episode_0080

Elden and his party head to Gelida, a small village located between Rugen Village and the Grand Duchy.

We left a little late in the morning, and the sun was already high in the sky.

Yet no one showed any sign of fatigue.

It was thanks to my wonderful friends, the donkey and the cart.

of course.

“Grandpa. Are we there yet?”

“Hmm. I guess I’ll get there late at night.”

The speed was slow though.

It had to be that way.

When carrying the load on one’s own, one would climb high mountain paths or climb over gently sloping cliffs to shorten the distance, but since that was not possible with a cart, one had to travel on flat ground.

Since we were already renting a cart to move to the flat land, wouldn’t it be better to rent a large carriage to move around more comfortably? Unfortunately, this cart was the largest means of transportation that Rugen Village had.

“I think it would be better to have lunch here and rest for a bit before moving on.”

The lead steer stopped the cart, and the men began to do their part in a neat and orderly manner, as they had done for the past six months.

Rendler sets up the camp, Rachel patrols the surrounding area to check for any hazards, and Elden gathers kindling to start the campfire, an essential element of the camp.

Dismissed!

Easily with lightning magic.

Afterwards, if there were any extra hands, they would go to a nearby stream and scoop up buckets of water and divide it into portions so that each person could use as much as they needed.

In the midst of the repetitive movements, there were those who were seeking change.

There was someone who was surprised by the systematic construction of the camp and someone who was teaching something to such people as a homeless senior.

“Most camping is done during mealtimes, right? Prepare the cooking utensils, and when Elden lights a campfire and brings water, you can start cooking with that.”

Ariel is skillfully preparing the food and explaining it, while Lumiang keeps nodding while helping her.

Naturally, to prevent any untoward incidents, Lumiang was wearing a hood.

[Thank you. I’ll do it now.]

Ariel, who helped Lumiang like that, approached Elden, who was dividing the water he had raised into small buckets.

“Hey, Elden?”

“Huh?”

“I have one last question to ask. Now I just need to write the epilogue scenario and I’m done.”

“Oh. Is the ending over?”

“Yeah! While the Grand Duchess was cooking, I made a lot of progress. Hehe.”

Elden, who had divided the food into portions suitable for each person’s use, sat down on a wide rock next to the campfire.

Ariel sat down next to Elden, holding a piece of paper and a pen.

“What would our great writer be curious about?”

“Dae, Master Writer. Don’t call me that. It’s weird… .”

“Who knows? It might be a huge hit as soon as it’s published?”

“Hey… . You’re kidding too.”

Ariel’s goal in writing Elden’s story as a book was not to hit the jackpot, but if she had the chance to publish it, she hoped that many people would read it.

Money, fame, glory?

No, I just hoped that the book would dilute the notoriety of Elden Raphelion’s past infamy in people’s memories.

He just wanted to be remembered by his new nickname as a bloodthirsty prince who helped the weak, not as a bully who caused trouble all day long, or as a monster hunter.

For six months, he had seen the good deeds of Elden Raphelion, the Northern Commander, no, the one who never turned away from the weak who were being treated unfairly and readily offered help.

I wish all the people of the Kingdom of Elpherion would know this.

I wish everyone could see how wonderful and beautiful it was.

An incident where he helped a mother who had her daughter taken away under the pretext of huge interest.

The liberation of residents who had been exploited by bandits.

and.

The episode that I put the most effort into was hunting the intermediate monster [Cockatrice] that was slaughtering animals around the village and occasionally eating people, causing fear in the area, and enjoying a two-day festival with the villagers by making dishes using the wings, tail, torso, and head of its giant corpse.

That’s why I put everything that happened over the past six months into the scenario, and I hope that Elden, who is growing into a great man through various incidents and accidents, and Ariel, who wants Elden’s desirable attitude of helping the weak without being concerned about status or origin, will resonate in the poor noble family.

It’s been about six months since I started writing the scenario with that kind of hope.

Ariel, who had finished writing the scenario up to the end in line with Elden’s words of ‘wanting to settle down in a place with a nice view’, had only the final epilogue left.

Once I finished writing the epilogue scenario, I could start writing in earnest.

From the ending of the main story to the epilogue.

Because of his insistence that the end of a long journey must always be a happy ending, Elden’s story ended with a happy ending that no one felt sad about, and to decorate the ending, one question arose.

It’s a bit embarrassing to ask, but for the sake of a perfect ending, Ariel cautiously asks about her future plans.

And, to check the similarity with my own thoughts.

“That… If you meet someone you love and get married… .”

“What if it becomes?”

“How many babies do you want to have?”

“… Huh? Baby?”

When Elden asks in bewilderment about the sudden question about having children, Ariel blushes and waves her hand.

“Ah, no. I, I’m just asking because I thought you’d just take note. I’m okay if you don’t have a baby. Oh, no! So I thought the readers would like it if a baby that looks like you appeared in the epilogue, and maybe it would be a little more touching? T-That’s why I’m just asking.”

The reason why I am rambling on and on and on and on and on.

It was a reason that was half truth and half excuse, and a truly shameful reason that could only be shown to those who knew.

Of course, it was a sad reason why I was eating rice alone without even thinking about who to give it to.

Because Ariel had yet to express her feelings for me.

“Really? Hmm, baby… .”

Elden looks at the flickering campfire and becomes lost in thought.

It was a question I had never pondered in my past or present life.

My previous life was too harsh to dream of the romance of marriage and children, and my current life was dreaming of the romance of a monster culinary tour, so I didn’t have time to worry.

I never wanted to be single my entire life, but plans to start a family felt like a distant future.

The life of a lower class person in a previous life, where everything was suppressed and forced to submit, was suddenly transformed into the life of an upper class person due to a sudden possession, and there were many romantic dreams to dream of other than marriage.

That’s why Elden, who was thinking about having children for the first time, soon gives the answer.

A classic and ideal family planning plan.

“About 2 babies? One son and one daughter would be perfect?”

and.

“… .”

Rachel, who returned to camp after patrolling the area, had to hide her surprise at the sudden news of her beloved disciple’s plans for his children.

This was a shocking statement to Rachel, who didn’t particularly like small creatures called babies and didn’t understand those who found cuteness in seeing newborn babies.

‘A baby… two of them…?’

of course.

It was a worry that was too premature for her, who, like Ariel, had never properly expressed her feelings.

**

After a light lunch of red longan meat soup prepared by Lumiang, we took a short break and headed straight for Gelida village.

It is late afternoon and the early sunset is fading into the distance between the forest paths.

As I was walking silently, taking in the tranquil energy of the forest, Rachel approached me.

“Disciple?”

“Yes, Master.”

“I have a personal question.”

“You too?”

“Yes.”

Ariel too, I feel like I’ve been getting a lot of ‘personal’ questions lately.

Ariel said it was for writing, and Rachel said it was for training.

“Is it about training?”

“Well… It’s not unrelated. In order to teach your students well, it would be good to understand their personal thoughts and ideologies.”

That makes sense, but Rachel had never asked about grand things like thoughts and ideologies during the six months of training.

what.

I readily agreed, as it is a desirable goal for a student and teacher to have a bond.

“That’s true. What’s wrong?”

But.

A somewhat odd question came up.

“What do you think about commoners and nobles marrying?”

“Huh?”

suddenly?

“Oh, well. I’m just asking because I think it might help you with your training. If you find it difficult to answer, you don’t have to.”

I wondered how belief in love could help one in one’s practice, but it wasn’t a particularly difficult question to answer.

As you know, most nobles get married as a political marriage for the sake of their family.

Occasionally, I heard stories of nobles who were far from the line of succession falling in love with commoners and being kicked out of their families.

Even though he did not have to succeed to the throne, he was kicked out simply for damaging the dignity of the nobility and tarnishing the honor of the family.

Of course, before that, I will try to prevent the worst decision by using all kinds of tricks, such as persuading my own blood relatives or threatening other people’s blood relatives.

that.

The love between a commoner and a noble was a forbidden area, and one that carried extreme risk, to the point where one wrong move could ruin everything.

However, to me, who had no interest in the shackles of social status or the gap in origins, it was just an ordinary right that ordinary men and women could have.

“What… If you truly love each other, shouldn’t you be blessed? No one is born with a status that they choose for themselves.”

As he answered, he turned his head and saw Rachel smiling happily, seemingly satisfied with her disciple’s beliefs.

“As expected, you are great.”

“What?”

“There is something like that.”

“But what does this have to do with training?”

A question that was asked because it was not understood at the time.

Rachel just gave him another questionable answer.

“Yes, my enthusiasm has been kindled a little more.”

“Huh?”

Feeling fired up?

It seems like you sometimes use violence to relieve stress under the guise of sparring, but was that smile just now sinister rather than pleasant?

Or, could it be that we were the ones being substituted for those commoners and nobles?

no way.

No way.

“What is that… .”

I asked what it meant, but I couldn’t get an answer because a group of people appeared blocking the forest path at that moment.

If you’re into medieval fantasy, you’re in for a treat when it comes to toll collection.

“Kehelhel, for the first time in a while, some rich looking guys are passing by. The girls look delicious too. Hey, this mountain belongs to our great ‘Iron Can Group’. If you want to pass safely, you’ll have to pay money and girls as toll! Kehelhel!”

… … Cast Iron Can Group?

That’s a pretty hopeless naming sense, isn’t it?