A month had passed since the contract with Ralina papa.
The workshop had already started producing and selling Reversi.
Soon, the contract payment would reach our home. A portion of the sales would be paid to us as royalties based on the number of sets sold.
But there was a problem. Until that payment came, I had no income. That was bad. Very bad. Because at this rate, I wouldn’t be able to go to the church anymore.
Right now, with no income, I was dipping into my savings just to keep visiting Laudette-san. I really needed to do something about that.
Or rather, I really needed to do something about this situation where I kept spending all my money on her in the first place…
Still, there was nothing I could do at the moment. I had no idea how to earn money, and for some reason, I couldn’t stop going to the church. Maybe I’d already reached the point where it was impossible to quit by my own will.
And so, with that vague sense of unease hanging over me, I spent my days.
That unease probably had something to do with no longer making Reversi as well. Until now, I’d been relentlessly driven to keep making them, but then I suddenly stopped. Now I had way too much free time, and instead of relaxing, it just made me anxious. With such a big change in my routine, I couldn’t settle down.
To fill that emptiness in my heart, I once again lost myself in woodworking――
「Done!」
It was complete. The tenth in my 『Woodworking』 series――
「Congratulations, onii-chan」
「Hii!」
I spun around, and there sat my childhood friend Ralina-chan, perched quietly in my room. She clapped her hands softly as if to celebrate.
I hadn’t noticed her at all… I was so startled I thought my heart was going to leap right out of my mouth…
「Y-you were here? I didn’t notice you, Ralina-chan」
「Ah, sorry onii-chan. I did call out before I came in」
「Huh? You did? Sorry about that」
「It’s fine, onii-chan」
Ralina-chan smiled sweetly.
…Wait. That still meant I never gave her permission to come in. So basically, she just came in on her own, didn’t she?
If she kept walking into a boy’s room without asking, one day something disastrous might happen. That thought scared me a little.
…No, I guess it wouldn’t. I was always being watched by the goddesses, so I couldn’t do anything improper anyway. Which meant nothing shocking would ever happen for Ralina-chan to stumble upon.
Though honestly, I didn’t feel particularly happy about that fact…
「Am I really that focused? How long have you been watching?」
「Hmm. Since the part where you said, 『I’m in trouble because I have no money』」
「…Eh? …Wait, I said that out loud?」
「Yup」
So I’d been talking to myself out loud. I hadn’t even noticed… I didn’t say anything weird, did I?
「Hey, onii-chan」
「What is it?」
「Do you really go to the church that often?」
「………Yeah, to check my status, you know?」
「Are you giving money to Laudette-san at the church?」
「Haha, that’s just a teasing way of putting it. I only pay money to the church so I can check my status」
「Is that so?」
「Yeah, that’s all there is to it. Nothing else」
「I see…」
This is seriously scary!?
Scary. Really scary… Ralina-chan’s tone was calm and her expression looked normal, and yet….huh? Actually, her face wasn’t changing at all, was it?
So this is… a noh mask expression…
「Yeah… yeah. So there really is nothing else, right?」
「Nothing, nothing」
「I see. Sorry, onii-chan. I asked something weird」
「No, it’s fine. Really」
Ah, it looks like she’s back to her usual self.
That was terrifying. The pressure she gave off was nothing like what a seven-year-old girl should be able to produce…
…Truth is, I’d sensed yandere vibes from Ralina-chan for a while now.
She once said…
『It’s fine if it’s just me and onii-chan』
『I want to be the only one who calls you onii-chan』
Those lines gave me a really ominous feeling. Until now, I’d done my best to pretend I hadn’t noticed…
「So, what did you make?」
「…Eh? Ah, right. It’s the eighteenth in the woodworking series, a 『Wooden Sword』」
「Wood sword?」
「Yeah. Just a sword made of wood」
I gripped the freshly-made wooden sword with both hands and raised it into a stance.
Hmm… I didn’t have a 『Sword』 skill, so it didn’t feel right. I had no idea about the grip or how much strength to put into it. It didn’t give me that sense of mastery I felt when holding lumber and a rasp.
…Yeah. I said 『lumber and rasp』 just now, but that doesn’t sound cool at all. Can I change that to 『the sense of mastery I get when holding a bow and arrow』 instead?
Anyway, thanks to the 『Woodworking』 skill, the wooden sword itself looked pretty well made.
Alright, I’ll name this sword 『Immovable Masamune』. Sure, it’s a name that doesn’t match the sword at all, but who cares? No one here knows who Masamune even is.
「A sword? Onii-chan, are you going to use a sword?」
「Yeah, I’m thinking of practicing」
「Why all of a sudden?」
「Hmm… I’ve been considering it for a while, but there are two reasons I decided to start using a sword. The first is because I want to become a swordsman like my father」
…That sounded pretty cool, but the truth is I’d never actually seen my father swing a sword. Still, he had to be amazing. After all, he was the 『Sword Saint』.
And I was the son of the 『Sword Saint』.
To be honest, I was mostly just pinning my hopes on the title 『Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage』. Surely that gave me some kind of bonus with swords. It had to.
「What’s the second reason?」
「Well… Ralina-chan, we’re childhood friends and the same age, right?」
「Yeah」
「That means we’ll probably end up fighting together a lot」
「That’s true」
Elves, apparently, all learned some form of combat. It was like they were born fighters. Well, with monsters around, being able to fight was probably essential. From what I’d heard, Ralina-chan had been practicing both archery and magic.
「But two archers make for bad balance, don’t you think? If monsters get close to us, we wouldn’t stand a chance」
「Yeah」
「That’s why I thought it would be good if I could use a sword. If it comes down to it, I’ll be the one to stop the monsters」
「I see…」
「No matter how terrifying the monster, I want you to feel safe. Ralina-chan, I’ll protect you. I won’t let them lay a single finger on you!」
「Onii-chan…!」
I struck a dramatic pose as I said it.
…Hmm? It looked like my words had hit Ralina-chan harder than I expected. She had her hand pressed to her cheek, eyes dreamy.
Honestly, I’d just wanted to try acting like a stage performer and deliver a cool line with flair. But if I said something like 『Just kidding!』 now, she might actually stab me…
…Oh well. Her mood bounced back in an instant, and it wasn’t like I was lying about wanting to protect her.
Besides, it really was unbalanced, having two archers.
I’d been thinking of inviting Jered-kun and forming a three-person party, but that would just mean two archers becoming three. A party made up entirely of rear guards wasn’t going to work…
The truth was I didn’t actually want to be a swordsman. It was scary. But I couldn’t put Ralina-chan in the front lines. And Jered-kun seemed so fixated on archery that I couldn’t exactly say 『Hey, you be the frontline meat shield instead』.
Which left me with no choice but to take the role of frontline myself. I could only pray my titles would somehow help me out.
「So that’s why I want to use a sword… Ralina-chan? Hey? Ralina-chan?」
Ralina-chan was still lost in a daze. Was she okay?
「…Eh? Ah, yeah. Sorry, onii-chan」
「Uh, are you sure you’re alright? Anyway, like I was saying, I want to use—」
「I’m fine! I’ve taken your feelings to heart, onii-chan!」
「…I see」
She didn’t look all that fine, though… It felt like she’d taken away something far beyond what I’d actually meant to tell her.
next chapter: The Bamboo Basket Breaks
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