Seeing my shoulders droop in dejection, Esparda gently caressed his beard. What was he thinking about? “In areas where you excel, you show remarkable knowledge and initiative. You are unmotivated, however, in matters of etiquette, relationships with the nobility, and international diplomacy. You must work harder to overcome your weaknesses.”
“Y-yes, I understand…”
Essentially, he was telling me that we would focus on all the subjects I hated going forward. How sad for Li’l Van! I had zero interest in learning about some count’s banquet or which viscounts a marquis invited to a ball, and negative desire for a promotion to some key position in the kingdom. I planned to stay holed up in my territory; joining a faction would end with me having to attend banquets and balls every month, which was not remotely enticing.
My ideal diplomatic relationship was the one I had with Panamera, who came over to hang, take a nice bath, and have some drinks with me and my friends.
These thoughts hardly befit a member of the nobility, so I was careful not to say any of them aloud. But Esparda sighed, seeing right through me. “I know you loathe such annoyances, so I have trained two people to administrate things in your stead. One is a former noble girl who, due to her background, is very suspicious of others. The other is the eldest daughter of a knight; I have judged her more than talented enough for the job. Going forward, I will proactively include them in matters involving other nobles. I have released them from their slave contracts and taken them in as adopted children.”
“Wait, what?! You can’t just drop something like that on me out of nowhere!” I couldn’t believe my ears, but Esparda just nodded, his typical poker face intact.
“When dealing with nobility it is crucial to obscure one’s intentions. Bright, compulsively honest individuals are the first to be taken advantage of. By contrast, nobles who have lost their houses and families and become slaves often possess excellent talents.”
Here he was, cooly introducing his new children (?!) like a professional recruiter. It was all I could do to grip my head and nod. “Fine, I get it. I’ll leave them in your capable hands, so make sure to train them well.”
“Of course. As for the other three individuals, I was able to teach them to manage our public finances, our commodities, and the city infrastructure respectively. I would like you to meet each of them so that you can personally decide how much discretion they should be allowed.”
“Is it possible to let you handle all of that?”
“Not at all. You are the true leader of this territory.”
“…Fine.”
Having more land sure came with growing pains.
Ugh, he is so serious! Too serious! So hard-headed, like a big stone block!
But he was incredibly loyal to me, too, and he had a keen sense of responsibility. That was why he was so strict with me and even the others. Honestly, it was because of that strength of character that I gave him full authority over everything. He was in charge of not only managing my territory and its defenses in my absence, but also deciding who could move here as a new citizen and even managing the monster parts and their sales, our primary source of income.
If Esparda wanted to take the money and run, he could easily have done so the next day—that was how much discretion I gave him. Which was precisely why I could trust him to pick whichever individuals he needed to support him or manage our various duties. Esparda always left the important decisions to me, though. It was never about his own accomplishments; everything he did was to prop me up.
Yet I had a feeling his true intentions lay elsewhere.
Thinking that over, I glanced around the room, a space we used for hosting special guests. Five individuals sat in chairs equidistant from one another. Behind them stood Esparda and Lowe, staring at the backs of their heads. To my left were Khamsin and Till, both standing, and on my right sat Arte, looking at the five people.
The people before us were clearly nervous. They trained their eyes on me and me alone. I looked them over once more and said, “It’s time for the final interview! Starting from the right, please introduce yourself and tell me about the field you specialize in!”
What with the whole thing having the vibe of a Japanese group interview, I decided to really throw myself into the role. I expected my words to surprise them a bit, but the man I’d pointed to on the far right quickly rose to his feet.
“Yes sir! M-my name is Giu Giaro, and I am a former slave. Before that, I worked in construction and design, but I saw a major decrease in work after another company began to monopolize jobs, and I became a debt slave. As a slave I feared for my future, but then the Bell & Rango Company purchased me, giving me the opportunity to live here. I would like to offer you my sincere gratitude!”
So began Giu’s very serious introduction. It was immediately clear to me why Esparda had selected him. These serious-looking men and women introduced themselves one after the other, until finally it was time for the fourth person to speak.
She was a young girl named Giulietta Berlina, and she was a member of the nobility—the girl that Esparda had mentioned earlier. A cute girl with short blonde hair, she seemed to almost always have a smile on her face, and she spoke as if subtly ascertaining how the person opposite her was responding. She also voiced words of agreement and sympathy like she was trying to grasp her conversation partner’s emotions.
This was exactly the kind of girl who could become the empress of a place like Kabukicho. If I still lived in Japan, I might’ve ended up spending my monthly salary on her…not that I’d ever done something like that before.