Early the next morning, the group departed from the village of Mohut. It was a great feeling to see them off early in the morning.

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"Here, brother, this is for you!

"Take care, girl!" "Take care, Reiko!

See you later, Lako!"

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Everyone said goodbye to each other, and some of them gave me a beautiful stone, which seemed to be their treasure.

"See you later, you guys, take care.

"I'll be back. Until then, take care.

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Jin and the others left Mohut Village with a sense of regret.

"In the end, I couldn't make a damper. ......"

Jin was a little depressed.

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"Jin-kun, I think we can make it after we meet up with my brother Rai.

"Do you think so?"

"I don't know. Rai is a crafty idiot even though he looks like one.

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Yeah, I can see that.

I do?

Today Elsa's tone was the same as before, or perhaps a little more friendly.

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"My family consists of my parents and two older brothers. My father is Rai's father's brother."

He even told me about his family structure.

"Oh, so that's why you share the same family name."

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"Yes. But my mother is not like them.

"Oh, come on."

Jin wonders if he is allowed to tell such a thing to the general public.

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"It's okay. Jin-kun needs to hear this."

But Erza continued on.

"My mother is gone. My father met her when he was on assignment in a foreign country."

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"......"

Jin could only listen in silence.

"But my mother is kind to me now. My brothers loved me too. That's why I never knew that my mother was different."

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Elsa learned of this when she happened to overhear a conversation between her father and mother.

Elsa's father thanked her current mother for treating Elsa with respect, even though she was not his child.

"When I heard that, I was blinded by darkness.

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But," he continued.

"My brother Rai taught me that."

He told me that Reinhardt's mother was not his legal wife. Elsa says she was surprised to hear this at the time.

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The always cheerful Reinhardt, like Elsa, had only one other mother.

"But my brother Rai told me it didn't matter," she said.

Reinhard also told Erza that he was going to change his attitude toward her parents when he found out.

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When Erza said she did not want to change her attitude,

"Then there is nothing wrong with it. You can call me the same way you've always called me. You are you. Nothing has changed. Then nothing has changed for your parents either.

That's what he said. It was a very Reinhardt-like way of consoling him.

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"Rai is the fourth son. Four brothers, all men."

Reinhardt is more than 10 years older than his brothers.

"So my brother Rai, who was a little closer to me in age, used to play with me a lot."

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"Oh, so that's why you call him Brother Rai."

"Yes."

It was a story that clearly showed that the relative whom Erza missed the most and depended on the most was Reinhardt.

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"Speaking of which..."

Jin said something that had been bothering him for a while.

"What kind of person is your nanny?

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The answer came out of Elsa's mouth,

"Meine always thinks of me first. Sometimes she goes too far and people stare at her, but my father doesn't say anything, so I guess that's OK.

The nanny seems to be named Meene.

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I was a little curious about the reason for her attitude the other day, so I asked her about it, but if Erza's father is always like that and doesn't say anything, Jin, who doesn't know much about serving the nobility or being a nanny, seems to think it's fine.

"Then, what about the nanny brothers?"

"What?

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The answer came back unexpectedly, and Jin thought better of it.

Jin had been aware that a nanny was a woman who gave milk in place of a mother whose milk supply was poor. In reality, there are two types of nannies: one is such a nanny and the other is a nanny as a nurturer. It seems she was the latter.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought she was nursing on behalf of Elsa's mother.

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Jin said,

"Yes, I heard that she was feeding me from Meine's breast.

"What?"

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Normally, a childless woman cannot produce breast milk, but I wonder if this world can do something about it with magic.

When Jin said this, Erza nodded her head and said, "I've never heard of such a thing,

"I've never heard of such a thing. Jin-kun, you know a lot about tits."

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Jin decided to drop the subject, as he felt he was being misunderstood again.

The carriage slowly climbs up a steep hill. Looking out of the window, the sky is opening up, and it looks like we are almost at the pass.

We take a rest at the pass. We will give the horses a rest and then start the descent.

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True to his word, the group took a short rest at the Hambarf Pass. There is a small, wide flat area on the pass where five or six horse-drawn wagons could be parked.

The road from here leads to the capital city of Nord, so there were guards stationed there. There were three guards. They had a simple dormitory and seemed to be guarding in shifts.

I saw a steward showing some kind of ID card and asking for permission to pass.

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The guards were relaxing themselves by twisting their upper bodies.

The guard was feeding a lump of what looked like sugar to his horse.

"Ah, it's cold on top of the mountain, isn't it?

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Jin gets out of the carriage and stretches. His breath is white. The wind is cold. The temperature is about 5 degrees Celsius. The mountains around us were towering, and some of them were painted white with snow on their peaks.

The altitude of the Hambarf Pass is about 2,500 meters above sea level, and here, too, frozen snow can be seen in some places.

The village of Mocht felt cool but not cold. It was a bit hard to get around here without an extra jacket.

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Erza seemed to be tolerant of the cold, and she got off the bus in her dress, twirling around with the hem of her skirt fluttering happily. When Jin was watching her unusual appearance,

"Jin-sama, may I have a word with you?"

An elderly man, who was introduced as Erza's butler, spoke to Jin for the first time.

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"Uh, yes."

The butler urged Jin to go to the shade of a rock some distance away. Reiko followed him a short distance away.

When they reached the shade of the rock, which was not visible from the carriage, the butler bowed deeply.

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"First of all, thank you for making friends with my daughter.

"What?"

Jin was amazed at being thanked before he even knew what was going on.

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"It has been a long time since I have seen such a cheerful and happy face of your daughter.

There is only one thing that comes to mind when I think of a cheerful and happy face.

"Well, was it in the village of Mohut?"

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"Yes. The young lady only played with her older, male siblings and relatives, so she was a bit of a tomboy when she was a child.

I guess it was out of respect for the main line of the family that he stopped when he was about to say "a naughty girl.

"She herself loved small children and liked to play with the little children who came with her to the occasional garden party. However, she often made them cry, and she didn't know what to do about it, and she always had a troubled look on her face.

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"Are you sure you want to tell me that?"

Jin asked back, curious. It would not be appropriate for him to be told about the childhood of the viscountess.

Yes, by all means. ......Since she kept repeating such things, she gradually became more and more, you know, reserved when she was old enough."

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I guess that happens when you are no longer old enough to play with boys. And there must have been a backlash when he found out about his mother.

"The one who missed her the most was Reinhardt, the head of the family, but he couldn't be with us all the time.

Reinhardt was quite a talented magi engineer and was frequently sent abroad as a diplomat because of his diplomatic nature.

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"It so happens that there is a ship competition in Potrock this time, and Mr. Reinhardt invited me to come all the way here.

The butler broke off, turned his head and sighed,

"If I had known that she would be exposed to the public in such a bathing suit, I would have done everything in my power to stop her!"

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He was so angry that his fists were clenched.

"I can't believe that your daughter's skin will be exposed to the curious eyes of all kinds of people!"

"Ha-ha-ha!"

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Jin, the one who designed the dress, can't help but laugh. The butler looks up and takes a deep breath,

"...... I digress. I came all the way here, but when Mr. Reinhardt left for his official duties, he looked so lonely that I was worried about him.

But," he prefaced his speech,

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"But yesterday, he smiled happily and told us many things about Jin-sama during the night.

"Oh, my?"

"Yes. He told us that in order to get along with children, you should play with them from the same perspective, and that he was the first to let you fly the kite he had made for you.

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Well, that's true.

"You have been looking happy since this morning. I am sure this is all thanks to you, Jin-sama, and that is why I have invited you to this place to thank you.

He thanked her again and said that he understood why she wanted us to come with her in the other carriage,

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"Please take care of her for the rest of the trip and for the rest of her life. Please be her friend."

Jin panicked,

"Don't bow so low. You don't have to tell me, Elsa and I are friends, and she has taught me a lot of things that have helped me.

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"Thank you very much."

With that, they returned to the carriage. Reiko must have heard their entire conversation, but she did not say anything in particular.

Then Meine, Erza's nanny, arrived.

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"May I have a word with you, Jin-sama?"

The nanny pulled Jin into the shadows with the same line as the butler.

"First of all, I would like to thank you for your kindness in taking care of my daughter.

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She bowed to Jin with similar words.

But after that, it was different.

"The young lady was always very active. But when she reached a certain age, she wasn't allowed out much and spent most of her time inside the house.

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"Oh..."

"It's been a while since she's been outside, so she seems excited. Since it's a rare occasion for her to go out, we were willing to give her a little indulgence and even allowed her to ride in the carriage with you instead of us. But that doesn't mean that you should touch the young lady, ...... you know that, don't you?"

"Yes, I'm going to get screwed over, aren't I?"

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"Yes, I hope you know that. I hope you will behave yourself.

As soon as Meine, the nanny, said that...

"You idiot!"

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the butler's angry voice rang out.

"Mr. Adberg ......"

The butler's name seemed to be Adberg. Jin thought that he was off, but the butler, Mr. Adberg, was very fierce,

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"Meine, what did you say?　What are you talking about?　Reinhard trusted you and entrusted you to be his hostess. What do you call that?　How many times have I told you that your attitude is degrading not only to the young lady, but also to the family?"

But Meane dismisses him with a sullen look on her face.

Jin-sama, on behalf of Meine I apologize. I hope you will not be offended.

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Saying this, the butler, Adberg, bent 90 degrees at the waist and bowed respectfully. Meine, however, looked at him,

"Well, it seems that even Mr. Adberg thought that Jin-sama was a suspicious person at first.

She even boasted that even Mr. Adberg thought Mr. Zin was a suspicious person at first.

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I'm thinking of your daughter in my own way. If she has to quit as a result, that's fine. You think it's degrading to her?　That's fine. You should quit the aristocracy. Then I'll take care of your daughter."

"You ......!"

Adberg's hand went up, probably thinking that his words were too good to pass up. But then...

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"Jin, we're leaving soon. Adberg, Meine?　What are you doing?

The governor was already preparing to take the carriages out, and Erza had come to look for Jin and the others who had not returned.

"Yes, I was looking around."

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"Oh, yeah?　Well, get in."

Without further questions, Erza got into the carriage first. Everyone got into the carriage.

The carriages started moving again, and we finally crossed the mountain pass and began to descend the road leading to the capital.

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"It's a bit steep at first".

True to his words, the carriage is going down slowly.

"It doesn't have brakes, does it?

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Jin said,

"Brakes?　What's that?"

Elsa asks with a curious look on her face.

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"Oh, a brake is also called a braking device, a device used to slow down and stop a moving vehicle, such as a carriage.

"Is there such a thing?"

"Yes. For example, this carriage, well, it would be a lot easier to go downhill like this if you put a device to stop it by clamping the wheels.

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It seems that there is a stop for stopping, but there is no brake for driving.

"I see. I don't drive on mountain roads very often, so it was neglected. Please discuss this with my brother Rai.

"Yes, that's right."

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It's fun to talk with Reinhard about what he wants to build.

Just then. The carriage shook and then there was a knock at the carriage door from outside.

Erza opens the window and sees the butler, the servant, the guards, and the nanny all outside the carriage,

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"My lady, it's a bandit! Please do not go outside.

They told her that.