“That reminds me, I discovered my own way of doing kind acts by meeting you, Ms. Lubella.”
“…It’s as you say.” Lubella respected Zich’s thoughts, and she admitted that his very, very slightly twisted sense of justice had helped them countless times before. From her life to the salvation of this world, Lubella knew that she was greatly indebted to Zich and felt grateful to him for it.
‘But the fact that I inspired his way of living…’ Lubella had a strong urge to deny such claims.
“I should thank you again. Without you, Lady Lubella, I wouldn’t have been able to realize my way of living kindly and I would meaninglessly do anything I thought was a kind act without knowing the joy of it.”
‘Perhaps, that would’ve been better,’ Lubella thought and tried her best to force a smile on her face. “T-That’s great. I’m glad to hear that I was of help to you, Sir Zich.”
“Hahaha! I knew I could count on the Karuwiman Saintess!” Zich laughed heartily while Lubella smiled awkwardly. It was then they heard someone knock on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and a priestess entered. She was carrying a tray with refreshments on one hand, which was the snacks Lubella had requested before she came into the room. Yet, the people in the room paid more attention to the person holding those snacks rather than the snacks themselves.
“Hello, Saintess. I brought the refreshments you requested.”
“…Thank you, but I don’t recall requesting anything from you, Windne.”
Chelsea smiled brightly even at Lubella’s prickly words.
“I thought everyone looked busy, so I brought them myself. Bringing refreshments isn’t even a hard task, so I didn’t want to bother busy people with more things to do.”
“You must be quite free, Windne.”
“I wish. I’m just a little quick on my feet, so I already attended to most of the matters I needed to. Thus, I’m helping out in my spare time.”
“I heard that you recovered a lot of the prestige and name you lost through your involvement in this war. It seems too much to ask someone in your position to do such menial tasks.”
“How could bringing refreshments for the Saintess, said to be the face of the Karuwimans and Sir Weig—the embodiment of the Karuwiman military–be called ‘menial tasks’?” Chelsea smoothly passed over Lubella’s rebuking remark and bowed her head slightly toward Zich.
“It’s been a while, Sir Zich.”
“Yes, it’s been a while.”
“Greetings to you too, Lady Lyla.”
“Hello.”
“Haha. I’m glad to see that both of you seem to be doing well. You both contributed tremendously to this war. It’s so impressive,” Chelsea praised the two, and Lubella coughed slightly.
“I’m sorry Windne, but I was already talking to Sir Zich and Lady Lyla. Could you leave the refreshments and go? I don’t think you have that much free time to waste either.”
“Yes, Saintess.” Chelsea carefully placed the refreshments she brought in front of them and bowed.
“See you again next time, Sir Zich and Lady Lyla.” After she said her goodbyes to them, she left the room.
Lubella sighed, and Weig lifted the tea cup that Chelsea had brought with a bitter smile.
“She’s so brassy and brazen, you’d think her face is made of mithril and orichalcum. Anyone would’ve thought she was very close to the Saintess just now.”
“That’s not the case at all, though.” Lubella raised her teacup with another sigh. Then, she halted and stared intently at her tea. “Do you think she might have spat in the tea or something?”
In the end, she shook her head. “No, seeing how she is acting now, I doubt it.”
“She’s carefully avoiding anything that could call for blame,” Weig agreed. Thus, Lubella brought the teacup to her mouth.
“It’s more annoying that the tea tastes good,” Lubella grumbled.
“From what I hear, it sounds like Windne’s status rose again.”
“As you already know, Sir Zich, she participated in the war against the Bellids, and she contributed significantly to the war efforts.”
“Well, she used to be a saintess candidate at one point.”
“There’s no doubt about her in terms of skills. Of course, I still can’t understand how that girl used to be a saintess candidate along with Lady Lubella, but that was a matter of personality rather than skill,” Weig said, but his tone clearly sounded like he didn’t want to praise Chelsea’s skills either.
He added, “She probably brought the refreshments to see the Saintess and Sir Zich.”
“Yes, it does seem like she has been hanging around me these days.”
“Since Sir Zich’s fame is shooting through the roof and piercing the sky, she must be trying to latch onto it somehow and maintain good relations with him.”
“If you think about it, she really is incredible in that aspect. If she had become the Saintess instead of me, I wouldn’t have been able to act like that ever.”
“She really is impressive.”
Although the two didn’t look kindly upon Chelsea, they acknowledged Chelsea’s brazenness and unrelenting persistence.
Zich replied, “People like that usually succeed. That’s also a form of skill. No matter how great her skills and worldly wisdom are, she wouldn’t be able to take a step back into the Karuwiman world if the Saintess really desired it. Or if you don’t wish to go as far as chasing her away, you could tie her up with loads of busy work. She’s probably trying to get on my good side because of her fear of this. Of course, I’ve no intention of taking her side even if something like that happens.”
Lubella nodded. “I don’t plan on doing anything as long as she stays quiet.”
“What do you plan to do if she stirs up trouble again?”
“I’ll crush her,” Lubella replied firmly, and Weig nodded in satisfaction. “These days, she seems to know her place, so I think there’s a low possibility of that happening.”
“Yeah, it does look like that.”
Looking at Chelsea’s behavior, she seemed to have changed her goal in being the Saintess and was now aiming to obtain a high position for herself among the Karuwimans. If she didn’t get greedy and reach beyond her means again, she could probably manage to enjoy an affluent life.
The four of them continued to chat for a while.
“We should get going now,” Zich said.
“Are you leaving already?” Lubella asked.
“I have to say my goodbye to the others as well.”
Zich and Lyla got up. Lubella and Weig saw them off at the door.
“It was really fortunate that I met you, Sir Zich. I received a lot of help from you in many ways. If you need any help, please feel free to rely on us or reach out to us. We Karuwimans will never turn a blind eye to the request of our respectful and good friends. If the church is in a difficult position to extend its support, I’ll personally offer my help as well,” Lubella said.
“I’ll also lend my hand too. Please feel free to call me when you need me,” Weig added.
“An offer of help from the Saintess and the best Karuwiman holy knight—I’m beyond honored, and I’ll definitely keep that in mind.” Zich strongly shook hands with Lubella and Weig.
“Lady Lyla, there’s no need for us to tell you separately, right? Since you will be sticking close to Sir Zich from now on, if you need any help as well, you can also request our help with Sir Zich.”
“Of course!” Lyla tightly clutched Zich’s sleeve, and Weig chuckled at the sight.
“You two are a perfect match.”
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Weig laughed louder as Lyla’s face reddened, and Lubella also looked at Lyla and Zich with a happy smile. Of course, Lubella and Weig were celebrating Zich and Lyla’s relationship, but they also had different thoughts inside their minds.
‘Since Lady Lyla still has her common sense, she’ll probably stop Sir Zich from going too far, right?’
‘If Sir Zich has a family, his personality might ease up a little bit.’
The two cheered for Lyla passionately inside their hearts. After saying goodbye to Lubella, Zich and Lyla went out to meet other people; the next person they went to visit was Til. He quietly welcomed their visit, and when they looked around, they saw that barely any of his belongings were sprawled in his room. He had packed his belongings and was about to leave like Zich.
“We’re about to leave,” Zich said.
“I see.”
Then the conversation ended, and silence fell between them. Til was very quiet and succinct, so he could not lead a conversation well. He waited quietly for Zich’s next words.
“Have you decided on your future path?”
“I’ve decided to join Count Steelwall’s Estate.” Til seemed determined.
“You’ve made a good decision. As I said last time, they’ll never treat you poorly. In the chance that you feel like you’re being discriminated against, please feel free to tell me.” Then, Zich would thoroughly raze Steelwall from the ground.
“Yes, I will.”
“But you must have pondered about it for a while and also gotten a lot of offers.” Unlike most of Zich’s comrades, Til wasn’t part of a clear faction, so he had received a tremendous number of invitations for himself and his mercenary group.
“My men have already established themselves as soldiers of the Steelwall Estate, and Walter and Ellie have both gotten used to being at the Steelwall mansion.”
“If you go somewhere else, you and your subordinates might have gotten hired on better conditions though.”
“If I care about conditions the most, I would have continued my mercenary activities, since at least the pay would be better.” With Til’s reputation spreading around the world, his mercenary group could have made a real fortune.
Til continued, “However, my subordinates and I want a stable status and a comfortable life now. Since Steelwall’s terms aren’t bad either, and we’ve already settled down there to some extent, I have no desire to leave now.”
“Then, that’s good enough. No matter what others say, you should do what you want. It’s entirely up to an individual to decide which priorities and values they want to focus on.”
With Til’s current skills, it wouldn’t be strange for him to immediately become a high-ranking noble in any country right now. After all, he used to be one of the three Demon Lords with Zich and Walwiss. Although Count Steelwall was a man with a high status, it was certainly a loss for Til to be just a subordinate of a noble family. However, if that is what Til wanted to do, offers with better conditions made no difference at all since doing what he wanted was the answer.
“How are Walter and Ellie doing?”
“They are doing well. It seems like the Steelwalls are taking good care of them, and they are receiving a thorough education.” No matter how taciturn Til was, he was still a father; when Zich started talking about Walter and Ellie, Til lit up. Zich appropriately responded and continued their conversation.