Chapter 1
When we reached Roa, it had turned into evening.
The distance between the village Buina and Roa is about a day's journey on a horse carriage.
If you count the time, it's about 6-7 hours. You can say that's far, but if you said it's near, it wouldn't be untrue. The city of Roa, is indeed one of the largest cities around here, as it is a bustling place. The first thing that I see are the walls. They surround the city to about 7-8 meters high, and look very reliable.
Around the city gate, there is an unending flow of traffic, and once we're inside, I immediately see all sorts of hawkers. And right at the place where we just entered, there are a series of inns and stables.
Opening with an info dump as usual, Author-San. Don't quit your day job! Glad to see that we have the info dump quota being met for this chapter.
There are some people carrying huge luggage sitting right at an area as if they are waiting for something.
What could it be?
“Ghyslaine, do you know what that is?” I ask the person sitting opposite me.
They could be just waiting for the horse drawn wagon so that they can go to their fantasy office jobs.
Having beast's ears and a tail, and wearing very revealing leather clothes with chocolate-colored skin underneath them, is a huge guy with muscles. No, it's a female swordswoman.
Ghyslaine Dedorudia.
>Her skin is chocolate-colored
Not beating those fatty allegations, Rudy.
Third in the Sword-God style rankings, a formidable swordswoman having the title of a Sword-King, has agreed to teach me swordsmanship where we are going to.
She's the second teacher to me.
“.... Kid.” She reveals an irritated expression to my question. “Are you treating me as an idiot?”
Ghyslaine glares at me fiercely, scaring me.
“Ah no. I'm just. I don't know what that is, so I wanted to ask.....”
“Ah, sorry. That's what you meant.”
I don't know if it's just the formatting of my pirated copy doing this, but I'm already tired of seeing the abuse of ellipses. There's a time and a place for them, yet Author-San is using them all up in the first quarter of this chapter alone.
At least Seven Seas tried to fix it. Emphasis on
tried.
Seeing that I'm about to break into tears, Ghyslaine swiftly replies.
“That's the waiting area for the public carriage. Going from city to city requires that, and if you pay the driver money, you can take it.”
Okay, I like Ghislaine for nearly making Rudy cry over a simple response. Too bad her fashion sense is retarded.
Ghyslaine points to the shop houses one by one, telling me that this is a weapon store, that's a bar, and over there is some trading association. Hey wait, that's a pretty suspicious shop.
Even though her appearance frightens people, she's very friendly.
We enter into a corner, and the atmosphere changes.
After the numerous stores catering to the adventurers, as we progress forward in the horse carriage, we see many residential shops.
There must be people dwelling deep in the alley.
It looks like a planned placement.
If there are enemies around, the people surrounding here will defend, while the citizens escape into the heart of the city, or escape from the opposite direction.
This is borderline unreadable, not gonna lie. Upon first reading, I thought that there were supposed to be quotation marks. Turns out, Author-San may have forgotten to put them in (or the translator did).
Either way, I've seen better writing in Age of Scorpius.
Skipping ahead a little, they finally arrive at the mansion where Rudy will be staying for the rest of this book:
“This is the owner's mansion.”
“Rather than saying it's a mansion, this is more like a castle.”
The dialogue was stiff in book one, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as this fan transition. Holy shit.
It is said that 400 years ago, this place was held as the last line of defense. It's a city with a long history.
So this is the castle in the city.
I swear, if I see one more sentence open with “so”, I'm gonna shout some racial slurs.
”It seems that the Ojou-sama's noble status is quite high since we're coming here.”
Thank you, captain obvious!
”Not exactly.”
Ghyslaine shakes her head.
How many brokies do you know live in
a fucking castle? Maybe she's not a princess or duchess or whatever, but she's obviously not a peasant either.
But since the Lord's mansion is already in front of my eyes, based on the earlier deduction, the people staying around here are obviously high class.
........ Or maybe not. Staying in this area situated near the borders, the rank might not be anywhere high.
High enough to
live in a castle.
MOVING ON!
As I think of that, the driver greets the person at the mansion's gate. And enters it.
“Is that the Lord's daughter?”
“No.”
“Is it not?”
“Almost.”
Is there some deep meaning to it? I just don't get it..... The horse carriage stops.
In case you think I accidentally skipped over anything:
Yes, I've been manually adding in quotation marks to make it a little more readable. You're welcome.
When we enter the mansion, we are brought into a room that looks like it is meant to entertain guests.
Do you mean
banquet hall? Or, are you referring to
salons (yep, you read that word right. “Salon” is derived from palace terminology to refer to small gaming rooms and/or little rooms to have small tea parties in).
The butler points towards the two sofas. This is the first interview for me. I'll do this carefully.
“Please sit over there.”
I obey and sit down, and Ghyslaine leaves without saying a word and stands at the corner of the room. Which can oversee the entire area.
If that happened back in my past life, I would think it was chuunibyou.
How do you feel about this interview? Nervous, anxious, on the verge of a mental breakdown?
Somehow this
“The young master is about to come. Please wait a moment.”
The butler pours a liquid that resembles red tea into a very high class teacup, and waits at the entrance.
High class,
how?
Usually with walls of texts, there's both exposition and description. Most Wattpad and fanfic authors understand how important description is.
I can't believe that there's people who pay to read this.
I drink the steaming liquid. It isn't bad. Even though I don't know how to sample the quality of red tea, this must be quite expensive.
From the start, there was no beverage prepared for Ghyslaine. It seems like I'm the only one treated as a guest.
Oh, I get it. It's because she's black!
“Where is it!”
When I ponder over this stuff, a huge voice and angry footsteps travel from the side of the rooms.
“Is it here?”
A robust looking man roughly enters the room.
His age seems to be around 50 years old, and his dark brown hair is mixed with a little white hair, but he seems to be in a pretty good shape.
I place the cup down and stand up, bending my waist to 90 degrees. “I'm pleased to meet you, my name is Rudeus Greyrat.” The man snorts in dissatisfaction.
“Hmph, you don't even know how to make a greeting!”
“Old master, Rudeus-dono has never left Buina village. He's still young and hasn't had the time to learn etiquette. Please forgive that small rudeness......”
“Shut it.”
“The kid fucking stinks on top of that. I can tell his parents don't force him to bathe.”
This old Master guy should be the one who hired me. He looks like he's really angry. As if I'm inadequate somewhere.
Even though I want to greet with care, it seems that noble's etiquette has its set of rules. “Hmph, Paul doesn't even teach the formalities to his son!”
“As evidence by his offensive odor.”
Okay, I'll stop.
“I heard that Father hated the stiff rules, and thus he purposely did not teach me.”
“An excuse right away! You're the same as Paul.”
“Does father always find excuses?”
“What do you think? Whenever he opens his mouth, it's an excuse. If he wets the bed, he finds an excuse. If he quarrels, he finds an excuse. If he lazes in his studies, he also finds an excuse.”
I see. That's true.
“If you want to learn something, at least know etiquette! You didn't try it at all and that is how you turned out this way!”
But what he says isn't wrong and not without reason. I have only learned magic and the sword, and I never thought about learning something new.
Perhaps my vision is too narrow. I must reflect on it earnestly.
“You are right. This is indeed caused by my own hands. I apologize deeply for this.” The old master stomps on the floor with his feet as I lower my head.
“But it seems that you didn't use it as an excuse, and tried your best to present a formal pose! I'll allow you to stay in the mansion!”
I want to say that the old master sees through Rudy’s facade. Somehow, I don't think that's the case.
I don't really get what's going on, but it seems that I have been forgiven.
After the old Master throws down this line, he turns his body vigorously and leaves like a storm.
“Who is?”
I look at the butler and ask.
“The Lord of Fedoa. Sauros Boreas Greyrat-sama. He's Master Paul's uncle.” So that guy's a lord.
>Sauros
This is the mental image I got from all of this. I don't care what the official description is, from now on I'm just gonna pretend that they’re a family of dinosaurs.
Anyways, Paul’s cousin enters the room to find out what his father is roaring about.
Speaking of, obligatory illustration:
That's Paul’s cousin and Uncle, yay?
“Young Master. I am really sorry. Old Master has just met Rudeus sama and seems to be pleased with him.
“Hoh, a child that Father took notice of....... Did he choose wrongly? Hmm.” He says while walking to the sofa opposite of me, and sits down.
Ah, that's right, I better quickly greet him.
“Pleased to meet you, my name is Rudeus Greyrat.”
I lower my head with almost the same bow that I did earlier.
“Ah, my name is Philip Boreas Greyrat. When nobles do their greeting, they will bring their right hand to their chest and lower their head slightly. From the way you did it, you must have gotten scolded.”
“Is it something like that?”
I swear to God, if I read another “Ah” one more time I'm going to make it everyone’s problem.
I imitated Philip's actions and raised my head a little. “Something like that, but the way you greeted isn't bad. If a blacksmith greeted Father that way, he would have probably been happy. Sit.” Philip sits back down with a plop.
I follow his directions to sit.
Did Philip just
fart in Rudy’s presence?
Has the interview started?
“How much exactly do you understand?”
“He said that if I teach the Ojou-sama here for 5 years, I will be supported with the fees to go into the Magic University.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“I see......”
Philips puts his hands under his chin, as if to think about something, and his eyes look at the table. “Do you like girls?”
“Not to the level of Father.”
“Is that so? Okay. You pass.” Ah? Ara? That was too fast, right?
Even with the context of Philip assuming that this is a child he's speaking to,
this is creepy knowing Author-San.
”As of now, that child only favors two people, Edena who teaches etiquette, and Ghyslaine who teaches the sword. Before this, 5 people have been sacked. One of them was a man who has even taught in the royal palace.”
I'm going to assume that the man was creepy towards the girl. That makes more sense than being bullied by a literal child.
Even if he taught at the royal palace, the way he teaches might not be good, but I didn't say that out loud.
“Does this have anything to do with liking girls?”
“Not at all. Because Paul is one who would try anything for a cute girl, I'm wondering if you're the same.”
Philip shrugs his shoulders.
This conversation is starting to feel dull, so I'll skip ahead again. Philip admits that his expectations of Rudy aren't super high (reasonable), then Rudy proposes coming up with putting the girl into a position where she has to use her brain.
”If it doesn't work out in reality......, let's try acting it out.” I'll use my previous life's knowledge.
What “previous life knowledge”? You sat in a room for a good majority of it without ever getting a job or doing anything useful.
A method to tame the Ojou-sama.
Ewww
“Act out. How does that work?” I describe it cleanly.
“When I'm with the Ojou-sama, we will get kidnapped by a certain family's bad guy. I'll use language, math and magic to escape with the Ojou-sama, and return with our own strength to the mansion.”
After listening to my words, Philip keeps quiet for a while, but quickly understands the plot and nods. “In other words, you want her to take the initiative to learn. Interesting. But will it be that smooth?”
I'm starting to understand why she might have anger issues if her behaviour in the prologue is anything to go by.
“I think that it has a better chance than the adults educating her.” A plot that usually happens in anime and manga.
Always gotta circle it to Nipponese slop somehow.
After witnessing or living through an incident, a child who hates books will learn the importance of learning. Even if it's a self directed and self acted scene.
I'm pretty sure that's called
trauma, rather than a method of learning. I suppose you can learn from trauma, though it's not always the correct lessons.
Haha, I'm giving Author-San the benefit of doubt that he actually understands anything about teaching children.
Anyways, the conversation ends up coming back to Paul.
“That's true. That guy always had the ladies luck. Even if he stands there, there will be a girl coming up to him.”
“Anyone that Father knows seems to have hooked up with him. Even Ghyslaine over there seems to be one.”
“Ah. That's really something to be envious of.”
“I worry whether he will lay his hands on my friend in Buina village.” After I say that, I begin to really worry. Five years later, she will grow up.
When I go back, Sylphy has become one of my mothers. Oh my god.
“You don't need to worry about that. Paul is only interested in girls who are big.”
Oh, so Paul is actually into BBWs (big beautiful women), and was just lying about not being a chubby chaser? Given his penchant for being sleazy, I wouldn't be surprised.
I look at Ghyslaine. She's huge. Zenith and Lilia are also big. What do I mean by big? Of course, it's the boobs.
“If it's 5 years, it should be fine. A mixed elf blood. Even if they grow up, they won't be so big. Also, I think Paul wouldn't be so sick.” Is that so?
Good to know that even though he's a cheater, a rapist and (allegedly) all around sketchy, at least he's not a pedophile. The bar is all the way down in hell.
”Well, fine. Nothing will progress if we just talk. I'll let you see my daughter. Thomas, bring her!”
Philip stands up as he finishes saying that. Just like that, she and I meet. This shrew is really haughty
At least he's not going into detail about wanting to groom her.
The first time I saw her, I made this judgment.
She's older than me by two years. The corner of her eyes are raised, and she has wave-like hair. Her hair color is crimson. It's as if it's a pure red that has been painted on.
Two words. Totally explosive.
At least he's not mentally gooning
Perhaps she will become pretty, but most of the guys will think “It's impossible between me and her”.
Maybe a natural M........ Nah. Not even that low class. In any case, she's dangerous. Every cell in my body is screaming for me to not get close to her.
“Pleased to meet you. My name is Rudeus Greyrat.” But, in any case, I can't run away.
I'll use what I learned just now.
“Hmph!” She snorts the same way her grandfather did from the first look. She stands with both of her feet planted to the ground, looking at me with a condescending attitude. Looking down from above.
She's taller than me. She displays an unhappy attitude after seeing me, and says: “What the heck? Aren't you smaller than me!? Are you joking to let someone like this teach me!?”
She ain't wrong, though.
Wah wah blah. Her pride seems to be really high. But I can't retreat from this. “I think that it doesn't have anything to do with age.”
“What did you say!? You dare to argue with me!?” Her voice is so loud. My eardrums are about to shatter.
“It's merely something that Ojou-sama can't do, that I can do.”
With that said, Ojou-sama's hair seems to turn straight, I have never seen anger that can materialize. This is utterly frightening. Guh. crap. Why do I have to be scared of a child who hasn't turned ten?
“What? You're too arrogant. Do you know who I am?”
“You’re my older cousin.” I hide my fear, and answer.
“Cousin......? What's that?”
“My father's cousin's daughter. You can say that you're my Granduncle's daughter.”
“What kind of confusing rubbish is that!” Was it something incorrect?
I want to believe that she's playing mind games with him, but I know Author-San wouldn't write a female character that compelling.
Her being the obligatory “tsundere” was predictable based on design alone.
And more predictably, she proceeds to beat the shit out of him.
When I return to Philip in exhaustion, he smiles wryly to me. “How was it?”
“Nothing works.”
I half cry when replying. When I got hit by her, I almost thought I would be killed. When I escaped, I almost cried out.
I haven't experienced that for a really long time, and when I think about I remembered that, such a long time, which means I had experienced something like this before. Still. This isn't psychological trauma.
“Then, are you giving up?”
“I will not give up.” I haven't done anything. If I gave up so soon, wouldn't that mean that I got hit for nothing?
“I need to request something from you.” I lower my head to Philip with force. I need to let that beast know the meaning of true terror.
“I got it. Thomas, go ahead and do the preparations.”Philip instructs the butler, who then leaves the room.
“But on that topic. The idea that you thought of was really interesting.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. You are the only one amongst the tutors that came up with such a big plan.”
“Do you think it will work?” I feel a little uneasy. Can I settle that Ojou-sama with my petty tricks? Philip shrugs.
“That will depend on your efforts.” He's completely right. With that, the plan is executed.
You mean, of all the tutors in the land, only Rudy had this bright idea?
Of all of them?
I guess we have to establish that he's super special awesome, somehow.
We’re not even halfway through this chapter because it is split up into multiple parts. I think this particular post has gone on long enough and this would be a good place to book mark it.
Chapter 1
part 2, shall be reserved for the next post.