"My Lord, I have an urgent report."
On August 20th, while Jin and Elsa were relaxing, Laojun sent an emergency transmission.
"Huh?! What is it? What happened?"
"...What's wrong?"
It was just before 11:00 AM. Still worn out from their recent schedule, Jin and Elsa had been dozing on the sofa.
"It appears that Berche is about to give birth."
"What?!"
"Really?"
The news woke Jin up instantly. Elsa sat up as well, her eyes wide.
"Isn't that about a week earlier than we expected?"
Apparently, such things were common with a first pregnancy.
The two of them scrambled to change their clothes and wash their faces.
"Give me the details," Jin said, addressing Laojun, who managed all their incoming information.
"Yes, My Lord. Contractions began at 5:00 AM on the 20th, local time in Kalts Village in the Shouro Empire."
"I remember Sally-sensei saying that for a first-time mother, it usually takes about half a day," Elsa added.
There was a time difference of about five and a half hours between Kalts Village and Hourai Island. Since it was currently 11:00 AM Hourai Island Time, it would be around 5:30 AM in Kalts Village.
"I'm going on ahead. You can take your time, Jin-nii."
"O-Okay."
As a healer, Elsa would be a great help. Using the Warp Gate, she immediately departed for Kalts Village.
"Now then, what can I do...?"
Even if Jin couldn't help with the delivery itself, he wondered if there was a way to provide support indirectly.
"Right, recovery medicine."
Jin decided to bring some of Hourai Island’s specially formulated recovery medicine and Persica juice.
"I might as well bring some fruit, too."
He began packing a basket with the various fruits grown on Hourai Island: Persica, apulul, citran, and ramon.
"Alright, I'm heading out."
Realizing that Reinhard was likely in a state of total panic, Jin took Reiko as his companion and made the jump to Kalts Village.
"Reinhard—"
"Jin! Berche is... Berche is...!!"
Jin arrived at the manor house and headed for the office, only to run right into Reinhard in the hallway.
"Calm down, Reinhard. Elsa's here, isn't she?"
"Y-Yeah. But, but still!"
The man was a nervous wreck. Since Jin himself had never been present for a birth, he wasn't entirely sure what to do either.
"Don't make so much noise, both of you."
Just then, Elsa appeared and scolded them.
"E-Elsa! How is she? How's Berche?!"
Reinhard didn't seem to have heard the request for quiet at all.
"...She's fine. The midwife is with her."
Naturally, the village midwife had been staying at the manor for several days to prepare for the big moment.
"The midwife says everything is proceeding normally."
"I-I see."
Reinhard finally seemed to lose some of the frantic tension in his shoulders. Elsa then noticed the basket of fruit held by Reiko, who was standing behind Jin.
"The contractions are coming at regular intervals, but she's resting for now. I'd like to give her some Persica juice if we have it."
"Yeah, I brought plenty."
Reiko was carrying the supply in a pack on her back.
"Perfect. Let me have one bottle."
"Sure, here."
Elsa took the Persica juice and hurried back down the hallway.
"Reinhard, where is Berche staying?"
"O-Oh. We renovated a guest room, she's in there..."
"I see."
Jin took the still-restless Reinhard by the arm and somewhat forcefully dragged him into the office.
"Look, you need to settle down."
"It's easy for you to say, Jin. It's not your wife going through this..."
Reinhard protested, but Jin paid him no mind.
"We've had a string of babies born in Kaina Village recently, and Elsa helped out with those. You can leave things to her with total peace of mind."
"..."
"Here, drink this. I bet you haven't eaten a thing since this morning, have you?"
Jin handed him a bottle of Persica juice. Then, he took out an apulul and began peeling it for him.
"...Phew."
After drinking the juice and eating the fruit, Reinhard finally seemed to regain his composure.
"Hunger makes people irritable, after all."
Realizing that he hadn't had lunch either, Jin polished off an apulul of his own.
"Come to think of it, Elsa probably hasn't eaten yet either."
Deciding it would be best to prepare some light snacks that were easy to eat, Jin headed for the kitchen with Reiko. The idle Reinhard followed close behind.
"I'll make some rice balls."
Since Reinhard and his household also ate rice as a staple food, they had plenty of supplies. Jin had even gifted them the iron pot used for cooking it.
"Reiko, please get the stove ready."
"Yes, Father."
Jin began washing the rice. After three rinses, he had Reiko check the water level just to be sure. Then, he placed it on the stove and lit the fire. He left the management of the flames to Reiko; it would be cooked in no time.
In the meantime, Jin decided to make something else to snack on.
"Oh, we have some bread crusts."
Finding some crusts that were starting to go stale, Jin decided to make rusks. He put unsalted butter in a frying pan and heated it. Once it melted, he added sugar, followed by the bread crusts. He carefully tossed them to coat them in the mixture, making sure they didn't burn.
"Oh, that smells incredible."
The scent of butter and sugar made Reinhard's nose twitch.
"Here, try some."
Jin picked one up and popped it into his mouth. It had a perfect, crispy finish.
"Yeah, not bad at all."
Seeing that, Reinhard reached for a rusk as well.
"This is delicious!"
Clearly, a single apulul hadn't been enough to satisfy his hunger. Reinhard ended up devouring more than half of the plate.
"Ah, I finally feel human again. Thanks, Jin."
"Haha, I'm just glad you like them."
Seeing that Reinhard had finally recovered his senses, Jin felt a deep sense of relief.