sampah

Anne woke me up, and I went to work. I was well rested after a day off.

I reached the Ministry by carriage and I went to the office, where Laura would be leading me as I did manual labor like on the previous days.

I’m going to do my best today too! I thought to myself while rolling up my sleeves. However, looking at my sleeves, I realized that my outfit wasn’t exactly ideal for manual labor.

“Having to wear a dress, and then the uniform on top of it is really cumbersome…” I murmured to myself, catching the attention of my tanktop-wearing colleague.

“Cumbersome indeed!” he said. “Do you want one of these?” he asked with a smile, offering me a tanktop that looked just like the one he was wearing.

I had to refuse his kind offer. I could have accepted it if I was still the monkey-like girl of my previous life, but as an adult noblewoman, a tanktop would be too much. Not to mention that it was still too cold to go sleeveless. But even if I didn’t go all the way to a tanktop…

“Maybe it’d be okay if I wore work clothes…” I murmured to myself.

“Definitely not,” said Sora coldly. “The rules say that we have to wear the uniform. This is the only department where people dress as they please.”

Well, he’s right. Tanktops, lab coats, frilly dresses… Everyone was wearing what they wanted, even though it was obviously against the rules.

As it turned out, it was because the department’s director, Larna, didn’t really care about rules, and wouldn’t scold anyone for their clothes. Her subordinates took this as an opportunity to substitute the uniform for whatever they liked.

It was no surprise that the rule-abiding Cyrus Lanchester disliked us. This smart and handsome romanceable character from FL2 was the head of the Magic Powers Department. He attached great importance to rules and laws, and he disliked the Magical Tool Laboratory for being a collection of weirdos who couldn’t care less about such things.

But he did help me when those jerks were harassing me in the library, so he probably wasn’t a bad person. Just like Dewey, he could have something to do with a catastrophic Bad End, so, if possible, I wanted to befriend him and gather more information. But… even if he didn’t categorically dislike our department, I didn’t see how we could ever become friends.

According to my colleagues, he came from a relatively high-ranking family. He was diligent and talented, and he was considered a perfect, flawless individual. He was held in high esteem within the Ministry and respected by his subordinates, but he only spoke the bare minimum and wasn’t on particularly friendly terms with anyone.

Being in a different department (and one that he hated, at that), it wouldn’t be easy to casually chat him up. If I had at least played through FL2, I would know more about his background and tastes, and I could use those things to start a conversation… But I hadn’t, and all the information I had came from that dream and that note. I had nothing that could help me befriend him.

And if we were inside the game, I’d just need to wait for him to talk to me and then choose the dialogue option which would make him like me the most… But unfortunately, this was reality. And I was the antagonist anyway, not the protagonist. He’d only approach me to fight…

…Haah, this is so sad, I thought to myself, sighing deeply.

“Sorry to interrupt you while you’re busy reflecting, but Laura said we should get to work,” Sora said all of a sudden, giving me an exasperated look.

“Yes,” I said, forgetting my sorrows to concentrate on my job. Today, too, I’d be delivering packages. I still had much to learn and I made a few mistakes here and there, but the whole day went by without any major problems.

When we were close to the end of the day, our other tutor, Hart, taught us a little about paperwork. He only showed us the relatively easy documents, but even then there was a lot to be wary of, and I definitely would have preferred to keep delivering stuff throughout the building.

“Good. Now they are complete. Would you deliver them to the proper departments?” Hart said, handing me and Sora some documents.

“Should I tag along?” Sora asked, worried that I might get lost.

But the documents he had were supposed to be delivered to a department on the other side of the building from where I was headed, so if he came with me, he’d have to go back and forth for no reason. Plus, I had already been to the department I needed to go to a couple of times to deliver packages, so I knew where it was. I explained that to Sora, and went to deliver the documents on my own for the first time.

I was a bit nervous, but the kind-looking colleague who I found there just accepted the documents without any problem. Feeling accomplished after having completed my first solo task, I was on my way back to the Magical Tool Laboratory when I heard a lot of fuss behind the door of that department.

It was the Biomagic Department, and the monkey was probably at it again. I was warned that I’d be in for some trouble if their director, who was interested in Pochi, caught sight of me, so I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. I walked faster to get away, but…

“Ooh ooh ahh ahh!”

“Huh? What?”

I looked back, surprised by the weird noise I’d just heard, and I felt something heavy fall onto my head.

Wh-What is this?!

The something on my head started pulling at my hair.

“Ouch! What?! Ouch!” I screamed, and I felt the weight lift from my head. The monkey I’d met before was now standing in front of me, holding my barrette — the one I always used to fix my hair — in its hand.

“Hey! That’s mine! Give it back!” I said, going after it. But it just grinned and started running away!

“Wait! Give my barrette back!” I said, pulling up my skirt and sprinting after the monkey, just like I had done with Pochi the previous day at the castle.

“…Where am I?” I asked myself, panting.

I had been running blindly after the monkey and ended up in a place I didn’t know. Getting lost two days in a row… Just my luck.

At least yesterday I’d managed to get Pochi, but today, even after all the running I’d done, I’d lost sight of the monkey. What a complete fail.

I really liked that barrette! You friggin’ monkey, what do you have against me?!

Dejected, I looked around to try to find my way back, but there was no clear path. There weren’t even any buildings in sight.

Why am I in the middle of nature all of a sudden?

The Ministry’s entrance had a gate which was guarded, and you had to identify yourself before leaving, but I hadn’t passed by anything like that. So that meant that this place, surrounded by grass and trees, was inside the Ministry. What was this place?

I knew that the building was very large, but I didn’t expect it to have a place like this inside it. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to ever find my way back.

Maybe Sora or Hart will realize I’m missing and come looking for me. No, wait, if Hart started looking for me that would just be one more lost person, and then they’d have to go looking for him too… Please stay in the office…

Oh?! What’s that next to the bushes?!

I saw the monkey standing next to some bushes and ran towards it at full speed. I slid on the ground with a shout, managing to catch the animal between my hands.

“Ha! I’ve finally got you, you troublemaking monkey! Give my barrette back!” I said, staring at my prisoner as menacingly as I could.

And then, it tossed my barrette over the bushes.

“Hey! What did you do that for?!”

I let go of the monkey and waded through the thick foliage, getting to the other side. Luckily, I found my barrette lying on the ground. I picked it up and was relieved to see that it wasn’t broken. Still, that monkey was a real nuisance. I even considered complaining about it to the Biomagic Department.

At least I got my barrette back. Now, to find my way back…

“Whaaa?!” I screamed, surprised at what I saw in front of me. It was a beautiful vegetable field. “Wh-Why is such an amazing field in a place like this?”

It had ridges, seedling supports, and even nets to keep the birds away. This was no amateur field — it was the work of a professional. It looked like the proper fields I’d visited back in the day. The one I’d made at home would pale in comparison.

But why is this here? This is the Magical Ministry, right? Is it a Ministry field? I thought to myself, staring at it.

Some distance from where I was standing, there was a small hut. Its door opened loudly and someone came out of it wearing a hat and work clothes and holding a hoe. That person must have been the one tending to the field.

“Excuse me,” I said, walking towards the hut, relieved that I had finally found someone that I could ask for directions.

Hearing my voice, the person in front of me looked up, and I could now see the face that was previously hidden by the large hat.

“…Uh?” I said, so shocked that I couldn’t move any further. I knew that face. It was…

“Director Cyrus Lanchester…”

The words slipped from my mouth as I stared at him. He fidgeted around for a bit, and then, straining his voice as if to camouflage it, he said, “That’s not me.”

“What?!”

“I said that’s not me. I’m not Cyrus,” he said coldly, turning his face away from me.

Nope. Nope. He doesn’t have his usual glasses, sure, but these green eyes, brown hair, and handsome face are Cyrus Lanchester’s.

I wasn’t that good at remembering faces, but I’d last seen him only two days ago.

“…But, you look just like…”

“I said that’s not me!” he said with such determination that it sounded like the truth… But he’s even trying to hide his face. He’s definitely Cyrus.

Maybe he was embarrassed being seen with work clothes and a hat, since he was always nice and tidy in his uniform in front of people. Nobles didn’t usually dress like this, and I remembered that Mother once told me to “change out of those unsightly clothes.” Now she was so used to it that she didn’t say anything anymore, but still.

Hm… The smart thing to do here is just pretend he’s someone else and ask him for directions. But then again, this is a rare chance to talk with Cyrus… I was thinking about the best course of action when a majestic row of asparagus caught my attention.

Asparagus? That’s the sign of a real farming pro.

“Wow, you can tell that they’ll be delicious just by looking at them,” I said, unable to contain my excitement at the superb vegetables in front of me.

“What?! Duke’s daughter Katarina Claes understands the beauty of this asparagus?!” Cyrus replied, matching my excitement.

“Yes! I’ve never seen ones with stalks this big and tips this straight! They’re perfect!”

“I know, right? Yer good with them greens, ain’t ya? When they’ve got them tips all plump like that it’s when they’re the yummiest! And take a gander at the… Ah…” Cyrus had started sounding like a bumpkin in his enthusiasm. He caught himself, stopped speaking, and sighed while putting a hand on his forehead.

“Lady Katarina Claes,” he said with his eyes closed, “there is something I would like to discuss with you.”

He had gone back to his usual cool way of speaking, and his expression was grave and intense.

“Okay,” I said, nodding.

And then he started to explain.

Cyrus Lanchester was born as the second son in a land-owning, high-ranking earl’s family. However, their land was located in the middle of nowhere, far from the capital, and the rank of earl didn’t hold the value it once had. His family had lost all of their fortune long ago, and they now lived in the country and tended to the fields just like all other farmers.

Cyrus was no exception. Despite being born a noble, he was raised as a peasant. He grew up sweating in the fields, and since that was what his whole family was doing, he never thought twice about it.

However, when he turned ten, he discovered that he had magical ability and would have to attend the Academy of Magic. In order to prepare for his new life surrounded by nobles in the faraway capital, he studied as hard as he could, even learning about the etiquette and manners of high society all by himself.

He entered the academy armed with a reasonable amount of knowledge under his belt, but he still couldn’t fit in with the other nobles and the way they talked and acted. His studies had taught him about them, but, as someone raised as a lowly farmer, he could not become one of them. He would sometimes accidentally revert to his peasant speech patterns when he was caught off guard — another reason why he dreaded even speaking with his classmates.

Cyrus kept to himself, never making any friends, trying his best not to slip up, and studying as diligently as possible. This lifestyle led him to great academic achievements and, eventually, to being scouted by the Magical Ministry.

Tired of having to fit in amongst the capital’s nobles, he actually wished to go back home to work on the fields. But partly because his parents had been very happy about his potential job, and partly because he wanted to send money back to his younger brothers and sisters, he ended up accepting the Ministry’s offer.

Even at his new job, he remained his strict, friendless self. People started calling him things like “the lonely genius,” making it even more difficult for him to show his true self to others. He had kept playing his role as a strict, dedicated department director… until, a few years ago, he couldn’t take it anymore.

Cyrus eventually pushed himself too hard, and his body just couldn’t keep up. The doctor told him that his collapse could have been caused by psychological stress rather than physical illness, and he was suggested that he find a hobby he could enjoy in his free time to forget about work.

Cyrus chose as his hobby what had been his work for many years before joining the Academy of Magic: farming. He created a field for himself in an area within the Ministry where people hardly ever set foot.

He soon realized that working on his field after work or on days off was relaxing, making him feel happier and even increasing his productivity at work. And so, he had been tending this field all of this time as a hobby.

After telling me this very long story, which covered most of his life, Cyrus let out a deep sigh.

“Now you know what I’m doing here. After you saw me like this, I knew I could not lie to you… But please don’t tell anyone about it,” he said, looking dejected.

Personally, I thought that keeping a field as a hobby was a wonderful idea. If anything, I was just impressed by how good he was at it, but I understood why he wanted to keep it a secret. After all, the difference between Cyrus’s public image within the Ministry and his real self was huge.

“I won’t,” I said, and his face sprung up, making his eyes, hidden behind his frameless glasses, meet mine.

Oh! I have an idea…

“…But on one condition,” I added.

Cyrus looked at me, perplexed. “A condition? As long as it’s something legal and within my power… Let’s hear it.”

“Let me help you with this field. And, while we are at it, I’d love it if you could teach me what you know about growing tasty vegetables,” I said.

He stared at me with his mouth open.

Did I push it too far?

“Is that not okay…?” I asked, staring at his green eyes.

“…I don’t really mind…” he replied.

Yay! If he teaches me, I’m sure I’ll be able to grow all kinds of delicious veggies!

After agreeing to my request, Cyrus told me how to get back to my department, and I returned.

Since it had taken me so long to come back, my colleagues had started looking for me. As I’d feared, Hart, feeling the responsibility of having sent me on the errand that made me get lost, personally joined the search party and inevitably got lost himself.

Luckily he was found by the time I came back, but I was scolded for running around in a place I wasn’t familiar with, even though it was that monkey’s fault from the start. But I could clearly see how much my colleagues had been worried about me, so I decided to be more careful going forward.

Sora saw me off to the carriage again, and I was so tired from chasing the monkey that I fell asleep as soon as I got inside.

From the next day forward, I started visiting Cyrus every evening right after work. I helped him with the field, and he taught me about growing vegetables. The more he taught me, the more I realized that he was a pro — leagues ahead of an amateur farmer like me. His many years of farming before coming to the Ministry were showing, and I was deeply impressed by his skill.

I need to learn as much as possible so if push comes to shove and I’m exiled, I’ll be able to make a living abroad as a peasant.

I learned about farming with much more passion than I had ever put into my studies at the academy.

Of course, I also did my best at work. It had been around a week since I’d started my job at the Ministry, and Sora and I were slowly being entrusted with more unsupervised tasks.

I still wasn’t very good with paperwork, but when it came to delivering packages and cleaning, I was doing a decent job.

Today the janitor even praised me, saying that I was always full of energy! Heehee!

After I was done with my work, as had now become usual, I went to Cyrus’s field.

“Good evening,” I greeted him after changing into the work clothes that I stored in the small hut near the field. I had come to think of him as my farming teacher.

“Hey,” he greeted me back while cleaning the sweat off his forehead.

Usually he came here later than me, but today he was already here working.

Cyrus, as the director of the Magical Powers Department, the most popular department in the whole Ministry, seemed to be endlessly busy. But he would still come to his field every day, no matter how late it was.

“Isn’t that exhausting?” I’d asked. But he said that on the contrary, being able to work the soil, even if just for a little bit, made him feel much better. He probably used it as a way to relieve stress.

Actually, no matter how tired I was from work, I always found myself overflowing with energy as soon as I stepped onto the field too, so I understood how he felt.

“Mister Cyrus, where should I put these seedlings?”

“Oh, right over there,” he said. His face looked relaxed and peaceful.

During the day when he was doing his Ministry job, he always looked so tense and strict, but now his expression was soft and calm. And lately he had even started using his unfiltered countryside speech sometimes, making him sound much more natural.

He sounded like the old women who used to gather in the field near my childhood friend’s house in my previous life. Hearing him speak like this made me feel at home, so much so that I risked forgetting that I was a noble lady.

“Hey, Miss Katarina, let’s rest for a while and drink a cup of tea.”

“Oh, sure!”

Cyrus’s policy was to rest and drink tea whenever work was almost done. “If you try to push harder, you’ll just get tired and get nothing done,” he had said, and I had promptly written that down on my farming notes.

We sat on a blanket laid out on the grass, sitting on either side of a tray that Cyrus had prepared with tea (green, not black as was the custom for tea parties) and pickled vegetables instead of snacks.

Ah, this is just wonderful.

The first time he served me pickles, I’d been so surprised that they even existed in this medieval Europe-inspired world that I’d ended up stuffing my mouth with them.

Cyrus explained that, in fact, they didn’t exist near the capital, but that they were common where he had grown up and the ones he had served me were homemade by him. I asked him for the details of how to prepare them, but no matter how much I tried, they never came out tasting like his. I still had a lot of trial and error to do.

I ate one of the pickles that I was determined to replicate, enjoying its crunchy texture and pleasantly salty and sour flavor. It was delicious on its own, but I had always eaten pickled vegetables with rice in my previous life. The more I thought about it, the more I craved rice. With pickles as delicious as these topping it, I could devour bowl after bowl of rice.

“Ah, I wish I had some rice,” I said without thinking.

“Rice? Do people also eat rice around here?” Cyrus asked, confused.

“You know about rice?! Wait, first of all, there’s rice here?” I asked him, leaning towards him.

“…Yeah, it’s just like with the pickles. I never see it around here, but we ate it all the time back in the country,” he replied while leaning ever so slightly away from me.

He told me that they ate rice more often than bread in his hometown, and now that he couldn’t get it, he was craving rice too.

“My town’s near the border, so the culture and food resemble the ones in the neighboring country, rather than this one.”

It turned out that the food there was similar to Japan’s.

Ahh, he’s so lucky! I want to go there!

“Mister Cyrus, I want to visit your hometown!”

“Well, it’s a really lovely place, so I wish I could just tell you to come visit it, but… it’s so distant that the fastest carriage around would need four days to reach it from here.”

“…U-Ugh…”

It was on the border farthest away from the capital, even farther away than I had imagined. But… I want to eat rice… Rice…

“Well,” said Cyrus, noticing how shocked I was, “I’ve also been really wanting to eat rice, so I was thinking of asking my mother to send some over. Of course it’ll take some time, but it could be here by next week. You can have some then.”

Cyrus Lanchester, my Lord and Savior! My angel! My only deity! You are so wonderful!

“Thank you so very much!” I said, bowing deeply, but he gestured for me to stop. “But really, doing something like that for me…” I thanked him again.

“No, I’m really just getting homesick. For some reason, when I’m working here on the fields with you, I can’t help but think about my farmer grandma and the others…” he said nostalgically.

“I’m glad,” I said.

I see, I remind him of his grandma, and… Uh?

“Excuse me, but… does that mean I look like your grandmother?”

I was kind of shocked that he didn’t even say farmer sister or something, and instead went straight for grandma.

“No, I mean, yeah, you kinda do, but not in looks. Ya kinda got this air ’bout yerself, y’know…?” He was clearly flustered as he tried his best to come up with an explanation.

But does this even count as an explanation?

“…So I do remind you of her…”

“But it’s in a good way. Like, yer easy to talk to.”

“Easy to talk to…?”

“Yup. Back home the young’ns all left fer the big city, so the whole place’s chock full of grandpas and grandmas, y’know? Young girls were so rare I ain’t ever had much of a conversation with one. And then I done come here, and there be lots of girls, but I ain’t fond of speakin’ with them. But ya got sumthing ’bout ya, just like grandma back home, which makes ya easy to talk to. And that’s a good thing.”

So he had been trying to compliment me by saying that I was easy to talk to. That was one of the most backhanded compliments I’d ever received.

“Oh, I see. You also remind me of the old man who helped me with my field at home, so I know what you mean.”

We basically saw each other as old people. At least it was reciprocal.

“So you don’t like speaking with young ladies… I never noticed, since you seem to be doing that just fine at work,” I said.

At work he was always calm and collected, even when he was speaking with girls. I even saw him escort one like any other noble would on one occasion, and he didn’t look like he was having any trouble with it.

“Of course. I pay extra attention to hide it when I’m speaking with girls. Can’t have them notice I don’t like doing it,” he said, sounding proud of it.

To be honest, I didn’t think there was anything to be proud of there… If all the girls who swooned at “the intellectual, handsome, wonderful Lord Cyrus” knew about it, they’d be really shocked.

“And now that there’s a girl in my own department, I have to be even more careful…” he said, sighing.

So there were no girls in his department until now… Hm? A girl in his department? Does that mean…?

“Excuse me, do you mean Maria Campbell?”

“Oh, so you knew about her. She’s also famous throughout the Ministry, even if for reasons opposite to you.”

So he was talking about her. She was known as an extremely talented Light Magic user, whereas I was followed by bad rumors… But did he have to say that right in front of the interested party (me)? Maybe Cyrus was too relaxed when working on his field.

That also meant that he was comfortable around me, but it wasn’t exactly flattering. And yet he was always so thoughtful of people during work…

“She is just as talented as they say… but she’s no good,” he mumbled to himself.

What? As one of the game’s love interests, he’s supposed to like her!

“Wh-Why?! Maria is a very good girl!”

She’s kind, cute, and a good cook! Anyone would want her as a wife!

“Oh? You know her?” he said, taken aback by my enthusiasm.

“Yes! I’ve known her since I was at the academy!” I said proudly.

I consider her one of my best friends! Not that I’ve ever asked her what she considers me.

“I see… I agree that she is an outstanding girl, but…”

“But what? Are you trying to say that there’s something wrong with my Maria?!” I said, accidentally giving Cyrus my villainess stare.

“Please calm down, Miss Katarina. I’m not trying to say that there’s anything wrong with her. I meant that she’s no good for me, since I get nervous when talking to girls. It’s nothing personal,” he hurriedly explained while shaking his head.

“…Phew, I see. No problem then.”

I got so worked up thinking that he was speaking ill of (my waifu) Maria. I even started looking like a proper villainess there. I’d better be careful.

“But why are girls such a problem? I understand that there were very few back in your hometown, but you’ve been here for quite a while. Haven’t you grown accustomed to them yet?” I asked him once I got my cool back.

He leaned forward like I’d done moments before and started explaining. “You don’t get it. Fifteen years! I spent my first fifteen years without ever meeting a girl, not even one! There’s no way I could get used to them in just a few years, and especially not when we only have little, superficial exchanges at work! And the girls in the capital are all prettied up, so I get even more nervous!”

He had said all of that in a single breath, with surprising passion, and now he was panting. I didn’t really understand him, but I guess a man’s feelings are complicated.

“And even among those prettied-up girls, Maria Campbell is one of the prettiest! To be honest, she’s so pretty that a bumpkin like me has no business talking with her!”

To think that the calm and collected Cyrus was hiding a personality like this… It was like talking to a completely different person.

“I agree that she’s beautiful, but isn’t it a problem work-wise if you can’t even talk to her?”

“No, I can communicate with her, keeping my voice and expression the same as usual. After years of effort, I can do it without any problem.”

Wouldn’t it have been better to put that energy towards something else? Like, learning how not to be nervous around girls in the first place?

“But you see, the more I have to hide it, the tireder I get,” he said with an exhausted expression on his face. The dark circles under his eyes had been getting worse day after day, and this finally explained it. Overworking wasn’t the only reason.

“All the more reason to do something about it, I think,” I said.

How can I make him get used to Maria? If he keeps talking to her only for work-related communication, he’ll never get past his fear of girls… If only he could talk to her like he does with me when he’s working on the field… Ah! Of course! I know!

“I have an idea. I will help you get used to speaking with girls, as thanks for teaching me so much about farming,” I said with a smile, and he looked back at me with a troubled expression.

The very next day after learning about Cyrus’s problem with girls, I visited the Magic Powers Department. As soon as I opened the door, I saw the director sitting inside.

Since I couldn’t just enter another department without a good reason, I decided to ask the nearest employee to relay my message.

“Oh, Lady Katarina! It is good to see you.” A handsome boy with orange hair and blue eyes came running towards me, like a puppy welcoming back his owner, before I could say anything.

“Dewey! Nice to see you.”

It was Dewey Percy, one of FL2’s love interests. I had last seen him a few days before in the library.

At first, Dewey, who was now working in the Magic Powers Department together with Maria, had absolutely hated my guts. But when we traveled together for an examination, a series of things (which I honestly don’t fully understand) had happened, and now we were friends.

“Thank you for visiting us. Do you need anything from our department?” he asked.

Being shorter than me, he always looked up at me from below. I wasn’t into younger guys or anything, but he was so cute that I risked grinning just by looking at him. However, this was no time to enjoy his cuteness. I was on an important mission.

“I need to speak with Maria. Can you call her over for me?”

“Of course,” he said with a very, very handsome smile before going to look for his colleague. Seeing him from the back as he walked away from me, he still looked like a puppy. So cute.

He came back with Maria, who, just like him, seemed happy to see me. I asked her if she could spare some time for me after work.

“Yes, I would just be going back to the dormitory anyway.”

“Thank you. I want you to come with me somewhere. It’s inside the Ministry, so it won’t take that much time.”

“Gladly,” she said with a smile.

Perfect. The first step of my mission was complete. I silently rejoiced inside my head.

“Ah, Lady Katarina, since you are here, would you like to eat lunch together?” she asked.

“With pleasure! Can Sora come too?” I asked. He and I always ate lunch together.

“Of course,” she replied with another smile.

I was ready to go back to the Magical Tool Laboratory to tell Sora when I got the feeling that someone was looking at me. It was Cyrus, staring at me from inside the office with a gaze that anyone else would have considered menacing. But I could tell that it wasn’t that. I knew about his hobby and about his real personality… That was an anxious gaze.

He saw that I was talking with Maria and was worried about what I was doing. I had told him that I would help him overcome his fear of girls, but I hadn’t given him any more details than that, because I thought that he’d complain or chicken out.

This will work. I’ll make sure it does.

I tried to tell him “Don’t worry, it’ll be alright” with my gaze, but he probably didn’t get it. He looked even more preoccupied.

Oh well, I’ll just explain everything to him later today at the field.

I then went back to my department.

I told Sora, who had been waiting for me to come back, that Maria had invited us to have lunch together.

“I was expecting that to happen when you went to her department,” he said. I was impressed by how he seemed to practically read the future.

“Some things are just too predictable,” he said, noticing my stupefied look. “Anyway,” he continued, “let’s go before lunchtime is over.”

We walked together to the Ministry’s dining hall, or rather, one of the Ministry’s dining halls. There were several of them, all of different sizes and with different menus. Some of them were very large, like normal company lunchrooms, and others were smaller, only offering a few seats and serving lunch boxes and other things that were easy to take out. There were even some that looked like fancy cafes.

Everyone would just have lunch when it was convenient for them. For example, Hart would ask a colleague to get a lunch box for him, and then he’d eat it inside the office (probably to keep from getting lost), and Laura always ate in the fancy cafes. To each their own.

Since there were four of us today, we went to the largest dining hall, the one which resembled a company lunchroom, so that we could all sit comfortably. Maria and Dewey were already waiting for us at the entrance, and, when we arrived, we all started looking for free seats. Thankfully it wasn’t crowded, and we easily found a table. All that was left was to order the food.

“Hm… The daily special looks good for the price, but I also want to try the new course…” I mumbled to myself.

“I have been wondering for a while,” said Sora, exasperated, “but do you really need to bother about the price? Could you not simply purchase both and only eat what you wanted? Many nobles do just that.” His contrived polite speech was probably because Maria and Dewey were with us.

“But that would be such a waste! I don’t know about other nobles, but I hate wasting food!” Let the others do as they please. I live by my own rules.

And, while the Claes family certainly didn’t have any money problems, my allowance wasn’t that generous. Since I was a child, Mother always insisted that if she gave me more, I’d end up wasting all of it. And I also had to save for things that she didn’t approve of, like sweets and farming equipment.

“Speaking with you, one starts doubting that you are the daughter of a duke,” said Dewey, who was listening to Sora and me.

What does he mean? Is this a compliment? Is it an insult? I was thinking to myself, and my confusion must have been obvious, because Maria intervened to explain.

“He means that you are a wonderful person, Lady Katarina.”

Now, now, you’ll make me blush.

I eventually decided to go for the daily special, ordered, and came back to the table with my tray. I was sitting next to Maria, facing Sora and Dewey.

“Let’s eat!” I said, and didn’t wait a second longer to take the fork in my hand to eat the daily special — hamburger steak.

It was still steaming hot, and it was covered in a fragrant tomato and onion sauce. For vegetables there were appetizingly charred broccoli and corn. The bread was a freshly baked, still-warm butter roll.

I started by cutting off a piece of the steak and chewing it, making the delicious juices spread in my mouth, their decadent richness balancing the sauce’s refreshing sourness. I followed with the vegetables, which were slightly sweet and incredibly aromatic. The bread, which I ate next, was so soft that it melted in my mouth.

Ah, it’s all so tasty. This is wonderful. Totally fitting of the great Magical Ministry’s dining hall.

“Lady Katarina always seems to enjoy her food so much,” said Maria while she and all the others smiled and watched me eat.

“What can I do? It’s just delicious,” I replied.

For some reason, Maria replied with, “I will bring some homemade sweets for you next time.”

Heck yeah!

Once I was done delivering lunch to my stomach, I asked Maria about her and Dewey’s work. She told me that on most days they were in the library rummaging through books, like I’d seen them doing some days before.

Most of my department’s tasks involved manual labor, but they actually had to use their heads. Having to read research documents every day sounded so harsh. I was glad I was assigned to the Magical Tool Laboratory.

We also talked about our colleagues. I told Maria and Dewey that my department was full of oddballs, but they already knew that. It turned out that this was common knowledge throughout the whole Ministry. Sora even said that some people called it “the loony bin.”

They were all good people, but… I couldn’t deny that they were weird.

“What about your department? How are your colleagues?” I asked Maria.

“They are all kind, talented people,” she said.

As expected of the most popular department. Of course everybody would be talented. And I was glad to know that they were kind too.

“They have been teaching me so much. I have been learning a lot,” Dewey started explaining.

That’s nice. Nothing like having good relationships with your colleagues.

I was listening with a smile, but I noticed that Maria’s expression had become darkened.

“What’s up, Maria?” I asked her, very quietly, because Dewey was still talking enthusiastically.

“It is nothing,” she said at first, but after I kept looking at her for a while, she whispered something to me.

“All of our colleagues are very kind to us, but I cannot help but think that Director Lanchester treats me differently from the others… I am afraid he might dislike me.” After a pause, she added, “I could just be thinking too hard about it,” but her expression didn’t change. She really thought that he hated her.

And what about Cyrus? He was so proud to say that nobody would ever notice. Well, would you look at this. You’ve been noticed, alright.

I had to do something about this… Not only for Cyrus’s sake, but for Maria’s as well.

“Don’t worry,” I said with a smile, “if you come with me after work, I’m sure that problem will be solved too.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, looking surprised.

“I’ll explain later,” I said, but she stared at me with a troubled expression.

“Alright…” she said with a nod.

The meal went on as we chatted about our respective departments and work at the Ministry.

“Let’s eat together again soon!” I told Maria and Dewey in front of the dining hall’s exit before leaving for the Magical Tool Laboratory.

“Are you planning to do something weird again?” Sora asked me as we were walking back to the office.

How does he always guess what I’m thinking? Does he have psychic powers or something?

“N-Not at all,” I said, still scared about his ability to read my mind.

He looked at me and sighed. “Just don’t do anything dangerous, okay?” he said. He could really read me like a book.

Evening came, and I was finally done with work. Sora warned me again not to do anything dangerous, and then I went to meet Maria. She was already waiting for me, looking nervous.

“Come on, let’s go,” I told her, and we started walking together.

“Excuse me, but, where exactly are we going?” she asked me when she noticed that we had gone deep into the Ministry with nobody else around.

I had kept it a secret because I didn’t want anyone else to know about Cyrus’s secret hobby, but since there wasn’t anyone else around anyway, I thought that I might as well tell her.

“We’re going to a field.”

“A field? Have you started a field inside the Magical Ministry?!” she asked, surprised.

Indeed, I’d cultivated my own field back at the academy, partly as a hobby and partly as a Bad-End countermeasure. Maria definitely had reason to suspect that.

“No, not me. Someone else’s field. I found it by accident a few days ago.”

“There is someone else who likes to farm within the Ministry?”

“Yes, and their field is an incredible one. I’m sure you’ll be surprised too.”

“Hehehe, I am looking forward to it.”

We kept talking like this while walking until we finally reached Cyrus’s field.

“Oh, it really is a wonderful field!” Maria said as soon as she saw the perfectly arranged rows of vegetables.

“I know, right?” I said proudly, almost as if it were my own field.

Cyrus didn’t seem to be there yet. He’d been there every single evening since I’d started showing up, and he even said that he hadn’t been missing a day recently.

I thought he’d eventually come, but what if he’d realized my plan and run away?

All of a sudden, I heard a squeaking sound. It was the door of the hut near the field, being opened from the inside by Cyrus in his farming clothes, hat and all.

He saw us, and, just like the first time he’d seen me on his field, he stood there frozen with his eyes open wide. After looking at us for a while, motionless… he turned around and started running!

Years of escaping Mother’s lectures had trained my reflexes well enough that I lost no time and went after him, quickly managing to grab his arm.

“Wait! Why are you running away?”

“I’m the one who wants to ask why! Why is Maria Campbell here? Did you bring her with you?” he asked under his breath so that Maria wouldn’t hear.

“Exactly,” I replied, whispering as well. “I thought that rather than overthinking things by yourself, it’d be faster to just talk to her and get used to it.”

“…Hm, you kind of have a point, but… why did you need to bring her here?”

“Because this is the only place where you can be yourself! At work you are always, you know, hiding behind a mask…”

“I know what you mean, b-but…” he said, frowning.

“That’s why I brought Maria here. If you can talk to her and befriend her here, I’m sure that you won’t have any problem with girls anymore,” I said, proud of my wonderful plan.

“That may be true,” Cyrus replied with a bitter smile, “but why does it have to be Maria Campbell right from the start? I’m already bad with girls, but it’s even worse when it comes to a beauty like her.”

So, men who aren’t used to girls have an even harder time with beautiful girls. Hm, I didn’t think of that.

“Hm… But Maria’s a very good girl! I’m sure you’ll be fine,” I said, dragging Cyrus back to her.

Now able to take a better look at him, Maria realized who he was.

“…Mister Lanchester…” she said.

Cyrus, noticing the slight surprise in her voice, looked at his own clothes.

“Ah, you see, this is…” he started mumbling, but I intervened to help him.

“This is Mister Cyrus’s field. He’s really knowledgeable about farming, and he’s also very skilled with a hoe!”

“Mister Lanchester? Farming…?” she asked, her eyes widened in disbelief.

“Yes, he actually comes from a family of farmers, and mfghfgh…”

Cyrus had put a hand over my mouth as I was talking.

“I’ll just explain it myself from here,” he said, finally sounding calm.

“Maria Campbell,” he said, looking towards her, “what Miss Katarina just said is true. People call me a noble at the Ministry, but my family, despite its rank, lived off the fields in the country. I, myself, have grown up as a farmer. This is the truth behind my noble birth. Laugh at me, if you must.”

I thought that being able to manage a field so well was a wonderful thing, but apparently Cyrus didn’t agree. He looked very sad.

“Mister Lanchester,” replied Maria, “I have nothing but admiration for your beautiful field, and I see no reason to laugh at you.”

As expected of my (one-sidedly appointed) close friend. She took the words out of my mouth. That makes me a bit — no, it makes me very happy.

“…Maria Campbell… I’m the one who admires you now,” he replied, smiling and blushing.

It was probably for a different reason, but Cyrus seemed to be happy as well.

“E-Excuse me,” said Maria, looking deadly serious, “but I thought that you… hated me?”

She had talked to me about it earlier that day. She was mistaking Cyrus’s cold treatment for hate, which is why she was so surprised at being told he admired her.

“H-Hate? Why, I would never…” he said, becoming nervous once again.

Cyrus had thought that the way that he was hiding his feelings was so perfect that nobody would notice anything weird. I had to intervene again.

“You see, Maria, Mister Cyrus has always lived in the country, with nobody but old men and women around him, so he isn’t used to talking with young girls. He says that he gets nervous around them, especially cute ones like you, and mfghfgh…”

I felt Cyrus covering my mouth with his hand once again.

“Katarina Claes, could you be any less subtle?!” he asked, staring at me while his face had become completely red.

Was there anything wrong with my explanation? It’s a complex subject after all, I was worrying to myself, but Maria’s face seemed more relaxed.

“S-So, does that mean that you do not hate me, Mister Lanchester?” she asked.

“Th-That’s right. I don’t,” he said, nodding and still blushing, his face red. “As Miss Katarina remarked, I’ve almost never talked to a young girl before coming here, and so I become nervous about it… Pitiful, I know. I believe that this time you may really want to laugh at me. Go ahead,” he said sadly.

“I am so glad…” Maria said with a smile.

“…Huh?”

Cyrus stared at Maria in surprise.

“I always thought that you hated me, but I am so glad to realize that that was not the case,” she said, sounding relieved.

Cyrus’s face turned an even brighter shade of red.

“And I am also happy to be able to speak with you like this, Mister Lanchester, since I do not get the chance to do so at work.”

She must have been really happy, because she was sporting a beautiful, innocent smile. I thought that Cyrus couldn’t get any redder, but he did. He now looked more like a boiled octopus than a human.

“B-But… Aren’t you disappointed seeing how different I am when I’m here compared to when I’m at work?” he said.

When he was his honest, farmer self, he could be very pessimistic.

“Not at all. Seeing you like this has a charm of its own. You are as wonderful here as a farmer as you are as a superior at work, Mister Lanchester,” she replied with the cutest of smiles.

The wind started blowing, and the petals from the flowers near us flew into the air and between Cyrus and Maria as the two stared at each other.

Th-This is it! It’s that picture from my dream! It looks exactly the same! It’s so pretty!

I was overcome with emotion. In my excitement, I was breathing so heavily that my nostrils had visibly flared.

“When we’re here,” Cyrus, who had probably completely forgotten about me, said in his sweetest, gentlest voice, “don’t call me Lanchester. Call me Cyrus.”

“Yes, Mister Cyrus,” Maria cutely replied.

Now this really looks like an otome game! It’s so beautiful.

I’d managed to get Cyrus, who was one of the romanceable options, to fall in love with the protagonist, and we all decided to go home for the day. After all, Cyrus had just fallen in love (probably for the first time in his life) and was spacing out so much that there was no hope of him getting any work done on the field.

From the next day on, Maria would be coming to the field together with me.

“I want to talk with Mister Cyrus more, and if I go to that field, I will be able to see Lady Katarina every day!” she had explained.

It seemed that Maria was interested in Cyrus as well. Very good. You’re on the right path.

Not being able to work the field today, I went back home earlier than usual.

“Haah, I’ve done my share of good deeds for the day,” I said to myself while lying down on my bed. I had helped Cyrus overcome his nervousness with girls and cleared up Maria’s misunderstanding. I felt like a generous Cupid.

Hehe, me? Cupid? Nice… I was grinning to myself and staring at the ceiling when I remembered the cute young boy who had eaten lunch with me today.

Now that I think about it, Dewey’s been in MARIA-LOVE mode since the examination.

We weren’t on the best terms at first, but now that we were friends, I also felt that I wanted him to succeed in his romantic aspirations… But there was only one Maria. What could I do?

To be honest, I had almost no experience with romance, so I was at a loss.

It was time to summon them.

Meeting chairwoman: Katarina Claes.

Meeting representative: Katarina Claes.

Meeting secretary: Katarina Claes.

“Very well. We are now going to think of the fairest option in regards to the romance between Maria and two of the romanceable options for Fortune Lover II, namely Dewey and Cyrus.”

“I am afraid that we Katarinas have little to no experience with love, but we shall nonetheless put forth our best efforts in dealing with this issue for the sake of Maria and our two friends.”

“Does anyone have any good ideas?”

“Ideas? Well, we haven’t really done much romancing, neither here nor in our past life. I’m clueless.”

“But our performance today was outstanding!”

“It was, yes, but we weren’t really going for that, were we? It just kind of happened.”

“Whatever the case, Maria said that she’ll be coming to the field too from now on. Maybe we should stop going so that she can spend some time alone with Cyrus and get closer to him.”

“That sounds good! But wait, wouldn’t that leave Dewey out?”

“What about inviting Dewey to the field as well?”

“Hm… Would Dewey be interested in farming work? Also, Cyrus wouldn’t take well to that many people knowing about his secret…”

“I am sorry to interrupt, but may I speak?”

“Katarina Claes? What is the matter?”

“The two of you seem to be focusing on how to make Maria and the two love interests come together…”

“Yes, we are! We are Cupids, angels of love! Hehehe!”

“…I see. But, are you not forgetting something very important?”

“Important? We definitely didn’t forget dinner, nor did we forget dessert, and we certainly remembered to secure some late-night snacks for today.”

“…It will just be faster to tell you. Katarina Claes is a villainess — the antagonist in FL2, and the romance between Maria and the other characters will put us on a route that leads to doom!”

“Gasp!”

“Gasp!”

“Judging by those reactions, you had both forgotten about it, had you not?”

“Y-Yes… I had been paying attention at first, but there was a lot to learn at work, and working on the field was so fun that I just forgot about the whole villainess thing…”

“For some reason I’d also forgotten that detail…”

“That’s the problem with us, Katarina. The second something new catches our attention, we forget the important stuff. We have to be careful.”

“You are right. Maybe we should write important things on sticky notes, or better yet directly on our hand.”

“That’s smart! We’ll put the notes up in our room!”

“Yes. What should we write on them?”

“…Pardon me, but maybe that can wait. For the time being, can we discuss how to avoid doom?”

“Y-You’re right. Chairwoman Claes, please change today’s agenda from ‘making Maria grow closer to Dewey and Cyrus’ to ‘avoiding doom.’”

“Yes. Good. Let’s start our meeting on avoiding doom in FL2, then.”

“So, does anyone have any good ideas?”

“Yes. We must stop helping Maria and the others fall in love and give up on being angels of love.”

“…That makes sense, but they are already on friendly terms, and both seem to be in MARIA-LOVE mode… I am afraid that we are headed for doom.”

“What can we do? Should we shut ourselves in our room?”

“That does not seem reasonable…”

“If that is the case, we should study how to dodge attacks, how to run away from jails, and how to get our sentence reduced to exile abroad.”

“I agree. That is the best thing to do.”

“It is decided then. We will investigate Dewey and Cyrus to see if they have any weaknesses, like Jeord.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“We successfully went through the plot of Fortune Lover while (somehow) avoiding doom. In the process, we became smarter (even graduating from the academy, somehow) and stronger (at tilling the soil). We shall survive! We shall spend a peaceful retirement with a cat on our lap!”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

And thus, another Katarina meeting came to an end, even though the agenda changed halfway through. I sat up on my bed and raised a clenched fist.

Yes! I’m going to do my best!

★★★★★★★★

My name is Cyrus Lanchester. After graduating from the Academy of Magic, I started working at the Ministry. I was appreciated for my skills, and, perhaps due to how diligently and passionately I worked, I became a department director before others who had been there longer than me.

Many envied me for this… but sometimes I wished I could go back to the country, where I was raised — that peaceful village where there were more cattle than people.

Colleagues at work considered me a high-ranking noble, but I was brought up as a farmer, and surrounded by other farmers for all my childhood.

However, I’d been hiding my heritage since the time I enrolled into the academy so that people wouldn’t laugh at me. It was too late to stop pretending, so, day after day, I did my best to play the part of the noble. The only place where I could relax was the field that I’d secretly built in a little-visited part of the Ministry.

Everything changed one spring day, a short time after newcomers had been welcomed into the Magical Ministry.

I finished work and, as I always did, made for my field. I entered the small hut next to the field and changed into my farming clothes, grabbed my hoe, and went out. Nothing unusual so far.

But the second I left the hut, my life took a strange turn.

“Excuse me,” I heard a voice call out to me. Nobody was supposed to know about this place, so I was surprised to find someone there, but what was even more surprising was who this someone was.

Katarina Claes, daughter of Duke Claes and fiancée of Prince Jeord. She was a real-life high-ranking noble who had nothing to do with a country boy like me, who was only noble on paper.

What was she doing in this empty place at the edge of the Ministry?

Unable to grasp the situation, I froze in place, staring at her.

“Director Cyrus Lanchester…” she muttered, making me snap out of my trance.

“That’s not me,” is all I managed to reply. This surprised her, and made her stare at me even harder. I repeated my lie while hiding my face, fully aware of how unconvincing I was. We had met just a few days ago, and now I could feel her gaze piercing through my profile.

However, I could not admit that Cyrus Lanchester, director of the Magic and Magical Powers Research Department, was in farming attire with a hoe in hand, ready to plow a field. The image of me that I’d worked so hard to maintain would be utterly destroyed.

Katarina remained silent for a while. I couldn’t look at her face, but I hoped that she would just give up and leave. And then…

“Wow, you can tell that they’ll be delicious just by looking at them,” she said all of a sudden.

I turned to face her, and she was looking excitedly at the asparagus I was so proud of.

Those feelings that I had repressed for so many years started flowing back inside me.

When I was living in the country, we would show each other our vegetables and comment on how good each other’s harvest was. However, here in the city, no one did any such thing. All I could do was anonymously bring my vegetables to the dining hall, so I couldn’t even ask what people thought of them directly. I was proud of them, but I was longing — nay, starving for external recognition!

“What?! Duke’s daughter Katarina Claes understands the beauty of this asparagus?!” I asked her in my excitement.

When she said that she did, I felt happier than I had in many years. I started extolling the virtues of my asparagus, before realizing that, in my enthusiasm, I had gone back to the accent that I had been struggling so hard to hide all these years. Understanding that I couldn’t salvage the situation anymore, I sighed, and asked Katarina Claes to listen to my story.

She nodded with a serious face, and I went on to explain my background for the first time.

Once I was done, I asked Katarina not to tell anyone about my secret, and, surprisingly, she immediately agreed.

I was extremely relieved, but then I noticed her eyes squint ever so slightly as she said, “…But on one condition.”

I frowned, but I wasn’t surprised. Knowing the secret of my field and my story was a major weakness. Anyone who knew this secret could use it against me and blackmail me with it. I had already realized this when I’d started talking to Katarina, and I was ready to pay to keep her quiet. I just made sure to tell her, while staring at her blue eyes, that I could only meet requests that were legal and within my power.

“Let me help you with this field. And, while we are at it, I’d love it if you could teach me what you know about growing tasty vegetables,” she said, betraying all of my expectations.

I predicted she would ask for special treatment at the Ministry or something to that effect, but… helping with the field?

First of all, why would a noble young lady understand the value of my asparagus? Most nobles have never even seen vegetables before they are prepared for them to eat, so why?

I was so confused that I stood still, unable to answer her, as more and more questions popped up inside my head.

“Is that not okay…?” she asked me timidly.

Utterly perplexed, I told her that I wouldn’t mind, and she seemed overjoyed at my answer.

Still unable to process what had happened, I saw Katarina off from the field. She was smiling as she said that she looked forward to starting work on the field the next day.

I was too confused to keep working, so I went back to the dormitory.

Even when I thought about it more calmly while lying on my bed, the situation was just as perplexing. Was it some novel kind of prank? Was it a dream?

However, the next day, I got confirmation that our exchange had not been a dream.

“Good evening,” a smiling Katarina greeted me, in full farming attire and even donning a kerchief on her head as only the oldest women used to do, even back in the country.

It turned out that she hadn’t been joking, and actually planned to work on the field. I decided that thinking about it wasn’t worth the effort and started farming with her.

I quickly realized that she had some amount of experience with growing vegetables. She still had a lot to learn, but she wasn’t a complete amateur either, and she picked up new information fast.

“Have you ever worked on a field before?” I asked her.

“Yes! In my garden at home and then at the Academy of Magic,” she replied briskly.

The garden of a duke’s manor and the Academy of Magic… I was working a field inside the Ministry myself, but I was still taken aback. And the biggest question still remained.

“But why would a noble like you do something like that?”

“Well, I just wanted to learn some practical skills in case I needed to find a job in the future.”

“…You are the daughter of Duke Claes, and you’re engaged to a prince… I don’t think you’ll ever need to find a job…”

“You never know what life has in store for you, right? You’ve got to be prepared.”

After that reply, I found myself at a loss for words.

And, anyway, why farming of all things? She could use magic and had received the training and education of a noble — she could choose any practical skill that she wanted. I had tons of doubts, but she looked at me with twinkling eyes, saying, “So, please teach me more about farming!” and I decided that I didn’t really need to inquire any further.

I stopped asking her questions, and we started working together as I taught her all I knew about vegetable growing.

A few days passed with Katarina coming to the field every evening, and, before I noticed, I had grown closer to her. Because of the environment that I grew up in, I wasn’t comfortable around girls, but she had none of the girly aura that made me nervous.

For example, when making tea for the two of us, I ended up serving pickles with it out of habit. I thought that that would make any young person squeamish, but she happily munched on them while praising their taste. She reminded me of the old women back home who worked on the fields with me.

Therefore, I eventually stopped feeling any hint of nervousness around her, and I occasionally even spoke with my old accent, despite all the efforts I’d made to hide it so far. After all this time farming alone, it was fun to have someone do it with me.

One day we were taking a short rest, sitting on a blanket on the ground with tea and pickles between us.

“Ah, I wish I had some rice,” she said after sipping on the tea and eating the pickles with delight. That was a word I hadn’t heard in a while, and I was surprised at hearing it, because I thought that the people here in the capital had no custom of eating it.

I asked her about it, and, suddenly excited, she leaned towards me and asked, “You know about rice?! Wait, first of all, there’s rice here?”

Shocked by her enthusiasm, I explained that, just as with pickles, I hadn’t seen it since moving there, but that I used to eat it as a child. I also told her that the culture and food of my town were closer to that of the neighboring country, which made me all the more nostalgic.

Katarina, who apparently loved eating and appreciated my native cuisine, said that she wanted to visit my hometown.

I told her of how far that was, and her expression changed to one so dejected that you’d think the world was coming to an end.

Seeing her like that, I couldn’t help but feel pity for her, so I told her that I’d share some rice with her when my mother sent it to me. She rejoiced at that, and for some reason started genuflecting in front of me with her eyes filled with sparkles. I’d been thinking this for a while, but Katarina was really an unpredictable girl.

“Thank you so very much!” she then said, bowing deeply. At least she wasn’t genuflecting anymore, but still, a noble being so grateful for sharing some rice was weird.

I didn’t want her to feel so indebted to me, so I told her that I was really just growing homesick myself, and that I’d have that rice sent to me anyway.

“For some reason, when I’m working here on the fields with you, I can’t help but think about my farmer grandma and the others…” I then followed. I’d felt like that for a while now.

“Excuse me, but… does that mean I look like your grandmother?” she said.

That’s no good. I was so relaxed I ended up being too honest.

“No, I mean, yeah, you kinda do, but not in looks. Ya kinda got this air ’bout yerself, y’know…?” I tried to explain myself.

“…So I do remind you of her…”

My explanation had backfired.

“But it’s in a good way. Like, yer easy to talk to.”

“Easy to talk to…?”

“Yup. Back home the young’ns all left fer the big city, so the whole place’s chock full of grandpas and grandmas, y’know? Young girls were so rare I ain’t ever had much of a conversation with one. And then I done come here, and there be lots of girls, but I ain’t fond of speakin’ with them. But ya got sumthing ’bout ya, just like grandma back home, which makes ya easy to talk to. And that’s a good thing,” I said, noticing that I’d completely switched to my old accent.

She seemed to be satisfied this time, but she also said that I, too, reminded her of an old man. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“So you don’t like speaking with young ladies… I never noticed, since you seem to be doing that just fine at work,” she then said. I’d talked too much and let her know about another one of my weaknesses.

However, I understood that there was no point in hiding the truth from Katarina, so I told her about the efforts I was making to mask my nervousness, and about how much more tiring it had become since a new girl had been assigned to my department.

I sighed. I grew up surrounded by men and old women, and now that I had a young girl amongst my subordinates, every day was stressful.

“Excuse me, do you mean Maria Campbell?”

So she knew about Maria Campbell. After all, even if it was for reasons opposite to Katarina, she was also famous enough throughout the Ministry that it was no surprise that someone from another department would know her name.

The rumors (which I now knew to be completely false) about Katarina were that she was an entitled noble girl who’d come to the Ministry just to kill time, whereas Maria was spoken of as a talented Light Magic user.

Every department wanted Maria to work with them, but the higher-ups decided that, if she was so talented, she would make a wonderful addition to my team. I wasn’t grateful in the least.

“She is just as talented as they say… but she’s no good,” I honestly said. She was skilled and a fast learner, but she was too much to handle for someone as nervous around girls as I was.

“Wh-Why?! Maria is a very good girl!” Katarina said, her eyebrows slanted all of a sudden.

I asked whether she personally knew her, and she proudly said that she had known her since her time at the academy. I hadn’t known that.

As Katarina said, she was a very good girl, and a kind and talented one at that.

“Are you trying to say that there’s something wrong with my Maria?!” she asked, with a stare more menacing than I’d ever seen before.

It turned out that she really liked Maria, so I had to explain myself properly.

“Please calm down, Miss Katarina. I’m not trying to say that there’s anything wrong with her. I meant that she’s no good for me, since I get nervous when talking to girls. It’s nothing personal,” I explained, shaking my head.

She sounded perplexed that I still wasn’t used to girls after so many years in the capital, and I couldn’t restrain myself. I leaned forward and emphatically explained the heavy burden that a girl-less life had placed on my shoulders.

After catching my breath, I went on to explain the biggest problem I had with Maria. Sure, she was talented and kind, but she was also prettier than any girl I’d ever seen. Even someone used to dealing with girls would feel nervous around a girl so beautiful.

“I agree that she’s beautiful, but isn’t it a problem work-wise if you can’t even talk to her?” Katarina asked.

I told her how, with many years of training, I had learnt to communicate while keeping my voice and expression unchanged. Of course, since she was a newcomer, I had to care for her now that she was in my department, and I actively talked with her about her tasks and frequently checked on her. Obviously, the more I did that, the more exhausted I would become. I knew that I was being too tense around her, but I couldn’t help it.

“All the more reason to do something about it, I think,” she said, and started silently thinking about something.

“I have an idea. I will help you get used to speaking with girls, as thanks for teaching me so much about farming,” she said with a smile that, for some reason, gave me a bad feeling about how things would turn out.

She told me she’d help me with my problem, and then, without explaining what she was actually planning to do, she left.

The very next day, Katarina visited my department and asked to speak with Maria. She was too far away for me to hear what she was saying, but I could sense that it wasn’t good, whatever it was.

Before leaving, Katarina noticed my gaze and gave me a proud, satisfied look. I started feeling even worse about it.

After she had left, I overheard one of my subordinates saying, “The director always looks at the people from the Magical Tool Laboratory so sternly…” My preoccupied stare probably looked like a disapproving one to them.

It was true that I wasn’t particularly approving of that department. They were talented in their own way, but Larna, their director, didn’t care about rules in the least. I couldn’t stand that, maybe because I was envious of how free she seemed to be. As a result, I was sometimes stern with them… but I didn’t hate them.

However, since I had no friends to speak of in this department, I couldn’t do anything about that misunderstanding. And since that didn’t cause any issues with my work, I didn’t care too much about it.

For the first time, I realized that there were many more things about me that I’d never made any effort to improve.

Once I was done with work in the evening, I went to my field despite still having a bad feeling about what Katarina was doing.

I went into the hut and changed into my farming clothes. Just wearing that outfit that I was so used to was enough to relax me. I then grabbed my hoe and left the hut and saw something that, for the second time, made me freeze.

Katarina was standing in front of me… next to Maria.

I had known that Katarina’s smile meant nothing good, and that she was planning to do something terrible, but I had felt safe enough in assuming she wouldn’t go as far as bringing Maria Campbell here. But that girl had a way of betraying my expectations.

I’ve never seen a noble girl so bold and unique… I thought to myself, before coming back to my senses and turning around to run away. However, Katarina, running at an unfathomable speed, quickly reached me and grabbed my arm, asking me why I was running away.

In return, I asked her why in the world Maria was here, and whether Katarina was the one to blame for that. Of course, I was already almost certain that she was…

Katarina explained that she wanted me to get used to talking with Maria, and that the only way to do so was to actually go ahead and do it. What she said made perfect sense, but I didn’t understand why I had to do that in my field.

Her response, that I could only be myself when I was here, once again made perfect sense. She was right, but it was all too sudden. Katarina was really unpredictable.

She then went on to say that she chose Maria because, if I managed to speak openly with her, I would be able to do the same with any girl. That was true, sure, but Katarina obviously understood nothing of how sensitive a man who wasn’t used to girls could be, especially when it came to one so beautiful.

Katarina insisted that everything would be fine and forcibly dragged me back to Maria, who, this time, realized who she was looking at.

“…Mister Lanchester…” she said, surprised.

I noticed what I was wearing, and I hurriedly tried to explain myself. Being in front of a young woman made it so difficult to come up with anything coherent.

While I was still mumbling, Katarina, out of the blue, intervened.

“This is Mister Cyrus’s field. He’s really knowledgeable about farming, and he’s also very skilled with a hoe!” she said, sounding proud. Why was she proud of that? This girl was such a mystery.

Maria, understandably, looked very surprised. Then, Katarina started proudly explaining my background before I managed to cover up her mouth. For some reason, seeing her so pleased about what she was saying made me feel calm, and I decided to continue the explanation myself.

I looked at Maria and told her all the truth about where I had come from.

When I’d done the same to Katarina I still didn’t know her that well, but having to reveal my secret to a subordinate who worked in the same office as me made me feel miserable. However, I had no chance of lying my way out of this situation, and all I could do was wait for Maria to laugh at me.

“You act all high and mighty at work, and this is the truth about yourself?” she could have said. But she didn’t.

“Mister Lanchester, I have nothing but admiration for your beautiful field, and I see no reason to laugh at you,” she said.

That was so unexpected that I stared at her, trying to ascertain whether she was serious, but her blue eyes were not those of a liar.

Looking into them, I realized that, just as Katarina and others had said, Maria Campbell was not only beautiful on the outside, but on the inside as well.

“…Maria Campbell… I’m the one who admires you now,” I said, letting words that I would never utter at work slip from my mouth.

And then, even more surprisingly, Maria asked me whether I hated her. That was so confusing that I ended up panicking slightly.

“H-Hate? Why, I would never…” I started mumbling. But as I stopped to think of what to say next, she opened her mouth once again.

“You see, Maria, Mister Cyrus has always lived in the country, with nobody but old men and women around him, so he isn’t used to talking with young girls. He says that he gets nervous around them, especially cute ones like you, and mfghfgh…”

I forgot about delicacy and shoved a hand over her mouth. Couldn’t she choose her words a little more carefully? Did she have to be this blunt? She really didn’t understand anything about the fragile hearts of men.

“Katarina Claes, could you be any less subtle?!” I said, glaring at her.

Maria, whom I’d been avoiding looking at out of embarrassment, spoke up again. “S-So, does that mean that you do not hate me, Mister Lanchester?” she asked.

I told her that no, I did not hate her, and that yes, what Katarina had said was true. Surely, this time, hearing the truth about me after seeing how I usually behaved at work, she would laugh at me. I nervously waited for her answer, wishing only that my position as her superior would keep her from berating me too much.

“I am so glad…” Maria said with a lovely smile on her face. I couldn’t hide my surprise.

She told me — sounding genuinely happy — that she had feared that I hated her, and so was relieved by the truth. I could tell that I was blushing, and for a different reason than before.

“And I am also happy to be able to speak with you like this, Mister Lanchester, since I do not get the chance to do so at work,” she added, making my face feel even hotter and my chest tighter.

“B-But… aren’t you disappointed seeing how different I am when I’m here compared to when I’m at work?” I managed to ask her despite how nervous and confused I was.

“You are as wonderful here as a farmer as you are as a superior at work, Mister Lanchester,” she said with a smile so cute that I felt my whole body warm up.

She was a very beautiful girl to begin with, but now she looked even prettier. It seemed as if even the air around her was sparkling.

Wh-What is happening to me? Why does my chest hurt like this?

Still dazed, I asked Maria to call me Cyrus when we were here. What had I done? Under normal circumstances, I’d never have said something like that. I felt as if I had a fever.

Yet, Maria smiled once again as she said, “Yes, Mister Cyrus.”

I could hear my heart pounding even faster inside my chest.