Jobless Reincarnation: The King with a Mental Problem

[Sylphie's Perspective]

【after a while】

Ariel went back to her room on the second floor first; my room is right next to hers.

After Aunt Lilia and the others recovered from their injuries, they went upstairs to rest. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when I finished arranging things and returned to my room...

After closing the door with my back against it, I barely had the strength to get to bed.

He simply squatted down with his back against the door and buried his face in his knees.

So tired...

I'm so tired...

I thought I could relax a little today...

And then this awful thing happened again, putting Aunt Lilia and the others in danger...

After I knocked Luke away, I was truly out of options.

But unfortunately, everyone else is unreliable, so I have no choice but to keep going.

Ariel cried...

I need to find an opportunity to comfort her...

I don't want to cry...

I'm not the crybaby I was as a child anymore...

Even though I grit my teeth, tears of grievance still keep welling up.

So right now all I want to do is squat down and hide my face.

But just then, very light footsteps were heard in the corridor.

Then they knocked on my door.

Ugh......

Is Ariel looking for trouble again...?

That pervert!

What a troublesome guy...

After taking another breath, I held it in my mouth for a while, then looked up at the sky, and the tears went back.

After calming myself down, I opened the door.

But what I saw was...

Aisha?

Why did she come here?

Never mind, I'll just ask.

"Hey~ cutie, what's up...?"

I had barely squatted down, and before I could even finish speaking, she reached out her short arms and lifted my head up...

"What are you doing?"

She didn't reply, but placed her little hand on my head and patted it for a while before whispering, "Sister Hilfi, are you tired?"

Seriously...

I didn't want to cry, but I couldn't help but shed little pearls...

Still in front of a child...

After picking her up in my arms, even without seeing her, I skillfully closed the door and, following my memory, carried her to the bed in one go...

"...How did you figure that out?"

"Because you and your dad looked very similar at that time..."

Has your older brother experienced something similar?

Of course I've experienced it...

After all, it's him...

Thinking about this, I unconsciously sniffed and smiled.

"What would your father do?"

"He would take Aisha out to play, tell lame jokes, tease others, grumble a bit, and then just sleep with Aisha in his arms..."

"That simple?"

"Hmm... He can endure any amount of loneliness as long as he can see a truly beautiful day... That's just how people are..."

What a beautiful day...

It feels like it's been a long time since I've experienced something like that since leaving Bouyena village...

"Then let me enjoy it too."

"That's what I mean~"

But she didn't say anything more. She just clung to me with her two little hands, like a kitten, quietly resting on my face.

My face was pressed against her chest, listening to her heartbeat.

I patted her back repeatedly for a long, long time.

"Sister, aren't you going to complain a bit?"

"That's so negative!"

"How about we talk about something happy?"

"I can't think of anything right now..."

We were quiet for a while.

Finally, she must have gotten tired of hugging me, because she rolled off my face and lay down next to my pillow.

"Then...can you tell me about your and your dad's childhood?"

"Things from my childhood... there are so many happy things... I don't even know where to begin..."

"Then tell me about some embarrassing things your dad did."

I stared at the top of the tent and suddenly burst out laughing.

Because it really reminded me of so many embarrassing things my older brother did...

"Don't just laugh to yourself, tell Guga too."

"Hmm... then let me tell you about the time he got beaten up."

"Tell me quickly, tell me quickly."

"I was about the same age as you back then."

In the village of Buena, there is a very, very big tree. That is where the three of us brothers swore brotherhood, and it is also where we practiced magic with our teacher, Mr. Loki.

When your father was a child, he always liked to slack off. After finishing Mr. Loki's class in the morning, he would skip Mr. Paul's swordsmanship class in the afternoon.

Then continue playing with us.

But saying he was playing with us is less accurate than saying he simply didn't want to practice swordsmanship.

He always lies motionless somewhere, fast asleep.

Rudy always liked to play pranks on him while he was sleeping, and he would beat Rudy up after being woken up.

The two boys were always bickering and fighting.

Then one day, he climbed up that tree and fell asleep in it.

Rudy and I devised a plan, using some simple magic tricks to build a ladder and climb up. We sat together on the tree branch and looked at the scenery in the distance.

That was the first time we had ever climbed that high.

later......

Your father was sleeping so soundly that he accidentally rolled over and fell out of the tree. He fell quite a mess, sprawled out on his back like a starfish.

"Hahaha~ Daddy fell down?"

"Yes, it startled us at the time, but he immediately forced himself to get up, dusted himself off, and said, 'I'm fine! That feels good!'"

"Is it that durable?"

"Yes, it seems like kids are more resilient to falls, and both he and I know healing magic tricks, so as long as he doesn't hit his head, it's not a big problem."

"And then?"

"Later, Rudy was very supportive, praising his brother as a real man!"

I joined Rudy in praising it too!

The older brother stood with his hands on his hips, thoroughly enjoying himself as Rudy coaxed him.

But after a while, he stared at Rudy and asked Rudy, "Are you a man?"

It was obvious they wanted Rudy to jump down too. Rudy's face turned extremely pale; he was clearly terrified.

The altitude was quite high at the time, and looking down made me a little scared.

But after a short while, Rudy gritted his teeth and said, "Of course I'm a man!"

Then he jumped!

His landing was quite funny; he landed on his feet first, probably trying to cushion the fall with his hands, but he couldn't hold on and fell forward, his face scraping against the grass, getting a mouthful of grass in his mouth.

"And what about you, sister?"

"Me... I'm the best..."

Let me explain in detail~

"At first I was the most scared, but they both just crossed their arms and looked at me without saying a word, just staring at me."

I was thinking, why don't I try jumping too?

After all, Rudy is younger than me, and it doesn't seem like anything serious has happened to him.

Just as I was getting ready, Rudy spoke to his older brother.

Forget it.

The third brother, after all, wasn't a real man; he wasn't a true man.

I was furious when I heard that!

How dare you underestimate me!

I don't want to be worse than those two guys!

They even want to be better than both of them!

So I didn't care about anything else, I just stood up and climbed two more floors!

Rudy and his older brother were both terrified by me!

"Watch out! Don't jump! Calm down!"

Ms. Luo Qixi, who was in the distance, noticed the commotion and quickly ran over!

I felt at the time that if I waited for Teacher Luo Qixi to come, I would miss my chance.

In my panic, I jumped right down!

"Sister, are you alright?"

"Of course something happened... I think I broke my leg back then... but I held back my tears and secretly used healing magic to heal my leg, then stood up with my arms crossed!"

Your dad and Rudy both praised me as a real man back then!

"Hahaha~~~ Sister Sylphie, you're such a man~~~"

Aisha next to me was laughing so hard her whole body was shaking...

I......

What did I say to Aisha...?

"No...don't tell anyone else! Or I'll beat you up!"

"...Don't worry...I'm already so smart that I'm practically a fool~"

Aisha forcibly suppressed her laughter and resumed her serious demeanor...

He seems quite clever, just like his older brother...

I patted the back of her head.

"Hmm... I believe you."

"And then what?"

It was the first time I had ever seen Mrs. Senis so angry; it terrified me.

So I cried too.

Later, when Mrs. Senis saw me crying, she beat them even harder.

"Hahaha~~~"

Thinking about this, I couldn't help but laugh.

"...But at the time...what I was worried about was that my dad would find out about this, and then he would stop letting me play with them anymore~~~"

Aisha and I laughed happily together.

As you laugh, some things just disappear along with the laughter.

It's like a stone pressing on your chest being shaken apart, turning into fine powder, and dissipating with your breath.

"Actually... after that, I wasn't so afraid of heights anymore. Those things that seem scary don't seem so scary after you've done them once..."

"So... that's why you dared to slap the princess in front of everyone, sister?"

"Well... it wasn't in public. She was surrounded by her own people, wasn't she? Ariel probably thought the same thing, which is why she cried..."

"You were so scary back then, sister..."

He killed the assassin with one hand, then crushed his head, leaving him covered in blood, before slapping the princess across the face...

"Sorry...did I scare you? Next time..."

"No! My sister was so cool! So manly!"

"Why are we bringing this up again... Can't you just leave your sister alone?"

"Isn't it because I think my sister is very brave?"

"Are you brave...?"

Mentioning this unconsciously brings back memories of what happened before...

"Actually... I later asked my older brother if he made me jump down for this reason."

To make me braver or something...

He stammered for a long time before saying that he hadn't actually thought that much about it at the time, and that he already knew I was very brave, so there was no need to lecture me like that.

He was terrified when I jumped down.

And then...

He added that, upon reflection, perhaps it would have been best for me to have refused them and gone down safely...

But wouldn't they look down on us if we did that?

"That's not right~"

"Hmm? Something's not right?"

"That's probably not what Dad meant."

"What...does that mean?"

"It's from some short stories in the books my father left behind, saying that you can't mistake recklessness for courage."

True courage lies in choosing to endure more for the sake of doing the right thing.

"Huh?"

I paused for a moment, then looked down at her.

Look at how bright her eyes are in the moonlight.

I suddenly feel a little sad...

"Do you... really know what that sentence means?"

"You probably... know..."

The short story my father wrote... is about how it doesn't matter if a person is misunderstood, considered a coward, or even hated, because he is doing the right thing.

So he probably hoped you would be brave enough to speak up back then.

He said he didn't want to do it, that it was dangerous and stupid, and that if he accidentally hit his head, he could really die.

You can refuse them without being afraid of being looked down upon by others.

Because I was the one who did the right thing...

Just like how I didn't care about losing face before, and dragged Norren into pretending to be dead...

She's so smart...

If only my older brother had explained all this to me back then!

Ariel too...

She probably knew the consequences of our actions from the start. She could have chosen to hide her true identity for a longer period, which might have given her a real chance to leave this mess...

But she still...

Even though she was scared... she's still a very brave person...

He rolled over, pulled Aisha closer, and gently rested his chin on the top of her head...

"Your father has raised you very well..."

"Of course."

Her voice was muffled, yet tinged with smugness.

We quieted down again.

Several torches outside had probably been extinguished by someone, and the wind made the tents sway gently.

I held her in my arms, as if I were holding a small, breathing fire.

Thinking of this rare bit of warmth in the darkness...

She's so smart...

So smart it's almost sad...

Because she's so smart, she was able to see how much I wanted to cry just now...

yes......

It seems like ever since I met Aisha, she's been trying all sorts of ways to make me happy...

Did you see through me all along?

"Sister Hilfi, you can continue to vent to me while we still have time~" she whispered, "Talk about those things that no one else can tell you. It will make you feel much better to talk about them. Once we leave, you won't have the chance anymore."

I ruffled her hair: "But some things are secrets, and you can't just tell others."

"Don't worry, I'm a master at playing dumb. I'll listen to you, and then I'll forget about it. I won't tell anyone."

I looked down at her.

She looked up at me with her little face, her expression both asking a question and already knowing the answer.

I sighed and turned my gaze back to the top of the tent.

The light shimmered gently on it, like a small, breathing sea.

That's great...

This feeling of having someone listen to your complaints and share your little secrets...

Was my older brother like that back then?

This really does give people renewed courage...

And Aisha is really smart, so I told her a little about what I've been going through lately, and vented a bit...

"What follows is a real secret~"

"Hmm~!"

"well......

Me and Ariel...

The first time I met her, I slapped her so hard she peed herself!

[The next chapter will be a retelling of Sylphie's story with Ariel, and then this part of the story will temporarily end.]

Their story will have to wait a long time before it continues.