CH 101

E/N: Hi, guys. Please re-read chapter 100 which got posted 11 hours ago. Because of Google doc’s bug, whole chapter got messed up in posting. I went to sleep after posting and didn’t notice it. I am really sorry. I will make sure such things didn’t happen in future.

…

“Sir Erdogan. Could you first explain the situation?”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

Both of them finally raised their heads after Father asked that. So Count Witthoft’s name was Erdogan. Since he bowed his head not only to me but also to the commoner Hearthing Family, I could guess what this all was about.

Judging from Father’s expression, he probably also knew what was going on yet he asked him to explain. Father was pretty bold.

By the way, Sir Erdogan and the Witthoft family’s Knight Captain were sitting in front of Father and I.

The Hearthing family, who was also receiving their apologies, were standing behind us since they were commoners. I knew that was just how this world treats commoners but I still felt uncomfortable.

“Alea Village is a part of Witthoft house’s territory, but for a long time, I have left territory’s management to a governor. I deeply apologize for the trouble that I have caused to the Viscount and to the Hearthing Family.”

(T/N: It was mentioned in the earlier chapter that high ranked nobles would often pay lower ranked nobles to be the governor of their territory as their deputy.)

It was hard to react when a middle-aged man like him made excuses while sweating. Plus, he was a noble, so I had no doubt that the brains of Mazell’s parents behind me were currently short-circuited.

For a noble like him to even apologize to another noble, his superior must have scolded him pretty harshly. I didn’t even want to imagine it. Ah… I just wanted to become the cloud in the sky so I didn’t have to think… In any case, the atmosphere in the room turned strange. Father was the only person who remained calm.

“Um…Did your governor know about what happened to the Hearthing family in Alea Village?”

“No, wel…”

When Sir Erdogan, who answered my question full of hesitation, glanced at the Knight Captain, the Knight Captain started to open his mouth. He was probably the oldest here, and he had a fierce face. He looked more like an adventurer or an experienced martial artist rather than a knight.

However, the image of him lowering himself with that kind of face felt strange. I felt like watching an apology made by an athlete in a press conference in my previous life.

“The Alea Village’s chief is actually my father.”

What a surprise. I looked at the Hearthing family behind me. It seemed like Lily-san didn’t know about this, but her parents seemed to know since their faces looked uncomfortable.

I found out that the Knight Captain, Sir Heiner, was someone from Alea Village. He left Alea Village to serve the Witthoft’s family at a young age.

“I do not mean to boast, but I found that I have some talent in martial arts when I was young, so I have the opportunity to become the knight of Witthoft’s family and prosper.”

He probably had a martial art related Skill. Still, a commoner becoming a noble family’s Knight Captain was a pretty unusual story. He must have worked really hard to achieve that, and he must also have garnered envy from his surroundings.

“But my achievements created a delicate relationship between my father and the governor.”

I see. Since he became the Knight Captain of a noble family despite being a commoner, Sir Heiner must have been liked by Sir Erdogan, or judging by his age he may be liked by Sir Erdogan’s father. Since Sir Heiner was Witthoft family’s Knight Captain and was liked by the family head, the governor couldn’t treat the Alea Village chief, Sir Heiner’s father, strictly.

It was also possible that Sir Heiner was married to a member of Witthoft Family, though probably not to a direct descendant. I didn’t know, and I also didn’t want to know. After all, it was a private family matter.

Then Sir Heiner’s father, the village chief, ended up thinking that he could do anything he wanted because of the attitude of the governor, who was the family head’s direct subordinate. All of this led to the current situation.

“My father… The chief of Alea Village never delayed the village’s tax payment, so I assumed everything was fine. I did not realize that the Hearthing Family had been suffering all this time.”

“It was also my fault for leaving everything to the governor. My deepest apologies.”

They both bowed their heads again together. I got the general gist of it. Judging from Mazell’s parents’ expressions, it seemed like there was something more to this incident, but at least for now, I think it would be better not to ask about it.

“This is an apology for the trouble I have caused to you. Please accept it.”

Sir Heiner brought a box to the table, and Sir Erdogan opened it. Inside of the box was a bag and a piece of paper rolled into a cylinder. Sir Erdogan took that paper and offered it to me.

Giving me a paper didn’t mean that he had no intention of giving me a gift, but it simply meant that he wouldn’t do something vulgar such as giving a noble like me an apology gift directly. This paper also would act as an official apology letter to me.

But he would have no hesitation to give a commoner an apology gift directly, while the commoner could only gratefully accept that gift. That bag was probably full of gold coins and he would give it to the Hearthing family as an apology. Well, this was the difference between the treatment of nobles and commoners in this world.

“This is an inventory list for Sir Welner and the bag is for the Hearthing Family.”

“What about the punishment given to the village chief and the governor?”

I had to know that before I could accept it. I clearly conveyed that a village chief might be just a small-fry for a noble, but I wouldn’t let it slide. The one who answered me was Sir Erdogan.

“Of course, they both have been given severe punishment. They both have been given long-term appointments. The village chief was now a miner assistant in the Mcdare Mine while the governor has been demoted to a stable boy. Other than that, the villagers who have taken part in the violence incident would be appointed in the safety duty position for a while.”

My my, the Count must be furious because their actions forced him to bow down to others. The Count prioritized the Witthoft family’s reputation over his own Knight Captain. The Count was probably scolded harshly by his superior over this incident, so he needed to satisfy his superior by giving them both a severe punishment.

Long-term appointments meant they wouldn’t be able to leave their job for years. There wasn’t any specific rule for how long they wouldn’t be able to leave, but it would be at least 5 years and usually it would be 10 years. In this period, they also wouldn’t be allowed to resign. Depending on where you would be appointed, you could be treated like a slave in your new place. No, slave in this world received pretty good treatment, so you would be treated even worse than a slave.

The miner assistant wouldn’t go to mine to excavate ores but they would be responsible for the miners’ personal needs like cooking, laundry, cleaning, and so on. Officially, they were low-ranking government officials, but they were in a position where they needed to go immediately if a village chief called for them.

Plus, from what I remember, the Mcdare Mine was where bandits and major criminals were sent. Being banished might be better compared to working at Mcdare Mine as a miner assistant. I could imagine the village chief being miserably pushed around by the murder convicts in that mine. I wondered if he could endure? Or would I receive news of his ‘accidental death’ in the future?

Being demoted from a governor to a stableboy was also quite a severe demotion. In my previous life, it would be like being demoted from a store branch manager to a normal employee or even worse, since the stable boy typically would live, eat, and sleep in the stable. His position was even lower than a coachman. Plus, a governor would also get a lot of additional income from ‘tips’.

I felt that Sir Erdogan was actually taking out his anger by giving these punishments to the village chief, governor, and the villagers. This was like an arbitrary appointment that the Labor Standards Inspection Office would make. Well, the nobility system of this world was at fault for allowing this kind of thing, though.

As for the villagers, the work of people on safety duty was to maintain the road. For example, if a fallen tree was obstructing the road, then the people on safety duty have to remove it. If not, they would get punished.

The duty of maintaining the road included the responsibility to keep the road safe by exterminating danger and, in this world, that danger included demons. Unless it was some weak demon, it was really dangerous for just villagers to fight them. They might even lose their lives if they tried.

Usually, if demons were to appear near a village, the local government would hire adventurers to protect that village, but in this case, since the safety duty was made a punishment for villagers, I didn’t know what would happen. In a worst-case scenario, the villagers would have to hire adventurers themselves or even need to fight the demons themselves if they didn’t have the money to hire adventurers, so it was a pretty severe punishment.

“Also regarding the Hearthing family…”

Sir Erdogan smirked and turned his gaze meaningfully to Mazell’s family, who had been standing behind me.

“The Hearthing family is the resident of Alea Village, which would make them the citizens of the territory of the Witthoft House. As such, I feel it is my responsibility to take care of them. Plus, I do not want to inconvenience the Zeavert house, so how about letting Witthoft Count house take care of the Hearthing family when they stay in the capital?”

Here it came.