I’m the Future Crazy Male Lead’s Mother – Chapter 76

Author: isuzuuy

“I don’t think the Hall of Rest was that long. It feels like it’s been a while since I saw you. Maybe because we used to see each other so often before.”

I smoothed down my skirt and sat in front of Elston, who somehow seemed like a familiar face from a long time ago. Elston sat down after me and glanced at me nervously.

“……What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Huh? What’s wrong with my eyes?”

“Your pupils are doing a tap dance.”

“Tap…… What is tap dancing?”

I could tell he was constantly watching me with an anxious expression. What was wrong with him?

Had he done something wrong to me?

As I narrowed my eyes and stared at him suspiciously, he subtly looked away.

Then he spoke in a very small voice.

“I heard that the Duke of Siaster hasn’t been able to return to the estate.”

“Huh……?”

None of the other nobles seemed to know about that.

After Dazar disappeared with Morocanil, I had remained in the Imperial Palace the entire time, but no one had brought him up.

‘If they knew he was being held in the Imperial Palace, there would have been an uproar.’

They had only been anxious about something happening to themselves, and no one had even mentioned Dazar.

That was how I knew that Dazar’s arrest was supposed to be a secret.

‘Well, if he, a Transcendent, were arrested as a rebel, it could cause a huge disturbance.’

But Elston knew.

“How did you know?”

At my question, Elston visibly flinched before giving an awkward laugh.

“Haha…… Ha……”

“Since I’m a mage, I tend to hear news quickly.”

“Hmm…… I see.”

Not every mage could be that well-informed…… Was it a privilege of being the Master of the Magic Tower?

Still, something didn’t sit right with me.

When I stared at him silently, he subtly turned his head away.

I had nothing concrete to interrogate him about, but leaving it alone also bothered me.

As I narrowed my eyes, caught between the two choices, Elston seemed to become frightened in advance and blurted out,

“Actually, I have a tiiiny bit of status in the Magic Tower. Just a tiiiiny little bit. So I’m quick to hear news coming from the Imperial Palace or the temple.”

“Hm. Really?”

“Yes!”

Ah. Come to think of it, Elston was friends with the Saintess.

He was the Master of the Magic Tower and a friend of the Saintess—an overwhelmingly influential figure—so it made sense that he would be able to learn even the Imperial Palace’s top secrets.

‘If a Transcendent really were a Follower of Ruben…… there’s no way the temple wouldn’t get involved.’

When I nodded as though I understood, Elston blinked and tilted his head.

He looked as though he couldn’t believe I had actually bought that explanation.

“A mage as great as Elston would naturally keep an ear out for top-secret news from the Imperial Palace.”

“Uh, uhm.”

Right. That settled that.

I clasped my hands together and smiled brightly.

“So the magic I asked you to develop before I left—the one that would make rice grow faster—is finished too, right?”

Now that I had joined the labor union, even though I didn’t have an employer, I still had to take responsibility for the work entrusted to me and see it through.

Besides, Dazar had the Imperial family, namely Lessi, behind him, so even if Dazar was absent, the work would continue.

Elston smiled shyly as I suddenly showered him with praise, but when I brought up the development of the magic, he was startled……

“Ahem! Who am I? Am I not the Empire’s renowned handsome archmage?”

……instead of being startled, he started spouting strange nonsense.

What? Handsome archmage?

I was so dumbfounded that I let all the strength drain from my body and was about to lean back against the sofa, but his next words made me straighten up.

“Of course I’ve finished developing it.”

“……Really?”

He had actually developed magic that accelerated crop growth?

Honestly, Elston was such a clumsy and unreliable person that, even though he was the Master of the Magic Tower, I hadn’t expected much from him.

‘I didn’t think he’d actually make it.’

Maybe he wasn’t just the Master of the Magic Tower in name after all.

I was genuinely impressed enough to clap my hands softly.

“Wow. You really made it?”

“Yes. Once I changed my approach, it was easier than I expected.”

Elston grinned proudly, puffing out his chest.

The grin was rather irritating, but I decided to let it slide this time.

‘Then we can accelerate the growth of the rice.’

And we would be able to distribute a new food source throughout the Empire much sooner.

‘Dazar will be so happy when he comes back and finds out…… Huh?’

Developing food was something Dazar had been putting much more effort into than I had, so I naturally thought he would be happy.

But then I suddenly felt a little flustered.

‘Why am I happy that he’ll be happy?’

What was so great about that annoying bastard?

I puffed out my cheeks, feeling strangely uncomfortable.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Is there something you don’t like?”

Apparently, I had unconsciously clenched my fists, because Elston hurriedly covered his own collar with both hands as he asked.

I had no idea why he was grabbing his own collar, but I shrugged and answered,

“Why wouldn’t I like it? I love it. Can you use the magic right away?”

“Hmm. That’s a little problematic.”

“What?”

Elston’s expression became somewhat serious at my question.

I closed my mouth as well and waited for him to speak.

“We need to draw a magic circle, but the size of the land you told me about beforehand is quite substantial.”

“Uh…… Really?”

“Yes. It might be difficult for me to do it alone. By any chance, does the Siaster estate have any surplus manpower?”

After asking that, Elston suddenly scratched the back of his head.

“Ah, I should ask the Duke of Siaster about this. You’re not actually a member of the Siaster family, Young Lady, haha. You’ve been so~ comfortable here, as if this were your own home, that I got confused.”

……Was he taking a jab at me?

Why did it feel like I had just witnessed someone talking badly about me right in front of my face while I sat there doing nothing?

I stared at Elston’s collar for a moment before silently repeating the phrase ‘patience’ three times.

“Perhaps we should wait for the Duke of Siaster to return or ask the Imperial Palace for help……”

“We have people. Those workers.”

If it was manpower for labor, the Siaster estate had plenty.

“Oh…… If you mean manpower that you can use, Young Lady, are you talking about that butler named Carl?”

“No.”

“Su-surely not the cute and adorable Axion……”

“…….”

I quietly raised my fist at Elston, who was talking nonsense, and he immediately shut his mouth with a “Hup!”

“Have you ever heard of the Black Hawks?”

“……!”

I grinned at him as his eyes widened.

There were quite a lot of workers lounging around at the estate.

***

“Woohoo! Everyone, move! We’re drawing all these magic circles today!”

“Yaaaah!”

“Anyone slacking off today is getting their head chopped off! Heave-ho!”

When Elston and I arrived at their training grounds, the Black Hawks were rolling around on the floor, thoroughly drunk, looking exactly like they had when I first encountered them.

In the middle, skewers of lamb cut into pieces resembling garaetteok were roasting over a campfire.

‘Are these people really…… workers? No, wait. These pieces of trash are the Black Hawks?’

Leaving Elston behind, trembling from shock just as I had in the past, I uttered the magic words that could bring them back to their senses.

‘Everyone. You’ll be able to eat garaetteok soon.’

It was, of course, garaetteok.

The moment they heard the magic word, they sprang to their feet and lined up in front of me.

‘So, there’s something I need you to do right now.’

‘What is it?! Big Sis! Just tell us what it is! We’ll finish it today!’

Elston rubbed his eyes as he watched the Black Hawks transform in an instant from pieces of trash rolling around on the floor into an elite knight order.

‘You know our rice field, right? I think you need to draw this around it.’

‘How did you know I used to be passionate about art in my younger days?!’

‘I even won an award!’

The Black Hawks each boasted about themselves before immediately heading toward the rice field.

Before I could even give them further instructions, they checked the supplies Elston needed and began drawing the magic circles.

‘Hey, mage. If you’re drawing a magic circle, you need that magic powder stuff, right?’

‘Uh…… Me?’

‘Yeah, you.’

‘Y-yes. That’s right.’

‘Then hand it over.’

In reality, he was the Master of the Magic Tower, but if you didn’t know his true identity, he looked like a clumsy, absent-minded mage who was lacking in several departments.

The Black Hawks immediately recognized Elston’s bewilderment and pressured him into handing over the magic powder.

Then they began drawing the magic circles around the enormous rice field with swift, practiced movements.

“Ah! W-wait! You’re too fast. Everyone. I need to do some calculations first……?”

They were moving so quickly that Elston, who was infusing the areas where the magic circles were being drawn with mana, was eventually forced to plead with them while sweating profusely.

Me?

I had placed a long bench beside the rice field, leaned back against it, and was sipping juice.

With Axion and Vanilla sitting on either side of me.

‘Ah, is this paradise?’

Watching everyone else sweat and struggle while I alone lounged around made me feel absolutely wonderful.

‘Is this what it feels like to slack off while everyone else is working?’

Like staying home and goofing around while everyone else goes to school on a weekday?

Like taking a vacation on a workday while everyone else goes to work?

I was chuckling to myself and rolling around on the bench when—

“Whoa!”

Axion suddenly looked toward somewhere and waved his hand,

“……Wha? Someone came into the estate.”