CH 144

“Oh, Fren,” the Old Man said. “Beryl is home.”

We’re in the living room at the end of the hallway of the house. My family’s house is fairly large, but this living room is the largest room of them all. Far from letting everyone gather even if we had many more guests than expected, it’s a size that would let everyone lay out and relax.

When I was a child, I wondered why it was so large, but now I understand that it is a reasonable size considering the possibility of visitors and hospitality.

And there was a long table that everyone could comfortably sit around, and behind it was a woman who was busy moving around.

“Welcome back Beryl,” the Old Lady said. “My, my, are these all your guests?”

“Yeah, I’m home, Mother,” I said.

This woman who looked behind her as she held a large pot is Fren Gardenant. She’s my mother.

Her hair is half white and half brown. She stretched it moderately and tied it back in a knot.

Like my father and my mother, when I was born, I didn’t have any gray hair. I vaguely remember my parents’ hair starting to turn white when I grew up and became an apprentice swordsman in the countryside.

I remember that the Old Man’s hair turned white quite quickly. His hair and beard are almost white now. I don’t think it’s bad because it makes him feel his age. Even though I’m thinking that he can’t look good, because only a part of his bangs has turned pure white.

In that respect, the change in the Old Lady was relatively slow. Little by little, gray hairs began to appear, and her wrinkles increased at the same rate.

Now she’s totally like a grandma, but in a sense, you could say I still expected her to be stronger than the Old Man.

I don’t feel like I can win, either. No matter how old I get and how much my sword skill improves, there are some fights you just can’t turn in your favor.

“Please excuse us, we can’t offer you much during your stay,” my Old Lady says.

“No!” Henblitz said immediately. “Please don’t worry, this is your home, after all. We’re the ones who invited ourselves in.”

The Old Lady seems happy to see us, if somewhat apologetic. Henblitz seems to be trying to assure her.

For me, this is my parents’ house, and Miu is a little too young to deal with that kind of thing. Above all, even though it’s on paper, she’s going to be my daughter, so she’s not in a place to show that sort of concern.

Besides, originally only I and Miu would come home, but Sir Henblitz and Kuruni both forced themselves to latch onto us.

Considering the remaining faces, Sir Henblitz should answer. Even so, I don’t feel like we’re getting a little too stiff.

This is the first time they’ve heard a face-to-face with Old Lady, Lady of this House. No, there is no doubt that it is an honorific title for a third party’s mother, but when such a phrase comes out, this is also how formal you must be. 1

“Even though you’re so young, you must be really strong, aren’t you?” the Old Lady says.

“Pardon me for not introducing myself sooner,” Henblitz said. “I’m the Vice-Captain of the Rebelio Knight Order, my name is Henblitz Drought.”

“Oh dear, quite the big man, aren’t you?!” the Old Lady said. “Thank you very much for your kindness. I’m Fren Gardenant.”

My mother’s eyes widened when Henblitz told him who he was.

After all, I come to think about it again, but the Vice-Captain of the Rebelio Knights is a pretty big deal. No matter how you think about it, he’s not the kind of person who would visit a rural village like this with so much private business in mind.

Since we see each other almost every day at the training grounds, I tend to forget about this aspect of him, but he’s not someone I’d normally be in a position to get involved with.

“I’m Kuruni Krussier! So nice to meet you all!” Kuruni said after Henblitz.

“Ah, my, what a lively young woman,” the Old Lady said.

The Old Lady rarely showed up at the dojo for training, but that aside, there have been many disciples in the dojo until now. From that point of view, she is quite used to dealing with people. Even a little conversation with the guardians who came to pick up and drop off the students is a good thing.

It is slight. It is the accumulation of daily communication that has a slight but undeniable impact.

The Old Man didn’t really care about that sort of thing, so maybe my mother’s influence had a lot to do with me trying to get along with my disciples and their parents as much as possible.

As a result, I think that the number of disciples has increased since my Old Man’s time. The Old Man’s skill with the sword is there, needless to say, but even if he was wrong, he wasn’t the type to teach very carefully. He is closer to a craftsman than a swordsman.

It is a time to weave one technique and school into the future. It is sometimes right and sometimes wrong.

This is a difference in methodology and way of thinking, and the optimal method will differ depending on the results sought on the spot. Coincidentally, the Old Man and I had a slightly different ways of thinking. That’s just it.

“… I’m, Miu,” Miu said.

“Oh, my, oh my, my, my!” the Old Lady said. “So this girl is little Miu, is she?!”

When I was thinking that it might not be something to think about in this place, my mother’s excitement shot through the roof once Miu finally introduced herself.

She should have known at least the minimum about Miu from the letter I sent her, so I guess that’s why she was so excited.

If Miu was normal, it wouldn’t be strange to ask the Old Lady to stop calling her “Little” immediately. But was it because she was pushed by the Old Lady’s momentum, or was there something else on her mind? She never rebuffed the nickname.

“Come now, everyone take a seat,” the Old Lady said. “You must all be hungry, aren’t you all?”

“Well, yes we are hungry,” I said.

The Old Lady’s voice seems higher pitched than usual as she gestures for us to take a seat.

As I said, I’m hungry, and above all, dining is almost the best place to open up to someone. After all, it’s better to sit around the table and have fun talking than to talk face-to-face with troubled expressions.

“Hmm, but I wonder if I made enough?” the Old Lady muses to herself.

“If not, why don’t you just make more?” the Old Man said.

“Oh my, then I guess I’ll just have to make another serving for you, is that it?” the Old Lady said.

“…”

The Old Lady murmurs, the Old Man replies, the Old Lady counters, and then the Old Man shuts up.

It’s the scene I remember. I have no recollection of seeing the Old Man win in a quarrel or an argument against his wife.

Making food is actually quite hard work.

First of all, it’s tiresome to think about the menu, and it’s also tiresome to measure how much to make. And needless to say, cooking itself is troublesome and takes time. Almost everything in our kitchen is under the Old Lady’s control, so she has a tremendous amount of influence when it comes to housework.

Well, I myself have proved that it can be managed to some extent depending on how you feel about it. Because it’s not hard at all to cook for Miu.

Having said that, with the Old Man’s remark just now, you could take it as him believing food will come out on its own if you wait, so it can’t be helped. It will be inevitable that the Old Lady’s reply is cold.

“But, somehow… isn’t that a lot of food?” I asked.

However, I feel that the food in the pot is somewhat large. Inside was a soup with large chunks of meat and vegetables. It’s clearly too much for 2 people, the Old Man and the Old Lady, to consume.

In the first place, it was a long time ago that this letter was sent. The reply came back recently, but they don’t know when I’ll be back at Bidden Village.

In other words, they shouldn’t know when I will return. At the time they just sent out the letter, it should have been unclear whether or not I would really come back. Even the letter was written with the nuance of asking me if I could come back, not that I should.

That’s why it doesn’t make sense to say that she was cooking a lot of food in anticipation of my return.

“You say there’s a lot of food, but you haven’t forgotten about Landrid, have you?” my Old Man said.

“Oh, I see,” I said, feeling my knee jerk unintentionally.

I completely forgot. Landrid, I’m so sorry.

“Well, then. I’ll go call him for you,” the Old Man said, quietly leaving the room.

As expected, in this scene, I guess it was a little unprofessional to say that the Old Lady would call Landrid instead of him, since he introduced him. His back looked just a bit smaller than usual as he left.