Chapter 58
Chapter 58
“Excuse me.”
“Who are you?”
When I spoke, a middle-aged woman sitting at the front asked cautiously.
“My name is Aileen. I work as an administrator in the Urban Development Department of Belheim.”
“Belheim? That’s the city in the north, isn’t it?”
“Right. I heard it’s an area where a lot of Arcana appears…”
When I introduced myself like this at Nubiar Castle before, people warmly welcomed me, saying I was the hero who saved Nubiar.
But these residents seemed to have no idea who I was.
Which meant the fact that I had discovered the cause of the Raed River flooding and proposed building the retention basin and sluice gates had not been made public.
It wasn’t like I wanted recognition, but it still felt a little strange that no one knew.
“So what brings a Belheim administrator here?”
“Yeah. What business do you have coming all the way out here?”
“I’m on vacation.”
Since it seemed the residents didn’t even know that the elves had demanded the retention basin construction be halted, I used vacation as an excuse.
“I happened to overhear something while passing by. It sounded like you’re suffering from the heat because no wind enters your homes… Is that correct?”
“That’s right… Do you happen to know what the problem is?”
“Before answering, I need to confirm one more thing.”
I pointed to the tall outer wall standing beside the multi-family house. The building itself looked old, but the wall appeared newly built.
“That wall there. It was built last year, wasn’t it?”
“That’s right. It was built last autumn to protect residents’ privacy and keep thieves out.”
“Thanks to that wall, we can finally open our windows without worry.”
“Exactly. Before that, it felt uncomfortable because people walking by might look inside. Now it’s not a problem at all.”
The residents were quite favorable toward the wall.
“The reason wind doesn’t enter your homes… is because of that wall.”
I wondered if they would remain favorable after hearing my explanation.
“Protecting privacy is good, but the wall was built too high. Because of that, it blocks the wind path completely, so no air flows into the houses.”
“…Come to think of it, before that wall was built, the wind flowed through just fine.”
“Is it really because of that wall?”
The residents murmured among themselves while staring at the wall. Some still looked doubtful, but most seemed inclined to believe me.
“What would a woman know about something like that?”
At that moment, a middle-aged man with graying hair stepped forward.
He looked me up and down with clear displeasure and scoffed.
“You’re not actually believing this woman, are you? It doesn’t even make sense for a woman to be an Urban Development Department administrator.”
The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward.
“Well… that’s true. The Urban Development Department is a place where men work.”
“Then was it all a lie?”
The residents had easily agreed with my words earlier, but they were just as quickly swayed by the man’s argument.
“I don’t know what kind of scam you’re trying to pull on us, but it won’t work. So get lost.”
The middle-aged man waved his hand as if shooing away flies.
Now I’m being treated like a scammer.
The situation was so absurd that I couldn’t even laugh.
There was no reason for me to stay here and endure this treatment.
Besides, I had already completed the sub quest.
So I simply turned around.
[Are you really leaving just like this?]
The system window suddenly appeared in front of me.
[If you leave like this, the residents will continue suffering from the heat.]
“So?”
[What do you mean “so”? Don’t you feel sorry for them?]
“Not at all. If anything, I feel more sorry for myself for getting insulted while trying to help.”
When I said that with a snort, the system window flickered as if startled.
“Look at that woman. She’s talking to herself while staring into empty air.”
The residents whispered while looking at me.
“I told you she was strange.”
The middle-aged man especially looked smug as he spoke.
His attitude annoyed me so much that I moved somewhere quieter.
[Surprise Quest Appeared.]
The moment I changed locations, a new quest notification appeared.
[Q. Resolve the difficulties faced by the residents of Building 6-2.]
[Reward: 50,000p]
“What are you trying to pull now?”
I frowned and glared at the system window.
“I clearly said no, so why are you forcing it by giving me a surprise quest?”
[Because the suffering residents are pitiful.]
Oh great. A champion of justice.
By that logic, orphans who lost their parents or homeless people wandering without shelter were far more pitiful.
I almost said that out loud but stopped myself.
Arguing with the system would only cause me trouble.
The reward isn’t bad, though.
Still, I had no desire to deal with those residents again.
Especially that middle-aged man.
I should go find the district administrator.
That would be the fastest and most reliable method.
So I headed toward the city hall where the administrator worked.
Unlike the residents who had no idea who I was, the administrative district officer recognized me immediately.
“You’re saying the residents of Building 6-2 are suffering from the heat because of the outer wall built last year?”
“Yes. So I think it would be best to reduce the wall’s height by about half and install a pointed fence on top.”
I explained while drawing a diagram on paper.
“That way it will still protect privacy and prevent thieves, while allowing wind to pass through.”
“Oh, I see. That makes sense.”
The administrator couldn’t hide his admiration.
“How did you come up with that idea? Do they build outer walls like this in Belheim?”
“Of course not.”
Belheim, located in the northern part of the Empire, had winds sharp as blades.
Because of that, the outer walls were built even higher to block them.
“I should check if other places have the same problem.”
“That’s a good idea. And when you go to Building 6-2, please make sure to say that an administrator from Belheim pointed out the wall problem.”
The administrator looked troubled when he heard my request.
“Is something wrong?”
“Well… His Lordship specifically instructed us not to inform the residents about Miss Aileen.”
Ah.
That explained why the residents had no idea who I was.
“Why did His Excellency the Marquis give such an order?”
“I don’t know either. So I can’t fulfill your request.”
“I understand.”
It was a little disappointing, but if it was the Marquis’s order, there was nothing to be done.
I should ask Marquis Smith why he’s keeping it a secret.
Since he told the administrators, it didn’t seem like he was trying to steal the credit.
That only made me more curious about the reason.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
After saying goodbye to the administrator, I left city hall and entered a quiet alley before opening the quest window.
The residents’ problem at Building 6-2 wasn’t completely resolved yet, so the surprise quest hadn’t been completed.
But the sub quest was already finished.
“I guess the surprise quest will be completed after I return to Belheim.”
But what if the administrator never fixed the wall at Building 6-2?
Would that mean the surprise quest fails?
“That won’t do.”
Just like the main quest, surprise quests had penalties.
So I absolutely had to succeed.
I should mention this to Marquis Smith as well.
We had planned to have lunch together tomorrow, so I could tell him then.
“Since it would be a waste to return already, maybe I should do another sub quest.”
Not something that takes a long time to resolve like this one.
Something quick.
While checking the newly appeared sub quests, I suddenly felt someone watching me.
“What?”
There was no one around.
“Maybe it’s just my imagination.”
I scratched my head.
It seemed my nerves were on edge because of that middle-aged man and the system forcing me to help people.
“Let’s go finish another quest.”
Hoping nothing like earlier would happen again, I headed toward the next sub quest location.
“There. Now the window won’t rattle anymore.”
This sub quest involved fixing a rattling window at an orphanage.
The problem was that the window frame had loosened, so simply inserting thin wooden wedges and hammering them in solved it quickly.
“Thank you, big sister!”
Seeing the children thank me with bright smiles made me feel satisfied.
Helping people really felt worthwhile when it was like this.
“This is a small token of our gratitude for helping us. It’s nothing special, but please accept it.”
The orphanage director placed a bag of delicious-looking cookies into my hands.
I tried to refuse because it looked like the children’s snack, but the director insisted that they couldn’t send away their benefactor empty-handed.
So I accepted in the end.
Just as I was leaving the orphanage and heading toward the next sub quest location—someone suddenly jumped down from the roof of the orphanage.