Before I knew it...
When I went to the second-floor residence, an older man with a bright red face was shouting angrily at a woman sitting on the floor.
“Dad! That’s enough already!!”
“Shut up!! … Huh? Who the hell are you people!?”
“Excuse me. I’m Stanley Lampail, Dan’s former superior.”
“Huh!? What’s a noble doing here!?”
“I’m the one with business here! My name is Joan Lampail. Mr. Dan’s father, if you keep getting this angry, you’ll collapse again. Why are you so upset?”
“She said there’s no more booze when I told her to bring some! Then go out and buy more, right!?”
“I understand. In that case, I’ll go buy some with your wife, so please wait a little while.”
I offered a hand to the woman sitting down and helped her up.
I asked Father to fill a pitcher taken from storage with Aqua water and give it to him to drink. Holding the woman’s hand, I passed by Dan and told him we were going to the magic beast shop as we headed downstairs.
Ding, ding~
“Welco—huh? Mom!? Wait, why?”
“I’m sorry. I suddenly brought her here.”
“No, thank you for doing that.”
“What’s going on...? Ah, is it Dad again?”
“Yes. I wanted him to calm down, so I brought your mother out of there. For now, let me take care of that cheek… Pain, pain, go away!”
“Oh? The pain’s gone. Thank you, young lady.”
At the magic beast shop, I introduced myself, confirmed the father’s symptoms with Dan’s mother and sister, and explained that it was high blood pressure.
At first, they didn’t believe me, but after listening to my explanation of how dangerous high blood pressure can be, they gradually started to understand.
The mother’s name was Ellen, the sister’s Lily, and the father’s name was Scott.
I asked Ellen to stay with Lily for a while and told them to come upstairs together later. Then I returned alone to the residence.
When I got back, Scott was a completely different man, playing gently with Pearl and smiling calmly.
“Ah, Young lady Joan. My mom is...?”
“She’s with Lily right now. Her swollen cheek’s all better now, so she’s fine. How about you, Mr. Scott? You seem calmer now.”
“Yes. After drinking the water you gave him, the alcohol wore off, he couldn’t apologize enough… It’s like that.”
“I’m glad. Now we can have a proper conversation.”
Saying that, I approached Scott.
“Mr. Scott, how are you feeling?”
“Oh, you’re that girl from earlier. Sorry about before. Once I start drinking, I just lose control.”
“This might be hard for you to hear, but would you listen to me for just a little while?”
“Sure. No headache now, so I can listen.”
After getting his consent, I told Scott about the causes and symptoms of high blood pressure, and how, if left untreated, it could ultimately be fatal.
“……”
“Mr. Scott, if you don’t start changing your lifestyle now, you won’t be able to do the things you want anymore. As for alcohol—one glass per day, and please have at least one alcohol-free day per week. Also, try not to eat overly salty foods.”
“No, but I like drinking and salty food. I’m not gonna stop over some high blood pressur—”
“Don’t give me that crap just because I’ve been being polite!!”
“!!”
“J-Joan!?”
“Father, please be quiet for a moment!”
“Y-Yes.”
“Oh? ‘Just high blood pressure,’ huh? You’ve already collapsed once and made your family worry! Mr. Dan even had to quit the subjugation squad because of that, didn’t he!? On top of that, you quit your job, start drinking in the middle of the day, throw a fit, and hit Mrs. Ellen? Must be nice to live like that, huh!?”
“T-That’s because the temple said I should rest—”
“They told you to rest, right? Then why are you drinking and raging around!? R-E-S-T. Do you understand what that means? ‘Peaceful and quiet,’ that’s what rest means. Are you doing that? You’re not, are you!? Is your life in danger if you don’t drink alcohol or eat salty food? No!! On the contrary, you *will* die if you keep living like this!! You already collapsed once. You’ve got one foot in the coffin already!! Realize just how much your family’s worrying about you!! Think about how heartbroken they’ll be if you die!!”
“……”
“You…”
When I turned around, Ellen and Lily were standing there, both with tears in their eyes.
Aaaahh! I’ve done it again!!
“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to yell…”
I immediately knelt on the floor and bowed deeply in apology.
“No, no, raise your head. What you said woke me up. After I collapsed, I couldn’t work, and the headaches drove me to drinking. I got drunk, lashed out, and did terrible things to Ellen… I’m sorry, Ellen.”
Scott apologized to Ellen, and Ellen shook her head as she cried silently.
“Dad, like Young lady Joan said, let’s start with improving your meals a little. Try taking walks again, even if it’s just a bit. I… I want to stand beside you at the shop again, like when I was a kid.”
“Dad, I’ll help think of recipes too… so please. I don’t want you to collapse again…”
“I’m sorry, both of you. I might still cause trouble, but… I’m counting on you.”
“Young lady Joan, thank you very much.”
As we were leaving, Dan thanked me.
“No, I’m the one who spoke rudely…”
“Not at all. I thought, ‘She really *is* the Vice-Commander and Lady Margaret’s daughter.’”
“Eh?”
“Hey!”
“Young lady Joan, thank you sooo much. I’ll do my best to learn cooking, okay~!”
“Lily, but you’ve never even held a knife, have you?”
“Shut up, Big bro!”
“Father…”
“… Sigh. Fine. Umm, Lily, was it? I’ll send our family cook over here for a while, so why don’t you learn from them?”
“Eh!? Really!?”
“Vice-Commander, is that okay?”
“Yeah. It’s an apology for Joan’s outburst.”
““Thank you very much!””
Later on, Mr. Abe started visiting Dan’s home and taught Lily how to cook. Thanks to that and the effects of the dried sweet potatoes, Scott’s high blood pressure stabilized, and now he apparently works at the shop again with Dan.
Incidentally, Mr. Abe was thrilled he could go on dates with Suzy while visiting the royal capital.
What do you think about this chapter?
