primera turned around and finally noticed the three newcomers. When their eyes met, all three let out somewhat vacant expressions and froze in place for several seconds.
"Um, well, how should I put this — we did get permission first (a long time ago) and we did call out, and there's also the angle of showing everyone that we're the kind of easygoing companions who don't stand on ceremony..."
"Er, well... Tenma and I have known each other forever, and playing with Shiromaru and the others here is how I recharge my energy, so to speak... Besides, I took care of everything I needed to before coming..."
"Huh? Um — no! I wasn't talking to the two of you! I was talking to my brothers! Someone who doesn't fully understand the relationship might mistake their behavior for looking down on Tenma or thinking it's okay to treat him casually!"
The two stammered out their excuses to Primera, but Primera herself hadn't actually been directing her words at them, so she had no idea what they were going on about. However, once she understood what they were trying to say, she desperately tried to explain that she hadn't been talking about them —
"Primera! With the way you said that, you're the one who's usually more guilty of it!"
"Hauh!"
She choked on her words as Amour bumped into her.
"Well, our family's always been like that, so don't worry about it too much, Primera."
When he said that, not only Lyle and Chris, but even Albert and the others nodded in an attempt to calm Primera down.
"Hmm. Still, I agree with the saying that even among close friends, manners matter. You absolutely must tell that to Alex too!"
"I can't! I'll die!"
Grandpa said it as a joke, reducing Primera to the verge of tears. For the record, "die" here didn't mean being executed for treason or anything like that — apparently it meant her heart would burst from shock and nerves.
"Come to think of it, where did Luna go? She was definitely here up until those two walked into the dining hall, wasn't she?"
Knowing Luna, she'd probably noticed the commotion in the dining hall and slipped away… He felt like her stealth skills had been improving year after year. Well, if he used "Search," he could find her in an instant within the estate, but at this rate, Caesar and Tida were probably struggling to track her down… As he thought this, he activated "Search."
(She's there. Hiding in a spot like that.)
He found her immediately. It was the kind of place you'd only think to look if you knew Luna — right at the very end of the search range.
"Anyway, knowing Luna, she won't come out even if I call her, and going to look for her is a pain, so I'll just summon her. Luna! If you don't come back right now, there will be no more snacks from now on!"
He stepped out into the corridor, shouted that, and was about to return to the dining hall when the sound of frantic footsteps came from Luna's direction.
"Big brother! I think that's cheating!"
Less than a minute after her shout, Luna came bursting into the dining hall.
"No, it's not cheating. We don't have snacks for people who aren't here. And even if we did, Shiromaru and Solomon, and Amour and Aura would devour them all!"
"You can't say for sure that there aren't any!"
As the two of them puffed out their chests and declared this, the two beasts drooled and struck their most dignified poses.
"If you want snacks, the first thing you do when you come to our place is greet someone. Got it?"
"Yes! ... So, please give me snacks!"
Luna answered energetically and sat down while demanding her snacks. Primera watched this with a dumbfounded expression.
"That's the usual scene."
"Business as usual, isn't it?"
Hearing the grandpa and Jeanne's words, Primera was even more surprised.
"I get that you're surprised, but this is how things usually are here. That includes Albert and the others, by the way. For reference, among the guests who come over, the one who acts just as strangely—or even more so—than Luna is this country's King. It might be hard to get used to right away, but just accept it as how things are. Also, the person with the most... power in this country comes too, so be careful."
"Big brother, hurry up and give me snacks!"
Primera looked at Luna once more and nodded in resignation. Seeing this, Albert and the others were happy to finally be released, but...
"However, that and this are different matters. The royal family has its ways, and the Duke Sanga family has its own! So, from now on, you three—the future heads of the Duke, Marquis, and Margrave families—must change your attitudes and strive to behave appropriately!"
It seemed she hadn't simply given up; she had just accepted the situation. Because of that, the three were terrified that the rules would now apply to them as strictly as they did to the King and the others... but.
"Wait a minute! If I think about it carefully, shouldn't Primera only have to watch Albert? After all, I'm also the future head of another family!"
"That's... that's right! We can't trouble Primera with our own affairs! We just need to watch ourselves!"
"Even though you can't, which is why you're being told."
When Amour muttered this under his breath, the two froze for an instant, but then decided to pretend they didn't hear and ignore him. Albert was shouting at the two, "Are you going to abandon me?!", but he fell silent when his eyes met Primera's.
"Cain-niisama, Lion-niisama. You two are part of a three-man team with Big Brother, right? Singling out just him isn't fair, is it?"
I sensed something different about Primera, but after thinking a little, that atmosphere felt familiar. It was similar to Albert's. To be precise, it was the vibe Albert had when he dragged Cain or Lion along with him. I figured she was planning to get back at us for dragging her here without telling her the destination, just like how Albert did to them.
I didn't know how serious Primera was being, but it probably wouldn't get that bad. After all, criticizing the trio who act the same way as Lyle-sama and Luna—who are the royal family—could easily be seen as a roundabout way of criticizing the royal family itself.
Deciding to leave Primera alone while she vented her stress, I headed to the kitchen to fulfill Luna's request for snacks. Following me, ostensibly to help make snacks, came Jeanne, Aura, Leini, and the seemingly useless Amour and Chris... or rather, the last two should be said to have escaped.
Even with some hindrances, we had more than enough manpower to compensate, so if we wanted to, we could whip up enough pancakes for everyone to have seconds in about twenty to thirty minutes... but we deliberately took our time making the pancakes. It took nearly an hour to finish, and by then, a restless Luna (who had fallen asleep partway through) charged into the kitchen, but when I explained, "We were mass-producing them so everyone could have plenty," she immediately cheered up.
After carrying several large plates piled high with pancakes into the dining hall, we happened to see Lyle-sama talking with Primera. Primera looked anxious, but Lyle-sama was in a good mood, so it seemed he had thoroughly enjoyed the situation before stepping in to stop her.
Freed after Lyle-sama had reined her in, Albert and the others were now free to enjoy snack time — though they ate with a refined elegance none of us had ever seen from them before. Lion, for one, seemed to struggle with it and only barely managed a second helping. Albert and Cain had made it partway through their third when they ran out. The three of us who were used to our usual manner each polished off four to five pancakes — though Jeanne and Primera stuck to two — and sat back with satisfied expressions, enjoying our post-meal tea.
"I'm terribly sorry for all the trouble I caused today."
Having vented her stress on Albert and company, enjoyed a special dinner, and soothed her exhaustion in the bath, Primera was in high spirits by the time she left. The three young men, by contrast, looked completely drained — pale-faced and weary. Of course, they'd had to be on guard every single moment under the watchful eyes of their actual and surrogate little sisters, so that was only natural. Still, they'd brought most of it on themselves, so I couldn't very well feel sorry for them.
The three departed as though escorting Primera home — but since all four had ridden in the same carriage, there was a decent chance they'd be getting an earful before the day was out.
Some time later.
"Tenma, lately Luna's gotten better at running away and hiding. We can barely catch her anymore..."
Tida, who'd come over to visit, let out that exasperated complaint.
"In that case, start by checking places like the library and the study room. You guys probably assume — even subconsciously — that Luna wouldn't go near the kind of spots where you'd naturally look first, so you skip them. After a while, Luna might move into a place you've already searched, and once that happens, tracking her down won't be easy."
When we'd lured Luna out with snacks before, she'd been hiding in the library. That was exactly the sort of place anyone who knew Luna well would put off checking. Once I pointed that out, Tida clearly realized I was onto something and looked annoyed about it.
"To be honest, I've been underestimating Luna. I figured her actions were pure instinct while we were the ones running around in circles for nothing..."
It was a pretty harsh thing to say, but knowing the way Luna usually behaved, it was overwhelmingly more likely that she *wasn't* thinking things through that carefully — though even now, there was still a chance she'd acted on instinct this time too. So as an older brother, maybe his assessment wasn't entirely off-base.
From that day on, their success rate at catching Luna shot up dramatically — though before long, Luna started finding hiding spots that exceeded even Tida and the others' imagination, and it gradually settled into an even split.
Separately, when I showed a prototype wheelchair to Zain-sama, he insisted on helping with the project. That meant meeting with him every day until the first improved model was completed, and after Zain-sama had taken up his post as Minister of Finance, he ended up falling behind on work by a record-breaking amount. The first improved model was sent to Mizaria-sama, and from then on, we spotted her around the castle far more often than before.