Ch.178Episode 10 – Turn Your Course to the North-Northwest

Taking the train is never boring, as always.

The panoramic view outside the train window—passing through cities, then countryside, seeing mountains and rice fields, then cities again—never gives a moment for boredom.

I ate in the dining car, made coffee with the hot water provided in the middle of the corridor, and bought lunch boxes, sunflower seeds, and nuts from the attendant’s small cart.

I chatted with my older brother and sister about various things, and when bored, I went to the middle corridor to smoke while looking out the window.

After a full day on that rattling train, we arrived in the west.

Unlike the stale city, the west had (relatively) preserved nature and clean air. Getting off the train, I filled my lungs with the western air.

“I have arrived.”

Someone smacked the back of my head. The blow was so fierce I thought my eyeballs might pop out.

“Why are you hitting me?”

“What nonsense are you spouting after waking up?”

“Stop fighting. We shouldn’t be quarreling after coming all the way to our family home.”

“Does this look like fighting to you?”

With my sister Adela and brother Jerry bickering behind me, I rubbed the back of my head and moved my luggage.

Episode 10 – Turn Your Course to the North-Northwest

The western region of the Abas Kingdom has a history of hardship and suffering.

Adjacent to the strait, it was recognized as a strategic location since ancient times and home to many fishermen. Unlike the southern region, which developed commercially by amassing wealth through east-west trade due to its geographical proximity to the Mauritani continent, the west was relatively underdeveloped.

However, as elves from the east, nomadic tribes, and other races gradually expanded westward, the western region began to gain attention as a military stronghold.

The queen who ruled Abas at that time built ports in the west and improved the road network. Thanks to the royal family’s foresight, the west served as a breakwater during centuries of invasions.

But repeated invasions and wars devastated the western region. And after the elves, nomadic tribes, and other races were swept away by history, the west, having lost its military value, was left neglected.

Yet, there’s always a way out even when the sky falls.

There was a man who rebuilt the devastated west under royal orders—the founder of the Nostrum family, widely known as an administrator and architect.

*

After traveling by train for a full day to reach the west, we headed to the family home that holds the history of the Nostrum family.

“Ah.”

On the path leading to the entrance of the mansion, we spotted a familiar person.

“Mom!”

“Oh, you’re here.”

Sister Adela ran out with her hands full of luggage and embraced the middle-aged woman. It was a sight that might make elderly members of distinguished families click their tongues at the lack of decorum, but the middle-aged woman didn’t scold her.

Because she was our mother.

The middle-aged woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat with decorations stroked the head of her daughter, who maintained a neat appearance without dishevelment.

Her expressionless eyes curved slightly as if shy, and the faint wrinkles showed the traces of time, yet created a peaceful atmosphere.

“Have you been well, my daughter?”

“Yes!”

Sister Adela smiled adorably and uttered something revolting.

I pointed at her with trembling fingers.

“…What the hell did she just say?”

“Hey, Fred. How can you refer to your sister as ‘that’?”

“Huh… Has Abas finally fallen into decline? The Republican Party will dominate next year’s general election, damn it.”

“Refrain from political statements as a civil servant.”

The fastidious Treasury official cautioned me to maintain political neutrality as a civil servant. Of course, we both knew it was a joke, so the atmosphere remained light.

Brother Jerry patted my shoulder and joined the mother-daughter conversation.

“I’m here too, Mom.”

“Jerry! My son. How’s life in the capital? I heard the Treasury is busy these days, you must be working hard.”

“The Treasury is always busy. But not as much as the royal court. Are His Majesty the King and the Queen well?”

“They’re both in good health. But all of you look quite worn out.”

The Treasury official shrugged, and the Foreign Ministry official pouted.

“What difficulties could the Treasury have? You just obstruct everything and don’t properly process the budget.”

“Maybe we’d approve requests more easily if diplomats didn’t use embassy funds for personal matters. Please refrain from unnecessary expenditures abroad. Why should national funds pay for weekend golf and social clubs?”

“That’s customary. And you think we’re just eating and playing? We have so many meetings with foreign diplomats on weekends—should we cover that with our own money?”

“Well, I think that’s corruption, not custom.”

“It’s for survival.”

They’re talking nonsense.

Brother Jerry and Sister Adela started dissing each other out of nowhere, as if they had some disease that gave them thorns in their mouths if they didn’t talk nonsense for even a moment. This is why I don’t go to the family home. It’s exhausting when relatives gather on holidays and pry into everything. What are they so curious about?

Tsk! I clicked my tongue softly and slipped past the two of them.

“It’s been a while, Mother.”

“Fred. You came too.”

“Yes.”

I greeted my mother politely after not seeing her for years. She welcomed me warmly, and that was the end of our conversation.

“……”

“……”

Silence fell. For about two seconds.

Mother smiled at her son whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, and I just stood there looking at her.

What should I say?

“Have you been well lately?”

“Of course. I’ve been doing well. Did you get a new suit?”

“You noticed.”

I nodded, looking down at the suit I was wearing. I threw away my regular suit after experiencing the terrorist attack, and the ready-made suits I had didn’t fit, so I had most of them altered.

Over the past few months, as I gradually lost weight, my suits became loose. So I sent them to the dry cleaner to be taken in.

By the way, the suit I’m wearing now fits me perfectly. It was ordered based on measurements that Francesca estimated just by looking at me. Like a true alchemist, her eye for measurements was impressive.

I tried to pay for it since I couldn’t accept such an expensive gift, but Francesca gladly gave me the suit as a token of appreciation for my efforts.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was shocked when I later saw the price tag. It wasn’t even a Huntsman suit, yet it cost several months of a major’s salary.

It was clearly not just a simple gift but a debt to be used later, but I didn’t refuse Francesca’s “kindness.”

As I was reminiscing about the past while looking at the suit, my mother asked me a question.

“Oh, right. Fred. How have you been doing?”

I momentarily recalled my memories.

Due to the nature of the job, intelligence agency employees can’t reveal their identity to people around them except their parents. They can’t tell friends or relatives that they work for an intelligence agency.

For such employees, the intelligence agency creates scenarios to help them avoid awkward situations. It doesn’t matter if you can’t memorize them, but if you go around bragging “I’m an intelligence officer,” you’ll be fired immediately for violating security agreements.

‘Ah, I’m currently working for a Chinese seafood company. It’s a small company in Dalian that imports fish caught in Chinese waters to our country.’

‘I work in research. Just a marine-related research institute, um, located in a provincial area. Near the coast.’

‘I’m a journalist in the international department of a news agency, so I travel abroad often. This is a photo with a war correspondent I worked with before. Here’s my business card.’

‘I’m working at a startup in India founded by a friend who came as an exchange student to our university.’

‘I’m just a career soldier.’

Countless memories flashed by like a panorama.

The scenario I told a friend I met in college, the scenario I told my high school teacher when I first visited after graduation, the scenario I gave to my grandmother’s questions during holidays, the fake business card I handed to a friend’s mother I happened to meet, the lies I told my mom.

There wasn’t much difference between Earth and here.

In fact, the recent scenarios I’ve received are more detailed and sophisticated. Since my identity has been revealed as a defense attaché, I could answer persistent questions about what I do more thoroughly than before.

But this too was tiring, so I sighed inwardly and told the truth.

“I’m doing okay. Recently, I’ve been working as an attaché at the embassy.”

“…Is that so?”

“The military is all the same, you know.”

The middle-aged woman nodded at my brief conclusion. I thought I had smoothly glossed over it, but then I noticed her hands and realized I hadn’t.

Mother was gently scratching her well-manicured nails with her opposite thumb. I knew this was a habit that emerged whenever something was bothering her—a habit born from anxiety, like nail-biting.

Tsk.

I clicked my tongue softly and called out to my brother and sister, who were still bickering.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“Stop fighting in front of Mother. What are you doing at your age? Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“The embarrassing one is you who hasn’t shown your face for three years— Hey, Frederick! Where are you going?!”

“I’m going ahead. Escort Mother inside.”

And so I escaped the situation, leaving my brother and sister behind.

*

The Nostrum family mansion in the west is spacious.

Originally, this mansion belonged to a local dignitary, but the entire family perished during the war.

The mansion was relatively intact, but the dignitary’s relatives had no intention of moving to the west, which was invaded almost daily.

They renounced their inheritance, and according to law, the mansion reverted to the government and was put up for auction to raise funds for the reconstruction of the west.

The person who bought the mansion was the founder of the Nostrum family.

The small, old mansion built in the 1700s survived the war intact, but as soon as it fell into the hands of the slightly hipster founder, it was rebuilt.

Like a true architect, he demolished the building and erected a modern mansion by the standards of that time.

Wide, large, and magnificent.

The mansion built in 18th-century style was very large and magnificent. Just looking at it made one’s chest swell with grandeur.

My room was the second from the left end on the second floor. Rooms were assigned in birth order, so right next to mine were my sister Adela’s room and “that bastard’s” room.

I sat on the bed and looked around the room I hadn’t visited in a long time.

“……”

Strangely, the room I returned to after years didn’t feel nostalgic. I didn’t reminisce about my childhood when looking at the furniture bearing the marks of my youth; rather, it felt somewhat unfamiliar.

I lay down on the bed, tired from the long train journey, but still nothing changed.

Feeling the texture of the blanket I had often used during my lieutenant days, I muttered absently.

“…Was my room always this small?”

It’s hard to believe I spent 20 years here.

Since I became an adult and stopped growing, I couldn’t have gotten bigger, and the family mansion couldn’t have been renovated and expanded in the past few years, so this must be purely psychological.

I tossed my luggage carelessly and lay down on the bed. Somehow it felt more uncomfortable than being at the farm.

As I was lying there with my eyes wide open, feeling a strange discomfort—

-Knock! Knock!

Someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s your brother.”

It’s Brother Jerry.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Brother Jerry entered. Like a true aristocrat, he was wearing a gentlemanly suit even at home. Of course, he had removed the stuffy jacket and was wearing just the vest.

“Why are you wearing a suit at home?”

“It’s comfortable. I wear it so often that now I wear it at home too.”

“Good grief….”

The Treasury official on vacation smiled brightly. He brought a chair, placed it next to the bed, and sat down comfortably.

“How does it feel to be home after so long?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m asking how it feels. You’ve come home after almost 5 years.”

Well.

I thought about it for a moment.

“Honestly, I don’t feel much. I’m relaxed because I’m on vacation, but that’s about it.”

“I see.”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

Brother Jerry let out a soft sigh.

“Your expression doesn’t look very bright. I was wondering if you had some problem.”

“Ah.”

So that’s what it was.

I shifted my position and smiled wryly at him.

“I was wondering why you suddenly asked. That’s unnecessary meddling, you know?”

“How is this meddling? I’m your brother.”

“How is this different from relatives prying during holidays? Honestly, you sound a bit like an old fogey at times like this, and you know it, right?”

“Your manner of speaking… I shouldn’t have left you with Adela when you were at the academy.”

Brother Jerry chuckled and shook his head. When it was difficult to find servants to look after children, Sister Adela was paid to take care of me and our younger sister in place of our busy parents.

Of course, at that time, Sister Adela was a minor and had no talent whatsoever for childcare.

“Remember that time? Ayla was very sick, and no servants could come in, but coincidentally, our parents and I had to leave briefly for some business at the maternal family’s place. She looked after you for a few days.”

“Ah, I remember. We ate pancakes for days.”

“When we returned, Ayla cried in Dad’s arms, saying to throw away all the pancakes. She used to say the chef’s pancakes were the best in the world.”

I chuckled and replied.

“I bet she still can’t eat them now. Even at the academy, she always ran away when friends suggested eating pancakes.”

“Really?”

“Actually, those weren’t even pancakes. They were burnt on the outside and undercooked on the inside.”

“I see.”

We recited Sister Adela’s dark history. If she had been listening nearby, she might have covered our mouths with her palms, saying, “Please shut up.”

Brother Jerry and I chatted about various old memories that came to mind. He sat in the chair quietly listening, then suddenly brought up this topic.

“Fred. Why didn’t you tell Mother earlier?”

“About what?”

“The oracle.”

The oracle. That is, the divine revelation received from the church.

It was about me being chosen as Camilla’s companion.

Brother Jerry said:

“About becoming the hero’s companion. It’s already been in newspapers and news, so rumors have spread as much as they can.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But I’m wondering why you’re not telling our parents.”

I answered briefly:

“Don’t they already know? It must be on TV.”

In response to my slightly off-target answer, Brother Jerry gave me a gentle rebuke.

“Still, you should tell them directly. It’s been a while, but that’s the right thing to do.”

“……”

“Parents would feel more at ease hearing it directly from you rather than from the news, don’t you think?”

And the same goes for us too.

That’s what Brother Jerry said, but I didn’t show any particular reaction.

I could tell them about becoming Camilla’s companion anytime, but the moment I mentioned what happened during that process, it would become awkward for quite a few people.

For instance, Raphael who became Pope, Inquisitor General Pedro, his secretary Rebecca, Veronica and Lucia, the Imperial Guard, Francesca, Sophia from the National Security Agency, Leoni, and Clevins…

Too many people were involved. Even I don’t know how far one misspoken word might reach.

That’s why I tried not to bring it up first.

“If it’s because of your work, there are ways around it.”

“Such as?”

“You could make something up, or just not mention certain details.”

That’s easier said than done.

Lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling for a moment, after much deliberation, I let out a deep sigh.

“Tell me honestly. Are you doing this because of Mother’s reaction earlier?”

“Yes.”

“…Alright. I’ll handle it.”

“Good. Our parents would like to hear your story.”

Brother Jerry smiled brightly and nudged me. Since we hadn’t eaten properly on the train, he suggested we eat something before sleeping.

Feeling a bit hungry, I got up from the bed without much thought and left the room with Brother Jerry.

And then,

“Oh?”

I ran into that guy.