◈ Episode 15
Irina took a short breath and continued speaking.
“You forgot that in the capital, even people of your age don’t see barbarians.”
Then, a thought suddenly occurred to me. Irina raised her eyebrows at him.
“… “Is it possible that all the knights and servants know him as a wild man?”
“… … .”
Douglas just gaped with an embarrassed expression.
Irina pressed her temples with her thumbs as she felt a headache coming on.
“Even if you live here for 10 years, it’s a place you can’t get used to.”
* * *
Not long after Douglas retreated.
smart.
There was a knock on the door again.
Who is it again this time?
Irina, who had her nose buried in a document, put down the fountain pen with an annoyed gesture.
“… come in.”
Louise stuck her face out through the open door.
“Ma’am, I’m here.”
The moment she confirmed that the identity of the intruder was Louise, Irina’s expression softened.
“It was Louise. “Welcome.”
Irina smiled lightly as she looked at Louise sitting across from her.
“What happened? “You seemed a little annoyed.”
“… No matter how much I know about cultural differences, it seems like there is no end to them.”
“yes?”
“It is nothing. What about slaves? “Nothing will happen, right?”
“I appointed Paul to be in charge of education. “Juliet’s training has started and my time is free, so I will check and report back.”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
Irina nodded. Louise, who had served Irina for a long time, was her reliable maid.
Juliette and Louise.
Without the two of them, Irina would have had a hard time enduring this situation.
“Has the investigation into the slave’s origins been completed?”
“yes. It’s a bit difficult because there’s so little information. He says he’s from the North, so I’ll send a letter to Levard as well.”
“You have a lot of work to do.”
“So, I wish you had bought a slave from the list I compiled. We even summarized your past history. You’re buying slaves on impulse instead of anything else. “I was really surprised!”
Louise playfully rolled her eyes. Irina gave a rare, awkward smile.
Neither Irina nor she could figure out why she was like that.
The action that day was truly an impulse.
Irina continued speaking while fiddling with her pen.
“What do you think, Louise?”
“Are you talking about slavery?”
“okay.”
“Honestly, I think he’s handsome. All men in the capital are a bit sloppy. Or crashing. I like that long, manly northern style… … .”
“stop. What I am saying is, don’t just review the product, but infer the history.”
“Oh my, I stopped without realizing it.”
Louise laughed bitterly.
“hmm. You must be a citizen of the empire, right? I think they are upper class commoners or yejaks. The overall appearance is neat and tidy for a commoner. “If you’re a noble, there’s no way you can go all the way to the Colosseum.”
“okay. “I guess I was thinking the same thing.”
She smiled happily at a similar reasoning to Irina’s.
“Is there anything else worth paying attention to other than slavery?”
“hmm. “The deacon said he had something to talk about, so he wants to meet with me after seeing the slave situation.”
“A butler?”
“yes. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Irina frowned slightly.
How could the butler call Louise without her knowledge?
Even when I thought about it, nothing came to mind.
“Tell me the details right away. “I think it might have something to do with Juliette’s education.”
“Of course I will.”
“… “You always have a lot of trouble because of your ugly owner, Louise.”
“Don’t say that. How happy I am these days. I think it’s finally helping me a lot. lol.”
Louise smiled embarrassedly.
“I will at least send you on vacation soon. “Go back to your hometown for about a year.”
At Irina’s words, Louise’s eyes widened as if they were about to pop out.
What a vacation!
The joy on Louise’s face seemed to fade, but she soon regained her composure.
“That’s Okay. “If that happens, Madam will be the only person from Levart, so how can you do that?”
“Thank you for your words.”
“As for our lady Irina, on the outside she may hit a bear with her bare hands, but in reality, she is soft-hearted and has a glass heart.”
Irina chuckled under her breath at Louise’s sly words.
Then he soon regained his usual light expression.
“By the way, Louise. “There is something I need to pay attention to and confirm.”
“Yes, please tell me.”
“It seems that the workers think of slaves as barbarians.”
“Eh. Is that possible? “The wild man looks very different, doesn’t he?”
Irina sighed in agreement.
“anyway. I would like you to organize it in four lines. “It looks like the knights are looking at you with great regard.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I’ll come back quickly!”
Louise shouted brightly and left Irina’s office.
As Louise went down the stairs to the first floor hall, she happened to spot Paul passing by the lobby.
“Mr. Paul! uh? Where is the slave going and why are you alone?”
Louise walked down the stairs with a light gait.
Paul scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as Louise approached him.
“Ah, Louise. that is… … .”
Louise felt ominous at the sight of him being so presumptuous.
“You didn’t hit something, right? The fact that Madam violated the detention order and bought a slave is itself a huge outrage. “If there’s already a problem, I’ll be in quite a bit of trouble!”
“The drivers took him away. It’s your first time as a slave, so you probably have a lot of questions… … .”
“yes? “What if I send it to the driver?”
Louise jumped up.
“Is there anything special? “Great noble families don’t often have slaves, so I guess they just do it out of curiosity.”
Those who owned many slaves were mainly upper-class commoners with enormous wealth or lower-class nobles with ample property.
Great nobles demonstrated their influence through the number of loyal servants and lower noble families they had.
“And what about me? “Louise, you see the madam and the young lady more often, but for me, the drivers are the real deal.”
In aristocratic mansions, employees also had a clear hierarchy.
Louise narrowed her eyes at Paul, who was frowning.
“Hmm. Mr. Paul, you seem to have forgotten something.”
The master’s family’s close associates, such as butlers and nannies of great noble families, were low-ranking nobles or commoners but came from semi-aristocratic and honorable families.
“If you think about it that way, after the butler, the head of the family knights, me, the knights, and the head maid, you’re Mr. Paul?”
“Well, that…” … .”
Louise sighed as if she understood.
Even though she tried to get angry, she quickly lost her temper when others were in trouble.
“It can’t be helped. “I will tell the drivers well and bring them back, so just wait.”
“yes. Thank you. “Please.”
Louise headed to the knights’ training ground as instructed by the embarrassed Paul.
Paul stared at her back as she walked away.
She headed toward the loud noise.
As I approached the corner, the first thing I heard was Arkan’s deep, husky voice.
“You obviously said it yourself. “I can attack the driver.”
As soon as he finished speaking, even Louise felt an eerie feeling in her stomach.
It was a level of living that was only experienced in the North. And then the sharp sound of a sword being drawn was heard.
“Squad leader. “Is this really the slave who killed the northern tiger?”
“okay. I paid a lot of money to watch that match. “It was such a fierce fight that it made my hands sweat.”
“Do you really transform into a beast?”
The eyes of the five or six knights surrounding Arkhan in groups were shining.
They were all being drawn into the squad leader’s exciting description.
Dust, flesh, and blood droplets were flying around. The roar of a tiger and the movement of Arkan, who was in a state of complete disrepair.
It was a story that those who made swordsmanship their profession could not resist without immersing themselves in it.
In fact, the person involved was standing there like an ornament and talking among themselves, but Arkan didn’t think anything of it.
I’ll let you go when I get tired of talking about it.
He was barely holding back a yawn when a knight nudged him with his toe.
“Hey, slave. You tell me. Do wild people really transform when that happens?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to him.
“I do not know.”
“what? Who knows if you don’t know. “Why don’t you speak straight?”
A low-ranking knight cracked Arkhan’s shin with his military boot.
Arkan didn’t feel very sick. However, he stumbled on purpose and soon corrected his posture.
If there was even one knight from the North, he would have answered.
However, after Irina sent them home, all of those who remained were natives of the capital belonging to the Arkensis family.
In the end, Arkan had no choice but to explain himself.
“… “I don’t remember the wildling ever transforming.”
Each of the knights frowned at Arkhan’s words.
“You mean you just don’t remember?”
“Then doesn’t that mean it’s transformed? Like a werewolf running rampant or something?”
“No. Normally, you don’t remember much after a fierce fight. “It’s something we know.”
“What are you saying to each other? Try it now. “It will be confirmed, then.”
At the squad leader’s words, a strange silence came over me for a moment. The knights secretly looked at each other.
It was a mixture of curiosity as a warrior and fear of wild people.
The one who hesitantly broke the silence was a low-ranking knight.
“But isn’t this your master’s slave? “Aren’t we allowed to do things like that as we please?”
It made sense. Some knights shook their heads.
The squad leader, who felt uncomfortable with regret, blurted out to Arkan.
“slave. “How does it feel to be a slave to a noblewoman after being on a bloody battlefield?”
“Phew.”
A few of the knights laughed.
Faces that were even more expectant than before turned towards Arkan. Those were pretty disgusting looks.
But fortunately, Arkan was a man who was good at hiding his expression.
“Pretty good.”
“… … !”
The knights giggled and exclaimed at the unexpected answer.
I was about to ask various questions, but Arkan spoke calmly first.
“Becoming a slave to an aristocratic family, I am deeply touched that they feed me and let me sleep in a room with a roof, rather than worrying about dying.”
“Hahaha. what. “There is no difference between a barbarian and a slave.”
Looking at the knights laughing loudly, Arkan sensed that the atmosphere had changed.
The words just said made him look completely belittled. That meant that it was no longer a target for knights to watch out for.
It was much easier than I thought. Arkan was astounded, wondering if this was really a knight from a prestigious noble family.
In the North, the spirit and judgment of young men who could simply swing a sword were at a much better level.
