9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 56 - Nothing Happened (3)

Luisa was born in Lüdelheim’s District 13.

She grew up in an ordinary family and lost her parents just as she reached adulthood.

As a late-born only child, she had no one to rely on and handled all the procedures by herself.

After finishing the funeral, she got a job as an office worker at a small trading company, where she met her colleague Robert Schmidt. They went through a smooth courtship and marriage. It was a happy life, except for the fact that they couldn’t seem to have children.

Then one day, her husband went on a business trip for work and was caught in a train accident that killed him.

She became a widow before she was even thirty.

Luisa suppressed her grief and steadfastly continued going to work. The sympathy and comfort from those around her, the whispering about what a terrible thing it was—those thoughtless words always pierced her heart and caused her mental anguish, but she didn’t collapse.

Instead, she threw herself into work to forget the memories that suddenly surfaced, and thanks to this, she gained recognition at the company.

The company weathered the turbulent economy through the revolution and Kruger’s coup quite well.

Frustratingly though, it completely collapsed in just a few months after the president was dragged away to Ossel for unknown reasons.

When the company dissolved and Luisa lost her job, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss, as if something had been sucked out of her chest.

Looking back, after her husband died, her life had been nothing but the company.

But what had been the reward for thirty years of devotion?

Luisa, who had once had a gentle face, was tall and slender, and laughed often.

Now all she had left was a body that had grown plump from sitting in a chair all day typing, aching joints, and hair covered white as if snow had fallen.

She had saved quite a bit of money from living frugally, and she had the comfortable house where she’d lived her entire life.

Thanks to this, she wasn’t particularly worried about making a living, but she couldn’t figure out what she should live for.

The ordinary common people of the continent finish their lives at seventy at most. The highest-ranking nobles supposedly live to 120 with the power of magic, but to Luisa, that was a story from another world.

Fifty-three years old—already entering the final years of life. What could she fill her remaining time with?

If she’d had children, she would have welcomed sons-in-law and daughters-in-law and lived happily caring for her grandchildren.

If she’d been just a little younger, she might have found another job. Having worked in offices her whole life, she was skilled at company work.

But she had no children. There was no workplace that would take in a woman about to become elderly.

Luisa Schmidt wandered, having lost the meaning of life.

***

“Long live the Great Supreme Leader! Hello. I’m Lucas Redan. I heard you’re looking for a boarder.”

Luisa had decided to rent out the spare room in her house—it seemed wasteful to let it sit empty, and she was lonely with no one to see.

The very next day after hanging a “Boarder Wanted” sign on her gate, the doorbell rang.

Standing at the door was a scrawny young man with a pale complexion that looked pitifully thin.

His small stature made him seem more like a boy than a young man, but he shouted energetically and held out a box of cookies he’d gotten packaged from a bakery.

“Long live the Supreme Leader. Nice to meet you, I’m Luisa Schmidt. Is this a bribe you’re offering me?”

When she laughed playfully and accepted the box, Lucas straightened his face and shook his head.

“A servant of the Great Supreme Leader does not use dirty means like bribery. Please refrain from such jokes.”

“Mm, yes, I was being thoughtless. Come in for now.”

Lucas followed her, sweeping his eyes thoroughly around the house. His blatant inspection with gleaming eyes would have made ordinary people uncomfortable.

However, Luisa was a woman who had experienced all the ups and downs of harsh society. Her naturally easygoing personality meant that much didn’t bother her.

She put the cookies Lucas had brought on a plate, poured tea, and began the boarder interview.

“Are you a student, Mr. Redan?”

“No, I’m a working man. However, although I had to give up my studies without entering university, I’m confident that I have a mind sharper than any college student. Looking at today’s state of affairs, aren’t there more and more cases where university students make illogical claims? Whenever I see such behavior, how frustrated and sorry I feel, I want to correct them directly, but they always shut me down saying this and that about academic departments and differences in intellect. Is that the behavior of university students who are supposed to pursue learning? The Supreme Leader has guaranteed academic freedom, so when they should be devoting all their energy to studying, they’re absorbed only in useless things—it’s truly pathetic beyond words…!”

Luisa watched the young man, Lucas, first with bewilderment, then with a sense of novelty.

She wasn’t particularly interested in politics.

When she had a husband, she prioritized her husband’s safety and the family’s happiness; after losing her husband, she focused on the company’s prosperity and her own health.

Whether this was due to her modest and practical nature, or because of the company colleagues and neighbors who had spoken out against the Supreme Leader and then disappeared without a trace, she didn’t know and didn’t need to know.

Either way, it didn’t really matter. She just found it fascinating to see people getting worked up about political talk.

And Lucas Redan was the most politically interested and purely Supreme Leader-loving young man among all the people she’d ever met.

“You said you’re a working man—where do you work?”

When Lucas finally closed his mouth after rambling on for a full five minutes, Luisa didn’t miss the opportunity to ask.

Lucas, who had been wetting his throat with tea, opened his floodgates again.

“I’m a civil servant. Starting next week, I’ll be a 9th-grade clerk working at the District 13 office! A civil servant, you know, each individual is in a very important position as a member of the government supporting the nation, isn’t that right? Perhaps because of this, they thoroughly verified applicants’ loyalty. I think it’s a very proper policy. I received very sharp questions at the interview. Whether I could properly follow the Great Supreme Leader’s leadership, whether I was prepared to sacrifice myself for the country at any time—just hearing such questions made my heart tremble, didn’t they? I memorized the civil servant loyalty oath I received along with my acceptance notice right on the spot. I pledge loyalty and obedience to Friedrich Kruger, the Supreme Leader of the Schufaben Republic…”

Luisa let him finish speaking on his own.

So when Luisa asked one question, Lucas would ramble on alone for five or ten minutes, and by the time the interview was over, the sunset was already visible outside the window.

“Alright, Mr. Redan. We can start the rental contract from today.”

“Thank you! I’ll be in your care. I won’t cause any trouble!”

He didn’t seem to realize that his chattiness was already causing trouble. Luisa smiled warmly and guided Lucas to the second-floor room.

“There are two rooms—choose whichever one you like. I’m planning to give the other one to another boarder.”

Lucas chose the small but cozy room and unpacked his belongings that very day.

***

“Good morning, Mrs. Schmidt!”

The house, which had always been quiet, came alive with energy.

Lucas wasn’t the type to be loud or scattered in his behavior.

However, he made the house noisy by giving booming greetings every morning or spraying saliva from his mouth while praising the Supreme Leader during dinner together in the evenings.

She thought she could just listen with one ear and let it out the other.

But Lucas was unexpectedly eloquent. No matter how forced his logic was in his arguments, listening to him was so interesting that time would fly by.

Eighty percent of what he talked about was political issues or passionate Supreme Leader praise, but the remaining twenty percent of everyday conversation was very enjoyable.

And while he seemed to think of himself as a thorough and sharp person, his sloppy sides were revealed constantly.

Like getting drunk and giving Luisa flowers before passing out, or dropping his paycheck envelope and tearfully searching the whole neighborhood.

Before she knew it, Luisa realized she was enjoying herself. It was a fresh pleasure that had come to her monotonous life.

Of course, there weren’t only good points.

People who came looking for boarding rooms would invariably get fed up with Lucas and run away, even when they were about to sign contracts.

“Mrs. Schmidt, don’t be too disappointed. The Supreme Leader also went through tremendous hardships and adversity before reaching that position!”

Looking at Lucas cheerfully consoling her, she let out a deep sigh.

This went on for a week.

She was pondering whether she should really kick Lucas out or just take down the boarder recruitment sign when suddenly the doorbell rang.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Daniel Hartmann.”

He was a young man with brown hair, wrinkled clothes, and an impressive gentle smile.

***

Daniel was twenty-five, two years older than Lucas, and had already been a freelance journalist for eight years.

He laughed, saying that since he wasn’t officially affiliated with a newspaper company, he didn’t get much veteran treatment.

He said his landlord had raised the rent, so he was looking for a new room, and he really liked the house.

“All the conditions are excellent. Could I sign a contract right now?”

“Mm, I like you too, Mr. Hartmann. But there’s something I should mention first. The boarder who came first is a bit… chatty. If you want a quiet atmosphere, you might want to think it over. Especially since you’re a writer.”

“It’s fine. I need to find a place to stay today, and there’s nowhere else that offers such reasonable rent.”

“Well…”

“I’m back! Mrs. Schmidt!”

At that moment, the front door burst open.

“Tonight’s dinner is— oh, a new boarder?”

“Yes. Daniel Hartmann.”

“Lucas Redan. Welcome, Mr. Hartmann! You’ve made an excellent choice. This really is a comfortable house to live in. Mrs. Schmidt not only has excellent cooking skills, but her thoughts and lifestyle are very proper too. According to the ‘ideal Schufaben woman’ that the Supreme Leader mentioned in his radio speech the year before last, the model of womanhood for the nation should be full of will to build a happy family and be brave with unshakeable conviction—”

Luisa nervously looked back and forth between the two men.

But unexpectedly, Daniel was smiling slightly and agreeing with Lucas.

Luisa sighed in relief and signed the boarding contract with him, hoping that Lucas’s overflowing passion would be somewhat neutralized by meeting Daniel’s composure.

***

Lucas and Daniel quickly became friends.

Well, from Luisa’s perspective, it was just Lucas pestering Daniel one-sidedly while Daniel accepted it. But according to Lucas’s claim, that’s how it was.

The three of them continued their boisterous but peaceful days.

Thanks to Luisa renting out the rooms cheaply, the rental income wasn’t substantial, but aside from the increased food expenses, there wasn’t much else to spend money on, so life was comfortable.

Lucas and Daniel were clearly adults, but somehow they felt like children she needed to care for, and she grew fond of them.

It was probably due to the memory of trying but failing to have children, and the envy that surged whenever she saw parents and children walking hand in hand in parks or markets.

Maybe it was also because of Lucas, who acted clueless and childish despite knowing the ways of the world.

She spent two years feeling like she had gained two grown sons.

The comfortable days that seemed like they would continue forever.

But at some point.

Lucas changed.

His eyes became sharp and clear.

While his self-centered and gloomy aura remained the same, unlike before when he seemed to have a screw loose somewhere, he now gave off an intense and dangerous atmosphere.

The appearance of being unable to control his vigor and fighting recklessly disappeared, and it seemed he had learned to think a little.

She didn’t know the reason.

Living face-to-face every day, she was just surprised to suddenly feel this sense of alienation.

However, Luisa didn’t show it and treated him the same as before.

‘Did he suddenly mature?’

And the moment she noticed the change, chaotic events began exploding one after another.

Lucas was taken to Ossel and then released, and he suddenly brought home a puppy he claimed to have found. Lucas and Daniel seemed to become somewhat closer, and Lucas introduced friends named Oscar and Erika, asking for sleeping arrangements.

The easygoing and affectionate Oscar eventually became the third boarder.

Lucas received a medal for fighting off kidnappers while getting injured, and there was also an incident involving terrorism.

And Lucas suddenly quit the civil servant job he had been so proud of and jumped into the liquor business.

All of this happened in a frantic rush within just one year.

Each time, the three boarders who were like sons would make various excuses.

They got caught up in it by chance, they were unlucky, they handled things on the spot and things worked out well.

But Luisa was by no means a foolish woman.

“Be careful, Lucas.”

She said this like a habit.

When she went to the market or walked down alleys these days, she would chat idly with neighbors while pretending not to notice the presence she felt behind her.

Her sharp intellect had already approached the dangerous secret.