When I contacted Earl Neville, he happily agreed . This was the house where Claire was raised . They are simple folk and love people . That was how it was at that fief . However, he couldn’t decide whether or not to give permission on the task I wanted Luke to do .
Furthermore, I couldn’t receive permission easily from the supervision department to visit Earl Neville’s fief . The supervision department is responsible for the management of the barrier . That is to say, they always monitor the magic stones to ensure that it still has enough magic power, and manage when it needs to be refilled .
“Marquis Albans, the memory of you going out last time without permission, and returning just barely before the 10 days were over, is still fresh in my mind . And you want to leave the Royal Capital again for 10 days? I can’t let you do that . ”
That was the supervision department’s view .
“Is this really something you should be saying to me? I made it back here in 10 days despite my daughter being kidnapped . ”
“All I can say is that I’m sorry about that . What we want to say is that you should keep in mind about protecting the people as part of the Four Marquises . ”
“That’s why I submitted a report stating that I would return in 10 days . ”
“Furthermore, you want to take the Lisburn heir with you . We would be at a loss if something were to happen to both heirs . ”
“I see . So you wouldn’t worry so much if we had reserved heirs . I’m tired of listening to you!”
My sarcasm got through to him, and he fell silent . This blasted stubborn old man .
“Receiving permission is only a formality . You don’t have any reason to hold me back as long as I don’t violate the pact of the Four Marquises . If you overly manage us like this, then I might just thoughtlessly stay for more than 10 days . ”
“You can’t be serious!?”
“Alright?”
The first people to be troubled, if something were to happen to the Four Marquises, is the supervision department .
“I’ll be back in 10 days . I already submitted the report for this . You’re the one who is stopping me with meaningless reasons . Now, what will you do?”
The supervision department gave in .
On the first day of the summer holiday, Gill Lisburn, who is three years older than Luke, will also be going to the north . I’m finally leaving to go to Earl Neville’s mansion in the north .
“It’s not a good idea for people to see him pandering at the Albans House . He’ll be treated as a problem child in the Royal Capital,” I said .
And Stan muttered, “Who cares, it’ll probably be a difficult experience for Gill . I don’t want him to regret not going to Frontier like I do . They probably won’t be rebuked since they’re not 18 yet . I’m so ashamed of myself for not thinking about my little brother, even though we’ve never met, until this happened to Lei . ”
“And you probably want to do something since Gill also adores Lei . ”
“I’m sure it’ll be dangerous . Sorry . ”
“It’s fine . ”
It took 3 days to get to Earl Neville’s mansion and 2 days from there to Frontier . I’ll be stopping for the night and then taking the 3-day journey back to the Royal Capital . It’ll be an exhausting trip .
“Then, I’ll be off . ”
“Good luck!”
Stan and the servants saw us off as we headed towards the north .
“Two sets forwards, and three sets back! Spread out . ”
Of course, the guards were with us . Nice way of putting it was, the supervision department is monitoring us .
“Remington, you have bad luck . ”
“Call me, Graces . And it’s my job . ”
The dragon carriage was too slow, so we were using Rug Dragons to get to the north . Gill was on a dragon and Luke was in the basket . We were exhausted, but we reached Earl Neville’s place in 3 days, just as planned .
“Dean! It’s been a while . I haven’t seen Luke since the wedding, do you still remember me?”
“I do . You had gentle brown hair and eyes . You said『Let’s get along』as you smiled like mother . ”
“Claire had already given up on having children, so she was delighted to have a little boy . ”
“I really loved her . ”
The Earl greeted as he hugged Luke tightly and spoke . This was Luke’s grandfather even though they weren’t connected by blood .
“I asked you something so shameless even though we’ve just lost Claire and I couldn’t even protect Leila . ”
“I won’t say it’s fine . I should have at least gone to see Leila . Fate did such an evil thing after you’ve finally healed from losing Claire . ”
I lowered my head .
“I don’t know him, but I’m hiring an excellent hunter through a merchant . I want you to show the two Marquis heirs how people fight with Hollows while protecting them . Dean, that’s a challenging request . ”
“I am sorry . They can’t go out of Kingdom once they become adults . I want them to experience what it is that they’re protecting their people from . ”
“But still, it’s dangerous . Are you really giving the Hunter that?”
“If I didn’t offer a reward, then there wouldn’t be any hunters . Right?”
“That’s true . ”
That, in other words, it wasn’t publicly forbidden to take barrier boxes out of Kingdom . But, people would question whether it would be fine for them to just protect themselves inside the barrier .
However, it was expensive . No matter how much he earned, it was too much for a Hunter to afford, or so I’ve heard . The barrier boxes required large magic stones which were difficult to obtain . One of the reasons for this was because there weren’t many artisans who could make these boxes . And there were few around who could fill the magic stones used in the barrier boxes .
But, my magic stone business has a lot of magic tool masters . It was easy to get them to make something even if it were expensive . That was my bait .
“I’ll leave the children in your care . I want to head to the border after we’ve rested for the night . ”
“You’ve already made plans, and you have guards with you . ”
“They’re just observing . Seems like I’m a problematic child,” I said mockingly, and Earl Neville placed his hand on my shoulder .
“Listen, Dean . You’ve never caused any problems and continued your duty by maintaining the barrier . The ones who are in the wrong are the ones who kidnapped Lei and the ones who aren’t doing anything about it . You’re not giving up on Leila, and you’re doing your best for my grandchildren . ”
“……, I am . ”
I was moved to tears and lowered my head . Can I not succeed if my tears don’t fall? This is Claire’s father, the woman who taught me how to be human .
“Now then, Luke and the other guests should rest now . Of course, the guards are welcomed too . ”
“Thank you . ”
It’ll be another exhausting day tomorrow .
Translator: Blushy
Editor: HSM