The Madwoman of Breitenfeld
Very honestly, I'll say it. Bartol… was that his name? That embezzling son of a bitch. He turned the countship into an absolute shitshow. Not just a shitshow, but a goddamn clusterfuck. Fortunately, my money was brought over by the mercenary companies themselves. They must not have wanted to die, because they even volunteered their own funds. In the end, we gathered 921 platinum coins and 472 gold coins. It seems they hadn't touched the jewelry box.
"Hoo." I let out a sigh and sat down in the lord's office when Elena walked in.
"Lord Goshugir."
"Ah, Elena."
"I looked through the ledgers. It's a complete mess," she said, furrowing her brow. "Nothing matches the records. He must have skimmed quite a bit."
Elena shook her head and sat on the sofa in the office, glancing at Anastasia huddled in the corner with clear irritation. Anastasia held up the leash attached to her collar and pleaded with me.
"Master… please hold the leash…"
She's been like this ever since I slaughtered the knight order. Maybe her trauma from the Northern Wall flared up again. Since I can't see inside her mind, there's nothing I can do about it. Elizabeth has been doing nothing but sword training ever since she saw that scene yesterday. It's strange. Elizabeth is a year younger than me, so that's one thing, but even Elea, who's older, speaks casually with me. I have no idea why Anastasia acts this way.
With a sigh, I took her leash. Only then did she relax and begin dozing off comfortably. Modern Elena watched the sight with a stern expression, her face twisting in displeasure.
"Lord Goshugir. No matter how you look at it, aren't you spoiling her too much? She's supposed to be a noble lady, yet she's imitating a beast. As a fellow noble, I find it hard to accept."
"You've been fine with it until now. Why the sudden complaint? She must have her own reasons."
"Haah… I really can't understand the way you think, Lord Goshugir."
She began flipping through the ledgers irritably.
"Hmph, hmph." Just as Anastasia leaned against my leg, Elena's page-turning speed increased. Hmm.
In the past month, Elena and Elizabeth have grown strangely close, but Anastasia… it seems like no one has gotten close to her except me. She acts like everyone else is unnecessary. While absentmindedly stroking Anastasia's head, the door opened and Elizabeth walked in. She was breathing heavily as she looked around, then froze in shock at the sight of me petting Anastasia's head.
"My lord. What in the world are you doing…?"
"Ah, if I don't do this, she'll throw another fit."
"I-I never imagined you had such filthy tastes!!" Elizabeth's face flushed bright red as she shouted.
At that, Anastasia, who I'd thought was asleep, cracked her eyes open and glanced at Elizabeth before burying her face deeper into my thigh.
"Master… please chase that noisy woman away… she smells like sweat too…"
"Hey now." I smacked Anastasia on the mouth. "How dare you call Her Imperial Highness 'that woman.' Just shut up and go back to sleep."
"……Yes."
Elena looked at Elizabeth with a blank expression.
"Elise. Give up."
"Ugh, sis…"
"Hmmm." Anyway, everyone was gathered. I had things to say.
"You all know why I came here, right?"
"…More or less."
"Of course we do! Weren't you planning to wander around and fight the strong people scattered throughout the Empire?!"
The first was Elena, the second Elizabeth. Anastasia stayed silent, making her usual "hmph hmph" sounds. Elena and Elizabeth both shot her dirty looks, clearly annoyed. Were they worried I might actually see her as a woman? Or was she just that irritating? If it was the former, they had nothing to worry about. My masculinity didn't react to this girl at all. When I thought of Anastasia as just a patient or a beast that needed looking after, desire simply didn't arise. That's why I held her leash and petted her head.
"Anyway, Elena, who checked the difference between the ledgers and reality, should know this well, but this countship can't function properly as a territory right now. You agree, Elena?"
Elena adjusted her surprisingly fitting glasses and nodded.
"…Yes. Restoration will take at least a year."
Elena with glasses is way too pretty!
"It really was a mess. The fields that should be farmed are completely empty, and the people wandering the streets look like skin and bones…"
Elizabeth seemed to have scouted the area while doing sword training combined with long-distance running. Even her sweating looked beautiful all of a sudden.
"Hmph, hmph." Anastasia was… pretty, sure, but… well. Just a goddamn bitch. Anyway, the important thing wasn't restoring the territory. We were leaving this place.
"We're leaving tomorrow."
Elizabeth exclaimed in surprise.
"What?! We've only been here for two days today!"
Elena pointed out the more fundamental issue.
"What about the lives of the territory's people?"
Couldn't I just leave them be and let them figure it out? It wasn't like I asked for this territory anyway—it was forced on me. I wanted to say that, but I felt like Elena would stop seeing me as a person, so I chose different words instead.
"Elena. How much is the annual tax revenue of Breitenfeld Countship?"
"About 30,000 gold coins, which is roughly 300 platinum coins."
"Abolish the taxes and invest all 921 platinum coins and 472 gold coins of mine into stabilizing the territory."
"Then we'll need someone to manage that…!!"
"Ah." Leaving tomorrow really was too hasty.
"Then should we leave in about a week? Find someone to manage things, and someone worth finding…"
Ah, right. I need to find the original protagonist. Greta Klein. I want to see that face and those abilities with my own eyes.
"Have all the jewels entrusted to a good blacksmith and embedded into weapons. That way I can store them using my ability."
"Ah."
"Carrying all of them around would be too much, and selling them here would be difficult too."
Even if you attach a large jewel to a pommel, it's still considered a weapon. My ability is truly invincible.
"……"
Come to think of it, selling the good weapons in the armory should be enough to cover living expenses. But more money is always better. Let's go with that.
"Leave… you're leaving…?"
At that moment, Anastasia looked at me with tears like chicken droppings welling up in her eyes. Her half-dilated pupils were now fully dilated, making it impossible to tell where her pupils even were.
"W-We finally got our own castle. You and I could just hide here for the rest of our lives… Why are we leaving? Where to? Is someone going to torment you again?"
"This crazy bitch is losing it again."
Her voice trembled so badly it cracked. She grabbed tightly onto my pant leg. Damn, how strong was her grip? The button on my pants almost came off.
"Master, stay here. I'll do everything. Tax calculations? Territory management? I'll do it all. If it's about finding people like that woman said earlier, we can just grab anyone, drug them, brainwash them, and make them slaves!!"
A strange madness flickered in Anastasia's eyes.
"If anyone attacks, I'll pour deadly poison outside the castle walls and melt them all. Okay? Master… can't we just live here together forever?"
Goddamn crazy bitch. Like hell we would. I let go of the leash and pushed her body into the corner. She trembled violently, as if shocked.
"M… Master… MasterMasterMasterMasterMasterMasterMasterMasterMasterMasterMasterMaster."
Elena and Elizabeth shook their heads in disgust at the sight of Anastasia chanting "Master" without even breathing.
"She really is insane."
"She's crazy, that woman."
"Master! Don't abandon me! I was wrong! I'll kill them all! I'll kill the Emperor and those bitches too so you can stay in this castle forever……!!"
"What?! This mad thing dares to mention Father and me!!"
"Calm down, Elise."
Elizabeth and Elena were enraged by her words. Anastasia frantically crawled across the floor, trying to grab my pant leg. With a sigh, I picked up the leash again. A whip might work on a mad dog, but it seemed like it would have the opposite effect here. Anastasia's gaze, as she crawled on the floor, twisted grotesquely to follow the leather strap in my hand.
"Anastasia."
"Hic!"
"Stop your bullshit and take the medicine the doctor gave you. If you throw another fit like this, I'll leave you here alone."
"No!! No!!"
Anastasia hurriedly pulled the medicine from her pocket, shoved it into her mouth, and chewed it loudly. She was supposed to swallow it with water. Truly fitting behavior for a madwoman. I patted her head like I would a dog, as if to say "good job."
"Well done. So go outside and get some fresh air."
"Yes!!"
At my words, she hummed a tune and left the office. Only then did silence return to the office as I let out a sigh.
"Hoo…"
Then I looked at Elizabeth and Elena in turn and said with a smile.
"That goddamn bitch doesn't look like a woman to me. A bitch is just a bitch. So… don't think too strangely about it."
They were the ones who often fought over me. I figured they'd understand what I meant, so I opened the door to go outside.
"That doesn't mean I can actually leave her behind. She's already my bitch, after all. Right?"
They closed their mouths as if they'd lost the words to respond. But they couldn't hide their strangely relieved expressions. When I went outside and saw Anastasia, she was smiling brightly. Looking at her like that, she really did seem like nothing more than a noble lady and a beautiful girl. Who would've known she was a crazy bitch?
"Master!! Today I'm going to make a potion for you using alchemy!!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Smiling was enough.