The Lazy Swordmaster Chapter 94:
Maybe it was obvious . Perhaps it wasn’t . Regardless, the very first person to come and greet Riley and Nainiae for their return from the trip to Rainfield was none other than Ian, the old butler .
“… Ah . ”
It seemed he was wondering around the garden all this time . His white hair headed toward Riley, who just stepped into the mansion’s entrance .
“I’m here . ”
“We are back . ”
Riley raised his hand to greet others lightly . Nainiae lowered her head to greet others respectfully .
At that moment, Ian’s eyes were starting to fill with tears .
“Hup . Kuhup… Kuhuhup!”
“…”
Ian’s reaction was exactly as expected . Riley peeked a smile and opened his arms .
“Young Masterrrrrr!”
Riley was sick of hearing that during the summer . Maybe it was because Riley was away for so long… Riley opened his arms because it was so great to see Ian .
“Yes . I’m back home . ”
“Do you know how worried I was?”
When Riley opened his arms, Ian poured out tears like waterfall . He ran toward him and hugged him .
“I think it would be weirder if I didn’t know it . ”
Riley hugged Ian as if Ian was his own child . Riley casually turned his head and looked at the three members of the Lightning Boulder mercenary group who were walking toward the entrance of the mansion .
“That is…”
“… the Mercenary Hero?”
“Really…”
In Riley’s arms, Ian was crying like a little girl . However, his shoulder, his back, his arm… With his white hair, his hardened physique indirectly explained how many battlefields he fought in .
“Stop crying so much . Get a grip . ”
Ian was pouring tears and runny nose . Having heard what Riley said, Ian barely got a hold of himself and cleaned up his face . Ian looked beyond Riley’s shoulder .
“… Who are they?”
“They are guests . ”
“Guests?”
“That’s right . They are here to see you . ”
“Young Master, by any chance…”
A man, a woman, and a boy… They were each wielding a different weapon . Ian could tell with the first glance that they were mercenaries . The look on Ian’s face became serious .
“That’s right . They are mercenaries . ”
With Riley’s introduction, Nara brought out the pouch that contained the bone powder of his father’s remain . Nara looked like he might be smiling . It could have been that he was crying . It was a strange look . Nara tilted his head side to side .
“Mercenary Hero . It’s a great honor to meet you . I’m…”
The boy’s emotion was running wild . His eyes suddenly changed to a sharp inhuman shape . Noticing this, Ian remembered seeing it before . Ian’s eyes became wide .
“Basilisk?”
Ian said it as if he couldn’t believe this . Nara nodded and answered,
“… Yes . ”
* * *
“… I see . ”
Ian asked Nainiae to do his work for the moment . Ian mumbled in a bitter tone .
“Garf… in the end, he was killed by that dark mage…”
In the garden, on a table for tea, Ian had the Lightning Boulder mercenaries and Riley sit with him for a tea . With his thumb, Ian fiddled with the cup’s handle and said,
“This is the reason why I hate mages . Mages took away people so easily… The people who were precious to me . ”
Ian added that he doesn’t hate Nainiae . Ian put his hand toward the urn that had the bone remains of Garf Basilisk .
“I don’t know how Garf introduced me to you, but I think I should make certain for you to know this . ”
Ian couldn’t bring himself to touch the urn . He lowered his head and said,
“I’m retired, but I’ll put my title as the Mercenary Hero on the line to say this . A Basilisk named Garf was definitely a great father . ”
Nara tightened his grab on his hand that was laying on top of this thigh . It wrinkled his pants .
“Nara, you should be proud of him . ”
“…”
The Mecenary Hero that Nara admired was praising his father .
Nara could not imagine a situation that was more touching than this .
Despite that, Nara couldn’t say anything .
“When I saw you in the photo, you were just a child . Now, you have grown… You look magnificent like your father . ”
“…”
Drop, drop .
On top of the table with white cloth, thick stream of tears, which fell along Nara’s cheek, dropped and made stains .
“You must have had it hard… All by yourself . ”
He nodded, and nodded again .
He bit his lower lips hard . Nara was still grabbing **** to his thigh . He couldn’t wipe off his tears . He nodded repeatedly to respond to Ian .
“…”
He was still a child .
A 15 year old boy was there .
It seemed he was remembering all the hardships he endured . In Nara’s face, there were not just tears, but also runny nose .
“… Thank you…”
Ian raised his right arm, which he couldn’t bring himself to touch the urn that contained Garf’s remains, to pat Nara’s head .
“… for surviving . ”
Ian said with a bitter smile .
Nara strained himself to respond with a tearful voice,
“… Yes . ”
Perhaps it had been about ten minutes since Nara was in tears .
Ian left Nara be so he could calm down . Ian turned to Riley, who was sitting next to him, and asked about the mercenaries .
“About the Lightning boulder mercenary, I’ll tell the Count later that they are here as your guests . ”
Ian said as he filled Riley’s empty cup . Riley tilted his head side to side and mumbled,
“Later? Not immediately?”
“Ah, yes . Actually, two days ago… The Count received an urgent message from the Solia Castle . He left the mansion with his sword . ”
“He left the mansion?”
“Yes . There was a story about the Solia’s boarder being attacked . I think this might be about that . ”
“What about my two big brothers?”
“Young Master Ryan and Lloyd are here in the mansion . Because you were not present at the time, they couldn’t all leave the mansion empty . ”
“Hm…”
Riley narrowed his eyes . He looked around the mansion and asked Ian .
“How’s my mother? Is she doing well?”
“Yes . ”
It seemed Ian had been watching out for Iris through the day and night . The dark circles under Ian’s eyes were darker than usual .
“Actually, ever since the Count left, I was concerned something might happen, so I had been extra cautious . It had been strangely quiet . ”
Riley narrowed his eyes and got up from his seat, slowly .
“She’s at her room, right?”
“Yes . ”
Riley ordered Ian to have conversations with the mercenaries . Riley walked toward the inside of the mansion .
* * *
“… I’m going to let this slide because you are still in training . If you were no longer in training, I would not have gone easy on you if you made a mistake like that . ”
It was at the mansion’s kitchen .
Sera and Nainiae were preparing dinner . It had been a while since they got together like this, so they were having their girly chats .
“Seriously, I wish I could give you lectures for one or two hours . ”
“I’m sorry, Ms . Sera . ”
Before preparing the meals on the menu, Nainiae was doing the dishes . With a downed look on her face, Nainiae said,
“It won’t happen again . ”
“Um . If you look so gloomy like this, it makes me feel sorry for scolding you instead . ”
It seemed Sera felt it . Sera broke cold sweat and said she was just joking as she picked up the dishes again .
“Anyway, how was it? How was the Rainfield?”
“Ah, it was great . ”
Nainiae, who was washing dishes, stopped her hands for a moment . She smiles slowly and said it was great . Sera had a mischievous smile on her face and asked,
“It was great?”
“…”
Nainiae flinched without realizing . She strained her lips and froze .
“That’s strange . Serving the Young Master by yourself would have not been easy . What was so great about it? You even forgot to contact the mansion?”
Sera’s mischievousness was getting activated . Not just her smile, but her laugher was like that as well . Sera moved her legs and got right next to Nainiae .
“…”
Was she nervous because Sera was standing right next to her? Nainiae was still petrified . Nainiae was still just holding the dish . She wasn’t able to answer Sera .
“During the evenings, nothing strange happened, right? Ah, you said you had a separate room, so that probably didn’t happen?”
Sera wiggled her brows and asked .
Perhaps because Nainiae was embarrassed, she started to shake her hands that were holding the dishes .
“Come on . Still, it is hard to believe that nothing happened?”
Sera, with her mischievous look on her face, asked again .
As a woman, perhaps it was only natural for her to be interested in things like this .
“…”
“Excuse me, Nainiae, nothing really happened…”
Before Sera could finish her question again, Nainiae’s hands, as if they reached their limits,
“… Huh?”
Crash!
Dropped the dish she was holding .
“Nainiae?”
The crashing sound interrupted Sera’s thoughts . Sera vacantly stared at the broken pieces of dish on the floor for a moment and was about to redirect her gaze toward Nainiae . However,
“…”
“… Nainiae!!”
It seemed Nainiae lost strength in her legs . She was faltering where she stood, right where the pieces of broken dish was . Sera quickly supported Nainiae .
“Nainiae? What’s wrong? Nainiae!”
Nainiae’s body was not just shaking . It was almost at the state of shock . Having realized this, Sera, with a desperate look on her face, called Nainiae’s name .
“What… What’s wrong? Are you hurting somewhere?”
The pain that came all of sudden had subsided a little . Her vision, which was filled with white for a moment, was gradually returning . Nainiae desperately tried to open her lips .
“… Ah . ”
Looking at Sera’s face, which was filled with concern for Nainiae, Nainiae squeezed out her voice and stumbled to say,
“I’m… not hurting . ”
“Nainiae…”
“I’m… fine . ”
Sera was holding on to Nainiae’s arm . Nainiae pushed Sera’s hand away and tried to pick up the broken pieces on the floor . However, she ended up plummeting there .
“I… just sat down so I could pick up the broken pieces . It is more efficient… that way . So…”
With shaking hands, she was reaching for the broken pieces of the dish . Her wrist was grabbed by Sera .
“Your hands are shaking so much . What could you possibly clean up with these?”
“…”
Sera was holding Nainiae’s right arm’s wrist . Nainiae looked at her right hand .
“Ah, ahah…”
Without giving it any thought, she tried to grab the pieces with her right hand . Her right hand was unlike ordinary people’s hands . It was missing **** . Her right hand was grotesque . Looking at her right hand, Nainiae was…
“I… I am…”
“Nainiae?”
Nainiae was shaking her head left and right . She was choking in fear .
“I’m sorry . I’m terribly sorry . I’ll work hard . I’ll do my best . I’ll work harder, so please… please don’t abandon me . Please praise me…”
Sera wondered if Nainiae was seeing things through her right hand that was missing **** . Nainiae was constantly shaking her head and mumbling . Concerned, Sera shook Nainiae .
“Nainiae, Nainiae! Can you hear me? Get a hold of yourself!”
“No… No more of experimental medicines . I won’t be greedy anymore… I won’t expect anything . I won’t hope for anything, so please… please, no more of that . Not that medicine…”
Nainiae was in a state of panic . She raised her severely shaking hand and stated to scratch the mask on her face .
“Ah, ahah… No… No…”
Looking at her right hand that had fingers missing, re-experiencing the pain she felt in the basement laboratory, Nainiae brought her right hand, her normal thumb toward her mouth .
“Nainiae!”
Nainiae was about to bite off her thumb . Sera quickly stopped her .
* * *
“… Hey . ”
“Um . There’s still two hours left until the store opens . ”
Riley kicked the back of the red-haired young man who was still traveling through the dream world .
“Get up you rascal . ”
“Ugh . What the hell? Who dares to… Um?”
Andal, the red-haired young man, woke up . As soon as he woke up, he found the blacked haired boy next to him . As if he was extremely annoyed, Andal cringed .
“It’s that **** . ”