My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession-Chapter 64Vol 2. .1

While Aquila was still reeling from the shock of whatever had happened while he was away in the capital, Salvia began speaking in a clear, firm voice.

"Greetings, everyone. My name is Salvia, and I have just been appointed as the new Chief Commissioner of Education. People of the North, for too long, our education has been neglected. While the children of the capital receive the finest education and grow into outstanding talents, our children have been left behind simply because of their distance from the city."

"Ooooh!"

"She's right!"

Salvia’s powerful speech quickly drew an enthusiastic response from the crowd.

Aquila felt as though he were dreaming, watching Salvia suddenly stand before a crowd and deliver a speech, but for now, he decided to focus on what she was saying.

"Do you know what is most essential for strengthening our town? It’s education!"

She raised her voice passionately.

"In order for the Northern Alliance to prosper, we must foster great talents through education. That is why I am implementing a mandatory education system for our children. Every child will receive basic education—compulsorily and free of charge!"

"Mandatory education?!"

As the crowd responded with excitement, Salvia continued with firm conviction.

"And here is how I will implement this education!"

A large poster with bold writing was lifted onto the stage. The moment Aquila read its contents, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

"First, school hours will be extended until late afternoon so that parents no longer have to worry about childcare. Additionally, we will introduce nighttime self-study programs to increase the amount of time children can dedicate to their studies."

"Ooooh, the kids will be at school all day!"

"What a brilliant idea!"

"Uh, Mom? This doesn't sound great...."

"Be quiet! This is all for your own good!"

"Furthermore, standardized tests will be administered four times a year across all schools. This will allow parents to measure their child’s academic standing compared to the rest of the autonomous city."

"Standardized tests? Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?"

"Four tests a year? Mom, I don’t want to!"

"Quiet! This is an excellent policy...."

Salvia’s speech continued, and with every new policy she introduced, the children's faces grew paler while the parents nodded approvingly.

"What an exceptional Chief Commissioner of Education!"

"The children's academic achievements are bound to improve!"

"Keeping the kids locked up in school all day? Life just got easier!"

Before long, the crowd was chanting her name.

"Salvia! Salvia! Salvia!"

And in the middle of it all, Aquila let out a deep sigh and ran a hand over his face.

"Salvia... what the hell have you been up to while I was gone...."

Of course, he was pleased that his Salvia had ascended to such a high-ranking position, but as always, she was impossible to predict.

Still, a grin tugged at Aquila’s lips.

Salvia always managed to find something to do, no matter where she was, and she never stopped growing.

And he couldn’t be prouder of her.

***

After Aquila returned, I filled him in on everything that had happened.

He looked completely dumbfounded that I had taken up a position in the education department over something so trivial, but in the end, he congratulated me.

"So now I’ll be going to work every day. I’m finally not unemployed anymore."

"That’s great. Congrats...."

And then Aquila suddenly shut his mouth and made a strange expression.

"Wait. Does that mean I’m unemployed now?"

"...We worked so hard for the revolution. A little unemployment is fine."

"Hmm...."

Still, it was obvious that the thought of being unemployed was bothering him.

That’s right. In many romance fantasy novels, both the male lead and the female lead were unemployed nobles. But we were the protagonists of a proletariat romance fantasy.

Which meant that not working actually felt more awkward for us. We had ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) to make money to survive, one way or another.

For now, we set Aquila’s job situation aside and moved on to discussing our wedding date.

"How about next month?"

"Yeah, we don’t have that much to prepare. Let’s set it for this day."

Once we settled on a date, it was time to make the wedding invitations.

Of course, this world didn’t have the kind of highly developed late-stage capitalist wedding industries where you could just hire an invitation service.

So we had to make each invitation by hand. Seriously, wasn’t this the kind of thing that noblewomen were supposed to have their servants handle?

But since I was already used to my proletarian life, I kept my mouth shut and mechanically crafted the invitations.

And a little while later....

"All done!"

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Feeling satisfied, I looked down at the stack of wedding invitations we had completed. Now that they were finished, there was only one thing left to do.

"Let’s go deliver them!"

It was finally time to hand out the invitations we had worked so hard on.

***

As soon as we started walking around the town with our stack of wedding invitations, we spotted Altair and Yuri engaged in a serious discussion.

"No, I’m telling you, your attitude is the problem."

"What problem? I was just being honest about my feelings."

"I have no interest in drinking with you. Then why didn’t you invite Winter?"

"Altair! Yuri!"

"Ahem."

The moment they noticed us, they both snapped their mouths shut as if they had never been speaking in the first place. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, looking between them.

"What were you two talking about?"

"Nothing, ahem...."

"We were merely discussing the future of this autonomous city."

"Uh-huh...."

It was suspicious no matter how you looked at it, but I decided to let it slide. Well, this was a romance fantasy world—of course, people were bound to have some romantic drama.

"Salvia, what brings you here?"

"Oh, I have something to deliver."

I carefully pulled out two pieces of paper from my pocket.

"I wanted to give you these."

"This is... oh!"

"Aah!"

Their eyes widened as they took the invitations.

"You two are finally having your wedding!"

"I thought they were already married."

"Surprisingly, they weren’t."

...Though I got the feeling their surprise was over something else entirely.

As they curiously examined the invitations, they soon started talking amongst themselves again.

"We should head to Winter’s place and have a drink to celebrate."

"Yeah, that poor guy. I should show off the bomb shot technique I learned from Salvia last time."

"Good idea. Let’s drink till we drop."

And with that, the two of them disappeared with determined expressions. Probably heading to Winter’s place.

I stared blankly at the spot they had just vacated. Well, I supposed it was good that Winter had friends like them....

"Hmm.... Anyway, let’s move on to the next person."

"Yeah."

Aquila looked far too pleased with himself.

And since I knew exactly why he was making that ridiculous face, I couldn’t help but laugh a little. With that, we moved on to the next stop.

Along the way, we encountered all kinds of different reactions. For example....

"Benny, I have a favor to ask—"

"Aah! I did it! Father, I finally did it!"

"B-Benny? Calm down...."

"My eight-year-long dream has come true! I will play the piano accompaniment!!"

"Uh, yeah, that’s what I was going to ask you to do... Thanks...."

The moment she received the invitation, Benny leaped into the air, ecstatic.

Or—

"It’s been a while, Luna."

"S-Salvia?"

Luna, whom I met again in the autonomous city, stared at the invitation in utter disbelief.

"Salvia is getting married...?"

"What? You got a problem with that?"

"No, I just feel bad for your spouse... Oh."

As soon as she spotted Aquila, Luna’s expression changed to one of understanding.

"Ah, I see. If it’s that guy, then it makes sense. He seems just as crazy as you."

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, I’ll see you at the wedding!"

Even though her reaction was a little unsettling, Luna also agreed to attend the wedding.

Then there was—

"Wow! If you’re getting married, does that mean you’ll be wearing a wedding dress, Salvia?"

"Yeah."

"Wow! I’ve never seen a wedding dress before! This is so exciting!"

"...That’s what you’re excited about?"

Karon was just thrilled about the idea of seeing me in a wedding dress. Even after all my efforts to raise him well, I still couldn’t understand how his mind worked.

Then—

"Winter, here’s your invitation—"

"...I should invite my parents too."

Winter, who looked oddly conflicted as he held the invitation.

And—

"Ishina! Here’s your invitation—!"

"Salvia...."

"...Ishina, are you crying right now?"

"No, I just... I suddenly feel strange. Ah, this is ridiculous... After all the effort I put into raising you, you’re just going to be taken away by someone else...."

"I-Ishina?"

"Aquila, you damn thief...."

Ishina even wiped away tears as he clutched the invitation.

As I watched him with an awkward smile, someone suddenly burst through the door of his house.

"Salvia! Salvia!"

An all-too-familiar face I hadn’t seen in a while—Dalin.

"Dalin? How did you know I was here...? Oh, right, I was planning to give you an invitation too."

"An invitation? Wow! That sounds—wait, no! Salvia, this isn’t the time for that! Something big has happened!"

"What? Something big?"

Dalin rarely looked so serious. Judging by her urgent expression and tone, something had to be seriously wrong.

I turned to her sharply, and she immediately dropped the bombshell.

"The Imperial Army is invading the autonomous city!"