Chapter 26: Treasure Hunt

“Is the owner here?!”

After the rush for the box lunch had passed, a single soldier made his appearance. He was about forty or so, and seemed to be somewhat important. Well, in terms of rank, not his attitude.

“Ah, you’re here! There’s something I want to ask of you!”

He seemed familiar... Oh, he was one of the four company commanders at the lieutenant colonel’s place!

“U-Umm, how can I help you...?” I couldn’t just agree to help without knowing what he wanted.

“Yes, about that...” The commander lowered his voice and looked around cautiously. “It’s actually a private request. Could I ask you to join me at my residence?”

“Huh...?”

I wasn’t sure what to do. Considering his position, I didn’t suspect he was planning to do anything funny to me. Though there were two possible exceptions.

One, this man was actually a member of the group responsible for illicitly selling military goods into the market, and came to eliminate me because I could decode their messages. They could change the code, but I could end up decoding it again, so he may be coming to get rid of the issue at the root.

Two, he was a pedo and had the hots for me.

No no no. No way!

If he were here to kill me, he wouldn’t come here in person so early in the morning. He would have one of his men take care of it at night.

Besides, an older, straight-laced looking man like him couldn’t be a pedo... Well, he could, but I didn’t think he was the type to try and bring me to his place “uninvited.”

Plus, this seemed sorta fun. I’d been getting dragged into trouble and running around being busy as of late, so I wanted a little change of pace.

It also wasn’t like I was hurting for money. Yes, I was running a business, so I would do my best to maximize profits. If I sold at prices so low it disrupted the market, or ran my business without putting any thought into it, I’d be causing trouble for the other merchants and insulting the god of trade. That sort of thing was unforgivable to me.

So...

“The excursion fee will be one small gold coin.”

“Y-Yes, of course... Thank you!”

Of course I was going to charge him.

“Let’s go out, Layette.”

“Okay!” Layette responded cheerfully and began shutting the wooden windows. The windows and back door upstairs were already closed, so we just needed to lock the entrance and we were good to go.

“My residence is about twenty minutes from here.”

Ah, the other side of the royal palace. It was a bit far... though I guess it really wasn’t by this world’s standards.

Belle and Emile had left for their hunter jobs a little earlier, so I closed the shop temporarily. We began moving by foot with Layette tagging along.

The company commander seemed to be a noble, but he was also a military officer, which may explain why he walked to my shop instead of riding a carriage. We didn’t bother preparing one or looking for a fiacre.

I, too, had to exercise once in a while or I’d become out of shape, and not exercising wouldn’t be good for Layette’s growth either.

I glanced behind us on the way, and noticed Francette and Roland were following. Were those two always staked out at the shop? From where? When, and how long? Did they ever rest? I needed to ask them sometime. They weren’t just standing out in the alley all day every day, were they?

What kind of exploitative business was I running?!

And so, we arrived at the company commander’s house.

Hmm, judging by the building and distance from the center of the royal capital, his social standing wasn’t too high. Maybe he was the equivalent of a baron or viscount? The lieutenant colonel battalion commander was a count... or rather, he was just the third son and probably wasn’t going to inherit the title, so I supposed the lieutenant colonel wasn’t too high in standing either. It simply meant the other nobles would be modest toward him because of his family’s authority.

We passed through the gates and headed toward the entrance, when...

“Welcome home, Master.”

Whaaat?!

He was the head of a noble house that inherited the title?! Wouldn’t that mean he was higher in the nobility hierarchy than the lieutenant colonel? While he was just from a count familyship, even if the company commander were just a baron or viscount, comparing an untitled third son and the head of such a household...

But getting on the bad side of such a household would be social suicide... I supposed these power dynamics were pretty complicated.

Even so, they were a superior and subordinate in the same military, so it didn’t really matter. Whether it be the military or a company, rank and position within that organization was everything. Their families, parents, ages, and academic backgrounds had nothing to do with it.

So how dare that shitty, ordinary employee give his mild-mannered chief clerk attitude... No, no, that was all in the past now. Moving on...

Oh, I should confirm now to avoid any accidental discourtesy later.

“E-Excuse me, Mr. Company Commander, are you the head of your house?”

“Hm? Oh, I suppose I haven’t mentioned it yet. Yes, I am Seyvos von Lasrich, Viscount Lasrich.”

I knew it!

I didn’t find any noble intimidating at this point though. I was a woman who yelled at royalty, after all.

Muahaha...ha...

I wasn’t gonna get punished for being improper some day, was I?

We were led to the company commander’s... study? Office? That sort of room. He dismissed his family and servants, so it was just him, me, and Layette (in “fly on the wall” mode).

Now, for the main reason we were here...

“I’ve brought some tea for you.”

Oh, tea and snacks? Don’t mind if I do...

The maid left after placing the tea set and snacks, and we were finally about to move on to the main topic.

Munch, munch...

Yeah, there was Layette, munching away at the snacks...

I took a sip of tea. The company commander, seemingly out of habit, had walked at marching pace as he led us there, so I was tired and thirsty from the trek. Sure, that was all fine and dandy for a military officer, but he could’ve been a bit more courteous to the ladies...

No, never mind! I’m sorry for acting self-important to an oh-so-mighty married person when I’m just a single woman who can’t get a man!

I drank some more tea.

“So, about my request... I want you to find the location of some treasure for me.”

Bwargfh!

I nearly spat out the tea in my mouth, but just managed to stop myself. The company commander was wearing expensive-looking—well, certainly expensive clothes, and the sofa and carpet were similarly luxurious. I couldn’t possibly spit here, so I desperately fought back the impulse and swallowed, nearly suffocating as a result.

“Why would you tell me this now?!”

Damn that open-mouthed, blank expression. He had no self-awareness! I’ll make him spit out his drink in front of the lieutenant colonel some day!

In any case, an explanation. I needed him to explain himself before we could move on.

According to him, the house of Viscount Lasrich wasn’t very wealthy. I mean, the head of the house was working for the military... though apparently, they weren’t quite poor either. He joined the military because his older brother was supposed to inherit the house and title, but his brother had died suddenly. However, he wasn’t allowed to leave the military for such personal reasons, so he left the management of his territory to his younger brother and moved to the viscount residence in the royal capital, managing his military and social duties for his house. This kind of story wasn’t uncommon among noble houses.

So, what was the issue here?

...Money. They didn’t have any.

So they were poor!

They’d used up all of their food in storage due to poor harvests for several years straight, so they stocked up on food with the gold coins in their vault. Still, the surrounding territories were experiencing poor harvests too. Getting food delivered from far-off lands was pricey, and was prone to being raided by bandits and desperate peasants from other lands trying to feed their families. The costs piled up as they needed to pay escorts to protect the goods. They somehow managed to gather the average annual yield of food this year, but their vault and stockpiles were nearly empty. If something were to happen in this state...

Even if they had a decent harvest, something like an epidemic disease, a large-scale bandit raid, or any sort of trouble could be that fatal straw that broke the camel’s back.

Normally, this would’ve pretty much been checkmate. They’d have no choice but to take a loan from some big-time noble, basically becoming slaves due to monetary and social obligations, besmirching the name of his viscount house.

“Normally,” of course.

The house of Viscount Lasrich actually had a hidden fortune. Or, more accurately, should’ve had one.

Several generations ago, a large, unmanned ship drifted up to Viscount Lasrich’s seafront territory. No one recognized the ship, but its passengers had all perished and there was no food or water on board. However, the cargo and safe were left untouched. It was all non-edible items meant to be used for trade, such as ceramics, swords, and massive quantities of gold coins and jewelry. The viscount at the time was facing a similar danger to the current situation, and secretly converted that treasure to the currency of this kingdom and used it to get through hard times. As for the remainder...

“Here it is. Please, decode it for me!”

With that, the company commander produced a sheet of parchment.

“This document has been passed down between the heads of the house throughout the generations. The location of the fortune was relayed via word of mouth, but the head of the house from three generations ago died in an accident before he was able to pass down that information... But now, my land needs it desperately! Please, read this document and find out where the fortune is!”

Ah, so that was why he asked for my help. In case the fortune’s hiding spot didn’t get passed down to the next generation, it was kept in writing with a coded message.

Yeah, it was important to keep backups.

But that stinkin’ section chief didn’t take backups for three whole months?! Who had to clean up after that whole... No, the past. Moving on...

He handed the parchment to me, and I began reading through it.

“Only when the province of Lasrich ever faces great danger, the resources have been exhausted, and there are no other possible courses of action, the fortune that has been passed down may be used. Corlacus von Lasrich.”

That was all it said.

“How am I supposed to know thaaat?!”

Haah... haah... haah...

I threw the parchment down on the ground, breathing heavily, and the company commander stared at me, dumbfounded.

Oh no, I have to say something!

“How is this friggin’ thing supposed to help me find it?!”

No, not like that!

“I-I don’t understand how... Ugh, I’m creeping myself out!”

I put on my customer service smile as well as a feminine act, but it only made me writhe in embarrassment.

The company commander’s eyes went wide with confusion.

“It’s not even coded or anything! How do you expect me to find it with this?!”

“What? But I thought you could understand the writer’s intent behind the text...”

He seemed genuinely surprised.

The heck is that?!

“I’m not some god! I can gauge the context of the text because of my linguistic abilities, but that doesn’t mean I can read the writer’s residual thoughts! So, ‘How’s ‘bouta cuppa Joe?’ might sound like, ‘Would you like to have some coffee?’ But it wouldn’t sound like, ‘Hurry up and go home, you’re staying too long!’”

He didn’t understand what a “cuppa Joe” was, but seemed to have an idea of what I was trying to say.

“I... I see...” He slumped his shoulders.

I felt kinda bad for him...

Oh, fine. He did pay me an excursion service fee, after all...

“Umm, well, there’s not much we can do about the message, but you just need to find out where the fortune is hidden, right?”

“Y-Yes, that’s correct, but... Due to it being too risky to leave it in my land near the border, and the fact that whenever the fortune was to be used, whether it be for food or political funds, the payment would be done in the royal capital. I’m certain it was taken here in the royal capital somewhere, but it’s been found by neither my father or grandfather, and certainly not by me. I doubt it would be so easy...”

I brought the bag on my shoulder just in case of something like this. I stuck my hand inside the bag...

A healing potion inside a super high-performance, super portable metal detector-type container, come out!

...and I pulled out a shady-looking device.

“Huh? What is that...?”

“A metal detector. Basically, it’s a device that detects nearby gold and shows you where it is.”

“Whaaat?!”

The company commander raised his voice in surprise... Wait, no, this explanation could give him some unwanted ambitious ideas!

“Oh, it only reacts to refined gold with high purity, so it won’t be any good for finding gold mines or anything like that. The detection range is very short so its usefulness is limited, and it’s also quite expensive, prone to breaking, and pricey to fix...”

I tried painting the metal detector as something that wasn’t very useful, but he gave me a dubious look.

Oh well, time to get the request over with.

“So, you push this button and...”

I activated the device, and an arrow floating in a clear, glass sphere began spinning, then stopped, pointing in a certain direction.

“This way!”

I looked up cheerfully from the glass sphere... only to find that the pointer was pointing directly at the company commander’s pocket.

“Ahhh...”

Yeah, that sure was the closest, refined piece of gold. As for my own money pouch, that was inside the Item Box, so it wasn’t detectable by the device.

“O-One second please...”

I averted my eyes from his suspicious expression, then began operating the metal detector. It was an item I’d thought up, so it went without saying that its capabilities and controls would be as I imagined them to be. There was no way I wouldn’t be able to use it.

“Let’s see, I’ll exclude your money pouch from the possible targets and set it to detect 300 grams of gold or more...”

A so-called fortune would surely be that much gold or more. There could also be some precious jewels or pearls or something, but there was probably some gold too. Maybe as ingots, or in coin form. What kinda fortune would it be without any gold? But if that were the case, it’d be time for the “jewel detector device” to shine.

Okay, let’s try that again...

The needle pointed at the wall of the room, but we obviously went outside through the door instead of breaking the wall down. Of course, I’d go ahead and break it if it pointed at the same wall from the other side.

When I entered the hallway, the needle didn’t point at the neighboring room, but somewhere farther.

Good, good...

I kept following the pointer, and it took me to a certain room.

“This place is...”

The company commander had a pensive look on his face. He then seemed to make a decision, nodded, and produced something from his pocket. It wasn’t a money pouch, but a bunch of keys. Maybe there wasn’t enough of them to call it a “bunch,” but several keys were bundled together by a thin chain, which seemed to be connected to some inner part of his clothes.

He took one of the keys and unlocked the door to the room. Apparently, this room was important compared to the others.

He followed me inside, and...

“Whoa...”

It was a storeroom... no, more like a treasury or a vault room. In any case, it seemed to be where their wealth was stored. There were no windows, and until the company commander lit a lamp, the light coming in from the open door was the only source of illumination. And what was revealed by the lamp light was...

“...It’s a storeroom?”

All sorts of junk... er, ornaments and mysterious objects were on display throughout the room.

Hold on, I shouldn’t be calling it a storeroom. I was just thinking it was a “vault room”! Why did I have to be so blunt...

“Haha... I’ve already sold off anything that could be of any value. All that’s left now are things that wouldn’t fetch a good price, or objects that have great importance to the house of Lasrich. Despite the amount of objects in here, they’re basically worthless in terms of market value. Though they’re still treasures to our house nonetheless.”

“...I’m sorry.”

I was being too insensitive. All I could do was apologize.

Then, in the direction the metal detector was pointing was...

“A big safe sitting next to the wall.”

...Thanks, Captain Obvious.

““...””

The company commander was at a loss for words. The look on my face probably looked just like his.

There were gold coins inside the vault?

No duh, dingus!!!

“...”

“...”

“Well, we may as well open it...” he uttered after an excruciatingly long few seconds had passed. It seemed his hope was rapidly diminishing.

Hmm...

He brought out his keys again and opened the safe. Inside...

There were about twenty gold coins. In this world, that was equivalent to about 2,000,000 yen, so it was a decent amount of money. But even though it was a smaller viscount’s house, it was extremely shabby for the contents of a noble house’s safe.

“O-One second please!”

I messed with the settings on the metal detector again, excluding the safe from the potential targets. I checked the pointer again. It spun around...

Yup, nothing detected within range. Thank you very much!

The company commander seemed to understand the situation from the movement of the needle and look on my face.

“Haha...”

“Ahaha...”

““Ahahahaha... Haah...””

Womp womp.

There was a dull look in both our eyes. Apparently, there was no mountain of gold ingots or coins in this residence...

Hey, wait a minute! What settings did I use when I detected the company commander’s money pouch earlier? Right, I’d set it to detect “300 grams of gold or more”!

The gold coins here weighed less than ten grams each. They felt slightly heavier than a 500 yen coin, so I estimated they were about eight to nine grams. About the same as a quarter ounce gold coin from Earth? This meant that even if it weighed more from being mixed with other alloys to improve its hardness, twenty coins would only be about 150 grams of gold or so. Wouldn’t the detector not react to that then?

I messed with the metal detector in a hurry, then removed the exclusion for the safe. Then I set it to detect 500 grams or more.

...The needle pointed at the safe. I leapt out of the room, and the company commander followed me hurriedly, wondering what was going on. Where I was going, of course, was the room on the other side of the wall where the safe was stored. That room was unlocked, and it seemed to be a sort of office for the company commander, or rather, “the viscount.” Though I supposed no one would put a nursery next to a vault room, all things considered.

It crossed my mind that maybe I was being incredibly rude and improper. But oh well, I doubted the company commander was a stickler for such things.

And so, I looked at the needle inside that room.

...Yeah, it was pointing toward the direction of the neighboring room, where the vault room was.

“Let’s tear down this wall!”

“R... Right!”

The servants were called, and we began carefully tearing down the wall. We didn’t do it from the side where the safe was because it would’ve been too much trouble to move the safe out of the way.

As the wall was peeled off, we finally hit metal! Yup, it was the back of the safe sitting against the wall. Of course...

We seemed to penetrate all the way through. Inside the wall, there was nothing but the structures holding up the wall originally.

“...Well, that’s about it for one small gold coin’s worth...”

“Hold on! Wait just a minuuute!!!”

I tried walking away quietly, but the company commander grabbed me by the collar.

You’ll go bald if you get so worked up, ya know.

But more importantly...

“My neck! You’re choking my neeeck!”

Well, I should’ve seen that coming.

＊　　　＊

“What is the meaning of this...?”

He seemed understandably upset. The servants had already been dismissed. I guess I can’t blame him, considering I had got his hopes up, destroyed the walls of his residence, and ended up with nothing.

I had no choice, it was time to pull out my trump card!

“Jewel detectooor!”

I reached into the bag on my shoulder and pulled out a new device. It was a jewel detector-type potion container.

“Detection targets: Corundum, diamonds, pearls. Search radius: Eighty meters. Set! Ready!”

By setting it to search for corundum, which included rubies and sapphires, as well as diamonds and pearls, it would definitely pick up any sort of treasure besides gold. And this time, I went with a PPI (Plan Position Indicator) scope to make it easier to tell where it all may be. It was that kind used on modern Earth that had a rotating radar antenna and blinked when it detected the target.

Yes, I was a woman who learned from her mistakes.

All right, begin detection! Switch on!

[No detection]

...Yeah, I figured as much. It was unlikely that something referred to as a “fortune” without specifying any precious jewel wouldn’t contain any gold in the first place. But what was the deal here?

1. It was enshrouded in an anti-detection field.

2. The fortune was neither gold nor precious jewels.

3. It wasn’t here.

4. It wasn’t anywhere.

5. It was all in the company commander’s head.

As well...

A. It never existed.

B. His ancestor had made up the story to give him hope.

C. It existed before, but had been all used up.

There were multiple possible answers.

I told the company commander as such, and he sandwiched my head between his fists and drilled my head with them. It was the so-called “umeboshi punishment.” It was actually pretty effective.

Not to mention, the complete lack of emotion on his face made it scary. Really, really scary...

This was bad. I had to do something.

The company commander seemed to be getting anxious, and I felt danger looming in. I didn’t want to be found floating in the river the next morning! I had to think! Think!

Ergh, grrr, hnnng!

Ah.

Aaahhh!

I took out the first detector that responded to gold again.

Switch on!

I pointed it in the direction it guided me, and it led me past the wall with the hole in it, then directly to the back of the safe...

I left the room wordlessly. The company commander followed me in a hurry.

I checked the direction in the hallway. Passing the vault room, I checked the direction again.

...Yup, that confirmed it!

I walked back into the vault room, which was left unlocked. It was left open! How careless! Though I guessed no one would just waltz into a noble’s house in the middle of the day to steal something. Besides, a noble’s house was never going to be completely empty. There’d always be several servants there at any given time.

The company commander and I stood before the safe. He had no idea what was going on, but seemed to know something was up from observing me. Then...

“I need something hard that you wouldn’t mind getting damaged!”

“R-Right!”

He immediately produced a silver coin from his pouch. Well, it wasn’t pure silver, so it was probably harder than “that.”

So I took the coin and began scratching away... at the black-coated safe.

Scratch.

Scratch scratch scratch.

Scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch...

The layers and layers of paint peeled away, revealing the safe’s original surface below. A nice, golden color...

“Ah! Aaahhh!!!”

The company commander’s eyes widened and he knelt to the ground.

“Ahhh... Father, my ancestor, and God! The people of Lasrich will overcome this crisis and gallantly strive toward the future...”

“...But considering you keep facing danger with bad harvests and such, you’ll eventually use this up and die out...”

“Q-Quiet!”

He was actually pretty mad, maybe because I’d ruined his heartfelt moment.

“How much of this fortune do you plan on using?”

“Huh? Oh, I don’t plan to use any.”

“Wha...?”

He explained that they had managed to power through this bad harvest by using their food storage and some of their viscount household’s funds, along with a small loan.

“Word of my house’s fortune became quite a big topic at the time. Thanks to the rumor that the House of Lasrich has a reserve for truly desperate times, it gives the impression that we’re still not in enough trouble to withdraw from it, that we can fall back on it to repay any loans if necessary. This allows us to acquire loans with little to no collateral.”

Huh, I knew there were many drawbacks to people knowing you had money, but this was a perk I hadn’t thought of.

“But if something were to happen before we could build up our reserves again, one small incident could have bankrupted us. If that were to occur, we would’ve had to borrow money from a lord of a big territory and effectively become part of their territory, or return the land to His Majesty to have it merged with another territory later... In either case, we would have been treated differently compared to their original citizens in matters such as taxes, and there would have been no benefit for my people. No matter what may happen to us, I have to avoid this at all costs... This was why I absolutely had to find that fortune now.”

Wow! Such a good person!

Oh, but what if people find out that he found the fortune?

“Wouldn’t it be an issue if the government finds out though? With taxes and demands for payment to the treasury and such...”

“No, there’s no need to worry about that.” He dismissed my concern right away. “When my ancestors first discovered the fortune, they notified the kingdom and paid taxes for it properly. That’s why no one doubts the existence of it. No fool would lend large amounts of money without collateral based on hearsay alone. Besides, if everyone knows we own a fortune, there would be no problem since we do actually have one.”

I-I see...

His ancestors must’ve been straightlaced and honest people. But this was the ancestor of a company commander who used his personal funds for the people of his fief, so it probably ran in the family. I personally didn’t dislike people like him, so I decided to give him some advice. Some irresponsible advice that wouldn’t be my problem if he actually followed it.

Hey, I wasn’t the one who’d be paying for it.

I sound so evil right now...

“...Why don’t you blow it all?”

“Huh?” He looked surprised.

“I mean, use up all that fortune your ancestors left for you!”

“Wh-Wh-Wha...”

What good were life and money if you couldn’t enjoy them?

“You’ve had bad harvests a bunch of times before, which will surely occur again, right? How many times do you think you can endure that before your fortune dries up?”

“Ugh...”

From the sounds of it, it was used several times in the past already anyway.

“And if a bad harvest had such repercussions, what if you have continuously devastating harvests? What if it goes on for years? Fluctuating weather like cold summers or pest issues could easily go on for two years. In that case, the amount of food you’d need to buy from other regions would skyrocket. In fact, they may not sell you anything because they’d think of their own fief’s people first.”

“U-Uuugh...”

I must’ve scared him, because he was starting to look pale.

“Instead of patching the issue whenever something happens, you should stop the issue at its root. If you don’t fix the fundamental problem, any money you throw at treating the symptoms will be wasted.”

“H-Hmm... You say that, but what can I do? We’re a poor region with little fertile land...”

Yeah, I knew that. If that weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have been in this situation so many times before when the country as a whole wasn’t having bad harvests. I couldn’t say anything for sure without confirming the full situation, but I did at least have a starting point.

“Please consider the reason for the bad harvests not just in your region, but in other places with similar conditions, and compare them to the times where you didn’t have such issues. If it was because of a cold summer, you could get seeds for crops that are strong against the cold from the northern regions. If it was because of droughts, you could dig a deep well or dig up a waterway from a nearby river. You could also diversify to minimize risk by growing not just grains, but corn and potatoes as well... Potatoes can grow quickly even in sterile lands and they’re full of vitamins. They’re also resilient to the cold, droughts, and weather changes in general, so they’re highly effective as a safety net. It may not be an attractive option for sales, but human lives come before profit, right?”

“Y-Yes...”

The company commander seemed a bit hesitant. He wasn’t an idiot, so of course he knew about potatoes. But countries around here had it in their minds that potatoes and corn were feed for livestock. They’d eat anything if they were starving, of course, but they didn’t really consider growing them for the purpose of human consumption. Grains and vegetables were the core of crops meant for human food, with wheat being mainly used in tax payment. Peasants usually ate rye, oats, and barley, since they were so easily grown, even if the land wasn’t in perfect shape or there wasn’t enough water.

But with the level of civilization in this world, harvesting grains was highly inefficient. About 300 kilograms were harvested per acre, which wasn’t too bad for being the equivalent to the Middle Ages of modern Earth, but it was nowhere near the three to four tons that could be harvested with modern agriculture. A good harvest here would be 500 to 600 kilograms. Also, in the case of potatoes, one acre could yield about 30 tons on modern Earth.

“I understand this is so much to take in so suddenly. Please just think about it some time.”

No lord would just agree right away to a spontaneous suggestion from some amateur girl who didn’t know about managing territory or agriculture. And if there were a lord like that, it’d probably be best to stay away. He might try to push the blame of his failures onto you...

I wasn’t going to help him with any internal affair cheats. That’d only be an extreme risk for me with few benefits. We’d be talking about units of years too. I’d offered some simple advice because I was already involved, but I wasn’t going to take responsibility for any of it. I’d already provided one gold coin’s worth of work.

“Well then, I’ll be excusing myself...”

Layette was getting bored with nothing to do. It seemed she didn’t like staying at the noble’s residence either. I had to head back to try and appease her. Lunch time was approaching too.

And so, I tried to depart.

“Wait, I can’t just let you leave after all you’ve done! We’re preparing lunch, so please have some before you go.”

““Okay!”” Layette and I immediately replied in unison.

Joining a noble family’s meal was a rare opportunity. Though I guessed we’d technically be joining nobles for a meal if I made Roland or Francette pay for one, but that was different.

In Layette’s case, this was a miracle that would’ve been impossible even if she were reborn ten times. She might’ve been hesitant because she didn’t know proper table manners or she didn’t want to impose, but for six-year-old Layette, this was a chance to eat delicious food, and that was all there was to it.

...Though, I didn’t have much room to talk.

“You’ve been a great help today. I’d like to thank you on behalf of the house of Lasrich—no, for the entirety of the house of Lasrich’s fiefdom.”

The company commander formally thanked us before the tables full of food in the dining hall. Seated there were me, Layette, the company commander’s wife, his two twenty-something daughters, and his sixteen- and eighteen-year-old sons.

This may have been a viscount’s household, but they were still well-respected nobles, and they were a family all the more pleasing to look at too. Maybe they inherited their ancestors’ good-natured blood, because they all had gentle eyes. The company commander’s sons seemed like they’d grow up to be dandy men when they’re older, and I had high expectations for their future.

...But why did they have such an all-star cast? And were those military fatigues they were wearing? Their uniforms seemed much different...

I didn’t even think it was a day off for them. Normally, this was the time people began eating and chatting, but the brothers looked at me with flushed cheeks and passionate eyes without touching their forks or knives.

...Did they fall for me?

Maybe this wasn’t a bad option. Becoming the wife of a small, somewhat poorer viscount household, improving the agriculture and river management as we received the finances to do so, being taken care of by my mother- and father-in-law, having kids and living a fulfilling life with the population of the fief...

It seemed like it’d be a lifestyle of freedom where I didn’t have to worry about getting by. There’d be no social hierarchy to concern myself with, and the company commander seemed like a good person who cared about his people.

Yeah, it wasn’t bad. If they ever tried to court me...

As I thought about it, one of the brothers approached me with a serious look on his face.

“Miss Kaoru, there’s something I’d like to ask of you...”

H-Here we gooo!

“Wait, Big Brother, me first!”

Whoa! And a sudden interference from his younger brother! Looks like I’m popular!

“No, I’m first!”

“No, me!”

Fueheheh, now was the time to bust out that line, the line I’d always wanted to say: “Please, don’t fight over me!”

Ehe, fueheheh...

And finally, the two brothers turned toward me and shouted, ““Please, give me some of your soldier’s disease medicine!””

Of course.

...Yeah, I saw that coming.

Damn it! Got my hopes up for nothing!

...No, this was my fault for assuming, not theirs. To jump at the opportunity because of their looks and status without even confirming their personality or anything... What was I, an unpopular thirty-something woman? Wait, my mental age, or the number of years I’d lived was over twenty-seven, so I pretty much was thirty!

Whoa whoa, wait a sec. Since that asshole crown prince proposed to me, maybe I could relinquish the title of an unpopular woman?

No no no no, never mind! That didn’t even count!

“...Sure.”

I stuck my hand in my bag, which I put next to the chair, then pulled out two bottles of the medicine that I’d created on the spot and slammed them on the table. I thought I’d concealed my displeasure, but I couldn’t help the sullen look from showing on my face. The company commander looked a little anxious. He must’ve thought I was upset because they made such brazen requests at the dinner table or something.

...But suddenly, he started grinning at me.

Damn it, he figured me out!

Layette couldn’t wait anymore and began chowing down. Actually, the dinner had already started some time ago, so there was no need for her to wait.

I began stuffing my face too, partly to hide my embarrassment.

...Mhm. As expected of a noble household’s cooking, it was well-made with good ingredients and technique.

But...

“...”

The look on Layette’s face screamed something was off. It was a look that said the food wasn’t much different from what we usually ate.

Indeed, I was pretty confident in the food I’d been making. Whenever I found good ingredients on the cheap, I stocked up on them and stored them in the item box. This ensured I always had high-quality and fresh ingredients.

Then there were the plethora of seasonings I made with my potion creation ability. Not only that, but there had been times when I’d cook instead of my mom ever since I was in middle school. This was how I’d mastered everything from prep work and cooking basics to complex cooking methods. So, because cooking in this world wasn’t very refined, my cooking could hold its own against professional chefs!

Was it not fair that I used chemical seasonings? Yeah, I’d agree. In any case, the viscount family seemed to think we were not-particularly-wealthy commoners and we’d be emotionally moved by such a lavish meal for the first time in our lives. A portly man, who I presumed to be the head chef, even came out from the kitchen, seemingly to get some satisfaction from seeing the reactions of us common girls, but had a disappointed look on his face upon seeing Layette’s disapproval and me eating it normally.

Not my problem!

After the somewhat dispirited chef went back to the kitchen, we began having a pleasant chat along with the meal. Apparently, both sons were in the military as I’d presumed, with one of them being in the royal sentries and the other being a platoon leader in some other battalion. If he was a platoon leader, he was probably around the rank of a second or first lieutenant. On Earth, he probably would’ve graduated university, enlisted as a cadet, and be at this position a few years after graduating from the military academy...

Though in this world, the education they received from a tutor until they become adults at fifteen was considered the replacement for graduating from a university. This meant that, unless you were a noble or from a very wealthy home, you couldn’t enlist as a cadet from the get-go.

Long ago, there were countries on Earth that only allowed nobles to become officers too. This country may have been considered progressive, considering there were officers who worked their way up from being common soldiers.

The sons were sent to the sentries and a different battalion so they could avoid bad influences from riding their father’s coattails within the same unit. I was sure this wasn’t a lie, but the true reason was probably the same one where the father and son of a fisherman didn’t ride the same ship. If there were ever a shipwreck, the family line would end.

But the royal sentries had more of an elite ring to it, so that could’ve been why the one son opted for it instead. It seemed like being in the sentries would mean he got to stay in the royal capital too.

Hm... I’d only delivered the soldier’s disease medicine to the sentries once before, and the other son was in a different battalion, which explained why they hadn’t received any yet. Maybe they were even put on the back of the waiting list because people would assume they got it from their dad... But the company commander seemed like the type that would keep public and private affairs strictly separate.

Anyway, why were they home on a weekday, and in their military uniforms? And the daughters, judging by their age and clothing, seemed to be married already.

Oh, they must’ve taken some days off and gathered back home because they knew I’d be coming since a few days ago.

...Why though?

I was sure the company commander had given me the original request because he was sincerely in trouble, but maybe he had a plan to get some sort of benefit from this visit if that ended up in failure? Maybe for some personal purpose related to the company commander, or rather, the house of Lasrich, that had nothing to do with the battalion leader lieutenant colonel or the other three company commanders...

But even though he had his sons abandon their military obligations for the day and called his daughters over from their in-laws’ homes, he probably had no intention of marrying his sons off to me. If that were the case, they would’ve explained as such, and the first words to me from their mouths wouldn’t have been to ask for the medicine.

Damn it, is it because I look like a kid?!

No, no, wait a minute. Thinking about it, this was a country modeled with a class system in place. Even though a viscount household was considered low-rank among nobles, there was no way they’d marry off the first son and successor of the house, or the second son, who was next in line after him, to some (seemingly) underage girl of unknown origins who’d wandered in from another country. This even took into account whatever value I had to them. I mean, they could just get their family all chummy with me, make me one-sidedly fall for one of the sons, then take advantage of my usefulness by... Hey, that’s the exact situation I’m in now!

Damn it... Wait, stop that. My word choice has been pretty unprofessional lately. These may just have been internal thoughts, but I was afraid I’d vocalize them some day if I kept thinking like this.

Calm down, me! Breathe in, breathe out... In... Out...

Oh, I know!

“Now that I’m of age, I’m hoping to find ‘someone nice’ soon...”

I segued into one of the married daughters’ in-laws conversation by appealing my willingness to find a husband myself.

“““Bffffff!!!”””

...Why did they just spew out their drinks?! All of them at once too!

“No, I mean, I’m an adult, and I run a medicine shop, and I’m Layette’s guardian as well! I’m no mere child who manages the shop or anything like that!”

Yes, I’d slowly spread word that I was of marrying age, and progress my search for a partner. I said I was of age instead of saying my actual age, because, well... I had no choice. I’d been treating the day of my reincarnation as my fifteenth birthday, which meant I’d be nineteen and a half now. There was no need to quicken my own “deadline.”

But I didn’t want to lie and say I was fifteen or sixteen. Roland and Francette would only look at me weird if I did... Besides, if I returned to the kingdom of Balmore with my future husband, or if rumors about me reached that prince, the lie about my age would be exposed.

I couldn’t get married falsifying my age. I’d obscure it instead. No one would go out of their way to question a lady about her actual age.

“““You have a child at your age?!!!”””

“No! I’m just taking care of her! I’m not her actual mother!!!”

If that became a rumor, it’d be catastrophic in my search for a husband!

After all that I explained how I’d saved Layette and became her guarantor and guardian, quickly dispelling that misconception. I was planning on taking care of Layette for however long I needed to, but it would affect my search for a suitable marriage partner if people thought she was my daughter. Our relationship wasn’t like that of a mother and daughter at all anyway, so it’d be even worse for my search if people thought I was cold to my own daughter.

...Was having a child with me already a handicap? No, if a man didn’t have the capacity to accept this, I wouldn’t want to marry him in the first place.

I will find Layette a nice husband someday!

Just as I’d planned to for some time, I used my tear-jerker story of growing up poor and having little to eat to explain my small stature. In reality, my height was more than average for a Japanese person! Westerners were just too big!

On Earth, westerners were also small when they were at this level of civilization, but that was due to their diet. They didn’t have many opportunities to eat meat and lacked the nutrition to grow bigger. And if you were wondering why the people of this world were as big as people on modern Earth, well...

Even if they didn’t go through the trouble of feeding livestock their low-yield crops, monsters would multiply on their own. Monsters, which needed to be hunted to secure the safety of the townspeople. Monsters, which had edible meat.

Yes, so long as you didn’t care about taste or the toughness, monster meat was edible and cheap. Some of them were even pretty good, depending on the species. No one ate things like goblin meat, but orc and graybear meat were pretty good. Horned rabbits were easy to obtain too.

Nobles who never ate monster meat, but only expensive deer and boars would say, “I won’t eat orc, only pork”... Probably not.

Also, boa juice made from boas. Was it made from boas or boars?! Well, it would have to be the snake kind, since it melted human bodies. Considering the rakugo story of “Jagansou”...

Long story short, the people of this world had the height and build of westerners of modern Earth, where meat consumption had increased.

Yup, really.

So, after talking for some time after, we were ready to go. They asked that I stay longer, but I couldn’t just close down the shop for a whole day without any prior warning, especially when it wasn’t even a holiday. We weren’t some general goods store, but a medicine shop where customers may very well urgently need our services.

“...I wonder what that dinner was for, anyway. Just for getting acquainted with his family?” I asked Layette, but she had no idea.

I thought about it some more as we walked, when suddenly...

“Layette?”

An older man who I didn’t recognize called out to her. There was no way someone could recognize Layette out here when she hadn’t ventured outside her rural village. If they did, then that would mean...

I was already protecting Layette’s back as it crossed my mind. Roland and Francette appeared to cover my flank.

Where did they come from...

Well, I guess this was to be expected. If not now, when were they going to spring into action?

The long, long, long, long, long, long, long time spent on standby was finally going to pay off. Of course they’d come flying.

Francette, can you stop grinning so happily like that? You’re making it hard to tell who the bad guy is here...

Just as Francette bared her fangs...

“You’re safe, Layette?! I’m so glad... Are these people your new masters?”

““Huh?””

Something was off here...

And so, the man told us his story.

A transaction akin to slave trading, where eighty years’ worth of salary was paid upfront at an incredibly low rate for a merchant apprenticeship in another country. But these were measures taken in desperation, where the only options the peasants had were to either lower the number of mouths to feed or starve together as a family. The long contract term was to prevent the children from being taken away as collateral in case their family took on debt. The price was cheap to make it easier for them to pay off the down payment through money they’d earn from tips and side jobs. They were effectively “a regular servant who had their rent paid in advance,” so they were able to live a normal commoner’s life.

A live-in job that came with three meals a day. They could earn a bit of allowance on days off and go out freely. But what if they escaped? Someone would be sent to collect the down payment from their family, and it’d be impossible for a young child to survive in a foreign country where they didn’t know anyone. The best they could hope for at that point would be to live in the slums and die early. Compared to that, a warm bed and three meals a day as a servant was far better.

It was, at the very least, the preferable option to staying home and having nothing to eat. They could even buy their own freedom with enough money saved, or even find someone to pay off the down payment, get married, and live a happy life. They’d be able to achieve happiness that would be incomparable to starving back in their rural village.

“...Then, I regret to say, she was taken by a group of kidnappers. Even though I wouldn’t be ashamed to do what we do in front of the Goddess, we could be accused of human trafficking according to the law. That was why I couldn’t report the incident, and my only choice was to flee the city... I was afraid she was being used by a noble or some other wealthy person somewhere else by now. But to find that she’s still safe and living a good life... nothing could make me happier.”

There were tears in the middle-aged man’s eyes as he spoke.

“...Such a good person...”

If he were just a slave trader, he probably wouldn’t have bothered to learn the faces and names of his “stock.” Since he remembered Layette’s name, it showed that he cared about her as a human being.

“So, what is Layette’s living situation now? Did she get purchased or...”

“Y-You fool! What are you blabbering on about in a place like this?!” Francette yelled in a fluster.

Yes, slave trading was a serious crime. There may not have been much foot traffic past noon, but this wasn’t something to talk about so blatantly out in the open.

“...Follow me!”

And so, we moved over to Layette’s Atelier. We kept the shop closed and everyone went upstairs.

“Layette is currently a normal part of the population of a fief without being bound by contract to anyone. Here. This document proves it, signed by this territory’s lord himself.

I pretended to reach into my pocket and pulled out various documents, and the man’s eyes widened.

“These documents are official... So, this girl has achieved a normal, happy life...”

Yeah, but was he okay with that?

“But didn’t you lose out substantially from this? You paid off Layette’s parents, and they probably didn’t get their money because the merchant never received her...”

He responded, “No, it’s just business, so I’d already factored in some level of loss. It wasn’t like I lost hundreds of gold coins from this incident. Besides, when I didn’t report the kidnapping, I’d already abandoned my duties and rights.”

It was the exact same textbook answer I’d heard from one of the lord’s subordinates. I mean, I was glad he wasn’t causing a fuss, but how was he such a good person? Just what type of merchant was he?!

“Um, you are a merchant, so maybe you shouldn’t be so moral for the sake of your business...”

The merchant drooped his shoulders dejectedly at my advice. I guess he was already aware.

Francette’s shoulders also drooped, seeing that her time to shine ended up being resolved just by talking. It seemed she had wanted to swing her sword and protect me from danger... But judging by the fact that our opponent was just a tired old man, that wasn’t realistic in the first place.

In any case, it wasn’t as if I was worried about it, but one of the pending concerns regarding Layette had been resolved. Now I had to look out for cases where Layette’s parents would come screaming to give her back, try to sell her to the merchant again, give her away to a neighboring village for ten bags of wheat, or make her work and take care of them, but I’d need to teach her so that wouldn’t happen...

Hm, no, that wouldn’t be necessary. Layette was six already, and very bright too. She was smart enough to know what to do. Besides... as Layette watched the merchant go home with a cheerful expression, her hand was gripping mine tightly. She’d stay with me until the day she got married... I just had a feeling.

Oh, but I’d be getting married first, of course! I’d get married and take her with me.

...What if someone wanted to get married with both of us?

Obvious answer: He’d be judged by divine punishment!