CH 11

Vagabonds — Part 1

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

It was autumn of the year 376 of the royal calendar. When I was five years old and able to walk around without danger, Father finally gave me permission to go out of the mansion. However, I was allowed to act only inside the city of Amyn and up to the fields around the outer walls of the city. Naturally, it is an escorted outing.

Still, I was happy. Although I had accumulated knowledge of this world in the pavilion, there are many things that are not understood without actually seeing them. This visit was by no means out of place for the reform of the Clanetta territory that was about to take place.

And on the day of the outing. Wearing a chic black one-piece dress for children and a white wool scarf wrapped around my neck to prevent catching a cold, I greeted my parents at the door with a bouncier voice than usual.

「Well then, Father, Mother, I’m off!」

「Be careful on your way there.」

「You will be back by sunset. Platoon leader Marcel, Emily. I’m asking you to take care of Eliza for me.」

「Hah! I will protect her even if it costs me my life!」

「Leave it to me! I will never leave princess’s side!」

Marcel and Emily respond strongly to Mother’s words. Marcel was the captain of a platoon of ten knights. The men of the platoon would be my escorts on this outing.

As a platoon leader, Marcel’s equipment was different from that of the other knights behind him. They wear a piece of leather armor called a lamell, which is a piece of sheet metal sewn into some of the leather armor worn by the troops to provide stronger protection for the heart and other organs.

And Emily was dressed in a crisp monotone maid outfit. She has been growing rapidly since she was around eight years old and is now nearly one hundred and fifty centimeters at the age of ten. Although her body is toned from her martial arts training with Marcel, she also has feminine features, such as fuller-than-average breasts. Her black bangs, held together by two white ribbons, hung down to her chest on either side, and the way they curved out over her breasts often made me secretly thrill.

「Now, if you’ll excuse me, Princess.」

With that, Emily picks me up in her warm hands and carefully climbs into the waiting four-horse box carriage. Perhaps fearing that I might get hurt like before, Emily and the rest of the family had become a bit overprotective of me. It is not my intention to worry them, so I do as I am told. Although I didn’t show it in my expression, I thought it was a perk because I could enjoy the soft touch of Emily.

「Let’s depart!」

As the mounted Marcel gave the order to the cavalry, the carriage, surrounded by cavalry, began to move slowly.

◆

Our first target for inspection was not the city itself, but the fields of the Clanetta family around the city. When I thought about the most effective reforms, the first thing that came to mind was agriculture. Most of the income of the nobility is paid by the peasants, who make up 90% of the population. And since Clanetta territory is a major breadbasket of Rynegard, I thought that if I was going to reform using my knowledge, it would be from here.

We left the gates of the bustling, bustling territorial capital of Amyn and headed for the surrounding fields. I was surprised by the more-than-imaginable swaying of the carriage I was riding in for the first time, and had no time to enjoy the stone townscape, which was completely different from Japan. I even rolled my eyes at the pigs walking around town. From what I hear, they are set loose to dispose of residents’ excrement that is dumped on the side of the road.

When the shaking stopped and the carriage doors were opened, we found ourselves in a vast field with a view of mountains in the far distance. With Emily’s help, I stand on a farm road of trampled black soil, the faint smell of damp earth tickling my nose.

Many farmers were entering the fields and sowing seeds of what appeared to be wheat. In other places, cattle seem to be grazing in some areas. I was curious about something and was about to ask Emily in a tone of voice like in my previous life, but then I remembered that there were a group of knights waiting to watch my every move and changed my tone to a somewhat girlish one.

「Emily. What are those things sowing?」

「Yes. Wheat seeds are sown. The bread that the Princess will eat will be made from what that thing grew.」

「Ahh, that’s the seed hull of wheat.」

In my previous life, I had helped my grandfather with his vegetable garden, but he had never grown wheat. If I move my eyes, I notice that there are fields that have not been seeded.

「The fields over there look almost empty, I wonder if they don’t grow wheat there.」

「It’s a fallow area over there. They say that if wheat and other crops are grown in the same place every year, the power of the earth is weakened and the harvest is reduced. That’s why we let them take turns taking a day off.」

In other words, it looked like the two-field farming that was practiced in medieval Europe. Farmland is divided into two types: cultivated land and fallow land. Farmland exhausted by cultivation is designated as fallow land in order to restore soil fertility. The pastureland will be maintained by feeding composted manure from livestock droppings and other materials, and will be replaced with cultivated land when the soil strength returns again.

I knew about『food』from my grandfather’s training, who had always considered food to be an important part of life, but seeing it in person was a moving experience for me. I was also surprised at Emily’s knowledge of agriculture despite her urban upbringing.

「But still, Emily. You seem to know a lot about farming, have you helped out before?」

「No, I have no farming experience. But for a long time, the Princess had wanted to see the fields, so I had talked to some of my seniors who were from farming families when I was on vacation.」

「…Thank you.」

Emily’s healthy spirit, which remembers her master’s words and acts on her own initiative to be useful, is a sight to behold. It was when I heard her casually mention these words that I was convinced that no matter what path I took from now on, she would be the only one who would follow me.

After a midday break, we listened to some of the farmers explain about their farming tools, and before we knew it, the sun was beginning to set.

「Princess. It is already cold today. You will see Amyn the next day.」

「Yes, I know. Let’s go home.」

I nodded at Emily’s words and looked over at Marcel. He gave me a neat bow in return, and then ordered the knights who were guarding the perimeter.

「Return to Amyn. All hands, prepare to move out!」

After nodding in satisfaction at the perceptive captain and the knights who promptly begin to prepare to leave, I turn to the farmers who have stayed behind to explain the farming tools.

「Thanks for today. I’ve learned a lot thanks to you.」

「Princess! It is warmly appreciated.」

When I thanked them, they fell to their knees and bowed their heads in horror. However, having experienced firsthand the hardships of the lower ranks in a previous life, I was unperturbed and repeated my thanks.

「No, it is Clanetta with the plowman. We will do our best so that you can cultivate your land with peace of mind.」

「Thank you very much. Thank you very much…」

I’m troubled by their deep bowing as they get down on their knees, and I look to Emily for help. She approached me with a giggle and gently picked me up.

「Now then, Elizabeth-sama. You mustn’t catch a cold. It’s time to go back to the carriage.」

「Yeah. All right, then.」

I waved to the farmers as Emily hugged me. I became the man on the wheel as I watched them bow more and more deeply.

◆

「You’re going?」

「Oh, I can’t hear the carriage anymore.」

When one of the farmers asked a question and the others answered, everyone who had been kneeling down and bowing their heads seemed to relax and slump down.

「I–I was so nervous.」

The words of the youngest farmer spoke for all of them.

「I didn’t expect the Princess to come to a place like this…」

「Even though she was heralded by the knight, we all sat up when we actually saw her.」

「You would have been most surprised.」

「I thought God had finally come for me.」

An elderly farmer who had seen the divinely beautiful Eliza up close burst into laughter at the joke. Released from their rarely tense state, they sat down on the ground and began small talk to Eliza.

「She was indeed a lovely person. I’ve never seen such a beautiful child.」

「And that’s not all. She is very firm for such a young age. My son is about the same age, but all he does is snivel. I guess it’s the difference in upbringing.」

「No, no, that was innate. I don’t see how education makes a difference at that age.」

The farmer’s denial, though misguided, was in a sense, a statement of『natural occurrence.』Even though the sun was setting, the farmers, enchanted by Eliza’s loveliness and cleverness, praised her.

「But still, I am surprised that she even care about us farmers. The Duke is a wonderful man, but that kid would make an even better lord.」

「She’s a girl, so no amount of lordship is going to get her there.」

「Well, you’re right.」

「Nah. We don’t know about that.」

The young farmer, who uttered the meaningful words, attracts the attention of the others.

「What does that mean?」

「Don’t you remember? The color of her eyes and her name!」

「Ohh, well, it was sparkling gold. And her name was…」

「Elizabeth-sama. Her squire would have told us that.」

The young man’s words made everyone gasp in surprise.

「Surely that princess is the reincarnation of Queen Elizabeth. We were being approached by the most extraordinary people.」

「Wow! We were talking to our future lord and lady, or rather queen!」

「I–I’m out of my mind.」

「This old me might as well be dead already.」

Each of the farmers had a different reaction, but they all viewed Eliza favorably. In fact, it was the result of an unconscious publicity stunt by Emily, who is always trying to spread Eliza’s name. This time it was when they called her name at a time when they were flattered by Eliza’s appearance and her unequivocal attitude. Simple-minded, they took the rumor back to their respective homes and proudly told the story of the golden-eyed princess. Later, when Eliza actually reformed agriculture and achieved success, the rumor became true among the farmers, and from there it spread explosively throughout the territory.

◆

By the time we arrived in Amyn, the sun was already setting. The streets that were crowded at noon have almost completely disappeared, and only a few men can be seen here and there out for a drink.

As I entered the city and looked out over the town from my slowed-down carriage, which I had not had time to see on the way there, I saw what appeared to be a child motionless on the side of the road with its legs thrown out.

「Please stop the carriage!」

I shouted to the driver and gets out of the suddenly stopped carriage with the help of Emily. Then I rushed there as fast as my feet could take me.

「Hey! Are your alright?」

The skinny kid didn’t even twitch when I called out to him. He was a dark blue-haired boy of about twelve or thirteen years of age, wearing tattered, rags-like clothes covered in dirt and road grime. As I continued to call out to him, the knights approached.

「Princess! What must we done about it?」

「Get this boy to the carriage! I called out to him, but he didn’t answer. We must get him to a doctor as soon as possible!」

I hurriedly gave them instructions, but they remain motionless with puzzled looks on their faces.

——What the hell are these people doing? A child is dying in front of you all!

One of them approached me, perhaps surprised to see me revealing my frustration.

「Princess. This children are filthy vagrants. Unlike the farmers before them, they are problem children who steal from time to time. Why are you so concerned about such things?」

「How do you know this child itself stole! Besides, this is Amyn, the capital of Clanetta. In this land where my father rules, it is not right to abandon a weak and dying person on the road. Now, get him on the wagon.」

Even after reprimanding the knights and giving them reasoned orders to convince them, they still hesitated. They seems perplexed about putting the boy in their lord’s carriage. I was about to raise my voice and say that I didn’t have time to worry about such things when Marcel admonished me softly and offered me a compromise.

「I understand. However, as we have been entrusted with the princess’s protection, we cannot allow an unknown person to be in the same room with you. May I strap him to the back of this Marcel and carry him to the manor?」

「…I apologize. I didn’t think about my position. So do me a favor. And please, send a warning and get a doctor.」

「Yes, ma’am!」

Marcel carried the boy on his back, where Emily quickly secured him with a cord she had brought from the carriage. They both have no aversion to children stained with grime and mud, nor do they have a discriminatory look in their eyes. I was grateful for Marcel’s loyalty to me, for his understanding despite my admonitions, and I felt my trust in him, which I had felt in the fields, grow stronger when I saw Emily, who took her Lord’s intentions into account without saying a word.

Thus, the boy, who was suffering from extreme fatigue and hunger and was dying of a severe cold, was nursed back to health at the estate and survived.