Chapter 53

I accidentally wrote too much. The story isn't progressing at all.

It was well past midnight.

The village streets, illuminated by the moonlight, were devoid of any human presence.

The tourists and merchants who had enlivened the streets were now sound asleep, either at relatives' or friends' homes or in temporary inns that opened only during the festival, preparing for the main event of the Spirit Festival the next day.

A few villagers still lingered in the square of Alba Village.

In the center of the square, a large bonfire, known as the Spirit Fire, which is said to serve as a beacon for the spirits, was set up, and the sound of crackling wood echoed around.

This Spirit Fire must not be extinguished until the end of the festival, and villagers took turns watching it throughout the night.

Many decades ago, during one of the festivals, the Spirit Fire was accidentally extinguished. The following year, Alba Village was hit by a severe crop failure. To survive, the villagers had to sell their daughters, and even then, many died of starvation.

Since then, extinguishing the Spirit Fire has been regarded almost as a taboo in Alba Village.

"You've worked hard. It's time to switch shifts."

"Is it that time already? Who's next?"

"I, I am! Please leave it to me!"

"Hey, you're Gunther's son, right? So you're a Fire Guardian this year, huh?"

"Y-Yes...!"

The role of Fire Guardian is performed by men. To prevent the fire from going out due to someone falling asleep, four or five men always took turns watching the fire.

Those chosen as Fire Guardians were all adult men, and in Alba Village, completing this duty was a rite of passage into adulthood.

"Don't be so nervous. We're all here, so just relax."

"I, I understand..."

"Still, you're lucky, aren't you?" one of the men said to the young man. "Why's that?"

"There's no worry about rain today. When it was my turn, it rained quite a bit, and it was tough to keep the fire from going out..."

"Ah, I remember that." "When it was my turn, it was cloudy, and I was on edge the whole time." "It's been sunny for a while now, hasn't it?"

Seeing the young man newly assigned as a Fire Guardian, the men surrounding the Spirit Fire began to share their own memories. One of them looked up at the night sky.

"Almost no clouds, so there won't be any passing showers."

"True, right now there's a full moon... huh?"

"Is something wrong?"

The man who suddenly stopped speaking was asked by the one next to him.

"No, when I looked up at the moon, I saw something."

"Huh? There's nothing there."

"That's strange. I definitely saw something."

The man strained his eyes to search the night sky but saw only the countless twinkling stars and the full moon.

Eventually, he convinced himself that it was probably an owl or something and lowered his gaze back to the ground, quickly forgetting about it.

In the square, the Spirit Fire continued to burn brightly.

§

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

Suddenly, the silence of the midnight was shattered by a noise that echoed through the Alba Village lord's manor.

"What is it? At this hour of the night?"

Johan von Aubiere, the head of the Aubiere family and the lord of the manor, woke up to the noise and got out of bed.

He didn't know who the visitor was, but the butler was probably dealing with them by now.

Perhaps something had happened in the village.

Thinking this, he reached for a robe to put over his nightclothes.

"Kwee! Kwee!!"

At that moment, Johan heard a shrill cry. It was different from the calls of birds or guard dogs. The cry, which he recognized, came from outside the manor, mixed with the noise.

"Is it Nord who has returned?"

It was the cry of the dragon that his much younger sister had named Nord.

"What's the matter?"

"It seems to be my brother. You stay here and rest."

"Fa... at this hour of the night...?"

Kathia, Johan's wife, stirred in bed, apparently having woken up as well.

"He was investigating the forest. He must have just returned."

The village hunter, Roji, had reported that after finishing his hunt in the forest, Nord had disappeared into the woods.

Come to think of it, Roji had also mentioned that the forest seemed unusual.

(...Did something happen? No, it's too soon for that.)

Nord had headed into the depths of the forest in the evening.

It was now midnight, so he must have returned from the forest in less than a day.

Even though Nord was a skilled adventurer, it seemed unlikely that he could investigate the forest at night.

Probably, he had found some traces of a monster or something nearby.

(Sigh, this is going to cost me.)

Johan mentally calculated the expenses and was troubled by the amount it would cost to deal with the situation.

He had paid Nord a substantial reward for slaying monsters in the summer. Although Nord was his real brother, he had been able to get the job done at a much lower rate than the market price, but it was still a significant amount.

While Alba Village hadn't experienced a complete crop failure, it hadn't had a good harvest in recent years, and the Aubiere family's finances, which governed the village, were far from affluent.

In particular, Johan had been supporting his family, the Felis family, with a considerable amount of money, albeit within the limits of what was allowed. As a result, the amount of money left after deducting the necessary funds for village governance, relations with other territories, and the Aubiere family's needs from the tax revenue was surprisingly small.

Unexpected expenses, such as monster slaying, were usually paid from the lord's personal funds.

For a powerful lord who governed multiple villages and towns, this might not be a problem, but for Johan, who governed only the border village of Alba, his personal funds were limited to the bare minimum.

If unexpected expenses piled up, Johan would have to struggle to find the budget.

(This time, I'll have to ask Nord to bear with it. Well, I can give him some wheat or wine as a gift when he leaves.)

Providing goods was cheaper than paying in silver.

Even in Alba Village, where the harvest had been poor due to a cold summer, these goods were valuable, but they were still better than the small amount of cash they could get by paying fees to merchants.

(At least, if some of the money I lent to the Felis family could be returned, it would be easier.)

Johan sighed inwardly as he reached for the bedroom door.

Thanks to Nord, the Felis family's finances had turned a profit, and they were gradually paying off their debts. However, the repayment priority for the Aubiere family was not particularly high.

One of the conditions for Johan to marry into the Aubiere family, which had only daughters, was related to debt. It included the reduction of the debts the Felis family had incurred, additional support, and interest-free loans.

Although the interest on the loans to the Felis family, who were related by marriage, was minimal, even a small amount of interest made a big difference, especially to the borrower.

Logically, it was more beneficial to repay debts with interest first. The longer the principal remained, the more interest accrued. After repaying the interest-bearing debts, they would likely recover the collateral.

This meant that the debt to the Aubiere family, which not only didn't charge interest but also continued to provide support, would be repaid last. Considering that Johan was a real son, it wouldn't be surprising if it was the last to be repaid.

When Johan's parents told him about the marriage proposal to the Aubiere family, he was overjoyed. As a second son, it was an excellent opportunity.

In the Kingdom of Hamil, the eldest son inherits the family estate. Therefore, younger sons had to make their own way if the eldest son successfully inherited the family.

However, the salary of a knight in the kingdom's army was limited. The salary was based on the assumption that the knight would inherit the family estate and receive a stipend. A regular knight's salary was barely enough to support one person.

To get a decent salary, one had to either achieve success in war and rise through the ranks or marry into a noble family.

Now, there was a proposal to marry into a noble family.

Even though it was a small village, it was still a lord's family. They wanted a male heir because all their children were girls. It was a perfect match.

At the time, Johan thought, "Now I won't have to worry about money anymore." But it seems that life isn't that simple.

(Even after marrying into a noble family, I still have to worry about finances... Still, it's much better than staying with the Felis family.)

Poor Al. Thinking about his brother, Johan slipped out of the bedroom and headed for the front door.

To be continued. I wanted to complete it in one chapter, but I thought it might be bad to take three days off in a row.

Postscript

According to Earth Star Novel, a manga adaptation project is underway! You can check the official website for more details.

This is all thanks to Enami Katsumi, who provided the wonderful character designs and illustrations, and to all the readers who purchased the book.

Thank you, sorry. Thank you!

I would be very happy if you continue to support me!

The details of the manga adaptation will be announced later, so I will report on it when the time comes.