Disappointing Teleportation Magic ~ Even Though The Movement Distance Is Only 1 Millimeter, I Will Rise Through Ingenuity ~ - Chapter 3.3

It seems that the east side of the castle belongs to the first queen’s faction, while the west side belongs to the second queen’s faction.

Come to think of it, the dormitory given to my classmates was on the east side of the castle grounds.

“Excuse me, I’m Udai from the miscellaneous staff. Is Ekkels-sama here?”

“Oh, Udai. Come in, don’t be shy!”

When the supervisor bowed and explained the purpose of the visit, a reply came from the back of the room.

The decoration department’s workshop seemed to be a room handling props for theater productions, with maintenance of armor, dresses, pots, sculptures, and the like being carried out in an adjacent space to a large warehouse.

Following the supervisor’s lead, I bowed repeatedly as I walked, and there was a man in his forties standing in front of a portrait so large I had to look up.

“Hey, Udai. I’m sorry for calling you all the way here. Is that the cleaning person you mentioned?”

“Yes, I’m Yuto. Um, nice to meet you…”

As instructed by the supervisor, I bent my left knee and placed my right hand on my back and my left hand on my stomach, bowing my head.

“Ah, you don’t have to be so formal. You were summoned by Princess Aurelia, but you weren’t confident in being a combatant because you couldn’t use magic as you wanted… right?”

“Yes, I was able to use teleportation magic, but I didn’t have the confidence to use it as a combatant because I could only teleport a short distance.”

“But you used that teleportation magic to clean the kitchen amazingly… right?”

“Yes, I realized that I could easily remove stubborn dirt with teleportation magic.”

“Fantastic! It’s admirable that you didn’t forget to come up with new ideas even in adversity.”

“Thank you very much. I just wanted to be as helpful as possible.”

“And who was that for?”

Ekkels-san’s tone suddenly changed, sending a chill down my spine.

“I-I wish to be of service to this country.”

“I see, I see… Then, for the sake of this country, I would like to ask you to clean this portrait.”

“Eh, such a splendid portrait like this…”

The portrait of what seemed to be a middle-aged royal figure appeared to be about eight tatami mats in size. It was housed in an impressive frame but seemed to be quite an old piece, with dust gathering upon closer inspection.

“There was someone who specialized in painting restoration, but they fell ill. They were stubborn and refused to teach their techniques to others.”

“So, does that mean there’s no one available to clean the painting now?”

“Exactly. What do you think? Can you do it?”

At a glance, the painting seemed to be an oil painting. Layers of paint created countless textures, with dirt particles embedded within.

“I… I mean, the method I used with my teleportation magic for cleaning involved recognizing both the wall and the dirt with magic, then teleporting only the dirt away. The kitchen walls and floors had few irregularities, and the difference between the dirt and the material was clear. But looking at this painting, the paint is a mixture of oil and pigment particles, and the dirty parts seem to be a mix of soot and grease…”

“I see, the boundary between the paint and the dirt is ambiguous?”

“Yes, and since this seems to be a valuable piece, attempting to clean it immediately and failing might ruin the artwork.”

“In that case, does that mean you won’t accept our request…?”

“No, not exactly. Are there any paintings where it wouldn’t matter if there were mistakes?”

“Ah, I see. So you want to try it out first?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Very well, I’ll prepare a suitable painting for you to practice on. Establish a cleaning method using that, then proceed with cleaning this portrait.”

“Understood.”

And so, until the cleaning of the portrait was completed, I was temporarily assigned to the decoration department. Even during this assignment, I would continue the kitchen cleaning routine once every ten days.