CH 69.2

"I don't care if it's you, I can't be breathing the stench of alcohol in the daytime. So, I'll just take... the dry goods."

With that, I take a piece of dried squid from the bag. The Kizuki valley is located inland, so although people can eat river fish, the only seafood they can eat is dried, and even that is a luxury for us servants. Although dried squid itself is not expensive among the dried seafood, it has been a long time since I had tasted it. Yes, it's delicious.

"No companion, huh? Well, that's why I can drink more."

Cowering his shoulders at my response, he pours some imported booze into a cheap sake cup and slurps it down. He reaches into a burlap sack with one free hand and picks up a piece of salty dried deer meat. I followed suit and we continued to make small talk.

But it doesn't last long. After a little while, this little pleasure comes to an end. There is a knock at the door and a familiar voice calls out, asking to come in. I look at the owner of this room.

"Ah, no problem."

"Thank you. Come on in."

The master of the room gives his permission to enter, and a young servant, reverently dressed in a black robe and mask, enters the hut. He was probably Kuchiki, judging from his voice. He bows to me and then to Kuga before opening his mouth.

"Yun-shoku, I've come to deliver a message."

"A message? From...?"

For a moment I thought Gorilla-sama had summoned me, but then I realized that she'd probably send someone like Shiro to help her out. If so, it would be only the immediate superiors such as the head or assistant head who would call me, and the former was the most likely possibility.

"Yes, the head of the group requests you to come to his office."

"...Understood. I'm on my way. Leave the room."

"Yes, sir!"

After a moment of silence, I order my men to leave. Kuchiki accepts the order with a gruff voice, bows, and leaves.

"Is it work?"

"Probably. Youkai are very active these days."

I replied to curse tool maker leader (Yun)'s voice. Not only the Kizuki family, but the number of incidents by youkai had been increasing slowly but surely from the north to the east of the country. Although the individual cases themselves are caused by small youkai and medium youkai, they can be unintentional if they overlap in number. The novel version describes in more detail the frequent exterminations of youkai in each house, which first resulted in casualties among the servants and the hidden group people, and then in injuries among the exorcists who were too busy to fill in the gaps.

"So you're working outside the office again. What can I do for you?"

"Yes..."

I dig up memories of my past life, or more precisely, the setting of the original game and its derivative works. Then I think back to the monster mastermind stirring around here, and order a few things just in case.

"Fine, but... you're ordering some odd things again, aren't you? You're still the same as when you were a miscennalous. Huh?"

The leader of the curse-tool maker, points out in disgust after making a dubious expression on his face. I respond with a deceptive wry smile.

When I was a child, I used all my knowledge of my previous life to win over Hina and the other members of the Kizuki family. And then I realized. ...The knowledge that ordinary modern people have is useless, isn't it? I thought.

No, I don't mean to say that all modern people are incompetent or that the modern education system is useless. But everything is a matter of supply and demand. The knowledge and education necessary in the modern society may not be fully useful in another time or in another world.

It is a matter of course if I think about it. There is no point in learning how to work in the fields or how to find wild vegetables if one lives in the capital city. Even compulsory home economics education is of doubtful use since there are no electric sewing machines, electric washing machines, or stoves in this world, and even if a person is born into a noble family, reading and writing can be done at the middle level of elementary school for a farmer. ...Well, there were even some guys in the village who were suspicious at that level. Hey, governor, stop trying to cheat the amount of tribute you collect and put the difference into your pocket.

I was at a loss, but I still came up with some useful ideas. Entertainment.

In this age, entertainment is primitive, while it was in the past when every kind of entertainment was available. That's where I wanted to go.

I suggested some toys, amusements, and games based on my memories of my previous life. Since mere suggestions were meaningless, I asked him, who was an apprentice curse tools maker at the time, to actually make some of these ideas in his spare time. I asked him to make tools with the backing of Hina, and the toys he made with his own ideas were beyond my expectations, and became a valuable source of information for my induction into the Kizuki family at that time. ...Well, now it's all just a bunch of stuff, right?

"Well, it's OK. I got a good face to the top thanks to it, and it was quite a perk. Now I'm Yun-shoku on the recommendation of Princess Hina."

Kukuku, he chuckled at my words... but he stopped laughing and looked at me.

"Anyway, I don't know the details of that case. But it's true that the princess nominated you for Yun-shoku, isn't it? If that's the case..."

Kuga stopped talking because I stopped him with my hand. And somewhat, his face is slightly discouraged.

"I didn't say betray. But I thought it would be better to compromise a little."

"The princess didn't choose you because of your favoritism. You don't want to think you were chosen by coincidence, do you?"

"Of course not."

Actually, I do know. In the original story, that person was in a yun-shoku position. And I, too... that woman was also a person who stood up for justice in the origina;. She was fair to everyone. She was a person who could bear her own personal feelings. She was a person of character. In fact, I think it was because of her that she chose me for Yun-shoku.

"Anyway..."

I shake off my sins and my mistakes and head for the door of the room. I had to go as soon as I was called. But I stop and turn on my heel as the voice behind me rings out once more.

"Here, take half of it. The dried ones will keep for a while."

The craftsman looks as if he has no choice in the matter, transfers the contents of the sack into a drawstring and throws it at me. I recognize the bag with the dynamic vision I have cultivated through years of killing youkai, and accept it, bowing to him as if to express my gratitude. I went to the door again and touched the handle, but when I read his intention, I turned around and asked him as I left.

"So? What do you want as a souvenir this time?"

...

...

I left the workshop of the curse tool makers and went straight to the place.

"Yun-shoku, the servant, arrived at your summon."

I answered with my knees on the floor as soon as I entered the familiar office of the head servant. In front of me was a man writing on the tatami mats with a brush in his hand. The head of the servant, Kizuki Shisui...

"........."

"........."

For a while, as if ignoring my words, the head continued to do his paperwork silently. And I also remain silent, not moving an inch. Shisui simply reads the documents, signs them with his brush, and stamps a seal. In this quiet room, I peek around from beneath the mask. It seemed that the assistant, who had a strong personality, was not here now. It was convenient. She was bothering me, and my conversation would have been needlessly tedious.

"........."

".........Well, is that it?"

How much time had passed? After a few moments, Shisui finally reached the end of his work and stopped his hand to look at me.

The mystic eyes, which are different shades on each side, reflect me. At the same time, it shows that I am literally in his hands. I have risked my life against other exorcists, but this man is different. There is no pre-movement. To be seen by him is to have a muzzle pointed at my forehead, and if I have the slightest intention of doing so, I will die a horrible death. ...This feeling of having my life in my hands is something I'll never get used to.

"Well, sorry to call you out of the blue. I think you were with the curse tool maker, weren't you? If you had something to do, I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

"No, that's not true."

I humbled myself respectfully in response to Shisui's apology. No, it was a warning disguised as an apology. Perhaps Shisui is aware that I have been receiving tools from some of the curse tool maker. The only reason he does not condemn me here is that it is for the benefit of the Kizuki family. I am sure he is aware of the manpower shortage among the servants and that my actions are helping to alleviate the shortage.

...Of course, he would have had my head twisted off by now if it had been for my own personal gain.

"Hmm... well, let's get down to the main issue. The reason why I asked Yun-shoku to come to this meeting was for no other reason than to prepare for a new assignment."

"Yes, sir, what's the content?"

"Recently there's been a lot of damage from youkai. Exorcists from all over the region will be mobilized to exterminate them in a wide area. For now, I want you to prepare four squads for the east, west, south, and north. Each squad will be headed by one family exorcist and assisted by one young family member or family member. We plan to add other members to each squad as necessary. The servants will be assigned to one squad, meaning that a total of four squads should be prepared."

This was within my expectation. And at the same time, I was convinced. The beginning of the original story is just around the corner. Perhaps this was the group led by the Kizuki family that appeared in the main character's village, which was destroyed in the original story, and retrieved the main character.

(I remember that this is where Hina meets him.)

Hina, sensing the presence of the strong youkai, appears in the hellish village. And there they will witness the very moment when the main character defeats the youkai.

(Then, can I intervene in some cases? I guess not. If I make a bad intervention and it fails, I'll be screwed.)

I think about intervening in the original work for a moment, but immediately put the idea on hold.

I can't read what kind of changes my irregular actions have brought to the original work. It is true that I intervened in not all the cases I liked, and there were many cases in which I would have died on the spot if I had not intervened, but still, there were some cases in which I could be called an unintentional intervention. Before that, there was a possibility that I may have unknowingly made a fatal change in the original work. So, for now, I will bear with it first...!

"Yes, sir. I understand."

Anyway, I accept the order, bow my head deeply, and my thoughts are cool-headed as I plan my future course of action.

(Well, let's gather information first.)

Now, it would not look so suspicious even if I dig a little deeper and ask some questions or move some people around. I could say that I'm gathering information for the formation of the team.

"Oh, yeah. You yourself will also be involved. You will be assigned to the Eastern Squad, which will be led by the Head of the Hidden Group. Please take this into consideration when organizing your units."

"........."

Oh. That's a drastic change of schedule right from the start, isn't it? ...D*mn it!

...

...

...

The first place I went to after receiving my new assignment was not to the training camp of the servants, nor was it to the staff quarters.

No, I was supposed to inform my men first, prepare the necessary expenses and supplies, check the schedule of each group, and select the personnel... Unfortunately, I had other things to do before those practical tasks.

Now, the manpower available to work inside the pair-residence (対の内) is scarce. While it's true that Kizuki Aoi has become somewhat softer compared to the original work, but that is by comparison. She fundamentally distrusts and despises other people. Therefore, the inside of the large pair of rooms surrounded by cypress fences and kirikake (A piece of furniture that is placed indoors as a blindfold or a partition) was extremely unpopular, although it was gorgeous and luxurious in terms of furnishings. Unless something special happens, only the minimum number of people are inside, and most of the work is done by a simple shikigami.

"I want to see the princess. Please make an immediate call."

I call out to the simple shikigami who is wiping the floor and pillars with a rag in the hallway just beyond the gate. The shikigami, which is completely black and has no face, not even a facial expression, and of course no emotion or self-consciousness, nods at my words as if it were alive and then quickly leaves the place. Then, after a while, it came back and invited me in with a sigh.

After turning the corner several times in the pair, which is obviously wider than the place, I am called in front of the sliding door through which the sound of laughter leaks out. There is neither a maid nor a scullery maid by the sliding door. So I announce myself.

"Princess, I am the servant. I'd like to pay my respects."