“You GREAT FOOL!!” His thunderous roar caused a shockwave that sent the surrounding guards flying.
Jirahal foamed at the mouth from his position on the ground.
Marquis Goldas clenched his abdomen and withstood the impact. As expected of the man with an uncountable number of battles under his belt.
“Your child has gone astray. Yet you merely label it as ‘wits and wiles’ while indifferently looking on?!”
“Guh......”
“You were right about one thing. In business, there are times when even improper methods have their place. However, the only people who can use improper methods correctly are those well familiar with the proper methods. As a parent, it is your duty to show your children what is right. If his understanding of the right path is insufficient, then it is your place to teach him what he needs to know. Am I wrong?”
“You... are you lecturing me? Me, a marquis......?!” The marquis glared at Shouzou fixedly.
However, then his brows bunched up in a scowl, and he sighed heavily.
“No, let’s put that aside for now. As a father, I will resign myself to it.” The marquis began talking.
“As soon as this one was born, my wife passed away. It just so happened to also be the time when the family headship passed to me. I admit that I was not able to find much time to spend with my children.” The marquis continued with slumped shoulders, confessing to having spoiled especially Jirahal, as he was the only one among the children who did not get to know his mother.
“But those are mere excuses. Ultimately, I had indeed shirked my responsibilities as a parent. I made sure they had a job, assigned talented people to work under them, and then became complacent with that. No, I suppose it would be more exact to say that I had tried to put them out of my sight, even......”
“You were afraid?”
“Afraid? Hah...... perhaps you are right. I thought I had conquered fear from all the battlefields that I had stood on, but it seems that I had run away from raising my own children.”
“I fully understand how you feel. The very first time I held my own child in my arms, I was filled with nothing but worry. I self-importantly said I came to ‘speak of education,’ but even I myself don’t know whether I am truly fulfilling my own duties as a father. However, even so, there is a solution.”
“Interesting. You have a suggestion?”
“I do indeed. Thinking about it, your failure could be chalked up to a single point. Namely, that you did not rely on anyone else. There is a difference between entrusting it to someone else and wholesale delegation. The point is to ask for advice from someone else with a hundred battles under their belt. In other words—”
“In other words?” Marquis Goldas leaned forward.
Shouzou pronounced judgment with solemnity.
“You need to make dad friends.”
“Dad friends.”
“Indeed. Find and deepen your relationship with other fathers similarly puzzling over child rearing. Share your worries, brainstorm solutions together, learn from case studies together. Furthermore—” Shozou grew increasingly passionate while talking.
“Back where I used to live, there were even champions called ‘ikumen.’ I had been messaging—something like correspondence by letter—with them, and learning things about both child rearing and how to support my wife.”
“Ikumen...... to think that there were such men out there.” Marquis Goldas gulped audibly. His gaze toward Shouzou was filled with envy.
“Are you also one of those ikumen?”
“I am still far away from that status. However, I have already learned much from them.”
“Hmm...... But still, to learn about child rearing after all this time......”
“A father is a father for life. Don’t let the sooner or later bother you. The moment you come to that realization is the moment you begin.”
“You speak truly,” said the marquis with the look of someone who had been freed from a heavy weight. He threw his giant spear to the side with a clang. Slowly, he walked toward Shouzou.
“Would you be my very first dad friend?” The hand that he proffered was accepted by Shouzou’s firm grip.
“If you would have me.” A pitter-patter of applause could be heard from the guards that had been watching on this entire time with slack jaws. All of them looked thoroughly confused as to how these events had ended up developing into the two of them shaking hands.
“Incidentally, Onigawara.” Marquis Goldas’ face was the very definition of serious as he still had Shouzou’s hand in his grasp. “During the time when I will be re-educating Jirahal, my guild will be without a guildmaster. It would take far too much time to search for someone to fill the position. So what do you think about it? Do you think I can leave it to you?”
Toward that proposal, Shouzou’s answer was—
★
“Seriously, don’t you think it such a waste of an opportunity?”
During the brief respite of tea time. The guildmaster, Elizabeth, could not help but murmur this again.
The topic of conversation was on how Goldas Adventurer’s Guild had welcomed a new guildmaster, who had helped to breath life back into it. In the end, Shouzou did not accept Marquis Goldas’ offer. Not only that—
Adora wiggled her heavy body while chiming in. “Was there really a need to return Kuntz to them?”
Shouzou had even proposed returning Kuntz—the man who used to be Jirahal’s right hand man—to the Goldas side. At the time, Kuntz had already officially become employed at Elunheine Adventurer’s Guild, so the cover story was that he had gotten headhunted back by Goldas Adventurer’s Guild. His skill was a sight to see, and he was gradually helping Goldas Adventurer’s Guild get back to its feet after all the troubles it’d been through.
Shouzou replied nonchalantly.
“Come now, wouldn’t things get boring without a rival? Kuntz-san is very capable, and Goldas Adventurer’s Guild is currently still ahead of us in both scale and backing.” Then Shouzou continued while smiling carefreely like a child. “But that’s also what makes them worth beating.” Just as he said, the morale of the staff at Elunheine Adventurer’s Guild continued to rise—
—When the winds of summer blew through the city in visit.
Shouzou was sharing a drink at Marquis Jilk Goldas’ estate.
On top of the table between them lay a spread out map. With the kingdom located in the center, it also showed several of the neighboring countries. Right above the kingdom, two cups clinked together in toast.
“Finally, you’ve surpassed me.” Marquis Goldas emptied his cup in one swig.
“It was all thanks to Raulo Adventurer’s Guild submissively allowing us to absorb them whole. That was the deciding factor.” Shouzou imitated Jilk in emptying his cup.
His goal had finally been achieved.
He had successfully pushed Elunheine Adventurer’s Guild up to become the biggest in the city.
They poured for each other, then clinked their cups again.
“So, what’s next?”
“What, indeed.” Shouzou had already decided on his next goal, but he saw no need to reveal his hand right now.
Jilk nailed Shouzou with a sharp gaze.
“Shouzou, do you have any intention of serving our king?”
“The king......? That’s quite an abrupt thing to bring up.”
“You are a man for whom it would be a waste to be buried in obscurity. What do you think about serving our country from a spot right beside our king, from where you will be absolutely free to exert your full ability?” Jilk leaned forward eagerly, but Shouzou merely returned his gaze and shook his head.
“I take pride in the work I do now. I have no intention of quitting.”
“Hah, I knew you would say that.” Jilk readily backed down. From then on, he never brought the topic up again.
After Shouzou went home, Jilk poured another drink for himself. Staring into the swirling liquid, he murmured softly to the empty sofa, “Shouzou, no matter how much you resist, you will eventually come to our side, to the stage of national politics.” That was not his wish, but a prediction that he was sure of.
“The magic beast known as “circumstance” will not let you go.” Emptying his glass in one gulp, with a bam!, Jilk put his glass onto the table. Right onto a certain country across the ocean, as if to crush it with force—