Teresa and her second-in-command, still puzzled, left the explanation behind and returned to the carriage where Freed was waiting.

'What's the matter?　You seem to be in a good mood, sir.
Yeah. I've heard great things about you. The Goddess is amazing!
'Ho..... Are you awakened to your faith?
'Yeah. With a goddess like that, it doesn't sound like a bad idea to come to faith.

If you were worried about me on top of looking good and having a great style and a perfect personality, this would be a punishment if you didn't wake up one of your religious beliefs.
Besides, the gap between eating a bun and eating it was cute and missing in a good way.

'How would you like to go after this?　Would you like to buy something to take home with you?
'Well no, I'll be home soon. I have something I need to tell Mizella as soon as possible.
Very well. Well, I'll leave the souvenirs with you. Please take them home.
Thank you. I'm leaving some pudding for you guys to enjoy. I'll leave some matcha pudding for Freed.
Thank you, sir. Everyone will be very pleased.

Thus, I returned home from the royal capital in transition.
When the maids heard that there was pudding, they held each other's hands and bounced around adorably with each other on the spot, which made me smile.



When I returned to my work room for the transfer, the time was past dusk.
I may have passed out for an unexpectedly long time in the church.
Hmm. I'm hungry, but let's go find Mizella first.
Oh........come to think of it, I thought things between me and Mizella are still awkward.
Ah, what should we do........

''Ah........''
"Oh?

The door to the workroom opened and he saw the person who would have let his voice slip out.
Then Mizella was just about to come into the room, putting on her apron.

'I'm sorry, I didn't knock. I didn't expect you to be here.... Um, I was looking for you, but....
''I was just looking for you too......... Ah........come to think of it, you were running away again today.......?
Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah. I was running away again today and White caught me right away...
I see. So, welcome back...?
Yes....I'm back...?
"...and...

I don't know. This air.
I must somehow get out of this exquisitely delicate atmosphere with an empty smile.
But, however, what should I say to him?
Fortunately, it's unlikely that he'll just ignore it and run off.

''Speaking of which, you were in the royal capital today.......?
Hmm, yeah. Yeah.
'To King's Landing... to go and come back immediately...?

Ahh........come to think of it, I didn't talk to Mizella about spatial magic.
Well, if it's Mizera, it's not a problem.
There's no longer any intention of letting her go.

''Actually, I can use spatial magic. Don't tell anyone about this.
'Spatial magic...?　Um, the legendary...?
It seems so. Well, this is also........a power given to me by the goddess.
Oh I'm sorry. Um, I mean....
Hmm?　Oh, I didn't mean it like that!　I'm sorry....

Oh man, that could have sounded sarcastic, couldn't it?
It's getting a little awkward again........

''.........''

A little silence is awkward.
Is it in the nature of Japanese people to feel the need to fill this void?
However, it was Mizella who filled the void first.

''........Hey, if you didn't have that power, what would you have done with Wendy-sama and Shiro-san?''
What?
'I heard you bought Master Wendy for 80 million knolls. But I wonder what you would have done if you hadn't had such an amazing talent for alchemy, or spatial magic, or if you were just an ordinary person...

According to the goddess, alchemy is my original talent, but what if I didn't have any alchemy....
Well.........if he was a person who had nothing to do with it, the conditions would change in many ways, but let's assume that I simply didn't have the talent for alchemy.

''Hmmm........yeah. I guess I'll find something I can do first. So, I think I would have done everything I could to buy it somehow.
80 million knolls...?
'Yeah. Well, the only thing I can think of is to go around bowing to them. The most effective ones are Leinrich and the rest of the adventurer's guild, and ask for money for them, and if I had to rely on them the most, I'd say Hayato.

I didn't know many people back then.
I don't think I could get by with my mouth against Yashis, but if I still had no choice but to do something about it, I'd have to persuade them with borrowed money.

And if it weren't for the talent of alchemy, I wouldn't have gotten close to Rainrich, and when I think about whether I wouldn't have gotten acquainted with Aina and the others without causing a dispute with the Adventurer's Guild, I'm deeply moved by the fact that I'm being helped by my alchemy skills quite a bit.

''You're relying on........others?''
Yeah. If you can't help it. Keep your head down and ask people to help you!　I'm going to go around saying that.
Don't you have any pride...?
'Pride doesn't feed you, and it won't save anyone. I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with hanging on to others.

Haha, he laughs lightly.
Well, I'm terrible at saying that to myself.
But no matter how long I live in this world, my desire to live by other people's power is still the same.
If I could, I would not work.
I'm not going to be able to do that anymore, but....

There is a limit to what you can do on your own. That's why I don't hesitate to ask others for help when I feel it's impossible. Of course, that's the amount of power that comes from being relied upon, but...
So....


Since there's no option to give up Wendy I'll probably do something about it, but right now I don't have a flash in my mind.
You could ask Rainerich for money to be used as a substitute for human experimentation... No, you're going to die.

Well, we won't know for sure until it happens. I think they've done something. How's that for an answer?
"Yeah. I'm satisfied. You are really an optimistic person.
'Positive ... hmmm. Well, if you have to, but other than that I don't think it's basically true.
'Well I think you're someone who can take a step forward instead of running away. Unlike me, who is constantly running away....
'No, no, no, wait a minute. I didn't say it was wrong to run away, did I?　I'm more of a runner. What's wrong with running away. The thirty-sixth plan is better than no escape.
'What?　But don't tell me to run away from being a half-elf...
The other thing I wanted to say was don't run away from something you don't want to give up, and don't give up on your habit of not wanting to give up, that's not an option. If you really don't like it, I say you can run away.

I mean, if I really didn't like it, I'd run away.
I'm going to run away from insects, especially if they're bugs.
I'm going to do everything in my power to get away from the insect-related stuff as long as it's not a threat to Wendy and the others' lives.

But Mizera said she can't stay in the house because she can't be of any use.　I mean, if it helps, you want to stay in this house, right?
Well that's true, but...
'Then find something to do. You knew you could stay here if you did, didn't you?
''Yes......... But I.........

Yeah.
That's why I didn't want Mizella to run away, you know?
I didn't want her to give up on herself, to wish there was something she could do.
You know?

"It's all right then. A half-elf is not a failure, you know!
What...?
'They just grow at a slower rate because of their longer lifespan. So I'm not inferior to them. If you work hard enough, you'll get the results you want.

Well, it doesn't change the fact that the growth rate is slow, so it's a delicate thing to say if it's inferior or not, but it's because you have to have confidence in Mizella herself first.

''Lie......... Fine, that kind of cheering up.
''It's not a lie. In fact, in other countries, half-elves usually use skills to make a living, and above all, this story was told directly to Lady Raydiana, so there's no doubt about it!
'To Lady Raydiana...?　What do you mean?
Yeah. I went to King's Landing today and was praying in the church. Then I was lucky enough to meet Lady Raydiana. That's where I asked her about the half-elf, about Miserra, and she told me about it.

Misela is taken aback.
With her mouth hanging open, she's probably ruminating on the words I just said.
And then, after a gasp, he fearlessly went to check with me again.

"Are you sure...?　So........I can get the skills too?
Yeah. It's up to Mizella to believe me, though.

Would you believe this eyebrow-raising story that the goddess asked you?
Normally, I wouldn't believe it, but I still tell Miserable with confidence and a smile.
Because this is an unmistakable fact.

Yes, yes. I'm not going to be able to say that I don't believe you. It's what you say. Of course I believe it..... You want me to stay here...?
Of course. Come on, let's find out what you want to do here, Mizella. We'll give you what you want. Come on, you know what you want to do, you know what you want to do.
'Yeah......... Hmm.......... Thank you.......... Really, thank you.........

I gently hug Mizzella, who rubs her eyes over and over to stop the tears from flowing uncontrollably.
Then, Mizera put her hands around my waist and pressed her face into me tightly.

''Ugh, ugh, ugh...''

Feeling the tears welling up on my chest, I hugged her with every bit of warmth I could muster and gently patted her head.

Let's do it together. Let's do it together. This is where Misela starts.
Ungh..... Eguh, uhhhhhh........

It's heartbreaking to see a normally cool kid cry out loud.
I tighten my hold on her, pressing harder so that she can cry harder, so that her voice won't leak out.


After a few moments, Miserable stops crying and quietly pulls away from me.
Her eyes are bright red. A little trace of snot was now visible.

'I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being so distraught and... oh, I'm sorry for my clothes too...'
"Ha-ha-ha. Hahaha. It's good to see something rare. Besides, it's a man's honor to hide a woman's tears.
'You're stupid.... If you didn't joke around like that, you'd be better looking....
It's better this way, right?　If you get too good-looking, you'll get in trouble for being too popular.
Idiot. You're too smart.
Hahahaha. You're all right.

Mizella giggles in response to my laughter.
As I thought, it's more of a smile than a crying face.
It's a good thing that she is beautiful to begin with, because when she smiles, it makes her even more beautiful.

Well then, tomorrow we can start looking for things to do for Mizera.
Yeah, well, I'll tell you what, I need you to do something for me.
'Oh?　What is it?　Is there something you've decided for a while?　Whatever you want! And I'll gather the tools I need in a minute.
'Yeah.... I'd like to try something. The--

I'm surprised to hear the skills Miserable mentioned.
And I'm going to tell her that I smell everything right away, but I ask her back.

'Yeah, is that what you want?'
Yeah. That one. I want to learn this first.
Okay, all right. I'll take care of it.

This guy is a liability.
I have to be sincere and serious too.
But I'll probably get more excited than any of my skills.

'Well then, it's evening now, and we'll start in the morning as soon as possible.
'Yes. I'll do my best.

Oh. I thrust out my fist, and Miserable sensed my intentions and bumped it into my fist.
We're gonna be busy tomorrow!

Oh, by the way, why are you wearing an apron?
'Ah!　It was. Well today. I went shopping with White, and I made some food. Oh, of course, Wendy-sama helped me and White tasted it, so I'm sure it's edible... and now that it's done, I've been looking for you.

I see.
That's why Mizella was looking for me and White said he wanted money.
I mean, you're taking the first step.
Am I really bothering you?
Well, okay. More importantly.....

'You can't wait to tell me that!　Here, let's go eat before it gets cold!
...why don't you reheat it when it's cold?
No, I want it fresh!　Here, dash, dash!
'Hey, don't push me... it's not that much to look forward to... hey, you hear me?　Hey!

I didn't hear that.
I had planned to eat up Mizella's food, blackened or raw, but it wasn't, and it was so good that I ate it until I was full and couldn't move.