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I somehow persuaded the three and Gadius who looked wholeheartedly displeased. I had Gadius work on getting rid of the extra ornaments, and meanwhile had them do something about being half-naked.

“Anyway, first wear something.”
“Come on…”

The three raised voices of dissatisfaction with my instructions. But I wasn’t calling out their fashion sense here. There were many harmful insects like mosquitoes inside the forest so walking all naked like that would be free real estate for the bugs.

Elven traditional clothes seemed to have high exposure but they still properly covered the ends of limbs. Even Michelle and I covered our legs with thigh-high socks. So those guys with their upper halves exposed were obviously no good.

Even from the protection perspective, I had them wear thick shirts that, although not on the leather armor’s level, still offered good enough defense against bugs and leeches, and could even deal with attacks.

Protectors made by clothes pasted tightly together have been around since ancient times, in fact. If they put on those studded belts that they used for decoration on top of it, it would turn into decent armor.

“Next would be swords, but let me see them just in case.”
“R-Right.”

I took the three’s swords and checked how they were maintained.

I wasn’t as knowledgeable about weapons as Gadius, but I could still tell good and bad ones apart. I was particularly knowledgeable about swords since I used to long for being a knight.

In my eyes, their swords were far too good for them.

“Did you guys choose these?”
“No, my dad gave it to me as a farewell gift.”
“Same here.”
“Yeah me too.”
“Hmm, you seem to be loved. These swords are pretty good.”

In the first place, I thought they’d use axes instead of swords, given their sense of fashion, so I questioned this choice. But their earlier answers cleared away my doubts. Looks like they were spoiled a lot and eventually could no longer stay in their village after overdoing their pranks.

They weren’t on the level of famous swords, but they looked sturdy and the handling balance wasn’t bad either.

When amateurs chose swords, they only focused on the sharpness and tended to choose brittle swords, but the performances of these swords were optimized for survival.

Their parents probably gave them as good swords as they could out of worry once they had no choice but to drive them away.

“They aren’t too long or short either and are easy to handle. Not bad.”
“Yeah, I can use it like an extension of the arm so I like it quite a bit too.”
“You said it. It made me think swords were cool too, not just axes.”
“I’ll make success in life with the sword.”

They heard me say something positive for the first time, so they started getting carried away.

“Don’t get ahead of yourselves. Say that only after you have gotten through Cloud’s defenses.”
“Big sis, you’re quite mean, telling us to win against a master like that.”
“Who’re you calling a big sis.”

They started calling me big sis in a familiar manner. They’re probably the types to butter up to those stronger than themselves, but I wasn’t old enough to warrant being called that by people older than me. Besides, we shouldn’t be wasting any more time on their preparations here. We also had to get our horses prepared.

We couldn’t use the carriage inside the forest, but Cloud could still ride his horse. Besides, we have to harvest potatoes this time, so I wanted to have at least one horse with us for transport.

Horses weren’t only for carrying luggage but injured people as well, so we’d be ready in the off-chance something happens. Plus, these bunch clearly underestimated the forest so I could see them getting exhausted along the way.

“Anyway, let’s call it a day here. Resting your body properly the day before your work is also part of adventuring.”
“Gotcha!”

At any rate, now that they started listening to me, this commission became easier to do. We also had to rest our bodies, so I decided to return to the inn to rest for the day. Fortunately, Gadius’ inn had a big bath, so we could relax there.

“So…you ended up doing everything again, huh?”

At night after the bath, I went to explain the details to Gadius, and he answered with that grumble.

Michelle came at me to fondle my boobs, but I told her to restrain herself and sleep since we had work tomorrow. Now there was only Finia next to me. Of course, I had her restrain herself too.

The cafeteria was already closed, so it was just the three of us there.

“Now that you mentioned it, maybe it was something like that.”
“No point beating around the bush. You really haven’t improved since the past life.”

As Gadius said, it was mostly me who gave instructions to those three.

This job should have been for Michelle, Finia, and Cloud, to raise their juniors and grow themselves in the process, so it wasn’t good for me to get involved so much.

But even after knowing that I ended up getting involved. Gadius’ grumble was quite valid.

“I mean, it just… happened?”
“Lady Nicole is too kind so it’s understandable, Lord Gadius.”
“I do understand what you mean, Finia, but this was also for Reid’s growth. Let me give my candid advice.”
“I understand that but…”
“It’s fine, Finia. Gadius is right on this one.”

Raising juniors and reflecting on yourself. That was supposed to be the goal, but I ended up spoiling it. I was repeating the same mistakes as I did in my past life without learning from them, so I had to accept Gadius’ words.

This time’s commission was something I shouldn’t butt in too much.

“Sorry. So yeah, I will hold back starting from tomorrow. My apologies, but keep that in mind, Finia.”
“Understood. Should I tell Michelle and Cloud too?”
“Right. Them staying quiet because they rely on me would be scary, so tell them briefly about it.”
“Okay. Still, it makes me quite excited to act as a teacher.”
“You should just do it like Maria did when she taught us in the past… probably. I think?”
“Please don’t word it as a question. It only makes me more nervous!”

Finia pumped her fist and objected to my advice.

I could sense her intimacy even from such flustered gestures as of late. In the past, she used to keep her distance without objecting even after losing her presence of mind. But after she learned my identity, I feel like she shortened the distance a bit too much.

While thinking of such things, I headed to my room to sleep early.