During the weekdays, I went to the school as usual, and after classes were over, I was in the city of Drintle with Alec and Lula to finalize our future plans.
The work is going well thanks to the materials that Dalmatia has prepared for us. And the drawings that Lula draws for me are wonderful. Sometimes we talk about things we don't understand, though.
Alec's manpower is well organized, and I am only here to help, sir.
Dalmatia, who was standing behind me, bowed.
''Thanks to Dalmatia-sama's provision of wood, we have more money than I thought we would have in our budget. We've already built a new section of housing, and now we're building an adventurer's school and a dormitory. The adventurers are joining us, so the work is progressing much faster than we expected.
Lula spreads the drawings out on the table and explains them to him.
The Adventurer's Guild also seems to be cooperating fully with Alec, and Alec explains that taxes are paid properly, and they haven't caused any major problems in the city.
As expected, there are a few problems when drinking, but they are mainly fights between adventurers and do not affect the general public.
It's not going to be a problem if it keeps up this way. I don't think I'll be able to come to this city this weekend either, as I have some complicated business to attend to.
If it's infrastructure development, it's not a problem right now. But what's so complicated about it? Did you have some trouble in King's Landing again?
Knowing Cain's unorthodox behavior, Alec casually visited him to see if he was in trouble again.
'I'm going to tell you this because it's relevant to brother Alec, but it's actually ... about your mother, who I was told was an adventurer commoner, but I found out that she was the eldest daughter of Viscount Geretta, who was the eldest daughter of the Viscount Geretta family. ... I'm going to the city of Danlov with your mother this weekend. It's planned.
Alec was surprised to learn that Sarah was a nobleman, after all.
"... I thought Mother Sarah was really a former commoner based on her normal behavior and conversation, but I didn't realize she was a real nobleman.
''Yeah, so I'll be away again for a little while, but please take care of me. Oh, I'll give this to you since Duke Eric gave it to me in the form of an investment.
Cain placed the five white gold coins in a sachet on the table.
They were given to him by Eric as a wabi fee, but it was still not enough for the development of the city of Drintle in the future.
Even if the cost of materials floated, including the demolition of the slums, it's not enough to raise the occupation and standard of living of the residents without a donation from the lord.
''From Duke Eric or ... I'll be grateful for it. I'll put the thank you note out in Cain's name.
Alec carefully tucks the sachet he received into the safe.
'I'll ask you to continue developing the city.
Cain's words brought the meeting to a close.
Then the weekend arrived and we were to go to the city of Danlov.
I had planned to speak to Viscount Santos ahead of time, but Sarah stopped me.
'If he's not there, that's fine. And I'd like to apologise to Lara.
'Then touch me. I can't transition with you without touching you.
Um, okay.
Okay.
Garum and Sarah shook both of Cain's hands.
'Sebas, we'll be back tomorrow. Until then, I'll leave you to it.
Master Garm, I'll handle this.
Sebas, who is standing behind me, bows.
'Cain-kun, can I give you a hug?'
Rayne asks with a twinkle in her eye.
'... I could just touch your hand ...'
Without hearing Cain's words at all, Rayne hugged him from behind.
'Cunn, it smells like Cain-kun!
Feeling her slightly swollen chest, she sighed to Rayne, who hadn't heard her at all, and chanted the magic.
''Transition.''
My vision changed in an instant.
As expected, it was problematic to transfer directly to Viscount Santos' mansion, so they transferred near the city gates.
All three of them look around in amazement at their first transition.
''I didn't expect to experience the transition: ...
It's an old gate. ...
Is it already there? I would have liked to have hugged Mr. Cain more. ...
I waved Rayne off as I listened to the three parties' words.
''We've transitioned near the city's entrance gate, so I'm sorry, but we'll walk from here.
As it was a short enough walk from the gate, they soon reached the city's entrance gate.
If a group of four people dressed as nobles by all appearances walked towards the gate from the street, the guards would be nervous to see what was going on along the way.
Maybe, he wondered.
In the midst of all this, one of the guards is approaching Cain and his group at a leisurely pace.
'Excuse me. I believe you are a nobleman, but may I ask your family name? And you're on foot: ... Is something important?
A middle-aged guard, who seemed to be the captain of the guard, bowed politely and called out to him.
''Oh, excuse me, Kai--''
"Garm von Silford Gracia, Frontier Count. I'm here to see Lord Santos. Don't bother asking about the details.
When Cain was about to produce his viscount's certificate, Garum, from the side, presented the frontier earl's certificate to the captain.
It was a more luxurious finish than Cain's viscount's certificate.
The captain of the guards, who thought they were nobles, also heard that the noble group that walked by was the frontier earl himself, a senior nobleman with a higher rank than the lord, causing all the guards to be nervous.
''Ha, yes! Please go ahead, sir. I'll have the carriage ready in a moment. Gentlemen, the wagons are ready! Also, someone run to my lord's place!
At the captain of the guard, the young guards scurried to run at the sound of the captain's voice.
''I'll have a carriage ready in a moment, please wait here for a moment.
The captain of the guard politely led the four men into the reception room of the building next to the gate.
'I apologize for the cramped quarters, sir. We will send you to your carriage as soon as it is ready.''
Garum handed the awed captain of the guards a small bag from his pocket.
''Sorry to bother you. Here, serve the guards in the evening.''
I'm sorry for the gratuity. Thank you.
He carefully tucked the sachet that was handed to him into his own pocket.
After about ten minutes, the carriage was ready, and the four of them climbed into the carriage where the guards would play the part.
''Thanks for the help,''
The carriage departed after Garum called out to the captain of the guard.
Inside the carriage, Garum is silent with his arms crossed.
Sarah is enjoying the nostalgic city she hasn't seen in over a decade.
Rayne is hugging Cain's arm.
'Sister Rayne: ...'
I haven't had a carriage ride like this sitting next to me lately, so I'll have to replenish Mr. Cain.
Cain had thought that being busy at the school had cured him of his blacon, but that wasn't the case.
With Rayne's arms around him, he enjoyed the view of the city he had seen last week through the carriage window.
The carriage passed through the city and arrived at the lord's residence in about twenty minutes.
''Thank you for your patience. We have arrived at the mansion.''
The guards who dismounted first opened the door.
When he got down from the carriage, the lord's family was already lined up in front of the door to greet him.
This is because the guards who ran ahead of them have already spoken to them.
When the four men got off the carriage, Santos came to Garum's side.
''Garum Frontier Count, it's been a while, hasn't it?
'Sir Santos, I apologize for coming to you without prior notice. I read your letter. There are some things I need to talk to you about, so I had to bring them to you, albeit at short notice.
Garum bows his head lightly and looks at Sarah.
Seeing Sarah's appearance, Santos and the other long-time servants of the mansion, including Santos, have tears in their eyes.
Lara had already shed large tears.
Only Leela, who couldn't understand the situation, had a strange look on her face.
''--Sarah, did you get lucky?
Father, it's been a while. I'm sorry to have caused you concern.
Sarah's eyes filled with tears and she bowed her head deeply.
Santos nodded, his eyes watering, too. Then he looked at Cain.
'Sir Cain, I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to come here so quickly, ... I was surprised indeed when the guards jumped in and explained it to me.
No, since we're seeing each other again, I thought the sooner the better. ...
Santos nodded at Cain's words. Then he turned to Garum.
'It must have been a long journey. You should relax in the villa. I'm sorry, but Duke Eric is also in attendance.
Cain thought to himself, "Oh," at Santos' words.
He had told Eric about what he had done here last week, but he hadn't explained to him about Sarah.
'I'll have to ask Garum to explain it to me,' he thought as he was ushered into the mansion.
'Hello, Lord Garum, Mr. Cain, how nice to see you here.
Duke Eric was already waiting in the hall with a smile on his face.