A debriefing meeting?
After Hardt, exhausted from all the talking, said he was heading to his room and left, the remaining three stayed behind.
“Thanks, Gerald. It’s easy to forget with how composed Hardt is, but he’s still just an eight-year-old. He seemed mentally unstable. He looked really relieved after hearing your words. They were words we should’ve said ourselves.”
“I only told the truth. Hardt is Hardt. It’s not like his personality changed just because he gained some rare knowledge.”
“Thank you, really. I had a feeling something was going on, but I never thought he might worry about being called crazy or pushed away.”
“Well, if not for the new products, I might’ve doubted him too. Hardt’s concerns are valid. It’s best not to tell the royal family about this. We need to protect that child so the country doesn’t shackle him.”
“But we’re still going to talk about the beastkin, right? Like Hardt said, if a few of them have the blessing of the Plant God, the royal family might get involved. And there’s the curry powder too—wasn’t there also something about seasonings?”
“Rather than from the royal family, it’ll probably be from the government. And the Magic Tower too, I suppose. There’s also that cool fabric... This might get tricky.”
“First, let’s have the beastkin undergo mana appraisal. The newspaper and tea bag business are government-run projects, and we’ve earned some favor with the medicine that regenerates lost body parts, so they likely won’t make unreasonable demands. But... they might try to keep Hardt in the royal capital.”
“... We might have to rely on Brother Davit.”
“Looks like it.”
“How do we even talk to him about this? We can’t write it in a letter—someone might see it.”
“Right. This isn’t something we can put in writing. We’ll have to pull him out of the academy and summon him back.”
Although the beastkin were originally planning to stay for a few days, their tasks kept increasing—things like deciding what to buy with the money they exchanged at the Adventurer’s Guild, visiting the church, and so on. So, they ended up staying for a week until things settled down.
They requested to stay together rather than being split between the staff and the Knights Order dormitories. Since there weren’t enough rooms at the knights’ quarters, some of them were sleeping in tents.
Tomorrow, the beastkin will undergo mana appraisal at the church. Brother Gerald and I will be accompanying them, but for now, I’m relaxing in the greenhouse reading a book. Things have been hectic lately, so I’m glad to finally be back to my usual pace.
“Hardt, I thought I’d find you here.” I turned around and saw Brother Chris.
“What are you doing here? What about school?”
“Father contacted me and said, ‘Come back immediately.’ I wondered what was going on.”
He said he’d be joining us for the beastkin’s mana appraisal. He also wants to meet them and asked me to introduce him. Oh, and he wants to see Tonmi and the slime that loves Uga.
“Did you see Ciel?”
“He was on the perch in the study, so I greeted him. I’d never seen a Glasshawk up close before—it was really impressive.”
“Ciel’s a real prankster.” I said, and started telling him about the day Ciel arrived at our house as we walked to where Tonmi and Uga were planted. Brother Chris followed me.
“What are these huge plants?”
“They’re Tonmi and Uga.” I broke off a stem from each.
“Hardt, did you do something again?” I told him the story of how they grew large after I watered them, and we headed for the slime pen.
Three slimes came up to us. I handed Brother Chris a Uga leaf and asked him to feed it to one. I split the Tonmi in two and gave one each to the other two slimes.
“They really do love Tonmi and Uga, huh? I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it... But this is actually kind of cute.”
At the knights’ dormitory, we ran into Raul just outside and called out to him.
His coat looked incredibly well-groomed—fluffy and nice. I was thinking how much I wanted to touch it when he noticed me staring and explained that it was because he could eat properly and take baths now. He thanked me, saying everyone was grateful.
It seems he misunderstood my staring as admiration for how clean he looked. I couldn’t bring myself to say I’d actually been hoping to pet him.
Giving up, I told him I wanted to introduce my brother who had returned from the royal capital, and Raul went to call Saphid and Natalia.
“Saphid, is everything okay?”
“Everyone’s been very kind. We’re grateful.” He said, and thanked me again.
I introduced Brother Chris, and after the mutual introductions were done, I told them he’d be joining us at the church tomorrow. Most of their preparations were finished, and it seems they’ll be moving on the day after tomorrow.
While we were on the way back to the mansion,
“So now I get why Father was so insistent I come back immediately. There’s still a lot I don’t know, huh? I’ll talk with Gerald later.”
Last night, Brother Gerald told Brother Chris:
“We’re going to begin the debriefing meeting for Hardt’s activities since the new year after returning to the provincial capital.”
I protested, saying that calling it that made me sound like a problem child, but he said we had to go through everything in order or we’d lose track of what we had and hadn’t talked about.
Brother Chris agreed with him, saying he needed to hear everything too in case something happened. It was two against one—I lost.
And so, a debriefing meeting on my actions since returning to the provincial capital after the new year was held by the three brothers.
What do you think about this chapter?
