Translator: Nox

Chapter 24

24. Monster Hunt (1)

About another week had passed since the supply officers’ visit.

The weekly gazette brought fresh news from the Western Battlefield.

As Elric had predicted, Igret the Flame, one of the Seven Strongest, had captured the capital of Palban in just three days.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say she had reduced it to ashes.

Her magic had roasted the entirety of Palban—a nation that boasted hundreds of years of history—turning it into a wasteland of cinders.

Now, only seven kingdoms and one empire remained on the front lines. The situation had grown increasingly dire, yet there was still a place where such events felt like matters of a distant world.

It was Wibin.

“The weather has grown quite chilly.”

Unlike the urgent atmosphere of the West, Wibin exuded a leisurely air.

The only real topic of conversation had been the brief bustle caused by outside merchant convoys transporting the goods designated for trade; otherwise, not a single major incident had occurred.

With winter in full swing, the fief’s residents were busy chopping firewood or maintaining various tools they had neglected.

The Portman manor was spending a peaceful time, checking on the larger issues that the residents couldn’t resolve on their own.

Elric was no different.

“It seems there isn’t enough firewood in the fireplace. Shall I tell them to bring more?”

“Um, if it isn’t too much trouble, could we leave it as it is? If it’s too warm, I find it difficult to concentrate on my work.”

Inside the Portman family study.

Elric asked because the room was filled with a chill so sharp it necessitated wearing a coat indoors, but Tiria shook her head as she answered.

She claimed it was a matter of concentration, but… well, to Elric’s eyes, it seemed different.

“I see you prefer the cold.”

“If you are cold….”

“No, it’s fine. I’m not particularly sensitive to changes in the weather.”

In the first place, he was a man who had lived a life of huddling on the bare ground to sleep even in bitter cold that froze the earth solid. His body wouldn’t be harmed by a mere draft.

He had only asked out of concern for her, and since that was her answer, he simply accepted it.

“Tell me if it gets too cold. I’ll have them fetch more firewood at least.”

“Yes.”

As she replied, Tiria’s fair skin seemed to glow with an even paler light in the winter air.

The tip of her nose was slightly pink, and her lips were much redder than that. The contrast was likely heightened by the paleness of her skin.

Meanwhile, a stray thought drifted through his mind—that the fur mantle draped over her shoulders looked quite old.

Elric let out a hollow laugh.

‘I must be bored.’

All the major tasks he needed to learn were already finished, leaving only minor paperwork.

It was work she could handle on her own, and the only reason Elric was even in the study was due to Tiria’s advice that he ‘should make a habit of office hours.’ Since that was the case, what else was there for him to do besides observe her like this?

Because of that, certain reflections naturally surfaced.

They were about the emotions he had felt on the day the supply officers visited.

The strange tightness in his chest at the thought that she, who would be left alone again once he departed, might have to endure such things again.

That feeling had not subsided yet; it continued to pester Elric from within.

It was still a small ripple.

However, the ripple was quite bothersome to simply ignore, and thus Elric often found himself wandering within the same train of thought.

Of course, agonizing over it didn’t mean an answer would come easily.

For that reason, Elric repeatedly stole glances at her while resting his chin on his hand, until he suddenly made eye contact with Tiria as she looked up.

Startle—

Elric flinched.

Tiria asked.

“Do you perhaps have something to say?”

It was too awkward to say he was just looking at her.

Elric hurried to make an excuse.

“No, I was just looking at your fur mantle.”

“Ah, this?”

Tiria stroked the fur mantle.

“It is a mantle made from a monster’s hide. I received it as a gift from the residents about seven years ago.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Yes. A monster from the mountain behind us came down to the village and caused damage to the houses. The residents went out to hunt it that year, and the hide from the monster they caught became this mantle.”

It was a nostalgic name.

“The monster from the back mountain… that brings back memories.”

Elric wiped away his embarrassment and chuckled.

“I used to make quite a fuss trying to see that monster back in the day.”

Behind the fief of Wibin lay a massive mountain range with peaks numbering well into the double digits.

The forests were lush and the terrain was steep, making it a place where few people set foot. Naturally, a monster ecosystem had formed there.

To children, monsters were an essential enemy when playing knights.

It was the same for Elric.

Elric, the village troublemaker, would always take the other children toward the back mountain to search for monsters whenever the adults weren’t looking.

‘Did I see one just once…?’

He remembered running away in a panic after seeing a single wolf from a distance that looked several times larger than an adult man.

The funny thing was that even after being terrified like that, he had gone up the back mountain every single time to find a monster again.

Thinking back, it was a miracle he was even alive.

‘Hmm, no. That’s not it.’

Perhaps the reason he hadn’t seen a monster again was because of Master.

Since the place where Master lived was halfway up the back mountain, given his personality, there was a high probability he had cleared out all the monsters nearby.

Thinking about it again, Master had often grilled and fed him meat that smelled strangely fishy; that might have been monster meat.

‘The taste was quite addictive.’

The first bite was fishy, but once you started eating, there was nothing like it. Occasionally, he found himself missing that taste.

It was the same on the battlefield.

Whenever nostalgia for his hometown welled up, that fishy taste came to mind along with it.

Elric smacked his lips.

Then, he noticed Tiria staring intently at him.

“Um, sorry. Was I too lost in my own thoughts? Hearing about the monster from the back mountain made me think of my old friends. I got caught up in the memory….”

“……No.”

Her gaze dropped.

Her aura was subtly different from usual, but Elric had no way of knowing why.

He tilted his head.

It was at that moment.

Click—

“My Lady, here is the new paperwork.”

Aldio entered the study and presented a stack of documents piled up to his waist.

Elric was appalled.

“Wh-why is there so much work?”

“It is nothing major. It is simply that the volume grew this much while gathering the requests from the residents.”

There are this many requests?

Elric was suddenly seized by a sense of dread.

Wibin wasn’t even that large of a fief; if the paperwork was piled this high here, it meant it would be even worse for larger fiefs.

The thought occurred to him that being a noble might be a much harder job than it looked.

Of course, that misconception was quickly dispelled.

“We do not read all of this,” Tiria explained.

“We skim through the minor things. The reason we collect and read these requests is to understand how the fief is running. We need to identify what kinds of requests are frequent and which goods are in high demand to ensure the fief operates smoothly, do we not?”

Ah, so that was the reason.

Elric rubbed the back of his neck and laughed awkwardly.

“You gave me a fright. I thought we had to grant every single one of these.”

“We are the masters, not the servants.”

It was a clear statement of her intent.

Meanwhile, Tiria flipped through the documents she had received and pulled one out.

“Of course, there are times when matters arise that we must resolve personally.”

“That is….”

Tiria handed the document to Elric.

Elric checked the contents and his eyes widened.

“A monster hunt?”

It was a request to resolve an issue with a monster from the back mountain coming down and causing a disturbance.

Moreover, it was a request made by the entire village with one voice.

In the details, under special notes, it was written: ‘Wolf-type monster, size is about the same as a small house.’

“I should look into this. For matters like this, it is faster to go in person and hear from the village head.”

Tiria rose from her seat.

Elric also stood up hesitantly to follow her.

“Are you coming along?”

“Shouldn’t I?”

Did she intend to leave him behind even though it was work?

The puzzled Elric soon realized the reason.

Her gaze was fixed on his knees.

Elric gave a small laugh.

“It’s fine. It’s much better than when I first arrived.”

“If a monster should appear….”

“Could you carry me on your back?”

Tiria’s expression stiffened.

Though he couldn’t be sure, it was certain that her reaction wasn’t particularly positive.

Elric lamented his loose tongue, yet he was suddenly overcome by a sense of unfairness.

‘……Everyone loved it when Elbus did this.’

Elbus Graham was the type to enjoy this kind of self-deprecating humor when chatting with ladies of his age.

When he did, the young noblewomen would look troubled but often nodded with blushing cheeks.

Why does it work for that guy but not for me?

With that sense of grievance, Elric’s head slumped forward.

“……It was a joke. Let us go.”

“Ah, yes.”

Elric wouldn’t know.

That inside the mind of Tiria, who didn’t understand jokes, a vision was being drawn of her struggling to carry him on her back. And then, in the end, because of her frail stamina, both of them ended up becoming monster food.

Until Elric said the words “It was a joke,” Tiria had been seriously contemplating the problem of physical training.

The Wife Waited in the Wheat Field (Serial)