Chapter 217
After the three adventurers patrolling the nobles district left, the maid, Ashie, turned towards Rei after seeing them off .
「Now then, Rei-san and Set-san . Please come in . I’ll call my master right away . 」
While smiling, she opened the gate and invited Rei and Set in .
Following her prompt, Rei and Set went through the gate, but…
「Guru~……」
Set gave an unfortunate cry .
At any rate, the door to the residence was not big enough and it would be very hard for Set to enter . Although his body could squeeze through, the wings growing on his back got stuck .
「Ahh……I’m really sorry but……」
Ashie looked at Rei looking somewhat troubled .
With a wry smile, Rei spoke while brushing Set’s head .
「Sorry about that Set . Wait outside as usual . If it’s too cold you can go back to the inn, what would you like to do?」
「Guru~」
Set turned to look at the garden with a cry .
「Can he wait for me in the garden?」
「Ah, but……the garden is……」
Rei more or less understood what Ashie wanted to say to him . The garden as seen from the outside was neatly arranged, but its back was a different matter . Rei wondered if the places he couldn’t see from the path to the residence were not as well kept .
「Don’t worry, Set is a monster in the first place . There isn’t a problem even if it is well maintained because he used to live deep in the mountains . 」
「……Pardon me……」
For the residence of a noble, the maid was probably quite embarrassed at its current state . Rei looked around as Ashie’s face went red .
「That’s that . Wait for me outside, Set . 」
「Guru~」
Giving a cry to say that he understood, Set walked over to the garden .
Seeing that, Ashie guided Re into the residence .
Inside the residence, some things were as Rei expected and some things were way out of his expectation .
He had expected that the Baron wasn’t rich even though he was a noble, but the entrance hall right after entering the residence wasn’t decorated with any sort of paintings or artworks . It was beyond his expectation to see such a barren sight . Rather than calling it an entrance hall, it would be more accurate to call it a simple entryway .
(……Could he be, what people call a fallen noble? Or did he make some mistakes in the capital and was sent to the frontier?)
As he thought about that, Ashie guided Rei to a reception in under a minute .
「Please wait a moment here . I’ll call my master right away . 」
「Ah, I understand . 」
While holding her paper bag with with food, she apologised lightly before leaving the reception room .
Rei, who was left in the reception room, sat on the sofa and looked around .
「Here again . 」
Speaking of the reception room, it was basically a room to accommodate guests who were visiting . In other words, it was room that could be called the face of a residence . However, in this reception room, like the entrance hall, the items that were likely to decorate the room of a noble’s residence such as paintings, vases, ornaments, weapons or trophies from monsters and animals were nowhere to be seen .
After looking around the room, he turned to the sofa . The sofa may be a fine item for ordinary people, but there was no doubt that for nobles, it would be considered inferior furniture .
(I don’t know the reason, but there’s no doubt that they are poor . That said, it might actually be interesting if they turned out to be just a miserly family . )
As he was thinking about that as he sat on the sofa, there was a knock on the door, and Ashie, who had just left earlier, came back in .
「Pardon me . My master and young master will be coming soon, so please wait a moment longer . 」
Informing Rei, she picked up a cup of tea from the tray she held in her hands and placed it in front of Rei .
(……Heh . )
There was a faint floral scent coming from the cup as he brought it to his mouth and a sweetness spread through his mouth with a slight astringency as he drank some .
「Delicious . 」
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Rei spoke instinctively as he tasted the tea .
Ashie smiled happily when she heard that .
「It’s good that it suits your taste . Actually, this tea was hand made by me . It’s from drying the flowers in the garden……」
「I see, herbal tea . 」
「Yes . That’s right . My master also likes this tea, so I serve it often……ah, I’m sorry . Telling all this to a guest . 」
She was happy that Rei had praised her herbal tea . Smiling, Ashie was about to continue speaking before immediately covering her mouth .
But to Rei, it wasn’t something to be too concerned about, especially with regards to etiquette . If it had made him feel unpleasant it would be a different matter, but it wasn’t the case .
「Don’t worry about it . I don’t know what other guests would think if they were nobles, but I’m just an adventurer . 」
「Thank you very much . 」
Ashie gave a quick bow before suddenly turning her head towards the door .
「It seems the master and young master have come . 」
Saying that, she moved to the wall . A few seconds later, the door was opened and two people came in, Rei stood up from the sofa to welcome them into the room .
One was about 170cm in height . A middle-aged man with a smile that looked more like a civilian than a noble . Although he had a mustache, it seemed to Rei that it emphasised his lack of care rather than looking dignified .
And next to him was a weak looking child about 130cm in height . He looked to be about the age of 10 .
「Hello . Are you Rei-kun?」
「Yes . I am Rei, the rank D adventurer who has accepted your request . 」
「Ah, feel free to talk as you usually do . Even if you call me a noble, I’m just a poor noble as you can see . It wouldn’t be strange for me to lose my nobility at any time . It’s not necessary for you to use noble etiquette . 」
「……Well, then, if you’re okay with that, I feel more at ease not using it as well . 」
It was as Rei expected……no, it seemed that their financial situation was even worse than what he had expected .
(So that’s why the reward was such a tiny amount of money . )
「As you should know from the request form, I’m Mouet Cisne . I have the status of a baron . ……Well, I say that, but I’m just a poor noble . And, here is my son, Baslero Cisne . Baslero, say hello . 」
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Prompted by his father, the boy called Baslero took a step forward .
「Nice to meet you . My name is Baslero Cisne . I am very happy to be trained by Rei-san, who I’ve heard a lot about in the city . 」
His clever words despite his age of 10 was probably due to the education he received as a noble . Rei thought of that as he looked as Baslero, who had bowed his head energetically .
「Well then, greetings are done with . ……Ah, yes . Ashie, sorry, but could you get some tea for me and Baslero? All the herbal teas you make are delicious . 」
「I understand, master . I will prepare some immediately . 」
Ashie, who was waiting near the wall, gave a bow before immediately preparing some tea as Mouet had asked for .
「Now then, please sit down first . I will explain the request as we drink the tea . ……As you can see, my family are poor nobles, to say the least . Though this may sound sarcastic if I said this to a poor person . ……However, as a poor noble, I’m glad to just own a residence with a yard . Well, I can’t afford to hire a person to take care of the garden, so I have no choice tbut to manage it myself . ……All that said, I take some pride in the herbal tea made from the flowers in the garden . 」
Mouet recommending Ashie’s tea to Rei with such an attitude was very unlike that of a noble .
Rei also knew how delicious the tea was, so he spoke as he raised his cup .
「Ah, it’s definitely delicious . It’s taste is good enough to be sold at a store . 」
Saying that it wouldn’t be strange for it to be sold at a store, Ashie’s cheeks turned red . Rather than seeing Ashie as a maid, Mouet seemed to treat her more like a daughter . Next to him, Baslero also smiled happily seeing Ashie praised .
It was fine for Rei to continue the conversation for a while, but his reason for being here was to take on a request . Rei spoke to the three people, who had created the atmosphere of a family gathering .
「So, about the request . 」
「Ah, I’m sorry . Let me see, as described in the request form, I would like to ask you to provide Baslero combat training . 」
「I-I will be in your care!」
Baslero sat down as he gave a quick bow .
「……No, wait a minute . What you just said, what to say……」
Most people would have thought the same thing, but Baslero was just a 10 year old child and Rei was a bit confused as to why he would need combat instruction .
And, Mouet probably expected Rei’s reaction . He brushed the head of Baslero, who was sitting next to him, with an awkward smile .
「Yes, I know what Rei-kun wants to say . You want to say that it’s meaningless to have such a young kid undergo combat training for just a week……」
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「Well, yes . 」
Rei agreed with Baslero’s words . In the first place, combat instruction was only for a short period of time, it didn’t mean that he would be able to learn anything . In Rei’s case, he had Zepairu’s knowledge and his own amazing physical ability and enormous magic power . If they had the experience of fighting in the mountains as Rei had, they might be an exception, but ordinary humans would be unable to imitate him . And more than anything .
「My style of fighting is basically self taught . It’s not from some sort of school or anything . 」
(Well, since the Death Scythe was created using the Magic Beast Art, it can’t be helped . )
Even in this world of adventurers and knights, there were very few people who would use a scythe as a weapon . If one wanted to use a weapon with reach, the spear was the most popular . Rei was the only person in Gilm, Baar or the dungeon to use a large scythe, which was overwhelming harder to wield in comparison to a spear . Of course, Rei wouldn’t be the only one in the world to use a large scythe, but there were few enough people wielding one for Rei to understand the difficulty .
「To put it nicely, it’s a combat style that I have refined in actual combat, but there may be some problems for nobles to learn it . Of course, it won’t be an issue if the other party is just sparring for practice, but in that case, there’s no point in learning my combat style . 」
「Yes, I know that . I know……but to learn a noble’s sword technique, you would have to go to an appropriate school to learn their sword technique . And of course, the schools which nobles attend are expensive . 」
「……I see . 」
(This mansion……no, I wonder if it’s big enough to actually be called a mansion . Anyhow, just looking at this residence, they are not likely able to afford that . )
While understanding it in his mind, Rei spoke up again .
「I understand the reason . But……is that all right with you? As a noble, to learn my style……no, to receive instruction from someone who’s style is best expressed as unorthodox . 」
「Yes . Because I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way for strength . If you’re strong, you’re strong . If you’re weak, you’re weak . That’s all there is . In addition……」
Baslero had a bitter smile on his face that didn’t seem to match his age .
「My father has said this already, but poor nobles are only nobles in name . It wouldn’t be strange for us to lose it at any time, so I would like to have the necessary skills in my hands for that time . Luckily, the city of Gilm has a good environment for living as an adventurer . ……In that sense, it might be fortunate for us in all the bad things that happened that we were driven from the Imperial Capital to Gilm . 」
「Uh……it makes me feel weak when you say that so easily……Rei-kun, how about it? The person himself has also said he doesn’t care about the means to become strong . Can I ask you to provide him with combat instruction?」
Saying that, Mouet gave a deep bow . His modesty and humbleness probably came from his struggles of being a poor noble . Next to Mouet, Baslero also gave a polite bow . Standing near the wall, Ashie also looked towards him as if pleading .
A few seconds passed in this state with looks from the family and the maid . Eventually, Rei gave a big sigh .
In the first place, this request was one of the conditions of ranking up in a sense . He hadn’t thought of refusing it from the beginning .
(And, my style’s not the best, but it sounds like something I can do to spend my time in winter . )
Thus, for a week, Rei would instruct the son of a noble on how to fight .