The Day You Came Into Being, the Whole Continent Whispered of Your Existence - 2
The position of wet nurse, unlike that of butler or head steward, does not formally belong to a household’s retainers. It sits somewhere in the middle—neither full vassal nor mere outside guest. That is what a wet nurse is.
Yet for all its delicate standing, a wet nurse is a high-caliber professional who outranks most ordinary retainers. Common sense alone says you cannot hire just anyone to care for your own children. Only someone of verified background, outstanding ability, and excellent character may become a wet nurse.
That is why wet nurses are neither easy to find nor easy to create. To engage a new one, either the previous wet nurse must have diligently raised a successor, or—if she failed—one must activate the wet-nurse network and rely on connections. That is the world of wet nurses.
Both options, however, were impossible for House Catoban. The last time the position of wet nurse had existed in the Catoban ducal house was more than a hundred years ago, and since the Duke had shown no interest in marrying, no one had felt the need to train a successor. Connections among wet nurses? The one who had once cared for Trixie had already died decades earlier.
As a result, House Catoban was belatedly scrambling to find a wet nurse. More precisely, a veteran who could train one. After all, the wet nurse for their glorious little lords was “naturally” expected to come from a vassal family.
“I never knew there were so many mages with wet-nurse experience.”
The result was that mage wet nurses across the continent fell into a frenzy. They themselves would not become the wet nurse, but they could become the teachers who trained one. In that case, forming even the slightest connection with the Magic Lord was a foregone conclusion.
This is driving me insane.
It was a situation I had never imagined, and my head was pounding.
When House Catoban posted the job notice, I had expected a flood of applicants. Anyone with even a speck of ambition would never miss a chance to form ties with a ducal house.
But I never expected continent-wide chaos to erupt mere days after the notice went up. These mages—had they formed some kind of Trixie fan-club café? Was news about Trixie getting posted there every single day?
How dare they leave me out.
If such a thing existed, they ought to appoint me, her husband, as president. The sheer audacity.
...
What now?
After finishing my denial of reality, I faced it again. With the board this large, handling things simply had become difficult.
Even in my previous world, it was customary to send a consoling, regretful message when rejecting a job applicant. But if, as the butler said, more than five hundred people had submitted applications, writing rejection replies alone would take no small amount of time. And if any big shots were among the applicants, even more care would be required.
This makes recommending a wet nurse awkward.
My brow furrowed on its own. With mages from all over the continent dropping like flies, if the wet nurse I recommended boldly took the position, unnecessary rumors might start circulating. If they were just going to insert the husband’s acquaintance anyway, why bother posting a notice?
Of course, when we posted the notice I never expected wet nurses to take interest, and someone as well-rounded in ability and character as her was rare, so there was no reason not to insert her. But not everyone knows those circumstances.
Frankly, even if rumors spread, it would not matter. You cannot satisfy everyone, and those people would just talk. But I could not tolerate the wet nurse having to hear unnecessary slander because of me and Trixie.
Ah.
Then a simple yet plausible method occurred to me.
There’s no need to pick just one.
If we hired several, we could avoid the smear that the wet nurse had monopolized the only spot. Besides, even in school, different subjects have different teachers—was there a rule that a wet nurse had to teach alone?
“Butler.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“The wet nurse who cared for my siblings currently serves as head maid of House Crassius. I will send her over, so consult with her and select about four more.”
“Yes, Your Grace the Consort. It shall be done.”
At my instruction, the butler quickly bowed his head.
It was a simple method, but sometimes in life, simple solutions work.
The miraculous conclusion of selecting five teachers including the wet nurse.
“If you learn from only one person, you may go down a biased path, but if you learn from many, you can choose the right path yourself.”
Trixie nodded as if she liked that miraculous conclusion.
What a relief. Although I had given the order to the butler right away, strictly speaking I had handled a marital matter unilaterally. Moreover, with the Duke perfectly healthy, a mere consort had been ordering the Duke’s retainers around.
I need to be careful from now on.
Elsewhere I might be the decision-maker, but in House Catoban I was merely the second-in-command. Careless actions could make Trixie feel slighted, so I had to watch myself.
“But Karl, since we’ve already put together five, why not add one more?”
“One more?”
And Trixie’s suggestion surprised me a little.
Trixie… had someone she wanted to insert? Not just anyone, but Trixie?
She knew someone?
It was a rather rude thought, but I could not help it. To personally name and insert someone meant there was some affection there, and it was surprising that Trixie, who was detached from human relationships, was giving affection to someone—plus the courage of whoever asked her to put them in was impressive.
“I just contacted Grandmother, and she asked if we wouldn’t need a wet nurse to teach elven culture.”
“Ah.”
I understood. If it was Grandmother, she could demand a parachute appointment from Trixie.
No, since it was Grandmother’s choice, perhaps “airborne troops” rather than parachute.
“You’re right. With elven blood flowing in them, they should know elven culture.”
Instinctively, the events at the Elf Sanctuary came to mind. The bittersweet memory of how both Trixie and I, ignorant of elven culture, had publicly done something quite steamy.
Yes, we could not pass that humiliation and disgrace on to our children. If the parents had not learned properly, at least the children should.
“Ah, and…”
Suddenly fidgeting and glancing at me, Trixie carefully opened her mouth.
“Grandmother said… to come home as soon as possible…”
At those words, I carefully bowed my head as well. In her head she understood her granddaughter was an adult, but in her heart she still treated her as a baby—and now Grandmother had heard that she had three great-grandchildren.
What emotion would she have felt first, rather than joy? It was hard even to dare imagine.
After ending the call with Trixie.
“Hoooo…”
I gulped water repeatedly to soothe my insides. Since it was water containing the treasure bestowed by the Water Elemental King, something like my insides heating up should be soothed soon enough.
“What I gave you works on the body, not the mind—”
“Pardon?”
“I was going to tell you to drink carefully. Even water can make you choke if you gulp it too fast.”
The Water Elemental King cleared his throat lightly and went outside with fairies riding on his shell.
Watching that, I sighed. I had ended up acting sulky toward a Spirit King out of nowhere.
It’s no one’s fault.
I drank more water and composed myself. This was no one’s fault. No one had committed a crime.
It is natural for children to come after marriage. By human-world standards, Trixie is an adult without flaw. Though mixed with elven blood, she is half human, and applying elven standards to Trixie, who has lived in the human world, is wrong.
Clearly, clearly that should be so.
How could a child barely over a hundred and twenty…
A child.
How could a child have even smaller children.
“What is the world coming to.”
I muttered that complaint without thinking. Even though the present world was a beautiful one where the World Tree had been revived and Constantina had descended once more.
I shouldn’t be like this. For those children, it was a joyful moment of gaining new life right after marriage. I worried that I might show an unpleasant expression in front of them when even congratulations would not be enough.
I should have called them later.
Belated regret washed over me. When I heard the pregnancy news from Trixie, I had instinctively told them to come home, but once my reason returned, it felt too hasty.
So calm down, calm down again. When those children come, smile and celebrate together…
How could a child have a child!
This is bad. It seems difficult for now.
“Elder, are you there?”
While I was battling the pain in my heart alone, Claris’s voice came from outside the door.
I felt both glad and sorry that someone to share this pain with had arrived.
At last the fiercely burning communication orb quieted down.
“Finally got through. What have you been up to all this time?”
“Holed up in the mansion under siege. Why would I go out and get into trouble?”
Thanks to that, I could finally contact the Minister.
Trixie had made a temporary communication orb, so I could have done it then, but unfortunately I had forgotten the Minister’s unique number. Honestly, that guy probably doesn’t know my number either.
“Fair enough. Even just walking around a little, all I heard was talk about you.”
Nodding at my words, the Minister eventually chuckled with a snort.
“Seriously amazing. Not long after having the first one, and now triplets.”
“Are you jealous?”
“No.”
The firm answer hurt my heart. Not knowing the joy of many children—you are truly a pitiful man.
“Actually, more than the triplets, the fact that the next Duke Servette is of your bloodline gives me chills. How did the Empire end up like this.”
In the middle of that, a truly blasphemous remark came from the Minister’s mouth. To speak as if the Empire was going wrong amid the joyous occasion of a ducal house’s succession solidifying. Even a Minister should not be forgiven for such words.
“Can I tell other people you said that?”
“Go ahead if you want. Once I retire, it’s over.”
But faced with a logically perfect rebuttal, I couldn’t open my mouth.
That was true. If I reported the Minister, he would just take early retirement by several decades.
“Well, I’m sure you’ve heard it a lot already, but congratulations. Pass on my congratulations to Her Grace the Magic Lord as well.”
“It’s people like you who burned out my communication orb.”
“Didn’t you used to avoid His Grace too, back in the day?”
Strange. Today every single word from the Minister stabbed me in the solar plexus…
“Anyway, I’m hanging up now, so stay well hidden. Don’t get caught in some weird place.”
Leaving that gem of advice to the end, the Minister hung up without regret.
Damn it.
I found myself thinking I should visit the Minister’s mansion soon.
Together with Trixie.