“Ah, honestly! Big brother, big brother!”
“Yes, Lady Lucia? I have to say that I find it slightly uncomfortable that you refer to me like that.”
“Really?” Lady Lucia looked to the ground as if all the energy had left her at that moment. “But...you’re my big brother.”
“Well, I am not actually related to you in any way,” I responded.
“But you are one of the boss’s students, right?”
“Well, yes, I suppose I am.”
“Then you are my big brother!” All the orphans thought of those who worked at the orphanage as family. As I was a former student of their boss, it seemed that made me an elder brother of theirs. They also called Maika “big sister.”
“So, big brother! It’s time for you to tell the boss! Choose the right time, place, and opponent, and then fight!”
“I taught you that, not this brat!” yelled Father Folke. “I don’t need this brat to tell me how to be polite!”
I agreed with that notion. That is why I wanted nothing to do with the scene before me. No matter how you looked at it, they seemed like a close father-daughter pairing who obviously worried about one another. I was the cause of their worry and in my role as an older brother, it seemed I was being requested to help Lady Lucia in disciplining her father—the whole thing was brilliantly confusing. However, it was not my place to get involved in a family’s playful banter.
“Please feel free to continue. I am going to look around outside for a bit, so feel free to use this room.”
“Aah, big brother!”
“Hey, Ash, wait!”
I shut the door behind me, leaving them to it. I then pulled out a sword and blocked the door with it. It seems I need not worry about the orphanage, I thought to myself as I walked off, leaving the flurry of loud knocks and angry shouting coming from the door behind me.
My office was located in the same fort that I had used to defeat the large horde of werewolves. It was no longer armed for military use and instead served as a key relay point between Yanga and Sacula. Therefore, the fort made for a perfect base of operations for the Disaster Response Office. Returning refugees and supplies could be gathered here before being sent to Yanga. On the flip side, refugees and messages from the Yanga region could also be organized and sent to other Frontier Alliance nations from here as well. These were all recent developments, and we had only just managed to staff the operation. The finish line was in sight.
“Ah, Ash. Good timing. I was just thinking about coming to see you.” The Viscountess of Yanga—my fiancée, Alicia—appeared wearing a bright smile. She was one of the people who had carved out this path that we were on. It had been two years since she had been tasked with reviving her destroyed territory. Where other people would have given up, Alicia had been emboldened by the challenge. The once innocent yet fragile beauty now commanded an air of authority. She often mentioned being more suited for being out here rather than in the capital, and that really seemed to be the case.
“Welcome back, Alicia. Is everything all right over there?”
“Of course. As our management division grows, we’ve been able to take in more returning refugees. We appreciate Sacula lending a hand.” That’s a promising response. Thanks to the royal capital dragging its feet, we were late to respond to the situation in Yanga. I still wanted to sprint to the palace and give them all a strong right hand. There was no need, however. Watching Alicia’s achievements has been more than enough solace, and we need not worry about the royals’ incompetence any further.
Alicia was superb. She knew how to fully use both her birthright and experiences to get people on her side. The former princess had scouted out an abandoned village and set up camp there ahead of everyone else. There was no way that the people of Sacula, who loved to brag daily that “the first count lived with the settlers together in a small hut and forged the nation’s very foundations,” would stay quiet about it. One particular group of the viscountess’s supporters charged into the barracks with a cask of beer shouting, “Hey, idiots! Get over here if you wanna come drink with a real princess!” It only took them an hour to drink the lot, so they got another one. The once-diehard Sacula patriots had become the former princess’s personal bodyguards.
Maika had nothing but compliments for Alicia’s ability to understand the citizens and lead them so well. Thanks to her expedition setting up a base, they had proved that Yanga was safe for the refugees, and many had started to form groups in preparation to return. It had gone exactly as Alicia had planned. While there had been some bandit attacks along the way, that did not stop Alicia one bit. If the leader showed no signs of stopping, then her escort of motivated frontier region soldiers would not lose against the shoddy bandits they faced. Commanding the first group of returnees, Alicia had managed to rebuild an abandoned village in no time, thus securing the first step toward completely rebuilding the territory. It turned out that stealing Alicia away from the royal capital was a great decision. It was a miracle that a princess who knew so much about the countryside even existed. She herself was a miracle.
“Ah yes, Amin had high praise for Renge’s new report template, saying it was very novel and easy to use,” Alicia commented.
“That’s because Lady Renge has had a hard time dealing with them all. There’s been a decrease in refugees lately, so she’s no doubt been able to use her experience up to now to help make those things run smoother,” I responded.
That once timid Lady Renge had become a lot more outgoing lately. It seemed she had gained a sense of pride about her work, not wanting to be outdone by others. Either her inner confidence was beginning to show on the outside, or those around her had begun to take notice of her beauty. It seemed those working underneath Lady Renge became more motivated when she asked them to do something. As we chatted and walked, Alicia began to giggle.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing, I’m just happy.”
I wonder why? I tilted my head in confusion, hoping Alicia would offer more of an explanation, but she just continued to giggle. You seem to be having fun. I wish you’d share some of it with me. As we walked out of the fort, we were met with farms and a row of simply constructed houses. Ignoring the fort behind us, it looked like a large farming village. While the military building was an issue, this area would soon be a new city. With this being a primary location between Sacula and Yanga, a lot of refugees had gathered at the fort. There were enough of them to fill two cities, so in our attempts to make the area more habitable, it had turned into a town in its own right. There was a large commotion nearby. Children were surrounding a machine that looked like a horse-drawn carriage attached to a steam engine. Those are the children from the orphanage—they must have come with Lady Lucia. The children’s eyes were sparkling.
“Hey, hey, let me on!”
“Let us on! Let us on!”
The deputy chief of the research laboratory, Hermes, was also surrounded by the children.