Chapter 444 – 37. Temporary Suspension of Warrior Work
After the second game, which lasted from breakfast to lunch because I woke up early.
Han Si-woo returned to her mansion, carrying Gwen, who was asleep, on his back.
Since he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday, his first stop after handing Gwen over to her butler was a restaurant.
Although I had no problem starving for a day or two, my appetite whetted when I saw the generously prepared table.
“Ha, I think I’m finally going to live now.”
I felt satisfied only after eating a late lunch by myself for about 30 minutes.
I could have eaten more, but I didn’t have the hobby of eating that much, so I just got up.
Siwoo asks her maid to clean it up and moves on.
Unconsciously, he realized it too late and stopped his steps as he was about to head to the office.
‘Maybe it’s because it’s not even 15 days yet, but I haven’t gotten out of the habit.’
I tried to go somewhere else, but there was no place that immediately came to mind.
Unlike yesterday, there is no set schedule today.
Then I turned to Belluna, who had postponed my appointment.
Knock.
“…”
Knock.
“…?”
I don’t know if he’s oversleeping or if he’s away, but there’s no response when I knock.
Siwoo, who was lingering in front of the door, was able to understand the reason only when he caught a maid passing by in the hallway.
“Emergency mission?”
“Yes, you rushed out last night to follow up on a previous mission.”
“Then Hanji and the whole party must have left.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Oh my.”
Siwoo clicked his tongue at her disappointment, but was also worried about them.
I can’t believe I was rushed in for follow-up processing.
It’s unlikely that Hanji or the party will be dishonest in carrying out their mission, but with missions, you never know what might happen. It was inevitable that trouble would arise, not from the women themselves but from external factors.
For example, if the client does something strange, or if it is not related to the mission but needs to be taken care of.
“Okay. Thanks for letting me know.”
“No. … Ah. Since Gina met with Soyoung before going out, she may know more details.”
“Oh, really? I understand.”
Since there was Sheila’s work going on, I decided to go see Soyoung Han right away.
I also saw my cute and lovely daughter’s face one more time.
Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right and her daughter Soyul was taking a nap, but she was able to hear her story from Soyoung who was looking at the documents.
“It’s not a big problem. It’s just that other things appeared even after the troll horde was subdued.”
“I don’t think I missed Gina’s party, but did they come from somewhere else?”
“Under the circumstances, yes. But…”
“Trolls are not that common monsters.”
Si-woo sat next to So-young and rested his chin, thinking.
The trolls in this world are almost similar to those in general fantasy.
A monster that is stronger than an Orc, weaker than an Ogre, and difficult to deal with due to its unique resilience.
The only difference is that the trolls here are rarer than most monsters.
The reason is because of its regenerative ability, which heals most wounds in just a few minutes.
In the early days when alchemy was less studied, trolls were a popular game for potion ingredients, but their population eventually declined rapidly.
Now that potion making technology has developed, it is possible to make healing potions more cheaply than using trolls, but the number has already decreased so much that it is difficult to find them, and as trolls have begun to form groups, the difficulty of hunting has increased significantly. 〈 Br〉
Anyway, it is definitely strange for such a rare group of trolls to appear in the same place again.
“Hmm.”
Han Si-woo began to look back on his memories from the first episode in his head and look for similar cases or suspected incidents.
A smile appeared on Han So-young’s lips as she looked at her adopted son and father with a serious face.
Then, he rested her chin, brought her face closer to him, and whispered.
“Look at me, Siwoo’s son.”
I flinch.
“… Soyoung Mamang?”
“Hehe. Yes, it’s Mamang.”
Side♡
Lips that meet briefly and then fall.
However, Si-woo came to his senses due to strong stimulation and looked at So-young who was right in front of him.
“Soyul sleeps next to me.”
“It’s okay. I don’t wake up often when I nap. My Soyul sleeps hard for her mom too…”
“… Ugh!”
“…”
“It seems like my daughter is very jealous.”
“Ugh, Soyul.”
It’s been a while since I tried to spend some quality time alone with Si-woo, but it ended up falling apart like this.
Even as she lamented her regret, Han So-young’s body was already next to her daughter.
She couldn’t believe it, but as soon as she was held in her arms, her daughter stopped crying and started laughing.
A smile appeared on Soyoung’s face as she looked at the lovely baby’s face.
“Haha. Did you wake up because you wanted to see Dad’s face?”
“After all that, you’re already trying to fall asleep?”
“… It’s true.”
Han So-young brought her child to her chair because she thought she would start crying if she put her child back on her bed.
“I never really wake up during a nap, so how did I do that today?”
Even though she was complaining, she looked at her daughter who was fast asleep and couldn’t help but feel loving.
It was quite a while ago, but Han So-young’s maternal love was particularly strong because she had once experienced the loss of a child.
It was as if everything that had been directed at Si-woo until recently had gone to her daughter.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that my love for Siwoo has diminished.
Instead, her perception of him as the better half of her life or as a man has become more solid.
“Sometimes things like this happen. Anyway, about the troll mission…”
“Stop. Let’s talk about it when they get back. You don’t know the situation yet, right?”
“Hmm. Yes, that’s right.”
“Maman is more than that… Whew.”
Just from her sigh, Siwoo understood the inner meaning.
“You still have time, right? Otherwise, you can leave it to the nanny for a while and go on a date later.”
“… Date? Yes, it’s a date… Hehe, that’s good.”
Han So-young’s eyes shined.
How many months ago was it when I last went on a date alone with Siwoo?
It must have been quite a while since she couldn’t take time off because he was busy, and she also had a child.
I want to do sexy things, but right now I want to have a fun date more than that.
“Oh, by the way. I have to tell you this.”
“You’re telling me what?”
“Sheila.”
“Ah. I see. Furthermore, I also had something to ask Maman.”
“Hehe, right?”
Even for Siwoo, Sheila’s whereabouts yesterday were quite questionable.
That’s because the reason she came all the way there, the way she half-ignored Gwen even though she was next to her, and the facial expressions she made at the time felt different from usual. For now, she turned away to focus on Gwen, but she couldn’t help but feel anxious in many ways.
“It looks like Sheila has something important to say.”
“To me? Hmm.”
Sheila didn’t bother to say anything except for what she wanted to say to herself.
She didn’t really want any of this.
Rather, it might be Roots or Scarlett.
“It seems like it’s very important.”
“Hehe, maybe?”
“…?”
Soyoung spoke in a meaningful tone, as if she knew something.
I thought about asking her, but I thought her expression was important in some other way, so I stopped.
Anyway, you will find out soon after you make the appointment.
“When is the time?”
“When does Aunt Sheila say it’s good?”
“Anytime. These days, we’re pretty free as we’re only doing individual activities. We do go on missions sometimes, too.”
“Then…”
A few faces flashed through my head right away, but I didn’t make an appointment.
We don’t know when Belluna will come, and considering the current situation, it will likely take a few days.
“Today or tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“That seems likely…”
“Maman reserved a restaurant in advance!”
“… Ahaha.”
Apparently, I met Sheila just yesterday, and she made a reservation in advance.
“When did you do it?”
“Tonight♡”
“…”
I thought we would meet soon, but I never thought it would be today.
Han Si-woo scratched the back of his head and asked about the location and time of the restaurant.
A date with Sheila, who she thought was just Soyoung’s friend and reliable spear warrior.
Somehow, I started to look forward to it.
The territory of the 3rd princess Helena, located in the southwestern part of the Glazer Empire.
The land, which was the largest but barren of all the lands of the royal family excluding the emperor, became quite prosperous in just 10 years of Helena’s reign.
Nevertheless, she was still not satisfied and was focusing on developing her faction’s territory nearby.
There was once a dangerous crisis, but with Han Si-woo’s help, the situation was resolved before it got worse.
Although she is tied to her domain and cannot stay in the ecliptic, the center of her power, for long, Helena’s affection is also special.
A crisis was gradually coming to this place where Helena was developing rapidly and demonstrating her talents to the fullest.
A more secretive move than the previous scheme of the demon prince Humet.
“It’s strange.”
However, since Helena had also grown and become more sensitive than before, she noticed something.
“Sister?”
At her unexpected self-talk, the youngest of the twin princesses, 8th Princess Leslie, who was helping with the work, raised her head.
“Isn’t the number of monster defeats strangely high these days?”
“…?”
In response to her sister’s incomprehensible words, Leslie looked at the surrounding documents.
It’s not just Helena’s land that’s here, but also the nobles belonging to her faction.
She regularly received reports and issued orders for training in preparation for her future rise to the throne and for the growth of her faction.
There was also intelligence from other territories and information sent from the imperial castle, so although it was incomplete, it was possible to understand the overall details of the empire.
“Hmm… I’m not sure.”
I looked at the documents for over 10 minutes, but Leslie’s answer was negative.
Although the number had certainly increased, she did not think it was a significant number.
It is only about a 5% increase compared to the average number of times.
Since Glazer’s land is so large, it would not be surprising if it increased to this extent for various complex reasons.
“Isn’t it just like breeding season?”
“No. If you compare the overall numbers, they may look similar, but if you look at them by region…”
“Um… Ah, this is…!”
Leslie, who didn’t think anything of it, opened her eyes wide as she looked at the documents and numbers that Helena had posted on the blackboard.
The overall number only increased slightly, but the distribution was strange.
While the northern and eastern parts of the empire are gradually shrinking, the opposite side is increasing.
It seemed as if monsters were moving in large numbers.
“How on earth did this happen…”
“… I don’t know.”
In fact, it was difficult to suspect this much.
There were so many different incidents happening on the continent.
However, after she let her guard down and almost got into trouble, Helena became very sensitive.
“I’m not sure yet, but let’s check it for now and check it periodically. And…”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… Just in case, it would be a good idea to contact the Holy Empire.”
“Contact? What…?”
“Maybe it’s a phenomenon that appears not just in Glazer, but across the entire continent.”
“… I understand, sister.”
Helena let out a sigh as she watched Leslie leave her room in a hurry.
She just hoped that her worries would go away.
