A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

“If things get dangerous, try shouting ‘--√·-··’ and some beautiful big sisters might come save you. L”

He realized it the afternoon after the first furious day of the great invasion.

The boy frowned, tilting his head as he studied the slip of paper that had somehow found its way into his clothes.

Slip of paper or not, it was closer to a card. Even a young boy could tell from the beautiful patterns that it was something quite valuable, but what he was actually thinking wasn’t “Looks expensive” or “So pretty,” it was just that the way the “L” was written looked stylish and cool.

In the central square where the refugees had been gathered, they’d been given blankets and food—no complaints so far. But it was so crowded they could barely move, so his little sister, clearly bored, leaned in to peek at the card he was holding.

“Big brother, what’s that?”

“Nina.”

When she reached for it, chanting “Let me see, let me see,” he handed it over after warning her not to get it dirty.

The clever boy knew exactly who had given it to him. That was why he held it so carefully, eyes shining as if it were some treasured keepsake.

And yet the thought of not letting his sister hold it never even occurred to him. He must be a very kind older brother.

The little girl called Nina gazed happily at the card she’d been given. She couldn’t even read yet, but she was delighted just by the beautiful design she’d never seen before.

“What does it say?”

“It says if things get dangerous, say something. Here—what’s this part supposed to be?”

He pointed, but his little sister was younger than he was; of course she couldn’t know.

As the two of them bent over the card, wondering if it was some kind of code, their mother came back. She’d been delayed going to the resident roll call because she’d been helping restrain the refugees who’d started clamoring that the lord had appeared.

Incidentally, ever since the incident where the boy had suddenly bolted off on his own for his sister’s sake, she hadn’t let go of his hand for even a moment. Even just now, when she went to the roll call, she’d begged the family next to them to keep a close eye on the children. It was a bit suffocating for the boy, but he could only accept it as his just deserts.

“Honestly, I get that they want to see the lord, but do they understand the situation we’re in...?”

“Mom, welcome back.”

“I’m back.”

Grumbling irritably as she returned, their mother’s expression softened at once as she stroked the boy’s head.

She thanked the neighbor who’d watched them in polite detail, then looked curiously at her daughter, who hadn’t even glanced up and was just staring fixedly at the card in her hands.

“Oh my, what’s this? A beautiful big sister... Don’t tell me it’s something indecent...”

“N-no, it’s not!”

The boy immediately denied it before she could start suspecting anything strange.

He didn’t know what “indecent” meant, but from his mother’s tone he understood instinctively that it was something terribly bad. He didn’t want their benefactor to be thought of in some weird way.

Strictly speaking, it was Lizel’s choice of words that had been the problem, but the boy never even thought to blame him. He frantically explained the situation, and his mother nodded with an “Oh, I see.”

Normally, she should still have been suspicious. A stranger her son had met for the first time—an unknown adventurer—had given him such suggestive advice; as a mother, that was something more than worth being on guard about.

Yet no such feeling rose in her at all.

Faced with that gentle face, kind voice, and above all those sincere, noble eyes, doubting him had felt almost like a sin.

If that man said help would come, then it would—she accepted it that simply, and the boy let out a breath of relief. If she had tried to take the card away, he would have fought tooth and nail to get it back.

“Mom, what does this say? Is it letters? A picture?”