Ch.255[Chapter 255] Peaceful Daily Life

“On your way, please make sure to buy everything as prescribed, and your total comes to 27,000 Credits. Would you like a receipt?”

Sir Dominic nodded as if entranced by what the nurse had said.

After receiving the receipt, he absently folded it in half, placed it in his inventory, and left the hospital. Following the prescription, Sir Dominic bought a one-liter bottle of low-fat milk, bear-shaped jelly, and a pair of sleep socks.

These were unexpected items for Sir Dominic, who had thought he might need to pick up medicine when handed the prescription, but there was no harm in following the doctor’s orders.

“…Should I head home first?”

Sir Dominic began to ponder at this point.

The prescription stated that he should rest well today if possible, and try to fall asleep around 10 o’clock to get about 9 hours of sleep.

Others might wonder what the problem was with such a prescription, but Sir Dominic had never rested this much in his life.

As a serf, he had to work all day in the fields. When conscripted, his days were filled with continuous training and combat.

Of course, he could sleep early at night because oil and candles were considered too precious to waste, but after becoming a knight and earning enough wages to afford candles and oil, training through the night had become his routine.

Though he had lived his entire life under such pressure, Sir Dominic himself wasn’t aware of it.

“…Perhaps I’ll take a short walk.”

Sir Dominic placed the items in the plastic bag into his inventory and began walking down the street.

The sunlight was warm, the breeze was cool… there were many reasons, but Sir Dominic simply felt like walking.

And a park was perfect for just walking.

Sir Dominic entered a park not far from the entrance of the Market Area.

He slowly savored the gentle ripples on the lake stirred by the wind, the wave-like sound of leaves and branches colliding with each other, and the warm dirt path heated by the pleasant sunlight.

“…Maybe I’ll stay here for a while.”

Sir Dominic sat down on a bench installed beside the dirt path that circled the lake.

It was a bench with a good view of the lake, positioned with its back to the sun so there was no glare.

Instead, Sir Dominic filled his eyes with the sunlight that scattered and reflected off the gentle ripples of the lake, making it sparkle.

Is this what healing feels like?

With that thought, Sir Dominic stared blankly at the sparkling lake for a long time.

How much time had passed?

Sir Dominic suddenly realized he was feeling sleepy.

The perfect weather combined with the comfort provided by nature had melted away his chronic vigilance like snow.

I’d like to sleep here, but I can’t.

Let’s go home first.

Sir Dominic briefly lifted his eye patch to rub his eye.

He might have rubbed the wrong eye, but that didn’t matter to the sleepy Sir Dominic.

As he stood up from the bench to return home…

“…!”

At that moment, a chilling sensation crawled up Sir Dominic’s back like an insect.

Sir Dominic’s gaze immediately sharpened as if he had never been drowsy, and he looked around.

A sword and shield were already in his hands.

“W-what? It’s Sir Dominic.”

“…”

Sir Dominic turned toward the voice.

He saw two people frowning as they looked at him.

“…The vicious Park Chunbae and the despicable Malei.”

Sir Dominic raised his shield higher and extended his sword.

The blade was always maintained in the best condition, its edge gleaming blue-gray, but Sir Dominic’s eyes were even sharper.

“Why are you approaching? An ambush?”

Sir Dominic slightly twisted his waist, ready to swing his shield if necessary.

Park Chunbae and Malei looked at each other, then simultaneously slapped their foreheads as if realizing something.

“Come to think of it, didn’t we forget to tell Sir Dominic about that?”

“I thought you told him!”

Sir Dominic frowned at their behavior.

“What didn’t you tell me?”

Now even Sir Dominic’s tone was becoming sharp.

Perhaps the peaceful drowsiness he had felt just before falling asleep being disrupted played a part in this.

“It’s nothing major.”

“We agreed on a five-day work week.”

“Wasn’t it four days?”

“Still, we need to work hard now. Five days.”

“Five days a week?”

Sir Dominic questioned in response to Park Chunbae and Malei’s words.

“Well, honestly, I’d like to be hostile all week, but we all know the limits of a tier 1 player’s stamina. Plus, we’re DPS.”

“Right. And now I have a family to support. I went to a matchmaking meeting and ended up getting married…”

I even have a child on the way. The due date is six months from now, Malei said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

“Anyway, our ‘rivalry’ relationship is only for five days, excluding weekends. Okay?”

Park Chunbae said, raising both hands.

It was a gesture that felt like surrender.

Sir Dominic remained vigilant despite their words.

He wondered if they were trying to lull him into a false sense of security before striking from behind.

But soon Sir Dominic realized he was being excessively sensitive.

In the past, he would have simply found this situation amusing, but now he discovered he couldn’t enjoy it.

Sir Dominic glanced at Park Chunbae and Malei.

They were holding ice cream and cotton candy bought from a street vendor in the park, and they weren’t even properly equipped with armor, let alone weapons.

Confirming they were completely unarmed, Sir Dominic finally realized they were sincere.

“Honey? What are you doing?”

“Ah, Beluka! You must be tired, why are you walking so fast? Let’s go. I bought ice cream.”

A woman in the distance called out to Park Chunbae and Malei.

She was wearing a comfortable dress and walking with a slight limp, and Malei ran to her as if flying.

It seemed that woman was the person Malei had married.

“…If you had invited me, I would have at least given a wedding gift.”

Sir Dominic put away his sword and shield, lowering his guard somewhat.

He made a joke to Park Chunbae, who was still awkwardly standing there.

“Well, we didn’t have a formal ceremony. As you know, we tier 1 citizens don’t make much…”

Park Chunbae tore open his cotton candy and stuffed it into his mouth greedily, with a bitter expression.

“Well, when I get married, I’ll at least send you an invitation. Everyone will be surprised when the famous Sir Dominic shows up, right? They’ll say, ‘Your connections are this impressive?’ you know.”

Park Chunbae burst into laughter as he said this.

After laughing for a while, Park Chunbae gradually stopped.

Not because he had calmed down, but because he was slightly tired from laughing, making only a deflating sound.

Having somehow managed to calm his laughter, Park Chunbae then addressed Sir Dominic.

“By the way, you look tired. You seem quite on edge.”

“They say it’s sleep deprivation.”

“Sleep deprivation…? Ah, I suppose so.”

Park Chunbae was momentarily surprised by Sir Dominic’s mention of sleep deprivation, but soon thought it made sense considering the incidents associated with Sir Dominic.

Even just the incidents Park Chunbae knew about numbered in the dozens, and there were 3-4 major ones if he only counted the significant ones.

“Take care of your health. We’re no longer enemies but rivals now. Rivals should always fight in their best condition.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

Sir Dominic looked at Park Chunbae, who was speaking such proper principles, with disbelief and smirked.

In reality, Park Chunbae and Malei were far too different in caliber to be considered Sir Dominic’s rivals.

If not for the rival effect that allowed them to inflict additional damage on Sir Dominic, Park Chunbae and Malei would have been just ordinary tier 1 citizens.

“Anyway, remember that we’ll return to being rivals starting at 11 AM the day after tomorrow.”

After saying this, Park Chunbae turned around.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something more to say, he looked back at Sir Dominic over his shoulder and said:

“You must be too tired to talk anymore, so get some good rest.”

With those words, Park Chunbae slowly walked toward where Malei and his wife were.

Thinking to himself, “Heh, that was really cool,” feeling quite proud.

Sir Dominic watched Park Chunbae’s retreating figure, then left the place himself.

As Park Chunbae had said, it seemed good to get some rest.

If even someone in a hostile relationship was worried about him, it meant his condition was truly serious.

…

“Welcome back. Did you finish everything?”

“Wow! Master! Look at this! Wow! I can’t contain my excitement!”

Upon returning home, Sir Dominic saw Sir Dominica playing with Alice.

Looking at the clock, Sir Dominic noticed it hadn’t been long since Alice’s training time had ended.

“I’ve done everything I needed to. Now I’m going to rest a bit.”

“I see. Rest… did you say rest?”

Sir Dominica was casually looking at the blue-eyed white skeleton dragon Alice was showing her, thinking it was quite an elaborate toy, when she suddenly realized that Sir Dominic had mentioned “resting.”

“What did you say?”

“I said I’m going to rest. I went to the hospital and they said I have sleep deprivation.”

Sir Dominica looked carefully at Sir Dominic.

Indeed, his rough skin and sunken eyes suggested he needed rest.

“You really do attract incidents, don’t you.”

Sir Dominica looked at Sir Dominic with a sympathetic expression.

Thinking about it, there had been so many incidents recently.

Each one was a massive event that couldn’t be ignored.

And Sir Dominic was, surprisingly, involved in most of these incidents.

Either directly or indirectly.

“Yes. Get some good rest.”

“I will.”

Sir Dominic took out a new T-shirt he had bought yesterday.

It was a T-shirt with the phrase ‘Elelelle’ and an image of a hatchling sticking out its tongue.

“Ah, right.”

Sir Dominic, heading to the bathroom with the T-shirt in hand, seemed to remember something and called out to Sir Dominica.

“Could you warm this up for me? They say it helps calm the mind and body.”

“Sure. I’ll have it ready for you to drink as soon as you finish washing up.”

Sir Dominic handed Sir Dominica one of the items he had just bought.

The one-liter bottle of low-fat milk.