Chapter 248
An Outing With Mai O’Doll
I addressed the letter to Rokuko and wrote that I would be a little slow in returning, as well as that I might not be able to refuse them if things went bad, but also that I would try my best.
… The messenger guy was also told to say that I may, juuuust may be two or three days late.
I told him to get a response as well, so… yeah. Time to sleep.
I decided that I would sleep with Meat as my hug pillow.
… The guest room’s bedding accommodation was a futon. One of the ones from our dungeon. For it to even be incorporated into the lord’s residence…
*
The following day arrived. A letter from Rokuko arrived, let’s see, what’s it say?
[O ko.] [1]
Just two letters. It’s in Japanese. Rokuko’s getting a handle of her [Japanese] skill quick.
But still, the heck’s [o ko] supposed to mean? [Oko (Mad)]? … I get the feeling she said that she wouldn’t be angry even if I took another wife, but is it [Oko (Mad)] after all?
No, wait, let me think about this. There’s a chance that this [o ko] could be a shortened [o ko k], something that’d read as [OK OK], meaning [Understood, go for it]…
“She seemed to be pouting a lot for some reason.”
“Ah, yeah…”
Even Rokuko’s a girl. The kanji for ‘a woman’s heart’ (女心) is inside the kanji for ‘angry’ (怒), and thinking about the fact that there’s the character for ‘again/still’ (又) in it also, she could be angry that I’m making a move on another woman.
And she didn’t say that she wouldn’t be angry, just that she would pout…
“So what should I do today? Maybe I could sleep through it all. Let’s go back to sleep.”
With that, there was a knock at my door.
Yeah, I know. It’s breakfast time.
Arriving at the table after being lead there by Maid-san, only Mai O’Doll and Von O’Doll were there. There was freshly baked bread, fried eggs, boar bacon, and salad for breakfast. It’s simple, but it really did feel like breakfast. The salad’s tomatoes were delicious.
“Now then, what do you plan on doing today, Mai?”
“I was thinking about visiting the orphanage with Kehma.”
“I see, it might be a good thing for Kehma-dono to personally understand the work that us nobles do. As for your escort… hmm, seeing as Kehma-dono will be going with you, perhaps you don’t need one?”
Looks like I just got nominated to do something troublesome. At the very least, I’d like to refrain from doing work for free. Even if I can’t get any money from it, I can’t let him make this a [Free of charge] thing. Therefore, I’ll blow the price up to get out of it.
“… It’ll only be for half a day, but I will undertake it if it’s a one day long escort commission for my party.”
“I don’t mind, I’ll even do it at the market price. I’ll do it as a designated commission.”
He went for it even though I said to pay me a day’s wages for half a day’s work. Maybe I should’ve asked for more… no, he’s a noble and a lord, so he should have the money…
“Let’s hurry up and go, Kehma-sama!”
Like that, Meat and I headed for the orphanage, dragged along by Mai O’Doll.
*
The orphanage was an annex on a church. From the looks of it, we’d be visiting the church first, followed by the orphanage afterwards.
Seeing as how the priest greeted us personally, it also looks like he’d been told in advance that Mai O’Doll would be coming.
Come to think of it, what religion is this church? It’s not following that dungeon busting Light God’s Decree, right?
Just as I started to think about that, Mai O’Doll explained it to me.
“This church worships the Raverio Empire’s founding adventurer’s god, the White Goddess. Come, let’s pray.”
It’s obviously Haku-san. Yaaaay, give me your blessings~ (Not).
“So this White Goddess, she even has her own churches… is it alright for a real existing person to be a god?”
“? Gods are all existing people though? Are there any gods that don’t exist?”
Aaah, right. In this world, gods are things that bring about miracles and divine blessings.
So then it’s not a problem at all even if a living person became a god. So long as they could bring about the miracle stuff.
Well, there were even great people worshiped as gods and religion-founders treated like deities back on Earth, so I guess it’s like that.
Listening to our conversation, the priest chimed in.
“… Could it be that you are not a follower of the White Goddess Faith?”
“I follow the Futon Religion. Our teachings follow the White Goddess Faith quite well, we worship the god that defends the night’s tranquility.”
“I’ve never heard of that religion, but… the night’s tranquility? Does that mean it’s a religious faction of the Dark God? If so, it truly must have an amiable relation with the White Goddess Faith.”
“Yeah, well, it’s something like that.”
Let’s go with what the priest says, he sounds informed.
I don’t really know how they go about praying, so I used Mai O’Doll as a reference and went to my knees with my hands in front of my chest. Please let me unshackle myself from these troublesome things and head back home as soon as possible. Amen.
… She wouldn’t give blessings at all. Ever. Of that, I am sure.
With our prayers complete, we headed for the orphanage.
When we entered the premises, I heard the noisy sounds of many children. Lot’s of high-pitched ‘yaaay’s and ‘wooo’s. They should follow our Meat as an example… ah, Meat might be a bit too hard for them.
“Ah, it’s Mai Ojou-sama!”
“It’s really her, Mai Ojou-sama! Ojou-sama~!”
A lot of kids around the same height as Meat and Mai O’Doll or perhaps a bit smaller came over with smiles all over their faces.
Beastkin, humans, elves, and even some that I think are dwarves… there’s a lot of races.
It’s a bit weird to say, but they look unexpectedly tidy. There’s magic like [Cleanup] in this world, so maybe it’s because of that?
“Who’s that Nii-chan…?”
“Ah, he is—”
“I am Mai-sama’s escort, an adventurer. Same with this small girl here.”
“She’s a guard? But she’s so tiny! How could she guard anything?”
Idiot. Meat’s even stronger than me. I didn’t say anything about it since her appearance manages to make her opponents drop their guard though.
“Even so, she’s a D-Rank adventurer. Well, it’s not like the public order here’s bad, so I’m enough to guard her.”
“Oooh~”
“And since we’re escorts, we have to stay by her side.”
“Kaay~”
Still though, I’m not good at handling children, are they making fun of me….? No, it’s not like their intelligence is… uuh.
Well, let’s set that aside. Mai O’Doll seems to be popular among the children. Even though she’s a noble, she remembers all of their names. I wonder if she comes here a lot?
“Kehma-sama, are you going to play too?”
“No, I’m fine. I’ll be taking it easy in the shade over there.”
“Hey, hey, Mai Ojoooou-sama! C’mon, let’s play mino!”
“Coming! Ah, I’m off then, Kehma-sama.”
Turning around in excitement, she ran off. It looks like they’re playing something similar to tag. From the looks of it, you lose if they touch your back with a stick. I’m guessing mino stands for minotaur, so it’s like losing from being killed by its weapon…? Yep, definitely too troublesome for me.
Glancing next to me, it looked like Meat… didn’t go to play with them.
Meat really is different from normal children…
“You sure you don’t want to join in?”
“… If I did, that much would end instantly. Not fun.”
I see, so their level is just too different?
However, a child that heard Meat’s mutter challenged her.
“We’ll also be adventurers in the future!”
“I won’t lose so easily! I can even keep an adult busy for five minutes!”
“…”
Suddenly standing up, Meat grabbed the boy’s hand.
“Wh-what are… uwaaah!?”
“Yeah, done.”
Meat threw the child against the ground softly and clapped his back.
“S-surprise attacks are dirty…”
“But would a real minotaur care?”
Meat caused the boy to grow silent… He probably hasn’t even seen a real minotaur before. I wonder if he understands the difference between them now?
However, it turned into a disaster for Meat after that. Meat, having shown off a portion of the her skill, was surrounded by a great number of children.
“Wooah!”
“So cool!”
“How’d you do that? Teach me!”
… Yeah, don’t try and look at me with those eyes. Figure it out yourself.
Being able to interact with other kids her age will be a good experience for her.
Footnotes:
This part doesn’t work if I translate it, so I’ll do my best at explaining it alongside Kehma’s explanation to follow. As ever, I’m open to recommendations.