69. The Hero Party Needs Training (7)
A notebook filled with detailed research processes.
Today she lasted an hour, and during that time, what actions the eyeball exhibited.
Saten observed and analyzed the reactions in depth.
It wasn't something a girl her age should be doing.
"You've crossed the line—crossed it badly, Saten."
Last time, she asked me if non-elemental magic could sustain a living organism indefinitely.
Judging by the red writing in the diary, it seemed Saten had found new hope after that day.
-If only I could use non-elemental magic, I could restore Uncle's eyes too. However, to learn non-elemental magic, I must awaken emotions.
That's absolutely not easy.
Writing dyed in blood.
Did Saten think she had a higher chance of awakening emotions than succeeding in creating an eyeball with Blood Magic?
No experiments were recorded after that.
I carefully closed Saten's research diary.
Thud-
"Should I consider it fortunate that she's not experimenting anymore?"
There were traces of her planning to shift to another subject and attempt live experiments...
But she only planned it and didn't act on it.
I suppose the current situation could be considered fortunate.
Promising myself to have an intimate one-on-one conversation with Saten next time.
I left Saten's dark and gloomy room.
The light I encountered after so long was dazzling.
"I like dark spaces too, but that was too dark."
She needs to get sunlight to grow tall.
Right now Estia holds the record for shortest.
But later, Saten might end up being the shortest.
Thinking such thoughts, I walked toward where I could hear the children's voices.
As I walked, my mind was compiling a ranking of the Hero Party's abnormality.
"No matter how I think about it..."
Luna.
You seem closest to normal.
Though it doesn't really mean much when an abnormal person like me is doing the ranking.
In the Hero Party, Luna felt the most mentally healthy.
"And in last place..."
It would have to be Saten.
The most brilliant and reliable.
But with the most screws loose, like a bomb that could go off at any moment.
Since Estia shouts warnings like "Holy water! Holy water!" before exploding, the person who needs the most careful watching in the Hero Party is Saten.
And I'm the middle manager who has to manage the bomb so it doesn't explode.
Since I've been away for quite a while, it's time to check on the children's condition.
"...Anyway, I should hurry."
Because if you take your eyes off the children for even a moment, they cause incidents.
With such worry-like thoughts, I slowly picked up my pace.
While I was away.
The Hare and Estia side was perfectly as I expected.
"Th-that's my spot...! M-move...!"
"Hmph, says who? First come, first served!"
They bicker with each other, engaging in friendly competition.
And friendship blooming between them!
When you put two people who aren't close in a room, it's awkward.
But if you give them one active goal between them, there's a high chance they'll become friends.
It was an educational method using memories from my old adventurer days, when Aina and I were trapped in a dungeon together for four days.
"...Back then we showed each other everything we shouldn't have seen."
...No.
Let's stop thinking about past memories.
Because they were good memories, they hurt even more.
I approached the two people going squeak- squeak- cleaning the windows.
"Are you all having fun cleaning?"
"A-Ahjussi...! I-I worked really hard...! Look at this...!!"
Excitedly-
When Hare heard my voice, she came up to me and grabbed my sleeve.
Then she proudly showed me the window she'd cleaned.
It was a very clean window.
"You must have cleaned hard."
"Y-yes...! I-I cleaned the inside windows...! And the outside windows too...! I did well, right...!?"
"...Wait, you cleaned the outside windows?"
If she cleaned the outside windows...
Isn't that a bit dangerous...?
We're currently on the second floor.
If you misstep and fall, you could get hurt.
But Hare tilted her head with an anxious expression, as if she'd never thought about falling.
"D-did I do something wrong, Ahjussi...? Your expression hardened..."
"...No. You did well, Hare. You handled even dangerous work well."
"Heh, hehe... Thank you, Ahjussi..."
Hare smiled happily and requested head pats.
As I stroked her pink hair, I thought to myself.
*If she were a normal child, I would have scolded her for dangerous behavior, but she's the Thief of the Hero Party.*
You can't look at a genius from an ordinary person's perspective.
Hare probably didn't think it was dangerous at all to stand on the railing.
Because she has physically superior balance.
She must have thought cleaning the outside windows from the railing wasn't dangerous at all.
Restraining Hare's freedom would definitely be like caging a genius so they can't fly.
"Well done, Hare. You worked hard without getting hurt."
"Y-yes...! I-I worked really hard...!"
Glancing-
Hare side-eyed Estia and shouted.
"I cleaned more than Estia over there...! And worked harder...!"
"We just cleaned together! Y-you traitor-!! Suddenly stabbing me in the back!?"
Estia raised her voice as if wronged.
The two growling at each other.
I stepped between them to mediate the fight.
"There's no need to fight after finishing the cleaning. Stop it."
"Oppa, she hit first! I was just defending myself! Self-defense!"
"I-I just stated the facts...! I cleaned more...!"
"Stop."
What's important is that they cleaned together, not who did more.
I was planning to give rewards to all the children who cleaned hard anyway.
To end the fight, I patted both their heads.
"Hare, I understand you cleaned a lot. I'll praise you for that."
"Th-thank you...! A-Ahjussi...!"
"But just because you cleaned more, don't ignore Estia's efforts. Estia worked hard too."
"Okay, Ahjussi... I'm sorry..."
Dejected-
Hare lowered her head.
Seeing that, I wanted to ask about the whereabouts of my underwear in the room.
But since it would definitely not be good for their emotional well-being, I decided to hold back my itching mouth.
As I was patting the children's heads like that, Estia, full of rebellious spirit, shook off my hand.
"L-let go! I'm not a little kid!"
"For someone saying that, you stayed pretty still."
"Th-that was all to get holy water...! I-I was acting! So give me holy water now! Hand over the holy water!"
Estia's hands, contradicting her words, were polite.
Seeing how she held out both hands courteously, she seemed to want the holy water quite badly.
I said to Estia, who was like a wild rabbit.
"In a bit. I'll give out rewards after looking around the mansion once."
"...You're giving holy water, right? If you don't, I'll escape! I'm escaping!"
"Try it if you can. The other children won't help you."
Luna, Hare, Saten.
If Estia shows signs of trying to escape, they'll stop her and tell me.
Those children had no reason to leave this place.
"Y-you kidnapper...! Th-the Goddess will never forgive Oppa...!!"
"Unfortunately, the Goddess is on my side."
"Liar-!!"
Believe it or not.
That's Estia's freedom.
Anyway, since the Hare and Estia team safely finished cleaning.
There's no need to check further.
Thinking that, I tried to move to where I'd assigned Luna and Saten.
At that moment.
[Emergency! Move quickly! Something big happened! Don't ask, don't question, just run!]
[1. Run toward Luna.]
[2. Run toward Saten.]
Problem.
Though it's ambiguous to call it that.
Since I told them to clean together, Luna and Saten should be together.
And looking at the problem title, this isn't so much a problem as...
"More like an order."
An order.
Interpreting the intent of the questioner Minerva, this problem was closer to an order.
I received many such orders during my adventurer days too.
Something must have happened between the two.
"Either choice is fine, so number 1. I won't check the answer key."
If I misinterpreted the questioner's intent, Minerva will send another problem.
But even though I was moving urgently toward them, no problem arrived.
In other words, I interpreted it correctly.
*Jun, don't get cocky!*
Recalling Minerva's voice automatically playing in my head.
I ran toward the cleaning area assigned to them.
Passing through the long corridor and going down the stairs, there...
"Geez, you're the one who's wrong!! Why aren't you cleaning!! I need to get my reward!!"
"Get off me, commoner. Why should I help you get a reward?"
"Ow-!! Don't pull my hair-!!"
The two were rolling on the floor.
Grabbing each other's hair and fighting.
The most normal and the most abnormal.
Putting the extremes together.
They were fighting, tearing at each other's hair.
"Haah..."
I sighed and approached to mediate Luna and Saten's fight.
"Let go, Luna. You shouldn't fight Saten with your physical strength."
"N-no! She's the one who did wrong first! I'll let go if she lets go first!"
"...Saten, do you have any intention of letting go first-"
"No."
...Right.
Neither of you intends to let go.
Two people rolling on the floor grabbing each other's hair.
What should I do with this Hero Party?
I thought things would get better with time.
But for some reason, my insides just kept burning up.