A beautiful moment after lunch. Me and mother Erna didn't have anything to do, we were just lounging on the sofa with an after-dinner cup of tea.



　I'm sitting on the couch, buried in the sofa, and I'm stretching myself absent-mindedly because of the sleepiness that comes from feeling full after eating.

　I wonder if Erna's mother and Sara, who is sitting across from me and waiting at the end of the room, saw my absent-mindedness and stretched.

　They were modestly hiding their mouths with their hands and letting out absent breaths.

　Do I inevitably feel so sleepy after lunch?

　If he was a student or a working man, he would probably fight this feeling of fullness and impending sleepiness to study and work.

　I think it's wrong to say that our instincts as human beings demand sleep, but to force it down. The body says it wants to sleep, so we should just go to sleep.

　I'm going to follow my body's instincts and go to sleep.

　I put my tea on the table and grab a slime cushion from the side.

　I have nothing to do and no obligation to do now. I can sleep in the middle of the day with impunity.

　The idea that I'm sleeping in a comfortable environment while everyone else is probably working up a sweat is what makes me sleep more deeply.

''Well Al, didn't you have plans to play with Thor-kun and Asmo-kun this afternoon?''

　As I lay back and meditate, Mother Erna says.

'It's okay, it's okay. You won't be able to play with them until after you're done helping Thor and Asmo with their house, so there's no point in going right after lunch. It's enough to take a little nap and go late.

If I took a nap now, I wouldn't wake up until the evening, would I?

Erna will make sure it doesn't happen.

　Mom Erna let out a sigh as she turned toward the back of the couch, as if I'd asked her to cut the conversation short.

'God, it's so sloppy to sleep in at noon.

　I don't have anything to do with Mother Erna today, you know. I mean, Mother Erna is taking a nap too, right?

　With that thought in my mind, my consciousness fell into sleep.



　◆



"Mr. Alfried Mr. Alfried.

　I was suddenly awakened by the shaking of my body.

　In my vision, I saw the beautiful face of Saara, the maid, reflected in my vision.

''.......What?　Sarra?

'I have woken Master Alfried up for the appointed time this afternoon.

　Maybe it was because my mind was fuzzy, but it took me about five seconds to understand Saara's words.

　Oh, well. I took a nap before I played with Thor and Asmo and asked them to wake me up.

'Huh?　

No, Lady Erna is right between your eyes.

　I mutter to myself as I remember, and Saara answers my words.

　........hmm?　Has my mother finally become so depraved that she feels it's a hassle to even wake up her son in front of her?　

　Thinking about that in my mind, I raise my body and look at the sofa facing me.

''Soooo.........''

　Then I see Mother Erna lying on the sofa, just like me, breathing a healthy sleep. A slime cushion is carefully placed under her head.

''It seems that watching Alfried-sama's sleeping face made her sleepy, and it was only about five minutes after Alfried-sama fell asleep that she became like this.

　I told you to wake me up, and you're sleeping yourself.

'You told me it was disgusting to sleep in the daytime!

　I poked Mother Erna's cheek with my finger, carrying a little protest on it.

　Mother Erna's cheeks feel chewier and softer than her sister Elinora's.

　I re-cover Mother Erna's blanket as she sleeps happily.

I'm sure you'll be happy to see me. And the blanket, too.

No, no, no, no, it's just what a maid should do.

　I turn around and say, and Saara says, her expression softening.

　Her modest smile is beautiful. If I ever get married in the future, I'd like to have a woman with a modest, beautiful smile like Saara's. I think to myself as I relax my muscles.

　Thinking to myself, I stand tall to relax the muscles in my body that have become stiff.

　Then I let out a whooshing breath, relaxing the muscles in my body and awakening my consciousness.

'Well then, I have an appointment to make, so I'm going out. You can let Mother Erna sleep in as long as Dad Nord doesn't show up, as usual.

I understand.

　Yes, this kind of thing happens all the time.

　After satisfying my desire for sleep sufficiently, I went out of the mansion with 20 percent more vivacity than usual.



　◆



　I headed over to Thor's house, thinking that they would have finished their work on the house by now, but Thor was still working in the fields.

　Thor's eyes lit up when he saw me, his body covered in mud and sweat.

'Oh!'　Al!　You're late!　I've been waiting for you!

'I'm not waiting at all. I rather want to leave now.

　I've had a bad feeling ever since I saw Thor's brilliant smile.

'Don't say that, Al. I'm almost done with my work!'

Then I'll be at Thor's house waiting for you. So go get your work done.

　As I turn and head out of the field to the house, Thor grabs my arm nimbly.

'Don't be silly. It'll go quicker for both of us than it would for one of us, right?　I'm the only one who's had a lot of work pushed at me lately because of the royal feed and the slime search!　Please!

　'You're going to sway them with theory, emotion and guilt.......good job Thor.

'Yeah, that's Thor's job, and you got what you deserved for the Royal Feed, didn't you?

　I got him to go along with me about the slime search, but there should be none since Thor was able to skip work that day too.... It's a little heartbreaking, though.

It's a little heartbreaking, but hey. I want to play with Al for a while now.

　When you speak to me in such a pure manner, my heart is indeed shaken.

　Well, I also feel guilty for revealing that it was Thor's work at the end, and quite some time has passed since then. I don't mind helping him out a bit.

　I haven't been able to play with Thor and the others lately because of Elinora's sister's training.

　I'm sure we all want to have fun.

I'm sure you'll be happy with the results. I'll help you with the simple things.

'Oh!　I knew Al would say something like that, man!　Well then, you'll have to pull the weeds out of the field!

　I say with a sigh, and Thor changes his attitude and hands me his gloves with a deft hand.

　You bastard. First he said a prickly ulterior motive, and then he bargained with pure words at the end.

　Now, you thought that if you appealed to friendship, he would take care of it from the start.

　In my mind, I had no choice but to put my gloves on, feeling uncomfortable.

　Thor is happy to have me do his chores for him, and he enthusiastically takes up a hoe and starts plowing the field.

　With a sideways glance at him, I carefully pull out the weeds that are growing all over the field.

　Long weeds are easy to pull out, but it's hard to pull out short, thin weeds and such.

　It's okay to leave this much alone, isn't it?

Pull the short weeds out of the ground.

Hey, yeah.

　Thor's habit of being sharp.

　I do what Thor says and neatly pull out each of the short weeds.

　Even so, it's still a hassle when there are so many of them.

　Let's dig up a little small area of soil with soil magic and heap up all the weeds.

　I activate my soil magic from the base of the weeds closest to me.

　Then the short weeds squirm out of the soil as if they were worms coming out of the soil. It's properly dug up from the roots of the soil, and since the roots are short, it doesn't have a large area to dig up. It wouldn't even affect the field, so there was nothing wrong with this.

　Having decided that, I pull out the long weeds by hand and dig up the short weeds with soil magic.

'........Hey, aren't you weirdly fast?　You're faster than my mom...?　Are you pulling it out properly?

Yeah, I'm pulling it out.

You're lying. I don't usually tinker in the dirt, you aristocratic lad, but you can't pull it off that quickly!

　Apparently unconvinced by my speed of weeding, Thor comes over to me.

　He stares at the spot I was working on.

Well it's certainly cleaned up nicely. There's no residue at all... Hey, Al. Let's pull some weeds over here.
You know.

Yes.

　I, who haven't done anything particularly despicable, pull out the weeds as Thor told me to do.

　Just like before, I use my hands to pull out the long weeds and magically dig up the short weeds.......

''Nunn!　What's that?　There's some kind of weed coming up like a worm!　It's disgusting!

　Really?　It doesn't look like a pretty creature once you get used to seeing it....

''Oi!　What did I do to deserve this?　Magic again?

'Yeah, I'm using soil magic to dig up the short weeds from their roots. I'm only uplifting the weeds, so the soil shouldn't have been dug up unaided.

　I let the weeds only rise up again for Thor to check.

　The green weeds show up as they are pushed out of the soil.

'Nah!　That's it!　That's a foul play!　As long as you have this, it won't take long to pull the weeds!

Excuse me, Thor?　What the hell is going on here?　It's your job to plow these fields today, remember? You'll skip dinner if you skip it?

　As Thor was squealing in amazement at the weeds being pushed out of the house, Mrs. Murat, Thor's mother, came from the house.

'Hello, Miss Murat,'

'What?　Oh, hello, Mr. Alfried.

　I stand up and bail, and Murat-san bails as if in a hurry.

　Apparently, he didn't expect me to be there.

　Then Mr. Murat approached Thor.

Excuse me, Thor. Even though he's your friend, Alfried is a nobleman.　I can't believe I let you help me tinker in the dirt...

It doesn't matter whether you're a nobleman or a commoner to tinker with the soil, Mr. Murat.

　Doh, now that's what I said. Isn't that a pretty good boy thing?

Is that right?

You said so yourself, so don't worry about it, Mom!

　Mr. Murat puts his fist in the air with the nonsensical Thor.

"You should know better than to be reserved. This job is your punishment!

Ouch!　I mean, you're too stingy with a little tea!　That was a long time ago!

'Those are the fine tea leaves I got from Lady Elna!　I was saving it for a fun post-labor day because you were guzzling it down!　And lately, you've been seeing Master Alfried.　And you've been skipping work for a reason!

　Oooh, you've entered into a perfect father-son interaction. I had imagined that Thor and Murat would always be like this.

　I'm sure you'll find the scene to be very smiling and comforting.

　I'm sure that Murat-san, who had been scolding Thor, noticed the expression on my face and came back to herself with a huff.

''Gohon........Anyway, do as much work as possible on your own. After you finish plowing this field, you can do whatever you want today.

Okay.

　Murat raised an eyebrow at Thor's cursory reply, but he lowered his pent-up energy as if he thought it would happen again.

　Then he turned his smiling smile in my direction.

'Master Alfried, you can stay at home and take a break from this foolishness, if you want.　We have a royal feed ...................so please take your time.

　The expression of regret for having said it? Murat's expression changes from one of smiling to one of regret and despair. The words were also drastically reduced.

　If you treat me at home, I'll be able to consume even more of the few remaining royal feeds.

　The royal feed can be consumed at the mansion any time, and I'm not a demon enough to choose to take a break here.

''No, no, not at all. I enjoy talking to Thor like this.''

Oh, yeah?　I'm at home, so if you want to take a break, you're welcome to come by anytime!

　Mr. Murat smiles sincerely at my words.

　Then Mr. Murat walks back to the house with a light step.

　It's a great idea. You have a great smile on your face, but don't ever come from the heart.　Because I took a pawn in the first place, right?　I heard a threatening voice say something like, "I don't know what to do.

　As I walked away from Murat's back, Thor approached us with a black smile on his face.

'Hey Al, now go back home for a break. My mom's going to be pretty upset.

I know how that feels, but don't do it, okay?

I'm just kidding. You can't joke about this, you know.

　As I tasted it, Thor shouldered the hoe back on his shoulder and began to plow the field.