“Does that mean there’s no one to help? Not even the lord or the root of the incident?”
Anne placed both hands on her hips and fumed.
‘Good job, Anne!’
I cheered for Anne internally. Dad gestured to Anne to calm her down.
“Anne, you’re getting too worked up.”
“Master Reytan! Do you know how strong the wild dog tribe is? If they swarm together, the villagers can’t even put up a fight against those beastmen!”
“I know.”
“My adoptive father was from the wolf tribe, you know? They said even ten knights together couldn’t defeat him.”
“That’s right! My dad was strong!”
Jeffrey backed Anne up. So Jeffrey’s father was from the wolf tribe.
“But it was humans who killed my dad!”
“Shh, shh! Jeffrey, this isn’t the right time to bring that up.”
“Oh, r-right.”
“Anyway, the wild dog tribe is definitely not something the villagers can handle alone!”
Before we knew it, it had become Anne’s solo stage. We watched as she walked to the center of the living room.
“Then what do you suggest? Are you going to fight them yourself?”
Grandma Marshall asked Anne. Her words were cold but realistic. Getting angry wouldn’t solve anything.
“No. Master Reytan will help us!”
“…Me?”
Finally, Anne had opened the floodgates. The situation was starting to flow in the direction we wanted.
“Oh! Dad’s going to help us?”
“Berry, hold on.”
Dad raised his index finger at me. It was a gesture telling me to be quiet.
Baron Voltman spoke up.
“Don’t do it. It would be best if you didn’t get involved in this. Do you realize how sensitive interspecies issues are? If people hear that you—a former Grand Master, now returned—have taken action against displaced beastmen, organizations fighting for interspecies rights won’t stay quiet.”
He was absolutely right.
Ever since Marquess Ash interfered with the wild dog tribe’s territory, this issue had already become a delicate problem that could easily escalate into a human-beastmen conflict.
With all the attention currently on Dad, I could only imagine how delighted the reporters would be to spin this into a sensational gossip story about the Count of Travel’s family.
For people who knew nothing about the case, headlines like ‘The Second Son of the Count of Travel Violates the Imperial Law by Attacking a Homeless Beastman’ would surely spread like wildfire.
‘But that part’s okay. We can just ask Grandma Marshall for help.’
Of course, in return, I might have to issue her a lifetime supply of free massage tickets…
That’s when it happened.
Anne’s voice, sounding pouty and disappointed, echoed through the air.
“Baron Voltman, what do you think of Master Reytan to say something like that?”
What do you think of my dad…?
I shifted my gaze to Anne. She was still standing with her hands on her hips, her upper body stiff and upright.
Baron Voltman asked,
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that Master Reytan is someone who can’t stand to see injustice!”
“Cough!”
Grandma Marshall choked in surprise, coughing violently. I also stood there with my mouth wide open.
‘Things are going in the direction I wanted, but…’
Anne was saying Dad couldn’t stand injustice.
Um, Anne?
“That’s right!”
“Of course!”
Then, Theon nodded, and Jeffrey shouted with all his might.
“…What kind of things have you been doing…?”
Grandma Marshall looked at Dad with a face full of shock. Dad seemed to feel just as baffled as I was.
Even I was still confused, but thinking about Dad’s past actions, it actually made sense.
He took Theon as his disciple, saved Anne, and even had Theon convinced that the medicine given to Jeffrey was all part of Dad’s plan.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey viewed Dad as his benefactor, believing that he had helped clear his sister’s name and taken her in.
Theon, Anne, and Jeffrey were all looking at Dad with unwavering trust in their eyes.
Even Baron Voltman and his wife glanced at Dad. They seemed to think it was unwise, but there was a faint trace of hope in their eyes.
“…….…”
There was no helping it.
I felt bad for Dad, but for the sake of Leaf Village, I had to ride this momentum.
“Wow! Dad’s really going to help us?!”
I looked at Dad with wide, sparkling eyes.
In the face of everyone’s attention, Dad finally raised his hands in surrender.
“…Fine…”
Grandma Marshall clicked her tongue in disapproval.
***
The Next Day
After breakfast, Dad went out with Baron Voltman to meet with the village’s young men.
Grandma Marshall also left, saying she had errands to run at the nearby bank.
This left only the Baron’s wife, Anne, Jeffrey, Theon, and me at the log cabin.
“I’m going to do a big cleanup today! We’ve got plenty of young, strong workers, so you can give us as much work as you want!”
“You’re so dependable. Thanks to Master Reytan bringing you here, I’m being spoiled with this help.”
Anne rolled up her sleeves, declaring she would handle all the cleaning the Baron’s wife had struggled to do alone. The Baron’s wife agreed to join in as well.
Theon and I also had plans for the day.
Theon changed into his training clothes, while I finished my preparations by wearing the dress Anne had put on me, along with a sun hat.
The Baron’s wife even came out to the front door to see us off.
“Then I’ll be off for training.”
“I’m going too! Dad said I should stay by Theon’s side!”
“Oh my.”
At my words, the Baron’s wife covered her mouth with one hand. Theon quickly interjected.
“Grandma.”
“Alright, alright, I didn’t say anything.”
The Baron’s wife chuckled. Just then, Anne came rushing in from the kitchen, carrying a small basket.
“Ah, Miss Berry! Here are the snacks and the cloth you asked for to lay on the ground. But are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”
“It’s fine~ Theon said I can see Baron Voltman’s house clearly from the hill! Dad said it’s okay too, so you don’t have to worry, Anne, especially since you’re busy.”
“I want to go too!”
Thud, thud, thud.
Jeffrey ran toward the front door. He had just been scolded by Anne earlier.
Anne swiftly caught Jeffrey by the arm as he dashed past.
“Where do you think you’re going?! Nothing in this world is free! You have to earn your keep. Here, take this.”
Jeffrey’s task for the day was to help with the deep cleaning. Anne shoved a cleaning cloth into his hand. With a pitiful look, Jeffrey glanced over at Theon and me.
“Big sister Berry, big brother Theon…”
“See you later.”
“Hang in there, Jeffrey! We’ll eat lunch together later!”
“…Okay…”
***
At the Hill
Just as Theon had said, we had a clear view of Baron Voltman’s log house from the top of the hill.
Theon told me he always practiced his swordsmanship here, under the large oak tree.
He took his spot near a familiar-looking large rock and began his training. Time passed, and before I knew it, he had been practicing alone for about an hour.
Meanwhile, I sat under the shade of the oak tree on the picnic mat I had spread out, contemplating what lay ahead.
‘At first, I thought it would be enough if Dad could just fend off the wild dog tribe…’
But there was the problem with the wild dog tribe, who were supposedly indigenous to the area, and Marquess Ash stirring things up with his claims of having land deeds. On top of that, there was the greedy lord.
There were just too many loose ends weighing on my mind.
‘The wild dog tribe isn’t the only enemy.’
Even if the wild dog tribe didn’t attack Leaf Village, there were still other issues to deal with.
“This feels off.”
“What’s wrong?”
Theon walked over to me and answered. I lifted my head, and for a moment, I was startled.
His handsome face was right in front of me.
“Ah!”
“Ah, sorry. I was just reaching for the towel.”
He was reaching for the towel next to where I was sitting. After grabbing it, Theon straightened his back.
Without realizing it, I followed his movements, my gaze tracing the side of his face, which was glistening with sweat.
‘Wow. His beauty was already complete from a young age.’
His sharp eyes, his long eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings with every blink, and his flushed cheeks and lips from the exercise…
Even his jawline was razor-sharp. This is—
‘A photoshoot moment…!’
I had the sudden urge to grab a protractor and measure the angle of Theon’s jaw.
If I made a photo book featuring him, I might be able to afford a bed made of gold coins in the future. Of course, I’d give Theon double my share of the profits since he’d be the face of the whole project.
“Taking a break?”
“Yeah.”
“Where’s your sword?”
“Over there.”
Theon pointed behind him. The sword was leaning against the oak tree, just outside the edge of the picnic mat.
“Be careful if you go near it.”
“Yessir.”
He sounded just like Dad. Hehe.
Theon, having left his sword far away, sat down next to me. A gentle breeze blew, tickling my skin.
“I’ve been thinking, Theon.”
“About what?”
“Do you think everything will be resolved if we defeat the wild dog tribe?”
We had come all the way here with the goal of protecting Baron Voltman’s arms, but something didn’t sit right with me.
Even if Dad defeated the wild dog tribe, the problems would still remain.
“Marquess Ash’s land development plan will continue, and Viscount Roslin’s increased taxes will stay the same.”
“……….”
“Even if we get through this crisis, the villagers will still struggle under the weight of taxes.”
“…Yeah.”
Theon nodded with a troubled expression.
I already knew that last night, Theon had given some gold coins to his grandmother. I had trouble sleeping due to all the thoughts running through my head, and I overheard their conversation from the living room.
“It’s an allowance from the Grand Priest.”
Theon’s voice was calm, but the Baron’s wife wept.
I couldn’t imagine how painful it must be for a grandmother to have to accept money from her grandson because of poverty.
Her voice, apologizing for being poor, was so heart-wrenching that it shook me to my core.
If simply listening made me feel this sad, how much more painful must it have been for Theon?
Even so, Theon had comforted his grandmother instead.
“Poverty isn’t sad. It’s you crying that makes me sad, Grandma.”
Knowing all this, there was no way Theon wasn’t worried about the taxes Baron Voltman had to bear.
“Then why are we fighting the wild dog tribe?”
At my fundamental question, Theon paused for a moment before answering.
“Because they’re the enemy. That’s just how war works, Berry.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
Everyone used war as an excuse to accept ridiculous things as if they were normal.
They said it was just how war worked.
They even said that Dad’s death was unavoidable because of war.
But there was nothing normal about it.
If a war started, we had to find out the cause and eliminate it.
I didn’t want to be a victim without even knowing who was behind it all.
“Theon.”
I made up my mind.
Luckily, we were far away from Travel.
The knights and coachmen, who could possibly act as my relatives’ eyes and ears, were all in the neighboring village.
The neighboring village was bustling enough to have an inn, so they wouldn’t be tied up in this matter.
That meant I could show off a bit of my capabilities, as long as I didn’t stand out too much.
“Let’s stop the war!”
“…What?”
Theon turned to me in shock.
