Ch.14Pretending to Patrol Something #2

“The County of Barkan.”

I fell into thought as I gathered my belongings.

The County of Barkan was known for its developed maritime trade thanks to its harbor, as well as for the fresh seafood consumed within its territory.

Plus, I needed to visit three or four other places beyond the county, so there was quite a bit to prepare.

However, I didn’t need to pack too much.

We would be traveling by carriage, and we were expected to be treated as guests in each territory.

It was natural that my luggage would be reduced since we would be staying in places with all the basic facilities.

“This should be enough.”

After neatly organizing my belongings in a large bag, I wiped away the beads of sweat on my forehead with my hand.

My luggage mostly consisted of clothes, along with a few small miscellaneous tools and throwing knives.

Having spent some time packing my own things, next was my duty as an attendant to pack Helena’s luggage.

Normally, one would handle their own affairs, but in this case, Helena’s job was to wait.

I could have asked another servant to do it, but as her personal attendant, there was no need for that.

“Lady Helena. I’m coming in.”

Knock, knock.

After lightly knocking on Helena’s door a few times, I grabbed the handle and opened it. Immediately, something massive pounced on me as if it had been waiting.

Pressing against my chest and deforming lewdly yet conveying both weight and softness—it was none other than Helena’s bosom.

“Jion, welcome! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”

Helena raised her voice as she met my eyes.

I was thankful that I had grown tall enough to be at eye level with the adult Helena.

Otherwise, I would have had difficulty breathing, buried in those massive protrusions.

“Yes. I apologize for taking longer than expected. But please let go. Other people are watching.”

“So what if they see? Everyone knows how special the relationship between you and me is.”

“Oh my…”

I quickly closed the door, gently grabbed both her shoulders, and forcibly separated her from me.

She had enough strength to resist if she wanted to, but seeing her back away willingly, it seemed she had no intention of forcibly clinging to me.

Perhaps she thought she shouldn’t interfere with me as I needed to pack her luggage.

Still, my head was throbbing.

“Anyway, I’ll organize Lady Helena’s luggage.”

I sorted the dress storage case and ordinary bag I had brought, then carefully placed several dresses into the case first.

I knew everything from storage to washing methods, so I could make them look new again as long as the environment allowed.

Although she was known as a lady who didn’t wear dresses, it wasn’t as if she didn’t own any.

Rather, being the daughter of a duke, she had dresses more splendid than most—comparable even to those of a princess.

“I don’t need dresses.”

Helena tilted her head as she watched me packing the dresses right beside me.

Except for when she was very young, she had been so close to light armor that one could say she had never worn dresses.

But it would be troublesome if dresses weren’t available when needed, so there was no harm in packing them.

Rather, I thought there would be more cases where not bringing them would cause problems, so I decided to pack them.

“What if there’s a sudden social gathering… a Noble Club, or we happen to go during such a time?”

“Wouldn’t my uniform be enough?”

“I think so too, but I don’t want people calling you a tomboy who doesn’t even prepare dresses.”

Even objectively speaking, Helena’s beauty was exceptional.

So I wanted to avoid any situation where her charm might be diminished because she didn’t have a dress.

Thinking this way, it seems I too have deeply and sincerely immersed myself in Altram’s way of thinking.

“A tomboy…? Jion, am I that unattractive?”

I had only mentioned “tomboy” as a joke, but Helena’s face was filled with disappointment.

It wasn’t disappointment or anger toward me, but rather a look of frustration stemming from disappointment in herself.

At that, I sighed and shook my head. I was frustrated by the situation that could be interpreted as deception depending on how one looked at it.

“Helena. Don’t I always tell you? That you have so much charm it’s troublesome. Just look at the number of marriage proposals you’ve rejected—that makes it clear.”

“Marriage requests can involve strategic calculations, so they’re hard to trust. Anyway, is it really true that I appear charming…?”

Helena asked, still showing signs of anxiety.

It was good that she had grown enough to calmly accept others’ evaluations, but as a reaction, she was particularly sensitive to my assessments.

When even jokes that she usually distinguishes and lets slide get this kind of response, it says it all.

“It’s true.”

Is this the mythical unicorn—someone with a strangely gloomy personality who doesn’t know she’s pretty and clings to me?

I shook my head in disbelief, recalling past concepts of virgin bitches and fantasy nerd guys.

It was natural for beautiful people to know they were beautiful, but that common sense seemed to be breaking down.

No. Come to think of it… isn’t this a fantasy world?

So it wouldn’t be strange for there to be people with such fantastical personalities.

Perhaps I should redefine fantasy as a place where not only the setting but also people with fantasy-like personalities exist.

“Really…? That’s a relief then.”

Helena smiled, stroking her chest as if genuinely relieved.

The way she stroked down the massive curve of her chest somehow looked like she was seducing a man.

Though she certainly had no such intention, it somehow felt that way. Probably because I was possessed by the devil.

“Anyway, now I’ll really organize things.”

“Okay. Do as you please.”

The phrase “do as you please” sounded strangely suggestive, but that must be my imagination too.

I opened the closet door wide, turning away from Helena who was blushing. It was filled with light armor—pants, shirts, and so on—that I was familiar with from frequently bringing them to her.

However, selecting something from among these presented a peculiar dilemma.

The clothes themselves looked perfectly ordinary, but the moment Helena wore them, they enhanced her allure.

At least, according to my standards.

“What would you like? Please choose what you prefer.”

“Hmm? I like anything Jion chooses for me. No, I’d like you to pick clothes you want me to wear.”

When I asked the question because choosing was difficult, the difficulty doubled in return.

Thanks to that, I had one more question to deal with.

“No… you should choose what you want to wear. This is going to be a long journey.”

“That’s why I’m asking you to choose clothes you want me to wear. I’d like you not to get bored looking at me.”

“That’s like treating you as a spectacle. To exaggerate a bit, it’s like saying you’d be fine being a clown. In other words, it’s something a duke’s daughter shouldn’t say.”

“Do you think I would say such things to anyone else?”

Helena hugged my arm tightly, showing no intention of backing down. As a result, my arm was nestled between her protrusions, but the feeling of awkwardness came first.

The soft sensation felt nice, but the embarrassment was unavoidable.

At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to work, so I sighed as if I had no choice and gave her the answer she wanted.

“Fine. I’ll choose, okay?”

“Yes. I’m counting on you.”

Only after I said I would choose did Helena smile with satisfaction and let go.

Thinking that the work had been delayed and I needed to move a bit faster, I packed Helena’s clothes according to my taste.

Although I prioritized speed, I folded each piece neatly, so the creases were well-maintained.

It was good that I had packed several outer garments, but the important part was yet to come.

The crucial issue of choosing underwear remained.

An ordinary person might freeze in embarrassment, stammer, or leave the room, but I am the owner of a steel mentality.

So I had no hesitation in packing mainly black underwear. And I did so without batting an eye.

“Oh, oh…”

As I calmly began packing underwear, this time it was Helena who blushed and fidgeted.

Occasionally she uttered words that pierced my ears, but I ignored those too.

I liked them, and I thought this style suited the mature Helena.

Additionally, I packed a few sets in sky blue as alternatives to black.

They were second choices in case black wasn’t available, but both had sleek lines and beautiful patterns that were equally pleasing to the eye.

“That’s everything packed.”

After perfectly organizing the women’s underwear, I also packed the rest of the luggage, including cosmetics.

With this, the travel preparations were complete.

“…Thank you. You worked hard.”

“It’s nothing.”

I left Helena trembling with embarrassment, carefully arranged the bags and cases in the corner, and turned around.

Now that the immediate task was done, I was ready to receive the next instruction or be her conversation partner.

“Ah, do you have any other instructions?”

“Hmm? No. If I had to say something, it would be thinking about what to have for dinner… but it’s still too early for that.”

Helena chuckled and teased me for being a workaholic.

My habit of asking for the next task after finishing one seemed like an addiction to her.

But I wasn’t particularly fond of work; if anything, I preferred to laze around.

The reason I kept looking for work was that as Helena grew up, the time I spent standing or sitting idly had increased.

Although I received combat training from Helena at my request, even excluding that, I had too much free time. It was enough to make me feel guilty.

“Well, let’s take this opportunity to decide where we’re going. We start with the county, right?”

“Shall we? After Barkan County, I’d like to visit Firied Barony, then Dilos County…”

I nodded and listened carefully to Helena’s voice.

The route she chose seemed somewhat inefficient, but she had clearly planned it that way on purpose.

She seemed to want to enjoy as much time outside as possible, deliberately avoiding a straightforward tour.

Although she wasn’t forbidden from going out, it was clear that opportunities to leave the duchy were rare.

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

Since Helena had decided, I simply agreed.

It might be somewhat tiring to go back and forth along the same routes, but since this was a rare journey, I thought it would be nice if it was enjoyable.

I too hadn’t properly seen the outside world because I was always stuck by Helena’s side, so I thought it would be nice to get some fresh air.

“Ah.”

In the midst of this, I suddenly voiced aloud as two names flashed through my mind.

When Helena asked if I had something to say, I shook my head and vaguely dismissed it as nothing.

While I had forgotten about it because I was busy appeasing Helena, there were two other dangerous factors in this world besides her: Ellen Redhood and Eve Greenwood.

Ellen Redhood was a mercenary of Dark Elf origin.

Originally, elves were characterized by their clean white skin, but occasionally mutants like Ellen were born.

And Dark Elves, because of their skin color, were labeled as symbols of filth and received both contempt and fear.

Originally, elves don’t have surnames like humans.

If they had anything like it, they would use the name of their village in place of a surname.

However, Ellen’s case was different from the general rule.

Redhood was a nickname she earned while working as a mercenary with a few other Dark Elves who had nowhere to go. The nickname came from how she always stained her robe’s hood with blood when she went to war.

That alone would make her seem dangerous enough, but the reason Ellen was dangerous was separate.

Due to the war, all members of the mercenary group died, and Ellen, as the only Dark Elf, became the sole being who could obtain the arcane knowledge from ancient ruins.

And with the destructive power gained from that arcane knowledge, Ellen plunged the continent into further chaos.

Eve Greenwood was an outcast and misfit from the Imperial Magic Tower.

She researched tiny particles that would be considered common knowledge in the modern world but were unknown concepts in this world, causing her to be ridiculed as a foolish girl.

However, after the Magic Tower was destroyed by war, this girl accelerated her mad research and became capable of carrying out large-scale chemical terrorism on her own.

In modern terms, she became a bioterrorist.

The reason she went that far was simple.

Even though the Magic Tower had ignored Eve, to her, the tower was a precious home.

Of course, magic to counter chemical terrorism was eventually developed, but before that, mana users like Helena had to buy time by drawing up their mana to endure.

But now, such people were quiet.

Because the spark of war, which was the cause of their rampage—Helena starting a war—hadn’t happened.

Seeing her remain quiet even past the age of twenty, I thought anew that Hypnos had made a good move.

I had witnessed the truth in the saying that blocking Helena would solve more than half the problem.

Nevertheless, looking at Helena these days, I thought that alone wasn’t enough to feel secure.

Since sparks could fly in unpredictable ways, I decided that when I had the chance, I would find them and bring them into the duchy.

Because I believed in the saying: keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Of course, they weren’t enemies, but that’s just a figure of speech.