#017. The Nanny is Too Kind (3)

#017. The Nanny is Too Kind (3)

Ian.

Teresa’s first flesh and blood.

The boy, inheriting his mother’s blonde hair and blue eyes, possessed a noble appearance like a child of a noble house. He also possessed a coldness and indifference surpassing even his mother’s, and he lived up to that face.

“I’ll treat your wounds.”

A Rank 4 mission Teresa joined.

Nina, hastily maneuvering through thorn bushes and getting injured while protecting Ian and Anna from monsters Teresa failed to completely subdue.

He disinfected and bandaged her wounds with a naturalness that suggested familiarity.

A mature side that did not befit a child his age.

“Sorry. Could you pour some water on my arm here too?”

“Use Anna’s!”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll use big brother’s water bottle.”

Ian nonchalantly stowed away Anna’s water bottle and used his own.

“Aren’t you thirsty?”

“It’s alright. I don’t drink water outside.”

It was a lengthy external mission.

Everyone was thirsty, but Ian, offering his own water while telling a lie so artless no one would believe it.

To Nina, the eldest son’s actions appeared as caring for his sibling and tending to his party members.

“Isn’t his sibling love admirable?”

This was a drinking session after returning to the city, having completed the task safely.

Gorgon kept singing praises of Ian until his mouth ran dry.

“They’re kids who lived in the back alleys, so they know what poverty is. No matter how wealthy they become, they’ll always remember those hard, difficult times. How many kids can take care of their family when they can barely take care of themselves?”

Nina felt strangely embarrassed to admit it honestly.

The fact that she, a superior Alpha Female, had wept like a child in front of the boy also contributed to the embarrassment she felt after the moment had passed.

“In the ruthless wilderness of survival of the fittest, that’s just a weakness. Beastmen become independent in the wild at five years old.”

‘Is that for real? As if they weren’t beastmen themselves, those b*tches are no different from animals.’

The words nearly escaped Gorgon’s lips.

Their positions were similar, nannies and caretakers, but the Centaur archer’s giant arms were thicker than Gorgon’s.

Not to mention her lower body.

Even with a reasonably trained man’s body, before he could even feel any pride, he’d get pummeled if a fight broke out. The thought of that possibility filled him with worry – the body of a superior Alpha Female.

Moreover, archers develop their arm muscles to pull back their bows, making their arms thicker.

She was just an archer, but if you handed her a melee weapon, her carelessly swung spear or sword would send monsters flying like paper.

Gorgon became polite in order to survive.

In the face of such overwhelming power, even when drunk, he had to hold on tight to his sanity to avoid making mistakes.

“Still… I can take care of Ian and Anna.”

“Because they’re kind kids?”

“Because I don’t want those children to become as vile as other humans.”

After returning to the village, Anna came running to Nina, giggling.

Then, she held out a gift, saying, “Here, take this!”

“What is this?”

“Rock candy!”

“How did you get it?”

“Mama gave me my allowance. I saved it little by little!”

“…Thanks.”

To think that Anna, the younger one, saved her allowance, coin by coin, to buy a currycomb, presented with a bright “Here!” was moving beyond words.

A currycomb, a tool for grooming a horse’s coat, was a necessary item even for a centaur.

There’s no way the child picked out this gift on her own; this, too, must be the result of Ian’s advice.

And even if Ian advised her, Anna wouldn’t have gifted it without a genuine feeling of gratitude in her heart.

Nina felt grateful to both children.

Still, she felt awkward relying on the children, so she turned to Ian and told him not to do it in the future.

“Why didn’t you stop her? Something like this must have been hard to buy with a child’s allowance.”

“I added my share, too. Anna’s allowance alone wouldn’t have covered the cost.”

“!!”

But the more they cared, the more indebted Nina felt.

Faced with the benevolent hearts of Ian and Anna, Nina’s gratitude grew day by day.

“I want to protect them. That pureness.”

“Is that so.”

“Gorgo. Didn’t you feel something similar? That the Teresa family is different from the humans we’ve met so far.”

The former harem party members that Nina immediately recalled were a prime example.

They never obediently followed instructions.

-Water? Why should *I* give it to you?

-Right. They always made sure they got their own share, didn’t they?

-Just a little further and we’ll reach the river.

Disappointing party members who only showed uncooperative and selfish behavior.

Nina assumed Gorgo had similar experiences, but the answer she received was beyond imagination.

“I didn’t have any comrades.”

“Why?”

“The men said they couldn’t use me. What did the other party leaders say… something about considering it if I sold my body?”

“You ran into some trash.”

“Hmm… I was just unlucky.”

Being comforted by an alpha female who once had three harem party members, Gorgo was thrown into confusion, wondering if she was mocking him.

“Don’t you two drink too late. It’s not good for your health.”

A voice from the upper floor of the tavern made them look up. Ian was standing on the landing of the stairs in his pajamas, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

Always so neat and well-mannered, even his sleepwear was adorable.

Beyond just his looks, what moved Nina even more was his concern for his companions before going to bed.

“Whew. Whose kid is that?”

“Is he trying to seduce us or something?”

The gazes of several women at another table turned lascivious.

As they began to make Ian the topic of their drinking conversation, Nina slammed her fist on the table.

A heavy thud.

Veins bulging on her arm.

The women, who’d been glaring with scorn, recoiled, eyes lowered, heads turned away.

“Ian is Teresa’s child, and I, Nina, the Centaurus Archer, protect him. Don’t let your tongues wag so freely, unless you desire an unpleasant end.”

Nina, accustomed not just to Anna, but to playing Ian’s wet nurse as well.

Seeing her so fully integrated into the party, Gorgo’s brooding dissipated into a soft chuckle.

Good people tend to gather around others of their kind.

As Ian was a good person, so too was Nina.

“Nina. I’ve been wondering about something.”

“What is it?”

“Teresa saved you as Anna’s wet nurse. Are you actually… going to provide sustenance?”

Nina fixed Gorgo with a look of utter disbelief.

“How would milk come if I’m not even pregnant? Are you, by any chance, attempting to seduce me into bearing your child?”

“No, nothing like that, what an earth are you saying!”

“Pfft, you greenhorn. You fly into pieces just from a silly joke.”

Still, Nina found herself pondering the question.

A wet nurse…

In a world where women birthed children and then abandoned them to men as a matter of course.

Irresponsible women would get pregnant, leave the baby at the doorstep of the fathers, and flee. But Nina was not that kind of irresponsible woman.

‘Unless there’s a good man, milk will never come’

At what age will Ian become that good man?

Nina shook her head violently at the scandalous thought that had arisen from a touch of inebriation.

* * *

Since the appearance of the boy monster, I’ve been strictly observing the ban on outside water consumption.

After all, I wouldn’t be able to use it anyway, so I indulged in showing off while cleaning Nina’s wound.

Upon returning to the village, I even showered her with gifts.

Continuing to nurture Nina’s debt of gratitude, maintaining her sense of obligation to our party, a tactic to prevent any betrayal that might loom on the horizon.

At times, I find myself frightened by myself, hiding such sinister intentions beneath a veneer of generosity, but these are the times we live in, and so it must be endured.

‘Even if she’s an assassin sent by Ronowe under his covert orders, I will ensure she can never betray us.’

The problem arose when this carefully orchestrated campaign to win over Nina was well underway.

“This mission takes us far afield.”

“Isn’t this… within the territory of the Beastkin’s requests?”

“What’s that? Another piggy bank request?”

Unlike previous requests, this one was a bit higher in rank, so we accepted the rather difficult task of collecting poisonous herbs.

Such dangerous collection materials do not grow in easily accessible places.

The road ahead is long, and the risks to be endured are plentiful.

Among them is a dispute with the Beastkin adventurer cartel, who are tightly holding onto lucrative quests.

“What are you looking at?”

“Lower your gaze, is it?”

In an already difficult situation, we even encountered competitors who were also pursuing the request.

Grim-looking cat-eared Beastkin with scarred faces.

We had encountered a Beastkin party consisting of low-quality individuals.

Gorgor, seeking to ease the tense air, mustered what friendliness he could.

“Come now, did your party also come to gather O-Dok weed?”

“Why are you loitering near what’s ours?”

“Don’t you know you’ll get smacked if you touch it?”

The pronouncements of bipedal street cats, no different from thugs.

When Mom, provoked, laid a hand on her scabbard, the cat demi-humans mirrored the gesture.

As the atmosphere grew more fraught, the lead cat demi-human openly tried to turn Nina against them.

“You trust a human, huh?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Are you a fool? Haven’t you learned that you live by betraying before you’re betrayed? Demi-humans should stick with demi-humans. Join us, and we’ll get you a share.”

“We’ve got the numbers, too.”

“Demi-humans can just walk into the Demi-human Cartel, ya know. Why walk a hard road when you can get benefits handed to you?”

Teresa’s party strength: three.

The cat demi-human party’s strength: five.

Clearly outmatched in numbers.

If Nina defected, the balance would shift to 2 versus 6.

The demi-human side would be three times stronger.

Mom won the wager and defeated Nina, but that didn’t mean Nina was weak.

A centaur was a mounted archer capable of mobile firing.

If she could move freely while firing, instead of standing still at 50 meters as in the bet, Mom would have had quite the struggle to defeat Nina.

So, the mere thought of Nina turning enemy was enough to darken the view ahead.

“Bullshit.”

But that was only if Nina betrayed them.

“Don’t you dare treat me like a money-grubbing wretch without honor. I am Teresa’s party’s nanny. A party member hired to protect the children. I would never abandon them to betray you.”

The worst hadn’t happened.

Nina hadn’t wavered.

“That’s right. Nina values relationships between people above all else. Please don’t try to steal away someone who is like a second mother to us.”

I subtly offered support, but everyone, from Nina to the cat demi-humans, widened their eyes.

“A human… acknowledged a demi-human as ‘mother’?”

“Not a pure-blood supremacist racist, huh!”

“A human who appreciates the grace of protection, what a mutation, ya know!”

I wondered what image these demi-humans had of pure-blood humans, but Nina only added more fuel to the already chaotic mood with another bombshell.

“I’m overflowing with motherly love. Milk… might even come out now…”

The cat demi-humans’ gazes naturally drifted towards Nina’s ample chest.

The atmosphere suddenly became awkwardly warm.