A village in central Castall.

Although everyone was supposed to eat together, Renner’s house was nowhere near big enough to accommodate them all. As such, they usually ate outside when the weather was good.

Because they were outdoors, a certain amount of rowdiness was expected and tolerated. Had they been inside, it might have been unbearable, but even under the present circumstances, the situation had quickly turned aggravating.

“That’s why I’m saying, Renner is going to be my wife!”

“Hey, punk, are you forgetting the agreement we all made not to touch Renner?!”

“That’s right, if you try and pull a fast one on us then I’ll make my move too!”

“You what mate? I was first!”

Several knights kicked over their chairs as they suddenly stood up, and some even jumped onto the table. Renner swallowed her anger and spoke kindly to them.

“Everyone, please settle down.”

However, the anger in the knights’ eyes had not faded in the slightest.

“Just give it up, lads. The victor has already been decided. Behold, this hunk of marvelous, radiant meat!”

One of the knights, Samuel, raised up his spoon to prove his point, displaying a piece of meat that onlookers might well have mistaken for a pea. It was nothing more than a tiny bit extra that Renner had missed while portioning out the food to everyone.

“I finished my meat, yet there was more at the bottom of the soup! Do you have anything like that? I didn’t think so! This is nothing less than the proof of love!”

“You must be kidding me! That’s nothing more than a piece of meat Renner mistook for a chunk of vegetable!”

“Maybe that’s just wishful thinking on your part? Maybe the “meat” you ate was just potatoes or something, and the actual meat you got was that miniature thing. You’d better watch out, it’s proof that Renner doesn’t like you. Plus, my god clearly told me, “You must make Renner happy.”

“Isn’t the god you believe in an evil one, Joe?!”

"No. Are you mad? Like you, I had converted and worshipped only one God!"

Half the outsiders were standing, and the other half were seated and squabbling, fanning the flames of conflict. Even Miti had somehow joined the agitators. 

Steeling herself, Renner furrowed her brows and took a deep breath.

And just as Renner stood up, everyone immediately returned to their seats and calmly resumed their meal as though nothing was wrong.

“THAT”S ENOUGH, ALL OF YOU! QUIET DOWN!”

Renner’s furious bellow echoed across the silent air above the breakfast table.

“Ah…”

Surprised, Renner looked all around, but the only thing she could see were the knights looking at her with expressions on their faces which said, “We were all quietly having breakfast, is that a problem”, or “being suddenly shouted at for no reason at is really vexing”. After standing silently for a while, she plopped back into her seat, red-faced.

“Pfhahahahaha!”

The first to break the silence was Miti. Then, unable to contain herself, Renner followed suit, clutching her stomach as she laughed and then the knights joined in as well.

That flawless coordination and timing could not have taken place without careful discussion and preparation. It was quite amazing how seriously they had prepared for a prank like this.

“Ah, that was just weird. Were you all planning to make fun of me from the start?”

Even though she was tearing up because she was laughing too hard, Renner made a show of being angry as she asked them.

“Of course, girl. We wouldn’t argue about things like this for real.”

“That’s right, girl.”

“Yup, yup!"

The knights bragged without the slightest hint of shame, deflecting Renner’s questions with jovial expressions on their faces. In response, Renner targeted Devas, turning a fierce stare on him. Under her stern gaze, Devas wilted, averting his eyes as he responded in a small voice that abdicated all responsibility.

“You see, how do I say this… we thought you looked a little down, Renner.”

Several nearby knights shrank away, their heads lowered as they looked around uncomfortably without saying a word.

“Everyone―”

“That’s because… we’re all your bodyguards, Renner.”

“That’s right!”

“Yep! Bodyguards!”

***

Renner bundled up the weeds she had just finished cutting and used the still-clean back of her hand to wipe away the sweat trickling down her neck. The large pile of shredded plant matter gave off the scent of freshly-cut grass.

Her body was tired from working long hours in the field and the way her sweat-slicked clothes clung to her body made Renner uncomfortable.

To lift her mood, Renner stretched herself out.

As she did, her eyes swept across the sprawling fields.

The wheat they had planted had grown slowly but steadily, and as the harvest season approached, the wheat would slowly turn golden. Although a wheat field painted gold was a beautiful sight, the weeding work before that was both essential and annoying. If it was not done, the gold color would be very sparsely distributed.

Her labour now was entirely for the sake of the harvest to come.

She straightened her body to loosen up her stiff muscles, and to let her tightly-wound body relax. The wind felt refreshingly cool on her skin that had been overheated from long hours of field work.

She thought that she would take a bath when she returned home. The knights had brought with them many pails and they even helped to carry water from the river to her house. Her life was now easy. 

Another problem solved was taking a dump.

They no longer needed to take a dump outside.

Something called toilets suddenly appeared in her house. She only sat on the bowl and took a dump. Her poop would fall into the hole in the bowl. 

She only needed to pour a little water into the hole to clean them. 

Convenience and cleanliness in her life had improved by leaps and bounds.

The knights said that this was thanks to His Majesty, King Hiro of Hezri Kingdom. 

If that's the case, being the subject of this new kingdom was a lot better than remaining as Castall subjects. That's what she thought.