This person is the one who destroyed the Dartanel family and the Deauville family. Eliza is now living well in the Helan territory, but she ought to have been protected by this person in the first place. I somehow could not forgive that, and a slight anger stirred within me.
“Mister Kururi Helan. I can somewhat sense your feelings towards me.”
“Is that so? That is wise of you.”
“Please stop with the sarcasm. Rather than that, I have something to tell you first.”
“What could it be?”
“It is about my daughter, Eliza. I obtained the information that Eliza was living in the mansion of the Helan landlord since a while ago. However, as I didn’t want to show my daughter my unsightly self, I decided to entrust her to you. I want to express my apologies and thanks for that. I’m sorry about that. And thank you for protecting Eliza!”
“…It’s fine. For that matter, I mean. Rather than that, let’s talk about the future. Are you really willing to work for the sake of Helan territory?”
To my serious question, Eyan Deauville took a moment to organize his thoughts and he replied.
“Mister Moran taught me how immature I am. …During the journey, all I could think of was my wife Tsukushi, and my daughter Eliza. I used to work for my own honour but it is different now. I want to become a wonderful husband to Tsukushi and a wonderful father to Eliza. For that sake, I restudied properly under the guidance of Mister Moran, and I am thinking of working for Helan territory one day.”
“Is that so? Since Old Moran guaranteed that you are worthy, I have the ultimate trust. It is an added bonus that you have the motivation. Welcome to Helan territory.”
I stretched my hands out to him and he accepted it. We exchanged a strong handshake and I shifted my body from the door.
“Eliza is inside. You can be swore at, or scolded at, feel free to.”
“…Ah, I’m sorry. Thank you. I’ll come in.”
It is the reunion between the father and daughter. We, the third parties, decided to leave.
I guided Old Moran and Mister Petal out and we talked about our future plans while walking side to side. Old Moran will mainly be responsible for the training of Eyan Deauville, it seems. Mister Petal will be free with nothing to do.
“Mister Petal is knowledgeable in plants, right?”
“That’s right. I am especially fond of flowers nari.”
“In that case, there is a good place for you. Gapp Company is creating large-scale vegetation with medicinal plants, would you want to try working there?”
“That sounds interesting nari. I will try to have a look there nari.”
Mister Petal has also decided his path, and with that everything has settled down for now. Toto and Mister Petal seems like they will make a good combination and I cannot wait to see their chemistry. Seems like something new will created in the Helan territory again.
Since it is rare to be walking alongside two wise people, I decided to take this opportunity to seek advice for my worry.
“Old Moran and Mister Petal, It is an incident that happened just the other day, but do both of you knows about the magic train raid incident?”
“Of course. It is a well-known story all over the Kudan country. Some of the stories mentioned that Kururi died and it made me worry so much.”
Is that true!? Which publishing company said that? Spreading fake rumors is illegal!
“As you can see I’m well and alive so don’t worry. There was something that the mastermind of the criminal group said which bothered me…”
“So you are lending your ears to the words of a criminal? What kind of content was it?”
“The mastermind guy said that as the Helan territory continues to prosper more and more, it will gain more and more enemies at the same time. I think that is true. I don’t mind if I am the one who will be hurt, but it will be bad if there are casualties among the civilians like the magic train criminal case. I want to smartly avoid these crimes motivated by jealousy and hatred. Do you have any idea of how to do that, Old Moran?”
“Unfortunately, it is impossible to totally avoid such incidents.”
I guess Old Moran has also come to the same conclusion. There are so many difficulties lying ahead, really.
“I suppose it is the best to not avoid these incidents but to search for a way to resolve these problems.”
“What does that mean?”
“Become a softball. That’s the best.”
I became even more confused than before. When I showed a perplexed face, Old Moran explained more in details.
“If you become a softball, you will be able to absorb all the unreasonable attacks of the opponent. Furthermore, you will be able to bounce it off without hurting yourself or the opponent. What I mean is always keep a flexible mind.”
“I think I will burst if the opponent is too sharp.”
“Hohhohoho. In that case, you have to thicken your skin. Also, there is a need to take in new knowledge and throw away the old ones constantly. You have to protect this land like this.”
“That is quite a tough job.”
“Right? I gave you guys the route to freedom without any hardship, but you all went back to square one.”
Ah, that’s right. Old Moran told me and Eliza to live freely. However, we totally went back to square one, so I guess there is no way but to work hard earnestly like what Old Moran said.
“I got it. I won’t complain anymore. I will continue to be a softball! With a thick skin! I will continue evolving and pioneering, so that deterioration will not take place! I, Kururi Helan, promise to abide by Old Moran’s teachings.”
“Hohhohoho, I am starting to look forward that.”
Since the important matters have been asked, I enquired about Old Moran and the others’ journey with the remaining time.
I thought I will be able to hear some interesting stories and as expected, their journey stories were interesting. The story of them stealing food was especially interesting. What were you guys doing!? It seems like they paid later on but it seems like they really wanted to do it no matter what. It was like a story of some hot-blooded young men.
“Oh right. Old Moran, have you ever written medical books?”
“Ah, yes I have. It was quite a while back when I had written to organize my knowledge.”
“As expected. I have a friend who has been unraveling that book carefully. He is in the mansion so why don’t you answer some of his questions after we are back?”
“Of course that is fine. So there are still people in this age who are reading that book… That makes me happy. I want to speak to him too.”
“The content was quite difficult and it seems like he has many questions. Seriously, to think that you are knowledgeable in the field of medicine, your knowledge is boundless.”
“My waist hurt. That was the reason why I started it. Before realizing it, I had written medical books, but that is a thing of a past.”
“For that reason!?”
“There are surprisingly many trivial reasons that drove my motivation.”