I'm off!　I woke up to the faint sound of Elinora's brave voice from downstairs.

　I raised my upper body on the bed and stretched as hard as I could before pushing open the wooden window.

　As I expected, Elinora's sister was swaying her auburn ponytail.

　The one bundling it up, swinging smoothly, is the chouche I gave her yesterday as a souvenir.

　It is a white fabric with red polka dots on it.

I was afraid that he would say, "I don't need that," but he seemed to like it a lot and took most of what I bought him.

　What was left over from that would mean that I bought something that didn't look good on Elinora sister.

　I found women's fashion to be difficult, as far as being left with someone I thought looked pretty good.

　It's a good thing that you're able to get your hands on a pair of shoes that you can wear as soon as possible.

　I watched with satisfaction as Elinora's sister disappeared and got ready for the morning.

　Normally, I would head to the dining room, but today I'm heading to Thor's house to change into my outdoor clothes.

　As I'm changing into my green shirt, brown pants and relatively comfortable clothes, I hear a voice from the hallway.

'Whoa!　What the hell is that?

'Hehehe, it's a pin I bought in King's Landing. It looks good on you, doesn't it?

'What?　It doesn't look good on you. Your forehead is showing and you look three times dumber than usual.

'It's awful, Miss Mel!　I can't believe I'm saying the same thing about Master Alfried!　Nord-sama and Erna-sama smiled and complimented me on how adorable they were!

"...you're laughing at that, aren't you?　Put your face as close to Lady Erna as you can. That way you can tell if you're being complimented or laughed at.

'Why can't you honestly praise me!　No, it's not!

Well, let's go to Lady Erna's.

Yeah, that's fine.

　Mel walks with a look of exasperation, and Meena walks with her chest heaving as if to say she's mad at me.

　I walk out of my room and slowly walk behind them.

''Well it's going to be a noisy breakfast today...''


　I walk into the dining room a little later than Meena and the others, and Saara, who was carrying the plates, greets me.

'Good morning,'

Good morning, Sarra.

　As soon as he greeted her, Saara quickly carried the plates over.

　The other, on the other hand.

Lady Erna?　Why aren't you looking at me today?

　He was trying to verify the truth of what Mel had just told him.

'No, it's not. It's just my imagination.

'No!　Lady Erna hasn't looked me in the face once since I entered here!

　Meena is close to my face, but Mother Erna has a teacup and a cool smile on her face.

　But I can tell. She's smiling.

　The reason is that her face is a little tighter than her usual soft smile. And the corners of her mouth are twitching a little higher.

　He tilts his teacup to hide it.

'Oh, Al, you're up. Good morning.

Good morning, Mother Erna.

　You're clearly trying to go off topic.

'Please don't go off topic!

'You said you were going to Mr. Thor's house today. Are you giving him a gift?

　Meena is pissed off and tries to get back to the conversation, but Mom Erna ignores her and expands on the subject.

'Yeah, I do. I'll go after breakfast.'

'Yes. Speaking of souvenirs, Elinora looked quite happy to wear a chouche. She was up early in the morning and was quite lost.

Mother Erna sips her tea with a soft smile and a soft smile.

　If I had woken up early, I would have been able to see that rare sight.

''Speaking of souvenirs, I'm referring to the pin I'm wearing!　Lady Erna!

'Yes, yes, you look three times dumber than usual with your forehead showing, Meena.

　Meena has been bothering me all morning, so I tell her off.

　At that moment, Erna's mother chokes on her tea and starts coughing.

　She seems to be coughing bitterly, but her shoulders are clearly shaking.

'Lady Erna, here's a towel!'

Thank you, Meena-- blowfish!

　Mother Erna blows up in her face as she accepts the towel offered to her by Meena.

'Whoa!　Master Alfried and Lady Erna are both terrible!

　Meena ran out of the dining room with great vigor.

　In the end, Bartolo was the only one who did not laugh at Meena.

　Brother Silvio chuckled, and apparently Dad Nord blew his guard when he was taking a break in his office.



　◆



　After a noisy breakfast, I headed to Thor's house with Bartolo's homemade lunch and a goblin sword wrapped in cloth.

I stomped on the dirt as I made my way to the village. I take a deep breath as I bask in the warm spring sunshine.

The scent of deep greenery and earth pierces my nostrils. It's as if I've eaten a mint. Birds chirping in my ears, I follow the path.

Soon, as we neared the village, we saw fields and the villagers were tilling the soil with their hoes. If you look closely, you can see an old Roland man wiping sweat off his face and waving a hoe.

Since he was quite far away, we decided to walk past him this time without talking to him.

I hope the barley sprouts will sprout soon.



　As I went to the reddish-roofed house that was Thor's house, I heard a sound like chopping wood from nearby.

　I was curious, so I walked in the direction of the sound.

　Then I saw Thor lifting an axe and chopping wood.

When Thor noticed me, he greeted me with a rather happy look on his face.

'Oh!'　Al?　I've been waiting for you!

Can I just give him a little something to take home?

I have a bad feeling about this because she has an awfully nice smile on her face.

"Don't be so adamant. You're just going to help me. You just need to put the wood down.

　Thor puts his arm around my shoulder while holding the axe in one hand.

　This guy is deliberately applying the axe to my body, isn't he?

　This is a threat, no matter how you look at it. I don't know what he's going to do because of this guy.

"Well, that's all. You don't swing an axe, do you?

Oh!

　Lightly intimidated by Thor, I find an appropriately sized stone and reluctantly sit down.

　Then I grab a pile of unbroken firewood near the stump and put it on.

'Good!'

　Then Thor slammed the axe down on the wood, biting into the middle of the wood.

　Then he lifted and swung the wood with the axe still biting into the blade of the axe.

　The wood made a clang and a dry sound and broke in half.

'Don't you want to split it all at once?'

It's much easier to crack this way. Besides, it's not safe to bang on it with all your might.

I obeyed Thor's voice, "Stay away for a minute.

　Thor placed the wood on the stump and swung his axe up and slammed it into the wood.

　With a clang, the wood splattered in the air.

　If I had been sitting close enough, the splattered wood would have hit me.

　Thor yanked the axe blade out of the stump and said, "Hey? I said.

'It's certainly not safe,'

　Then me and Thor chopped wood together with a little conversation.

'You don't even know how to chop wood, you've never chopped wood before?

Not really. He's a nobleman. I have Bartolo do it.

You should at least work a little. You know how hard it is to get firewood, right?

'I suppose. But we bought a state-of-the-art fire mage, so we won't be using wood anymore.

What?

Look out!　I still have a hand!

　What a guy. I'm in the middle of setting up my firewood and he's swinging an axe at me.

　I can't believe he did that.

"What did you say to me?

'Hey, don't talk like that about how my precious right arm was almost cut off. I bought a fire spell and I don't need firewood. Fuel is magic.

'Huh!　That's not fair!　Hey, give me that!

No. I've got this for you. This one.

　I flushed as Thor grabbed at me and pointed to the sword I'd placed beside him.

'What's this?　Sticks?

　Apparently Thor can't tell because it's wrapped in a cloth.

　So I take it in my hand and undo the cloth with a shrug.

　The moment the silver sword blade is exposed, Thor senses it and says, "Oh! He sounded excited.

'Look, a sword,'

　The goblins, though.

　I take the cloth completely off and hand it to Thor, who looks at it happily.

　He's excited to trace his finger over the blade, turn it over, and let the sun shine through it.

　I polished it up to a shine yesterday. It was clean to begin with, and it shouldn't be a problem.

'It's a real sword!　That's not a wooden sword!

　The sword is the size of a goblin, so even Thor can hold it with one hand. Well, I suppose it could be that Thor's body was being trained by chopping wood.

　It's just a little heavy for me.

I was expecting you to bring a suitable toy with you since you're Al, but I didn't expect you to give me a sword. Thanks!

　Thor thanks you with a smiley face.

　You feel a little guilty when you smile at me like that, don't you?

　If it breaks, I'll give you a better one, or I'll have Logan make it for you.