[Saintess for You - 07]
[Saintess for You - 07]
The air in the Valtus territory, which I hadn't visited in a while, was nice, and I could tell that many things had improved compared to the past.
Back when I was here, the territory was practically half-scorched, bearing the infamy of the 'Bloody Valtus,' so reviving it properly wasn't an easy task.
No matter what I wanted to do, proper trade was impossible due to our infamy, and because proper trade was impossible, there were people who tried to take advantage of that.
Normally, merchants would desperately try to convince you by committing fraud, hiding price gouging, or making up some excuse for it.
But since the Valtus family couldn't engage in proper trade due to that infamy, we couldn't make fair deals in various ways, with the attitude of, "Who else but us would trade with you guys?"
At the moment I thought we were bound to collapse if things went on like this, someone who used to be a Holy Knight recognized my talent and supported me, allowing us to breathe a little, even if just barely.
It wasn't enough to affect the whole territory, but it helped us not collapse immediately, and in exchange, I went to the battlefield, and I sent most of the money I earned there back to the territory.
It probably helped quite a bit.
After all, monster subjugation bounties pay pretty well.
Anyway, by playing an active role in various other ways, I was able to earn the title of Hero of the Monster War, and since that meant honor, I was able to continue trading somehow by using my name.
It wasn't as good as it used to be, but it seemed we were in a situation where we could at least be called 'nobles.'
The biggest reason seemed to be the support of the citizens.
The former members of the Valtus family were busy exploiting the citizens, but my father tried to get along with them somehow, and he declared that he would never forgive the evil deeds of the previous family head.
At first, everyone was suspicious, but they say people opened their hearts to his efforts to get close to them, even doing rough work himself despite being a noble.
It was possible because the people of the territory weren't completely unaware that we were a branch family to begin with, and if anything, we lived a life closer to that of commoners.
Thus, the family that had been twisting and collapsing was slowly regaining its place, and only today was it possible to live in a way that befitted a noble.
Of course, this would have been impossible without the people of the territory.
They could have left if they wanted to, but the word 'hometown' had a mysterious power, so they chose to stay and save the territory, and thanks to that, the territory was alive now.
In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that not only the Valtus family but everyone in the Valtus territory had saved it.
"......."
I stopped walking and knocked on the door.
"Hyung-nim, it's Adrian."
"Come in."
The voice pretending to be dignified was incredibly solemn.
Should I say it was absurd, considering he only wrote adolescent content like 'Introduce me to a girl' in his letters?
"Excuse me."
Having received permission, I immediately opened the door and went inside.
As soon as I entered, I bowed my head.
"Iyap!"
He was swinging a squeaky hammer, though I had no idea where he got it from.
For some reason, a squeaky hammer existed in this fantasy world.
It was truly a mysterious world.
"I'm glad to see you're still the same."
"You brat, shouldn't you at least take one hit out of courtesy?"
"No thanks, it hurts."
"I used to be stronger back in the day."
Naturally, since there was a 3-year age gap, I had no choice but to be weaker than Hyung-nim when we were young, but once I started training in earnest, I became definitely stronger.
The amazing thing about Hyung-nim was that it wouldn't have been strange for him to feel jealous or have weird feelings about that, but the only emotion he had was, "I can't tease you anymore!"
Seeing him think that he couldn't laugh if he broke a bone while teasing me because I was stronger than him, I thought I was lucky to be brothers with this guy.
Besides that, I could tell that while he pretended to be frivolous in many ways, his inner self was incredibly calm.
It was easy to tell that when the atmosphere got bad as a child, he would deliberately play pranks and make himself a clown to somehow lighten the mood.
The reason I gave up the position of family head was partly because I didn't like such positions, but also because I had faith that Hyung-nim would handle it even without me.
"The Saintess-nim is here too, so you should at least come out and greet her."
"I'm busy on this side too. More importantly, is she really the Saintess? How is it? The days at the Grand Cathedral? Having lived on the battlefield, how should I put it... aren't you not getting used to it?"
"Why?"
"I read some novels where people who lived on the battlefield couldn't adapt to a peaceful era."
"I'd like to say that novels and reality are different, but it's not like there are absolutely no such people."
There were really many cases where the mind, devastated by war, eventually became a mental illness.
In my previous life, there were also people whose mental illness became serious due to war, called war PTSD.
Just like that, there are people here who are suffering because they cannot overcome the trauma of war.
In some cases, there were examples of people who couldn't bear the pain caused by that trauma and made extreme choices.
It was truly a pitiful thing.
The war has moved into a cold war to some extent, and now it has fallen to a level where they are practically just watching each other and being wary, but even so, it seemed that the war was still ongoing within them.
Well, since it's a cold war, it hasn't completely ended yet, but it has maintained the current state for several years.
There were too many problems on our side to go into the monster's territory and wipe out all the monsters.
Most people were just hoping that the monsters wouldn't come out of their territory like this.
Above all, monsters are stronger in their territory, so going in there and fighting was truly hell.
"Yeah, well... You look fine? You've always had boring reactions to everything anyway."
"I think Hyung-nim lives too interestingly."
"I want a relationship where we fight by flipping each other off like other siblings."
"Sigh."
"If you sigh openly, I get hurt, so can you do it when I'm not around?"
This man's name is Julian Valtus.
He was my older brother and the next family head to succeed my father, Lucian Valtus.
He had been mischievous since childhood and would somehow play pranks on me, and sometimes it went too far, so he was often scolded by our parents.
But he was serious about his pranks, and when he secretly dug a pit in the garden with a shovel alone and lured me into falling into it, I even felt madness.
No, he dug a pit of this depth alone with a shovel in a child's body?
He was a typical 'lazy genius' type of man, and I couldn't help but think, 'Why use that tenacity and talent for this?'
I thought if this person had worked a little harder, he might have become as strong as me.
Still, we share the same blood, after all.
"So how is the Saintess-nim? Is she doing well?"
"Troublesome points exist whether it's the battlefield or a peaceful place. It's all the same. It's just that the direction is a little different, I suppose."
"Is the Saintess-nim a tomboy? The only rumors about the Saintess-nim I've heard lately are that she's literally like a 'Saintess'?"
"She's a good person."
"Well, I guess that's natural since she's a Saintess."
That's right.
I tried to be a good person.
The reason might not be good at all, but anyway, I wanted to be a good person.
It wasn't like I was causing someone pain or doing evil with it.
Rather than purely wanting to achieve good deeds, even if it started from ulterior motives, if the actions and results are good, I will call that a good person.
"How about your side, Hyung-nim? Are there any problems in the territory?"
"I don't really like talking about work as soon as you arrive, but to be honest, there is a problem."
"Telling me means it's a job that requires strength, right?"
"It breaks my heart to ask you, who came on vacation."
"Speak, don't go causing trouble for no reason."
"You, what do you think of me?"
I was treating him half like a younger brother, but I decided not to say it out loud.
"Don't look at me with those eyes that say you're treating me half like a younger brother, I'm the older brother, okay?"
"......."
"You're unnecessarily quick-witted, don't look at me with the same eyes."
"Alright, alright. So... what is the favor you want to ask?"
"There's information about monster sightings in the forest."
"I see."
Of course, there is a guard unit here too, but as I said, the guard unit here, which has barely been revived, probably isn't of a very high level.
It was better to think that the defensive effect wasn't very good, just that they were there.
Unfortunately, the only person in our current family who can fight is at best Grandmother, but Grandmother is also closer to a 'scholar,' so it was just at the level of 'can fight.'
Hiring mercenaries or adventurers would cost an astronomical amount of money depending on the case.
Especially since monsters that inhabit forests are often annoying to find and fight, the subjugation cost was often more expensive than regular monsters.
"Anyway, I understand. For now, keep it a secret from the Saintess-nim......."
Walking down the hallway, Kkii-ik, the door opened.
It was the bathroom.
"......."
"......."
The Saintess-nim was smiling and coming out of the bathroom.
That smiling face is a bit creepy now.
It's a coincidence, right?
She just happened to be in that bathroom, right?
It's clearly a high possibility, but I couldn't erase the possibility that she was there on purpose to hide and eavesdrop.
To be sure it wasn't, the track record she's shown so far...
"You're saying interesting things, Ed."
The Saintess-nim smiled as if she was having fun.
"Can I hear the details too?"