Chapter 6 (1/2)
「Then, I’m off!」
And so, after receiving Harold’s command, Zen rushed out of the room in high spirits. Since he didn’t know why Zen had so much enthusiasm, the only thing he did was to tilt his head in puzzlement.
It would be good if he doesn’t mess up due to being too enthusiastic – thinking that, he felt a tinge of anxiety.
Well, if he trusted in Norman’s judgement, nothing bad will happen – convincing himself with that, as a change of pace, he decided to start his sword training, which was about to become a daily routine.
This was the world of an RPG. Outside the range of humans’ livelihood, normally, monsters were strutting about. To survive in this extremely dangerous world, it went without saying that a certain level of strength was required. Much less, when Kazuki needed to jump in and live within a vortex of violent battles as Harold Stokes.
He wanted to avoid fighting as much as possible but that wasn’t possible in accordance to the original game event.
Therefore, in order to be prepared for emergencies, he started imitating swordsmanship.
When he went to the backyard, holding the sword purchased by Zen in Lietze, after confirming that nobody was present in the surroundings, he started implementing the training menu that he himself had thought up.
Grasping the hilt in both hands, he raised it overhead and brought it down in one swing. From that state, switching his grip to the left, he moved his right hand by 1 unit to the upper-right side. From there, making the right foot on which he had stepped forward as the axis, he rotated in clockwise direction, and using centrifugal force, he cut in a straight line from the left.
This was the basic combination which Harold used in the game. This was of the type of serial barrage which appeared when the attack button of the controlled character was spammed thrice.
Kazuki, who didn’t even have experience in Kendo, couldn’t judge whether or not this attack would really be effective in actual combat, but for now, he thought of making this as his base.
At first, like the practice-swings in Kendo, he practised by stepping forward and cutting down from the overhead position, but imagining actual combat, he felt that the benefits of practising moves similar to the ones in the game was larger.
When close to a month passed after starting a training like this, his body grew accustomed to the movements themselves. The sense to grasp that, wasn’t Kazuki’s, but was probably Harold’s.
Come to think of it, even though Harold was the lowest of bastards, traversing solo through a dungeon and clashing with the hero party, in battle, he was quite an outstanding character. If I keep training like this seriously, I might be able to obtain strength which isn’t inferior to that.
(If I thought of it like that, my tension rises up a little!)
Even encountering an irrational situation, thinking in a manner like that, as expected, Kazuki was a fan of 『Brave Hearts』 through and through.
Although he had possessed the most loathed person in the original work, when it became that he might be able to use the same skills as the ones inside the game, he couldn’t suppress his heart from dancing.
With determination and excitement as the source of encouragement, Kazuki silently continued swinging his sword. A small boy lightly brandishing an adult-sized sword – if seen from an outsider’s perspective, it was quite a bizarre scene.
Originally, he wouldn’t even be able to decently swing it, but Harold’s high-spec body compensated for that. But even Kazuki didn’t notice that fact.
Somehow, the boy known as Harold appeared to be excellent.
Thus, providing assistance in the cultivation of crops, sword training, and humoring his parents – after these became his routine, about a month and a half passed by. Around the time when all the potted plants in the balcony grew lush and thick, at last, the preparations for the next move were completed.
That day, the one whom Kazuki summoned to his room was a slender man, who wore glasses. With an age in the first-half of his thirties, maybe due to the sharp look in his eyes, he gave of an impression of being cold and unfeeling.
The man’s name was Jake. One of the people who managed the finances of the Stokes family. Even the usually unamiable, taciturn Jake was considerably perplexed by the situation he was in.
There were totally 3 people in the room. The owner of the room, Harold, the veteran servant, Norman, and Zen.
「Sit」
To him who had come to the room, the first thing Kazuki said after opening his mouth, was that.
Norman, who was diagonally behind Harold, handed over a draft containing a few pages to Jake, who had quietly sat down on the chair.
「Read that」
「Ok」
What on earth is this about – Jake’s bewilderment kept growing.
However, after he opened the draft and started reading its contents, the look in his eyes changed.
What was written down was the detailed financial situation of the Stokes house. It was filled with a headache inducing amount of numbers, but sadly, they were numbers which Jake had become used to seeing.
「Are there any large mistakes in the entry?」
「………No, there aren’t」
Let alone mistakes, this was a complete copy of the contents of the financial management report that Jake had compiled. He properly checked whether there were any defects or not in the documents he had prepared.
Perhaps, was he called to enter at least 1 false charge into the contents of this? – That sort of thought crossed his mind.
「Right?」
But, contrary to his predictions, Harold sighed gravely. There was no appearance of wanting to rebuke Jake.
If he had to say, then Harold’s voice was as though he was fed up from the bottom of his heart.
「From the past few years, the finances of the Stokes house has been in the red. The prime cause is the pointless extravagance due to my parents wanting to put on airs. The reserves from up until the previous generation and the heavy taxation is compensating for it but even that won’t last long, and the burden on the populace only keeps increasing. Any objections to this opinion?」
「I have awareness that it is heading towards that direction」
Jake’s emotional subtleties never easily surfaced, but inside, he was on the verge of panicking.
He was astonished that a young boy had perfectly comprehended the contents of the financial management report, but more than anything, he wasn’t able to grasp the intentions of the question at all.
Harold himself, being the eldest son of the head, was criticising his parents, the current head. He didn’t know what kind of behavior was right.
Being at a loss, Jake looked at Norman. But he was only standing behind Harold with a calm expression and it didn’t seem as though he would respond to Jake’s glance.
「Even though the situation isn’t urgent, as it is, someday, both the Stokes house and the populace won’t be able to maintain their livelihood. Well, for you bastards, it would be better if the Stokes house collapses」
「Please don’t say things like that. If anybody heard it, they would misunderstand and think that you are rebelling」
For the time being, Jake takes the safe route.
However, from Kazuki’s point of view, it wasn’t necessarily a misunderstanding. He hadn’t thought of outrageous things like causing internal problems to steal the inheritance and he hadn’t even thought of doing whatever it takes for the continued existence of the Stokes house and for becoming the next head.
Frankly speaking, he wouldn’t care even if it got crushed like in the original work.
Together with the ending of the original work, if he faded out and safely became commoner A, it would be fine.
Of course, the best solution would be for him to return back to his original world as fast as possible, but to do that, he hadn’t even found a single clue and so, for now, he put it aside.
「Hn. At any rate, the populace, particularly, if the agricultural district’s proceeds aren’t increased, it’s very clear that in the near future, we’ll go bankrupt」
Jake couldn’t respond. This was because it was true that the agriculture in the Stokes territory had already started declining.
Due to imposing a heavy tax rate, since management became strained, people who quit and people who left from the Stokes territory increased. This trend was remarkable with small farmhouses in particular.
If this flow didn’t stop, revenue from the agricultural district would drop considerably. When that happened, it wasn’t known whether the current head would resolve to loosen the tax rates due to the disadvantage.
Jake didn’t believe that that man would take such measures. Conversely, he would probably increase the rates even more and pluck money from wherever it could be plucked.
(Has Harold-sama comprehended that………?)
No matter what, it wasn’t a problem which a boy of 10 years old, would rack his brain’s for. Normally, it would be difficult to even read the contents of the financial management report correctly.
But, for the boy in front of him, it seemed as though something of that level wasn’t even a wall. Jake immediately realized that.
「That is why I called you. I’ll leave the inspection of the agricultural district to you」
「What do you mean」
「Zen」
「Hai Hai!」
Responding to Harold’s call, Zen opened the window connected to the balcony, picked up a basket in which red groot were bunched up, and with a thud, placed it in front of Jake.
Again, being unable to catch up to the situation, his eyes became dots.
「Um, This is……?」
「Now, now, without saying anything here, relish in Harold-sama’s handmade red groot」
「You are the one who’s talking too much. Do you want to become fertilizer?」
「Sorry!」
「By Harold-sama…..?」
If he frankly expressed his thoughts, it would be 「Why?」.
He didn’t know why Harold was cultivating vegetables in his room and, he also didn’t know why Harold was trying to make him eat it.
That said, since it was taken out like this, he couldn’t not try it, so timidly he bit into a red groot.
「……! S, sweet?」
「Right?」
「Why the hell are you proud……..」