Chapter 269 - Journey's End and the Beginning of a New Journey (Part 1)
Ten days had passed since the civil war in Migul ended. We were at the Leafclout family mansion. Sitting in a chair, I looked up at the hole made by Komachi’s special skill, a magical cannon. The blue sky was visible through the large hole. Whether it was intentional or not, the mansion had been rather dimly lit, so that much sunlight wasn't a bad thing. There was still no sign of rain. Perhaps the wind blowing from the west wasn't carrying rain clouds to this land. I pondered that as I shifted my gaze to the interior. The stone structure was more robust than I had imagined. The charred furniture had already been removed, leaving only burn marks on the walls, but there was no danger of collapse. Seeing the mansion burning in the darkness had made it seem like I had inflicted significant damage, but now I knew I had been naive. The same was true of the Airally family mansion. I wanted to repair this mansion as soon as possible, but the number of craftsmen was limited, and repairing the four families' mansions and public buildings took priority. However, I wanted it repaired by winter. Fam was sitting next to me, dangling her legs and swinging them back and forth. The tea on the table had already lost its heat, and she hadn’t taken a sip.
"It’s pointless to be impatient."
"Muu, Lord doesn’t understand because he doesn’t have any friends!"
Fam said, then stood up and ran to the window. She opened the window and leaned out, peering into the alley below. 'No wonder she prefers theERPog form,' I thought.
"Don’t try to jump just because Sam Eim is here."
"I’m not going to jump. Please don’t make me do it with Lord either!"
There was a thorn in every word. Annoyed, I decided to intimidate her by pushing her back and approached quietly behind her. At that moment, her floppy ears drooped down.
"She’s here!"
She shouted. A reply came as expected, so I nodded and Tulsan came down the stairs beside me, keeping pace with me. Tulsan said,
"I was about to inform Your Lordship that Marianne of the Wanland family has sent an envoy, but it seems it was already known."
"I happened to be looking at the scenery outside the window earlier."
In the main hall of the entrance, in addition to Fam, there were Yuki, Marmie, and Hyakka and Hayako's figures. Myra wasn't there because she had gone to church.
It was the captain of the Wanland family guard, Tulsan, who brought Sam Eim, Iristerie, and Shirazu. As Fam rushed over to Sam Eim, a girl in a deep hood ran over and bumped her head against my stomach, hugging me. 'What is this, is she feeling me or something,' I thought.
"Makun!"
"Ugh…"
The pain was accompanied by a small sound. I pulled her away for a moment and removed her hood, looking at her face. The tilted head, looking blank and innocent, was definitely my niece Lini.
"I’m Mash… Shirazu…"
Whether she heard my words or not, Shirazu hugged me again. She looked exactly like Lini, but her body wasn’t aging due to the special skill. But she had certainly aged mentally. It felt like nothing had changed from her gestures.
I traced the slave mark attached to her arm with my fingers. The texture of the unmarked part and the rest didn’t change, but I could feel a soft and fluffy touch. Hyakka had 'shackle' instead of mark, maybe because she was originally Japanese.
"The removal of that slave mark is not permitted."
Tulsan told me to remind me. As I tried to pull Shirazu away, I noticed Tulsan was still staring at me.
"What’s wrong?"
"Hey, don’t offer to relinquish territory so lightly, okay?"
Tulsan glanced sideways at the steward.
"If you remove the slave marks of these guys, I won’t complain for the time being…"
"It’s Lord Mash’s slaves. They’re no different from freemen unless he orders otherwise, right?"
The slave marks that Tulsan placed on them were essentially the same as a brand for criminals. That might be the case from the perspective of the townspeople, but I wasn’t happy at all. I thought while looking blankly at Shirazu. Suddenly, Iristerie was standing in front of me. She looked at me with a faint smile. Perhaps she was just smiling, but her smile felt somehow shadowy and conspiratorial.
"I’m planning to leave Migul soon. After going to Fam’s village, I’m heading to the Demon Kingdom."
"Wouldn’t they come to you if you didn’t go there?"
Tulsan widened his eyes at Iristerie’s words.
"Because wouldn’t they? The Demon Kingdom has ambitions for territorial expansion. How could there be such a civil war when they didn’t do anything? Isn’t now the perfect opportunity to send troops to Migul? They might already be sending an army here."
Everyone fell silent, frozen as I sighed and grabbed her shoulders.
"Iristerie, there’s something I’ve been meaning to say for a while now."
"What is it?"
"You’re scary! When you say something prophetic, stop smiling and say it with worried eyes."
"Is that an order?"
"No. A request."
"You want me to become the kind of woman Mash likes?"
Fam blinked in response and looked at me. 'I really can't understand you,' I thought.
"You don’t have to become one… and also, I want you to manage the Leafclout territory together with this steward."
"Is that an order?"
Her expression hadn’t changed from the beginning. She had a faint smile plastered on her composed face. I felt a little annoyed and pinched her cheeks.
"Mugi!"
"That’s also a request."
She stared at me with the same expression as when I pinched her. If I let go of my fingers now, her expression would return to normal.
"Will you listen to me?"
She nodded silently. Then, I turned my gaze to the steward and confirmed his intention as well. He nodded silently. I breathed a sigh of relief and released my fingers.
"I don’t agree!"
Hyakka said to me.
"We don’t agree either!"
Hayako shouted in agreement with Hyakka. Next to her, Aili pulled on the sleeve of Hayako’s clothes.
"I’m not really…"
"Huh? Sam Eim and Shirazu aren’t members of Savior, nor are the demon woman and the adventurer man. You’d let them escape alone, right? In the end, you’re letting everyone go except for Clovis!"
"But, is there anyone I can fight anymore who’s worth saying I’m telling them to do as I say?"
Hayako faltered.
"Besides, you also arbitrated our party…"
"Arbitration! We weren’t fighting."
"That’s true, but…"
Aili hesitated and looked at Hyakka. Hyakka also frowned and lowered her gaze to the floor.
"First, make peace with us. Start from there."
"We’re not fighting at all!"
"Different from you. I mean with your original party."
"..."
Hyakka bit her lip. Seeing me try to compromise, she went for broke.
"If Mash says he’ll forgive these three, do as you like. But, Yuki is different. If you forgive her too, Mash…"
Hyakka looked at Yuki. Yuki looked like she was about to say something, but stopped as if hesitating. Then, she sent me a determined gaze.
"I understand that what the senior did was bad. But if the senior wants to atone for her sins, I will cooperate with the senior. If Hyakka interferes, I’ll break off all ties."
I wanted to ask what 'broken ties' meant, but I held back. The two of them were parallel lines. Yet, they were glaring at me, lumping me in the same category. I should weigh my options carefully.
"Yuki’s matter depends on what the people of Migul City think. She was prominent in the attacks on the guild and the Crystal Palace during this civil war."
"But, if you give your opinion, it’ll all be swayed towards that direction like Sam Eim, right?"
Hayako glared at me with suspicion. 'Is it true that I'm that popular,' I thought.
"I’ll leave the city’s affairs to the city. I’ve always done that. That’s my principle."
But I kept silent about the fact that I had neither the determination nor the courage to judge and make decisions. Perhaps I could have executed Yuki and Shirazu and blamed it on the church.
"Then, what about these three?"
"I worked hard for this city too! Isn’t it okay to get a reward for it!"
"Huh? We can’t complain because we were the first to be attacked, but what about the rewards for the Hyakka and Yuki who fought with you? Hyakka’s desire is for the severed heads of those three!"
"I-I didn’t say that far…"
Hyakka answered with a strained face.
"We fought with Mash too. We’ve mostly figured out the Savior thing, and we know that Sam Eim wasn’t fighting because she wanted to, and Shirazu was forced to… I don’t know about that elf though…"
Hyakka was trying to forgive them in her own way. I was happy and placed my hand on her head.
"You’ve grown, Hyakka. As a reward, I’ll give you this Leafclout family mansion and the right to govern it."
"I don’t need it!"
She brushed my hand away. I glared at her, wondering if she was planning to live in this house and continue eating free food without doing anything, when Tulsan and the steward also looked at me with cold gazes, so I raised my hands in surrender.
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