Tomon’s expression suddenly turned demonic. “Silence!” he shouted as he rebuked them. “If you have complaints, then at least achieve a tenth of what Zen can do!”
Now, the reason Tomon was nice to Zen was of course because it’d greatly trouble him if his subordinate fully demonstrated his abilities and distinguished himself. He was afraid he’d swipe his position as chief away. All his “worries” for Zen’s health and the like were complete lies. He said those things out of selfishness, not kindness.
But Zen didn’t know about the selfish Tomon’s inner thoughts. To put it more accurately, it didn’t trouble him in the slightest to be doted on by his boss. It only made him happy, if anything, so he’d never been concerned about it from the start.
In any case, Tomon effectively straightened out his subordinates (other than Zen). Everyone hunched over their desks and continued to diligently attend to their duties.
At this time of year, their main work dealt with records regarding Todd Village’s agriculture. The villagers cultivated the surrounding forests over the winter. Although the vegetation never fully withered in this warm region, it definitely wasn’t as lively as it was in the summer. That made it far easier to cut down trees, and as they acquired indispensable materials like firewood and charcoal, they also expanded their farmland.
Because of the present state governor’s guidance, their main crop was potatoes. They made use of the temperate climate to sow the seeds in winter and harvest the crop in spring. That was why, during this time of year, the town hall carried out site surveys to find out which farms had expanded their land by how much and where, and inquired as to how many seed potatoes were planted and the estimated profits of the harvest for every farmer family in Todd Village. Then it was necessary to record that information in an account book.
Furthermore, the completed reports had to be sent to both the prefectural and state government offices, as well as to the Agricultural Affairs Bureau in the Commercial Affairs Agency. (Catalan loved to have lots of documents.) This duty also fell on Zen and his coworkers. It could be said that during this period of time, they were as busy as they were during tax-inquiry season at the end of the year.
Everyone was already silently absorbing themselves in their work. They reconfirmed the documents they’d prepared, wrote in the account books, and added in calculations. The only things to be heard were the firewood snapping in the fireplaces, the sounds of turning pages, and the scratching of their own quill pens as they wrote.
It was in that silent office and pleasantly focused atmosphere that a brisk young woman’s voice called out as she knocked on the door. “Excuse me. Is Sir Zen here?” Both the sound of her voice and her knock resounded with a noticeable clarity.
Everyone reflexively looked up from their account books and turned their attention to the front door. Then Zen and his coworkers looked back at Tomon all at once.
“Go ahead, Sir Zen,” said Tomon. “It seems you have a guest.”
With the chief’s permission, Zen stood up from his desk.
I wonder who it is? I think I recognize the voice. While he couldn’t remember to whom that voice belonged, he opened the front door.
“Hello, Sir Zen. It’s been a while.” A young female knight was standing in the corridor.
It was no wonder he’d recognized her voice. Before the new year, when a twintail fox—a fox monster with two tails—had appeared near Todd Village, she had been the benefactor who’d spearheaded a subjugation party to come to their rescue.
Her name was Mina Houck. She was also the niece of Nazalf’s prefectural governor, Cummel Houck. Today, she was only wearing her military uniform without her armor, and it seemed she hadn’t brought along any other soldiers.
“Yes, it has indeed been some time—”
“Oh my, I was wondering who it was! It’s the hero Lord Mina who saved our village!” Interrupting Zen’s greeting, Tomon appeared next to him so fast it was like he’d teleported. He warmly welcomed Mina while rubbing his hands together.
Of course, he was flattering her because she was the niece of the top dog in Nazalf.
One of the chief’s small flaws is that he’s just hopelessly weak before authority. Zen smiled wryly.
“What are you smiling for, Zen?! Show Lord Mina to the parlor right away, will you? I’ll prepare the tea, so be sure to listen well to what business Lord Mina has with you.”
“Yes, Chief. Right away.” With an even wryer smile, he put up with Tomon scolding him for not being thoughtful and obeyed his directions.
Zen guided Mina to the parlor next to the office. He invited her to have a seat on the sofa, then sat down across from her over the low table. The furniture were simple things that were far from luxurious, all of them suitable for a village town hall.
“The chief seems the same as usual. He’s not going to be able to curry favor with my uncle by sucking up to me, though,” Mina said in a low voice, slumping her shoulders.
Zen understood her feelings a little. In the empire, the official post of a knight didn’t really exist, but many people still stuck to the old custom from before the empire’s founding, by which they would use the term “knight” to refer to the commanding officer of each class in the military as well as the guards that protected important people. It was a word that Zen also used without thinking, and no one got upset even when it was said in public.
On the other hand, using the title of “lord” to refer to a knight was completely obsolete in the empire. It was still used in some foreign countries, where knights were considered a rank of nobility and so not using honorifics was rude enough to offend people.