Book 2: Chapter 7
Book 2: Chapter 7
When I asked the people in the mansion about the young lady’s mother, they always dodged my question saying, “sometimes it’s better not to ask”. Thus, I assumed the young lady’s mother had passed away. And I have never heard the young lady mention anything about her mother, as she was raised full of love and care and pampered by everyone in the mansion.
「Reiji!」
「I’m right in front of you. Please don’t call so loudly.」
「I am happy. Everyone in the mansion is kind to me and I have a strong escort like you.」
「Thank you. Your feelings alone are more than enough, so please don’t–」
「I think I should share my happiness with everyone!」
Lady Eva never listens to what people have to say. No, she listens when she has to, but whenever I’m thinking “Please move on to a different topic already, or skip to the part which has nothing to do with me,” she almost never ever listens.
Previously, she said “I want to climb up to the roof!” and didn’t listen even when I refused like 7 times, so I gave in and carried her up to the roof. The scenery was amazing, but the Cold-Blooded Lord summoned me at night and stared at me for 15 minutes straight without saying a word, just smiling silently. That’s when I decided I never want to see that scenery again. The Cold-Blooded Lord seems to be over-doting when it comes to his daughter.
Another time, she said “I want to go out into the city and see how the people live there!” What a cliche young lady line, I thought, while refusing her about 12 times without giving up. But of course, there was no convincing the young lady and I had to give up. I bought worn-out clothes for us to wear, and also hid the young lady’s beautiful hair in a cap – or at least a sack which looked like a cap – and took her to the city. As a result of my thinking, where I thought, “I’m not gonna be able to stop her when she’s like this, so might as well save my energy and take her to the city,” backfired. When we returned home, a search party was formed and they were only a hair’s breadth away from alerting the city guards. The maids screamed (2 of them fainted) when they saw the young lady’s rugged appearance. I was locked together with the Earl in his private room until midnight, having a heated discussion about “What is an escort?” The Earl’s idea was “escort means keep away from danger”, and my opinion was that “there is a problem with parenting”. Although our opinion didn’t match, when I recalled the grim expression of Maxim-san who was appointed as the leader of the search party, I felt sorry for making everyone in the mansion worry, except for the Earl.
「Young lady, do you mean by giving away money?」
Happiness can’t be shared literally. But most people would be happy to receive money.
「That’s not it, Reiji. We have to solve problems that money can’t solve. In other words, structural problems!」
Structural problems are such as nobles having a clear advantage over commoners, sum of tax unilaterally decided by the feudal lord, or if you go to the countryside, the feudal lords can snatch away virgin brides, something like “droit du seigneur”. [1. TL Note:”droit du seigneur” was a supposed legal right in medieval Europe, allowing feudal lords to have sexual relations with subordinate women, in particular, on their wedding nights.]
I learned those from a private tutor.
A while after I became an escort, I had a private tutor assigned to me, and started learning knowledge necessary for nobles — politics, administration, law, etc.
However, I am sure the young lady was taught from the perspective of the powerful, such as, “You are in a position to use these rights and power, young lady.”
Who was the guy that taught the young lady the perspective of the commoners, and instilled a sense of duty that “We must be more fair!”?!
「I realized after watching you, Reiji. You speak and study on an equal footing with your tutor, right? You are more willing and strive to study than I. If given the opportunity, regardless of who it might be, noble or commoner, anyone can study and acquire knowledge!」
「………」
It was my fault, apparently.
「My lady, that’s not it. I just, uhh…」
It would be easy to just say that I have a previous life! It is unlikely that she will believe me, and even if I want to prove it, I’d have to bring out 【World Ruler】 skill orb, which I’d rather not…!
「Reiji, you don’t have to say anything more.」
「My lady…」
「Your thoughts are the same as mine. I know!」
Yeaaah, it’s not!
「Reiji. Let’s go meet my father!」
「What?」
The Earl? I can already see this not ending well.
「I want to ask my father permission to eradicate the illegal slavery that is spreading in the holy city!」
His Majesty the Holy King has a strict “ban” policy on “slavery”. Everyone says that it was “the kindness of the Holy King,” but I thought differently.
First Altar is the backbone of this country. Abundant skill orbs are circulated to the people of this country, and since there isn’t race-based discrimination, numerous immigrants migrate over.
Therefore, if “slaves” were allowed, many people would become slaves. This is because there are so many people who come to the holy city without a single penny. Slaves would become property of the wealthy, meaning they can legally amass troops. The privileged nobility would naturally fear that outcome.
That said, there are many people who are neck-deep in debt, and if they can’t even “sell themselves” as slaves in the end, they won’t be able to find money lenders.
Thus appeared “underling”.
By binding with contract magic, you can use them no different from a slave.
But of course, since the Holy City strongly declared “Slavery Prohibited!”, such businesses couldn’t be conducted publicly, and thus there wasn’t any incident of explosive increase in slaves.
That’s what I thought when I first heard it, whereas the young lady was furious.
「If they are substantially a slave, then it goes against the intention of His Majesty the Holy King!」she asserted.
With this “underling” system, the interest rate of money lenders does not rise, and unlike slaves that can be sold and bought as properties, “underlings”, who can only be bound by the master-servant 1-to-1 contract magic, have a rather low asset value. With that in mind, I fervently argued that the “underling” system can work as a safety net for people in debt who have no other choice, but of course, the young lady didn’t listen. Though, it wasn’t too difficult to convince her because the young lady yielded when I explained, “Although there is a strong possibility that the law is being violated, it is a necessary evil!”
What truly troubled the young lady was, the young children who were being offered as “underlings” for their parents’ debt.
You can do anything if they are bound with contract magic. Anything.
A virgin girl fetches a high amount of money as an “underling.” If the young lady hears of such a thing, considering her super expressive sense of justice, there will be no stopping her.
(Although, I don’t think the Earl would accept a dubious proposal like taking down slave merchants after having them admit “yes, we are a slave business”…)
What I am glad about is, the young lady had the slight “sense” to consult with the Earl beforehand.
The Earl is unbelievably busy everyday, but since he dotes on the young lady, he made time to listen to her proposal. He simply answered ”Uh-huh,” while listening from the beginning to end, without any emotion, as usual.
「Okay, Eva. I will prepare a list of “Human Resource Offices” that seem to be highly illegal, so try hitting them.」
「Thank you very much, father!」
I think my face at that time looked much worse than the faces Usopp from One Piece makes.
Eh? Permission is… issued?
I don’t know if he heard the screams of my soul, or whether he completely ignored my opinions, but the Earl said,「Reiji-san, I am counting on you for the escort.」