46 Episode 45: The Anxiety and Crisis of Recruiting (1/2)

It was Raini who welcomed us back to the outhouse. Did you even look like you didn't float? Raini called me to worry, and I was supposed to make tea because I was on vacation.

Ilia said she has a face in the royal palace, and here are three of us: me, Yufi and Raini. The tea Raini brewed for me seems to have gained quite a bit of skill and I feel it improve every day. That makes me kind of happy and relaxed.

”So you and your brother couldn't make up?”

”I wonder if it will. I don't know what to say about being so stubborn...”

I don't even know how you feel about Caindo, but it's not good. Even though it is still pre-adult, I can't put it aside as my subordinate that the next Duke's lord remains that way.

I haven't been out of the palace very long, so I've been wondering the other way around, isn't there a lot of people who stop thinking on assumptions? Navre, the Earl of Sprout family, had that tendency.

I thought Navru-kun had the effect of attracting Raini. Could that be the case overall...?

I don't want to think the whole country is, but I feel like these things happen a lot, especially when I face to face with a kid who recently attended an aristocratic college. I suspect that overlapping like this is also legal. Then the common denominator is that I went to college...

”... what kind of education do you educate about aristocratic colleges?

”Yes? What is it all of a sudden, Master Anis?”

”No, I didn't go to college, so what class did I take?”

”Especially weird. History classes, magic classes, manners as a nobleman, and then self-study for papers.”

...... yeah. It's normal to just ask about the item Yufi gave you, isn't it?

”For example, learn about magic and faith in the Spirit in the content of a class?

”Oh, there was. I was unfamiliar and struggled...”

Raini groans with a bitter face. Is there one after all? I think the Ministry of Magic is probably leading the way, but I've got a bad feeling about it.

Uffi, on the other hand, had his eyes round and his neck tilted at Raini's answer.

”Not familiar, is it?

”Because I am originally a civilian. I'm not saying I don't have faith in the Spirit, but I perceived it a little differently from the nobles, so I struggled with it...”

”Are there so many different perceptions of faith between nobles and civilians?

”I don't think the doctrine itself will change much. That's right... the distance between the spirits is different between civilians and nobles, Yufi.”

”Is it a sense of distance?

”Oh, I think Master Anis would describe it right. Spirits are also thankful beings to civilians. But I don't know what to say about not being more enthusiastic than all the nobles. There's a distance, and I think the expression stays the same.”

Yuffi frowns as he suffers from understanding. This is because I, too, have faith in the Spirit, but I don't have as much faith in it as the average aristocrat, so I know what Raini's feeling is.

The daughter of a rooted nobleman, that may also be a difficult story to empathize with Ufi, who was raised as a Duke's Lady.

”Civilians don't benefit directly from magic. That's not why magical aptitude and precision can be seen as foiling. I mean, it's not something to be appreciated, so you can call it indifference.”

”Is that the sense of distance......? But the doctrine itself is together, isn't it?

”The weight of gratitude is different between those who are directly beneficial and those who are not. Spirits are thankful things to civilians. Magic is a miracle given by the Spirit, not so much the great power that nobility possesses, what is it?”

”Awesome power...”

”Yes. So even if I can use magic, I'm worse than the others because I don't have enough faith, and so on, and a lot of anger. This is why the civilian ascent, or something.”

Raini's eyes are gradually drifting. No, that would be a struggle. All of a sudden they say things with common sense they don't know. It may have been necessary, but it really was a failure to put Raini in the College of Nobility, wasn't it?

Together, civilian spirits and magical beliefs are vague or fluffy compared to nobility. I know I'm grateful, it actually benefits me too. However, it is not ourselves, but the nobles, so the feeling of other personnel is close.

”To give a plain example, from a civilian point of view, spiritual stones are” money. ”

”... money?

”Ahhh! I know! Finding a little big spiritual stone or something is going to be money! I used to look for you when your mother was alive. Because it's going to be a road bank.”

All Yufi says is that he heard an unexpected word, and Raini answers with a loud nod as to whether he sympathized or not.

”But from the aristocracy, if you see the Spirit Stone, it will be money! You don't think, do you?

”Uh, yeah. It's a gift from the Spirit, and... are you so different in your perception?”

”No, you're not.”

The difference in perceptions between civilians and nobles is significant. One factor is the presence or absence of magic and distance from the Spirit.

For civilians, nobility is a miracle that can be used. It can also be described as a monstrous opponent who suffers harm if they undermine their mood with a respectable existence that guarantees their lives.

I should be a protector of civilians to nobility, but some of them are bad people who don't think civilians are like the same people to benefit. There are few such aristocratic tyranny and there is also a history of deepening the gulf between aristocracy and civilians separated by differences in perception.

Of course, there are as many respected nobles to the civilians. But bad impressions are hard to get rid of once they take root. And the emotions I find horrible are troublesome. I get distanced so that I can say I don't sneak up on a god I don't touch. It's a vicious cycle that leads to further grooves.

”It's not a bad thing to have a distance between civilians and nobles. If the identity difference is clear and the role to be played is different. So I hope it turns out well...... the Palettia Kingdom has a long history. There are more bastards of nobility, and I think there are potentially magical children among the civilian population.”

”I mean, you think a lot of kids are putting talent to sleep?

”I wish I stayed asleep. There are many problems that arise when magic becomes available with some kind of cut. It doesn't have to be as big as Raini's case.”

When something without upbringing acquires great power, it may destroy itself without using its power correctly. It would be nice to just self-destruct, but I'm afraid when it involves my surroundings and things go wrong.

I don't mean to deny the history of the Kingdom of Palettia, which has separated aristocracy and civilians by differences in identity, but I don't think it's the same thing to divert attention from the problems that can arise in reality.

Though there is no way in the present system to give him the Baroness as a civilian ascendant nobleman or to welcome him to adoption. Now there are aristocrats whose blood inherits, but whose identities vary. It's not a bad thing to take care of tradition, but I want you to think about time and case.

”It's not even a problem that's surfacing, so if you say I'm too worried, that's it.... Oh, you got a slight subject-matter shift from the point of view. Problem is, the aristocratic college's educational content.”

”Speaking of which, that was the story. For some reason it was a difference between the perception of the faith of the nobles and the civilians...”

”Because it's not irrelevant. Honestly, I've always thought that noble values in this country were too close to religion. I suppose I can say I'm adamant with tradition.”

It's good to take care of it. But if you can't even change your mind from there, it doesn't taste good. It could be a system that can't cope with change. That's what I fear.

The world changes with the course of time all the time. I've never been stable in a long time, but I always have to be prepared for something. No, it's causing something unprecedented. I would if you told me not to.

But honestly, I don't care how many companions you tell me to choose when I think of the sons of nobles my age I've ever known.

”It also leads to problems with materials stored in the Ministry of Magic, doesn't it? Emphasis on tradition and faith. Not really. He said there are verses that leave real problems behind.”

”It's okay to know about past success experiences. But the reality is that it doesn't just solve it, it means we're going to live. I have to be ready at all times. For example, if I hadn't had Raini's problem, it would have tasted pretty bad, wouldn't it?

”... If Master Anis hadn't noticed, what would have happened to me?”

Without me Raini wouldn't have been noticed to be a vampire, and there is a great chance he would have unconsciously knocked the country down into chaos. It is possible that the Kingdom of Palletia was placed under Raini's brainwashing because it was used by Alkun even if he did not want it.

Well, bringing Raini up with an example is too special a case.... Looking back, all the unusual things are happening, right? I'm one of them.

”Honor, wisdom, mystery, tradition that has been inherited. Nothing. I'm not saying it's not worth it, either. But that's not absolute.”

Otherwise, you can't use magic. They might say I'm worthless. Until now, I don't care what they say from around me, but I can't say that anymore. I must make my worth known to my surroundings.

In order to do this, we have to overturn our current values. You have to gain understanding and support. There is also the catch. But there is a dispute about what is wrong with the values that are at odds. And that dispute could involve the country.

But I have to change it. I feel that the sense of crisis that I have long felt distracted has been visualized. This was in a cage, too. It's a bad effect. I can't grasp the trend of aristocracy of my age at all.

”I also need to find out about the Spirit Contract, but I need to make allies in parallel... even if I can persuade them to suppress it, I don't know where they'll pull their legs if they get disgusted.”

”Lady Anis doesn't have many aristocrats to say she's on her side...”

”It seems like Father, Mother, Lord Grants, Mrs. Nerschel, and the Sprout Knights Commander... yeah, no”

I finished counting with one hand. My side is too much now. I don't even have a handout to make allies with. It was a problem I was staining myself with, but I think the sense of crisis came late. I didn't think faith in magic and spirits and adherence to tradition would pull my legs so far.

You can't deny it at all when they say that Yufi would be more stable to be king. I wonder what's wrong with it. When this happens, I seriously feel like I'm running out of options to lay down a dictatorship. That's why this is a last resort.

”... does Yufi seem to be listening to me to his alumni or something?

”... sorry”

I'm sorry, I heard. Don't drop your shoulder because I'm sorry.

”... Raini”

”... me, a friend or something, hey”

I'm sorry, I heard. Don't be depressed because I was stupid.

... Oh no? Looking back at our relationship again, it doesn't suck!? This doesn't suck!? There are vertical connections, but there aren't any horizontal connections!?

I heard footsteps there. If the door opens, Ilaria comes in dressed for going out.

”Excuse me. We're back now.”

”Ilia!”

”... Yes?

”Ilia has many friends!?”

”What's all of a sudden”

He looked at us like he was scared, but he told us he had too many friends to make allies.

Ilia then sighed even more frightened. Ilia shrugs like she's terribly tired as she rubs the wrinkles between her eyebrows.

”... what are you talking about now”

”I think so too”

”Isn't that why you were placing a dictatorship or something in fancy language?

”Yeah, but if you do your past self a little bit, you're gonna want to go knock it down, so let's stop it? No, seriously, I'm a bit more anxious about the aristocracy of my age than the quality of the students at the College of Aristocracy thought...”

”... to the point of becoming. It was a blind spot for me, too.”