Resurrection of Duke Werstein ~ I Didn’t Hear Anything About Being A Middle-aged Man ~ 58

'You're Gii?”

'I've heard you're a human sage, but you're pretty young.'

As I was running the tip of my quill over the paperwork, I suddenly heard such a voice.

Not an external sound that shook my eardrums, but one that seemed to resonate directly in my brain.

When I lifted my gaze from the paperwork and looked around, I saw a green-haired boy illuminated in a light green and a golden-haired girl similarly illuminated in a soft white light floating near the ceiling.

On the outside, there was a beautiful boy smiling with an expression that exuded a prankster's personality, and a beautiful girl with a fluffy, angelic, and kind smile.

They were about the same age as niece-chan, or maybe a little older.

The boy was dressed in a simple white shirt and pants, and the girl in a white dress, just like other children in the area, but their symmetrical, doll-like faces supported my intuition that they were not human.

"...... My name is Augusto Werstein, however"

'Such a long a name, there’s no way the little ones can remember it'

When the giggling boy explained to me, I realized that my faint guess had been correct.

Only little spirits call me "Gii".

If they know that, either they must be able to hear the voices of spirits as well, or.

If you look at their lightly glowing faces, one will notice that they look like a younger version of the Spirit King of Light and Wind.

There's only one possibility now.

‘May we call you Gii, too? I feel as though I’m about to bite my tongue'

“…… Suit yourself"

Well, all in all, lining up things one after the other in difficulty, in short there’s only the conclusion that they are spirits.

Rather than that, I’m more curious about why they are here in the first place.

"So, why are you here? From what I see, you look like higher spirits."

About this term "higher spirits”, apparently even among spirits there are different ranks, lower, middle, and higher in sequence, are each stronger and more powerful, with higher intelligence and more magical power.

It seems that they have established their own personality as an individual, and they have a much higher level of magical power than the smaller spirits, so probably it should be right to say they are higher spirits.

As for the rest, I don’t really get it, but it was in Augusto-san's knowledge, so I'm sure it was one of the things he remembered from reading a book or something.

No, maybe it's just common knowledge, but Augusto-san's knowledge is so biased that I don't know.

Eight or nine out of ten, it's the tutor's fault.

'Listen, Gii, about that, we need your help.'

'Yes, yes! Otherwise at this rate, we're going to be in a lot of trouble"

The girl raised her eyebrows in distress, while the boy rambled on as if in a panic.

They’re already calling me intimetly, but in the end they’re spirits, free and selfish is natural as they are.

At this rate I don’t think there are any spirits who would hesitate, is what I though, but rather.

I can’t see the topic at all, but I can roughly tell that some kind of incident happened, and they want me to do something about it.

I'm wondering if there’s something can do something that the spirits can't, but if they've come to rely on me, which mean that it's probably not a problem that can be solved with arm strength or magic power or anything like that. I don’t really get it.

I don't get it, but I don't see any reason to refuse, and though I think that it's a hassle, I can only think that I should, so it’s probably better to do it.

I don't have a lot of time on my hands either, but Augusto-san's overly keen intuition says there's no problem, so I guess it's okay.

I'll do it.

"Hmm, there are also things I can and can nor do, but I'll help you in the range that I can."

‘He said he'll help! Arie! Vl! Here, here! Come on!

As soon as I answered, the boy let out a loud shout, looked at the window in front of me in this room, and asked someone to ...... wait, I'm on the third floor, is there someone outside?

“Wait, spirit-sama, no matter what, this is……"

Even if I don’t strain my ears, with Augusto-san’s super high specs senses I can feel people’s presence alongside with this voice.

With a faint noise of limbs trembling, and teeth chattering, from the voice heard, I can tell that the person's gender is female and she's terribly frightened.

“Sister! Nothing will move forward if you keep talking like that! That’s enough, so let’s hurry up!"

“H, How?"

“You jump!"

“That’s impossible!"

No, wait, wait, there's another one.

-Where the hell are these two?

Inwardly panicked, but with a relaxed attitude, I stuck my quill in the pen holder.

Then I got out of my seat, walked up to the window and opened it at a normal speed.

“Ah, whoa whoa, ......."

"Oh, my."

Just in front of me, on a tree branch.

One side teary, the other full of curiousity, two pairs of chestnut eyes met mine.

A quiet girl about the age of a high schooler, whose braids suit her very much, and a spirited girl about the age of niece-chan with twin tails, are both clingin to the tree.

Their personalities seem to be completely different, but their faces are very similar, so they must be sisters.

No, no, no, no, what on earth are y’all doing!?

As usual, the me was about to make a full-on tsukkomi, held my ground, I wish someone would praise me.

There's no one here, no one knows me, and no one notices me, though! Every time! God damn it, someone give me a compliment, for real! I don't care who it is!

Nah never mind, when I think about it, it’s scary to be suddenly complimented by someone! I’ll take that back!

"What are you doing?"

“What’s this sudden, what a rude person!"

What twin tail-chan said with a miffed expression on her face made sense, but...

It's not the kind of thing you say when you're clinging to a tree in someone else's house.

What kind of discipline are the parents giving this child?

“Vel! Stop it, that's rude! And no matter how you look at it, we’re clearly the suspicious ones here!?"

The girl who was biting and trying to tell her sister off was so desperate she looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Apparently, a type of girl who has as much common sense as she appears to have, I kind of pity her.

It was easy to imagine from this feeling that she was always being pushed around by the spirits and her sister.

“I see, you two, are Arie and Vel whom the spirit-dono was talking about"

The moment I said that, the twin tail-chan who had been looking at me like I was a suspicious person changed her whole attitude and turned her sparkling eyes on me happily.

"Can you hear the voice of spirits-sama too?"

"...... You should come into the room first."

Unless you want to stay on top of the tree forever, it's going to be difficult to go back.

I wondered how they got this high up in the first place, then I thought it was probably the work of the spirits, and ended the conversation inside my mind.

"All right! I'm coming!"

"Wait, Vel!"

Twin tail-chan said that and jumped vigorously abandoning her sister.

The distance between the two is about one meter, so it is not impossible to jump.

But how could she jump when she was so high?

Normally, I would have cowered like the sister and been unable to move.

This girl has a lot of guts.

While admiring her, I gently assisted twin tail-chan who had jumped into the window and lowered her into the room.

Twin tail-chan, who apparently didn't notice my assistance, called out to her sister with a smug look on her face and a proud expression on her face.

"Come on! Big sister jump too!"

“It’s obivious that, that’s impossible!?"

Right.

After that, I went to the branch of the tree where she was holding on to in order to save the girl who had stiffened up and couldn't move, and I rescued her by holding her sideways.

I ignored her and sat her down on the couch, and then I sat down on the couch facing her.

Then twin tail-chan sat down next to her sister, looking at her stiffly frozen figure curiously.

The table in front of the sofa is always stocked with cookies for when spirits come to visit, but it seems that twin tail-chan's interest has shifted from her sister to the cookies in front of her.

The eyes that stare at the cookies sparkle and shine, showing a glimpse of innocence befitting her age.

“Ah, oh myyyy!"

The older sister stuttered, her voice slurring in places, but she tried her best to speak up. I gently turned my gaze from twin tail-chan to her to show that I was willing to listen.

Then she swallowed her spit as if she had made up her mind and opened her mouth with a serious expression while staring at me.

"You are a wiseman-sama, right?"

I nodded, not bothering about whether the question was for confirmation or if she had other intentions.

“My awareness of it is fairly low, but appearently that’s the case"

"...... What do you mean by that?"

"To tell you the truth, it's been less than a month since I became a sage."

"...... Well"

Seemly unsure of what to say anymore, braid-chan clammed her mouth

However, twin tail-chan, who basically ignoring our atmosphere, stared at me with sparkling eyes and pointed at the cookies.

“Say, say, more importantly, noble uncle, can I eat this cookie?"

"Hey, Vel! It’s rude!"

“But sister! It looks so delicious!?"

I think the cookie is more important to her than this unfamiliar conversation.

Well, she's still a little girl, so I guess it can't be helped.

When I was her age, I was more interested in eating than talking about trivial things.

In fact, I think I used to fall asleep to the lullaby of the teacher's trivial stories.

"Then you can share it with spirit-dono."

“Really!? Yay! Spirit-sama! Let's eat together!"

'Hhm, that's great, right, Vel'

The green-haired boy spirit smiles as he shares a cookie with twin tail-chan

He was looking at her with a loving gaze, like a grandfather looking at his grandchild.

“…… I'm sorry about my sister"

The blonde haired girl spirit stroked braid-chan's head in a comforting manner as she shrunk apologetically.

This one, too, was staring at braid-chan with gentle eyes, like a mother.

“You don’t need to worry about, I have a niece at around that age myself"

Well, compared to twin tail-chan, she is very mature and can read the air too high specs. ......

In fact, twin tail-chan is more like a healthy child.

Oh but it’s not like I think niece-chan is unhealthy or anything.

"Thank you very much. …… And so, um…"

"You can call me Gii."

I think it's a lot better than being called an noble uncle.

No, I don't know if twin tail-chan will call me so though.

If I bring up Augusto-san’s name I have a feeling I won’t be able to hear anymore, soo I decided to give a name they’ve probably heard from the spirit-san.

I couldn't think of any other name.

What's a nickname for a name like Augusto?

Rather something like a nickname.

Michael would be something like Mike, right?

Maybe Gusto, or something?

I've been thinking about it for a while now, but I think that might have been better.

But the spirits only call me "Gii".

If I let them call me something else, they might get confused.

I'll just give up. My nickname is "Gii". Okay.

I instantly thought about it and returned my attention to braid-chan

“I understand, Gii-san right?

I'm Arrietta, and that's my little sister, Velvet."

“Niche to meetchu”₁

“Vel, at least be quiet when you're eating."

‘Well, well, that’s Vel’s charm as well, isn’t it?"

It's cute when young girls are messing around.

And they all have nice faces, so it's a feast for the eyes.

It's a wonderful world.

I wish it was always like this.

No, I'm usually surrounded by people who are eye candy in their own way.

But sometimes I want to see a different kind of face, like the difference between Japanese sweets and Western sweets even if it's all sweets, or I'd rather eat a fruit platter than just sweets all the time, something like that.

While thinking about something unimportant, as per usual, I didn't show anything and proceeded quietly.

“Spirit-dono, said it, but it seems there’s trouble brewing"

"Yes, ...... Well, Gii-san, you know that the lord-same has returned, right?"

"Of course I know."

Well, I am him, after all.

"...... I shouldn't say this, but lord-mama is hated in town."

"I'm sure he is."

They threw a lot of rocks at me.

I'm not afraid of it at all since I'm unharmed.

Rather, despite all that hostility, I just felt like I had been biten by a mosquito.

That may be true, considering Augusto-san's specs, but is Augusto-san's sense of equalizing a mosquito to a human being okay?

It's really scary.

If I pinched it with both hands, would I kill it? A human?

Huh? Oh no, I'm scared.

Okay, I'll pretend I didn't think about it.

"It's true that the lord doesn't do anything and rarely comes back, but I don't think he's completely evil like the adults in town say."

"Hmm, that's strange.

If he didn't do anything, then he can't be considered evil, can he?"

I remembered that someone once said that not knowing is not a sin, but not trying to know is.

Yes, my father.

I remember that he read it in a book and liked it so much that he said it like a habit for a while.

That was certainly true, and that was why I thought Augusto-san was evil.

Then, the girl with chestnut-colored eyes stared at me earnestly and told me how she honestly felt.

"I'm sure lord-sama is a lousy person, and I don't like him much either.

But there are things that we should do and things that we shouldn't do."

The girl who bit her lip tightly showed disgust in her eyes.

"That's why the priest of the church who seduces everyone seems much, much more evil than the lord who I don't know at all."

'That man is even more evil because he's trying to take Arie and Vel for himself because they're cute.'

"Hmm."

The moment my brain understood and chewed on the girl spirit's words, what came up was disgust and anger.

Huh?

Braid-chan is in high school, so it's probably normal in this world, but even so, twin tail-chan is still so small?　

Eh? That's a crime.

It's a crime to force someone to do something they don't want to do, even if it's age-appropriate in this world.

If you ask me about the details, I heard that he keeps boys and girls he likes by her side and does various things with them in addition to loving them.

They do things that make you want to vomit, and they've been doing it for years.

He didn't tell me what it was because there were small children around, but I'm sure I'll find out later when I ask Cinza to investigate.

It's easy to imagine that just because you can't tell your kids doesn't mean it's a bad thing.

I hope he dies.

'It is that man who brought up the adults of this town with brainwashing in the name of education, and everything going according to his plan, this is the result now’

"I see."

So that's it?

So this guy is the mastermind behind it, and if it weren't for him, there wouldn't have been a lockdown, and I wouldn't have been thrown stones at.

Uhm, let's destroy him.

I'm sure he's doing a lot of things to avoid detection, but there are definitely victims, and that's where we can break through.

"Even if the lord-sama is really evil, there's no reason why we can do the same, and the adults don't even try to realize it!”

The girl who clenched her fists and twisted her expression in frustration must really want to do something about the current situation in the city.

Her chestnut brown eyes flickered in the sunlight, glowing a beautiful green.

"...... That's a sound argument, to be sure.

But you also understand that it’s also just apretty words don't you?"

"Yes, I can't stop the people in the city, so I'm sure you can, wise man."

Knowing that you are powerless, it is right to ask for help from someone else.

Just given that she understands this, she is much smarter than the adults in town.

I'm sure it's because the spirits are the ones who raised them.

They have the ability to discern what's important and make excellent decisions.

"Please, please save the city, save everyone!"

“Is that so, I understand"

“Then……!"

Towards the girl whose face breaks out like a flower blooming, I declare, quietly staring back at her.

"In the name of Augusto Werstein, I will do my best in this matter."

“Eh"

The girl's face was really truly, that of a dunce/

“Is something the matter?"

“M Muh myyy my lord?"

The girl pointed at me with a trembling hand while her complexion grew worse and worse, and I tried to tell her to calm down by saying something serious.

"I apologize for the deception, but I wanted to get the public's honest opinion."

“No, no no no no!! My no! My deepest apologies! I’m so sorry!!"

Oh-, this is a bad idea.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that, but it really has more persuasive power.

"Don't worry about it."

I tried to tell her that, but the girl with the pale face was in tears.

“Sister, what’s wrong with you?"

Twin tail-chan opened her mouth curiously, as if she couldn't stand to see her sister like this.

She swallowed and took a breath before speaking. She was a smart girl.

“Ve, Vel, you should apologize to the lord, too!"

"What's wrong with the noble uncle?”

I thought that she should change the name because noble uncle sounded like a lot of uncles, but I decided not to say that and just tell her the truth.

"Apparently, she's upset because she found out that I'm the lord."

“Eeh-? Sister, isn't it a little late for that?"

'Hmmm, yes, that's true.'

She raised her eyebrows suspiciously, looked at her sister and me alternately, and then began to argue with the boy spirit, “Hey!” Isn’t twin tail-chan a bit too much of a gutsy one?

What's going on with the spirits' education?

“Vel! Did you know that!?"

"You can tell just by looking at this room that he's a very important person."

"You know he's a important person, but you're still acting like this!?"

“It’s obvious that he's a good person, since he's the one the spirit-sama trusts, big sister you’re such a dummy"

To the little sister who tilted her head in a dumbfounded manner and said it in a dignified manner, the older sister shook her fist and slammed her clenched fist into her sister's temple.

"Even so, you obviously can't behave like that!?"

“Ouch!!"

Don! With a dull, painful sound, the girl's yelp rang out.

Whoa, that looks like it hurt like hell.

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[1] She’s speaking with her mouth full