The night is late in the Kingdom of Franz where Jin and his friends are staying, and the morning does not go ...... without incident, and that night, a report comes in from the old man.

<.

"No, it's okay. Is there something urgent?"

An unexpected name popped up.

"Najaz?　Is something wrong?"

<

"What?

The report was not good to hear. Jin urges her to continue.

<

"Hou?"

In the Franz kingdom, a local administrator is a "deputy," if you will, and is in charge of the lands under the direct control of the state.

<

Since the industry of the Kingdom of Franz is mainly agricultural, excellent mines are an important source of income.

I guess that's just the way it is."

The moment a person is dispatched from the central government to a region, it is a leftward shift. To suppress such discontent, profits are needed.

.

"What do you mean?"

The old man said, "It is supposed to be a fair salary only if they pinch the proceeds.

"I don't know when they decided that, but they are very strong."

>

I am a little off topic, but back to the original topic.

>.

"Yes, I think I heard that."

Jin thought he had heard this during the chat.

.

"Yes."

"Wow. ......"

Jin is starting to get the picture.

"What?"

It was Elsa who spoke up.

"......"

Erza frowns when she hears this.

"Hmmm, I see."

<

"Okay, thank you. ...... Oh, by the way, I wonder how many people in the Franz kingdom are on Najas's side right now?"

"Okay."

Jin hung up the phone with the old man and looked at Erza, who had a difficult expression on her face.

"...... Najas's situation, huh?"

"Nah."

Erza is also a former daughter of a viscountess. But her mother was different from her brothers. In her case, she was basically loved by her family (although her father and brother treated her coldly for a while due to her brainwashing).

"...... a bit sorry."

"I see."

Jin thought about it for a moment. It was true that Najas's talent was too good to be buried, and since they had become close in the past few days, it would be sad to see him suffer an accident.

However, we can't let Najas and his friends clean up the whole mess.

"First of all, let's start by examining the father's illness, shall we?

"Yes, I'll take care of it."

According to the old man, the father is only 61 years old. If his illness is cured, he should be able to work for another 5 to 10 years.

"I'll make a proposal tomorrow."

"Yes, that's good."

Since it was not a critical condition, Jin and Elsa rested for the rest of the day.

* * * * * * *

The next day, the 15th. It was the day of the auction.

Since the auction was to start in the afternoon, Jin and Elsa decided to talk to Najas, the hostess, after breakfast as they had discussed last night. Of course, it was about her father's medical examination.

"Where is your father now, Mr. Najas?"

"Uh, well, he's a little bit sick, and he's recuperating at his residence in King's Landing.

Hearing this, both Jin and Elsa thought to themselves, "Oh, well.

"Well, I have some time in the morning, so I'll check on your father.

"Really?　Thank you very much!

Najas literally jumped for joy at Elsa's unexpected offer.

He turns down the offer to Queen Caroline de Lafayette and leaves the castle. The Khan's house was only a ten-minute walk away, so he walked there.

Jin, Elsa, Reiko, Hope, and Najas walked slowly.

Along the way, they asked a few questions about Najas' father.

Viscount Astero de Caen, 61 years old this year. Like Najas, he is blonde-haired and blue-eyed.

He is a mining town official and often takes the initiative in going down into the mines.

"Sometimes, when there were not enough miners, my father would go out and mine the ore himself."

"......"

It is hard for Jin and Erza to say whether this is an appropriate behavior for a deputy or not, but it seems that his personality is not disliked by his subordinates.

"This way, sir."

Najas stopped in front of a medium-sized house.

"Well, well, miss, who is this?"

asked the guard at the gate,

"A guest of His Majesty. <

He explained.

"I see. ...... Please, please, please save him! ......"

The guard let us through, bowing repeatedly.

"Come in."

The garden was well maintained. We walked through them to the entrance of the house.

"Welcome back, miss. You have a visitor?"

An elderly man who appeared to be the family president greeted the group. Again Najas introduced Jin and Elsa.

"I see. Please take good care of your husband.

Anyway, Jin and the others, who were also guests of Her Majesty the Queen, were ushered into the hospital room without any problems.

"Father!"

"...... Najas, huh?"

In the sickroom was Viscount Astero de Caen. He was 61 years old. In modern Japanese terms, he would be past his 60th birthday.

He was supposed to be .......

There he was, a pale, emaciated old man.