Chapter 168: The Hawk’s Nest
“Oh, if it isn’t Dru-chan! Long time no see! How’ve you been?”
Oh, it’s Captain William of the Guiding Hawk, huh.
“Long time no see, William. I’m always doing well.”
“Is that so? You don’t look all that energetic, though…”
“Ah… well, the thing is, it seems I’ve been made into a noble…”
This whole thing…
The definition of “noble” is pretty vague around here.
What’s a noble? Someone with esteemed blood flowing through their veins?
But, that “esteemed blood,” that just means “a descendant of someone who accomplished something,” right?
…And this world is one where people who “accomplish something” are currently being born, you see.
“So, aren’t nobles and commoners the same then?” You might think.
Yeah, they are the same.
But, nobles have “power.”
The “power” to, like, declare “Lèse-majesté!” and chop off someone’s head without question.
It’s like, the cause and effect are reversed, you know?
It’s not that they’re respected because they’re great; they’re great because they’re respected.
Authority, that is, in essence, “the power to act.”
Speaking of which, Count Missgancia has the “power to act” to rule over this entire Missgancia region and to slaughter any bastard who dares to disrespect him in the Missgancia region.
That’s why he’s a noble, and that’s why he’s respected.
And, to maintain that respect, Count Missgancia himself must continue to slaughter anyone who disrespects him…
That’s the kind of world this is.
“Ah, is that so? Should I, like, bow my head or something?”
…So, it’s not really strange that this old guy is acting a bit condescending towards me.
It means that people around me think my “power” is only about this much.
No, maybe I’m not being looked down on? It’s also likely that William just doesn’t know any etiquette.
“Nah, it’s fine. There’s no point, right?”
“But, you won’t come to kill me later, will you?”
“I won’t. Besides, the one who’ll become a noble in earnest is my son. I’ll keep running my apothecary in this town.”
“Oh, he was born?”
“Yeah, yeah, he was born recently.”
“Hmph… Dru-chan, you’re a grown man now, huh.”
“What about you? With that newcomer, Dominique or whatever her name is…”
“…She got me completely drunk, and when I woke up in the morning, she was sleeping naked next to me. That girl is truly terrifying, help me, Dru-chan…”
“Ah.”
Realizing everything, I smoothly backed away.
“I wonder what happened to you, old man…”
“What do you mean, ‘what’… right?”
He turns the conversation to Jacob next to him.
“Well… yeah? It’s ‘that,’ right?”
When Jacob said that…
“I don’t even remember! I don’t!”
The old man started rambling incoherently.
He’s been done in quite a bit… in various ways.
“And what’s more, that girl even bought a house?! And somehow, I’m supposed to be living there too…! What is going on?! Huh?!”
“C-Congratulations…?”
“Uwaaahhh!!!”
Poor old man…
He’s so passive, so when she corners him like that by securing the outer defenses, he can’t do anything, huh.
“Oh my?”
“Uwah.”
Just as we were talking about that, Dominique appeared.
The reason she seems more alluring than when I last met her is probably… because she’s tasted a man.
“Oh my, oh my…”
“W-What is it…?”
“Lord, good day.”
Hmm…?
Lord…?
…No way.
“I have applied for the immigrant recruitment currently underway in Retino Village.”
Ahaaan?
So that’s what this is about.
Lately, I’ve started entrusting things to Rosalinde as well.
And, we were planning to expand the scale of the village.
…In that case, it wouldn’t be strange for us to be recruiting personnel, huh?
And… in this world, there’s no trust in people, so it’s mostly cronyism.
It’s only natural. Recruiting immigrants is like a random gacha with bad pulls.
Moreover, those “bad pulls” don’t mean “useless people,” but “harmful people.” The kind who commit assault or rape.
In this world, resumes and qualifications don’t exist, so if you want to hire trustworthy people, nepotism is really the only way…
So, Dominique probably told the village magistrate, who acts as Rosalinde’s point of contact, “I’m an acquaintance of Andrews-san!” and snatched up a position.
“Jacob-san, if you tell the magistrate of Retino Village that you are a friend of Andrews-san, you will be hired. I think it would be best if you went and told him now.”
“Really?! I’ll go right away!”
Jacob left…
“By the way, Lord?”
“Y-Yes?”
“Regarding Feika Forest, there are few hunters, and it is currently open to adventurers as well. However, if you were to enter into an exclusive contract with the Guiding Hawk, we would take responsibility for managing it. …What do you think?”
Ah…?
She’s making a sales pitch, huh.
Well, that… might not be bad, right?
I know very well how skilled old man William is.
Having the Guiding Hawk manage the forest in my domain seems perfectly acceptable.
Besides, even though it’s a forest, it’s not that big.
With the number of people in the Guiding Hawk, it should be within a manageable range.
I don’t intend to prohibit their activities as Striders either. If they can hunt big game outside when they need to earn, and normally manage and maintain our forest while receiving a fixed salary… wouldn’t that be a good arrangement?
“Yeah, I think it’s fine. For now, I’ll check with Rosalinde.”
“Thank you very much, Lord.”
And so, I ended up hiring the Guiding Hawk…
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I’ve finally fallen out of the top 100 in the overall rankings.
As promised, I’ll be taking a break from posting.
So, I’ll be taking a hiatus after chapter 170, please understand.
It was seriously tough, updating daily for about half a year. I thought I was going to die.
And that super uninteresting content called “work” has been increasing lately too, so please let me rest a bit.