Adventurer Life with Exiled Daughter

Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Short Story 3: Longdagger Observation Diary

Jenniferin Pantile was deeply wounded in her pride.

It was due to Shin Longdagger's stubbornness.

Since that day she was saved in the warehouse district.

Jenniferin had tried to "invest" in Shin numerous times.

At one point, it even became a rumor at the academy that a Pantile would take an interest in a poor viscount family whose only merit was its history.

Perhaps due to Jenniferin's usual behavior, or because it was just typical Pantile eccentricity, no one paid it much mind anymore.

However, that most Pantile-like Pantile, the once-in-a-century Pantile, Jenniferin, had failed in every single investment attempt.

Simply put, Shin refused to accept anything.

Jenniferin wasn't a fool.

She knew from the start that Shin wouldn't accept anything if she tried to give it to him directly.

So, she tried to "invest" with proper reasoning, but for some reason, she was still refused.

Despite claiming to have no money, Shin seemed indifferent to both money and possessions, lacking any attachment, as if his fundamental values were different from hers (a noble), or so Jenniferin thought.

Thinking he surely wouldn't refuse this time, Jenniferin invited him to a meal in a classroom full of classmates as a token of thanks for the other day.

But Shin refused, saying, "There's no need for thanks beyond what I already received."

This led to a huge misunderstanding among her classmates, and she ended up feeling humiliated, which resulted in her reaching a conclusion.

She couldn't let it go to waste.

While angry at herself for placing too high a value on mere words of gratitude, Jenniferin decided to observe Shin Longdagger.

*

Once she decided to observe him, Jenniferin acted swiftly.

She used her subordinates to investigate Shin and the Longdagger family.

The results were quite surprising to Jenniferin.

"I never would've guessed you were from a territorial noble family."

Jenniferin said this during a conversation at the academy diner.

At her words, Shin Longdagger looked up from his plate and stared at her intently.

"If you're displeased that I investigated, I'll apologize. I swear there was no malice; I hope you'll think of it as just a Pantile trait."

Showing only the bare minimum of manners necessary to avoid rudeness, Shin placed his fork and knife on the plate and lightly shook his head.

"No, I'm just surprised to learn for the first time that my family is a territorial noble."

"Hey now, don't render my apology meaningless right from the start; that's a breach of etiquette."

Muttering, "What kind of etiquette is that?" Shin left Jenniferin genuinely astonished.

Normally, a noble couldn't remain indifferent to their own family.

Not just because it's their family, but because understanding one's family status in noble society is akin to understanding one's own position, determining what can and cannot be done, what is permissible and what isn't—an issue that affects everything.

In other words, it's a crucial factor that even determines how one lives.

Especially for a peculiar viscount family like the Longdagger family, it should be an even more significant issue.

"I felt ashamed for not knowing that there are viscount families, or rather noble families, who hold their own territory in the capital, but seeing someone from such a family act like this makes my shame feel wasted."

At Jenniferin's muttering, Shin tilted his head slightly.

He showed a refreshing lack of interest in his own family.

Territorial nobles, meaning nobles granted land by the king to govern, are typically earls or higher.

Viscounts and barons are usually just subletting a few villages or towns from those territorial nobles.

Of course, there are exceptions, and the Pantile family is one of them.

However, even so, they are nowhere near as exceptional as a viscount family holding territory in the capital.

Even if the land granted by the king is only the size of a single mansion, the privileged position that comes with it is nothing short of extraordinary.

If the Longdagger family ever decided to act on it.

There is no law to stop the Longdagger family from bringing fully armed private soldiers into the capital.

If the royal family tried to prevent it, they would have to strip the land from the Longdagger family, but doing so would provoke unpredictable reactions from other noble families.

At the very least, it wouldn't be taken well.

If the Faltarl Kingdom were like other countries where titles come with territories, the issue could be easily resolved by granting the Longdagger family an earldom.

However, in the Faltarl Kingdom, titles are tied to the family itself.

Even if the Longdagger family were elevated to earls, it would only result in a strange earldom with territory the size of a single mansion.

Jenniferin speculated that the Longdagger family likely had some unique circumstances.

Tracing back history, the Longdagger family is a prestigious house dating back to the founding of the kingdom.

Among such noble families still in existence, there are only a handful where the main branch, not a cadet branch, remains.

A well-known example would be the Solnzari family.

In terms of history alone, they are a prestigious family, the complete opposite of the Longdagger family, whose status Jenniferin didn't know until she investigated—a proper, historically significant upper noble family.

Come to think of it, their eldest daughter is a classmate, Jenniferin recalled.

With the Priestess of Light, the Solnzari, and the Longdagger, my class is quite rich in unique individuals, Jenniferin thought, forgetting that she herself came from the peculiar Pantile family.

Rather than forgetting, it might be more accurate to say her own uniqueness was overshadowed by the others.

However, that uniqueness was nothing but a source of hardship for the Longdagger family.

Jenniferin thought this as she looked at the plate set before Shin.

Though she didn't mean to stare, Shin skillfully followed her gaze to the plate with salad and tilted his head, making Jenniferin feel like letting out a sigh.

The Longdagger family was poor.

They were astonishingly poor.

Their poverty was so extreme that their very survival as a family seemed like a miracle.

After all, there's likely no other noble besides a Longdagger who would eat even the small tomato garnish on a salad just to show they've had enough and can afford to leave food uneaten as a sign of status.

At least, Jenniferin didn't know of any others.

She hadn't even known until her subordinates told her that a footnote, now a dead letter, stating it's not a breach of manners to leave the stem, existed solely for the Longdagger family.

"Today's salad was delicious, you know?"

The second son of a poor viscount family, treated as a special case in table manners, directed his attention in a completely irrelevant direction.

"Is that so? I'll look forward to it later."

To Jenniferin's response, Shin veered even further off-topic, saying, "No, all the food at the academy is delicious, so wouldn't it be rude to the cooks to single out the salad?"

"So, why did you investigate my family? There's nothing but history, so I doubt you found anything useful."

Having seemingly sorted out the issue with the cooks in his mind, Shin asked directly while sipping water.

Though she herself couldn't say much after openly admitting to investigating, Jenniferin thought this lack of noble-like behavior wasn't something she disliked.

"Since you won't accept my gratitude, I thought I'd try a different approach."

It was only natural that the Longdagger family was so poor that Shin could refer to his own family as "something."

After all, despite being territorial nobles, they had no income from their territory.

"This again?"

Though he sounded exasperated, Jenniferin felt a sense of fondness for the fact that he didn't seem to deny her desire to express gratitude itself.

He simply, genuinely didn't need anything more.

It wasn't that words of thanks "alone" were enough, but that words of thanks "were" what he wanted—that was his true feeling.

As both a merchant and a noble, it was a value system that could leave one stripped to the bone, but Jenniferin's golden eyes saw it as a gem.

"So, did you find any leverage after investigating my astonishingly poor family?"

To Shin's question, Jenniferin honestly shook her head.

It was because she hadn't found anything.

She had thought if the person himself was impossible, she could approach through the family, but the Longdagger family was rock-solid.

Surprisingly, if one overlooked their finances, the Longdagger family was an extremely healthy noble house.

Shin's older brother worked as a civil official at the castle, and their father, the current head, held a decent position in the kingdom's legal department.

Furthermore, there was even a younger brother, so succession issues seemed unlikely, and the older brother already had a fiancée.

For a poor viscount family, they were almost too stable.

"Healthy parents, an excellent older brother, and a wise younger brother. Truly a fine family; it seems more comfortable than my own, where siblings often fight."

"Sibling fights aren't good. My little brother is incredibly cute, you know."

The fact that he could treat sibling rivalry in a noble family as mere sibling quarrels already made him un-noble-like.

In other words, when it came to the family's survival, the Longdagger family felt no sense of crisis whatsoever.

Why? The answer came easily after a little thought.

Other noble families were helping the Longdagger family.

And not just one or two; even a cursory investigation revealed that many noble families, including those considered upper nobles, were secretly supporting the Longdagger family.

The only reason they didn't support them openly was out of modest consideration for the royal family.

To mid- and lower-ranking nobles, the Longdagger family held no value, but to upper nobles, it was different.

The mere continued existence of the Longdagger family was akin to the royal family having a dagger pressed to their throat.

Though it was a slender dagger meant for harassment, depending on how it was used, it could be fatal.

I see, it makes sense they'd at least take steps to ensure the family's survival.

"That's so very Longdagger."

Muttering softly, Jenniferin began thinking about how she could "invest" in this guy.

Doing it through her family was out of the question.

Trying to directly support or aid the Longdagger family would not only stir up unnecessary trouble, but if handled poorly, could even lead to something as serious as a civil war.

Even Jenniferin didn't want to wake up knowing that her favor had sparked a civil war in the country.

As she watched Shin go on about how cute his little brother was, Jenniferin found herself troubled.

*

The next day, Jenniferin was angry.

Furious might be an even better word.

It was because of a report she received from her subordinate.

That Shin Longdagger was an adventurer.

When she spotted Shin in the classroom, shamelessly displaying his utter lack of motivation in magic class, Jenniferin marched straight up to him and silently grabbed him by the collar.

Her actions drew the attention of the entire classroom, but Jenniferin didn't care.

"You've got to be kidding me," she thought.

Seriously, this guy's really pushing it.

Ignoring Shin's confusion, Jenniferin dragged him out of the classroom.

Even though she knew that if Shin got even a little serious, someone like her wouldn't be able to move him, she didn't care. In fact, she was mad at him for not getting serious in the first place.

Jenniferin, the daughter of the well-known Pantile family, marching down the hallway gripping Shin's collar in anger was already enough to spark rumors.

And when people realized it was Shin being dragged, most of them made faces like, "Ah, that unserious Longdagger must've done something again."

That annoyed her too, but right now she was just mad at Shin.

She pulled him into an empty classroom and, without preamble, let her anger out in a single sentence.

"Are you an idiot?"

That was a lie—she was so angry her mouth couldn't keep up.

"Not to brag, but I've never once given up last place in the academy rankings since enrollment."

Jenniferin silently pulled on both of Shin's cheeks.

"That's what you come up with?" she thought in disbelief.

"Ah—wait, wait, stop pulling my cheeks without saying anything. It's scary, okay?"

"You—"

Jenniferin let go of his cheeks.

"Shin, I heard you're working as an adventurer."

At her words, understanding dawned in Shin's eyes.

That's right—understand this anger of mine.

"Ah—yeah? Yeah, I guess. I mean, becoming an adventurer despite being a noble would definitely get you criticized by proper nobles, I underst—Ow ow ow! Stop! Jen, stop poking me in the side with that stick! And what even is that stick? Where did you pull it from?!"

"To think I'd be angry over something like that now—what an insult, Shin."

"You really don't get it, do you," Jenniferin said as she twisted the magic tool used to summon her bodyguards.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. So please stop grinding it right into the bone."

"I seriously doubt you understand, but fine."

Jenniferin put away the stick-shaped magic tool.

"So Jen's the type to get angry with a blank expression. I misjudged you—I thought you were the kind who'd unleash a storm of insults from your mouth."

Shin said, rubbing his side.

"I was surprised too. I never thought I'd be too angry to speak. Even when my dad accidentally threw away my favorite doll, I managed to curse him out for two straight hours."

"You cursed your dad out for two hours?" Shin muttered in a small, shaken voice.

"So me being an adventurer upsets you that much? Should I be honored?"

"You still don't get it. Not that I expected you to."

She nearly sighed as she saw Shin shielding his side at her words.

"I'm angry because you lost your weapon as an adventurer and refused compensation—what kind of mindset is that?"

Saying that brought a bit of fear with it.

Shin had lost his weapon to protect her. Jenniferin felt it was her responsibility to bear the cost.

That's why she was both angry and afraid.

It was fine that he hadn't told her he was a noble-turned-adventurer—they'd only just met.

But refusing compensation for the sword—what was that about? For an adventurer, a weapon is literally their lifeline.

Not asking for compensation and saying "words of thanks are enough"—was that because he thought so little of her?

That doubt brought fear not just to Jenniferin, but to Jenniferin Pantile.

That appraisal result flickered before her eyes again. From that person's perspective, wasn't most of this world just boring? Had she been cast into the "boring" category too? Did Shin find no value in anything in this world? Was "words of thanks are enough" really just...

No, that's not it, Jenniferin thought, shaking her head at her own overthinking.

No matter how she tried to rationalize it, they were all just excuses.

In the end, she didn't want to deny the part of herself that liked Shin for saying "words of thanks are enough."

That moment was her first true valuation not based on appraisal skill, but purely on her own eyes—it was Shin's words.

That's why she got angry.

"Ah... honestly, I'm still just a child,"

Jenniferin muttered, looking at Shin, who still didn't understand why she was angry.

She was angry because she didn't want her first non-appraisal-based valuation to be something dark.

She hated the idea that the value of Shin Longdagger, whom she liked, might have dropped in her eyes.

Even though appraisal skill said his value was unshakable, how selfish of her.

The more she understood why she was angry, the more embarrassed Jenniferin felt.

"Ah—so, does that mean you're not angry anymore?"

Shin picked up on her muttering and tilted his head as he asked.

"No, I'm still angry. That's that, and this is this."

"What's that, and which one's this?"

Shin looked at her like he was completely at a loss.

"Shin, your sword broke protecting me. Isn't it only natural for me to want to compensate you? As someone who received your favor, I have every right to be angry if you refuse. Especially when it's your weapon—a lifeline for any adventurer."

Even as she thought her phrasing was strange, Jenniferin said it.

She found the un-noble-like directness oddly satisfying as she waited for Shin's reply, that appraisal result flickering in her mind again.

"Even if you say that..."

Shin looked troubled.

"I'm an adventurer, and that was my sword. It broke because of my lack of skill. So the result, including that, is my responsibility, you see..."

Watching Shin struggle to put his thoughts into words, Jenniferin felt the tension in her body ease without realizing it.

"You're really bad at expressing yourself, huh?"

She couldn't help but let out a remark of exasperation.

"I'm aware."

His sincere reply made her smile unintentionally.

"Uh—so, basically, Jen? That sword broke because of me. And I don't want to hand over that responsibility to anyone else. So if you want to be mad at me, go ahead. But to me, that sword breaking was my issue, and the best thing anyone can give me is words of thanks—nothing more."

The incomprehensible words made her feel dizzy.

Is this a normal mindset for an adventurer?

No, that can't be. The adventurers she'd met through work, even the ones she'd hired, didn't think like this.

Maybe it's because of that appraisal result? Jenniferin wondered.

Was Shin Longdagger simply Shin Longdagger in a way completely different from what she had imagined?

"Shin."

"What is it, Jen?"

"You're an unusually greedy person."

Watching Shin tilt his head deeply at her words, Jenniferin smiled.

Well, this guy probably doesn't get it.

He believes all the consequences of his actions belong solely to him, never to be shared with others—and yet he places the highest value on words from others.

That appraisal result makes it all make sense.

Whether he's aware of it or not, there probably aren't many people in this world who can truly share the consequences of Shin Longdagger's actions with him.

What arrogance.

He hoards the consequences of his own actions, yet demands the highest value from others' words.

What greed.

Even though he struggles with money, he doesn't cling to it—because at the root of it all is the same arrogance and greed.

Jenniferin thought that if she hadn't known the appraisal skill results, she would've just written Shin off as a delusional eccentric.

And whether he was aware of it or not, the fact that a man like that didn't see any value in her—worse, that he might truly believe she was ordinary—was galling.

What kind of education do they even give in the Longdagger household?

Well, whatever.

She was used to business partners being arrogant and greedy.

In fact, if that's the case, then this is Pantile's battlefield.

Jenniferin smiled.

"That smile... does it mean you're not mad?"

Hearing that slight fear in Shin's voice brought Jenniferin immense satisfaction.

"You probably shouldn't ask a woman who was angry if she's not angry anymore, Shin."

"Okay, okay, I get it, so please stop with the scary smile."

"Shall I change up my approach then?" Jenniferin laughed.

Satisfied that, in the end, Shin was still just Shin Longdagger.

*

Two weeks later, Jenniferin was exasperated.

It happened in the classroom after all the lessons had ended and the students had left.

Even as she felt a slight thrill at the fact that Shin was bowing his head and begging her, she was still exasperated.

"Now, what was it you said? Oh wait, you don't need to answer, Shin—I remember. I remember every word, verbatim. But if I had to summarize it, it'd be this."

She met Shin's eyes as he looked up, wondering what she was about to say.

"Everything that's my fault is mine alone, right?"

Shin let out a silent scream and writhed in agony.

"No, no, it's fine. It's totally fine, Shin. My dear friend Shin, really, there's no need to worry. You should absolutely, absolutely rely on me."

Seeing Shin visibly take damage from her words made Jenniferin almost giddy.

"So then, what exactly do you want me to teach you?"

Tilting her head, Jenniferin asked, in response to Shin's plea for help with the next tests, which looked like trouble.

Feeling a deep sense of satisfaction that he had asked not as a favor, but as a friend.

"Every subject."

At Shin's strained reply, Jenniferin nodded magnanimously, though part of her wondered if it wouldn't be faster to just buy the academy outright.

But no, that would be too wasteful.

"Leave it to me, my friend. I promise you won't fail even a single subject."

Jenniferin was exasperated—completely and utterly exasperated.

At herself, for getting so giddy just because a friend relied on her.

"I won't let you regret relying on Jenniferin Pantile."

Jenniferin declared this with great satisfaction.