Chapter 84 Promise to Meet Again
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The day after the incident, a large crowd gathered at the entrance of the settlement.
The purpose was to see off my teacher who was returning to the capital and the criminal slave who was accompanying her for treatment.
The condition of the criminal slave was the same as yesterday, and even after he had fallen asleep and woke up naturally, his consciousness still seemed to be wandering in a dream.
Even though I waved my hand in front of his face or called out to him by his ear, he did not turn his head toward me and kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, looking vaguely somewhere in the distance.
Fortunately, the aggressiveness that he had when the Curtio was activated was gone, and he was obediently following my words, or perhaps it is more correct to say that he had no intention to disobey me.
In the end, I only reaffirmed the fact that there is nothing that can be done in the settlement, but I did not make any discoveries that would lead to improvement of the symptoms.
From this point on, I would have to leave it to my teacher and the people in the field.
”I’m sorry, teacher, that I couldn’t do much to help you and had to send you away right after you came all the way from your office.”
”It’s okay, I came here for his treatment, so Master Neil doesn’t need to worry about it.”
Even though she said that, she had to see a criminal slave immediately after arriving at nightfall, spent half a day investigating the Curtio the next day, got caught up in that incident, and was already leaving the next morning.
In terms of the time she spent there, it was about a day and a half, which must have been quite hectic for her.
Moreover, she had been away from her home in the capital for a long time for personal reasons, and immediately rushed to the settlement.
She must have been very tired from long trip after long trip, and it would have been impossible for me not to care about it since she was going to return to the capital right now for medical treatment.
”Then please accept this at least.”
”What is this? I just received the nutritional supplements for him.”
”I asked Mei to make a potion for you to recover from fatigue. Healing magic can’t heal fatigue. Please drink it when you’re tired.”
”Thank you very much for your kindness.”
My teacher accepts the potion with her wrinkled face relaxed, and she turns her eyes toward the crowd.
It was made up mainly of Gaadhir-san’s family, Narsht-san, Liana, and other slaves who were saying goodbye to the criminal slave.
”Well, I think it’s time for us to leave.”
”Understood. Okay, everybody, that’s enough with the goodbyes, it’s time to see them off.”
”Wow! Is it that late already? I still have half a dozen things to tell Rooney-san!”
”Hey, you’ve been talking mostly about food at the dining hall. So, what’s the other half?”
”Of course I’m talking about the food at the dining hall again! The top 20 menus that one must order when one gets well enough to eat a proper meal! There’s still half of the menu left!”
”The explanations for each one are unnecessarily long, and on top of that, there’s such a lack of vocabulary that no information other than “delicious” is conveyed.”
”That’s because the food prepared by Narsht-san is too delicious!”
”Hey, is it my fault!?”
As soon as Narsht-san gets involved in Gaadhir-san and Liana’s comic dialogue, the crowd is filled with smiles.
It was a very peaceful scene, and one that made people’s cheeks naturally relax just by looking at it, but the criminal slave was the only one who kept a blank expression on his face.
”So bye, Amaviata, come back to us with your health restored.”
”Heinke, I’m waiting for your feedback on the taste of the nutritional supplements.”
One by one, they called out the names of the criminal slave whom they had assigned to him and said a short farewell, and finally it was my turn to speak.
”Pius.”
I called out the name of the criminal slave I had assigned to him, and tried to connect it with a farewell speech.
But before I could, I, or rather all of us, freeze in place.
Because the criminal slave, who had never shown any reaction to anything I said, slowly turned his face toward me.
”H-he reacted!”
”Is he fully conscious!?”
”No, but his expression is still blank… did he just happen to move his head?”
”Einsulhurst! Can you hear me!?”
Several people called out to the criminal slave by various names, but after the first response, the criminal slave did not show any sign of responding to them.
”Pius.”
But as soon as this word is uttered by my teacher, he turns his head away from me and toward her.
”It seems that he is responding to the word ‘Pius’.”
”Yes, why is he only reacting to the name Master Neil gave him?”
”But come to think of it, wasn’t it when he woke up after he collapsed, at the same time when Master Neil called out this name?”
When I think back to what I said, it seems to me that the criminal slave, who had lost consciousness after I forced the Curtio to stop, was awakened because he had responded to my call.
”I am not sure if he recognizes it as himself, but I am sure he has a certain interest in the word Pius. By the way, is Pius the name of the main character in Markain’s fairy tale?”
”Oh, I know that story! It’s a story about a kind-hearted giant, isn’t it?”
”Yes, that’s the name that popped into my head when I saw him.”
I know it’s a simple name, but I thought it was the right name for this person.
”A gentle giant at heart, that certainly fits him well.”
”We can call him Pius from now on too, can’t we?”
”Yes, it’s easier to call him than Einsulhurst.”
”Who the hell just made fun of my naming!?”
Although it is only a tentative name until the criminal slave regains full consciousness and we get confirmation, the criminal slave’s reaction naturally leads to the unification of the names of the criminal slave, which had never been unified before, into one name: Pius.
”Well then, everyone, we’ll leave now.”
”Thank you very much, teacher. And please take good care of Pius.”
As I said these words, the carriage doors were closed and the carriage carrying my teacher and Pius started to move slowly.
As the carriage pulls away, everyone calls out Pius’ name, telling him to come back, and promising to see him again.
Thus, the first departed from our settlement is born.
It was not permanent, it was only temporary, but I will never forget this day.
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”Pius” is the name of the main character of a fairy tale in the story, but it is the Latin word for “pious,” and that is the original source of the name.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.