Chapter 123 : Chapter 123
Chapter 123
The House of Count Astria and the Delfino Merchant Company were said to share a bond that could not be severed. Their blood might not be mixed, but I had heard that their relationship ran deeper than blood.
While staying in the Royal Capital, I had received a rough report on the situation from Eluna.
But the information had been so brief that there was no way to tell whether the “main course” the master of the Delfino Merchant Company had spoken of would turn out to be war, or something else entirely.
So I had no choice but to ask again.
“Surely war won’t break out?”
“It won’t come to that so easily. They probably heard that the Young Lady had gone to the Royal Capital and decided to put on a bit of a show.”
“What ridiculous people. They were the ones who acted lukewarm first, and now they’re trying to threaten us? That’s the sort of thing only petty men would do. Aren’t they ashamed to sit in the seat of a count of the kingdom?”
I said it on purpose, then lowered my head a beat later, as though I had only just realized what I had done.
“My apologies. My words were too harsh.”
“No. You just said exactly what I wanted to say. That felt refreshing.”
It seemed the baronetcy was not such a bad thing after all. I was still a Butler, of course, but I was also minor nobility now, so making political remarks like that did not seem to be much of a problem.
I ought to voice my opinions more often from now on.
“So how is our house responding?”
“Commander Varian personally led the elite troops to the border. The other side won’t be able to provoke us any further now. He’s a veteran commander who has never known defeat.”
“Won’t moving troops only create misunderstandings?”
“Our master’s thinking is that there is no reason we should refrain from training just because they are doing it.”
That was true enough. In truth, doing nothing at all would have been best, but a great house could not simply refrain from moving its forces.
If the enemy stood near the border waving weapons around and provoking us, and we did nothing, then people would only call us incompetent.
My thoughts began spinning at full speed.
Countless possibilities flashed through my mind.
If war broke out just as the company was about to expand in earnest, everything would be ruined. This place needed to remain peaceful at least until we established branches in each territory and secured a foothold in the Royal Capital.
“Has trade with them been cut off completely too?”
“Not yet. Trade volume has fallen a little, but I’ve heard that they still aren’t blocking merchants from coming and going, nor are they imposing absurd taxes.”
“That’s a relief, at least.”
“What strikes me as odd, rather.”
Yanrof tilted his head as he said it. His expression suggested that even he found it difficult to make sense of the matter.
“The trade volume on the Delfino Merchant Company’s side has actually increased. If the point is to create tension, then the volume of trade from the Delfino Merchant Company, which represents the count’s house, ought to decrease. But the fact that it’s increased instead makes it all the stranger, doesn’t it?”
“That certainly is strange. There’s a chance they’re scheming something.”
“That’s why the higher-ups seem to be investigating it in various ways. Still, from experience, it probably won’t amount to much, so don’t concern yourself. Think of it as nothing more than a cold. People in this line of work get along well, then turn on each other in an instant, then laugh and drink together again as though nothing happened. We just have to focus on our own work.”
“Perhaps it’s because I’m a retainer now, but I find myself paying more attention to the affairs of the house.”
“Your loyalty really is remarkable.”
I dipped my head slightly in modesty.
“In any case, I hope it passes without incident.”
“You’ve barely even recovered from the fatigue of the journey, and yet I’ve greeted you with unpleasant news the moment you arrived. Still, what needs to be asked must be asked. Is the Young Lady well?”
“Yes. She is living well without any particular troubles.”
“Brituang praised you to an astonishing degree. I never imagined he would pack so much into a Messenger Pigeon.”
“I can only be grateful that he thinks well of me. I’m learning a great deal from him. He’s an extremely knowledgeable man.”
Nodding, Yanrof took something from a drawer. It was a document of luxurious, silk-like material, placed inside a wooden box, and he handed it to me.
“This is the document proving that you are a retainer who has been granted a fief. It’s a formal document, in a sense, but keep it safe.”
“Thank you. By the way, how large is the Tordan Region?”
“You shouldn’t expect too much.”
“It isn’t expectation. I’m simply asking because I’m curious.”
Yanrof smiled as though watching a grandson with some amusing trick, then began to explain.
“The Tordan Region is a small area about two days west of Adelaina. It’s full of mountain ranges, so the terrain is rough, and there are frequent monster attacks as well. The land isn’t particularly fertile either. So there is only a single village there. For exact details you’d have to ask the Administrative Officer, but as far as I know, the population doesn’t even reach one hundred.”
“I see.”
I answered calmly, but inside, the dream of SimCity I had been nurturing all the way here shattered into pieces. If it was mountainous, movement would not be easy either.
I could feel something shaking.
It wasn’t an earthquake.
It was my own mentality shaking.
No, let’s think positively.
If I turned it around, it might actually be a good thing. Rough terrain meant it would be easier to build a secret hideout. It wasn’t as though I needed a vast territory immediately anyway.
Once I made enough money later and became famous, I could always buy more land or receive a higher title then.
For now, I decided that once I returned, I needed to take a proper look at a map of the Continent. I had to find out what lay beyond the mountain range, and what resources existed nearby.
“Will there be any change in my post?”
“Since you’re currently on a special assignment, I’m not planning to make any separate changes for now. In any case, today is the day you were promoted to Assigned Butler, so come down to Rosetta this evening. I’ll prepare a special banquet, and you can greet the other butlers.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“To be honest, the first time I really became aware of you as a person was that incident when you fell from the balcony...... I never imagined that the young fellow from then would grow into someone this remarkable.”
I hadn’t imagined it either. If the paperwork for the Butler Apprentice Exam had not failed to be processed due to an error, I would never have risen so smoothly here in the first place.
“I feel the same way. I don’t know who graded the Butler Apprentice Exam, but I’d like to thank them.”
“Haha. Very well, I’ll give you the chance to do that someday.”
Yanrof answered a joke with one of his own. Perhaps because my rank had risen, his trust in me seemed stronger than before.
I paid my respects and left his office.
The moment I stepped out, I went straight to find Rohan. He was the only one I could touch freely without trouble. Fortunately, perhaps because he had already heard that I had returned, I was able to meet him without difficulty.
“It’s good to see you, my friend!”
“W-what are you doing, aaaaah!”
I spread my arms wide and rushed at him.
Then I wrapped him in a fierce hug.
As expected, the Status Window appeared.
○ Rohan Jenerics
Rank: ★★★
Level: 10 (+3)
Traits: Cleaning S (+), Information Gathering A, Negotiation B, Eloquence B, Landscaping B, Cooking C, Cleaning Mastery C, Administration D, ???
Status: Pine Tree’s Trust
Areas of Interest: A passionate one-night encounter with a beautiful woman, delight in the success achieved by his friend.
Favorability: 95
Alignment: Very Good
[Locked]
......
So he had raised his Level by three in the meantime. One of his Traits had risen as well. Cleaning, one of his specialties, had reached S-rank. On top of that, he had even gained Cleaning Mastery.
At this point, if I put a broom or a mop in his hand, he could probably make anything look brand-new.
In truth, Rohan’s Cleaning ability had already been top-tier even among the apprentices. I knew he had recently received bonus points for it.
And his Areas of Interest......
So the jealousy really had just been teasing. Like a true old friend, he genuinely seemed happy for my success.
That was enough analysis for now. Shall I look at the newly opened fields?
Two notifications had appeared saying locked Information Windows had been opened, and just as expected, I could see two newly revealed categories.
They were Favorability and Alignment.
I wasn’t entirely sure yet how Alignment would be useful, but Favorability seemed as though it could prove extremely valuable.
If Rohan’s wasn’t 100, but around 95, then pushing it past 90 probably wasn’t easy. This had to be his favorability toward me. There was no way some third party’s favorability would appear as a single number like this.
Still, just in case, I intended to keep checking other people’s Status Windows and examine that point a little more carefully.
And then there was Alignment.
His Alignment was Very Good.
Rohan might be noisy and overexcited at times, but he was kind by nature. I imagined Arwen’s Alignment would probably also come up as Very Good. It might even be something beyond that.
The fact that I could now distinguish good people from bad ones seemed useful in its own way.
Of course, that didn’t mean an evil person would be completely useless to me. Still, it could at least serve as a basic reference for judgment.
“How embarrassing! What kind of nonsense is this? Disgusting! You filthy pervert!”
“I’m just happy to see you. Happy to see you. There’s no need to call me disgusting.”
“Anyone watching would think we were family members separated by war who were reuniting after ten years.”
I patted him on the back and stepped away. Rohan didn’t look angry so much as completely baffled.
Then he noticed the fine sword hanging at my waist, stepped back, and showed formal courtesy.
“Congratulations on your promotion, Sir Dilen. The future of the Adeline House has become brighter...... no, darker, it seems.”
“You could have left off the last part.”
“My mistake.”
I took a letter from my pocket and handed it to him. Arwen had asked me to pass it along. Rohan checked the name written on the outside and tucked it away with an indifferent expression.
“So you’ve been paid?”
My offhand remark made Rohan visibly flinch.
“What are you talking about? Paid?”
“You said that in exchange for the information you send me, you wanted me to bring back one letter from a lovely lady living in the Royal Capital. Arwen would more than qualify as a lovely lady, wouldn’t she?”
“......It was my mistake to trust you. Honestly.”
Rohan let out a sigh. Since this was a public place, we moved somewhere more private so we could speak more comfortably.
To the lodgings I used to use.
The moment we entered, Rohan threw himself onto the bed and began whining in earnest.
“Aaaah! You became a Baronet? And on top of that, an Assigned Butler? I can’t believe it. I really can’t believe it!”
“Doesn’t it occur to you that your reaction is a little stale?”
“You get a title and now you’ve grown arrogant too!”
“If you want to keep in contact with beauties in the Royal Capital, you’ll have to try harder, won’t you?”
Rohan clicked his tongue and sat up. I folded my arms and got to the point.
“What happened with the thing I asked you to do?”
“As it happens, I sent a letter yesterday. It looks like it crossed paths with you on the way.”
“I see.”
“Other than the fact that the feud with the House of Count Astria has begun, nothing special has happened.”
“What about the young masters?”
“The First Young Master has been going around proudly showing off that fountain pen or whatever it is, the Second Young Master has gone to ground, and the Third Young Master looks miserable.”
“Why miserable?”
“Because the First Young Master has been entrusted with a major business matter. So the whole atmosphere is leaning in his direction, and naturally the Third Young Master is in low spirits.”
Things were unfolding just as I had expected. As time passed, the position of the Third Young Master seemed to be narrowing more and more.
If he did not make a decisive move, he would never be able to rise again.
Still, what was I supposed to do about the Second Young Master?
It was a bit much to openly reveal that he was obsessed with Dark Magic and Necromancy. I would have to find some way to deal with it myself.
If that happened, then the succession struggle would become a two-way contest.
To be honest, a scenario in which the Third Young Master inherited the house wouldn’t be bad for me at all. If anything, it would be something to welcome.
“In any case, I’m still gathering information, so don’t worry too much. I’ll make sure you receive a letter at least once a week.”
“Got it.”
At that moment, my gaze shifted instinctively toward the door. My sharpened senses had picked up someone’s presence.
Click!
The door opened, and someone revealed himself boldly.
It was the Third Young Master.
As expected, the man truly had no manners.