CH 55

"Meeting With the Lord."

Translated by Dawn

“Please wait in this room. I’m going to get the master right now.”

“Okay.”

The room Marcus led me to was a drawing-room as one would expect to see it. There were two long sofas on a simple wax table. The furnishings weren’t extravagant but rather had a calm and relaxed atmosphere.

There was nothing new to see, and as soon as I was bored, there was a sudden knock at the door and a maid entered.

She looks a little old, but the atmosphere she carries suggests that she has been in this job for a long time. Each of her gestures was refined, which I felt could not be produced simply by the fact that she had been working as a maid for many years.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you, Head Maid. I’ll have some.”

“…”

As I savored the tea she had made and the cookies she had brought for tea, she unexpectedly opened her mouth.

“Rolando-sama, may I ask you a few questions?”

“What is it?”

“How did you know I was the head maid of the house? I never said anything of the sort.”

“Hmm…”

When I looked at her, she remained silent, as if waiting for my answer. As I was thinking about how to explain, she started to introduce herself as if she had just remembered.

“I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, but my name is Ariana, and I am, as you said, the head maid in this mansion.”

“I’m Rolando. I’m an adventurer. So, you want to know why I judged you to be the head maid.”

“Yes.”

When we had introduced ourselves and were about to move on to the next topic, I answered Ariana’s question.

“First of all, the way you came in. It was very refined. Other maids could have done that to some extent, but in your case, there was something else, an air of a certain kind of person. You can’t bring that out with just three or five years of experience. That’s why I judged you to be the head maid in charge of all the maids in this mansion.”

“I see. Thank you for answering my question. Your insight is brilliant.”

“It’s not that big of a deal. Anyone with a good eye can see it when they see you.”

“No, I don’t think so. I admire your very keen insight …… and you are indeed a C-rank adventurer.”

“Fuu, thank you very much.”

While we were having such a conversation, the door to the reception room suddenly opened without knocking. The only person who enters without knocking in this situation would be…yes, the lord of the house.

“Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Rolando, and I am a C-rank adventurer. It is an honor to make your acquaintance.”

“……A-ah. You’re so polite. I am Viscount Robert von Raganfeild of the Raganfeild family. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today.”

“No problem if it’s for my lord. So, what can I do for you on this occasion?”

“Let’s sit down for now.”

It wasn’t a very appropriate greeting for an adventurer, but since I didn’t know what kind of person I was dealing with, there was a possibility that if I were rude to him, I would be sentenced to the maximum punishment for the disrespect. Since I had no intention of taking such a risk, I greeted him in accordance with the etiquette of a nobleman that I had learned as a child.

He was surprised to see me, but he quickly adjusted himself and introduced himself, and I was inwardly impressed to see that he was indeed a lord who ruled an entire fiefdom.

“I didn’t call you here today for anything special. I wanted to meet an adventurer who has been the talk of the town lately. That’s all.”

“I see. So, what are your impressions?”

Before that, can you stop with the stiff honorifics? I won’t blame you if you are more at ease.”

“Alright then.”

Then, after a few moments of idle chit chat, Viscount Rubert suddenly uttered an apology.

“I’m really sorry about the trouble my daughter caused you the other day.”

“Your daughter?”

“I heard she came to you out of the blue and asked you to be her servant.”

“Oh, that selfish noblewoman. No problem, I refused that offer anyway.

I responded to Viscount Rubert’s apology by waving my hand and saying that I didn’t particularly care. Noble daughters tend to grow up to be strong and self-centered.

My sister, Laura, was also particularly aggressive when it came to matters involving me and was eager to get involved in any way she could.

Daughters of aristocratic families tended to be carefully nurtured as butterflies and flowers, and it was difficult for them to realize the errors in their own behavior because the people around them were all yes-men who always gave them positive answers.

They gradually developed a general sense of values through their first contact with people outside their own family at social events, but unfortunately, not all children and daughters of noble families were aware of the difference between their values and those of others.

In some cases, depending on the titles held by their parents and their own position, it was not uncommon for them to encounter no one who could deny their deeds.

As a result, there were not a few aristocrats who grew up with a false sense of value that their deeds were always right.

“I’m glad to hear you say that. I have two daughters. Margaret, the eldest, has grown up to be a sensible person, but Josephine, the second, is my second child, and I spoiled her, which was not good.”

“It’s not too late. Viscount Rubert can reeducate her.”

“I would like to do so, but I have spoiled her so much that I can’t say so strongly. Recently, I have been punishing her by grounding her because of your case, but I am more lenient than I was with my eldest daughter.”

“That’s not a good development. The second daughter, for that matter, might cause some problems for the first daughter, you know?”

“…And by that, you mean?”

There was a term called “first-born son/first-born daughter syndrome.” It was often experienced by older brothers and sisters who have younger brothers or sisters, and as a result of being constantly told to be patient because they were the older brother (or sister), they felt as if they were not loved as much as their younger siblings.

Although older brothers and sisters might have been spoiled at some time, in some cases, the birth of a younger sibling caused the parents to attend to the younger brother or sister and complain that they were no longer being cared for.

However, since noble families were often educated by selected caretakers such as maidservants and butlers rather than directly by the parents, noble parents had only a limited connection with their children to the extent that they could see and evaluate the results of their children’s efforts.

My parents, after Mark was sold on the idea that he was a brilliant human being, never praised me and constantly accused me of being different from my brother. I could understand that it was inevitable for me to have such feelings because of my memories of my previous life, but it wasn’t hard to imagine that for a child who had not fully matured as a human being, it was quite a mental burden to receive such evaluations from his parents.

“From that perspective, it is possible that the eldest sister, Miss Margaret, feels inequality towards the second daughter, Miss Josephine, in that she did not receive equal parental love and affection.”

“B-but as far as I can see, the sisters aren’t that uncomfortable with each other.”

“On the surface, they are trying to make it look like they are on good terms, but deep down they probably have some feelings about it. Why don’t you talk it over with your eldest daughter?”

“I-I’ll do that. Are you really a pre-adult child, by the way?　I feel as if I’m asking for a lesson from my predecessors.”

“I can’t possibly be older than you by the looks of this. Unless, of course, I am of a long-lived race like the elves.”

The conversation then shifted to orcs and orc generals, but he did not ask specifically how they were defeated, but rather superficially.

Perhaps they were trying not to give me the mistaken impression that they were probing me. Speaking of orcs, it would be a good idea to let Viscount Rubert know about that incident there.

“Viscount Ruberto. I have something to say that I would like to bring to your attention.”

“Yes, what is it?”

Sensitive to the change in our mood, Viscount Levert’s expression changed from soft to serious.

When I confirmed that the other party was listening to what I had to say, I tried to talk about something that would be important in the future…….

“I-I was told that that person is here!”

Suddenly, the door was opened with great force and there appeared Josephine, who had been mentioned earlier.