Chapter 31

I entered the town on foot.

As I walk for a while, I can see the sea ahead.

This is rather rare for a rural town to have streets for travelers.

However, why does everyone look at me, is it so rare to see a traveler?

Ah, is it because a loli in one piece dress appeared alone in this place?

Anyway, my stomach is empty. For now let’s eat in a restaurant, or any shop available.

I will also need to collect information.

So, I will not eat at home (on earth) today.

I will order a 《full set meal》 properly.

At that time, when I heard the name of the town, I thought is was a《town》.

I see. Then it was just change name into Mitsuha?

But if it’s this small, isn’t it just a 《village》then?

Because this is a seaside village, the《full set meal》here is just mainly fish.

Yeah, it’s more like a《fish set meals》

There’s no other impression.

It is a small restaurant in a rural place, and it isn’t dinner time yet, so there are no other customers.

For now, I should talk to the owner and listen to the reputation of the former lord, but the mouth of this woman is… too big. (T.N: talk too much)

[Well, the former lord is a disgrace, his family is crushed…

And the no-one knew how the next lord would be…

It was unlikely that a good lord would come to the rural territory like this…] (Shop Owner)

Something like that.

But this is not something you should talk to an unknown person.

This owner seems like a casual person.

Well, I gave up listening to her blah-blah-blah and left the store after asking where the lord’s mansion is.

The mansion is at the outer edge of the town.

Because this village is quite small, the buildings is sparse. So, I reached the place quite fast.

Un, I won’t call this the lord’s mansion anymore.

Well, I wonder if I should call it my lord’s house then.

Haaa, I felt bad with the lord things, the shop owner and the lord house.

First of all, I will put down my baggage on my shoulder and then I will knock with this door knocker.

And then…

『Who are you?』(Maid)

A (wild) maid-san around 16 to 17 years old appeared and asked Mitsuha so.

Yes, the former lord was forfeited his noble title, but the servants weren’t. The next lord will also in need of servants, and he couldn’t just bring employees from his former territory easily, even his vassal also.

Those servants normally wouldn’t want to leave their families, their friends, their hometown to another land.

And the new lord isn’t familiar with this land, he will not be able to recruit good servants in a strange land.

For that reason, except for the old servants who want to leave themselves, most of them would remain in the lord mansion to serve the next lord.

Of course, after seeing the next lord, they can quit if they don’t like the new lord.

Also, on the contrary, the new lord may not want to hire the servants he doesn’t like.

And of course, those who dare to say《the previous lord was better》are most likely to be kicked out.

That’s why, most of the servants will still remain, and they will welcome Mitsuha as the new lady.

Anyway, this is my servant.

At least for the moment.

『Ah, I’m Mitsuha』(Mitsuha)

『Mitsuha-san?』(Maid)

Maid doesn’t seem to know about Mitsuha.

『I became the lord here, Mitsuha von Yamano』(Mitsuha)

『Eh, ah, yes. EEEEEeeeeh!』(Maid)

Well, of course the maid will be surprised.

To think the new lady would walk alone and carry luggage by herself.

Not to mention, it’s a girl who looks like 12 years old.

『Please call all employees soon.

I will do a greeting to all of you on my arrival』(Mitsuha)

『Ye…YES!!』(Maid)

The maid ran like flying away.

『Greeting, all servants.

I am the new lord of this land, Mitsuha von Yamano.

The size of this territory will not change, but from today it will be a Viscountess’ territory instead of a baron’s territory』(Mitsuha)

The employees are surprised.

Baron and Viscountess’ family are literally different.

They can expect some improve with the treatment, payment, etc.

And even they have same rank servant, the《servant of the Viscountess》and the《servant of the baron》are still different.

Even when they change jobs and look for marriage partners,

the power of that name will be different just like a table knife and a shortsword.

Just the other day, the servants were informed that a new lord will be transferred from the capital soon, but they haven’t heard about the new lord’s informations.

Like the rank, sex, age, appearance etc.

The country did it on purpose. They didn’t tell the servants about the new lord in advance, so that the servants would not hold prejudices or stereotypes base on that.

They could only know after directly seeing the new lord upon his arrival.

As a result, some servants were happy.

Their new lord is a Viscountess

A beautiful little lady.

They may drink the nectar if they do it right.

For now, they plan to get on her good side…

『That is why I would like to thank you for your understanding.

Because I don’t know anything in my first territory management, so please tell me about various things.

As I mentioned earlier, I will interview everyone one by one in turn,

For now, please come back to work』(Mitsuha)

Mitsuha finished her greeting.

With gentle, polite words and manner.

The servants were reassuring and rejoiced with a gentle new lady.

But among them, there are some peoples smirk as well.

And some people think about the future of the territory, frowning in thinking.

There are various speculation in the chests of 18 servants.

***Dinner***

For now, it’s impossible to eat with the servants, that’s why Mitsuha sits on the table and eats meals by herself.

This is a seaside village, but only meat dishes line up.

Mitsuha told the chef it’s delicious and ate without leaving anything left.

After bathing, Mitsuha teleport to her bed on Earth and immediately returned to the bedroom of the manor house with a small box prepared.

And then, she left the bedroom, looked around the house, encouraged the employee’s work, and returned to the bedroom.

And of course, she doesn’t let her guard down. She took out various security devices from the cardboard box which the size considerably small, installed on the door and the window side.

***Morning***

Piii (SFX)

Heard a small electronic sound, Mitsuha woke up.

That’s a warning sound when someone interrupted the laser wire of the security device installed in front of the door.

Mitsuha grabbed the Walther on her right thigh inside the blanket and looked at the door, and she saw the maid she met yesterday.

『Good morning. Did you already wake up?』(Maid)

『Good morning … I slept well last night, would you mind preparing breakfast?』(Mitsuha)

Mitsuha took her hand off the gun and smiled at the Maid.

After breakfast, Mitsuha looked around the mansion again and then returned.

When she returned to the room, she locked and put the cloth on door handle, covered the keyhole and removed several electronic devices from her pocket.

Ultra compact recorder purchased at Akihabara.

Recording begins when sound is detected, and stops when a certain period of time has elapsed.

It was the record of what happened around the house last night. Of course, she already exchanged this with another one.

『Well well, Let’s see what was going on …』(Mitsuha)

Mitsuha smirked.

Yes, Mitsuha was playing a gently and friendly lord.

Only showing the servants her smiling face, without ordering servants nor checking around the fishing village, mountain village, rural village in the territory.

The servants didn’t know whether Mitsuha was sick but they knew she often got to sleep in the daytime.

Some servants were relieved with Mitsuha’s actions, they resumed black dealings with merchants, etc. to get extra expenses.

They restarted what they had temporarily stopped until they checked the state of the new lord.

The others resumed pressing work on their subordinates and juniors to get out of the workplace.

Or those who was chasing the girls on the villagers, took out the things in the house secretly, etc.

Even though the butler felt a sense of crisis and complained to Mitsuha about it, but Mitsuha was just smiling back.

He is a serious and sincere butler. Different with the dishonest peoples who disturb the territory. Somehow he thought he has to…

One day, Mitsuhar muttered.

『The time has come』(Mitsuha)

And Mitsuha called all the servants again.

『… and then, these six people will be dismissed on this date』(Mitsuha)

Those six people saw their name in Mitsuha’s sudden dismissal, protested in angry.

『Such a foolish! Why me?』(servant 1)

『What a joke! Even though you are the lady, you can’t one-sided fire us without reason』(servant 2)

Even though those 6 servants were shouting, Mitsuha looked at them coldly with a calm expression.

『Idiot (Baka)? Who are the idiots here?』(Mitsuha)

『Huh……』(Chef)

『Didn’t you hear me, I asked who are the idiots here?』(Mitsuha)

The male servant didn’t think he would be scolded by Mitsuha, and lost his words.

『Hans, I’ve always praised the dish you serve everyday』(Mitsuha)

『Eh …, yes』(Hans)

The chef Hans answered somewhat reluctant.

『I have praised that it was delicious everyday, but the taste gradually felt down.

Normally, if your foods got praised, wouldn’t you be more motivated to make it more delicious?』(Mitsuha)

The chef Hans was shivering.

『Do you understand the reason?』(Mitsuha)

Hans’ complexion gradually became worse.

『That was because someone thought that I don’t know the taste of cooking with my child’s tongue,

that I didn’t realize the ingredients’ quality dropped.

And ingredients have become cheaper day by day.

But for some reason, the price of the purchase has not changed.

I wonder why. It’s strange, right, Hans?』(Mitsuha)

Hans became pale and silent.

And then Mitsuha spoke to the man next to Hans.

『Hey Gunter … You are the one calculating wheat, aren’t you?』(Mitsuha)

『Eh…』(Gunter)

『The previous Wheat’s tax payment, the amount delivered from the village and sales volume from the village to the merchant, the numbers have changed.

Someone rewrote it.

I wonder who is the one who could do such a thing.

Didn’t anyone notice it at all?

The person in charge, who is it again?』(Mitsuha)

『Ah…』(Gunter)

…

『So, Tilde, where have you been in several afternoons?

After pushing your work to a junior maid, where have you been going?

And don’t you have a lot of condiments at home and at the tailor’s shop in the town?』(Mitsuha)

The head Maid was facing down in silent.

『Do you also want to ask the reason?』(Mitsuha)

The remained 3 peoples who were stared by Mitsuha, no-one could reply.

They thought Mitsuha was a beautiful, gentle and weak mentality.

However, right now her attitude and wording completely changed.

『Do you know why I become the lady (lord) of this land?

It’s not because I inherited from my parent lineage.

I became one myself through my own achivements, I was the first generation.

The first generation of Yamano family.

Do not look down on me!』(Mitsuha)

The whole room became silent as Mitsuha said that when glaring.

『This is a punitive dismissal.

You will have trouble finding the next job.

I want you to leave within an hour.

After 1 hour passes, If you still stayed in the house, you will be caught and punished for illegal invasion at the Viscountess’ house.

Now, go!』(Mitsuha)

Six men and women ran away as if they jumped out of the room.

Mitsuha talked to the old butler who stood by her side.

『I’m sorry to make you worry, Anton.

I will stop checking the document in the middle of the night.

I will sleep properly at night, so that I won’t need to go to bed in the daytime anymore』(Mitsuha)

And then she handed out several papers from her pocket.

『This is the merchant who used bribes. Tell him, he is out of the deal.

And, those are malignant peoples who are disturbing people in town, monitor them and deal with them』(Mitsuha)

『Mi…Mitsuha-sama…』(Anton)

Tears started falling from Anton’s eyes.

『From now on, the maid head will be Kate, I’m counting on you』(Mitsuha)

And then Mitsuha yawned.

『My bad, Anton. Even though I just said that I will not go to bed anymore in the daytime, but that was a lie!

I will go sleep for a while …

Ah, from tomorrow I will begin full-scale development of my land. It will be busy.

Everyone, thanks for your hard work today, dismiss!』(Mitsuha)

12 servants were left in place and stunned.

They were surprised to see Mitsuha’s change so much but their hearts gradually moved…

Beating fast? Funny? Excited? Interested? Anticipated?

[Ah, I see. Are we excited about this ourself now?

I felt something interesting would happen.

I felt something funny would likely happen.

At least, tomorrow is going to be a fun day] (Servants’ inner thought)

『Kate, what are you laughing for?』(Anton)

『Aren’t you also laughing, too』(Kate)

Eh? Haha, that’s right. (Anton)