Making a Family Name (2)

"Sorry, Hiyori-san, can I leave my children with you for a while? Tomorrow I have to go to Zopy City to send Kevin there."

"Um..."

"I promise, when I get home from there, I'll bring some gifts for you."

Fred keeps begging Hiyori, asking Hiyori to look after Fred's children.

Hiyori thought for a moment, thinking this. Then, she glanced at me who was chopping wood, and then at Dinda.

"It's time for Kevin to go to school, huh?"

"Yeah, like that. He is already 7 years old, so he has to go to school."

Kevin and Dinda are the same age, 7 years old, and they should have started school by now.

"Okay, I'll take it. But..."

Hiyori pulled Dinda's arm.

"You should take her there too."

"Eh? But..."

"If you don't want to, I won't take care of your children."

Here Hiyori seems to start thinking about Dinda. However, Dinda does have to go to school so that one day she becomes a smart girl. Therefore, I think it was the right decision.

"So I have to go to the capital with your imouto too?"

"Well, that is just it is."

"Um..."

I don't know what kind of place the capital is, and why Hiyori didn't just take Dinda to school there but judging by the opportunities that existed, Hiyori took advantage of Fred to send Dinda there as well. It could be said, this is a reciprocal relationship, Hiyori takes care of Fred's children, while Fred sends Dinda to school there.

"Onee-chan..."

"You have to go to school, Dinda. In the meantime, Uncle Fred will look after you there. Don't worry, Onee-chan will be there often to meet you."

"But... Dinda still wants to play."

"E-Eh... Yeah, come to think of it, instead of you playing around and bringing something obscure here, you'd better use your time to go to school."

"Okay, Onee-chan, Dinda will come with Uncle Fred."

I don't think this is expulsion, but more towards the wishes of an onee-chan. Dinda has to go to school, that's clear. Therefore, with conditions like this, Hiyori can use Fred to make Dinda go to school there with Kevin.

"Hey, hey, you're not going to school either, Uncle?"

Fred's son was tugging at my shirt.

I turned back and picked him up.

"No. I've been to school in my world. Because of that, I don't go to school anymore."

Fred has 3 children; Kevin is 7-year-old; This Gevin is 4-year-old; Revin is 5-year-old. They were all male, strong future tigers. They do resemble tigers, only, they can walk on both their feet. Maybe it's because they're humans too, so they can walk on their own two feet.

Their difference, everyone in this village at the moment except for that man, is that they are tails. Since they were half-animal and half-human, they could still be categorized as not monsters, but humans. And they, too, need the so-called "school".

I seem to have gotten used to this world. Therefore, I can judge them.

"Alright, I'll take your Imouto there."

"Thank you. But..."

"But?"

"This afternoon, can you look after them? Ryuki and I want to go to town to take him to make a family name?"

"Eh. Really? That person wants to start a family?"

"Yeah, that's how it is."

Fred suddenly looked at me with a happy face, and his eyes were sad and watery, just like Hiyori earlier.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I don't have Whiskas."

"Whiskas? What's that? That's it, what's important now, I'm glad to hear this, you made your surname."

"Yes."

"Again… I am sure, 100% sure, that you will make a good head of a family."

"Yes."

"…And chances are, there will be people who want to become your family."

"Yes."

After confirming his words, I put Gevin down and continued my work.

"Why are you ignoring me? Why are you so cold to me?"

"Never mind, he is like that. Therefore, let it be!"

Hiyori knows my nature. With this, Fred didn't say anything more to me and focused on talking to Hiyori.

"Oh, alright. It's annoying, but he's still my helper. Without him, Kevin and my Heirloom would be lost, and I will be sad later on."

That's true, without me, he would have lost his son and his heirloom. Therefore, he said that.

***

Watching the sunset slightly, I tidied up these logs and put them onto Hiyori's horse.

"Don't you have a horse carriage?"

"No, I don't have that. And anyway, what is it for? You know, just buying the carriage is expensive enough. Rather than buying that, I'd better buy a sword just in case."

"Where did your sword go?"

"A-Ah, that… My sword was taken because I stopped being a knight. Because of that, all the equipment that didn't belong to me was taken away by them."

"They? Who is that?"

"The royal party."

"Oh, I see."

There was no king or queen in the city, but the family was still there, and it was Daniel de Jansen and his imouto, Irine de Jansen, who ruled the city.

Hiyori had worked with them before but had never been inside the castle. When she stopped working as a knight, all her fighting equipment was taken away. Even though in the end it was like that, she was still happy because she managed to save her imouto.

"By the way, those riders who were back then..."

"Oh, you saw it, didn't you? They were the knights assigned here from the capital. They received orders directly from the king, to save and prevent the destruction of this city from Red Hot Moon."

"Then why did you ask them to save your imouto?"

"After all, what else should I do? I'm not strong enough, and they promise to help me if I help. But after that, the royal side asked them not to help me, arguing that the place was dangerous. If only I were strong, I couldn't have asked them for help. If only it was like that…"

"Oh, I see."

Her eyes were watery, she seemed sad when I asked that.

"So, are they still in the city now?"

"They all came home yesterday. I saw them riding their horses when I was selling these logs to my regular shop."

After she said that, I fell silent, put the wood scraps into the backpack then lifted the backpack onto my back, and walked towards her.

"They judge you wrong, and they are stupid too. How can a good girl like you not be helped? I wonder, why can they be like that? What do you call it... Oh, they are losers, fawning over and carrying out unqualified orders. Therefore, you have made the right decision."

I said that while stroking her head. But suddenly, she lowered her head and her tears started to fall to the ground.

"T-Thank you."

"Yes. Let's go to the city to sell this."

"Okay."

According to Hiyori, maybe they were strong people, so she turned to them for help. But unfortunately, they didn't help her, ignored her, and followed their superior's orders.

For me, commands don't always have to be executed properly. Sometimes when something is dangerous and has to force you to ignore the order, you can disobey it. Not that you're not challenging the order, but that you're choosing your agency. And they, they don't do that. Truly an obedient subordinate.

When Fred got here with Kevin, we left him and headed for the city on horseback.

Afternoon sun, fresh oxygen, wind blowing, I enjoy this afternoon. It feels so relaxed, warm, calm, not filled with noise from employees coming home from work, no annoying horn sounds, I use this afternoon to calm myself down.

But again, I didn't choose the main road, chose the canal road to enter the city.

"Hey, why this way? There's no one in front of you to greet you, so why come this way?"

"Shut up! It's quieter here than there. Therefore, this is the best way."

"What's the best? It's just a ditch. Ah~ I think you are crazy to choose this road as the main road to the city."

She talks too much, I have to leave her.

"Hey, where are you going? Why is your horse walking so fast? Hey..."

Without turning to look at her, I continued to ride this horse at a fast pace.

Seeing the light, arriving here, I started to hear noise, I finally managed to enter this city without a hitch.

"Wait! Why did you leave me? What did I do wrong?"

"We have to hurry."

"Hey, don't ignore me!"

Up the stairs, past the pedestrians, I rode this horse in a different direction from Hiyori.

Carrying this shawl in my hands, according to the schedule I have prepared, I will visit the inn and return this shawl to her.

"That's not the right way. Where exactly do you want to go?"

"I have something to take care of. We'll meet at the guild later. You go first!"

I left it there.

"Oh my... No wonder all the wood is put on my horse, and you give this backpack to me. It turns out you have something to hide from me."