137 3.49 Lunch

There were some people who were skilled in crafting and construction, and as those were not my specialty, I couldn't help them. But I helped them differently by providing them the resources they required.

As we were doing that, the first group of knights came back from the city ruin with resources. Almost at the same time, few villages that we had requested help from came with the aid.

The districts that Lady Hina and Viscountess Sara ruled were quite far from here, so it would at least take 2-3 days for the supplies to come. But for now, we had more than enough to support a population of five thousand.

We had around five hundred people who aided in construction. And —even though not very sturdy because of the lack of resources— we were able to build a house to treat the injured, a headquarters for knights, few houses for women and children, and of course, the most important public toilets and bathrooms.

All the workers had gathered around, and we were enjoying the afternoon break. I was having a little more fun than usual because the girls were all seated around me. It was somewhat embarrassing, but also something unavoidable.

My original intention was to have lunch with Jackie so that I would be able to learn more about the Eastern province. But it was all ruined when they showed up with a food basket. At this point, it felt like we were having some kind of picnic.

"The boy has a lot of ladies around him."

"As expected of someone like him. I wouldn't be surprised if he grows up to marry all of them."

"Nah, he is still immature. He needs to learn a lot before he can handle real ladies."

"What are you talking about? You can barely handle your own wife, and you go around judging the boy."

Two loud men sitting next to us were making unnecessary comments about me. If I weren't sitting between them, I would have walked up to them and given a good talking-to. However, it wasn't just them. Even Ronald and Jackie, who were having lunch next to us, were sending occasional teasing glances towards me.

"Nara, come here, darling. You look all sweaty."

Arica pulled me closer to her chest and used a handkerchief to rub my forehead.

Even though it wasn't that hot, I was sweating a little because of all the work. It would have dried on its own in a while, but there wasn't any harm in rubbing it off. Although…

'A little too close. I can feel her breasts.'

However, as a man, I couldn't mention that out loud, so I just decided to enjoy the sensation while it lasted.

"Arica, you don't need to squeeze him into your boobs to rub off his sweats. You can just do that while keeping a little distance."

"Girls, weren't we going to eat something?"

Before the conversation could go wild, I brought everyone back to the main topic, which was supposed to be lunch.

"Yes, here everyone, please take your plate."

Princess Anna handed me mine, while the others chose their plate from a bunch that Marina served.

It was just rice balls with vegetable soup and fruits. But that in itself probably took quite a bit of effort to find and make at times like this.

"Thanks, everyone, for making all this."

"Eh, don't worry about it. Sam was the one who made all this, after all."

Some part of me felt a little disappointed when Princess Anna said that, but I guess they still get the credit for bringing me lunch.

I knew that Flare would be alright, but I was a little concerned about Yoru. She looked a little brighter than before, which was a good sign.

"Hey Yoru, how was your morning?"

"Nom-nom, it was okay. I helped Arica, cut the vegetables and stuff."

She was busy eating, so I decided not to ask her more questions until she was done. It appeared that she was enjoying helping around, which was a good thing.

"Nara, I was told that you would be going to the capital with us. Do you know anything about when that is going to happen?" Princess Eliane asked.

Duke had probably mentioned that to her, but by the reaction on everyone else's face, it was apparent that this was their first time hearing it. Even Princess Anna had the same reaction.

"I am not sure, but it's probably going to be in a week or two."

"That makes sense."

Even though it made sense to Princess Eliane, the rest of the girls were still staring at me for an explanation.

"Duke is sending us there with Markus so that I can explain to the king what happened and be back with aid."

"Is it going to be a long journey?" Marina asked.

Like me, she too hadn't been outside the province, so it wasn't a surprise that she wasn't aware of how long that would take.

"I think it will take us a while. Maybe a month or two," Princess Elaine replied.

The journey to the capital would take at least ten days, and the return would take almost the same amount of time. If we were to assume that our stay there would be ten days long, the time of thirty days was the right approximation.

"That's a long journey…" Sistina shrugged.

Nobody insisted on going since it was an official business, and only a selected group of people could travel there. But they somewhat looked down when they heard that we would be gone for a month.

"Lighten up, guys. It's just a month. We are going to be a lot busy, so it will go by before we know it."

Arica lightened the mood a little bit, but it still felt somewhat gloomy. However, there was nothing that I could do about it, so we just continued our lunch. After lunch, everyone went to their work, while I, along with Jackie and Ronald, continued helping with the construction.