Chapter 01: Private Tutor Selection and Wisemen

"What is all of this, Roderich? That's a ridiculously high amount..."

A large amount of documents was stacked up on the table in the study. I'm an Earl and I also fathered children, so if it's documents related to territorial management, I won't say anything even if there's a few of them. It's all for the sake of my children, after all.

But, once I took a peek at the documents, they listed name, personal history, special skills, and strengths. It's not like anything I've seen so far... No, wait, I do recall such documents. They're just like resumes, and make me remember the time when I was job hunting before graduating from university... That was a really tough time, and I never want to experience anything like that again.

Even after completing the job hunt successfully and starting my job... No, this is something I don't want to remember either.

"What might you be talking about...? These are the application documents of those wishing to become the private tutor of Friedrich-sama and the other children."

"Private tutor? My children just recently managed to hold their head steady, not to mention that they aren't even a year old yet. Isn't it way too early to choose a private tutor?"

"For Friedrich-sama and the other babies, it might be too quick, but in their eyes, it is not early at all. This much is normal."

"I see..."

Although it's going to take my children at least three years to become aware of what's going on around them, and that's already assuming a quick growth...

"Are you saying that we're going to decide on a private tutor right now...?"

"Of course. Friedrich-sama is destined to inherit the Earl Baumeister House. Your other children also bear the crucial duty of strengthening the Baumeister House's relationship with other nobility and royalty by marrying into their houses, so they require a superb education by an excellent private tutor. Therefore it is necessary to select the tutor early on."

Roderich declared powerfully.

Certainly, if Friedrich acts questionably as next family head, it might cause a decline of the Baumeister House. The same can be said about my other children. It'd have a negative impact on the Baumeister House, if they were to be evaluated badly after marrying into other families. Considering it like that, it's maybe not that bad an idea to decide on private tutors in the near future.

"Okay, I got it."

Friedrich really has it tough since the moment he was born... As for me, I never had a private tutor. At most I went to cram school.

The Baumeister Knightdom, you ask? Didn't they consider private tutors as urban legends? Over there, they used an extreme version of learn-it-yourself.

"Under normal circumstances, it would be my duty to take care of their education, but..."

"...Yeah, let's not."

Roderich is everyday busy as our family's house manager. If we added the task of tutoring my children on top of that, he'd die from overwork for real. I'm not the president of some exploitative company.

Exactly because I was a prime example for a corporate slave in my previous life, I must build a work environment that does away with such exploitive practices now that I'm in charge of an earldom.

"I am very well aware that it would be difficult for me to become the private tutor of your children with my current workload, so please do not worry. The people, who have sent these documents, are desperate as well. There is no way that I would steal their opportunity away from them."

"That's good to hear."

Private tutoring is a part-time job where they're going to come to the mansion for a pre-established period of time, teach the kids what they need to know, and then leave for the day... or not? At least that's how it was in my previous life. Some of my classmates during my university days did that kind of part-time job.

Well, the popularity of private tutors from the university I visited was low, though.

"Are they going to commute?"

"That would apply for the education of children belonging to lower nobility or merchant families, but it is different for us. We will have them live at the mansion and properly teach your children everything they need to know until they come of age. They will require lecturers who are specialists in different subjects such as manners, horse riding, swordsmanship, music instruments, and so on, but choosing those lecturers and guiding them while staying in close touch with their curriculum is part of a private tutor's job."

Ah, that means a private tutor over here is similar to a class teacher? They also choose lecturers for special subjects, huh? If they're also responsible for managing all the special lecturers, they really bear a heavy responsibility, I guess.

"My children are in for a hard life, aren't they?"

Man, I'm really lucky to be an upstart noble. My manners are questionable at best, my swordsmanship is a lost case, and my horse riding skills barely get a passing grade... Musical instruments? Do triangles and castanets also count?

It looks like the eldest son of a high-ranking noble is kept busy in various ways.

"We cannot hire someone of unknown origin. The same also applies to the special lecturers."

Now that he mentions it, all of the resumes come with letters of recommendation.

"Everyone has recommendations from nobles of baron rank and higher, eh...?"

"They were not allowed to apply if they did not have a letter of recommendation."

The shady ones are all sent packing at the application stage... if you look at the careers of the applicants, they're either distant relatives of high nobility or children of their chief retainers... nobility is through and through a society based on connections in the end...

"Everyone has graduated from the academy...?"

The academy is an educational institute comparable to a combination of graduate school and university on modern Earth. I guess it's difficult for someone to even apply if they haven't at least graduated from there. It's something like being required to have a 『university degree』 during recruitment.

"Still what's with this number of applicants? Isn't that a bit too much?"

The competitive rate is several hundredfold, meaning, the acceptance rate will be much worse than the chance the Lost Generation had in finding a job.

"They're all desperate, so it's only understandable. After all, they could become the 『Teacher』 of the Baumeister House's future patriarch."

According to Roderich, being the teacher of a noble's eldest son is a very desired post.

"Given that they will be in charge of educating their lord for many years, their influence on their pupil, despite being in a lord-retainer relationship, will go well beyond their position."

"Even a family head would find it hard to ignore the advice of their teacher, huh...?"

It also means that they'll be able to change their job into becoming a chief retainer of the noble family. Historians and others have been referring to those in charge of teaching their lord as 『Sensei』.

"But, if generations of family head teachers become chief retainers, it'd break the mold of chief vassals."

Noble houses with long histories have accordingly adopted countermeasures for that. They send excellent children of their house and retainer families to the academy to get them educated over there on the assumption that they will become tutors for the family afterwards. Or, once they finish their tutoring period, the noble house would prepare another place of employment... a lucrative job.

His Majesty's teacher is currently working as the headmaster of the academy. Since he has been in charge of His Majesty's education, his achievements and popularity are outstanding. As for the Baumeister House, our retainer ranks are still thin, so if we have the teacher of Friedrich-sama and the other children join their ranks after they are done with the education, it will stabilize the family. Even if that does not work out, your prestige is extraordinary, Milord, therefore the tutor of your heir will be able to freely choose his next employment."

"Okay, that makes sense..."

That explains the huge amount of applications, I suppose...

"So, how are we going to select one of them?"

I think there's simply too many applications. If we were to interview all of the applicants, we'd never finish.

"First we will screen them by their application documents. They have been told to present an education plan of how they are going to go about teaching your children, in addition to letters of recommendation."

"I see."

That's indispensable. Even if they're going to educate my children, it'd be bad to force my children to study too much by clogging up their schedule too much. I only studied seriously before exams and job interviews—though I guess that counts as countermeasures and not education.

I think children also need some time to play. I'd really like the tutor to be flexible enough to allow my children to regularly take a breather.

"So we're going to narrow down the candidates through an application review. That's fine... huh?"

Who's going to handle that troublesome task?

Aaahhh! Me!?

"...Me!?"

"Is there anyone else who could do it? It is the selection of the tutor for your children who are going to carry the future of the Baumeister Earldom!"

"Figures..."

"Of course I will also participate in the screening. After all, the children of us retainers will participate in the educational curriculum."

In short, they'll be what you'd call school friends.

"That means Eru's boy as well?"

"Obviously."

I see. So Eru's son Leon is going to receive the same education as my children. Then I should get him to participate in the selection process.

It's definitely not like I'm dragging Eru into this because it's going to be such a pain! Even Eru should wish for his son to become a retainer who can support the Baumeister House's next generation. Therefore it's only normal to have Eru, Leon's father, to help with the document screening! Yep!

"We'll call Eru over as well."

"That is a valid judgment."

With Roderich agreeing on this, it was decided for Eru to participate in the screening.

* * *

"Ugh... All I can see are letters... Even when I close my eyes..."

"Good work, Eru."

"Vel, you roped me into this, didn't you?"

"No, no, not at all. That wasn't the intention at all. Leon must receive a superb education as well. Making sure of that is the duty of his parents, isn't it?"

"As expected of you, Milord."

"(Haruka-san, it's a bad idea to take Vel's words at face value...)"

How rude! I really believe what I've been saying... it's just that I won't deny having had other motives, too.

* * *

At last, the document screening for the tutor has come to an end. Using the just cause of it being for the sake of his son's education, I called over Eru to help out as well, but since he usually doesn't come in contact with so many documents, it seems like the letters of the application documents have fully imprinted themselves in his mind.

Then again, the same applies for me as well.

"Still, this number of applicants is truly incredible."

"There were also many bigshots among the nobles who wrote letters of recommendation."

Since it'd affect the education of their daughters, Ina and Luise actively joined the conversation, too.

Having said that, such a number of applications, despite the restriction of the letters of recommendation to be above baron rank... Moreover, as it'd be pointless to present letters of recommendation from nobles I don't know well, the majority was issued by acquainted, high-ranking nobles. Cardinal Hohenheim, Minister Edgar, Minister Rückner, Earl Armstrong (Doushi's big brother), and so on...

On top of that, every noble has written several letters of recommendation.

"Wouldn't you usually write only one letter of recommendation? I mean, it's fine to be sympathetic all around, but wouldn't you be later accused of lacking integrity?"

Cardinal Hohenheim signed an especially big number of letters. It looks like many priests have also graduated from the academy, but I think this matches with the old Japan where many Buddhist priests used to be intellectuals.

He's probably thinking something along the lines of... it being beneficial for the future construction of churches in my earldom if a priest becomes the tutor of my children.

"A letter of recommendation is proof that they have the will and qualification to apply. There is a great number of people who would never receive a letter of recommendation, even if they begged my Grandfather."

Elise explained the reason why letters of recommendation were always demanded.

I suppose that's why nobles write more letters the higher in ranking they are. High-ranking nobles sure have it tough with all the socializing they have to take care of.

"That means there were actually a lot more applicants?"

"Indeed. Easily more than ten times that..."

Several thousand applications for the post of my children's tutor which is limited to one person... Moreover, the several hundred applicants who advanced to the document screening phase were all elites who had won over a tenfold competition...

All I could do was laugh feebly.

"It's because a noble gets asked more the higher in rank they are... Forming personal connections while taking responsibility for those requests is what matters the most. After all, they never know when it might come in handy to have written a certain letter of recommendation."

At this point, it's being treated as luck if the person, for whom they wrote a letter, is employed. And it means they can ask to return the favor of having written a letter of recommendation as a pretext.

"I really had my fill of this..."

Even though we haven't even eaten anything!

"So, about whom we're going to let advance to the next stage of the interviews..."

"Since the number of potential applicants is simply too large, we will pool the opinions of you, milord, me, your family, and the other retainers. I do not think that it will be much of a problem if we take some time to make a decision"

"Got it."

One of Roderich's wives is Minister Rückner's granddaughter, and there are also many relatives of high-ranking nobles among my retainers. It might become troublesome if we decide too readily as there's a lot going on behind the scenes.

Just like me, my retainers have it tough since the number of fetters shackling them down has increased drastically.

I think it's no problem to let Roderich and the others narrow down the number of applicants some more first.

"So, how long do you actually plan to need for the screening?"

"It will take around half a year... we have to coordinate the opinions, too..."

Hearing that, it obviously means that the Baumeister House has clearly gained in scale. As the number of people involved grows large, it becomes increasingly more difficult to balance the interests, I think.

Then again, we don't need to hurry yet since my children are still babies.

"Also, there is one more problem..."

"What kind of problem?"

"It is about these applications here..."

"They have no letters of recommendation, right?"

Several people handed in applications without letters of recommendation. But why is Roderich showing them to me although it'd be fine to just reject them outright?

"They come from people belonging to the 『Witenagemot』..."

"Witenagemot?"

"It's an assembly consisting of sages."

(TL Note: The term 賢者 (kenja) commonly means sage or wiseman. Sage has a different implication than wiseman though. Both meanings are interchangeably used in this chapter. I'll call them sage for reasons explained below, but you should always read wiseman into it as well.

"In the first place... what's a sage?"

I swallow the comment "So this world had sages as well, huh?", and ask Roderich to give me more details on sages.

The sage I'd think of first is an almighty person who can use the magic of magicians and priests alike, just like in some RPGs. Am I actually a sage as well, seeing how I can use water-based healing magic? Then again, I guess I'm not wise enough to be called a sage.

"Sages are amazing people, right?"

"How to answer this...? It is understandable that you do not know of them, Milord. The answer to the question whether they are amazing depends on who you ask."

I didn't know about sages because I'm young? But, since they are going in and out of the sorcery guild in the capital, I should have heard at least some rumors about them, no?

"Katharina-sama and Lisa-sama might know more about them. I am no magician myself, so the information I possess is limited to the rumors I have heard so far. Thus I cannot tell whether my information is actually true..."

"I got it. Call the two and we'll ask them."

I have Roderich go to Katharina and Lisa who are currently taking care of the babies.

* * *

"Sages, you ask...? So far as it goes I know about them, but I think Lisa-san has more details. I have only heard rumors about the existence of people calling themselves sages..."

Figures. Katharina is only one year older than me. I suppose it's not strange for her to not know much about the sages either.

"Lisa?"

"It's difficult to explain, you see. They're more or less magicians of sorts. Their mana is below the elementary level though... Also, all of them either come from good families or are rich."

"Lineage and financial standing can be related to sages?"

"They have enough funds to build their own association. That's why they can call themselves sages."

"I don't get it, really."

"If I go into details, it's going to turn into slander..."

When I asked her to proceed anyway, Lisa told me, albeit hesitatingly. In short, it sounds like people with money and families that are nobility or wealthy merchants simply call themselves sages of their own accord.

"Nobles and merchants usually rejoice if a child with mana is born into their family. However, this joy quickly changes into disappointment once it becomes clear that the child can't do much more than elementary magic like causing sparks, filling a cup with water, causing a small whirlwind, or letting pebbles fly... Of course, those children won't be accepted by the sorcery guild, and if they don't have some talent in creating magic tools either, the magic tools guild remains out of reach for them as well."

"Won't such people become staff members? Mostly through the connections of their families."

"People who accept such jobs, don't call themselves sages. They're simply staff members of the sorcery or magic tool guild."

It sounds like some people have too much pride because they can use some half-assed amount of mana and deny reality by claiming that they can't work as lowly staff members since they regard themselves as magicians. Those people arbitrarily call themselves wisemen or 『sages』, have established their own association, and spend their days over there.

"How's that any different from a noble's salon?"

As far as I can tell from what Lisa has told me, all of this reminds me of a salon where young nobles and wealthy merchants with a somewhat special condition gather.

"...Because they simply called themselves like that on their own accord to begin with. They possess no popularity whatsoever. Even many among us magicians don't know of their existence."

They're embarrassing folks who can call themselves 『wisemen』 for the sole reason of being slightly smarter than the average person because they've received a proper education, so many people probably shirk away from having anything to do with them, I suppose.

"So, why did those sages apply for the post of our children's tutor?"

"I guess because they're bored."

"Pardon?"

"Well, they're basically people with too much time on their hands, so..."

If they're unable to use any significant magic anyway, the noble youths could help with the management of their family's territory, the young merchants could help with their family's business, or they could simply take responsibility for the preservation of culture or some such...

Though I guess they'd end up making things worse because of their conceit over their half-assed mana anyway.

"This is something I only heard through gossip, but it looks like they meet every day, repeatedly having pointless arguments about this or that while discussing questions about the truth of magic, how they can improve this world as sages, or how to pass on their teachings to others."

"..."

Yeah, now I've got it somehow. Folks like them are commonly called the 『highly self-conscious types』. So they existed in this world as well, huh?

"And that's why they applied to become the tutor of Friedrich and the other babies, huh...?"

Yet, they don't have any letters of recommendation, and according to Lisa, most of them haven't graduated from the academy either. That means they're below university or graduate school, despite calling themselves sages.

"They have declared, 『We sages are different of those with second-hand knowledge who only fuss about the crammed teachings taught at the academy! We are the ones understanding the truth of this world!』, and thus don't join the academy."

"So basically... it just means that they didn't pass the entrance exam for the academy, doesn't it?"

I think they're simply trying to cover things up with some bullshit theory about it being unnecessary for them to receive education at the academy because they're sages (self-alleged) and because they got mana.

"Them not having any letters of recommendation stems from the fact that anyone recommending those clowns would damage their own reputation, right?"

"You're undoubtedly correct about that."

If someone were to recommend this group of selfish, dumb clowns as suitable for becoming tutors, they'd lose all credibility as recommender.

"The fact of them sending applications without any letters of recommendation is already reason enough to disqualify these people."

"Right..."

Repelling applicants without letters of recommendation is discriminating. That's something any Japanese variety show commentator would likely say, but it's inevitable since we cannot afford to entrust the tutoring of the next family head of the Baumeister House to some nutcase.

If the education of Friedrich fails, it's going to have a negative impact on the lives of many retainers, their families, and the residents. Even the nobles, who wrote letters of recommendation, would be accountable if they recommended someone with a terrible character.

A letter of recommendation is similar to a certificate approving that one has the qualification to apply. It's impossible to allow applicants to pass the document check without any of these letters.

"We'll ignore them. It's going to be, 『We shall pray for your great contributions at another family』."

Of course I failed all the self-alleged sages and tossed their applications into the trash bin.

—However, we hadn't realized. That they, who had too much time on their hands, had taken actions going beyond our expectations...

* * *

Today I have a day off for the first time in a long while. Accordingly, I've been enjoying a hunt in the outskirts of Baulburg with Eru, Burkhart-san, Doushi, and Takeomi-san.

We also hunted plenty of game. Just as we discussed getting all the meat cooked and treating Elise and the other women to a lavish feast, a weird quintet appeared in front of us.

All of them wore robes, but either way, their mana was so low that it made it hard to tell whether they actually could be regarded as magicians.

"I'm one of the Helmut Kingdom's Witenagemot's Big Four, 『Lute the Flame』!"

"Likewise, 『Water Dragon Baxel』!"

"Likewise, 『Circo of the Ground』!"

"Likewise, 『Sandez the Squall』!"

"I'm one of the Big Four! 『Bagdar of Nothingness』!"

"""""Together, the five of us are visiting as the Big Four Sages!"""""

"""""......"""""

We plainly draw back from them due to their high tension introduction as Big Four Sages or group that's about to take over the world next.

"Earl-sama, did you finally get acquainted with these people...? It's bad news to get involved with that..."

"It's not like I got involved with them on my own volition. They simply sent in applications to become the tutor for my children without me having ever asked for it..."

"Once again they have nothing better to do! They are truly lost cases!"

"Doushi, why didn't you tell us about them?"

"Then let me ask you in reverse, Erwin. Would there be any benefit in knowing about them?"

"...N-None... they're obviously emitting the aura of being useless bums..."

"Figures that you would be able to immediately tell, Erwin."

"Wait, I don't want to be pigeonholed as being the same type as them..."

As for the case of choosing my children's tutor, we're not in any hurry, and because of that we're still in the document screening phase. As for them... they were dropped because of lacking letters of recommendation, but they should only learn of that after we contact the applicants who have advanced to the interview phase, and yet... what did they come here for, although the application results haven't been determined yet?

"(Burkhart-san, did you set up some countermeasures, seeing how you already knew about them?)"

"(Their babbling about being sages and so on is all in their head. Since they have the money and the free time, they can come here anytime. Do you truly believe I could have prevented their visit?)"

"(No, not really...)"

"(Certainly, they're annoying in many respects, but it's not like they're harmful pests or anything. Drastic measures might result in us turning their families into our enemies. So, how about just ignoring them?)"

I didn't even know about their existence until now. Judging by the fact that none of the high-ranking nobles has told me about those sages, they're obviously being disregarded by noble society, implicitly telling them to stay among themselves and make sure to not cause any troubles to others.

"(Vel, these guys are magicians, right? Very cheap ones, however...)"

They introduced themselves as the Big Four of the Witenagemot, and exhibited their magic at the same time... At the point of doing something like that, they already qualified to be labeled as weirdos, but either way, their magic was shabby at best.

◆

The first, 『Lute the Flame』, could use fire magic, but since his mana was basically negligible, he could only make a pile of firewood, which he had prepared in advance, catch fire with a spark spell. The way the firewood was set up was obviously beneficial for it to catch fire as soon as it got ignited.

Wouldn't it be better for him to teach kids in a camping school how to build a campfire?

◆

The second, 『Water Dragon Baxel』, introduced himself with an imposing nickname, but his magic only allowed him to fill water into a cup. The water, as it appeared in the air, took the shape of a dragon, but even the dragon's shape was hard to distinguish unless you strained your eyes to the limit.

"Ohh, that fits perfectly. I was just getting thirsty... Ugh, lukewarm!"

Eru drained down the cup of water, but immediately complained about it being lukewarm.

I didn't know what to think about him selfishly drinking the cup of water, but it's necessary to invest more mana to cool water produced through magic, so it was inevitable for Baxel's water to have been lukewarm. He must have used up all his mana to have it take the shape of a dragon.

◆

The third, 『Circo of the Ground』, had the ground's earth rise up with magic, and used the pedestal to place a foot on it while acting all mighty.

Ground... is it really?

◆

The fourth, 『Sandez the Squall』, created a small tornado in front of himself with his magic.

Just when I thought what he was planning to do with that... it vanished as he apparently ran out of mana.

◆

And for some mysterious reason, there is the fifth, 『Bagdar of Nothingness』, although they were supposed to be the Big Four.

Just what the hell is nothingness anyway? Did such a magic system exist?

As I wondered about that, he retrieved a copper coin out of thin air and erased it in the next moment.

That's obviously a sleight of hand, no?

◆

"(Umm... Burkhart-san, it's not like he retrieved and stored the coin in another dimension, or something like that, right?)"

"(As if such magic would exist!)"

"(If he could do something like that despite not having a magic bag, it would become a sensation!)"

That makes sense.

Even in this world, it's impossible to store a copper coin in a different dimension, unless you use a magic bag. It'd cause a huge ruckus at the sorcery guild if such a thing was possible. In short, it's no more than a sleight of hand.

"(Five people despite calling themselves the Big Four, showing off some shabby magic with triumphant looks, and on top of that, the fifth hasn't even used magic, damnit!)"

Since his amount of mana is the same as the other four's, he must be one of those people who can't cast any spells despite having mana. And since it'd be embarrassing to not be able to demonstrate any kind of magic during their introduction, he's using a sleight of hand to make a copper coin appear and disappear.

"Did you witness our Big Four's true might?"

Bagdar of Nothingness (fifth) asks while keeping up his smug face.

No, honestly dude, yours wasn't even magic to begin with.

"Bagdar of Nothingness, they must be unable to speak up after getting stunned by our awesome magic," says Lute the Flame next.

Certainly, I truly believe you guys are awesome... considering how you're able to talk down on others with a condescending attitude and naming yourselves sages after pulling off such a trashy demonstration. Though, this probably stems from their lineage as well.

"(These guys use their aliases even when talking to each other...?)"

Eru, that part is completely irrelevant...

"I'm hunting with Earl Baumeister-sama, the lord of this land, the Royal Head Magician Viscount Armstrong-sama, the magician Burkhart-dono who works as employed chief magician of Margrave Breithilde-sama, and one more person while also serving as their guard. This their private time, so if you have any business with them, wouldn't it be proper etiquette to make an appointment by inquiring in advance?"

Takeomi-san criticizes their sudden appearance in front of us during our private hunting time. This guy is quite sensible as long as it doesn't concern his younger sister. Him mentioning Eru as 『one more person』 is no different from usual, though.

"Ah, in that case it's no problem. We're sages, after all."

"Quite so. We're beings endowed with the highest pedigree, mana, and brains."

"Under normal circumstances, it's only proper for any person to visit our place and beg us to teach them, but we deliberately came all the way out here for the sake of this place's future, and even more so, for the Kingdom's future."

""""""......""""""

We end up speechless after the series of nonsensical remarks by Water Dragon Baxel, Circo of the Ground, and Sandez the Squall. At this point, these guys fully qualify to be labeled as darkness of the noble society.

They're overflowing with groundless confidence. Their lineage... well, they somehow don't seem to be the successors of their houses, but they've probably been pampered by their parents as neets. Their magic... should be completely useless. Moreover, it's pretty clear that they've completely run out of mana.

Kinda makes you wonder what to think about a magician who runs out of mana by only introducing themselves.

Their intelligence... can be guessed by the fact of them not having been accepted into the academy. Given that the people allowed to enroll at the academy are serious geniuses or prodigies, it should be laughable knowledge in their eyes.

"(Are they allowed to freely act like this?)"

"(As a matter of fact, their parents have simply given up on them!)"

According to Doushi, the thing they call Witenagemot is just a structure to gather all these misguided folks at one place for easier control.

"(The definition of sage is currently taking a heavy blow within me...)"

I can only laugh hollowly at this ridiculously huge difference to the sages you'd find in RPGs.

"By the way, what kind of business do you have with us?"

Eru asks about their purpose in being here in my stead.

"Hmm? Earl Baumeister-dono's retainer, huh...? How seedy-looking you are."

"His bloodline seems to be just as bad as his brain."

"He cannot beat us at anything. What a pathetic excuse of a man..."

"You're a rude fellow, but we're sages. Since we also possess generous hearts, let's answer his question."

"Indeed. We're sages because we're also kind to those below us."

Just from where do these morons draw their baseless confidence? To be honest, it goes beyond mysterious.

"(Vel, is it okay for me to beat up these idiots?)"

"(You should stop. Even though they might be idiots, they're still the children of high-ranking nobles...)"

Even so, they sure got some nerves to spout such terrible things... I think it's a good idea to separate them from the rest of the world, but their parents should have tied down their freedom a lot more...

"Earl Baumeister-dono, you're a great magician who was entrusted with the development of the most southern area of the Kingdom, but... you have a big flaw."

"Your birthplace, I dare say... This doesn't matter to you since you do possess great abilities, but it'll become a problem for your successor."

"After all, the development won't be finished within one generation."

"The responsibility of your son Friedrich-dono will be heavy, but since he's unfortunately not blessed with a noble family owning a longstanding history, he'll be looked down upon, no matter what he does."

"He's lacking what you could call the inborn aura of a great noble. Accordingly, we've decided to serve as his tutors. This is yet another duty of us sages."

"You should feel grateful in light of this honor. If taught by us five, Friedrich-dono will become an outstanding, high noble."

""""""......""""""

On top of arbitrarily having sent in resumes without letters of recommendation, they suddenly showed up in person, and now they're smugly blathering about becoming Friedrich's tutors because they're sages?

Everyone in our group is flabbergasted by their selfish attitude of slighting the other applicants as not worthy of further consideration, although we haven't finished the document screening yet. I've heard that their parents are high-ranking nobles and wealthy merchants, but just how much do they dote on their sons to allow them to go through with such absurdities?

"(Vel, are you going to turn these morons into our children's tutors?)"

"(Are you kidding!? AS IF!)"

What should I do if Friedrich became like them?

A baby is pure and innocent. If it's raised by wolves, it becomes a wolf. It's clear as daylight that I won't allow these retards to get anywhere near my children.

"Since we're currently in the middle of the document screening... you'll need to wait for a bit longer."

"Well, I guess the folks, who sent in resumes, need a proper alibi as well. You've already made your selection, is what you're saying, right?"

"Indeed. Compared to us sages, the other applicants are no more than common vagrants."

"I guess we're set to take over the duty of tutoring Friedrich-dono. The levels of the others are simply too low."

"Allow us to wait for the good news in Baulburg. Excuse us then. I'm certain we'll be soon seeing each other every day."

The self-alleged sages return to their inn in Baulburg, but once again I was stuck dealing with idiotic nobles.

* * *

Since things have become somewhat troublesome, we teleported to Breitburg, and consulted with Margrave Breithilde on how to deal with those self-alleged sages.

"Ah, those guys, huh? Those self-alleged..."

Margrave Breithilde apparently knew about them as well.

"I'm troubled by those sages as well. Those people have been isolated, if you put it in a nice way."

"Isolated?"

"Yes. Even though they've been born into high-ranking noble houses, a fixed number in the low digits ends up being useless bums who don't even know how to use fork and knife by themselves. Since those guys are special even among those misfits, they've been assembled in a salon while acting like they're sages... In short, we'd like them to stay inside their salon."

So the sages over here are what you'd have called a gathering of neets in my previous world, I guess...

If they're allowed to waste their time by proudly bragging about their intelligence, their pedigree, and their magic amongst their little group of friends, it must be very satisfying to them... Of course anyone would hide their existence, I suppose.

"Their mana is half-baked, but with a magic that allows them to light a fire at most, they serve no purpose whatsoever. Then again, I think they'd come in handy at various work places, if they were commoners."

Even without being able to do much more than lighting a fire, they'd still be very useful for certain jobs. When it comes to cooks, for example, being able to light a fire right away would definitely be an asset.

"However, they're nobles, and moreover, children of fairly distinguished families. That's their bad luck in this case. After all, it'd be unthinkable for them to work as cooks or craftsmen..."

At the start, their parents should have had quite big hopes for them. But, they were soon told that those hopes were in vain because of their little amount of mana. Having said that, it's not like those sons had any drive to help out with their family's business or go study like noble children without mana. If they had the scholarly ability to enter the academy, their parents probably wouldn't be disappointed. If they had seriously studied to learn about the duties of their parents, their parents shouldn't have said anything either.

"But, I feel like they're also somewhat pitiable."

"Usually, if someone helps their elder brother as successor or the family head, their parents wouldn't treat them like this. It's simply that they reap what they've sown."

After all, they have a groundlessly condescending, arrogant way of treating others. I guess they're the kind of people who only keep increasing the number of enemies if they meet with other people. They don't seem to have any friends other than their sage buddies either.

"You said the sage part was self-alleged, right? Who came up with this to begin with?"

"Even with their level of mana, any normal person would still be able to work for the sorcery or magic tool guild. In other words, it's like this because they're being ignored."

Even if they accepted a job at the sorcery guild and boasted about their magic over there, they'd only embarrass themselves since genuine magicians can be found in that guild. If they gather amongst each other, there won't be any conflict since all of them have similar abilities, I suppose.

If they use some time to review each other's magic, it won't harm anyone else, at least.

"That's a terrible story..."

"The sage salon itself looks back at a history of several hundred years. Given that it's a secret institution of the Kingdom, many people don't know about it."

Certainly, others learning about the Kingdom having an unspecified number of people like them would be inconvenient for the Kingdom. No, I guess it's because it'd become a disgrace for the Kingdom.

"Why have they applied to become the tutors of my children?"

"It's because you're an upstart noble, Earl Baumeister. The tutor selection of longstanding, high-ranking noble houses is heavily influenced by personal connections. On the other hand, something like that isn't to be expected with you. At least it's what they think. They believed that even newcomers like them would be able to easily worm their way in.

Though it's not like anyone would choose incompetent people, even if they might possess personal connections. Having graduated from the academy is the lowest requirement, and the higher in peerage the noble, the more likely they have at least one such graduate among their own relatives, the relatives of their patron, or the relatives of their vassals. Also, given the existence of families of intellectuals who have been teaching at the academy for many generations, it looks like some noble houses rely on those families to provide tutors. In other words, longstanding tutor families.

If you request a tutor from such a family, you won't need to worry about your children's education since those families possess generations of knowledge on how to study. They don't shirk any effort to protect their job as tutors of high-ranking nobles across many, many generations."

It sounds like tutoring for nobles has its fair share of troubles.

"Having received a letter of recommendation from among this gathering of amazing people means that the person has been approved to have no flaws in their ability as tutor. After all, it'd just embarrass the writer of the letter, if they recommended some nutcase. They'd be called idiots who have no eye for judging people," explained Margrave Breithilde.

"And that's also the reason why those idiots didn't have any letters of recommendation."

"Even their parents would not write them any letters of recommendation!"

Burkhart-san and Doushi completely dissed the self-alleged sages.

"So, what should I do about them?"

"About that... There actually exists a simple method to get rid of them."

"Really?"

"In the past there have been times when those sages started to say weird things while full of confidence, and thus the nobles have adopted a method to deal with that. Please lend me your ear for a moment, Earl Baumeister."

I brought my ear close to Margrave Breithilde.

"Oohhh! You're right. This method is going to work!"

"It'll be fine as long as you thrust the results at them."

After having the margrave teach me the method how to deal with those sages, I decided to immediately put it into practice.

* * *

"Ooohh! Did we pass the document screening!?"

"Figures."

"After all, we're sages."

"It's a logical conclusion."

"It's great that Earl Baumeister had the judgment of an ordinary man."

Just as Margrave Breithilde taught me, I told the sages that they had passed the document screening in a first step. As usual they were brimming with baseless confidence, but next I explained to them what would happen after this.

"There's a second test. If you pass that, you'll reach the final interview."

"A second test?"

"Yes, it's nothing that difficult. I'd like you to take it with a light heart. I doubt anyone would fail this anyway. It's more like a little confirmation."

"I see."

"Please come to my mansion tomorrow. I'll have you take the second test over there."

"As you wish."

"It'll be a breeze for us."

"After all, we're sages."

It's great that they immediately went along with my terms. Tomorrow I'll have them panic to the utmost. I can't wait for it.

* * *

On the next day, the self-alleged sages sure enough flew into panic as soon as they saw the papers of the written exam we've prepared for them.

"Earl Baumeister? This is..."

"It's a written exam. We're screening you for becoming a tutor, so it's only natural to demand basic scholar ability, isn't it?"

That's the point. They're calling themselves sages on their own accord, but it's not like they're particularly good at studying. After all, they'd have probably enrolled at the academy if they were as smart as their title suggests. And precisely because they weren't able to enroll, they've gathered at that salon of theirs while playing a game of pretending to be sages.

"The exam covers six subjects: literature and grammar, mathematics, nature, history, geography, and etiquette. You can get a maximum of 100 points for each subject. Please start."

The self-alleged sages shriveled away in front of the exam papers like slugs that got sprinkled with salt. Since each subject has a time limit of one hour, they should be preoccupied for the next six hours.

Leaving them alone, I head over to the living room.

"How is it going with those people?"

"They've become very meek. But, I sure didn't consider this method..."

"Holding a written exam during a high-ranking noble's screening to decide on a tutor is anything but normal." declares Burkhart-san.

"Why?"

"Say, Erwin, you were also surprised about the letters of recommendations and resumes sent over, weren't you?"

"Yes, it was quite a huge number."

"But, you see, if you let the guys, who sent those resumes, do the same exam, almost all of them would land a perfect score. Or at least to the extent of only making some occasional, careless mistake."

"Is that so?"

"The academy is a place where prodigies and geniuses from all over the country gather."

The Helmut Kingdom only has that one academy. The only ones able to enroll there are geniuses and prodigies that have been chosen without any relation to their social rank. If only graduates from that place can become tutors, a written exam would be pointless since everyone would pass anyway.

"Since those guys are self-alleged sages, they should have gotten cold feet after seeing the exam papers."

"They have been grumbling about the negative effect of crammed education and such." I report.

"Those guys have always been saying that whenever such a measure has been adopted against them."

"I see..."

No matter the world, some people always use the same rectifications.

"Even us magicians are honestly putting in effort by training ourselves and researching as well as testing out older spells, right? And yet, those guys basically shirk any such work."

If they had been able to do so, they wouldn't have called themselves sages in the first place, though.

"So, how many points do they require to pass?"

"Given that any academy graduate would get an almost perfect score, they will pass if they reach above 90 points in average, I'd say?"

"That is impossible!"

If they could reach such a score, at least their parents would have written a letter of recommendation for them, so yeah...

Doushi's prediction proved to be correct — though everyone except for the self-alleged sages had expected it to play out like that anyway — and they scored around 20 points on average across all subjects on the exam, resulting in them grandly failing the second exam.

* * *

"This is the test, huuh...? I feel like it's quite difficult."

I had Roderich show me the exam the sages took, just to realize how I would have struggled with this as well. At this point, I don't have the habit of studying anymore like during my test studying phases in my previous life, and since I've been always putting my magic training first, I kept postponing any normal studying. On top of that, I'm bad at stuff like history since I'm a reincarnator to begin with.

I suspect I wouldn't have been able to pass this test either.

"Here, Vel."

"Huh? What's up, Ina?"

I got confused when I was handed the exam papers by Ina.

"Since it seemed to be fun, I was wondering how many points all of us would be able to score."

"...I don't really think that's necessary..."

After all, we're not in some variety show here. Besides, everyone would likely dislike the idea of Earl Baumeister being labeled as an idiot.

Besides, if I scored lower than those sages, I feel like I wouldn't ever be able to recover from that shock.

"Aww, don't be like that. It's a little fun game."

"Haah..."

As my other wives and Erwin would apparently join in as well, the former Japanese couldn't refuse any longer. We sat down at the table in the study, and started to solve the exam questions.

And then the exams were collected and marked, before the results were announced to everyone...

* * *

"The first is Elise with an average of 82 points."

"For real!?"

Ina began to proclaim the results of everyone who participated in the exam game.

"Still... if Elise couldn't enroll at the academy with such a score..."

"No, a score like this is too low for being accepted. If you don't pass with more than 95 points on average, you will not be able to enroll. Besides, even if you pass this exam, the second exam is even harder and you will not be able to enroll unless you get more than 60 points in the second exam."

Erm... in short, only hardcore geniuses and prodigies can enter the academy. Also, I was able to realize once more just how much of a superwoman Elise is.

"Second rank is Therese-san with an average of 80 points. Third rank goes to me with 73 points. Fourth rank is Lisa-san with 69 points. Fifth rank goes to Vel with 65 points."

Around there... I see... I guess you could say it's roughly where I expected to land. Therese has received a special education as former Duchess Philip, Ina reads many books, and Lisa has her experience as a mature woman? No, I guess it comes from her often reading books for her magic research.

Unexpectedly, Therese lost out to Elise in average points. Though the difference isn't all that high, and both are far above me.

"Most heads of noble houses would rank around there, I think. They receive all kinds of education, but they also forget some of it over time. Since it is just fine to refresh the memory when the knowledge becomes necessary, this much suffices." explained Therese.

Considering that, an average of 80 points is amazing, though.

"I suppose I'm normal then?"

"Sorry for being slightly rude, but for an eighth son of a knight peerage, your scores are remarkable."

That's mostly owed to the old man hiding inside me. I didn't expect that having a habit to study to an extent would come in handy in such a way.

"Thou have completely bunked history, haven't thou?"

"I mean, humans are creatures who don't look back at their past."

Or rather, it'd be different if it came to Japanese or world history, but I don't give a damn about the history of the Lingaia Continent! What's the point in me learning it anyway?

"Sixth rank goes to Katharina with 63 points on average."

"I guess you're as normal as I am, Katharina."

"Oooohohoho! For a noble like me it's alright as long as I have the basics down. I'll hire experts to cover the finer details. What matters most is to have the ability to put things into practice."

I generally agree with her opinion, but looking as if she's trying to gloss over things by laughing is Katharina's usual modi operandi.

"Seventh rank is Wilma with 61 points. Your points in nature were outstanding."

"Because it's necessary."

Wilma, who specializes in hunting and fishing, had a high score in nature. Since it's necessary for her, she memorized things naturally.

"Following... Katia with 35 points on the eighth rank."

"The values suddenly took a nosedive..."

"It's not that I actually need it anyway. That's commonplace for adventurers."

Said Katia while not particularly minding it, but then again she might be right about adventurers not needing to study either way.

Right now Katia is nobility, but the one requiring education isn't Katia herself, but her daughter.

"Ninth rank goes to Luise with... 12 points."

"I see. But people can survive even without studying."

Luise mostly lives her life by instinct and mood, so she doesn't care about her exam score being low. It's not as if she needed to study up until now and I doubt that she'll require to do so in the future either. Though I'm kinda jealous of her being able to bluntly declare so.

"Amalie-san, you didn't participate?"

"I was busy so..."

""""""""""Ah...""""""""""

She probably ran away... is what everyone thought, but no one actually voiced it out. Someone hailing from rural nobility like Amalie-san has the same educational level as the people of the Knight Baumeister House.

Moreover, Haruka hasn't participated either. She's been taking care of the babies. Or in other words, she's allowed us to play around.

"The tenth rank... should I really say it?"

"For the time being?"

It was an exam we did on a whim, but Ina seems to be quite averse about announcing the last score. She's probably considerate of the last-ranked person who hasn't had his name called so far.

"Bah! We all know about me being last! So go ahead and announce the result!"

That person is, of course, Eru.

"I don't care about the results of such an exam anyway!"

"Very well, then here it comes... Tenth rank is Eru with 5 points..."

"""""""""......"""""""""

"Eh? 5 points? Not 15?"

"Yep, 5 points..."

Right now I fully understand why Ina hesitated to announce Eru's points. Speaking of 5 points... it's not that far off from Luise's 12 points, but those are still in the double digits. 5 points are quite embarrassing, even if you claim that he's got nothing to do with studying anymore.

"Seriously 5 points? There's no mistake in the marking?"

"I've checked it several times over. And yet, it always came out at 5 points."

"I see..."

We've started this exam to have some light fun, but due to Eru's disastrous result, the mood has immediately plummeted. If you consider that even those sages were above 20 points on average, the disaster that is Eru's points becomes very clear.

"5 points..."

"Eru-san, how about another cup of tea?"

"Eru, do you want to eat my share of cake?"

"It's okay. I'm sure Leon takes after Haruka. I can tell."

"That kind of comfort has the opposite effect, damnit!"

* * *

But, it looks like adversity strengthens the foundations. Ever since then, Eru has occasionally been borrowing a book from Ina for reading.

You won't get far with just studying in society, but lacking too much knowledge is, well...

This time I could actively observe the downside.

Moreover, after failing the written exam, the sages had apparently scooted, seeing how they were suddenly gone from Baulburg. Then again, what should anyone think about sages who are bad at written exams?

Chapter 02: Ponkame and Love

"They're not biting... how weird."

"Last week they were still biting nicely... what's going on?"

"Wilma, hubby, maybe poachers have shown up?"

"It'd be one thing if we were in Mizuho, but ponkame aren't that popular in the Helmut Kingdom. It'd be meaningless to poach them. Some other reason must be at work here."

In the evening, Katia, Wilma, and I were angling at a river in the outskirts of Baulburg. Our goal was to catch 『Ponkame』, a turtle known as 『soft-shelled turtle』 on Earth.

Even in this world, turtles were said to have a good nourishing effect and boost your vitality. They were also very popular... not. The cooking methods for turtles hadn't advanced, and since they were mostly eaten cooked with salt and herbs, they weren't all that popular.

Also, given that there existed other food that was tastier than soft-shelled turtle while having similar effects, those ingredients drew more popularity.

The freshwater fish restaurant from a while back had a dish resembling Japanese turtle cooking and it attracted a fixed number of fans, but that place put its focus on eel dishes, and thus the turtle dish didn't stand out much.

In the end, ponkame cooking remained niche, but the Earl Baumeister House had a cook who could prepare Mizuho dishes. Given that his ponkame dish was almost as delicious as Japanese turtle dishes, we'd often go fishing at the rivers which had plenty of ponkame. Because the water had to be clear of mud, we also had added a pond for keeping ponkame in our mansion's garden. I had built it with magic.

Since the stock had gone down recently since we ate them relatively frequently, we came to this river to catch a new batch for a little while during evening, but for some reason, we couldn't find any ponkame today.

Even though they were usually biting quite easily...

"Maybe ponkame have meetings as well?"

Though it was kinda unclear what they'd discuss after gathering. At most it could be stuff like, 『At that place you can catch plenty of prey』.

"In case of overfishing, they'd disappear gradually. A sudden disappearance is weird. I haven't heard any news about poachers either. The number of people eating ponkame in the Baumeister Earldom is low, and since the area is dotted with rivers no one visits, it's impossible for them to abruptly decrease..."

As you'd expect of the master at fishing and angling, Wilma. She calmly analyzed the reason for the disappearance of the ponkame.

"Did their natural enemies raid the area?"

"Even then, a complete annihilation would be very unlikely. On top of that, ponkame have only few natural enemies."

As long as it wasn't monsters, the ponkame had few enemies among the animals living in the Baumeister Earldom. I guess it'd be close to a miracle for them to completely vanish over a short period of time.

"Unexpectedly, your guess might be right, Vel-sama."

"You mean the one about a meeting? Well, I might have been the one to bring it up, but even I don't consider it as feasible."

It's not like they're cats either.

"How about other territories?"

"That information would be important, too."

The countermeasures would greatly change depending on whether it was a phenomenon occurring only in the Baumeister Earldom or one occurring all over the Lingaia Continent.

"I'll be troubled if there are no ponkame around. After all, the ponkame dish you came up with was great, Vel-sama."

"I'll be troubled as well!"

Especially after I went out of my way to hire a Mizuho cook. As if I'd give up on this luxury of eating ponkame and eel dishes whenever I feel like it!

"I'll try asking Margrave Breithilde whether it's the same in his territory as well."

Since it was already too late today, I headed over to Breitburg with 『Teleport』 on the next day. And there I asked Margrave Breithilde about the matter with the ponkame.

"Now that you mention it, I've heard that they can't be caught in our territory as of late. I was also troubled by that situation."

"Is that so?"

I taught Mizuho-styled ponkame dishes to him, but never did I expect that he'd also be troubled over the disappearance of the ponkame.

"Didn't you kindly teach me the recipe before, Earl Baumeister? You also said that ponkame dishes are very nutritious and a help for one's vitality. Since I actually experienced those effects myself, it's become a favorite dish of mine."

In my previous life, I had often seen that kind of soft-shelled turtle advertisements on the back covers of adult magazines and such.

But, now I understand...

Influenced by me, Margrave Breithilde has increased the number of his wives, and now he apparently has it tough to keep up. But, would it be a problem for him as my patron to have less wives than me as his vassal? It looks like he's been told something along those lines by other nobles and retainers.

Especially among the retainers existed many who claimed, 『Although he's now Earl Baumeister, he's originally the eighth son of a Knight! Milord, you mustn't lose to a man like that!』. Some time ago Burkhart-san had told me all about it.

If you hear such stories, you only end up thinking that nobles fuss way too much about their honor and reputation.

It's only natural for Margrave Breithilde to be worn out, and it's just as natural for him to reach out to products with vitality-boosting effects, I guess.

"So it's the same in the Breithilde Margraviate as well, huh?"

"The fishers have reported that the ponkame are suddenly gone without a trace. Well, ponkame dishes aren't that popular among my population, so it's not like it's a huge problem, but still..."

If you didn't use Mizuho-styled cooking preparation, you wouldn't be able to get rid of the ponkame's mud smell.

Still, ponkame can't be caught anymore in the Breithilde Margraviate on top of the Baumeister Earldom? In other words, you can safely say that the ponkame have disappeared from the Kingdom's south.

"It still remains a mystery whether this phenomenon is taking place all over the Kingdom or whether it's limited to the south."

"You're right..."

Now that I had heard of the academy due to the previous sage incident, I immediately teleported to the capital, and decided to ask the scholars, who were researching living beings at the academy, about this issue.

"Ah, it's about the case with the disappearance of the ponkame, right? It's inevitable since we're in that kind of season right now."

"What kind of season?"

"The ponkame in this area gather at a certain place once every dozens of years."

Probably because I'm Earl Baumeister, a biologist of the academy immediately informed me about the reason for the disappearance. They resemble each other, but in the end, it sounds like ponkame and soft-shelled turtles are different creatures.

Ponkame lived very long because they were turtles. Once every dozens of years all the ponkame living in a region would gather at one place. For this reason it was very natural that we couldn't catch any ponkame at all, according to the biologist.

"Why are the ponkame gathering, you ask? Mature ponkame usually copulate with nearby brethren to give birth to eggs. However, this alone isn't enough to maintain diversity within a species."

"Oh, I get it. So they regularly gather at one place, and copulate with specimens living far away to create eggs with them. This way allows them to prevent inbreeding and they can keep the diversity of the ponkame species, right?"

"Oohh! Earl Baumeister-sama, you possess a wide range of knowledge!"

"I was startled, too!"

"I just knew it by chance."

It's said that it's best for humans and other living beings to avoid inbreeding as much as possible. The Ponkame are probably doing that by instinct. But, since it'd be too tiresome to do it every year, they only perform this mass breeding event once in a few decades. And this year simply is the time for that by chance.

"Then they'll eventually go back to their usual grounds, right?"

"Judging by the time the ponkame are said to have disappeared, it'll last another week, I suspect."

As expected of an academy researcher. It's no wonder that he made his way through all the hurdles to become one.

"I see. Now I fully understand. Nothing less of you."

"This is my job. Besides, I'm happy."

"Why would you be happy?"

"Well, a person like you has come to ask me, an expert in that field, for the reason after the ponkame suddenly disappeared all at once."

"What about others?"

"Everyone else doesn't care, or in case of rural nobles, they'd have priests offer prayers, thinking that it might be some kind of bad omen. There are priests who agree with such nobles, and many of them look suspiciously at us researchers when we explain it as a normal biological process."

"Well, that's because the priests earn good money when they offer prayers while pretending like it's some kind of bad omen. Some of the higher clergy might also receive its support from such priests too, and thus they press the researchers to hold back on making their findings public."

"Since the academy has many priests as well, the number of such priests is rather limited, though."

Given that priests also belong to the intellectual class, most of them don't seem to deny scientific research. Many church members denied the evolution theory on Earth, so I'd say things are better over here?

"But it's great to hear that they'll be back in a week."

"Earl Baumeister-dono, do you like eating ponkame? They're unpopular as food, aren't they?"

"You see, about that..."

I explained that ponkame wouldn't smell like mud if you kept them in clear water for around two weeks after catching them, that Mizuho had wonderful ponkame dishes, and that ponkame dishes were highly evaluated for their vitality boost and rich nourishment in Mizuho. This also counted as my thanks to the researcher who told me about the ponkame's ecology.

"Oh, okay. That's valuable for my research, I think."

The biologist had listened to my explanation while looking very interested. As for me, I didn't put that much thought into it, but I had apparently underestimated the researchers of the academy.

* * *

A little while after this, Mizuho-styled ponkame recipes and their effects spread across the Helmut Kingdom, and rich people with many wives to keep their family going started to buy them up.

Because of that, the price for ponkame skyrocketed, and as their numbers dwindled in some parts due to overfishing, breeders started to appear... All of this might be human nature, though.

My Baumeister Earldom secured itself a stable supply by launching a ponkame farm in cooperation with the biologist I spoke to, but it would take many, many years for that farm to become profitable.

* * *

"Oh, Earl Baumeister-dono! What kind of business do you have with us today?"

"I've got something to discuss with your superiors."

"I guess things are quite tough as there's lots of miscellaneous matters when it comes to high-ranking nobles."

Leaving the academy, we used the opportunity to finish some business at the sorcery guild, and while at it, we visited the laboratory of Mr. Beckenbauer which was located in the guild's basement.

Currently he wasn't working on his usual magic circles, but was compounding some magic potion instead.

"What kind of magic potion is that?"

Mr. Beckenbauer compounding potions... I've heard about that from Doushi before, haven't I...? Because of his magic potion, Doushi and his party members temporarily turned into women...

Eru, Wilma, Luise, and I simultaneously distanced ourselves from Mr. Beckenbauer.

"Ughh... you've heard about it from Armstrong-doushi, haven't you? However, during that time I still had some unrefined parts to me because I was a young fledgling. Since I've reached a level of perfection nowadays, you do not need to worry at all."

Even though he claimed all this, I couldn't quite trust him because of his usual antics.

"Umm... what kind of magic potion is it?"

"It's a potion for removing stains on the skin."

"That's obviously a potion completely catered towards rich people, isn't it?"

"Well, every once in a while I make such potions as well."

Eru and I thought that Mr. Beckenbauer solely focused on magic circles these days.

"The research of magic circles requires time, effort, and funds. Because of that, I often run out of research funds in no time. Since the sorcery guild has its bureaucratic parts too, I can't hope for any supplementary budgets once I use up my budget for the fiscal year. Therefore, I also need to do such part-time jobs."

His usual conduct and talking occasionally has some lapses, but deep down Mr. Beckenbauer is a diligent researcher, isn't he?

Driven by his magic circle research, he even goes as far as doing part-time jobs to continue his research once he runs out of his normal budget.

"Though you're nonchalantly criticizing the sorcery guild, aren't you?"

Eru, he's that kind of person, so just ignore that part.

"A magic potion to remove stains on the skin, huh?"

On earth it'd sell like hot pancakes. Elderly women would buy it up like vultures, I suspect.

"So, does it have an effect?"

"Of course, it does! That's why noble wives, who worry about their skin, pay huge amounts of money. Well, in their case, there are many other flaws besides stains on their skin, but all of those are things my magic potion can't handle anyway."

""""...""""

We couldn't help but fall silent due to Mr. Beckenbauer's trademark insults.

"It'll be done once I add this medicine to it." said Mr. Beckenbauer and added a poisonous-looking, ultramarine liquid into a beaker with a likewise poisonous-looking, violet liquid.

"Vel, is it really okay to smear this liquid with the eerie color on one's skin?"

"I don't think that color plays much of a role."

After all, the problem lies with ingredients rather than the color. It'd be too hasty to judge this potion as poison just because of its color.

"Vel-sama, white smoke is billowing up."

"It's reacting in various ways before becoming complete... I think."

There's no way that Mr. Beckenbauer has messed up with the contortion of a potion he should be used to...... right?

"Oh? Was it a medicine that would trigger such a smoke?"

"Oi!"

"Didn't you make this potion many times in the past?"

"Eh? So basically, it failed?"

"Answer, geezer!"

We complained to Mr. Beckenbauer who hinted at having failed his contortion despite having been so confident before. Wilma's sharp tongue especially stood out.

"Aaaah! Chief! Did you use the ingredient I had put down there?"

On top of that, a young, male magician, who seemed to be Mr. Beckenbauer's subordinate, entered the room and pointed at the empty beaker which had previously contained the ultramarine liquid.

"I used it, but I compounded it as instructed, okay? Is there any need to be surprised about it?"

"I had a young researcher make that ingredient, but we couldn't obtain any ponkame liver, and thus he apparently used the liver of another turtle. I came here to inform you about that..."

Eh? In short, it's set in stone that Mr. Beckenbauer blundered on the contortion?

We looked at each other with cold sweat forming on our foreheads.

Mr. Beckenbauer cleared his throat, and said:

"It just means that even a genius like me sometimes makes a mistake due to external factors. As long as we talk about this failure at next week's meeting to make sure that it never happens again..."

""""That's not the problem here!""""

Though it might be the proper way of handling it for an organization!

Even if we had tried to run away, the room's door was blocked by the young magician. In the next instant, the room was enveloped by white smoke, but at that time, we already had no other choice but to take it just like that.

* * *

"Hmm... looking at it like this, Earl Baumeister is still the least objectionable."

"I guess I have no choice but to agree. Eru is tall and muscular, so he's similar to Candy-san, isn't he?"

"...Grandma."

"Yeah, so what? Even after being turned into a woman, I'm just an ordinary grandma, but do you have an issue with that?"

"I kinda feel that it's not the time to argue about stuff like that..."

Mr. Beckenbauer had supposedly contorted a 『magic potion to repair one's skin』, but because his subordinate failed at the ingredient preparation, Eru, Mr. Beckenbauer, and I have turned into women for some reason. Since Wilma and Luise have been women to begin with, they were unaffected.

It's got to be that. Because the potion increases female hormones to remove the spots on skin, we've turned into women as result of the failure. Me feeling a deja vu from this most likely stems from having heard Doushi's story a while back. And on top of that, because of the same person being responsible for the same mistake.

"It's none of my fault. My subordinate has messed up by cutting corners on the ingredient preparation. Even though it had been fine for him to simply report back that he couldn't contort the ingredients because of the missing ponkame livers. The idea that it'd be fine because the livers used belonged to turtles either way was short-sighted. Giving a proper report is of utmost importance within an institute like ours."

"That's certainly a correct assessment, but the existence of a management defines itself through its responsibility."

"..."

Mr. Beckenbauer fell silent upon Wilma's merciless, logical chiding.

"So? Can we revert to normal? If Vel remains like this, I'll be harshly blamed for it."

Eru was accompanying me as a guard. Now that I was turned into a woman, it was a foregone conclusion that he'd have to take responsibility for it. Roderich and others like him were very naggy about such things.

"If you smear the skin potion I mentioned earlier on your skin, you'll return to normal."

"It's great that it's not permanent... Hurry up and make the potion then."

"But there's a little problem with that. The ponkame currently have their big gathering, so it's impossible to catch them, right?"

"There's none left in stock?"

"You see, we don't use ponkame liver often, so they'd spoil and become unusable if we stored them. Normally you can purchase ponkame quite easily, but until we get our hand on ponkame liver, you'll remain like this."

"Oh, great! Damn it!" Eru wailed at his own fate while looking up to the ceiling.

Even so, for the absence of ponkame to backbite us in such a way sure is unexpected. In the end, I fear I'm right about my being loved by bad luck.

* * *

"Let's see. How about something like this? Still, it's quite difficult to coordinate a fitting outfit."

"Ugh, no matter what you wear, it looks crap..."

"Burly."

"Gahh, gimme a break and don't play around with meeee!"

Now that we'd become women, we couldn't change it. The great copulation meet of the ponkame and their subsequent return to their usual territories would require another week. Since it was just a week, I wanted to wait until we could return to normal, but... for some reason Luise and Wilma dragged us to Candy-san's store.

They said it was for the sake of buying woman-like clothes since we had to wait another week anyway. But, is that really necessary?

Those doubts plagued me all the more when I saw how Candy-san forced Eru to try on all kinds of clothes.

I'm definitely going to keep using my current outfit.

"In the first place, it's just one week, right!? So it's completely fine to just keep going with my current outfit!"

"But Erwin-chan, you have such a magnificent bust, so it'd be just good manners to at least wear a bra."

"NOOOOOOOO!!"

In Erwin's case, his breasts, or rather, chest had become quite big, and thus he could only be regarded as big-boobed, I guess. As for me... I feel like covering them with bandages would suffice.

"Erwin-chan, what kind of design would you prefer for your bra?"

"Don't act as if the design is the problem here! I don't want to wear a bra to begin with!!"

"No, that's not acceptable as it'd go against manners."

While Eru got dragged away into the dressing room by Candy-san and Luise, I had Wilma wrap bandages around my chest. I got off lightly thanks to my small breasts.

"I don't look weird if I wrap up my chest like this, right...?"

"Don't worry." Wilma soothed me as the effect of me becoming a woman probably wasn't all that strong.

As for Eru...

"Luise-chan, how about something like this?"

"Oh nice, a floral pattern!"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

Since it sounded like I'd get dragged into it if I tried to save him, I willingly offered up Eru as a sacrifice. I mean, I cherish my own body the most!

"By the way, what about Mr. Beckenbauer?"

"He went back home."

Come to think of it, his home is a famous lingerie store in the capital. So he's securing himself some underwear since he's going to stay a woman for a week as well?

No, even without him doing anything like that, he's a magician and as such he can wear robes. So it should be possible for him to easily gloss it over...

"It makes me sick to imagine it even a little bit."

"Me too..."

Wilma and I almost ended up imagining Mr. Beckenbauer (grandma) wearing high-class underwear, resulting in us quickly banning the idea out of our minds. It's a good thing that we're not eating right now.

"He won't have any trouble with finding underwear at least."

"You've got a point there."

Wilma and I laughed. But maybe because we had been gossiping about him, Mr. Beckenbauer showed up in Candy-san store. While being pulled by the ear by his wife.

"You've wronged Earl Baumeister-sama in an outrageous way! What did you plan to do if he couldn't return to normal?"

"That's... as long as I researched..."

"All of your research is no more than half-baked child's play!"

"It's because the path of research knows no end."

"You're always trying to muddle your way out in such a manner! Just how many people have you involved in your messes thanks to those magic potions of yours!?"

So he's done this many times over and then got scolded by his wife, huh...?

"Ooh, Earl Baumeister-dono! It doesn't seem to inconvenience you all that much, does it?"

"It's not like it doesn't cause me any trouble, you know...?"

After all, I got turned into a woman all of a sudden.

"Dear! Apologize to Earl Baumeister-sama! At once!"

"Well, such is life, I'd say. You never know what might happen next, right?"

"What's with that stupid kind of excuses!?"

As always, or rather... this guy simply loves to trigger other people, doesn't he?

"I am terribly sorry for my husband having caused you such trouble with his thoughtlessness."

Mrs. Beckenbauer was a very level-headed and considerate person, offsetting Mr. Beckenbauer's utter lack of social competence. They're rather balanced as a married couple, I'd say.

"We shall offer you some underwear from our store as an apology."

"..."

No, let me correct that. Those two peas in a pond in some respects. Even though the problem would be solved by me wrapping up my chest with bandages, his wife is trying to push underwear on me... Just why? As an advertisement?

That won't work, will it...?

"I don't need any underwear. Oh, but how about you offer it to Eru?"

"Very well. Candy-san's store is selling underwear as well, but since they aren't specialized in it, the variety is limited."

"You might say so."

Given that I'd hate having to wear the female underwear of a royal purveyor, I decided to sell out Eru, even if it might be somewhat low to do so.

Sorry, Eru. In the end I cherish my own body the most.

"Let us take Erwin-san to our shop right away then!"

"My family's lingerie store has a huge assortment of underwear. I'm sure Erwin-dono will find some underwear to his liking."

"Yes, you're absolutely right... right, Wilma?"

"I believe so as well." Wilma agreed with me.

Nothing less of my cute wife. In reality she probably doesn't want to see me wearing high-class underwear, though.

"Okay, then let us be off at once."

"I had mine chosen by my wife, too. Want to take a look?"

""No, it's fine...""

I didn't want to pollute my brain with memories of Mr. Beckenbauer's underwear appearance. I've got my wives to cover that part.

"Eh? What? Beckenbauer-san?"

"I plan to offer you the underwear of our store. Come with me at once."

"Sorry, Candy-san."

"It makes sense. We aren't specialized in lingerie. No matter what we do, we cannot win against the assortment of Miranda-chan's store."

Candy-san seems to be close with Mrs. Beckenbauer. Still, I gotta admit, this guy's connections are truly worth admiration.

"Aren't you happy, Eru? Now you'll be able to choose whatever you like."

"Aren't all of you just having fun torturing me!?"

Eru's protest was ignored, and with Candy-san blocking all resistance, he got dragged away to the lingerie store run by Mr. Beckenbauer's family. Wilma and I did no more than silently watch him leave.

"How strange. All would have been fine if he had simply wrapped up his chest with bandages."

"Right."

A little later Eru came back, his eyes deadpan. Apparently he was forced—though it seemed like the Beckenbauers and Candy-san thought that they were doing something nice for him—to put on high-class underwear.

"It doesn't make a difference whether I wear underwear or not, does it!? Vel, you stop them as well!"

"I'd get pulled into this as well, if I tried to stop them..."

"If you say something like that, I'll show it to you!"

"No thanks!"

In such a way history repeated itself, and we ended up becoming women—albeit for a limited period of time—thanks to the magic potion created by Mr. Beckenbauer.

* * *

"Uuhh... so now you know what happened to Daddy, Friedrich."

"Auu?"

"'Mother, don't be sad', he says."

"Who's a mother!? I'm his Dad!"

"Ueeeeeeeeh!"

"Dear, you shouldn't yell next to Friedrich."

"Oh shit..."

Because Katia called me a mother when I was explaining my sorrow over having become a woman to Friedrich and my other children... I reacted to her teasing against my better judgment, and shouted at her. However, this caused the babies to cry which then earned me an earful from Elise.

"Isn't it fine as long as you're going to return to normal soon? You just need to be patient until the raw materials finish mating."

It's just as Luise says, but still... I'd prefer a woman to not use 『mating』 so readily.

"Luise-san, that's improper."

Look, there you have it. Didn't you get rebuked by Katharina just now?

If you must describe it... calling it a love tryst between ponkame that takes place once every few decades would be much more suitable for a noble."

"No matter how you sugarcoat it, in the end it's mating."

And just as usual, Wilma shot down the foundation of Katharina's argumentation. In a certain sense, you could say she's already brought this kind of conversation to perfection.

"Either way, why must I wear women's underwear even though my being a woman is limited to a week!?"

"Eru, it's okay when you're in your adventurer outfit, but not wearing underwear beneath everyday clothes is a big no. It's an issue of manners."

"Indeed! It's just as Ina-chan says. What would people say if a woman, who looks like a rough guy, were to flash her chest, or rather, her breasts openly in the city?"

"It's not like I'm going to directly expose them, right? In the first place, I'm no female pervert!"

Eru sure hates wearing a female outfit with a verve. Though, I don't like it either.

"Anyway, what about Vel, Luise?"

"I mean, Vel is wearing a robe."

I have bandages wrapped around my chest, and if it's covered by a robe, my breasts beneath the shirt don't stand out either. It's much less of a problem than Eru when he's wearing an attire fitting a retainer of the Baumeister Household or casual wear.

"Vel, you sure got it nice...! Hey, wait! I could use bandages as well, couldn't I!?"

I guess he did notice it in the end. In reality, I think almost everyone knew that... some eccentric people used Eru's becoming a woman to play a prank on him. I immediately coiled bandages around my chest to avoid being dragged into the mess. In short, you can simply say, Eru missed his chance to escape his fate.

"Eru-san, I will help you with the bandages."

"As expected, the only one I can count on is my angel Haruka-san."

Eru left the room for the sake of having Haruka coil bandages around his chest. Well, it's only natural since there's no necessity to wear female underwear.

"Ah, but Vel..."

"What's up, Ina?"

"Tomorrow you're going to train with Doushi, aren't you? With, umm, Earl Morgensohn-sama... who accommodated us with the trading of the Baumeister Earldom's products in the capital."

Now that she mentions it. Ina got a good memory.

He possesses a lot of authority and many connections in the capital. Even though he's pretty much the desk-worker type of man, he's an acquaintance of Doushi for some reason... Previously I'd heard from Doushi that quite a few things happened in the past...

"Say, Earl Morgensohn-sama is the one who fell in love with the womanized Doushi, isn't he?"

"...No, no, no, wait. Doushi told me that he already snapped out of it."

Back when the current family head of the Morgensohn family was still a pretty boy, he caused a lot of problems by falling in love with the womanized Doushi, but I hear nowadays he's a capable, handsome Earl in his midlife. He offered to help us with the distribution of our Earldom's products to improve our business in the capital.

Through Doushi as a connection—though they'd have never had a chance to become acquainted if not for that incident—he's started to hunt which also serves as a business entertainment.

A lot of prey can be found in the circumference of Baulburg, so the area is fairly popular among nobles as a hunting ground. It's often being used as a location to entertain business partners, too.

"History repeats itself?"

"Wilma, that's unthinkable."

Earl Morgensohn falling in love with my womanized appearance? Nah. Currently he's leading the very fulfilled life of a normal noble together with his beautiful wives. It's hard to believe that he'd take a liking to my womanized appearance.

History won't repeat itself.

"It'd be nice if you're right about that..."

I felt bothered by Wilma's worries, but it had been arranged for the hunting to be carried out on the next day.

I also did these sorts of socializations for the sake of my children.

I transported Doushi and Earl Morgensohn with my 『Teleport』 to a hunting ground outside Baulburg. Outside of our plans, the number of participants had increased by one person.

Going by his attire, he isn't a guard or retainer, but part of the Earl family, I think. Earl Morgensohn is a handsome man, but this boy is quite beautiful as well. Or rather, when I went to meet Earl Morgensohn at his mansion, I also greeted his family, but all of them were beautiful people, without exception.

The same applied to the butlers and maids as well, totally giving me the vibe of the Earl Morgensohn household being some kind of stage for a TV show.

"Franklin-dono, introduce your successor Clemens-dono to Earl Baumeister!"

"I brought him with me today for that very reason. Earl Baumeister-dono, this boy is my successor, Clemens. I'd be very pleased if our good friendship could continue into the era of Friedrich-dono and beyond through him."

Earl Morgensohn was a very gentle and modest man. To such an extent that I couldn't believe that he'd fallen for Doushi in the past.

"Clemens, greet Earl Baumeister."

"Earl Baumeister-sama, my name is Clemens of the Earl Morgensohn House. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

Just him giving his greeting would make anyone envious as he was the very picture of a pretty boy. In the first place, with him hailing from a family of beauties and handsome men, his success in life was likely guaranteed through his lineage.

Those were my thoughts as someone who had been born with ordinary looks.

"(As expected, the bandages are doing their job.)"

Currently my body was that of a woman, but it wasn't as though my height had changed and since I could hide my female parts through my robe, the rest of the hunting group apparently didn't notice the change. Eru was wearing armor today because we'd be hunting from now on.

For starters, Eru's plight shouldn't have been exposed... is what I thought, but...

"Umm... who might this person be?"

"Huh? He's my retainer Erwin..."

For some reason, Clemens-dono was awfully interested in Eru.

"I see. So you're called Erwin-san? That's a very strong-sounding name."

"My name sounds strong?"

"..."

How weird. Even though we've hidden our feminization to the utmost, Clemens-dono gazed long and hard at Eru with his cheeks having a red tint. Once Eru looked at his face, Clemens-dono's face flushed even further and it looked like his chest was heaving up and down as well.

Is this possibly...

"I can tell. Erwin-san, you are a woman. For you to have abilities that allowed you to be selected as Earl Baumeister-sama's guard, despite being a woman, is marvelous. I admire someone like you, Erwin-san."

Said Clemens-dono with his face becoming redder.

With things having developed this far, Doushi and Earl Morgensohn apparently noticed it as well. Yep, history was repeating itself...

"(No waaaaaay! Vel, you are just the saaaame, and yet...!)"

"(Don't ask me.)"

I had been ignored by Clemens-dono, but under these circumstances, it was very welcome, allowing me to feel relieved. And at the same time I felt sympathy for Erwin from the bottom of my heart.

* * *

"I met my ideal woman."

The Morgensohn House, my birthplace, was called the following by society: A noble house out of a fairy-tale with every of its members, be it family or servants, being the picture of beauty.

But, I wasn't happy about that description. In the eyes of the world, my family apparently consists of beauties and handsome men, but in my eyes, it's an assembly of normal people who lack all individuality.

Moreover, I had a fiancée decided for me, but even she was an ordinary woman with no redeeming traits. Of course, society regarded her as a pretty, lovely, noble daughter, but for me she didn't go beyond average.

The marriage had been set for the sake of preserving our house. Thus, as heir of the Morgensohn House, I had no choice but to accept the engagement.

But, at the very moment when I had somewhat resigned myself to this kind of life, I met my fated partner.

She was called Erwin-san. A very tolerant, outstanding woman. Up until now I have never experienced a shock running through my every pore when I encountered other people. I suspected that I'd never be able to meet a person like her ever again.

As if I'm letting this chance slip through my fingers!

I made up my determination to welcome this woman as a wife, no matter the costs. Unfortunately, her social status wasn't suitable enough to make her my first wife, but I'll definitely make her happy once she becomes my concubine.

That's why I firmly believe that Erwin-san is going to accept my proposal.

◆

"...History repeats itself." muttered Doushi.

"...It really drives home that Clemens and I are father and son..."

"Erwin is a male name, and yet your son does not find it strange?"

"Elise-san... isn't that the reason why it's said 『Love is blind』...?"

"As someone who has experienced it personally, I can only agree with that!"

"Doushi-dono, please don't say that."

* * *

We had planned to hunt as a form of business entertainment, but we interrupted our endeavor and returned to the Baumeister mansion. Right now, the atmosphere inside the living room was heavy and awkward.

"What are your hobbies, Erwin-san?"

"Sword practice..."

"That is truly a very practical hobby, I must say. That plain part of you, which doesn't depend on any gaudiness, is wonderful."

"..."

The only one not feeling any gloom of depression was the eldest son of the Morgensohn House, Clemens-dono...

Still for him to fall in love with the womanized Eru, despite being surrounded by only beautiful people, surely is the destiny of his family...

Come to think of it, Doushi's previous party member did mention that beautiful men and women are commonplace for the Morgensohn House, didn't he? Therefore Clemens-dono perceives Eru, who is tall, well-trained, and strong, as a woman he's never seen before — as his fated woman.

Does that happen often?

"(Pheew, I'm glad.)"

It wasn't me.

"(What are you acting all relieved for, Vel!)?"

"(Of course I feel relieved.)"

I mean, it ended without me being chased by Clemens-dono. So it's only natural for me to feel relieved, no?

"Erwin-san, your voice is also very resolute. How lovely."

Clemens-dono has fallen so hard for Eru that he finds everything about him charming.

『It's fate...』 is written on the expressions of Doushi and Earl Morgensohn.

"Excuse me, Clemens-sama."

"What might it be, Erwin-san?"

"I'm already married. I also have a child..."

He has a pretty wife of fine character called Haruka and plans to soon hold marriage ceremonies for another two wives. I can fully see why he wouldn't be happy about a guy falling in love with him at such a point in time.

"Erwin-san, you are married?"

"That's why I'm telling you that it's better to give up."

Eru might have his own thoughts on the matter as well, but the other party is the heir of an Earl House. He's trying to skillfully dodge Clemens-dono's proposal by explaining that he's married himself so as to not cause any discord with the Morgensohn House.

I think this shows Eru's growth as a retainer of the Baumeister House.

"Do not worry. I shall talk with your husband in good faith."

"I also have a child..."

"I will take responsibility and raise it properly while guaranteeing its future. But, I want to have children with you as well, Erwin-san."

"(...No good! Whatever I say, he doesn't listen at all! Vel! Please do something about this!)"

"(Even if you're telling me to do something... Just what is making Clemens-dono go this far? Especially with you being his romantic target)"

"(That's nothing I want to be told by you, Vel!)"

I had become a woman as well, but Clemens-dono didn't take any notice of me. Or rather, he hasn't even realized that I've become a woman. And yet, he's fully perceiving Eru as a woman. That's probably why he proposed to Eru, but...

"What an incredible sight that would be... Claiming to persuade the husband... I'm sure that would turn out to be a spectacle completely opposite of what Clemens-sama is expecting..."

"No kidding..."

Amalie-san served tea for everyone in an attempt to calm the situation, but after seeing Clemens-dono passionately making moves on Eru, she puts on a rather troubled expression. In fact, everyone wore the same expression, except for Clemens-dono.

"(Doushi, please do something about this)"

We must deepen our trade relations with the Morgensohn House through the sale of special products, but there's no way we can... hand over Eru as a wife, so I wanted him to somehow handle this whole mess. Seeing how Doushi had mediated between both houses, he also bore responsibility for Clemens-dono's eccentric behavior.

"Me? Now that it has turned out like this, it is already too late to do anything!"

"Umm... Earl Morgensohn?"

"Imagining it from my own past experience, he will feel like having woken up from a dream at some point, so we have no choice but to wait until then..."

In reality, he didn't marry Doushi nor anyone similar to him. His wife was a normal, pretty woman.

I wonder whether you could describe this as a trick of his imagination? No, I guess youthful indiscretion fits better, doesn't it?

"Such nobles occasionally exist."

"Indeed."

Given that Therese used to be a high-ranking noble herself, she seemed to know of nobles similar to Clemens-dono.

"It's not limited to nobles either. Humans are drawn to the unknown. They desire things different from themselves. For Clemens-dono, a woman like Erwin is a first. It gave him quite a shock. Didn't that become the trigger for him to awaken to his love?"

Even if that's true, it's still bad for things to keep proceeding like this, no?

"Wendelin, if I remember correctly, it's going to take the ponkame another five or six days to return to their usual rivers and swamps, right?"

"So it seems."

It's a strange custom of the soft-shelled turtles of this world, but... it was no more than bad luck for this to happen at exactly this precise timing.

"Couldn't you catch a ponkame if you know their meeting place?"

"But, I don't know where to find that meeting place."

I've heard even the academy's biologists have been looking for the mating place over several decades. It's not said that the ponkame always gather at one spot on the Lingaia Continent, so the biologists have suspected that there might be several different locations, but of course it'd be stupid to expect those places to be close to areas inhabited by humans.

Since no one has found the ponkame's meeting ground so far, they must be gathering in a fairly remote place.

"How troublesome."

I don't have a problem with waiting, though.

"I'm not available anymore!" Erwin screamed.

"Erwin-san, how many children do you want to have?"

Yeah, okay... Clemens-dono is truly blinded by love, or rather, he doesn't see what's going on around him whatsoever. Then again, he doesn't appear to mind it either. Clemens-dono is fully absorbed in his conversation with Eru.

"Doushi, I'll have you help out. The ponkame of the Baumeister Earldom should definitely gather somewhere within the territory."

"Are you telling me to search for them? I am busy."

"I sincerely beg you!"

Because it'd be impossible for me to handle it alone, I dragged Doushi into it as well. This marked the start of a grand search for the ponkame's mating ground.

* * *

"Hmmmmmm, the ponkame gathered inside a monster domain despite not being monsters themselves? Then it's no wonder that the fishermen didn't find their gathering spot."

"Earl Baumeister, we are going to catch the ponkame at once!"

"(That damn Doushi, just because he found the gathering spot...)"

◆

There existed a small monster domain slightly northeast of the Demon Forest in the southeastern part of the Baumeister Earldom. That domain had remained mostly untouched as it was unpopular among adventurers. The reason for this stemmed from it being a wetland belt.

However, this had another effect. Namely, a low amount of monsters. Which made it ideal for the ponkame as a gathering spot within the Baumeister Earldom.

"They should be in the center of this domain!"

"If you're talking about the center, it's also the place where the domain boss lives, isn't it?"

Given that this domain was full of marshes, it was hard to traverse by foot. Because of this, it was unsuitable for monsters who were earthbound.

We've entered it to investigate the area, but so far we haven't run into a single monster. Well, seeing how the natural enemies of ponkame are completely lacking here, I can fully understand why they're assembling in a place like this.

"The footing is really bad. Erwin-san, please watch out."

"Yeah..."

"(Why has Clemens-dono come with us?)"

"(Most likely because his romantic interest is here as well)"

We were in a wetland area where you could trip up with each step you take. This caused Clemens-dono to worry about Eru.

Though, it'd have been possible to fly over this area if it had been only Doushi, Burkhart-san, and me...

"(Eru... all would have been fine if you had simply waited back home...)"

"(I thought that Clemens-sama wouldn't follow since he's no adventurer, if I came with you guys! And yet, it led to this! Ugh!)"

Clemens-dono had been staying at the Baumeister mansion and tried to be together with Eru whenever possible. His father, Earl Morgensohn, said, 『It's a temporary illness, so we won't be able to stop him, no matter what we do. I'm terribly sorry for all the trouble he's causing... 』, and returned to the capital after entrusting his son to me.

Because it'd have been a bother if Clemens-dono ran away from home after being forcibly dragged back home by Earl Morgensohn, I accepted my fate and took charge of the young boy. Officially it was decided that his stay would be labeled as 『The next Earl Morgensohn is staying at the Baumeister House to learn all kinds of things』, though.

Given that it'd be troublesome if Clemens-dono followed us around when working, Eru had been tasked to talk with him in the mansion. But it looked like he had already reached his limit.

"Erwin-san, please take my hand."

"...I'm fine, so..."

"Oh, come to think of it, Eru-san, you were a superb adventurer, weren't you...? Oops... I impudently called you by your nickname... but, would that be okay for you?" Clemens-dono asked Eru with his cheeks blushing.

Looking at this whole scene from the side, Clemens-dono appeared to be an innocent, earnest boy who tried to get as close to his loved one as possible, but his romantic target was Eru who had the physique of a female pro wrestler.

Being born with such handsome features... why would he choose the womanized Eru...?

When I asked Doushi, he spat out a sigh for a change, and said that this had to be another part of the Morgensohn House's curse.

"I'm fine with just Eru..."

"Thank you! Eru-san, you are such a kind person. And on top of that, you're also broadminded."

Broadminded? How? Is having a broad body connected to broadmindedness?

Probably because of his pedigree, Clemens-dono with his tender fifteen years was sensitive. Because his body was fifteen centimeters smaller than Eru's, Eru appeared to him as bigger and older...

"(Okaaay, broadminded, eh...?)"

"(Earl-sama, it's just a figure of speech.)"

"(Figures...)"

I confirmed Burkhart-san's sarcastic remark conversationally.

"(In the first place, you told him that it's a womanization triggered by a magic potion, didn't you?)"

"(Of course we did.)"

"(And? How did that go?)"

"(We couldn't get Clemens-dono to believe us.)"

Clemens-dono didn't want to accept the reality of his romantic interest actually being a womanized guy. He prattled about me lying because I wanted to take Eru as wife for myself since he's so charming.

Once he went this far with his delusions, there wasn't anything we could do anymore besides turning Eru back into a guy as quickly as possible. Of course, me as well.

When I explained the circumstances to Burkhart-san, he commented, "(This is where you having so many wives has backfired. Then again, no matter how much you might have, Earl-sama, Erwin won't become one of them)

Of course not. Or rather, does he really believe that I'd jump at anything that remotely looks like a woman? Even I wouldn't see Eru like that since he's a guy to begin with.

"(That's why we must catch the ponkame as soon as possible)"

"(It'd be wrong to leave the two of them behind, so we can at most avoid getting stuck in the marches by floating with magic)"

Eru and Clemens-dono couldn't use magic to make themselves float. Since they were trudging through the marshes, we had no choice but to match their pace.

Especially if something were to happen to Clemens-dono, I'd be harshly blamed by Earl Morgensohn.

Except for their particular taste in women, father and son were excellent and sensitive men whom even Doushi and Margrave Breithilde regarded as good people.

In short, all would be resolved if only we made Clemens-dono snap out of it by turning Eru back into a guy.

"Still, it is definitely strange that we have not encountered a single monster even after having entered the domain so deeply."

"Isn't that the reason why it's unpopular among adventurers?"

Not a single adventurer hunting in here could be seen anywhere..

"Further inside should lay the central part of the domain. The place with the ponkame."

The ponkame have gathered inside a monster domain, but I think it's unlikely for there to be any ponkame other than the ones living in the Baumeister Earldom. Still, there must be a reason for them to have gathered here in the first place.

The instant we arrived in the central area, that reason became immediately clear.

Many ponkame had amassed at a big swamp close to a lake, but smack down in the middle of the swamp rested a gigantic ponkame.

"This guy looks like he's the boss of the ponkame, doesn't he?"

"On top of that, it's probably safe to say that he's also the boss of the domain."

"Or rather, this domain contains only the ponkame boss besides the ponkame anyway."

"No, I heard that monsters lived here before, albeit just a few!"

"Weren't they eaten up? By the ponkame, that is," replied Burkhart-san to me.

"So that big ponkame hunted the other monsters as prey for the ponkame who would gather here once every few decades?"

"The huge ponkame is truly caring!"

"That is why they gather here! They are simply returning home!"

"I think it's somewhat different from returning home, though?"

A single specimen among the long-living ponkame had become huge and turned into a monster within the monster domain. Yearning for the eldest among them, the underlings would gather around him. This might be the truth behind the great pilgrim of the ponkame.

"Anyway, let us quickly grab some ponkame and hurry back home!"

"You're right."

Just one ponkame will be enough since the magic potion made out of its liver will cancel the womanization... is what I thought, but...

"Earl-sama, aren't things looking somewhat dangerous?"

"This is..."

Oh my god, it wasn't just one huge ponkame...

Several dozen... No, it's not like we checked all the big ponkame inhabiting this swamp. Maybe there are several hundred... or more than a thousand ponkame with an overall-length of 10~30 meters. The normal ponkame of the Baumeister Earldom... are present in such huge numbers that you can't even count them.

One after the other surfaced, resulting in 90% of the water surface area being crowded by ponkame.

"Err... Burkhart-san?"

"Going by my past experience, I'd say it's smarter to pull back at this point."

"I think so as well!"

Well, it should be easy for us to aim at the gaps between the huge ponkame to snatch one or two normal ones. However, pissing off the big ones doesn't seem like the best plan to me, to be honest.

"If we wait another five days, was it?"

"Quite so! It will not pose any problem if we catch a ponkame or two after they return to their respective habitats!"

"Safety comes first, yep."

We decided on abandoning the capture of ponkame. However, one amongst us moved on his own accord, contradicting our intent.

It was none other than Clemens-dono...

"Eru-san, you like ponkame, don't you? Quite the peculiar preference... Though, your individuality in this regard is lovely, too. Please leave everything to me." announced Clemens-dono and cast the fishing rod with the bait we had prepared in advance.

He was trying to catch a ponkame with a fishing rod for the sake of Eru. Even though he's just a high-ranking noble's spoiled brat, he sure is pointlessly knowledgeable about catching ponkame...

"Ah, a bite! Come on! Let me catch you so that you can turn into a dish for the dinner of love between Eru-san and me!"

Sad to say, a ponkame immediately took the bait, and Clemens-dono began to reel in the ponkame. Of course, the ponkame resisted, but since it wasn't one of the big ponkame, it got hauled in without much of a problem.

"I caught one! Since we don't really eat ponkame in our family, I'm definitely looking forward to its taste," exclaimed Clemens-dono, proudly showing off his catch to Eru.

And in the next moment, the big ponkame began to stir after having observed their brethren being caught by us.

At the same time, bloodlust... well, I call it bloodlust, but it's probably the best description for what's being released by the big ponkame in the swamp.

Burkhart-san, I, and even Doushi started to get drenched in cold sweat.

"Burkhart-san, this is bad, isn't it?"

"Don't ask the obvious! We'll be attacked not only by a huge number of big ponkame, but also by countless normal ponkame!"

"Eruuuu!"

"It's my fault now?!? The one who selfishly caught the ponkame was...!"

"All of that does not matter now! We are getting out of here!"

Doushi grabbed Clemens-dono under his arm and escaped just like that with 『Flight』. Burkhart-san and I also used 『Flight』 to get away while carrying Eru together.

"Earl Baumeister-sama, you mustn't do anything indecent to Eru-san!"

"As if I'd do anything like that!! Reflect on what you've done here, you moron!!"

I roared at Clemens-dono, who was still playing the fool, since even I got pissed off by his thoughtless bullshit.

Then again, it's only natural under these circumstances for me to react like that.

"Earl-sama, look!"

"Scary!"

The big ponkame kept chasing after us. They were running at a terrifying speed. On top of that, their numbers exceeded our expectations by leaps and bounds. One big ponkame after the other showed up from the other side of the swamp, and joined the chase, making it all look like a huge army was on the move.

The reason for all of this was the ponkame caught by Clemens-dono.

We fully realized that only at this time, once every few decades, the ponkame wouldn't abandon a single of their brethren.

"But, as long as we leave the monster domain..."

The huge ponkame shouldn't leave their domain as monsters. As long as we fly away like this...

"Earl Baumeister, take a look at this!

"What!?"

When I looked back at the flock of ponkame upon Doushi's urging, I saw how the normal ponkame were also chasing after us, just like lemmings.

"Normal ponkame can leave the monster domain without any issues! Even if a single ponkame does not pose much of a threat, those numbers will be a problem!"

The swarm of several hundred thousand ponkame kept chasing after us. Even though it'd be simple to shake them off, it'd be a major issue if such an amount of ponkame continued to search for us within the Baumeister Earldom...

"It will be a major incident if that mass of ponkame enters a city!"

"I know!"

The destruction of Baulburg after we've provoked the ponkame mustn't come to pass! In that case...

"Clemens-dono, give them the ponkame back!"

Now that it's come to this, the only option left is for Clemens-dono to return the ponkame he caught for Eru. If he returns it to its brethren, the ponkame won't have a reason to chase us any longer.

"No! I'll use this to enjoy a ponkame dish together with Eru-san!"

""""Whaa!""""

Love blindness is truly terrifying. Despite being usually labeled as a calm boy who's suitable to be the heir of the Morgensohn House, Clemens-dono is now blathering such unbelievable nonsense.

"Bah! No matter what you tell him, it is a waste of time and effort anyway! Here, take it back!"

Doushi wrenched the ponkame out of Clemens-dono's hands, and returned it to the ponkame which were chasing after us at full speed. Thereupon, the swarm stopped its pursuit as if we didn't matter any longer.

"Phew, that was a nice save, Doushi."

"Doushi-sama, you're terrible. Even thought Eru-san and I were supposed to enjoy a wonderful ponkame dish together, you..."

""""...""""

We couldn't help becoming dumbstruck by Clemens-dono's stupid complaint.

In the end, the ponkame capture failed, and thus it was settled that Eru and I would have to wait for five days.

"Oh well, it can't be helped. But then again, it's not like there's much of an inconvenience anyway..."

"What are you talking about, dude!? Of course, there is! What's going to happen to me!?"

"Eru, you're a chief retainer of the Baumeister House, so I think talking with Clemens-dono will allow you to gain precious experience on various matters."

"How cruel! So you're abandoning me!?"

"Calm down. It's just another five days."

"There are some things that cannot be changed in this world!"

"No way..."

"Eru-san, the plan for us to eat a ponkame dish together has been busted, but how about dinner at a restaurant in Baulburg tonight?"

"..."

"Oh, are you embarrassed? Eru-san, you're so adorable."

""""...""""

The lesson we learned from our little excursion this time was that it was a bad idea to meddle with the ponkame while they were meeting, and that it was indispensable to pay special attention to the men of the Morgensohn House since they were very liable to pull off something absurd.

At any rate, it was a terrible experience.

* * *

"It looks like they properly returned to their usual habitats. Though it's not like I've failed since I'm a genius anyway."

""Shut your trap!""

"Uugh! Sorry..."

After five days, the rare ponkame meeting came to an end and the turtles went back to their usual habitats. We managed to safely acquire a few specimens, and using their livers as raw material, Mr. Beckenbauer succeeded in contorting the magic potion to return Eru and me to normal.

We both managed to become guys again, but when Mr. Beckenbauer started to brag about his own abilities, silent rage welled up within us. Eru in particular got totally mad at him.

The only inconvenience of me becoming a woman was no more than Elise and the others being slightly displeased about it. But, Eru, on the other hand, couldn't do his job at all since a love-struck Clemens-dono kept chasing him everywhere he went, resulting in Roderich telling Eru that he wouldn't have a single break for a month to catch up on all that he missed.

It wasn't as though he was able to take a rest for the one week of being a woman as he got thoroughly exhausted in body and mind from dealing with his little stalker, and thus he had all right to be angry at Mr. Beckenbauer.

"Now that you've become a guy again, even the heir of the Morgensohn family with his special preferences in women should give up on you. Aren't you happy about that?"

This guy really has a messed up character. That's probably the reason why he can contort such magic potions.

"In the end, Clemens-dono didn't acknowledge that Eru had been a guy who got womanized."

"But, right now I'm a guy, so even he won't be able to deny it, I think..."

That's what we thought, but the situation ended up developing into an unexpected direction.

* * *

"Eru-san was actually a man?"

"Indeed. I was simply dragged into an unforeseen accident due to some weird magic potion."

"Eru-san is a man..."

He must have suffered a huge shock.

Clemens-dono dropped his shoulders in disappointment after hearing the explanation from Eru.

However.

"Certainly, Eru-san, you might be a man! But, my feelings are no lie! Oh, right! If I become a woman through that magic potion, there won't be a problem whatsoever! Mr. Beckenbauer if the sorcery guild, was it? Please wait for a bit, Eru-san!"

""Pardon?""

Just like that, Clemens-dono rushed over to Mr. Beckenbauer, and pestered him every day at his laboratory, begging him to contort the womanizing potion. However, if the heir of the Morgensohn House were to use something like that, it'd be the downfall of Mr. Beckenbauer, as might be expected.

He continued to refuse, but after a while, Clemens-dono started to stalk him.

"He's paying for his sins!"

"God is always watching us." said Elise as if it was only natural.

Given that she couldn't have sex with me as my wife as I was a woman myself, she has apparently accumulated a fair share of resentment against Mr. Beckenbauer, too.

"Vel, it's great that you returned to normal."

"Vel becoming a woman was..."

Since Luise, Ina and my other wives are looking happy as well, everything is fine in the end...

"Vel-sama, is that person going to return to normal?"

"That person? Ah, you mean Clemens-dono? I think it's something like a fever, but who knows..."

"I had to suffer thanks to this."

I don't know how he reached the conclusion that all would be fine as long as he became a woman, now that Eru had returned being a guy, but as might be expected, that state didn't last for long. After a while, we received a message from Earl Morgensohn that Clemens-dono had apparently sobered up, and married his very beautiful fiancée without a fuss.

* * *

"But, his child will..."

"Don't jinx it, Vel!"

"But you see, I think it's a part of their family's blood."

There was no guarantee that Clemens-dono's son wouldn't pull off the same thing in the future. Eru and I edged it into our memories so that we'd never forget the potential danger that could encroach upon us in the future.

Chapter 03: Lisa and Her Dark Past

"Lisa-san, a letter has been delivered for you."

"Thank you, Amalie-san. It must be from my family..."

◆

On a certain day, Amalie-san distributed the letters that had been delivered to the Baumeister mansion. Lisa got one as well, and according to her, it was from her family.

Lisa often received letters from her former adventurer partners, but it was rare for her family to write to her. I heard that she told them about her marriage with me and the birth of our child, but since her family lives far away from here, I never met them so far.

She mentioned still having both parents and a little brother, but I wonder what kind of people they are. As I was pondering about all that, Lisa called out to me after finishing reading her letter.

"Wendelin, I'd like to show Laura to my parents, if possible..."

"I see. Your parents are living far away, so it'd be best to prepare for such an occasion at least once."

"Lisa-san, where is your hometown located?"

"It's a small village situated roughly in the middle between the capital and the northern border. It lies in the territory of a tiny Associate Baron." explained Lisa to Amalie-san.

I've heard about it before, but her environment wasn't all that different from Amalie-san's, was it? In regards to the birthplace being the sticks, neither of them can win against Katia and me, though.

"I'd prefer my parents to come here since I don't want Laura to leave the mansion yet. Of course, my brother, too."

"I suppose the quickest method would be me picking them up then."

Since I don't know the exact location of Lisa's hometown, I'll 『Teleport』 as far as possible, before traveling the rest of the way normally. Then I'll bring her parents and brother back with me. This method should be the best.

"Wendelin, sorry for all the troubles."

"Nah, don't worry about it."

After the birth of my children, the relatives and family members of my other wives had come to take a look at the babies' faces. Because of that, it's absolutely no problem for me to do the same for Lisa, too.

"So, where exactly can I find your village?"

"Umm, it's here." Lisa pointed at a spot on the map.

"Oh, I've visited a nearby noble's fief in the past, so I'll be able to get there easily with 『Flight』 after using 『Teleport』. Afterwards, I'll just need to come back here with 『Teleport』."

Because I'll be able to directly 『Teleport』 to Lisa's hometown afterwards, I think it'll be okay for her to regularly visit her parents later on.

"Okay, with that settled, we'll be gone for a bit."

Lisa and I put our plans in practice, and safely arrived at her hometown.

* * *

"We've arrived. Quite the rural area, isn't it?"

"Well, my home was similar as well, so..."

Lisa's birthplace had the feel of a peaceful, rural, farm village. Guided by her, we headed to her family's home, but no matter where I looked, I could only see farmers.

Once Lisa knocked on the door, a young man answered, "On my waaaay," through the door, before opening it and stepping out. He had the same hair color as Lisa. Given that his features also resembled her more or less, I suspected him to be her little brother.

"Umm... we don't need anything."

"Eehhhhhh! We're family!"

For some reason, Lisa's brother apparently didn't recognize his big sister. Mistaking us for door vendors, he almost closed the door in front of our nose.

"Huh? Family?"

"I'm Lisa."

"Aaaaah! Now that you mention it, you do look like Lisa-neesan! If I remember correctly, it's been fifteen years... I didn't realize it's you because you're not wearing that amazing outfit anymore"

"I see..."

As might be expected, even Lisa shouldn't have worn that eccentric getup during her early childhood. I think that's only natural...

And since she's come back in a normal outfit after a long time, her brother didn't recognize her.

"I wouldn't wear such an outfit after marrying and giving birth to a child, Lidl."

"Okay, that makes sense. I'm gradually remembering my Lisa-neesan who was normal before she left home. Back when you visited us before starting to work as an adventurer for real after entering and graduating the adventurer prep school... we got totally shocked by that outfit. Mum even fainted after seeing it."

"...Ah, such things happened, didn't they...?"

Well, anyone would react like that if their daughter left home, and then came back one year later, wearing such a crazy getup.

"So, why did you visit today?"

"I was planning to show Laura to Mum and Dad."

"Seriously, for you to have really married Earl Baumeister-sama and given birth to his child... that's quite unbelievable."

That's the part you doubt, little brother?

Lying about something like marrying a high-ranking noble and giving birth to his daughter... would be quite gutsy, to say the least... If you were to lie about it, it'd be normal to keep things vague by saying that you've married some commoner.

"Since we can't take Laura outside yet, I wanted them to come to Baulburg with us."

"So that's how it is... I'll call them over... Dad! Mum! Lisa-neesan really got married! It's no lie! Someone looking like Earl Baumeister-sama is with her!"

"..."

Her brother shouted inside the house to inform their parents, but his words clearly proved that not only did he doubt Lisa's marriage and childbirth, but her parents did so as well.

Maybe it's just reasonable, considering her previous appearance and behavior?

"Lisa... umm... if you actually let them see Laura..."

"..."

Although it was an outcome of the seeds she had sown herself, for her parents to have even doubted her letter about her marriage... I seriously started to worry about the best method to comfort Lisa.

* * *

"A daughter, huh...? Grandchildren sure are adorable."

"Indeed, dear. I have nothing but words of gratitude for Earl Baumeister-sama."

"No kidding. Earl Baumeister-sama is the savior of our family."

"...(It's been that bad?)"

Lisa definitely hadn't expected them to doubt her marriage, let alone her childbirth. Still, once we showed them Laura after I took them to the Baumeister mansion with 『Teleport』, they happily held and cuddled her.

A grandpa and grandma dotting on their grandchild was an universal rule, going beyond worlds.

"Maaan, it's great that I could come here today. I got some nice gifts as well."

"This fruit wine tastes very good!" Doushi exclaimed.

I ended up bringing Burkhart-san, and for some reason Doushi, with me as well, but this only happened because it matched our schedules by chance. As far as I was told, they had some business over here.

Lisa's family were farmers, but their farming was flourishing quite decently, and nowadays they were managing many fields while employing others to work for them. They also expanded their business by brewing fruit wine after growing fruits such as crimson glory vines on mountain slopes. The two old men drank up the fruit wine, which Lisa's parents had brought along as a celebratory gift, without even telling me in advance.

It's not like it's a problem or anything, but...

"Lidl already has two children, but just as we worried that Lisa might remain single for the rest of her life... we cannot thank you enough, Earl Baumeister-sama."

"After all, the past Lisa... with that outfit and her conduct..."

Lisa had occasionally visited her home, but it sounds like she met her family while wearing that outfit.

Wouldn't it have been smarter for her to adapt and put that outfit back on only after leaving her hometown? is something I asked myself.

"In the past, Lisa-neesan couldn't talk with any guys except for me and Dad..."

Come to think of it, he's got a point. Lisa has stopped with that eccentric outfit, but I remember that she couldn't talk to any men other than me at first. Is it because I defeated her in a battle of magic? And her brother and father were alright because they're family, huh?

"Before leaving our home, Lisa-neesan was a star of hope as a genius in magic. But, with her being unable to talk to any men except Dad and me..."

No matter how talented in magic she might have been, this trait was certainly something that would inhibit her everyday life.

"I'm one year younger than Lisa-neesan, but I remember how she always hid behind me in the past," her brother began to recount Lisa's past. "It's normal for children of similar age to play together, isn't it? Of course, Lisa-neesan and I joined the other children as well, but Lisa-neesan couldn't talk to other boys. So I had to serve as her interpreter."

The neighborhood boys playing with them told her brother what they wanted to say to Lisa. And her brother then passed it on to Lisa. Afterwards, Lisa replied through her brother.

"That must have been quite troublesome. There exists a similar game, though."

"You're right, but without me doing that, she wouldn't have been able to chat with any boys other than me, so..."

Luise identified it as a variation of the telephone game, which Lisa's brother confirmed.

"Things were proceeding like that when we were small children, and once we became a bit older..."

"It improved a bit?"

"No, it got worse," Lisa's brother clearly denied Ina's question. "Instead, she started to have trouble being in the same place with men other than Dad and me... Around that time, Lisa-neesan became aware of her talent in magic and started to practice it. People who can properly use magic are rare, aren't they...?"

"Whenever Lisa-neesan trained her magic, many curious onlookers started to gather. Of course it'd have been no problem if she were used to guys, but in her case it was the opposite. When she practiced her magic during the day, men would gather... women as well, but half of the spectators were men, nonetheless. Thus she started to train her magic at night."

"Fortunately, if you can call it that, our family is growing fruits on mountain slopes to use them for our fruit wine. Given that harmful beasts appear to devour those, Lisa continued her magic practice while killing them at the same time. For us it was a benefit as the damage to our produce decreased on top of us obtaining pelts and meat, but gradually the villagers started to call her 『Midnight Witch』."

"I see..."

I guess the source for 『Liza the Blizzard』 was 『Midnight Witch』, huh? She secretly unleashed her spells deep in the night, and at dawn, the whole area was littered with corpses of animals, albeit harmful ones... People would appreciate it, sure, but no doubt, it must have been slightly scary.

"Once Lisa-neesan turned fourteen years old, she started to beg to be allowed to study magic at the capital's prep school. Given that our home is out in the woods, we don't have an adventurer prep school, so she said that she wanted to study at the capital where the most magicians gathered, if she had to choose a place anyway."

"Half of the magician students are men as well, aren't they?"

"There exist exams and interviews for scholarship students. Moreover, the exams are being held at the capital's prep school. Something like examiners wandering the lands doesn't exist."

It's just as Elise and Wilma said.

So just how the heck did Lisa travel to the adventurer prep school in the capital and took her scholarship exams there?

"Over there... since she was the 『Midnight Witch』..."

According to her brother, Lisa hid herself under a robe, left her home in the dead of the night, and headed over to the capital. The people on her way... or rather, because she moved at night, she didn't run into men, and during the day she camped out in places with no people.

It'd have been safer and more comfortable to stay in some inn... no, I guess that was not an option either since there would be men among the inn's staff. I feel like camping out alone would be dangerous in itself, but... when it comes to a magician of Lisa's level, anyone assaulting her would actually be in danger of losing their life.

"She arrived at the capital after several days and trespassed into the prep school at night. As for the examinations' interviewers: we had informed the school about Lisa-neesan's condition in advance, so the school had female interviewers handle her examination on that day."

"The prep school sure handled it flexibly."

"That is only reasonable! She was an excellent magician rookie after all!" Doushi answered Eru.

Magicians, and especially those with the potential to become high-ranking ones, are treated as precious.

"The examiners must have been surprised by Big Sis suddenly trespassing the school deep in the night and showing up for the exam."

"Because she seemed more like a spy or assassin than a magician?"

"That's the kind of image you'd get from her actions, I'd expect."

Deep down in our hearts, we all agreed with Katia and Ina's opinions.

"But, even if she were to pass the exam by doing all this, life as a student should still be quite difficult, no?" Amalie-san commented when she brought us some tea since the conversation had dragged out for quite a bit.

"That's why the outfit from before. She was wearing a robe with the hood deeply lowered over her face, but Lisa-neesan couldn't handle men being close to her to begin with. Physically shutting them out showed no effect and thus the only option was to keep a distance, but that would have interfered with the school's lessons. And even scholarship students wouldn't be able to graduate if they didn't reach the necessary number of completed lessons."

Splitting up the magician class by gender wasn't realistic, and it was impossible to take the lessons online like it was done on Earth. After thinking it over for a while, Lisa came up with that flashy outfit.

Her brother further explained, "Having said that, when Lisa-neesan left home to enroll at the prep school, she still wore her robe outfit."

That clearly bolstered her reputation as 『Midnight Witch』 — though I gotta say it's quite the chuunibyou-like name. Lisa had apparently left her home deep in the night while being seen off by her family, but...

"She came back only once before graduating from the prep school, but at that time she already wore her flashy outfit... of course, it caused us to draw back from her... and even the villagers... well, it's only understandable, right...?" Her brother told us with a somewhat drained and lifeless expression while recalling the events of back then.

Well, if you consider that 'this' had been his sister's outfit after reuniting for the first time in a year...

"Ever since then, she always wore that outfit... It's truly ironic that she became able to talk with men other than Dad and me because of that. Mom was devastated by it though, repeatedly complaining, 『Lisa won't ever manage to marry when looking like that』."

With her robe she had issues getting close to men and with her eccentric getup and character men actually drew back from her, both making a marriage impossible. I feel like I can fully understand her mother's distress back then.

Right now she's happily cradling her granddaughter, though.

"For all those reasons, I'm deeply moved now after confirming it with my own eyes! It's not just a wild delusion! Lisa-neesan has really married and given birth to a child! Earl Baumeister-sama! With your deep compassion you're truly close to being a 『Saint』 who ought to be worshiped at the church!"

"Now listen... I get that you're happy, but if you keep talking like this..."

In contrast to Lisa's brother, who was becoming exaggeratedly emotional all by himself, in addition to her parents joyfully cuddling Laura, Eru began to warn them to not make such a grandiose fuss out of it.

"Right now, Lisa is behaving, but since there's a limit to everything, pissing her off too much is, well..." Eru cautioned her brother while being concerned about his safety.

"No, there's nothing as delightful for me as her brother as this! If Lisa-neesan had become thirty and then forty while still wearing that embarrassing, pathetic outfit... even if she might be a magician, that kind of outfit after reaching a certain age is too hard to look at! Each time she came back home, it pained me when looking at her from the side! Even my wife put me on the spot with evasive phrasing like 『You see, sister-in-law... 』! But, now it's alright. That's why I'm so extremely happy. I'll make sure that Earl Baumeister-sama's achievement will be passed on in our hometown for a long time to come! Telling all villagers that he turned the 『Midnight Witch』 back into a decent human—Wait! Aaahh! My feet!?"

"...I warned you, didn't I...?" Eru sighed after seeing her brother's predicament.

Certainly, nowadays Lisa has stopped to fly into rage at a beck's call, but that doesn't mean she won't get angry anymore either. Her boiling point had decreased drastically, but it's not that she won't become mad no matter what.

"If anything, it's become more difficult to tell that she's angry. Wendelin, are thou going to help him?"

"No thanks. That'd be too scary."

"Figures... Dear father and mother of Lisa, please feel free to stay the night... her brother probably won't be able to move for a while..."

"My feet are cold! Aaahh! It's the same cold I suffered when I threw a frog into Lisa-neesan's bed during our childhood!"

I guess Lisa reacted like this because he completely exposed her dark past. At a glance, Lisa was merely hanging her head in deep shame, but she had apparently crossed her boiling point. Her brother's feet had been frozen solid.

Since he likely wouldn't go anywhere for a while, Therese told Lisa's parents to stay over.

"Thank you very much for being so considerate of us."

"Lisa has completely become like a mother."

I think even Lisa's parents thought that her brother had run his mouth too much. Deliberately ignoring him, they headed over to the living room. We also disregarded him, following Lisa's parents.

"Kyaakya—!"

"Wauu—!"

"Au—!"

"My feet are cold, but there's so many babies here. How cute... I'm happy to see you enjoy yourselves."

Lisa's brother ended up standing there as an object of amusement for Friedrich and the other babies until the ice at his feet melted away.

* * *

"Earl Baumeister-sama, magic is definitely something convenient to have."

"Really. Being able to travel that much of a distance in an instant is wonderful."

"Lisa-neesan is an incredible magician as well, but Earl Baumeister-sama, you're even above her."

◆

On the next day, I sent Lisa's family back home, but they were surprised by the greatness of 『Teleport』 which Lisa couldn't use.

Usually, one would only be able to travel by foot, carriage, or magic airship. And those would take time and money. Thus, they highly praised 『Teleport』 which didn't require any of that.

"Next time, please visit our humble home by all means."

"We will let you taste some of our cooled fruit wine."

After having such a light chat in front of their home, I was about to teleport back home, but at that moment a noble visited the house of Lisa's family.

Come to think of it, Lisa's family lived in the territory of an Associate Baron, so I guess it wouldn't be odd for a noble to be around. Since he looked like he was about the same age as Lisa, he might be the lord of this place or his heir.

"Oh my, oh my... Earl Baumeister-dono, I've heard rumors of you. My name is Lodonnei. I'm the heir of the Associate Baron Brennen House."

Because the family heads out in the countryside didn't retire until they became quite advanced in age, it wasn't rare for people like him to still be heirs at his age.

"Lodonnei-sama, how may we help you today?"

It's about the tax collection for this year. I wanted to check the state of the crops and confirm the quality and estimate for the fruit wine. Or in short, I'd like to get an approximate prediction on the expected tax due."

In case of noble territories which mainly focused on agriculture and its processed goods, the tax revenue often changed greatly depending on the quality and market price of crops. If they didn't get an approximate estimate on the tax yield in advance, it could lead to various troublesome situations.

In that regard, I'd assess Lodonnei-dono as excellent for the heir of a countryside lord. He didn't act unnecessarily pushy towards the tax-paying farmers, nor did he belittle them. Above all, him wanting to get a tax estimate as soon as possible meant that he wanted to decide the budget allotments to a certain extent in advance.

The more rural the lord, the more they think about the taxes after they flow in... though that refers to my experience from the previous Knight Baumeister House.

"Did you travel somewhere?"

"Yes, I believe you are already aware of it, Lodonnei-sama, but Lisa has married Earl Baumeister-sama and given birth to a daughter, so we went to see her."

"Lisa-dono has... yeah, I've heard about it... (so it was true...? There's no reason for it to be a lie, but for that Lisa-dono... ). That's wonderful news then."

Lodonnei-dono... even his muttered comment was audible to everyone... Or rather, he's sweating quite obviously. Did something happen between him and Lisa?

"(Ah! Maybe it's that!)"

Lodonnei-dono might be the man who used to be Lisa's fiancé in the past, or maybe he offered to marry her. Given Lisa's superb magic abilities, she would be extremely convenient to have around for this territory. In that case, it'd mean I stole Lodonnei-dono's fiancée?

"(Isn't that bad? He might demand me to hand over Laura as a wife for his child as an apology. But Laura's fiancé is already decided. Though it's nothing I can say out loud here...)"

My children, who are born with mana, have their marriage partners already decided thanks to the underhanded plotting of the Kingdom's higher-ups.

If Lodonnei-dono starts to make some weird demands here — of course I won't have any other choice but to turn it all down, although I won't be able to explain the circumstances — I'll have drawn the short end of the stick here...

"Umm... about Lisa..."

"Lisa-dono? No, you do not mind me! It's just that such a possibility came up in the past, but I don't really mind!"

Noticing my plight, Lodonnei-dono fervently assured me to not worry about anything.

I'm grateful about that, but I feel like his face is getting paler by the second and the amount of sweat on his face is starting to make me worry too... Does he possibly... want to stay clear from Lisa as much as he can?

"(Lidl-dono, about Lodonnei-dono and Lisa...)"

"(Ah, you mean the story about the engagement? Yes, it's true.)"

If you consider Lisa's abilities as a magician, I think it's only natural for that possibility to crop up.

According to her brother, Lodonnei-dono's father brought up the talk of an engagement with Lisa after she graduated the prep school and had made a name for herself as adventurer.

"(Since His Lordship and Lodonnei-sama are both rational and gentle men, they had requested to just meet with her first. I warned Lisa-neesan many times over in my letters... telling her that the flashy outfit would be a bad idea for a marriage interview with the heir of His Lordship and begging her to absolutely come back home in normal clothes)"

But, with her brother's pleading in vain, Lisa came home in her flashy outfit and attended the marriage interview with Lodonnei-dono just like that, it seems.

"(It couldn't be helped since Lisa couldn't talk to men in normal clothes, right?)"

"(In that case, it'd have been fine for her to conduct herself gracefully... but since Lisa-neesan was still wearing that outfit while acting out that flashy character...)"

According to her brother, she took out wine as soon as she saw tea being served and started to drink after complaining about wanting to get some booze. Then she bickered about there being only tea cakes and no snacks to go with her wine, just to take out jerky from her magic bag and start to wolf it down on the spot.

Any child would realize that the marriage interview wouldn't succeed at this rate.

"(Because of that, Lodonnei-dono has his fair share of trouble in handling Lisa-neesan.)"

"(I see...)"

It's good that I didn't bring Lisa with me as she had to look after Laura. Still, I ended up discovering another chapter of her dark past...

"...Earl Baumeister-dono, you are truly a hero."

"You think so?"

I think this conversation only came to be because of the huge difference between the Lisa I know and Lisa Lodonnei-dono knows. Or rather, Lisa's family is quite lucky for not having been banished from the territory after Lisa pulled such a stunt. I think that alone already speaks for the characters of Lodonnei-dono and his father.

"Our territory's special product is fruit wine. Please feel free to visit again if you find some time."

"By all means."

"...Even without Lisa-dono... no, if possible, her not coming with you would be... I guess that's unreasonable to ask... please come to visit without fail."

"Okay..."

I won't probe any deeper, but it looks like Lodonnei-dono's heart has been deeply hurt.

We were able to give Lisa's family a peace of mind by showing them Laura, but I fully understood that it'd still take a long time for Lisa to redeem herself.

Chapter 04: The Elopement Box and the Two’s What-if

"Oh my, it's unusual for you to have a day off around this time, isn't it?"

"Such things do happen every once in a while."

◆

In the early afternoon of a certain day I was simply relaxing, doing nothing in particular.

With me having produced children... wait, that's not the only reason, but I'm being worked like a horse by Roderich for the development of the earldom, so it shouldn't pose any problem whatsoever if I treat myself to an occasional day of laziness.

Spotting me dilly dallying around like that, Amalie-san called out to me. Since I was doing nothing in particular at this time of the day, it must have struck her as odd.

"I'm going to brew tea."

"Oh, please make some for me as well!"

"Okay."

At that point, Eru showed up, probably because he had some free time just like me. He sat down on a chair in the living room, and after also requesting tea from Amalie-san, he placed something like a small box on the table.

"Eru, what's this wooden box?"

"Ah, this? Look, isn't the residential area in the center of Baulburg in the middle of construction?"

"Yes, indeed."

If you're asking why I know of this, it's because I've been the one to prepare the ground over there with magic.

"And so, a slightly rich, old guy over there was building a house while also ordering a basement for it, but once the workers dug the hole for the basement, they excavated this box here."

"Is it some old, valuable artifact?"

"Doesn't it look like that to you?"

The box brought over by Eru looked like a box with wooden mosaics at first glance, but the mosaics themselves were quite peculiar. It looked like one of those puzzle boxes sold by gift box sellers.

I immediately picked it up and tampered with it, but going by my brief examination, it didn't appear likely that I'd be able to check the box's contents easily.

"(How did you open puzzle boxes again?)

I think I got one of those during my childhood and managed to open it, but... even as I tried to slide the box's surface... it didn't budge. Maybe I'm using the wrong method?

"It's got pretty grains, considering how it was excavated from soil. It should have been buried for a fairly long time, so maybe it's a magic tool?" Amalie-san asked.

"At first I thought so as well, but in the end it was appraised to not be one. I'm told that no mana can be sensed from it at all." answered Eru.

"If no mana at all can be felt from it, I suppose it's no magic tool after all."

Even if a magic tool ran out of mana, its energy source, a mana could still be felt from it, albeit faintly. A magic tool, where you can't feel any mana whatsoever, is physically impossible. That's why the guards and Eru didn't recognize this box as a magic tool.

I think Eru considers it to be no more than the excavation of an unusual toy.

"I'm certainly curious about what's to be found inside."

With those words, Amalie-san started to fiddle around with the box next. But, the box didn't readily reveal its contents.

Maybe I'm just deluding myself into thinking that it can be opened since it resembles a puzzle box while in reality it's no more than a square wooden block with carvings?

"Vel-kun, it doesn't look like this can be opened."

"Maybe it's just a simple decoration?"

Just as I leaned forward and extended a hand for the box in Amalie-san's hands, the box's surface slid to the side, revealing its content.

""Oh, it's open!""

Up until all was fine, but then I ended up seeing how the box's interior consisted of nothing but a jet-black darkness like that of a black hole. At the same time, I sensed a huge amount of mana from it.

"Don't tell me, this box is...!"

Usually it'd be impossible to not be able to sense any of the mana contained inside a magic tool from outside. For this reason, you'd be able to tell that it's a magic tool from the faintest traces of mana, even if the magic stone powering the tool had run out many, many years ago.

"A magic tool that can perfectly contain the mana within..."

It looks like a common wood box, but this is actually a sophisticated... dangerous magic tool!

The guards also had magicians among them, but all of those were elementary magicians without any detailed knowledge about magic tools. That's why they judged this box to be no magic tool.

"Vel-kun?"

"It's possible for this to be a fairly dangerous magic tool...!"

Oh shit! I got too close to the box!

Black hands extended from within the box's darkness, grabbing my hand. Even though I tried to wrench my hand free from them in a hurry, the black hands had no substance.

They're very likely made out of mana that can be seen. They aren't grabbing my physical body, but the mana contained inside me. Of course it's impossible to free myself from their hold by normal means then.

I felt how I was was about to be pulled inside the box by a powerful force.

"Vel!"

"Eru! Stay away! Most likely I have no means to oppose being drawn into this box anymore. Hence, you have an important duty to fulfill. You must call my wives, Roderich, Burkhart-san and the others, and explain the situation to them. Especially Burkhart-san with all his experience might know something about this box. It's very likely that he'll be able to save me. But, if you're also pulled into the box, no one to explain the situation will be left anymore."

"I understand, but even Amalie-san..."

"Erwin-san, I won't be able to escape anymore either."

Yep, since Amalie-san has been holding the box, the black hands have grabbed her as well. Amalie-san is no magician, but no human in this world has absolutely no mana. Thus she can't escape from the black hands either.

"Vel-kun, I'm sorry. I ended up carelessly opening the box..."

"It'd have resulted in the same outcome anyway, if I had continued fiddling with the box."

Just that I might have opened the box instead. After all, this box had the same way of opening as puzzle boxes.

"Vel!"

"As far as I can tell, it's not a magic tool that would put our lives at risk. Tell Elise and the others about the situation... ."

"Erwin-san, please take care of the rest."

Just when we finished speaking, we became unable to resist the black hands any longer. Amalie-san and I were sucked into the box's black hole while entangled by black hands.

Maybe my wives, Roderich, Burkhart-san, or even Doushi will be able to do something about this.

* * *

"Uugh..."

"Wake up, Milord."

"Give me another ten minutes..."

"No can do, Milord. Besides, breakfast has already been prepared."

"Oh! Breakfast!"

"Vel-kun... milord, you sure get up quickly whenever you hear the word breakfast."

"Well, it's the breakfast you make for me, Amalie-san."

"I'm happy to have you say that."

◆

This is the Baumeister Knightdom located at the Helmut Kingdom's southernmost end. My sister-in-law, Amalie-san woke me up in the bedroom of this mansion—it's nothing as grandiose to describe this house as a mansion though. Having suddenly become the lord of this fief while still young, my days were busy with all kinds of things to do.

It'd be weird to claim my busyness to be the reason, but I've got my fair share of problems with waking up. Because of that, Amalie-san usually comes to wake me up.

She's my, or rather, the Knight Baumeister House's head maid. Then again, even if I might call her head maid, only Amalie-san and I live in this house. The other maids are old grannies from the fief who commute to do the necessary work in order to earn some money.

Amalie-san directs them as head maid, but the workload in the current Knight Baumeister House is rather limited. In reality, it's something like a public work project to provide the fief's population with money they can use. If it's my care-taking, Amalie-san would be more than enough to handle it.

"Today's breakfast looks, once again, very delicious. Itadakimasu."

After dressing myself I went to take breakfast in the dining room, but since eating all by myself would be boring, it had become a custom for Amalie-san to eat with me. A maid eating with her lord was exceedingly unlikely to occur in any normal noble house, but if you were to rank the Knight Baumeister House within noble society, it'd probably land on the last rank or close to it. Moreover, only I lived in this mansion anyway, so it wasn't any problem either way.

The breakfast menu consisted of bread, soup, a salad with wild edible plants and veggies, scrambled guinea fowl eggs, boar bacon, tea, and sliced fruits.

"The fowl eggs are rich in flavor and delicious, aren't they? Back at home, I could enjoy their taste only very rarely. They're expensive when bought and we couldn't easily catch them ourselves. Vel-kun, you're truly incredible."

"It's because I can use magic."

Why am I, the family head of a noble house, eating breakfast with my sister-in-law whom I'm treating as head maid? The answer lay in me succeeding my father as eighth son of a rural noble family with its fief located in the sticks.

Why did the eighth son become the lord despite there being seven older brothers? That's because a plague had ravaged the Baumeister Knightdom, taking a heavy toll on its inhabitants. The casualties were especially bad within the Baumeister family. Or to be precise, Amalie-san and I were the sole survivors.

All residents of the fief having gathered for the wedding ceremony between Kurt-niisan, who should have inherited the fief originally, and Amalie-san actually had a big impact on the plague's damage. A retainer of the Mainbach family, who had accompanied Amalie-san as bride-to-be, had contracted the disease earlier, resulting in the plague quickly spreading among those participating in the ceremony.

Back then, I had only awoken to my magic gift. Of course I couldn't use healing magic—it's not that I couldn't use it at all, it just showed no effect against the disease—and so I had no choice but to nurse the sick based on my knowledge from my previous life, but I couldn't avoid many people dying from it nonetheless.

The elderly priest, who luckily hadn't contracted the disease, created a medicine out of medical plants, but it was only able to soften the symptoms. Even so, it was still a huge achievement.

In the end more than a hundred people died from the disease. The number of casualties were exceptionally high among the families who showed symptoms early on after being close to the initial disease carrier. Amalie-san, whose husband collapsed after being immediately attacked by the disease after finishing the ceremony, had no time to experience anything resembling a newly-married life.

She nursed the family to the brink of exhaustion together with me, but we couldn't prevent Kurt-niisan's death. But he wasn't the only loss. Erich-niisan, who was supposed to leave the knightdom after the wedding, also passed away, which hit me hard.

And because of all this, I couldn't remain the lonewolf, who didn't care about family matters, any longer. Without any time to sort my feelings, I was forced to become the next family head of the Knight Baumeister House.

As a matter of fact, the sixth son Walter and the seventh son Karl survived as well, but they were the children of Layla, the mistress of father and daughter of a village chief. Unable to become heirs, Walter had married into the Junior Commander's family while Karl succeeded the village chief's family.

And thus I became the lord of the land at a tender age of six years.

Fortunately, Master taught me about magic before the marriage ceremony, so I used 『Flight』 while still a kid and reported the situation to the Knight Baumeister House's patron, Margrave Breithilde. He told me, 『Wendelin-kun... no, Lord Baumeister, I'll become your guardian』 while looking up the sky, which became a big help for me.

After all of this went down, I focused on the development of the fief as lord.

Be that as it may, it was a salvation that I had the memories from my previous life. No matter how intelligent a child might be, being a feudal lord at an age of six is impossible. Then again, the question whether Ichinomiya Shingo is suited to be the new feudal lord is written on another piece of paper.

『I shall assist you with the ruling of your fief until you become a full-fledged adult, Wendelin-sama.』

Another big help was Klaus having a talent as a civil official. While making him my household manager and entrusting the rule of the territory to him, I worked my ass off by hunting game, cultivating new land, expanding fields and paddy fields, and digging irrigation channels with my magic.

For me this counted as magic training and for the residents it meant bigger fields, allowing them to give their children a job without having to send them away as it was done before that. Because of that, a portion of the children, who had left in the past, even came back, and in addition, Margrave Breithilde also sent over immigrants across the mountains.

『A walk of more than a month is necessary to cross the Rieck Mountain Range, but if you immigrate into the Baumeister Knightdom, you'll be given big patches of new cultivated land.』

People gathered as rumors caused even more rumors, resulting in the population decline due to the plague recovering over a short period. Actually, things turned around instead, and thanks to a baby boom and the immigrants, our population kept growing.

I proceeded with the development of the fief, succeeding in expanding our territory tenfold from the time before my father passed away.

In reality, all of the southern lands are part of the Baumeister Knightdom, but we couldn't develop them until now. The instant I inherited the peerage and fief, the expansion of the territory exploded.

Though, it's rather sarcastic, to be honest.

* * *

"That was delicious."

"I'm happy that you enjoyed it. Vel-kun, what are your plans today... Ah nevermind, I guess it's pointless to ask."

"Hunting animals, expanding human land, preparing the newly gained land, building roads, and expanding the fields and irrigation channels."

However, I plan to finish up in the morning for today. Since Klaus has brought over a written report, I intend to check that and take a rest thereafter.

It's been eight years since I've become the lord. Having become fourteen years old, I've been working almost nonstop.

But, since Klaus was worried about me as might be expected, it's reached the point that I regularly get to rest in the style of taking half a day off. But, this is inevitable.

The animals in the Savage Lands are huge and ferocious, albeit not as much as monsters. If we ease up on culling them, they immediately start invading human dwellings.

Walter-niisan has been hunting with the territory's hunters and brawny youths, but if they were to get injured after pushing themselves too much, we'd run out of our labor force quickly. Hence it's indispensable for me, who can use magic, to threaten the animals every day, telling them to stay away from human land.

This is one of the reasons why Dad was unmotivated in expanding the territory himself.

"Okay, I'm off then, Amalie-san."

"Take care, Vel-kun."

After being seen off by Amalie-san, I flew to the southernmost end of the Baumeister Knightdom.

"They're here, aren't they...?"

Even though I hunted lots yesterday, another huge batch is trying to push in again. I let several stones float up from the ground and shot them at the animals like bullets. The stone bullets penetrate the animals, not leaving a single one alive within my visual field.

"And that's that."

Repeating this at several places, I made sure that no animals entered my fief. I stored the dead animals away in my magic bag and brought them to a building within the territory.

◆

"Milord, today you've caught another big batch, haven't you?"

"Take care of them."

"Please leave it to us."

The animals were dismantled in this building. Their meat and intestines would be distributed to the fief's population as food, and the furs would end up in my bag once more after getting tanned. Then I'd sell them off at Breitburg once a month.

Distributing the meat and intestines to the residents was a relief measure for the immigrants who wouldn't have enough to eat until the harvest.

In Klaus's eyes I'm too soft-hearted with them, but since we've prepared the fields in perfect condition for the immigrants, I plan to fully tax them starting with the first year.

According to Klaus, a fixed percentage of sloths, thugs, and uncooperative folks seems to have blended in among the immigrants. Hence we adopted the measure of mercilessly exiling those who didn't work on the fields while only enjoying the meat provided by me. However, given that Klaus was the one enforcing this policy, he was feared by the new immigrants. Meanwhile, I was evaluated to be a kind lord.

"Sorry, Klaus."

"What might you be talking about, milord?"

"I ended up pushing a poor job on you."

After leaving the dismantling station, I went back to my mansion and read Klaus's report. Dad and Kurt-niisan apparently didn't read them, but no matter how superb Klaus might be, if I don't hold the reins as lord, Klaus might get wrong ideas in the future. It was necessary for both of us to be on our toes.

"This much is nothing that I would consider trouble. When we suffered many casualties due to the plague, I was devastated, thinking that this might be the end for the Baumeister Knightdom. But, thanks to you, Wendelin-sama, the knightdom not only recovered, but actually went through a great expansion. Brightness has returned to the faces of the people, too. As someone who has repeatedly escaped death, I never expected to be allowed to enjoy my remaining years in such happiness."

"Klaus, you aren't that old yet, are you?"

"I do not plan on dying anytime soon. Still, the Baumeister Knightdom has found a nice balance with the lord being liked for his kindness and me being hated for my harshness. If we are too lenient, even the people, who have reached this state after having been poor until recently, will grow impudent. That is one of the dreadful parts of humans."

I can't win against Klaus in experience when it comes to such matters. But, he's right. A territory won't work well if its leader is too lenient all the time.

"Wendelin-sama, you have been kind enough to closely read my reports and point out everything that needs clearing or correction. As the one writing those reports, I feel it is worthwhile with you paying so much attention to them."

Kanji have been mixed in among the reports. For Dad and Kurt-niisan...

If only I could have kept Erich-niisan alive... In that case, I wouldn't have needed to become the lord, would I?

"By the way, on another topic..."

"..."

At the end Klaus brought up a topic that caused me to brood for a bit, but it was nothing that required immediate action. I went on my half-day vacation for the first time in a week.

◆

"Here. Today's snack is honey tart."

There existed no entertainment in the knightdom as it's located in the sticks. During the sparse free time, we would set up chairs and a table in the maintained garden, and I'd chat there with Amalie-san while enjoying the sweets and tea prepared by her. Or alternatively, we'd go fishing. Those two were the activities covering most of my vacations.

"Vel-kun, next year you'll become an adult, won't you?"

"Now that you mention it, that's true."

It's been nine years since I came to this world. I've been frantically developing the knightdom, but Wendelin's body is soon going to turn adult, huh...?

"Once you become an adult, you must go to the capital and officially succeed in the peerage."

"Oh, yeah."

Me having been inaugurated as lord at an age of six stemmed from Margrave Breithilde apparently having reported to the king that the fief's population would be in distress if I was gone. Thus it was decided that the formal ceremony would be held once I became an adult.

And once that's over, I must marry. Marrying at fifteen is fast... is what I believe, but that's because I'm not a person from this world to begin with. As far as the kingdom's bigshots and Margrave Breithilde are concerned, they apparently want me to marry right away, if possible. After all, the Baumeister Knightdom would be in trouble if I suddenly passed away. And as long as I have children, all will be fine by assigning one of them as next family head to keep the knightdom together.

"That's why I'd like you to become an adult as fast as possible." Such was Margrave Breithilde's unusually unreasonable demand the other day. But, Margrave Breithilde is smart enough to know that my birthday won't simply change.

In other words, it's proof of his impatience.

"The small Vel-kun is going to marry soon, huh...? I've grown old, haven't I?"

The reason why Amalie-san, who lost her husband to the plague right after marrying, remained in the Baumeister Knightdom lay in her being regarded as a family member of the Baumeisters since she finished the official wedding ceremony. Her having been told by her family to never come back home as 『no marriage partners exist for an ill-omened woman』 is yet another reason.

Even though the plague carrier had been the retainer who accompanied Amalie-san, the Mai family didn't want to hear any of it. Currently Amalie-san is 25 years old. That's an age where it wouldn't be strange for her to be unmarried in Japan, but in this world she was regarded as a woman who had missed her chance to marry.

"I wonder what kind of wife is going to come. Ah, but, it might be better for me to leave this mansion then. Otherwise, your wife might feel awkward."

"You don't need to worry about that. As long as you wish to stay here, you can stay for as long as you want. Besides, is there any need for me to force myself into marrying a noble's daughter whom I don't even know?"

No matter how much we might have developed this territory over the last year, it's still a remote area at the southern end of the kingdom. Whether a noble's daughter could get used to living here...

"Vel-kun, you're the family head of the Baumeister Knight House. It's only normal for you to welcome a wife from another noble house."

"Is that so...?"

Since I'm a noble, I can only marry the daughter of another noble. At least, as a legal wife I can... no, wait!

"Then all will be fine if you become my wife, Amalie-san!"

"M-Me!? No, I'm no good!"

"But, Amalie-san, you're the daughter of the Knight Mainbach House."

She's perfectly fitting the criterion. In that case, there shouldn't be any issue with me marrying her.

"Think about the difference in age between us! Besides, I've always been like a big sister for you..."

"It'd be a problem if you were my real sister, but we aren't connected by blood, are we? Hence, it's not an issue."

"But, you see..."

"Do you hate the idea, Amalie-san?"

"...Not in the slightest... rather, I'm very happy about it, but..."

"Then let's go through with it. You'll be my wife. I'll also persuade Margrave Breithilde."

"...Mou, Vel-kun, you're so pushy."

"This territory won't work without me. And this is my wish."

"Thanks. I'll be able to always live with you like this."

I'm also very happy. Even Amalie-san is a noble lady. And anyway, there shouldn't exist any high-ranking nobles who would concern themselves about the wife of a noble who rules the southernmost rural territory.

Just like now, I plan to spend a nice life with Amalie-san in the Baumeister Knightdom.

* * *

*Craaack!*

"Eeek!? Elise-jou-cha... -san?"

"Oh dear, it looks like this tea cup has already passed its service life. I must buy a new one..."

"Elise, cups do not break so easily. This happening thanks to grip strength is... something that happens all the time!"

"Say, Eru... what's this about? Even a gentle person like me would become upset."

"Why are such a retard to carelessly bring in something weird?"

"On your knees!"

"Yeeesh!"

"Haruka-san, please be kind enough to thoroughly teach Erwin-san how to perform a formal seiza."

"As you wish!"

"A husband's failure is also the wife's responsibility."

"I wonder, would Toshiro have judged it to be no magic tool because of a quick appraisal? What do you think, Big Sis?"

"It's the height of thoughtlessness. We must strictly educate the guards. Right, Roderich-san?"

"Yes! It is just as you say, Lisa-sama!"

"Sensei! He's inside this small box... but, he looks happy."

"Awwww, I'd love to go inside with him."

"Cindy, I believe everyone is secretly thinking the same."

◆

- Burkhart's POV -

Things turned into a total mess. Damn, that stupid Eru lad! Moreover, the guard unit is to blame as well, I s'pose.

While it might have been true that there was no mana reaction from that excavated box, it's the height of stupidity to arbitrarily flag it to be no magic tool. They should have known that items, where you can't detect any mana, exist among the magic tools of the Ancient Magic Civilization...

Furthermore, Earl-sama tampered with that box and ended up opening it. As a result of that, he's now making out with Amalie-san inside that box, that lucky bastard.

If you ask why we can see what's going on inside the box, it'd be owed to the magic tool that Beckenbauer brought over after getting my message. Once he connected the box with the crystal ball of a special device through a cord, the ball started to display the other world inside the box.

For a while now, Elise has been really pissed as she watched the scenes displayed by the crystal ball. She's still smiling as usual, but the cup in her hand developed cracks, and seeing how even Doushi drew back from her, she must be quite upset.

"Okay, I see the actual item for the first time in 42 years, but the effect of the 『Elopement Box』 is truly amazing. That's going to become great data but—" Beckenbauer coughed unnaturally, "—We must get the two out of the box as quickly as possible!"

That freak immediately had his curiosity as a researcher going at full throttle. But listen dude, if you start babbling such stuff, you won't be able to complain even if you get beaten up by Elise and the other women over this and the case from the other day.

"Burkhart-sama, what do Sensei and Amalie-san mean in these pictures? Sensei hasn't become the heir of the Knight Baumeister House, has he?"

"To summarize it, you could call this a device that lets you experience a sort of fake world. The details..."

"So it's my turn as someone well-acquainted with magic tools, huh?"

When I looked at Beckenbauer's face while explaining things to Agnes-jou-chan, he continued the explanation in my stead. This guy hasn't a clue how to read the atmosphere, but right now he's become useful for the very first time as I'll get him to deal with all of the anger by Agnes-jou-chan and the other girls.

"This magic tool is called 『Elopement Box』. It's a creation by the famous Countess Ishlbarg. The inside of this box is linked to another dimension, and by opening it, the two have started a fake life in that dimension. The world inside the box has been adjusted into something very convenient for its two captives in order to let them easily build a good relationship. The box used their memories as basis for forming this world."

Given that the world attempted to be as accommodating for the two as possible, Earl-sama's family had died to a plague and Amalie-san became a widow without experiencing her bridal night, despite having married Kurt.

Earl-sama—calling him Earl-sama under these circumstances is weird, but since it'd be too much of a chore to change it, I'll leave it at that—has become the family head of the Knight Baumeister House at an early age, and was continuing his best to develop the territory. Meanwhile, Amalie-san was taking care of him as a big sister substitute. Their relationship gradually deepened, before Earl-sama finally proposed to Amalie-san.

Well, it's only natural for Elise and Earl-sama's other wives to get pissed off.

"Sheesh, Vel, you're so silly. Do you like your sister-in-law so much? Ina-chan has been reading books to you every once in a while as well. I wonder whether I could come across as a sister-in-law for you?"

"Luise, right now is not the time to come up with such things... Beckenbauer-san, don't Vel and Amalie-san feel that something is out of place inside the box?"

Ina immediately asked Beckenbauer while keeping her calm.

"That's the scary part of the Elopement Box. Once they got locked up in the special dimension of the box, their memories were altered in order to match the world. They won't feel anything unnatural about the world they live in."

In short, Earl-sama and Amalie-san haven't even realized that they're currently in a world created by the box.

"So, what's going to happen after this?"

"According to an old report about this mysterious magic tool, you can stay at most one month inside an Elopement Box. Since it's a rare item that has been excavated once in several hundred years, only ancient documents are left, but all of them state that couples will have a very deep relationship after coming out of the box."

"Makes sense. I mean they'll have spent a month in a world catered towards their relationship."

"Burkhart, the flow of time inside the box differs from the real world. In reality, they'll have spent many years together. Moreover, while being extremely close to each other. Of course, both will immediately realize that the world inside the box hasn't been reality once they leave it. But, thanks to the years spent inside the box, they'll become so intimate with each other that they'll be inseparable. Or am I wrong?"

"Why did the Ancient Magic Civilization create such a magic tool?"

Wilma questioned the reason for the box's existence. It's something I'd like to know as well.

"This was an item catered towards nobles. Countess Ishlbarg apparently created it after receiving a custom order."

"Maybe it's for the sake of becoming close to the one on your mind?"

"No, it has a much more serious reason, violet wife."

"Who is a violet wife!?"

Beckenbauer, as always you... can't remember the names of those who don't interest you.

I heard he got himself slapped in the face for calling Therese-sama and Agnes's trio mistresses the other day. Even though she looks like this, Katharina is a proper noble, so...

"During the closing years of the Ancient Magic Civilization's era, it had become proscribed in society to marry several wives."

"I don't understand the meaning of that? What did they do if the house ceased to exist because of it?"

Well, nobles fuss over the continuous existence of their houses... that's why it's normal for them to marry several wives in preparation for all eventualities.

"All I know is that their society handled it like that. Anyway, for a noble family it was important for the married couple to become intimate and properly give birth to children."

"And that's where this magic tool, which would force the couple to become intimate, comes into play, huh? It does make sense in a way. Thou could even argue that they did well to have created such a magic tool."

"Former Duchess Philip, they're assessed as Ancient Magic Civilization exactly because they could make such sophisticated magic tools. And Countess Ishlbarg was an outstanding genius even within that highly advanced civilization."

"Umm... you refer to Therese-san as 『Former Duchess Philip』, so why do you call me, the present Associate Baroness Waigel, 『Violet Wife』?"

"So, this magic tool is—"

"—At least do me the favor of not ignoring me!"

Katharina-jou-chan, this guy has always been like that. It's too much of a pain in the ass to bother with each and every little thing he says. You should ignore his antics.

"In other words, will those two become very close if they come out of the box after a month?"

"That's how it is, 『Twintail Wife』."

"......"

Now listen... at least call them by name! You've completely shocked Katia with this!

"Isn't that kinda bad?"

"Yes, it's very dangerous."

"Really? Aren't you overthinking things too much, Katia, Lisa? It'd be an issue if they stayed there for eternity, but if it's one month, it should be no problem..."

"Ina-sama! It is a huge problem!"

Well, Roderich has been pushing around Earl-sama as he pleased to develop the Baumeister Earldom, so it's only natural for him to kick up a fuss over Earl-sama's month-long absence...

"Roderich-san, we don't have any method to get Vel out of the box, so it's not like we can do anything about it."

She's right. At present we don't have a means to get Earl-sama out of there within a month.

"So, what are you fearing to happen, Lisa, Katia?"

"Amalie-san's official position in the Baumeister House is that of a Head Maid, but isn't she actually treated like a wife just like us?" Katia asked.

"Isn't that the common consensus among everyone?"

Amalie had been saved by Earl-sama when she lost her standing as nobility after the crimes of her husband. As a kindliness such as her children becoming nobles after they grew up into adults would require a miracle, she offered herself to Earl-sama.

Nobles would come to terms with such a story due to their usual customs and styles, but it was an open secret in the Baumeister House that Earl-sama loved his sister-in-law a lot and that Amalie wasn't against loving her younger brother-in-law either.

"The idea that those would happily spend years together inside that box makes me think that it'd be better to get them out of there as soon as possible."

"Lisa-san?"

"Ina-san, please try to imagine those two after they leave the box."

"Imagine... Ah!"

Ina apparently realized Lisa's worry. And so did I.

In short, it's very likely that it'll turn out as follows:

"Vel! Why are you spending all your time with Amalie-san while not caring about us a bit anymore!?"

"Even if you tell me that... Amalie-san and I are deeply bound in body and mind, you see? Right, Amalie-san?"

"Ina-san, forgive me. Vel-kun has said that he only needs me, so..."

"Amalie-san—"

"—Here, have another serving of tea~♥"

"Ohh, it's my favorite tea in perfect brewing. Nothing less of you, Amalie-san."

"Vel... Elise and the others are all lonely as well... Look, we've been thinking that we'd want a second child soon... you might consider me as lacking modesty if I say something like that, but you haven't called any of us to your bedroom for a good while now..."

"Friedrich and the other children are growing up nicely, so there's no problem with that, is there? It's not unusual for earls to have less children than I do... besides, you don't need to fret. Amalie-san will give birth to my children."

"I'm already at an advanced age, so..."

"You're still plenty young. My mother was above forty when she gave birth to me. Besides, recently we've been going every night at it, so I'm sure you'll become pregnant soon."

"Aww, don't say such embarrassing things, Vel-kun~♥"

"Um..."

"Ina, I won't do anything as silly as divorcing my wives. That's why you can publicly conduct yourself as my wives. But, the only one I really love is Amalie-san."

"Vel-kun..."

"Ina, that's how it is."

Yeah... it's not like I've accumulated experience over my many years for show either. Still, me ending up imagining all this go down so easily is somehow saddening.

In other words, this box has the potential... to destroy the Baumeister House. So this box was a hellish magic tool that leads to very cold marital relationships.

I see. I've finally grasped why a magic tool that makes young couples love each other is referred to as 『Elopement Box』.

If two people, who have absolutely nothing to do with each other, are pulled into that box, they'll be in love with each other once they leave the box... if one or both are married, it'll eventually lead to elopement.

So it was Countess Ishlbarg's sense of humor to add a twist to things with such a naming, huh...?

"My legs have become totally numb... haven't I sat in seiza long enough...?"

"Erwin, hold out a bit longer."

In the first place, it was you who brought this thing into the mansion... Shouldn't you be glad that you can resolve this with nothing but sitting in seiza?

"(Elise and the others are probably close to flipping out, not to mention their nervousness, so be quiet and sit in seiza. That's the safest for you right now)"

"Burkhart-san, that's way too... I'll sit in seiza, no problem!"

Elise and the other wives, who could predict a future of Earl-sama loving only Amalie thanks to the box, all pressed Beckenbauer for information about the box. Their intensity, coupled with their big number, was scary enough to make even Doushi flinch away.

"Beckenbauer-san, we cannot wait for a month. Please come up with a method to get Wendelin-sama and Amalie-san out of that box at once."

"I think sometimes it's necessary to wait. Even if the box is a magic tool, it's still a precious research sample. Observing how it operates is necessary for evolving magic tools in the future, I believe. Sacrifices are essential for rese... Eeekk!?"

"Beckenbauer-san, we are asking you to get Wendelin-sama and Amalie-san out of that box as soon as possible. It is a common wish shared by all wives of Earl Baumeister. Do you understand?"

Elise and the other women were smiling, but their smiles didn't reach their eyes.

Beckenbauer, you moron! There's like no way that you'd be able to research the box under these circumstances, man! Get Earl-sama and Amalie out of there as soon as possible, and just accept the rest of the box, even if it's scraps. Even that will be plenty as research material, right?

"So, how about it? I'd like to know how it'd be possible."

"I've read that the box will be broken if you strike it powerfully, even without a month passing."

"But, wouldn't that be dangerous for Vel and Amalie-san?"

As expected of her, Ina remains composed at such times and always puts her worry over Earl-sama first.

"It's not like the other dimension is situated inside the box. Ultimately it's only connecting to the other dimension as a gateway. If the outside comes in contact with the box's inside for the slightest fraction of amount, it'll become impossible to maintain that connection and the two will be able to return to their former world, I expect. The old documents state the same."

Losing against the force of Elise's group, Beckenbauer started to spill information about the box.

In other words, you just have to physically destroy the box, huh?

"But..."

"But what?"

That might have some kind of catch, though. If things could be resolved by simply destroying the box, it wouldn't be regarded as dangerous as it has been.

"You won't be able to break the box so easily."

"Seeing how it's a wooden box, you just need to burn it with magic, no? I've understood it as Wendelin-san and Amalie-san not getting broiled up in the fire, even if we do it like that."

"At any rate, you have to destroy the box to expose the inside for it to be exposed to the outside world. No matter what method you use to destroy it, it won't have any effect on the people inside, but please remember that it's a legacy of the Ancient Magic Civilization. It's no ordinary box. It won't break from weak attacks, and since all efforts might end up becoming fruitless struggles, I'm telling you that it'd be better to wait for a month."

"Wouldn't it be unfair for only Amalie-san to be loved in such a case!? Are thee going to take responsibility, if we're going to be treated as unnecessary women?"

For even Therese-sama to go this far... you might say this or that about him, but Earl-sama is really amazing, after all. At the same time, you cannot take his bad luck lightly, seeing how he got imprisoned in a weird box by chance.

"Responsibility?"

"It's just as Therese says. Us wives should be loved equally, and hubby has been putting that in practice, too."

"Indeed. Waiting a month like this will give birth to feelings of unfairness, and it'll very likely affect our future relationship in a bad way."

"So what do you want me to do then?"

Beckenbauer, you're truly thick-headed when it counts...

"Elise, we can do it with this lineup."

"It'd be best to do away with that box, yep."

Katia-jou-chan and Lisa insisted as well. They seem completely gung-ho about breaking the box, proposing it to Elise.

"You are right. It is the highest priority to destroy the box if it is something that can be destroyed."

"But, dear wives, keeping the box intact as much as possible... as research material, and occasionally enduring as nobles for the sake of the future magic tool development..."

"(Beckenbauer, you're an utter fool!)"

That's something you should avoid saying right now the most!

"Is it not much more disadvantageous for Wendelin-sama to be locked away for a month? Lately, magic engineering has not advanced much, but the Baumeister Earldom is developing at an accelerated rate thanks to Wendelin-sama."

"You're totally right. Even if the sorcery guild were to analyze the box, the most they'd be able to gain out of it would be a magic circle to summon the underwear of other people."

"As long as Vel is around, the Baumeister Earldom will definitely develop. Even if we're told by a researcher, who can only make magic circles to summon underwear, that he's going to use the box for research..."

"In short, he's a useless dunce."

"Ughh!"

Look, now you see what you got yourself into. Aren't you getting totally trash-talked while having used past incidents against you? All of them are on the brink of possibly not being loved by Earl-sama any longer, so it'd be in your own interest to make do with the box's scraps here.

"I got it... but let me tell you in advance: you won't be able to put a single scratch on the box unless you hit it with some abnormal power. That's why I'm telling you to wait for a month."

"I cannot approve of that! For Wendelin-san and Amalie-san to happily make out together inside the box is too enviable—Anyway! It's too unfair!"

"Fairness is important. Otherwise it'll immediately become a source for friction within the family."

"Once that happens, things will become really awkward in the family and I'd totally hate that."

"Many noble houses have such issues. And it's the nice part of the Baumeister House to have been exempted from this thus far."

"So, are you still going to tell us to wait for a month, Beckenbauer-san?"

"...I don't mind either way, but... my magic won't be enough to even scratch that thing. After all, it's a masterpiece of the famous Countess Ishlbarg."

He must have gotten cold feet from Elise's smile. At last, Beckenbauer has agreed with the destruction of the box.

"So it needs high offensive power, you say...? I am specialized in healing magic, so I will not be of much assistance here. Though I would not mind using 『Overheal』 if it is useful in this situation..."

"This box is made out of wood, but it's not wood of a 『tree』. It won't have any effect."

For heaven's sake, Beckenbauer, please don't be so blunt about everything. Show some moderation.

"In that case, how about the 『Mobile Sorcery Armor』 of my dear Uncle?"

"Me? So finally my turn has come!"

Even though a fairly serious discussion had been going on so far, Doushi had been stuffing his cheeks with the sweets and washing it all down with tea, but it looked like he had expected for his turn to come from the very start.

He stood up straight, and went out to the garden while carrying the box.

"Doushi?"

"I need a spot with lots of space! I will split this box in two by hitting it with all my might!"

"I'd really like you to avoid splitting it in halves, if possible... considering it as a research object..."

Beckenbauer, just give up on it. In the first place, this box isn't your property anyway, right...?

"Very well, I will go to Baulburg's outskirts! The next time you see me, this box will be split in two!"

"Nothing less of you, dear Uncle."

"Leave it to me, Elise!"

Leaving those words behind, Doushi flew off to Baulburg's outskirts　with 『High-Speed Flight』.

"It should be alright if it's Doushi."

"He might be the strongest in the world when it comes to offensive abilities."

While seeing off Doushi, Ina and Luise revealed relief on their faces.

But you know... I've really got a bad feeling about this based on my intuition as a veteran... Though it'd be great if it's just my imagination.

* * *

"N-No way... Unbelievable..."

"Uncle?"

"I am already out of mana... but I only managed to scratch the box a bit!"

"Eeeeeeehh!? Even someone as strong as you, Doushi!?"

"You can see a scratch and some scorching on the box."

"Is this really made out of wood?"

◆

My bad premonition came true. As soon as we headed over to the outskirts at great haste, we found Doushi lying sprawled in the grassland, panting heavily while having already canceled his 『Mobile Sorcery Armor』 because he ran out of mana.

And the box in question only had a little scratch. Given that it had some burned parts as well, he must have tried using a fire pillar spell on it as well.

"Even Doushi-sama was only able to damage the box with such a little scratch. What a terrifying magic tool."

Naturally, seeing how Doushi, whose mana is on par with Earl-sama's, continued to attack the box until he had no mana left. It's no wonder for Katharina-jou-chan to be surprised.

"Oooh! Isn't this magnificent!? It's just as the ancient documents write! If I research this box, I might be able to create a magic tool with a durability exceeding metal by far while using wood! How wonderful... Ahem."

Just Beckenbauer alone was unable to read the mood and danced around in joy after confirming the box's sturdiness, but he immediately fell silent after feeling the stares of Elise and the others on himself.

"Elise-san, what are we going to do about this?"

"Even though it is no more than a small scratch, it is still a first step towards saving Wendelin-sama. As long as we manage to enlarge that scratch, it should lead to a hole which will connect the interior with the outside."

"That makes sense! Alright!"

"We'll need precise attacks! I'll also have a go at it!"

"I'm really good at this." Katia joined in.

"One slash with my battleax," Wilma chimed in.

"It'd be best to widen the scratch with a very dense 『Wind Cutter』 instead of using fire magic."

"Hmm, I think thine idea is feasible, Lisa. I'll do my best as well."

Afterwards, under the command of Elise, Ina-jou-chan widened the scratch with a blow of her spear after charging it with mana, Luise-jou-chan used gloves with claws for a change, Wilma swung her battleax down on the box's scratch, Katia used her twin swords, and Lisa, Therese, and Katharina showered the scratch with powerful 『Wind Cutters』.

"I'll definitely help out with the magic taught to us by Sensei!"

"Focus... focus..."

"If I succeed in rescuing Sensei... Ehehe..."

Agnes-jou-chan, Betty-jou-chan, and Cindy-jou-chan sure are gung-ho about this... but it was in vain...

The total amount of mana slapped against the box should have been more than enough to easily eradicate a small town, but the scratch only widened a bit while also becoming slightly deeper. That thing is terribly tough, seriously.

"It's almost as if you're fighting against the bond between Earl Baumeister-dono and the woman called Amalie... at this rate, you'll need to do your best for one more week."

"""""""""""......"""""""""""

It seems possible to break the box, but I guess it'll take around that much time after all. Or rather, Beckenbauer, can't you shut your trap until this whole matter has been resolved!?

* * *

"Do thee, Wendelin von Benno Baumeister, swear to love thine wife Amalie for the rest of thine life?"

"Yes, I swear."

"Do thee, Amalie, swear to love thine husband Wendelin von Benno Baumeister for the rest of thine life?"

"Yes, I swear."

"Then please seal the vow with a kiss."

On the day I turned fifteen years old, I held my wedding with Amalie-san in the Baumeister Knightdom's church. Almost all of the fief's population had gathered on this day to celebrate the wedding with us.

It's good that I had gathered lots of prey and food in advance for the after-party. I also distilled great quantities of liquor with my magic. Magis sure is handy to have for times like these.

At the moment, my relatives and the village's women were preparing all the food I had gathered in preparation to treat everyone to a feast. Even though the possibility of enjoying a feast certainly plays a role as well, I think the people are celebrating our wedding from the bottom of their hearts.

"Milord, Amalie-sama, congratulations on your marriage. I have been allowed to extend the celebratory greetings as representative of all residents."

"Thanks, Klaus."

"Thank you, Klaus-san."

In reality, there's quite an age gap between Amalie-san and me, so I thought that Klaus would oppose the marriage as a realist, but while looking at Amalie-san's belly, his face is beaming with heartfelt happiness.

"It looks like the Knight Baumeister House's heir is going to be born very soon. As a realist, I welcome this marriage very much."

What a strange way to put it. Amalie-san and I entered this kind of relationship before I became fifteen years old and before we got officially married, so you could call it a shotgun wedding, but Klaus blessed us the most despite having a character which would make it very likely for him to nitpick about it.

It appears like he doesn't see much of a problem with her getting pregnant before the marriage in comparison to the fact of the birth of an heir.

I see. Klaus is more pragmatic than anyone else in this place.

"Amalie-sama, I would love to see you give birth to heaps of children. Otherwise, I will be forced to recommend other women to His Lordship due to my position..."

"It's okay. I'll keep giving birth."

Even if he's mentioning other women... I'm not really interested. I'll be fine as long as I can lead a peaceful, happy life with Amalie-san alone.

"As a matter of fact, Margrave Breithilde-sama is not as gentle as he may seem either. It will be a bad idea to show him any openings."

At the end of Klaus's line of sight stood two girls. Because of the knightdom's geographical locations, it was difficult for other nobles to participate in wedding ceremonies held over here. And yet Margrave Breithilde sent the daughters of his vassals, who are said to be adventurers, as his representatives. They're called Ina and Luise.

"That's his intention?"

"Since they are his vassals' daughters and adventurers, it might be just right for them to live in the Baumeister Knightdom. After all, a noble daughter with strangely high pride would find it hard to live in a place like this."

So that's why his vassals' daughters who can also work as adventurers, huh?

"Because they are his vassals' daughters, their standing would be lower than that of Amalie-sama. I suspect Margrave Breithilde-sama believes it to be also okay for you to usher them in even as concubines."

"Hmmm, does it really matter?"

"Then I think it would be wise to pretend you have not realized anything. Just as I said earlier, I would be delighted if you two could give birth to many children."

"That side's okay. Right, Amalie-san?"

"I shall do my best."

I feel sorry for those two girls, but since I have Amalie-san, I don't need any other women. I'd be happy if they could do me the favor of going back to Breitburg after enjoying the party.

* * *

"..."

"Umm... Ina-... san. Those aren't the true feelings of Earl-sama and Amalie. This whole situation and their thoughts are completely manipulated by magic tool's functions."

"...Yaaaay, Ina and I finally made an appearance..."

"Luise, you don't need to force yourself to act cheerful."

"Aren't we still better off as we've at least met Vel inside the box's world?"

"What's going to happen to us? In that world, that is." Katia asked.

It would take time to destroy the box. And since we used up our mana today, we returned to the mansion for the moment. That fool of a Beckenbauer couldn't read the atmosphere as always, prattling about being able to research the box since it still hasn't been destroyed, and connected it to the crystal ball. Once we took a peek, a lot of time had passed in the box's world.

After becoming an adult, Earl-sama had a wedding ceremony with Amalie while receiving the heartfelt blessings of the knightdom's residents. Ina and Luise finally showed up as representatives of Margrave Breithilde, but Earl-sama didn't fall in love with either.

It's terrible to watch, but in the end it was bound to happen like this because of the box's function. Since it'd be a pain if the two went berserk after forgetting that part, I did my utmost to soothe both of them.

"I see. A similar world was created in another dimension while using the memories of the two captives as reference. Countess Ishlbarg is nothing short of a genius. Even I can't best her."

I've known this guy for a long time now, but his deafness in regard to reading the mood as a research nerd is the real deal for sure.

Elise and the other women are... scary as fuck!

Not noticing that... or deliberately pretending to not realize it... Beckenbauer, you're a genuine retard!

"Umm... my legs already feel dead at this poi... No, forget that I said something..."

Well, you're the criminal who brought this cursed box to Earl-sama, so yeah. At the very least I can't tell you much more than hold out for a bit longer.

"Will I also appear in the world of the box?"

"Probably not. I mean, Vel won't go to the capital in that world."

"Figures. Even Ina-chan and I were brushed off like that..."

Ultimately, the world inside the box is an illusion, but Earl-sama impregnated Amalie and married her inside the knightdom. Since he won't stay in the capital except for the peerage succession ceremony, it's very likely that he won't meet Elise.

"Everyone, we must destroy this box as quickly as possible."

"I agree!"

"Me too!"

"Of course."

"In the end, the world inside that box is no more than a dream. I think it'd be best to quickly wake them up."

"That damned Amalie is looking so happy. How enviable..."

"Living a carefree life as love partners in a rural noble fief is a dream high-ranking nobles often see, isn't it?"

"But, a dream still remains a dream. We'll have hubby return to reality."

Everyone was smiling, acting calm, and such, but that's actually scary instead. If this dream continues for a month like this, it looks quite likely that Earl-sama won't love anyone other than Amalie even if he leaves that box.

That damn Countess Ishlbarg has created an extremely cursed tool.

"Since it is as you can see, let us go to sleep early tonight to recover our mana."

"I want to drink liquor tonight! And about tomorrow and the days after: I have other things planned!"

"All your plans are cancelled. Tonight I shall brew you a nice herb tea that might suit your taste, dear Uncle. No, it should be very much to your liking, I am sure. Certainly you are not going to tell me that you are unhappy about that, right?"

"...I-I shall work hard until we can get Earl Baumeister out of the box!"

"As expected of you, dear Uncle. How very compassionate of you."

For her to frighten even Doushi to such an extent... Elise must have snapped quite a bit this time.

"Burkhart-san, please take care of dropping us off, okay?"

"Okay..."

My job is to send everyone back home as they've expended all their mana. Would it be better to refuse that job? Even Doushi couldn't talk back to Elise after seeing her smile that never reached her eyes. You think I'd be able to refuse here?

No, absolutely not! Something like that is too frightening!

The balance of the relationship between Earl-sama's wives breaking apart because of the box would be way worse than a monster attack.

Milord, I won't be able to return to Breitburg for a while. Once I get back, I'll work without rest... no rest, huh...? Shit! Can't that shitty box break right away!?

* * *

"Amalie-san, what about Friedrich?"

"Since he's sleeping properly, I've entrusted his care-taking to the maids."

"Every once in a while that isn't a bad idea either, is it?"

"Yes."

Time passed slowly in a noble territory out in the countryside.

After I married Amalie-san, Friedrich, my heir, was born, triggering Klaus and the residents to exaggeratedly congratulate us, saying things like, 『The stability of the Baumeister Knightdom has been secured with this!』.

I came to a patch of grassland inside my territory with Amalie-san to enjoy a picnic for today's holiday. Given that Friedrich was still a baby, he had to stay back home for today.

We'll bring him here once he grows a bit bigger.

After eating the bento Amalie-san had prepared for us, I had her give me a lap pillow. Because I was busy hunting and developing the territory every day, it wasn't bad to spend time so leisurely every once in a while.

Doing things like this might not be very aristocratic, but we're in a rural fief located at the southern border. This place has no people who'd find fault with each and every little thing we do.

"Vel-kun, you're working so much every day."

"True. But, it's not that taxing."

We've been extending the territory so that all the residents, who wanted fields, could be reliably provided with one. As you could definitely receive a field if you came to the Baumeister Knightdom, many people crossed the Greater League Mountains to immigrate, which likewise pulled over merchants and craftsmen aiming to make money off those immigrants.

It'd be endless if I were to aim for new heights and goals, but I didn't really plan to do so. I'm going to spend my life like this, without having any purpose in particular, and once Friedrich grows up, he'll inherit the fief, securing its continued existence.

Won't it be just fine like this?

"The lap pillow is comfortable. Amalie-san, your lap is nicely soft."

"Is it? I feel like my legs have become rather tough after starting to live here. I have to walk a lot after all."

We're in the countryside... and on top of that, this world doesn't have cars or anything like that. Amalie-san is saying that her body got tough and muscular as she was walking around a lot every day, but it doesn't really feel like that to me.

"I like to rest my head on your lap."

"I see. Then I'll let you do so until the sun goes down."

"Thanks."

"No, don't mention it."

The time spent alone by us two gently flowed along.

I'm sure this is what you call happiness.

* * *

"""""""""""......"""""""""""

"Earl Baumeister-dono sure seems to like stories like they're often being read at the capital's bookstores. Since he's probably experiencing a lot of stress under normal circumstances, his idea of a slow life has taken shape in—Ahem. I must record the data..."

"""""""""""Aaah?"""""""""""

"What's wrong everyone? This is a dream world, a fiction. I'm telling you that it's no more than an imaginary world created by referencing Earl Baumeister-dono and Amalie's memories. Calm down a bit, will you?"

Beckenbauer, I beg you, can't you shut your trap?

Or rather, I'd like you to finally give it a rest with the connection of the box and the crystal ball, showing the moving pictures of the imaginary world to Elise and the other girls. I know that you can't read the mood, but don't you feel the prickling bloodlust seeping out of the girls everyday?

...No, even if he's aware of it, he's probably prioritizing his research anyway.

"Sensei looks like he's having a blast..."

"Sensei and us won't meet in that world, will we?"

"I hate that! Sensei, we're going to save you at any cost!"

This box is quite troublesome. In spite of holding a huge destruction rally every day under the command of Elise and with Doushi participating, the box remains only getting burned a bit and having its scratch widened. At a glance, it looks like simple wood fragments have been joined together, but in reality it's absurdly tough. I really have no clue whatsoever how this item of Countess Ishlbarg works.

"Really, I hate how the mood is down in the dumps."

"We must make the one responsible for this feel the full extent of his failure."

As if in response to Ina and Luise's statements, everyone's eyes simultaneously zoomed in on Erwin.

Certainly, it's been Ervin who has brought this box into the mansion... Because of that, you could also say that this guy here is affected as well. Roderich's mood is really bad as he can't have Earl-sama work on public construction. Moreover, Roderich hasn't asked Katharina, Lisa, Therese-sama, or the little girls to handle the work instead. That guy's wisdom, or rather, drive to protect himself excels in such matters as well. After all, he'd experience a terrible time if he were to mention anything like that right now.

"Elise, what should we do?"

"I believe the fastest approach to have the box's interior come in contact with the outside world would be to widen the scratch created by my dear Uncle's 『Mobile Sorcery Armor』."

Not a single person opposed this... in all honesty, her eyes not laughing at all is seriously scary... Something like objecting here would be equal to a death wish, I feel.

The other wives were also expressionless as they watched the images displayed on the crystal ball which that moron used under the pretense of collecting data for his research. Since Earl-sama and Amalie were flirting all by themselves, the mood of everyone was extremely bad.

If I imagine how this relationship between the two continued outside as well...

"Erwin! Put all your might into it and keep swinging your sword at the box!"

"Ehh? Why?"

"(Show some sincerity!)"

You're in real danger right now. If Earl-sama starts to only favor Amalie after coming out of the box as an effect of that imaginary world... In the worst case, you'll lose your place in the Baumeister House.

Now that it has come to this, we have to destroy the box as fast as possible to lower the effect of the box as much as possible.

"(An orichalcum sword might be able to destroy the box. Swing your sword at it, using all your power! Anyway, destroy the box!)"

"(Gotcha) Uooooo!! Yaaaaaa!!"

He apparently understood my explanation. Erwin secured the box on the ground after turning it so that the side with the scratch would point upwards, and began to single-mindedly swing his sword at the box.

"I feel like a bit got chipped away."

"Erwin-san, please do your best!"

"Eru, this is the moment when you got to man up!"

"Go, Eru!"

"Do your best."

"Swing your sword full of motivation!"

"It's an impossible feat for my two blades, so show us your power."

"Lisa, how is it going?"

"Because it's a sword made out of orichalcum, it does have an effect. But, while that might be true, it's chipping away only very small fragments..."

Accompanied by the women's cheering, Erwin slashed his sword at the box's cut over and over again, using all his power. It was just a bit, but I felt like the cut widened and deepened...

Only this much when using an orichalcum sword, huh...?

"Yep, this is going to take quite some time."

"Haa... haa... haa... haa... I can't swing my sword any more."

"Eru-san, please take a short break."

"Thanks, Elise."

"Keep it short, however." added Elise while passing tea to Erwin.

"Yes!"

Right now Erwin won't be allowed any slack. So he has no choice but to earnestly swing his sword at the box in order to extend the cut. Well, it's not like he can't stop, but if it was me, I'd be too scared to do that.

"Uughh... Let's go, Betty, Cindy!"

"Sensei! Your cute pupils are going to rescue you, so wait for us!"

"We're going to surround the box from three sides and attack it simultaneously!"

While Erwin was taking a break to catch a breath, Agnes, Betty, and Cindy surrounded the box and launched their magic at full force.

"""『Triangle Wind Cutter』!"""

Many scratches were added to the box by the huge wind blades they created, but unfortunately all of them were too shallow and wouldn't be of any help in rescuing Earl-sama. It was pointless if they didn't deepen the existing cut by hitting all wind blades at the same place, but the trio still didn't possess the technical finesse to pull off something like that.

"Even though I got my hands on such a wonderful research object at last... ah, it's nothing."

Beckenbauer... read the mood, will you...!?

"We must do this together with all our power!"

"It's going to be great magic training, too."

Ina stabbed her spear, which she clad in flames, and Luise punched the box while pouring mana in her gloves all day long. Wilma tried to cut the box apart with her big battleax and Katia tried to enlarge the existing cut with her two rapiers. Katharina, Therese, and Lisa... hurled their magic at it with the intent to destroy it, but the day ended with the cut being widened and deepened a bit more.

"Even after getting repeatedly hit by my 『Mobile Sorcery Armor』, the damage only amounts to this much..."

"13,355th—! 13,356th—! No more... the muscles all over my body... I can't put any strength into them anymore...... I'll do my best!"

Especially Erwin put in a lot of effort, but at this point it's nothing that can be somehow handled within a few days. Erwin has been swinging his sword to the extent of feeling muscle pain as he's frightened of Elise and the other women, but he hasn't achieved the goal of opening up a hole in the box at all.

"It's riddled with scratches, but I'm happy to see that the box is alright. After all, it's a precious research object. I did tell you that it'd be best to obediently wait for a month."

Beckenbauer, if you don't want to die, you should never say that again. You're really dense to no end.

* * *

"The number of fish has increased, but I can't handle these earthworms."

"I'll add them to the hook, Amalie-san."

"Ah, I got a bite!"

"Amalie-san, you're really good at angling, aren't you?"

"Sheesh, give it a rest and call me 『Amalie』 already, will you?"

"This is just a habit, you see? Usually I'm properly calling you 『Amalie』."

"You're really incorrigible, younger brother-in-law-kun."

◆

"Vel-kun, look."

"They've bloomed so prettily."

"Flowers are truly wonderful. In the past I didn't have the leeway to plant any as the kitchen garden took priority."

"Ah, now that you mention it. Next time we'll buy seeds or seedlings of rare flowers in Breitburg."

◆

"Buying me such expensive clothes... I'd have been okay with something cheaper, you know?"

"Recently the fief's development is proceeding well and we've got some financial leeway, so it's no problem."

"Thanks, Vel-kun."

"Breitburg sure is a huge city, isn't it?"

"Well, it belongs to the patron of many nobles who's the leader of Helmut Kingdom's south."

"What should we do about the presents for the children?"

* * *

One week after Earl-sama and Amalie got locked up inside the box.

The two have been living happily inside the box's world. The development of the Baumeister Knightdom is proceeding well... though that's only natural since he can use magic... Besides, since it's the story of an imaginary world... he's made many children with Amalie by now.

Occasionally Earl-sama heads out to Breitburg on business, but mostly he's enjoying his life as lord of a rural fief. During his days-off, he goes on a picnic with his family or gathers produce in the forest. And as he also takes good care of his quality time with his wife, they've been having fun with gardening or going fishing. The two are the very picture of a close married couple and seem to be very happy.

"I see. This is quite the magic tool. In spite of having such a broad range of functions, it's said that the noble houses of the Ancient Magic Civilization often went extinct, to be afterwards replaced by excellent commoners as new nobility. It seems the same also applied to Countess Ishlbarg.

"Difficulties surely exist in all ages. So, when will we be able to destroy the box?"

"You have continued to attack the box with Doushi's 『Mobile Sorcery Armor』 for a whole week, and yet the box is still working. I think it'll be impossible to destroy it."

"What about your forecast of it requiring one week?"

"Forecasts are often wrong in the world of research."

"Is that anything you should brag about!?"

Beckenbauer, who has been watching the imaginary world in the name of research, answered my questions.

Certainly, the box is covered with scratches and burns by now, and there's one fairly deep cut among them, but it's been operating without any particular problems.

"The two do look happy, but is there really any benefit for the magic tool research to be based on watching the daily life of a married couple that's so happy that it makes anyone watching feel an itch?"

"I'll only know if the gathered data will be of any use when the right time comes. You're definitely not suited to be a researcher, Burkhart."

"That's why I became an adventurer, no?"

Spending my days in the basement of the sorcery guild while doing research doesn't fit with my character.

"Anyway, enough about that. The mood of Elise and the other girls..."

They've been shown how Earl-sama and Amalie get along aaaaall the time... You've told them that they don't need to come and watch it, but since you're watching the two in your crystal ball...

Anyway, the mood of Earl-sama's wives, including Agnes and the other two, is the worst. All the servants of the Baumeister House stay clear of them, except for the times when they have errands to run. You can truly call it a huge crisis for the Baumeister House.

"Beckenbauer-san, I am going to borrow the box."

"Here you go."

For the last few days, Elise has come to borrow the box every morning. And the plan to destroy it in the outskirts of Beulburg has transformed into a daily habit.

It looks like the residents of Baulburg are gossiping about some large-scale construction work in the outskirts because of the loud explosions of magic. Well, this territory has been developed thanks to the magic of Earl-sama and his family. It's not all that weird for people to misunderstand it in such a way.

"Uooooo! I am putting all my might into this blow!"

Today, just like every day before, begins with Doushi launching a full-power attack. Because of Elise's scariness, Doushi has been focusing on the destruction of the box without drinking a drop of booze. For him to not drink any alcohol for a week... things are very grave indeed.

However, even with Doushi using his 『Mobile Sorcery Armor』, the progress is negligible.

"Uooryaaa!"

"Here I come!"

"Today for sure!"

Next Erwin, Ina, and Luise attacked the box with their respective weapons.

"It's quite tough today as well."

"Wilma-san, the softness does not change by the day."

"Figures. Rather, if the box has days of softness, I'd like it to at least tell us."

Wilma used her battleax, Katharina her converged 『Wind Cutter』, and Katia her two rapiers to hit the box. Even though they widened the box's cut, they didn't quite manage to reach all the way inside the box.

"Now that it has come to this, 『Inferno』!"

"Extreme blizzard 『Deadly Cold Wave』!"

First Therese engulfed the box in scorching hot flames, and then Lisa immediately covered the box with a spell of intense freezing. They tried to weaken the box's integral structure by exposing it to a drastic change in temperature over a very short time, but Countess Ishlbarg's work remained completely unfazed.

"Sensei! We haven't been able to see you for a whole week!"

"It's unfair to spend all your time with Amalie-san!"

"Breaaaakkkkkk!"

The pupil trio also launched magic in succession, but as always, the box stayed unperturbed.

Of course the number of burns and scratches had increased, but I believe everyone understood during this week that those wouldn't lead to Earl-sama's release.

"So hard!"

"Maybe, we're, like, still lacking training?"

"I'm already out of mana."

With the attacks by the three girls, today's attack on the box came to an end. Because everyone had been unleashing their magic against the box at full power, they became quite skilled during the last seven days, but the box displayed a sturdiness that seemed to sneer at their efforts.

"Maybe we have no choice but to wait for a month at this rate?"

"Even I don't just observe the world inside the box by reflecting it on the crystal ball every day. I've been properly researching ways to open this box. But, it's extremely difficult."

"So there's a method to open it."

"Of course. You can make the sides of the box slide like this, but there exists an almost infinite amount of possibilities on the order and level of sliding. It's a fatal flaw that we don't have the instructions telling us how to do it."

"So there's even something like written instructions."

"From the beginning, this is a magic tool with a clear intended use, so it's only logical. Obviously it'd be equipped with a way to open it in case of emergencies."

However, this box had been excavated from a ruin, and thus its instructions were missing, resulting in our current suffering on how to rescue Earl-sama and Amalie.

"Sliding the box's sides... Oh, it's true! This moves!"

Luise was surprised by its design as she actually made the box's sides slide. Thanks to that function, Earl-sama and Amalie got locked up inside the box because they coincidentally opened it, but... even though she had attacked the box with her Magic Combat Style at full throttle all the time, she didn't notice this feature?

"It won't open even if you slide the sides, huh?"

"We wouldn't be in such a bind if you could open the box by making any of the sides slides, would we? The box has six sides, so if it requires two steps, you're facing 36 possibilities, if it requires three steps, you're facing 216 possibilities, and if it requires four steps, you're already facing 1296 possibilities. Most likely it shouldn't open unless you perform at least ten steps..."

Since you have to pass the 6 possibilities more than ten times, it'll be at least six by the power of 10, huh...? Moreover, since you can't check whether you've slided the correct sides in the correct order by yourself, you must carry out all combinations in order. A month would be anything but enough for doing that. Moreover, we know that you need to do more than ten steps, but it's still not clear how many steps are required.

Beckenbauer saying that 『we have no choice but to wait for a month』 follows a logic in a certain sense, I suppose.

"Is that so...?"

Speaking of the possibility to open the box through its regular opening procedure if destroying the box is too difficult, the chance for success is extremely low.

Having understood that, Elise finally stopped her scary smile that never reached her eyes.

"Another three weeks..."

"Just how much time is going to pass inside the box?"

"Moreover, the two will be lovey-dovey all the time. That's already leaps and bounds beyond being dangerous!"

"Vel-sama might start to have only eyes for Amalie-san."

"Even after realizing that it was a dream once he leaves the box, the relationship between the two will already be... right?"

"Shouldn't thee grope for solutions on how to open this box instead of observing what's going on inside, as researcher of the sorcery guild? Didn't thee understand just how much support thee received from Wendelin?"

"Aahhhhhh! Break it already, will you, Beckenbauer-san!"

"As can be expected, with my mana... destroying a magic tool made by Countess Ishlbarg..."

"Won't we be unable to become Sensei's wifes at this rate?"

"Eehhhh! I don't want thaaaat!"

"Aahhhh, sheesh, if only I could get into the box!"

Elise, Agnes, and all the others couldn't do much more than lament at the current situation which they couldn't change at this point. And even as they were bickering, Beckenbauer continued watching the life of Earl-sama and Amalie with an innocent look while recording everything.

This guy is a genuine researcher, really.

"Even though it'd be no problem if you wait for a month since the two will come out at that point... look, you can slide the six sides of the box like this, but if you make a single mistake, you have to do it all over again. You don't know whether moving a certain side was correct or wrong either. Opening the box through the regular procedure under these circumstances would be close to a miracle. I'm a researcher, so I naturally follow logical theories. Even if you become all emotional here, it can't be helped, can it?"

"""""""""""......"""""""""""

Elise and the others quiet down upon hearing Beckenbauer's just reasoning.

"It's fine as long as you understand. This box won't open that easily. In reality, I've been continuing to randomly slide the sides, but in the first place, this combination isn't corr—"

—As Beckenbauer randomly moved the sides around while admonishing Elise and the others, pure-white smoke suddenly enveloped the box.

Once it cleared up, it revealed Earl-sama and Amalie-san, fallen on their backsides.

"Huh? I was with Amalie-san... Ah! It was all a dream!?"

"Looks like it. But why did something like that happen?"

It looks like Beckenbauer ended up opening the box through yet another freak chance. Even though his research is usually weird at best, only limited to times like this... it's really so typical of this guy.

"Dear?"

"It appears I had a long dream, but did the box cause this?"

"Forgive me, Vel-kun. Because I carelessly played around with the box..."

"You aren't at fault, Amalie-san. After all, I'd have likely fiddled around with the box even if you hadn't touched it at all. Besides, it wasn't a bad dream either."

"You got a point there. But, in the end it led to the same outcome, huh?"

"Putting it like that, you're right, I think."

Certainly, I suppose Earl-sama has extensively expanded his fief with magic in the real world and the box's imaginary world. This box is truly a well-made magic tool.

"Earl Baumeister-dono."

"Beckenbauer-san? What's wrong?"

"Going by my analysis of the box, this whole situation has been a moratorium given to you by God, telling you that you should occasionally forget about worldly matters and enjoy a dream."

"You believe in God, Beckenbauer-san?"

"Just a bit. There are moments when I feel like praying to God. Well, although it might have been a coincidence, I, who opened this box, might be a genius, though not at Countess Ishlbarg's level, mind you. Isn't that great for you, Earl Baumeister-dono's wives?"

"""""""""""......"""""""""""

"Is something the matter?"

Yep, I've fully understood now. Beckenbauer is an idiot in regards to everything that has nothing to do with magic research. Moreover, an extraordinary one at that.

Beckenbauer bears absolutely no responsibility for this incident. And yet he's drawn the full anger of Elise and the others on himself thanks to his way of talking and acting.

Once I took a quick look, Erwin had already disappeared. He had quickly fled the scene to not get dragged into the carnage of Elise and the others while thanking Beckenbauer for willingly volunteering to take the brunt of it.

Doushi is gone as well, huh...? Well, Doushi has always been that kind of guy.

"I've heard about it only recently, but it sounds like Mizuho has a proverb stating, 『Adversity strengthens the foundation』. Thanks to this incident, Elise-dono and the other wives will deepen their bond with Earl Baumeister-dono, and Amalie-dono managed to become much closer to Earl Baumeister-dono, too. Isn't this box a wonderful item? Alright, I'll do my utmost to make a reproduction of this possible. I'll strive for it as much as my magic crest research."

"Have you finished saying everything you wanted to say with this?"

"I must analyze all the data I gathered as quickly as possible. That's all."

Just now I felt like a freezing wind blew through Baulburg which has been somewhat hot these days. If I stay here any longer, my life will be in danger as well. Let's get out of here at once.

* * *

"Burkhart, I feel like this world is completely irrational."

"Well, the trick for a successful life is to skilfully avoid that irrationality."

When I went to the sorcery guild for business the next day, a great amount of red hand prints adorned Beckenbauer's cheeks, but I intentionally pretended to not notice any of them.

* * *

"..."

"What's up, Vel?"

"I've hunted monsters with everyone after a long time, but..."

◆

I was locked up inside a box, said to have been created by Countess Ishlbarg, for a week due to an unexpected accident, but the world inside that box wasn't all that bad. The instant I came out of the box, I comprehended that it all had been a dream, but I agree with Amalie-san's assessment of it 『not having been bad』.

Did our relationship grow deeper? Who knows?

My relationship with her has been very good even before that. I don't think it has changed much, regardless of the box. Amalie-san said the same as well.

After the incident, I've gone out hunting monsters with everyone, as a form of apology.

"I feel like Elise, who doesn't even fight, has raised her mana, but... haven't all of you become stronger?"

"Yeah, it's because they trained by taking on that sturdy box..."

Just what is that Eru saying? There's no way that such a small box, which can't even move about, would be any good as a training partner, is there?

"Mothers sure are tough. They aren't here today, but it looks like Agnes, Betty, and Cindy have also absorbed most of my teachings. I'm looking forward to their future."

"Man... in a certain sense, you really become a goof when you feel great."

"Haah? I'm not really goofy or anything, dude. Though it's not like I'm claiming to be a shrewd guy either."

Just as I wondered what Eru was suddenly talking about... Come to think of it, Amalie-san mentioned that she wants another child, so I must think about it soon. After all, Amalie-san and I are on very intimate terms.

Chapter 05: Zoo and Ranch

"Zoo? What's that?"

"You don't know, Eru? It's a facility where you can watch animals being raised. It's great to teach the children about other living beings."

"I see... as always, I don't have a clue where you obtained that information, though..."

"If it's animals that don't inhabit the Baumeister Earldom, people will come to watch them out of curiosity, I expect. What do you think, Elise?"

"There exists a certain number of nobles who keep animals as individuals. I think it is mostly dogs, cats, birds, and so on, but some of them also keep rare animals, showing those off to those sharing their hobby."

"How is that any different from showing off expensive jewelry or clothes?"

"Isn't it fine? Vel wants, as their Dad, Friedrich and the others enjoy themselves, once they grow up big enough to understand what's going on around them."

"Yep! That's it! It's just as you say, Ina!"

I'm a noble. And moreover an Earl. If I feel like giving my children expensive toys, I can give them as many as I want. But, will I be able to call myself a good father for Friedrich and my other children when I merely give them expensive toys?

Money isn't all that matters. I want to give my children something different, something wonderful they'll always remember.

The idea that struck me at that point was building a zoo.

If I go there with my children on my days off after they've grown big... Oohhh! Just imagining that scene gives me the impression that I might be seen as a great father!

Also, if I build a zoo in Baulburg, I'm sure more visitors will come to the city, which will help the economy in return. If possible, having an aquarium would be nice too, but since that one will take time and effort, I'll go with a zoo first, and check how it's being received.

"So, with that out of the way, does the Baumeister Earldom have any people that would be capable of running a zoo?"

"You basically mean people whose home buys animals as a hobby, and those helping out at such places, right?"

"That would be the idea, yeah."

Is there anyone who likes animals? If possible, I'd like such people to also help. Forcing people, who hate animals, to raise those very same animals will be quite hard, and they might be unable to decently raise animals in the first place.

"It might be good to put someone, who's familiar with animals from his family, in charge, and install some experienced animal care-takers at their side."

Having said that, this world doesn't have overly many people who engage in animal care-taking. It could prove to be difficult to hire people like that. In that case, I guess we'll have to rely on animal lovers who have bought and raised many animals at their family's home.

"That means that facility called 『Zoo』 should be put into practice soon before Friedrich and the others grow up?"

"Roderich, your and the other retainers' children are going to rejoice as well. Children love animals, after all."

"Now that you mention it, my children always try to stroke dogs and cats whenever they spot them."

"Such things are good for children to learn about the world around them."

"I understand. Then I shall select candidates from among our retainers at once. After all, we will be able to entrust the rest to the one chosen as the one in charge."

This led to a zoo being built in Baulburg, following yet another of my ideas. And it became the trigger for me to get acquainted with that very peculiar guy.

* * *

"Milord, as it is planned to build something called a zoo in Baulburg, I have been kindly nominated as the one in charge of the endeavor. I, Bruck Mutz von Hoffen, feel that this duty is my calling in life! I cannot express just how grateful I am!"

"...It's great to see that you're so motivated. Do your best, okay?"

Roderich immediately brought the one, who would be in charge of the zoo project, in front of me.

He seemed to be around twenty years old. In particular I could sense something similar to elegance from him because of his noble birth, although it wasn't as if he was handsome by any standard. However, for some reason, this young man wore clothes similar to tattered patchwork.

He seemed to be extremely delighted over having been chosen to be responsible for the zoo project as became clear from him exaggeratedly thanking me with a face full of happiness.

"The Viscount Hoffen House, Bruck's home, has loved keeping animals for many generations. They also made some ground-breaking achievements in that area such as discovering new methods of raising animals. Moreover, Bruck has been working for the Baumeister House as a horse veterinarian."

"Hoh, I see."

Horses were very valuable means of transportation for nobles, and at the same time partners whom you'd entrust your life to in times of emergency. The Baumeister House owned many horses, and naturally, we also had veterinarians taking care of their health.

Then again, they should rather be called horse doctors than veterinarians since they do medical examinations for other animals just as an extra. Though it sounds like some of them take care of the dogs and cats kept by nobles as part time jobs, just to end up becoming specialists in that area.

"The Hoffen House has been producing generations of veterinarians. Them loving animals is a given, but they also keep various animals for the sake of their work."

"I see. That does make sense."

"In the beginning, their ancestors had trouble raising animals, which no one had kept before them, and they kept getting injured during their work, or so they say. I heard someone even died in the past after challenging the raising of a bear and failing at it."

"(That's really incredible, don't you think Vel?)"

"(No doubt...)"

Usually, you wouldn't dare to try raising a bear. I wonder if it's something similar to karma for the Viscount Hoffen family?

"Thanks to that, our family can nowadays raise many animals normal people can't keep such as bears, wild boars, or wolves."

"That sounds very promising."

I dubbed it a zoo, but I had planned to start out with animals like cats or rabbits, and then slowly increase the types from there, but if we leave it to Bruck, it looks like it's going to become a fairly genuine zoo.

"I might also enjoy it if I could become friends with bears or wolves."

"Umm... Erwin-san, Milord, it's impossible for you."

"Ehh? Why?"

"It's because we've been hunting."

"Yep, I guess it's out of the question if you're actively hunting."

"Vel, why is that so?"

"You think animals could get all friendly with people who killed their kin?"

The animals of this world had sharper senses than those on Earth. Hence, they wouldn't befriend anyone who killed their kin in the past.

"Then, it means you can't hunt, right?"

"Yes, indeed. In addition, I can't eat any meat either. The animals will sniff out even the faintest traces of blood scent."

So it's completely forbidden to eat meat if you want to befriend animals, eh? That's just like vegetarians. Personally, I'm not that eager to get along with animals to skip on meat.

"The Baumeister Earldom offers many ingredients to eat besides animal meat, so I have no problems while working here."

Fruits of the Demonic Forest or seafood that's transported to Baulburg from our south are available in great quantities. I think it's even easier to live a meat-free life here than in the capital.

"How awesome. For you to restrain yourself to such an extent in order to get along with animals..."

"Well, of course. It's my family's business and work. Besides, I like animals. However, it does have one big disadvantage."

"What kind of?"

He's saying there's something inconvenient in becoming close to animals?

"As a matter of fact, the Hoffen House has never become the patron or vassal of any other nobles. Given that it would spell trouble to side with some noble house as horse doctor..."

Horses are indispensable for nobles, so it's probably not desirable for a veterinarian, who checks one's horses, to be influenced by some other noble. Or in short, they're required to be neutral.

"If you become the vassal of some high-ranking noble, you will regularly be invited to supper or dinner, but aren't most of such banquets heavy on meat dishes? So it also plays a role that you'd be unamused about attending events where you can't eat anything. That's why I never participated in such events either."

Ah, but not being invited by anyone at all might have its advantages, too. In my case, I'm invited to feasts where nobles try to come up with menus as it's known that I'm very picky about my food, so it's impossible to not eat anything at all, or outright say that it's disgusting. It's not like being able to eat for free is all sunshine either.

"Given that horse-care is a dirty job and has its fair share of urgent situations, it often happens that I'm not presentable to nobles. In other words, it'd worsen my social position, right? For this reason, the people of the Hoffen House, including myself, don't have any human friends. Though none of us feels lonely as we have animals as our friends."

He possesses the skills to quickly get along with animals, but as a side-effect of that, he hasn't a single human friend. It's not that I don't wonder whether that's truly okay with him, but I was a loner until the age of twelve...

So Bruck can befriend animals quickly, huh? For some reason I don't really feel all that envious about this.

"Please do your best at starting a zoo, director."

"You can count on me! Maaan, I sure look forward to being able to allow plenty of animals to live there."

"""..."""

It looked like the matters with the zoo would proceed smoothly, but Eru, Roderich, and I wondered to ourselves whether it'd truly be fine with that. But since we'd like him to build a zoo, we decided to not say anything.

* * *

"(Well, it mostly followed what I imagined, I guess.)"

"This is a zoo, huh? So the animals will be shown to the customers in their pens and cages, right? Somehow, it's kind of ordinary."

"When I visited the mansions of certain nobles who keep animals, their garden had the same feel. Though the scale at their place fell short in comparison to this place."

◆

I visited the zoo together with everyone after it was finally constructed. It featured several types of birds and smaller animals such as dogs, cats, apes, squirrels, rabbits, weasels, badgers, deer, fowls, etc. The numbers and diversity aren't that big that you could say it housed as many various animals as zoos on Earth, but it has the scale of a mini-zoo.

"There are really wolves and bears here as well."

"Wild boars too. However, those only look like delicious food to me."

I probably should say that we won out with the personnel selection. They were in cages, but this zoo also had bears, wolves, and wild boars which you might very well call wild beasts among animals. Because those are types of animals the people of this world wouldn't consider to raise, I should praise Bruck here for being in charge.

Given their rarity, they might attract customers... Then again, since people living on the countryside regard those beasts as harmful, some might dislike seeing such animals here?

"The fowls look really yummy..."

"Wilma-san, you must not eat them since they are on exhibition here."

"Regrettable..."

Katharina chided Wilma.

But, it's not like I can't understand Wilma's feelings. If you exclude watchdogs, mouse-catching cats, and packhorses, only the rich can keep other animals in this world. Because Wilma has been the daughter of a rather poor noble to begin with, she regards fowls as food and not pets.

I hear Elise has been invited to the mansions of nobles where they kept animals. Cages and such had been installed in the garden, but those had the objective of being shown off to visitors, and it should be rare for such places to make animal exhibitions available to the general public like we do.

It's because the nobles aren't used to the idea of showing the animals they're keeping to the common masses.

"Hmm, I see, I see, there are many animals that can be kept by nobles to be found in the Baumeister Earldom."

"Did the Duke Philip House raise animals?"

The last time we visited, it was during the civil war, and they didn't seem to have that many animals.

"Even in the Holy Urquhart Empire the custom to raise wolves exists among nobles who possess territories in the north."

"Wolves, eh? That's incredible."

"Well, look at it like that: they're just keeping them for silly reasons such as to flaunt how strong they are or to try to get a share of the wolves' strength. Given that wolves are wild beasts, it takes time, effort, and money to keep them. Also, it's regarded as shameful to be the only one not raising wolves while all the other nobles do. Many nobles raise them for such dumb reasons as they have no choice."

"So they can't stop it since it's an old custom, huh?"

"That sums it up nicely. However, this place is nice."

"Oh, it even comes with a corner where you can touch the animals."

Katia spotted a place where you could touch smaller animals such as pups, kittens, and rabbit children.

I guess someone is going to come up with such an idea, no matter in which world.

"Milord, it is our main attraction. It will be very popular among the small children."

"I think it's a great idea."

Since I didn't say anything, Bruck must have come up with this touch-corner by himself. As I thought, I didn't make a mistake in choosing him as the one in charge, after all.

"Do you wish to actually try touching them?"

"That's a nice offer."

Upon Bruck's suggestion, we decided to try touching the animals on the touch-corner.

"Stuff like this sure is great. Let's bring Friedrich and the others here after they grow up a bit more."

"I think that is a lovely suggestion, dear."

"I'm sure they'll enjoy it very much."

We spent some quality time by me hugging a pup, Elise a kitten, and Ina a rabbit child, but for some reason, some of us were avoided by the animals.

"Hey! All of them are running away from me! What's this about?"

"Really? I'm fine over here."

Whenever Eru tried to touch an animal, they ran away from him. Yet, the same didn't happen to Haruka...

"Hahaha, haven't you just been thinking that they look delicious, Eru? Animals are sharp, you know?"

"Wouldn't it be the same for Luise as well then? Didn't she earlier say that the wild boars look delicious?"

"That's unthinkable. It's impossible that animals would avoid a person as lovely and tolerant as me. Look... huh?"

"What's with that 'Huh?'? Isn't it perfect proof that they're avoiding you as well?"

"That's weird, you see?"

Luise was avoided by the animals just like Eru. As she held out her hand, she was confused, wondering what was wrong.

"Cute."

"That's totally strange! Just moments ago Wilma said that the fowls look tasty, didn't she!?"

Certainly, she did say so, and yet the animals aren't avoiding Wilma... I wonder why? Was she not serious when she said that they're delicious? Is it because Wilma, a professional hunter, can switch her feelings, compared to the times when she's hunting?

"In short, your gluttony is sticking out too much, Luise."

"Isn't it the same for you as well, Katia?"

"I'm a professional just like Wilma. The animals should understand my gentleness outside of me doing my job."

"Make sure to not embarrass yourself after saying all that, okay?"

"Luise, are you a sore loser? Here, take a look... Huh?"

It's probably not because she gave such a preface, but the animals immediately scooted away in Katia's case as well.

"That's weird, isn't it? Right, hubby?"

"Let me ask you just one question: what are wild boars to you?"

"Those guys are harmful pests who lay waste to crops. The same applies to bears and deer. Rabbits and fowls are great food."

I see. Katia originates from a territory you can rightfully call rich on farming, or rather, they depend on it for living. Given that she's instinctively considering animals in regards to their harm or benefit for farming, the animals must have sensed that as they're now avoiding her.

The animals of this world... sure got a keen intuition.

"In the end, Katia and I are made out of the same wood. Say, Katharina seems like she'd be the same as well, doesn't she?"

"What might you be talking about Luise-san... It cannot be that pure animals aren't aware of a tolerant mind like that of a noble like me. It's not like I'm that much of an animal lover, but I'm certain Cayenne would be delighted over coming here. This is the moment where I, as his mother, should give it a try and touch the animals... Huh?"

What, so Katharina won't betray our expectations even at times like these? Is it because of her loner attribute? But, in that case, something similar would befall me as well...

"Katharina, are thou not hunting too much? I'm alright over here."

Is hunting too much and being avoided by the animals related in some way?

Therese had previously, let alone recently, hunted at the level of a distant hobby. Now she had easily succeeded in hugging a child rabbit.

Or rather, I've never seen people who would be avoided by the animals in an animal-touching corner on Earth. The animals of this world are quite aggressive, I feel.

"In that case, it wouldn't be odd for everyone present here to be avoided by the animals, right? Lisa-san... seems to be alright."

Lisa should have hunted the most among us, and yet she's normally touching a calf. The criterion for being avoided by the animals isn't quite clear to me.

"Well, I think this was enough for an inspection. Don't you think, hubby?"

"Indeed. The ones who will touch those animals are going to be children, so it doesn't really concern me."

"Quite so. We're already adults, aren't we? Even if we're avoided by the animals, it's not particularly..."

"Sore losers?"

"""Haaah?"""

"It's nothing!"

Eru said something unnecessary towards Luise, Katia, and Katharina, despite being avoided by the animals just like them. But, he had to correct himself in a hurry after being threated by the girls.

"This place looks like it can open right away."

"Being able to receive your authorization, milord, made it well worth all the effort we put into this."

"Even the wild beasts are obedient. Does this also stem from the Viscount Hoffen House's traditions?"

"Yes, our family members do not have any human friends, but we are very close to animals."

"""""""""......"""""""""

"(Say, is that something you'd be able to brag about?)"

"(Eru, Shhhh!)"

I blocked Eru's mouth in a hurry. It'd be different if Bruck would be worried about that, but he was content with it. So isn't it fine as long as the one concerned is fine with it? At the least, he's got it a lot better than my past self.

* * *

"Which reminds me, the expansion of the new ranch and its facilities is proceeding well, too."

"Heeh, so you do some noble-like things every once in a while, don't you Vel?"

"Luise, I'm doing noble-like things for around half of a year."

"Then you should drastically increase that time..."

◆

Since I couldn't say much about the zoo, I decided to ask Bruck about the progress of the new ranch I had asked of him in addition to the zoo.

I mean, of course I wouldn't ask Bruck to just run a zoo. I'm also planning to increase the number of ranches in the Baumeister Earldom with him as their manager.

Because of the practical issue of available land and the knowledge that the meat supply would be fine as long as we could hunt, the current ranches have been prioritizing the raising of horses. Given that the farmers also use horses to till their fields, the demand for horses is big.

As for other animals that can be raised easily, it'd be birds, I guess? It'll allow us to get a steady egg supply, and although we're able to procure milk from cows and goats, these things are still quite expensive.

As a matter of fact, tarts made out of fruits and baked sweets are much cheaper than cakes that use plenty of fresh cream.

Because animal-keeping to obtain milk from cattle requires vast plots of land, no matter how you spin it, covering the food demand with farming... well, you get the idea.

"Don't you have an unexpectedly big amount of cattle here?"

"Unfortunately, the yield on milk isn't that big despite that. The cows and goats being kept here are only those who haven't given birth yet."

If cows and goats don't give birth, you can't milk them. This is also the reason why animal-keeping for the sake of procuring milk is considered a lot more luxurious than keeping cattle for their meat.

"In reality, I would love to carry out selective breeding, to be honest."

"Ah, you want to create cows and goats with big bodies and a high yield on milk, right?"

"Oooh, you fully grasped my intention!"

It's because I got my memories from my previous life. Then again, it's not like I know that much about animal husbandry.

"I'll consult with nobles and other ranches with a prospering animal husbandry to see whether we can obtain cattle with a high milk yield and big bodies from them. Alternatively, we could have our cattle mate with theirs. Then we'd just need to pay a mating fee."

Since the same is being done for horses, I think there should exist many people knowing about this. As nobles desire good horses, they often have their own well-bred horses mate with each other, I hear.

"Even if you do that, I doubt it will have that much of an effect."

"Why?"

"Actually, I had a bit of leeway in the budget Milord assigned to me, so I have already procured well-bred cows and goats."

Do the cows and goats over here already enter the category of being the finest in this world? I happened to see cows producing high-quality milk in my previous life, but compared to those, the cattle over here are several sizes smaller and they even look somewhat thin.

Which reminds me, cows and goats aren't fed with grains since it's regarded as a waste. Considering humans' need for food first and foremost is common sense in this world.

"At this point, we have no choice but to wait for a superior mutation to be born?"

"Well, it is not that we do not have any other options. Though it would be a gamble of sorts."

"A gamble?"

"In reality, there exist cows and goats who have turned into monsters."

"Ohh, so those existed as well!"

I believed that only wild animals would turn into monsters, but bred cows and goats become monsters as well? At least it looks like such cases have been heard of.

"Even if domesticated, cows and goats are still animals. Occasionally they also run away if their care-taking is bad. In addition, a non-negligible number of nobles fail at the management of their animal husbandry."

According to Bruck's explanation, taking care of animals is difficult, but since you can make good money with expensive dairy products, nobles planning to turn this into a profitable industry of their own territory regularly pop up.

"They buy cows and goats while spending a fortune, and raise them at newly-established ranches, but since they are amateurs, many of such nobles and ranch holders go bankrupt after being unable to make any profit.

It is still not much of a problem if the cattle dies because their care-taking was bad, but some of those people let their cattle run away in the worst case. Those animals end up fleeing into monster domains and get hunted down by monsters over there, but some of them survive, become monsters themselves, and start to produce offspring."

"The majority of the species, which turn into monsters, end up growing drastically during the transformation. If you re-domesticate cows and goats who have gone through such process, their bodies will be huge and you will be able to procure lots of milk from them."

"Isn't that no more than an academic theory? I have never heard of monsters getting accustomed to people." Ina immediately objected.

"Lady Ina, it is certainly true that monster domestication is regarded as reckless. And as a matter of fact, no one has ever succeeded in it. But, you have me!"

If it's Bruck who has already befriended all the animals in the zoo, despite not having any human friends, it might be possible for him as a descendant of the Hoffen House to domesticate monsters. I've also started to gradually feel like he might be able to pull it off.

"(Obtaining dairy products for cheap would be wonderful. I think we should try it since we've got nothing to lose anyway)"

It'll be fine as long as I cooperate with him on it. After all, I'll be able to prevent the monsters from hurting Bruck.

"Isn't it a good idea to give it a try first? I'll help out as well."

"Milord! Thank you so much!"

"Vel, is that really alright with you?"

Ina looked at us, her eyes still full of doubt.

"If we get the ranch to operate smoothly, Baulburg will be supplied with a great amount of dairy products. That'll earn us the gratitude of the residents, and it'll also spur on the economy of the earldom. Isn't that a wonderful array of great benefits?"

"Only if it succeeds, right?"

"We won't get anywhere if we don't give it at least a try."

"He has a point. The proverb, 『You must first do something to achieve anything』, has been passed in the church as well."

Elise also agreed with my idea... the church sure says some nice things every once in a while. For some reason, they often don't follow up on their own words, though...

Anyway, we decided to go catch cows and goats that had turned into monsters.

* * *

"Yeah... it looks like this place has cattle that have transformed into monsters. The adventurers, who entered the monster domain in my territory, said so as well."

◆

Using a small magic airship, we flew to the 『Beckener Barony』, one fief of a congregation of smaller noble fiefs. This place failed in the past at launching a large-scale stock-raising project, resulting in cattle escaping into the local monster domain, where they turned into monsters and propagated ever since.

Baron Beckener came to receive us, but he looked somewhat exhausted

"We've been burdened with a huge debt thanks to my grandfather... the repayment should require another three generations."

I guess it's only natural for him to be bummed out...

It'd be one thing if it was a failure caused by himself, but instead he was hard-pressed to repay the debt left behind for him by his grandfather.

"You have my permission to hunt in the monster domain. Please pay 30% of your profits as tax."

"Understood."

After saying only that much, Baron Beckener went back to his mansion.

"Quite the gloomy character, isn't he Vel?"

"Well, anyone would act like him if they were loaded with such a debt, don't you think?"

Among such people, some might be completely defiant as well, though. Maybe Luise is also the defiant type of debtor?

Baron Beckener looks like a serious man, so I doubt he'll adopt such a mental state, though.

"So, the problem is whether we can really catch the monsters, isn't it?"

"Usually it's not being done. After all, it's pointless on top of being dangerous."

Katia and Lisa, who both had worked as adventurers for a longer period of time than us, seem to be reluctant towards the idea of catching monsters. Normally, they'd hunt them, and monsters are also much bigger and ferocious than animals.

Catching monsters requires your abilities to be substantially higher than the abilities of the monsters you try to catch. Even if adventurers manage to catch a monster, it quickly turns into a talk of 『So what about it? Hurry up and finish it off as we have to dismantle it』, so it's correct to call the act in itself pointless.

As expected, rich folks and nobles, who would try to buy monsters... might have existed in the past? Though I feel like it didn't yield any worthwhile or good results.

"Bruck-san, I think I will not be of much use today... ."

"No, Lady Elise, your task will be most crucial."

"Is that so?"

"Are you expecting many injuries?"

Katharina, stop saying such scary things."

"But, catching monsters is going to involve such issues as well."

"Sometimes the academy has put up requests for adventurers to catch monsters for research purposes, but those requests also led to casualties."

"Did you hear? Lisa-san is saying the same as well, isn't she?"

Maybe because she had accumulated stress from her daily baby-care, Elise had joined today's hunt as well. However, Elise was basically no combatant and thus she wouldn't be able to catch any monsters.

Bruck denied Elise's suspicions that she wouldn't be much help here, but for some reason, it caused Katharina to question whether Elise wouldn't be simply needed because he was anticipating many injuries.

"So, what's the actual reason?"

"Lady Elise's healing magic will be required for the monsters."

"What do thee mean?" Therese asked Bruck.

"We will extract the magic stone from within the cattle that turned into a monster."

"Won't the monsters die if you do something like that?" Ina asked.

"No, they will not. In the past, the academy has run experiments on this," answered Bruck.

So the academy researched even such things, huh?

"Then again, it is knowledge that does not have much practical value usually."

Well, it's no problem whatsoever to dismantle the monsters after killing them. Rather, that method is safer and it doesn't take much time and effort either, so it's only natural to do it like that, I suppose.

"We are going to catch the cows, which turned into huge monsters, as unhurt as possible... when that fails, we will need to heal them with Lady Elise's healing magic... and then I will extract the magic stone out of the specimen we caught. The plan is to return the monsters into normal animals by doing that. Then I will be able to tame them."

"Is it really going to be that simple?"

The monsters will revert into huge animals if their magic stone is removed. Monsters are monsters because of the magic stone in their bodies and because they live in monster domains. If we catch them alive, extract the magic stone, and domesticate them at the ranch, they'll become normal cattle.

Though it sounds as if Eru feels doubts as to whether it'll proceed easily.

"We just need to try it in the wild, right?"

"I think it's just as Luise says.

With that out of the way, Bruck and us entered the monster domain located inside the Beckener Barony.

* * *

"Bhmoooooo!"

"They're charging at us all of a sudden! Vel!"

"Leave it to me."

The monster domain in the Beckener Barony was no forest, but a grass-covered plain. Because you could also see a crumbling fence and what seemed to be remains of a ranch nearby, I suspected that the cows escaped into the domain from there.

I feel like I occasionally saw TV news about runaway cows in my previous life as well, so it might not be that unusual.

The monstified cows were, naturally, quite huge. As soon as they spotted us, they regarded us as hostiles and came charging.

If I told Eru to bring them down, he would likely be able to do so, but catching them alive should be quite tough on him.

"Vel, what are you going to do?"

"I have my 『Stun Shot』, an improved version of 『Area Stun』, for times like these."

It was a spell that used lightning magic, a combination of wind and fire magic, to paralyze its targets with an electrical shock.

"Is that going to be alright?"

"Of course."

Even if it were to fail, the monsters would end up electrocuted, so I could guarantee the safety of my body either way.

"Eat this!"

Since it won't show the desired effect if I lower the spell's power too much... because of their big bodies, I used moderate force...

The cow monsters, which got hit by my 『Stun Shot』, crumbled on the spot.

"I'll go next!"

"Leave it to us!"

"Time to catch them!!"

Apparently I succeeded in paralyzing the cow monsters without killing them. Just as we had arranged in advance, Ina and the others immediately rushed over to tie up the monsters with ropes.

"But, you know... can you really remove the magic stone while letting the monster live on? If I remember correctly, the magic stone is embedded close to the heart, isn't it?"

"That's where me being a vegetarian comes into play."

Bruck cut into the body of a bound cow with a large knife and succeeded in extracting the magic stone, as if to answer Katia's question.

"This is the part where I need Elise-sama's assistance."

"Ah, you mean healing up the cut? Elise, it's a cow, but will your healing magic work nonetheless?"

"Yes. Healing magic basically does not change in its effect, regardless of whether it is cast on humans or monsters."

With those words, Elise applied healing magic on the cow's wound. The cut immediately closed up in response.

Normally, it'd be a total waste of mana to cast healing magic on a monster.

"It is done."

"Milady, your healing magic is outstanding. With this, the monster will revert to being normal cattle."

"It's quite simple, isn't it?"

"Eru, you're wrong there."

Since you have to catch the cow monsters as unhurt as possible, adventurers capable of that are extremely rare. Above all, if you catch them alive, the adventurers can't get their hands on the raw materials, making this kind of work very unpopular for any skilled adventurer. And if it's done by unskilled adventurers, they could get heavily injured from the cows charging at them, or even die in the worst case.

Monstified cows have twice the size of domesticated cows after all.

Next, Bruck's skills as a veterinarian.

You have to understand a cow's internal structure in order to extract the magic stone without damaging the heart or important veins.

And last but not least, Elise's healing magic.

Hence it was a job with unexpectedly high hurdles, making it impossible for ordinary adventurer parties. And given that you wouldn't make much money in comparison to the time and effort invested, I guess no adventurer skilled enough to pull it off would accept such a request.

"Now, we just need to repeat this process. We will then transfer the cows, who had their magic stone removed, to their former ranch outside the domain."

Bruck's employees from the zoo and ranch were waiting over there. They weren't as excellent as Bruck, but he vouched for them, saying that it'd be alright since they were used to dealing with animals.

"It's still paralyzed, and yet we're going to move this cow?"

"I can handle it."

"Oohh, that's our Wilma for you!"

Wilma grabbed the former monster cow, and carried it outside. As expected of the one with the most strength among us.

"Vel-sama, hungry."

"Okay, take this."

"Sweet candy."

However, it looked like transporting such big animals consumed a reasonable amount of energy. She kept working while devouring a great amount of sweets.

Luise and Katia capitalized on their quickness, luring cow monsters to us; Katharina, Therese, Lisa, and I paralyzed them with 『Stun Shot』; and Ina as well as Eru tied up the cows for caution's sake. After Bruck extracted the magic stone, Elise healed them up with her magic. Wilma carried the converted cows out of the monster domain, and the guard members, we brought with us, transported them to the former ranch with trailers. Bruck's subordinates soothed and took care of the cows whose paralysis ran out, and transferred them to the magic airship.

Because the magic airship we used to come here has been built so as to be capable of transporting many horses, it was easily possible to transport the cows after adjusting it a bit. Once the cargo area was full with cows, the magic airship ferried the cows to the ranch in the outskirts of Baulburg.

"But I have to admit, you've done well to carry all these huge cows by yourself, Wilma."

"Want to try it yourself?"

"My back would give in! I am not Doushi!"

The cows definitely weigh more than a ton, so none of us other than Wilma would be able to carry them, I'm sure. I think even Doushi would have his fair share of troubles without his 『Magic Mobile Armor』 equipped. Given that the efficiency would be bad, he wouldn't need to do this for each and every cow, however.

"Hubby, what are you going to do about the tax for Baron Beckener? Since we've taken them alive, we can't get their materials, right?"

"Won't it be fine to simply give him all the magic stones in that case?"

"Wouldn't that be a bit too generous?"

When it comes to adventurers hunting in a monster domain located inside a noble's fief, the payment of taxes occasionally leads to disputes. The noble would love to push the tax revenue as much as possible while the adventurers want to pay as little as possible. If the fief possesses an adventurer guild, things are easy since the adventurers simply pay a percentage share of the guild's appraised value of the loot, but there exists no adventurer's guild in the Beckener Barony.

As such, it could turn into a reason for strife, if handled badly. That's why I believed it'd be best to pay all the magic stones we looted. Since we'd easily exceed the promised 30% with this, it'd be hard for the other side to file any complaints.

We want the cows and goats alive. Moreover, we can obtain as many magic stones as we want in our own monster domains.

Because Katia has the same poor man's mind I do, she probably felt resistant to paying more than necessary. I guess this clearly shows her thinking as a genuine adventurer.

"Also, it's a measure for him to not tell us to hand over the cows later on, and a fee for bothering him and his people by operating inside his barony with a large amount of people. I'm Earl Baumeister, so I can't be too stingy either."

"You have a point, I guess. It's just a habit from my time as an adventurer I can't quite rid myself of."

"Being frugal and precise with finances isn't a bad trait per se. It's indispensable to maintain a family."

Among nobility you'll find people where it's unclear when their houses will go bankrupt because they are loaded with debts after spending money left and right just because they got a higher income. Katia's way of handling money is much better in comparison, I think.

"Going by the gloomy look on Baron Beckener's face, his grandfather's debts seem to be quite bad. Moreover, it's not like those magic stones come from dragons. I think it's a reasonable approach to pay him while being somewhat generous."

"I see. The former Duchess Philip agrees with that decision, huh?"

"It's not good for popular people to be too stingy either. In short, it's a move to overpay instead of having to cover losses after getting attacked for it later."

She's looking at the losses or gains over a long time, and not so much the possible short-term gains. Therese follows such an ideology exactly because she used to be Duchess Philip, huh?

"Still, we caught a considerably huge amount. Do we still need more?"

"Of course. In the first place, the females we are looking for only amount to half of what we caught so far. Besides, if the females have not given birth, they will not produce any milk. Therefore we require a lot more for a stable supply of dairy products."

"Are we going to be okay with keeping that many of them?"

"Yes. The ranch directly managed by the Baumeister House is huge."

It's also possible to expand by building a second or third ranch. Though, that depends on us being able to get the necessary workers.

"Huh? What are you going to do with the males then?" Luise asked Bruck.

"We will keep the sturdy, healthy males as breeding bulls, and turn the rest into meat after fattening them up for a while. We haven't caught any goats yet, but we will do the same for them as well."

I see. It's pitiful... is a feeling of compassion that irks me slightly as a former Japanese, but I immediately amended it to regarding them as delicious meat.

"(Cows... steaks, roast beef, shabu-shabu, and sukiyaki! Yep, let's do our best!) This is all for the sake of securing a stable supply of dairy products for the residents of the Baumeister Earldom!"

Somehow the number of monstified cows is unexpectedly huge, so we might have to work hard at it for several days. Given that we can go back home with Teleport, we decided to continue with the work while returning to take a look at the faces of our children every so often.

"So, what about goats?"

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen a single goat so far."

"Bruck mentioned that Baron Beckener's grandpa also raised goats, didn't he?"

"He certainly did, yes."

Isn't that kinda weird? Why have we only seen cow monsters in this domain so far?

While pondering that, I spotted a wolf, a regular in monster domains. That wolf is also twice as big as normal wolves, but...

"Vel, look!"

"Umooooooo!"

"Kyan! Kyan!"

A wolf had finally shown up, but it got immediately attacked by cow charges, resulting in it running away while whimpering. Since it was limping, it looks like it suffered an injury.

"It seems the cow monsters rank fairly high in this domain's power hierarchy."

I think Bruck's observation is accurate. In the eyes of the wolves, the cows must be as dangerous as wild, runaway trucks. Well, it's not like they don't have any other prey, so they don't need to expressly target the cows.

"I think we're about the only ones who can domesticate cows like these."

"Hahaha, Erwin-san, it is because monsters become docile once you remove their magic stone."

It takes time until monsters become completely obedient after extracting their magic stone, but Bruck has enough skill in animal-keeping to make them behave until then.

"Let us catch more."

* * *

We continued to work on catching and transferring de-monstified cows to the ranch in Baulburg for several days. At some point, we also ran into goat monsters. Those were also twice as big as normal goats, and the male's antlers were fairly big and sharp.

"They sure resemble Horn Sheep."

"Yeah."

Those monstified sheep with their trait of having big horns inhabited the Palkenia Grasslands in great numbers. The ones over here felt like a goat-version of those horn sheep.

Because this world has wild and domesticated goats, they appear to get monstified after escaping into monster domains.

"Just as with the cows, we will catch these and remove their magic stones."

It'd require a huge amount of time when using selective breeding after domesticating wild cows and goats to make their bodies grow big so that they'd produce a lot of milk and improve the meat quality. However, if you use cows and goats who became huge after being monstified, you could reduce the time needed for fattening and selective breeding.

It's a method relying on monster domains which are unique to this world. But, ultimately it's limited to only those people who can handle the entire process.

"Vel, there's a goat with conspicuously long hair among them."

"Oh, where? ...Ah, I see!"

Doesn't this one resemble a cashmere goat? So this world had this species of goats as well, huh? Moreover, it seems as though the quality of its fur is quite decent.

On top of that, it appears you can get a lot more fur from this one than from normal cashmere goats because of its big body.

"Let's catch that goat as well. We'll make clothes for the children out of its fur we can obtain through combing or cutting off the regrown hair."

Cashmere baby clothes — I'm sure these should feel very comfortable.

...Huh? The reaction by my wives is somewhat weak, isn't it?

"Vel, that's the part where you should give us goat pelt clothes as a present."

"Indeed. Vel, you're a lost case with stuff like this."

"Vel-sama, you should mention us first at such times."

"Quite so."

"Right, right!"

"Wendelin, it's always the same with thou, isn't it?"

"Hubby, let's do our best, okay?"

It sounds like I hurt the feelings of my wives when I prioritized the babies. I suppose I'm not good at handling women as a former introvert.

"Elise?"

"The fur of that goat does look very soft. I would like it as well."

With that decided, I paralyzed one goat after the other with my 『Stun Shot』. Bruck removed their magic stones, Elise healed them, and we transported them to our ranch via airship.

"By now we've caught a considerable number of cows and goats, haven't we?"

"I think this amount should be alright for the time being. After all, it will become very difficult to keep them if there are too many of them. We are still lacking manpower."

Stopping our work here, we decided to return to the Baumeister Earldom. But before that, I visited the mansion of Baron Beckener with the magic stones we collected.

"This time we have no materials of the monsters themselves, so I will pay the tax with all the magic stones we obtained."

It should be okay with this as it exceeds the official tax rate of 30%.

"Earl Baumeister-dono."

"Yes?"

Does Baron Beckener have some complaints about this arrangement? Would it be better for me to pay a bit of money on top of that?

"Thank you! This will lower our debts by a lot! Please keep visiting our place to catch cow and goat monsters without reservations. Ah, if you like, I will gladly offer the hand of my daughter to you, Earl Baumeister-dono!"

"Umm, that's a bit..."

Baron Beckener was overjoyed because the huge amount of magic stones would drastically reduce his debts.

That part's fine with me, but please don't tell me to take your daughter as a wife in front of Elise and the others. After all, I'm feeling frosty stares piercing my back.

* * *

"Take a look at this. The fur of these goats is fine, supple, and has a nice touch, so we can use it to make a light sweater that can also be worn in the south. I think it'd also sell in the capital."

"You think so?"

"It'll sell as long as we can guarantee the production output."

Thanks to us doing our best, the ranch in Baulburg's outskirts was flooded with many cows and goats. Since I got Candy-san to make something closely resembling 『Cashmere sweaters』 out of the fur we combed off the goats, Elise and my other wives happily tried them on.

"The goat monsters have lived in the area with many smaller fiefs on top of turning into monsters over there, right? Because of their resistance against heat, I think clothes made out of their fur will do fine even in hotter places."

In short, the fur, which was resistant to heat to begin with, got even more resistant when the goats turned into monsters.

"Vel-kun, thank you for giving me one as well."

"It suits you wonderfully, Amalie-san."

"Milord, thank you very much for taking me in consideration as well."

"Haruka, you always take good care of Friedrich and the other children."

"Somehow, it feels very stylish. It is clothing you will not find in Mizuho."

While we were catching cattle, Amalie-san and Haruka stayed back home to take care of the babies. Hence I had asked Candy-san to make summer sweaters for them, too.

"Friedrich and the other children look very comfy too."

"Those are high-class items after all."

"Vel, babies wouldn't understand that."

"But, they can tell that it's nice clothing. The touch is awesome as well."

I had also asked Candy-san to tailor baby wear with the cashmere. My children looked very satisfied in their new clothes.

"Dear, do not forget about Agnes, Betty, and Cindy..."

"You're right."

While we were out, the three girls worked on public works in the earldom under Roderich's tutelage. They are being paid official wages, but I'll give them high-class sweaters made out of the pseudo-cashmere as thanks.

They should make the three look more adult if they wear them during their days off as casual wear.

Still, Candy-san sure got talent as a designer. Then again, he, personally, desires 『True Love』 over being talented.

"Thank you, Sensei."

"This has a wonderful feel."

"Sensei, let's go out and play on our next vacation, okay? I'll wear this then."

The three girls seem to like the pseudo-cashmere.

"It allowed me to find nice merchandise, too."

Ever since then, Candy-san began to tailor clothes out of the fur of the pseudo-cashmere goats he procured from us. That caused the fabric to gradually gain popularity. And then Baron Beckener realized that monsters, which could be turned into money, inhabited his fief, called over Bruck's younger brother from the capital, caught the monstified cows and goats, returned them into being cattle, and resumed his grandfather's animal husbandry.

Thanks to that, Baron Beckener managed to safely repay his grandfather's debt, and his fief started to be known for its dairy products, meat, and pseudo-cashmere.

* * *

"Sensei, what are you doing there?"

"I'm making butter. But before that, I'm producing fresh cream out of the milk we procured at our ranch."

"You're making it whirl around with magic, aren't you?"

"Doesn't this room feel somewhat cold, Sensei?"

"Well, I'm separating the fresh cream while cooling the room and container with magic. It's because the Baumeister Earldom is rather hot."

Thanks to the efforts of Bruck, who immediately got chummy with the animals, milk of the re-domesticated cows was delivered to our mansion in no time. It tastes great when drunk raw, and Eru has started to chug down a bottle of cold milk every day after finishing his morning practice.

I also noticed that it's a custom for people to drink a bottle of cool milk while pressing one hand against their waist, despite this being a different world.

I had put milk into a metallic bowl, and cooled it down. And now that a whole day had passed, I checked its state. Using this method allowed the butterfat to float to the top, which would then become fresh cream if you collected it.

However, unlike the milk commonly sold on Earth, the milk over here hasn't been homogenized, which allowed this method to work in the first place. Homogenization is a process by which the fat droplets from milk are emulsified through mixing the milk, and exposing it to ultrasonic waves.

Back when I went to a ranch for my work in my previous life, the manager over there had explained it like that.

Given that it was difficult for the butterfat to separate in homogenized milk, you could describe it as possible to procure fresh cream from it. In other words, homogenized milk was intended to be drunk or used for cooking just like that.

Since I'm capable of such a homogenization process in this world, I processed the milk accordingly, and put it into a refrigerator.

The milk should come in handy for the growth of Friedrich and the other babies after weaning.

"It's easier to separate the fresh cream in a cold environment."

"Betty, if you overheat a boar's fat, it'll turn liquid, right? In short, if the milk is too hot, the milk's fat components, or in other words, the fresh cream, won't separate from the rest of the milk."

"You sure know a lot, Sensei."

"Nothing less of Sensei."

"So that's how you make fresh cream! Sensei, you're truly amazing! Ah, but that's why it's so expensive which makes it tough on bro to obtain it, huh...?"

Agnes, Betty, and Cindy praised me, but this was all thanks to my otherworld knowledge. And just as Betty said, the production amount of fresh cream was low, making it a fairly expensive good... That's also why some adventurers collect the milk from female monsters, who have been raising kids, and sell it. However, in those cases the price fluctuates drastically depending on the species of monster.

Monster milk that possesses a quirky taste, stinks, and/or is thin won't sell for much. If I remember correctly, the milk of monsters similar to water buffaloes should be quite expensive. Well, given that they're buffaloes, they're probably close to cows.

If animal husbandry gains in popularity, milk and fresh cream should become cheaper as well, though.

"You pour the collected fresh cream into an airtight container, and continue to powerfully shake it up and down."

Because my hand would get tired from doing it manually, I moved the container with magic, of course.

This is no cutting corners, but an improvement of productivity, yep.

"The unsalted cream will be used by Elise and the others as an ingredient for sweets while salted cream is extremely delicious if you smear it on fresh bread."

Fresh butter and hot bread make for a great combination. Personally I prefer butter bread over jam bread.

"Fresh butter sure tastes great."

"Yep, it's dreamy."

"It can't be sold at bro's restaurant, but it's definitely nice."

The trio happily ate the hot bread with fresh butter.

"Moreover, if you add banana from the Demon Forest into the milk that had its fresh cream removed..."

Once I also added honey and whipped it all with a mixer, I finished a Banana-Shake.

By the way, the mixer was an old magic tool we previously discovered in the ancient ruins in the Demon Forest, and moved by applying mana to it.

"Wooow, incredible!"

Given that it was milk that had its fat removed, it was effective on the muscle structure and recovery of exhaustion, if you drank it right after working out like Eru did.

"You're right. We'll let everyone in the guard unit drink the banana-shake."

If we let them drink it after their training, it should have a positive effect on their muscle growth.

"It was really delicious. But, we only caught the cattle yesterday, and yet you can already procure cow milk, huh?"

"It's because some of the cows had given birth before being caught."

If you properly fed cows, which already gave birth to calves, they'd start to produce milk. Cows, which hadn't birthed any calves yet, needed to be boxed in with superb bulls to make them mate in order to get them to produce milk as soon as possible.

"It'll take time to increase the production output."

"What about the remaining males?"

"They'll be fattened and butchered!"

"Back in the capital, you got cow meat from some noble, Vel. But, it was sinewy and didn't taste all that great, did it?"

Just as Eru said, the meat of strong monsters was a lot tastier in this world, because many ranches only raised the cows. But, since it's already rare for them to be raised in the first place, beef ends up to be sold for a lot of money, even if it's not all that delicious, because many nobles and rich people buy it to show off their wealth and status.

Eru's remark hinted at him considering monster meat to taste better, and thus he's likely not all that eager about the taste of bull meat.

"Still, seeing how I'm involved in this, it has to become delicious."

If pressed to say, I'd admit that I'm mostly aiming for the dairy products, but it's best for the meat to be as delicious as possible, too. But, since the production volume will remain low for a while, I suppose it won't change anything to cow meat and dairy products being treated as high-class items.

"Moreover, I also made something like this."

I presented the cheese and yogurt I made with my magic beforehand to Eru and the three girls. Those take time if you make them with normal methods, but just like with the dairy products and alcohol brewing, magic is a convenient tool.

I had bought yogurt starter cultures from a place using them already, and applied them for my own yogurt. Yogurt is being sold at the capital as well, but it's a ridiculously expensive food. Probably because of the price for milk, its raw material.

Mixing the milk and the yogurt cultures I bought, I just let it rest for a whole day at a temperature of around 40°C, and that wrapped up the yogurt production.

"If you eat it after adding fruits and honey, its moderate sourness makes it a very enjoyable treat."

I also tried to create smoothies by adding Demon Forest fruits to the yogurt and stirring it.

"It's also good for beauty and healthiness."

The one being popular among the women was the drink called smoothie.

"It's incredible that it's delicious and healthy at the same time."

"Sensei, you're really creative to come up with so many different dishes."

"Bro... hasn't thought of this, huh...? I'll teach him next time. I'm sure Rosa-san will handle it one way or the other."

"As always, you don't trust your older brother at all."

"Erwin-san, it's not that I don't trust him. Bro simply lacks creativity and can't handle new things overly well."

"I feel like that's no praise though..."

The three girls looked very satisfied as they ate the smoothies with all kinds of fruits in it.

"Next, a cheese that can be made with little effort..."

I heated up milk, and once it reached a temperature of around 60°C, I added lemon juice and fruit juice of citrus harvested in the Demon Forest. As soon as the milk separated, I filtered it through a cloth, completing a plain, cottage cheese.

It's different from a cheese that was allowed to mature, but you could use this for cooking and desserts. Right now I made a simple dessert out of it by adding honey and fruit pieces. With it being kinda like a plain cheesecake, this tasted great in its own right.

"Then, after mixing whey, a byproduct of my cottage cheese production, and milk in equal doses, and heating the liquid up, I added the same citrus fruit juices to it as well, and strained the separated liquid through a cloth with a very fine meshing."

Once I did it like that, I completed ricotta cheese.

"This can also be used for desserts and salads, but above all, if you mix it with pancake and bake it, it'll become mellow and sticky, tasting very great."

I tried to make pancakes at once. I combined wheat flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and ricotta cheese and stirred them well, but as for the eggs, I went with a meringue after beating the whites. After adding that meringue, I heated the mass up, creating thick, fluffy pancakes.

"Vel, you really love this stuff, don't you?"

I stacked the pancakes up in layers of two, poured beaten fresh cream, chocolate sauce, and various fruit pieces on top, finishing a pancake dish that was good enough to be sold at restaurants. I'm sure women would definitely post pictures of it on Instagram, if this were Earth.

"Whoaa... it looks so yummy."

"I'll make more of them and serve them as breakfast for Elise and the others."

"It'll help you!"

Together with Betty who had recently begun to seriously learn cooking — probably influenced by her brother — I made hotcakes and adorned them with fresh cream and fruits. In addition, I also provided fresh butter, soft bread that had been baked after adding whey and milk to it, all kinds of smoothies, salad using cottage cheese and ricotta cheese, and other desserts.

If they see all these dishes, it'll reaffirm to them that it had been a good idea to catch so many cows. As expected, a life where you can secure a stable supply of dairy products is great.

* * *

"Vel-kun, that is quite the feast so early in the morning. In the past we couldn't buy any milk or dairy products."

"Well, they weren't even sold at the Baumeister Knightdom to begin with."

For some reason, the Baumeister Knightdom didn't raise any goats, so obtaining milk was next to impossible. Horse milk was given to fowls as a priority because it was seen as crazy to have humans drink it.

"The amount produced is still low, but I'm sure Bruck will handle it for us. I mean, he's got no human friends, but animals immediately open up to him."

"I think there are better ways to phrase it... Vel." Ina chimed in.

But Bruck himself doesn't seem to overly mind it...

He's relatively well-connected for someone not having any friends, and he's dealing with Roderich and others normally as well. Maybe Bruck is what you call an 『Air Loner』.

Since my heart started to sting once I recalled... the feelings of a real loner which I experienced before turning twelve years old, I decided to focus on my breakfast.

"Anyway, dig in," I offered the breakfast consisting of dairy products to my wives.

"What a luxurious pancake. Besides, it is so fluffy," Elise swooned.

"I'll teach you how to make it later."

"Thank you very much."

Since we gathered cows and goats for our ranch without a problem, I'll leave the rest to Bruck and have him increase the output of meat and dairy products.

With that said, the chain of plans I thought up succeeded for the time being with this, but since the Baumeister Earldom was quite hot, no matter how you looked at it, we gradually lost out in production output against the Holy Empire Urquhart in the north, when it came to dairy farms. The cows of this world were more resistant against heat than Holstein cows, but in the end, heat led to a decrease in the milk they produced.

* * *

"Hmm... that blasted Alfons. He started to imitate thou while using my letters as a reference, Wendelin."

"The Philip Dukedom is a cold place, so we won't be able to win against them at dairy farming!"

Several decades later, the Philip Dukedom had become the strongest dairy farming area on the Lingaia Continent, but I hadn't expected that people wouldn't have noticed how they imitated me.

Chapter 06: Animal Husbandry, Dairy Farming, and Air Loner Misgivings

"Milk and dairy products are fine and all, but Earl Baumeister, men are all about meat!"

"Haah, I see..."

"The meat is great since the cow originally was a monster and had been fattened!"

Given that Doushi had contacted us that he has some presents for Friedrich and the other children, we held a barbecue party in our garden today. While also using the opportunity to test the meat of the cows and goats which Bruck had re-domesticated and fattened up, we were grilling a large amount of meat slices on a netting that was heated from below. Doushi was especially wolfing down that meat with great relish.

"Vel, the goat meat has a rather peculiar taste, doesn't it?"

"Hrmm..."

Since the goats grew up in a rather harsh environment, their meat and milk would have a peculiar taste, despite being cattle that was often kept on Earth as well.

The goat meat of this world also has a somewhat weird taste... I'm slightly bad with that flavor.

"Doushi is eating the meat without minding it, though."

"Well, Doushi happily eats monster meat that hasn't been processed properly, so yeah..."

It's not like his taste buds are busted. He simply likes dishes that overflow with a wild flavor.

Eru and I remembered how Doushi had delightfully eaten monster meat after just sprinkling it with salt in the past. Eru could eat such meat without a care as well, but to be honest, I could do without.

"So, what kind of presents have you brought, Doushi?"

"I am sure Friedrich and the other babies will love it! They will most certainly scramble to get on!"

Doushi praised his own present while kind of answering Eru's question.

"(Doushi is a dangerous man at times like these)"

"(Indeed...)"

"(Right)"

Burkhart, who was visiting today as well, and Therese regarded Doushi's present for the babies as dangerous without having even seen it yet.

Not even taking a look at it would be rude... is nothing I believed, though.

"In a little while, you will be able to take out the babies on your walks. I can tell since I have watched my own children grow up! Accordingly, I asked a craftsman friend of mine and had him build a baby carriage!"

Baby carriages exist in this world as well. It might be the perfect example for people building the same things, despite belonging to different worlds, as long as the intended use is similar.

However, because this would be a baby carriage used by nobles, the material, design, and ornaments had to be extravagant. And it'd be adorned with the family crest to show it off to the people spotting the carriage.

Doushi had apparently brought a baby carriage for my kids as a present. I got him to immediately take it out of his Magic Bag and show us.

"Baby carriage? My babies will happ—bfft!"

"Um... Uncle-sama?"

The instant he presented the baby carriage to everyone, we all became speechless. It definitely looked like it had taken quite a lot of time and effort to produce. If you looked at the materials used, it was obvious that it had also cost lots of money.

I'm very grateful, but the crappy... eerie design robbed everyone other than Elise and me of their voices.

"I personally told the craftsman how to make it so that Earl Baumeister's children would grow up healthy and strong!"

"You came up with this design?"

"I was not very familiar with this, but I did my best!"

"I feel like you mistook the direction to channel your efforts..."

Not familiar... No, even if he's not familiar with it, the craftsmen are professionals. They should have been able to follow the client's request in regards to design and form.

In short, Doushi's artistic sense is the worst... moreover, it's the worst in various ways, but as might be expected, even Burkhart-san found it hard to give it to him straight.

"Vel-sama, kinda scary."

"(It's definitely ghastly...)"

Doushi's present was doubtlessly intended for boys. I could sense a will to make babies and small children happy by having the whole carriage look like an animal, but it used a design that seemed like it'd make anyone run away in terror.

"It's got three heads."

"It is awesome, is it not, Ina-jou?"

"Is... it?"

Given that it was intended to be like an animal, its exterior was covered by an animal pelt. Going by the size, it had to be a bear pelt or something like that. It possessed stuffed heads at its front. The bear cub, boar, and horned buck heads made it rather look like Cerberus, the watchdog of hell.

The tails of a bear, boar, and deer had also been installed in its back.

Looking at such attention to detail, you could tell that this baby carriage had been made to be elaborate. But, the question whether its elaborate make would suit the user's taste was another story altogether...

I could strongly feel the relevance and discrepancy of that question when I looked at this carriage.

"Friedrich and the other babies will also consider it 『awesome』!"

"(Really?)" Luise tilted her head in doubt.

You could find tons of baby products modeled after animals in Japan as well, and I think this carriage had been built with the very same intention.

But, Doushi's artistic sense and taste was simply too different from any normal person. Usually you'd aim for a cute, distorted animal design for children, but unfortunately that thinking still hasn't spread in this world, it seems.

Since they had used the animal materials just like that, the whole thing became too realistic, and thus completely missed its goal of being some adorable animal-look-alike. Though it seems like the person himself hasn't noticed it at all...

"(The thing's craftsmanship is so pointlessly decent. All because Doushi has enough money to spend)

『So pointlessly』 is obviously an expression of Therese's true thoughts on this. I'm sure it wouldn't have turned out like this if he had simply entrusted the making of this carriage to the artistic sense and technical ability of the craftsman.

"In addition, I also prepared this!" He said and started to retrieve a merry-go-round for babies out of his Magic Bag.

It was a toy to be hung up over the heads of the babies. Given that we received several of those at the time when my babies had just been born, we had installed them over their cribs in turns, but Doushi had apparently brought a new merry-go-round with him, too.

"(Hubby, I have a bad feeling about this)"

"......"

I couldn't deny Katia's anxiety at all. Doushi had already pulled out such a weird baby carriage. Hence, the probability of him not pulling something similar with the merry-go-round was zero.

"It is something like this! After I heard your opinion in the past, Earl Baumeister, I used it as a reference!"

As we were currently in the garden, Doushi made his merry-go-round float with 『Telekinesis』. He had probably matched it to fit with the room used by my babies. The considerably huge merry-go-round... had the same flaw as the carriage...

Instead of using deformed, cute animals, stuffed birds, bugs, and other small animals hung from it. To be honest here, its outward appearance was way too grotesque.

It caused us to be lost for words once again. I felt like screaming, 『Such baby items exist as well!?!』

"(Vel, you know... )" whispered Eru to me, apparently guessing from my expression what my heart was yelling.

"(I didn't say it with such an intention!)"

Explaining the concept of cute, distorted animal characters to the people of this world was hard. I don't know how they'd interpret it, but either way, I'd like them to not simply hang up stuffed animals on a merry-go-round. Any normal baby would cry at that sight, and it'd do a really shitty job in teaching them aesthetic sense and so on.

"(Hasn't it been a mistake to leave it to Doushi-sama's senses in the first place?)"

"(True. It also looks like it'd become a sanitary issue...)"

The idea of placing stuffed animals in a room with babies can be regarded as highly questionable. Amalie-san was correct here.

Also, as Lisa says, I also bear some responsibility for not having explained things in detail while believing that Doushi's senses would be similar to those of an ordinary person.

"Earl Baumeister! I am positive that your babies will rejoice over this as well! Right, Elise?"

"Yes, you must be right..."

Elise's personality wasn't one that would allow her to say, 『As if that could ever be true!!』.

But, in the end, the baby carriage and merry-go-round, which Doushi had brought over as presents, were quickly stowed away in a storehouse to rot there for eternity.

* * *

"Oh, cow meat! This is delicious!"

"Indeed. Some time ago, a noble served it for me, but the meat was sinewy and it didn't taste all that good."

Setting aside the issue with Doushi's presents, we held a barbecue party in our garden, using the beef which Bruck had brought over for us today.

We immediately dished out the beef after roasting it over charcoal, and Doushi as well as Burkhart-san enjoyed it very much.

"Is it because they used to be monsters?"

"That also plays a role, but mostly it is an issue of fodder."

"The fodder?"

The meat of bred cows was treated as high-class food by nobles, but the fodder used for those cows was grass.

I think there also exist opinions that it's only reasonable for cows to eat grass, but many of the cows raised on Earth for consumption were also fed with grain. Otherwise, the cow meat wouldn't have such a tender texture, not to mention the marbling. I've heard that it was common in the past to use beef for stew and other cooked dishes.

An acquaintance, who ran a butcher's shop, told me so in my previous life, but the beef of some places was used as a source of cheap meat since they raised their cows by only feeding them grass to obtain lean meat that would be then mostly used for processed goods. According to him, that meat had 『a truly grassy taste, if you ate it just like that』. Of course it meant such meat wasn't anything you could roast and then eat just like that.

Then again, it seems like beef and butter of grass-fed cows is being highly evaluated as healthy among celebrities, and those people are willing to pay big sums of money for those products or some such. I recall that you could especially sell butter of grass-fed cows for a rather decent price.

However, this world shouldn't have any meat... catering towards celebrities and rich people fussing over the fodder being grass because it's organic and tastes well. There's no way that beef of grass-fed cows can win against monster meat. And the rich are partially buying it as a means to show off their vanity.

"The cow, who provided this meat, was given grain."

"That sure is a luxurious treatment."

Given that this world has no excess in food, it's common to not turn grain into animal fodder. If I remember correctly what I've heard in my previous life, you need ten grains to produce one meat, so it's impossible for many fiefs which aren't as big and wealthy as my earldom where we have recently increased the production output by expanding the farmland at a fast pace.

"Vel-sama, another serving."

"Sure, here you go."

"Delicious."

"Uoooohhh! I cannot afford to lose!"

Triggered by Wilma's pace of eating, Doushi kept wolfing down large quantities of roasted beef. At this rate, the meat of one whole cow... can be devoured easily by those two. Amazing.

"And we also prepared new dishes to go with it."

Because I got my hands on beef at long last, I tried my hand at making roast beef. It took a bit of time and effort, but it's a dish that can be done well by anyone as long as they invest the necessary care and time.

"Dear, the meat is still red. Is it going to be alright like this?"

"Yes, it's supposed to be like that."

Eating raw meat was regarded as dangerous in this world. Even in the Mizuho Dukedom, they only ate fish raw while sticking to eating meat after heating it up.

For this reason, Elise was worried whether it'd be okay to eat the roast beef which had a red core.

"This is a meat dish that's cooked at low temperature."

"Cooking at low temperature? It is my first time hearing of such a cooking method."

Meat is known as an ingredient that can be superheated in a minute at 75°C, but over here it's commonplace to thoroughly grill, cook, or steam meat. Because of that, the meat will become hard, dry or disgusting, depending on the cooking method you use. Low-temperature cooking is a method to amend that.

First, you put the beef into a vacuum pack... and that's where I already stumbled. This world doesn't have any plastic bags to store ingredients. Low-temperature cooking is about improving the heat conduction by placing the meat in a vacuum pack, and yet...

Just as I was about to give up and prepare the beef normally, I suddenly remembered. During the civil war in Urquhart, we happened to defeat the master of a monster domain called Shore Turtle King Rainbow Assault with a special magic gun, but its cord was protected by a pseudo-gum material. That material was processed from the mucus of huge slugs which inhabited the northern forests.

It might work with that material.

I quickly contacted the Duke Mizuho House and had them process the slug mucus into the shape of a vinyl sheet. Moreover, they did it for free.

Once I explained to Duke Mizuho that I'd use it for low-temperature cooking of meat, he told me that they'd try it as well, and I got them to provide me with many vinyl sheets as collateral for the idea.

Nothing less of Mizuho people who fuss so much over food.

After I put a lump of beef into a newly-obtained vinyl bag, I warmed it at low temperature. In Japan, you'd have all kinds of cookware for this, but this world didn't possess any magic tools which could provide low heat over an extended period of time.

Fortunately, we had found a thermometer among the excavated items of the Ancient Magic Civilization's era, so I filled hot water into a big pot, and put the lump of meat, which I had hermetically sealed in the fake-plastic bag, into the water.

I had sprinkled salt on the meat, but as far as I've heard 0.9% was the ideal ratio for that. If the salt concentration exceeds one percent, food will taste salty to humans. On the other hand, if the salt concentration falls beneath 0.7%, humans will regard the food as stale. Even when roasting fish or boiling pasta, this rule applied.

Since I'm not that skilled a cook, I measured the amount of salt and meat with a magic tool, but people like Betty's brother do this by eye. Even if you might say this or that about him, in the end he's a professional cook.

Also, salt had the attribute of drawing excess moisture from meat and condensing the umami.

Next came the heating, but since the water would heat up too much if I heated it with fire or the magic stove, I heated it with magic while keep an eye on the temperature through the thermometer. 55-60°C for around an hour is considered ideal for the low-temperature cooking of meat. This allows it to kill all the germs which could cause food poisoning while keeping the meat tender and juicy.

I forgot the precise names, but it seems like there exist two types of proteins. One type increases the umami if you heat the meat while the other causes the umami to escape while hardening the meat's texture. In other words, the temperature range from 55 to 60°C makes it possible to heat the meat while increasing the umami and avoiding a hardening of the meat texture. In exchange, I had to heat it for an extended period of time, but as a result of that, I completed a soft, delicious roast beef.

Given that it was roast beef, I grilled it over open fire before eating it. This added some fragrance to the beef, making it taste even better. I also treated boar and fowl meat to the same low-temperature cooking, and placed the various types of meat on a plate after cutting them up.

I tried them with salt only, after sprinkling them with salt and citrus juice, and with a sauce that used soy sauce and miso, but as the meat was tender, all of those combinations were very good.

At this point, I can label this as a great success, I'd say.

"The fowl meat isn't dry at all and tastes wonderful."

"Fowl meat becomes tough if you heat it for too long."

This especially applies to the chest and tenderloin meat. Since those have little fat, the proteins end up coagulating too much if you overheat. Given that you don't run such a risk with low-temperature cooking, Wilma enjoyed the meat processed with that method very much.

"Uoooohhh! It is absolutely delicious!" Doushi tried to compete with her.

"Hmm, so you kept the temperature of the water level with magic, huh? As master of your master, I can evaluate you highly for having improved your ability in controlling your magic, Earl-sama. But, I'd like you to display such finesse for a lot of other magic spells."

Even though he said all that, Burkhart-san seemed to also like the low-temperature-cooked meat. Because he worked as an adventurer, he should have had plenty of opportunities to grill the meat of hunted game and eat it. I'm sure there were times when he got stumped by meat that had become hard after being overheated.

"Vel-sama, another serving."

"One more serving for me as well!"

"There's none left anymore."

The entire process of low-temperature cooking took quite a bit of time and effort since I had to cook it with my magic alone. Given that it'd be too much trouble to low-temperature-cook meat for another hour, I placed one piece of meat, which had been pickled in whey, after the other on the grill net.

Doing it like this allowed the lactic acid in the whey to affect the meat proteins, making the meat tender.

"Good grief, you're really the perfect housewife, Vel."

"I don't really mind being called that."

A full-time house-husband, huh...

"I feel like that'd be nice as well. I could take care of my babies, and even if I holed myself up in my own territory, it'd be fine since I'm the local lord here. In reality, there's lots of nobles where you don't even know what they usually do all day long."

"No, no, no, that's not good! Vel, you have a name to uphold! Luise, don't give Vel any stupid ideas!"

"Ehhhhh!? My words didn't even suggest anything like that, okay?"

"The nobles of the royal palace will not allow for that to happen anyway!"

"Right. The same can be said about my master."

"...That doesn't make me happy at all."

"We share a fate here. It is the karma of all those who possess a tremendous amount of mana!"

"Magicians are being worked hard for sure. Though it also comes with lots of profits. Anyway, let's enjoy today's barbecue party."

I had objections towards the opinions of Doushi and Burkhart-san, but either way, the barbecue based on the beef and dairy products provided by Bruck was a huge success.

◆

"Eeeeeeh!!? You completely finished all that meat in half a day? And even the dairy products?"

"We had Wilma and Doushi with us."

"For humans who eat more than cows to truly exist..."

Even Bruck, as someone well-versed with animals, couldn't predict, or rather, understand the amount of food these two would scarf down, without having seen it with his own two eyes.

* * *

"Moooooh!"

"(The cows of these are mooing as well, huh? ...Well, I guess that's only natural though.)"

"They're quite obedient despite having originally been monsters."

"Is it because they have no magic stone?"

On the next day after the barbecue, I went on a ranch inspection with Roderich, just to spot Bruck examining the cows medically. He did so as it'd be impossible to wring out good milk if they weren't healthy.

Looking at him from a distance, Bruck gives one the perfect impression of a veterinarian.

"Milord, Roderich-sama, the cows have mostly calmed down, and nowadays, the amount of milk they're producing is increasing, too."

"That's great to hear."

Given that I created all kinds of trial dishes, it might soon be time to distribute the recipes to the restaurants in Baulburg. But before that, it's necessary to guarantee a stable supply of dairy products. That's the part where I'd like Bruck to pool his efforts.

"As the scale of the ranch is going to only grow from now on, the number of people working under you will also increase, and your responsibilities will become increasingly heavier, I think."

Since he had been raising and managing horses in his previous job, Bruck was actually treated as retainer with a fairly high rank within the Earl Baumeister House. He was properly carrying out the work I asked of him as family head, and since Bruck himself was a son of the Viscount Hofen House, his pedigree was reasonably good, too.

People complaining about him publicly didn't exist. And yet, it looked like he had no human friends as always... No, wait, wouldn't he be envious since he doesn't have a single human friend?

"Ah, but..."

"Milord, is something weighing on your mind?"

"Bruck, are you unmarried?"

This world's rules forced Bruck to make children in order to strive in his management and development of the ranch belonging to the Baumeister House. So is he going to be okay with that part if he doesn't have a single human friend?

There's no way that he's going to marry an animal like in some fairy-tale, so I got a bit worried whether he'd be able to find a fiancée.

"Me? Milord, please do not worry. I have had a proper fiancée to begin with, and although it only happened the other day, I was able to bond with a daughter of Baron Beckener's vassal..."

"Seriously?"

"Quite so."

When I reflexively looked at Roderich, his expression told me, 『I'm aware of it, but is there anything wrong?』. I couldn't hide my astonishment at Bruckner being able to shrewdly secure himself a second bride during that busy time.

"(Why is Bruck so popular while not having any friends?)"

Is it because he's so capable at his work? How did he land that young woman during all the hustle-bustle around the catching of cattle when he's not that handsome a guy?

My head was filled with question marks.

"I would like you, Milord and Roderich-sama, to attend our wedding ceremony, if possible."

"I have already freed up my schedule, so you can count on my participation. Milord, you are okay with this as well, right?"

"Sure... of course, I'll gladly take you up on that offer. Congratulations, Bruck."

"Thank you very much, Milord."

Just now while answering, I thought of this, but even though Bruck is claiming that he has no friends, he's quite close to Roderich, and he's also popular among women.

I gradually started to believe that him having no human friends might actually be no more than a lie.

"Do you really have no human friends?"

"Yes. This is yet another fate of my family, I'd say. We quickly get along well with animals."

Bruck answered my question with a smile, but gradually the doubt that Bruck might be an Air Loner in reality took shape in my head.

I mean, the one who knows best about true loners is me. Though that's nothing to brag about.

Chapter 07: Beginning of the Disturbance in the West

"Nothing irregular to report today, Captain. Only the sea as far as the eye can see, as always."

"You're right, Vice-Captain. But, according to ancient documents, a country inhabited by demons lies in the west, or some such..."

"Is that information really accurate?"

"I don't know. But, that doesn't mean that there's nothing to be found over there, right?"

◆

A single, huge magic airship was cruising the sky above the calm ocean. Its name was 『Lingaia』.

We had christened this gigantic airship, which had an overall length of 400 meters, with the name of the continent we called our home. At present, this airship was on a voyage to investigate the western oceans after leaving the capital.

The Lingaia had been excavated from an underground ruin of the Ancient Magic Civilization a long time ago, but until just recently it couldn't be operated.

This was owed to the lack of a huge magic crystal to power it. In addition, we were also missing materials to support and armor the gigantic hull.

Apparently the ship had been in the middle of maintenance and repairs, and when it was excavated, large chunks of its outer armor were gone.

Just when most of us thought that it'd be impossible for it to ever sail again at this rate, a miracle occurred.

An ancient undead dragon, which was regarded as a legendary monster for the most part, appeared on the route of a magic airship heading for the capital. A young 12-years-old boy defeated that dragon, and a magic crystal was created out of the magic stone recovered from the dragon to serve as Lingaia's power source.

Even the lacking armor platings could be extracted in a sufficient amount from the dragon's bones.

All of this sounds like an awfully convenient coincidence, but we were present when the boy took the dragon down. My vice-captain next to me and I had only tried to flee the dragon with our airship back then, however.

"The boy from back then is now Earl Baumeister, huh?"

"It looks like his dragon subjugation wasn't the end, but rather the beginning."

Earl Baumeister-sama's great breakthrough started with that incident, but for some reason I feel like we also received some of that blessing. After all, I, Komuz Fullger, was appointed captain of the Lingaia, and my old friend and partner, Leopold Begim, was assigned as my vice-captain.

Magic airship sailors were always soldiers of the royal air force, and because of our achievement to have protected the ship during that incident, we were promoted to commander and vice-commander of the western expedition force at the same time as we became captain and vice-captain of the Lingaia.

"We became captain and vice-captain of this huge airship by just doing our best at running away."

We had protected a magic airship that couldn't be rebuilt at present, if destroyed once. This was certainly an achievement in itself, but it was only possible because Earl Baumeister-sama and Burkhart-sama were present at that time.

In short, luck played a big part in this, but so far as it goes, it counts as a meritorious deed.

Back when we were appointed as the captain and vice-captain of the Lingaia, the other captains looked extremely envious.

Some of them also said that we got our current position because we simply were lucky bastards, but as they were actually correct about that, it'd have been pointless to refute it.

Even the other captains commented that we only came out unscathed out of this because of Burkhart-sama's 『Magic Barrier』.

We truly had ridiculously good luck.

"The son of the Earl Platte House was such a pest, wasn't he?"

"Yep, I totally felt like telling him to bitch to the one in charge of personnel affairs as it was totally pointless to bring it up with us."

"Yep, no kidding."

The Royal Air Force also has many noble families who've been making a living as air force soldiers over generations. But, the air force is a place where only true ability counts.

Given that it'd be a disaster if a magic airship crashed because it was operated by an unskilled retard, even commoners could rise through the ranks as long as they got the abilities to back it. We were the prime example for that.

"That seemed to be convinced that we were appointed to this position thanks to Earl Baumeister-sama's endorsement."

"Well, a typical case of persecution complex, I'd say."

I mean we never saw Earl Baumeister and his party again after the airship landed at port.

Actual duty on an airship allows anyone to get promoted, as long as they got the skills, but down on the surface, the management is mostly monopolized by nobility. Or to turn it around, the nobles, who're too unskilled to be entrusted with responsibility on airships, warm the seats on the ground. After all, they won't cause magic airships to crash, even if they fail at writing documents.

In short, us two being assigned as captain and vice-captain of the Lingaia means the other great noble-sama are too unreliable. The objections of that noble son and his likes were simply misdirected.

By the way, 『great noble-sama』 is the term we, the commoners of the air force, often use. It's about nobles who belong to the air force but feel more like guests since they're useless and annoying.

"In the first place, Earl Baumeister-sama wouldn't have been able to interfere in this anyway since he doesn't have any connections to the air force."

"It looks like they think he could do so as his territory's development concessions also play a role here."

Certainly, they might have a point there. Currently Earl Baumeister-sama's fief is experiencing a rapid development. No matter how many materials and laborers are brought in, it's not enough.

"Didn't he also obtain great achievements at the underground ruins in the Palkenia Grasslands after his dragon subjugation?"

"True, there was that as well."

The operable airships had almost doubled, and the underground ruin itself has become the headquarters of the air force nowadays. The positions at the air force more than doubled, and the training after the flight routes increased has been going well, too.

As a result of the bolstered transportation network, the Kingdom's economy was thriving.

"Wouldn't the higher-ups of the air force have no choice but to bow their heads at Earl Baumeister-sama?"

"I wonder. Either way, he doesn't seem to talk overly much about matters related to the air force..."

"Really?"

My vice-captain did well to investigate all of this information.

"It sounds like he only said 『Increase the regular flights to the Baumeister Earldom as much as possible』. He didn't even mention the personnel selection. He also said, 『I have no clue about air force matters, so I leave everything to you professionals』."

"The air force's commander must have shed tears of joy when hearing that."

This world is full of people in high positions who butt in everywhere while pretending to be knowledgeable despite not having studied things decently. Those folks are really hard to deal with.

On the other hand, Earl Baumeister-sama is still young, but he does get it. It'd be a dream if those noble retards, who keep spouting their dumb nonsense, took a page Earl Baumeister-sama's book.

"What appears to matter most to them is their destination after retiring from an important high-ranking position..."

"Their destination after retirement?"

"Yes, the Baumeister Earldom used to be undeveloped land, right? As it's filled with unexplored ruins, a new one seems to be found every once in a while"

So they're regularly excavating smaller and medium airships from underground ruins, huh?

"A fixed number of them is purchased by the air force, or rather, the Kingdom, but a number of licensed ships can also operate within fiefs, right?"

Some of the high-ranking noble houses operate their own airships within their territories, and there also exist cases of several smaller nobles joining together and financing airship flights within their fiefs together.

Most of the time former air force soldiers are used as personnel to fly those ships. High-ranking nobles train their own staff as well, but it takes time and money to foster sailors. In other words, hiring experienced sailors is often cheaper. It also comes with the benefit of the veterans being able to teach the younger generation.

"Even the Baumeister Earldom has plans to start putting small airships into service, I hear."

In that case they're going to start from scratch, huh? They won't have any choice but to recruit personnel from among the capable retirees. Because it's also common practice to set up special retainer families who are in charge of operating airships... I guess many nobles want to send over their excess-children.

"The higher-ups of the air force will find it increasingly harder to not accommodate Earl Baumeister-sama."

"Figures."

"Huh? But then, why was the son of Earl Platte in such a bad mood?"

"Isn't that because Marquis Weiz currently acts as the commandant of the Royal Air Force?"

Air Force commandant, the highest position, has been rotated between several marquis and earl houses so far. Weiz will be replaced in a few years, but such a wonderful deal coincidentally fluttered in during his turn as commandant, so it's got to be anything but funny in the eyes of the Earl Platte House.

"Nobility truly is such a pain in the butt. I'm glad that I'm a commoner."

"Right. I also believe so from the bottom of my heart."

People who become captain or vice-captain in the air force, have much better income than some of the unluckier low-ranking nobles. Of course, we still lose in total income, but we don't need to watch all the troublesome stuff since we aren't nobles, and we don't lack any places to go to after retiring from the air force.

Captain of a large magic airship is a job where you can clap your own shoulder if you last until becoming fifty. It's inevitable since it's work that's straining on body and mind, but if you take a job as captain of a small airship as your follow-up job, you can keep going for another ten to fifteen years. And since you can also train new folks after disembarking the ship, it's not bad to spend your second life teaching the younger folks. On top of all that, the pay is also good because it's a job requiring very specific abilities.

"I wonder whether the Baumeister House would take care of me if I retire from the army?"

"That'd sure be nice. I'd love to do the same."

I ended up having a fairly long talk with my vice-captain, but it was no problem since there was nothing else going on at the moment anyway. I mean, we'd become over-sensitive if we remained on tenterhooks all the time.

"Captain, a big island came into sight at 12 o'clock."

"So we finally reached it!"

My vice-captain and I stopped chatting, and checked the area ahead of us with the binoculars hanging on a strap from our necks.

Just as the lookout reported, a coastline gradually came into sight.

"A big island... actually it might be as big as a subcontinent."

The ancient records might be, unexpectedly enough, correct. According to those writings, it looked to the people of the past like an island as well.

"Captain! Flying objects are approaching from 12 o'clock!"

"So it was inhabited after all, huh...?"

"The documents did mention a demonic country."

"At the very least, they have a similar technological level... no, unfortunately we're completely inferior I guess..."

The flying objects, which we had considered to be an incoming magic airship, had a total length of less than fifty meters, but there were two of them which had a shape completely different from our magic airship.

The ship's surface was mostly kept streamlined, making them totally look like eggs. They were definitely twice as fast as the Lingaia. Moreover, the surface was made out of a metal I've never seen before. Even so, it looked very tough.

"It appears like we won't be able to do anything against that armor plating unless we use something like the 『Magic Cannon』 that had been employed during the Empire's civil war."

Given that it'd start a war if we actually shot at them, we naturally wouldn't do anything like that. Ultimately, as precautionary measurement, I simply ordered my crew to be cautious. We have a magician with us, so I'll have them unleash their magic when push comes to shove, but it doesn't look like spells would work against that sturdy armor plating.

"You think Earl Baumeister-sama would be able to pierce that armor?"

"Maybe, but it's not said that we'll have to fight them yet..."

"Of course not."

To the bitter end, this is no more than a hypothetical talk. First we should contact the other side and talk things over with them.

"But before that, we have to make sure that the idiot doesn't go ballistic on us."

"No kidding..."

'The idiot' refers to the son of Earl Platte, of course. His abilities aren't that bad, but he's hard to handle since he tends to try showing off how awesome he is. Yet, he was able to become a vice-captain in the middle of his twenties because of his noble descent.

An airship as big as this has two vice-captains to operate it. Both hold the same rank, and since the crew would fall into chaos if I should ever become unable to take command, my old friend Begim has been stationed on the bridge as Number 2.

That must also be something pissing off the high-born son of the Platte House. He's been carrying out his duties on the ship without even trying to hide his displeasure, making life hard for the other crew members.

"We'll be in a bind if he were to attack our guests first."

"Say what you like, attacking on his own accord while going against the captain's order... I guess we should warn him in advance, just in case."

Once Begim sent a runner to him, it seemed like even he wasn't so dumb to go against orders. But, the runner reported him whining, 『I'm a noble, so let me negotiate with them!』

"Being captain sure is headache-inducing."

"Yeah..."

That's why we should have had a noble with us in preparation for situations like this. If an Earl was with us here, we could have left the negotiations to him. But all of them flinched away since it was the exploration of land unknown to all of us.

Hence, going by my rank, I have the authority to lead the negotiations despite being a commoner, but the youth of the Platte House didn't like that at all.

Him as the leader? That's gotta be a bad joke. He's an air force soldier and not a noble belonging to the foreign affairs circle.

If I'm going to authorize him negotiating on our behalf, I must also yield the position of captain to him, and that would definitely raise the probability of the Lingaia crashing or getting stranded.

This is definitely a huge flaw of our current rule system. I'll need to bring it up with my superiors if we make it back in one piece.

"Captain, the noble youth is nagging..."

"I'm busy right now! Just ignore him!"

This was the first contact with the demon country, which we discovered anew, and its inhabitants. I could tell. The youth of the Platte House want to deal with them as leader of the expedition and thus rise in ranks by making a name for himself with that achievement.

I'm here as commoner and his superior, and so is the other vice-captain, but he's probably thinking that he can take the center stage here as a noble since this isn't about the ship's command, but a diplomatic mission.

So far as it goes, I've been authorized to handle that side of the expedition, too. Why is he trying to ignore me here?

Him not coming to appeal directly to me likely stems from his understanding that my rank and responsibilities are above his.

"What's the point in him complaining to me anyway? There are noble captains around as well, so it wouldn't have developed into this situation, if the higher-ups had entrusted this mission to one of them."

"Things hardly ever go as you like in this world."

"How very true."

Nothing is going to start even if I bicker around here. I think I should first open a communication channel.

Just when I thought so, I heard a voice from the demon's magic airship ahead of the Lingaia.

"This is 2nd Captain Loryn Khaos, captain of the First-Class Patrol Boat 『Amole』 which belongs to the National Security Force of the Republic of Zontark. Your ship is currently trespassing republican airspace. Given that we will be forced to seize or shoot your ship down if you advance any further, we would like you to pull back right away."

"That's an awfully polite warning, isn't it?"

"Makes it clear that we're dealing with a civilized country."

Damn it, it looks like we traveled a bit too deep into their territory, I suppose. But, I have to say that the borders of their territorial airspace seem to be quite wide.

Looking at the speed of their airships, they might believe they would get invaded in no time if they don't set the borders so far out. In reality, our magic airship isn't that fast, though.

"This is Komuz Fullger, captain of the Lingaia and leader of the western expedition party of Helmut Kingdom's Royal Air Force. We came all the way here from the eastern Lingaia Continent. We would like to request preliminary negotiations in preparation for the diplomatic negotiations expected to occur in the near future, and information exchange."

I answered them, also using a magic megaphone. The policy of the Kingdom's government in case we were to find the demon country was to promote commerce and conclude a mutual non-aggression pact.

I don't know how they got their hands on it, but I feel like the Kingdom's government possesses information about the demon country. That's probably the very reason why they're going for negotiations to tie a treaty.

As always, some of the more belligerent among the nobles suggested invading the demon country, but all demons are magicians and as anyone can see, their magic engineering goes beyond ours, too. It's clear to anyone that we wouldn't be able to win, even if we waged war.

In the first place, how did all those war-lovers plan to maintain a war expedition to such a distant subcontinent, when they didn't even manage to invade the Empire during its civil war chaos. The war expenditures would become a problem, too. It'd take a ridiculous amount of time and effort to dispatch a big army over such a huge distance. Even if they used all the large magic airships currently operating in the Kingdom, they wouldn't be anywhere near enough. And assuming they managed to send such a big army over after going through all those troubles, even a little child would be able to tell just how difficult resupply would be.

Did they plan to have the soldiers procure their supplies locally without even knowing the food situation in the demon country?

Also, the army wouldn't be able to retreat if the war situation deteriorated.

Nobles sure are a pain in the ass since their ranks are full of nothing but show-offs who want to gain fame for their family name. They keep spouting absurd nonsense without even bothering to consider the consequences and necessities properly.

"Fortunately, it looks like we'll be able to talk with each other."

"They appear to be more rational than our great noble-samas."

Just as we got relieved, flames suddenly blazed up from the Zontarkian airship. I didn't give an order to attack though!

"What's this about?"

"Captain, that dumb noble brat has used his magic!"

The flames apparently originated from a magician releasing a 『Fireball』.

For just an instant I worried about the Zontarkian airship, but their armor plating seems rather sturdy, and the power of our side's 『Fireball』 was too weak, so it didn't cause any damage at all.

"Pheew, that was close."

"That's not the point here! What's Larssen doing!?"

Larssen was the name of the man supervising the magicians stationed on this ship. He himself was an intermediate magician. Despite belonging to the air force for many years, that idiot went along with the dum noble brat's order.

"No, I don't think that this came from Larssen."

"So it was one of the temporarily hired magicians, huh!?"

Because of the mission's nature to explore unknown lands, the air force skimped on sending its own magicians. They hired adventurer magicians with high pay, but on of them fired a 『Fireball』 after obeying the dumb brat's order.

"Employing adventurers backfired on us, eh!?"

Any member of the air force would have asked me for instructions first, no matter how much the idiot might have clamored to start attacking. But, adventurers, who aren't usually as organized as the military, tend to be menial towards nobles. The magician in question likely fired without questioning the chain of command.

"Either way, arrest the idiot! I'll explain the circumstances to the other side..."

Before I could finish my order, the hull shook violently.

"It's not... an attack... is it?"

"They've come alongside!"

"Get ready for a defensive battle!"

In the end, it escalated into battle. I only pray that this won't result in a full-blown war between both countries. When all is said and done, I'm still a patriot.

* * *

"Around a week ago, the regular reports suddenly stopped coming in, and the Lingaia went missing during its western exploration."

"An accident?"

"That ship's stability goes way beyond the other existing magic airships. Besides, the captain and his vice-captain were no beginners either."

"Oh, I remember. It's the same two guys who commanded the airship when I confronted the ancient undead dragon."

◆

When I got back to the mansion after finishing today's share of construction work, the crying of the babies sounded awfully loud. As soon as I entered their room, wondering what was going on, I spotted Doushi who was clearly making a baby cry, even though he was most likely intending to rock it kindly.

For some time Doushi had been busy with his story-telling tour, but he had apparently reached a point where he got enough time to regularly come to visit the babies at last.

"Doushi, babies aren't overly fond of you, are they?"

"Well, at this point I have gotten used to it. But, Friedrich is an exception!"

Friedrich, who had the blood of Doushi's niece flowing inside him, didn't cry when he saw Doushi.

That's a wonderful backbone he's showing there so short after being born.

"You're great, Friedrich!"

"Isn't he simply dense?"

"No, Friedrich got nerves of steel. This child is going to grow into a great man," I admonished Eru, who was blathering some rude stuff, as his lord and master.

I'm sure Friedrich is going to become a splendid Earl Baumeister. And that will allow me to retire early on.

"That is the extreme logic of a doting parent!"

"Ah man, Doushi, such terrible remarks even from you..."

Friedrich is a brave boy for not crying even when faced with a monster like you, Doushi, and despite me being his father, you...

"You are just as terrible for treating me like a monster."

Argh! Why does Doushi know about me treating him like a monster in my head?

"Err, the Lingaia went missing during its western exploration mission, right?"

Given that I'd be troubled if Doushi probed any further, I quickly returned to our original topic.

"So that huge magic airship had been used for stuff like that, huh?"

Just like Eru, I wasn't aware of the Lingaia's activities. I sold the army the magic crystal and materials to make the ship operational, but it wasn't as though I had been invited to its ceremonial ship launching or anything like that.

"Their last, regular report mentioned that they had found the demon country."

"In that case, they ran into troubles over there, you say?"

"Possibly."

"Hmm, I wonder what happened. Hey, Arnest."

I called out to our local demon, who had been busily writing his thesis in his room, in an attempt to draw some information about the demon country out of him.

Maybe it'll give us some sort of hint.

"A huge, magic airship went missing? Maybe they were detained after some retarded noble launched a preemptive attack on the demons, or some such? I can only make guesses, though."

"That'd be ridiculous."

The exploration force consisted of nothing but soldiers of the Royal Air Force, and thus they adhered to the army's chain of command. It's unthinkable that they'd do something as stupid as that.

"And thus there is one matter that has turned into a problem."

"There is?"

"Indeed. The eldest son of the Earl Platte House boarded the Lingaia."

"How is that a problem if he's a soldier?"

The Lingaia was a warship and on a mission to explore the far, unknown western areas. It was always a possibility for the ship to sink, so they'd just need to have the second son inherit the house if that happened.

"It wouldn't be much of an issue if the ship sank in some accident, but if he was killed in action during a battle with the demon country, the nobles would clamor for revenge."

Revenge, eh...? I get their feeling on this, but how do they plan to attack the distant demon country which is so far away that it's not even listed on maps? Even invading the Empire would be much easier than something like that.

In the first place, I can't see them having a sliver of a chance to win.

"The Earl Platte House belonged to the hawks during the time when the Empire's civil war unfolded."

"And now they are advertising to dispatch troops to the demon country?"

"It is also possible that this is but a bluff."

That's another aspect of this, or rather, it's also possible that the demon country is going to attack the Kingdom, so they're getting ready for war. Especially when it comes to the air force. That means the Platte house is trying to bolster its influence within the air force by securing an increase in budget and posts.

"So it's politics, huh...?"

"We have no other choice but to wait for some time in regards to the Lingaia. Even if we're going to send in a search party, we first must get a grasp on the circumstances."

We're not on Earth here. Reconnaissance planes, let alone spy satellites, don't exist. It's going to take time as they must confirm things by sending in another airship.

"We do not have the leeway to send the normal, large airships on additional search missions."

With the civil war in the Empire as a cause, the disturbance on the northern routes still hasn't fully abated, and because of the increase of ferry services for the Baumeister Earldom's development, they have already mobilized even the spare ships. As such, they don't have any large airships they could send out on a search mission.

The reason for the Lingaia to have been chosen for this mission might be found in its cruising range and performance, but that ship being outside the regular flight schedules as it had just been commissioned also played a big role in this. Because they had to test out the ship's capabilities and performance anyway, this expedition allowed them to hit two birds with one stone.

"And even if we send out another ship, it is not said that it will come back either."

"Figures..."

Just the Lingaia is already a big loss, but if another large, magic airship goes missing, it'll hurt the Kingdom even more. A long discussion among the Kingdom's higher-ups would become necessary even when it looks like they're going to send out a search party as soon as possible.

"But, just one person is very adamant about all of this."

"Who would that be?"

"Earl Platte."

He whined about his precious heir not coming back home after taking up a new post as vice-captain on the Lingaia, blamed it on the likes of a commoner having been assigned as captain, and demanded that Marquis Weiz, who appointed the personnel, should quickly take responsibility and resign from his post.

All of these statements sounded like things some non-mainstream-factions would say. You could even say that the things he was saying only served the purpose of appealing his own presence.

"We don't know whether it sank or was captured, but now that it's come to this, the one to be first on the list of those who could be responsible would be the captain, huh?"

"That might be true, but labeling him as 『the likes of a commoner』 is bad."

The kingdom's government opened its door for commoners in order to gather outstanding sailors, but an authority in the air force was criticizing that policy out of parental love. Of course, that would lead to arguments during the meeting on how to deal with this whole affair.

"Looks like it's going to be an unproductive meeting..."

Though it's the fate of any country and bigger organization that such meetings also occur.

"At present, it is a fact that we cannot change things in any way. We have no choice but to watch the situation for a while."

I heard about all this from Doushi, but it didn't lead to any changes in my life beyond that.

* * *

I continued my public work efforts and occasionally went out to hunt in the Demon Forest with mostly man-only parties. The sole exception was Agnes who was recently treated as my No. 1 pupil.

Given that she's become an adult, she's started to join our temporary parties in addition to her usual adventurer party.

As I thought, many magicians in a party palpably improve the efficiency of hunting.

"Sensei, we got a big haul today as well, don't we?"

"Your magic casting has clearly stabilized as well, Agnes. You've become able to hunt while remaining composed."

At first, the overly-diligent Agnes got kinda nervous when we hunted in the Demon Forest she wasn't used to, but nowadays she has mostly grown accustomed to hunting monsters. At this rate, I think it'll be possible for her to become independent as an adventurer right away.

"It's all thanks to you, sensei."

"Seeing how next year Betty, and the year after, Cindy will become adults, you'll be able to form a powerful party soon enough."

"You're right. I must work hard and pull the other two along."

The feeling of responsibility as leader was strong in Agnes, who was the oldest among the three.

"But, you won't mind if we tag along with you every once in a while, will you Sensei?"

"Don't ask the obvious. I'm your Sensei."

"Thank you, Sensei."

She's my pupil and at the same time kind of like a little sister. It doesn't feel bad to be depended upon. And those three are my favorite pupils whom I taught the most so far.

"Burkhart-san, Doushi, you're going back already?"

"Yep. I must take care of my daughter."

"I see..."

Somehow he had a change of mind? Recently Burkhart-san is always taking care of his own daughter whenever he finds a bit of free time. In short, this world's version of a papa brings up his child.

It's a surprising change, seeing how he hated even the idea of marrying in the past.

"You have many children, Earl Baumeister, so you should hurry home quickly. The same applies to you as well, Erwin."

"Every once in a while you do say some very serious things, Doushi..."

Even though he might look like this, Doushi also has many children, and thus he sometimes tells me such sensible things as my senior when it comes to being a father. Though Eru ended up replying in an extremely rude manner due to Doushi's unusual advice.

"Even I take my children out to play during holidays."

"Is that so...?"

Doushi spending time with his family is something I somehow can't imagine. Or is he taking them along on dragon hunts? I don't know about his children, but for Doushi that would register as entertainment.

"Anyway, I guess we'll go back..."

* * *

Once we sold off the materials and harvested items at the adventurer's guild and went back home with Teleport, we encountered an unexpected visitor at the mansion.

"Hmm, Earl Platte, huh?"

"Doushi-dono? Today I have business with Earl Baumeister as fellow 『Earl』."

"As a fellow Earl, you say?"

"Indeed."

Doushi knew the visitor. Earl Platte was the noble who had lost contact with his heir due to the recent incident of the Lingaia.

"Earl Baumeister, won't you support me with my request to the crown to send out another ship?"

"Haah..."

Earl Platte immediately began to persuade me after a brief greeting. But, something leaden kept accumulating in my mind as I listened to his opinion and objectives. That didn't mean that Earl Platte was an incompetent idiot or anything like that, but since he was talking as if everything he said was nature's law while assuming that it'd be only natural for me to go along with it, he was a very annoying man.

Though I guess you could call him very noble-like in a certain sense.

At that point, all my pity with his heir had already dissipated.

"In the first place, the western expedition, which also served as a test run for the Lingaia, was very likely to gather information and lead preliminary negotiations with the demon country said to lie in the west. And yet Marquis Weiz entrusted the post of captain and expedition leader to a commoner. What did he want that commoner to do about negotiations, if the demon country truly exists over there? Although it'd have been fine to entrust everything to my son... in the end he was omitted for the ridiculous reasons of him lacking experience due to his youth and it not being permissible to disturb the air force's chain of command! This is clearly harassment against me who's slated to become the next air force commandant! And didn't the Lingaia, a precious national treasure, go missing because of that very commoner captain who was supposedly chosen for his abilities!? Marquis Weiz's responsibility for that appointment must be called into question here!"

There was no mistake in what Earl Platte was saying. But, even if he told me, who was completely unrelated to the Royal Air Force, all that, it was nothing other than an annoyance. I'm not part of the air force faction after all.

Or rather, for what reason did this codger come here anyway?

"Since it's negotiations, I'd think nobles of the foreign affairs section should have preferentially come along."

"Those shitheads! All of them got cold feet and turned it down! Those people are lazy cowards whose only job it is to occasionally negotiate with the Empire, so it was impossible in the first place! Really, they should have simply left everything to my son! That cursed Marquis Weiz!"

His arguments sounded reasonable, but his howling was much too annoying. Seeing how it's possible that negotiations would become indispensable, it's clear that it'd be a stupid idea to not have any nobles with the proper authority and knowledge in that area board the Lingaia. But, in reality, all of the nobles involved with foreign affairs had apparently refused to travel with the Lingaia. All of them were against it because it'd be an exploration of uncharted land, and as such, could end in disaster.

Then again, the nobles under the foreign minister usually don't have that much work, so the number of motivated folks among them was negligible.

Even during the Empire's civil war they were useless dead weights from the start to the very end. It earned them a lot of criticism after the civil war ended, and all would have been fine if they had used that as a trigger to improve their work attitude, but instead they ended up shrinking away and stopped doing any extra work altogether, according to what I heard from Margrave Breithilde.

Which reminds me, no one but the crown prince stood out during the peace talks with the Empire either.

"Earl Platte, you know that the air force has no leeway when it comes to large magic airships, don't you?"

The number of ships had grown, but two ships were detained after getting involved in the Empire's civil war. Those ships had their magic crystal, their power source, plundered by Duke Nürnberg. Peter later returned them, but because of that, they were forced to raise their rate of operation in order to guarantee the quantity of transported goods. Sending any further large airships westwards should prove to be difficult.

"It's also possible that the second ship is going to sink as well. His Majesty won't give his permission, will he?"

"It'll be alright if you appeal together with me, Earl Baumeister. Aren't you His Majesty's favorite?"

Earl Platte might be worried about his heir, and in addition to that, blood might have rushed into his head. The successor of the old-standing Earl Platte House went missing due to a commoner captain and vice-captain, and of all things, the one who assigned those two to their posts was his rival, Marquis Weiz. He might even believe that his own son had been deliberately murdered. Of course I'd interpret that as persecution complex of sorts, but that probably won't get through to a father who's worried about his son.

"I don't have any clue about the internal affairs of the air force, but the number of ships is lacking and when it comes to traveling to the distant west, I think even large magic airships will be challenged by the journey."

That's the very reason why the Lingaia, which wasn't part of the transport system at the time of its commissioning, was sent out on this exploration. Besides, the cruising range also played a part here. The Lingaia was able to travel over a very long distance with one filling of mana in its magic crystal. But, I heard that normal large airships would need several mana refills for the same distance.

Moreover, it wouldn't be over with just refilling the magic crystal either, it seems. Because maintenance and such would be naturally required as well, a normal, large airship couldn't be used for explorations. You would need a big number of magicians to resupply the mana, on top of regularly maintaining the ship during its flight.

The Lingaia was chosen since it allowed to decrease the amount of mana refills needed, but it was unbelievable that Earl Platte was unaware of that as part of the air force faction.

"The Lingaia is a ship you contributed to our service, Earl Baumeister. You do have some attachment to it, don't you?"

"Haaah..."

"My son did his utmost to maintain and operate that Lingaia! I think you ought to show at least as much generosity as to save the ship yourself, Earl Baumeister!"

"......"

Earl Platte used all means and arguments available to get me to request a search from the crown. Once again my mind was being worn down as I had to deal with that annoying noble.

* * *

"Considering your own child precious is the same for both humans and demons."

After I asked the pushy Earl Platte to leave for the moment as I wanted to have some time to think it over, I called out to Arnest who was examining the more than twenty small and medium-sized magic airships anchored in the simple dock. This simple dock was something I had built in preparation for the future establishment of an Earl Baumeister Air Force.

Although it was set up to house medium and small airships, I used a plain but sturdy structure since it was supposed to protect the airships from wind and weather. By the way, in addition to stone and lumber, I also used the Extreme Steel I succeeded in producing for its construction.

"However, since I do not have any children myself, I do not quite understand the notion.

"Then don't say such things in the first place. By the way, what are you sketching there?"

"All of these are airships that had been excavated from different places in the Baumeister Earldom, but they have slight differences in their structure and ornaments, depending on the era they come from. I am categorizing these for the sake of incorporating them into my thesis."

"They all look the same to me, though..."

Eru appears to be unable to tell the difference between the airships. Personally, I don't think that they're completely the same, but then again, I can't see that much of a difference either.

"This is why ordinary people are such a pain to deal with. They are too ignorant towards Earl Ischlburg's early works."

"Earl Ischlburg, eh...?"

Earl Ischlburg gives me the impression of being a bad apple, despite being a genius. It seems to be the same for Eru. I mean, after all we almost died because of her.

"The large magic airship, which was discovered in an underground ruin near the capital, the center of the continent, and put into service by the Kingdom, was something Earl Ischlburg designed in her last years. Its size and structure exceeded every other airship in performance, the ability to mass produce it, costs, and maintenance efficiency."

"You're saying it was easier to excavate it in the central part of the continent because the central country of the Ancient Magic Civilization's era used it."

"That is correct, Earl Baumeister. And once that large magic airship became popular..."

"The small and medium-sized, older ships were outsourced to the countryside, huh?"

"That sounds about right."

So it's something like passing on the old trains and buses, which were used in the city, to the countryside, eh?

"What, so these are older models...?"

"That is no reason to feel so disappointed, Erwin. Even though that might be the case, there exist absolutely no problems with using these. Just because their specifications are slightly inferior to the larger, newer model, it does not mean they cannot fly," explained Arnest.

"Any normal noble house would be unable to operate such a big number of airships."

The royal family licensed the more than twenty ships for us because of the Baumeister Earldom's size and its current state of still being in development. In reality, we excavated more than thrice as many ships, but we were forced to sell the rest to the royal family.

The price followed the usual market price, but one should praise Finance Minister Rückner for sticking to the market price down to a cent.

The royal family chose the noble families who would be allowed to buy the small and medium-sized airships. However, the intent behind this wasn't profit. The noble houses allowed to buy the ships were all nobles considered to have contributed to the royal family. Once I asked about the circumstances here, I heard that the Kingdom had a much stronger, centralized power than the Empire.

"Following the Baumeister House, other noble houses also bought small and medium-sized magic airships from the Kingdom and put them in service. That basically caused a lack of personnel to operate them."

"Figures..."

Raising up proper sailors took time, and the Kingdom doesn't have the leeway to send such precious personnel for a western search mission where it'd be unclear whether they'd be able to come back. On top of that, the number of magicians is lacking too.

"The Lingaia might be a costly loss, but realistically speaking, the Kingdom doesn't have the resources to send ships and people out to look for it."

His Majesty, the ministers, and the top brass of the Royal Air Force were apparently in the middle of a discussion right now, but they were bogged down by the obvious issues with a search mission. In Japan, people would probably describe this kind of situation as 『political indecisiveness』, but if you force your hand by sending out large magic airships, veteran sailors, and magicians, and those don't come back later, it'd escalate the damage.

This heavy argument leads to the authorities being unwilling to take action here, but in the eyes of Earl Platte, that's unforgivable.

"Arnest, what do you think? Did the demon country sink the Lingaia? For violation of their air or sea space, or some other reason."

"Earl Baumeister, the demons are no brutes. Most likely they seized the Lingaia due to some kind of misunderstanding or problem."

"I don't have any way to go check this, and I'm no member of the Air Forces either."

I have the development of my territory to take care of, and I cannot afford to leave my wives and children behind either. I'm sorry for Earl Platte, but I have no means to do anything about his plight.

"Come to think of it, how did you come to this continent from the demon country, Arnest?"

"Of course, I used a ship."

"A ship?"

"Yes, a ship."

According to him, he boarded a small wooden ship to get smuggled out of the demon country.

"You sure were lucky to not have become stranded..."

"That is because I had this here with me."

Arnest retrieved a magic tool similar to an outboard motor from his magic bag.

"I used this for propulsion."

No matter how you look at it, it's a motor that shouldn't be able to power more than a motorboat. Crossing the untrodden, huge ocean with this is far too extreme, even for a scholar nut, I think.

"It's something I'd never do, even if I had to die."

"My research called out to me!"

However, it's also true that we went through a hard time during the civil war in the Empire because of that scholar nut. Einstein was definitely a genius, but his work led to the creation of nuclear bombs. I don't think that he went as far as not giving a damn about how many would die because of his research, but he might be a kindred spirit with Arnest when it comes to the inability to imagine what his research might engender.

Then again, many geniuses were self-centered people to begin with. On the other hand, I've let Arnest stay here because he's of use to me at present...

"I think it'd have been the same if you had stuck that magic tool to a small magic airship. Anyway, I didn't plan to go to the demon country to begin with."

I'm busy with all kinds of things, after all. I must do my best for my children.

"So you have become a conservative as soon as your children were born. That is the very reason why I have remained a bachelor."

"Is that really the case?"

I ended up thinking that no woman would approach him because he was too much of an oddball.

"They will not be able to do anything for a while either way."

* * *

Arnest's prediction proved to be true. The Kingdom's government couldn't compromise on any countermeasures in regards to the missing Lingaia. They regularly held meetings about it, but without reaching a single conclusion.

Some of the other nobles agreed with the air force members under Earl Platte that they should send out a search party. However, more than half of the nobles were against the dispatch of a search party. Because they wanted to quickly put the magic airships that had been excavated in the Baumeister Earldom into service, they weren't interested in deploying people and ships that might also go missing.

In the end, the Lingaia's disappearance had no impact on the Kingdom's economy since it wasn't included in the transport and ferry rotation. The loss of veteran sailors hurt, but it wasn't a fatal blow either. The shortage of sailors might continue for a while, but that would be resolved in a few years if they increased the number of people in training.

"The higher-ups of the air force must hate the idea of sending out a large airship for a search from which it might not return," Roderich explained the top brass's thinking. "The loss of the Lingaia is regrettable, but they don't have any resources to send out further ships."

"If those don't come back, the responsibility of the air force's higher-ups would be called into question at long last, huh...?"

If it was just the loss of the Lingaia, His Majesty should still close his eyes to it. But, if they send out another ship and that ship doesn't come back, His Majesty will be forced to punish Marquis Weiz.

Maybe Earl Platte is also aiming at that? No, I think I'm doubting his motives a bit too much here?

"With just the Lingaia, they can still close the whole case as shipwreck that was out of their hands."

"It is a fact that it is a big loss, but the ship still had not entered official service or become a combat asset," Doushi expanded on the unofficial circumstances, now that he was in the Baumeister Earldom after having finished his speech tour.

"There exists no proof that the ship crashed or sank, you know?"

"That demon, huh? I cannot trust him, but it is not like he is wrong in what he is saying either."

Doushi was bad with Arnest.

I feel like both have similar personalities, but maybe it's something like the same poles of a magnet rejecting each other. Moreover, their way of speaking is similar as well. Though they're completely unrelated to each other.

"If the ship was seized, it is possible that the demon country will contact us from their side."

Many shared that opinion that it'd be better to negotiate now that it turned out like this. As a matter of fact, it was me who passed the information, which formed the basis of this view, to His Majesty. Having said that, I just repeated Arnest's words to His Majesty.

"Just in case, I shall gather information, but at present, we can't do anything about it. Accordingly..."

"Accordingly what, Roderich?"

"If we're going to independently run magic airships, we must build airship ports at various places of the earldom."

"Didn't we build those beforehand?"

I kinda remember having built quite a few of them when we first settled in this land...

"Their number is completely lacking. Since we also have many uninhabited regions where I wish to start development, it will become easier to transport people and goods if we build ports over there first."

"You mean, if I build ports over there, correct?"

"Yes, that would be the fastest method."

"I see, the fastest method, eh...?"

"This is also for the sake of your newborn children."

"I know, I know."

* * *

And thus I got stuck with building the foundations for magic airship ports while following Roderich's instructions. I created berths for landing with quarried rocks, and the craftsmen and workers organized by Roderich finished those up.

"The one controlling the traffic and goods distribution over land and air rules the land."

"Yeah, you're correct about that, Roderich."

"I am more than happy to hear that you understand my thinking, Milord."

Ports and roads, which accelerate the flow of people and goods, are similar to blood veins running through a territory. Promoting economic growth by enhancing those was public work as it was carried out by any statesman since ancient times. Even I understand something as simple as that.

"Our Baumeister Earldom still has many undeveloped patches of land, but since your magic is overwhelming, Milord, it shan't become a handicap for us. It is a matter of great joy that the talents of magicians have also shown themselves in your children who will later take this land over."

Because the development finished here much faster than at other places, Roderich seemed to be in a very good mood.

"That's fine and all, but I wonder what will happen to the matter of the missing Lingaia?"

"I cannot make any forecast here... even the Kingdom seems to be troubled as to how to deal with these issues."

I can't do much about it since it's not like I got some important position in the Kingdom's government.

At any rate, currently I was continuing the construction within the earldom, and since we started to run a small airship as an experiment, we also hired new retainers. One among them was Marquis Weiz's younger brother, who seemed to be an outstanding sailor since his young days.

Because of him not having to inherit the house, he could take things in an easygoing manner, and thus he deliberately boarded ships out of his preference to be on-site.

In addition, we also hired young nobles of the air force faction and former sailors who had retired their active duty. It was scheduled to have them teach the young folks, which we'd recruit within the earldom.

"Milord, no one related to the Earl Platte house is amongst them."

Marquis Weiz's younger brother Johann, whom I appointed to be in charge to the Baumeister Earldom's Magic Airship Unit, noticed the lack of Earl Platte's family or their retainers among the people we gathered.

"It might actually be bad, but since he's so damn annoying, I didn't want any of his people here."

"Somehow I can relate..."

* * *

Ever since his first appearance, Earl Platte came to visit me whenever he had time. As before, he was still asking me to request His Majesty to search for the Lingaia for the sake of saving his heir. Since he himself couldn't change His Majesty's thinking, he wanted to borrow my name as someone who was favored by the king.

Just when I thought that his continuous visits here had to cost a lot because of all of the charges for the airship flights, that idiot was making good use of being a big-shot in the air force, riding large magic airships for free to come here. He was a bothersome old dude since he wouldn't give up because of lacking funds.

"I'm telling you, I have my own circumstances to worry about!"

"The life of my son is on the line here! It's the duty of a noble to somehow handle such issues, isn't it!?"

Earl Platte became even more annoying after he started to tell me that I should join the search as well, based on a standpoint of humanitarian aid. But, considering all that, he only cared about his own son and didn't consider any other people at all.

"I won't say that it's impossible to travel that long distance with a normal, large airship, but you've heard that it'll be difficult, haven't you?"

"With your amount of mana, you'll be able to constantly replenish the magic crystal. I hear all of your wives are magicians as well. It should be easy for you people to reach the demon country."

As if. If it was so simple to get there, there wouldn't have been any need to expressly form an exploration expedition.

"If it's about a reward, I'll pay it"

"Reward?"

"I'll approve of your daughter marrying my eldest son."

"Haaaah?"

At first I didn't understand what Earl Platte was telling me.

"My son already has a wife, but I'll take responsibility and demote her to a concubine."

"...What?"

I became stunned out of surprise. He was telling me that he'd allow me to offer the hand of my daughter to the dumb son of his, if I went through the hardship of reaching the demon country and rescued his son after succeeding in negotiating with the demons. Moreover, if he really went through with this, it'd immediately lead to our family buying the grudge of the noble house that had provided his son's wife.

What kind of reward is that supposed to be? I really don't get it.

"You just need to bring the search up with His Majesty and take your wives with you."

I was speechless out of sheer shock. Even though we're both earls, why is Earl Platte arrogantly looking down on me like this? Is he treating me as some kind of junior because I'm a new noble?

"Either way, please leave."

Today I managed to send him back home while succeeding in not snapping. But, I didn't know whether I'd be able to keep my calm next time.

* * *

"Because we had that kind of exchange, I didn't hire any people related to Earl Platte, but do you think that will cause any friction with Marquis Weiz and the other nobles of the air force faction, Johann?"

"No... rather, I wonder what Earl Platte is thinking...?"

"He's doting on his son?"

"Maybe, but I wonder."

I tried to ask Johann, whom I had entrusted with the management of our airships for the time being, about his opinion on Earl Platte, but he appeared to be rather perplexed by the earl's behavior.

"I don't really know the man, but was Earl Platte always such a person?"

"No... him acting so weirdly... I guess it must be because of his parental love?"

Anyway, since his demands were out of the question, I simply hired no one related to the Platte House as a retaliatory measure. Then again, since sailors were lacking on the employment market, it'd probably pose no issues to these people since they could simply go to other noble families.

"I wonder just what they're going to do about the matter with the Lingaia..."

"This is something that will likely follow His Majesty's line of thinking..."

The development of the Baumeister Earldom was proceeding at a fairly high pace, exceeding its schedule by far. Given that my wives were still on maternity leave, I couldn't do many activities as an adventurer, naturally resulting in me investing more time into public works.

* * *

Around two months after the Lingaia went missing, a messenger from the Kingdom's government suddenly visited as I was doing construction work while teaching my three pupils. Although you could call him a messenger, it was just Doushi, and thus I didn't get too surprised, but...

"Earl Baumeister, it is a disaster!"

"A disaster? What happened?"

"A mysterious fleet of magic airships has been sighted in the west!"

"Eh? Have they come for revenge?"

That was the first thought that crossed my mind. Isn't it just as Arnest predicted? The reason for the Lingaia having gone missing was because they got into a conflict with the demon country.

The Kingdom and Earl Platte, who had send out his son, probably wouldn't want to admit it, but the demon country's fleet, which had stayed away from this continent for more than ten thousand years, suddenly appearing in the west would mean that they came to negotiate on some terms or get revenge for an earlier incident, wouldn't it? That's the sole explanation I could come up with.

However, naturally both sides could handle those negotiations moderately or like hardliners.

"That fleet is floating above the western seas while erecting a base on the 『Terra Harrez Archipelago』!"

"That an archipelago I recall having heard of in the past..."

It was located slightly off Lingaia's western coast, but the vicinity was inhabited by sea dragons and the islands themselves didn't offer much level ground, making them rather unsuited for settlements. So far as it went, the Margrave Holmia House held the territorial right as ruler of the Kingdom's west. Apparently they established a simple port over there in the past to claim possession.

"Somehow, I got a bad feeling about this..."

"It is just as you expect, Earl Baumeister! They are completely worthless, uninhabited islands, but they still belong to the Holmia House. Of course, they demanded the demons to leave and started to mobilize their troops in order to recover the land!"

For nobles, territorial issues were nothing short of life or death. No matter how useless a patch of land might be, it'd sully a noble's name if they allowed for their territory to be stolen without doing anything about it. Besides, if the territorial rights to the Terra Harrez Archipelago were to fall into the hands of the demons, it'd naturally push back the Margrave Holmia House's defense line.

Manned islands seemed to exist between the archipelago and the continent, so the islanders had become nervous as they were now exposed to danger.

"So, did we hear anything from that fleet?"

"They have not contacted us at all yet! They appear to be in the middle of building an encampment for their soldiers and sailors to stay and their ships to anchor."

"Things have become troublesome again..."

Problems of territorial integrity also existed manifold on Earth. But, rather than that, the demon's fleet is kinda eerie since it's not clear what they're planning.

"If it is a dispute between fellow nobles of the Kingdom, the government can ignore it, but the other party is a foreign nation. As a result, the Royal Air Force has also started to mobilize..."

"Oh damn it..." I dropped my shoulders in disappointment after hearing Doushi's report.

Magic airships were necessary for the sake of my earldom's development, but if those ended up mobilized, the transport of goods and people would stall. It'd be next to impossible to completely offset that loss with the tunnel running through the Greater League Mountains.

"Also, some people within the royal palace are arguing that it is your fault, Earl Baumeister."

"Mine?"

I've been ignoring all the slander by nobles since it'd just drive me crazy if I paid attention to each and every of their little insults, but such claims coming up inside the palace is definitely bad news.

"The one spearheading that group of people is Earl Platte."

"That bastard..."

In other words, it's his payback for me not having gone along with his request to save his heir. He believed that we'd have been able to safely reach the demon country if we took a normal, large airship and continued supplying it with mana out of our big mana pools, and since I was unwilling to humor him there, he obviously got upset with me.

"So, is that group forming the majority?"

"They roughly cover 20% of the nobles at the palace."

"That's unexpectedly many..."

If you look at the whole, they're a minority, but such folks tend to be very loud about their opinions. Now that they've assertively started to criticize me, it's also possible that their numbers will slowly grow.

"Given that folks, who have missed out on the development rights in your earldom, have also joined their side, their unity is loose at best, but..."

Because their aim was to betray Earl Platte as soon as they scored some kind of under-the-table agreement, it'd be simple to break their group apart.

"I really don't want to hand out favors to such people..."

I obtained peerage and land, but my hardships have increased in proportion. I'd love to at least have the option to freely ignore nasty folks.

"Since His Majesty has been laughing scornfully at them, it will end with them just barking. But, leaving that aside, you were ordered to sortie."

Under normal circumstances, things would wrap up with the Kingdom and the western lords sending reinforcements, but the opponent this time was an unknown demon fleet. Hence, His Majesty ordered me to sortie as well to make doubly sure.

"Does that include me deploying the Baumeister House's feudal army?"

Their numbers are still very low and their training is quite lacking. If possible, I'd like to avoid sending them out to the front.

"No, the order only calls upon you and your family, Earl Baumeister."

"And what is the idea behind that?"

"Since it will be a battle over islands, the military forces will be covered with the troops fielded by Margrave Holmia. Seeing how he himself has said so as well, we cannot send many soldiers from our side."

Margrave Holmia had apparently judged that it wouldn't be desirable in regards to food supply and public security for a large number of foreign soldiers to swarm into his territory. Even if the ones sending the reinforcements would need to cover their own expenses.

"The royal army is basically going to only dispatch its air force. They want you to gather as many magicians as possible, Earl Baumeister."

While I have many magicians around me, it's still quality over quantity, so Margrave Holmia will probably feel relieved as well if I only show up with magicians.

"If it's a decree by His Majesty, I have no choice but to comply."

As such it was decided that we'd also head west.

The demon fleet was building a base on the Terra Harrez Archipelago with their ships cruising in the skies above the islands. While being rather small, the Holmia Margravate possessed naval forces which they apparently used to monitor the demons.

"Is a war going to start again?" Elise asked with a worried look while rocking Friedrich, when I informed everyone of our western expedition.

"Who knows? Some kind of troubles might have occurred with the Lingaia and the demons could have occupied the archipelago to have an advantage during negotiations..."

I've asked Arnest about the situation in the demon country. As far as he could tell me, they sounded to be very occupied with their domestic issues, not really caring all that much over conquering the continent. Because they have a low population, controlling the entire continent would prove to be impossible too. Although all demons are magicians, the difference in population between our races is simply too big.

"It's inevitable since it's an order by the Kingdom." said Ina.

"Indeed. I'll go with Vel." asserted Luise.

"Me too. My body has mostly returned to its previous condition," Wilma chimed in.

"As head of the Waigel House, I have no choice but to depart to the front as well."

My four wives seemed to be bored with being on maternity leave to take care of the babies.

"Hubby, I'll go too."

"Me too. It's been quite boring as of late." Therese admitted.

"I'll go as well. Maybe a full-power blizzard will be necessary for the first time in a long time."

"Lisa, saying something so scary all of a sudden..."

Or rather, it sounds like all my wives intend to accompany me.

"I don't mind you coming along, but what are we going to do about our babies?"

That's the elephant in the room. They're still toddlers, so I'd like their mothers to be at their side to take care of them. That's why I planned to go with just the guys.

"Dear, we will not allow you to head there with just men."

"Eh? Why?"

"It might certainly turn into a war, but it is quite possible that you will play around too much in the west." Elise answered my question with a cold expression.

After looking at me first, she shifted her eyes to Eru next.

"So we're being doubted because Eru will be with us..."

"No, wait! Aren't you being doubted just as much, Vel!?"

"Rather than Vel making some kind of blunder, it's more likely that some guy among the western lords uses the ensuing chaos to scheme something odd."

"That'd be a pain..."

I could understand Ina's point. Things were swiftly developing in the direction of a war, but it's not like a war has already started.

According to Arnest's information, the possibility that it'd finish without any hostilities seems more likely. In such a case, the western lords might push some brides or lovers on me, if I go there with just men. Therefore, my wives intend to come with me in order to thwart that.

"It's because you've been considered to keep your distance from the western lords, Vel."

"Why...?"

I haven't kept my distance from them or anything. I'm not treating them as favorably as the south or central, and now that she mentioned it, I guess my connections with the east have recently been improving, too. The current Margrave Browig is an acquaintance, and after being asked by Phillip and Christoph, the trade volume has grown. Because they took good care of us during the civil war in the Empire and seeing how we've fought on the same battlefields as comrades, I gladly accepted their request.

"You should clearly know why they think that you're treating them badly, I'd say."

"But, the same applies to you as well, Eru..."

Eru had cut all his connections with his family, so I feel like he's got no right to talk about others.

"My influence, however, is negligible at best, wouldn't you say? Anyway, you're really coming along, Elise? So far as it goes, it could very well turn into a battlefield..."

Eru doesn't approve of my wives accompanying us, as retainer of the Baumeister House.

"I have a nice idea about that."

"What kind of idea would that be, Elise?"

"Since it is going to be only us anyway...

* * *

On the next day, we used a small magic airship, we had just recently commissioned, to fly westwards. The ones riding it besides me were Eru, Haruka, all my wives, all our babies, and the maids taking care of them. Otherwise, just a tiny number of sailors and soldiers came along.

"I've never heard about taking babies to a battlefield. So, you have the ship also serve as creche, huh?"

This time Amalie-san was accompanying us as well in order to help out with the childcare. She rolled her eyes at me while changing diapers and giving milk to Friedrich and the others.

"If something happens, it'll be possible for them to get away with the ship, right?"

Even if a violent war were to start in the west, my wives and children would simply have to escape on the airship. This was the compromise I made with my wives.

"Vel-kun, you sure have it tough, don't you? It might develop into a war once again."

"I wonder?"

Leaving that aside, I wonder whether it's just my imagination to feel like other things are going to become much more of a bother.

At any rate, I was heading towards the western Holmia Margravate on a magic airship that got transformed into a creche.

Extra: Maids and How Positive Reviews of Cafes and Restaurants Spread Despite the Lack of Social Media

"Vel experimented with all kinds of new dishes thanks to one of his usual spasms, and that caused new restaurants to pop up in Baulburg within less than a week, you say? People around here sure got a strong business drive."

"That is because profits are guaranteed if you imitate and sell His Lordship's new dishes and desserts. Any smart merchant would definitely jump at the chance."

"I mean even Akira is copying him to a degree."

"Erwin-sama, the number of stores has clearly increased."

"Well, Baulburg's population has grown after all."

Today Anna-san, who was working as maid and had taken lessons in being a bride with me, Haruka-sama, who took a day off after entrusting her child Leon-sama to Elise-sama and the other women of the Baumeister House, and lastly I, the maid beauty and role model of the Earl Baumeister House as well as the lovely fiancée of Erwin-sama, were enjoying Baulburg together with Erwin-sama.

"Hmph!"

"Dominique-neesan, that hurtttt!"

Moreover, once again she reads my mind at the perfect moment and drops her iron knuckle on my head... maybe Dominique-neesan is capable of using Mind-Reading magic?

"As if that would be possible. It looks like you're all giddy because of today's vacation, but we are members of the Baumeister House and as such we must moderate our behavior."

As always, she's so damn stuck up about everything. Typical Dominique-neesan!

"Hmph!"

"Ouuucchh...! I didn't even say anything..."

"Seeing through your thoughts is as easy as child's play to me."

"Now, now, you two, we've come out to play for today, okay?"

As a matter of fact, Anna-san had her wedding with Erwin-sama yesterday. We kept the ceremony to a very small circle of our closest friends and family, but it was still a nice event which His Lordship, Erwin-sama's best friend, and his wives joined.

I want to turn into an adult and marry Erwin-sama soon, as well.

It was decided that the two would have their honeymoon when things had settled down a bit more. Instead they got a holiday of three days which was scheduled to be spent on having a fun time in Baulburg. As such, Anna-san invited Haruka-sama, Dominique-neesan, and me, saying that she'd like to spend the first day playing with all of us.

Dominique-neesan isn't Erwin-sama's wife, but Anna-san still invited her since Dominique-neesan helped her with the bridal training.

Dominique-neesan, you're unexpectedly popular among those younger than you...

"Hmph!"

"That hurt, Dominique-neesan! I didn't even say a thing..."

"What's going on in that little head of yours is as plain as daylight."

That kind of strong fist blow made me forget what I ate during yesterday's wedding ceremony...

"The whole-roasted serpent was truly a treat. Most of it was eaten up by Wilma-sama, though."

"Didn't you forget all about it?"

I only felt like I forgot it.

"Dominique-san, you're not working today."

"Ah, you are right, Haruka-sama."

Dominique-neesan, if I had said that, would you have accepted it just like that?

* * *

"It's our first stop. Dominique-san, the guards working at the mansion recommended this place."

"The 『Roast Bowl』, huh...?"

"They cook all kinds of monster meat at low temperatures. I hear the meat is very tender and delicious."

"Heating meat at a low temperature, you say...? So it's the same cooking method His Lordship used to prepare cow meat the other day, right?"

"They've faithfully re-created Milord's cooking method, and even got his stamp of approval, it seems."

"Just what is that guy doing...?"

Considering how busy His Lordship tends to be, he sure invests quite some effort to taste-test places like this one, doesn't he? But, maybe that's the reason why many customers are crowding the restaurant?

"Today, roast bowls using boar and rabbit meat are on the menu. You can also have a bigger serving of rice for free."

"Okay, then I'll go with the bigger serving," Erwin-sama announced.

"Me too."

"Lea, are you going to be alright with that?"

"Even though I may look like this, I have quite a big stomach."

"Now that you mention it, that's true."

I mean, I was the one who ate up all of the noodle dishes left behind by Dominique-neesan. Besides, if it costs the same either way, you'll naturally choose the bigger portion. Isn't that human nature... instinct?

"Thank you for your patience. Here's your serving of today's roast bowl. Three normal and two big servings."

"Ooohh! That looks really delicious, doesn't it?"

"Decorating the mean like flower petals does make it look pretty."

"Erwin-sama, there's an egg in the middle of the bowl. It's not raw or boiled either."

"This also uses low-temperature cooking as taught to us by His Lordship."

"I see..."

I'm fairly sure Erwin-sama must be thinking, 『Why is that guy teaching restaurants how to cook... moreover, just when did he have time to do this...?』, around now.

"But, can the owner of this restaurant use magic? Otherwise, cooking at low temperature is quite difficult, no?"

Which reminds me, dishes using that method also made an appearance during Anna-san's wedding ceremony. The cow meat prepared like that was super tender and tasty.

"I hear a person called Beckenbauer-sama developed an exclusive magic tool for this. They say it was his way to repay a huge debt with His Lordship."

"A debt... right..."

"The magic tool is expensive, but if you use it for this, it becomes possible to easily cook meat and eggs at low temperature."

Beckenbauer-sama... isn't that the airhead who's been visiting the mansion many times recently? So he was actually a genius capable of creating magic tools. You definitely can't judge a book by its cover.

"If you crush the soft-boiled egg, mix it with the meat and sauce, and eat it together with the rice, it tastes wonderful."

We immediately began to eat the bowl as instructed by the waitress. The meat was tender and juicy, making it a dreamy experience. I feel like the deliciousness of the meat and rice is elevated by several levels, if you mix it with the egg yolk and soy-based sauce.

"It tastes great, doesn't it Erwin-sama?"

"I think it'd be smart to teach this to Akira, too."

"Just where is all that cooking knowledge of Milord coming from?"

"Maybe it's a memory of a previous life?"

"Lea, that sounds too absurd to be true."

"Didn't he say something about it stemming from an old book or some such?"

But, I've been occasionally borrowing and reading the books in the mansion's library. Yet I don't recall having seen any such a book over there? Is it part of a book collection in the library of Margrave Breithilde-sama's mansion or a library in the capital?

"Thanks for the meal. It was superb."

After Erwin-sama paid the bill for all of us, we left the restaurant. Still, I got to say that a considerably long queue of people is still waiting outside. Though I can fully understand the people's wish to eat the bowls here.

"Next up are desserts, right?"

"In that case, I know of a good place."

"Makes sense. It's your field of expertise, isn't it Lea?"

"Well, I simply checked it out while passing it during errand runs."

"...That's nothing overly praiseworthy though..."

Dominique-neesan, you can't hit my head too often today since Erwin-sama is with us, can you? That's quite convenient.

* * *

"Erwin-sama, this is the store I recommend."

"It looks like it's flourishing, but it's filled with nothing but women and couples, isn't it?"

"This cafe regularly comes up with new desserts. I hear His Lordship has been frequently giving advice to the owner of this place."

"Just when... well, you could say that's typical of Vel, but still..."

"It seems like they're also selling desserts made out of dairy products, which have been purchased at the Baumeister House's ranch, as an experiment."

"Lea, you really know your stuff."

"I've been checking this cafe whenever I go out on errands. It's perfectly situated on the way back to the mansion, after all."

The desserts are a bliss, they regularly come up with new ones, and above all, the cafe lies on the way back, making it easy to stop by. It truly rocks.

"You should make sure to not disclose that you've been boldly playing hooky to stop at cafes during work."

"(As I thought, she doesn't hit me... all hail Erwin-sama!)"

Just as I rejoiced all by myself...

"Every once in a while, I visit this cafe with Dominique-san and our colleagues."

"Really? ... Eeeeeh! Please invite me to such outings, too! Isn't that like you only leaving me out of the loop?"

Just when did Anna-san and Dominique-neesan become such good friends? Doesn't that put my position as someone similar to Dominique-neesan's little sister at extreme risk!?

"It's because we were asked by His Lordship to go test the taste. In the first place, if we had invited you even at such a time, it'd result in you visiting this cafe almost every day, wouldn't it?"

"Ugh... I can't refute that."

Anyway, this is a cafe that serves desserts, but I think it's worthwhile to be a regular customer of this place. The cafe is filled with groups of girls, engaged couples, and married couples. As might be expected, the menu isn't really catered towards men visiting by themselves.

"Welcome to our cafe. Lea-san, His Lordship visited this store the other day."

"His Lordship did? With whom?"

"By himself. He said he was on his way back from doing construction work in the earldom."

"I see..."

Ordering desserts in a cafe overrun by women and couples as a lonely guy...

"Erwin-sama, His Lordship is truly a man amongst men!"

"In a certain sense, it deserves praise, I admit. It'd be impossible for me to pull this off."

Besides, it's not like he sneaked in here incognito as a random customer. I guess it's a small breather for him before eating dinner after coming back to the mansion from his hard day of work.

"Has His Lordship accumulated too much stress?"

"Well, I'm sure he's burdened by various things, but watching over him while pretending to not see anything is an expression of kindness, I think."

"Okay, that makes sense."

Erwin-sama and us will be fine, I think. Haruka-sama is a great wife, and Anna-san and I will become great wives, too.

"What did our lord order?" Erwin-sama asked the waitress.

But he's right. I'm also curious about that part.

"Umm, it was our new, high-class shaved ice, and roasted tapioca mate tea."

"High-class? With shaved ice you mean the dessert where you shave ice and sprinkle jam or similar over it as a sauce, right?"

"Oh, you're quite knowledgeable, Erwin-sama."

"I've been eating it every once in a while since meeting Vel."

In Milord's case, he can create and shave ice with magic. Shaved ice is a fairly expensive dessert in the capital, but going by Erwin-sama's explanation, it doesn't seem to pose much of a problem.

He told Anna-san that he was eating it often during his time as an active adventurer.

"Ice can be created by freezing water with a magic tool, but for high-class shaved ice, he usually freezes fruits from the Demon Forest and shaves those. On top of that, he adds fruit pieces, honey, whipped cream, and other things."

"Hee, that sounds quite extravagant."

So it's shaved ice when frozen Demon Forest fruits are shaved and not ice, huh? Milord truly comes up with all kinds of things.

"Most recently cow and goat milk flows into the city from the ranches in the Baumeister Earldom, so it has become popular to sweeten up the milk, make it freeze, shave it off, and then add extravagant toppings. Many customers from Baulburg and other places expressly come here to eat this ice."

"Seeing how there's many couples, they also use it as an opportunity for some sightseeing, huh?"

These days Baulburg's development has been striking, and many people visit to see the city and its attractions. Tours where you visit the famous spots of Breitburg and Baulburg with a magic airship appear to be popular among newlyweds from the capital who got some financial leeway.

"The Mizuho-styled high-class shaved ice at the Fujibayashi store, where they finely shave off frozen mate tea and top it off with condensed milk, red bean paste, and roasted soy flour, is extremely popular. We cannot afford to lose to that."

Milord, you're casually stirring up the competition between the various stores, aren't you?

Or rather, Akira-san is going strong even without Candy-san helping him out.

"Okay, so let's go with high-class shaved ice for everyone. Also, what's tapioca?"

"It's my first time to hear of it. It doesn't exist in Mizuho."

"I have also never heard of it before."

"It is nothing I heard Elise-sama mention ever before."

Including me, none of us knew about the tapioca foodstuff. That means...

"I am told it was invented by His Lordship. You can get this at every corner in Baulburg at the moment."

"Our lord sure has times where you can't tell whether he's a noble or a merchant... Anyway, give us all some of that as well."

"Thank you very much for your order."

After a while, the waitress first brought the shaved ice.

"Oh, so they really shaved off frozen fruits."

What a luxury. I doubt it's wrong to label this as a high-class dish.

"I got the one made out of frozen banana with choco cream and fresh cream as toppings."

"I have frozen lychee with plenty of mango, dragon fruits, and other fruit pieces added to it."

"Mine is shaved out of frozen strawberries. It has been topped with condensed milk made out of cow milk and all kinds of berries."

"I have one made out of sweetened cow milk with various types of fruits as toppings."

Erwin-sama, Haruka-sama, Anna-san, and Dominique-neesan seem to enjoy their ice.

"I went with the same one as Dominique-neesan, ice made out of sweetened cow milk, but at a double-size. It's been stacked with plenty of fruits."

It's a huge, high-class shaved ice. The height of supreme luxury.

"Lea, can you eat all that?"

"Yes, I'll be fine."

"Come to think of it, Katharina mentioned that you can eat quite a bit."

Besides, girls have a different stomach for sweets.

"So they even got double-sized ones... Wait, they got buckets!?"

Given that Baulburg has its own, new sweets shop called 『Gyarusone』 that serves parfaits, buckets aren't that unusual anymore.

"Do any people other than Wilma order these sizes?"

"Doushi-sama occasionally visits, wolfs it down at an incredible pace, and flies back to the capital."

Sometimes I miss him very closely, but Doushi-sama already is enough of a regular customer that the cafe employees know his face. Then again, I doubt you'll find many people who easily forget Doushi-sama after seeing him once.

"Just what is that man doing...?"

Doushi-sama's way of life has been a riddle for others. But I'm sure, he just wanted to eat 『High-Class Shaved Ice』.

"This is tapioca roasted mate tea."

"Does that mean 『tapioca』 is tea that uses cow milk?"

The roasted part probably refers to the mate leaves having been roasted to deepen the flavor. Haruka-sama's home, Mizuho, also drinks roasted tea. She let me taste it before and I think it tastes very great.

It wouldn't be strange for people to do the same with mate tea... it must be Milord's influence.

"Erwin-sama, there are many black beads at the bottom of the cup. Aren't those tapioca?"

"Somehow they look like eggs... and strangely black..."

Nevertheless, for me, as someone always passing this store, to not have known about tapioca... This is quite an embarrassment.

"We started serving it just yesterday, but it is already very popular."

Oh, then it's unavoidable. Yesterday I was busy with Anna-san's wedding, so I couldn't come to this cafe.

"How do you eat these black beads if they're at the bottom?"

"Eru-san, don't you use this straw for it? It's a fairly thick straw."

"Oh, I see."

Haruka-sama appears to have realized the use for the thick straw in the cup. Restaurants over in Baulburg have introduced straws, too. However, since the straws of Urquhart, the country of its origin, were expensive, the ones here were relatively cheap items made out of wood.

Drinking with two straws from one cup was a fad among couples nowadays.

"This is... konjac? No... it's too springy for that."

"I guess it's slightly sweet? Maybe sugar?"

"Erwin-sama, isn't this brown cane sugar?"

"But, the role of brown cane sugar is to add sweetness and flavor. I wonder just what the black bead ingredient might be?"

We all groped for the true identity of the black beads while drinking our tapioca roasted mate tea. Given that it has been roasted, the taste of the mate tea was aromatic. The cow milk added richness as well as thickness. Moreover, the black beads with their brown sugar cane taste were springy and delicious.

I think it's only natural for this to be popular.

"The tapioca ingredient is a special tuber that's being grown in the Eulenberg territory. In combination with the brown sugar, which had its production capacity recently increased in the south of the Baumeister Earldom, this tapioca is being processed as an ingredient. I have heard that His Lordship christened it as tapioca. Though I cannot tell you anything about the origin of the name. The one who developed the production method was His Lordship."

Milord is truly hardworking when it comes to food. For him to even come up with ingredients that have never been seen before is crazy. Although, his sense for names is kinda hard to understand, if you look at tapioca.

"Eulenberg territory... aaahh! Katia-san's Dad and Brother, huh? So this uses tuber as an ingredient..."

Milord always comes up with all these new ingredients all of a sudden, doesn't he? I'm sure he must seem like a genius to others.

"It's not maroimo, right?"

Maroimo taste better when eaten after steaming. But, I can understand Anna-san's question.

"I hear it's a tuber that has been cultivated in the Eulenberg territory for a long time. His Lordship supposedly shouted, 『I can use this!』, when he found out about it."

"Our Lord is really good at coming up with things like this. I feel like he could easily make a living as a merchant, too."

Certainly, the tapioca roasted mate tea is popular despite its sale started just yesterday. The female customers keep ordering it. The women seem to be charmed by those black beads. Still, why is Milord, a man, so knowledgeable about the likes of women?

"Did it possibly happen when he turned into a woman previously?"

"As if that's possible!"

Dominique-neesan immediately shot down my theory.

"Welcome!"

"Oh, Erwin? Congratulations on your wedding!"

Suddenly Doushi-sama entered the cafe. Still, Doushi-sama can't use 『Teleport』 like Milord, and yet he often comes all the way here... I admire him, in a certain sense.

"Doushi, you've expressly come here from the capital?"

"No, even I would not go that far! I had business over at Breitburg, so I made a small detour afterwards!"

Even so, the League Mountains are infested with many wyverns and other flying dragons... no, I guess they won't be much of a hindrance for Doushi-sama.

"A new menu? Then give me that as a bucket version."

"Doushi? You want a beverage in a bucket?"

"No problem at all! ... .Oh, I see! It contains the black beads called tapioca, huh? Then please increase the quantity of tapioca!"

"As you order."

The waitress seems to be used to this. She immediately brings over a bucket full of tapioca roasted mate tea. Of course, the straw is also a special version that's longer and thicker than usual.

"The mate tea with its increased fragrance, the richness of the cow milk, and the springiness as well as sweetness of the tapioca make this tea delicious!"

It might be because it suits his taste, but Doushi-sama gulps it down quickly. He drains the entire bucket in like no time.

"Thank you for the meal! Add the bill for Erwin and the others to my tab! Anyway, I am off!"

Doushi-sama paid our share as well, probably as a wedding gift, and then flew away with his magic.

"I didn't even have any time to thank him..."

"He's truly like a gale."

"He has already become so small that you cannot see him anymore."

"We must thank him next time."

Doushi-sama's sudden appearance and disappearance astonished us a lot more than the fact that he treated us.

Afterwards, we enjoyed some sightseeing and ate dinner in Baulburg. Anna-san and Erwin-sama apparently planned to stay the night in a luxurious hotel that had just recently been built in Baulburg, and thus we bid them farewell after dinner and went back to the mansion.

So Anna-san has married as well now, huh? I want to grow up quickly and properly marry Erwin-sama. A wedding dress is a dream come true for every girl, after all.

"That's fine and all, but haven't you gotten slightly fat, Lea?"

"Dominique-neesan, what are you saying? I'm still growing."

Yep, I'm in my growth period as a girl. That's why I'll eat lots, quickly grow up, and get a nice body, as I must please Erwin-sama.

"Haruka-sama, I'm still growing, right?"

Just in case, I decided to also consult Haruka-sama, who was accompanying us as Erwin-sama and Anna-san would spend the night alone today. Because it's essential to get plenty of food during the growth spurt, I always investigate all kinds of restaurants in Baulburg.

"If you ask me like that, I certainly... feel like you've become somewhat thicker..."

"Haruka-sama, I'm still growing. I'm sure my chest has become bigger, so it must look like I've become thicker... huh?"

Just now I checked my own chest by touching it, but it hasn't become bigger at all... Moreover, when I pinch my belly, flabby, excess meat...

"Didn't I tell you? Lea, you eat too many sweets. You must take Haruka-sama as an example."

"If you put it like that... Dominique-neesan, you still haven't fully returned to your previous figure after giving birth, but Haruka-sama already looks like before her birth!"

"Who hasn't fully returned to her previous figure? Eh!?"

"Ouuuuch!"

Dominique-neesan, regardless of whether you hit me or not, it remains a fact! My eyes aren't wrong.

"Don't worry about me. You haven't even given birth and yet you're becoming fat. What are your plans about that, Lea?"

"Uughh... I'll restrain myself..."

* * *

It'd be fine if my chest became bigger, but my belly becoming flabby is bad news. But, humans are creatures who have it more difficult to slim down than to grow fat.

Even though I returned to normal, it took me twice as much time as it took me to become fat.

Everyone, please be careful about buying and eating sweets.