It was the dawn of the 1st of July.
Jin, who had incidentally arrived at Kaina Village, announced that he would welcome Eric as the owner of the leasehold land.
“Eric, I’d like you to help the economic progress of Kaina Village. In return, we’ll help the Raglan Firm make a profit.”
“Thank you very much, Jin.”
“… If you make Barbara unhappy, I’ll pluck those off you, okay?”
“Yes… Wait, what are you going to pluck off?”
Mine smiled bitterly as she heard them from a distance. Elsa was standing right next to her.
“Mother, what did Brother Jin mean by that?”
Mine wondered how she was going to answer that question.
＊ ＊ ＊
Meanwhile, in the Shouro Empire.
Reinhardt and Berthie were finishing their preparations to depart the Count Randall’s residence.
They headed for Kartze Village, which was part of the land handed to Reinhardt by his father, Count Wolfgang Randall.
Located between Exie and Vanne, it would take 2 hours by carriage to get to Kartze. It was just the two of them going down the road.
Reinhardt’s father had told him to take care of arranging his own assistance, and for that reason, he hadn’t taken a single butler with him. He had only taken Noir with them as coachman.
Then he had arranged for a separate carriage to take their luggage. The coachman for that carriage was Neon.
Incidentally, the Eschenbach Residence -Saki’s house- was on the way.
After being contacted by Jin using the Magi Comm he had given him earlier, Reinhardt and the others made a stop on the Eschenbach Residence.
“Hey, Reinhardt.”
Jin and Saki were waiting for him there.
“So you’re done with your errands, Jin? Ah, Saki, long time no see!”
“Nice to see you, Reinhardt. Thanks to Jin and Elsa, Lisa appeared and I was finally released from my grandfather.”
Saki had returned to her usual cheer, but the main reason why she was so happy probably was because the Marquis’ condition had improved.
“I’ve heard from Jin. So you’re going to Kartze Village?”
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s a bit unsparing, but the two of us have to go there by ourselves.
“Your father is quite unsparing himself, huh…”
Saki added that remark with a bitter smile on her face.
“Haha. Jin, if we end up deciding to get a house there, you can have a base of operations there as well.”
Jin was glad to hear that he could install a Warp Gate in Reinhardt’s new house in order to come and go without reserve.
“We’ve heard that the old mansion still remains. Apparently, it used to be the holiday house of a nobleman that left it long ago. We were thinking of remodeling the place and living there.”
“I see. Well, I’ll help out, too.”
“I’m curious about that place too. Can I go with you guys?”
With that, Jin, Reiko, Saki, and Ehr would be heading to Kartze Village via Jin’s carriage. Reinhardt and Berthie would also join them in that carriage.
They reached Kartze Village at 10 A.M.
Then they were greeted by the village’s chief.
“Welcome! Are you Lord Reinhardt Randall? My name is Boyd, and I’m the chief of this Kartze Village.”
He was a medium-sized, middle-aged man. His brown eyes were full of vigor, suggesting that he was a good man.
“Yes, I am Reinhardt Randall. This is my wife, Berthie.”
“Pleased to meet you too, Lady Randall.”
After their short exchange, Boyd looked at Jin and the others, who were standing behind Reinhardt.
“And who might they be?”
“Ah, these are my friends. They came to join me in celebration for my new appointment.”
Convinced by the explanation, Boyd led them to the former aristocratic mansion that Reinhardt had talked about earlier. Both Reinhardt and Jin slowly ran the carriage at a speed that matched the village chief’s pace.
Since it was a small village, it didn’t take them more than 10 minutes to get there.
“Ooh, look at this.”
It was a two-story stone building. Small, but it had a solid structure. Its walls were covered with ivy, giving it an antique look.
“Thanks for showing us around. No need to rush though, yeah, let’s talk again about the village the day after tomorrow. Ah… I’d like to know if you could take care of our horses, though.”
They would be able to manage with the repairs and the moving by themselves, but tending to their horses was a different story. That’s why Reinhardt asked the village chief for help in that regard.
“Understood. I’ll take good care of them. Well then, see you in two days.”
Boyd then took his leave, taking the four horses with him. Though they were pretty docile, he seemed skilled at handling even four horses at the same time, so it seemed they would be able to rest at ease entrusting their horses to him.
Reinhardt took another look at the building. It looked like they would be able to use it after some remodeling.
“Well, Berthie, looks like this is going to be our new home.”
“Yes, but we’ll have to do some tidying up first.”
Jin called out to the two of them.
“Let me help out too, Reinhardt.”
“Yeah, that’d be a great help.”
The building was surrounded by large trees, which gave it a calm but rather lonely feel.
However, those trees were convenient as they provided natural privacy to the house.
Using the Warp Gate in his carriage, Jin summoned 10 Smith Golems and 10 Peridot Maid Golems from Hourai Island.
“O-Oh?”
Even though he already knew of their existence, their sudden appearance surprised Reinhardt.
“Okay, Reinhardt. Please tell the Smith Golems how and where the house needs repairs. And Berthie, please instruct the Peridots to help with the house chores.”
The Smiths quickly repaired cracked walls, creaking floors, broken staircases, and holes in the ceiling.
And the Peridots, following Berthie’s instructions, cleaned up the kitchen, reception room, living room, guest room, bedrooms, and storage room.
With their excellent abilities, they finished up in an hour, leaving the house unrecognizable from its previous state.
The ivy on the walls was kept almost untouched. The only parts that were removed were those blocking the windows, leaving the rest as is.
“Hmm, looks much better now.”
“Since the walls are red granite, they match the ivy pretty well.”
The building is made of red granite, which is rare in this region. Granite was a rock composed of minerals such as mica, quartz, feldspar, and amphibole, and the one made from red feldspar was called red granite.
It made a good contrast to the ivy’s green. And if the leaves were to turn red in autumn, they would most certainly look good next to the walls as well.
It seemed that this house would be called “Rankenhaus” in the future.
After cleaning was done, it was time to start bringing in their luggage, but they hadn’t brought much to begin with.
Bedding, some clothes, and a few office supplies. Since it only took 2 hours to go back to the city by carriage, it would be easy to go back in order to get something they needed, and what they couldn’t bring with them could be simply procured locally.
Also, Exie was a little closer than Vanne, where Reinhardt’s parents lived, so they could go there to buy stuff as well.
“Well, looks about it.”
After taking their luggage in, they decided to take a break. It was already noon.
“Is it okay if I leave for Hourai Island for now?”
Jin continued.
“There’s a lot of things I’d like to talk about.”
“I see… Sure.”
“Sure thing.”
Since they both agreed, Jin used the Warp Gate installed in his carriage in order to go back to Hourai Island. He also took the Smiths and Peridots with him.
“I’d like to install one of those in a room of our house one of these days.”
Reinhardt had been the one who said that, but Jin also considered the possibility of having one installed in the basement of Reinhardt’s new house.
With a time difference of about 5 hours and a half, it was almost evening in Hourai Island.
“Welcome back, My Lord. Welcome, everyone.”
“I’d like to have something to eat for now, is anything ready already?”
“Yes, Mine and Elsa were in charge of that.”
“Ah, so they’re out already?”
When he arrived at the lunch room, it was already evening in Hourai Island, but even then they still had menus for lunch.
Freshly baked bread, wily jam, and citran marmalade.
The drinks were milk, persica juice, and citran juice.
Salad with lightly roasted bacon.
“Thank you, Mine and Elsa.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. We’ll be joining you as well.”
The time difference between Kaina Village and Horai Island was 2 hours, and Mine and Elsa were having bread juice as well.
After their meal, Jin broke the silence.
“There’s something I’d like to talk about as soon as everyone is here.”