Chapter 47-48 – Incompetent

[Mc Pov]

I sent Bainen for the execution of a criminal and entered the mansion with David.

Harvey told me about the things that had happened in the mansion during the week I was away (mostly trivial things about the slaves in the workshop and the work of the servants).

It seemed like nothing special had happened, so I nodded my head and listened to the story when Harvey finished his speech and handed out a letter.

"This is a letter that arrived when the head of the household vacated the mansion."

"Right."

I stopped suddenly, turned my body to the side, and lowered my gaze. It was a letter I had heard beforehand from His Excellency the Count. The letter, sealed with the seal of a roaring lion, was unmistakably from the imperial family.

After accepting the letter calmly, I opened the seal and checked the contents.

For the Theorad Deharm of Count Pelgarin

I became interested in the 'artificial rain' magic you've been researching for eight years. 

According to your theory, it won't be a big problem even if the drought persists. 

If magic is completed, it will be able to control the development of agriculture and hydrology, as well as victory on the battlefield.

But why did you suddenly refuse to accept the research subsidy from the imperial family three years ago?

I heard that you would not accept support due to the burden of this research because it was slow. 

Manipulating the climate is a matter of controlling the heavenly spirit, so it is well known that the psychological burden is severe, but research that cannot be concluded is a symbol of indolence and a deception to the imperial family.

Incidentally, I don't like lazy people very much.

So, in the afternoon of a week later, I will send an auditor along with a few magicians belonging to the imperial palace to complete the magic.

Benelia von Esteban

A statement without any rhetoric will send chills down your spine.

'Benelia....'

She is an unprecedented iron-blooded princess.

Having two sons and three daughters, she is the youngest daughter of His Majesty the Emperor, but at the same time, she knows that she has a reputation as a military commander in the combat unit under direct control of the Imperial Household.

She had her coming-of-age ceremony last year, and although she is the youngest daughter in the lowest position in the line of succession to the throne, she is a magnate who has been firmly established in the imperial family to the extent that her ministers sometimes talk about it. .

'Why is this person interested in me?

I understand. Theoretically, 'artificial rain' magic could become a natural cradle that enriched the entire empire once it was perfected.

But that's just a theory. The reason I refused to accept imperial support three years ago was not because my research was slow.

'... Artificial rain is magic that cannot be completed.'

The ideal was great, but my talent did not support it. It was too huge and complicated for me to handle, and the more I continued researching, the lower the possibility of realization.

So I gave up. Even if I continued to study magic with the support of the imperial family, it would be like pouring water into a bottomless jar.

By the way, do you want to report your research achievements? And that's within the tight span of a week.

'Why are you doing this to me?'

It made me want to burst out crying. I know very well that the count gave me a high opinion and told the imperial family, but when they asked me to see me, a two-legged beast, in the sky, with that high evaluation, I was filled with frustration.

"The chamberlain."

I let out a low sigh and put the letter in my bosom.

"Can you tell me when the letter arrived?"

"It arrived exactly four days ago."

"Four days ago?"

It felt like being hit in the head with a hammer.

"Why, why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want to disturb the head of the family, who was working hard on the role of regent, and it wasn't an urgent matter to hear from the witch who delivered her letter to her."

My head gets complicated. So, it means that I have only three days left at most.

I couldn't blame David for that. For someone other than the person concerned to read a letter sent from the imperial family beforehand constitutes treason in a broader sense.

To that, I added that witches were not an urgent matter, so he had no fault with Harvey.

With no one to blame, it just feels empty. I opened and closed my mouth, and I, who hesitated in the indescribable confusion, opened the words with difficulty.

"Okay. Now that you've heard everything, the chamberlain should go to the carriage, wake up the elven slaves, and bring back the box you received from the count."

"Yes. By the way, what about a box?"

"It's a treasure of gold and silver that His Excellency the Count handed over to me for fulfilling the role of regent well. Since it's off-budget revenue, give expensive meat and alcohol to the slaves in the workshop, and give the servants an extra three-quarters of their salary to thank them for their hard work. Put the rest of the money in the safe."

Hearing the words, a benevolent smile spreads across David's face.

"You are generous. It's already good to see the servants and slaves rejoicing. It is private family wealth, but some slaves refuse to become free even though the service period through the contract with the head of the household is over."

'Huh? That's the first I've heard of it.'

"Why do you say they refuse to be free?"

"I was also curious and asked, and he said that living as a slave to the head of the household is much more affluent and leisurely than living as a free person. Some say that only the head of the household is the one who wants to make a slave he bought with a lot of money in the first place into a free man."

"It is absurd in many ways. How important is freedom in life? Isn't it possible that you, Chief Chamberlain, are persecuting the slaves to become free people?"

David lowered his eyebrows as if he were being unfair.

"I have lived for the Deharm family all my life. Would I dare to disobey the head of the family and treat slaves like limbs?"

"That.... Of course, it's a joke. I have complete confidence in you."

Only then did Harvey's face light up.

"It really is too much for me."

Unlike Bainen, who is like Han Liang, Harvey seems to be affected by every word I say so much that he was even a little worried.

Well, Harvey has been in the family longer than I am. He must be hoping for the prosperity of the family as much as I do.

There's no way a person like this would lie to me. Thinking like that made me feel sorry for myself for not knowing how to look cool.

I tried to laugh awkwardly, but I took a deep breath and took a step back.

"Master."

'Fuck An Elf !!!!'

The elf, who should have been asleep in the wagon, turned around the corner of the corridor and approached me. With both hands holding the box given to me by His Excellency the Count.

"You didn't wake me up and leave me alone, so I looked for you for a while."

Tumble. The sound of heels hitting the road is creepy. As I watched in a cold sweat, the elf glared at me with a cold gaze.

"You can't leave the precious box you received from the count. That's right. Yes?"

"That, that...."

"Please answer me properly. Why did you leave the box bestowed by His Excellency the Count?"

"This guy!"

David yelled and slapped the elf on the head. The elf flinched and turned his head to look at Harvey, but Harvid only blushed and roared.

"How dare you open your mouth to scold the young master? Does Viscount Theorard, the head of the famous Deharm family, look like your friend?"

'No!! Don't do that, grandpa. Then I might die.'

"Huh? This bitch wants to see you, so she's glaring at me too. You didn't punish me because you were favored by the head of the family, so it seems you forgot your duty. How can you be more likely to come to your senses once you receive proper instruction?"

A lattice of sinew sprouts from the elf's forehead. This is really dangerous.

Sensing a sense of danger, I put my hand on Harvey's shoulder. Regardless of my will, Harvey looks back at me with a question, perhaps because of my trembling hands.

"Why is that, Head of the House?"

" Harvey. Don't do it too much. Isn't she an uneducated slave who doesn't know the world?"

"Anyway, this has gone too far. If she doesn't know the world, wouldn't it be normal to tell her about the world? I will teach her well, so you don't have to worry about it."

Harvey's angry gaze turned to the elf again.

"Why are you holding your head stiff at the subject of breaking an expensive jar that can buy a house? In heaven and earth, there is no slave as arrogant and ignorant as you. Do you really not know that the fact that you are still alive is all due to the consideration of the head of the household?"

The elf didn't answer. As if that had touched Harvey's heart, Harvey sighed as he rolled up his sleeves.

"OK. Today, we have to compete to see if in four years you die or I die."

'Hey, Grandpa will die for sure, so stop it.'

"You won't answer this, right? Good grief. I did quite a bit of exercise when I was younger, and I will take this opportunity to tell you what beating is."

Kwak. I grabbed Harvey's shoulder tightly. It was because if he touched the elf's patience any more, blood would flow into the mansion.

" Harvey... I will teach this elf, so don't worry."

"Yes? But my lord..."

"It is an order."

When I said it was an order, Harvey lost momentum and took a step back. I looked down at the elf in relief.

"You cheeky bitch. I have to give you a separate punishment, so go up to the office first and clean up. Give the box to the chamberlain."

"Yes, yes...."

Fortunately, she did not express her anger at me. The elf gave the box to Harvey with a more relaxed expression and ran past me down the hallway.

Harvey, who was looking at her back, clicked his tongue and frowned at her.

"It's been a really rough year. If she had met another owner, not the head of the family, they would have ended her life right away."

"That's right."

The owner, not the elf, must have ended his life.

"Anyway, to carry out the orders that came down from the imperial family..."

I suddenly felt an ominous feeling and shut my mouth.

Since when was the elf in the corner of the hallway? If she had been watching this way from the corner of the hallway when I opened the letter, there was a possibility that she would have read my letter together, depending on the angle she was looking at.

'At that time, I was reading the letter with my body turned sideways.'

As far as I know, elves have not only hearing but also eyesight that surpasses that of humans. If the elf reads the letter from the imperial family together and is determined to deliberately make a 'mistake' in order to be punished by me...

'Fuck!'

After thinking, I kicked the floor and ran. Harvey shouted something from behind, but there was no time to pay attention.

I jumped over and over the stairs at high speed and arrived in front of the office. When I opened the door, as expected, the elf was holding my research journal.

The elf who spotted me flinched with an innocent expression.

"Oh."

When I see the research journal hanging precariously above the flickering candle, cold sweat flows like rain.

Since there is no separate copy, the moment it disappears, the research record to be presented to the imperial family is lost. I swallowed my saliva and calmed myself down as much as I could.

"Stop when I say something."

'No, I couldn't calm down at all.'

"Stop it, you crazy bitch!"