Chapter 49
It is strange. I seem to recall a vow to do exactly as I pleased.
‘Why, upon coming to my senses, am I engaged in such tedious tilling of a field?’
Irene, who had been diligently overturning the soil with a shovel, suddenly raised her head.
As she stood there blinking blankly, the sound of a long shovel being thudded into the ground echoed from behind her. Naturally, it was a sound made by Idris, who was tilling the field alongside her.
‘Ah, right, this person was working so hard that I could not bring myself to spoil the mood, so I ended up joining him.’
Irene let out a hollow laugh at herself for performing farmwork she was never destined for, yet she made a firm resolution. Seeing Idris so absorbed in the task, she somehow found herself unable to tell him to stop.
This will not do. I should at least strike up a conversation to slack off.
“By the way, do you think we should set up something like a fence?”
“I had not thought of that at all, but I believe it would be best to set one up.”
“Then let us try making one later. There are several planks in the large storage shed, so we can use those.”
“Yes. It seems it will suffice to simply get the general shape right.”
Leaving a brief reply, Idris began to concentrate on shoveling again. It was a level of tenacity that made one wonder if he had ever truly been on the verge of starvation. Irene, who was clicking her tongue, opened her eyes wide at a realization that brushed through her mind.
Hmm, but come to think of it, there is almost no reason for a beast to come all the way to the front of the cabin, is there?
She opened her mouth to call Idris immediately. However, having inhaled a breath, she stopped mid-motion.
Come to think of it, she thought it would look quite pretty if she set up a fence and painted it white. She always had a great deal of interest in decorating this and that.
Inwardly, there was also a desire to see Idris diligently cutting and setting up the planks. She felt that even watching this might be fascinating.
‘Ah, it would be perfect if I asked him to paint pictures on it!’
It was a perfect plan that ensured she would not be bored. She lightly ignored issues such as Idris’s unnecessary suffering. Instantly wiping her expression clean, Irene smiled with satisfaction and began shoveling again. The rough texture of her brown skirt fluttered crudely.
The joy of her imagination lasted only a moment, and as time passed, Irene’s hands slowed down noticeably. It was an unavoidable reaction born of boredom.
‘To think a day would come when I would rather go gathering instead.’
I want to stop. With that heart, she glanced at Idris, but he was still lost in the trance of farming. Just as she was about to give up on her desires, Idris, who had been working at a speed incomparable to hers, suddenly stopped his shovel.
Irene straightened her body with anticipation. She craned her neck, trying hard to peer at the spot where his gaze was fixed.
“A mole, of all things.”
“Pardon?”
Idris, who had muttered quietly, took up the large shovel again and began to fiercely dig out the earth. His arms, where veins were bulging intensely to unearth the hard ground, moved busily.
Idris, bending his body, reached down to the floor in one breath and nimbly snatched something. In his hand, just as he had said, a single mole was squirming.
“……A mole lived here?”
Since it was not a presence that posed a threat, she had not known at all.
“As you can see.”
Idris shrugged his shoulders. The sight of the small grey bundle of fur struggling with all its might inside his large hand appeared quite pathetic.
“It was in the exact spot where we intend to make the field, of all places. If I had not discovered it, this fellow might have ruined the farming.”
“Really? This is quite a spiteful little fellow then. Shall I strike it down hard?”
“……No, it is fine. Put the shovel away for a moment. I believe we can just release it in the forest.”
Idris dissuaded Irene, who seemed ready to strike the mole’s head with the blade of her shovel at any moment. He shifted the hand holding the small beast slightly further away from Irene.
However, Irene only lowered the shovel she had raised threateningly and still looked at the mole with an indifferent gaze.
“What if it ends up burrowing under my flower bed?”
“Do moles do that as well? I know nothing other than that they sometimes interfere with farming.”
“What are you saying. If you do not know, Mr. Idris, there is no way I would know.”
Aha-ha. Irene waved her hand as she let out a bold, clear laugh. Her smile deepened further.
To think a thing like this lived in a tunnel right underneath without her knowing at all. It was unavoidable, but it was not pleasant. Especially looking at that appearance.
“If this fellow has a share in the times my flower bed was damaged and withered, I would certainly like to take my revenge, you know?”
It is not that I am in a bad mood, but for now, I think it would be perfect for relieving my mood.
She spoke as if it were a joke, but to anyone watching, it seemed like she meant it. Thinking so, Idris chose his words carefully. It seemed better here to provide a reversal later rather than agreeing immediately. Irene sometimes displayed a contrary, or perhaps tree-frog-like temperament, and she was currently quite generous toward him.
“Revenge is not the only answer. There is a wonderful concept called forgiveness in this world.”
“Hmm, Mr. Idris, unlike how you look, you are a bit, how shall I put it…… Ah, right! You have a side to you that is like a pushover.”
The scolding thrown with her characteristic innocent smile was irritating, but he could not refute it.
Being a Holy Knight, what was he supposed to do when his professional ethics were like this?
“If you go so far as to say that, Mr. Idris, then well. I understand.”
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