Ch.230Chapter 230 – Choice

Hundreds of Letters.

Someone might ask, “Is a mere few hundred letters not a small number rather than a large one?”

But there’s something to remember.

The civilization of this world is, at best, oscillating between the Renaissance and the modern era, and the primary exchange of news is mainly conducted through letters.

However, letters don’t just sprout legs and fly to their destinations on their own, do they?

Therefore, people are needed to deliver them, and costs are required to pay these people for delivering the letters.

And those costs are quite substantial, primarily because the system for letter delivery itself is not well-developed.

So typically, the cost of sending a letter starts at a minimum of five silver coins.

Thus, sending a letter is something commoners might do once a year if at all, and even nobles rarely send letters containing trivial content.

Therefore, the people who sent these hundreds of letters to me…

“Are all individuals of some significance.”

To be honest, I didn’t think solving Duke Tramante’s problem would generate much word of mouth.

But I had greatly underestimated the influence wielded by someone with the status of a duke.

“There are already hundreds of letters, and among them, sorting out only the most important ones leaves about 100.”

With Sister Regina’s help, I sorted through the letters that came to me, focusing on those of high importance.

Yet even after filtering and filtering, there were still over 100 letters.

“Where are they from?”

“They’re from families with strong standing within the Empire. There are too many to list individually… but they’re certainly not families that can be ignored.”

I knew that the Gelebrio Empire was the largest and strongest nation in the Western Continent, but I was shocked to learn that there were 100 influential families.

It’s not like the medieval European era when countless small and large countries existed…

But come to think of it, this world’s civilization does fluctuate between the medieval and modern periods, doesn’t it?

So if the Empire absorbed various large and small countries and recognized their monarchs as nobles, it made some sense that there would be this many influential families.

Hmm, hmm. I see. That makes sense.

Well, anyway, the hair loss treatment seems to have had less impact.

That’s because there were very few people in this world who suffered from hair loss.

Of course, just because the numbers are small doesn’t mean it’s not a disease.

For those affected, it’s certainly a more painful affliction than any other disease.

However, since the number of people with hair loss was quite small, treating them didn’t have enough impact to make my daily life difficult.

It was already hard enough for people to come here, and even if they did, they couldn’t necessarily meet me.

But this time was a bit different.

First, the person who received my help was Duke Tramante, one of the three dukes of the Empire.

Moreover, his concern was one that any man might have.

So this matter was bound to have a much greater impact than others.

There used to be a joke that if some creature became so numerous it caused damage, spread a rumor that it was good for virility.

Then people would catch and eat all those creatures until they became extinct.

Honestly, I used to think it was just a joke… but now I realize it reflects the struggles of middle-aged men who increasingly fear the night.

‘It seems there are many people here too who are reaching middle age and gradually losing function down there.’

With Sister Regina’s help, I narrowed down the letters to about 100.

However, I intended to filter them once more according to their importance.

“Sister, wouldn’t it be bad to further classify these 100 letters according to the severity of their content?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because I want to use my abilities first for those who truly need them.”

If someone was just having difficulty with bedroom activities or found taking virility medicines troublesome, I planned to give them the lowest priority.

I opened each letter one by one to check their contents.

Although there were over 100 letters, when classified by severity, about 4-5 letters were of high importance.

The rest weren’t urgent, so I decided to set them aside for now.

If someone has a problem with me helping those I consider important first, what can they do?

Such people should be helped last.

If anyone complains about not being helped first… I’ll just whisper a word to the Prime Minister.

“Hmm? What are these 5 letters?”

“They’re from people of high importance. Looking at them, these individuals are having difficulty having children due to aftereffects of serious illnesses.”

The content of the five letters I selected was from people who found it impossible to have children at all.

There were various reasons, but the most pitiful was the story of a count’s family.

The count and countess who wrote this letter had both become unable to have children due to an accident.

Originally, only the countess couldn’t have children, but as the aftereffects of the accident manifested, the count also became unable to have children.

In such cases, the person with the highest succession rights among the collateral lines would inherit the family, but this count’s family had no one to inherit the succession rights.

So all that remained for them was to have a child to name as their heir…

“They became unable to have children due to an accident, and while they had resolved to live well together just the two of them, they heard about me.”

“Just hearing the story brings tears to my eyes. I had a friend who went through something similar.”

“Is that so?”

“Those friends were fortunate in the end. They eventually received divine blessing and were able to have children.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Listening to Sister Regina’s story, it seems that rather than being unable to perform in bed, there are cases where families are at risk of extinction because they can’t have children.

Thinking about it that way, I understand why hundreds of letters came to me.

In this world, marriage is a sacred ceremony, and bearing and raising children is considered a noble act of nurturing the next generation.

Of course, there are plenty of terrible parents too, but such people exist in every era and region.

“So… who will you start with?”

“First… this person.”

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

Kaen Lucio and Amina Lucio were known as a lovey-dovey couple even within the Delucio territory.

It was only natural that people knew how incredibly close the two were.

After all, Kaen and Amina were Count and Countess Lucio, the owners of the Delucio territory.

However, despite being a count’s family, the Lucio family was facing extinction.

This was because the Lucio family was a minor house without even collateral lines.

“Do you think… we’ll get a reply?”

Amina was looking at her husband, Kaen.

Her eyes trembled as she gazed at him.

“We must hope for a reply. That person is our only hope as a couple.”

Kaen sighed as he answered his wife’s question.

There was a reason for his response.

At the recommendation of Duke Tramante, who had been friends with his father, he had written a letter to Pathos.

Duke Tramante had said, “Write your story and send it to Count Severio. I’ll cover the necessary costs,” and explained how he himself had changed through Pathos’s abilities.

With some skepticism, Kaen wrote about what had happened to him and his wife, and about their family, and sent it off.

He hoped that Pathos would read his letter, visit his territory, and solve his problem.

But the chances were fifty-fifty.

Any normal person would prefer to visit a renowned territory rather than a remote, nameless one like his.

Therefore, Kaen would not resent Pathos if he chose not to visit.

“But it doesn’t matter if we don’t get a reply. I’ve been prepared for this since I married you.”

“Darling…”

“Even if the Lucio family line ends here, I will never resent you. Saving you was… the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Just as a peculiar atmosphere began to form between Kaen and Amina.

“C-C-C-Count! It’s me, Hans!”

“What is it, Hans?”

Kaen expressed his confusion at the sudden appearance of Hans, a servant of the family.

However, his confusion quickly disappeared with Hans’s next words.

“C-Count Pathos Severio has visited the territory!”