Chapter 14
In the end, the outfit he chose was a black suit, close to ready-made formal wear.
“Do you know why ready-made clothes exist? Because they’re plain and unremarkable. Young master, you really shouldn’t trust your own sense of style.”
Aldio’s sharp remark had been completely effective.
After changing, Elik finally realized just how horrible his previous outfit had been—and that realization was further confirmed by Tiria’s reaction.
She let out a breath of relief.
And Elik felt a deep sense of shame.
Anyway, after all that, they had finally arrived in the town center.
Elik felt a strange sense of nostalgia. Come to think of it, since returning to Wivin, he had never once visited the central plaza.
On his first day back, he had only taken the fastest route to the manor. After that, the only times he had gone out were to visit his father’s grave and the Wivin estate.
So seeing the plaza now filled him with both longing and familiarity.
“It hasn’t changed at all.”
It was a circular plaza.
There were no decorative fountains or monuments—just a wide open space surrounded by the busiest shops in Wivin.
Even the shop names were exactly the same as ten years ago.
People passing by politely greeted him, and Elik casually waved back.
Tiria spoke beside him.
“Since nothing bad happened in ten years, no one left their spot.”
“Is that so?”
“The only change is that that restaurant over there was passed down to the son and his wife.”
“…I know that place.”
“Oh? You do?”
“When I was young, I used to get snacks there often. The owner had quite a loud voice.”
He remembered it clearly.
Whenever he was playing around all day with the other kids and got hungry, they would go there.
The owner would laugh loudly and say:
“You little troublemakers! You’re here again!”
Then he would take them to a corner table and serve sandwiches made of bread, jam, and meat.
It wasn’t anything fancy—but it was warm.
Maybe what lingered in Elik’s memory wasn’t the taste, but the warmth of the man who always smiled at them.
Lost in nostalgia, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Watching the stalls being set up for the harvest festival made it feel like he had returned to childhood.
While he was looking around, his eyes met Tiria’s.
More precisely, he only realized a moment late that she had been staring at him.
“…Ah, sorry. I got distracted. We’re here to work today.”
“There’s no need to apologize. We’re not in a hurry.”
“Heh… then let’s get started. What should we do?”
“We’re supervising. We inspect the temporary structures and check whether they’re properly built.”
Elik nodded, and Tiria matched her pace to his as they walked.
There wasn’t much to look at. Most of the temporary structures were stalls, with the largest being a campfire setup the size of a building.
Even after checking the lines marked on the ground for order and the various festival decorations, only two hours had passed.
It was surprisingly quick work.
Just as he thought that—
“Now we’ll go meet the shop owners.”
“Hm?”
“Shops near the plaza become crowded during the festival. We need to conduct safety inspections in advance.”
It sounded reasonable.
In fact, he remembered it now—during festivals, ropes were set up in front of shops for crowd control.
“You inspect all of that too?”
“Of course. We can’t allow accidents.”
How meticulous.
Well, it made sense. His father would have been extremely strict about preventing any unforeseen incidents.
Elik nodded.
“Let’s go. I’d like to greet them as well.”
Would they still remember him?
That thought crossed his mind.
A short while later
The shop owners did not recognize Elik at first.
Even Aldio had hesitated, so it was natural.
Still, it wasn’t entirely disappointing.
They all still remembered him as a child.
“Y-You mean… Young Master Elik? The troublemaker of Wivin?”
Elik laughed softly at the words.
Warmth spread through him.
“I see I am still remembered.”
“How could we forget? I still get headaches thinking about how much damage you did to our fabrics back then!”
The clothing shop owner laughed heartily.
Elik flinched.
“…I did?”
“Oh yes. You used to gather all the kids and shout things like ‘siege battle!’ while rampaging around. Ah, those were the days… that little troublemaker became like this!”
The owner smiled warmly, lost in nostalgia, but Elik couldn’t laugh.
Now that he thought about it, he did vaguely remember such things.
No—he definitely had caused trouble in several shops around here.
He glanced at Tiria.
She was calm, as always.
“Is something wrong?”
“…It’s embarrassing. I was a bit of a strange child.”
“I already knew.”
“…You did?”
So even his reputation had reached Wivin Manor?
Elik felt a strange fear toward his past self.
Meanwhile, the shop owner spoke again.
“Well, it’s good to see you. I heard you left Wivin, so seeing you return makes me happy!”
“…I’ll compensate for the fabrics I ruined back then.”
“No need. I don’t even remember the exact amount anymore. Besides, thanks to you, the market was lively back then.”
The owner’s expression turned slightly nostalgic.
“These days it’s so quiet. Sometimes I think back to those days. You know? All the kids you used to cause trouble with have gone to big cities. It’s been five years since they left saying they’d make something big, but none of them have come back…”
It wasn’t unusual.
The invention and spread of steam engines had shrunk the distance between cities.
Travel became easier, and ambitious young people naturally headed to larger cities.
Few remained to inherit farming life like before.
“Still, they do send letters sometimes. Ah, do you remember Lutton? Your right-hand man.”
“How could I forget him?”
“He became a knight.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, he’s Wivin’s pride. His father still goes around boasting about it…”
Elik felt a strange warmth in his chest.
We’re going to become knights! The greatest royal knights in the kingdom!
Yeah! I’ll follow you, boss!
Ah, that’s right.
He was a friend who once shared that dream.
Now that he thought about it, he had the strength and build to become a knight if he wanted.
‘So you achieved your dream.’
Unlike himself, who became a war mercenary, his friend had succeeded.
“Lord.”
Tiria spoke.
“The safety inspection is complete. Let’s move on.”
“Ah… right.”
While they had been talking, she had already finished the work.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Elik turned back to the shop owner.
“Then I’ll visit again.”
“Come anytime if you need clothes made.”
“Yes, I will.”
After parting ways, they continued visiting several more shops.
Eventually, they arrived at the restaurant he had always eaten at as a child.
The owner had changed—but it was still someone he knew.
“Elik? You’re… Elik?!”
It was unavoidable—the new owner was his childhood friend.
“Damn it! You really came back!”
His name was Bart. In their childhood war games, he was always the supply soldier, and the first to run when trouble started.
Elik hugged him.
Then came endless conversation—nostalgia overflowing.
“Remember that time? When we secretly climbed the mountain behind town?”
“We saw a wolf-type monster from afar and all ran away. It’s a miracle no one died.”
“Right! You remember!”
As they laughed, the past felt closer again—and the war-torn present faded further away.
Because of that, Elik forgot to perform the safety inspection this time.
Tiria handled it instead.
“Lord, the work is finished. Let’s head back.”
“Ah…”
Feeling awkward, he responded.
“It’s fine. I understand meeting a friend.”
“Sorry.”
“Elik, you’re a bad husband.”
Bart laughed.
Elik shot him a glare.
Bart just shrugged.
“Take care. Come back during the festival.”
They said their goodbyes.
Bart kept waving until Elik disappeared.
“Dear.”
“Ah, sorry. I’ll be there soon.”
“What were you looking at? I get that you were happy to see your friend, but we still have work to do.”
“Just… strange.”
Bart kept looking at the spot where Elik had left.
“I didn’t think those two would end up getting married.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing.”
He scratched his cheek and turned away.
A memory surfaced.
Hey! Ugly!
…I’m not!
You are! Your face is all swollen and ugly! Aldio said pretty people have sharp faces!
A faint smile appeared on Bart’s face.
Maybe those two were meant for each other.
He shook off the thought and headed back to the kitchen.
The unexpected reunion had been a pleasant one.
