Chapter 221 The Saint's Creativity (2)

After the Magic Management Bureau staff left.

Three teacups had gone cold in the room.

Yulian stared at the closed door, then let out a sigh as if the ground would cave in.

"I need to take this to the Duke and talk to him as well......"

Erika's ears perked up as she was clearing the teacups.

Her head turned toward Yulian.

Yulian had pushed an envelope to one side of the desk.

Then he sat deep in his chair and opened the research notebook he had set aside earlier.

She had spent years stuck by his side in Limbus Pit.

Reading his thoughts from his gestures was not difficult.

'Looks like he can't go today.'

Maybe he wouldn't be able to go tomorrow either.

Erika spoke up immediately.

"I'll take it, Teacher."

"Eri, you?"

"Yeah. I didn't have anything to do anyway."

More precisely, she had just gotten something to do.

Helping Yulian focus on his own work.

It was the role of an assistant she had learned in Limbus Pit,

and also the role of a close aide she had learned from the Head Butler.

"......All right. Then I'll leave it to you."

Yulian pulled the envelope he had pushed aside back toward himself.

"Thanks. Just deliver this document to the Duke."

Eri gladly accepted the document.

The document file held to her chest was light yet heavy.

"It's been a while since I've done this too."

Back when they were in the shabby clinic in D-Sector.

The work she did was usually this sort of thing.

Waking early in the morning to boil water before consultations.

Refilling it in advance when it seemed about to run out.

Going to pick up equipment or food Yulian had ordered.

Back then, there had been only two people in the clinic.

While Yulian cut open wounds and scolded patients like Wangcho,

Erika quietly handled these small, petty tasks.

Sometimes she made a mistake and burned the back of her hand.

When that happened, Yulian would tell her to be careful and apply ointment to the back of her hand.

She had never deliberately put her hand in hot water for that ointment.

Still, whenever she burned herself by mistake, she was a little glad.

"I think I'll sleep well tonight, Teacher."

"?"

They were truly rewarding and fulfilling days.

Because an orphan who had lived in the back alleys merely to avoid dying had learned the joy of living with a reason to live in her heart.

The child who had never once slept properly in the back alleys fell into a dead sleep every day in that clinic.

But after Yulian became famous, healers who wanted to learn surgery gathered, the clinic became an infirmary before anyone noticed, and even that infirmary gave up its place to the Academy's Meyer Infirmary.

To stand by his side, she had to know how to boil magic, not water.

Perhaps that was why.

"Ah, right. Is there an errand I can send you on while you're out?"

"I'll give you a check, so buy some snacks and share them with the party members."

"Okay."

Erika deliberately added one more errand.

Because she wanted to keep this warm, fluffy feeling for as long as possible.

"I'll be back quickly~!"

"There's no need to hurry, so take your time."

"Got it!"

Erika left the room with the envelope held to her chest.

She had heard him say to take her time, but.

There was no particular reason she had to obey that.

Unable to contain her excitement, Erika bounded down the stairs two steps at a time.

*

A few minutes later.

Erika arrived before the gate of the Ducal Castle.

Now all that remained was to deliver this envelope to the Duke.

But there was one problem.

"......Where is he?"

She did not know where the Duke was right now.

Unlike Limbus Pit, where she knew every alley,

the Ducal Castle was not her turf (a word she had learned from Wangcho).

It was one thing that she had boldly charged out here.

But she had not really thought about how to find the Duke.

"Young Lady, have you come to see Lady Isolde?"

"No. I came to see the Duke."

"Uh...... I don't really know where the Duke is right now either......"

The gatekeeper trailed off as if embarrassed.

Unfortunately, the gatekeeper was not very helpful to Erika, but.

"Could you wait a moment? I will look for someone who might know."

Fortunately, it seemed he could find someone she knew.

The gatekeeper, who had gone inside, returned a moment later with a familiar young man.

"Eri!"

The young man, having walked past the gatekeeper, raised his hand.

It was Martin, the second son of the Erunt Ducal Family.

During the Demonic Realm Practical Training.

Because Martin had treated Eri like his real youngest sister, they had become close quickly.

Erika bowed her head toward him.

"Hello, Commander of Erunt......"

In that instant, Martin's face turned grim.

Had she crossed a line without realizing it?

Erika quickly analyzed her mistake.

"Martin Oppa?"

"Yeah. We agreed in the forest that you'd call me that."

Eri gave an awkward smile.

During the Demonic Realm Practical Training.

Martin had been delighted to have gained a younger sister, and before a day had passed, he told her to call him Oppa too.

For Erika, it was inevitably bewildering.

No matter how you looked at it, they had been strangers until yesterday.

So Erika, unsure how far she should accept it, kept taking a step back.

In the back alleys, goodwill without reason was the most dangerous thing of all.

But when Lady Keres explained the reason, she had no choice but to change her mind.

— "To survive in this land where bugs swarm in colonies, people must band together just as tightly."

Even if they were strangers until yesterday, if you received the Erunt crest today, you were family from today.

Martin becoming an older brother in a single day was not a matter of personality, but this land's method of survival.

After learning that, Erika stopped backing away.

After realizing that the affection Martin showed was the secret of the family that had protected this region,

because she understood it was not some ulterior motive.

Of course, the incidental benefit that becoming a member of the Erunt Ducal Family could bring her closer to her goal was a bonus.

"I heard you'd come, so I came out. Looking for Father?"

"Yeah. It's an errand for Teacher."

"Then you came to the right person. I'll guide you."

"I just need to deliver this, though?"

Erika held out the envelope.

Martin took the envelope, looked at its exterior, and glanced over the wax seal.

"This isn't something for Father; it needs to go somewhere else."

"Yes."

"Follow me."

Martin led Erika to the main building.

For every step Martin took, Erika had to take two.

Thanks to that, she chased after him half-running.

At the end of that chase, the office door came into view.

Before the office door.

An elderly butler bowed his head.

"Greetings, Young Master Martin, Young Lady Erika."

"Hello. Could this be delivered to the Duke......"

The Duke would be in the office.

Before she could open her mouth based on that perfectly reasonable assumption,

Martin held the envelope out toward the elderly butler.

"Give it to the Acting Family Head."

"Understood."

"Let's go, Erika. To meet Father."

Then, as if his business there was done, he turned in another direction.

"But the office is over there?"

"Father doesn't look at documents like that anymore. Approval passed to my older brother long ago."

"What?"

Just after Erika asked back.

Crash.

From inside the office came the sound of something falling over.

Crack, snap!

"I will get out of this hell!"

"Grab him, quickly!"

"Let go of me! That's an order! I am the Acting Family Head! You bastards!"

"Then fulfill the duties of the Acting Family Head! Weren't you born for that?!"

"Gwaaaah!"

Through the half-open door.

A man forced his body into the gap and reached a hand outside.

But before he could cross the threshold, the man was dragged back inside.

The one trying to escape and the ones trying to stop him.

Erika felt a sense of déjà vu at the sight.

'I sometimes saw people like that in Teacher's laboratory too.'

If so, this was not someone else's problem for Erika either.

How would a seasoned butler handle a situation like this?

She observed the elderly butler guarding the door.

The Head Butler reached out toward the Acting Family Head's pitifully outstretched arm.

And then,

"You came out at just the right time. I believe you must review this document before the others, Master."

After placing the envelope in his hand, he pushed his master's hand back into the gap of the door.

The man holding the envelope shouted at the butler.

"How can you do this in my house—"

Before the man could even finish speaking.

The office door closed.

It felt as if a storm had just passed through.

As Erika stared blankly at the closed door, Martin shrugged and said,

"That's my older brother. You can call him Acting Family Head, or call him Orabeoni or Oppa—he'd like that."

Erika looked back and forth between the closed door and Martin.

"You don't need to help him?"

"I did help him. I told him to look at the urgent document first."

From inside the door came the sound of something falling over again.

Erika's gaze returned to the door.

"Still, if you worked together too, Martin Oppa, wouldn't it finish a little faster?"

"No."

Martin gestured with his chin toward the window in the corridor.

Far away, the train station was visible.

"My job is managing the railway, and that is my older brother's job. Doing only the work assigned to your own position—that's how you help each other."

"If I'm being honest?"

"I hate it too."

Erika nodded.

Because she felt she understood that sentiment.

*

After the brief commotion in front of the office.

For a while, no words passed between the two.

It was not for any particular reason.

They simply had not known each other long and did not know what they ought to say in this situation.

Then, breaking that awkward silence, Erika spoke.

"The nobles I've met seem a little different from what I had imagined."

"In what way?"

Martin, who had been uncomfortable with the awkwardness, responded immediately.

"I thought nobles were people who fought each other to have more. Land, money, position—whatever it was."

Only after saying it did Erika wonder whether that was something to say in front of a member of the Ducal Family.

So she added one more line afterward.

"That's what everyone says in the back alleys, after all."

Martin did not get angry.

Rather, he nodded.

"I can't say there are no families like that."

"But the Erunt family is different. I can see everyone cares for each other, and it's nice to see."

It was a compliment Erika had chosen as best she could.

She had not learned how to compliment someone else's house in Limbus Pit but at the Academy, so she was still clumsy at it.

Martin's steps paused for a moment.

He was smiling.

But only the corners of his mouth rose; his eyes did not change.

"If that's how it looks, then I'm glad."

Then he walked again and added,

"Well, it hasn't been that long since our house became this quiet."

"What?"

"When we were young, I mean."

Martin gazed into the air as if recalling the distant past.

"My older brother was weaker than me. I was better with a sword, and I was faster on my feet. But because he had a higher understanding of secret techniques and was good at command, he ranked above me in succession rights. I thought that was unfair."

"And now?"

"Now I'm rather glad."

Martin smiled and moved his feet.

This time, it was a pace Erika could follow without running.

"It's true I fight better than my older brother. But when he commands, everyone else fights well too."

"Then he should have been the one in charge from the beginning."

"Looking back now, yes."

Beyond the corridor window, the train station was visible.

Martin looked that way for a moment, then continued.

"In the past, soldiers died before they could even use what they'd learned. After a few fights, I had to lead new recruits out again. So I thought it was better for me to kill even one more bug than to manage soldiers well."

Erika matched her pace and listened to him.

"But these days, the ones I led out last time are still there the next time. And the time after that. Now there are even ones who go back to their positions before the order is given."

"Is that because of Teacher's medicine, by any chance?"

"Yeah. Thanks to the Saint, my older brother has an army to show his skill with."

Martin nodded.

"In the end, that's how we pushed the bugs beyond the mountain range together with His Highness. Do you think that would've been possible just because I swing a sword well?"

Pfft.

After a short laugh, Martin's gaze dropped to the corridor floor.

"......Looking back now, I don't know why I had such a battle of nerves with my older brother over a position like family head."

With that mutter, Martin's mouth closed again.

Keeping his gaze down, he gradually slowed his steps.

For a moment, their footsteps filled the empty space in the conversation.

"......"

"......"

Erika hated this kind of silence.

Fortunately, she had a weapon she could use in situations like this.

Anyone else would take a long time choosing their words here.

Choose wrong and it became rude; choose too carefully and it also became rude.

But Erika did not need to agonize over that.

For a perceptive kid to ask an unperceptive question was rude,

but for an unperceptive kid to ask an unperceptive question was only natural.

Because she knew that fact well,

she also knew well what she could say in this situation.

"So now you think it's right that your older brother is the Acting Family Head?"

Martin raised his head.

He rested his eyes on Erika's face for a moment, then soon pulled up the corners of his mouth.

"Yeah. Of course, after seeing that, I became even more certain."

His sentence trailed off downward.

Martin paused for a beat as if he had heard it with his own ears, then cleared his throat and sped his steps back up.

Erika was back to trotting.

"More than anything, in the old days, as long as the family head was good with a sword, he didn't need to be good with a pen. But after the South was liberated thanks to the Saint, the family head's work shifted mainly to administration."

Erika agreed.

Of course, to fulfill a lord's duties, one needed that much strength.

However, in the South now, strength was not something where more was always better; it was enough to have just enough.

In other words, the South was now a region where the pen mattered more than the sword.

"So I like things now. I throw all the headache-inducing stuff at my older brother, manage the railway, and fight the Demonic Beasts that gnaw at the railway."

She could understand why the Duke and his second son tried to flee from paperwork.

After all, they were people who had been trained to become family heads in an age when the sword was what mattered.

"Well, I suppose this too is a grace from the Saint, if you want to call it that."

While he was saying that,

the two of them had already arrived at the garden where the Duke was.