Chapter 553 – Ep.551 Smith, a Black Company in Another World
Thump, thump, thump.
“…”
Unlike modern letters, letters sealed with wax hardened thread were not as easy to open as expected.
Chi profit.
In the end, I gave up trying to remove the wax and was able to open the contents by tearing the soft paper part.
‘There are two.’
One appeared to be Ardel’s and the other appeared to be Ardella’s.
『This is your wife, Ardel.』
I’ve only read the first line, but I already feel a sweet taste in my mouth.
『I don’t know when this letter will reach your hand, but even as I write this letter, I think of your face and miss your embrace. If it were me in the past, it would be unimaginable.』
“Hmm…”
Suddenly my chest felt tingling.
Is this a pain of conscience?
Ardel expressed his longing to see me not with his voice, but with letters written on ordinary letterhead, but I completely forgot about the existence of the letter, saying that I had only experienced a few incidents.
If only Sis and I keep quiet, it will be a secret forever, but I think it would be better to apologize sincerely when we meet later. If I don’t do that, by the time I finish reading this letter, I’ll probably be lying in bed suffering from a pain of conscience.
『I want to follow in your footsteps even now, but I want to be your beloved wife, so I will hold back for now.』
“You don’t have to endure it…”
I, too, would be truly happy if Ardel and Ardella were by my side. But the reason was stated in the very next paragraph.
『By the time you return, you will be able to see children like La-Rosha freely roaming the territory. Because I will make it happen. You will be wary and have a hard time accepting it at first, but I am confident that if I personally take the children to tour the cities and villages and notarize it myself, I will be able to achieve significant results before you return.』
『Also, I thought you would need at least one person to guard the house where you can return after finishing work. Since Molingta is also the city I rule, I, Ardel, will guard our home while waiting for you to return safely.』
『You do not need to send a reply. However, if you must leave it for me, please leave it to the administrator, Milia.』
The words were much more polite than her direct conversation, but perhaps because her unique way of speaking was intact, I felt like I was listening to her, her report, and her story directly. I felt it.
‘I told you to leave the reply to Milia.’
This time, I plan to read Ardella’s letter without any time to forget and then head straight to the study to write a reply.
For that reason, I turned back to Ardella’s letter and looked at the letter that I presumed to have been written by Ardella.
『To Smith.』
My simple name was written in the first paragraph, written in Ardella’s handwriting, which I had often seen in papers and documents.
『By the time you read this letter, I will have arrived at the family mansion.』
When you say the family mansion, you mean the Filoria family mansion, right?
When I come back after finishing everything, I think it would be a good idea to take some time to look around at least once before leaving.
Since you come from a noble family, the maid… No. There will be people like the head butler and the nanny, so you can hear stories about Ardella’s childhood from them. That alone was worth taking the time to visit.
“Smith. My intention to go with you to a place called Earth, your original home, remains unchanged. There won’t be any more in the future. However, if my mother and I disappear, the family, and the knights and soldiers who follow us will be in great confusion.』
“Umm…”
The lord and his heir, whom he had to serve for his entire life, suddenly disappear?
If I thought about myself as someone under that rank, just thinking about it would make me feel dizzy and my head would stand on end.
『Of course, before I leave, I plan to gather important retainers and inform them of the fact. That way we can minimize confusion. If Aria and Arua had been a little more trustworthy, they wouldn’t have had to worry about this, and they would have followed you and talked to you, feeling your warmth in person, rather than through a letter like this.』
For some reason, only the names Aria and Arua seem bold, as if they put a lot of power into them, but I guess it’s just my mood.
If not, let’s pray for both of them to rest in peace.
『Until you come back, I am Aria and Arua. I plan to temper both as much as possible. I can’t guarantee whether that will be enough to win the knights’ oath of loyalty, but the family won’t fall in an instant, so I can only take comfort in that.』
The moment I saw the word ‘fall’, I felt like my shoulders had become several times heavier.
『But if you want to take my ugly younger siblings with you, my mother and I will respect your wishes as much as possible. In fact, my mother said that she had no regrets about anything in the family. That would be true. Of course, there are Aria and Arua. Those two will also be included.』
It felt a little like peeling Ardella’s pumpkin seeds, but I wasn’t much different from Ardella’s thoughts.
Ardel, whom I personally saw and experienced, was a person who was sure to make and break relationships.
‘But Aria, Aruara…’ …’
To be honest, it’s not that I haven’t thought about it.
More than just a relationship, the two are Ardel’s daughters and Ardella’s younger siblings.
‘… Now that I say this, if it were Earth, it’s such trash that the world could have turned over several times.’
No, no.
If you have the ability to truly love and embrace everyone, you’re not trash, right?
But it is true that I think of Aria and Arua as really cute younger sisters rather than loving them…
I thought it would be okay to take those two with me when I go back. In the case of Lina, Kernax’s lieutenant, she was a complete stranger, and it was clear that if the number of people increased one by one, it would never end.
Also, it would be very difficult for me to draw a line about who I can take in and who I cannot.
So, let’s draw a line that extends to blood-related families.
‘The first thing to do is to check whether the company protects people in ordinary relationships as well.’
If I remember correctly, my father-in-law said.
He said that the company takes responsibility for life expectancy and other welfare only for the wives with whom I am married.
‘… ‘I think I was a little too relaxed because I was a little busy in the elf forest.’
There were so many things to consider, but she just lay down peacefully among her wives and tried to sleep.
As a way to reflect on my own laziness and complacency, I promised to sit down for an hour later and read through the last few letters.
『… To be honest, I am no different from my mother. I have confessed this before, but I did not take on the position of heir or acting head of the family because I wanted to. Likewise, I secretly resented the two incompetent guys who ran wild like colts.』
Was it the day after I had sex with Ardel?
I definitely remembered him saying those words to me.
『Of course, that was a story from when I was young, and now I feel affection for him as a normal younger brother, and I also want to cherish him. And… There are many times when I see you putting in effort to make up for the meaningless time I have spent since meeting you. It’s even cuter than before.』
『… So what I’m trying to say is, if those two guys say they want to be with you… I hope you think a little more positively.』
‘I was planning on doing that even if I didn’t ask for it.’
Although this is unique to Ardella.
Looking at their grammar, which is much stricter than when talking face to face, I can clearly see that Ardelle and Ardella are mother and daughter with strong blood ties.
I’ll have to ask Aria and Arua to write a letter later. I’m also curious to see how the two will differ.
『If she ever wants to send a reply, she can tell Milia to send it to her family’s mansion. And be sure to ask Nyaho to seal it with special sealing wax. Otherwise, the administrator may read it as he pleases.』
Was Millia that kind of character?
Well, he was the one who put a condition on Kernax to bring my semen under the pretext of a vacation, so it was like secretly reading the letter.
『I will wait for the day to be reunited with you as soon as possible.』
『Adele loves you.』
Adele.
This is her nickname that her younger siblings call her, and the nickname that she called me a few times and asked me to stop, saying it was embarrassing.
‘Hehe, that’s cute.’
Looking at the messy handwriting of ‘Adele’ at the end, I could guess that a lot of thought went into writing this.
After reading the two people’s heartfelt letters, I put the contents back into the envelope.
‘But what is sealing wax?’
I wasn’t sure, but I said I could tell Nyaho, so I had no doubt that our lovely Nyaho would solve everything.
Sweet.
‘… ?’
I carefully took Kernax off my lap and was about to go down to the bed. When I heard the sound of the doorknob turning, I stopped for a moment and looked up.
Upright.
And through the slightly open door, a furry cat’s ears poked out, making its presence known.
Skip.
Next, my eyes met with Nyaho’s Odd Eye, whose eyes were slightly sticking out of the door like sprouts.
As soon as she spots me, Nya Ho’s ears start fluttering, and when she sees that, the corners of her mouth naturally go up.
I quietly motioned to Nyaho, and Nyaho smiled brightly, carefully closed the door, and came to my side.
“Everyone is sleeping in a very happy mood.”
“I gave you some massage.”
“Massage?”
“Ok. “I already had some questions to ask, but would you like to lie down comfortably first?”
“Yes~”
Nyaho answered quietly, then slowly climbed onto the bed and laid down on the opposite side from Siran.
“Just relax and relax.”
“Hnyang~”
That day, Nyaho liked my massage so much that she fell asleep at some point.
‘… ‘Maybe I was too focused.’
In the end, it wasn’t until much later in the evening that I was able to get an answer from Nyaho about sealing wax.
