episode_0310

“thank you.”

“Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve driven at night, so it was exciting. Thank you for your hard work.”

“yes!”

what is this sound?

Because I had the window open, I could clearly hear the sounds coming from below.

A carriage stopped in front of our general store and someone got out of it.

Looking down from above, I noticed hair that was unusually bright on a dark night.

“What, you said you couldn’t come?”

I jumped up from my seat.

I closed the window and hurried down to the first floor.

And as soon as I opened the door to the general store, I saw Fran standing in front of me.

“oh!”

“What are you saying you’re not coming?”

I grabbed Fran’s wrist, who was startled, and held him in my arms.

Fran’s body, which came with cold energy, was pale and stiff.

“mister.”

“You must have been busy with church work, so how did you think of coming all the way here? “If you want to see me, just call me.”

“… … .”

Fran placed his forehead on my shoulder without saying a word.

“I was worried because I didn’t have time, so I finished work early today, so I came.”

“Is this because you finished early?”

“… yes.”

“You must have been working all week.”

“Because I was away for too long.”

“okay. Because being the head of a religious sect is not a position that just anyone can take. “You’ve been through a lot.”

Because he worked so hard in the military and at the church where he was on vacation, he probably didn’t have time to rest.

He would have to do more difficult work in the future, but his current condition did not seem to be good.

The face has become half in that short period of time.

The place where the plump breast fat used to be had disappeared, leaving only a slim jawline.

“Every time I see you, you seem to be getting thinner and thinner. Are you not taking care of your body at all?”

“Why don’t you take care of it? “I’m eating well.”

“It’s not just important to eat, you also have to rest.”

“I will take good care of it.”

“okay. It’s okay if you promised. “Let’s go inside.”

I came inside with Fran.

“Are you alone?”

“uh. “On the first day, Shine and Rebecca came, and Vine and Ariando stopped by for a moment.”

“I heard you were coming.”

“They said you were busy with church work.”

“yes. It was busy. I didn’t know, but many of the people I helped heal in the military came to the church and made donations. “I had no idea such a thing existed.”

“okay? “They are good people.”

“I felt good because it felt like what I did wasn’t meaningless.”

Fran came up to the second floor and sat down in his familiar seat.

“Would you like something to eat?”

“I feel a little sick after taking the carriage.”

“okay? “Then just drink some water.”

“yes. thank you.”

I brought Fran some water and sat down next to her.

“Still, it’s nice to see your face like this. “I was thinking that was because you said you weren’t coming.”

Isn’t the best way to check if you’re doing well is to see your face?

It seemed like Fran was having more trouble than I thought, but I was glad to see that he was doing well.

And the work of the church seemed to be progressing smoothly.

“I was worried that I might be a nuisance by coming too late.”

“What is a nuisance? “I would have welcomed you even if you came early in the morning.”

The problem was that even though Fran had come this far, he could only stay out for so long.

I was both thankful and pitiful for her, who had to come a long way to see her face for just a few hours.

“How have you been?”

“After I enlisted, the vacancy became quite large for a while. Because the children who always came and chattered away disappeared. I thought it was boring. Then something happened and I started worrying about it, and time passed quickly.”

So far, the other children had been talking about their experiences on the front line, but Fran, on the other hand, seemed to be curious about my daily life.

I was a little embarrassed because it was Fran’s first time asking, but since she said she was curious, I happily told her about my daily life.

“You’re still doing a great job.”

“Is that a big deal?”

“If it weren’t for you, there could have been a death at the academy. That student would have had to take on excessive responsibilities without being able to enjoy life properly at a young age. And the academy students who almost died unfairly were able to be safe.”

The biggest thing that happened recently was the Academy terrorist attack, so I couldn’t help but talk about it.

When I told Fran how I resolved the incident, he kept praising me.

It was awkward to be praised by a child, but I decided to accept it because I knew he was truly praising my actions.

“And what else happened?”

“Did I tell you about the North?”

“I think I vaguely heard about the North, but I don’t know the details of what happened.”

“Then I guess we should talk about that first. In fact, the reason the purifying liquid was applied quickly this time was because Princess Mona… … .”

Once we started chatting, we didn’t even know we were staying up all night.

I was so sincere in answering Fran’s questions that I wondered if I was such a talkative person.

Then Fran would be so happy that his eyes would sparkle.

“Are you okay? Time has already come to this. “I need to sleep.”

“Already?”

“Already. “It’s been three hours.”

“I thought it wasn’t that long ago.”

“You have to sleep now. “You have to go a long way tomorrow.”

I really want to take them to the front lines, but from what I heard, it seems like they decided to go together with the kids.

“Since we are going by carriage, wouldn’t it be okay to get some sleep then?”

“… … .”

After listening to Fran and thinking about it carefully, I realized that it didn’t make sense at all.

Since the only things to do in the carriage are chatting with the kids and sleeping, it won’t be a problem if you don’t get some sleep.

“Is that okay?”

“yes. “For now, I just want to stay like this.”

Unable to break Fran’s stubbornness, I had to promise to spend the rest of the night without sleeping.

New liquid- New liquid-

“You must be very tired.”

Although Fran was so tired that he fell asleep to the point where such a promise was in vain.

I immediately closed my eyes so I could sleep well.

And just like that, the children’s first vacation ended.

※ ※ ※

After returning from vacation.

I frequently received news about the situation on the front line through Erintina.

Since this was the first time in the empire that purification liquid had been used, people’s attention was bound to be drawn.

and.

“Real estate is finally taking off.”

Just as we had planned, the first step of our plan to turn the front line into an active city as a forward base has been completed.

The nobles were not fools, so they knew that if they continued to purify the land in the future, the value of the land on the front lines would inevitably increase.

We were the first to realize the value of the front line and occupied it first, and Princess Mona, who was quick-witted, took control of all the lands like Altoran on the front line.

Later, when nobles rushed to buy land, most of the land had already found owners.

When demand increases, the price goes up.

This was the background against which frontline land prices began to rise.

“You got as much as you could, right?”

“I was a little embarrassed when Princess Mona stormed in at the last minute, but we managed to secure some important land.”

“Is there anyone threatening you?”

“There were people who were subtly trying to persuade me to give them land. I said it was a stomachache. “What can you do if you threaten me?”

Even if Princess Mona threatened the merchant who was supporting them, there was nothing they could do.

“But Princess Mona will be in a bit of trouble. Because the other party thinks we are in the same place as Princess Mona.”

What Erintina means is that one force will think that they have monopolized the frontline land.

You may think that you are being too greedy.

“The reason you called me this time means there’s a high probability that you’ll talk about land, right?”

“Wouldn’t you say so?”

“But wouldn’t it be better to talk about that with you rather than with me? “I don’t know anything about land.”

“I heard you said that the land wasn’t your purpose, but that you had something to give it? “I will follow you and talk about the land with you, and all you have to do is take what is given.”

You have something for me?

moment why? While I was thinking about this, something came to mind later.

Didn’t you say in the past that you would give yourself a gift in return for solving the academy problem well?

It seemed that the gift was finally ready.

It’s a gift from the princess, not someone else, so she wouldn’t give it just anything.

“Then I guess we can go with a light heart.”

“Even if your heart is light, should you dress properly?”

“ok?”

Costume?

“I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, but I wanted to change what you wear.”

“I’m not just dressing shabbily, am I? “Did you put as much care into what you wore now?”

It wouldn’t be unfair if I wasn’t paying attention.

Erintina laughed at my words.

“Is that what you were paying attention to?”

“… “What are you going to do?”

“First, let’s check your closet, throw away everything and fill in all the empty spaces.”

I have worn the clothes he chose before.

I would have to deal with a lot of nobles in the future, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get my clothes sorted out by Erintina.

“Thank you for doing it.”

The problem is that I know that the process of choosing clothes will be quite difficult.

“really? I’ve been wanting to mess with your decorating for a long time. “I’m confident that you’ll do well if you let me!”

The way his eyes shine brightly is unusual.

I thought it was just about picking out a few clothes, but I had an ominous feeling that it wasn’t going to be that big of a deal.

In the end, I had no choice but to ask Erintina, who was willing to help, to do it in moderation.

“It’s a bit difficult to take so long.”

“no way! Don’t make a fuss, just follow me. “I will change you from head to toe just like I did last time.”

“Right Now??”

“I haven’t lost yet, so why can’t I go? But not right now, you should check your closet first. “Where is Jade?”

“…Follow me.”

Erintina had a good sense of choosing clothes, so I couldn’t stop her from checking her wardrobe.

“Oh my~ I knew it would be like this. “How long have you been wearing this before your clothes have stretched out?”

“Those are just casual clothes I wear at home.”

“No matter how much you pick, you can’t wear a sack like this! Throw this away, throw this away too… . You have a lot of money, so why didn’t you buy clothes? “Aren’t there any other accessories besides this?”

accessories?

“There is no such thing.”

“Let’s buy everything, including that. “There’s a lot more to buy than I thought.”

Erintina went through my closet and strongly insisted that I throw out almost half of it and fill it with new things.

“At least I’ll make sure you don’t feel embarrassed because of your attire when you go to meet the princess, so just follow me. got it?”

I couldn’t help but nod at her unusual strength.