Raising the Princess to Overcome Death-Chapter 33: Childhood Friends - Consideration

Raising the Princess to Overcome Death-Chapter 33: Childhood Friends - Consideration

33. Childhood Friends - Consideration
In the small, chilly storeroom behind the bakery kitchen, where flour floated in the air, there was an incongruous blanket.
It seemed Lena was sleeping there.
The two sat knee to knee in the cramped space, sharing their stories.
"...So that's what happened."
Leo listened to Lena's story calmly.
It was a lie.
He wasn't calm at all.
He was only holding back his emotions so Lena wouldn't feel worse, but inside, Leo was devastated.
Lena had also suppressed a lot of her sadness. Her voice was steady, and her eyes seemed to be gazing into the distance, even in the small room.
Leo remembered Ainar Lena. She had the same expression when she lost her arm and abandoned her sword.
Lena had clung to the cathedral gate all night. Luckily, Priestess Ophelia had rushed out early in the morning.
She had apologized, saying she never imagined Lena would be expelled the same day.
With her help, Lena had warmed her frozen body but couldn't return to the churChapter That was something even Priestess Ophelia couldn't arrange.
Since then, Lena had been looking for work. She planned to save money and return to Demos Village.
But money was hard to come by.
Living costs in the capital were high, and her hometown was far away. She likely would never have made it back to Demos Village.
In the dry storeroom, the two pondered their future.
They couldn't return immediately. Leo had no money either, so they would have to stay in Lutetia for a while.
They managed to rent a shabby room. Leo sold his dagger, and Lena took an advance from the bakery owner.
The room, no larger than a bathroom, was damp and dark, with mold and no sunlight. The crying of a baby from the next room never ceased.
Lena left for the bakery at dawn.
Leo saw her off and wandered Lutetia aimlessly, eventually heading into the backstreets.
"Who do you think you are, coming here?"
Lutetia had no large gangs, so he sought out a small gang house.
It was a sight to behold.
From drunks in the middle of the day to people chattering and laughing, they were scattered all over.
Leo found the gang boss without much resistance.
In the "Beggar Siblings" scenario, he hadn't seen the boss even after nearly six months of being a thug...
"Are these really gangsters?"
He knocked out the guy who shoved his shoulder and picked a fight.
- Thud!
"What the? Haha. Dason, did you just get hit by a kid?"
There was no tension among them. Only the gang boss seemed on edge, shouting from the back.
"Hey! Get that guy! Quickly!"
Despite the urgent shout, only about half of them got up, and even they weren't in a hurry. The rest kept laughing.
Leo stepped on the fallen guy's neck and took the dagger from his waistband.
He decided to knock them all out first and think later.
He needed to vent his pent-up anger somewhere.
The brawl ended one-sidedly.
He realized while fighting that these were not gangsters but hoodlums. Only the boss could be called a gangster.
There was a big difference between a gangster and a hoodlum.
Hoodlums, who were merely lazy, lost their will to fight after one fall.
In contrast, gangsters had no qualms about killing and were used to life-or-death battles, fighting desperately.
Throwing themselves into the fight, poking eyes, hitting sensitive spots, biting, clinging, twisting, and using anything as a weapon.
The fewer than twenty hoodlums were no match for Leo. When he slit one guy's throat and sprayed blood everywhere, the rest fled.
"Hey, you're the boss, right? This gang is a mess."
"Uh..."
"I have some questions..."
Leo was about to torture the boss but found his questions weren't so significant, and the guy answered readily.
This wasn't a gang. Lutetia had no gangs; the real gangs had small branches near the capital.
The so-called gangsters were scattered.
"How can you do business like this?"
"It's because of the crusaders. We can't stay grouped in the Holy Kingdom."
The boss, or rather, a gangster dispatched from a family, explained further.
The Holy Mark was the issue.
The cathedral had special knights called crusaders.
With their bodies strengthened by holy power, crusaders were few but plentiful at the cathedral.
"Here, crusaders regularly sweep the backstreets. If gangsters gather, they'll get marked and exterminated. That's why we use hoodlums for minor tasks."
Leo glanced at the sprawled hoodlums. They were also bad, but few had committed murder, mostly extortion.
That didn't seem to warrant marking.
He asked about the prince and the war, but the gangster knew nothing, complaining even under the threat of his fingers being twisted.
Leo, realizing he was doing something unworthy, stopped. He had been venting his frustration.
"I've told you everything. Please, spare me."
"...Fine. Give me some money."
But the guy had little money.
The gangster pleaded that giving away the money meant for the hoodlums would force him to close the branch, leading to his death at headquarters.
Understanding the gangsters' plight, Leo softened.
Even if he took all the money, it was useless. Lena knew he was broke, so if he gave her a large sum, she'd question it.
Leo took the guy's salary (it was a pittance!) and left.
After changing out of his bloodstained clothes, Leo bought a new outfit and a dress for Lena before heading to the bakery.
Lena was already outside, having finished work.
"Le..."
She stood blankly, gazing at the cathedral silhouetted against the beautiful evening sky.
Her face, covered in shadows, looked desolate.
"...Lena."
"...Oh, Leo. Let's go..."
"Lena, look. I bought this with today's earnings."
"Thank you. It's pretty."
"I changed my clothes too. Do they look good?"
"Yes, they look good."
"......"
Though she responded to his questions, she didn't chatter like she used to.
Seeing her so down, Leo showed her the money he had taken from the gangster.
"L-Look. I made a lot of money today."
Though it wasn't much, it was a significant amount for one day. He shouldn't have shown it, but he couldn't stand Lena's despairing expression.
"Where did you get all this...?"
"It's what I earned today. You know I'm good at my job, right? I earned a lot. I'll save up quickly and get us a nice place."
Lena stared at him silently for a long time.
"Lena? What's wrong?"
"...Leo, what do you have in your pocket?"
His thin summer clothes bulged where he had hidden the dagger taken from the thug.
"T-This... it's nothing."
An awkward silence followed his clumsy excuse.
As Leo fidgeted, wondering if he should lie more, Lena took his hand.
"Leo."
"Y-Yes?"
"Don't overdo it. I'm okay."
She gripped his hand tightly.
"It doesn't matter what it is. But I don't want you to struggle because of me. I'm sorry."
"......"
"Let's go home."
Lena walked slowly towards the setting sun, and Leo followed her with a heavy heart.
Lena's shadow stretched long toward the cathedral.
*
Leo found an ordinary job.
His craftsmanship was valued everywhere, so he easily found work as an assistant at a blacksmith shop.
He explained the dagger he had hidden as he started the job.
Standing in front of the blazing furnace, Leo worked the bellows tirelessly.
Sweat poured off him like rain as he stared at the flickering flames, lost in thought.
‘What should I do now?’
The hot blast from the bellows hit him when he pumped air, and the heat momentarily subsided when the bellows drew in air.
Leo timed his breathing to this rhythm.
‘At this rate... nothing will change.’
After work, he would bring Lena from the bakery, and she would always stand in front of it, staring blankly at the cathedral, indifferent to the beautiful evening glow. Seeing her like that pained Leo deeply.
He had gathered no information about the prince.
Drinking with the blacksmiths and asking around yielded no results; the prince remained a distant figure. His lifestyle was unknown.
There were rumors he occasionally went hunting, but they were unverified, and Leo had no way to find him.
Meeting the prince seemed impossible.
It was only natural. Expecting it to be easy was foolish.
He had thought there would be some convenient "event" like in a game, but such an easy path was nowhere to be found. No nobles or wealthy patrons visited the bakery on the outskirts of the city.
‘Chance meetings’ don't happen. Through long travels, he vaguely realized that certain "conditions" needed to be met for events to trigger.
Even in the game Princess Maker, there was a condition to meet the prince only in January.
Otherwise, he needed to know exactly where to approach or have the ability to meet the prince openly.
Information about the war was fragmented. The Sword Master of the Kingdom of Bellita had done something significant, but exactly what and why the Astin Kingdom's army retreated so quickly was unknown.
High-level information was scarce, and Leo had no access to it.
‘I'll marry Lena.’
He concluded.
He didn't want to leave Lena in her sorrow. He wanted to divert her attention somehow.
"Good work today. I'll just go home."
He left the blacksmith shop. Lena was standing outside the bakery again.
Leo hung his head in the middle of the street.
He felt sorry for Lena.
Using his inability as an excuse, he chose marriage as an escape.
Leo and Lena returned to their home in the slums.
He fetched water from the communal well and handed it to Lena. Covered in flour, she washed inside while Leo rinsed himself off at the well.
"I'm done washing."
When he entered the room, Lena was standing, drying her hair.
Water flowed down the smelly drain on the floor.
"Lena, I need to talk to you."
Leo sat Lena down. It felt dirty to sit the woman he loved on the moldy floor.
Lena knelt and sat down, and he hesitated before proposing.
"Marry me."
Will Lena be happy if she marries me?
It should be better than now, right?
Lena's focus sharpened, but she said nothing and chewed her lips.
Leo waited.
"...Thank you."
Smart Lena seemed to understand all his thoughts, smiling faintly. Leo, relieved by her small smile, started talking more.
"I'll save up and return to our hometown. I'll work hard. We can have a proper wedding then..."
Lena stopped his words with her lips. Her wet hair touched Leo's shoulder, leading to a quiet kiss.
"Leo, I'm fine. Let's live happily here without overdoing it."
Her words shook him.
Lena consoled Leo instead. Her considerate words eased some of the burden weighing on him.
Leo burst into tears without realizing it, and Lena gently embraced his crying.
A few days later, early in the morning.
Lena and Leo got married at the bakery.
Priestess Ophelia came to officiate, and the bakery owner and some ladies waved work gloves, congratulating them.
Though it was a modest wedding, Priestess Ophelia solemnly declared the birth of a new couple.
"Leo."
Lena held Leo's hand tightly, and he cupped her cheek and kissed her.
For the last time.
[Lena has married! Congratulations.]
[Thank you for playing Raise Lena.]
[Lena]
[Final Job: Bakery Girl]
[Spouse: Leo]
[Leo]
[Final Job: Blacksmith]
[Spouse: Lena]
[Childhood Friends Ending: Overseas Marriage]
- Lena, born in Demos Village, had a happy childhood... (excerpt) ...expelled from the cathedral, she worked in a bakery. She married Leo, who followed her to Lutetia, and they had two children, living happily. They never returned to Demos Village. -
- Leo, born in Demos Village, had a happy childhood... (excerpt) ...followed Lena to Lutetia and married her. He became a blacksmith and raised a son and daughter. They never returned to Demos Village. -
Lena quickly faded and disappeared. In the void, a picture of her modest wedding at the bakery appeared.
It wasn't a fancy wedding. It looked like they had suddenly decided to marry while buying bread!
Yet Lena smiled brightly, as if reassuring her inept husband who couldn't even take her to their hometown.
Leo couldn't take his eyes off the picture. Her lips still felt vivid, but that story had come to an end.
‘I should have found a way to return to our hometown to marry...’
But that would have required doing bad things. He would have had to leave Lena alone while saving money, then cross the border with her and travel through another kingdom.
All excuses. He had chosen to ignore the problem, thinking he would handle it somehow after marriage.
Leo's mind melted with regret.
Minseo appeared.
He pondered for a while.
Chaeha.
Lena's actions struck Minseo.
Despite losing everything, she consoled Leo. It seemed Lena had stopped them from returning to their hometown to avoid burdening Leo.
‘How could she do that?’
I couldn't do that. I only thought of relying on Chaeha and actually did lean on her a lot.
Chaeha must have been doubly miserable.
What if I had done for Chaeha what Lena did? Told her it was okay, not to overdo it, and supported her?
Minseo turned back, leaving with unfinished business. He wanted to go outside more strongly than before.
I must escape from here.
I need to go back to Chaeha and correct the mistakes I made.
And I still want to make Lena happy.
To the dear Lena, I want to do something for her before I leave.
This was no longer just a game for Minseo.
[You failed to clear Raise Lena.]
[Due to noble interference, Lena did not achieve her dream. As consolation, we provide information on {Noble Society}.]
[Restarting.]

Chapter 33: Childhood Friends - Consideration