Maid Arc ② –An Aristocrat-「Oh no, sorry. Looks like I frightened you—」
Said Claude-san as he picked me up with agility and put me down on the seat adjacent to him. Now that has happened, I became interposed between the coachman-san and him.
Next, he picked up the stiff bread and returned it to me.
He was skilled with children. As expected, he must be a lolicon. You’re a lolicon right?
As I crunched on the bread, I kept my guard against Claude-san.
「Still, I’m glad. After you were bought, you really became doll-like and made no reaction at all. I thought you might have been dead. Your eyes looked hollow and couldn’t focus, you didn’t talk nor eat when offered a meal, and only took small mouthful at most. Aa, I’m really so relieved.」said Claude-san as he tapped on my head with a satisfied look.
I became dazed as I realised how worried he was for me. I had the feeling that roughly half a day has pa.s.sed but judging from what Claude-san had said, it could have possibly been an entire day already.
「I have made you worried. By the way, how long has it been since we left the village?」
「Ooh! You can speak clearly right! Good stuff! It has been around 1 week since we left」
He appeared satisfied with every single detail of my reaction and nodded as though he was super shocked.
One week you say?
I had no idea that so much time had pa.s.sed. No memories of that at all.
Was I in that big a shock? Currently, I’ve reached the point of resignation, but on the contrary, I feel more at ease. Still, if we think about it, I’m still a 5 years old child. I might have resigned myself to all sorts of things but even that requires some time.
「That is …… I really have made you concerned. Incidentally, since I was purchased, what would I be made to do?」
「Yes, you must be bothered by that too. In reality, “I want you to do this!” is what I like to announce but, at the moment, it hasn’t been decided what your role would be. Well, we will soon be approaching my home according to the schedule …… Before that though, are the rumours that say you invented the thousand-teeth thresher true?」
「Invent? How should I put it, ermm, I did something like that I guess.」
Truthfully, it was invented by a person a long time ago, but explaining that would be too troublesome so I shall omit it.
Claude-san repeatedly nodded his head, and looked very pleased as he was very content with my reply.
「Once we arrived at my home, you will be living together with us. There will be an aristocrat Boc-chan that is around your age so, I expect you to keep him company. The plan for your life hereafteris that you would be receiving schooling apart from being taken care of. If by any chance, my younger sister takes a liking to you, she might buy you over, so there is a possibility that I have to turn you into a maid…… Well, that’s what I think」
I see, it was made very clear that I would be working at their residence, therefore, the treatment is much better that I have had imagined. It might be a better decision not to escape and remain in the coach.
Speaking of which, is this person an aristocrat? He did address the Boc-chan as an aristocrat too.
｢Are you an aristocrat, Claude-sama?｣
Being asked such a question, Claude-san face darkened to some extent, and gave an answer immediately.
｢Nope, I’m not. My family might be of n.o.bility but, despite being born in that kind of family, after I became a matured adult, I lost my aristocracy as I wasn’t a mage. In my scenario, since I studied business, I was a given a quasi-aristocrat t.i.tle of merchant-shaku. Nevertheless, it is planned that my younger sister, who has the genes for magic, would inherit my family’s court rank. Your peers would be my sister’s children. There are 2 of them, and one of them is the Boc-chan who can genuinely use magic.｣
｢So basically, as long as a person cannot use magic, he/she cannot be an aristocrat?｣
｢That’s the gist of it. Speaking of which, you must be unaware of the details of an aristocrat because you were raised in a farming village. Simply speaking, a non-magic user would be unable to be an aristocrat. Since the capability to use magic is determined by one’s genes, people with such genes would inherit our property and land. Those born from n.o.bility and yet not blessed with magic genes can still be an aristocrat if they marry a mage from some aristocracy. My brother did that. He became a groom and was made the supervisor of the lands surrounding your village. This was the brother whom I heard the information about the thousand-teeth thresher and fish trap tool from. My brother was in disbelief about it though.｣
Hohou, there’s such a rumour about me. It seems like there are people who don’t believe it too.
For now, I shall entrust myself to Claude-san. Rather than escaping in this state, I shall try living on just like that. If by any chance, the people at Claude-san’s residence have terrible personalities and I am forced to do harsh manual labour, it would still be good to make my escape then. In any case, this person seems like the careless type so this plan should work.
After Claude-san finished what he was saying, he rummaged through the pile of bags at the back and took out a book.
｢By the way, are you able to read and write words?｣
I wonder. If it was the language of my previous life, I shouldn’t have any problems but…… For a fleeting moment, I saw the front cover of the book that Claude-san was holding and couldn’t recognise the characters on it.
｢No, I am unable to.｣
｢I see! Your manner of speaking seems excessively fluent so I had a.s.sumed that you were well-versed in the language but, it’s because the village doesn’t have education for language right? Just to be sure, I carried this book along. I would be reading this book to you on the way to the residence so I want you to, at the very least, memorise some of these words.｣
As he said so, he lifted the me that was crunching on the bread, placed me on his lap and opened the book that was in front of me.
Unfamiliar characters and words lay side-by-side in the book. It appears that this parallel world has their own language.
Claude-san read out loudly and slowly for me.
He doesn’t seem like a bad guy.