Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 46
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Chapter 16: Family Matters
After the alchemy class, I lightly looked around the village to observe the progress.
The people who still tried to bootlick me, people who changed their attitude towards me and started to treat me cautiously like an open wound, and people who honestly thanked me and welcomed me, I feel like the variations increased.
I used a few additional potions, but no one said that their state got worse, and their health seems to be generally getting better.
I entrusted various types of potions to Wiega-san, and I also gave him several sets of beginner-level potion creation kits, so it should be possible to deal with people who develop symptoms from now on.
With this, putting aside the problems in the village for the time being, let’s head towards the fundamental solution. Well, first I need to prepare myself for that.
After receiving the sacred flowers from Fricka, I used the return stone to return to the base. Because the equipment is better there.
…… When we returned to the base, Uru seemed to be a little relieved. I wonder if she is overdoing herself, is she okay?
After asking Uru to patrol the base and take care of the animals and the field, I started to working into creating items.
I started by replenishing the reduced numbers of potions, creating Holy Mist, and then creating various things using the materials collected on the way to Alness Village. I got more sacred flowers than I expected, so I even tried making a slightly different item.
I’d like to research them more thoroughly, but I don’t have time, so that’s to another time.
“It’s not like the Alness village’s food is bad, but the food made by Rion is still better.”
When we were eating snacks together, Uru said happy things to hear. Yeah, let’s do my best and raise the cooking skill level.
When I finished preparations and returned to Alness village before evening… Another dispute was occurring.
No more! I wanted to pretend I didn’t see it, but when I saw who was involved, I couldn’t let them alone.
“Hey.”
“…!”
“Wh-What!?”
I gave a chop to the hand of the male elf who was grabbing Fricka’s arm and was trying to pull her by force.
By how he couldn’t react to me who openly walked towards him, I wonder how much he couldn’t see his surroundings?
In the moment that he let go his hand in surprise, I guided Fricka to hide behind Uru.
“… Miko-sama, what are you doing?”
The man whose hand was slapped asked me with an angry look.
No, is me who want to say it.
“Even though you are a miko-sama, I would like you not to meddle in our family matters?”
“… Family?”
When I turned my head and looked at Fricka, she answered while looking away.
“… He is my father. To be precise, he is my stepfather.”
Come to think of it, when she introduced her younger sister, she said that they are half-sisters.
Well, Then this person is her mother’s remarriage partner and the one who was born between the mother and this person is her younger sister.
However, he is her stepfather…..He have a kinda unpleasant presence…..I wonder what this feeling is, I think I felt it somewhere recently?
But I learned from Zagi-san that it’s not good to make judgments based on first impressions. For the time being, let’s be friendly, friendly…
“What a pleasant surprise, so you are Fricka’s father? I am very indebted to your daughter.”
“… Well thank you. But, miko-sama, I would like you to return Fricka to me soon. ”
“What you mean in return? She should returned to her home everyday, right? ”
Fricka self-reported to me that she had returned home, but is it could be a case that she actually didn’t go home?
But she don’t look like a person who tells lies, when I was thinking about that I heard a muffled voice.
“… You really will say that after you brought to yout room two nights in a row.”
…I reflexively wanted to hold my head. That’s the problem…
I mean, even though we are from the same sex, the people still think we are doing ‘that’…?
“I was only having a conversation with her, and I didn’t put my hands in her, and…She wasn’supposed to a bride in the first place?”
“Sto-… Stop messing around! Who would give her to someone like you!”
Oh, no good, I made a mistake in my choice of words and made him angry…
Even if that was an elder’s decision and have the person’s consent, I didn’t hear a word that the parents agreed with it, and even though the partner is a miko, I would be angry if my beloved daughter was suddenly taken away… I-I’m sorry.
“The woman who I have been raising with great care for many years…! Why does she have to be stolen by someone like you! ”
“No, you know, I don’t want to??”
Take her. I tried to continue to say it, but I couldn’t do, because my mouth was blocked by a hand that extended from behind me.
I’m looked at the one who blocked my mouth… Fricka ‘Why did you stopped me?’ I complained with my eyes. If I don’t clear up any misunderstandings as soon as possible, things will get worse and worse…
However, Fricka just shook her head and said nothing. But feel like she wanted to say ‘Let him misunderstand it.’. Probably.
Hmm……?
Fricka released her hand from my mouth and gave a small thank you to Uru before stepping forward.
“Father, it is decided by the will of all the elders that I will be married to the miko-sama ‘no matter what kind of partner it is’. Does Father have the right to overturn it?”
“That miko is a woman! That is invalid, invalid I say!”
“Was such an order declared? I haven’t heard about it at all.”
“Hah, in the first place, a miko who only brings us disadvantage????Tch.”
The man was furious, but he must have realized that he had said too much, he clicked his tongue and ended the conversation.
Disadvantage, huh. I can only think about the medicines, so in other words, is this person on the elder trio’s side? How did he end up being the husband of the daughter of another faction (Fricka’s mother) leader?
If I start to dig here, the darkness seems to be deep too…
“Anyway, hurry up and come home!”
“But—”
The man who had been showing irritation from beginning to end suddenly hid his voice……And while grinning, he laughed.
“Of course I do too… But Fin misses you, right?”
“……!”
After saying that, he turned his back and left.
……He is the worst.
That last one is just a threat to Fricka. “If you don’t come back, I don’t know what will happen to your little sister? ’ he implied that.
Putting aside Fricka, who was a stepchild, Fin is his blood-related daughter, but…why he can do something like that? Why he is so obsessed with Fricka?”
When I was thinking about it in my head, Fricka called out to me, looking sorry.
“… I’m sorry, Rion-sama, but please let me go home with this today.”
“But If you go to home… That’s right, if we go together and protect your little sister…”
Even if he became desperate and tried to use force against us, Uru can do anything about it. Whether it was because of trust or I was just depending on her, that was a fine line between the two, but I still gave out that suggestion to her. But she declined it.
“It’s enough for me to just go home. We need that Rion-san solve the incident in the forest, I can’t get you involved in my family’s circumstances.”
“… In other words, it’s okay to get involved once it’s over, right?”
In response to my question, Fricka lowered her eyebrows a little in trouble.
“Why you could go that far for me?”
At these words that were said, I became a little angry. It’s really just my selfish although.
Why? That is obvious.
“Because I think of you as a friend.”
……Well, ‘it would be a problem if you suddenly recognized me as a your friend’ If she said something like that to me… I will cry? Seriouly.
Luckily, it didn’t ended in that sad ending, and although Fricka’s eyebrows were still down, she loosened her face.
“Thank you very much. If anything happens, please.”
“Yeah…Ah, that’s right, I had something to give you.”
I took out the item I made during the day and handed it over to Fricka.
“This is…”
“Think of it as an amulet. Well, it’s only effective for three days.”
Because it’s just a imitation of one.……When I explained that, I felt like she was a little disappointed.
Ugh, it’s unreliable, isn’t it… But that’s all that I had as materials…
After seeing off Fricka’s back for a while, Uru made a suggestion in a low voice.
“It would be better to tell Wiega secretly. That man, he smells fishy in various meaning.”
“… That’s right.”
I still bothered by it, but that’s about all I can do at the moment.
It would be nice if we could resolve the incident before the situation got worse…