[Special Edition] I’m really glad to have met you
“Is this a present for me?”
“Yeah! I’ve been indebted to Marco since I came here. So don’t hold back, just accept it!”
Ryoji visited Marco, who was enjoying his day off at the estate of his younger brother, Frontier Count Yuhan. In his hand was an item box, and although Marco initially looked skeptical, his expression brightened as various items began to emerge from it one after another.
“When I heard you were grateful to me, I couldn’t believe it… Can I take everything out?”
“Don’t doubt it! I’ve packed this full of gratitude for Marco! There’s even stuff for Natasha and the baby in her belly!”
Listening to Ryoji’s explanation, Marco exclaimed with joy when he saw one of the items.
“Oh! There’s alcohol too! Is this the rumored edible potion?”
“Yep! This is a new product mixed with ingredients that prevent hangovers! You can drink a lot, and you’ll feel refreshed the next day!”
“Is there really gratitude in all this…?”
As Ryoji continued to explain the items, Marco murmured with appreciation as he went to call Natasha.
“Hello! I heard Ryoji-kun has a present for me?”
“First up, clothes and educational toys for the baby who will be born soon. Then there are health supplements for Natasha, and potions for when your strength diminishes after giving birth! There’s also a massage cream that can be used for both mother and child, plus basic cosmetics like lotion and milk. Oh! And I also prepared a baby bath, stroller, towels, and blankets!”
“W-wow, that’s amazing! Does Ryoji-kun know someone who has given birth? It all feels so polished. By the way, these products will make my friends who are about to give birth super envious if I tell them about them! Don’t you think so, Marco?”
“Yeah, that’s really true. Is it something common in your country?”
While happily checking the contents with Natasha, Marco saw her looking delighted as she examined the children’s clothes and towels, especially enamored by the baby bath, expressing her gratitude multiple times as she listened to the explanations.
“Isn’t such a high-performance baby bath expensive?”
“Not at all, so don’t worry about it!”
“Even if you say ‘don’t worry,’ a baby bath like this isn’t something even nobles have! It must be expensive, right?”
“Who knows? I made it all from scratch. Don’t mind the price! More importantly, look at the performance! You can set the ideal temperature and water amount for the baby with just the touch of a button, and with another button, it drains itself! Also—”
“Y-yeah—”
While Ryoji, who wasn’t concerned about the price, passionately continued explaining the performance, Marco, influenced by his enthusiasm, nodded along. Natasha, while chuckling at the scene, spoke up.
“You really are out of the ordinary, Ryoji-kun. It reminds me of when I first met Marco.”
“Huh? A story about Marco’s younger days? I want to hear that… Ouch! What was that for? Let’s try to get a hold of Marco’s weakness by listening to his old stories… Ouch!”
As Ryoji looked on happily at Natasha’s nostalgic expression, Marco interrupted their conversation by swinging a mithril fan down vigorously from above.
“That’s it! You don’t genuinely want to hear the story; you just want to hear it so you can tease me later!”
“Come on, it’s fine. I also want to reminisce while talking with Ryoji-kun. Is that not okay, Marco?”
“Ugh! D-do what you want! Just keep it moderate so it doesn’t bother the baby in your belly! I’m going to check Ryoji’s present over there!”
As he recalled the past and looked back at Natasha with fondness, Marco blushed as he stored the items he was given into the item box and left the room.
“Such a tsundere.”
“Well then, since Marco has given me permission, let’s take our time talking. What do you want to hear about first?”
Oblivious to Ryoji whispering to himself as he watched Marco leave, Natasha looked pleased and asked him to start from their meeting.
“Hehe. Let’s go back two years to when we arrived in Drugul. That was when Carena and I were traveling together…”
“Excuse me, ladies. Could I see your adventurer cards?”
“Sure, here you go.”
With a practiced hand, Natasha handed her adventurer card to Marco. However, Carena seemed unfamiliar with such situations and nervously retrieved her adventurer card from her item box, hastily handing it over.
Accepting it with a slight smile, Marco confirmed there were no issues before returning the cards to them while giving a warning.
“You both have item boxes, huh? Don’t flaunt them too much. Drugul’s safety isn’t bad, but there are bad people everywhere. That girl over there is your senior, right? Make sure to educate her on that too.”
“I know, I know! Carena! I always tell you! The item box is a precious item, so you need to keep it low-key!”
“I’m, I’m sorry! I’m just not used to human customs yet…”
It had been half a year since Natasha teamed up with Carena. They met in a certain town, and Carena was not only a holder of a precious item box but also an innocent and naïve beautiful elf who had just come out of the forest, making her a target for malicious adventurers.
By chance, Natasha saved Carena just before she was about to be sold into slavery. After that, the two formed a duo and lived as adventurers while moving from town to town.
“You’ve always been too careless, Carena!”
“I know! But item boxes are something every elf uses. Even if they say it’s precious, I don’t really understand!”
“You two are really reckless. Let me teach you the basics of being an adventurer.”
As Natasha and Carena exchanged heated words, Marco, who had joined them with an exasperated expression and a sigh, suggested this. Natasha snapped back at him.
“Don’t mock us! Didn’t you see our adventurer’s certificate? We’re B-rank adventurers! I was listening to you as a gatekeeper, but there’s a limit to how far you can go! Don’t mess with us, old man!”
“Ah, is that so? I thought you were a D-rank novice because you were too relaxed for an adventurer. And my name is Marco. Calling a guy in his twenties ‘old man’ is not right, you know?”
Marco corrected her with a wry smile, and Natasha placed her hand on her sword to intimidate him. It was Carena who panicked. Right before entering the town of Drugul, which they had chosen as their base, Natasha was about to pick a fight with the gatekeeper, and Carena pulled her sleeve vigorously.
“No! Natasha! Marco-san is just being kind—”
“Ah, it’s fine. Is it Carena? As a senior adventurer, I have a duty to teach my incompetent junior. Since we both seem like swordsmen, it would be perfect to discuss things, right? Right, rookie adventurer?”
“Hmph! I hope you don’t regret this!”
At Marco’s provocation, Natasha glared at him breathing heavily. With a grin towards the bewildered Carena, Marco led the two to the guild’s job suitability test area.
“What’s going on? It’s rare for you to come here in your gatekeeper outfit, Marco.”
“Oh, Ksenia. I’m borrowing the job suitability test area.”
Ksenia, who had been looking bored at the guild reception, approached them. Marco explained the situation with a wry smile, and she leaned in with interest.
“Hey, it sounds like you’re planning something fun! Let me join in!”
“If the ‘Dragon breaker’ gets involved, it would be serious!”[TN: Or Wyvern Crusher, what sounds good?]
As Ksenia was about to leave the reception with a carnivorous grin after hearing the situation, Marco hurriedly stopped her. Natasha and Carena were surprised to hear her title.
“Wait! That A-rank adventurer! Why is she a receptionist at the guild?”
“I didn’t hear she had retired!”
Hearing the name of the famous adventurer surprised the two, and Marco, while chuckling, explained the situation.
“Oh, that’s because Ksenia went a bit overboard during her last request and was forced by the guild master to be a receptionist as punishment. If she doesn’t stop slacking off, it will get prolonged.”
“If you hadn’t told the guild master, it wouldn’t have come out in the first place! And that old man is always complaining about trivial matters…”
In a few years, Ksenia would become the guild master and have mock battles with Ryoji, but now she returned to her seat at the reception, looking displeased, and issued permission for the use of the job suitability test area.
“So what’s Ksenia’s punishment for…?”
“Hmm? Oh, it was just that she freed illegal slaves while guarding a corrupt merchant.”
“That’s not really a bad thing, is it?”
“Exactly, right? It’s more like a good deed!”
At Natasha and Carena’s words, Marco began to talk with a serious expression.
“Listen well. Just because they’re bad guys doesn’t mean you can abandon requests or hurt clients. If you do that, adventurers will start making their own judgments. If you two are planning to keep working as adventurers, remember that. It is the guild’s job to make those kinds of judgments. But in this case, they were just outsmarted by the corrupt merchant. It just happened that Ksenia’s rampage exposed it, but… well, putting that aside, it’s time for some education.”
“No matter how many times I hear it, you always sound so condescending! I’ll show you my true skills, you low-ranked gatekeeper, Marco.”
With Natasha’s cheap provocation, Marco handed her a wooden sword with a wry smile. The two moved to the starting position and lightly clashed swords as the battle began.
It seemed that Natasha was swinging her sword freely, pushing Marco into a position of defense. She possessed the skills befitting a B-rank adventurer, and Carena watched Natasha’s fight with confidence.
“Wow, you’re not bad at all.”
“Of course! It’s too late to regret it now!”
“You’re naive.”
Natasha smiled slightly at Marco, who murmured as impressed. She felt a sense of confidence from the many monsters she had defeated until now. Judging that she was better than Marco in skill, Natasha decided to conclude the fight now that victory seemed clear. With a large strike from above, Marco moved for the first time on his own.
As he skillfully deflected the overhead attack, he jumped high, quickly closing the distance and twisting his wrist to wrap around Natasha’s sword, sending it soaring into the air. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Natasha’s wooden sword flew high above her.
“What!?”
“See, overconfidence is dangerous.”
“Kyahhh!”
In an instant, Natasha was stunned to find her wooden sword gone from her hands, only to be met with Marco’s face close up, her expression shifting to one of surprise. Unsure if the scream she heard belonged to Carena or herself, she realized too late that she had fallen on her rear, with the wooden sword pressed against her throat.
“What… what happened?”
“I dodged your attack and got in close, then threw you. You seem like a B-rank adventurer who can handle a sword a little, but if you’re swinging wildly when you go for the finish, there’s no future for you. That concludes the lesson.”
With a cold smile and a seemingly ruthless expression, Marco demanded surrender while channeling killing intent into his sword towards the stunned Natasha.
“Marco was so cool back then. After that, a lot happened, and I ended up pursuing him hard and we got married… I can’t forget what he said at that moment.”
“Pfft! Marco said something like that? ‘If you touch me, you’ll get burned’? This is… Ow! Who did that?! Marco? Don’t interrupt at such a good part! Huh? What’s wrong? Why such a face? Did you get burned?”
“… Hey. What the hell is this?”
While Natasha was talking about her past with blushes, Ryoji listened carefully, trying not to laugh. Suddenly, a pain struck the back of Ryoji’s head. When he turned around in a panic, he found Marco standing with a blank expression, holding a paper fan in one hand. On the other hand, he held a small doll, which made Ryoji break into a broad grin as he explained happily.
“You finally noticed! This is a tool for Marco’s child to get special education! Its name? Ta-da! The Tsukkomi Training Machine! This magic tool screams ‘Ow!’ when you hit it with the paper fan. If this child quickly masters the inherited Tsukkomi job, he can inherit Marco’s title of ‘The Tsukkomi Specialist for the Entire Sandstrom Kingdom, including the King’… Ow! What are you doing?! I spent twenty gold coins developing this… Ow! Ow! The consecutive attacks with the paper fan… Ow!”
“Shut up! Give back my feelings! I was drinking in emotional bliss! And explain this inherited Tsukkomi job properly! I don’t understand! Plus, I have no intention of making my kid take on the Tsukkomi role! Besides, I’m not even a Tsukkomi specialist!”
“Huh? … Ow!”
“Don’t look at me with a puzzled face!”
When Marco declared he wasn’t a Tsukkomi specialist, Ryoji looked at him puzzled, and Marco swung down the mithril paper fan.
“Their bond is really strong… Oof!”
“W-What’s wrong, Natasha?!”
While Marco chased Ryoji around with the mithril paper fan, he suddenly rushed over to Natasha, who had begun to suffer, his face drained of color as he stroked her back. Ryoji activated the interface to check Natasha’s condition, then quickly ordered a nearby maid.
“Go get the midwife right now! And prepare some hot water! If you can’t, I’ll do it!”
“Hey! Ryoji! What’s wrong with Natasha?!”
“She’s about to give birth! I don’t know why, but her stamina keeps dropping. I’m using healing magic to stabilize her, but I don’t know how long it will last!”
He took the painfully suffering Natasha to a birthing room. Ryoji cast purifying magic throughout the room and on the people who entered. As he continued to use healing magic while preparing hot water and a pile of towels, the midwife finally arrived.
“How is she doing?!”
“The hot water is ready. The room’s temperature is being kept steady, so let me know if you want adjustments! Are there enough towels? Right now, I’m maintaining healing magic on Natasha, so it’s fine, but if I stop, her stamina will drop drastically!”
He explained Natasha’s condition and what was being prepared. The midwife, stunned by his efficiency, laughed heartily and patted Ryoji’s back.
“Ha! The hero of Drugul is more capable than an experienced midwife! A hundred thousand times better than that useless husband! Marco, get out; you’re a distraction!”
“No. I want to help with something…”
“Get out; you’re a distraction!”
Instructing Ryoji to keep using healing magic, the midwife shoved the anxious Marco out of the room.
“Even the guardian of Drugul is! Listen, Natasha. The Hero of Drugul is maintaining healing magic for you. You couldn’t ask for better assistance. Just focus on giving birth to a healthy baby!”
Though weakly, Natasha nodded with a smile on her lips in response to the midwife’s voice.
Marco, tossed out of the room, was pacing anxiously back and forth on a hastily set-up sofa, alternating between standing and sitting. Yuhan was watching him with an exasperated expression.
“Ryoji and the midwife are doing their best, so it’ll be fine. So calm down, brother.”
“Y-Yeah. Men are hopeless. I can’t do anything at such an important time. Although he’s something special.”
Eight hours had passed since Natasha went into labor. Marco, who had been kicked out of the room for being useless, and Yuhan, sent to watch over his restless brother, were both waiting outside. Trying to distract the increasingly anxious Marco, Yuhan started a conversation.
“Will the baby be a boy or a girl?”
“It’s definitely going to be a boy! I’m planning to master swordsmanship together!”
“What if it’s a girl?”
“If it’s a girl, she’ll be a beautiful one like Natasha. If she’s going to marry, I’d only recognize someone who can defeat me or someone as sharp-minded as Yuhan!”
“Is that someone referring to Ryoji?”
“Don’t say such unlucky things!”
As Yuhan and Marco were excitedly discussing children, a weak but life-filled cry of a newborn was heard from the back of the room. When the two exchanged glances and looked towards the door, Ryoji, looking exhausted, opened the door and came out.
“Hey! How was it? Is it a boy or a girl?”
“See for yourself. And first, make sure to thank Natasha-san by saying, ‘Thank you, good job.’ Don’t forget that she gave birth to a healthy child. You must not focus only on the kids!”
“Ah, got it. Thanks, Ryoji, really!”
Cognizant of how he had only been thinking about the children, Marco entered the room with a sense of gratitude.
“Natasha, thank you for your hard work, and thank you.”
“How unusual. I thought you would suddenly ask, ‘Is it a boy? A girl?'”
Natasha looked surprised and lightly laughed at Marco, who expressed his gratitude and words of encouragement. The midwife looked at Marco like he was a rare sight, but then, with a mischievous expression, she joined the conversation.
“Most likely he was coached by the Hero of Drugul, right? It’s better than saying nothing, I guess? Marco! You did thank Count Ryoji Uchino right!”
“Of course!”
“Listen! I’ll say it again, but it’s because the Hero of Drugul, Count Ryoji Uchino, happened to be here so that Natasha and the kids are safe! While casting healing magic, he was exchanging hot water and maintaining the room temperature! Don’t forget that!”
“The potion Ryoji gave me right after giving birth worked wonders. My body, which was completely exhausted, recovered in an instant! That’s why I can hold these children like this, all thanks to Ryoji!”
Overwhelmed with gratitude while gazing at the twins cradled in his arms, Marco was filled with appreciation after hearing how hard Ryoji had worked from the midwife and Natasha.
“Still, I didn’t expect twins.”
“Are twins rare?”
Six months had passed since Natasha gave birth. While managing the busy Uchino territory, Ryoji often found times to visit Marco’s mansion in Drugul.
“Yeah. In the case of twins, one is often stillborn. I’m really grateful to Ryoji. Thank you!”
“W-what? That doesn’t sound like you, Marco. If you say things like that, it throws me off! It would be better if you hit me with a fan like usual… Ouch! N-no, not now… Ouch! Hey! You’re hitting at the wrong time!”
Ryoji tried to brush off the sincere words of gratitude from Marco, pretending to be embarrassed while looking away. Marco, wanting to join in, took out a fan from his item box and began to playfully hit Ryoji’s head, both hiding their embarrassment.
“You two are still getting along well.”
“Oh! Natasha! How are you doing?”
As Ryoji and Marco were engaging in their playful banter, Natasha suddenly appeared pushing a twin stroller that Ryoji made.
“Yes, I’m doing great thanks to the potion and pills Ryoji gave me. Plus, Sophia brings me sweets made from fruit regularly. I’m feeling so good, it’s almost a problem!”
“That’s great. The potions and pills I gave you are intended for women after giving birth, so I’m confident in their effectiveness. How are the little ones?”
When Ryoji peered into the stroller, he saw the twins sleeping soundly inside. A boy and a girl, the twins were skyrocketing in popularity among the residents of the border region, and the story that Ryoji had helped with the birth only added to their fame.
While smiling fondly at the peacefully sleeping twins, Ryoji began to pull out various congratulatory gifts from his storage.
“Here are their everyday clothes and stuffed animals. Additional potions for you, Natasha, and some formal clothes as gifts from Carena and Melta. And this is a bracelet I made to help with your fatigue recovery. And the main attraction, educational toys!”
As he took each item out, he enjoyed watching Marco’s and Natasha’s expressions change, and finally, with a beaming smile, he pulled out a small fan and handed it to Natasha and Marco.
“Oh, what a cute fan!”
“Right? I’m counting on you two to give them some serious comedic training with this! Developing the art of tsukkomi needs early exposure to the tools… Ouch! What are you doing, Marco! Let me finish what I was saying! Ouch! Hey! That’s a silver fan! It really hurts!”
“Ah? You wanted me to tsukkomi, right?! I did what you hoped for, so don’t be mad! Besides, I don’t plan to teach the kids how to tsukkomi! I mean, what’s the point of ‘special education for tsukkomi anyway?!”
“You two really get along well, huh?”
Marco took out a silver colored paper fan made of mithril and started chasing Ryoji. While happily watching this scene, Natasha placed a small paper fan beside the pillows of the children sleeping in the stroller.
Next chapter is Afterword from the Novel.
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Thanks for the treat.