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He was acting like a spoiled child. It was the right answer to forcibly relocate his guards to an inn. If they learned this was their elder, it could lead to a revolution in the spring village.

“Give it a rest already. You failed to make Sylph yield, am I wrong?”
“…Not wrong.”
“So?”
“…But still, I need you!”

What is this, a tearjerker to coax me? Gross…

A geezer that’s over 200 years old acting spoiled will only make me more disgusted and I already am.

He’s not giving up even after giving him a reason to. Not even if I tell him I’m an ill-natured woman who used his love for gain.

He’ll die if I beat him up, and if I actually took a hostile stand, I’m not sure what the patriarchs would do to him. All the doors were closed…

“Just start hating me already…”
“…I’m the one to decide that.”

He was saying something cool, but everything else about him was ruining it.

As I was already considering just ignoring him, Cathy walked up to me.

“Illya… Do you have any ideas…”

She was appealing to me, having lost even the strength to stand already.

She wants an idea, but it wasn’t so easy to think up something to get over this heat.

Hot baths… hotpot… vegetables that could lower the body temperature weren’t present in this season…

As I was searching for ideas and looked around, I saw something.

The snow sculptures enshrined outside the window that retained their shape even in this heat due to my magic.

I had to remove the spell to cool ourselves with them, but if I did they would melt right away.

“…Let’s just dissolve them then.”

Cathy and others tilted their heads with empty eyes. If people see others laze before their eyes, it would lead to a vicious cycle where they would continue shaving away each other’s energy. Thus, I decided to make haste and got to work.

Scattered droplets. Soaked limbs.

This place that was filled with laughter and cheers now used to be a great vacant lot only used for storing ingredients until just earlier. But it wasn’t empty now, and instead, there was a giant round tub there filled to the brim with water.

“So this is the pool… feels so good…”

Cathy floating near the edge of the tub muttered with an ecstatic expression.

Ria, who was floating with a swim ring next to her, had a similar melted expression.

“Pools are supposed to be a luxury only intended for upper-class citizens tho.”

The adults were cooling off near the edge like the two. The closer you went to the center the more the ratio of children increased. As for why, it was because the water spring was located in the center.

Water was absorbed by the ducts near the edge. It then flowed underground into the water tank, which was then cooled by the ice crystal used for refrigerating, and then cleaned by the water crystal which had a filtrating effect. And then, the clean water was spurted out from the center by the water crystal that had a pumping effect.

“Who would think the crystals used for pulling up well water and improving its quality could be used like this.”

Erius muttered with a wry smile next to me.

Nina was happily swimming where he was looking, but he himself was in convalescence so he was just looking on. The vice-branch master just declared “you made this so you supervise it too” and was gazing at the pool from the shade together with me as I sat grasping my knees.

Erius waved back at Nina, then turned my way and gave a deep bow.

“Once again, thank you. It’s all thanks to your assistance that I can be here.”
“Please raise your head.”

I shook my head as he raised his face.

“Nina was the one who saved you. Me, the Elder, Parsha, and Gabril simply assisted her.”
“…Even so.”
“I’m especially not the one you should be thanking.”

I didn’t even notice it was him at the start. Though I wasn’t that interested in him during my time with Nina, that was still pretty heartless of me.

Plus, I simply did my job.

“I was properly compensated for it.”

When Nina came to issue the commission, she broke down crying for not having any money for it.

Thus, I instead offered her to apply for item remuneration instead.

Item remuneration referred to the system where you either paid using an item instead of money, or had the guild cover it for you in exchange for handing the rights to the items that the quest would bring over to the guild. However, it doesn’t apply to clients like the kingdom or the lord, and was only limited to the guild members.

This time was the latter. We recovered the Wind Crystal Pillar that strayed off course due to Sylph’s carefree usage of it, and it was given to our branch.

“…I see. Then I suppose it would be rude of me to keep forcing the matter.”
“Indeed.”

Erius smiled somewhat wryly, and I also returned a pure smile.

“T-Those two have a nice mood going there, don’t they?!”

I heard Nina screaming from the water, while Sylph laughed at her.

The two of us denied the accusation and this time she started chasing Sylph around for teasing her. Parsha got rolled up into it too, and it turned into a great clamor with Gabril in the middle of it trying to pacify everyone.

“…I was anxious, actually.”
“Anxious?”

Erius nodded while looking at Nina.

“While I was playing with Sylph so harm wouldn’t come to her… I worried whether some other guy would take her away…”
“…Sigh.”

Yeah, that’s not happening.

He sensed my exasperation and gave me a miserable smile.

“In the Union, there’s a saying that goes like, ‘a woman’s heart changes as easily as winter wind’ so I was quite on the edge.”

It was translated so the exact phrase was a little different, but it was basically the same as the Japanese expression ‘a woman is as fickle as autumn weather.’

I think the ‘winter wind’ part was used in the English version of that phrase.

Anyway, it was a proverb that said that a woman’s love toward a man was easily changed, and that the feelings were full of undulation.

“Then it should be fine all the more, isn’t it? You two have won against the winter wind, after all.”
“…You’re right.”

The current incident seemed to have deepened their bonds, his expression no longer had any anxiety or doubt.

But what about them?

About Gabril and Parsha, people from two different species, who were aware of each other’s love and intently searched for a way to obtain a similar appearance. Unable to suppress her love, Nina even picked a fight with the great spirit for her lover, while the lolicon who came to court me from afar was rejected even after showing his sincerity(?), yet he still didn’t give up on love.

Something like the weather could be enjoyed by using ingenuity as long as it wasn’t some calamity.

“…Love, on the other hand, is much harder to control compared to the weather.”
“Huh?”

Erius’s expression cramped up, apparently taking my mutter as if I meant someone would steal her away.

…That reminds me, they also say, ‘a man’s heart is as fickle as autumn’s weather,’ don’t they?

“Please treasure Nina well, okay?”

I won’t forgive you if you sadden her, okay?

As I said that with a smile, he nodded with a humble expression.

Eventually, he headed to the pool to stop Nina, then everyone glanced at me and the turmoil died down. I’m not sure what he told them, but I’ll refrain from asking.

They then resumed having fun in the water.

I continued to rest in the shade while waving back to Nina and others who waved at me every now and then with smiles.

As an observer, I wished this pleasant time would continue forever with no incidents.