"In terms of gold coin value, it should indeed be enough for you to live on. How did you still—"
"Well..." The girl paused in her speech, then spoke to Gut with considerable pride.
"When I first arrived in the Holy Capital, I encountered a mother in very pitiful circumstances on the street. Her child was seriously ill, lying helplessly on his mother's lap."
"The child's mother told me they needed to raise a large sum of money to go to the Cathedral and ask professional priests for help. I felt sorry for her, so..."
"So you gave her all the money you had, without leaving yourself anything?"
The girl smiled embarrassedly. Though she didn't say it outright, that was clearly what she meant.
"..."
Gut sighed. There were so many issues with this story, he didn't know where to start.
"Didn't you think about how you'd live these few days after donating all your money?"
"Of course I thought about it. I'm not stupid." The girl pouted in defense.
"Before I decided to donate all my gold coins, I had already reached an agreement with that mother."
"She would be responsible for all my food and lodging for these few days."
"This way, I could help them to the maximum extent while also leaving my family to experience the real life of Holy Capital commoners firsthand."
"And I really did help them! Those two gold coins were exactly what they needed. That mother was so excited she told me to wait there, and after she took her child to the Cathedral to find a priest for treatment, she'd come back to take me home."
"She even said she'd make Holy Capital specialty food for me in the evening."
Gut: ...
"They kept you waiting long, didn't they?"
"Yes." The girl sighed. "I waited there for a whole day and night but never saw that mother again. Do you think she might have gotten lost?"
"A local getting lost at her local 'workplace'?"
"That's quite a challenge. I admit it's interesting."
Gut's undisguised words shattered the girl's naivety. The girl's intelligence wasn't lacking, and after being prompted, she realized.
"You mean they were pretending to deceive passersby?"
"What else? During the time you were waiting, they probably already ran to other cities."
Gut shrugged. "Moreover, as far as I know, priests at the Cathedral mostly don't actively charge fees when treating commoners."
"How much to pay depends entirely on the patient's ability and sincerity. Even if they're really strapped for cash, a heartfelt word of thanks is acceptable."
"Oh, right." Gut suddenly thought of something and continued supplementing.
"Actually, priests don't treat all patients this way."
"When treating noble lords, priests do actively charge hefty medical fees."
"I heard that Bishop Heiter at the Cathedral is quite ruthless about this."
"Every time he goes to the Royal Capital to treat noble lords, it's at least several gold coins in expensive medical fees."
"Please stop, sir! Please don't say any more!"
The girl covered her face with her hands. Obviously, their family had paid these "expensive" medical fees, and probably more than once.
This had given the girl the stereotypical impression that priests at the Cathedral all charged very expensive fees.
So it was only when treating nobles that priests charged high fees.
The girl, realizing she had been deceived by that mother and child, felt somewhat downcast.
She silently attacked the delicious food in front of her, channeling grief and anger into appetite.
"What are your plans afterward? Will you continue staying in the Holy Capital for a while, or go home?"
"Do you need me to call a carriage home for you?"
Seeing the girl's pitiful appearance, Gut decided to be a good Samaritan to the end and not let this child wander the streets anymore.
"Thank you for your kindness and care. I won't forget this debt of gratitude."
The girl didn't directly answer Gut's question, but first pulled out a family crest with her name engraved on it from her pocket and handed it to Gut.
"This is my token. Please accept it."
"When you reach the Royal Capital in the future, you can use this to find the Schön Family for any needs or troubles."
After expressing her gratitude, the girl then answered Gut's question.
"As for my subsequent arrangements, I plan to stay with relatives in the Holy Capital."
"It's just a pity that this way, I'll probably only be able to see my brother once before being sent back home."
"Sigh~ I really don't want to go back to that boring place."
Hearing that the girl had relatives in the Holy Capital to rely on, Gut felt relieved.
Noble relatives were probably also nobles.
But Gut didn't understand one thing. "Since you have somewhere to stay in the Holy Capital, why didn't you go there when you were wandering the streets and starving?"
"Um..."
"Because... when I had that idea, I was already too hungry to walk."
Gut: ...
"..."
"There's a reason your family doesn't let you go out."
The girl embarrassedly touched her head without arguing.
"Since your brother is participating in the Mage Examination, why don't you just wait for him at the Continental Magic Association these days?"
"After your brother finishes the examination, you can reunite with him directly."
"Eh? Is that allowed?" The noble girl's tone was somewhat anxious. "But I heard that Great Mage Serie doesn't have a very good temper."
"At the Äußerst examination site in the Northern Nations, I heard there was an older mage candidate who, after being interviewed by her, was so frightened that he became dazed and needed help even to walk out."
Gut: ...
"Why do you believe such rumors? They distort people's characters."
"That candidate's disappointment was his personal issue. Teacher Serie is actually quite nice."
Gut defended his teacher while marveling at how well-developed the noble information network was.
This rumor had originally spread from his own mouth, and now it had already crossed nations and reached their ears.
The attention these Royal Capital nobles paid to his teacher was evident.
"Wait a moment, sir." The noble girl suddenly realized. "What did you mean by Teacher Serie just now? Aren't you supposed to be a priest from the Cathedral?"
"I never admitted to that."
Gut shrugged. "To be a priest, you have to remain single for life."
"But I have someone I love. I spend all day with her and never get tired of it. I can't wait to break through obstacles and be at negative distance with her."
"Someone like me can't become a priest."
Gut's mention of "negative distance" made the girl blush with embarrassment. She continued asking with a red face:
"So you really are Great Mage Serie's disciple?"
"Of course." Gut confirmed. "That mage you mentioned earlier who was frightened into walking unsteadily - I was the one who helped him walk out."
"Then you're Serie's current chief disciple, Mage Gut?"
Hearing the girl accurately call out his name, Gut looked at her meaningfully and said:
"It seems the noble lords are quite concerned about me and teacher. The level of attention is higher than I thought."
"Hehe." The girl stuck out her pink tongue, her eyes crinkling as she tried to act cute to get away with it.
Gut naturally knew these matters weren't the girl's intention, so he didn't continue making things difficult for her. He switched topics to chat about everyday matters.
Since she had already revealed her noble status, the girl simply stopped hiding. During casual conversation, she formally introduced her full name Sola Schön to Gut and the others, along with some interesting family stories.
However, Sola's brother seemed to hold a special place in her heart. In describing family matters, she would unknowingly drift away from the original narrative and shift to talking about her brother.
To help Gut and the others understand better, the girl even specifically introduced her brother and some past events between the siblings.
Sola's brother was named Hafka Schön, a young mage quite famous even in the Royal Capital, skilled in Andrel-style barrier magic based on irreversible principles.
The siblings were half-siblings with the same father but different mothers. Unfortunately, their parents encountered magical beast attacks during a trip and all died when the children were still very young.
Fortunately, although their father was also a family heir, he wasn't the eldest son. And the previous old patriarch - the siblings' grandfather - was still alive.
To prevent the young siblings from being bullied in the family due to their parents' deaths, the old patriarch decisively sent both siblings to live in the ancestral home in the countryside. He arranged for several trusted teachers to set up schools in the countryside to cultivate the siblings, until they both came of age and could return to inherit their parents' legacy.
Perhaps because they had always lived together since childhood, the girl was very attached to her brother. After being separated for so long this time, she thought of secretly running away from home to reunite with her brother Hafka in the Holy Capital.
After hearing the girl's account, Gut's mouth twitched uncontrollably twice.
What kind of Yosuga no Sora background story was this? These two siblings wouldn't really have some kind of problem, would they?
"Wow!"
Zenn beside them obviously didn't have Gut's dirty thoughts and just let out a quiet exclamation of envy.
As another child whose parents died early, Zenn fantasized in his heart about how nice it would be if he also had such a brother or sister to accompany him.
Gut noticed his junior's quiet sigh and looked toward the child.
He was surprised to find that he was only "struggling" with the rice soup in front of him, while the sumptuous seafood rice with extra ingredients remained completely untouched.
Gut initially thought this socially anxious boy was too embarrassed to serve the food into his own bowl, so he actively picked up the serving spoon, first filled a full bowl for himself, then naturally looked at him and asked if Zenn wanted some too.
"Ah?!"
This time, faced with his senior's kindness, Zenn clearly hesitated for a long time.
But finally he gritted his teeth and nodded, saying with difficulty, "Just a little bit is fine."
Gut initially thought this was his junior's shyness and wanted to serve him a full large bowl.
But looking at his expression, it didn't seem quite like that. In the end, Gut still followed his junior's request and served only a very small amount.
"Thank you."
A flash of relief appeared in Zenn's eyes. After sincerely thanking Gut, he silently swallowed his saliva.
Then his gaze became determined, and with a look of facing death fearlessly, he faced the small portion of seafood rice in front of him, scooped up a spoonful of seafood and swallowed it directly.
On the other side, Gut was busy eating melons about the girl Sola and her brother, indirectly inquiring whether the girl had developed inappropriate feelings for her brother. He somewhat neglected his junior Zenn's condition and didn't notice the suppressed difficulty in his expression.
"I say, Mr. Gut, isn't it a bit inappropriate to ask a girl about emotional matters like this?"
"And I'm just rather attached to my brother. How could I possibly have those kinds of feelings!"
The girl was just rather naive due to living carefree with her brother in the countryside ancestral home for so long.
But naive didn't mean stupid. Although each of Gut's questions was quite tactful, under such frequent questioning, the girl Sola still heard what Gut really wanted to ask, so she retorted somewhat irritably.
"Haha." After hearing the answer he wanted from Sola, Gut scratched his head and laughed apologetically at the girl twice.
"Ah-choo—"
Suddenly, junior Zenn sneezed loudly. Gut looked over, intending to ask a few concerned questions, but inadvertently saw red spots appearing on his arm.
This looked somewhat like the rash that appears after allergic reactions?
Gut's heart sank as he had a vague suspicion.
"Zenn, you're not allergic to seafood, are you?"
"Mm." The socially anxious boy responded as quietly as a mosquito, then put down the bowl containing seafood rice as if relieved.
"..."
Gut didn't know what to say. Was his social anxiety so severe that he'd rather eat food he was allergic to than speak up to refuse?
This guy, Zenn...
Pulling the iron plate containing seafood rice away from his junior, Gut picked up the restaurant menu to look through it.
"You're not allergic to beef and mutton, right? Answer me honestly."
"Mm." Zenn nodded apologetically, seeming sorry for affecting the meal.
While calling over the server to order meat sauce noodles without seafood for Zenn, Gut sighed inwardly that his junior was beyond ordinary social anxiety. Training this junior would require heavy measures.
Taking advantage of the server bringing the food, Gut picked up the somewhat dirty Spell book and used Healing Magic to make junior Zenn feel better.
As the itchy red spots on his arm gradually faded and his nose stopped occasionally running, the consequences of eating seafood completely disappeared from his junior.
The restaurant server also timely brought the meat sauce noodles at this moment, without the mix-up that happened with the iron plate rice.
After putting away the Spell book, Gut leaned back in his chair watching his junior and the girl enjoying their food, feeling exhausted.
He had no more appetite for eating, so he simply opened the system interface to claim the Good Deed of the Day task reward he had obtained from Sola earlier.
[Random reward drawing in progress]
[Drawing complete]
[Congratulations host on obtaining reward: Kirin Flying Talent Experience Card (Seven Minutes) X1]
"Whose talent?!!!"
Gut slapped the table and chairs, standing up excitedly.
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Powerstones?
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