♦
We left the village late at night and kept traveling until we reached a creek. We stopped there to get some water and, of course, rest. I don’t think my body can take it anymore. Still, we need to keep an eye on our surroundings so we split the sleeping time between us.
We don’t need to go hunting since some demonic beasts attacked us. We killed one Trident Boar and two Killer Rabbits. The meat of one Trident Boar is enough to feed 15 people. To be honest, I am really excited since we can finally eat our fill and take much needed rest.
Mazell’s parents offered to do the butchering and cooking of the rabbit meat. As knights and I don’t know how to handle raw meat and we also didn’t bring any orderlies with us, I decided to take their offer. I guess, as a noble, this was the place where I was supposed to tell them to do it before they offered but whatever.
As Mazell’s family operated an inn, they had great experience in cooking. The game didn’t have that kind of detailed explanation. In the first place, there was no hunger or eating system in the game.
The stupid village chief didn’t appear in the game and there was also no description of Mazell’s family being isolated in the village. What’s with this discrepancy I wonder? Well, it’s not that important so let’s put that off for later.
During the night, we took turns resting and tending to our injuries. The sun has already risen. It’s been a while since I got a proper 3 hours of sleep. In my 2 lives, I never had this kind of harsh schedule, but It’s fine since I saved Mazell’s family in time.
Last night, when I checked whether I was injured or my armor was damaged, I found a burn wound on my back but my armor was fine. That’s strange. I wonder if magic has a stronger effect on body mana than physical objects. It may explain why my back was burned but my armor was fine. I need to do some experiments to confirm this.
Well, I was so tired last night that all I could think of was ‘I want to sleep!’. I was in no mood to analyze magic whatsoever.
“Excuse me, viscount-sama, I brought you a drink.”As I was thinking, someone called me so I turned around. I was dumbfounded.
Right. Mazell was handsome and his mother was beautiful. I did think something like ‘His entire family has good looks!’. Still, I was surprised by how cute Lily-san’s clean face is under the sunlight!
If the game developers had made a CG depicting this girl, the fandom might have riot.
“Viscount-sama?”
“A..Um… Thank you.”
I think I managed to pretend to be calm. I took the cup that was found in the remainders of the burned inn and drank the content quickly to hide my real thoughts. A slight sweetness spread in my mouth. Come to think of it, It’s been a while since I drank something other than water.
“It’s delicious. Thank you.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
She smiled softly as if relieved. Damn, the damage of her smile is quite something! She’s probably the archetype ‘girl with a healing smile’ character. She must be the inn’s poster girl.
Not long after, Mazell’s parents approached us. It seems like the knights have taken over their job of distributing the cooked meat. I don’t know what to talk about with Lily, so perfect timing!
“Viscount-sama, I am truly grateful…”
“Um… can you please stop calling me viscount-sama?’”
I cut off Mazell’s father’s words. Sir, you know, my earlier ‘I am a great noble!’ like attitude was just an act. I don’t think I can bear it if I need to keep up that attitude in my everyday life.
“The truth is I have always been thinking that I do not deserve my position due to my young age, so please, stop calling me ‘viscount-sama’. Not to mention, I do not think that I deserve your respect as I have made a mistake and need to apologize to you.”
“No, sir! You have done nothing that you need to apologize for…”
“No. I made you and your family leave the village.”
At that time, I was completely mentally and physically exhausted so when I saw villagers’ behavior, I ended up exploding. I could have handled the situation better. You sure regret it when things are done.
But Mazell’s father shook his head with a bitter expression. Is that expression because of his consideration of me being noble or is it because up until now he’s been forcing himself? I don’t know.
“No, leaving the village might be better for us.”
When I asked him why, he said that he was made to take responsibility for letting Mazell go to the capital against the village chief’s will by doing forced labor. Seriously?
Since Alea Village is remote to the point that there are no towns near it, the village chief may feel like he can do whatever he wants. To be honest, I thought that he would show some restraint as Alea is a village that the pilgrims stopped by on their journey, but no, I was wrong. I need to make sure to report the dictatorship of the chief to the kingdom.
“Ah, I have forgotten that I have yet to introduce myself. I am Ali Hearthing, this is my wife, Anna Hearthing, and my daughter, Lily Hearthing.”
“It is pleasant to meet you. Once again, I am Welner von Zeavert. I am Mazell’s friend.”
Actually, as a noble, I shouldn’t be this respectful to commoners like them but I want them to stop giving that overly respectful attitude, so I purposely pointed out the fact that ‘I’m your son’s friend, and we’re the same age’.
“Thank you for the gifts you have given us before.”
“Ah, yes but I would like to apologize for only greeting you now”
‘I apologize for the shabby gifts’ is something that I almost blurted out. That’s what I would have replied with in my past life as a Japanese, but considering my current position, I can’t exactly do that.
(T/N: When Japanese give gifts, they have a habit of saying ‘I apologize that it is a shabby gift’ or something along that line no matter what kind of gift it is, even if the gifts are hella expensive.)
In this world, when nobles hold a banquet, normally, they give the leftover food to the commoners and the commoners accept it happily. It’s not strange to see commoners or to be more specific, the poor commoners gathering in the back gate of a noble that’s holding a banquet in hope of receiving the leftover.
Although I’ve gotten used to scenes like that, I still can’t think of it as normal because of my past life memories. Well, that doesn’t matter here though.
“I should have asked Mazell more about the situation of his family.”
I said that with a bitter smile.
“Viscount-sama…”
“Please stop calling me viscount-sama.”
I almost added ‘I beg you’. The image of my acting must be very memorable for them. Lily-san let out a small laugh and answered, “I understand.”
“My brother mentioned you, Welner-sama, in his letter. I have always wished to meet you.”
“Mazell did?”
That guy didn’t write anything strange, right?
“Yes, he mentioned that he has a very reliable best friend. Even from just his writing, I can tell that you are a good person.”
I’m honestly happy that he said that we’re best friends. But when I meet him later, I should tell him, ‘Don’t let your best friend, who’s a noble, be embarrassed by giving your family a cheap gift!’
It seems like three of them understood my embarrassment from my expression and started to laugh warmly. I’m glad that their stiffness is finally gone, but I’m still somewhat unsatisfied.
“Will you be willing to tell me the story of my brother’s life in the capital?”
“Mazell’s life story? Well, you see…”
That guy is an honor student with excellent grades who barely behaved badly in school but I can understand their concern as a family. As I was remembering some interesting stuff that happened in the past, I started my story.
♦
T/N: So there were 2 things that I’ve had an internal debate about this novel but I decided to just let all of you, the reader, to decide!
- Sir and Sire vs just sir
I don’t know if anyone noticed but I’ve been using the capital Sir and sir. The Sir is referring to the Sir title like Sir Welner while sir is what I added to make the conversation seem more polite like Yes, sir. I’ve thought of just making it Sire and Sir, so it’s Sire Welner and Yes, sir or I should just ditch the capital and no capital and just use the usual Sir, so, what do you think?
2. Welner von Zeavert vs Welner Von Zeavert
When I started to translate this story I assumed Welner name is Welner von Zeavert but as the story progress and many nobles full name was revealed I noticed that Welner was the only person with von in his name so maybe von was actually his middle name so it should be Welner Von Zeavert? but I’ve been using Welner von Zeavert for a long time now… which one do you all think I should use?
Hit the link to choose!
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter