The brother does his best at exercising and learning
“Marcel-sama, about earlier, could it be that-”
Roy began questioning me after we left Mich.e.l.le’s room. For a servant to keep questioning his master like that, he’s got quite a lot of guts.
“Hoho, so you’ve noticed, eh. Yep, that was all acting on my part. Mich.e.l.le’s at a delicate age right now, if I simply tell her to treat the servants better she won’t listen to me for sure. That’s why I pretended to be ridiculously strict on purpose, so that she would speak up for the maid herself.”
If I pretend ignorance, Roy will surely find things strange. Therefore, it’s better to proudly tell him everything.
“I’m very impressed at how far ahead Marcel-sama has considered things.”
“Ohh, is that so! Well, it’s because Raiheart-dono has also pretended to be a villain before. That’s right, this is what’s called showing her the proper path without her noticing…… Roy, please tell that maid from earlier my real intentions. Also, keep all of this to yourself.”
I’m getting a bit carried away.
“Yes, master.”
Roy agreed to do so while hiding a wry smile.
“Well then, I’m going to do some exercising until lunchtime. Also Roy, tell the swordsmanship instructor Lloyd to start coming here again tomorrow. After all, Raiheart-dono was really proficient in swordsmanship. I can’t slack off.”
Marcel had started training in swordsmanship when he was nine as a n.o.ble’s hobby, but since Marcel hated exercising he got lazy and stopped training. Moreover, Marcel even told the instructor to go do what he wanted and gave him a vacation.
Even though I’m mostly the one at fault here, but as for the parents who raised him like this……
After I changed into some clothes that were easy to move around in, I went out to the eastern garden of our mansion.
“Well, let’s start with jogging.”
The eastern garden was also used as a training field, and I think the size is approximately 100 square meters.
“Alright, my goal will be 30 laps. For my jogging preparations, prepare a wet towel and some fruit for me.”
I ordered Roy to prepare those for me, and began jogging. Since it’ll be hard to do too much at first, let’s start with three kilometers.
(Panting)
After only ten laps, I’m completely out of breath already. This body is pathetic, there’s no strength at all! Even though I remember how Marcel has been living up to now, I didn’t think it would be this bad.
Come to think of it, there’s a destruction end where he’s chased down rather easily by the commoners and killed, isn’t there. Well, in that ending Mich.e.l.le was also captured and killed, so let’s start running together tomorrow. Obviously I don’t want to end up like that.
“Marcel-sama, please don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Roy came up to me with the wet towel, and advised me to rest after seeing how exhausted I was. Kana also had some fruits ready in a basket for me and was looking quite worried for my sake.
“Y, yeah…… No, 30 laps might be impossible, but I’m going to run just one more lap. After all, I’m, going, to, become like Raiheart!”
In the end, I pushed myself to the limit, and completed 13 laps before I collapsed on the ground.
“Here you go.”
“Mmm.”
I took the wet towel from Roy, and wiped my face.
That feels good.
Then I wiped myself down. It was almost like enjoying a cool autumn breeze.
“Marcel-sama, please enjoy these as well.”
Kana held the basket out to me. It would have been better if she had noticed my exhaustion for herself, but it seems that Roy had signaled her to do so.
“Ahh. –Oh, an orange, eh. This is good.”
There were about ten citrus-type fruits in the basket.
“Ahh, what should I do. I forgot to bring a knife.”
Kana noticed her blunder, and got fl.u.s.tered. I took one and peeled it with my hand. It’s a bit different from an orange, but it was still easy to peel.
“Mmm, eating an orange after running is delicious.”
When I ate an orange just like a commoner would, the two of them were shocked.
“Hoho, didn’t you guys know? There was once a story of Raiheart-dono who ran all the way to the town of Muraton in order to save the people there from illness. Let’s see, how did it go again?”
I flipped through the book that I brought with me.
“Ahh, here it is. While Raiheart-dono was inspecting his domain in disguise, he came upon an injured man who was on his way delivering medical herbs to the town of Muraton for a plague. It was critically important to get the herbs to town as fast as possible. If he took too long, the medicine wouldn’t be of help anymore. Muraton is usually considered to be within walking distance for an adult if they stop and take rests. Since Raiheart-dono was in disguise, he didn’t have a horse with him and had to run all the way to town himself, but he still managed to deliver the medicine on to save everyone. This orange is what one of the girls from town gave him, and Raiheart-dono peeled it himself and ate it on the spot there.”
I peeled another one, and placed all of it into my mouth.
“So Raiheart-dono is good with both oranges and running. Tell the kitchen to always keep a supply of oranges from now on.”
“Y, yes!”
Kana ran into the mansion as if she had been shot from a bowstring.
“Roy, tell them to prepare a bath for me. It’s pretty uncomfortable to be so sweaty.”
“I understand.”
Roy had a questioning look again.
Well, that’s to be expected. After all, Marcel hated taking baths. In the game, that never changed as he got older, and he would always spray a ton of perfume on himself to hide his body odor. With my modern concept of hygiene, it all seems like a nightmare to me. But right now, it’s a fact that I’m in a place similar to medieval Europe. People here seem to have the impression that water is bad for the skin. Really, I can’t stand all these n.o.ble concepts here.
It should be noted though, that this world is somewhat j.a.pan-ified as well. The toilets and windows here were all things I could get used to. I’m really grateful for that.
After my bath, I returned to my room to read a book. Of course, it was one on the king’s brother. I wasn’t reading the children’s biography version of “The Legend of the King’s Brother, Raiheart,” but rather a darker one written for older students. I absorbed myself in reading it to prepare for the future until lunch was ready.
“And that’s why, Miss Mary. Please teach me more in detail about the etiquette and knowledge on how to be a king’s brother.”
After lunch, I came to visit the governess Mary in the study room (usually Marcel would always take a nap after lunch and skip his lessons) and told her I wanted to learn, shocking her to the core.
Miss Mary is the second daughter of a fallen baron’s family, so she is working for our family currently and she’s recognized for her excellence. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been able to showcase her talents due to Marcel being the one under her care.
“I see, you’ve greatly changed for the better.”
She should be happy that I’m so motivated now, but her eyes aren’t showing it. She’s probably thinking that I’ll go right back to slacking off again after three days or so.
“Ahh, let’s begin immediately, please. First, teach me arithmetic. When Raiheart-dono was helping as a merchant’s apprentice right after being pa.s.sed over for the succession, he was able to accurately calculate ten people’s orders at a time without making any mistakes. I’ll have to be good to that extent as well.”
Even though I just told this story, I was actually using the story of Prince Shotoku Taishi.
“I understand. Then, will problems about how merchants shop suffice?”
“Ahh, that’s perfect. Let me do them.”
“Then — how about this?”
Miss Mary began writing a problem in her notebook.
“If you have one ajji (currency) of bread already, and buy another three ajji of sausages, when combining the cost, how much ajji will it be in total?”
This is 1 + 3.
However, I’m going to answer like Marcel would.
“I don’t buy such cheap things as that.”
As the eldest son of a Duke’s family, Marcel doesn’t have to do his own shopping in the first place, but he has been taught plenty about money’s value. He’s a total sn.o.b.
“……Then, if you’re buying one galt (currency) of rubies, and three galts of jasper, when combining the cost, how many galts will it be in total?”
“Ahh, that’s much more like what I would want. The answer is four galts.”
I replied while showing off my self-confidence. Marcel should at least get something of this extent correct. Even Marcel has reviewed and learned this much before.
“That’s correct. You must have applied yourself to studying recently. Then, next problem.”
She’s trying to confirm how much I know, she’s a good teacher.
“If you’re buying six galts of sapphires and nine galts of diamonds, how many galts would it cost? If you need to, feel free to use your hands to count.”
I counted up to six on my fingers, bent one to signify it and then counted another nine fingers.
“It’s five galts.”
Once again, I showed off how self-confident I was on purpose.
“Hmm~, unfortunately, that’s wrong.”
“What!! But I have five fingers that are still straight now!”
I convincingly pretended to not understand and held my hands out, and Miss Mary gently took my hands.
“Marcel-sama, it’s great that you’re trying to learn how to count larger numbers on your fingers now. Let’s just fix your counting method a little.”
“……Just a little, very well then.”
“Then, let’s begin. Let’s start with six fingers, like this. From there, let’s add one, two, three, four fingers, and now how many will there be?”
“Isn’t it obviously ten — ahh.”
“Hehe, so you’ve noticed then. Then you add the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth fingers, five more, then you have -”
“15!”
“Wonderful. That’s correct.”
Miss Mary clapped her hands for me.
Rather than her disinterested eyes from earlier, now she has happy, clear eyes from helping the student learn.
“And so, Marcel-sama, I’ll teach you how to count larger numbers now. Marcel-sama answered five incorrectly earlier, but there’s an easy way to spot mistakes like that.”
“What! Teach me!”
“Hehehe, first let’s start with six galts of sapphires. So what happens if we buy one more galt?”
“Of course, there will be more. Yep, that’s definitely it!”
“That’s right. Before you start counting, you should already know that the answer has to be larger than six. Therefore, you should know now that the previous answer of five was wrong.”
Miss Mary was smiling at me.
She’s really courteous while teaching me. She’s not just telling me the correct answers, but also trying to make sure I understand the process, and on top of that is even teaching me little tricks and shortcuts.
Even though it’s such a simple subject, teaching it can be hard.
I was testing out how good Miss Mary was, and I believe now that she’s pretty skilled.
If it’s this person, I can probably trust her to become Mich.e.l.le’s governess.
“Oh, this is good! Please teach me more.”
“Since Marcel-sama is so motivated, I think that’s really a wonderful thing. Then, let’s start practicing with the number ten. What happens when you subtract nine from ten?”
“It’s one.”
“What about subtracting six, then?”
“Let’s see, seven, six, five, four…… It’s four!”
“Wonderful! Then -”
And as such, time pa.s.sed quickly while I was studying with Miss Mary.