Chapter 32: Who Is Naru's Mom? (4)

Chapter 32: Who Is Naru's Mom? (4)

༺ Who Is Naru’s Mom? (4) ༻

“Isn’t Cariote here for dinner tonight? I specially prepared a Barbarian-style barbecue.”

Bridget tilted her head.

It was her first time making dinner in a long while, but the one she had made it for wasn’t there.

“This little monk is here instead.”

Instead, there was an elf with a bald head.

He casually tore a piece of meat and asked Naru.

“Naru, how’s school life?”

“I had red bean bread at school!”

“Indeed, red bean bread. When this monk was done with his 40-day fast, the first thing he ate was red bean bread. It was very delicious back then.”

“I’m going to try pizza bread tomorrow! The school store has 31 different kinds of bread, and Elizabeth promised to buy them all for me!”

“That sounds like a good friend.”

The table was bustling with activity, which was nice.

It reminded me of the old days.

Back when we infiltrated Pandemonium, we would light a campfire just like this and camp out.

Back then, Brigitte did most of the cooking, and Enkidus would engage in a somewhat meaningless small talk in his calm voice.

As the atmosphere began to settle, Brigitte asked.

“Naru, how do you like your homeroom teacher?”

Naru’s homeroom teacher.

I just realized that such a person existed

I never even thought to ask Naru what kind of a person her homeroom teacher was!

It was at this moment I realized that I wasn’t ready to be a parent.

Perhaps Brigitte, despite being an airhead, was knowledgeable because she was a professor.

If she became a mother, she would definitely be a good one.

“I’m a professor for the undergraduate and graduate schools, so I don’t really know. I heard she was recommended by the Western Teacher Association. She seems to be in her early twenties. Impressive, isn’t it?”

Naru’s homeroom teacher seemed like an impressive person.

An impressive person like her would surely provide Naru with an education worthy of an SSR princess.

“Homeroom teacher Salome is scary..! Naru keeps getting scolded...!”

Scolding Naru.

There’s no way this teacher wouldn’t know who her father was.

So this teacher who isn’t afraid of me and can scold Naru must be an excellent one.

I should visit her with a gift or something.

Lost in thought, I realized that it was already late evening.

Pop—!

Brigitte popped open a bottle of champagne and brought out a cake.

“Whose birthday!?”

Naru was surprised.

Brigitte soon explained.

“It’s a congratulatory party for entering school.”

Swoosh—!

When Brigitte shook her hand, balloons popped up all over the ceiling of the lab.

The magically-created bright lights hung here and there, instantly brightening up the atmosphere of the lab.

“Party! Naru loves parties! It feels like being at the cabaret!”

“What cabaret?”

Brigitte frowned.

Then she looked at Enkidus and me.

“You guys didn’t happen to take Naru to a place like a cabaret, did you?”

“While this monk may have broken many precepts in the mundane world, I haven’t fallen that far.”

“Yeah, I haven’t either.”

I shook my head.

Then Naru raised both hands and shouted.

“I haven’t gone yet, but I’m going to, in the future!”

“....”

Brigitte couldn’t understand.

If things continued like this, the party atmosphere would become strange. Thinking that, I clapped my hands and cheered.

“Now, let’s light the candles and sing. Congratulations on entering school! Congratulations!”

Naru blew out six candles one by one.

Bang! Magical fireworks burst in the air.

Soon, Brigitte brought a large box from somewhere.

It was a beautifully wrapped box with colorful wrapping paper.

“Naru, it’s a gift for entering school.”

“A gift! Naru is receiving a gift for the first time since her birthday!”

Naru was very pleased.

“Naru Style! Tear the package open!”

Soon, Naru unwrapped the packaging with a rustling sound.

In front of Naru, a tightly rolled scroll appeared, tied with a red ribbon.

After Naru untied the ribbon, she playfully spun the red ribbon in the air.

“Such a beautiful ribbon! Brigitte, thank you!”

“No, Naru. The ribbon is just for wrapping; the real gift is the paper. Take a look at the paper.”

“Uh... an exam paper?”

Perhaps due to studying diligently for the entrance exam, Naru thought that the paper was an exam sheet just by looking at the writing on it.

“Don’t know!”

* * *

Inhale— Exhale—

“Naru fell asleep.

“Naru... familiar...”

She fell asleep without even untying the ribbon I had given her.

It seemed like she really liked it.

But I felt a slight pang of guilt.

As her father, I had given her the cheapest gift.

Money is indeed necessary.

Swoosh—

Around 11 PM.

It was time for everyone to start going to sleep.

I was getting ready to leave with my coat on.

Then Brigitte, who had been sitting at the desk signing documents, asked.

“Where are you going? Enkidus is out, and you’re leaving too? You’re not planning to go to the cabaret with Enkidus, are you?”

Frown—

Brigitte furrowed her brow.

I felt unfairly accused.

“Enkidus is going out for fun. I’m going to work.”

“Work? Why all of a sudden?”

“I can’t just play all the time when I have a daughter. I have to pay for her tuition, repay the money I borrowed for uniforms and other things, and I can’t keep living here forever.”

Brigitte had recently helped me quite a bit.

If I were alone, I would have continued to rely on her, but with Naru watching, I couldn’t do that.

Listening to the conversation, Brigitte put down her pen after signing the documents.

She then stretched and yawned while wiping her moist eyes with her hand.

“... Do you think it matters to me? You guys can keep living here. After all, it was my plan to enroll Naru in school. You don’t need to feel indebted to me.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Do you know the housing prices in the Principality of Freesia? A one-room apartment costs about 100 million arcs.”

“Is that true?”

Even during the war, it seemed that the neutral Principality had not been invaded, and the housing prices were incredibly high.

It looked like I would have to rely on Brigitte for a while longer.

“Also, just like the Alubaba thieves were after Naru, other guys might target her too. Like that Mara or whatever, and villains planning something.”

“That’s true.”

“And there’s no safer place than my research lab. Especially here, in my mage workshop, I even have an intruder-repelling barrier among other things.”

Brigitte was indeed wise.

Listening to her, there seemed to be no safer place than this research lab.

I had to postpone my plans for independence for a while.

Oooooo-

A strange noise resounded, and all the lights went out.

Everything was engulfed in pitch darkness.

In the darkness, Brigitte said.

“It seems like the magic power generator has shut down again. Who does experiments in the research building this late at night? It’ll come back on in about 5 seconds.”

“Really?”

When you use a lot of power, sometimes the magic power supply goes down.

It seemed that this was the case when mage professors used magic devices excessively in their research buildings.

“One, two-.”

I counted to five.

One, two, three, four, and five.

But even after five seconds had passed, the lights didn’t come on.

Something feels wrong.

I asked Brigitte in the darkness.

“Brigitte, what’s the grade of the barrier in your research lab?”

“Gold grade, approximately.”

“What if an intruder is more powerful?”

“They might break through.”

“Then be careful. There might be thieves tonight.”

“Come on. Thieves breaking into a professor’s research lab? Especially when you and I are here? No matter how you look at it, it’s too reckless, isn’t it? If there were such people, they wouldn’t be normal.”

Brigitte chuckled as if she had heard a joke.

Her theories were always sound, as usual.

Indeed, she was smart.

But she was overlooking one thing.

“People who think rationally wouldn’t engage in theft to begin with.”

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