CH 6

~Mark Side~

After hearing about what had happened in the village from my brother, I came to visit my father the next day. It had been a year since my brother had taught me to study, and now I could remember hiragana, katakana, and simple kanji.

He also taught me a wide range of other subjects such as history and knowledge used in daily life, but I still didn't feel like I could catch up with him. To teach something to someone, you had to study and understand a lot of knowledge. I think it was a very hard thing to do.

In addition to his knowledge, my brother had also demonstrated his talent in magic and swordsmanship. And thanks to his guidance, I had learned to perform simple body-enhancing magic and basic sword fighting techniques.

My brother could do such an extraordinary thing with a cool face as if it were a matter of course. When I think about how different his talent was from mine, I started to wonder if I could really be an excellent lord, but every time I did, my brother always said, "Don't worry. You're more of a genius than me.”

In the meantime, when I had completed my studies and was able to do them on my own, my brother decided to go to a nearby village for an inspection when it was time to show the results of my studies to the others.

When my brother came back from the village, he was in a very good mood, and when I asked him about it, he told me that he had caused some problems in the village and was scolded by my father, and then he was forced to leave.

He talked about it in a good mood as if it was a good event, but I didn't know where he found the reason to be in a good mood.

“Father, may I have a word?”

“Mark, what's wrong?”

When I walked into the room, my father's face, which looked grim as he sat at his desk, broke into a smile. I made a request to him as instructed by my brother.

“Please take me to the village.”

“No…”

I asked my father to take me to the village, pretending that I wanted to come to the village because I heard that my brother had gone there, but as expected, he refused.

"Father, I have heard that brother has done something terrible. As a lord, don't you think you need to go to the village again and regain the trust you lost because of brother's mistake?"

“….”

Perhaps he thought my idea of an excuse to go to the village was reasonable, but my father remained silent and made a thinking gesture.

“Alright. I've got some urgent work to do, so I'll send someone to call you after I finish it. Wait for me until then."

"I understand. Thank you, Father."

I left my father's room, feeling relief inwardly that I could carry out my brother's plan after having gotten his permission.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

With my father's permission, I came with him to the Rogue Village, the closest village to the mansion.

As soon as we walked into the village, we were immediately greeted by an old man with white hair and a white beard who looked like the village chief.

“What brings you here today, my lord?”

“Oh, it's about yesterday, I'm really sorry about that. I apologize again.”

My father was unclear about what had happened yesterday, but I thought it was probably something my brother had done, so I didn't interfere. I quietly waited for my father to introduce me to the village chief, but before he could do so, I made eye contact with him and he asked my father about it.

“We have no problem with that, as you apologized to us yesterday. By the way, my lord, that clever-looking kid over there is ......."

"Ah, yes. That's my youngest son, Mark. Mark, say hello.”

At my father's instruction, I introduced myself in accordance with the etiquette I had learned from my brother. He advised me to look the person in the eye and speak clearly, but slowly and gently so as not to be overbearing.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Mark, and I will be five years old this year. I would like to apologize again for the trouble my brother caused in this village the other day. I am truly sorry."

“…”

“…”

I gently bowed my head and when I looked up, I saw two faces with expressions of astonishment. As if my words were unexpected, silence reigned for a while, but the village chief, who somehow regained his composure, gave a bland reply with a puzzled look on his face.

“Then, Father, may I have a look around the village?"

“...... Oh, yeah. Don't cause me any trouble."

"Yes. Then, Mr. Village Chief. I'd like to take a tour of the village.”

"...... Y-yes. Please do so......"

I bowed to the two men, straightening my posture, and began walking toward the center of the village. As I walked, I could hear the conversation between my father and the village chief intermittently, but I could hear his words clearly. He said, "If only Mark had been born first, instead of Roland….”

I arrived in the center of the village with my guards and came to the only general store in the village. According to my brother, this was where he took the goods out of the store without paying for them.

“Welcome.....”

When the shopkeeper saw me in my nobleman's clothes, his cheerful voice gradually fades away. It seemed that the incident with my brother yesterday was still fresh in his mind, and he was on guard.

As a general store, the store stocks a variety of daily necessities, and the prices were very reasonable by the standards of this village, although the rare items were expensive.

After taking a look around the store, I talked to the owner.

“It's a nice place.”

“T-thank you.”

“I don't think there are many stores in town that have this many items. Especially this ......"

Afterward, the owner and I had a little chat about some random things. At first, the owner was wary of me, but as we talked, his caution faded, and now he treated me naturally.

Just as I was beginning to relax, I pick up a bottle.

"This is mizuame, right? How rare.”

“O-oh, yeah, it is......”

The shopkeeper, who had been acting naturally until now, suddenly started speaking haltingly, apparently remembering the exchange with my brother yesterday. Thinking that it would be a bad idea to continue like this, I quickly cut him off.

“This one, please.”

“Y-yes! Here you go.”

“….How much is that?”

“Eh?”

The shopkeeper seemed to have taken my words as a request for a free gift and bowed his head nervously. I wasn't sure what my brother did to him, but after returning to the mansion, I tried to suppress my desire to question him and I would ask him nicely.

"The price of this mizuame. How much is it?"

"Ooh. That would be about this much......."

The price that the shopkeeper gave me was indeed too much for a commoner to afford as it was a precious sweet, but it was no problem for a noble, so I took the money out of my leather bag and paid the shopkeeper.

"Eh? Oh, um, there's a lot of money here.”

“Oh, that's a nuisance fee.”

“What's a nuisance fee?”

“I heard that my brother did not pay for the goods in the store the other day. You have worked so hard to collect these things for the people of this village, and it would be unforgivable to ignore their hard work. Therefore, please accept the money on behalf of my brother as a nuisance fee in addition to the price of the goods he took with him.”

The shopkeeper was reluctant at first but eventually accepted the money because of my eagerness. After telling the owner that I would stop by again when I came to the village, I realized that I hadn't told him my name yet, so I introduce myself to him

"I'm sorry, but I'm Mark, the second son of Baron Malbert. Nice to meet you.”

"Yes, yes! I'm the owner of this grocery store, Lotzo."

"Goodbye, Lotzo-san. I’ll come again."

After a lot of trouble, I succeeded in fixing my brother's mistakes, and finally, I head to the fields of the village.