MYHLF Vol. 1 Mission 2 Part 2

Philz began living in the same room as Clarus.

In the corner of the room stood a compact kitchenette Philz had made. Normally, it would only look like a small shelf. Flipping over the top board revealed a stove. Inside the shelf were plates, spoons, forks, pots, knives, bowls, and such. He had modeled its size after a large travel trunk. There were foldable worktables on both sides as well, and he thought it had turned out very convenient.

Clarus would eat only what Philz made. Philz himself had long since grown tired of the drugged soup, so he was making and eating his own food too. However, if he refused the meals served to him, someone might come to check on them, so he had told the servants to leave the food outside the room, just like his mother’s.

Any food with nothing mixed into it, Philz would reheat, remake, and eat himself. Clarus’s share was a waste, but he left it untouched. She had not been touching her food before now anyway, so it should not be a problem.

“Hey, Fil. What do you think of this pattern? Does it look properly like a vine pattern?”

Back when Clarus had lived as one of the nomadic people, she had apparently stayed in villages or towns during the winter and done weaving. When Philz heard that she used to weave an entire carpet over the course of a winter, he prepared a vertical loom for her.

Apparently, it was a traditional craft in which mana was infused into the threads while various protective patterns were woven into the cloth. It was called protective weaving. When he checked the market, he found that there were almost no people left who could weave it anymore, and even the older pieces seemed to fetch quite a high price.

“It’s fine. The vine pattern was… a protective pattern for the prosperity of descendants, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. Nobles will love it.”

“When it’s finished, it can pay our lodging fee here.”

“Mm!”

Clarus apparently wanted to sever ties with this house and her husband completely, and she intended to leave this weaving behind in place of severance money. That was why she was so fired up. Then Saul, the God of Commerce, manifested.

“Oh ho, oh ho. It seems your skill has not declined. A fine thing.”

“Ah, Lord Saul. Hehehe. I’ll do my best to make sure it sells for a high price.”

“Splendid. Keep working harder and harder.”

“Yes!”

Apparently, Clarus had also received Saul’s divine protection. Saul was also the one who had suggested making the loom. Since the other side had solved everything with money, he told her, then they would solve this with money as well, and Clarus had surrendered in no time.

When it came to weaving an entire carpet, it required a fair amount of stamina. Thanks to the fact that she had started eating again, Clarus was recovering smoothly, and her complexion was greatly improving as well.

“Ah, yes. Fil, bring us more bread. Include some jam as well.”

“…Isn’t that too soon? It’s only been one day.”

“It cannot be helped. It is delicious.”

“That’s right, Fil. Your bread is delicious.”

“…Mom, you’ve been eating nothing but bread too…”

Around this time, Philz had begun calling Clarus ‘Mom’ instead of Mother, like a commoner would. Clarus was happier that way, and his speech had also grown more casual.

“It’s fine, isn’t it? You mix vegetables into it too. That’s the same as eating vegetables, right?”

“No, eat proper vegetables too…”

It seemed Clarus was a picky eater. Apparently, most of it was simply prejudice against foods she had never tried, so for now, Philz was finding ways to gradually increase the number of things she could eat. Plain and steamed vegetables were completely hopeless. Philz wanted her to properly know the taste of the ingredients themselves, but it was difficult.

Because of that, lately, he especially felt as though he were raising a child. That said, it was not as though she particularly liked meat either. She had probably lived as someone who could survive anywhere as long as she had bread. In any case, it was a problem because she essentially ate nothing but bread.

Even before now, it seemed the only thing among the meals delivered to her room that she had eaten a little of was the bread. Since the soup had been drugged before, she apparently regarded it with disgust.

Thus, Clarus was currently living on bread, milk, and the occasional fruit he prepared for her.

“Maybe I should try preparing fish once…?”

Philz was still pretending not to notice that the nature of his worries had become that of a househusband.

As he thought about tonight’s dinner, he decided to head into town.

“Then I’ll go deliver the bread. After that, I’ll take a suitable request and… earn some money.”

“Mm. Take care. Be careful, all right?”

“Yeah… I’m off.”

He still was not used to being seen off by his mother like this. Feeling embarrassed, he left the room, and just before he exited the mansion, he ran into Canal.

“Young Master Philz.”

“Did something happen, Canal? The main building has been a little noisy these past few days.”

There had been some kind of flurry going on. Thanks to that, there had been no harassment over the past few days.

“Are guests coming?”

“Yes… A knight order is coming from the royal capital for an exercise. The Third Prince will be staying here for several days, so… Master has suddenly been called back as well. If he is early, I believe he will return tonight or tomorrow.”

“I see… If I can meet Father, I would like to.”

“Understood.”

Canal nodded, as if to say of course.

“And? Did you come to inform me of Father’s return?”

“No, that as well, but… um… regarding your lessons, Young Master… they said there is nothing more they can teach you…”

“Ah… So that’s what it is.”

He had predicted this to some extent.

“Don’t worry about it. There’s no problem.”

“No, but…”

Canal was quite worried. Even if Philz was the child of a mistress, he was still the son of a noble, so of course he should have tutors. There should never be a situation where he had none. However, Canal had misunderstood. As usual, he probably thought the first wife had harassed the tutors into withdrawing.

“They had been telling me for some time. I have already mastered everything I ought to learn at the academy.”

“…What?”

In this world, if one could do the four basic arithmetic operations, one was essentially qualified as a noble. He had also memorized all the necessary letters and languages. He had even begun learning the ancient scripts scholars studied. Then there were manners and dancing. Philz was also interested in the customs of various countries, so if he read about them in books, he remembered them at once. Now he was also asking his mother, who had been one of the nomadic people, so he possessed knowledge his tutors did not.

Perhaps because of his mother’s blood, he also had a good sense of rhythm when it came to dancing, and learned it quite quickly.

As for swordsmanship, unless one had already decided to become a knight, it was enough to swing a sword well enough to be presentable. Since Philz had gained actual combat experience as an adventurer, there was no problem there either.

“You should ask the tutors again. I was not made to stop. This is a graduation, because I have completed everything.”

“…I-I will confirm it…”

“Please do. Also, I think the maid assigned to me has just about reached the end of her time here. Release her from the role. With your authority, you don’t need to assign anyone else to me from now on. Have the cook return to the main building too. For a while, I want to manage with just Mother and me.”

“…Young Master Philz…”

Canal looked as if he might cry. Philz understood how he felt. After all, it was as though his master’s son had just told him he was no longer needed.

“I’m sorry. I’m grateful to you, Canal. I’ll tell Father myself. I won’t let it reflect badly on you.”

“…Yes…”

He must have considered himself inadequate. The way his shoulders slumped made him look as if he had aged all at once.

“Canal. Let’s have tea together sometime.”

“…Eh…”

Canal lifted his face, and Philz gave him a gentle smile.

“Mother doesn’t seem to think poorly of you either. So let’s have a tea party. If I make some sweets, maybe Mother’s bread mania will ease a little too.”

“Bread mania…?”

Canal blinked at him with a blank look. Philz had never seen that expression on him before. It was so funny that Philz could not help laughing aloud.

“Haha. Well, you can look forward to it.”

With that, Philz headed into town as planned.

—

Carrying the bread that the Gods had ordered from him, Philz headed to the church. He was starting to feel like he had become a baker.

As usual, the Head Priest came out to greet him.

“There you go, making that face again. Why not smile once in a while and try saying hello?”

“…Hello…”

“…Please don’t look at me with such dead eyes…”

Apparently, his distaste had shown plainly on his face.

“Put this on the altar.”

He held out a basket. It was piled high with bread. Of course, there was jam inside as well.

“You’ve brought quite a lot again.”

“Every last one of them keeps demanding bread, and it’s a problem.”

“Haha. Don’t say that. I want some too.”

“…Here…”

“Eh…”

What he held out was a simple, small pouch that would not have looked out of place attached to a priest’s waist. It was large enough to hold paper in place of a notebook, a bible, and similar items. Of course, the pouch Philz offered him this time did not have only the capacity it appeared to possess. It was a proper Magic Bag.

Philz offered it while glancing away a little, then continued.

“There’s bread and jam inside… I’m giving you the whole bag… It’s… thanks… for the Blessing the other day…”

“…”

“What? Hurry up and take it. Do you not want it?”

“I do! I do want it! Will you call me Papa!?”

“As if I would! Don’t get carried away! See you!”

Since the Head Priest tried to hug him, Philz shoved the pouch into his hands and quickly sprang back. Then he strode off toward the Adventurers’ Guild.

“Come again anytime!”

The Head Priest waved broadly. Embarrassed by that, Philz fled the area at a brisk pace.

When he arrived at the Adventurers’ Guild, the atmosphere was somewhat gloomy.

“Oh, Fil…”

An adventurer he knew called out to him.

“Did something happen?”

“Yeah… Apparently, a pack of Ogres showed up in Uras Village to the west. Sounds like there are a lot of them, and we’re short on hands, but… some knight order that just happened to come here for exercises went charging in.”

“We are not allowed to coordinate with knights, you see. So we can’t make a move either.”

Adventurers and knights fought differently. Their priorities were different as well, so if they stood on the same battlefield without a prior meeting, they inevitably failed to coordinate. They might even end up injuring one another instead.

If that happened, the coordination among fellow adventurers or within the knight order itself would also fall apart. Against enemies like these, whom a few people could not possibly handle by themselves, that was extremely dangerous. Thus, it had become an unspoken understanding that they would not interfere with one another.

“But just waiting for them to be wiped out… no, to come fleeing back in defeat… We’ve been wondering what to do about it…”

“A knight order…”

The man who commanded the knight order in this ducal domain was named Villans, and he had also been the one to teach Philz swordsmanship. He was not a bad person. Until a few years ago, he had been entrusted with one of the knight orders in the royal capital.

He properly understood real battle, and during a skirmish with a neighboring country, he had lost an arm and retired. However, his strength had hardly declined at all, and amid many voices lamenting his departure, he had been assigned as the knight commander of this ducal domain.

In this ducal domain, the Adventurers’ Guildmaster was capable and carried out regular hunts to thin out magic beasts and the like, so damage caused by magic beasts was low.

Nor was this a domain that bordered another country, so it was spared from immediately participating in nearby wars. Thus, he had been thrown here because even someone with one arm and a somewhat diminished ability was considered sufficient enough. They had likely also wanted to prevent him from going to another country or somewhere similar.

A person that capable was the one in charge of the knights in this domain. If it was the knight order he commanded, they should have been able to cooperate with the Adventurers’ Guild. Therefore, Philz sensed that the ones who had charged in were not the knights from here.

For confirmation, Philz questioned the man.

“They’re not from here, are they?”

“N-No. Apparently, their armor had a crest with a red spear and sword…”

“That’s…”

Philz guessed which knights they were and frowned.

“Tell the Guildmaster. I’ll contact the knight order! We’re heading west, quickly!”

“Eh? H-Hey!”

Just then, with excellent timing, the Guildmaster came down from the second floor.

“Fil, lad… Is it bad?”

“I’ll also send a request for aid to the church. It’s the Third Prince’s knight order, established just last month. They were scheduled to come to the ducal domain for exercises.”

“Tch. You lot! Get ready! We’re hunting Ogres!”

“““““Yeah!”””””

Leaving this to the Guildmaster, Philz hurried to the knight order’s station.

—

Just before reaching the knight order’s building, Philz changed his clothes into noble attire. He also restored his hair and eyes to their original color. There was no time to waste arguing with the gatekeepers.

“I am Philz Entrall! Take me to Commander Villans!”

“P-Philz, sir… R-Right away. I will guide you.”

His hair and eye color were the clearest proof of his status. The knight, sensing from Philz’s urgency that this was no ordinary matter, hurriedly led the way.

“Commander! Lord Philz is here!”

“Fil, kid?”

Philz opened the door without hesitation and told Villans, who was seated at the office desk before him.

“This is information from the Adventurers’ Guild. A pack of Ogres attacked Uras Village. Apparently, the Third Prince’s knight order, which was scheduled to come here for exercises, charged in to exterminate them. The adventurers can’t interfere. I’ve also asked the Guildmaster to take command. Send out several squads.”

“…That’s… Understood. I’ll send the Second and Third Squads! Ring the bell! We move out as soon as preparations are complete!”

“““Yes, sir!”””

The emergency dispatch bell was immediately rung.

Watching the knights run down the corridor, Philz turned toward Villans, who had risen to his feet. Villans was looking straight at Philz.

“Fil, kid… are you planning to go?”

“…”

Villans knew that Philz was working as an adventurer. The reason he had accepted this report so quickly was because he knew that. Most likely, the Guildmaster had figured it out as well. The adults in this town were full of sharp operators.

“I am. There’s something bothering me too… After this, I’ll send a request for medical aid to the church. If you dawdle, I’ll catch up to you in no time.”

When Philz flashed him a grin, Villans smiled the same way.

“That won’t do. We’ll have to finish as much as possible before you arrive, then.”

“Please do. Unless you want to deal with the troublesome task of silencing the mouths of the Third Prince’s knight order.”

“Hahaha. True enough. That would be a pain.”

With that laughter at his back, Philz headed for the church once more.

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