Busy, Busy

With the Tree Guardian Beast unveiling event safely finished, we decided to head home.

“Ufufufu, we can finally take it easy today.”

When I looked up at the sky, it was true—the sun hadn’t set yet.

I’d thought it would take much longer, so I hadn’t scheduled anything else for today.

Just like Aira said, it looked like we could relax a little.

Oh, and for the record, right now Aira and Nadja had firmly grabbed my arms on either side.

Their grip was so strong it felt like they were saying, I won’t let you escape, and I couldn’t help but give a wry smile.

“Woody, I’m not letting you get away.”

I really hadn’t expected her to say exactly what I’d been thinking.

Sweating under the vise-like strength of Nadja’s grip, I walked home.

Not to be outdone, Aira tightened her grip on my other arm as well.

I wasn’t a handgrip strength tester, so I really wished they wouldn’t squeeze so hard.

But I figured this was probably their way of being affectionate, so I clenched my teeth and endured it like a man.

Both of them hadn’t had much private time lately, and it seemed like the stress had built up.

After we got home, I started to feel a little peckish, so we decided to have a snack break.

For now, we all nibbled on fruit together.

“I like mangoes—they’re really sweet!”

“Oh my, it seems a child’s palate can’t appreciate the delicate flavor of loquats.”

The fruits that had newly become cultivable were also getting rave reviews.

Mangoes, in particular, were extremely popular, and I’d already received several requests asking me to plant more.

I ate a mango that Aira had peeled for me.

This fruit had a sticky, rich texture that clung to the back of your teeth.

“Here you go, Woody-sama. Say ah—”

“Ah—yeah, the sweetness is intense.”

The moisture inside the fruit burst in my mouth with every bite.

Once you tasted it, other fruits started to feel lacking by comparison.

It was sweet enough to make you worry you’d get sick if you ate too much.

I could definitely understand why so many people were clamoring for it.

Before I was able to plant them myself, I’d never eaten a mango.

No matter how much I dug through my memories, I couldn’t recall it ever appearing on the table.

At the very least, I’d never heard of them being cultivated in the kingdom.

They were probably fruit trees that grew in either cold regions or tropical ones.

I didn’t have proof, but they resembled lacquer trees I’d seen during a vacation once, so my guess was tropical.

“Woody, cleanse your palate before eating the loquat.”

“Of course.”

I rinsed my mouth with the Fruit Tea Resemble Nadja handed me, then took a bite of the loquat.

Its subtle sweetness felt a bit lacking at first, but that made it easy to keep eating.

Incidentally, loquats had their own group of supporters.

Among the fruits I could grow, they were the least sweet, which made them popular with older folks who found overly sweet things too much.

“If only we could make something like fruit syrup.”

Since fruit by itself didn’t offer much variety, we’d been experimenting in our spare time to see if we could create specialty products using fruit.

After fruit tea, we were currently working on syrups made entirely from fruit.

The sweetness was strong, so if we could concentrate it well, I thought it might work.

“Woody-sama, are you all right?”

“Huh? Do I really look that strange?”

“…(silently nods)”

Without saying a word, Aira handed me a small mirror.

Reflected there was a man with heavy dark circles and a bloated-looking face.

Life as a lord was actually pretty busy.

From tax collection to hearing petitions, from issuing guilty verdicts in trials to mediating disputes—it covered an enormous range of duties.

Sometimes I couldn’t help but think it was just too much.

If I said that even working from morning till night only made the backlog grow, you might understand how hard it was.

Lately, with my lack of sleep, my face looked especially awful.

“I’ll go to bed early today…”

“You said the exact same thing yesterday (firmly).”

“Ugh…”

With her cutting statement, all I could do was groan.

But if things stayed as they were, my sleep problem wasn’t going to be solved.

The people here had lived in the desert for a long time, and hardly anyone knew the kingdom’s administrative methods.

There wasn’t a single civil servant—no one who could even act as an assistant.

If only there were at least one person good with numbers, things would be easier.

“…Oh, right.”

I suddenly remembered something.

Back when I’d been checking the aptitudes of the villagers in Guinea.

I was pretty sure there’d been someone with the aptitude of Mathematician.

If I could have him learn the job…

Maybe I could entrust him with handling tax-related work.

And so, acting on impulse, I was just about to head straight to Guinea—

“—No. Today, you’re going to sleep properly. Work isn’t going anywhere.”

“Y-yes, ma’am…”