Trails with Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Author Note:
The unexpected power of the heroine.
Thank you for the typo reports as always.
Chapter 047 – Fufufu, son. It’s the June Field Study⑤ [A]
Sara’s room was a one-room apartment.
As Rean lay in bed, Toval continued completing his report beside him in a busy manner. He held a report in his right hand and a communication device in his left.
Rutger Claussel was alive. The Palatinate Knight. The Zephyr was helping the Provincial Army……
Moreover, based on Alisa’s deductions, Panzer Soldat were most likely mass-produced machines.
If they were preparing not just one, but enough to form a group, providing for even the armored divisions in the regular army, which had been mainly using tanks, it would put them at an advantage.
This was because being able to operate in a similar way to Divine Knight meant that they would be able to carry out detailed strategic maneuvers.
Although they might be inferior to tanks in terms of their offensive power, Panzer Soldat more than make up for that with their versatility.
Though it was merely a speculation, how much of a resistance can they exert against them, knowing the dangers now? ……That was something the regular army and bracers, including Toval, would have to face personally eventually.
Feeling bored, Rean opened ARCUS and contacted Schmidt.
There was a chance that he might need to summon the Divine Knight, so he wanted to ask for permission.
Schmidt expressed his interest in the Palatinate Knight and asked Rean to bring more data about it back.
While Rean was reporting to Schmidt, Celine also seemed to have reported about Palatinate to Emma, and although Rean’s tendency to get caught in trouble caused her a headache, Emma seemed to be worried about Rean.
As Rean lay quietly in bed, unable to make small talk with the busy-looking Toval and unable to talk to Celine, there was a light knock on the door.
Upon sensing the unexpected visitor, Toval stopped what he was doing and turned to face Rean.
“Who is it?”
“Hm~…… from their presence, it seems to be the girl, named Valerie, whom I had helped yesterday.”
“Presence, you say…… oh well, if that’s the case, I guess I’ll open the door.”
Toval stood up and opened the door.
Just as Rean had said, there, in front of Toval, was the silver-haired girl he had helped yesterday, Valerie, holding a handbag.
“Um……”
“Hmm, what is it, young lady? Is there something you need here?”
“I’ve come here to thank you for the ordeal yesterday.”
“Ah~ Rean said that he had helped you yesterday.”
Toval, who had been listening in on the conversation, turned around to ask Rean what he should do.
Rean tried to stand up, but Toval reached out his hand to stop him.
“I’ll be leaving my seat for a bit. Just make use of the time till then.”
As if to show his consideration, Toval left the room with his communication device in hand.
Rean wondered if it was okay to let her in so casually, but since Toval, who was looking after the house on Sara’s behalf, gave permission, it probably wouldn’t be a problem.
Valerie entered the room just as Toval left, and gasped when she saw Rean lying on the bed.
Although his injuries had healed, Rean’s whole body was lightly bandaged, so at first glance, it probably looked like he had been seriously injured.
“Ah~ this is……”
“I’m sorry.”
“Eh?”
“I’m sorry…… I’m sorry……”
“Eh, what?!”
Valerie suddenly lowered her head and trembled.
Sensing the dangerous situation in which Valerie might burst into tears, Rean jumped off the bed and supported her.
“See, I’m fine. I’m fine, there’s no problem.”
Although Rean felt a dull pain, he felt uncomfortable seeing someone crying in front of him, even if it was someone he didn’t know well. Since Fie had been crying yesterday, Rean ran to comfort Valerie just the same.
Thanks to that, Valerie didn’t cry, but she kept her head down and didn’t say anything.
Still, Rean waited patiently, and finally Valerie looked up and began to speak slowly.
“I’m sorry, even though I came here to thank you.”
“I don’t mind. The fact you’re crying for me is the greatest show of gratitude I can receive.”
Truly, Rean, Osbon, and Valimar thought strongly.
“Um…………”
Valerie wanted to continue, but when she saw Rean, she hesitated.
Noticing her small fidgets and occasional glances back and forth between Rean and the bed, Rean nodded and lay down on the bed again.
Valerie sighed in relief. That seemed to be the correct thing to do.
“I’m truly sorry for forcing an injured person to move himself……”
“U~hn, I don’t really mind. But I’ll be troubled if you apologize excessively.”
“I’m so…… no, I understand.”
“So Valerie, was it? Why are you here?”
“This……”
Saying this, Valerie tried to hand over the handbag she was carrying.
But upon noticing Rean’s bandages, Valerie’s eyes quickly wandered, probably searching for Toval.
Rean told her “to not worry about it,” and took it from Valerie forcefully.
When Rean looked inside, it seemed to be food ingredients.
“Is this okay? Food should be a precious commodity in North Ambria.”
“I’m in a much better situation than most people.”
“I see, in that case, I’ll be happy to have it for lunch…… I’m curious, so I’ll just ask, who were you thinking of when you looked at me?”
“Gh.”
Valerie shrugged.
The person who seemed to be reflected in the eyes of the girl who had been apologizing earlier was not Rean, but someone else.
By that logic, it meant she had been in a similar situation before……
“You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to.”
“No, if you want to know, I’ll tell you as a sign of my gratitude…… Although I was raised in North Ambria, I was in a more fortunate position than most. While other children and adults suffered from poverty, I lived in an environment where I had food, clothing, and shelter. So the jealousy aimed at me was great.”
“Jealousy, huh?”
“It’s a story from long ago. There was a girl who used to get along with me normally…… but then malice towards me extended to her as well, and people even started harming people who had nothing to do with me.”
[——Go home! If you’re here, I will only get bullied!”]
Valerie clutched her head as if to try to hold back a headache, but she still continued on her story.
“When I saw Rean-san, I just remembered the scene from the past……”
“So that’s why you apologized. I get it. Thank you for telling me even though it was a difficult thing to do, Valerie.”
“No, this is also part of my gratitude and apology.”
“I see…… but since you grew up in such an environment, why did you go to town yesterday?”
“I couldn’t go to Sunday school, so I had a private tutor. So I went to the private school in town.”
“Can’t you invite the tutor over instead? It seems dangerous for Valerie to go out, though.”
“On the other hand, if someone saw the tutor coming into my house, it would be difficult for that person to walk in public. The tutor originally refused, but my family hired the tutor in exchange for a large amount of mira. But perhaps the tutor heard about the commotion yesterday…… After Sara-san dropped me off, the tutor declined to continue tutoring me and we went home with Sara-san escorting the tutor back.”
“………………”
Rean’s face twisted as Valerie calmly recounted what happened.
Rean had heard that North Ambria was a land of poverty and he saw it personally.
There were many thin people, from adults to children, and they probably weren’t getting enough nutrition.
Despite this, Valerie appeared healthy, with a shapely and well-toned body, which suggested she was getting the nutrient she needed without any problems.
Rean had seen just a glimpse of just how blessed that was in North Ambria.
“I’ve already heard so much, so would you mind if I asked further?”
“……You’re being very proactive. This is only the second time we’ve met, you know?”
“Sorry, I’m the type where once I get interested in something, I carry it all the way.”
“Even if that has nothing to do with you and there’s nothing you can do about it?”
“Even if it has nothing to do with me and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“What a troublesome person……”
“You might have noticed, but we are from foreign nation …… We are imperial citizens. We will leave this place tomorrow. If that happens, I’ll be in a constant state of turmoil, out of curiosity.”
“……As expected. No, if that’s the case, and considering it as a token of my gratitude, I’ll tell you.”
Valerie sighed, but still explained why she was called a devil’s child.
Aristocracy existed when North Ambria was still a Principality.
After it became a state, the system was abolished, but the wealth of nobility was retained, to a certain extent.
Naturally, any child lucky enough to be born into such a family became the object of envy, jealousy, and anger.
Valerie’s family was said to be well-off, and Rean did think of her as a child of a noble family, but it seemed that her family was related to the former Prince Balmund.
It was the traitorous head of state who was the first to flee from North Ambria when his homeland was put in dire straits by the Salt Pale.
Valerie’s family, which had ties to people like them, was said to be the devil’s family.
Through eyes of observation, Rean was able to understand to some extent what Valerie was feeling as she revealed things she had probably wanted to keep secret.
It might have been an act of desperation, brought on by the fact that someone had cut ties with her yesterday and the past wound of seeing Rean injured.
But having been saved by Rean, and having the excuse of being grateful, Valerie spoke her feelings in such a way that she even surprised herself.
Valerie even thought that maybe she just wanted someone to listen to herself, which was unusual for her.
“Well, that’s about it. Do you understand?”
“Aah, sorry for making you go through such a sad story.”
“No, I’m already used to it.”
“Well then, can I ask for one last act of gratitude?”
“…………You’re surprisingly quite a brazen person.”
“I’m going back tomorrow, so this is the last one.”
Valerie stared at Rean with a dull expression.
She held no feelings towards her benefactor, and her gaze instead somehow conveyed the words, “what a troublesome person.”
While ignoring her half-lidded eyes, Rean handed her the bag she had given him as a thank you gift.
“Then, take this.”
“What on earth?”
“Can you cook this for me? I’d rather eat something made by a local.”
“…………Haah, I understand.”
With a voice that was clearly cold with no emotion, Valerie began cooking, taking the apron, mittens, and bandana she had received from Osbon the day before.
Although she was from a wealthy family, she didn’t leave it to others to cook, as she seemed to enjoy cooking herself and her hands were skillful.
The delicious smell of vegetables and bacon filled the room. Taking a quick look, Rean noticed that she was using a pot and guessed that it might be some kind of soup.
Just as Valerie was about to finish cooking the food, Toval returned as if he had planned to at the moment.
“Oh~ that smells good…… Wait, Rean, you’re making someone you’ve barely met cook for you?”
“Is it not good?”
“I can’t say it’s not good since the person in question did not refuse it, but that’s pretty brazen of you.”
“She also told me that.”
“Then why did you ask her to do that……”
“Well, she gave food ingredients as gratitude, so……”
“Still, forcing her is not good.”
“No, it’s okay. I did think he is a more troublesome person than I thought, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is still an injured person now, after all.”
Valerie first cleared away the papers and other items on the table before placing a trivet made from dead North Ambrian wood in the middle of the table.
She then put her mittens back on and set down the steaming, appetizing pot of food.
It looked like a white soup, but also had a thick feeling like stew.
But there didn’t seem to have been any chicken in the ingredients she gave, thought Rean as he tried to guess what was inside, when Valerie then said coldly to Rean.
“This is……?”
“It’s clam chowder.”
“Simply put, it’s a soup made with shellfish. The soup, made with milk and shellfish stock, warms the body.”
“I don’t think it would have that much of an effect…… but anyway, I’ve given my thanks, so please excuse me……”
“Wait, wait. You said your classes are canceled, so you must be bored, right? Since you’re already here, let’s eat together.”
Rean called her to a halt. Valerie’s eyes naturally narrowed sharply.
It was definitely not a gaze supposed to be given to the benefactor she had coming to express her gratitude to.
It was the first time I’d ever seen the favorability towards a person reversed…… geez.
Toval awkwardly drank the liquor he had randomly picked up.
Meanwhile, Rean tried every trick to stop Valerie from leaving, and finally persuaded her with the final resort of telling her that the clam chowder she had worked so hard to make would go cold.
In this way, Rean forced Valerie, who refused, to join and the three ended up having lunch together.
Rean relaxed his cheeks as he chewed the clam chowder that had been served on a separate plate (he had also prepared a small plate for Celine).
“Delicious~”
“Indeed, I never thought I’d be able to eat such a comforting meal after coming to North Ambria. You have my thanks, Miss.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Is this Valerie’s favorite food?”
“…………Why do you think so?”
“Hunch.”
“Rean…………”
When Valerie showed feelings other than rejection, Rean showered her with ambiguous words, causing Toval to sigh.
But Rean added something to clarify the point.
“If I have to say more, when you sipped the soup, your mouth relaxed just a little bit. Don’t you think people tend to have a similar reaction to that when they eat their favorite food?”
“Is that the only reason? ……I don’t mean to flatter myself, but it might just mean that I’m glad it turned out delicious, you know?”
“But I could see that you seem to feel fulfilled for that.”
“…………Well, it’s not wrong to say that I like the food.”
“It’s quite unusual for a North Ambria’s person to like seafood like this. You’re obviously from the generation born after the disaster, aren’t you, Miss?”
“Simply put, I like white things. Also, back when we were trading with Jurai City State, seafood from that coastal area…… shellfish were often imported as well. It might be a remnant from that.”
“Is that so? I thought that there were a lot of people who didn’t like it because it reminds them of salt.”
“Because if you dye everything all white, the annoying feeling will go away.”
Toval stopped speaking when he heard the girl’s muffled voice.
Just as there were hardships for the poor in North Ambria, there were proportionate troubles for the rich.
Were they poor physically or mentally?
It seemed like a choice between two options, but they were connected like two sides of a coin.
Although Rean didn’t tell Toval, he probably had some idea of Valerie’s living environment based on her health conditions.
Although he was a bracer who had resolved many issues, disputes arising from the gap between the rich and poor were difficult to resolve.
When it came to North Ambria, all residents need to have equal security on an equal footing.
As for the poor, as long as the former Principality Army soldiers, known as Northern Jaegers, continued to struggle to earn huge amounts of mira abroad, they were able to survive just barely on the edge.
Unless it was annexed by a resource-rich great power like the Empire —— the land of North Ambria would likely remain the same forever.
[“’I wish people could just end this nation for good so I could rest’…… the residents of North Ambria in the post-disaster generation might have such thoughts somewhere in their hearts. Of course, there are those like Miss Sara who are fighting desperately for this.”]
[“Humans are troublesome creatures. If it’s difficult to live at a place, they should just move somewhere else.”]
Osbon spoke without joking.
As a cat, Celine spoke the logical solution without taking account of people’s sensitivities.
Just as Rean was about to open his mouth to respond, the entrance door opened again.
Sara came in, followed by the three from Group B…… all three of them looked somewhat depressed, especially Elliot.
“Welcome back, thanks for your hard work…… or so I’d like to say, but did something happen?”
“That’s what I’d like to ask as well, though. Hello, Valerie-chan. What did that idiot on the bed do to you?”
“Why are you assuming I did something to Valerie?”
“Because you did, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I just came to say hello, but then I was told to cook the food I brought as a token of gratitude and asked to have a meal with them.”
“Rean, that’s an additional report to write for you.”
“That’s tyranny!”
“……………Report?”
“Ah~…… well, we came here to do some research, it’s about those documents.”
Sara didn’t say that they were here as part of an academy class.
Her judgment was that even if they were wealthy, they shouldn’t say anything that would give the impression that the group were there as tourists.
“For now, come inside everyone. It’s small…… but Rean, if you can stand already, please move a bit.”
“Got it.”
Rean’s physical condition had almost returned to normal, and he had recovered enough to return to field study in the afternoon.
Rean sat up on the bed, with Valerie and Toval sitting on either side of him.
Sara and the other members of Group B sat at the table that had been used up until now.
“There’s still some clam chowder left, so eat that and warm yourselves up.”
“Valerie was the one who made it, so be sure to thank her.”
“Please stop that……”
Valerie turned her face away as Rean put his hands together as if praying.
Hoping for some animal therapy, Rean placed Celine on Valerie’s lap after she had finished her meal.
Both Celine and Valerie seemed annoyed, but they quietly accepted it as Valerie stroked Celine’s fur.
The meal itself proceeded without incident, but the atmosphere which had been filled with lively conversation, regardless of the content of the said conversation just a moment ago, had now become chilly.
“What happened?”
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