The Queen's Cosmetician

After Miguel's shop, Alvina led me to a teahouse on the main street. Two floors made of stacked red tea bricks. The sweet scent leaks from the window where the glass is inserted.

Sit back in the window seat while the clerk leads you. Round round table with flowers. Paintings hung on walls. The store is crowded with exotic guests. I guess we were lucky to have been properly guided to our seats. Staring at the customers exchanging rows at the entrance to the store, Die thought.

"Mm-hmm. I don't enjoy it. It's been a long time since I've been in a store like this."

"... I'm new here"

Die groaned as he looked around a bit. The bright stores that shine in the sun are the kind of places that were once unfamiliar to the die. The Gentile guests seemed more relaxed than they were born in this city.

Alvina, like them, has caught the woman in the store looking familiar for a long time and ordered trendy treats.

"What about the die?

"Oh, just water..."

I'm sorry to leave you at the store, but I don't have any extras. By the time Die realized that, he had already stepped foot in the store.

Alvina shows how she envisioned it, then this, and I order it with the addition of sweets and tea.

"Let's eat together"

To her smiling and suggesting, Die blinked.

"Is that okay?

"It's okay. I asked her out. Leave it to your sister. Besides, you two better split up, you can eat all kinds of things, right?

"Thank you"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't be so sweet. A little more shoulder strength."

"... I've never been here before..."

Shoulder shrugged, Die groaned. Though accustomed to acting during the day, it is still unsettling where the masses gather during these days. The evening tavern is so cheaper.

"Does Alvey come here often?

Beyond the flowers grown on the table, Alvina tilts her neck slightly with her cheek cane poked.

"Me? Hey... I don't know if you've been here lately. When you start making sweets, rice, and all that stuff, you come and go. If it's delicious, I'll make it at home."

"Oh, you said it was a hobby."

Making it is a hobby.

The food served at her house was also very tasty.

"Yes. I'm free to live alone, so comfort me. I cook a lot more than that."

"Cosmetics is one of them?

"Yes. At first, I was asked to, but it was funny and I got into it. While I was making something elaborate, I ran out of places to put it this time. Miguel, you were saving me because you were taking everything if you could. Someone used it properly."

There are many people in this country who 'make' something.

It's called a small country of arts and crafts. There were also a large number of such people in the flower district. Needles to hand sew costumes for geisha. Craftsmen working on lantern bolts. Craftsmen who spend years creating objects that decorate the chest of geisha.

It's a very, very happy thing that someone loves what you create. Die doesn't make things, but he's a makeup dealer. It was easy to understand the meaning of Alvina's delightful expression if you thought you would learn to be satisfied with how much your makeup is required.

"What else do you make besides cosmetics and cooking?

"Mmm. Flower decorations, silverware, medicines, all sorts of things... and making these things."

Show me a lightly conceived bare gesture and Alvina sticks her hand in my nostalgia. What comes out, Die swelled his chest to expectations. What she took out by pinching it between her thin fingertips is a stone that houses a twinkle that can be mistaken for a gem, tucked into a small silver disc. Transparent blue hemisphere. Inside it were inscriptions of old letters.

And the geometry shapes drawn so that they are surrounded by that letter.

Proof of witchcraft.

Die finally figured out what the stone was.

"A charm stone?

Depending on the magic you can get inside, that stone, which works in various ways as a substitute for witchcraft, is correctly processed with special trees that accumulate magic. The quality is wide and some are disposable, while others are semi-permanently effective, he said. They also exist things like healing a person's wounds from preliminary effects such as reacting to darkness and automatically glowing or turning water into water. Less used stones on the western continent with a lot of magical tricks, but not without. A long time ago charm stones, which exert the effects of magic lost in the past, among other things, were valuables traded in Mount Kim Il.

"Yes."

Alvina showed affirmation and placed a disc on the table. The silver pedestal makes a sound on the table. She then pushed her index finger against the top of the blue, sliding the stone towards the die and leaning over.

"Pretty good stuff, right? This."

Die groaned as he stared at the blue freed from Alvina's fingertips. No matter how you look at it, it's not an easy disposable scrapstone to get in Ichii. The fact that it was a much more pure stone was also evident through my own eyes, which had less eyesight for the attractive stone.

"Oh hey. If it means how much money it's going to be, I'm not familiar with it."

"Huh."

"But, well, I guess I'll keep it for about a hundred years even if I use it every day."

It's not a big deal, but Alvina answers.

Die was out of line. Alternate views of her and the blue stone placed in front of her, breathtaking again. You get a persistent attractive stone like Alvina says, because it's about the royal nobility.

"Is this... amulet?

It is often used as a talisman and a gift in pure charismatic stones with the art of protection.

"No, you're not. The effect of this child is" Communication. "It's to keep in touch with remote areas."

"Far away, contact?

"Yes, yes. With this, we can quickly get in touch with people who are far away."

"Heh."

Die nodded deeply in admiration as to whether there was such magic. Because I wasn't interested, I was not very profound about magic.

"Do you go through with anyone?

To Die's inquiry, Alvina unfortunately shook her head sideways.

"Someone specific, or just a place. By the way, I'm the only one who gets in touch with him. Hey, you want to get in touch with someone?

"Yeah, well."

Clouding his words with a bitter smile, Die asked to try.

"... is that an easy thing to make?

Miguel and Asma were the ones on my head. A welcoming store owner who left a message with Asma in order to get in touch with himself. And I've deliberately sent out a letter via outside the flower district, the lady husband of a whorehouse, who is also the parent of my own upbringing.

If you have the art of getting in touch with them without using a roundabout method, I'd love to get one. If it's easy for Alvina to make a "transmission" charm stone, you can pay for it, I wanted you to make one for contact with the Asmas.

But it is only logical that things are not conveniently carried in the world.

"The procedure itself is simple, but the ingredients. I have a good quality charm stone."

"How much quality?

In response to Die's question, Alvina points her thin fingers at the blue Shining Stone.

"About that."

"... Oh really..."

Die groaned to give up. The salary from the Mizweeri family is excessive for the die, but it does not extend to redeeming the charm stone. Above all, given the current situation, it is also suspicious how long I could have served the Mizwieri family.

"... Die knows how magic can be exercised?

Inquiry inadvertently thrown.

"Weaving demon particles, right? Was it called configuration?

Alvina nodded satisfactorily as Die answered by pulling out his vague knowledge.

"Yes. There are demon particles circulating in the world, aren't there? It's magic to call on this to make a difference in the world"

Silver particles, named Demons.

Now the breath of the Lord God, also known as the pieces of life, that fall asleep in the land of Maboba, they dwell in all things and circle the world. If demons bump into each other, sparks scatter in the universe. Sometimes they become water if they bond.

Demons don't just circulate the world, they also dwell in matter. It's called intrinsic magic.

Demons and matter - when it comes to people, flesh - exist next to each other, influencing each other. For example, when the intrinsic magic is high, the wound heals quickly and it is difficult to get sick. Sometimes excellence in a kind of talent.

Particles that we can only see in our own eyes, but they do. That's the demon. The magician must be good at seeing this particle, gathering demons and creating a certain form by weaving them. And what takes shape appears in the world as magic while creating effects.

"The demon particles are always moving. I'll call that over here and shape it for you. I describe that as constituting, knitting, weaving, but in a way that can be done, the effect of magic determines. Something to create and stabilize that magical effect, Formation. And the ceremony."

"Speaking of which, I don't really know how magic is different from magic."

"There are formations of things to write about to sustain the effect. What defines an effect is a surgical formula."

"... a little more, easy to understand"

"Well, for example, if there was a box like this,"

Let Alvina draw a rectangle to the universe with her fingers. It's about her head size.

"In the box, paint with adhesive. Round, triangle, whatever."

"... Yes"

"There, when you pour sand into it and throw it away in the contents, at the adhesive, the sand sticks to it and the painting floats to the bottom of the box, right?

"Ah."

It's called a sand painting. Colored sand is sometimes sold as a toy for children.

"Sand is the devil. Keep the sand on, the adhesive is forming. The pattern you want to draw, or what specifies the effect in the case of witchcraft, is the formula."

"Heh, that's what you meant"

Nor have I ever been wrong in my interpretations, but this way when I am explained to a professional person, I find that I only really understood vaguely.

"Only, even if it's a story"

Alvina put it in front and continued explaining.

"The real principle is a little different... Think of something called a lucrative stone as a very powerful adhesive. The more pure you are, the more sand you can put on it. The magic of transmission is so powerful that you think there's sand."

"So we need pure attractive stones," he said.

"Yeah. That's the thing"

Here, who showed understanding, Alvina smiled and apologized.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh? No, you don't have to apologize. Why should I apologize?

"But I think I made him expect something."

The words of the sorcerer, who seemed sorry, were discerning, and stuck in words. Die lay down his face, trying to hide the change in his expression from her when he pointed at the figure.

"... well, I'm just impressed that there's such a technique."

I'm not lying. I didn't know there was a way to interact with people far away.

"Sort of."

"Yes."

Nod, then raise your gaze. Alvina, who had a cheek wand on the table, pointed to the charm stone as she glanced at the die.

"Then apologize, I'll give it to you"

casual words as if even candy balls were giving them away.

Die peeled his eyes in amazement.

"Ha!? You can't have it. It's like this!

"Take it."

"No. I'm not asking you to apologize or anything like that."

"It's okay."

A soft but unacceptable voice reached Die's ear. Stare back at Alvina. She was smiling with her hands combined on the table.

"Hey Die. No one ever meets me more than once by chance. It is on the fringe of something that we have faced each other twice in such a short time. That's why I wanted you to have it."

"For what?

"To have tea with you again"

"Thank you for waiting"

Arrange the confectionery and tea Alvina ordered on the table in such a way that the supplying daughter is not busy. Sweet aroma with sugar-colored baked confectionery.

Die stared at Alvina, smiling flashly across the flowers grown in a vase on the table. This way, surrounding tea and confectionery reminds me of when I was taken care of at her home. Even then, they were facing each other across the arranged table of dishes she had made. She was always in a good mood to look at us.

And.

What the hell, why, she's...

"One thing I want to ask you."

Die opened his mouth in anticipation of the time when his paying daughter left with a gratuity. It was because I remembered why I was now in this seat with Alvina.

"Let me ask you a question first."

Alvina presses the die with a trick. She went on to ask Die in a terribly serious voice.

"Die, you, since when?

Alvina's question is vague.

"... when, from?

Ask back to explore the meaning.

"Yeah."

Alvina combined her fingertips with her arms on the table and reworded the question.

"Since when, your body hasn't grown?

This time.

Die stretched his body and gazed at Alvina.

"You, like, fifteen, right? But the body is probably ten years old or growing from there. No?"

To her house, the day she stayed.

I was never old enough to talk about it.

Nonetheless, Alvina whispers to Die with conviction.

Why do you think your body remains a child?

"... why do you think that?

"You're a good magician, you're a good magician."

Alvina put her assembled fingertips on her lips and distorted her rosy lips into the shape of the Three Suns and Moons. For the first time in that smile, I learn how inexperienced I am.

"You can put it away. But I'm not going to tell anyone."

Unexpectedly dusty remarks, such as my own mistaken thoughts. In common sense, it would be an unlikely thought that a person's body would stop growing, etc.

"... yes"

Zero sighs, Die affirmed Alvina's words.

"My body, as Alvey says, has stopped since after ten years. You won't grow tall, and whatever you do, you won't get meat on you."

Groaning like a monologue, Die looked down at his own body. Thin body that remains weak. Not even a child at all. It's the body that stepped at the tip of the stairs to the adults and stopped there.

My mother died, from that day on, the body that stopped time.

-... because of this body, I had to leave the flower district.

"Poor thing."

Alvina narrows her eyes in pain.

"It would be very hard to be distorted from the way it should be"

"That's not true."

Reflectively, Die was denying Alvina's words.

"... because there were a lot of people who could help. I'm not unhappy."

"Hard things and misfortunes aren't always the same.... it's up to you what you think."

"... in the bathroom, prepared by you without mistake is also the magician's inquiry, what is it?

What was in the cage.

It shouldn't have been there if it had been.

Alvina doesn't answer. It just makes me smile bitterly at Die's bitterness.

"Hey Die. You're hiding something about that body, aren't you? You don't even know Heath, do you?

"Sounds like..."

"When you want to talk to me about something, use it"

Look at the charm stone shown to Alvina. The blue luminous stone emits a calm light in the sun.

"I don't know how to use it."

"Of course I'll teach you."

Alvina, who undertook at ease, mysteriously continued her words.

"Die, I, I'm not just giving you this for sympathy. You're flat out with cheap sympathy from people who don't know what's going on, right?

"Well, why?"

"It's the first thing I said. When you're free, and if you can tea, be happy, that's all. … confirmation of your body means you don't need any extra feelings. … or, on the contrary, I might have cautioned you."

When people are slightly neglected, they often say, Alvina frowns at the bitter smile. The expression showed that she didn't step into this situation with mild connotations. The fact that she reveals she knows the truth must be a labor against her own die.

Die took up the charm stone that was brilliant on the table and gently pressed it against his chest.

"Thank you"

Alvina breaks her face by leaking a similar exhale to relief.

"No. Welcome.... then let's eat. The tea must have cooled down."

"Alvey."

Take up the tea utensil that leaves a remnant of the hot air on the edge and stop Alvina from mouthing it. Suprisingly and instantly Alvina, Die asked the question, "This is the last time."

"Alvey doesn't really want to get involved with people, does he?

In the middle of the wilderness, her house is trying to hide and sneak. I don't have any visitors. If coincidences did not overlap, we would not have visited her house.

The life of a woman who is trying to escape from a man's eyes is that of a deserter, itself.

"And yet, why, with me?

Trying to get involved, do you?

The sound of the touch of the ceramics echoes. It was the sound of Alvina putting the tea bowl back on the plate.

Ripples spread over the water of tea, which has been reduced by about half. A shadow dwells in the mage's flax eyes staring at it.

"I wonder if it was similar."

Let the mockery sound similar, and Alvina answers.

Answers similar to asking yourself.

"Oh, or"

With a sense of loneliness characteristic of what gasps for distortion, Alvina's voice sounded fine and hustly.

"I was tired of it, I wonder..."