Chapter 24: The Village’s Loudspeaker and a Boiled Glass

“Hans, Uncle! What in the world is this?!”

Ethan exclaimed, pointing excitedly at the tablet’s screen.

After the semester began, Ethan had been frantically busy preparing for his history professorship. He was retaking a course he absolutely couldn’t drop below a certain grade and had taken on all sorts of miscellaneous tasks to earn recommendations from his professors.

Ethan, possessing extensive knowledge of artifacts from ancient Asian nations and a deep understanding of Chinese characters, found himself competitively sought after by professors specializing in Asian studies.

Having spent the semester in such a whirlwind, it was only after receiving a call from the Center that he learned Hans’s residency transfer process was being unexpectedly obstructed.

“As you can see, it’s a statement from Robert, my Guide, saying he won’t give me up. The Center is pressuring Robert to find another matched Esper, but it seems Robert threatened to file a lawsuit against them for trying to separate him from his Esper.”

“Under current law, it’s strictly illegal to separate an already matched Esper and Guide. This means the Center is obliged to release the Guide.”

“And the Espers? Where is an Esper’s right to refuse?”

“Espers can exercise that right, but they’d have to pay an astronomical amount in compensation. Even without a Guide, refusing a matched Guide who could save your life is considered a complaint against the Center.”

“So, you have to pay the Center, and you have to pay the matched Guide. It’s a system designed so that the amount isn’t something an average Esper could ever afford.”

“In essence, this law was created to prevent Espers from refusing Guides.”

‘What is this?!’ Ethan clutched his head. Even in the Neruan era, where he had lived, the protective laws for Guides were peculiar, but not to this extent.

He even lamented his own situation back then, forced to live in hiding, almost imprisoned, under the protection of powerful Espers due to his unique circumstances. But a law like this now…

Ethan let out a long sigh.

“Aitoolia is a country where Guides possess incredibly high rights.”

His words carried many layers of meaning, yet Hans, who had never experienced a time when Esper rights were strong, simply took it as a matter of course.

“…So that’s why Philip is coming this time, not Uncle Dale.”

“Haha… ‘Uncle Dale,’ you say. You must have grown quite close, staying and eating at the manor several times when he visited.”

“Don’t be too disheartened; it’s not just Philip coming, but Doctor Sera as well. Philip is a lawyer, so this matter will be handled well. I feel rather apologetic. It would have been resolved immediately if I had simply said I’d move with a Guide…”

Ethan shook his head.

“Hans, Uncle. You’ve saved Henry Grace’s life countless times. In doing so, you’ve saved Seth Moore every single time.”

“If you keep thinking that what Marquis Douglas Moore and Bliss Moore are trying to do for you is excessive, you’re diminishing their value. That, in fact, is an even greater discourtesy.”

Hans’s eyes widened slightly at Ethan’s words, then curved into a cheerful smile.

“Haha. Ethan, sometimes you seem more aristocratic than those stuffy old noblemen. Do you know that?”

“What do you mean ‘me’? Are you making fun of me, calling me an old man?!”

Hans did not stop the indignant Ethan from lunging at him. As Ethan playfully bumped into him, a natural guiding process occurred, and the pain that had been subtly resurfacing vanished as if washed away.

The pure, potent guiding, usually only felt when he met Robert at the Center for humiliating encounters, was now achieved through a simple touch.

Terrified to imagine how much more incredible Ethan’s guiding could be, Hans deliberately thought about his future.

“…Later, I hope your Esper is a dignified young lady.”

Ethan, who had stopped his playful jostling, grumbled from Hans’s embrace, his face flushed.

“I’m going to graduate and go to grad school.”

“You’ll date and get married too, won’t you?”

“I’m a multitalented person. What if I get caught up in something big?”

“Haha. Still, I hope the Esper who claims you later is a strong and beautiful young lady.”

“Why?”

“I’m also very curious about a child who resembles you.”

Ethan’s face flushed even deeper as he pulled away from Hans’s embrace, responding curtly.

“Well… they would be pretty, I guess.”

“Right? If it’s a daughter…”

“No, Uncle! So, is it a problem that I’m pretty but I’m a man right now?”

“Hahaha.” Hans laughed heartily, deftly dodging Ethan who tried to grab him again, and went to prepare tea.

Remaining in the living room, fuming, Ethan turned on the monitor when the doorbell rang.

[…Who are you? Who’s this kid at Hans’s house?]

“……”

[What? Hans! Open the door! It’s Robert!]

Hans, emerging from the kitchen with tea, strode over and turned off the monitor. Then, his tablet vibrated wildly. Ignoring that too, the bell rang again, and someone called out Hans’s name as if to shake the entire neighborhood.

[Hans, open the door! I’m your Guide! Hans, Hans!]

Ethan narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

“Hmm. I think you should open it. If they shout any louder, they’ll let the whole neighborhood know we’re leaving.”

Hans, reluctantly opening the door, frowned upon seeing the neighbors already gathered.

“…This is the first time I’ve ever regretted getting a house so close to the shop as much as I do today.”

Ethan, too, sighed as he spotted Mary, her eyes sparkling, among the crowd.

“Can’t be helped. It’s already too late, so we should make the first move.”

“…What?”

“Aunt Mary is circling like a hyena. The rumors the villagers spread about us were just gossip, overlaid with prejudice against same-s*x couples. But they couldn’t really make an issue of it, could they? It was just talk, not really treated as something wrong.”

“…Because their understanding of Espers and Guides is limited to the basics. In a small village, people tend to exaggerate small things to create entertainment, so there’s no need to worry about it, Ethan.”

Ethan stepped forward with a grin. As Oweol, the crow, enveloped him in a shield, Hans could no longer feel any guiding even if Ethan touched his shoulder.

“It’s a good thing, Uncle Hans, that you don’t care about rumors. Because I’m about to start some.”

“…Ethan?”

“When I give you the signal, just say, ‘I truly loved you,’ with the most innocent face possible. No, Uncle, people will believe you even if you just say it.”

“E-Ethan?”

Hans, gripped by an ominous premonition, called out to Ethan again, but he was already taking a deep breath, on the verge of shouting. After that, Hans couldn’t quite regain his composure.

“Aunt Mary!”

It was because Ethan had directly called out Mary, the village’s loudspeaker.

****

Bliss frowned as he set down the completed single glove. It was a half-glove, cut at the knuckle to allow for greater dexterity. The elegant, flowing calligraphy of the character ‘복’ (bok, meaning ‘fortune’ or ‘blessing’) on the back of the hand was once part of a blue pouch he had wished to preserve intact until the very end.

However, since a good quality fabric would undoubtedly become a patched, ragged glove if it wasn’t based on that largest pouch, he had no choice but to hand it over. Doctor Sera had chided him, asking why he had only given it to her now, but for Bliss, it felt like tearing a work of art to shreds, leaving him far from at ease.

“How is it? It’s still presentable, using only shades of blue,” Sera said, a proud look on her face.

Bliss put on the glove, turning his hand this way and that as he mumbled, “Still, it’s a bit too conspicuous.”

Sera nudged Philip, who had entered with her, in the side. Philip, who had seemed somewhat dazed, hastily presented a soft leather glove with only the bottom part cut away.

“The palm area is patched with various pieces, isn’t it? How about we use this to reinforce just the palm?”

“What if we reinforce the back of the hand too?”

“It would become too thick. Besides, the fabric used on the back of the hand is quite pretty. It’s also rather thick.”

“And this… Young Master Ethan discovered it.”

What Philip produced were two small, new lucky pouches.

Bliss immediately took one and opened it. Seeing some of the pain subside and a faint expression return to Bliss’s face, Sera murmured, “That manor must never be sold. It would be wonderful if dozens more came.”

“Then we might even be able to somewhat delay the increasingly rapid seizure cycles.”

“Was the matter handled well?”

Sera and Philip’s eyes met, then grew distant, as if gazing into the void.

“It… resolved itself.”

“Resolved, not handled?”

“When Sera and I arrived after hearing there was a problem, the villagers were already gathered. A man named Robert was shouting in front of Hans’s house, claiming to be Hans’s Guide.”

“Then the door opened, Young Master Ethan and Hans exchanged a few words, and Young Master Ethan called out ‘Aunt Mary’ even louder than Robert.”

–”Aunt Mary! That’s him! The Guide who hasn’t visited Hans Palmer, the pride of this village, in over five years! My goodness, he even asked who I was just now! Uncle Hans says he told him at the Center, but he didn’t properly hear a single thing, did he? Aunt Mary, have you ever seen this man five years ago?”

Mary tilted her head, but feeling she shouldn’t be ignorant of anything, she feigned a startled recollection.

–”Now that you mention it…! I think I have seen him!”

–”Just as I thought! Auntie, you know everything about this village!”

–”What are you talking about! I haven’t been to this village since I was a child!” Robert cried out, panicked, trying to deny it.

–”Isn’t it incredible? This man, who always took living expenses, saying this village was small and insignificant, and only wanted to date in the city, actually acted like he was going to marry Uncle Hans, then cheated on him with another woman and married her! And that, apparently, was four years ago!”

Ethan exposed Robert as a scoundrel.

–”…!!!”

–”What’s wrong with our village?!”

–”Hey, Guide! You’ve been living off Hans, who lives in this humble village?! What kind of person are you?!”

–”We know the government gives Guides a lot of money! You’re swindling such a kind Hans and marrying another woman?!”

The subtly interwoven words in Ethan’s detailed exposé agitated the villagers.

–”No, what do you people know! Espers are supposed to provide Guides with living expenses!” Robert’s words sounded like nothing more than a trite excuse.

Ethan subtly added one more thing.

–”You mean Uncle Hans even decided to leave the village because he wanted to break up with you! But you come here and cause such a scene! How can Uncle show his face in the village now? You’ve made him leave even earlier!”

–”Don’t make me laugh! Wasn’t Hans the one who cheated with you, you brat?”

Ethan, who had deliberately traced back memories to five years ago, implying that he and Hans were definitely a couple until then, but then Robert married another woman four years ago, subtly smiled. Robert, who had filtered out everything except the fact that Hans had a nephew named Ethan, was about to unleash his anger at the smiling Ethan when—

–”That madman! Ethan only came to this village for the first time three years ago!”

–”He cheated first, and now he’s raising his voice at whom?!”

A flustered Robert, completely forgetting that he had initially tried to manipulate the crowd, shouted at the villagers.

–”What right do you people, who are neither Espers nor Guides, have to interfere?! Whether I marry or not, Hans will die without me! He can’t just leave easily like ordinary people!”

Ethan flashed a rotten smile, nudged Hans next to him, and then came the highlight.

–”Four years was enough. I… want to leave your side so badly I could die, Robert.”

Hans uttered these words with a truly tormented expression.

“Young Master Ethan seemed a bit surprised by Hans’s unexpectedly strong words, but Hans seemed to be speaking from the heart. The woman named Mary got excited and started looking for the contact information of the broadcast reporters who had visited last time, causing a commotion, and the villagers declared they would collectively submit a petition to the city.”

“The villagers instantly took ‘our village’s Hans’ side… Phew, if that new cube-shaped car Robert was driving hadn’t suddenly malfunctioned and driven off by itself out of the village, it would have been quite a mess.”

“…The new car broke down?”

Sera cackled, sounding rather pleased.

“It suddenly turned on auto-drive mode as if possessed and drove out of the village! I heard it even rode off on a moving rail. Robert running after the car, cursing and shouting, was quite a sight to behold.”

“…Now that I think about it, Ethan once made Enoch out to be a pervert.”

Sera and Philip wholeheartedly agreed.

“That’s entirely plausible.”

“He swiftly swayed public opinion to his advantage. He skillfully exploited the characteristic ‘I’ll criticize my own, but no one else can’ mentality of the closed-off villagers. Thanks to that, when I met Robert through the Center, I merely cited a few precedents from the capital, and he gave up without a fight.”

“That friend could be a lawyer instead of a historian.”

Bliss took off the glove, handed it to them, and chuckled softly.

“…He seems to be doing well. It will be interesting when he comes here.”

Knowing that the person he spoke of was certainly not Hans, the two poked each other in the side again, deferring the next statement to their counterpart.

“Um, Lord Bliss…”

Philip, once again pushed by Sera, opened his mouth with difficulty.

“What is it?”

“Well, Young Master Ethan… has rented a house. It’s apparently a house with a rather large yard near the Piato River… and it’s also close to the graduate school.”

“……Is that so.”

Seeing Bliss speak so calmly, without expression, Philip continued, a somewhat relieved look on his face, as if the matter of Ethan staying at Bliss’s private residence wasn’t as important as he’d thought.

“Hans Palmer also intends to go to Young Master Ethan’s place on his days off…”

“……The work hasn’t even begun, and he’s already thinking about his days off.”

Philip cut his words short. Contrary to Bliss’s completely unperturbed expression and voice, the cold water in the glass placed on the table was bubbling and boiling.