CH 19

I wonder how this happened.…? Where did I go wrong? In the beginning, Katharina was also looking at me with sparkling eyes. I didn’t feel bad being seen with those eyes, but I shouldn’t have felt bad. She was a pretty girl who always followed me with a smile, saying “Lady Flora, Lady Flora.”

Despite this, Katharina’s attitude began to stiffen after several months had passed. No matter how friendly I am to her, I feel a distance between us as if there is some kind of wall.

There was a difference in the positions between the daughter of the Master and the daughter of the Vassal. Katharina is a clever girl, so she understands that much. But in her early days, she was more casual, and she must have looked at me with sparkling eyes as if she were looking at someone she admired. But why…?

At some point, Katharina became aloof toward me. Even if I invited her to have tea with me, she would not sit across from me and drink with me. It’s like Katharina brewing tea and then standing behind me.

Perhaps someone saw Katharina’s attitude from the beginning and said that’s how a vassal’s daughter has to behave in front of the daughter of their master’s family. I told her many times that she shouldn’t have to worry about that and that she should treat me more like a friend, but in the end, I couldn’t reconcile with Katharina before she left.

On the day she returned to Manor Royce after finishing treatment at my home and her frail constitution improving, I told Katharina that I was not only her friend, but like a sister who lived with me, but she brushed me off. Did I do something that made Katharina angry? Or maybe while living together, my facade peeled off and she saw through my true nature?

Katharina was a girl who longed for a princess. The reason she gave me such admiring stares, in the beginning, was probably that she thought of me as a princess.

Certainly, from a worldly perspective, I would be a princess of House Carruthers, but that’s just because I was born that way. My insides are far from being a princess.

I’m still getting scolded by Olivia for being impolite. My tutors don’t really take much of an interest in my classes anymore these days. I may have been overlooked because there was no prospect of improvement. I have a few memories of my previous life, so I’m just trying to make up for it, but compared to the children of the nobles in this world, I’m rather unskilled.

Katharina must have noticed that while living together. She looked at me like a princess she admired She must have been disappointed to see me in reality. I wonder if that’s why Katharina has become so reserved…?

The first friend I had in this world who was the same age as I disappeared in just a few months. It’s still the worst way to say goodbye. I just wanted to have fun with other girls, so why did it turn out like this?

I, who sent Katharina off in despair, won’t even be giving myself time to be depressed. I have no time to rest or stand still. I’m the kind of person who can’t even keep up with my surroundings unless I keep running.

When I lost sight of the carriage carrying Katharina, I turned around. It’s not the time to stop here forever. If we don’t move forward… in order not to repeat the mistake with Katharina, I have to keep running again.

I taught our head cook, Damian, about the many dishes I was making for Katharina, and soon after my family started eating them, I opened up farming and animal husbandry. This is because it was not possible to ensure the quality and quantity of ingredients just by buying them at the market.

Regarding farming, I was able to proceed relatively smoothly by hiring retired farmers and having them teach the poor children of Carruzan, who are poor and in need of work. To start off, I only cultivated sugar beets. It is impossible to suddenly get involved in this or that sort of crop.

The old farmers and children working there do not know that they are growing sugar beets to make sugar. If you know unnecessary things, there is a possibility that you will be in danger of being targeted by someone later. It’s intended to prevent information leaks, but it’s also a preparation to avoid getting involved in unnecessary incidents when beet sugar begins to circulate in the market.

And the livestock side started with raising chickens. If it’s chickens, I’ve also raised them in the forest at the back of the manor. Just take them out of the aviary in the morning, let them run free in the fence, clean the aviary, and feed them. It would be best if they were free-range and ate their own food, but for the time being, I also scattered some food in the aviary. When the time comes, put the chickens who are outside back into the aviary and the job is done.

Eggs collected during cleaning are basically used up within the same day. In this world, there are no refrigerators and it is difficult to keep things fresh for a long time. In the underground cellars, the temperature and humidity are constant to some extent, and it may last a little longer, but you still need to cook it well and eat it.

Start with chickens and gradually add cows and pigs. Now that there are quite a few cows and pigs, it’s relatively easy to get milk and meat.

Livestock farming is not easy, so it seems that it was a bit of a struggle to find and bring someone with experience. I can’t have people who are currently working hard come to our ranch because they already have their fields to tend to. It’s impossible to find someone not currently working at the ranch and who also has a lot of experience and is available for hire.

It is not possible to have a “Hello Work” system like in Japan where workers voluntarily search for jobs that suit them and apply for them. I don’t even know how to find someone who has as much experience as possible, who can give guidance, and who didn’t quit his previous job for some strange reason.

I just asked Marius and the others to find such a person, but the ones who actually searched were probably Helmut and Isabella. I’m sure they used messengers, but it’s something I can’t imitate. It really helps that the two of them are so talented.

The ranch buys cows and pigs and raises them, so the number quickly increased, but sugar beets don’t work that way. It will take some time from planting the seeds until they grow and can be harvested. That’s why the livestock feed and beet sugar are already grown by other farmers.

Let’s go on a patrol of ranch and farmland soon. I was told that there would be monsters, but I’ve never seen that many. As expected, perhaps because it’s close to the town, or because there is a distribution with other towns, it seems that monster subjugation is being carried out regularly both along the highway and near the town, and it seems that makes monsters appear infrequently.

Since the ranch and farmland were completed, I have been disguised as a man and accompanied Margrave Carruthers’ Army as the knight apprentice “Floto.” The only person who knows my identity is a spearman, Dominic, the same one who recently joined my training.

In my recent training, I was told that it was necessary to get experience handling spears, and so it became a 4-person team. Certainly, the spear is the main weapon on the battlefield, and if you don’t train yourself with the spear, you’ll be useless in actual combat. That’s why Dominic, a spear user, joined my training.

That same Dominique was supposed to follow me as an escort and watchman when I disguise myself as a man and slip into the Lord’s army. So far, monsters have appeared during patrols several times, but I haven’t had a chance to go to the front line and fight.

I’m supposed to be in the position of “knight apprentice,” so there’s no way I’ll be sent to the front line even though there are adult regular soldiers. I’m just watching the adults fighting monsters from behind the battleline.

Watching is also a part of studying, and even if you just watch it, you can count it as a live battle experience. If you suddenly meet a monster, you won’t be able to move properly, so just getting used to monsters should have a lot of meaning. 1

Farms and ranches are generally busiest in the morning. On farms, most of the work is done only in the morning. That’s why we who go on patrol are also mainly present in the morning. Of course, ordinary soldiers and farmers will be there from the afternoon to manage and monitor things, but I also have my private tutor classes, so I can’t go around all day.

Therefore, the timetable was changed so that I would go round in the morning when there were many workers and take lessons from the tutors in the afternoon. When Katharina was there, I didn’t accompany the patrols that much, and I still had classes in the morning, but after Katharina returned to House Royce, this is now the pattern.

I sometimes go on a tour by horse, which also serves as practice for riding one. Of course, there are cases where I had to walk, so I’m not necessarily always going by horseback. It seems that today is also training for marching, and that’s why we are wearing armor and walking in formation.

The formations lined up at the training ground and depart in order. I’m in the tail end of the squad a little behind the middle of the formation. Dominique is beside me.

Soldiers normally train in the morning, then go out on patrol, and train again after returning from the patrol. After the morning’s patrol ends, there’s a lunch break then there’s training and patrols in the afternoon. Of course, there are also off-duty soldiers and night watchmen, so those who work in the evening are on a different cycle, but the majority of daytime soldiers are like this.

Since I only accompany the patrol in the morning, the other soldiers look at me strangely. That’s no surprise. If you’re a knight apprentice, you should participate in the morning training, and it’s strange that you don’t come out in the afternoon. What kind of knight apprentice training is accompanied by an escort only in the morning patrol?

In the first place, there is not a single child of the same generation as me here. It seems that normal children are training elsewhere. In the first place, children of aristocrats are basically raised independently by their families. It seems that it is unusual to be mixed with soldiers at my age.

As far as I’m concerned, I don’t mind participating in the soldiers’ regular training, but my father told me not to participate. I don’t know the reason, but it might be because it would be bad if I was found out that I was a member of House Carruthers. Besides, I wonder if there is also an idea that if I become known as a member of the Margrave Carruthers family when I get caught sneaking into the army, my family name will be damaged.

Don’t participate in anything. Don’t even visit and watch. There is no reason to go against his father as long as I am strictly ordered to do so. My father is strict, but he doesn’t do meaningless things, and he listens to my selfishness even when I ask him for favors. I never do anything that bothers my father.

Today’s patrol will be on foot, so we will also enter the forest on the north side. We regularly enter the forest to scare away beasts and monsters, demonstrating this is a human territory, and subjugate those who still do not withdraw into the depths of the forest. After going around the ranch, go into the northern forest for a while, and after each party drives off the beasts and monsters in the designated area, go back to the farm.

My sugar beet farm is a little east of the north ranch. There is nothing special between the ranch and the farm. If the ranch or farm is expanded from now on, they may eventually become adjacent to each other, so there is a wide gap between them.

Of course, that’s part of the reason why the places were prepared a little apart, but of course, there are other justifications besides that. A suitable place for growing sugar beet was near the current location of the farm. That’s why it was built there.

The farm spreads along the outer wall of Carruzan. It’s a place where old farmers and children can get by without too much danger. As I approached the farm, I heard voices.

“Ah! Floto! Hurry, hurry! Come on, help me!”

“Oh, good morning, Louisa,” I said.

I found Louisa calling out and waving for me. I don’t just patrol, I also help out on the farm. The soldiers continue to patrol around Carruzan, but the only one who helps around the ranch and farm. That’s why it was my daily routine to leave here and help out with the farm work.

The girl calling out to me is Louisa. She was about two years older than me at ten years old. She just employs children who are unemployed and suffering from poverty here at the ranch, but she is the de facto leader of the children.

For the ranch, children who are relatively older and have physical endurance and muscular strength are selected. This farm is full of children who are in danger if they are attacked by cows or pigs, so Louisa, who is older than them and has a strong spirit, has taken command without realizing it.

“Good morning,” Louisa said. “Now come on, this way, please.”

I walk up to Louisa, she smiles and hands me a hoe. Little kids use plows, but I use a how. Since a hoe requires more physical strength, I am entrusted with work that requires more muscular strength.

Unlike the daughters of nobility and royalty, Louisa is cheerful and has an honest personality. She’s not the type who has anything to do with the elegant behavior of aristocrats, but I think you could say that she’s a lively, cheerful, and cute girl, suitable for her age.

I was a bit shocked about Katharina, but thanks to Louisa I was able to recover a bit. After Katharina disappeared, I couldn’t even talk to girls for a while…

But thanks to Louisa talking to me like before when I was depressed, I’ve recovered so that I can talk to girls like this now.

After all, it might be difficult for me, a commoner’s daughter in my past life, to get along with a daughter of an aristocrat. Compared to that, I wonder if Louisa, who is the same commoner child as I was, would be able to open up more to me.

Normally, even the current me would be different from a commoner with the title “Knight Apprentice.” Although I am of lower rank, I am still a child of a noble family. Even so, Louisa treats me like her friend. At first, the other children, and of course Louisa, thought I was the son of a knight and just looked at me from afar, but now I can see them up close.

Let’s forget about Katharina already. Here, I might be able to have “tee-hee, haha” with a girl who fits my stature. That’s what I thought as I plowed the fields again today.