Chapter 105 (2/2)

【”Take me there.”]

【”Yes”]

Well, Harold had no intention to do such a thing, so he openly let Mihai take him along. That being the case, the house was so small there wasn’t really a need for a guide. After going out of the living room, they took a narrow passage that couldn’t quite be called a corridor, and from there, it did not even take ten seconds to reach Finnegan’s room.

At first, Mihai tried knocking on the door, but since there was no response, he just silently opened it.

The room was dimly lit: a weak sunlight that came from the cloudy sky was making its way through a single window, shedding light on a bed where someone was currently lying down. That was likely FInnegan.

【”Papa, your friends are here.”]

Mihai called out to his father, while standing by his bedside.

However, there was no reaction from Finnegan. He was gazing at the ceiling with hollow eyes, doing nothing except for blinking every so often. Even so, Mihai kept calling out to him while shaking him with both hands. This scene pierced Harold’s heart deeper than the sight of the siblings’ poor conditions.

It looked like the kid was about to cry.

【”It’s okay.”]

Unable to bear watching Mihai call out to his father, Harold gently stroked his head with his hand. Mihai looked up at Harold with a face that showed incomprehension towards the situation.

The kid’s pure eyes reminded Harold of his younger half-brother, Huey.

Suddenly, a thought crossed Harold’s mind.

(Could it be that Huey will share the same fate?)

Assuming that Justus was going to be defeated, that wouldn’t change the fact that the Stokes family have been putting the people of their territory under a reign of tyranny. Based on the original story, this past tyranny was going to bring the Stokes family to its knees and to make them lose their status as aristocrats.

If that happened, then what would become of Huey and his mother, Dorothy? In the past, after the business of Dorothy’s family failed, they had sold their noble title and had become commoners. As a former noble, Dorothy had been used as a bargaining chip and had become a concubine so that her family could get its peerage back through the Stokes family’s help, but from what Harold had heard, they apparently were nobles only in name now, and the territory they had obtained was actually insignificant.

Considering all that, it was hard to imagine that the mother and son would live a comfortable life. Harold had made arrangements so that the Sumeragi family would intervene in the management of the Stokes territory, but they were only going to focus on the territory as a whole in order to prevent any administrative disorder from arising. They would not be of help when it came to the living standards of individuals.

【”What’s wrong?”]

【”…Nothing.”]

But that did not mean there was any deep meaning to what Harold was about to do here. It was not like he was trying to make up for his sins or anything. In the first place, Huey and Mihai were completely different people.

It was just that someone who was within his hand’s reach was going through a deplorable fate, so it was only natural for him to want to help, wasn’t it?

【”I’m going to step out for a little while. As for you, Cody, you’re free to play the babysitter.”]

◇

(Cody’s POV)

【”Did we make him angry…?”]

Asked Sarah to Cody, confused as she watched the back of Harold as he went outside. Although she was getting flustered, while muttering to herself that maybe this was because Mihai had been rude, the truth was that Harold was probably not even angry at all.

Well, even Cody had to admit that, in the eyes of the people who did not know him, Harold always looked like he was in a bad mood.

【”It’s fine, it’s fine, he may not look like it but Harold is a good guy.”]

【”R-really?”]

Sarah’s face looked like she had just heard something unbelievable. Cody, on the contrary, felt like Harold getting angry at this child was an unimaginable scenario. To begin with, while Harold did have a sharp tongue, that did not mean he had a bad temper… In fact, it was quite hard to get him angry as far as Cody could tell.

【”Yeah, you really don’t have to worry so much.”]

Cody made his words as clear as possible. That was because he had a rough idea as to why Harold had left his seat. It was in order to do something that Cody had naturally also thought of doing without having to be reminded, and that he would normally have done himself.

In his heart, Cody felt sorry not doing it, but he felt like this was a good opportunity to change Sarah’s image of Harold. So he came to the conclusion that his role here was to support Harold’s actions with words rather than to personally intervene.

Of course, he was aware that he was basically wiping his hands off the matter and leaving it to someone else, but his answer to such a claim would be: “So what?”. That was the kind of man Cody Luzial was.

An hour after that, while Cody was getting friendlier with the pair of siblings, Harold came back.

He was holding a big paper bag with both hands.

Inside the bag was a large amount of food, just like Cody had predicted. However, what he had not expected was that Harold had brought raw ingredients instead of already cooked food.

【”Wait, you’re going to cook?”]

【”Obviously.”]

【”I thought you’d buy something that was already ready so that they could eat directly.”]

【”You want me to abruptly feed that kind of food to malnourished people? You’re one hell of a hare-brained fool.”]

【”…I didn’t think things through, it’s my bad..”]

Although Cody backed his words with a grandiose, exaggerated bow, Harold completely ignored him. He probably felt like it would be too troublesome to respond.

However, now that Cody thought about it, the already cooked food that was sold inside the shops certainly did combine many heavy flavors. A healthy person would not pay attention to that, but for the stomachs of these small children whose meals were normally quite lacking, eating the kind of food that was sold outside too suddenly could create too big of a stimulus.

Especially since Mihai was still four years old. They had to be careful about what they fed him.

(As expected, single men like me are no good when it comes to these things… Wait, Harold is single too, isn’t he?)

In the end, the only difference at play was that one of them considered his actions and the other did not. Well, Harold did technically have a fiancée, so Cody figured that counted for something.

While Cody was wallowing in self-pity, Harold took off his coat and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt up to his elbows. Then, he used his magic to ignite the firewood inside the kitchen’s stove. The performance was welcomed with Sarah and Mihai’s cheers of surprise.

While casually putting a pot of water above the stove so that it would boil, Harold also placed some vegetables inside a wooden bucket and started washing them. He appeared to be quite skilled.

Aside from his cynicism, Harold was already a flawless man, and now he apparently also knew how to cook.

【”Anything I can do to help?”]

【”Can you cook?”]

【”…Can you not make me spell it out and make a guess just this once?”]

【”You’re useless.”]

Harold’s words was terribly direct. But Cody did not have anything to say for himself in response.

While they were having this conversation, Harold had peeled the vegetables, and he was now cutting them up to adequate sizes.

【”E-excuse me……”]

At that time, Sarah found the resolve to call out to him.

【”What?”]

【”P-please allow me to help… I know how to cut vegetables so…”]

【”I have no need for your help.”]

【”B-b-but I….”]

【”Go clean up your brother instead. And make sure to use this.”]

As he said so, Harold took a bar of soap out of the paper bag. Since it was an expensive item fancied by aristocrats, the soap was packaged in its own wooden box.

Sarah was young but she was still a girl; she probably wished to take care of her personal grooming. Cody did not know if Harold had thought that far, but that would explain why he had gone out of his way to buy this soap.

【”T-this is a very precious item….!”]

【”It was only worth some loose change. While you’re at it, clean yourself up, too. I don’t want your dirty hands to touch my handmade food.”]

Although that was typically the kind of thing Harold would say, his words showed that he did spare some thoughts for the worries Sarah had as a girl. After all, was there such a thing as a girl who’d want to show herself looking dirty?

Perhaps because she had seen through Harold’s words as well, Sarah bowed deeply with a “Thank you very much!” and then took Mihai to the bathroom.

After watching all of this unfold, Cody spoke to Harold, who was still standing in the kitchen.

【”You popular men sure have your ways.”]

【”Look, there is no way in hell I’m going to feed a man who’s doing less work than livestock. You better go chop some wood if you don’t want to find poison in your plate.”]

【”Yessir~!”]

Although Harold had once again replied very harshly, Cody rushed outside without any complaints or hesitation and grabbed an ax.