Volume 2 Chapter 4

The Head Maid

While Liam was training, there was movement in the Banfield house.

Brian, youve grown old since I last saw you.

Youre one to talk.

Brian had invited over a woman who was familiar with manners and conduct.

Previously employed in the imperial palace, she was a woman he met during the Banfield houses golden years.

She had the elite position of head maid, the leader of all the girls.

Now that she had retired, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were holding that position.

She was a person who had grown up watching over the empire until she had finally become an old woman.

Brian had invited her over because he wanted her to bring the etiquette of the Empires higher-class into Liams residence.

They were skills that could be applied anywhere, which was necessary for the future.

After all, they were going to let the children of nobility study here as a pretense to build connections with other houses.

Behavior and manners needed to be taught strictly.

Except for Lord Alistair, your masters were fools.

I admit this.

Alistair was Liams great-grandfather.

It was thanks to him that the Banfield house had once risen to power.

But when I saw the mansion I understood. The little boy you call Liam doesnt seem to be one.

Youre as harsh as ever, but Lord Liam is no fool.

Thats for me to decide. No matter how much you boast about your ability to fight pirates, that alone wont be enough.

Brian asked the woman,

So whats your decision? Will you accept?

The woman laughed,

I didnt have high expectations, and only came here to see your face- but Ive changed my mind. Bring all the ladies to me, Ill train them myself.

The womans countenance had changed, and looking at their new head maid, Brian started to smile.

Ill leave them to you. When the girls arrive, its reassuring to know youll be here.

Within the next decade Ill turn your house into one suitable for accepting the children of other families. You can leave the houses internal affairs to me, but Im not helping with anything else.

It was Liams job to prepare the facilities and other preparations necessary to accommodate the noble children.

-or it was supposed to be, but Amagi was taking care of everything.

Im fine with that.

In response to Brians reply, the head maid made an interested expression,

For you to make such a face, that Liam must be quite talented. Its a pity I cant meet him while hes studying abroad.

Its already been a year, just two more and hell return.

Where did you send him?

We sent him to Viscount Razels house.

Upon hearing that, the head maid showed noticeable discomfort,

W-whats wrong?

You chose the Razel house, a place whose acceptance of children is more akin to that of a business, rather than a friend welcoming a guest. I heard they were quite popular, but they arent a house Id recommend. Werent there any other options?

Unfortunately, there was no such thing. The houses current state doesnt have any decent connections we can rely on.

The head maid replied,

Well, the Razel house changes their reception depending on the individual. If they consider a child profitable, then theyll be put into a relaxed course that barely does any training. In those cases, another house wouldve been better to enroll into before elementary school.

By focusing on entertaining the child instead of disciplining them, there were rare cases of children actually leaving the training worse than how they were beforehand.

Because she had worked in the imperial capital, she had access to various information about such cases.

Are they really that horrible? They didnt seem to have that bad of a reputation

The side that actually got trained probably spread that image, but the imperial capital doesnt see them in a very good light. If I had known earlier, I wouldve introduced you to-

The head maids expression was full of regret.

Brians face was already blue as he hurriedly went to call Liam.

Lord Liam, how is living over there like?

Hows it like? Uh normal? Since there isnt any paperwork, I guess its easy enough?

E-easy?! N-no, other than that, did they do anything else to you?

Did they do anything to me? Sorry, I actually need to go, its almost time for work.

Oh, please wait for one moment! What is work, exactly?!

Well, we moved a bunch of heavy equipment to their natural satellites, and now were actually doing some mining jobs for them.

Brians face was blue.

Was it so strange?

Kurt, who was currently wearing a spacesuit called out to me,

Liam, its about time we got going!

Im coming! Brian, dont worry- Im practically a master in manipulating heavy equipment now.

Although Brian was trying to say something, I ended the call because it was time for us to clock in.

Lord Liam! Wait! No! This is wrong! Mining jobs on moons and other satellites arent tasks to be done by the head of a house!

The head maid moved to support Brian, whose call was suddenly cut off and was about to fall over in regret.

Get a hold of yourself!

B-but, for all the resources and funds we supplied, this treatment is far too harsh. P-protest. If I protest this quickly enough, then we can improve the viscount houses treatment of him.

But the head maid refuted him,

I wouldnt recommend doing that.

Why?! Theres no way I can allow this sort of treatment!

No, this might actually be a blessing in disguise. Well hear more details from him later, but its good for him to learn about that kind of life. Besides, I was quite impressed with how he was able to put up with such a treatment without complaining. From that alone, Ive risen my evaluation of him to someone whos better than the average man.

Brian was wiping his tears.

To treat my precious Lord Liam like that, Ill never forgive them.

I agree, but learning something while theyre studying abroad also depends on the individual themselves. This might actually be a good environment for that child.

Seeing how much fun Liam was having was Brians only silver lining in this situation.

But that was a different matter.

This didnt mean that he would forget this grudge against the viscount house.

The head maid started laughing,

What an interesting boy. I like him- so Ill help you out with taking care of this issue.

Space work.

While piloting the heavy mining equipment, I couldnt help but be frustrated with the large, immobile spacesuits they made us use.

Its hot in here, and the suit is totally outdated.

As I complained, Kurt, who was there working with me, replied,

Yeah, this sure is a poor working environment.

I didnt really think it was that bad though.

The work environments in my previous life were worse.

So I wasnt that sympathetic.

It also smells.

Agreed.

We cut the rock with heavy equipment that was far from humanoid.

Then, we transported and dumped the cuts into a machine created for recovering the resources.

Such a life has been going on for three months now.

Damn, are the people on the surface partying right now?

There were only a few parties we were allowed to participate in.

They were carried out once a month to teach us etiquette, but all the foods and drinks were removed.

Conversely, the people that had been given preferential treatment could stay on the surface and enjoy real parties whenever they wanted.

I think this is better, Im not very good with parties.

Unlike myself, Kurt seemed to be an introverted-type evil lord.

I also liked my time alone, but parties were fun.

The luxurious meals and drinks that I could consume with my peoples tax money were delicious.

Isnt it fine since youre a noble now? Just enjoy them. If you keep acting like this, then youll be troubled once you finally get to go to a bucket party.

I dont think a house of my status can participate in a bucket party in the first place.

Bucket parties had a certain formula to them.

They were really complex.

Both the sponsor who organised it, and the participants invited needed a certain skill set to participate.

I also wanted to try hosting a bucket party one day.

While we were talking, the days work had just about come to a close.

As I got up, the head knight who was supervising us called out to me,

Liam, youre exceptionally skilled at handling heavy equipment. If you ever run into money problems, Ill happily give you a job.

After telling me such a joke, I decided to play along with him,

If that time comes, Ill be counting on you. I was originally supposed to be a count, so please promise me good working conditions. Three meals a day and ample time for naps is required.

All right, Ill think about it, but be prepared for low-wages.

Thats a off-putting.

After saying such a joke, I returned to the ship.

somethings wrong.

On the roof of the viscounts mansion.

The guide who was confirming Liams current situation was perplexed.

Why is he having fun?! He should be dissatisfied with this treatment!

The money and supplies Liam had piled up had become the seeds of success for others.

And yet Liam looked like he was enjoying himself despite the fact that he was being treated worse than how he was originally supposed to be.

This was not the ideal situation for the guide.

Liams happiness wasnt his happiness.

In fact, his heart was actually in pain because of it.

His limbs had grown numb as well.

At my current strength, I cant do anything, but I still need to somehow push Liam into despair.

The situation wasnt improving at all.

The guide continued to ponder about his next move- he had lost the majority of his power, so his options were limited.

Are there any cards I can play? Anything will-

Thats when Peter entered into his field of view.

Even though this was the viscounts residence, he was behaving as if he owned the place.

Okay, lets use him against Liam nevermind. Theres no way he could win.

The guide immediately gave up after seeing Peter.

How do I do it?! How do I make you unhappy, Liam?!

The guide wallowed in his regret and started shedding tears.

while I was doing more mining work the next day.

It was at such a time.

Whats that? A flickering white light?

I saw a white light on the monitor.

The instruments werent giving off any response, so were they just malfunctioning?

Thats what I thought-but then I hit something.

I was a bit worried, but when I went to check it out, there was a pendant there.

Whats this?

At first I thought it was just garbage.

But after having picked it up, I took quite a liking to it.

I guess mining jobs arent so bad.

Being the profession that excavated gold gave it high points in my eyes.

After putting the pendant into my pocket, I resumed my work.

The university of the imperial capital.

Gathered inside of Tias room was a group of her friends who were also participating in the university life.

University students studying abroad from the Banfield houses territory had gathered together for a party.

Tia picked up her terminal, and after reading the message, she exhaled a sigh.

Whats wrong, Tia?

One of her friends called out to her.

She was a comrade who had survived that living hell as well.

The Banfield houses fleets seem to be growing more active in their pirate hunting.

To Liams private army, pirates were nothing more than living wallets for them to hunt down.

Sometimes, theyd even receive dispatch requests from the neighboring lords territories.

The message contained another story of their successes.

Which fleet was it?

The first fleet. They recently received a super-class battleship from Lord Liam, so theyre full of energy and motivation at the moment.

The admiral who acquired a new high-spec battleship was overjoyed.

Because Tia understood those feelings herself, she wasnt complaining.

The reason why she sighed was-

I hope I can become a knight soon, I want to go out and decimate some pirates too

All those who were participating in the party were those who experienced that hellish lifestyle.

There were a few that had been imprisoned by other pirates, but everyone felt the same.

Her friend spoke with a smile,

I understand, I totally understand Tia! But for now, lets do our best to earn our knight qualifications. We still have a lot of things we need to prepare before Lord Liam arrives.

Yes, I know. Its just I want to experience the feeling of killing pirates with my own hands.

He had given them their new bodies- their new lives.

Everything they were now was because of Liam.

That was everyones common understanding.

The insides of the room were decorated wall-to-wall with floating images of Liam.

The house party surrounded by an innumerable number of holographic images was being held under such circumstances.

The Razel houses mansion.

Fanatics?

Yeah, my father built his career through military exploits while piloting a mobile knight. So among the mobile knight pilots, hes a bit of a celebrity.

While talking with Kurt inside our room, the conversation eventually turned towards fanatics.

Since he built up popularity as a knight, it seems like many officials had come and offered to work under him.

Conversely, I was troubled by the fact that I always seemed to be understaffed.

I didnt have enough people yet considering the scale of my house.

Whats the problem with that?

Its a big problem!

Kurt yelled at me with an intense fervor,

While my father isnt exactly ugly, hes not that handsome.

Bringing up an image, what was shown was that of a bitter-looking man in his thirties.

Certainly not celebrity material.

Even though its like that, theres a photobook thats been released for some time now.

Huh?

Because my dad had already put in his signature on the document, I made a mistake. At the time I was annoyed with all the paperwork I had to do, and just gave my signature without reading the contents of it.

It looks like he signed documents without looking at the contents if he deemed them to be unimportant.

It wasnt like Id be spending any money, so I gave my subordinates the okay, and signed the documents for my own photobook to be released.

My everyday life was recorded, and there were even edited videos in there too- it was my subordinates who bought them.

Apparently, it sold quite well in my territory.

A profit that I couldnt laugh at was made, and it looks like the baron was selling the same goods at an equally fast rate.

Kurt was talking about the sales while crying,

and thats why your confiding in me right now?

Kurts shoulders suddenly dropped.

Y-yeah

In his case, wasnt it selling because he was quite a beautiful for a guy? Thats what I thought, but I didnt say it out loud because I knew hed get angry.

With that said, I couldnt really understand the thought process of a person whod buy the catalogue of an old man.

fanatics are scary.