Chapter 2 - She Was My Favorite (2)

Though it was a somewhat cruel story, to help others, one needed to have a certain level of ability to back it up.

Trying to help someone without ability often led to one becoming a nuisance.

Moreover, it often caused problems, so even if the help was full of good intentions, it was better not to help if one didn't have the ability.

Besides, Elisia never asked me for help.

My current urge to help Elisia…

It was no different from threatening her with a knife saying, "Accept my help," so it was better not to do unnecessary things.

So, after I build up enough ability to be of sufficient help to Elisia...

It would be ideal to keep demonstrating my abilities and wait until Elisia asked for my help.

...That was my rational judgment.

However.

It was impossible to resist not visiting when I could see Elisia, whom I had wanted to meet even just once, after walking just a few steps.

So I got up, finding an appropriate compromise somewhere between reason and emotion.

If one didn't have ability, it was good to find another area where one was capable and use that to help.

For example, in Damian's case, it was “money”.

Of course, even in the harsh North, a Grand Duchess wouldn't lack money, so giving money itself would be meaningless.

But when it came to items rather than money, there were many things that couldn't be obtained even with money.

The act of giving gifts was quite meaningful in gaining favor, even if the other person was wealthy.

She definitely looked extremely tired.

Dark circles deeply set under her eyes and pale skin.

Knowing it was the result of excessive fatigue due to too much work, I decided to make her a tea good for fatigue recovery.

Given Elisia's personality, she might reject jewels, but she probably won't refuse drinks or food.

Moreover, if I said it was good for fatigue recovery, there was a high chance she would drink it even while showing signs of disdain, so I decided to make it.

...I'm sure it said to mix equal parts of sun-swallowing flower petals and glass flower petals and burn them until they turn to ashes.

Although it was information that hadn't been revealed yet in the early part of the novel…

A description appeared in the latter part that mixing and boiling these two could create an almost omnipotent fatigue recovery potion.

From the author's perspective, I think this device was used to make the protagonist grow quickly.

Regardless of whether it was true or not, it had a great effect on fatigue recovery, so I thought it would be good to brew and drink it. Luckily, I was able to find these two things while rummaging through the ashes.

The moment I found them, I couldn't hide my smile and immediately went out with them.

I burned the two flower petals thoroughly and used them to make tea.

To check if it was effective, I drank a cup and felt the fatigue in my whole body quickly dissipating.

It's good.

Well, it was a drink that even the protagonist with no hand skills could easily succeed in making, so the difficulty probably wasn't that high.

Thinking that, I offered a cup of the drink to the guard knight and said, "You must be tired, right? Drink this."

"Pardon?"

The confused knight looked at me bewildered. She must be quite at a loss due to the behavior different from what I usually showed.

Usually, one would act according to the original character's personality, but...

This was not Damian's family home but the castle in the North.

In other words, only the guard knight and the personal maid really knew Damian properly.

So even if my personality suddenly changed, there wouldn't be any problem.

No, it might be better if it changes.

The reason why Damian in the early parts could act cocky without any ability was solely because of one thing, this guard knight was a monster in himself.

Recalling that the protagonist couldn't kill Damian until the latter part because of this guy alone, I turned my head.

So rather than putting on an unnecessary act...

I judged it would be more beneficial to act according to my original personality and treat him decently.

Anyway, after offering her a drink as a token of appreciation for her hard work, I immediately went to find Elisia with the remaining drink.

"..."

When I went to her room, I saw her openly ignoring me and focusing on her work.

It probably meant she didn't even want to react because of what happened this morning.

I approached her, carefully poured the tea into a cup, and said, "Drink this while you work."

"I don't know what your intention is, but please leave..."

"It's a tea good for fatigue recovery."

At the mention of fatigue recovery, Elisia stared at the tea.

If fatigue was visible to others, it was likely that the person themselves was completely worn out by it, so she seemed interested in the words “fatigue recovery”.

However, the problem is...

There seemed to be a conflict because of who was offering the tea.

Elisia stared at it for a while, then firmly turned her head away, indicating she wouldn't drink it.

It's a shame, but should I stop here?

There was plenty of time anyway, so I could offer it again next time.

Realizing that the more I forced it, the stronger the resistance would be, I turned around.

In any case, I felt good because I had a conversation with Elisia.

I tried hard to suppress the smile that was slowly rising and organized what I needed to do.

First priority would be to request help from the family.

By the way, the help I was talking about here was a request to send elixirs.

Since I needed elixirs sent from the family to grow my abilities as quickly as possible, I sent a letter to the family.

Then there are two main things left.

The first was to improve close combat skills, which were important in battle.

The second was to contract with the “Sun Spirit” sleeping in the land of the North.

Since both tasks would take quite a long time, it was good to work on them simultaneously, so I decided to focus on these for a while.

However, since I probably won't be able to move after finishing the first item's training, it would be better to start with the second item.

Wooing the Sun Spirit, that was the first goal.

Deciding to solve this first, I called the guard knight who was still sipping the tea.

She seemed to be quite taken with the tea I had made for her, lapping it up like an alcoholic trapped in the apocalypse drinking their last bit of alcohol. I was dumbfounded by this sight but opened my mouth.

"Go to the kitchen and bring some bread that's not being eaten. As much as possible, if you can."

"Yesh?"

The guard knight made a strange sound and looked at me, then nodded her head.

Despite everything, she couldn't disobey my orders, so she walked into the kitchen with a puzzled expression. 

If that guy drinks the tea like that, it seems the effect is quite significant.

Thinking I wish Elisia would drink it too, I was considering bringing cookies next time.

Meanwhile, I saw the guard knight easily carrying a large bundle and walking towards me.

"Young Master, I brought all the bread there was, but what are you going to use this for?"

I could explain if she asked, but it was troublesome to explain.

I ignored her and just told her to follow me, adding one more thing, "If you do a good job, I'll brew you another cup of tea."

"Yes, sir!"

Even if I didn't brew it for her, she would unconditionally follow my orders as described in the novel, but…

Seeing her so happy, I decided to brew one more cup for her as I moved my feet.

In the deep forest where everything was frozen, without a single ray of sunlight.

Normally, one would meet a terrible end the moment they entered this place, but fortunately, I had the guard knight with me.

Trusting in this, I endlessly walked forward following the risen moon.

The novel definitely said you could meet the Sun Spirit if you follow the moon.

The only way to revive the North and the Sun Spirit, said to be on par with the strongest ancient dragon.

Recalling that it was described that to meet such a being, one had to go out the back door of the mansion and follow the moon, I followed the moon.

Originally, you'd have to solve the problem in the ancient book thrown by the Archmage to know this, but...

Since I knew the answer, I could skip all these parts and just take the answer.

As I walked following the moon, what I found was a large pond and the Sun Spirit trapped in ice in the middle of that pond.

[There is only one way to free the Sun Spirit from the ice.

Show kindness to the animals roaming around.

That was the only way to make the Sun Spirit your ally.]

I recalled a part of the original novel and told the guard knight to give me the bundle.

The guard knight still showed a puzzled reaction, unable to understand my actions.

Ignoring her gaze, I opened the bundle, took out one bread at a time, and threw it into the grass.

Indeed, the easiest way to win over animals is with food.

If I threw this for a few days, they'd become friendly with me even if they didn't want to, so I should be able to easily obtain the Sun Spirit.

I smiled, thinking that if I contracted with the Sun Spirit, I could make the North more grand.

If crops grow in the North, I might be able to see Elisia smile in person.

Thinking about how happy Elisia would be, I distributed all the hard bread to the beasts or strange life forms.

I smiled contentedly, mixing my hope that they would appreciate my effort and my wish for them to be happy.