Chapter 24
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It feels cramped…
And I’m so tired from not sleeping properly.
When I get up, Elenien looks at me blankly, while Deruna smirks slightly and then closes her eyes again.
I need to build the fertilizer factory…
One day’s delay makes a huge difference in profit…
Ugh.
Water…
When I get out of bed and step outside, the Water Spirit is there.
“Give me some water…”
The spirit creates a water orb in midair, and I drink it before heading to an empty warehouse to set up.
Since those two are occupying my room, I can’t work there.
I resume constructing the fertilizer generator I hadn’t been able to finish, adding operating keys with expiration dates to each generator.
After completing two generators, I let out a long sigh.
“Ugh, I’m exhausted… I can’t do any more.”
I decide to finish the remaining one tomorrow.
When I leave the warehouse, the spirits in the yard bounce excitedly upon seeing me.
“Hello.”
Elenien’s feelings toward me have become obvious, and even the spirits are influenced by it.
Of course… if the situation were reversed…
‘We’ve never fought, not even once.’
Mother’s words suddenly come to mind.
The saying, “A couple’s quarrel is like cutting water with a knife,” also pops into my head as I cautiously glance at the spirits.
A floating Water Spirit tilts its head.
I must never make her angry…
But as if my concern is amusing, the water bird flutters over and playfully rubs against me.
When I welcome the Water Spirits flying toward me, my shoulders somehow feel damp.
“……”
Father, who is tidying up the yard, sees me and laughs.
“Hahaha.”
“Don’t laugh at me, Father.”
The Earth Spirits are helping Father with his work.
“It’s good to see you doing well at the Academy.”
“Of course, Father.”
“Why?”
“Please give me some land.”
Father nods easily and says.
“There’s an undeveloped forest in the northeast of the village. Clear out any monsters there and settle. You can handle that much now, can’t you?”
Even as my father, he’d be criticized if he gave his son land without conditions, so he’s telling me to clear it first.
But that forest is teeming with monsters…
“Father…”
“Don’t get too emotional.”
“You’re asking me to take care of a place where you’ve only managed to keep the monsters from coming out! I’m not even asking for much! Just let me borrow some unused land on the outskirts of the village! This is for the village’s benefit too!”
“Now that you’re grown, handle your own matters like the eldest son you are.”
“That forest is crawling with monsters! You wouldn’t even think of clearing it yourself and have only been managing it to prevent damage to the village!”
“I was too lazy to bother. Why would I have retired from being a mercenary and taken on running this village if I was going to clear that forest? Running the village is already plenty of work. Soon, I’ll turn this place into a city so the villagers can live comfortably, and maybe they’ll start calling me a lord.”
“A lord?”
Father mumbles something to himself as if he finds it odd.
“Didn’t I tell you?”
“No, you don’t teach me much to begin with.”
“Haha, it’s a father’s way of letting you live with a light heart.”
“Then why are you making me clear the forest?”
“You’re an adult now. Anyway, I’ll be busy for a while dealing with the title and territory matters.”
Hmm… Does that mean I’ll become a noble now?
Thinking about the struggles I went through as a commoner at the Academy makes me feel a bit cheated.
Maybe I should have enrolled at the Academy a little later.
Then again, staying home wasn’t very comfortable either.
Too much interference!
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“No.”
“Then take the spirits with you. I’m busy.”
“Yes.”
I gather the spirits watching Father and head back to my room.
As I try to rest because I’m tired, Elenien looks at me.
“Se-Serupe, are you back?”
“…What are you doing?”
The mysterious image of an elf feels completely shattered.
Elenien had my clothes draped over her head. I nudged her aside and lay on the bed.
I was too tired from working without proper sleep yesterday…
Elenien crawled over and whispered in my ear.
“Honey…”
I’m still not used to her calling me that.
When I pretend not to hear, she giggles softly, as if my face turned red.
“Fufufu…”
She giggles like that a few more times, and when it seems like I’m not falling asleep, she starts humming wordlessly.
Listening to her soft humming, I feel strangely at peace, as though I’m lying in a tranquil forest, and before I know it, I drift off to sleep.
“……”
How long did I sleep?
When I wake up feeling well-rested for the first time in a while, Elenien is staring at me with her signature blank expression.
“Are you getting up…?”
“Yes.”
Elenien, as if unwilling to let me go, hugs me tightly.
Oh, come on…
After lying down a little longer, I get up, and Deruna enters the room.
“Serupe.”
“What is it, Deruna?”
“Hehe.”
Sitting beside me and stroking my hair, Deruna says.
“Karon is here.”
“……”
I froze, unable to process the short sentence, and tried to run, but Deruna grabbed me.
“Don’t worry. I already talked to him, so he won’t kill you. If Karon dares to harm my husband, I won’t let him off.”
“Sigh…”
I’m not used to Deruna suddenly being so nice, but I feel slightly relieved.
As I let out a sigh, Karon crouches in front of me, glaring as if he’s incredibly dissatisfied.
No, more than dissatisfied—his expression is terribly twisted.
Seeing Karon look like a monster from a horror comic, I screamed.
“Aaaahhh!”
“You claim you were almost killed by bandits and dragged me all the way here while I was resting peacefully. You sure have it easy, Serupe.”
“S-Save me!”
Deruna hugged me and smiled brightly.
“You know I love you, right, Serupe?”
“W-What?”
Deruna shoved me.
“Aaahhhh!”
Before I knew it, Karon had grabbed me.
“Derunaaaaa!”
“Fufu, the continent’s greatest swordsman is offering to be your teacher, so what’s there to complain about, Serupe? I’ll take your complaints later, so off you go, husband.”
“This village is quite a nice place to rest. If I train my disciple and play around, all my stress will disappear. Honestly, flying through the air with a cannonball isn’t exactly a pleasant experience.”
Traitor!
I’ll get back at you later!
When Karon dragged me out of the window, the mercenaries were already waiting.
Naturally, they don’t look happy either.
“Um… Karon?”
“Haha. Talking too much will only tire you out.”
I shut my mouth because I know that making noise will only make him run me into the ground later.
“There are quite a few monsters in the northeast forest. It seems like a great place for training, so I’ll be counting on your cooperation.”
“Y-Yes…”
Karon drags me all the way to the village entrance.
At least I can be thankful that no one else saw this humiliating spectacle.
When we reached the northeast forest, the mercenaries set up a camp and build a palisade while Karon tossed me to the ground.
Then he crouched in front of me.
“I entrusted you with a priceless swordsmanship manual… and you almost got yourself killed because you neglected your training?”
“Haha…”
“And from the looks of it, you haven’t done any training while I was gone either, have you? Fertilizer, you say? Fertilizer? Instead of making something so useless, if you had trained with a sword, the entire world would be at your feet! Fertilizer, Serupe?”
“Yes… yes…”
“Do you want to become fertilizer?”
His chilling words made me lower my head.
“I-I was making fertilizer with my sword! Yes, I was researching how to make fertilizer using a sword, haha!”
“Hmm, well, that’s more like it. Seeing your mindset change makes me feel like teaching you is worthwhile.”
“……”
Why is this happening to me? Sob…
If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have gone to the Academy.
“I can hear the gears turning in your head.”
“N-No, sir.”
“I didn’t expect the topic of marriage to come up so soon. Deruna must really like you. But don’t get the wrong idea—I can’t stand the sight of you hiding under a woman’s skirt for protection.”
“Yes…”
I never had any intention of hiding under her skirt in the first place!
“Well, let’s get started. Hahaha.”
“Aaahhh!”
Karon actually rolled me into the forest.
* * *
The mercenaries and Karon gathered around and set up a camp.
“You didn’t tell him, did you?”
“No.”
“Ugh… I didn’t explain it properly, and when he tried to spar with his father-in-law, I was so shocked.”
“That brat isn’t at a point where he can be overconfident. If Deruna’s skill level is a 50, he’s not even at a 10 yet. If his skills suddenly jumped to 5,000, would that even be his own strength? He’d be a perfect candidate for dying a pointless death out there.”
“If it weren’t for Serupe, we would’ve all been dead when we were surrounded by the Green Forest Alliance. Four of their beasts showed up.”
Actually, there were five, but the local lord died unfairly, so there’s no point in mentioning it.
“If we weren’t careful, we might’ve ended up killing each other without even recognizing friend from foe.”
“That’s true… I was so terrified I almost passed out foaming at the mouth.”
“Even now, I get nightmares just thinking about it. The killing intent… it was real. Not even a hundred-year-old war demon on the battlefield could have exuded such murderous intent.”
“Please, never use that shock tactic again.”
“Yawn, as if I’d stab you guys. Personally, I found it reassuring.”
“Then why don’t you take charge of that kid? Let Deruna know.”
“W-What?”
Kals, who had been playing coy, looked like he was about to cry.
“Haha, you idiot.”
“Tsk tsk.”
In truth, Karon had already decided to assign Kals, the most skilled among them, to Serupe.
“Well, why not? The stronger the person you serve, the better it is, after all.”
“That’s true.”
“When I first started following Lady Deruna, I never expected things to be this easy.”
“If it weren’t for her leadership in the mountains, we’d all be dead.”
“We’ve gotten a lot stronger too.”
Karon clapped his hands.
“Enough chatter. If that kid stirs up the monsters and they spill out of the forest, you’re responsible for making sure the village doesn’t suffer any damage. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Yes, sir!”
Even with the order to defend against monsters, the mercenaries leisurely pulled out some liquor.
Karon didn’t bother stopping them.
“Haha, let’s drink and die another day!”
“Sounds great!”
“Should we catch a wild boar or something?”
The monsters were as good as dead already…
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