Then, Im off!

And so, after receiving Harolds command, Zen rushed out of the room in high spirits. Since he didnt know why Zen had so much enthusiasm, the only thing he did was to tilt his head in puzzlement.

It would be good if he doesnt mess up due to being too enthusiastic thinking that, he felt a tinge of anxiety.

Well, if he trusted in Normans judgement, nothing bad will happen convincing himself with that, as a change of pace, he decided to start his sword training, which was about to become a daily routine.

This was the world of an RPG. Outside the range of humans livelihood, normally, monsters were strutting about. To survive in this extremely dangerous world, it went without saying that a certain level of strength was required. Much less, when Kazuki needed to jump in and live within a vortex of violent battles as Harold Stokes.

He wanted to avoid fighting as much as possible but that wasnt possible in accordance to the original game event.

Therefore, in order to be prepared for emergencies, he started imitating swordsmanship.

When he went to the backyard, holding the sword purchased by Zen in Lietze, after confirming that nobody was present in the surroundings, he started implementing the training menu that he himself had thought up.

Grasping the hilt in both hands, he raised it overhead and brought it down in one swing. From that state, switching his grip to the left, he moved his right hand by 1 unit to the upper-right side. From there, making the right foot on which he had stepped forward as the axis, he rotated in clockwise direction, and using centrifugal force, he cut in a straight line from the left.

This was the basic combination which Harold used in the game. This was of the type of serial barrage which appeared when the attack button of the controlled character was spammed thrice.

Kazuki, who didnt even have experience in Kendo, couldnt judge whether or not this attack would really be effective in actual combat, but for now, he thought of making this as his base.

At first, like the practice-swings in Kendo, he practised by stepping forward and cutting down from the overhead position, but imagining actual combat, he felt that the benefits of practising moves similar to the ones in the game was larger.

When close to a month passed after starting a training like this, his body grew accustomed to the movements themselves. The sense to grasp that, wasnt Kazukis, but was probably Harolds.

Come to think of it, even though Harold was the lowest of bastards, traversing solo through a dungeon and clashing with the hero party, in battle, he was quite an outstanding character. If I keep training like this seriously, I might be able to obtain strength which isnt inferior to that.

(If I thought of it like that, my tension rises up a little!)

Even encountering an irrational situation, thinking in a manner like that, as expected, Kazuki was a fan of Brave Hearts through and through.

Although he had possessed the most loathed person in the original work, when it became that he might be able to use the same skills as the ones inside the game, he couldnt suppress his heart from dancing.

With determination and excitement as the source of encouragement, Kazuki silently continued swinging his sword. A small boy lightly brandishing an adult-sized sword if seen from an outsiders perspective, it was quite a bizarre scene.

Originally, he wouldnt even be able to decently swing it, but Harolds high-spec body compensated for that. But even Kazuki didnt notice that fact.

Somehow, the boy known as Harold appeared to be excellent.

Thus, providing assistance in the cultivation of crops, sword training, and humoring his parents after these became his routine, about a month and a half passed by. Around the time when all the potted plants in the balcony grew lush and thick, at last, the preparations for the next move were completed.

That day, the one whom Kazuki summoned to his room was a slender man, who wore glasses. With an age in the first-half of his thirties, maybe due to the sharp look in his eyes, he gave of an impression of being cold and unfeeling.

The mans name was Jake. One of the people who managed the finances of the Stokes family. Even the usually unamiable, taciturn Jake was considerably perplexed by the situation he was in.

There were totally 3 people in the room. The owner of the room, Harold, the veteran servant, Norman, and Zen.

Sit

To him who had come to the room, the first thing Kazuki said after opening his mouth, was that.

Norman, who was diagonally behind Harold, handed over a draft containing a few pages to Jake, who had quietly sat down on the chair.

Read that

Ok

What on earth is this about Jakes bewilderment kept growing.

However, after he opened the draft and started reading its contents, the look in his eyes changed.

What was written down was the detailed financial situation of the Stokes house. It was filled with a headache inducing amount of numbers, but sadly, they were numbers which Jake had become used to seeing.

Are there any large mistakes in the entry?

.........No, there arent

Let alone mistakes, this was a complete copy of the contents of the financial management report that Jake had compiled. He properly checked whether there were any defects or not in the documents he had prepared.

Perhaps, was he called to enter at least 1 false charge into the contents of this? That sort of thought crossed his mind.

Right?

But, contrary to his predictions, Harold sighed gravely. There was no appearance of wanting to rebuke Jake.

If he had to say, then Harolds voice was as though he was fed up from the bottom of his heart.

From the past few years, the finances of the Stokes house has been in the red. The prime cause is the pointless extravagance due to my parents wanting to put on airs. The reserves from up until the previous generation and the heavy taxation is compensating for it but even that wont last long, and the burden on the populace only keeps increasing. Any objections to this opinion?

I have awareness that it is heading towards that direction

Jakes emotional subtleties never easily surfaced, but inside, he was on the verge of panicking.

He was astonished that a young boy had perfectly comprehended the contents of the financial management report, but more than anything, he wasnt able to grasp the intentions of the question at all.

Harold himself, being the eldest son of the head, was criticising his parents, the current head. He didnt know what kind of behavior was right.

Being at a loss, Jake looked at Norman. But he was only standing behind Harold with a calm expression and it didnt seem as though he would respond to Jakes glance.

Even though the situation isnt urgent, as it is, someday, both the Stokes house and the populace wont be able to maintain their livelihood. Well, for you bastards, it would be better if the Stokes house collapses

Please dont say things like that. If anybody heard it, they would misunderstand and think that you are rebelling

For the time being, Jake takes the safe route.

However, from Kazukis point of view, it wasnt necessarily a misunderstanding. He hadnt thought of outrageous things like causing internal problems to steal the inheritance and he hadnt even thought of doing whatever it takes for the continued existence of the Stokes house and for becoming the next head.

Frankly speaking, he wouldnt care even if it got crushed like in the original work.

Together with the ending of the original work, if he faded out and safely became commoner A, it would be fine.

Of course, the best solution would be for him to return back to his original world as fast as possible, but to do that, he hadnt even found a single clue and so, for now, he put it aside.

Hn. At any rate, the populace, particularly, if the agricultural districts proceeds arent increased, its very clear that in the near future, well go bankrupt

Jake couldnt respond. This was because it was true that the agriculture in the Stokes territory had already started declining.

Due to imposing a heavy tax rate, since management became strained, people who quit and people who left from the Stokes territory increased. This trend was remarkable with small farmhouses in particular.

If this flow didnt stop, revenue from the agricultural district would drop considerably. When that happened, it wasnt known whether the current head would resolve to loosen the tax rates due to the disadvantage.

Jake didnt believe that that man would take such measures. Conversely, he would probably increase the rates even more and pluck money from wherever it could be plucked.

(Has Harold-sama comprehended that.........?)

No matter what, it wasnt a problem which a boy of 10 years old, would rack his brains for. Normally, it would be difficult to even read the contents of the financial management report correctly.

But, for the boy in front of him, it seemed as though something of that level wasnt even a wall. Jake immediately realized that.

That is why I called you. Ill leave the inspection of the agricultural district to you

What do you mean

Zen

Hai Hai!

Responding to Harolds call, Zen opened the window connected to the balcony, picked up a basket in which red groot were bunched up, and with a thud, placed it in front of Jake.

Again, being unable to catch up to the situation, his eyes became dots.

Um, This is......?

Now, now, without saying anything here, relish in Harold-samas handmade red groot

You are the one whos talking too much. Do you want to become fertilizer?

Sorry!

By Harold-sama.....?

If he frankly expressed his thoughts, it would be Why?.

He didnt know why Harold was cultivating vegetables in his room and, he also didnt know why Harold was trying to make him eat it.

That said, since it was taken out like this, he couldnt not try it, so timidly he bit into a red groot.

......! S, sweet?

Right?

Why the hell are you proud........

Watching Zen show no sign of respect to Harold, Jakes innards went cold, but without even rebuking him, Harold just held his temples as though he was amazed by Zen.

Anyways, the thing you ate just now was something I raised with my own method. Lend me your power to spread that method

Why me?

To implement this farming method, naturally, there will be some costs, and depending on the situation, exclusive equipment might be necessary. Since you have thorough knowledge of Stokes finances and as an inspection official, since you also know the situation well, I judged that you would be suitable

Certainly, calculating the necessary expenses if the required materials and their rough quantity were decided, and depending on the equipment, deciding whether installing them would be acceptable or not or making proposals to satisfy some conditions, all these could be done if it were Jake.

Harolds point was logical.

The problem was whether spreading the new farming method was implementable or not.

Compared to the normal ones, it was remarkably easy to eat this red groot. It could be guessed that if this went out on the market, the demand would be great.

But if the manufacturing cost was equal to or more than the market price, then there would be no meaning in doing it. There might also be farmhouses which might not be able to endure until the deficit, increased due to the initial expenses, changes over to net profit.

It was a huge problem for implementation.

It seems like you can think

Towards Jake, who remained silent even when asked for cooperation, rather than feeling hurt, Harold was in admiration of him.

For Kazuki, rather than people who would agree for everything due to pressure from their superiors, he needed people who would think about things with their own head like this. Kazuki only knew about the parts which were depicted in the game, and people like Jake and Norman, who were likely to notice problems other than the ones he knew, would be dependable hereafter.

If it could improve the present condition, I would help as much as possible. But........

You cant readily agree since you just heard the talk, right? If it were father, he would have angrily told you to not talk back or in the worst case, thrown you into the dungeon

Listening to those words, Jakes body stiffened and thought As expected, after all, he is the son of that man.

But for some reason, Norman and Zen smiled wry