Chapter 20

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“Oh my gosh, look at that skillful figure.”

“Is it even possible to swing a wooden sword as it is?”

“It’s your first time, but you don’t lack in spirit. Maybe you can be a good paladin.”

Hanna, Ian, and Marsha who were sitting under a tree were watching Jeremy taking sword lessons.

Moisei was a very fast-paced person, just like a knight.

After their conversation…

No, on the night he was scammed, Moisei came to see Jeremy right away, and classes started the next day, which is today.

“The paladin must have the power.”

Ian looked at Hanna with pitiful eyes, as if she didn’t know such an obvious thing.

“Then he should just be a knight.”

Hanna was in a good mood.

I was proud to have obtained the swordsmanship class that Jeremy wanted with just a few words, and when I saw Jeremy working hard on the class, I couldn’t help but be satisfied that Jeremy might become a good knight.

“Jeremy, you might get tired of it again soon. Right, Kkokko*(1)?”

Marsha said, stroking Kkokko in her arms.

But Hanna just laughed at Marsha’s words.

It was because Jeremy was confident he would never give up.

“Marsha, Ian. Please cheer for Jeremy. It’s a blessing to have something you want to do.”

Hanna felt that Jeremy had changed a lot in a short amount of time, although her usual image of Jeremy was mischievous and selfish.

No, it would be right to say that he’s grown up.

“Is there anything you want to do, Ian and Marsha? Like a future dream.”

“Nothing.”

Ian replied immediately.

Well.

Ian, you don’t have to be here.

You’re going to be the emperor anyway.

In fact, Ian was not worried at all.

“What about Marsha?”

“I want to be a zookeeper!”

“Because you like animals?”

“I’ve raised Kkokko so I think I’m cut out for it!”

…Will Marsha become an animal keeper or a beast keeper?

“Well…”

It was a little worrying, but not a bad future.

At least people said that animal lovers aren’t bad people.

“I hope it’s a good future.”

The sun was setting slowly while they were watching Jeremy’s class.

“I hope you all find something that makes you happy.”

“Are you happy?”

“Huh?”

“Are you happy to be a teacher?”

Marsha asked Hanna with sparkling eyes.

“Happiness…”

The past, where I first possessed this body, adapting to the temple, and struggling to avoid a dangerous future, crossed my mind.

Hanna trembled.

“Happiness….”

But what I can say for sure is that…

“I couldn’t be happier.”

Even if someone asked the same question, this answer would have come out.

In fact, Hanna has been spending very peaceful days since the temple was stabilized.

“Kreuk!”

Just like Kkokko who is happy when she is given food like now.

“So you kids should do something happy like me, too.”

Hanna hummed, and the children listened and watched Jeremy.

Ian, who had been staring at Jeremy for a long time, turned his attention to the book in his hand again.

* * *

The next day, Hanna skipped breakfast and headed to the market early to buy supplies.

She bought what they needed and had a simple lunch outside.

And when she returned to the temple late in the afternoon, the atmosphere of the temple was a little strange.

“Why are you doing this?”

Cesar’s face, as he stood on the pillar at the entrance of the temple, didn’t look good.

His face was floating in vain and his eyes were hazy.

Oh, his eyes are always like that.

“……it hurts.”

“What? Where?”

“Tummy.”*(2)

Come to think of it, Cesar is holding his stomach.

“Did you eat something wrong? Or do you need the bathroom?”

“……”

Cesar frowned instead of answering.

Then, isn’t it just that you’re really not feeling well?

“No, what did you eat? You look like a jellyfish washed out of the sea.”

“Cafeteria…, rice.”

Cesar said in a crawling voice as if he didn’t have the energy to answer.

“Do you want me to call a doctor?”

“I’ve already done…”

I feel sorry for you, but what can I do? There was nothing more I could do when the doctor already came and went.

“That’s… Be careful. I wish you well then.”

Hanna completely avoided Cesar, who was almost crawling on the floor.

Hanna circled Cesar very far away in case of a contagious disease.

Cesar, who looked at her like that, had no energy to be angry.

Hanna left the sick patient behind and headed to the nursery with a careful step.

* * *

“Oh, my God. What’s wrong with you guys?”

“Teacher……”

When I arrived at the nursery, the children were lying on the floor.

They’re like the Cesar she just saw, holding his belly.

“Did you guys eat at the temple?”

Obviously, I left food for the children to eat, but it was strange.

“…Uh…I told you, let’s eat, even if it’s not good.”, said Jeremy, who rolled over to the side.

Hanna was speechless.

‘You guys didn’t eat my food because it wasn’t good. Did you eat at the temple?’ The question filled my throat. 

“I’ve been liking temple rice lately…”

Marsha awkwardly avoided Hanna’s gaze calling for an answer.

“But how are you feeling all right?”

Meanwhile, Ian was reading a book in good condition.

Hanna asked Ian because she was surprised that he was fine alone when they ate together.

“I like your food.”

“Oh, yeah. Thank you.”

Hanna learned a new fact from him.

‘My rice did not taste good…’

It was a fact that I didn’t know because I ate so well.

It was heartbreaking to think that the good children were forced to eat because they thought of me and couldn’t say it was bad.

“Broccoli… I don’t like it…”

Jeremy said in a squeezing voice.

I remembered that everything I made today contained broccoli.

I bought too much broccoli.

Thanks to that, I put it in all the food to eat it quickly, but it seemed like they didn’t like it.

“Oh, my God. What do I do?”

It was heartbreaking to see children crawling on the floor with their lips turning purple.

“I think my butt is going to rip.”

“Jeremy…”

“Dirty…”

Marsha did not sympathize with Jeremy to protect at least his dignity.

“Oh, my precious babies.”

In Hanna’s words, Ian scoffed at the word “babies” but Hanna couldn’t hear him.

Her precious children were rolling in pain.

* * *

“Phew, I really can’t live.”

Hanna sighed, organizing the items and food ingredients she had bought from the market.

No, the temple can’t even manage food properly, causing mass food poisoning?

It was fortunate that the children took medicine when they went to the doctor’s office, but they could not drink water, let alone food because they spilled it all down.

“I’m going to make some honey water.”

Hanna boiled the water.

“Honey was here somewhere.”

She opened the cupboard and found honey.

As the water bubbled up, Hanna scooped up honey.

“This is to make them cheer up.”

Stir the honeyed water.

“Well, let’s add tea leaves to make it smell good.”

The tea leaves lined up in the open cupboard caught her eye.

“Yeah, they’d eat it better if there was a scent.”

She opened the lid of the bottles containing tea leaves, smelled this and that, and put them together moderately.

“Oh, it tastes good.”

The finished honey tea smelled better and tasted better than she thought.

“Let’s make some more.”

I felt uncomfortable thinking that not only the children but also everyone who had eaten at the temple was suffering from stomach aches.

Cesar’s dying face that she saw at the entrance.

Eventually, Hanna boiled another big pot of water.

* * *

“Drink this and sleep with a blanket on your stomach. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“Yes. Uh…”

First, I gave the children honey water.

After putting a thick blanket on their stomachs, Hanna came out of the children’s room.

Then she went back to the kitchen and headed to the temple with a large kettle.

“This, drink it.”

Cesar, who was lying on the sofa in the office, saw Hanna and opened his quivering lips.

“What is it?”

“It’s honey water. Drink this. You probably can’t even eat, right now.”

“…Leave it.”

Cesar, who had no energy to answer, shook his hand.

Given that the position of the hand is slightly lower than usual, it seems that he has no energy to raise his arm.

Hanna can’t believe even that arrogant gesture could be heartbreaking.

Being sick was great.

“I’ll leave the kettle, so feed it to the people who come.”

Hanna took out another cup and lined it up on the table.

She could see a waving hand over the sofa.

That’s what happens when a person who has no energy gets sick.

He was drooping like a piece of laundry on the floor.

After that, Hanna went to the dining room with honey water.

“Give it to the people who have stomach problems.”

She handed over the honey water kettle to the new paladin on duty at the dining room.

She went back to the nursery hoping that people would drink honey water and regain a little energy.

She also encountered Curtis and some of the new paladins on the way and their situation didn’t look good either.

The seriousness of the situation was clearly expressed by the way Curtis, who had always straightened his back, dragged his legs along the hallways.

“What a pain.”

It was a day when I felt the danger of mass food poisoning.

“I’ll have to boil some more.”

Hanna thought the aftermath would last for a few days.