Book 4: Chapter 48
The orphanage returned to normal operations like nothing happened. If I didn’t see some slightly older kids struggling to take the rubbish out, I might’ve thought they didn’t suffer anything in the whole mess. They didn’t need to go through it.
“Your majesty, thank you so much this time. Not only did you save us, you have given us so much money as well. We are really moved by what you have done. We cannot pay you back.”
It was just as I said. His office was old and rundown as ever. Even though he had thirty-thousand gold coins, he didn’t repair his office. While I admire that spirit, I feel like I’m about to fall through the floor I’m standing on at any moment right now. It’s not too much to spend some of it on fixing the floor, is it?
I looked outside the window. Nier and the children were cleaning the orphanage, a sight which put a smile to my face. I said: “You don’t have to thank me. The credit is all Nier’s. I promised the church that I wouldn’t get involved with this matter, so the credit belongs to Nier alone. At most, I was just an onlooker from the sidelines.”
He looked at me with a smile. He understood what was going on, or rather, he could tell just by looking at this orphanage. I don’t intend to take credit for this because I’m satisfied if Nier and the children are happy. I really like Nier’s smile because her smile is rarer than the sun in winter.
“But I still have to thank you regardless. You are the one who saved us. To be honest, I already gave in at the start. I thought that you had already abandoned us, but you came for us.”
“You really need to thank Nier for that.” I turned around and earnestly explained, “To be honest, this had nothing to do with you to begin with. It was a personal grudge between the church and I. But they went and made you their bargaining chip. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t actually care about your lives because your lives serve no purpose to me. It was because Nier wanted to save you that I saved you. So if you must thank someone, you must thank Nier, not me. It’s actually because of my personal grudge with the church that caused you all to be captured, so I should be apologising to you.”
He nodded and replied: “You are Nier’s master, so thanking you is the same as thanking Nier.”
I looked at him and suggested: “No, I am not Nier’s master. You should say that Nier is just guarding me, that’s all. Thus, if you want to thank someone, you should personally thank Nier. You must. Of course, I don’t think that Nier actually wants your thanks. How about letting the children thank Nier?”