"Ahh..?"
Allen felt the dazzling sunlight through his eyelids and stirred.
Before long, he regained his consciousness. He felt aches all over his body and remembered where he was sleeping.
He peeled his face off the desk.
"Ah.. when did I fall asleep?"
He stretched his stiffened body out while he sat on the chair.
The fresh morning sun shone through the window.
Allen was in his study. Its walls were lined with bookshelves, and the books that couldn't fit on the shelves were piled up all over the floor.
Last night, he was holed up in here, thinking about something.
He had intended to stop at a right moment, but it seemed he got carried away until the very last minute and dozed off.
"That's unusual of me... But I had thought of so many ideas. It's worth the time."
On the desk where he had been lying, laid a closed notebook.
Allen held it up and grinned.
On the cover, it was written as follows :
Charlotte Training Plan : A List of Mischief (Tentative)
If Charlotte had seen it, her eyes would have popped out as she asked "What the heck is this!?"
Allen flipped through the pages. The pages were densely filled with his own writing. He gently traced the first line with his finger.
"The cake is a good idea. I got a good response."
A flower circle was marked on the line that read 'cake'.
To Allen, Charlotte was nothing more than a stranger he met by chance.
But all that changed yesterday.
Allen had promised to teach her all kinds of pleasures in the world.
She had responded well to yesterday's cakes.
She had eaten a total of three cakes, savouring them slowly. The rest of the cakes were being stored and would be eaten one by one every day.
Allen felt very good, he had never expected her to be so pleased with just cakes.
But... food alone was simply not enough.
"More... I need to do more and let her have a taste of the experience she has never had before!"
That's the reason he squeezed his brain, thinking of all sorts of ideas late into the night. And that's how this notebook came to be.
"Muahahaha... this is a brilliant plan thought from my genius brain! I'm certain it would work wonders for Charlotte! Let's review the list again!"
And thus, he went through the list.
What was written there was--
An essay on groundbreaking magic theory.
To use ridiculously valuable ingredients to create a magical tool.
To drive the fools who defy him into a full course of living hell.
Et cetera. et cetera.
"... Surely Charlotte wouldn't be pleased with this."
Only Allen would be happy about this.
The midnight excitement had produced nothing but garbage.
Allen tossed his notebook aside and got up from his chair.
"It can't be helped... I'll think about it again after getting some more sleep."
With that, he left his study.
"Ooh!"
"Ah!"
He ran into Charlotte.
Her eyes widened in surprise for a moment, and then, she lowered her head in sudden realization.
"Good morning, Allen. You're up early..."
"No. I simply fell asleep in my study."
"All night!? You shouldn't do that. It's not good for your health."
"That's why I'm going back to bed now."
Seeing her all flustered, Allen chuckled.
If she knew that Allen had stayed up all night thinking about ideas for Charlotte, she would have been even more dismayed.
And so, Allen decided not to say the reason.
"I won't be needing breakfast. Eat it on your own."
"All right. Shall I wake you up at noon?"
"Yes, please. By the way, what is that?"
"Oh, this? It's a broom."
It was only then he took notice of what Charlotte was holding in her hands.
It was a broom that should have been lying around in the shed. It was hardly used by him, eventually getting covered in dust. It seemed Charlotte had taken care of that matter.
Holding it in her hands with great care, she smiled at me.
"I thought I'd clean the entryway... would it pose a problem?"
"No, there's nothing wrong with that but... I didn't ask you to do all that?"