Came Straight at Me
After returning to the capital, I immediately explained the exhibition plan to Grandfather and the others, and they arranged for the town gazette to print an announcement for the briefing sessions.
While I was preparing the materials for the exhibition briefing in my room—
“Young Master Hardt, would you care for some tea?” Georges called out to me.
“Georges, you’ve been awfully nice to me lately.”
“You’ve been diligently studying and helping with the family’s work,” he replied while setting the tea down for me.
“Haaah, it’s weird for a nine-year-old like me to be working at all. I should be focused on studying, magic, and swordsmanship for now,” I said, handing sweets to Atre and Lucas.
“In that case, you should stop adding more work for everyone else,” he said coolly.
It’s not like I want to come up with new ideas—it just happens! I grumbled inwardly.
Then Georges said gently, “Perhaps you should take a little rest today. Irritation is not good for you.”
He had a point. I hadn’t had a proper break in a while, and without realizing it, I’d probably been snapping more than usual.
I’ve been working so much lately—taking it easy for a day wouldn’t hurt.
“You’re right. Thanks, Georges,” I said, and after finishing my tea, I lay down on the sofa, opened my slate, and was about to copy a book when—
Ding-dong.
The message alert tone.
A bad feeling ran through me. But not opening it wasn’t an option—if I ignored it and something happened later, that would be terrifying.
After all, we’re talking about a god here...
Bracing myself, I opened the message.
[Offer your new sweets and dishes to the church in the capital.] [Permission is granted to display your glass painting in the new town’s church.]I nearly fell off the sofa.
What is this message supposed to be!?
Was it from the Earth God?
Well, the one who requested the glass painting (the pseudo-stained glass) was the Earth God, so maybe.
Or was it from all the gods together?
Up until now, they’d only ever given indirect hints or subtle nudges…
This time, it came straight at me.
There was no point worrying alone, so I went to consult Grandfather and Grandmother.
“There’s no helping it—it’s the gods’ will. We’ll have to make a large number of offerings. But if it’s at a church, the priests will see you. You’ll probably get officially recognized as a Child of the Gods.”
Exactly.
I have no issue offering new sweets and dishes, but I really want to avoid being called a saint or a divine favorite.
“Isn’t there any way around that?”
“Well, as long as it’s a church within our territory, any will do, yes? Then we’ll just build a small chapel here on the estate grounds.”
Grandmother said we’d tell the church it was to thank the three gods who had granted me blessings—an offering of gratitude.
Since we’re already rebuilding the knights’ quarters and the staff dormitories, we might as well build the chapel first.
“You’re going to build it without informing Alf?”
“Well, it’s a divine request. It’s not like we can say no,” Grandmother said firmly.
She wasn’t wrong. If the gods were going to keep requesting new dishes and sweets in the future, having a chapel on-site would make things easier.
“If we’re building a chapel, we should decorate it with the glass painting,” Grandmother suggested.
That was reasonable. It would be good practice for Carlos before we installed the one in the new town—but I just hoped he wouldn’t collapse from overwork.
“The church might want to come inspect it,” Grandfather said.
“Then we’ll invite them once, after it’s done, saying they can come offer a prayer. After that, we’ll hang the glass painting,” Grandmother decided.
Grandfather and Grandmother immediately sent my letter to Father by express courier, and Grandfather issued orders to prioritize building the small chapel first.
I contacted Carlos to have him hurry with the completion of the three gods’ glass paintings.
Three days later, Brother Gerald returned to Westland.
“You’ve barely been back a few days, and you’re already causing trouble,” he said, flicking my forehead.
“Ow!” I rubbed it.
“It’s not my fault! The message came as soon as I opened my slate. I didn’t propose anything this time.”
“I know, I know—but Father’s been muttering, saying he should’ve known better than to let you go back. Brother and I couldn’t say a word to defend you.”
He sighed. “When I leave for the academy, who’s going to clean up after you?”
That’s not something you should be asking me, is it?
Anyway—today was the briefing for the exhibition, with six guests: the heads of both the Adventurers’ and Merchants' Guilds, plus two others each.
It would be my first time meeting the Merchants' Guild representatives, so I was nervous.
Grandfather and Grandmother would attend as well, so if anything went wrong, I could count on their support.
From the Adventurers’ Guild came three familiar faces: the Guildmaster, the Vice-Guildmaster, and Mr. Mobius.
Guildmaster MacBerry smiled at me. “To be honest, I came prepared for this to be quite a serious matter.”
“You’re exaggerating. It’s just about the new town,” I replied lightly.
The Merchants' Guild representatives were all new to me.
The Guildmaster turned out to be an elderly lady—she looked even older than Grandmother.
The Vice-Guildmaster was an intellectual-looking man in his forties, wearing glasses.
The third person was a woman, maybe in her thirties or forties, with her hair tied back in a style similar to a maid’s.
Before starting, I told everyone, “I’ll take questions at the end, so please listen through first.”
Then I explained: the new town was intended as a tourist destination—
A place where the people of the domain could come for day trips or overnight stays to relax and have fun.
To make people want to visit, we would feature unique dishes and souvenirs available only there.
That’s why we were organizing the exhibition—and I asked for their cooperation.
I handed out the same outline I’d shown my family, and served ice cream and dorayaki for them to try.
“These ice creams and dorayaki were developed by our house as specialties sold exclusively in the new town,” I explained. “Ice cream may eventually appear in other territories, but since the milk tastes different, the new town’s will still be unique.”
“So, this exhibition also serves as a kind of promotion—to make people want to visit the new town to taste them again?” asked the elderly Guildmaster of the Merchants' Guild.
“Indeed—that’s part of the goal,” I replied.
Guildmaster MacBerry frowned thoughtfully.
“Even with these new dishes and souvenirs, isn’t that still a bit lacking to turn the new town into a real tourist attraction?”
“Well, we haven’t made it public yet,” I said with a grin, “but the main attraction of the new town is the hot springs—they speed up recovery from fatigue and ease pain and injuries. They’re inexpensive to enter, too. There’ll be multiple types, so visitors can enjoy touring from bath to bath.”
“What did you just say?”
“Hot springs that ease pain and speed up recovery!?” both guildmasters exclaimed at once.
What do you think about this chapter?
