The next day, we headed to Kelly’s hometown in a suburb near the capital. Our guard Torre was also with us. Prince Valen and his entourage had left for the capital first.
Riding my mountbeast, I looked down at Kelly’s birthplace from the sky. It was a town of houses with orange roofs surrounded by vast fields. It seemed that they were cultivating a wide range of vegetables, with no restriction to the varieties. There were also many fruit trees—I presumed—planted around the area.
“That is the town I was born and raised in. The majority of the residents engage in agriculture, and it only has a small inn that doubles as a diner, as well as a small temple. Most of the crops harvested here are transported to the capital,” Kelly explained as she rode on Charite, right next to Geni.
“I see. Unlike Sutrena, vegetables grow well here,” I said.
Different kinds of crops were planted in each field. Apparently, even if one field suffered from disease or pests, there was less chance of the damage spreading to adjacent fields if they had different crops in them. Perhaps because the soil was good, the vegetables and wheat here seem to grow quickly even without the use of magic. The situation here was like the polar opposite of Sutrena—it made me a bit jealous.
“So where is your house, Kelly?” I asked.
“It’s the residence over there, on the eastern end of town.” Kelly pointed at a large building standing alone on the outskirts of town. You could tell at a glance that it belonged to a farming family: There was an empty lot around the house and a shed in a corner for storing tools.
“Our mountbeasts should be able to land in that empty area,” I suggested.
Wyverns were large, and the wind pressure from the flapping of their wings was also intense, so they needed a spacious area to land—and we even had two of them today. People could land wherever they wanted in Sutrena, but that wasn’t the case in towns or cities like the capital. Mountbeasts had to land at designated stops which offered plenty of space. In that respect, the area around Kelly’s home was ideal. There was plenty of landing space for Geni, Charite, Dunk, Torre’s pegasus, and even more. The four mountbeasts each descended in their own way: Geni and Dunk were forceful, Charite was elegant, and Torre’s pegasus was smooth.
Several people rushed out of Kelly’s home, probably surprised by the sudden arrival of our mountbeasts.
They have the same hair and eye color as Kelly. Are they her younger brothers? They look older than Paul.
When they noticed us, they started making a ruckus.
“Dad, mom! There are huge manabeasts outside the house!”
“It’s big sis! She came home!”
Two more people came out of the house; there was no end to them... The latest arrivals were a middle-aged man and woman with light brown hair, who looked like they were Kelly’s parents. They seemed truly startled from their first encounter with wyverns, but I couldn’t blame them. Some people in the central town of Sutrena out in the frontier were used to wyverns, but mountbeasts like them were seldom seen in the capital and its environs. Even I had never come across a mountbeast in my time under the House of Evantail. I’d first seen a wyvern when we’d met Geni’s parents back in Loa.
Kelly’s family was making a fuss in front of their house, but they seemed scared of the mountbeasts and kept their distance. Therefore, we’d have to go to them. As usual, Lord Nazel caught me as I came down from Geni, while Kelly slid down from Charite. Charite was a good, considerate girl who’d lowered her body to make it easier for Kelly to get down. As we stepped onto the dry ground, the wind rushing over the plains ruffled our hair.
Kelly’s family consisted of her parents and six younger brothers. Kelly had been twenty-two years old when we’d first met, but she was twenty-six now. Her brothers—who looked like they were all pretty close in age—were also rather grown up. By Desnim standards, they were already adults.
“I knew that you have many brothers, Kelly, but seeing them all together is a bit overwhelming. Do you have any brothers who’ve left home?” I asked.
“No, that’s all of them. None of my brothers are independent yet,” Kelly replied.
“Huh? Oh, since they’re farmers, the more workers there are, the better, right?”
“No, they’re just parasites in the house for no reason. Fortunately, the family has a field, so they have something to eat thanks to growing the bare minimum amount of crops. The oldest of my brothers is one year younger than me, while the youngest is eighteen years old, but all of them are single and have no intention of getting married. Other than doing the least amount of farmwork necessary, they just laze around at home.”
“I-Is that so?”
“Yes. I can understand why no woman has married into this family. No one would want to babysit a bunch of grown men in that house.” Kelly practically spat the words out; her tone was very harsh for someone so kind. But even so, I couldn’t criticize her.
She must have suffered a lot for many years. After all, she’d taken care of her parents and brothers alone ever since she was little.
I knew the gist of Kelly’s past. Her parents had never done any housework and only idled around the house. Her mother had constantly been pregnant and couldn’t move around much, but the number of her high-maintenance sons had kept increasing. Kelly’s brothers had only played around and acted like it was natural for someone else to take care of them. They’d never even thought of helping their sister to take some of the burden off her. Her parents had also taken her work for granted, and whenever her brothers had caused any trouble, they’d held her responsible for everything.
The burden of housework and babysitting had weighed heavily on the young Kelly’s shoulders. Until she’d run from home at ten years old, she’d been unable to even talk to other kids her age and had been forced to keep working as a second mother—or more like a housekeeper.
As I watched Kelly looking hurt by her own words, I spoke to her.
“You always worked hard, Kelly. Ever since you were little, you’ve thought things through and fought alone, and earned a place to belong with your own strength. That isn’t something just anyone can do. Be confident in yourself.” And right now, Lord Nazel and I were on Kelly’s side. Lord Nazel was especially reliable, so she could feel free to entrust everything to him.
“Yes, Lady Agnes.”
Kelly’s family stayed confused for some time. But perhaps after finally calming down, the father timidly spoke to us.
“Excuse me, but who might you be?” His tone was very polite. He didn’t know who we were, but he must have realized we had a certain status based on our clothes and the like.
“I’m Nazelbart Florescruz, the Margrave of Sutrena. This is my wife Agnes. As Kelly’s employer, I have come to speak with her parents. I believe I sent a messenger yesterday...”
Kelly’s family was shocked to hear that the margrave himself was visiting, but then one of her brothers shouted.
“Ah! Last night, someone brought over a fancy letter! Oh no, I forgot and left it on my desk!”
It seemed that Kelly’s family hadn’t learned about our visit, and they all started panicking; Kelly sighed as she watched them.
“It looks like they’re the same as ever. I apologize for my family’s behavior,” Kelly said, then turned to her parents. “How much longer do you intend to keep the margrave and margravine standing outside for?”
Hearing Kelly’s words, her parents got even more flustered, like they’d just now realized.
“But, well, the inside of the house isn’t exactly in a condition to show to people...” one of them said.
Kelly’s youngest-looking brother nodded in agreement.
“It’s hella messy. There’s nowhere to sit,” he said.
Kelly stood quiet and stone-faced.
“I-It’s all right, Kelly. We’re used to being outside,” I said.
“No, that is unacceptable. Please wait a moment, Lord Nazelbart, Lady Agnes. If they’re in the same place as before, there should be...” Kelly swiftly walked across a gravel road and promptly made her way to the shed. She came back with several old wooden chairs that looked like they were used for work. “I apologize that these are the only ones available. Please have a seat if you’d like.”
“I’m sorry that you had to go out of your way for us, Kelly.”
“No, making the two of you stand would be outrageous.” Kelly glared at her parents and brothers with quiet rage. She appeared expressionless at a glance, but that was the emotion in her eyes—I could tell.