Chapter 65 – Foir (1)

The carriage stopped.

We came out as if nothing happened, hiding our reddened faces. Alice looked at the distant mountains as I adjusted my trouser belt while breathing heavily. The coachman smoked a cigarette while sitting on the coachman’s seat, and a sack of carrots was placed in front of the horse.

“The weather is nice.”

“I know.”

Alice nodded at my words and looked around. Grass was growing on the big hill, and livestock were grazing in sparsely separated areas, as if they were attached to decorations. I dusted my pants once and said to Alice.

“Alice. How are you feeling? You are now a member of the law office.”

“…I’m very nervous.”

The reason she was blushing and taking her deep breaths probably wasn’t just because she was sucking on my cock a moment ago. I smiled a little away from the musty smell of the open wagon. Alice placed her hand on her chest and held her gym bag with her other hand.

A few days after the letter arrived, we decided to set off for the village of Foire.

It was the result of a combination of Alice’s impatience to go and work quickly and my desire to conquer new women quickly. After saying goodbye and buying a present, we were waiting for our next meeting in front of Poir Village.

I thought of Isabelle clinging to me with tears in my eyes.

“That… When did the person in charge here say he would come?”

“I should have come right away… Oh, there he is.”

Alice’s hand pointed to a man wearing a suit and sweating profusely. He walked towards us, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief.

“Miss Plancia Alice. Right? You’re new, but you’ve already taken on the case. I’m sorry. My name is Alan from the Charlotte Law Office. This is what happened because a more important case came in from Ithaca. What is your relationship with this person?”

Alan’s thick fingers taught me. I thought that the shape of the finger must be like a sausage. I bowed her head in greeting, and Alice pointed at me and said,

“You are my father. He said it was dangerous for me to come alone, so he came with me. You will return when your work in Foir is finished.”

“Oh, I see. This is Alan.”

The man had combed his brown hair and had a shaggy mustache growing across his face. His thick mustache obscured his mouth. I said as I shook his hand.

“My name is Evan. Nice to meet you. Please take good care of my daughter.”

“Oh no, no.”

Alan realized that the age difference between Alice and I wasn’t that great, but she didn’t bother asking useless questions. He took one more sharp look at us and got down to business.

“Okay, Alice. Have you heard anything about the incident?”

“No. Yet…”

“Then let’s talk in the office first. What is your father going to do?”

I didn’t want to get involved in a complicated legal case. Finding a beauty in this town was more important to me than listening to an annoying story with Alice. I shook my head and said.

“I’ll make sure to go to the inn first. Where is Ms. Alice’s residence? I’m thinking of carrying my luggage and tidying up first.”

“Ah yes. The property is right next to Mr. Hanson’s ranch. Mr. Hanson’s Ranch, it’s on the sign here, so you can go there. So, let’s go. Miss Alice.”

“Yes! Oh, then Dad. See you later.”

Alice responded in a spirited voice, and then she followed Alan. I looked up at the information board, holding up Alice’s luggage bag and mine. The village of Poir, which has many ranches, came to experience learning from Ithaca, or merchants often came and went.

Because of this, there was an information board installed at the entrance to the village, and Hanson’s ranch existed quite close to where I am now.

“Does Mr. Hanson have a daughter?”

I packed my things and walked to the ranch.

******

“Oh, welcome! You’re the one who came here because of this incident, right?”

Hanson was hairy. His arms were as hard as a log, and his face was as impressive as a lion’s. His hard shoulders and thick neck conveyed a sense of intimidation, as if he would not collapse even if he was hit by an arrow. I put my luggage down in front of the door and shook my head.

“It was my daughter who came because of the case. As a father, I was worried about my daughter going to a foreign country. So this is what I followed. Isn’t that the case with all parents with children?”

I winked as I said that. For Hanson, it was to see if he had children or not. Usually, the children of people with good muscles and bones like this were often beautiful or handsome. Hanson nodded at my words and said:

“Hehe, you must have been scolded by your daughter. I also have a son, but I’m worried because he doesn’t listen to me these days. Is it because you’re a teenager now? I don’t do farm work all the time, I wield a stick to become a knight… Oh, I’m not alone in worrying.”

He let out a deep sigh as he spoke. It was said that there was a dark-skinned kid, but it seemed that he was now in his teens and was just getting into trouble. I clicked her tongue because I was very sorry that he was my son. She laughed.

“It is like that when you are growing up. Didn’t both me and Mr. Hanson talk about wanting to become knights or becoming valiant warriors and commanding the continent when they were young? If it gets bigger, it will be fixed.”

“Ah, thank you for your words. Are you going to move your luggage now?”

Hanson said and took his arm. I said, stopping him from touching my luggage.

“I will do it myself. My daughter doesn’t like it when others touch her luggage.”

“Aigoo, that’s right. Yes. Excuse me.”

I pushed my luggage in and came out again. As if he had finished his farm routine today, Hanson was leaning over the fence, waiting for me to come out. Since I couldn’t find a woman by blindly walking through other people’s neighborhoods, he approached him and asked a question.

“So, what kind of case did you call the law office for? Isn’t it usually handled appropriately within the village? At a guard post or somewhere like a local union.”

Hanson shook his head at my question.

“Because the scale of the incident is so large. The story is complicated.”

Hanson said and put a cigarette in his mouth. When he offered me one cigarette, I shook my head and declined. Tobacco gave off a subtle scent, like a meadow in the rain. Hanson said, waving smoke.

“There has been an incident where livestock have gone missing.”

“Pig or cow. Are you talking about these things?”

“Yes. Pigs, cows, horses, chickens, all farms, livestock were lost one by one. The whole town is in an uproar here. They would disappear like ghosts if there were guards on them, but if the guards were away or looked away, they would steal the livestock before they knew it.”

“It sounds like a ghost is going to cry. Has the culprit been identified?”

“Yes. The local union and the guards speculated that a knight named Jack, who had recently moved in, was the culprit.”

“Jack?”

“It is said that he was a famous knight in the capital, but I heard that he became a drunkard after he was kicked out after being framed.”

“That’s sad.”

I was curious to hear that Jack was a famous knight in the capital. As long as he worked as an engineer in the capital, his family would have lived well, and if he was the daughter of a well-to-do family, he would surely be a beauty, but would Jack have a daughter?

“The house seems to be in great disrepair from Jack’s constant drinking and gambling. So he settled down from the capital to Ithaca and from Ithaca to here again, and from one day Jack started buying expensive drinks and gambling big money. Interestingly, the time Jack had money coincided with the time his livestock disappeared.”

“It’s suspicious enough.”

I thought the guesses of the local unions and guards were correct. How can a demoted article with no money extract a lot of money? Hanson nodded and said.

“By the way, this guy named Jack is making a fuss while arguing that he was never the culprit. He then put in his own request to the law firm in Ithaca, and he got to where he is now.”

“If he is innocent, where did the money come from?”

“When he woke up, there was money by his bedside.”

I was dumbfounded and laughed out loud. It was because it was such a shameless excuse that I wouldn’t even think about blowing my nose. I said.

“It is an outrageous incident. Mr. Hanson, do you think that Jack is the culprit?”

“The investigation is not over yet, so everyone is in a hurry, but to be honest, it is. Who would believe the story of having money by your bedside?”

“That’s right. By the way, it must be very difficult for my family to be so fond of gambling.”

After I said that, I looked at Hanson.

“That’s right. Her daughter is very nice…”

“…You have a daughter.”

Jack has a daughter.

Whether it was a beauty or not was something to check for yourself later.