73: Reward
His Highness Ludens and Roberto-sama were sitting gracefully on the sofa of the Royal Capital’s Public Order Consolation Room with Cafule-san by their side, while Lady Ann was delivering documents to other departments.
Cafule-san was their regular attendant for wherever these two went. It was normal, but his calmness might not be normal at all...
“Cafule, I would like the report on Lady Ann’s outing yesterday,” Roberto-sama instructed in a calm voice.
“She followed the map that Edenbach-sama drew this time as well. She wore the Royal Palace uniform, but changed her hairstyle. She didn’t get into any quarrels this time either, probably because of the uniform. She did wander into the back alleys, but returned to the main street straight away. She has perceived that she should avoid back alleys and unpopular places. She folded her parasol when she entered the lower parts of town and changed the way she walked so that she wouldn’t appear as a noble. She bought lunch from a food stall again and ate tacos. She seemed interested in the restaurants, but still haven’t entered them. She actively greeted people in the commoner’s residential area. She hasn’t gotten to the point of small talk yet, but she seemed really accustomed to greeting the residents in the lower part of town.”
“Did anyone try to talk to her?”
“The people return her greeting, but there isn’t anyone we have to be cautious about at this point in time. She doesn’t seem to think that she’s simply taking a stroll through town as instructed by His Highness and the Masters.”
“That’s good. Well, we don’t know if someone is watching her from somewhere though.”
“Cafule, continue to guard her and patrol the town.”
Cafule-san bowed courteously and left the room.
His Highness Ludens and Roberto-sama, who remained in the room, reached for the tea provided to them by the maids in the room. Both of them smelt the tea and then drank it in an unsatisfactory manner. They can taste the difference in the tea made by Lady Ann and by the maids but didn’t voice their opinions out loud; because they knew that she was constantly putting herself down, even if they praise her.
“Roberto, have you made progress with the bridge since then?”
“Yes, the enquires from her point of view were helpful. We tend to prioritise the needs of influential nobles, but if we can convince them then it’s easy to change the priority order. Although, the deterioration of the bridge is quickly tied to the repair order, it’s thanks to her that she noticed the opinions of those who use it. It’s made out of wood, so we have to rebuild it often, and we didn’t know that the citizens wouldn’t mind if we build a robust stone bridge even if it takes time. We hadn’t expected that a lot of people would use that bridge for things other than work.”
“From a commoner’s point of view is it?”
“She also sees things from a noble’s perspective, so it would be better to say that this is from the consumer’s point of view.”
The two exchanged glances.
“At any rate, the people’s dissatisfaction is directly linked to the deterioration in security at the Royal Capital. It is our priority to solve their dissatisfaction now that we have a good relationship with the neighbouring kingdom,” His Highness Ludens summarised as he looked at the small chandelier that was hanging down from the ceiling. Lady Ann returned to the room shortly after this, so the conversation ended.
◊♦◊♦◊♦◊
Summer became hotter. The sunlight became stronger and the shades darker.
There were less people in the Royal Palace and I saw more people that I didn’t know...
A lot of people returned to their fiefs in summer for a holiday.
There were no evening parties or balls in summer, thus the people who worked in related departments had nothing to do. There were fewer meetings for deciding important policies since there weren’t many people around and the government officials could take breaks in turn.
(Does His Highness Ludens not go to his villa in summer? Except for Lancel-sama, who is a knight, I wonder if the other people are leaving as well.)
This had nothing to do with me since I didn’t have a place to go on holiday to nor did I have a home to return to. If I can get time off then it’ll be nice to go to Coolden. I organised the documents as I thought about other things.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t told you this have I? I’ll be going to the villa in Hassan Bulgur. You’ll be following Roberto’s orders while I’m there.”
Hassan Bulgur was a plateau where the mountains received perpetual snow even in the summer. It’s a natural fortress and I’ve heard that it’s popular in summer because it’s cool. Was the Royal Family going to be substituted? The speciality there is dairy products. It would be nice if I receive some sweets made from plenty of butter as a souvenir.
Roberto-sama instructed me a distance away from my work desk and I looked at him, “You will be patrolling the Royal Capital with someone from Fernand Empire 2nd Guard Station while His Highness is gone. If it’s difficult for you to commute every day, then you can stay somewhere close to the station.”
I heard these words clearly even though he wasn’t close to me. I heard him even though he was filing out the document for his leave!
Hah? Does that mean I have to patrol the Royal Capital with Captain Weller as Lady Ann? And this means that I can stay at the 『Hen Inn』, right? Of course, I interpreted this as they were paying for my lodging.
At any rate, the second half of what he said was a holiday for me, right? Well, I did have to submit a report as homework. I can only think of this as a reward. I have a better opinion of him now. It’s a reward for working hard at a job I wasn’t used to. I didn’t know that I would be this happy about receiving a reward!
I supressed my excitement and replied in a monotone before looking down, “I understand.”
(I can go see Ada-san. I can eat Master’s delicious meals. I’m so excited.)
I packed my black bag as soon as I returned to my room that evening.
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