Chapter 5 – I tried doing housework with time magic

After breakfast, I decide to help Miss Reina by doing laundry.

(…Now let’s test my magic.)

I want to check how much magic this body can do, and doing laundry is actually a perfect way to test my time magic.

Now that Miss Reina is gone, I can close my eyes and focus on the magic circuits on my whole body.

Magic circuits are like blood vessels, where magic energy flows.

Magic aptitude and the amount of magic energy one can hold is decided by the shape of these magic circuits. This means they pretty much dictate everyone’s magic talent.

Mine are abnormal to the point of being called twisted, meaning I can’t use any magic.

Or at least that’s what I thought at this time.

Later I discovered I actually do have aptitude for a certain type of magic. Something which was always thought of as a fantasy. Something that didn’t actually exist.

Time magic.

“All right…”

I grasp the magic energy flowing into my body from the outside, and grab a piece of clothing soaking in a tub of cleaning liquid. It’s something I normally use when I’m training with the sword, so it’s covered with dirt and sweat.

“Time, turn back.”

I designate a target and formulate a technique, and a magic circle that looks like a dial of a clock made of light is projected in the air.

Clack clack clack clack…!

The hands of the light clock rapidly move counter-clockwise, and the dirt on the clothes I’m holding starts disappearing.

This is known as a ‘Retrogression Technique’, and serves to rewind the time of a specific target.

“That should be enough…”

I stop it around the time when this was new.

If I’m not careful, I’ll over-do it and take it back to before it was even a piece of clothing.

(Good. It looks like I can use this magic from the future no problem.)

At this time, I couldn’t hold any magic energy, so I couldn’t do any magic at all.

But that wasn’t because of my body, it was due to a certain power of mine.

That’s why I worked out a way to use external magic energy to activate magic. I use magic energy in the atmosphere and matter.

If I have sources of magic energy like magic stones, I can probably even use great spells like I did in the future.

I think about this while doing this magic test called laundry.

“Ah, everything’s done already.”

All the clothes are as good as new before I know it.

I’m sure Miss Reina will be happy too when she sees how clean everything is. I was never good at housework, so I was never very helpful to her.

But I guess I should still hang these out to dry. I can’t just say I did the laundry with time magic.

“Hmm, now I have time to spare.”

It’s probably a bit unnatural that I’m done already. Laundry is usually physical labor that takes time.

But on the other hand, I’m really bad at ‘killing time’, probably because of my nature as a time mage.

Time is power, so time is precious.

(I guess I should test my time magic more and clean the house too.)

And so I do, before figuring it’s the appropriate time to go talk to Miss Reina, who is in the kitchen preparing lunch.

“Are you here Miss… Oh, El? You’re here too?”

El is here too, wearing an apron and awkwardly holding a kitchen knife.

It looks like she’s cooking something.

“It’s your birthday, right? I’m preparing a nice dinner with mom.”

“Eh… I can’t wait.”

I had no idea they were preparing a special birthday dinner for me on this day.

The first time around, this house was destroyed during the calamity…

“Oh, Chrom?”

Miss Reina takes a pot away from the fire and walks over to me.

“What is it? Doing the laundry by yourself really is too tough, isn’t it?”

“Ah, no. I actually came here to say I’m done.”

“…Eh? Already? Did you make sure to get all the dirt?”

She says with a suspicious look.

I thought I waited long enough before coming here, but I guess I’m still early.

“Hum, I think it would be faster if you checked it yourself.”

“No, I’m not accusing you of slacking off or anything…”

She says while heading to the courtyard.

“Chrom? Laundry is something that takes time. You have to pick the right liquids for different kinds of stains, and keep smacking and smacking and smacking…”

She lectures me while we walk, but when she sees the clothes hung out to dry in the courtyard, she freezes.

“O-oh…”

“Oh?”

“Shocking white!?” (1)

She yells, hysteric.

El peeks out from behind her mother and her eyes also open wide.

“Wah, incredible… Everything looks new.”

“H-h-h-how did you do this? There were stains that I couldn’t get off no matter how much I tried that aren’t there anymore!”

“P-please calm down.”

“I can’t calm down! I see a cleaning revolution before my eyes! Is this really possible!?”

“I-isn’t it!?”

I’ve never seen Miss Reina lose her composure like this.

I just thought she’d be happy to see everything so clean, and didn’t think any deeper than that. But of course, this must be a very abnormal sight for someone who has been doing housework for many years.

“How did you do it!? In such a short amount of time!? Think of everyone in the world who does laundry!”

“Hum, it’s a trade secret.”

“…! Of course… It should stay a secret. This power is simply too mighty. If the secret leaks, the laundry world might even send assassins.”

“Is it really that serious…”

Laundry is scary.

“In any case, you are a master of laundry, and I have nothing more to teach you…”

“Ah, yes.”

“I know. How about you do some cleaning next?”

“Eh, hum…”

“There must be a lot I can teach you in regards to cleaning.”

Miss Reina says while turning back to the house, and…”

“The house is shining!?”

Every single reaction is so big.

And from behind Miss Reina, El peeks out again, and wide-eyed again.

“Uwah, the house is sparkling… What happened to this house?”

“Eh, hum, I cleaned the outer walls while I was at it…”

“While you were at it!?”

Well… I just turned back time with time magic magic, so it was pretty simple.

“Ah… Ahh…”

Miss Reina crumbles to the ground.

“W-what am I seeing… Compared to this shine, the cleaning I have been doing is nothing more than trash…”

“You don’t have to go that far…”

“…Chrom!”

She grabs my shoulders and stares at me with a serious expression.

“Marry El right now, and live with us forever.”

“M-m-m-mom!?”

There was this whole thing, but in the end, I safely end my part in helping with the housework.

“Now, if I remember correctly, next is…”

I think back to a typical day in my youth.

If I’m going to live in this time from now on, I can’t do anything too erratic.

Usually after helping Miss Reina I would… I know.

(I would train with Mister Sirius.)

That’s perfect, because I want to check how good this body is with a sword.

I go grab my training sword in my room, and head to the backyard.

◇

“Chrom? Are you already here for today’s training?”

“Yes. I’m done with today’s housework already.”

When I get to the backyard I see Mister Sirius doing his own personal training.

El’s father is such a skillful swordsman, that he was once known as ‘Holy Sword’.

He trains every single day, even after retiring from the imperial court.

He’s gentle-mannered, but his aura when he grabs a sword is enough for even current me to shrink back.

Being trained by him is part of my daily routine.

“…Nostalgic…”

“Hn? What did you say?”

“Ah, no, nothing.”

“Really? Then… Let’s start by doing the usual basic movement check with the target.”

“Yes.”

I respond, before grabbing the sword hanging from my waist and facing the straw man.

(…Now let’s see how well this body can swing a sword.)

(1) – This is a reference to a Japanese laundry detergent.