New House New Knight

Around noon on the fifth day after leisurely traveling along the highway, we finally arrived at our destination, Enkar Village.

Enkar Village is the largest village in the Enkar region. According to the information I confirmed during the trip, it was a farming village of about 200 people, with the majority of the population being settlers and their descendants. In addition, there were several small villages where serfs were gathered around the area.

There is a manor's mansion in the center of the village, and this will be Melfina's base from now on. It was originally a building for Duke Ordland to stay for a short period of time during his inspections, so although it was well-built, it was a very small building for a nobleman's mansion.

Even though it was in the center, there were no private houses around it, and you could only see houses built here and there on a rather large piece of land. The land has gentle ridges here and there, with steep cliffs here and there, and the mountains visible in the distance are still capped with snow. There are several streams flowing, but I think they are tributaries that flow into Lake Moltres.

In my previous life, the royal capital I grew up in seemed like something out of a movie, but if you close your eyes to the simplicity of the buildings, it's like stepping into a picture book.

It's about the size of a slightly larger inn, but since we don't plan on growing into a large household, something like this should be easier to manage. Melfina thought so, but to her maid Marie and her escort knight Cedric, she seemed to feel that it was beyond suitable for a duchess to live in.

"Let's head back to the nearest big town."

I shrug my shoulders at Cedric's words, which almost seem like a matter of decision, and enter the manor's mansion. Normally, plans for inspections are announced several months in advance, but this visit was sudden, and the inspection itself probably hasn't been held in several years. The inside of the mansion seems to be a closed building. It smelled like dust.

"Marie, let's open all the windows. Cedric will help you too."

"My job is to be a knight. I can't leave your side."

"Yes. Now, please stay close behind me."

Marie is a maid, not a servant or a maid, but her job is to take care of my personal belongings, so she doesn't seem to mind following my instructions. However, it is true that managing and cleaning the mansion is not part of Cedric's job as a knight, so he cannot force it on him.

"Um... if you don't mind, can we help you?"

The porter who had been acting as my driver so far timidly called out to me. They seemed to be wondering if they should directly address the nobles.

"That would be helpful! For now, I'd like to open all the windows to let some air in and do a quick cleaning. Of course, I'll pay the daily allowance."

"Melfina-sama. I think we should hire a few servants."

Every time I open the window, fine dust flies and sparkles. No matter how small the mansion is, it seems like it would take a lot of effort to clean every corner.

"I'm thinking of asking for help in the village."

"Then I'll go now."

"Wait. I want to hire people I get along well with as servants, so I'm thinking of interviewing them. For today, I'll just have to help them. Instead, I'll buy groceries and seasonings at the market. Can you go to?"

Up until this point, we had eaten at restaurants and inns in towns along the way, but Enkar Village is a place where most of the residents are engaged in the primary industry, so that won't be the case from now on. Marie seemed surprised by her words, but she quickly nodded.

"You, um, what's your name?"

"My name is Rad."

"I'm Cliff."

"I... I'm Ed!"

Of the three human legs, the youngest was still old enough to be called a boy. He must be about twelve years old. In this world, this is the age when you start working as an apprentice.

I thought it was cute how she stretched her back while blushing nervously, and I suddenly smiled.

"Ed, could you please accompany Marie and carry her shopping bags? We can use the horse-drawn carriage to get a few days' worth of vegetables, eggs, and seasonings. Fresh milk and meat for today. Just that is fine."

"I got it!"

"Then let's go."

I watched the two of them leave and opened the window in the hallway. In this world, window glass is a luxury item, but it's not so rare that you rarely see it. It's thicker than the one I knew from my previous life, and its surface is rippled. The reason why it is divided into small sections with lead is probably because the technology for making large sheets of glass is still in its infancy.

The structure had shutters installed for security purposes behind the glass windows. When light enters, it improves the impression of the inside of the building, and at the same time brings to light any problems that need to be resolved. There's a lot of dust.

"Today, I'm doing my best to secure the kitchen, living room, and bed. Where are the cleaning tools?"

"Ma'am! We'll do the cleaning!"

"We are good at cleaning!"

"Then, please. I'll go check out the kitchen."

I leave the dust to the young men on my feet and head to the kitchen. It's relatively clean here, perhaps because there are no cloth products, and it seems like all you have to do is wash and wipe down the utensils and tableware you use. There were no expensive ceramic tableware in the shelves, all of them were made of wood.

For Melfina, who grew up in the royal capital, it was common for all tableware to be made of ceramic or glass. The mug, which looks like a smaller version of a barrel, is quite heavy and feels fresh to her.

――I had an image of this kind of thing being associated with pirates, but it seems to be used normally.

When I turned on the faucet, water came out, and when I turned on the stove, there was a fire. Both are magic tools that use magic stones, and they are also installed in the homes of slightly wealthy commoners in the royal capital.

--Even though the worldview is medieval, the convenience around here is a truly opportunistic fantasy, but as expected, I don't know how to use a wood-fired oven, so it's not that convenient in daily life. Yeah.

I open the shelves, take out the dishes I think I'll be using at the moment, and wash them. I wiped it dry with a rag that I had stored away, and then wiped the table with a damp rag. Meanwhile, I decided not to pay any attention to Cedric, who was standing behind me like a ghost.

"Now, we have to choose a room."

In aristocratic buildings, the first floor is for guests, and the second floor is for the master, his family, guests, and vassals, and this feudal lord's residence seemed to have been built according to these rules. The south end of the second floor is the master bedroom, and next to it is the gathering room.

By the way, servants often shared the attic. Marie is a maid, and since she is a senior servant, she will need a private room.

Melfina has knowledge about this area, but she doesn't know much about escort knights. Melfina hated her mother Retina's territory in the south because it was a rural area, and she rarely stayed in the territory, so she had lived in a townhouse in the royal capital most of the time since she was born. There were many senior servants there, and people were always watching them, so the escort knights were only used as guards when they went out, and there were almost no opportunities to see the knights walking around inside the mansion.

"Hey, do escort knights live with me? Or is it common for them to have a house outside?"

"There are often lodgings within the castle, and it is normal for people with families to commute from outside the castle, but I think it is customary for them to live in their rooms if they choose to stay at this mansion."

"Then, I will use the master bedroom as my private room and bedroom, and the next room will be Marie's room, so please choose your favorite room from the remaining rooms."

The master bedroom was also closed, so I opened the window. The bed was nice, but I didn't want to sleep on bedding that he probably hadn't used in years. Fortunately, the weather is nice, and after an early lunch, I decide to dry my clothes in the sun until sunset.

When I noticed that Cedric didn't reply and turned around, the young guard knight had a difficult look on his face.

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure where to get the room. If you're thinking about crime prevention, it should be on the first floor, but this mansion only has a storage space on the first floor other than the kitchen and hall, so I think we should clean that out."

"Well, what were you doing during the inspection?"

"This is my first time visiting this mansion, but most of the time I stayed at the inn in the village, except for the knight who kept vigil."

"There are still rooms on the second floor, so why not choose one?"

This area is a quiet countryside, so I don't think a bodyguard is necessary, but Cedric, along with Marie, is Alexis's watchful eye. If you keep him away from him, there's a possibility that he'll attract unwanted attention, and he also feels bad about letting Cedric, who comes from a noble family, live in a storage room.

That was my intention, but Cedric looked at me with shocked eyes.

"...I'm sorry. I have sworn loyalty to the duke."

"Yeah?"

"As a vassal, my pride as a knight would not allow me to have such a relationship with my master's wife."

"Yeah???"

I tilted my head and immediately let out an ahh.

"That's not true!? It doesn't mean that you can become my mistress!?"

"...Is that so?"

It is common sense that the second floor is used by the owner, his family, and close relatives. My mother, who was my legal wife, lived in the townhouse where I was born and raised, so my father never brought women in, but it was probably customary for mistresses to be included among the people who used the second floor of country houses. Dew.

"I'm sorry, I was being careless. The third floor is in the attic and is for the servants, and the first floor is a storage room, so I just said it because I thought it would be wrong to let Cedric, a knight, use it."

Seeing the escort knight's visibly relieved appearance, I regretted that I had completely forgotten the sense of distance between a typical young lady and a knight.

Cedric is a sturdy man with short earth-colored hair and deep brown eyes that makes him look like a knight, but since he is one of the characters to conquer, he has a different atmosphere from Alexis, who is known as the Duke of Ice, which is a bit surprising. He has a well-groomed face.

He is still a young man of twenty years old. Since he was a knight from an earl's family, he would be popular with women, and he was probably often seen that way.

――I had never imagined what would happen with Melfina, the villain, so I completely missed that point of view.

"Well, I'll pay the expenses, so why don't you take a room at an inn in the village? Wouldn't Cedric be more comfortable that way?"

"No, if you don't mind, please give me the storage room on the first floor. Even though it's a storage room, it's quite spacious, and if you clean it up, it can function as a room."

If the person in question says it's okay, then it's fine. If possible, I would like him to return to the duke's residence, but I don't think that will happen.

"Then, have Cliff and Rudd clean it up. There are probably some beds for servants upstairs, so let's have them use them for now, and we'll make or buy new ones soon."

"Thank you for your consideration."

"Yeah, if anything happens again, please let me know right away. I don't want to get stuck in the conversation with some weird misunderstanding."

I'm so glad he didn't come to my bedroom in the middle of the night with such a sad look on his face. When I said this to him, Cedric bowed once more without saying a word.