Page 177

(Aurevia Bratio Ilf / Barella)

At six o'clock, in the autumn, the arrival of this time meant the arrival of the night.

Josephton Village, as if it had been reborn, was filled with new buildings. After finishing a day's work, the villagers wiped away their sweat and gathered in the square for dinner.

I had always known that Walson was very skilled in "creating" things... but in just three days, he had created a village of considerable scale with complete living facilities. It was simply unheard of.

I could even see several three-meter-tall power puppets assisting in the work... Can Walson really do such things?

Speaking of power puppets, the first thing that comes to mind is the dwarven steam technology of Mahamatra, but those puppets I had seen a few times during my past visits were very different from the ones here now...

In any case, thanks to Walson, the people in the village had been blessed. From the despair of losing their homes, they had been brought to a hopeful paradise.

...I always feel that Walson likes doing things like this... whether it's these villagers or me, who once lost my [Elf weapon].

He acted like it was a piece of cake afterward, and didn't seem to want any repayment... If it were someone else, I would definitely suspect ulterior motives, but with Walson... given his abilities, maybe it really was just a piece of cake for him.

Sometimes, out of interest and kindness, he was also willing to do more... but this time, he really went too far.

Inside the room where the curtains were already drawn, it was quietly dark. The only thing that could be seen was the slightly hazy moonlight that penetrated the curtains.

As I entered the room, I held a small bowl of freshly cooked plain fish soup in my hand.

"Miss Aure..." In response to the sound of the door closing, the person who responded was Melon.

In these past few days, the care for Walson had been in the form of everyone taking turns. Melon didn't even want to take her turn anymore, and she had been sitting here quietly looking after Walson all day.

In the dim moonlight, Melon's expression appeared very tired... Walson had been sick for three days now, and she had been tirelessly taking care of him for three days without rest.

"Melon, go and rest. I'll take over from here," I said in a low voice.

"But, but if I go to rest, Master...," Melon hesitated, or rather, her expression was not one of hesitation but rather one of extreme helplessness.

"Sigh..." I couldn't help but sigh. "Do you think Walson would want you to push yourself like this?"

Previously, due to losing to Lori Avett, Melon had undergone a drastic change. She finally realized that being obsessed with combat ability was meaningless in light of Walson's illness... but now she had become like this.

This was definitely not what that fool would want.

"Master...?"

"What do you think Walson would tell you right now?"

"...He would probably order me to rest," Melon thought for a few seconds, and her gaze suddenly cleared.

I smiled and shrugged.

"I understand. I'll take it from here, Miss Aure." Melon stood up, gave me a very standard gesture of gratitude, and then left the room.

Inside the room, it returned to its quiet state.

I turned my head and looked in the direction of the weakened Walson.

Walson was lying on the bed, covered in cold sweat, his eyes tightly closed, his lips pale, and he was breathing weakly.

Dragging a sick body like this, first battling a formidable enemy, then expending so much energy, and almost no rest before rebuilding this village...

What on earth was he thinking!? With such a terrible physical condition, he could have easily set up a few simple tents temporarily, but he decided to build an entire village all at once... Even if his recovery ability was strong, didn't he think about the possibility of getting sick!?

"Are you okay? Do you want to eat something?" I walked to the bedside, placed the fish soup on a small table nearby, and spoke softly.

However, despite the various complaints swirling in my mind, what came out of my mouth was unexpectedly gentle in tone.

Walson didn't respond, he just opened his eyes with confusion.

"Even if you don't want to, you still need to eat a bit. You haven't eaten in three days," I sat on the edge of the bed, gently lifted Walson's upper body with my arm, and let him lean against me.

For a male, Walson's body can be considered as small, that's probably due to his young age, not like it matters, I didn't have any complaints about his height, I actually found it a bit cute...

This unresisting and soft Walson was seeing this for the first time... If it were before, he would probably be delighted to have such intimate contact with me, right? But looking at the current Walson, I felt nothing but sadness and tenderness in my heart, and no other emotions.

"Grace?" It seemed like my actions had awakened Walson, who spoke weakly.

"Huh?" I was a bit taken aback.

A few seconds later, I realized that Walson's gaze was hazy and unfocused... He seemed to be in a state of confusion, a half-awake and half-asleep state, wasn't that what it's called?

But to utter another woman's name in such a condition... He was as excessive as ever, that sinful guy.

I couldn't help but mutter.

"...Well, Walson, it's time to eat," I thought about how to mimic Grace's tone.

In the current ambiguous state of our relationship, what I was doing was already somewhat overstepping boundaries... So it's best to leave it at that.

It's not like I wanted him to know why I was doing this.

"I...can do it myself..." Walson reached out his trembling hand.

I looked at his hand, which had almost no strength... Oh, right, this guy had another flaw, he was too considerate of others.

I ignored Walson's struggles and began to semi-forcefully feed him spoonfuls of soup.

With his weakened body, plus with his class as a [Villager] and possibly his hunger, he quickly gave in.

"Without you here, there are suddenly so many people who need to be taken care of," I said, feeling relieved as I saw Walson eat.

Yeah, in your current state, everyone is on edge all day.

There is no need to mention how on edge Melon is, moreover, that tomboyish princess, Derisha, frequently took sneaky glances at the cabin's window, with a frequency of about once every hour, even in the evening.

As for Grace... although she seemed to be quietly reading a book, in reality, the page she had been on had remained at page sixty-seven for a long time.

...Oh my, looking at myself now, this is definitely something my past self who live in Braatio could never have imagined.

In my homeland, as a ruling class of high elves, we believed ourselves to be the superior race, deeply rooted in disdain for concepts like humans and demi-humans. I was no exception at that time.

Now, despite being a high elf, I've fallen in love with a human, to the point where I'm willing to cook for him every day...

In the past, I did have cooking skills, but rather than a specialty, it was more of an interest and even a means for me to spend more time with Barlon.

But now, all I want is for Walson to get better soon.

...Although the scheduled destination of this journey does include my homeland, it's just a brief visit. I'll continue to follow Walson afterwards.

After all, whether it's the arrogant and self-centered attitude of those high elves or the scheming of high society, I probably can't get used to that kind of lifestyle anymore.

...

Despite it being beyond what I had imagined in the past.

I really like myself as I am now.