The day after the garden party, I have formally been transferred to master's house. The house has previously been under the care of Margrave Breithilde. I have come to inspect the house's condition after school.
However, he said that the house was actually part of aristocracy. It can be said to be as big as a Villa. The garden is large and the house is surrounded by a high wall for crime prevention purposes.
The front gate is also quite respectable.
I guess the more talented the adventurer, the higher their income.
It was also a residence suitable for a magician hired as a retainer by the Breithilde family.
"The gate or rather the small magic stone in it must be used to recognise the owner of the house." (Wendelin)
Even if I try to open the gate just as it is, it's said that the front gate won't open because of the magic stone.
It will break if you use high level magic but there's a small golem that has been placed at the door as well. This is probably done to chase out anyone who attempts to forcefully enter the premises. That's what I've been told by Margrave Breithilde anyway.
"This gate, seems like it costs five hundred thousand cents. If it's broken, even only once, I won't consider it excessively important." (Wendelin)
If one were to enter, they won't be stupid enough to break the preciously expensive magic tool.This is also the reason why Margrave Breithilde left the house alone for ten years.
During the first year after master's death, a number of people proclaimed themselves as master's relative without bringing anything to prove it. Most of them left saying that that they would send master's will to verify their legitimacy.
Although these claims were clearly lies, Margrave Breithilde followed a policy of fair governance. As such, he was honour bound to carry out through investigations for each claim. It didn't take long for these investigations to finish though.
In addition, these self-proclaimed relatives had lied during the investigations carried out by Margrave Breithilde. It seems to have been for reclaimed land forwarding on the charge of a fraud attempt for several years.
Human beings should earn money through their own hard work. One shouldn't get used to earning money the easy way.
"Uh…Indeed…from the memo that master gave…" (Wendelin)
Master had probably figured that with luck, I'll eventually visit his house. As such, he left me a memo with instructions on how to change the master of the magic stone.
That being said, the method itself wasn't that difficult.
I mutter the words or rather the cipher written in the memo. Looking at the memo while touching the magic stone seems to have reset the lock. I have to set a new code after opening it.
If you follow the instruction written in the memo, the gate will open immediately.
"Well then, next is…" (Wendelin)
When you enter the mansion, there will be four small golems guarding the house that will appear.
The golems are small and even in size. They were about about two meters tall. They issued a word of warning while surrounding me.
"Intruder. a human being other than Alfred-sama…. eliminate by force" (Golem)
"There's one golem that has an artificial personality made through magic technology and can speak human language." (Wendelin)
Incidentally, this type of technology was quite popular in ancient civilizations but it has now become a lost art. Of course it is studied, but no tangible results have yet to come from it.
The ones currently working here were brought by an adventurer and was something they obtained from ruins.
The current golem could not move precisely.
Practitioners have to always stay close to them. If the practitioner isn't close to it and for example, it's given instructions to "toil the field", it won't complete the instructions to your satisfaction.
Simply digging up the soil with a hoe at full force will only brake the hoe's handle.
However, when war breaks out, these golem are quite good.
Just by waving their arms and weapons at the enemy, or destroying the defensive barriers made by the enemies, it becomes much easier to defeat the enemies.
In short, golem magic was not only used for combat purpose.
"I am the successor of master Alfred's house." (Wendelin)
When I declared that to the small golem, I issued the cipher to make the golem stop immediately while including the magic voice code.
All four golems then stopped moving.
"Stopping them was a success, now you…" (Wendelin)
Like the gate, the golems had a magic stone embedded in it. Touching it, I send magic into it making the golem restart a few seconds later. It seems to be a success.
"Wendelin-sama has been recognized as the new master after Alfred-sama." (Golem)
"Alright, let's continue the task." (Wendelin)
"Understood" (Golem)
The golems continued their previous task andall the golems returned to the garden. Evenopened the front door was opened in the same way.
When I entered the mansion, it was like a newly bought house. The inside was sparkling clean. One wouldn't believe that it had been leftunoccupied for decades as there were not a single speck of dust to be found anywhere.
""Magic state saving is really effective I see." (Wendelin)
Well, I think that it's good. The mansion was clean and i can immediately start living in the mansion without needing to clean it.
On the first floor, there is the living room, study room, kitchen, toilet, bath etc. All the items inside the rooms are neatly arranged.
After that is the basement. There is a warehouse in it so i took the key for it with me.The warehouse contained a wine cellar withwine and brandy which had expensive vintagesstored in the cellar.
In addition, all the cookware, water and sewage appliances in the mansion were based on magic tools. The bath, the kettle, the toilet's water and water for washing purposes allfunctioned in the same way.
Immediately after arriving in this world, I found myself in a remote area for the first time and found myself in a child's body. Under such circumstances, it was a delayed struggle for civilisation.
The toilet was no good as you had to clean it out by get water from the well after using it. The bath also needed to be filled by drawing water from the well. The kettle was more troublesome. At best, it could boil water twice a week. (e/d what kind of kettle does he have? Never heard of a kettle that could only be used twice a week)
The bath was particularly bad. Unless you learn magic to boil the water for it first, your body will be itchy after using it.
Even so in master's house, he can freely cook and take baths in leisure because the magic stone would continuously supply the facilities with magic to power them.
"Master's house is a good house." (Wendelin)
This is a good piece of property. Moreover since this house has officially been passed to me, it would be a shame not to live in it.
I suddenly remember that I need to report to the prep school's dormitory before I can move out.
The prep school's dormitory is originallyintended for students the guild supported to live in. For a person who can afford to live in their own house, that person's dorm room will be given to someone else.
"Now to immediately move to…" (Wendelin)
Since I didn't have a considerable amount of luggage, me alone was enough to finish moving in, but after all it apparently was impossible to hide this fact.
"You, how did you get this house?" (Erwin)
"I wonder if it's by chance?" (Luise)
"I wonder if it's accidental that the residence ismore luxurious than both mine and Luise'sparent's house?" (Ina)
There is no reason that the two people who arethe children of retainers to Margrave Breithildewon't know about how poor my family was.
According to rumors, the house's that Ina and Luise belonged to was much better than my parent's one. Well, it's a fact that I can't avoid.
The magic stove, magic range and restroom also come with a flush function with the water supply to those places being automated.
"It's impossible to arrange this at my home in the first place." (?)
"It's impossible. A local country manor is not going to last." (?)
There are many people who do it luxuriously because the scale and appearance of the house are experienced by the noble and the rear family.
And as a result, they can't afford to buy furniture and maintain the of premises suitable for their identification, using magic tools. Like my parent's, Louise and Ervin von Armin were of the lower and middle class noblity.
"In my house, a magic stove is a luxurious thing. The firewood cooking stove is used most of the time. That is because even if this is large and can reach high temperatures, it's quite expensive isn't it." (Ina)
"That is probably because Ina's parent's house gives a meal to the pupils that are taught the art of spearfighting." (Luise)
"It's probably at Luise's." (?)
" It's not so bad." (Luise)
Surprisingly these two people were good cooks.
During a holiday while carrying out my part-time jobs at the time, I went hunting for prey to obtain local meat and materials. As such, I often cooked outdoors.
"I can cook myself" (Wendelin)
"Wend is banned from cooking!" (Ina)
"Certainly, that stew was inedible" (Luise)
"It is not good to complain, Ina. Even if it is not good, it is better than animal food." (Wendelin)
I have made many bad meals. Ehen I was small, I went hunting and cooked food for myself by going through trial and error but somehow, it became a habit to of mine to make bad food.
However, that does not mean i don't have a sense of taste.
I can confidently say that because I notice that the cheap restaurant which I went to after hunting cooked bad food.
In other words, food that taste good was quite rare in this world.
"Ok, let's make this place out party's headquarters."
"If you say it like that, isn't that just an excuse to hang out here?" (Wendelin)
"that's right Wend." (?)
"Ah no…even if you say that i'm right…." (Wendelin)
Erwin found us very quickly and after this short exchange, the number of residents in the house increased by three.
Anyway, living by myself would be lonely so after a brief lecture on cleaning and tidying, I allowed them to do as they wished.
"It's not bad, even five aristocrats could live here without complaining. I'll heat up the bath to an even temperature." (?)
"I agree. One could possibly house three retainer's daughters here. Please leave dinner to me, something like this is relatively simple for me." (?)
"Wend-kun, i'll prepare some tea." (?)
In this manner, I firmly established my new household.
"Right. Now that the end of term examinations are over, next up is to decide what to do for summer break."
It has been about three months since I entered Adventurer School. During that time I have encountered a variety of experiences.
Since awakening in this world at the age of six years old, I have finally made my first friend. (e/d i'm pretty sure it's five but i could be wrong and am a bit too lazy to check earlier chapters at the moment)
His name is Erwin von Arnim (TL note: i really want to name him Alvin ugh but apparently it's a german name so…). He is in the same situation as me in that he left his house in order to become an adventurer to make a name for himself because he is not able to succeed as his family's heir.
He is the same age as I am. That is to say twelve years old and has the best reputation in school in terms of his sword skills. Due to his time spent hunting, he is also equally proficient in archery as well.
Speaking of which, it was while hunting that we came across two girls facing off a pack of wolves which we then helped to subdue.
The two of them were fellow students at the Adventurer school from the same level as us. One of them being a slender, red-headed bishoujo spear wielder, Ina Suzanne Hildbrun.
She was the daughter of one of the retainer houses of Margrave Breithilde which taught the art of the spear fighting to the soldiers of Margrave Breithilde. It was an art in which she possessed a considerable degree of skill for.
As for the other person, she was a girl with light blue hair who was in reality older than her appearance suggested. A practitioner of magic, her name is Luise Jorlande Orphelia Orwin, who also happened to be the daughter of another retainer household of the Margrave's which taught magic combat to margrave Breithilde's soldiers.
No wonder they are so capable despite their relatively young age.
To be surrounded by a pack of wolves during their first time however, can only be blamed due to a lack of experience and sheer bad luck.
After helping to subdue the wolves, the two girls requested to form a party with us. This brought the number of hunting party members to a grand total of four members.
Although i might feel slightly uneasy at this arrangement, perhaps this is the work of fate after all.
After that event, I received an invitation to attend a garden party hosted by Margrave Breithilde. The invitation though was to actually introduce to me to a magician who was the master of my master Alfred, Burkhart-san.
As for this person, it seems he has the ability to sense the maryoku (TL note: magic power) of people he has met before from a great distance. He was aware that I had succeeded ownership over my master's magic bad after he'd become one of the talking dead. This was the same bag which contained all the supplies and rations belonging to the subjugation force twelve years ago.
Because they were aware of this fact, I had no choice but to return the supplies to their rightful owner. Also should I refuse to do so, my family might be dragged into it as well. As for me, I who wished to be independent from my family as soon as possible, was at an age where I possessed little power on my own, and not being old enough, it would be hard to survive without working.
In the end, it seems that I made the right decision to the return the immense quantities of rations and supplies, along with the reports and valuable materials that the subjugation force obtained within the Demon Forest back to the Margrave. I received a reward worth twenty percent of the calculated value of what I'd returned.
Furthermore, having been recognized as Master's legal successor, I inherited his house and possessions he'd left behind in Breitburg.
I must profess my gratitude as the total amount of assets I possessed vastly increased. Like this it would be possible to live out a sedentary lifestyle for the rest of my days, although such a lifestyle could be said to be rather, no, extremely boring because this was a world where neither games, nor manga, nor even the internet existed.
Although it was a long story, at the end of it I now have a new house, and am sitting and chatting with Erw while leisurely drinking tea.
Because the Adventurer school is a school for beginners, the examinations in turn were rather ordinary as well. Speaking of which, while comparing to the schools in my previous life, even though the level of education here could be said to be somewhat lower, because the history and geography of this world, along with magic theory and the study of monsters, were written examinations, one definitely had to make an effort to study.
Although one wouldn't fail over silly things, one might die (do badly) if they were not paying attention, and thus everyone had excellent note taking abilities.
Furthermore, the practical examinations added another burden to our load.
This is not some story where simply talking will settle things, rather everyone has to put in their utmost in order to face the examination.
For us scholarship students, the practical test was at the level of a normal test where it was easily cleared. Our scholarship duties normally needed us to pass the practical exam.
Although even though one might pass the exam, it doesn't mean one won't die in real combat. So, the teacher who was originally an adventure advice us to never be off guard even when it's summer vacation.
The period for vacation is seventh of July until the seventh of September. Although two months could be considered a long time, there is a reason for this.
While students are allowed to return to home, the continent of Lingaia is a vast one after all, and although most of the students come from around this area, there are some who require at least one months worth of traveling back and forth from their home towns.
Such is the reason for the long summer vacation. Although training still continues after returning home, thus the long summer break is not much of an issue. The meaning of training is also meant for homecoming, but it is not so much of a problem with this long summer vacation.
"Luise and I are not going home."(Ina)
"Yup. After all I go home everyday."(Luise)
For Ina and Luise there is no need to return home specifically during the summer vacation as their families are situated within Breitburg, therefore, they wished to use this time to earn money through hunting.
"I would like to buy some new equipment with the money earned from hunting" (Luise)
"I agree with Luise, I'll probably do the same" (Ina)
"Me too" (Erw)
"Ah? Erw, you're not going home?" (Wendelin)
While I can understand the two ladies not returning home for summer, I had assumed Erwin would be going home as he was originally from a land far to the west.
"Even if I return home, I'll simply be treated as an annoyance"(Erw)
I was the eighth son of the family with no chance at succession, and Erw was in the same circumstances as I. Furthermore, his swordplay was the best amongst the five brothers and thus did not have a good relationship with his older siblings.
"Among the family retainers, there is a guy who wishes for me to succeed the head of the household due to my outstanding swordplay"(Erw)
I had heard such a story, that the head of a family of knights would have to fight at the frontlines in times of war. Therefore a family head who is skilled in fighting is more desirable as it increases the possibility of his survival, and in turn the survival rate of the household increases.
However there has been no war for over two hundred years This is due to the abilities of the soldiers.
Bandit subjugation and occasional skirmishes with neighboring fiefdoms still occurs however, and thus a strong nobility was still preferred.
In case of important nobles, this also wasn't necessary to do since they compensate well for it with the number of retainers they have.
"I could say that I'm in the same situation."(Wend)
"It's more serious in Wend's case isn't it?" (Erwin)
You can easily deal with your brother if you are excellent with the sword, it doesn't even need that much work. There is also the support that is provided to the son-in-law in the vassals house who utilize their techniques skillfully, because there was also the chances to be nominated as the guard of a King in the capital.
In the case of Magic users however, it is not so simple.
Depending on the amount of maryoku one possesses, a person with high level of magic power is more likely to be kept within the household in order to use magic to benefit the family.
In my case, my family isn't aware of the extent of magic ability I possess. Although I'm the one who doesn't want to tell them, because I have become the a mage, it probably would ignite a dispute for the successor because of the unknown amount of magic I had in hand.
I'm sure it's no longer on the scale of a normal human being.
"As for me, I do not intend to return to the house anymore."
Since the house is in Breitburg, the plan is to use this area as a base of operations after graduating from Adventurer school.
The area around here is an abundant wilderness which can be easily and quickly reached, and thus traveling there poses little problem.
"Well then, are you going to look for a part time job Wend?"(Ina)
"I'm going to do magic training during the summer holidays in order to raise my proficiency"(Wend)
My maryoku has yet to reach the upper limit and Burkhart-san, the master of my master, agreed to teach me magic whenever there was free time. I want to make these lessons a priority.
"Private lessons with the highest ranked magician in the Margrave Breithilde's household…" (Luise)
"Then Wend-kun can be considered one of the magic elites now?"(Ina)
Going by level of maryoku alone, I estimate that my magic power has exceeded Burkhart-san's many times over. However, he is a talented magician with great skill and experience. This is evident from his ability to detect and identify individual maryouku for example, and other original convenient magic abilities , along with his skill in magical surgery.
Such forms of healing magic are considered skills that are not only difficult to learn, but require many years of study as well. Simply put, his level of ability is not something that can be perfected without sheer hard work.
For example, say a fireball expends hundred units of maryoku when it is released. For a fireball with the same amount of destructive power, it is common to see inexperienced magicians use up to a hundred and fifty units of maryoku, while a magician who has trained into old age may only require ten units for the same level of output.
For swordsmen who are reliant on their body, they cannot prevent the ravaging of their bodies with the passage of time.
As for normal people with little magic and who cannot utilize maryoku, the ability to use magic power to strengthen ones body and prolong ones lifespan is and enviable ability indeed.
Just saying, I am in reality much more mature than my age suggests.
In reality, whether one is able to learn properly is dependent on hard work.
Even if one was a magician who possessed a large amount of maryoku since youth, normal people who don't practice will see their body stop functioning with old age, whereas it is not uncommon to see old folks with small amounts of maryoku who did practice still moving with the agility of a much younger person.
No doubt, hard work is key.
Speaking of magicians, their maryoku will not increase in amount as they grew older, but I hear that the benefit of training the amount of maryoku since young is not to be taken lightly.
There are many normal magicians who neglect their training, and this is the cause for the differences in levels. If you realize you have talent in this field, you should make effort to work hard at it. This is also one reason why veterans are so highly regarded, because of their hard work.
"But hey, I got a magic instructor for two months from hunting."
Although we had already made plans, I received an unexpected invitation to a certain special event from my brother Erich.
"Erich-niichan invited me to his wedding. Although the location is at the imperial capital, is it not good if I don't attend…"(Wend)
The capital city of the Helmut Kingdom, Stadtburg, is located a little ways south from the center of the Lingaia continent, and it is a metropolis that boasts a population of over one million people.
Not only do they come from various lands throughout the kingdom, there are many people from the distant Urquhart Holy kingdom as well, a flourishing hub of economics, arts, and culture.
Even though the capital is far from my current location, there is no way I'm going to miss this once in a lifetime occasion.
"(Using teleportation I can reach the capital instantly) And as such I'll be going to the capital." (Wend)
"Then what about Burkhart-san's training?" (Ina)
"Ah, I guess that will have to wait for a while."(Wend)
Certainly the imperial city is far, but it is after all the capital city of the country. In reality, it does not take that long to go there if one uses certain methods.
"There is an magical airship that comes to Breitburg every week."
The city of Breitburg is the Helmut kingdom's representative on the southern border, and thus receives treatment equal to that of a secondary-capital city.
That's why a magic airship harbor exists in this region.
"Erich-niisan, I had intended to travel to the Capital via long distance horse-drawn carriage, but I guess using the magic airship would be much more convenient" (Wend)
Comparing the differences between the two, traveling by horse-drawn carriage will take at least one month round trip, while the price is around one silver plate which is reasonable for commoners. In the case of the magic airship, the total traveling time is only five days, which means I can reach the capital within two and a half days travel.
However, the cheapest airfare is one gold coin, roughly one million Japanese yen (8200 USD). It's a bit nostalgic, reminding me of the times I used to travel by plane to go overseas for vacation, and thus such forms of travel are not unfamiliar to me.
"Yosh, to the capital city it is then"(Wend)
"Me too!"(Erw)
"Me too!" (Ina)*
"Huh? Is it okay?" (Wendelin)
The fare cost for the magic airship is one gold coin, and I can pay it without any problems. However, I didn't think Erwin's group would be able to pay it as well.
"Once we come back, I will hunt for prey in the training camp. Even bears are easy going." (Erwin)
"That's how it is." (Ina)
"Please lend me the money." (Erwin)
I have no particular problem loaning it out, however it also isn't acceptable if this relationship ends up strange because of that.
Besides, even if the money wasn't returned, I wouldn't be able to see it through anyway. Taking into account the case of not returning it, I decided to lend them the fee for the magic airship.
My father from my previous life referred to it as『If you lend money to your friends, do it with the certainty that it won't be returned to begin with』.
"Erich-nii-san mentioned it in his letter, too. If there were friends wishing to come, then I should bring them along." (Wendelin)
He probably imagined, me and my friends, who wished to be adventurers like me, jolting around in a long-distance carriage, while enjoying the unfolding scenery on a month-long round trip.
However in reality, we are considering to use the magic airship with its high-priced fare.
"Nee~, are five congratulatory gifts sufficient?" (Ina)
"There's no need" (Wendelin)
Putting it like this might be bad, however Erich-nii-san as of yet is no more than a junior governmental official and his influence within the family he is entering as a groom is approximately in the same way rather low. Such is the situation.
For this reason, even if we came as requested by the written invitation, the story is that we would need to shoulder the travel expenses by ourselves.
In such a situation, it is the general approach to not bring any congratulatory gifts.
"The lodgings will be prepared by Erich-nii-san as far as I am told." (Wendelin)
It seems like it will be a room in the residence of the bride enabling us to stay in the royal capital while we are there.
"If that's the case, only the transport is left. After this …" (Erwin)
"After this, what? Erw?" (Wendelin)
"Before we are setting off, I'm going to hunt for prey. There is nothing better than returning borrowed money as soon as possible! Fortunately, there is no interest either!" (Erwin)
"That's because I'm no moneylender." (Wendelin)
"Regarding the interest, there would also be the idea of working it off with my body." (Erwin)
"Because you say such things, strange rumors are spreading." (Wendelin)
And then for three days our preparations for the departure to the royal capital were advancing while we were hunting on the side.
At last we met to board the magic airship together which will bring us to the royal capital Stadtburg located in the central area of the Lingaia continent.