Volume 2 - CH 29

A month had passed since the disturbance caused by Duke Hillrose in the Dolknes territory. I arrived at the village that we developed.

We had easily defeated the monster horde with almost zero damage. We were lucky that the neighboring villages weren’t affected.

Wait, there was enormous damage though. Patrick had destroyed the extra-large monster summoning flute. By the time I returned to the town it was too late since the monsters were mostly taken care of. I consider this a grave loss to humanity.

Without taking a break, I was off to the royal capital. Heading to the Duke’s residence to catch all the extremist nobles who had gathered for the coup.

The resulting mess has settled down for the moment and it was time for me to concentrate on my own territory.

In preparation for starting a full-scale farming project next year, I approached the villagers who were plowing their fields.

“Sorry to interrupt your work, how are you holding up?”

“Aah! My Lord! Thanks to you, we are doing well. We’ll do our best so next year we can become self-sufficient.”

A man in his thirties smiled at me. It made me happy that he wasn’t afraid of me like when he was a bandit.

Then as if he remembered, he said.

“Are you okay, my Lord? I heard about the Duke’s attack.”

“Yeah, but everything went well because I was there.”

“My Lord is so strong. But what happened to the Duke?”

“—has passed away. The Duke house is no more.”

The story has progressed so much, huh? The only casualty from this incident was the mastermind, Duke Hillrose.

He muttered a small noise of agreement. I don’t sense any happiness in regards to the Duke’s passing but from his point of view, the Duke was a corrupt noble. But deep down, I knew he was a good person.

There was no point in talking about something so depressing, so I tried changing the subject.

“Let’s see… What about the shady old man who recently came to the village?”

“He’s been great! He has a good head and the other day, he helped defeat some monsters!”

About a month ago, a new resident had joined the village. He has a nasty face and personality, I was worried about whether he would fit in but it seems my fears were unfounded.

I knew he could fight to some extent. At that time I was defending myself from a horde of monsters.

“I’m glad to hear that he’s fitting in. Where is he right now?”

“He should be in his home.”

He then pointed towards a house. He said he lived alone in that small house.

As I knocked on the small but brand new door, a man’s voice answered. Inside, there was a middle-aged man.

“It’s been a while. I’m surprised to see you’ve settled in so well.”

“Living in retirement in the countryside isn’t so bad after all.”

“That’s good to hear. I wanted to tell you that everything has been settled today.”

“I see.”

The following is what happened in the royal capital after the rebellion caused by Duke Hillrose.

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Although I raided the Duke’s residence in cooperation with Ronald-san, half of them had left as the Duke didn’t show up after the scheduled time. They fled and were feigning their innocence.

“If only you had moved sooner, you could have wiped them out. Ronald was too lax.”

“But wasn’t it Miss Eleanora’s fault that Ronald-san was late?”

“How could it be her fault?! She didn’t do anything wrong.”

Instead of listening to him, I continued with my story.

From the reports, the remaining nobles were mostly small nobles and the Duke’s plan was thwarted. All the nobles’ families that were caught participating were arrested, their private property confiscated, and they were demoted to live as commoners.

Even those that managed to escape would lay low and remain quiet for a while.

When I told him about the situation, he spat sullenly.

“It would have been better if the punishment given were harsher.”

“That’s scary coming from you.”

There was almost no confusion in the kingdom. The ruined noble estates were placed under the direct control of the royal family and the kingdom was more stable.

As someone who values stability first and foremost, this was the best compromise for me.

Although I explained the kingdom’s state of affairs, he seemed to be interested in something else. He asked, fidgeting.

“What about that child?”

“I told her that you were dead. After all, She’s not someone who can keep a secret.”

“As long as she’s safe, that’s all that matters. —you haven’t leveled up, haven’t you?”

“I will keep my word, as long as you behave yourself.”

After being told that her father had passed away, she had been feeling down for a while. But lately, she has been regaining her energy. She even wanted to tag along with me to the village today.

At that moment, the door was thrown open. Does she have a creed about not knocking or something?

“Yumiela-san! I found a caterpillar that looks like a potato….”

Eleanora froze when she saw him in front of me.

He was similarly staring at Eleanora, not moving.

She made a strangled noise.

“Fa… ther?”

“—I’m just a mere villager. Duke Hillrose is dead.”

“Oh, I must have mistaken you for someone else! You look so much like my late father.”

“E-Eleanora?”

Ah—, he took Eleanora’s word at face value.

I struggled to hold back my laughter when I saw his mouth gaping open. It was even funnier because I thought it was gonna be an emotional reunion.

“There’s something I want you to see—”

Eleanora then turned to face me and started to talk.

Seeing this, he hurriedly said.

“Eleanora, it’s me, your papa!”

“Father! I knew it was you!”

“My sweetest little girl in the world!”

Leaving the two of them hugging each other, I walked out of the house. “It’s me, your papa!”, seriously, I can’t bear to watch him being the doting parent. Can’t they look at this from my point of view? This is embarrassing.

While walking around aimlessly, I spotted Ryuu digging a hole on the outskirts of the village.

“Ryuu, mama is here!”

Ryuu continued to be absorbed in shoveling out the soil with his paws.

Instead of him, a voice called out from the next door.

“Aren’t you embarrassed about what you’re doing?”

“What?”

“…Nothing.”

Patrick sometimes says the strangest things. He’s a little off or kind of unusual.

We looked at the scenery that had changed in just a few months. It was hard to believe that there was nothing here not long ago.

“Now I feel like it’s finally over.”

“The clean-up was more trouble than it was worth.”

After taking Eleanora to meet her father, it felt like this whole mess has finally come to an end.

Now that the village is settled, there is no need to rack my brain for it anymore….

“When is the wedding, anyway?”

“Hmm, I don’t know the precise date.”

Before we knew it, our wedding had been decided to be held in less than six months and the invitations had been sent out. The harvest season was about to get busy and once it’s over, it would be our wedding day.

“I know this is all Damon’s fault, he can be a little careless sometimes.”

“Are you sure you didn’t say something that can get easily mixed up?”

I was blamed as usual.

I hadn’t done a single thing to be misunderstood. If he keeps doubting me, I wouldn’t throw him a congratulatory party.

But what should I do? I’ve accepted his proposal and engagement ring but mentally I’m not ready. I need time to mentally prepare myself and arrange for the big wedding, five years from now sounds good.

“Do we really have to?”

“You don’t like it?”

No. There was no way I wanted to wear a dress that was difficult to move in, pay attention to the guests, greet them cordially and do all the other tiring stuff.

But still, since it was my wedding, I was looking forward to it just a little. I found myself smiling unconsciously.

I was happy to be his wife, and I could enjoy even the most unpleasant events with him.

“I never found weddings all that appealing.”

“Ah.”

“But with Patrick—”

The atmosphere was so pleasant that I felt like I could share my true feelings.

I had forgotten that I had also brought an atmosphere crasher with me.

My words were interrupted by a loud voice.

“Hey, you! What do you think you’re giving to my daughter?!”

“Father, wait! It’s a gift from Yumiela-san!”

The father and daughter pair were running towards us. He was also ruining the atmosphere.

He held a monster summoning flute in his hand. I gave her one because he had so many, did I do something wrong?

“Aren’t you being too overprotective of your daughter?”

“This is how it normally is.”

We looked at each other and laughed at the resemblance between the father and daughter pair that ruined the atmosphere.