The usual evening chat had ended, and with nothing left to do but sleep, we moved to the bedroom.

Normally, I’d just get straight into bed, but because of what we talked about during the day, I thought I’d take a look at the room’s lighting.

By the way, the lighting in Seriana’s bedroom is a wall-mounted type.

At the 【Hideout】, magic tool lighting isn’t necessary, and at the mansion, someone else usually turns it on for me, so to be honest, I haven’t really looked at it much myself.

I’ve seen the kind of lighting installed in hallways or the ceilings of halls often enough—I’ve even helped with maintenance sometimes—but…

“…Hmph.”

While floating around the light fixed to the wall, I was flipping the magic tool’s switch on and off, checking its illumination range, and trying out a few things… Magic tools use magic crystals as a power source, and they require the user’s mana to activate.

Apparently, you can switch the power source from individual magic crystals to a system that’s managed for the whole mansion, but there’s no getting around the initial mana loss when activating them.

That said, the mana required is minimal—just enough that even someone who can’t use magic can still activate it. Even so, doing this repeatedly like I just did does consume a fair amount.

Did I just use up the equivalent of four or five light spells I normally cast?

My mana capacity isn’t particularly large, but thanks to the effect of 【Prayer】, my mana recovers almost immediately after use, so I can manage fine. But for someone without that kind of mana reserve, this might be quite taxing.

…Well, most of the expected guests are nobles who can use magic, so I guess it’s fine?

But what about the servants who work here…?

In this town, the few commoners capable of working in a noble’s mansion—ours included—have mostly already been hired by the noble families. So… will they be okay?

“…Why are you stuck to the ceiling?”

As I was deep in thought while glaring at the light, I heard Seriana’s voice.

Looking in her direction, I saw Seriana, already prepared for bed, standing with her arms crossed and an exasperated look on her face.

“I was just checking the lighting… Do you think the servants get worn out from this when cleaning or something?”

“Worn out…? Ah, you mean mana consumption. Come to think of it, I’ve never really considered that.”

She tilted her head and began thinking it over.

Of course, the servants who are able to work in the lord’s mansion, even if their jobs are modest, are the elite among commoners. Most of them have above-average mana.

So just because they’re fine doesn’t mean others would be. They’re not really a useful reference point.

“…Maybe it’d be a good idea to consult with Fiora about it.”

Even after I got down from the ceiling and sat on the bed, Seriana was still thinking, and that’s the answer she came up with.

“So… basically, you don’t really know.”

Seriana’s always lived in the lord’s mansion, even back when she was in Zelkis.

She’s always been in the best environment, so I guess it’s natural she wouldn’t really know.

Well, there’s still time, so maybe I’ll talk to Fiora and think through the options.

◇

And so, the next day.

Break time had ended in the office, and the afternoon work was in full swing.

Everyone looked busy with their tasks.

Riana’s doing great today too.

And I was asking Fiora about the question I’d thought of last night regarding magic tools.

Apparently, one solution is to connect them to the mansion’s centralized system, allowing all lights to activate at once.

If they’re powered by the magic source installed in the mansion, then the servants wouldn’t have to expend their own mana.

Unfortunately, this system doesn’t allow control over which specific room’s magic tools are activated, but adopting it would expand the range of people we could hire.

That method, however, isn’t very widespread.

Because it requires installing a separate circuit throughout the entire mansion, the installation and maintenance costs are quite high.

That part depends on how the Müller family, who’ll be footing the bill, feels about it.

With that, our discussion about the lighting wrapped up, and we moved on to the next topic—but then…

“Excuse me!”

A messenger suddenly entered the office.

That in itself wasn’t unusual—it happened all the time—but this one was fully armed.

Judging by his appearance, he wasn’t one of the soldiers assigned to guard the town or mansion. He’d clearly come from outside the town. Normally, he’d switch with another soldier at the Knight Order headquarters before coming here. But for him to come here directly like this… does that mean this is an important report?

“What could it be?”

He handed a letter to Teresa, but there didn’t seem to be any tension in the air, so it probably wasn’t anything like an incident. Still, what’s going on?

“A direct messenger from outside… I can guess what this is about.”

Fiora caught my muttered thought and responded.

I couldn’t guess, but it looked like she could.

Hmm… Ah!

Could it be that the troops who were sent out are finally returning?

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sera・Blessing・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind’s Garment】

Blessed Item・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】+1【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy Eye】【Dragon Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】【Monkey’s Arm】・8 cards

Seriana・【Area Identification】・【】・0 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards