Chapter 61: Attendant and Bodyguard

The day after Lua visited, early in the morning, there was another knock on the door. I thought Lua had returned already after failing to find a job, but when I opened the door, Velvet was standing there.

“…Why are you making that weird face without saying anything? Don’t tell me I shouldn’t have come?”

“N-No, not at all. Are you here to help with the farm work?”

“Yeah. I’ve been busy with various things lately and couldn’t make time, but now that things have settled down, I thought I’d help out while taking a break. I’m planning to help for six days this time, so take care of me.”

“Likewise! I really appreciate you helping out for six days.”

“In exchange, I’ll take two manga as payment.”

“Of course. Depending on how much you work, I’ll also give you an extra reward like last time, so do your best.”

“Heh, that’s motivating. I’ll give it my all, so make sure to give me proper instructions, Sato.”

At the mention of an extra reward, Velvet’s eyes burned with enthusiasm once again.

Along with the shojo manga I was planning to reward her with, I might as well increase the pirate manga collection to ten volumes at this point.

“So, has anything changed since last time? Did you expand the farm or get new manga?”

“We haven’t gotten any new manga since the Christmas party, but the farm has expanded. Also, we’ve got new tamed monsters, and the variety of crops we grow has increased.”

“Oh, you expanded the farm! I’m looking forward to meeting the new tamed monsters and growing new crops.”

“Let’s start with introducing the new tamed monsters.”

To introduce them, I stepped outside with Velvet, who had just put down her luggage… and saw a large man standing there.

I recognized his sharp gaze—he was the same person who had accompanied Velvet in the carriage when she came here before.

Since he had been sitting, I hadn’t realized, but he was a towering man, nearly two meters tall.

“Donny? You haven’t left yet?”

“Yes. I did not inform you, my lady, but I intended to observe today. You don’t mind, do you?”

With his face leaning in close, Donny—her bodyguard—asked in a low voice.

I didn’t particularly mind, but he was clearly treating me like an enemy, which made things a little uncomfortable.

“Ew, Donny, you being here makes things awkward. Go home.”

“I don’t mind. If you’d like, Donny, you can join in too.”

“Since I have permission… I’ll help out a little.”

“Ugh, the worst. Donny, you’re way too overprotective.”

Velvet complained openly, clearly annoyed, but Donny didn’t seem to care as he walked towards the farm.

He was fully armored—was he really planning to work in that outfit? It would get dirty and be hard to move in, but since I didn’t have any clothes that would fit someone of his size, he’d just have to manage.

“…Is that the tamed monster I heard about?”

“Yes. I was just about to introduce it to Velvet, so I’ll introduce it to you as well. The slime over there is Lime, and those are the slimes he brought with him. By the way, Lime is the biggest and black-colored one.”

“Oh! So you got more slimes!”

“Rather than getting more, Lime brought them on his own. They’re wild slimes, but they won’t attack, so don’t worry.”

“They’re not attacking even when I get close… if anything, they seem scared.”

“That’s because Donny is glaring at them.”

“I’m not glaring, though.”

The slimes were trembling, and Lime stepped in front of them protectively.

Donny probably didn’t realize he was glaring, but with his size and intense face, it was hard not to see it that way.

“Donny always looks like he’s glaring. His eyesight is really bad, so whenever he focuses on something, his face looks terrifying.”

“…Is my face really that scary? I don’t care what others say, but it does hurt a little to hear that from you, my lady.”

Apparently, he wasn’t aware. Donny looked slightly dejected at Velvet’s remark.

Still, he had a harsher attitude toward anyone besides Velvet. Maybe he was still wary of me, but his abrupt and rough way of speaking was a little startling.

“Donny, your eyesight is bad? Do glasses not exist in this world?”

“There are glasses. Donny just refuses to wear them.”

“They’re unnecessarily heavy, and even if I wear them, my vision doesn’t improve that much. But if my lady orders me to, I will wear them begrudgingly.”

“I don’t care either way. If people hate you because of your scary face, that’s none of my business.”

“…Ouch.”

Donny visibly slumped at Velvet’s cold response.

So glasses did exist, but they didn’t actually help much…

Maybe prescription glasses tailored to individuals didn’t exist here.

If Donny had really bad eyesight, he’d need high-prescription lenses, but perhaps those weren’t available in this world.

“Donny, how do you see things? There are different kinds of poor vision, after all.”

“It’s always blurry.”

“Do you see better at a distance or up close?”

“Neither.”

I see.

That meant Donny likely had astigmatism.

Since he was helping with the farm work, I could reward him with toric contact lenses if he did well.

Ideally, he’d get an eye exam first, but since this world probably didn’t have optometrists, he’d have to try different lenses until he found one that worked.

“Why are you asking all this?”

“I thought of a good reward for Donny, so I wanted to check. If you do a good job, I’ll give you something nice.”

“I don’t need anything.”

“See! Donny just said he doesn’t need anything, so can I have his reward in books instead?”

“No. Donny will get a reward of his own.”

“Cheh, stingy!”

“I’m not stingy. Now, let’s move on to the next tamed monster.”

Taking the pouting Velvet along, I introduced Crow.

He was currently flying in the sky, keeping watch for harmful birds and beasts, but when I whistled, he came down.

“This is my new tamed monster, Crow.”

“Whoa! That’s a big monster!”

“A Moon Raven, huh? You sure can tame some dangerous creatures.”

“It’s thanks to my skill that I can safely tame them. By the way, Donny, you seem knowledgeable about monsters.”

“He used to be an adventurer. An A-rank one. But because of his poor eyesight, he had to retire. My father found him wasting away and assigned him to be my attendant and bodyguard.”

“That’s why I can never go against the king or my lady.”

Huh, so that’s why Donny treated Velvet so differently.

And he had to quit being an adventurer because of his eyesight…

Now I really wanted to give him contact lenses.

“If he’s that strong, I’d love to see a sparring match with Sheila. She’s the strongest among us.”

“Oh, that sounds fun! I’ve sparred with Donny before, and I think they’d be a good match.”

“There’s someone that strong working here? Is she a servant?”

“Yes. She wanted a combat role and is incredibly skilled. My tamed monsters can also fight, so a sparring match while Donny is here could be interesting.”

“A fight against monsters, huh? It’s been a while—I’d love to do it.”

“I’ve been secretly training too, so I’ll participate! I’ll make both Donny and Sheila regret underestimating me!”

Their eyes burned with excitement.

A sparring match tomorrow might be a good idea.

It would be even better if Ren and the others showed up too, but I doubt things would be that convenient.

Still, I was really looking forward to seeing an ex-A-rank adventurer’s strength—and how much Sheila and Lime had improved.

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