The Main Family Is About to Die Out, so I, from a Branch Family, Am a Seed Provider (WN): Chapter 64

 

Chapter 64: Wanderer's Land

 It was around noon under a sunny sky.

 A girl with a basket in her hand was walking on a battered road that had probably been paved with bricks in the past.

 Her dark but vivid navy blue hair was cropped just enough to cover her shoulders, but it was still a little frizzy all over.

 She was dressed in a white blouse and sky blue overall that seemed to be relatively easy to move around in. In fact, the girl walks down the road with a light step, humming a tune.

"Alice-chan"

 It was then.

"Ah, Auntie. Can I help you?"

 The old woman, a street vendor, stopped her, and Alice answered cheerfully, smiling as she approached the old woman.

"I don't mean to bother you. Alice-chan, are you going to the coal mines now?"

"Yes, I am! I'm going to deliver lunch to Onii-chan!"

"It seems. I thought it was like that. Here, take this with you."

 Saying that, the old woman offered me a worn-out pencil and a small compass.

"This is?"

"Alice-chan's older brother came over to my house this morning and asked me to give it to him if I had one at home. It made it hard for me because I had to clean out the warehouse all over again, you know.”

 After being told that, Alice's gaze suddenly shifted to the object handed to her.

 Certainly, the pencil aside, the compass, which was big enough to fit in Alice's hand, had a thin layer of dust on the needle, so to speak.

"Thank you, Auntie. But what do you use it for?"

 Alice thought to herself, "It's not broken, but I could get a new one from a peddler who comes by every once in a while".

“I don't know. But isn't he going to use it for something weird again? It's been two years since he's been here, and he's still the same, Alice-chan's brother."

"Ahaha."

 Alice smiled wryly at the old woman's words. She seems to have something on her mind.

“But thanks to Onii-chan, this village is better than before, right? So it will be the same this time!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Definitely!"

 The old woman shook her head left and right with a feeling of disappointment at Alice, who insisted so strongly and said, half astonished.

"Jeez. Love is blind, as they say."

"Eh!?"

 The old woman smiled a little wickedly at Alice, who was surprised to be told so suddenly.　

"I-I'm not really interested in Onii-chan..."

"You like him, right?"

"No, it's not."

 I don't know if you can call it seniority, but Alice and the old woman were different in their bargaining skills.

 When Alice turns red and tries to deny it, the old woman laughs again, puts her hand on the girl's shoulder, and tells her.

“Well, you are young. Besides, I'm sure this will ease the village chief's worries a little."

"Uuu~"

"Ahaha. Now, you're going to your brother's, right? I'm sorry I held you up."

"Y-yeah. See you, Auntie."

 In the end, after much teasing, Alice waved goodbye to the old woman. However, while walking down the decaying brick road, Alice's mind was filled with the old woman's words of "love for her brother."

(It's not like I like that. Because Onii-chan and I are...)

 Alice tries to cool down the heat on her face, which still hasn't subsided, by making a short run to the coal mine, but her heart is still beating loudly.

 If asked, "do you hate him", the girl can of course affirm that the answer is no. But Alice didn't have the answer yet when she was asked if she liked him.

(N-no, don't think about it any more! In general, Onii-chan...)

 The turmoil in Alice's heart, which changes violently like the weather in the mountains, gradually stimulates the feelings that she had put a lid on.

"Uu~. Auntie, you idiot."

 Alice mutters in a resentful voice to the old woman who has nothing to do with her feelings.

 Well, it's not surprising, since it all started with the old woman who gave her the compass.

 After walking for a while, while quieting her disturbed mind, Alice arrived at her destination in front of the coal mine.

(It's still big as ever.)

 Alice looked up at the mine, her destination, and sighed in her mind.

 The mine was so big that it almost seemed to reach the clear sky. No other mine in this town...... or anywhere else in the empire is as large as this one.

 From the entrance of the mine, there is a constant sound of iron and steel striking against each other, and chunks of rock no bigger than Alice's head are being carried out on an unmanned trolley.

 A barbed-wire fence surrounded them, and the only road connecting the town and the mine were guarded by guards.

"Your permit?"

 The guard asked Alice as she approached. Alice felt a little sorry for him, seeing that he was wearing a tight military uniform even though it was relatively warm today.

"I've brought lunch."

 But although the other party had the misfortune to be the guard of this village, they are still Imperial soldiers and it's obvious that Alice's concern will upset them.

 She quickly raised the bucket in her hand and showed it to him to obtain permission to enter the mine.

 Stepping inside the barbed wire fence, she found that even though she was used to going there, it was still somehow different from the village.

 In the strange atmosphere, brown-skinned men, just like Alice, were walking around with shovels and pickaxes in their hands.

"Oh? Isn't it Alice-chan?"

 One of these men, a broad-shouldered man with a white towel wrapped around his head, approached her.

 He was more than half a foot taller than Alice, and his body was muscular as he worked as a miner. The girl, who looked at him and was not much older than her age, was being looked down upon by a big man with a shovel in his hand.

"Hello, Dunkel-san."

 But Alice is not afraid of him, because she knows that he is a good neighbor, friendly, with a wife and kids, and not a bad guy.

“I got your lunch from Emily-san. Here."

"Oh, thank you. Or rather, since you're here, is it already noon? I didn't notice it at all."

 Dunkel's face broke down over lunch from his beloved wife as he accepts the lunch box from Alice.

"And where's Onii-chan?"

"Hmm? Alice-chan's older brother? He was in the mine with me a while ago, but he went away."

 Saying that, Dunkel-san looks around.

"I see. Is he in the rest area?"

“No, I didn't see him over there. I was the last one at the rest area."

"Is he slacking off again?"

"Hahaha."

 In response to that answer, Alice looks up at Dunkel, who smiles deceptively at her words.

"I'm going to tell your wife that you're not serious enough."

“Please don't, Alice-chan. If Emily finds out about it, she'll kill me."

 From the way he pleads with her, it seems that Dunkel is always being wrapped up by his wife, not that she is a horrible wife.

 But Alice knew that this was the relationship between Dunkel and Emily, who were childhood friends and that he was only pretending to be afraid of her, as this was his form of love.

"Fufu, just kidding. So, if he's not at the rest area, where is Onii-chan?"

 Perhaps remembering how they usually get along, Alice giggles and asks again about the whereabouts of her brother, who is the person she is looking for.

“Well, it was Alice's brother who said it was time for me to take over, but I left at the wrong time."

 Dunkel mutters, "I wasn't in the same group with him today to begin with". It was at that time.

"...Near the water mill."

"Whoa!?"

 Dunkel and Alice were both startled by the unexpected voice. The two turned in the direction of the voice and saw a man standing there who was taller than Dunkel.

"W-what, it's Frankel. Don't surprise me every time."

"...That's not my concern."

 The man called "Frankel" said in a bored tone and pointed to a trolley coming out of the mine.

"The trolley's in bad shape. I'm taking a break, so I'm gonna ask you to go and check on it."

"T-thank you very much"

 Aside from the fake scary wife neighbor, Alice, who is taught by the large Frankel, whom she doesn't normally associate with, backs down a bit.

"Look, Alice-chan is scared."

 Looking at the situation, Dunkel puts his hand on Frankel's shoulder and says so.

"N-no, I'm not scared, um..."

"I don't really care. Besides, I want to meet the Chief, and tell him to come to the watchtower after the break."

"Y-yes. Understood."

"At the watchtower, you mean that freak, is he asking for money again?"

“That's not my problem. Or rather, Dunkel. Let me go already."

 When Frankel said to let go with an annoyed look, the man with the white towel wrapped around his head said, "Yes, yes" and half-heartedly removed his hand around his shoulder.

"U-um. Well then, I better get going!"

"Oh. See you later, Alice-chan."

 Alice bowed to them and headed for the water mill.

 Under the stilt rest area, there is a hole that is just big enough for one person to pass through. Alice stepped into the hole, picked up an old lantern hanging at the entrance, and proceeded down the tunnel.

 After walking for a while, she soon saw the exit, and her feet naturally started to move faster.

"..."

 When she exited the tunnel, she found herself in a place so quiet that she could hear the river flowing, instead of the world where dust was flying and the roaring sound of metals clanging.

 Across the river on the other side was a coniferous forest, while on this side, at the foot of the mine, the soil was a mixture of river stones and gravel, with a few weeds growing here and there.

 The river flows between these two different worlds, and a water mill stands alone along the upstream side of the river. And above all.......

(Onii-chan was here!)

 He sits by the riverside and gazes out at the green landscape spreading out on the other side.

 He is around 20 years old. He has dark hair and tanned, wheat-colored skin that is comparable to the brown skin of the people of Vu-alheit, where Alice and her family live.

 Above all, the scar on his right cheek from a sword wound was strangely painful and could be seen even from a little distance.

 Alice's heart naturally beats quickly at the sight of his fearless, yet gentle profile.

"Hey, Onii-chan!"

 Alice raised the bucket in her hand and shouted in a loud voice, and the man spun around and looked back at her.

 He was Alice's older brother, and the man who had drifted to Vu-alheit [2 years ago] and was suffering from amnesia.