"I don't care if it's you, I can't be breathing the stench of alcohol in the dayti. So, I'll just take... the dry goods."
With that, I take a piece of dried squid from the bag. The Kizuki valley is located inland, so although people can eat river fish, the only seafood they can eat is dried, and even that is a luxury for us servants. Although dried squid itself is not expensive among the dried seafood, it has been a long ti since I had tasted it. Yes, it's delicious.
"No companion, huh? Well, that's why I can drink more."
Cowering his shoulders at my response, he pours so imported booze into a cheap sake cup and slurps it down. He reaches into a burlap sack with one free hand and picks up a piece of salty dried deer at. I followed suit and we continued to make small talk.
But it doesn't last long. After a little while, this little pleasure cos to an end. There is a knock at the door and a familiar voice calls out, asking to co in. I look at the owner of this room.
"Ah, no problem."
"Thank you. Co on in."
The master of the room gives his permission to enter, and a young servant, reverently dressed in a black robe and mask, enters the hut. He was probably Kuchiki, judging from his voice. He bows to and then to Kuga before opening his mouth.
"Yun-shoku, I've co to deliver a ssage."
"A ssage? From...?"
For a mont I thought Gorilla-sama had summoned , but then I realized that she'd probably send soone like Shiro to help her out. If so, it would be only the imdiate superiors such as the head or assistant head who would call , and the forr was the most likely possibility.
"Yes, the head of the group requests you to co to his office."
"...Understood. I'm on my way. Leave the room."
"Yes, sir!"
After a mont of silence, I order my n to leave. Kuchiki accepts the order with a gruff voice, bows, and leaves.
"Is it work?"
"Probably. Youkai are very active these days."
I replied to curse tool maker leader (Yun)'s voice. Not only the Kizuki family, but the number of incidents by youkai had been increasing slowly but surely from the north to the east of the country. Although the individual cases themselves are caused by small youkai and dium youkai, they can be unintentional if they overlap in number. The novel version describes in more detail the frequent exterminations of youkai in each house, which first resulted in casualties among the servants and the hidden group people, and then in injuries among the exorcists who were too busy to fill in the gaps.
"So you're working outside the office again. What can I do for you?"
"Yes..."
I dig up mories of my past life, or more precisely, the setting of the original ga and its derivative works. Then I think back to the monster mastermind stirring around here, and order a few things just in case.
"Fine, but... you're ordering so odd things again, aren't you? You're still the sa as when you were a miscennalous. Huh?"
The leader of the curse-tool maker, points out in disgust after making a dubious expression on his face. I respond with a deceptive wry smile.
When I was a child, I used all my knowledge of my previous life to win over Hina and the other mbers of the Kizuki family. And then I realized. ...The knowledge that ordinary modern people have is useless, isn't it? I thought.
No, I don't an to say that all modern people are incompetent or that the modern education system is useless. But everything is a matter of supply and demand. The knowledge and education necessary in the modern society may not be fully useful in another ti or in another world.
It is a matter of course if I think about it. There is no point in learning how to work in the fields or how to find wild vegetables if one lives in the capital city. Even compulsory ho economics education is of doubtful use since there are no electric sewing machines, electric washing machines, or stoves in this world, and even if a person is born into a noble family, reading and writing can be done at the middle level of elentary school for a farr. ...Well, there were even so guys in the village who were suspicious at that level. Hey, governor, stop trying to cheat the amount of tribute you collect and put the difference into your pocket.
I was at a loss, but I still ca up with so useful ideas. Entertainnt.
In this age, entertainnt is primitive, while it was in the past when every kind of entertainnt was available. That's where I wanted to go.
I suggested so toys, amusents, and gas based on my mories of my previous life. Since re suggestions were aningless, I asked him, who was an apprentice curse tools maker at the ti, to actually make so of these ideas in his spare ti. I asked him to make tools with the backing of Hina, and the toys he made with his own ideas were beyond my expectations, and beca a valuable source of information for my induction into the Kizuki family at that ti. ...Well, now it's all just a bunch of stuff, right?
"Well, it's OK. I got a good face to the top thanks to it, and it was quite a perk. Now I'm Yun-shoku on the recomndation of Princess Hina."
Kukuku, he chuckled at my words... but he stopped laughing and looked at .
"Anyway, I don't know the details of that case. But it's true that the princess nominated you for Yun-shoku, isn't it? If that's the case..."
Kuga stopped talking because I stopped him with my hand. And sowhat, his face is slightly discouraged.
"I didn't say betray. But I thought it would be better to compromise a little."
"The princess didn't choose you because of your favoritism. You don't want to think you were chosen by coincidence, do you?"
"Of course not."
Actually, I do know. In the original story, that person was in a yun-shoku position. And I, too... that woman was also a person who stood up for justice in the origina;. She was fair to everyone. She was a person who could bear her own personal feelings. She was a person of character. In fact, I think it was because of her that she chose for Yun-shoku.
"Anyway..."
I shake off my sins and my mistakes and head for the door of the room. I had to go as soon as I was called. But I stop and turn on my heel as the voice behind rings out once more.
"Here, take half of it. The dried ones will keep for a while."
The craftsman looks as if he has no choice in the matter, transfers the contents of the sack into a drawstring and throws it at . I recognize the bag with the dynamic vision I have cultivated through years of killing youkai, and accept it, bowing to him as if to express my gratitude. I went to the door again and touched the handle, but when I read his intention, I turned around and asked him as I left.
"So? What do you want as a souvenir this ti?"
...
...
I left the workshop of the curse tool makers and went straight to the place.
"Yun-shoku, the servant, arrived at your summon."
I answered with my knees on the floor as soon as I entered the familiar office of the head servant. In front of was a man writing on the tatami mats with a brush in his hand. The head of the servant, Kizuki Shisui...
"........."
"........."
For a while, as if ignoring my words, the head continued to do his paperwork silently. And I also remain silent, not moving an inch. Shisui simply reads the docunts, signs them with his brush, and stamps a seal. In this quiet room, I peek around from beneath the mask. It seed that the assistant, who had a strong personality, was not here now. It was convenient. She was bothering , and my conversation would have been needlessly tedious.
"........."
".........Well, is that it?"
How much ti had passed? After a few monts, Shisui finally reached the end of his work and stopped his hand to look at .
The mystic eyes, which are different shades on each side, reflect . At the sa ti, it shows that I am literally in his hands. I have risked my life against other exorcists, but this man is different. There is no pre-movent. To be seen by him is to have a muzzle pointed at my forehead, and if I have the slightest intention of doing so, I will die a horrible death. ...This feeling of having my life in my hands is sothing I'll never get used to.
"Well, sorry to call you out of the blue. I think you were with the curse tool maker, weren't you? If you had sothing to do, I'm sorry to have disturbed you."
"No, that's not true."
I humbled myself respectfully in response to Shisui's apology. No, it was a warning disguised as an apology. Perhaps Shisui is aware that I have been receiving tools from so of the curse tool maker. The only reason he does not condemn here is that it is for the benefit of the Kizuki family. I am sure he is aware of the manpower shortage among the servants and that my actions are helping to alleviate the shortage.
...Of course, he would have had my head twisted off by now if it had been for my own personal gain.
"Hmm... well, let's get down to the main issue. The reason why I asked Yun-shoku to co to this eting was for no other reason than to prepare for a new assignnt."
"Yes, sir, what's the content?"
"Recently there's been a lot of damage from youkai. Exorcists from all over the region will be mobilized to exterminate them in a wide area. For now, I want you to prepare four squads for the east, west, south, and north. Each squad will be headed by one family exorcist and assisted by one young family mber or family mber. We plan to add other mbers to each squad as necessary. The servants will be assigned to one squad, aning that a total of four squads should be prepared."
This was within my expectation. And at the sa ti, I was convinced. The beginning of the original story is just around the corner. Perhaps this was the group led by the Kizuki family that appeared in the main character's village, which was destroyed in the original story, and retrieved the main character.
(I rember that this is where Hina ets him.)
Hina, sensing the presence of the strong youkai, appears in the hellish village. And there they will witness the very mont when the main character defeats the youkai.
(Then, can I intervene in so cases? I guess not. If I make a bad intervention and it fails, I'll be screwed.)
I think about intervening in the original work for a mont, but imdiately put the idea on hold.
I can't read what kind of changes my irregular actions have brought to the original work. It is true that I intervened in not all the cases I liked, and there were many cases in which I would have died on the spot if I had not intervened, but still, there were so cases in which I could be called an unintentional intervention. Before that, there was a possibility that I may have unknowingly made a fatal change in the original work. So, for now, I will bear with it first...!
"Yes, sir. I understand."
Anyway, I accept the order, bow my head deeply, and my thoughts are cool-headed as I plan my future course of action.
(Well, let's gather information first.)
Now, it would not look so suspicious even if I dig a little deeper and ask so questions or move so people around. I could say that I'm gathering information for the formation of the team.
"Oh, yeah. You yourself will also be involved. You will be assigned to the Eastern Squad, which will be led by the Head of the Hidden Group. Please take this into consideration when organizing your units."
"........."
Oh. That's a drastic change of schedule right from the start, isn't it? ...D*mn it!
...
...
...
The first place I went to after receiving my new assignnt was not to the training camp of the servants, nor was it to the staff quarters.
No, I was supposed to inform my n first, prepare the necessary expenses and supplies, check the schedule of each group, and select the personnel... Unfortunately, I had other things to do before those practical tasks.
Now, the manpower available to work inside the pair-residence (対の内) is scarce. While it's true that Kizuki Aoi has beco sowhat softer compared to the original work, but that is by comparison. She fundantally distrusts and despises other people. Therefore, the inside of the large pair of rooms surrounded by cypress fences and kirikake (A piece of furniture that is placed indoors as a blindfold or a partition) was extrely unpopular, although it was gorgeous and luxurious in terms of furnishings. Unless sothing special happens, only the minimum number of people are inside, and most of the work is done by a simple shikigami.
"I want to see the princess. Please make an imdiate call."
I call out to the simple shikigami who is wiping the floor and pillars with a rag in the hallway just beyond the gate. The shikigami, which is completely black and has no face, not even a facial expression, and of course no emotion or self-consciousness, nods at my words as if it were alive and then quickly leaves the place. Then, after a while, it ca back and invited in with a sigh.
After turning the corner several tis in the pair, which is obviously wider than the place, I am called in front of the sliding door through which the sound of laughter leaks out. There is neither a maid nor a scullery maid by the sliding door. So I announce myself.
"Princess, I am the servant. I'd like to pay my respects."
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