"Grand Madam, the Young Master has returned."
Just as their lively conversation began to wind down, Moritz arrived home at the perfect moment.
"My, that was sooner than expected. I thought it would be evening."
Surprised yet delighted by his early return, Marlene rose from her seat to welcome him.
Elsa followed suit.
"I will go greet him too....Everyone else, please move to the reception room."
Figuring that proper formal greetings would be better suited for the reception room rather than the living room, Elsa asked the others to move ahead while she went to the front entrance to meet her brother.
"Welcome home."
"Welcome home, Fritz-nii-sama."
"I'm home, Mother... Wait, Elsa?! You came?"
"Mm....Congratulations on the birth of your child....I'll give you a proper greeting again later, but first, right here."
Elsa had simply wanted to see the face of her eldest brother, Moritz, for the first time in a long while. But then...
"...Is work very hard?"
Moritz's face looked completely worn out.
"Ah, yeah... I pushed myself quite a bit so I could take some time off, you see..."
"Still, your body doesn't belong to just you anymore. You have to realize that."
"She is right, Moritz. You are becoming a father now, after all."
Marlene offered her own word of caution as well.
"Yeah... That is true, but..."
At that point, Elsa spoke sharply and decisively.
"No 'buts.' Fatigue is clearly building up inside you. At this rate, you'll collapse. This isn't from your younger sister; it's advice from a Reichsarzt."
Faced with this, even the workaholic Moritz seemed a bit chastened.
"I see... I'll be careful."
Though her brother still seemed somewhat noncommittal, the front entrance was no place for a lengthy discussion.
Without further ado, Elsa accompanied him to his familiar room while Marlene headed back to the reception room.
"Still, you came back faster than expected, didn't you?"
"Ah... Actually, I stopped by Jin-dono's estate in Loizart."
"Eh?"
"I had hoped to hitch a ride on an airship if luck was on my side, but he wasn't there so conveniently, of course."
"..."
"However, Butler D-dono lent me a Golem automobile, which made traveling that much faster."
"Is that so?"
"Hm? Didn't you rush over after receiving word from Butler D-dono as well?"
"Th-That's true, but I hadn't heard anything about lending a Golem automobile."
It seemed Moritz had indeed dropped by Jin's estate in Loizart.
Elsa instantly assembled the timeline in her head.
The 5th: At 6:00 AM, the baby was born, so a pigeon post was sent from Ekishi to Loizart. Moritz learned of it at the Royal Palace around 10:00 AM. He applied for leave immediately.
The 6th: Approval was granted around 11:00 AM. A three-day leave from the 7th to the 9th. During his lunch break, he went to Jin's estate, but Jin was absent. However, he was lent a Golem automobile. At this point, Jin's side also learned of the baby's birth. Word was sent via manaphone to Jin Castle (where local time was around 4:00 PM)—at least, that was the official story. Elsa hurriedly prepared for departure. Since Jin learned of it at the same time (as the cover story went), he conveniently made a request to Deus Ex Machina during a telecommunication conference to give Elsa a ride. Elsa prepared in a rush.
The 7th: Elsa arrived in Loizart. And that led up to now. Moritz departed Loizart early in the morning. He drove the borrowed Golem automobile to Koju, crossed Magiroots by boat from there (having the Golem automobile transported aboard as well), and made landfall at Sagina. From Sagina, he drove the Golem automobile once more and arrived home just now.
There were no contradictions in the timeline.
Elsa felt internally relieved.
Now, since Moritz was the type to change his own clothes, Elsa waited outside the room for three minutes. Dressed in everyday clothes, Moritz emerged.
"Right now, Fritz-nii-sama and Gloria-san are here as well."
"Yeah, the butler told me. Let's go greet them."
Side by side, the brother and sister headed for the reception room.
Feeling as though she had returned to her girlhood days for a brief moment, Elsa walked the short path steeped in nostalgia.
"Big Brother, congratulations on the birth of your first child."
"Brother-in-law Moritz, congratulations."
Before Elsa could speak, Fritz and Gloria offered their congratulatory remarks.
After them, Elsa stepped forward.
"My Master could not make it in time due to pressing matters that could not be set aside, so I have come ahead of him. Moritz-niisama, congratulations on the birth of your first child."
She gave her formal greeting.
Knowing Jin's wide circle of acquaintances, Moritz, Marlene, Fritz, and Gloria said nothing regarding his absence.
The congratulatory gift Fritz had brought consisted of pharmaceutical supplies. They were high-potency items that had recently begun production in Avalon.
Of course, they were incomparable to those made on Hourai Island, but they were more than sufficient for general use.
"Oh, I am truly grateful for this. It will benefit the people of our domain as well."
As the lord of a small domain, Moritz paid close attention to the health of his populace. His own frail constitution was part of the reason behind this.
And from Elsa came rolls of magisilk fabric—one thick roll and one thin roll. If put on the open market, they were items that would easily command a price of several hundred thousand Toll or more.
"Oh, this is marvelous. Ingrid will surely be delighted."
Pure white magisilk that could be freely dyed and tailored as desired. Moritz accurately recognized its immense value.
As a side note, although magisilk was sturdier than regular silk, it was only about five times stronger in tensile strength and was not excessively hard (if it were too hard, it would lose that supple texture), meaning ordinary people could work with it.
If it were GSS (ground spider silk), however, its shear strength would be on a completely different level, making it impossible for ordinary people to process.
To draw a comparison, cutting it would be far more difficult than attempting to cut cloth woven from the aramid fibers used in body armor and stab-proof vests with ordinary scissors.
As an additional side note, because Moritz also ate some of the Persica, apulul, and citran Elsa had brought, his accumulated fatigue seemed to have improved slightly.
And then came the important question.
"So, Moritz-niisama. If you've decided on the baby's name, please tell us."
"O-Oh, right....Then I'll announce it in Ingrid's room."
And so, with Moritz leading the way, Elsa, Fritz, Gloria, Marlene, and the others headed for Ingrid's room.
"Master, welcome home."
When Moritz opened the door, a smiling Ingrid greeted him.
"I'm home. I've decided on this child's name, so I'd like to announce it."
"Yes, please let me hear it."
"Right....I've decided to name this child 'Henrietta.'"
"That is a lovely name, Dear."
"Mm, a good name."
Henrietta Randol. That became the name of Moritz's eldest daughter.
"That's great, Big Brother."
"It's a wonderful name."
"Henrietta-chan... Etta-chan? Or perhaps Rietta-chan?"
Fritz and Gloria agreed that it was a fine name, and Marlene was already brainstorming nicknames.