t

Deneb 30 gazed at the Great Shama Wetlands after Raldus disappeared but then realized that he must deliver the short sword to Laojun as soon as possible and so immediately turned aside and started running.

He was headed for Kaina village. Because on top of a warp gate being available there, Jin was also there at the moment.

Present time was around 9 am.

Distance to Kaina village in a straight line is about 80 km. Although his speed would somewhat decrease because of the bad footing in the wetlands but he still would have been able to reach in 2 hours.

However, movement suddenly slowed down.

“?!”

He noticed that his left ankle was slightly damaged.

“It’s probably the after effect of the ‘Distruzione’ magic… Even though he had more than enough margin to run away.”

Seems like the effect range was larger than he had thought.

“…I can’t run freely with this…”

Without a choice, Deneb 30 decided to contact Laojun.

“Due to that Raldus guy’s magic grazing my left ankle, it is damaged.”

[Understood. I will send someone over from Kaina village.]

Laojun took over.

Because he knew Deneb 30’s position by magi radar, he was able to send Land Y and Z there from Kaina village and they reached within 2 hours.

The arrangement was that Land Y will take the short sword and travel to Kaina village at full speed, then use the warp gate to get the sword to Laojun. And Land Z would carry Deneb 30 back to Kaina village.

Although Deneb 30 had told all the necessary information to Laojun, who knows what could happen. Land Z and Deneb 30 also hurried towards Kaina village.

On the other hand, Laojun was caught by the sentence ‘as usual, humans sure are weak’.

And as such, he contacted Deneb 29, who remained at Rakham.

“I was just about to contact you.”

There was a surprising turn of events.

[Are you saying Earl Walter died from an illness?]

“Yes. After feeling fatigued, he caught a fever and then felt extreme pain all over his body, and after suffering that…”

Laojun had made many different plans to tease the Earl but he now got to know that all of that went to waste.

[You reap what you sow. A curse will rebound on yourself as well, I suppose.]

With that, Laojun renewed his thinking.

Lis.h.i.+a’s poor physical health then and now Earl Walter’s death. He thought that Raldus was probably connected to both of those.

[I must inform my lord.]

And there, Laojun contacted Reiko.

＊ ＊ ＊

After enjoying a morning bath at the hot spring, Jin went back to the Nidou castle and had breakfast together with Lis.h.i.+a and Pascaud.

Elsa also joined through the course of events.

Elsa had textbook like table manners. Seeing that, Pascaud and Lis.h.i.+a were amazed.

“M-ms. Elsa, was it? Your table manners are very elegant…”

Pascaud’s face was somewhat red. On the other hand, Lis.h.i.+a honestly complimented.

“Uwaa, Ms. Elsa is very ladylike. I would completely believe it even if you say you’re a n.o.ble’s daughter.”

Believe it or anything, it is obvious since Elsa is the daughter of a former n.o.ble–thought Jin and Elsa but didn’t speak of it.

“….My father was a strict person so…”

Elsa just muttered. Feeling something from her tone, the other two decided to not raise the topic anymore.

After having breakfast, they looked around Kaina village. Jin was on his beloved golem horse Koma and Elsa was on Snow.

And they had Lis.h.i.+a and Pascaud ride on Ain and Tsubai.

“Wa-wa-wa, Like… this?!”

“Uwaaahh! I-is this how you do iitt?!”

Although they were having trouble handing the golem horse at first, after about 30 mins, they were able to walk it without no problem.

And so, the 4 of them went around Kaina village. They departed from Nidou castle. In other words, beside Helme river.

At first, they went along Helme rivers river beach. The deep and shallow regions were adjoined and clearly visible there, making it quite the scenery.

“We can collect magi stones a bit far from here–over there. It is a great income source for the village as cooking stove’s mana source.”

“Ah, so you can collect them here.”

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As Lis.h.i.+a also had 2 stoves from Raglan company at her house, she was used to the magic stones. Whereas, it seems like Pascaud didn’t know of them.

They returned to Kaina village after seeing the Helme river. A gentle slope rose from the bridge to the wooden fence and beyond that was officially Kaina village.

Wheat fields could be seen on the left side after entering the fence. Deeper that way lied forests of needle-leaved trees.

Inside the village, as some land was barren, there were fields to play on but mostly there are either houses or plantations or storehouses for materials.

“We grow the vegetable gardens generally for ourselves.”

Most of the vegetables they grow were green vegetables. That is because the duration from planting the seeds to harvesting is really low.

And then the four of them came in front of Martha’s house.

“This is the house where I stayed at first. You know that, right, Ms. Lis.h.i.+a?”

“Yes.”

“I expanded the previous workshop here and also reconstructed the house. Well, you could say this is my home as well. Elsa also lives here.”

The mayor’s house was just a bit further ahead.

“As you already know, this is Mr. Gibbeck’s house, my acting magistrate and the person handling the village.”

There, Jin got off the road and headed east.

“Beyond this… the storehouse for wheat, right?”

Lis.h.i.+a remembered it from when she came last year as the tax collector.

“Yes. But there’s one more thing.”

Jin said while pointing at the ice house.

“That is?”

“It’s called an ice house. Simply said, you store snow in it in winter to preserve vegetables.”

While he was explaining, they made it in front of the ice house and got off there.

Jin slightly opened the door of the ice house.

“If I open it too much it will get warm inside, you see.”

Saying that, they went inside. Jin brought out a light ball to illuminate the place.

“There’s actual snow stored here, huh…? It’s a bit cold but this is amazing!”

A great amount of snow was in front of them and in the empty s.p.a.ce between the snow was containers of vegetables and meat.

“You know a lotta things, Mr. Jin. And you are using that knowledge for the betterment of the people. I respect that.”

Lis.h.i.+a praised Jin but Pascaud just looked at him frustrated. And it was at that time,

“Father, an emergency situation has broken out.”

Reiko told Jin in a low voice.

“What?! What are the details?”

“Yes…… it’s related to the illness.”

As Lis.h.i.+a and Pascaud were nearby, Reiko tried to explain as ambiguously as she could. And that was enough for Jin to understand.

“I understand. Ms. Lis.h.i.+a, Mr. Pascaud, I am sorry but I would like to return for now.”

As Jin said, Pascaud made an expression as if he didn’t know what was going on but Lis.h.i.+a just nodded.

“Yes, if Mr. Jin is saying so, then there is probably an emergency. Please return without minding us.”

“Thank you. Then, please come to Ms. Martha’s house which I showed you a while ago. Elsa, I leave them to you.”

Just as he said that, Jin left the ice house and got on Koma and headed towards the house as fast as he could. Reiko got on in front of Jin.

Lis.h.i.+a and Pascaud, who were still not quite used to the golem horses were slowly escorted by Elsa.

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＊ ＊ ＊

“….Earl Walter has died from an illness?!”

While running, Jin heard the report from Reiko.

[This is a guess but this Raldus guy, the mysterious guy at the Earl’s place is probably a demon. However, that is not what’s important at the time being.]

Demon. The sworn enemy of the humans–the enemies they fought with their existence on the line in the Great Magic War. But Laojun says that is not important. Jin urged him to continue while galloping.

[The problem is his parting gift.]

“Parting gift?”

[It’s probably a contagious disease.]

“What?!”

[It is the same as the illness Ms. Lis.h.i.+a caught. It looks like the Earl’s treatment was a bit too late.]

Jin felt uneasy. The worst possible scenario was starting to become real.