.｡.:✧ Chapter 4 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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In fact, even after realizing the shocking truth about this world that I had only thought I was suddenly reincarnated into, my mundane and utterly ordinary daily life did not change.

It is said that the job of nobles is to laze about. Even if they have their own troubles, it cannot be as difficult as the plight of commoners who are essentially worker bees in this world.

Of course, our territory may have been different, as our wheat yield was immense, so even the commoners did not have to worry about starving. Most of the surplus wheat was exported to neighboring territories, and food exports have always been a formidable weapon, in this life or my previous one.

With the abundant wheat, the commoners did not starve, and we made money selling the wheat. Since we were exporting wheat, the neighboring territories could not cause trouble, and if they did try to disrupt the exports despite needing the wheat for a pittance, it would only hurt them.

It was truly a miraculous cycle.

Unlike my mother who was deeply concerned about the lives of the people in our estate, I was essentially confined to the residence of the Weiss County simply by virtue of being a young noble scion.

Perhaps “confined” is too strong a word, but in this conservative society where even an unmarried man going out freely was considered odd enough that adding the prefix “hound” and any number would not be out of place, it was an unusual occurrence. Especially for a noble.

This was a society so conservative that even the Confucian Taliban inside me would shake its head in disbelief at the strict adherence to gender separation until the age of seven.

Yet I could not leisurely enjoy afternoon tea and make my social debut to find a potential spouse like the other noble scions in this crazy world.

So the only thing I could do, in the end, was this:

“This really works.”

Whenever I reached out, the surrounding mana naturally gathered to form a magic circle, and from the overlapping dozens of layered magic circles from my fingertips to my wrists, the mana radiated outwards.

And…

Kwang!

With a brief explosive sound, a ball of fire burst forth in the garden during the day before immediately disappearing.

It was a slightly louder noise than setting off fireworks, but no one came running or to check on the commotion. After all, this was not my first time doing such things.

“It seems the young master is practicing magic again?”

“Isn’t it strange? When you think of mages, you usually imagine them holed up in a magic tower researching.”

“Come to think of it, the young master was the first mage I’ve ever seen.”

The servants working in the Weiss residence even chatted amongst themselves as they passed by, accepting my antics.

In truth, I could not objectively gauge my current level of magical ability, but at the very least, it should be enough to defend myself if I had to make an escape.

After all, being a mage is a professional occupation.

Then as now, professional occupations were rare.

This was why I had not been too worried about my future until now, despite knowing that at twenty years old, a noble scion like myself would normally be well past marriageable age and scrambling to arrange a match.

If they tried to forcibly marry me off to some unknown woman, that’s when I would truly have to leave this place.

Me, become a housewife devoted solely to managing a noble household?

“That’s unreasonable.”

Perhaps others would say it’s not unreasonable if I actually tried it, but at least with my current mindset, that was my stance.

Separate from adapting to living in this world for 20 years, my values and thinking were still fixed in my mindset from my previous life, so the housewife ending was a pass for me.

Why would I want to be forcibly saddled with such a dreary future that only rotten misogynists would desire?

So in my room, I continued my usual routine of reading magic books, studying theory, and then coming out to the garden to directly practice magic while reducing the power output.

“Rudrick? Rudrick!”

“Mother?”

My mother, slightly out of breath as if she had rushed over, immediately brightened upon seeing me.

That lady was normally not one to run around without composure, so this seemed to be an unusual occurrence.

I gave her a puzzled look, and my mother raised her voice as she caught her breath.

“It’s a big problem, Rudrick! A huge problem!”

“What sudden huge problem are you talking about? Did His Majesty decide to confiscate our territory?”

“No… not that, but something similar came up.”

“Something similar… Ah.”

The system message came to mind. And it definitely stated that Princess Elena had become aware of her regression and was immediately preparing to inspect Count Weiss’ territory.

If it was something that made my mother this flustered, it was undoubtedly…

“A message came from the capital that Her Highness the Second Princess will be inspecting our territory!”

“……”

Well, there it was.

My prediction was not off the mark. And now I understood why my mother rushed over in such a hurry to inform me of this news.

As I’ve emphasized repeatedly, it is not common for a member of the imperial family to conduct inspections of an unremarkable rural territory like ours. In fact, in terms of frequency, it might only happen once in a lifetime at most.

Normally, the visiting imperial family member or their entourage could be seen as an opportunity to forge connections for an eventual foray into the central political arena. But that would require a certain level of status that a place like our territory, which only has wheat and watermills, simply does not possess.

For us, this was an event that was neither more nor less than a nuisance.

To use an analogy, it was like a corps commander from the military suddenly showing up for an impromptu review of the troops.

“Without any prior notice, how could such a thing happen so suddenly…”

“Exactly.”

There was little I could say to reassure my visibly flustered and anxious mother.

After all, I could not exactly tell her that the reason was likely the nonchalant son standing right in front of her. If I did, no matter how composed our mother is, she would probably grab me by the shoulders and shake me like a salt shaker.

Hmm, so how should we resolve this situation?

In truth, without prior experience, it is difficult to properly prepare. Our territory has never had an imperial visit, especially coming from such a remote rural area where this has likely never happened for generations.

“In any case, since they said she will arrive today, we must quickly make preparations.”

“Eh, she’s arriving today? Didn’t the message only just arrive today, Mother?”

“She says she’s coming today, so what can we do? We cannot ask for a delay since we are unprepared.”

“That may be true, but… isn’t this completely rushed?”

“Oh my, what disrespectful language.”

However, I was also quite flustered by her saying the princess would arrive today.

Sending a message and then coming on the same day – what kind of message was that? It was merely a notification that she would be arriving shortly.

In the midst of it all, my strict mother even clicked her tongue at my unnecessary remark, but it seemed she let it go considering the gravity of the situation.

“Be mindful of your words when Her Highness arrives. I know you tend to be rather unrefined.”

“Of course I won’t speak that way in front of royalty. But do I need to be present as well?”

“Is that not obvious?”

“What about a military review?”

“How many knights does our household have?”

“Not a single one. Why would we take in knights like mercenaries when we don’t even have many demonic beasts around? We’d just draw unwanted attention from our neighbors if we carelessly raised private troops.”

“I see you understand. But why did you ask?”

Aha.

It was a tongue-in-cheek response.

In novels, even a minor duchy would have around 20,000 knights. There would be sword master superhuman elites worth a thousand soldiers each, yet they would still assemble an inefficient million-man army to fight.

In any case, this world followed the novel setting yet was strangely realistic in certain aspects.

I shrugged and obediently gave up. If there were no snobbish knights around, as a noble I would have to present myself.

Though in this strange world, saying I would “present myself” gives off the wrong impression. Still, I could hardly hold my head high as the son of a rural Count directly before visiting royalty.

“In any case, I’ll go get ready right away. I’ve already told the head maid, so the servants will prepare your attire. Go bathe and get ready quickly.”

“Will everything be okay?”

My question held multiple meanings, and my mother paused silently for a moment before giving me a perplexed response.

“I’m not sure either.”

I see.

I nodded and obediently headed towards the residence. Since Princess Elena’s purpose in making this inspection was likely me, there was no avoiding it. And truthfully, there was no real reason to avoid it.

The other four heroines would probably come looking for me eventually too, so I might as well get the preemptive “inoculation” from Princess Elena first instead of foolishly trying to evade her.

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“Your Highness, why are you in such a hurry?”

“Do you think I am being hasty?”

“If I may speak frankly… yes, I do.”

It was an imperial procession. Although she was the Second Princess and not the First Princess in line to ascend the throne, in the event of any incident befalling both the Emperor and Crown Princess, she would be the closest imperial heir.

Naturally, it took considerable time for her entourage to prepare, but Elena had little desire to even wait that long.

However, she was well aware that her current demeanor might seem strange to others. Her bodyguard knight Cherin, who was always loyally by her side, had even directly questioned her with a puzzled expression.

But she cared little if her appearance seemed odd to others at the moment.

‘…Rudrick.’

If she could only meet Rudrick again, she did not mind if others found her strange. In fact, it was a small price to pay, well worth enduring.

As an imperial princess, she could obtain anything she desired.

Other nobles whispered that she had the qualities of a tyrant, as her innate nature was such that she had to have whatever she wanted, or else she would not be satisfied.

But if there was one thing she could not have until the very end, it was one person.

‘I’ll see you soon.’

Princess Elena clenched her fist tightly, her hand turning white and trembling from the force.

As the imperial princess who inherited the strongest imperial bloodline over her elder sister, Elena had everything.

Striking beauty, lofty status, and even formidable personal ability.

Yet in the end, the one person who did not give his heart to Elena was Rudrick Weiss. Or rather, he did not choose her.

And she wished he had chosen someone else, anyone else, and lived happily with them instead.

Just watching from the side would have been enough…

“There was a time I thought that way too.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing. When will the transport magic circle be ready?”

“We received word from the mages in the tower that preparations are complete.”

“Good.”

Elena murmured softly.

Now she could finally meet him again. The mischievous boy who had brazenly defied the Emperor’s command and run off.

While defying the Emperor’s orders was listed as a capital offense punishable by the harshest penalties under imperial law, he had still violated her first and last command.

What punishment would be fitting?

A smile played on Elena’s lips.

“Cherin. I plan to stay in Count Weiss’ territory for a few days. If there are any matters requiring my attention in the capital, you need not accompany me.”

“…A few days, you say?”

“Yes.”

“While I have no pressing matters in the capital, if this is a simple inspection, there seems little reason to linger in Count Weiss’ territory for several days…”

Cherin trailed off. As Elena’s bodyguard, it was only natural to accompany her principal.

But her mistress had impulsively decided to inspect an obscure rural territory she had not even heard of, and was now declaring she would stay there for several days. It did not make sense.

Perceiving the reason for Cherin’s bewilderment, Elena gave a faint smile.

“Who knows? I suppose I’ll find out when I get there.”

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