Absolutely Do Not Touch Eldmia Egga – Chapter 11

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Wake up and be ready by 6 am tomorrow. If you don’t come out after I knock on the door three times or if you come out unprepared, I’ll put you to eternal sleep.”

Perhaps because they had a full meal for the first time in a while, or maybe Alisha’s stew was just that delicious, but the kids’ eyes started to sparkle as I put them in their respective rooms, and only then could I return to Yance’s blacksmith shop where I had left my horse.

Yance strangely loved horses even though he didn’t raise them, he was grinning and feeding them fodder, but when I arrived, he deliberately put on a frowning expression as if he were angry.

“You brat. Is our house a stable? Where have you been wandering all day?”

“You’re right about that. I’ll just give you this as an apology, so show me a good practice longsword. I’ll buy a new one.”

“What’s this? Did you put it between cart wheels and twist it? Why is it like this?”

“It just happened?”

“I didn’t sell an item that could end up like this…”

Scratching his bald head in embarrassment, Yance still took out an item suitable for my height. But it wasn’t a practice sword made of scrap metal, but a real longsword.

“Huh? This is just a longsword with a blunted blade, right?”

Yance grinned at my considerably surprised reaction and said,

“With your physique, it’s better to start getting used to something like this. Your muscles have taken shape to some extent. Once you get used to it and get permission from Asirye, I’ll sharpen it and fix it up a bit.”

“But still, the price…?”

“I’ll make it cheap for you, don’t worry. Just give me 20 copper coins. You can give me an additional 5 when you come to sharpen the sword later.”

“Let’s just settle all 25 coins now.”

I immediately handed over the silver coins before he could say anything else. Even if my eye for appraisal was still lacking, I could tell that a longsword of this quality would cost twice as much.

“Anyway, you have a good eye and quick calculations. Asirye taught you really well.”

“Isn’t it my own excellence that I learned it all?”

Of course, it’s not that I learned it all because I’m excellent, though.

After that, I just returned home as usual. Although it took longer than expected, I was satisfied that I could still return before dinner.

“I’m back, sis.”

As I reached the cabin along the forest path, Asirye, who was milking the goats, greeted me.

“It took longer than I thought. Did you sort it out well?”

“There won’t be any more bothersome issues, but I’m still in the process of sorting it out.”

While I tied up the horse and gave it fodder, Asirye, who was carrying the milk jug into the house, hesitated for a moment and asked,

“…Sigh. It’s really strange to ask this kind of question, but… you didn’t kill anyone, right?”

“About five kids with broken legs? And one. Their leader. I killed him.”

“…Why?”

“He threatened me using you. So I killed him.”

“Couldn’t you have avoided killing him?”

“Rather than leaving him half-dead and giving room for factional strife and later annoyance, I thought it would be better to kill the leader and gain the upper hand from the start. In that sense… no. I couldn’t avoid killing him.”

If the number one person was left half-crippled, the number two person could have risen up, and there could have been an attempt to make an example of the one who had made the number one a cripple in order to exert greater influence.

However, if the number one person who was the cause was completely crushed, the number two person could seize real power and exert influence without issues based on the premise of just being careful of that cause.

They might get greedy later and cause problems again, but it would be a story for much later compared to leaving the former case unchecked.

That’s what I thought when I killed him and started. The fact that the effect worked too well and there wasn’t even a number two person left was unexpected.

When I answered like that and tried to enter the house, Asirye seemed quite unsettled.

“I’ve also killed many people while living. That’s how it is as an adventurer. Sometimes, there were more times fighting with people than with monsters.

Even so, if I had seen a child, especially an 11-year-old child, killing a person out of necessity, I would have tried to stop it somehow.”

Asirye’s face showed perplexity as she put down the milk jug and twirled her hair with her fingers.

“Even if they threatened using me as an excuse, even if I had to kill that guy myself, I think it’s right to stop you from killing him… I’m not sure.

Is it because I’ve seen you for the past 3 years? The fact that you killed a person just sounds to me like my adventurer colleague killed a thief.”

“So you want to believe there’s no big problem, but you’re worried that I might grow up to be a murderer because I’m still young, right?”

When I asked because it seemed like that nuance, Asirye widened her eyes for a moment and then burst into a wry laugh, affirming it.

“You’re… really amazing every time. That’s right. Honestly, yes.”

“Since it’s meaningless for me to tell you not to worry… if something like this happens again in the future, I’ll tell you, sis. And let’s have a conversation together.”

“Conversation?”

“Yeah. I’ll say I think I should kill this kid for this and that reason. Or I think I need to rough them up a bit like this and that, and I’ll tell you everything so you can listen and judge.

Whether I’m just trying to solve problems by relying on violence and murder. Or if I’m thinking and acting.”

Asirye’s senses were definitely sharp. My actions and thoughts were ultimately those of a thirty-something-year-old man whose anger had risen due to overflowing injustice, so the example of a fellow adventurer was almost a perfect fit.

But my appearance was still that of a child, and it was inevitable for her to feel uneasy as a guardian who had taught and raised the young me.

And I didn’t have the taste to neglect a problem that I could sufficiently solve and make my life-saving benefactor anxious.

“If you think my judgment is unreasonable, I’ll just follow what you say. Even if you think it’s reasonable, if you’re not comfortable with it, I’ll try to resolve it without killing as much as possible.”

Then, at least, there will be fewer occasions for her to worry about my mental state.

Asirye responded with a hug. I felt grateful once again to her who cared so much for someone who wasn’t even related by blood, and at the same time, I felt sorry.

Honestly, I had only expected to live a life of a master and disciple for 8 years or maintain an awkward relationship. Neither I nor Asirye could do that, though.

“Yeah. Our brother is kind and smart. Thank you for understanding.”

“I’m grateful too.”

With the brightest expression possible, we wrapped up the day and moved to have dinner.

The meat stew made with freshly squeezed milk was delicious as always.

“But what do you mean by still sorting it out?”

“Ah, most of the kids who were like members after I killed the leader were runaway teenagers, as you thought, so I sent them all back, but five of them were really kids with nowhere to go. One of them was a real orphan.”

“Runaway tee…? Anyway, so?”

“I’m going to introduce them to jobs and help them get started so they can make a living. Today, I just got them a room at Auntie Alisha’s inn. But it will take time for them to settle down, so I’ll have to go to the city more often than before…”

“Oh my gosh, you should have said that first!”

I almost spilled the precious stew as the chair fell back from her suddenly standing up and hugging me while I was savoring the flavor of the stew. But regardless of my bewilderment, Asirye just kept patting my head.

“Yeah! There’s no way our brother, who does such good deeds, could be a murderer who kills people when things don’t go his way! How remarkably well you’re doing!”

“No, what’s the big deal? I didn’t even do it with my own money. I’m doing it with the money I took after killing the leader. Ah, right, here’s the remaining money. 3 silver coins and some copper coins.”

“Well done, well done! Then, of course, our brother, who fucking hates the slave system, couldn’t have lost his good heart anywhere!”

“No, why are you suddenly bringing up that story and ruining my appetite…”

I couldn’t understand why, but it seemed Asirye’s worries had lessened to some extent, so I decided to be satisfied with that.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

The next morning, I woke up early and headed to Ogwen, skipping breakfast.

Even if I introduced them to jobs, it was obvious that it wouldn’t even be 7 o’clock, so I could return by then and have a meal with Asirye without being late.

Although I belatedly realized that I had become a crazy bastard who openly tried to kill people in the village and fell into worry, I decided not to dwell on it since it was already in the past.

Life had thrown too many waves at me to wander around just because I killed a bastard who deserved to die.

It wasn’t even 6 o’clock yet, but there were already many people moving in Ogwen. Not only inns and restaurants but also grocery stores that did business with them were busy preparing to open.

All of these changes occurred after the adventurers’ guild was established.

In just a year, while many things were already changing, even more things were changing rapidly.

“Sis Milena! Are you busy?”

Among the crowd, I waved and greeted a plump-looking woman in her 40s. The grocery store run by Milena supplied ingredients to quite a few restaurants and was always busy.

“Oh, isn’t it Eldmia? What brings you here at this hour? You’ve been scarce for a while, are you going to work again?”

“I’m here to introduce another kid, not me.”

“Another child?”

“Yeah. I picked up some street kids yesterday, and I’m going to have them work because I hate the sight of them.”

“Hey. This is a place that handles ingredients, so street kids…”

“Sis, I’m Eldmia Egga. I already had them wash up nicely yesterday and bought them decent clothes at Uncle Tex’s store. If you see them, you won’t even know they were street kids.”

“You’re so clever. But why street kids all of a sudden? Did you get a job from the church this time or something?”

Just how much of a versatile worker am I in the minds of these adults? Getting a job from the church. It’s something even decent adventurers struggle with.

“Just because. They’re kids similar to me. Thinking that I would have been like that too if it wasn’t for Sis Asirye, my eyes were drawn to them.”

“My goodness… you’re kind too. Well, we’re busy these days as some food stalls have started to pop up and order from us, with the construction workers and all. How many are there?”

“Three boys and two girls. The boys are over 14, so if you teach them, they’ll become useful in no time. 3 copper coins for the first day’s wage. If you’re satisfied, 4 copper coins each from the next day. How about it?”

“I can give them 5 copper coins if they work well. But it’s better to have the boys since it’s physical labor. I think I can take in two.”

“I’ll be right back~”

After parting with Milena with a friendly smile, I approached familiar merchants whenever I saw them. In fact, if the conditions were met, it was a good story for them too.

If they were exceptionally good at their work, they could be taken in as apprentices, and even if they were average, they were easy to teach. Since they didn’t have a home, they would always work hard for their living expenses.

Lastly, it was possible to establish a reputation as a “person of character who teaches work to street kids and helps them get a job” in the village, so unless they were hiring torturers, there was no loss.

Even if not right away, it was enough to just throw out the story in a way that they could consider it later if they heard from others that the kids were useful.

Anyway, I was going to focus on having them work in stores that were busy from early morning until lunchtime. Once they got used to it, they would be able to earn money by doing other work in the afternoon.

When I arrived after greeting various people like that, the five children were already waiting for me in front of the inn, ready to go.

That was quite admirable. Judging from the fact that they didn’t look particularly tired, they must have slept well.

“If you wake up early, you’ll have more things to do. Some places pay higher for working all day, and even if you only work half a day, you can do other work for the other half. I’ll teach you those things.”

While walking the streets with them, leaving the horse at the inn, I roughly explained.

“…Why…”

One of the girls spoke up. A 13-year-old girl who was the only orphan like me.

She had red hair cut short to her shoulders and some freckles, with sharp eyes but quite pretty and feisty-looking.

If it weren’t for the war, she might have grown up cheerfully enjoying the days of being called a beauty in the neighborhood and having boys flock to her.

Well, she might have had the kind of looks that could have gotten her in trouble with a lord if she was unlucky.

“Why are you helping us?”

“Your speech is curt? Are you crawling up to me because I revealed yesterday that I’m 11 years old?”

“…you?”

As she changed her words with a flinch, there was a strange lack of anxiety in her complexion. Considering that she witnessed someone being kicked to death right next to her and was even talking to the person responsible for that sight, it was almost an overstatement to say she was damn brave. I liked that boldness, so I stopped walking and said,

“When I was 8 years old, the village burned down in the first attack of the Demon King’s army, which was the fucking starting point of all this mess, and I lost my friends, acquaintances, and even my parents, becoming a monumental war orphan.

In a way, I’m your senior.”

Not only the girl but also the other kids’ expressions stiffened. Fortunately, they seemed to understand how fucked up that situation was.

There are few things as detrimental to work as a lack of empathy.

“The elf that your leader had investigated is my benefactor. Without that person, I would have either ended up like you or died, one of the two. She was my opportunity.”

Now that I had checked their reactions, I started walking again. It was a thing of the past now, so it wasn’t a big deal. 3 years was not short, after all.

“You didn’t meet someone like Asirye… I mean, my benefactor elf, so I thought that’s why you were in that situation. You just didn’t get the opportunity. So I’m just giving you a chance.”

Saying I’m helping is a bit subtle. I’m not a saint, nor am I someone who is enthusiastic about doing good deeds.

“And I’m throwing you a chance because I have some leeway. I can take it away at any time. You might feel like I’m helping you, but to me, it’s not quite to that extent….”

Just because it caught my eye.

“Of course, the people of this village are more familiar and precious to me than you. If you do a fucking terrible job or if I feel like it won’t work out, I’ll throw you all out and tell you to get lost. So whether this will really be helpful or not is still unknown.”

I had to say this much to feel at ease without regrets.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇