Chapter 18: The Notice
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 18: The Notice
After a chaotic wake-up call, I immediately dragged the old man, Dakuus, into another room.
“Old man, what exactly are you up to? Making me the Young Lady’s adventurer companion all of a sudden?”
I pressed him aggressively, but the old man just scratched his cheek as if it were no big deal.
“The timing was unexpected, but it was something I was going to ask of you anyway.”
“To be her companion? Or to get married?”
“To accompany her as an adventurer. You’ve likely noticed, but the Young Lady is delaying her inauguration as the Lord. It’s partly due to the pressure, and her reasoning—that she hasn’t seen enough of the people’s lives yet—is valid.”
“That’s something you or the Countess could easily cover for her.”
“You are the most qualified person for the job. That much is undeniable. We are simply trying to play our best hand for the Young Lady’s sake.”
“Sigh, why me, of all people?”
“Good. Finally, someone is asking for an explanation. Even if it’s you, I shall explain it kindly and in great detail.”
Had he been dying to say this all along?
The old man even stretched his body and twirled his mustache before opening his mouth.
“To be frank, our Young Lady is the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“……”
“Don’t tell me you’re denying it!”
“No, I agree, but…”
He sounded like such a doting fool. Hearing it from him made me want to nitpick for no reason.
“There is no need for this old man to sing her praises, but let me give you an example.”
Despite saying it was an example, the old man couldn’t hide his discomfort.
“She is so beautiful that those arrogant men actually have the nerve to flirt with her.”
“What?”
I felt a surge of annoyance the moment I heard that. It was incredibly unpleasant to hear that those bastards were hitting on such a pure beauty—the daughter of the General I used to serve, no less.
“Some of them are the sons of nobles. Fine! If they were nobles, I could endure it with a hundred helpings of patience. Because they’re nobles! They can at least… propose a political marriage!!!”
Stop shouting, old man. I sympathize with your feelings completely.
“But those commoner nobodies who do nothing but suck the lifeblood out of women—those pathetic excuses for men who can’t even pull their own weight—have the audacity to approach the Young Lady! I’ve seen them more than once, speaking as if they’re doing her a favor by offering to take her on a date! The Countess and I had to witness that together!”
“Whoa, whoa! Calm down, old man. I’m with you on this one. See? I’m listening seriously, aren’t I?”
“Alto! You don’t understand the gravity of the situation at all! While we were rolling around on the battlefield, the balance between men and women was completely shattered, just as the Countess said. Looking at your behavior, you have a good habit of treating women well, but the other bastards are nothing like that. According to Lady Narupa, the men in adventurer parties don’t do anything in dungeons! They just stay in the back and scream at the women to protect them! And yet, they take the lion’s share of the money, never spend a dime on dates, and only accept gifts. They are nothing but parasites!”
The old man gritted his teeth and swung his clenched fist through the air.
“How could such lowlifes ever be fit to be our Young Lady’s partner!”
“Yeah, that’s enough to make anyone angry. Even as a soldier who served under Marquis Dakuren, just hearing about it makes my blood boil.”
“Finally, we’re speaking the same language!”
Point.
The old man shouted, pointing a wrinkled finger at me.
“When the Young Lady reveals she is the successor to the Dakuren Lordship, those men suddenly act polite, but they never take that lustful look out of their eyes. No matter how broken the balance between genders is, there is still a hierarchy of duty and status!”
I don’t think that’s something you should say to a commoner like me. His noble elitism was showing plain as day. Is this how you act when you’re asking for a favor?
“Think about it. If the Young Lady were to fall for some loser and marry him, she would become just one of his many wives—or in the worst-case scenario, one of his concubines… The prestige of the Dakuren family would fall to the ground, and the prestige of Hus would fall with it!”
Still, I think I understood why the old man hated it so much. Beyond the Young Lady’s status, he didn’t want to see the girl he raised like his own daughter become a victim to those arrogant, parasitic men.
Thinking of Marquis Dakuren and Janks, I felt a sense of duty to prevent such a thing as well.
“Furthermore, the Young Lady is the daughter of Marquis Dakuren, one of the Four Heroes who defeated the Demon King. We cannot send her to some bastard who doesn’t know the price of blood paid for this peace, nor the gratitude owed for it.”
“But if the Young Lady says she likes him, we have no right to stop her.”
“That is exactly the point.”
The old man’s eyes were bloodshot. Seeing an old man huffing and puffing like that was quite unsettling.
“That is your role. Block the losers who approach the Young Lady. If he’s a man who looks decent to you, to me, and to my wife, then he passes. Yes, you are to be the interviewer.”
“If that’s the role, I don’t necessarily need to follow her as an adventurer companion, do I?”
“That’s where another problem arises.”
The old man sighed, fiddling with his monocle. I couldn’t tell if his hand was shaking from old age or from anger.
“The Young Lady wants to do dungeon quests. She wants to form her own party and explore dungeons. Naturally, under the guise of inspecting the people’s lives, I’ve instructed Branch Manager Karen to only give her simple quests that exclude dungeons. But she is very dissatisfied with that.”
“Why is she so set on dungeon quests?”
“…She wants to follow in Marquis Dakuren’s footsteps, even if only a little.”
The atmosphere suddenly turned solemn. Her father’s footsteps… Did she mean the path of war and blood?
“The Young Lady has a deep affection for her family, so she finds it hard to accept the deaths of the Marquis and the Young Master. And she believes that to become a Lord, she must have similar experiences, even if they aren’t the same legendary tales. She thinks that if she shows a weak side, especially as a woman, it’ll be the end of her.”
“She’s not wrong.”
“She isn’t. But… if the Young Lady were a man, it would be a commendable thought. As it stands, this old man is only filled with worry.”
Placing his monocle back on his nose, the old man continued calmly.
“Alto, I have no children. Instead, my wife and I raised Young Master Janks and Lady Airune since they were infants. Even during the days when I harbored vain ambitions, I treated those two as my own.”
For some reason, at this moment, the old man looked incredibly weary. The fine wrinkles I hadn’t noticed before caught my eye, and his chest seemed to heave with effort just from breathing.
“You might think, ‘What nonsense is this coming from a man who dreamed of world conquest?’ but that is how human emotions work. All inconsistent actions stem from emotion.”
“Ha! Are you lecturing me on inconsistent actions?”
“A slip of the tongue. I shouldn’t have said that to a guy who never weighs the consequences as much as you do.”
The old man naturally brought his hand to his mouth, as if taking a drag from a cigarette. But those who have felt and smelled the heat of demonic energy on the battlefield never smoke. Smoking in the presence of demonic energy makes breathing difficult. For the rest of your life.
“Anyway, if the Young Lady forms a party, men will line up to be her supporters. There will be those who offer to pay for the party’s operating costs with their national subsidies just to win her favor. Since the Young Lady has no intention of using her background, she might allow a male party member in an attempt to solve things on her own.”
Ah, so you want to put me in as the male party member instead?
Old man, that’s related to why I left Lukart. Since I haven’t told you, you wouldn’t know, but I still had to say this.
“Old man. Having a man in a party basically means the women in that party belong to that man. It means people might see the Young Lady and me as being in a relationship. Isn’t that the exact situation you were worried about?”
“……”
“Well?”
“……”
The old man’s eyes turned into snake eyes, scanning me from head to toe. It was creepy. It was hard to tell what that old man was thinking. Even if he seemed to care for me, his mind would always be working toward the benefit of Hus and the Dakuren family.
“I believe it would be fine if it were you.”
“Old man!”
I shouted in horror, but the Count did not retract his statement.
“If not you, then who else would be fit? Who else but Alto Bertrand, the man who stood shoulder to shoulder with the Young Lady’s father, staining the battlefield with blood to build this peace?”
“Old man, I never stood shoulder to shoulder with the Marquis. And don’t try to manipulate me with empty words.”
“They are not empty words—”
“Look at my face!”
I grabbed the old man by the collar and shoved my face toward him. I hated those snake eyes that were shining even more sharply now.
“What kind of woman would like a face like this! Having a guy like me as the man in her party is the fastest way to ruin the Young Lady’s reputation! A smart man like you should know that better than anyone! Don’t you dare spout that crap just to use me!”
“…Alto. A man is all about confidence.”
“Shit…! More nonsense…!”
“And from those words just now, I can infer roughly what happened to you in Lukart.”
Startled, I let go of his collar and stepped back. This sly old fox. I had briefly forgotten that I shouldn’t show any openings to this man.
“Of all the men I know, you are the best choice. I don’t mean for you to date or marry her. As a man to assist the Young Lady by her side, you are the best. I am sincere about this. And aren’t you a veteran adventurer? No matter how strong a party of women she forms, they cannot be stronger than you, nor can they know survival better than you.”
The old man bowed to me. Very formally.
“I beg of you. If you find the sight of me unbearable, then please accept this for the sake of Marquis Dakuren. I only act out of loyalty to the Young Lady and Hus.”
“Sigh…”
How cowardly. For a noble old man to bow to a young commoner. It was the height of cowardice.
“I’ll do it as a temporary party member. That way, it’ll be a minimal official defense to show that nothing untoward happened between the Young Lady and me.”
“Understood.”
“I’m going to go cool my head. If there are any remaining procedures for me as a settler, make sure they’re finished by this morning.”
“I shall keep that in mind.”
Cooling my head just meant walking around the garden in the Lord’s Castle. I just wanted some fresh air.
“Alto.”
“What now, old man?”
“Thank you.”
“What’s with you?”
“And a man is all about confidence.”
“Oh, give it a rest!”
Disturbing my peace until the very end!
* * *
After Alto left, Count Dakuus, left alone in the room, fell into thought while stroking his mustache.
“Yes, I think I have the gist of it.”
He could somewhat understand what had happened in Lukart to make him want to move to Hus. However, he hadn’t yet reached the crucial clue as to why Alto had no choice but to reveal his status as a National Merit Recipient on his withdrawal form.
“Lukart… we will clash eventually.”
The Count forcefully plucked a stray hair from his mustache.
“Thanks to them, Hus was able to secure Alto, but that is separate from the fact that they hurt my only candidate for a son-in-law.”
The Count’s snake eyes were already looking past Alto, toward Lukart.