My Wife Waited in the Wheat Fields Chapter 15: Harvest Festival (4)

In his first visit to the city square since he had returned ho, he had been t with both mories and relationships that he had long forgotten.

Sothing that had once sat in the back of his mind as a source of nostalgia was now overlaid with new experiences.

Unfortunately, ti passed by relentlessly for Elric afterwards.

Today is the start of the harvest festival.

Ah, thats right. I was pretty surprised to see that all the wheat fields were now bald.

At the breakfast table, Elric laughed whilst responding to Tyrias words.

The wheat fields that had once bathed the world in a golden color were now barren.

The harvest had been successful, and now there was nothing left but to enjoy the fruits of their efforts.

For the people of the territory, of course.

I suppose youll be really busy from now on.

It was Tyria who would be busy.

She needed to organize and sort the harvest into the amount needed to pay the tax to the royal family, the amount that would be used for comrcial needs, and the amount that would be given to the people of the territory.

After that, she would then have to do the tedious task of organizing the years profits.

If Aldio was right, she was in for a real treat from now on.

Elric felt sorry for her.

Is there anything I can do to help?

No, thank you.

Are you sure? I can at least help with sorting the docunts.

That wont be necessary.

She was adamant.

She should have just left it like that, but in that mont, a thought had occurred to her.

Why dont you watch from the sidelines this year. Ill take charge and teach you.

Ah, so that was what she had ant by not needing any help.

Elric pouted.

Hmmm

Youll only be learning the major classifications. The details are too complex to be learned all at once and can only be taught over the course of several years.

Although her tone was calm and even, there was a weight to her words that made them feel heavy.

His gently drooping eyes had added to that gravity.

Well, thats good to hear. Lets get to work on the paperwork right away then.

Arent you going to enjoy the harvest festival?

Stopping by for the speech on the last day is enough.

It seed as though he had disturbed a beehive with those last words, having implicitly revealed sothing that she had caught on to.

Im not very smart. He admitted, implying that it would take a long ti to teach him.

Very well, I will bear that in mind.

He shouldnt have said that.

Elric regretted it belatedly.

He couldnt really change anything at this point.

It was ti for him to pay the price for underestimating her patience.

Anyway, his loose mouth had caused him trouble again.

Save .

Its not like Im killing you.

I feel like Im going to die.

People dont die that easily.

Its easy to die. Its fair to say that one stab of a knife is enough.

Elric forced himself to swallow those words.

They were in her office right now on the morning of the last day of the Harvest Festival.

Her education had been brutal.

Her ticulous and persistent nature ant that if he didnt understand a part of the lesson, there was no way for them to move on until he had understood that part, and her patient personality resulted in the worst outco of them having to continue the tutoring for hours on end.

Elric had actually thought at one point during his education that she was actually a better torturer than most of the torture experts that road the Western Battlefields.

It was a terrible experience, and that was why he was so desperate today.

Shouldnt you start getting ready soon? For the speech?

Its still morning.

Dont you have a rehearsal or sothing?

Ive already done it in advance.

When did you have ti for that?

By sacrificing so sleep.

Tyria seed to be a workaholic.

But Elric couldnt give up.

More than anything, he just wanted to get out of this torturous lesson.

Co on, why dont we take a break? Its the last day of the festival, dont you think that we should have a little fun?

Tyria stopped moving.

Elric was desperate. He wanted her to say yes, even if it was just to rest a little, and for so reason, the heavens didnt fail him.

I was not thinking clearly, my lord. This is your first festival in ten years, right?

Although it wasnt his real reason for wanting to enjoy the festivities, Elric nodded his head like crazy.

The more excuses he could co up with, the better his situation would beco.

And it actually worked.

Tyria let out a long breath and organized the docunts.

Understood. Then lets finish the lesson here today. It would be nice to leave a little early and maybe take a walk around together.

What a great idea! Im really looking forward to it! Ill dress quickly and co no, Ill dress slowly and co!

Elric exclaid, jumping to his feet and grabbing his cane.

And so, he was in such a hurry to leave her office that he didnt see it

Tyrias head had been bowed, and her lips had been pressed tightly together.

Her face was colored in a deep shade of red.

Finally, he had been liberated from the tedious classes.

He would finally be able to relax for the rest of the day.

He was sore from doing sothing that didnt suit his tempernt in the first place.

For Elric, who had not done anything other than cutting people down for the past 10 years, sitting still and looking at ink stains was nauseatingly torturous.

Milord, you should probably get changed soon.

Ill do it at my leisure.

Youre not being leisurely, youre already late.

Are you defying your masters will?

Its advice. And soone who cant even act as a proper master doesnt scare at all.

I can fire you.

You cant. The Mistress handles all personnel managent.

.

Sohow, there was not a single person on his side.

Of course, it was ridiculous to expect anyone to comfort soone who had run away for 10 years and had finally returned. But still, it was a sad pity.

He thought Aldio would be the only one who understood, but

You cant escape this ti, Milord.

He was adamant.

Elric felt like he was back in his childhood when he would get scolded for being stupid.

He was well aware that he was doing sothing foolish, but realizing this fact was another matter altogether.

Grumbling, Elric got dressed.

It was a casual outfit.

You will be going up to the podium to help deliver a speech. Even if you arent the one giving the speech, you need to be dressed up. Ill go get the maids.

Why do I need maids?

To apply your makeup.

n wear makeup? You must be crazy.

If I am crazy, then all the nobles, royalty, and even emperors in this world must be crazy.

Aldio, your tongue is particularly sharp today.

And youre even more unhinged today than normal.

Elric sank into the ground.

Finally, after hed gone through all that nonsense of having his skin made up according to Aldios will, he had reluctantly made his way to the study.

Not because he wanted to do more work, but because the window there overlooked the entire estate outside.

Creak

As the door opened, a room flooded with sunlight was revealed to him.

How could an currently unused office look so beautiful?

Elric smirked at the thought.

Now, even looking at this place doesnt make think of that man first.

It was a realization he had made in hindsight.

Whether it was because of his malicious upbringing or simply because it was a distant mory, when he entered the study nowadays, it was not his fathers face that he saw first but the docunts Tyria had left behind that caught his eye first.

As soon as he opened the door to the study, he recalled the image of her sitting at the desk.

This, too, had beco one of his overlapping mories.

Just as the transford city center had been overlaid over his faded mories of the past city center, the image that ca to his mind when thinking of the office had changed.

Bittersweet feelings ca to his mind simultaneously.

Elric looked over the harvested, bare wheat fields before sitting down at his desk.

Thump

His hand brushed against the unorganized docunts.

Hmm?

Elric turned his head and checked the papers.

This is.

It was part of the task hed learned today.

Did he not clear it? Elric picked up the docunt unconsciously and checked the note that was underneath it.

Elrics eyes widened.

[Deadline, the 21st.]

The deadline was today.

She had certainly said it was a task that could be handled with ease, but how could this docunt, which was not even partially completed, be finished within the day?

There were easily dozens of pages to deal with, and it would take at least half a day to get through everything.

As soon as he realized that, it hit him.

If I do it while teaching you, it will take half a day.

If she were to handle the work alone, her pace would have been a lot faster.

Elric knew he was slow to learn office work.

And Tyria was teaching him at his pace.

The tight deadline was probably his fault in the first place due to his sudden return.

The reason why she had allowed him to leave early today despite being behind on work.

That, too, was beginning to dawn on him.

Did she consider my situation?

Perhaps she had slowed her pace down out of consideration for his own exhaustion.

Could it be that Tyria, despite her busy work, was concerned about his fatigue first?

This was a strong presumption based on his own self-awareness, but he couldnt dismiss it easily because of the attitude she had shown him so far.

In retrospect, shed been looking out for Elric every step of the way.

.

If he had continued bothering her by asking her to teach him, what would have happened?

She wouldnt have expressed a word of dissatisfaction; she would have just worked alone and silently, losing sleep over the work.

Then he would have never known how much harder he had made things for her.

Suddenly, he felt a pang of sha.

His behavior was like that of a child who only knew how to whine.

Elric furrowed his brow.

Then he picked up a pen.

It was a truly despicable thing for soone to simply receive without feeling grateful to those who have shown them consideration.

Elric did not want to be that kind of person.

He shuffled through the papers for a while, and began to fill in the letters little by little, recalling what he had learned.

It was about an hour later when Tyria ca in.

Are you done?

She looked surprised.

Elric laughed awkwardly and said,

The deadline for these docunts was today. Why didnt you tell ?

Well.

Im sorry. I didnt understand the position that you were in.

A look of surprise washed over Tyrias face.

Feeling ashad, Elric lowered his head and spoke.

I couldnt do much, so could you help with the rest?

Her response ca a mont later.

Yes, I will try.

Her voice was a little more subdued than usual.

The mood around them didnt seem too bad.

It was a fortunate thing.