Upon seeing Gamma’s appearance, Elsa suspiciously glared at Jin, while Sally was examining the health condition of the mother and child at Linus’ house.
Currently, Sera had just finished breastfeeding her baby and was tapping his back to burp him.
“Doctor, my wife and child are safe because of your help. I’d like to thank you once again.”
Linus bowed in appreciation.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. Instead, take good care of your wife and son. By the way, have you decided what to name your baby?”
“Yes, we can’t decide whether to name him ‘Charles’ or ‘Franklin’. … That’s right, doctor, would you do us the honor and choose a name for our baby?”
“Me? Hmm, let’s see … ‘Schroeder’ …? Nah, it doesn’t sound like a citizen of Klein Kingdom. How about ‘Henry’?”
“Henry is a great name! Thank you very much. Hey! Your name is Henry.”
Linus was talking to his baby in Sera’s arms while poking him on the cheek.
After observing them for a while by the front door, Jin gently closed the door and left Linus’ house.
“… Brother Jin?”
Jin’s back seemed so lonely. Elsa was compelled to chase after him.
“Father, Miss Elsa is chasing us with a very concerned expression.”
It was unclear whether Reiko was being tactful or not, but Jin stopped and turned around. Elsa was within his arm’s reach.
“Ah …”
Elsa felt a little awkward meeting Jin face-to-face. She was wondering what to say. She ended up saying,
“Brother Jin, do you want children?”
She said it.
“Huh?”
Elsa’s question took him by surprise. And the person who asked was panicking.
“No, no, not that, I mean, like Ms. Sera, breastmilk …”
When she realized that her remark did not come out right, she turned beet red and started to run away.
“Hey …”
However, Elsa kept running and disappeared from Jin’s view.
“… She got flustered and then turned beet red by herself … What the hell was that?”
“Father, Miss Elsa was probably … I think she came to comfort you, didn’t she?”
Hearing Reiko’s comment, Jin suddenly realized.
A baby … Jin felt extremely miserable seeing Sera and Linus holding Henry.
Jin, who never knew his mother, found the sight to be extremely painful.
Jin felt sorry for Elsa who was worrying about him.
“I see.”
Jin had been feeling depressed lately.
* * *
“Huh, huh, huh.”
Elsa was gasping for air after running all the way to the outskirts of the village. Elme River was in front of her. The July sunshine had been radiant since the morning. Elsa was sweating from the run.
“… I want to swim.”
She wanted to cool her head and her burning body.
But she did not have a swimsuit with her. No matter how free Kaina Village was, only small children would skinny-dip in the river.
As she calmed down and caught her breath, Elsa was baffled as to why she escaped from Jin.
She knew that Jin was an orphan. She then realized that the cause of Jin’s lonely expression could have been the sight of Sera feeding her baby and showering him with love.
However, Elsa could not find the perfect words to say to Jin and ended up saying some weird things.
Amidst the confusion, she then panicked. Because she could not bring herself to see Jin in the eyes, she ran away.
“… I’m going back.”
Elsa suddenly changed her attitude and trudged back to the village. Barbara appeared in front of Elsa. Barbara was not feeling well either.
“Oh, Elsa.”
“… Barbara.”
They had both become closely acquainted that they dropped honorifics in addressing each other.
“You look down.”
“Yeah, you, too.”
They looked at each other for a while. And let out a small sigh one after the other.
* * *
“With that said, mayor. She’ll be in your care.”
“Yeah, no problem. I have a spare room. I’ll make the arrangement.”
Jin was consulting with Mayor Giebeck and decided to let Sally stay at his house for a while. The mayor’s house would be a temporary clinic.
“So, can I assume it’s an agreement with Lagran Company since they want to open their branch store in this village?”
“Yes. And I would like to discuss with you regarding the location for the branch.”
“Hmm, it would be more convenient to have it built at the center of the village …”
When Laojun mentioned the possibility of Lagran Company’s intention in opening a branch in Kaina Village, Jin went to the mayor to confirm it. Once it had been confirmed, the preparation for creating the building was immediately arranged.
“Do you know who will be in charge of the branch?”
“Hmm? No, I haven’t heard about that.”
“Do you know if Barbara knows?”
“Um, we talked about it briefly.”
“In that case, that’s fine.”
Jin knew that Eric was already on his way there according to Laojun’s report. However, he kept quiet to preserve the element of surprise.
Incidentally, when the mayor was talking about the building of this new branch, Barbara was absent-mindedly listening, so she could not remember the conversation at all.
In any case, Jin had secretly summoned smiths and instructed them to start building the store.
“… The floor plan looks something like this. The display and workshop will be on the first floor. The second floor will be a living space. Well, the size will be double this house I live in.”
“Understood, My Lord.”
Five smiths were working all at once. The building was completed in less than a day. However, it came as no surprise to the villagers, because they were already accustomed to it.
To begin with, Sally did not know anything regarding this, so there was nothing for her to be surprised about.
That was because she was busy visiting each house in the village to do health checkups, as well as to meet and greet everyone.
“Hmm, I’m a little tired.”
“Please go to Nidou Castle to refresh.”
“… You’re about 6 months pregnant. Please take care of yourself.”
“Come to Nidou Castle for prenatal care.”
“You shouldn’t underestimate your injuries to this extent.”
“Shall I disinfect it?”
Nurse Gamma was following Sally along. In fact, the three prototype nurse golems were designed to stream real-time knowledge and experience to Laojun.
So Gamma was working hard to collect data for the newer nurse golems to be mass-produced.
* * *
There was a village called Toka Village located south of Kaina Village.
Including that village, several other towns like Lucknow, Doppa, and Sharuru … had appointed several neu nobles to replace Earl Walter who used to rule the southern territory.
Lithia Fahlheit was the one currently in charge of Toka Village.
She became the Lady of Toka Village on July 1st.
“Oh, it’s hot today.”
Riding a golem horse she borrowed from Jin, Lithia had just left the town of Sharuru.
Another golem horse was carrying her belongings. It was borrowed together with Pasco Rush.
“I have to apologize to Jin for returning them late.”
She was heading to Toka Village with Gloria Ohlstat as her guard.
“I wish I could meet Lord Jin.”
Although she requested to be Lithia’s protection detail, her personal agenda was quite apparent. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Powell gave her permission with a bitter smile.
“I told you that Jin doesn’t always stay there …”
“I see. So he’s elusive.”
Gloria was formerly Lithia’s senior and instructor. However, Lithia possessed a higher position currently.
Due to this, Gloria attempted to use formal honorifics to address her, which made Lithia uncomfortable. They had just finally agreed for Gloria to use a figure of speech for addressing someone older.
“I’m looking forward to visiting … Kaina Village.”
“Hehe, I’m certain you’ll be surprised when you get there, Gloria.”
Lithia muttered and kept moving ahead. She ignored the merchant-like man in a carriage in front of her.