Chapter 49 - Volume 3 Interlude Rosetta and Marie

After advancing to the fourth year, the half-year long vacation had arrived.

During this period, the students of the elementary school can go back to their homes and relax for a bit.

With Derrick now defeated, Liam had returned to the Banfield territory.

His fiancée Rosetta, and his underling Wallace had gone with him.

Liam’s vassals had returned to the estate as well.

Visiting Rosetta’s room was Marie– the girl who had been petrified two millennia ago.

“Lady Rosetta, it’s time.”

She called out for her using the intercom attached to the door.

Rosetta immediately responded in a hurry,

“Ye-yes!”

As a daughter of the Claudia house that had no servants, she wasn’t used to her life in the mansion.

As a result, she often found herself acting awkwardly around Marie.

In front of Rosetta’s room, there were always two female knights posted there.

There were also servants there, so Marie called out to them,

“How’s Lady Rosetta doing?”

“She’s really shy and refuses to be taken care of. She told us she’d get herself ready this morning, so we should refrain from entering.”

Marie rubbed her chin,

“…this is troubling.”

This was a universe where there were many useful tools that could be used to help one get ready in the morning.

There was no need for servants to assist.

However, the servants around Rosetta were professionals specifically for this task.

It’d be a problem to prevent such personnel from doing their jobs.

“What’s Lord Liam’s opinion of this?”

“He told us to just watch over the situation until she got used to it.”

Marie wanted Rosetta to get up quickly, but if Liam said it was okay, then she’d back down.

In the first place, Liam himself didn’t keep that many people around him.

Because of his unique upbringing, he only kept those he trusted by his side.

–or so that’s how the surroundings justified it.

In reality, it’s not strange for those with the position of Count to keep multiple servants around.

This was a universe where almost anything could be done by machines.

So to show off one’s luxury, it was quite popular to have professionals take care of your needs instead.

Some aristocrats even competed with how many servants they kept around.

As a result, many noble children that had their every need taken care of since birth, turning them useless as they grew older.

The elementary school was a place made to educate such children of how things really worked.

(Lord Liam is too humble. If considering his position, it’d be better if he indulged himself a bit more.)

As Marie thought so, Rosetta came out of her room,

“I-I’m sorry to have kept you waiting…”

Seeing Rosetta’s timid attitude, Marie straightened her back and responded,

“Lady Rosetta, you shouldn’t act so subservient with those who are below you.”

“O-of course, I’ll be careful.”

While Marie was troubled by Rosetta’s attitude, she led her to the vehicle parked in the hallway.

“Now then, over here please–”

–The mansion was too big, so there were vehicles in the corridors to traverse them.

Rosetta couldn’t understand it.

“Why are there vehicles in the hallways? Or is this even a hallway anymore? Perhaps its already considered a street?”

It was weird to use vehicles on the inside of a mansion!

-Those were Rosetta’s true feelings.

“You’ll get used to it.”

When Marie let Rosetta to the vehicle, she proceeded to give her a tour of the estate.

For Liam’s knight order, this wasn’t a job their second of command was supposed to be doing.

However, Marie felt quite the affinity for Rosetta.

Looking at her, she fell into thought,

(That fool turned me into stone, and made an example of the Claudia house. Lady Rosetta is my companion in that regard.)

She was a fellow victim who was tormented by the ruling emperor of two millennia ago.

Liam had saved both herself and Rosetta from such torment, making them both very precious to her.

“Today I’ll be guiding you through the mansion’s hospital.”

Rosetta was surprised,

“There’s a hospital in the mansion?!”

“Of course there is, we had the room for it.”

“But I heard that the Banfield house already had a hospital in its territory whose medical facilities were equal to that of the imperial capital’s!”

Did you really need a hospital in your mansion if your already had one of that caliber in your territory?

Rosetta couldn’t understand.

“…please prepare yourself for when we arrive there. Those who are receiving treatment there aren’t normal.”

Those who had been captured by pirates and had suffered terrible fates were sent there.

“I’ve heard about this before. The head knight told me that I needed to have a deeper understanding of Liam– no, my husband* to become a suitable wife for him.”

A blue vein popped up on Marie’s forehead, but because she was in front of Rosetta she forced herself to smile.

(That minced-meat bitch! Don’t preach around so bossily! Next time I see her I’ll cut her down to the chunk of meat she was!)

“It’s only been a decade or so since Liam’s knight order was founded, so disregard anything that lady says, the head knight will be changing soon anyways.”

“I-is that so? It’s only been ten years, but it already looks like there are plenty of excellent knights here.”

In the mentality of this universe, decade was a short amount of time.

To be considered a historical knight order, they’d need at least five hundred years of experience to them.

“Oh yes, why ‘husband’?”

“D-does it sound funny?”

“No, it’s just that I’ve only heard Amagi refer to Lord Liam that way.”

“Amagi… she’s that android, isn’t she?”

“I’m worried that Lord Liam would mind, so let’s consider other names to differentiate yourself from her.”

“Huh? I should call him something else? Like a nickname or something?”

Marie went into deep thought for a moment,

“What about ‘darling’?”

–that suggestion was happily accepted.

◇ ◇ ◇

When I returned to the mansion, I indulged myself in luxury from early in the morning.

“It’s definitely luxurious to start the day playing in the pool!”

The wave pool was cleaned last night and filled with water.

It’d be nice if there were lots of girls in swimsuits here too, but I didn’t have any beauties at the moment.

The only ones in their swimsuits there were Amagi and Brian.

Amagi’s was a modest pareo-type.

It perfectly suited her adult charm.

I specifically had Thomas prepare a high-quality swimsuit made of the best materials.

I got angry when he asked me if I wanted to prepare a risky swimsuit and shouted, “ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!” back then.

Amagi wasn’t an exhibitionist.

There’s no way I’d allow her to wear a risky swimsuit.

Brian on the other hand was wearing a swimsuit that covered his elbows and knees.

…I didn’t care about that though.

“Lord Liam, would you like some fruit for breakfast?”

“Is it a fresh and high-class one?”

“Of course! We’ve prepared for you the finest goods grown in your territory’s soil!”

–what a waste of expenses!

They actually flew in fresh fruit directly from the fields.

When I tried them, they were fresh and sweet.

While the fruit juices were tangy and smoothly went down.

“It’s delicious!”

They went so far just for breakfast.

Being an evil lord is the best!

Amagi proceeded to cut the fruit indifferently.

“To eat what was grown locally, you sure are amazing, Master.”

“Are you being sarcastic? Please don’t be angry. I’m doing this because I didn’t get to enjoy these luxuries while at school.”

As I thought, home is best.

There was nobody here who could resist me, and I was treated like a king.

I was an evil king though.

Brian brought out the next food,

“Lord Liam, next we have some yogurt for you.”

“Is it a luxury item?”

“Unfortunately not, this Brian here made it himself.”

“You know you don’t have to do that, right? Well, I’ll still try it since you made it for me… oh, it’s good.”

I kind of hated how unexpectedly delicious it was.

◇ ◇ ◇

Wallace was watching Liam.

He was eating breakfast by the poolside first thing in the morning.

“Liam sure is modest. Isn’t everything he’s eating grown from his own territory?”

Aristocrats who owned land like Liam usually had their meals imported on spaceships from abroad.

But these fruits were prepared from his people’s fields.

If compared to the common sense of Earth, it was as if he was eating what was grown in his backyard garden.

In this universe, what was considered ‘luxurious’ among the nobility was completely different.

They’d spend ridiculous amounts of money just for a single cup of coffee.

The best water would be prepared.

They’d gather the best beans.

All processed using the best tools and the best human resources.

In any case, that’s just how things were.

From Wallace’s perspective, Liam was being really frugal.