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G’morning! I’m holding a Fenrir in my hands right now~! Nah, it’s a lie. Norn and Bell were too heavy. Anyway, I’m Ren.

What happened with the staff of the guild the other day was very troublesome, right?

A few days after that, they told me how they would punish that man called Ricardo. They would transfer that guy elsewhere. It’s almost the same as a demotion.

Since there would be a large-scale subjugation this winter, he would follow the royal capital’s Guild Submaster, who would go to the base of a big subjugation point and command it, to do chores and work hard. Also, the staff would continue to receive severe treatment even after they passed the subjugation craze period… Praise Buddha.

By the way, they told me to keep this a secret since this subjugation was still confidential. Why would I even talk about it?

I also heard a little about the reformation of the guild.

The guild in this country had a reliable maintenance system, and they had a strong tendency to maintain the status quo even if it was utterly worthless. Nearly half of the current executives were such conservatives. By the way, Gilmouth and his faction were reformists.

Although they wanted to reduce the mortality rate of the newcomers and tried various things, they couldn’t do much because they lacked human resources. They were unable to operate well because Gilmouth had been negotiating with the headquarters, the foreign country’s guild, this country’s nobles, and the other guild’s staff, something like that. No, even if you tell me that, I don’t understand, but it sounds quite pressing though¹…

It seemed that they were moving forward at a fantastic pace after they could finally reform with leadership. Once the reformists increased their control, they had been dealing with the current conservatives and severely punished the corrupt staff… Just don’t involve me, okay? Anyway, changing the way they operate so much would cause a lot of problems, so I advised them not to be too impatient to change it.

Besides, I more or less taught them about the layout of the classroom, but it might be possible for them to hire someone who went to an aristocratic school. Using that as a reference should be a good idea. Regarding the teaching method, they wouldn’t be able to teach unless they had someone in charge of that, so I’ll pass. It’s too much of a hassle.

Other than that, there was also something not worth worrying about: the popularization of the carry carts had increased the number of materials brought into the guild, and the profits likewise increased… woooow, isn’t that amazing? (monotone)

Anyway, today was the day of my blacksmith training. I was in the middle of my break time. I didn’t have any appointments with Triela and the others today.

Since it was already late September, there were days when the wind was cold now and then, but since I was blacksmithing, I felt so hot and sweaty. Today, I decided to go to the side street to get exposed to the wind. Fuu, it’s cool.

“Yaaawn~”

Yeah, there’s no one here. It’s okay for me to make a weird voice. It’s not crowded at this time~

“U-um!”
“Fwah!?”

Gah!? There’s a person!?

“Ah, yes. What is it?”

I tried to reply, hiding my shock using [Concealment] and [Disguise]. Don’t talk to me so suddenly! I was surprised! …Ah, Norn, it’s fine, okay? You shouldn’t bite him, understand?

“U-um! I… I! I-I’m working in that workshop, um! B-b-before, uhh!”

Hmm, he looked like he was going to blow a fuse soon. How about calming down a little? Yes, take a deep breath. In, out, okay? Okay, it seems like he has calmed down. So what’s the issue? …This kid seemed to be an apprentice blacksmith working in the neighboring workshop. He was around thirteen to fifteen years old. Anyway, the reason he called me was… he asked me if we could play together at the harvest festival next week. Ahh, so it’s already that time, huh…

The harvest festival took around three to five days, starting from the end of September to the beginning of October. It was to celebrate this year’s harvest, not forgetting to make it especially festive as a prayer for a good harvest next year.

It wasn’t celebrated large-scale in the city² I used to live in, but they would make several food stalls and distribute foods at the church. Since we orphans didn’t have money, we went to get a portion of the food distribution. After that, we stole a glance at the street performers from a distance. How nostalgic…

And naturally, the harvest festival would be a completely different thing in the royal capital. And this boy wanted to invite me to go to the harvest festival together. Hmm?

That’s right… Maybe I should talk about this to Triela and the others? After all, we had a class tomorrow. That’s why, yeah. I’m sorry.

The boy walked back to his workshop, very downhearted. As I glanced at him, I was excited with the expectations of the harvest festival. Fufufu, I’m such a wicked woman!

…Ah, several apprentices and shop boys were looking at me from a distance. Perhaps they had the same purpose as the boy? No way, let’s run away. And so I immediately took refuge in the workshop.

But if they were aiming at me, that means they could see my face, right? When did they see it? Maybe when I was chatting with Triela and the others? Hmm?

Anyway, it’s the last day of class! Let’s wrap this up and go home! I don’t want to do this anymore since it was too troublesome!

The class has ended. Eh? Did I skip over too many things? Even if you said that…

In the end, Ryuu didn’t have good results. But since he was working hard, he might manage somehow. After this, Maricle would do something about this!

Boman, who lacked motivation, was more or less the same as Ryuu… or a little better? I’d been thinking about this since I was in the orphanage, but I never thought his lack of motivation and procrastination tendencies were a laughing matter. But at least he didn’t cause inconveniences to those around him… I’ll leave him to Maricle too. Or Cain, I don’t care.

The others were excellent. I was somewhat worried about Arle and Kuro, but they did pretty well.

And the others who received the benefit from being my friend’s benefactor were forced to cram everything.

Sheryl was around the same level as Arle. I wasn’t very sure about her sister, Melty, but she reached the passing mark.

Gim was able to read to some extent, so I didn’t think he would face any particular problems. That was about what I expected from him. He started late, but he studied seriously.

The rest were his colleagues. They were better than Ryuu but worse than Arle. One of them could read, write, and calculate well, so that person should do their best to teach their friends after this.

Anyway, the fool, Ryuu, asked me if I would treat them since this was the last day, and the others who joined him started to make noise… Hey, why should I do something special because it’s the last day? It’s too much of a problem.

I tried to dodge this as usual, but Maricle suddenly ambushed! He liked the pork bowl I made for him before, so he wanted to eat it again.

Maricle was usually silent and didn’t get involved, so everyone became excited. I would reject the request from the three idiots, but since this was Maricle’s, I gave up and made it. But since there was a material cost for rice, I made the price higher than usual.

I thought it would end like that, but they kept asking for a second serving. Just how were they able to maintain such slender bodies?

Since we already went this far, I decided to give them a little more service. So I made candies as dessert. I made them when I went to the depths of the forest to relieve my stress³. By the way, the flavors were honey and orange. I made a lot of other flavors, but they could only have these two, okay? And don’t ask for another one!

As I glanced at everyone who became speechless because of the candy, I tried to suggest going to the harvest festival together to Triela, but she invited me first. Muu! So we were thinking the same thing?

“So what do you think? Won’t you go with me?”

Bending a little while staring at me with hopeful eyes… Triela, when did you learn such an advanced skill!? I have to go now since she already made such a face! No, I won’t refuse her from the beginning too.

“Of course I will go. By the way, what about the other kids?”
“Arle and Kuro are going to go with Sheryl and the others. What about Rico?”
“Of course, I’m going with you! Together with Ren!”

Aww, cute… The fools were watching us, but I ignored them! Don’t look at us!

After that, I returned to the workshop and practiced blacksmithing as usual. Err, did I make around 160 swords this month? Would it be possible to make a magic sword and gain experience for that soon?

Well, leaving that aside, I probably should make new clothes for my outing tomorrow. I had to kill the virgins⁴… But I’m still putting on the cloak on the top. And cover my face with the hood. But this is this, and that is that! Since I didn’t get a lot of chances to dress up, I had to be prim and preen!

And that’s how I would have a date with Triela and the others next week. Yay!⁵

1. Lilth: They explained all this last chapter or whatever and here they just made it sound so confusing
2. Silva: ?? this sentence made it sound like it was the “orphanage that opened the food stalls
   Lilith: Maybe it was? Orphanages tend to be rather, you know, giving
   Silva: hm… well, I’ll just use “city” for failproof
3. Lilith: “Stress”
4. Lilith: :think:
5. Robinxen: I have a habit of putting footnotes at the end of the novels I edit so I’m gonna leave a footnote at the end of this novel that I publish as a joke.