The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella-Chapter 118

A farmer?

Of course, that’s a highly skilled worker.

But a strong farmer who learned the sword late in life yet had enough potential to earn knighthood?

That’s rare.

Needless to say, it’s the best kind.

Besides, even if he lost his memories, the traces of harsh training should still remain in his body.

Elodie smiled with satisfaction and gave the farmer a hearty pat on the back.

“I can’t make sense of this. Where is my pickaxe? Why am I wearing this strange armor with bizarre patterns? No, wait, I even have a sword at my waist!”

“Right? No matter how you look at it, it’s strange. Let’s go get you changed. I’ll issue you new farming tools.”

“Ah, yes.”

Still bewildered, he unfastened the sword from his waist, only to find that he could easily lift the sheathed weapon with just one hand. His expression grew more puzzled.

“Was I always this strong?”

“Yeah, you were always strong.”

“Not this much. Somehow, my muscles seem ridiculously developed too.”

“Really? Doesn’t a farmer naturally gain that much muscle?”

“No matter how much, this familiar weight of the sword... But wait, who are you?”

“The landowner.”

“I’ll work diligently!”

Elodie beamed as she naturally guided the serf—no, the holy knight.

He was the best worker she had recruited today.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

Her heart pounded.

Time was limited, and the number of people capable of lifting curses was also limited.

Yet, rebuilding the Holy Kingdom couldn’t wait even a single day.

“Craftsmen... Of course, they’re good.”

But if possible, it was more efficient to recruit strong craftsmen.

So, what she needed was—

"Selection and focus."

Eventually, she would lift everyone's curses, but the order mattered.

Depending on whose curse she lifted first, she could either strike gold or go completely broke.

She had never gambled before, nor did she intend to, but...

Maybe this was what it felt like.

“I guess ten people a day is my limit.”

As the child muttered to herself, Sera, who had just finished lifting today’s share of curses and was catching her breath, added,

“If you hadn’t lifted the holy knight’s curse, you might have managed fifteen.”

“Ah.”

So lifting a holy knight’s curse consumed energy equivalent to several people. That had to be taken into account.

Elodie glanced around at the other holy knights with a hopeful gaze.

Even if they took as much energy as five people, they were still worth it as workers...

“Wasn’t there a holy knight who used to be a carpenter?”

The knights turned pale as they looked at their comrade, who had been turned into a serf. Then, in an instant, they broke ranks and scattered.

“Tch.”

So it really was hopeless.

The serf had willingly begged for it, so that was fine. But forcing it on the other holy knights was out of the question.

The side effects were too severe.

There was no choice but to wait until Sera became more proficient at lifting curses and found a way to reduce the backlash.

In that case...

Elodie turned her gaze toward Karon.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The boy was standing with his arms crossed, leaning against the plaza’s clock tower—which was about his height—with a curious expression.

“Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen anyone as strong as Karon.”

A promising worker.

Elodie swallowed the rest of her words and sidled up to him, beginning to weave a few sweet words.

Even before she had a chance to properly examine his body, she had already noticed—his physical abilities had long surpassed the limits of beastfolk.

It wasn’t something that could be attributed to racial traits.

If all Basilisks were like him, then the entire beastfolk world would be under their rule.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that for humans, there’s Valkyrisen, and for beastfolk, there’s Karon.”

No, considering his near-immunity to all poisons except his own, Karon might even be superior in terms of pure physicality...

“Is that so?”

“Mhm! So—”

“It must be the traces of my time as an experiment.”

“......”

Silence.

He said it so casually that it made her, the listener, feel guilty instead.

When Elodie fell silent, the boy casually poked her cheek with his finger and spoke in an easygoing tone.

“You don’t need to make that face.”

“......”

“If I’d been born normal, I wouldn’t have become this strong. So now, I think it turned out for the best.”

What’s so fortunate about that?

Even if it meant being weak, it would have been better never to experience that kind of suffering.

But, well.

If he didn’t mind, then treating him as a victim just because she felt bad for him would be disrespectful.

“...Yeah, got it. That’s just part of what makes you Karon.”

Elodie smoothed out her expression as she answered.

For a moment, Karon’s face showed a flicker of surprise. Then, slowly, a faint, watercolor-like smile spread across his lips.

“Do you need me?”

“Well...”

“That’s a relief. I don’t have to go out of my way to find a use for myself.”

Huh?

He planned to stick around, even if it meant forcing himself to be useful?

Hey, that’s kind of...

‘Well, not like he can stay far away from me anyway.’

He was a patient.

Not that anyone would ever guess by looking at him.

To maintain his current state, he had to regularly absorb poison and then have it reinfused into him.

As long as the timing was precise, there was no problem. But if he ever missed even a moment, he wouldn’t even be standing here, having a casual conversation.

Instead, he’d wake up alone in a wasteland where every living thing had perished.

Just imagining it was a nightmare.

‘Now I feel guilty...’

The moment Karon left her side, he was no different from a terminal patient—never knowing when death might claim him.

At least until he became completely immune to all poisons.

Though considering the fact that he also devastated his surroundings, he was probably closer to an explosive device than a patient.

‘So I was planning to put a terminally ill patient to work?’

It was just that he looked completely fine.

“You don’t have to make yourself useful or anything. You’re my patient, Karon, and I’m going to take responsibility for you until you’re immune to all poisons.”

There was no need to cling to her so desperately.

It would still be a long time before he reached full immunity.

His resistance wasn’t stable yet.

And Long-Long, for all its habit of shoving ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) people away, was also ridiculously sensitive to loneliness...

She had no choice but to take him along.

“Mm, that’s reassuring.”

Karon responded with a soft smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes.

“If you need anything, just say the word. If you want, I can erase anything without a trace.”

“...Wait, what? We’re rebuilding, so destruction would be a problem.”

That statement sounded like something straight out of mythology, the kind of thing that would be recorded as the divine beast of a god of destruction.

“I’ll have to get permission from my father first.”

“I’m coming too.”

Just then, Sera cut in.

She had finished lifting today’s share of curses, so there was no reason for her to linger here any longer.

Besides, it was getting late.

Elodie turned to the remaining harvest mice.

“Any harvest mice who want to come to the Holy Kingdom, find me by tomorrow. There’ll be labor involved, but the upside is that you’ll get to become human first.”

“Squeak! (Yes!)”

With Sera on her left and Karon on her right, Elodie headed toward the Grand Temple.

Or at least, she was about to.

Suddenly, she was yanked to the left.

Sera had pulled her close and wrapped her arms around her.

What was this?

Elodie was bewildered but didn’t resist. Instead, she clung to Sera’s waist.

“Elodie, do you really have to bring him along? Do you know how uneasy the harvest mice will be if they find out he’s a snake?”

Sera gestured to Karon, who was calmly walking beside them.

That wasn’t really a problem, was it?

They’d all become human eventually if they followed her anyway.

As Elodie tilted her head in confusion, Karon smoothly responded to Sera’s unspoken complaint.

“I’ll be careful, sister.”

“...S-sister?”

Sera opened and closed her mouth for a moment before suddenly exploding.

“Who the hell is your sister?!”

Whoa.

Elodie’s eyes widened as she clutched her wildly beating heart.

It was one thing to feel uncomfortable being called something so familiar by a near-stranger, but why was she this furious?

‘And what’s with you, Karon?’

Since when had he developed some kind of emotional closeness to Sera?

Elodie turned to look at him.

Karon was smiling—politely, like a store clerk dealing with a customer.

What the hell was that? That completely insincere, businesslike smile?

What exactly was he trying to sell here?

‘This isn’t how I imagined their reunion.’

Cinderella, finally free from the prince, carving out her own path in life.

The fairy godmother who had saved her from the abyss before the Basilisk family could use her to commit an unforgivable sin.

Even if they were distant now, Elodie had figured they would eventually grow closer.

She had imagined a spring day when they’d sit together, laughing and chatting warmly.

The air in Animallia was certainly soft and warm, just like spring.

And they were walking in the spring breeze.

And they were laughing.

And their words sounded gentle.

But—

My romantic fantasy...