CH 5

My father Randall took me to the Rogue Village. There were four villages in Baron Malbert's territory, and the Rogue Village was the closest to the mansion where I lived, about a thirty-minute walk away.

There were about 500 people in Baron Malbert's domain, with about 130 living in each of the four villages. There were no special buildings in the villages, just a few general stores, and taverns.

My father, myself, two of his guards, and one of my guards, a total of five people, entered the Rogue Village and the Rogue Village Chief greeted us.

"Well, well, my lord. Welcome to Rogue Village."

“Umu”

My father nodded to the haughty words of the white-haired, white-bearded village chief with an unusually arrogant attitude. I wasn't sure if it was to maintain his dignity as a Chief, or if he just wanted to look good in front of me, his son, but I felt a freshness in the unusual atmosphere of my father.

Well, I was forced to come here, but this might have been good for me, too. Now that you've brought me to the village, let's move up my plans a bit.

As I was thinking about this, I noticed that the village chief was looking at me, so I turned to look at him.

"My lord is this little boy..."

"Yes, he is my son. Roland, say hello."

My father nudged me to introduce myself, but I wanted to give the impression that I was a haughty, and lazy son. So I opened my mouth, pretending to be blunt.

"I'm Roland, the next head of Baron Malbert's family. At the very least, I want you to work hard now so that when I become the head of the family, I can be at ease."

"......"

"......"

Both of them were at a loss for words when I introduced myself too bluntly. Randall, my father, in particular, raised his eyebrows and showed his disgust at my words and actions.

The guards who came with me were also puzzled by my arrogant attitude, but they didn't rebuke my attitude, probably thinking that they wouldn't offend me by opening their mouths unnecessarily.

Then, after the chief gave a bland reply, he told my father that they both had something important to discuss and that I should go and have a look around the village in the meantime.

Having succeeded in making a bad impression on them, I did a little gut pose so that no one would notice, and then I headed to the only general store in the village with the person in charge of my escort to made a worse impression.

The grocery store was full of seasonings for cooking and other daily necessities, from firewood for the stove to a hoe for plowing the fields.

“Welcome.”

The owner, a man in his thirties, greeted me with a cheerful voice, but I ignored him and looked around, licking through the goods. Then, with a blatantly unhappy sniff, I asked the owner a question.

“Hey, do you have anything decent here?”

“As you see, most of the items we sell are necessities for the village. There is nothing here that will please you, young master."

The shopkeeper answered my question in deference. Apparently, the village chief had informed him that the son of the Lord would be coming to the village, and he seemed to be observing at least a minimal level of courtesy. I was thinking of reprimanding him if he was rude here, but I guess I couldn't.

Now, to create a bad impression about me here as well. Let's digest that event, which is the template of a lazy and haughty son.

"Oh, is this ...... mizuame*?"

"Yes, I bought them from a vendor who came to the village just yesterday. Although they aren't much, we got some good quality ones—“

“I'll take it. See you later.”

“Eh?”

As I said this, I instructed my escort to bring me a small jar of mizuame. Then I left without paying for it.

I thought he might come after me if I didn't pay for the candy, but he didn't. So I left for the next place and stayed in my unruly mode.

The next place was the fields, where most of the crops, such as wheat and beans, were said to be able to grow in any relatively poor soil. Vegetables, which were considered to be highly nutritious, were good if they grew, but if they didn't, the money spent on seeds would be wasted, so basically, only crops that were sure to grow were used.

There were a dozen or so villagers working in the fields, and all of them were sweating hard. I walked into the field, pick up a hoe that was leaning against the wall, and begin to plow the field.

"Look! As the next head of the family, I, Roland-sama, will help you with your work in the fields. You should be honored!”

“Please don't! It's already been plowed!”

“Young master, please stop!”

The guard and two nearby villagers rushed over to stop me, but of course, I didn't care and kept on swinging the hoe. In less than a few minutes, the field that the villagers had worked so hard to plow became a mere scattering of dirt and debris.

When such a commotion occurred, it was inevitable that the nearby villagers would gather, and it was natural that the commotion would spread to the entire village. It was also quite natural that the village chief and my father would come to hear the commotion.

“What's going on?”

My father Randall's voice, several times lower and heavier than usual, echoed in my ears. I looked back to where the voice was coming from and saw my father with his brow wrinkled and a puzzled expression on his face.

It seemed that my father and the village chief heard the commotion among the villagers and found me when they arrived at the center of the commotion, just as I wanted. I confidently responded to my father's question.

“I was helping the villagers work in their fields. Since I will eventually become the head of the family, it’s never a waste of time for me to experience the work of the residents.”

"You fool!　Who told you to do that?”

"My lord, this is indeed ......"

My father scolded me for my foolishness, and the village chief, as expected, couldn't just sit back and watch, and seemed to want to say something. My father seemed to understand what he was trying to say, and said he was sorry.

"I'm sorry, chief. My son has caused trouble."

"That's fine, but it's a lot of work to restore a field in this state. ......"

"I know, I know. I apologize, but I'm going to reduce the tax rate for this year by some amount. That should take care of this situation."

After that, my father apparently did something about it by lowering the tax rate, but that didn't erase my blunder, and my father's bite exploded and he told me to go back to the mansion.

Then, to add insult to injury, I said, "What on earth did I do wrong?” I then receive a fist blow on my head, and the man who was guarding me forcibly dragged me back to the mansion.

Thus, the negative campaign about me was a great success, and I started working on my next plan, smiling inwardly.