Chapter 50 (1/2)
Chapter 50
Chapter 50 – The smell of Cinderella from the ‘Secretary’
“Um, excuse me.” [???]
Belca-san’s daughter, who had still been trembling at the entrance, called out.
Her grey-coloured short bob was unkempt, with bangs long enough to conceal her eyes. She had light freckles across her face, moderately tanned skin, and a body that could be described as abnormally thin. She was slightly shorter than Marina; probably a little over 150cm. She was around 15 years old. Although she didn’t stand out, her features betrayed the possible hint of her future beauty.
Nonetheless, this type of girl suits my preference… It was possible that she was an unfortunate country girl…
That said, there were numerous cute girls in the village, so even if her looks were somewhat to my liking, I would not choose her because of that.
“Then let me give you an interview… First of all, come forward and take a seat.” [Jirou]
“Eh? U-Umm.. yes!” [???]
She tottered over in a fl.u.s.ter and was able to somehow sit on the chair. Is this child really going to be okay?
“Please tell me your name, age, vocation and introduce yourself! (1)” [Jirou]
I shot her the interview-like request. It was against my principle to ask annoying questions like, “What motivated you to apply to work at our company?”
Although, even if I were to ask that question, I would probably only get a straight answer along the lines of, “Because it seems like an easy way to make money.”
“A-Aurica. Aurica Flaireim. I’m 16 years old. My vocation is… for the time being it’s ‘secretary’. Introduce myself… u-umm…” [Aurica]
“?” [Jirou]
“Um… I think Rebecca-san who’s standing there knew about it already, but I have a slight, um… no, actually… I have extremely poor eyesight. Okaa-san told me to keep it a secret but… umm so… I won’t be able to manage much secretary job. I can do housework and take care of horses but… in comparison with the other girls, I am totally…” [Aurica]
Oh? I see — so she has poor eyesight! She was certainly moving strangely just now, and I guess that would explain it. I’m glad it’s not because she’s an oddball. The impairment didn’t seem to be so severe that it would affect her daily life, but it also didn’t seem likely that corrective aids for vision would have been developed yet in this world. Even if such devices had already been developed, they would probably be too expensive for her. It’s quite a miracle she made it this far. At the very least, it would be really bad for those with ‘secretary’ as their vocation to have poor eyesight…
That might be the reason why her mother was being so forceful about it. Although there was also a possibility that this might be due to the preconception of the people in this world. Even if a girl has somewhat poor eyesight, as long as she is presentable as a bride, it would be alright to them. I am unsure of the marriageable age here, but in the olden days on Earth, young girls were wed off at the age of 15. So, it was plausible that people in rural areas here had the same mindset.
Or, to tell the truth, I couldn’t deny that all the young girls who came as applicants today are possibly not married yet. After all, I did not enquire them if they are married or not. That was because the likelihood of young girls at that age who are married in this world are…
Oops. My thoughts had veered off in a strange direction. We’re talking about eye gla.s.ses right now.
“…Rebecca-san, are eye gla.s.ses expensive? If I’m not mistaken, Tobias-san
was wearing one. If it’s only several silver coins then, but well I don’t think that would be the cost.” [Jirou]
“Toby-kun’s is just for show. That guy has poor eyesight, you see. So, he wears fake gla.s.ses during work as a facade.” [Rebecca]
“If that’s the case, then what about prescription gla.s.ses?” [Jirou]
“Nn… you could get those, but I think it might be hard for Aurica to afford them… Even so, in that child’s case, she couldn’t even tell people’s faces apart. That’s how bad her eyesight is.” [Rebecca]
Rebecca appeared distressed as she said this.
Since none of my family members had this issue, I couldn’t tell how bad her eyesight was just based on that explanation alone. I have no idea what lens strength she needed, so it wouldn’t be possible for me to simply bring one back from j.a.pan for her.
Although custom prescription gla.s.ses requires one to get their eyesight properly examined first, I could get reading gla.s.ses from optical shops instead… That option should be better than nothing, after all. I might not have adequate knowledge to carry this out, but if I were to give her a simple eye examination and purchase one for her online…
“Hey, Jirou.” [Rebecca]
“…Eh? Yeah? I mean, what is it? I was just a little preoccupied…” [Jirou]
“I can guess what Jirou is basically thinking right now. You want to ‘help’ that girl… Isn’t it so?” [Rebecca]
She hit the mark. Were my thoughts that easy to read from just looking at my facial expressions? I wasn’t normally able to express myself indirectly though.
Upon realizing that she had guessed it correctly, she heaved a sigh and turned to me.
“Well, if Jirou wishes to do so, then I’m fine with it… but there’s just one thing that I’d like you to remember. ’Help someone only when the person themself desires to be helped first. Otherwise, even well-intentioned efforts will only serve as self-satisfaction.’That’s the teachings of Le Baraka.” [Rebecca]
Well-intentioned efforts…
Certainly, being so mindful about a child who came for an interview was probably a ‘well-intentioned’ act…
I couldn’t refute the fact that I was indeed expecting her to be grateful after I healed her eyes using earth’s technology (I was referring to eye gla.s.ses).
I became dispirited when she had me figured out…
“…..”
“…..”
If you are reading this on any other place than rinkagetranslation.com, this chapter has been stolen and is neither the most recent or complete chapter.
Somehow, we ended up being engulfed by a profound silence…
This happened even though we were still in the middle of an interview…
At that moment, the one who broke the silence and came up with a new suggestion was Hetty-san.
“Jirou-sama, how about this: You want to help Aurica-san, but Becky believes that you should not help someone that easily. On the other hand, Aurica-san would like to work under Jirou-sama. So why not include it inside the terms of employment? You will be covering all the expenses to heal her eyes, and Aurica-san will be paying it back by working for you… How about it?” [Hetty]
E-Erm…How about it? Even if you asked me that, I wouldn’t know what to answer since I had not considered it that much yet…
“Ah, um, is there a way to heal her eyes? The only thing I had in mind actually was just eye gla.s.ses.” [Jirou]
“Is that so? I had thought you were considering on using the spirit stone actually…” [Hetty]
Ah, the spirit stone! Since it could be used to restore one’s youth, it should be able to restore one’s eyesight too. That is great! It’s an easy method.
“Wait a minute Hetty. I didn’t actually say that he shouldn’t help her! It’s just that, Jirou can be a little too kind…” [Rebecca]
“Yes, yes. Thanks for sharing that with me.” (2) [Hetty]
“There should be at least two spirit stones if we return to the mansion. If Aurica-san’s eyes can be cured with those, then it’s fine to use them. Well, it’ll be up to Aurica-san though.” [Jirou]
“E-Eh? You’re fine with it? Just like that?! ——-I see. Jirou-sama is indeed way too generous.” [Hetty]
“Isn’t it? You should understand now why I couldn’t leave him alone, right?” [Rebecca]
“Yes, yes. That’s too much information… (3)Well, certainly it might tickle a woman’s maternal instincts, right?” [Hetty]
Rebecca-san and Hetty-san were spouting whatever they pleased. What do you mean by maternal instincts? Despite my appearance, I’m already 21 years old!