Chapter 102: Retainer Couple
I followed John and came to the front gate of the official residence.
There, at the end of the bonfire, a familiar woman was waiting with a servant in tow.
Mary.
She is the girl I once rescued from the slavers, and she is now John's wife, and until she got out, she was also my retainer, just like her husband.
Mary knelt in front of me, bowing flat on the ground.
I had pointed this out to John because of his status as a public figure, but Mary had no official position, so she simply bowed inwardly as a servant.
Behind Mary's back, the servants were surprised.
-Why is Mistress doing this? Who is this man?
I could clearly see that they were thinking like that,
We have been expecting you, Master.
"At ease. I would have preferred a short ceremony."
In any etiquette, there are formal and informal ones.
Mary attended with a very formal version of the etiquette–a full course of manners if you will.
So I told her I was fine with the simpler, abbreviated version, but Mary kept her hands and knees on the ground and only raised her face.
"It cannot be! I only get to see the master once every few years or so. So please let me do this when we can meet. I can't sleep at night because I feel guilty if I don't do right by the master to whom I owe so much!"
"Is that how it is?"
"Yes."
"Then–John."
I turned around and called his name.
"Yes!"
"There will be times when you will have to come to Capital on official business to seek an audience with me. When you do, bring Mary with you as a couple. –That way we can see each other from time to time, right?"
"T-Thank you very much, sir."
"Thank you very much."
John bowed hurriedly, and Mary bowed again in a calm manner.
Compared to John, who still has some boyish composure, Mary seems to have acquired the composure of an adult woman.
Mary stood up quietly, took a step back, and with a half-step, gave me the way to the official residence,
"Please come in, My Lord."
"Umu."
I nodded and went inside.
John and Mary followed behind me as I walked out, and John's servants followed right behind them with puzzled looks on their faces. Peiyu followed silently from the very back.
We entered the official residence and were first ushered into what looked like a parlor.
"...Hou"
I let out an unintentional gasp as I entered the room.
The moment I entered the room, I felt as if I had stepped into a different world.
Even though it was nighttime, the room was brightly lit, and there was incense burning that I could tell from one whiff of it.
The sofa on which I would be sitting was richly decorated with embroidery, and fresh fruit was placed on the table in front of it.
It was a very hospitable atmosphere that anyone could see.
"I'm sorry, this is all we can offer here. I know it's not as much as the capital can offer, but I'll do my best to make up for it."
"Here here, Master, this way please."
John and Mary led me over to the sofa.
Not only did it look good, but it was a nice sofa with plenty of padding.
I sat down and looked around the room.
" .... what about the money?"
I asked John and Mary.
They both looked embarrassed.
"Your salary wouldn't cover this kind of entertainment. If you are not careful, you could lose a year's salary in an instant."
The salary of a low-ranking official in the Empire is not very high.
That's something I'll get around to eventually, but for now, let's talk about John.
"It's okay on that front."
"Houu?"
"I borrowed it from a merchant in town. I wrote an IOU. And promised to pay it back by the end of my term."[TN: For those not familiar with IOU, it's an abbreviation for 'I owe you'. And a written promise that you will pay back some money that you have borrowed.]
"Fumu."
"Don't worry, Master. We understand it perfectly. We will not suck it out of the people."
Mary followed up with John.
The two were born and raised in a village so poor that they were originally slaves and were sold into slavery.
Even if they made a mistake, they would never exploit the people, and I had carefully watched them and sent them out as my retainers.
I was not mistaken in my judgment, but I did not think they would go into debt to host me.
"Now, now, master, let me take off your shoes."
Mary said and knelt at my feet.
Then she reverently took off the shoes I was wearing.
After removing my shoes, she received a tub of water from a young servant standing behind her.
Then washed my feet.
Ever since I was at the residence of the Thirteen Prince, when I came home at night, I let the servant wash my feet to relieve my fatigue.
This is something that everyone does, and just washing my feet and giving them a simple massage after a day of walking takes away a lot of the fatigue, so I was a bit confused right after my reincarnation, but eventually, I started having the servants do it as usual.
Mary washed my feet, just as she did when I was at the Imperial Palace.
Behind her, there were other servants.
Especially in the cases of Princes and above those, only servants of a certain rank are allowed to serve you or directly serve you.
In this case, Mary, who was also my maid, is the equivalent.
To put it bluntly, other servants are 'not qualified to serve'.
This is something that nobles understand as a matter of course, but it is difficult for commoners to understand.
Even now, Mary's servants were making faces like, "Why is the mistress acting like such a servant?" ?
After showing my feet for a while,
"Peiyu"
"Y-Yes!"
I called her, and she scurried over to my side.
"Paper and pen."
"Yes!"
She took a piece of paper and a pen out of her baggage, which she carried close to her, and handed them to me.
I took it and scribbled it on the table.
Understanding the flow of the writing, she then presented me with my seal – the seal of the Emperor.
I took it and stamped it on the paper.
With this, the Imperial Rescript was ready, albeit in an unofficial form.
I handed it to John.
"Take it."
"What's this?"
"Make sure that the amount spent on my entertainment is properly billed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I've written it down so that you'll be billed for it."
"Oh, no!"
John screamed.
Mary was frozen in the same position she had been in while wiping my feet after washing them.
"I'm sorry! If anything is missing, I'll have the staff come and get it right away."
"It's the opposite."
"Eh?"
"My hospitality is not something that you should have to borrow money for. I have received your filial piety. That's fine."
"Master ..."
"Master is indeed an amazing person..."[TN: Ah yes, the missing ingredient....]
John and Mary were moved and their eyes were moistened.
"Well ..., let's head to the bedroom. We'll talk tomorrow."
"Understood!"
The couple nodded simultaneously.
Then Mary started to lead the servants.
The properly-trained servants moved briskly following Mary's orders.
"I-I'm just a maid–"
Mary's servants treated Peiyu as a guest, and Peiyu began to panic.
"Don't worry, you're our junior, which means you're superior to these girls."
John said.
Peiyu was still anxiously casting me a helpful glance but,
I smiled back at her.
"So be it. You're my maid, and you don't have to be polite to anyone else."
"Y-yes. John-san, Mary-san, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Perhaps a little comforted by my words, Peiyu accepted the situation.
And I, too, had Mary show me to the bedroom.
There, too, the bedding was expensive, but I left it alone without bothering to point it out.
Mary and the servant who had followed me to the end left the room, leaving me alone in the room.
{Lord, may I have a word?}
"Um? What's wrong, Livyathan?"
The moment I was alone, Livyathan spoke to me.
"It's rare for you to speak to me."
{Apologies. I decided it would be better to keep it in the Lord's ear.}
"Fumu?"
Sitting on the bed, I nodded slightly and urged onward.
{There was one of the servants who was very hostile to the Lord,}
"Ohh, you mean the little intelligent girl, right?"
I nodded, remembering the impressive girl behind Mary.
Her age was 12 or 13 – no, given what John and Mary did, the girl must have come from a poor village, so she could have been 15 or 16 if you take stunted growth into account.
That child has always been hostile toward me.
But she hid her hostility well.
She had the eyes of a thoughtful person, not the eyes of someone who can only see immediate things.
{As expected of the Lord, you have noticed.}
"With that much hostility directed at me, I would have noticed."
{What do you intend to do with the girl? At your order, I could slightly make her realize her position.}
"You are always so fussy."
I laughed out loud.
"Let it go, and don't worry about all this hostility, which is neither poison nor medicine."
{ But it ....}
"There's nothing wrong with it in the first place. Even if the hostility did turn into action, could it ever get past your defenses?"
{Not even in the unlikely event.}
Livyathan answered immediately.
"Then there's no problem. You're the one protecting me."
{–Yes.}
Livyathan replied.
Although the voice is only audible in my brain and has no form, the tone of its reply is such that I can almost see it kneeling before me, trembling with emotion.
Livyathan, who has a temperamental personality that fluctuates wildly and is more agitated than others, reacts greatly in such situations.
I slept soundly that night.
The more vulnerable I was, the more I trusted Livyathan, so I decided to relax and sleep more soundly than usual.
TN: You guys don't have any problem with my TN in the chapter, right?