(Lancelot’s POV)
“This is nice.” I muttered, letting the morning breeze passed through my face and into the pores of my skin.
I feel like I’m frozen in time as I assimilate with the nature; the breeze, the fresh smell of grass and the scent of flowers, as well as the damp and slightly prickly sensation of the grasses pressing beneath my legs. It was a completion especially when I feel it with every fiber of my being, including my able legs.
The breeze died down for a bit, replaced with the sound of ceramic surface clanking together as Taylor—who supposedly is Lancelot’s butler, but because I am inside his body, he became my butler now—was pouring a cup of tea for me after preparing my breakfast.
“This is...” I gazed at the assorted shortcakes and pies. Some of them were decorated with colorful slices of fruits and even flowers, while some other is decorated with chocolate or even red velvet.
“It is your favorite food, Master. I hope the incident doesn’t deter your taste buds.”
“The incident?”
Taylor avoided the question by handing me the cup filled with steaming tea topped with sprinkles of small pink colored flower petals.
“It’s chamomile tea, sire. I figure it would be to your liking.” The butler skillfully explained. Him being so overly discreet with me makes it hard to revert back the conversation into the earlier topic. But really, did something happened to Lancelot that I forget?
My ponder stopped when I heard a distant neigh amidst the chirping sound of the birds. Turning towards the sound, I saw a tall, masculine figure of a guy, probably in his twenties yet the dark brown wavy long hair that is tied in a loose ponytail makes him look old, was calming down the horses used to bring me here in this grassy plains.
I do remember him from the earlier scene. After informing Taylor that I want to go out, the butler quickly disappeared, only to appear once more with casual pair of clothes for me while stating that the preparations to go out will be finished soon.
Lest I probably be daydreaming, the soon came right after Taylor bathed me and put on my clothes. It was shorter, way shorter than I expected.
After that was the time where I met this rough looking guy. His behavior contrasted his looks. Despite looking so overwhelming, he is just a sweet kid who likes horses.
If I remember correctly, his name is Hans. Just Hans, as he said he came from a poor family without a family name. It’s a twisted setting of this world that servants weren’t allowed to have last names unless decreed by the royalty.
Despite that, the kind guy willingly led us to a good spot to have an outdoor breakfast. They could have just take me to the gardens of my mansion, but for some reason, here I am, sitting in a vast green field that is located on a hillside and is filled with patches of flowerbeds, big and small included, spread across the perimeter. At the far end of the lining between the field and the air, I could see a view of a small town, the sight is a bit blurry but it’s definitely a town.
“Master, have some cake.” Taylor handed me a plate filled with various flavors of cakes made in small bites. I gasped in awe and gratefully accepted it from him while he took away my teacup to put it on the even surface of the basket.
I moaned in joy the moment I bite into one of the cakes that was filled with chocolate. I am not a fan of chocolate actually but probably due to my body changed, my taste bud too had changed.
As I was busy enjoying the cakes, suddenly I heard a rustling sound coming from nearby. I turned my head to the source of the sound, just to be surprised by the appearance of a white hare that leaped to my side. For a moment, I was caught speechless.
“Why...” I tittered. Meanwhile, the hare was staring intently at me, before all of a sudden, swiftly snatched one of the cakes that was dressed in small pieces of nuts before running back into the woods nearby.
I burst out giggling in amusement.
“Oh... The hare just stole one of the cakes.” Taylor sounded a bit surprised.
“No worries. We still have many cakes to enjoy.” I reassured, picking another cake with red velvet flavor before putting it into my mouth.
The butler went still.
“Master...” There is a slight confusion in his tone. I paused my eating and turned to look at him.
“What’s wrong?”
The butler pursed his lips. For a brief second, gush of wind blew past the two of us before he finally decided to tell.
“It’s nothing.” He tried to hide the reluctance with a professional smile. Despite that, I already caught his hidden emotions that I don’t seem to understand.
I guess it’s a given that he usually hide his emotions, as servants, especially in the Constance household weren’t allowed to go against Lancelot primarily after he became the head of the family. Because of that, most of the servant became frustrated and left the mansion. Now that I think of it, those people that are with me must really be strong willed people.
“Taylor.” I put down the plate after finishing half of its contents. “I remembered we were talking about this family’s riches, right?”
He instantly pulled a tight expression.
I cracked into a smile briefly, before uttering,
“For this month, increase the salary for all the servants by tenfold...”
Taylor suddenly froze.
“Pardon? What do you mean by that, Master?”
I retained my smile. “I mean as it is. You guys have worked hard for me for all these years, so you guys deserve a bonus.”
The butler still looked unconvincing. It’s a given when your bastardious employer suddenly wanted to give you bonus, and not twofold, but tenfold of bonus. They must have thought I am crazy or something.
Talking about they, I specifically meant Taylor and Hans—who was on his way to the two of us—before he stopped just a few feet behind Taylor in shock of my news.
I passed my gaze between those two. Just 500 gold coins probably won’t be enough for the future event that will unfold, so, “...If by any chance, something happened to me by the end of this month, you all take 10 thousand gold for each of you and flee from this household. Understood?”
“Master!” Taylor cut in. His expression is filled with exasperation and slight anger as he said, “I can’t seem follow what you are saying at all. What is the meaning of all this?”
I heaved a sharp sigh.
“I... I don’t think I will live long.”
(Lancelot’s POV)It was a mistake to say I will die soon, really. The warm air turned cold, and the gazes of thse two people in front of me didn’t help to ease the awkwardness at all.In the end, I’m able to only laugh.“...I was just joking, you two. Don’t look at me like that.”In an instant, the two jolted as if just being set free from a glamour. They blinked at me in confusion.“Is it... really a joke, Master?” Taylor sounded careful.I giggled again. “Of course it is. But the part where I want to give you bonus is true, okay? You have to take it or else I would get mad.”The butler and the stable boy swallowed nervously. The two seemed to understand what Lancelot getting mad is. As someone who doesn’t skip any part of the novel, I can tell you that Lancelot has bad temper.“U-Understood, Master.” Taylor finally abides.I nodded my head happily as a satisfactory gesture and resumed to eat a few pieces of cake, before inviting Hans to join me eating the breakfast.Time passed by a
(Lancelot’s POV)When we finally reached the chief’s house which is located at the edge of the town, the glaring of the townsfolk during our journey here is unbearable. Somehow even when we were standing at the front door of the wooden house that doesn’t look like the house of a town chief at all, Hans were trying to protect me from the dagger stares by standing behind me while both of us waited for the chief to response to the door knocking that I did a few moments ago.A few moments later, a head peaked out from the door. Based on his attire and the wise aura he emitted, he was probably the chief of the town, a middle aged, short, chubby, and kind looking guy.“Hello.” I bloomed a smile. Spiting others like what Lancelot usually does wasn’t my cup of tea, so I just acted according to what I like.Though, instead of a heartfelt greeting back, he crouched down low to the ground while he pleaded for mercy.“Please! Please give us more time. We will pay the tax soon we promise!”Despite
(Asher’s POV)“Renovations? What do you mean by that?” I frowned. What is happening exactly? Right after Baron Constance was finally proved guilty for all the crimes that he had committed, in addition of trying to hurt Cecilia, I received news that he had consumed poison to commit suicide. That could come as a good news to me but then, he suddenly wake up and started doing strange things around his fief.“It is as exactly as I had said. Our spy reported to me that he had increased all the servants salary by tenfold, in addition of giving a huge compensation after the end of this month.” My royal advisor, Aran reported while flipping through the pages of what it seemed like the report document.“I see. Then, what is with this new discovery that you talked about?”“Yes. Apparently Baron Constance disclosed an amazing agricultural discovery that our researchers had never been able to solve before.”“What is it?”“It is about the usage of a new type of soil mixture to bury a dea
(Asher’s POV)Baron Constance was known for wearing extravagant outfits and jewelries to show his riches, and he would always style his hair backwards, making him look cunning. The sight of him letting his hair loose and wearing only a simple outfit of white tunic tucked into a pair of black trousers felt very unfamiliar to me.“I am sorry for looking this slovenly while meeting you.” He bowed.My eyes twitched. Unless I am blind, I think that simplicity suits him better than any level of extravagance. Just a sight of him looks beautiful. That idea caused me to think, that the Baron had changed outwardly, which no words could describe how he looks like right now. The only words that I could think of when I see him is...Strangely, beautiful.I cleared my throat when I realized that I had stared too much.“Worry not. It is our fault too for coming so suddenly without any notice. I apologize if we disturb your busy time.” That was the excuse that we planned to come u
(Asher’s POV)“I see. Miragela poison, huh? You may leave.” I motioned to the maid who was the spy of the house and she left. Aran was writing something in his other small notebook where he usually kept his research notes.“I believe Miragela poison is incurable and the research to find its cure has been ongoing for years already, yet Baron Constance wants to find the cure in only a month? And without medicine at that? I’m starting to think of him as a suicide maniac.” I voiced my opinions to Aran and he nodded in agreement. “In my opinion also, finding cure for Miragela in a month is impossible. Even if there were a cure for it, it might take a long time to produce it as our researchers had tried almost all of the ingredients that the central continent have.”“Hmm. They might need to go to other continent to find ingredients for the cure. I kinda feel sorry for his fruitless attempt.”Aran chuckled.“Who knows? He is the one who discovers the half part of our rese
(Lancelot’s POV)The night ended and the day comes. Including today, it has been 10 days since I reincarnated into this world. That means I have about 20 days to live if I did nothing to cure the poison inside me. After sending the prince off, I spent more of my time riding my horse and exploring the fief. While I was exploring the farmland, I noticed that most of the dead lands were already buried with the new soil that I have advised the farmers to make. And for some reason, there are more people in the farmland than usual. Are they all of the townsfolk?...No way right?“Right, there is no way they would go all out just to heed this tyrant’s advice.”I nodded, trying to convince myself. When I reached the end of my fief, I realised that the figures that I saw on the first day of my reincarnation weren’t here. Did they perhaps regroup? They never mention anything about Lancelot being guarded by the royalty in the novel so I’m kinda anxious about them. B
(Asher’s POV)“Now he trains swords?” I repeated what Aran had just said to me. Aran nodded his head and continued, “Not only that, but the knights in the household were surprised to see that his sword style also changed.”I raised an eyebrow.“What do you mean by that?”“I mean it as it is. He changed from a dual sword to a one hand sword user.”“I see.”Interesting. Suddenly I feel like having a duel with the Baron to test his strength. I smirked.“And? Anything more?”I asked and Aran’s eye twitched.“Well...”He tried to avoid my gaze.What now? Did she said anything strange in her letter?“In this letter, Maria also stated some weird words at the end of it.”Aran finally spilled it out after I glared at him for a full minute.“Hmm? What is it?”“It said ‘I am master’s family’ something like that.”I looked at him blankly.“Wait, she heard that? I thought the servants were busy with their own shenanigans that night?”Aran shrugged as a response.“She is keen, after all.
(Suna’s POV)I glanced at the person in front of me. When he first entered the room, I could see that he was slightly nervous and also unexpectedly surprised to see me. But it is strange, I’m pretty sure that this is the first time I see Baron Lancelot Ral Constance. After news about his family had passed away and him taking the lead, I became disinterested in him, especially after people said that he is a notorious bastard who used his family’s riches to do whatever he wanted. Though, things started to change about a few weeks ago, when we received announcement from the headquarters of the company to send any merchant who was nearby the town of Isaia, as the Baron of the fief wants to hold business with us. Things get interesting soon after, when the group that went there suddenly requested the opening of the dimensional gate for a few days to haul items that the Baron had sold straight to the HQ. What’s more, the Baron literally sold all the r