Episode 25.8-9

"Thank you so much for all your hard work."

Lady Sushana spoke as she handed over a soft-looking towel.

Once Lecan got back to town lord after settling the masons versus carpenters dispute, more trouble kept cropping up one after another and he had to go around everywhere to deal with them.

He went to a scene of quarrels, and beat down both parties concerned.

He went to a crash site, and made the side at fault promise to compensate.

He would use <Recovery> to anyone injured.

He also cast <Recovery> on the town lord.

He would lift and carry away broken carts.

Literally anything he could do.

He didn't meddle with matters outside his expertise.

For instance, he didn't go to a robbery case.

He stayed silent on issues regarding arranging materials or working procedures as well.

The situation won't improve even if he goes there.

There's no point spending times in things you're helpless at.

"Yeah."

After wiping his sweat, he took a bottle of liquor on a shelf, poured it in a silver cup and gulped it down.

It's a good booze.

"In the end, Lecan-sama never had the lunch, have you?"

Sushana had prepared Lecan lunch, but a bloody accident came up and he had to run there, thus he never had the chance to taste it.

"Yea. I munched on some jerky I got."

"My."

A bad mannered act like eating while walking is probably outside of Sushana's imagination.

"Now that Litton is back, I'm taking my leave."

"Eh? No, umm. We have dinner prepared for you."

"I'll have dinner ready at home. No worries."

After bidding farewell to Sushana who was still trying to keep him there, Lecan left.

He couldn't wait to eat Eda's cooking and drank some booze at home.

Her repertoire has seen a huge increase lately. Eda is smoothly getting better at all kinds of homeowner-related abilities.

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

The following day, Lecan practiced <Barrier> from morning to afternoon at Shira's place.

Focusing so much energy into stuff you just can't do with no clear grasp as to how is an extremely tiring feat.

The exhausted Lecan dropped by Norma's medical center.

Norma was in the middle of her house call round with Eda, but they eventually got back while Lecan was watching the garden.

"Come again. The town lord's daughter personally served you tea?"

"Yea. Must be her way of saying thanks."

"Lecan. Was there not a woman's room next to the room you were told to stay at?"

"Come to think of it, there was a room with a dresser next to mine. And another room for servants further back."

"Lecan."

"Hm?"

"Are you familiar with Commuter Marriage?"

"No, I'm not."

"It's a form of marriage where the husband commutes to the wife's place."

"What the heck is that? Aren't you gonna live together after marriage?"

"In case of commoners, yes that's true. But there are times when that is just not possible to nobles."

"Why wouldn't husband and wife live together?"

"Commuter marriage occurs when the wife cannot live at the husband's place due to some sort of reason."

"Not sure if I get it, but can't the husband just live at the wife's place then?"

"Of course, they would if they could. I'll give you some examples where that's not feasible. Say a certain member of a royal family from a foreign nation who regularly visits another country's noble house falls in love with a daughter of that noble. Either could have married into the other family, but that won't necessarily bring happiness to those couples and either of the families. In such a situation, they are only married when he's visiting that noble house."

"Is that really a marriage?"

"It is a marriage. If they had a child, that noble would have the blood of another country's royalty running in their family, which carries a significant political meaning to it."

"Yeah, I don't get it."

"Hmm. I guess it's hard to understand. That example has the husband and wife from different countries, but similar situations can happen even in the same country. Or even in the same city."

"In other word, on top of the husband's standing being way higher than the wife's, their houses also come from very different backgrounds, so normal marriage would be disastrous. Thus the husband commutes to the wife's house."

"That's right. That's it! What the heck. So you do get it."

"No. Not sure if I really did."

"Haha. Then let's use another example. The wife is a noble daughter of an upper standing. The husband is the second or third son of a lowly and not so wealthy noble house, he may have a good future ahead of him, but he has no standing or fortune to back at present."

"What? Fumu."

"The higher standing noble house allows their marriage in anticipation of the young man's future. However, the daughter will leave that noble's house to live in a detached building where the young man will commute there."

"Can't that young man just live at that house?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, cases like that do exist. But even in such instances, their marriage is treated as a Commuter Marriage."

"I don't get it."

"Once the young man succeeded and found standing and social status, the high-ranking noble may formally accept him as their daughter's spouse. Or they might build another house and give their daughter's hand in marriage."

"What if he never found success?"

"The high-ranking noble will probably give up on the young man at some point and give their daughter to someone else. To a house that will give them an advantage politically."

"...."

"Was it too hard?"

"So you're saying Commuter Marriage isn't a legal marriage, right? As later on, you could say it was or wasn't a real marriage, a weird double entrende kind of marriage nobles are so good at, yeah?"

"That's an interesting way to interpret it. But that's only one correct interpretation of Commuter Marriage. As there are cases like that and cases where they are treated as legally binding."

"Okay, I see just how labyrinthine these nobles can get."

"Really. Then you understand now, right?"

"What is?"

"That you have established a Commuter Marriage with lady Sushana right now."