Volume 2Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Richard and Christophe

When we returned from the port town to the ducal residence in Tarzelia, Christophe called me to his study.

“Father, how was the port town?”

“The cooking they make with what the sea gives them was delicious. It would be a fine thing if we could carry that as far as the royal capital.”

“I heard about it from Lucien as well. Something about Master Leon having cooked.”

“He did. And the food was astonishingly good. Even you would like that, Christophe.”

Christophe has never shown much interest in what comes out of the sea, but that crumbed fish was genuinely delicious. And the one by the name of deep-fried octopus will win an explosive popularity as something to eat with a drink. The baked scallops are refined and handsome enough on the plate to be added as a course at a noble party.

“As good as that… I should like to have eaten it myself.”

“Then ask Tony to send Nasser here. He cooked alongside Master Leon, so he will know the recipes.”

“Then I shall have it made here once. And when I do, I shall try out the ice maker.”

The ice maker is registered under Master Marcel’s name, but it is a magic tool Master Leon developed. A most useful thing, and I hear that orders are so far ahead of production that they cannot keep pace.

“The ice maker has arrived?”

“It came a few days ago. I had a water-attribute man with a mana capacity of five and a wind-attribute man put mana into it, and it worked without difficulty, so it is in use in the kitchen now. With an ice maker, carrying what the sea gives us from the port town to Tarzelia would become easy as well.”

“It would. Then try it. Once we are able to secure several ice makers, I should like to consider transporting seafood as far as the royal capital. As preparation for that, it would be as well to put a carrying system in place between the port town and Tarzelia.”

Dried fish was never accepted, but cooking of the sort Master Leon made will certainly find its public in the capital. If we can put a carrying system in place a step ahead of the other domains with a coastline, a considerable profit can be expected. This is a thing to do early.

“Certainly. Then I shall move promptly and prepare the ground for a carrying system as far as the capital.”

Christophe has grown into a genuinely dependable lord. And Lucien is growing up sturdy. House Townsend is secure.

“I leave it with you.”

Having got that far, Christophe drank a mouthful of tea and his expression turned severe.

“Then, Father, may we come to the real business? It concerns Morgan.”

So that was what this was. I must hear this out properly myself.

I was genuinely shocked when Master Leon told me. Morgan had served me since the days when I was lord of the domain. Embezzling the ducal house’s money, however, is not an act that may be forgiven. Money must be returned into the town, or in time the town withers. That he cannot see even that much.

And if it had stopped there it would have been the lesser evil. Morgan’s gravest offense is having driven Master Leon into a servant’s room. And the reason those rooms could not be used was that he had sold the furniture off for money. That cannot possibly be allowed to stand. It happened to come right only because Master Leon is a gracious soul who let slip not one word of complaint at being assigned a servant’s room; when I consider what it would have meant had he taken offense, my blood runs cold.

I did think of asking him to use my own room. But a commoner in the eyes of the world taking the guest room while I, the former duke, took a servant’s room: that could not be carried off, guest of the ducal house though he is. That day took years off my life. And we are to stay in that town on the return journey as well. Before then the rooms must be put right, whatever it takes.

“Of course. Tell me.”

“Certainly. First, on the matter of the deputy’s guest rooms, which has been troubling you: I have had furniture sent from the ducal residence so that guest rooms for Master Leon and for Lucien can be made ready. I have instructed several of the residence’s servants to go as well, so it should be arranged without difficulty.”

That is good to hear. One anxiety disposed of.

“At the same time I sent several of the house’s soldiers. My instruction is that Morgan is to be seized for the present and held at the town’s soldiers’ post. Morgan being a semi-noble, I did consider whether more caution was called for, but he appears to have cut his ties with his family, so that much consideration should not be necessary.”

“Good. That will do for the present. The problem is what to do if no evidence comes to light…”

There is a possibility that he has disposed of the evidence cleanly. In that case, what then. Though we should be able to get testimony from the servants this time, and once it is plain that the furniture is gone there will be no talking his way out of it.

“I believe the evidence will be found easily in this case. If we find the dealer he sold the furniture to, it should be simple. I cannot imagine him selling to a reputable merchant, so my expectation is that he sold to black-market men or some such, people who work in the dark. And furniture is troublesome to move, so he cannot have sold to men who travel far. If we look in that town, or in the towns and villages nearby, I believe he will be found. I have given instructions that the evidence is to be sought once Morgan is in custody.”

“Quite. Then as soon as the evidence is found, have Morgan escorted to the royal capital. I shall deal with the rest.”

“Certainly. Then the rest is in your hands, Father.”

“And in the unlikely event that no evidence is found, dismiss him. For the reason, discourteous conduct toward a guest of the ducal house will serve.”

“As you say. We have no need of a man who behaves discourteously to a guest of the ducal house on the ground that the guest is a commoner.”

Ordinarily a guest of a ducal house is treated as befits one, commoner or not. And on this occasion I had sent word myself that Master Leon was a guest and was to be treated with courtesy. To behave in that fashion even so means that contempt for commoners has been stamped into Morgan. The ducal house has no need of such a man.

We shall have to be more careful in future when we take a semi-noble into service. Morgan’s family, if I recall, held a neutral position. So the lesson is that one must judge not only the family but the man’s own thinking. To lessen the danger to Master Leon even a little, I shall take care over who is chosen.

“Then, Christophe. The rest is yours.”

“Certainly.”

So Christophe and I talked through what was to come, and I left the study.

⁂

Gone at last, that loathsome commoner! A commoner, and a guest of a ducal house; there is a limit to insolence. Unable to keep my irritation down, I made for my study with my feet loud on the boards.

“You there. Come here at once!”

I called the butler the moment I was inside. Slow-moving fellow.

“Master Morgan, what may I do for you?”

“It has become necessary to prepare two more guest rooms. See to it now.”

“B-but… there is no furniture to be put in guest rooms. That is… because Master Morgan sold it…”

“You wretch. Are you telling me the fault is mine?!”

This is precisely why commoners are so hateful. Useless, and employed here only by my own charity, and when anything goes wrong the whole of it is my fault. There is a limit to being no use.

“N-nothing of the kind, sir.”

“If there is no furniture, then buy some.”

“B-but there is no money for that either…”

“Then have a workshop make it cheaply, must I say it?! A commission from a noble and they will weep with gratitude. All the more when the commission comes from me. That you cannot work out even this much: incompetence at this pitch is a sorry thing to see.”

“Only… the work could not be finished in time…”

“Then have them work without sleep! Go and place the order, quickly!”

“Ah… yes, sir!”

Gone at last. He truly is too useless to keep. Perhaps it is time he was dismissed. Still, with the guest rooms in order everything will be perfect.

For several days after that I passed my time in the peace I am accustomed to. Simply not having that loathsome commoner about is a splendid feeling. What I want now is for the harvest season to hurry along. Until it comes, no great sum comes in. And selling any more of the furniture is genuinely unwise. Some better method must exist.

Then the boards began to thunder.

What is that noise? I was on the point of getting up to reprimand whichever servant was making the racket when the study door was flung open. And I had been just about to hit upon a good idea, too. The butler came running in.

“You there, that is too loud! Can you not move more quietly!”

“M-Master Morgan, soldiers of the ducal house are here!”

What? What business have the ducal house’s soldiers here? I was still thinking it when soldiers came into the study without leave.

“You are Morgan. An order has come from the ducal house that you be seized. Take him!”

“Sir!”

Before I could understand what was happening, two soldiers came to me and bound my hands with rope.

“Y-you wretches! Do you imagine you can do this to me and have it end there!”

“This is the decision of the ducal house.”

The decision of the ducal house?! Why has it come to this!

“Walk. Come along, at once!”

“I am a noble! Hear me out!”

“There will be all the hearing you like at the post.”

Why is this happening to me?! I am a noble!