Chapter 15: This is about a worrying issue

27 June 422

A week. That was how much time I was allowed to rest, recover and focus on Erindor once again.

Seven days that were spent either napping, chatting with Fourier and the twins, or diving through the incredible amount of paper that had accumulated during the recent events, proof that my presence there in my office was more than necessary to deal with the complicated issues that were born from the rebuilding effort.

There had been no casualty over the siege, only several injuries that were quickly taken to the hospital and healed with Magic and medicines, and some building having come down crashing because of the fire that had spread out from the strong attack.

The treasury was opened to allow the flow of money required to fix everything that had been damaged by the siege, people's houses and other establishments that were hit by the assault.

Four well-known builders were called for an emergency meeting by my office by the time I had left the safe walls of the hospital's room I've woken up into and I had a special contract set with them.

Those were men that were considered the most hard-working and efficient ones in their vast subject and I was surprised when they had almost offered to work for free to complete the immense task of repairing the damage, but I was quick enough to dismiss such 'kindness' for the sake of giving something to help their workers.

They might have lost nothing for working without compensation, but the people working for them would still need their rightful wage for the labor.

I blamed this lack of awareness over the medieval perspectives of laborers/serfs. People that didn't exactly have social rights for their works and finding accommodating chiefs was as difficult as to try a tasteless lemon.

That is why, despite the pressing issue being the reconstruction effort, I decided to involve the four for a little project I had planned to bring up a few days ago, after dealing with the seal-checking.

A yearly-renewed contract that would have these individuals set to work for the administration in other kinds of constructions.

Something that would allow me to set up the first few bridges to connect the independent builders to form a cooperative of sort. A company, one that was national-owned and answered to the government itself.

It was a massive step forward compared to the artisans still attached to guilds, my saving grace being that the 'Builders Guild' was quite the inactive one in the city and many of the members hardly had enough work to keep up with the expensive costs of maintaining a membership with the guild.

Which is why my offer was more than enough to garner their interest at the mention of a possible chance of permanent jobs.

This is why I had been careful enough to prepare beforehand some paperwork to avoid any issues during the initiation of said project, giving out as many clauses, rules and exceptions to allow a healthy relationship to be born between the builders and the administration.

It was meant to keep them loyal and unable to call out any 'strange' law within the paper, giving as much as leverage to both sides to condemn the other in case of the violation of one of those rules.

It was tempting enough to warrant their quick signatures, only one lingering long enough to see the first four of the seventy-points I had left for them to read. He had frown skeptically at the words, my eyes fixed on him until he had gone with a nod and went to sign up with the others.

With this solved, I was left to deal with the other important topics that required my utmost attention.

Security was a priority now that the attack had revealed the still-present weakness of the garrison, pushing me to call for a minor conscription to have people aware that 'the leader' was doing something to bolster the current state of thing.

The news of the siege has to have reached out to other settlements, and possibly bandit camps present in the region. I had given a minimal time to keep up the augmented garrison, perfectly-aware that a forced recruitment was going to severely damage the image and the reputation I had.

I was considered as one of the lasting mayors to Erindor, all classes respecting my authority to a more-than-acceptable degree because of my impeccable administrative capacity and... I didn't want to lose it all because I was paranoid.

Having a sprinkle of it would have been good to keep my senses honed for danger, but too much could have easily blurred the lines that rendered a man a good one from a full-fledged tyrant.

And I wasn't keen to fall in that kind of path.

Speaking of dark things, I was also able to share some chatting with Satella and Edna separately. The former was shocked, horrified and rightfully afraid that I had discovered one of the 'projects' left around by Echidna.

The Witch of Envy had been the one to see firsthand the full-extent of the cynical nature of her 'colleague', the Witch of Greed having been as barbaric as she still was even back when Fugel was around, something that had caught me a little off-guard.

I knew that the Witches had all known about the mysterious wizard, but I was more taken by the fact that the behavior Echidna displayed was not something born from what was around her.

Rather, it was something that originated from within herself, it was her prime nature and... the element that got her the classification as the 'Witch of Greed'.

Returning back to Satella, the young woman wasn't enthusiastic at the prospect of me still sharing some discussions with the amnesiac being, concerned that it could have been a terrible and cruel 'prank' from the knowledge-driven girl in the long-term.

A legitimate concern I agreed to until a certain point as, while I did say to her that the girl was indeed very inquisitive and fairly-neglectful of common morality, I was quite certain that her fragmented mind wasn't the fruit of a trick or a well-elaborated act.

It was just far too natural and expressive, too open and beyond risky for someone like Echidna. I had her encounter with Subaru as an example, her curious attitude being restrained by her sense of self-preservation.

Intrigued she might be, but to go as far as to lay her mind open like that was... fairly risky.

The confusion had been real and the 'innocence' was too genuine, I pointed out once again while getting a worried look from the Witch of Envy.

She was frustrated and keep gnawing and asking me to not engage with any exchange with the fragment, demanding that I found a way to completely ignore her curious poking.

Something that was fairly difficult on the basis that once I was sleeping, the girl could have easily entered my mindscape and gone to pester me without hesitation nor rest and, at the end of that last conversation, Satella decided to muse over my current situation and... her words didn't spare anything regarding my possible road.

Danger is lying everywhere, she had said with an ominous and saddened tone, and you are going to walk quite the difficult road.

Something that I was aware of to a good point, to the point which all the known plot-twists ended.

The world was filled with quite the anarchic sense of events, the dark turn of things was to be expected around the newer corners, even with the characters I knew about to a fair degree.

I couldn't afford to be like Subaru, to either trust acquaintances too easily in not back-stabbing me nor I could pull a 'gung-ho' manouver and get my ass pummeled by someone far stronger, faster and way meaner than me.

Paranoia was still helpful in good amount, but so was common sense.

When I fell asleep and found myself staring at the close-up of Edna's face sporting a dull and bored look, I could have easily shrieked and pushed her off from my chest.

But I merely twitched and let my eyes widen in surprise at the closeness of her eyes to mine. She was blinking, waiting patiently, as her legs were bent and waving back and fort as she seemed to be expecting me to do... something.

"Hello?" I asked with a worried tone, bracing for some attack of sort. I had thought it was an ambush, that Satella's words were indeed truer than my perception of the previous meeting. But then, she spoke.

"Hi," She said with a tired tone. "It's been... a while now."

I blinked. "I had to do some work," I replied without trouble. "I had some papers to sign."

There was a calm pause, the girl eyes boring onto mine as she seemed to be contemplating my words. "You... work?" She asked, her tone sounding odd by the last word.

"Yes," I answered back.

Another pause, this one was briefer than the one before as Edna merely adjusted herself atop of my floating body.

Her elbows carefully settling on my chest as her face was lifted away by her hands, her cheeks cupped as she started to hum about my reply.

"But isn't working boring?" She inquired once again, her violet eyes descending onto my face. "Ivan says that it's boring. Working is boring."

I frowned, realizing that it would certainly be something the pompous prick would say so gallantly. I was certain he had never worked in his unfairly long life and I could see why the girl was so convinced of it herself.

Echidna hardly considered labor the thirst to search for more knowledge from the unknown, everything that she had never been able to get from the books she could obtain from shops or even from ruins of former castles.

It was a hobby, the only thing that gave her happiness and joy, the only thing that made her feel alive.

And so, despite the term being known to her amnesiac version, I could see the reason behind her visible confusion over the 'need' of working.

"It can be boring," I admitted mirthfully. "But I think you are missing the fact that some works can be quite interesting."

She blinked surprised at my comment, narrowing her eyes as she huffed at that statement. "You are lying."

"I'm not," I shot back. "Work can be boring and fun. It all depends on which kind of work you are more interesting to do, rather than the one you don't feel connected to."

Edna tilted her head to the side in a cute but confused expression. "And you are connected to... papers?"

"Administration."

...

"What?" Her query was met with a smile.

It was kind of adorable how scary this ticking bomb could be because she could easily explode on my face while also giving me some amusement in the form of her childish display of curiosity.

I wonder if that was what Flugel had to deal with back before the 'World-end Scenario' had happened.

"I work as a Mayor of a city, something that could be defined as an Administrative work," I explained slowly, but careful enough to accent the proper and more important terms. "My work is to make sure that everyone-"

"-Is well-cared and protected. You also take care of taxes, security and other topics which entail the power exerted by your role." Edna interjected with a minor huff. "I already know that... but why do you do that? Why is it 'Fun' to you?"

I stopped for a moment, both to sort out the sudden surprise at that interruption as I had momentarily forgotten about the girl's still-impressive knowledge of general things.

She was still part of the Witch of Greed and I shouldn't have doubted that something that 'easy' would have been quick to remember for her.

"Well, I guess it's because I care for others," I suggested with a quiet tone. "I feel relieved to help those that needs help, those that require assistance and hope."

"So you do this for them..." She commented with a strange tone. "Not because you... wanted it for a personal gain."

"My personal gain is their happiness. My mission is to help them."

The witch blinked at that and sighed. "I don't know if I should be awed by this or... somewhat disappointed."

I tensed a little at that moment, feeling like her tone was different.

"You are a smart man, one that I find funny to have around and... yet there is something in your words-" She paused again, her eyes closing for a brief instant. "Something that irritates me. Something that-"

"Makes you feel angry?"

Another pause, the white-haired girl frowned at me. "No... but also yes." She blinked. "This is difficult."

"Living beings capable of thinking and doing things are complicated within their nature," I said with a tired tone. "There isn't actually a limit to the mind's creativity, madness and faith."

Just as she looked ready to ask something else, I felt her weight disappear like last time and my darkened sight was replaced by pure white as I slowly started to wake up. I was in my bed and... this situation continued for seven more days.

Questions after questions, I managed to get in a comfortable position with the girl as she stopped being this clingy by the time she realized that standing onto a floating body while knowing it could disappear at any moment was the worst idea possible.

The discussions continued, the tones eased and soon it was an equal exchange of knowledge, and I couldn't help but found it endearing in the long-run.

Satella's worries continued to persist for a long while but, after the fifth day, even her concern mellowed at the lack of any dangerous curses or probes within myself. The young woman was still wary of the fellow Witch, but she was put at ease at the fact that nothing had happened to me.

Life seemed to stabilize once again in what seemed to be the calmest week of my life since I had come here in this 'new world' and I had slowly coaxed myself to a guarded stance around everything as... something had to happen.

Something so disruptive that could make up the peaceful seven days I've enjoyed so far. Something that could led to some life-changing decisions.

And while some people would question this degree of caution I was displaying subtly, I sure got confirmation of this barely-known rule about this specific universe.

It had all happened during lunch, I was sitting at the head of the table with the twins taking one of the sides while the other being occupied by Wilhelm and Fourier. The old swordsman looked relatively fine, hardly showing any strange change in his face that could allude to anything new that I should worry about...

But the blond sitting on the chair beside his was actually looking fairly pale. The prince was usually chirpy in these occasions, either boasting any new achievements gained from the recent training with swords or maybe something about his life at the royal court, never going far enough to sound too pompous or prickish about it.

Enough for me to stomach some fun stories coming from Fourier's funny way of tale-telling things around.

Yet the young man was awfully quiet, his red eyes being fixed on his plate and never daring to stare up to the other people by the table.

"Fourier." I called him with a calm tone, his reacton being a half-jump on his chair and his head snapping at me with a faux smile. Yep, something was indeed wrong with him.

"Y-Yes, John?" The prince asked with a little stutter, further confirming that something was off about him. His bodyguard barely took notice of the exchange, seemingly fine with what was going on.

But seriously, what did get the blond this much nervous today?

"Is there something wrong?" I inquired cautiously, eyes fixed on his face as I waited for his reaction. He sported a surprised look, possibly expecting his 'flawless' mask of a face to keep the concerning thoughts he was having hidden to only himself. He blinked and gave a nervous chuckle.

"W-Wrong?" He parroted with a tiny smile. "W-What kind of wrong should I-"

"You are visibly shaking, you are pale and-" I tried to interject sassily, but his following words caught me off-guard.

"I-I will be back to the castle tomorrow," Fourier replied with a little snappish tone, then he calmed down a little. "Just something private, I-" He stood up from his chair. "I'm sorry if that came so suddenly but... I will take an early leave to bed."

My eyes were wide open at that quick retreat, giving me no time to actually have him to stop at how much sudden and unexpected this had all happened. Wilhelm stood up a few moments later, his plate now empty as he seemingly was ready to go back to his current room.

"Sir Wilhelm, what is wro-"

"The true context is something that I'm not conscious of," The elder replied curtly, his eyes calmly glancing at my face. "The prince is indeed worried and the only thing I can think that could have caused him this much distress... could be about the lack of answer from a letter he had sent a mere week ago."

A letter? Why I hadn't seen him writing it- or why didn't he say anything about it?!

I was confused at first because I couldn't exactly understand why the lack of a response could have warranted this panic out of the stubbornly-brave blond... but then I remembered the cast of people he knew and care about. Just a few nobles that weren't mentioned in the light novels, his family (which was supposedly still alive) and...

Oh God.

I glanced at the twins, my mind suddenly preparing to ask from Ser Orestes to hold my seat temporarily for a few days. I stared up to the oldest member of House van Astrea and spoke up.

"I reckon that then I will have to keep company to the prince," I said to him with a careful wording of the plan I was improvising about. "If the situation is truly that dire-"

"I don't see why the royal carriage will be denied to a friend of the prince." The man admitted with a small smile. "But I hope you understand that one thing might be thought as a mindful friend while another could be seen as something worth of more suspicious."

A warning. If I got too cocky around the young man, I was going to be labeled as a possible threat in the form of a social-climber, not the best of stains to be dealing with during those pseudo-medieval times but I wasn't certainly backing away from this.

I had to be there for the sake of saving Fourier. I will never allow this story to end canonically, not with someone I cared for dying because of some Vollacchian morons!