Chapter 18

In order to better understand the Dunbertian and to ascertain his own feelings, Ernst spoke with the man every night, yet his confusion only grew deeper with each passing day.

Ten days had passed since he had arrived in Meissen, but he hadn’t read a single document. He himself knew that this was unacceptable.

There was one night where he tried to chase the Dunbertian out of his head, and didn’t call him to his room.

But in the end, he had only tormented himself. Even though Ernst had called for him every night, tonight, he hadn’t called for him, so Ernst wondered if that would make the large man feel sad; and tomorrow, when he went to go train, what if he hadn’t been able to sleep and became injured because of it? Thinking about that, Ernst wasn’t able to get a single wink of sleep.

The next night, after Ernst invited the man again and saw the man’s relieved smile, he came to a decision. He should try to get rid of his worries, he thought.

In times of trouble, turn to books. Ernst looked through the mansion’s bookshelves.

The Lords up until now seemed to have been avid readers. There was a large room with only bookshelves in it. Many tall bookshelves which spanned from floor to ceiling stood side-by-side.

But, because who-knows-how-many Lords had collected them, there was no organization at all.

There were countless books that Ernst had never seen before. There were things he would never have seen in the royal palace. Vulgar romance novels, and the like.

If he were the Ernst of old, he might have dubbed them useless and discarded them.

But for the Ernst of now, he treated them like scriptures.

For these few days, he went to the archives and indulged himself in reading romance novels. Everyone fell in love incredibly easily. They fell in love at first sight. They fell in love when confessing their feelings, they fell in love after being saved.

Ernst wasn’t able to understand the feelings of those people who fell in love after only a few lines.

Once he was tired of reading, he left the room.

Ernst stopped all of his useless struggling. Like when he concentrated on his documents, none of their contents entered his head, either.

Three days had passed since he had last entered his office.

In the afternoon, he gazed out the window of the corridor. The militia’s training always took place in the afternoon.

They seemed to be growing tougher and manlier with each day. It seemed that the current commanding officer had taken up his post earlier this summer.

Though the captain had his peculiarities, he surprisingly took great care with them. When newcomers joined the militia, he gave them moderate training tasks.

But in the end, the biggest presence was that of the Dunbertian. Whether they had the drive or not, everyone gathered together to fight him. No matter how many opponents he faced, and no matter how long the battles were, he was never winded. How nice it must be, to be able to move one’s body so splendidly.

Leaning against the windowsill, Ernst sighed.

It was difficult for the people of the Schell race to build muscle. It wasn’t as difficult for them as it was for the people of the Sout continent, but no matter how much they trained, they were no match for the Grude races or the people of the Sistica continent.

Among the Kleber, there was no hope to gain muscle for those whose bodies stopped growing after childhood due to Kleber’s disease.

Ernst looked down toward that muscular body that he would never be able to obtain. A smile drifted over the face of that man, whose breath had never once been thrown into disarray.

Ernst noticed that lately, he had grown fond of seeing that man’s smiling face. The way he looked when he smiled, not exaggerated but instead quiet and serene, was something Ernst liked.

Unusually, the captain of the militia approached the man.

It seemed like those two shared this role. The captain trained the newcomers, while the Dunbertian trained the others.

The captain had a large body for a Kleber. His head reached up to around the height of the Dunbertian’s shoulders. Ernst couldn’t hear what they were talking about from his position, but the two of them were smiling.

Thumping a hand on the captain’s shoulder, the Dunbertian laughed with a loud voice.