Chapter 64
*
As always, after a whirlwind day of seeing patients, the sun had already set.
It wasn't much of a problem in this city anyway, what with the smog, even if the sun had set.
When evening came, I rode back to the mansion in a car driven by Otto.
“Thank you for your hard work, Otto.”
“Have a safe trip home, young master.”
I returned Otto's greeting through the car window.
Thinking back to Otto eight years ago, who had practically shouted, “Let's not get close,” with his whole being, this was tremendous progress.
The first place I headed the moment I got home was the kitchen.
Today's menu was boudin noir aux pommes.
In Korean, it's grilled blood sausage.
It comes with roasted apples, vegetables, and scrambled eggs.
When the finished dish was placed on the table, Father exclaimed in admiration.
“Julian, what is the sausage made of today?”
“Pig's blood. It seems nobles in the southwestern region often make sausage with pig's blood.”
“I see. Thanks to Julian, it feels like I'm traveling all over the Empire right at the dining table.”
The reaction was good.
After my engagement issue was settled.
My parents no longer interfered with my cooking.
Because the Hauzen marquis family I was engaged to didn't seem to care that I cooked.
Once that happened, all that was left were my parents, purely enjoying my cooking.
Clatter-clatter.
On my parents' left, across from me, a little boy was battling his fork.
It was Fried, who had turned seven this year.
“It's delicious, big bro.”
Sausage, roasted apples, scrambled eggs.
It was only natural, since those were combinations a seven-year-old would love.
The problem was the salad pushed to one side of the plate.
Fried pretended to spear the sausage with his fork while sneakily pushing the vegetables to the corner of the plate.
He probably thought he was being subtle, but it was way too obvious.
“Fried, I sautéed it in butter so it'd be easy to eat. Do you hate it that much?”
“Um.... Sorry, big bro.”
Then Freyja's fork moved toward Fried's plate.
“...Little sister?”
“....”
Freyja played innocent.
Whenever Fried sneakily pushed the salad back to the corner, Freyja would restore it to the center again.
…I wasn't sure it was right to even use physical enhancement on a seven-year-old, though.
The more the pattern repeated, the more Fried's lips stuck out in a pout.
In the end, just as Fried's hand, holding the fork, hesitated over a carrot,
“Nom.”
Eri, who had been sitting beside me, stood up and extended her fork toward Fried's plate.
Before Freyja could react, the salad was gone.
Fried's face lit up.
By contrast, a crease formed between Freyja's brows.
“Big sis. What are you going to do if you keep indulging Fried like that?”
“When kids are little, they should grow up eating what they want. Once they're bigger, they'll make sure to eat their vegetables on their own.”
Fried grinned brightly at Eri's words.
“Thank you, big sis!”
Eri chuckled and gave Fried's hair a quick stroke.
“The only thing I'll eat for you is the carrots. You can eat the spinach.”
“Ugh....”
Fried drooped again and stabbed the innocent spinach with his fork.
Meanwhile, Freyja, sitting beside him, wore a victorious smile.
Watching my younger siblings across the table, I casually changed the subject.
“Freyja, your first year of high school is almost over, isn't it?”
“Yes, big brother.”
“It's already been a year. How was it?”
“Honestly, it was a little hard at first. The class load was different from studying at home.”
Freyja dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin.
She was currently attending the Academy's high school division.
Normally, most hereditary nobles don't attend the Academy's high school division.
Because there isn't enough time to also learn the family's secret magic.
They go to the Academy starting in the undergraduate division.
But Freyja's circumstances were a little different.
“There are so many laws to memorize that it's hard.”
She wanted to become a judicial officer like Father.
My parents were supporting that dream of hers too.
So Freyja was currently attending the Academy's high school law department and studying imperial law.
“Still, I was able to adjust well because I met a good senior in my study group.”
“The senior's name was Valeria, right?”
“Yes. That's right. She's graduating this year.”
Valeria.
The top student in the high school division's economics department, and my scholarship student.
I remember her because she's the saint candidate's older sister.
I'm relieved that she's the one guiding Freyja.
Even aside from being the saint's older sister, she was a girl with outstanding potential.
The interesting thing is that I wasn't the one who connected the two of them.
Valeria joined the student council because her goal was to get ahead in the world, and Freyja joined because she wanted to enter public office.
Then the two of them hit it off and naturally became close.
When I first heard they were close, I thought what a small world it was.
“Freyja, were you head of the discipline committee?”
“Yes. Senior Valeria recommended me, and I think I'll be vice president next year.”
Looks like Valeria really took a liking to Freyja.
I don't really know why, though.
‘I'd only know if she'd ever shown that side of herself in front of me.’
The other scholarship students had eaten with me several times, so I'd gotten a rough sense of their personalities.
But I still hadn't figured out Valeria's personality.
Every time we ate, she would stay quiet and only give bland answers.
There wasn't a single clue there to infer her personality from.
All I had figured out was that she was a severe siscon, a total little-sister devotee.
At that moment, Father, who had been listening quietly, nodded.
“Then we'd better send a graduation present to Valeria's household sometime.”
“Would that be all right, Father?”
“Freyja, she took such good care of you—can't you even manage this much gratitude?”
I nodded as well.
If Father sent a gift, Valeria's mother would probably like it too.
And while I was at it, I should send a graduation gift too as Director Shun.
“By the way, does that friend of Valeria's have any thoughts of going into public office?”
At Father's question, Freyja shook her head.
“No. She said the senior is going to join as a trainee accountant at the Mercure Merchant Guild. She got a scholarship from the guild, so she has to stay there for ten years.”
“That's a pity, but it's a good thing for her. These days, I hear a lot of kids are trying to get into the Mercure Merchant Guild instead of public office.”
“Right? Isn't that amazing? That senior is so amazing that….”
Stars lit up in Freyja's eyes.
She put down her fork, clasped both hands together, and leaned forward.
“The internship period was only a month, but after it ended, the merchant guild master personally offered her a full-time position. To an intern. And she was still a student who hadn't even graduated yet!”
“That's certainly impressive.”
Freyja's voice grew louder and louder.
Just like I felt during the Founding Day festival, this kid got like this whenever she introduced someone else.
Even when she was asked to introduce herself, she'd speak in a tiny voice, almost like an ant's, but when talking about someone else's achievements, her eyes would shine as she chattered as if it were her own accomplishment.
Come to think of it, she did seem to be like that during the Founding Day festival too.
‘I wonder if she brags about me like that in other places too.’
That would be a little embarrassing, though.
Anyway, once Freyja got fired up, she spent the rest of the time nonstop praising Valeria.
Thanks to Freyja, I was able to get a rough read on the personality I hadn't been able to figure out despite dozens of meals.
Before I knew it, dinner was over.
Father went up to the study first, and Mother followed, taking Fried with her to the second floor.
That left only Eri, Freyja, and me at the table.
I called out to Freyja, who was about to stand up.
“Ah, Freyja.”
I took a check from my vest pocket.
“It's pocket money. Buy some gifts for the people who helped you out at the end of the semester.”
It's all about managing connections.
It was also necessary if you wanted to enter public office.
Of course, I could have handled it with Freyja's allowance.
But then my sincerity might not come through enough.
So I was giving her pocket money like this.
Freyja received the check with both hands and widened her eyes.
“Brother, isn't this a bit much?”
“You still have to buy a graduation gift for Senior Valeria, don't you? From what you just told us, she seems to have done a lot for you.”
“...Thank you, big brother.”
Freyja folded the check carefully and put it in her pocket.
At that moment, Eri, who had been watching with her arms crossed from the side, shook her head.
“Teacher. Haven't you gotten way too bad at handling money? Who gives pocket money by check?”
“Then should your snack money be coins, Eri?”
“Come to think of it, I like that the amount written on the check lets me feel your affection, teacher.”
I gestured to Eri with my chin.
“By the way, today was blood transfusion day, right?”
“Yes, that's right, Teacher.”
“Come on up. I've prepared it along with the heparin.”
Eri followed behind me.
Freyja, left in the dining room, bowed her head in thanks.
*
A few days later, morning was just as ordinary as ever.
It was the usual routine of going to the clinic, seeing patients, having Eri handle blood pressure checks and infection screening, and eating lunch at Wangcho's restaurant.
It was just like always for Wangcho to beg me for gout medicine,
and just like always for me to scold him about cutting back on meat.
“Teacher, I just can't quit meat.”
“Then I can't give you any medicine. Besides, I won't be coming here that often soon anyway.”
“But….”
“For the record, I've already told the other healers what Wangcho looks like. They'll nag you just like I do, so if you keep stuffing yourself without me around, you'll get scolded.”
“...”
That was while I was continuing my afternoon consultations.
The magic communication device sitting in the corner of the examination room rang.
It was the Mercure Merchant Guild.
‘At this hour?’
Regular reports were due on the weekend.
It was rare for the guild to contact me on a weekday afternoon.
With that question in mind, I activated the communicator.
— [Young master. I'm sorry, but I have an urgent report.]
It was the voice from the guild secretary's office.
From her voice alone, she was clearly extremely tense.
“What's going on?”
— [It's about the scholarship students. Two scholarship students under the foundation haven't been reachable for three days.]
“Out of contact?”
— [Yes. I checked with the Academy, and they haven't been attending classes since the day before yesterday. Their luggage is still in the dormitory, but the students themselves are nowhere to be found....]
“What are their names? I have more than a few scholarship students.”
— [Ellie from the alchemy department, and Carl from the swordsmanship department. And...]
“And?”
— [He's not a scholarship student, but the young lady Nihirit also hasn't been seen at the Academy today.]
“Secretary.”
I took a deep breath and spoke to the secretary over the communication line.
“Deploy the Ironclad Special Task Force. Immediately.”
*
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