Volume 1 Chapter 6 Part 1
Chapter 6: The Battle is Over, Peace is Far Away
「I'm thinking of buying a mansion.」
Tia's eyes widened, unsure of how to react to my sudden words.
It's been a month since I moved to this world, and I'm still being taken care of in the castle. There is no shortage of things to do in my daily life, but I am limited in what I can do. It's about time I had a place of my own.
To tell you the truth, I want a laboratory and a storage room. So far I've been keeping them in my luggage bag, but now that I've got the samples, I have nowhere to put them.
「A mansion is it? That's a good idea. All the noble families have their own mansions in the capital, apart from the ones in the countryside, and since master is now a Associate-baron, I'm sure they won't have any objections for Master to have a mansion.」
「Yeah, I can't be bother in this castle forever, and I can't keep any more things in this room. Buying a mansion is good, but is it something that can be bought so casually?」
「Well, first of all, a nobleman's mansion can only be built in a noble district, and the place to build the mansion and the size of the mansion are determined by the rank of the nobleman. In the case of master, you're a Associate-baron, so you can have your mansion in the Eastern District.」
I've heard that there's a noble district, but to think that the land you can live in changes depending on your rank, that's quite a troublesome. Well, I guess we have to understand that aristocracy is a race that values appearances.
「Also, if you want to build a mansion, you'll need the king's permission and a letter of introduction from another nobleman. Even if you want to buy a second-hand property, you need the king's permission, so if you're interested in buying a mansion, you'd better apply for a meeting as soon as possible.」
「I see, it's not so easy to get it after all. But.......if I ask for a visit now, do you know when it will be?」
「If it is master's rank, it would normally take about a month, but since the heroes are to be given as much preferential treatment as possible, I think it will take about two days at the latest to get a meeting.」
「I see, I've never had the benefit of this before, but hearing that makes me think that heroes are special. Well, since the heroes didn't have the option to refuse when they were summoned to this world in the first place, I'd say it's only natural to give them preferential treatment.」
「Does the master come to hate this world ......?」
When Tia heard my words, she asked me in a sad voice. This was a bit of a misunderstanding.
「The fact that I was summoned is not a good thing in itself, but I consider myself lucky to have met you because of it. So please don't look so sad.」
I really mean this. In my original world, I wasn't a very social person, so I didn't have many friends I could trust.
「Master ......」
Tia gazes at me, her eyes moist with emotion. It's fine to watch her like that, but I urge her to continue since we've just had a break in the conversation.
「If master is planning to buy the mansion, I will arrange it for you, what do you want to do?」
「Yes, for now, I'll ask Sophie and then think about it. Maybe we can have an immediate meeting.」
I thought about it and went to ask Sophie, but instead of a meeting, she told me that she would ask the king for permission and that I should choose a mansion first. Apparently, she was also concerned that I didn't have a mansion.
I've been told not to worry about it because she's going to go get permission for the other heroes as well, but I think it would be better to thank her later.
You'd think how great a hero would be to have the princess of a country as his errand girl, but, It's also true that I want a mansion, so I'll be honest and let her do me a favor here.
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I immediately left the castle to go choosing a mansion. I brought along a guide and Tia as my companions. Elle wanted to come with me, but it was still too dangerous for her to walk around the city and she didn't have any knowledge of noble houses, so I decided to keep her at home this time.
I heard that noblemen usually travel by carriage, but since carriages are uncomfortable to ride in, I decided to ride on a horse, which I am not very good at, as a compromise.
The eastern part of the city was visible from the royal palace, so I knew the general location. It was not too far from the castle to walk there. Since there is a commoner's quarter nearby, it seems that is not very popular by nobility, and only knights who don't have estates and Associate-barons like me live there.
When I arrived at the site, I immediately chose a mansion. It seemed to be true that the area was unpopular, and while the other areas were more lively, this one was quiet as if no one lived there. I was grateful for the quietness, though.
We entered the east district and stopped in front of a mansion a little further down the street. It looked quite new, but it seemed to be a vacant property.
「What do you think of this place? The previous owner had sold it due to financial difficulties, but the building itself is not very old, and it's also the largest mansion the Associate-baron could own.」
As I listened to the guide explain the mansion to me, I observed the surrounding buildings, but the others seemed to be vacant as well. I can see that it's not popular, but it's a shame really.
The house is not that far from the royal palace, so it will be convenient in case of emergency. The garden is large and could be used for something. The only thing that remained to be seen was how the house itself would look like.
「Does it have a basement?」
「Let's see, ...... yes, it has a basement. In addition, there are a sufficient number of rooms for servants, and there is also a windowless room that can be used for the research you mentioned, Associate-baron.」
「I see. Are there any other properties with similar conditions to this one?」
「This house is the best property, and the other houses are only inferior to this one. ......」
I asked Tia if that was so, and she told me that from her point of view, the mansion was indeed a very nice place. The price was about half of what I had received last time, so it was more than enough to pay.
I'm not sure what the price of the mansion is, so I'm leaving it up to Tia, but she said it was a bargain and that it was okay, so I guess it really is okay.
We went inside and were shown around the house, and other than the piles of dust, there was nothing particularly wrong with the place, and it looked like it could be lived in right now after some cleaning.
「All right, I'll take this place.」
「Okay, then I'll take care of the rest of the procedures here. You can start recruiting servants now.」
「Master, I'll choose a suitable servant for you, so why don't you go around the town and see what you can find?」
I see, I can get by even if I leave everything to others. If that's the case, I'll just walk around the town.
I hadn't been able to buy or eat anything in the castle, so I thought I'd give it a try for the first time in a while, so I left my horse in Tia's hands and headed for the commoner's quarter on foot.
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「You're Yard Werner, aren't you?」
As I was walking through the town, buying and eating at the stalls on the main street, I was suddenly entangled by a woman.
The clothes she was wearing didn't seem to be of the highest quality, but judging from her fair skin and hair, which looked like she had never done any housework before, she must be a noblewoman, and a pretty high one at that. I don't think she was a commoner by any stretch of the imagination.
She has the typical appearance of a noblewoman with blond hair and blue eyes, but I have no idea what she looks like. She is probably less than twenty years old, and she is wearing clothes that would be very popular with men, so she is probably the daughter of a nobleman who has fallen into prostitution or something.
But I have an idea of who would want to get involved with me on the street like this. First of all, I'm sure it's someone related to Dian. I don't know of anyone else who would want to hurt me.
It's reasonable to assume that she's here to take revenge for Dian's case. But if that's the case, she would have stabbed me before she called out to me, but what the hell?
I guess she got tired of me ignoring her words and keeping quiet, so she crowded in on me.
「My name is Lucia, I was the concubine of Duke Dian. Because of you, Dian has been imprisoned and his title has been taken away. When I returned to my parents' home, they treated me like a plague and finally kicked me out. I want you to take responsibility for this.」
What the hell is this woman talking about? I was the one who caused Dian to have his title taken away, but in the end, it was because he was in cooperation with the Demon Empire that he was at fault, not me. Why should I help his people?
At any rate, I moved towards the alleyway so as not to disturb the passersby. This woman was cornered, and there was no telling what she might do. I had a feeling that I might get into trouble if I was seen.
「I'm sorry, but if you have any complaints about the Duke's family being taken down, please take it up with the country, not me. I'm the victim of a wrongful accusation by ex-Duke Dian, and he deserved what happened to him when his title was taken away.」
「If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have resorted to such strong-arm tactics!」
「Are we not on the same page? As long as I'm not at fault, there's no reason for me to listen to your plea. In the first place, he had committed the felony of informing the Demon Empire. He should be held directly responsible for any disadvantage caused by Dian's downfall.」
As I was about to leave, she walked around in front of me. What a depressing woman, it seems that she's Dian's concubine for real. She's a lot like him in this way.
「I don't have time to worry about you, though. Can you make way for me?」
「If you don't listen to me, I'll take off my clothes and scream right here.」
She even threatened me at last. I could try to see if she can really do it, but I don't want to, because in such a case, the woman's opinion is likely to be advantageous. I don't want to be accused of a crime I didn't commit.
「What responsibility do you want me to take?」
「Please come up with a sum of money that will allow me to live a comfortable life. Since my life was ruined because of you, I want you to show me this much sincerity.」
「If you want that much money, you should sell yourself to a brothel. As I said before, there is no reason for me to take care of you. You can play the victim all you want, but don't try to force it on me.」
「How can you say such an outrageous thing as selling myself to a brothel!?」
After all, it's for living expenses. She must have been a daughter of a good family to be able to become the concubine of a Duke, but thanks to that, she was useless, unable to earn her own money when she was kicked out of the house.
She was not bad-looking, and I think she would be popular if she became a prostitute, but I don't think she was even ready for that. On top of that, she was an irredeemable idiot who demanded money from me, Duke's victim.
As I was about to leave, I heard a rustling behind me. I turned around to see her taking off her clothes. I was a little taken aback because I didn't think she would actually do it. If she had the guts to strip naked on the street, she could probably get a normal job, I thought to myself.
I hurriedly stopped her and she hugged me, still half naked. To the casual observer, we looked like a couple in heat in a back alley, but in reality, the situation was not that sweet.
「Let go of me, if someone comes, they'll think I'm crazy.」
「I don't want to! I'm not letting you go until you promise to help me!」
What a troublesome woman. I don't know how Dian managed to get her to be his wife. I was about to use the <Fear> because it was getting a little depressing, but then I thought of a better idea.
Well, if you want me to take responsibility, I will. You'll become my maid and experimental subject. I'm just about to buy a new mansion, and the more workers we have, the better, even for this idiot.
「It can't be helped, even if I were to help you, the only thing I can offer you is to allow you to work in my mansion. You won't be able to live like you used to, but is that okay with you?」
「Yes, it's still better than falling into prostitution. I beg you.」
She listened to my words and finally let me go. No one said that I would work her as a maid. I'm literally going to use her body to help me with the experiments.
I dressed her, gave her some money and a key, told her where the mansion was, told her to say hello to Tia, and sent her on her way.
After making sure she left, I went back to the castle.
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When I returned to the castle and told Sophie about the mansion, she seemed to have already gotten permission and handed me a letter from the king.
She asked me about the mansion, and when I told her where it was and what I remembered about it, she said she wanted to visit me later, but I refused. A princess does not go to visit a single man who is not her fiancé.
The next day I received a report that the formalities of the mansion had been completed, so I decided to take Elle and head there as soon as possible. Tia told me that she had finished selecting the servants and would be waiting for me at the mansion.
When we arrived at the mansion, we found that they had already finished cleaning the front of the house. As I entered the house, I found Tia and a group of men and women who looked like servants waiting in line. Among them was Lucia.
「Welcome back, master.」
「Yeah, are all the servants here?」
「Yes, I gathered them in a hurry, but they were all hired by some family. Their skills are solid, so don't worry. Do you need an introduction?」
「Yes, please do.」
I was introduced to everyone, including Kurt, the butler, but I couldn't remember that many names. After the introductions, I asked them to go back to their work, but I stopped Lucia.
「What can I do for you, sir?」
「I've prepared another job for you. Just follow me for now.」
I headed for the basement with a quizzical Lucia and Elle in tow. The door here is thick metal and soundproofed. I don't know what kind of hobby the person who built this mansion had, but he left me with just the right one.
In the basement, there was a table on which hands and feet could be restrained, and around it were instruments for torture. When Lucia saw this, her expression tightened and she tried to run away, but Elle, who was standing behind her, caught her.
「What are you guys trying to do to me?」
「Don't worry, I don't intend to torture you because you are Dian's concubine and I hate you. I just want you to cooperate with our experiments. I chose this room because this table is just convenient for what I'm about to do. Elle, take off her clothes and secure her to the table.」
Elle fixed her as instructed, and then took out the tools she would be using. It's just a brush and some ink for drawing a simple magic formula. This is what we will use to draw the formula on her body.
She doesn't seem to understand what Elle's doing when she sees the tools. She doesn't seem to know what she's supposed to do, but even if she did, there's nothing she can do about it.
「Elle, you start from the bottom. It's an important body, so don't do anything rash.」
「Yes, I should do what I heard yesterday, right?」
「Yeah, it'll probably get out of control, so be careful.」
「What the hell are you guys trying to do with all these restraints?」
Ignoring her words and start writing immediately. Let's start with her hands. From the tips of her fingers to her shoulders, she write down the magic formula to converge the magic power.
「Hey, what did you do to me!? Hey, answer me, ouch!」
Incidentally, the ink for the magic formula reacts dramatically with human magic power, so when you touch it, it feels like boiling water. In addition, it penetrates the skin, so it won't come off even if you wash it, and it won't even blot no matter how much you wipe it off. The only way to remove this ink is to cut off the painted area.
「Master, what about the nails?」
「Don't worry about the nails, paint the other parts first. Start with the tips.」
「It hurts-it hurts-it hurts! Stop, please!」
Lucia is in pain, but of course Elle has no intention of stopping. Now that I've finished drawing the shoulder, I'll move on to the other arm. Elle is still in the middle of one leg, but I decide to proceed without worrying about it.
「Aaaaahhhh! Stooop iiiiiitttt!」
「You're making too much noise. Be quiet for a minute.」
When Elle starts to write on her thighs, she flails wildly and resists, so I slap her cheek to calm her down. The pain is so great that she is incontinent. I wiped off the wetness and started writing again, more and more.
「Forgive me, forgive meeeeee!」
「It can't be helped. ...... Elle, I'll draw for you too, just hold her down.」
「Yes, Master.」
For a while, she was crying out loud, but then she stopped resisting, and her only reaction was to occasionally bounce her body. Now that it was easier to draw, I finished it all at once.
After finishing the arms and legs, I started on the face. She seemed to have run out of energy to scream, and her mouth was moaning unintelligibly. As I finished drawing on her chest and stomach, Elle also finished drawing her lower body.
When she stopped moving, I turned her over and wrote the same thing. When she stopped responding, I thought she was dead and checked her condition, but her heart seemed to be beating, so I was relieved and continued my work.
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