「……I’m bored」


  Being shaken inside the jolting carriage, Eleonora-neesan muttered seemingly bored.

  I knew she will definitely say that line during the journey.

  If she says that at this kind of time, she will certainly make an unreasonable demand for me to tell her something interesting, think about an interesting play or such. That’s the kind of relationship between brother and sister between us.

  Having a clear understanding of her after many years of experience being her brother, I didn’t even look in Eleonora-neesan’s direction and kept on counting the grain of wood on the carriage’s floor.

  There will be less possibility of being called by her if I do this.

  「……Al, tell me something interesting」


  And as I was thinking about that, Eleonora-neesan directly call out my name.

  Strange. I didn’t even look at Eleonora-neesan, nor did I speak. The main reason I caught Eleonora-neesan’s attention……… Aah, could it be because I just it in front of her then?

  「Sorry, I’m busy counting the ground on the floor right now」


  「I don’t care about that kind of thing」


  When I answer her while staring intently at the floor, Eleonora-neesan scrape the area of the floor I was staring at with her feet as if it to disturb me from counting anymore.

  Good grief, what would I do if I really count the grain of the floor.

  I can’t help but raise my face since I don’t know what she will do if I keep on ignoring her any more than this.

  Then I saw Eleonora-neesan folding her arms while looking down at me.

  Elna-kaasan and Nord-tousan - who had nothing to do -, and Mina probably also have nothing to do as they turn their gaze at me. Sylvio-niisan is absorbed in the world of books. While inside the swaying carriage, he still looks calm even while reading the characters in the book.

  「What’s an interesting story?」


  「A story that can relieve my boredom. Or another toy is fine」


  「And why me?」


  「That’s because Al can come up with a strange story or a new toy at times like this」


  Eleonora-neesan plainly answers me as I tilted my head to the side.

  The people around me - Elna-kaasan and the others - also nodded as though they looked convinced and impressed with what Eleonora-neesan said.

  Err, that’s certainly so, but I’m not an entertainer so even if you suddenly ask me to tell you about an interesting story………


  I look around me, troubled over the situation. And then, I happened to meet eyes with Nord-tousan.

  I remembered something when I look at Nord-tousan’s face, so I opened my mouth and start telling them a story.

  「――in a place somewhere, there is a young male adventurer called Nord――」


  「「Let’s stop (it now)」」


  Just when I was talking about the prologue part, Nord-tousan and Elna-kaasan said those in unison.

  Ehー, whyー? It’s a popular story in the royal capital you know?

  「Ahh! Could that be the Dragon Slayer story!? That’s great! That, I want to hear that story!」


  「Me too」


  「「No」」


  Eleonora-neesan and Mina - who don’t know about the story of the Dragon Slayer in detail - are happy to hear about it, but Elna-kaasan and Nord-tousan reject the story without a moment’s delay.

  「Why not!?」


  「Nevermind that」


  「Talk about something else if you want to tell a story. Or you can play other things」


  Though Eleonora-neesan protested against them, Elna-kaasan and Nord-tousan still stick to their decision. Their attitude is unusually solemn.

  Oh well, from their perspective, it was an exaggerated story about their embarrassing past. If I were to go on and on about their story then it would be like hearing about their dark past inside this carriage, where they can’t escape anywhere.

  「Eeehー, but I want to hear it」


  「I said no. If you continue to insist on it, then there will be no more joint practice, all right?」


  「It’ll be great if there are no joint practices, I’ll tell you about the Dragon Slayer story!」


  Messing around with Nord-tousan and Elna-kaasan――not, I mean, what a wonderful thing it is being able to get rid of the joint practice just by telling them about a heroic tale I won’t miss this chance.

  When I say that happily, Nord-tousan has a dark smile on his face as he says,

  「I wonder if Al wants to go to a noble party in the royal capital and other places, not just in Sylford territory? There have been talks of how you deepened your friendship with Toriela’s company, the peddlers, including acquaintances, but as expected, I suppose it’s best to show them how the person concerned in the talks get along with each other at parties」


  「Eleonora-neesan, let’s stop talking about this story」


  You can immediately tell that he’s serious if you look at Nord-tousan’s eyes, there seems to be a determination of some kind in there. About to go past a dangerous line, I immediately withdrew my suggestion.

  Eleonora-neesan probably thought that it was also impossible to hear about the story of Dragon Slayer now after looking at Nord-tousan and Elna-kaasan’s state. So she greatly leans on the back of the chair, looking bored.

  「Fine then. But we have nothing to do anyway, shall we play reversi or Jenga?」


  「Wait a minute. Setting reversi aside, what is this ‘Jenga’?」


  Hearing what Eleonora-neesan said, Nord-tousan interjects as if to stop our conversation for a moment.

  「Eh? Didn’t I tell Nord-tousan already?」


  「You did not say anything, nor did I hear anything about it」


  「I also don’t know anything about it」


  Nord-tousan and Elna-kaasan shake their heads horizontally *furufuru*.

  So it looks like they really don’t know about it.

  So I turn toward Nord-tousan and Elna-kaasan, explaining it to the two unaware adults.

  「A Jenga is a game where you keep on pulling out a block and stack them on top, one after the other. The loser is someone who made the tower collapse when taking or stacking the block」


  「It’s simple and interesting you know. I prefer playing Jenga rather than Reversi」


  「It’s thrilling since you don’t know when will the tower collapse!」


  As I was explaining Jenga to the two of them, Eleonora-neesan and Mina - who had played it before - also shared their impressions of the game.

  Though Elna-kaasan looks a little interested in the game, Nord-tousan had a tired expression on his face.

  「Even though I just started with the table tennis, now you develop a new toy again………」


  It’s not like I develop Jenga or anything. Jenga was completed earlier than table tennis actually. Rather, I’m surprised that table tennis has started production first.

  「Are you also planning to sell this Jenga?」


  「Tori said he wanted to use his company to sell it. But, he won’t be able to sell it for now since table tennis and slime pillow will take time to make」


  「……I’m really glad to hear that you know. I’m have already been busy with the matter regarding table tennis these days」


  Nord-tousan breathes a sigh of relief after I tell him that.

  He showed composure with it comes to reversi, but he just began with the matter regarding table tennis this time.

  I don’t really know how busy he is in specific and he also has his regular work in managing the territory but I’m sure that his working hours had probably increased. It seemed difficult for him.

  「The developer himself is right beside me. Rather, I wonder if Al could try helping me……」


  As I was thinking about his situation - as if it was someone else’s problem -, Nord-tousan started muttering something really dangerous.

  It’d be great if I can spend my time enjoyably. Even though it was supposed to be just an innocently pure wish, my slowlife plan is in danger now. This can’t go on.

  I have to make Nord-tousan - who had lost his mind - back to normal somehow.

  Having decided that, I approach Nord-tousan and gently put my hand on his shoulder.

  「I don’t know how to manage the territory so I can’t help Nord-tousan. You should never leave important matters to a kid, who is just a developer of some toys. Nord-tousan is just tired」


  「And the cause of that fatigue is Al though」


  I tried to gently persuade him, but I can’t argue with Nord-tousan’s reply.

  I have to also reconsider my own action a little here. No matter how I wanted to spend my time enjoyably or saying that I wanted to spend my time comfortably in the future, I can’t just take action as I please.

  If I keep on doing things as I please, then the situation could really turn out just like what Nord-tousan was telling me. Even though I want to have a peaceful slowlife, it will just be like putting the cart before the horse.

  「I’m sorry, Nord-tousan. From now on, I will show and discuss it with you first if I make something」


  「You will really do that?」


  I felt that the bond between me and Nord-tousan had deepened even further.

  here