Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN)

10-19. Manager of the Mansion

Satou's here. Some kind of magazine wrote that if you're attracted to the word 'widow', that's the proof of being an old man. Although nowadays there are a lot of people who have divorced before they're separated by death, or people who become a single mother without a marriage, so it's no longer a familiar word.

◇

"Then, take care there."

I see Arisa and the others off in front of the west gate. Everyone is going to the villa in the labyrinth. I'm staying behind in order to find a manager for the mansion. Moreover, Nana is also staying since we can't just leave the debilitated children from before.

I remain until everyone disappear behind the gate, and then I head toward the Explorer Guild.

I was invited to a drink by the guild master after dinner last night, but maybe the guild was open for 28 hours as there were a lot of staffs and explorers despite being late at night. High level explorers and senior staffs who sensed the presence of a high-class liquor came to visit the guildmaster's room and demanded it, the dragon spring liquor that I had presented to the guildmaster disappeared in an instant. I overlooked the Brownie Wine that the guildmaster had hidden in the shelf out of samurai's compassion.

Maybe due to the party last night, I feel that there are only a few staffs.

I'm heading to the real estate department which referred the mansion yesterday. The young man from yesterday isn't there, instead, an old man with receded head hair is standing by while looking bored.

"Hello."

"Welcome to the guild real estate department."

He seems to be a more amiable person than I thought.

"It's about the mansion that this department has referred me yesterday."

"Does it have any inconvenience?"

"No, I'm looking for someone that could house-sit the mansion and stable hands for taking care of the horses, do you have any intercession department in mind that could help me."

"This Explorer Guild can be intercession that can find you guard or someone that will do odd-chores in your mansion, but it's better for you to look for someone you can trust to do something like house-sitting."

Does this person hate explorers despite being a staff of Explorer Guild?

"Yes, of course I won't say that all explorers cannot be trusted, but it's also the fact that there are a lot of them who can't resist temptations before their eyes. For house-sitting, I think you'd better off asking your noble acquaintances to introduce you to someone, or hire a slave if you want it quick."

Noble acquaintance, the first who pops up in my mind is Viscount Shimen.

I don't know if he's still in the labyrinth city, but I try searching the wealthy area since he should be there. Unexpectedly, he's also in the same explorer guild. Come to think of it, he said that he was buying magic cores. The east guild should be the center for magic cores trading, but I guess the west guild is in charge of it?

Since his subordinate is waiting outside, I ask him for a meeting with the viscount.

◇

"Master, my name is Miteruna. I will do my best to serve under you despite my lack of ability, please take care of me."

"Please take care of me too."

The one who has politely greeted me is Ms. Miteruna whom Viscount Shimen has introduced for becoming the manager of the mansion. She's of human race, 26 years old, she can't be said to be beautiful, but her proportion is very slender. Although her stretched spine has a certain charm, her breasts-to-waist line is too straight. Her height is around 160cm, her long reddish light brown hair is knitted. Her reddish brown eyes are under her thin brows.

Her level is low at 7, and she has [Etiquette], [Service], and [Negotiation] skills.

Viscount Shimen immediately introduced her to me when I consulted to him. She's the eldest daughter of Viscount Shimen's villa manager family in this labyrinth city that has been doing it for generations. Her married brother seems to be current manager of the villa, so she's the so called excess personnel.

She was originally hired by the baronet by the viscount's referral, but she was relieved of her duty after she refused the baronet who was going to sexually harass her. I tried searching the city for a bit, and the only baronet in this labyrinth city is Baronet Dyuker. It's not like it's definite that he's a sexual harasser, but let's keep Nana and Lulu from getting close to the baronet.

"Rest assured, I'm the only man there. If I'm going to do something rude when I'm drunk, I don't mind if you hit me with nearby vases or chairs."

"No, I wouldn't do such thing."

I don't think I'd do something like that though, since I have a body that can't get drunk.

The cab carriage that we're riding has returned to in front of the Explorer Guild. I've come here to hire one or two children to become maids that will take care of the debilitated children in addition to the manager.

"Is it really alright for me to choose them?"

"Yeah, of course."

I nod to her question. The employment is going to be temporary anyway, and she's the one who's going to work with them.

She got off the cab carriage and came back bringing two older children whom she had chosen. The two girls look like some naive middle schoolers.

"He is Pendragon-sama who is your employer."

"I'm Roji."

"I'm Annie!"

The second girl who greets me in full spirit looks familiar. She was one of the children who came to the mansion to mow weed. She seems to be remembering the dinner yesterday, her slackened face looks like it's going to drool, Miteruna scolds her because of it. The first girl has dark skin, I don't know if it's tan, or if she's of different race. Either way, her limbs are thin like they're going to break.

The cab carriage can only hold two people, so the two girls are walking to the mansion on foot. They should be alright since it's only 30 minutes walk away.

I explain the facilities in the mansion to Ms. Miteruna. That said, since I only just bought it yesterday, it was over after I only showed the kitchen, the water well, the food storehouse, the toilet, the shed, and the stable.

I'm planning to have the rooms in the second floor of the main building for my party members' private uses. While at it, I also instructed her not to enter the basement since I'm going to use it for my study and also research room.

"It's a wonderful mansion. This is the first time I've seen one that has been so thoroughly cleaned and maintained. The previous master must be experienced."

I'm sorry for the Ms. Miteruna who's being astonished, but it was cleaned with Leriril's magic. Let's not say it out loud since she's admiring it and all.

I pass a small bag that contains some silver coins and gold coins to Ms. Miteruna. She's probably going to need some cash for buying fuel, miscellaneous goods and groceries.

"Umm, master. In case of noble mansion, it's possible to buy stuff with tabs, so there is no need to deposit such large amount of money to the employees like this."

Come to think of it, they were also using tabs for buying stuff in the duchy capital. Although she said 'large amount of money', it was only around 10 gold coins anyway, so I left it to her.

After Roji and Annie have arrived, Nana and I leave. It'd be troubling for me if they see us off, so I told them not to.

We teleported to the labyrinth behind the stable.

◇

"Go~ Ryu~" Nanodesu!"

Arisa and the othes arrived slightly late after Nana and I teleported into the villa. I receive Pochi and Tama who are behaving like spoiled kids and spin them around.

"Phew~ Teleporting this many people is tiring."

"Arisa great."

Mia is patting the head of Arisa who's acting like some kind of an old man, sitting down on the stump chair.

Arisa and the others were hunting in area 4 when I contacted them, so they joined late.

"Master, how is the issue?"

"Ah, I've employed a good person out of viscount Shimen's referral. She's a dependable looking woman on her late 20s."

"Is she married?"

"She seems to be a widow."

"Oh! The widow manager is here!"

I was telling Liza and Lulu about Ms. Miteruna, but Arisa was getting spirited up from [Widow] word.

"A bamboo broom, and an apron with chick pattern are the default aren't they."

No, although I understand the reference.

"It just needs an old dog, but I've never seen any dog after we've arrived in the labyrinth city."

Pochi points at herself, but Arisa shakes her head of course.

"Arisa, I'm sorry to pour cold water on your excitement, but Ms. Miteruna is extremely slender."

Arisa was blanked for a moment, but then her tension subsided like she understood what I mean.

◇

Nana blocks with her shield, while Liza shoots down the corns that are shot like a machine gun. I caught all the corns that were going to fly away behind with [Magic Hands]. These corns that are shot by the Walking Corn have hard shells, yet the inside are edible. There was no [~resisted the poison] on the log when I tried to eat it, so it's probably not poisonous.

Looks like Pochi has exterminated the monster this time. Her Heavy Blow skill has quite powered up ever since she learned Flickering Movement skill. She could possibly match Liza's blow after she becomes an adult, and her physique grows.

"Smells nice~?"

"Are you making something nodesu?"

"Hmm? I made pancake like thing since this seemed like corns."

"Mou, please stop making dishes behind people who are fighting. Our stomaches would ring."

"Nn, it rang."

I cut some slices, put maple syrup on it, and split it to everyone. It's a bit of snack.

Even though it looks like I could extract vanilla from the the Crawling Aroma Column (Vanilla Stalk) monster that we have defeated before this Walking Corn, I don't know how to do it so I'm hoarding it in the storage for the time being. If I can get my hand on vanilla, I can make more varied snacks. Vanilla Stalk was quite a powerful monster that could use Charm.

"Delish~"

"My cheeks are melting nodesu!"

It's not really fluffy, I should add some baking soda next time.

"Give me a bit more maple."

"Nn."

"Mou, I don't care if you two get fat."

Arisa and Mia ask Lulu who's in charge of maple syrup for more. I nod to Lulu who's looking at me with troubled face. It shouldn't have that much calorie if I'm not mistaken.

"Master, did you make this from the yellow beads of the monster from just before?"

"That's right. I make powder from that beads, and then add various things like eggs and sugar."

Nana is looking at the chick pattern that I've added on the back of the pancake. Since Arisa talked about chick apron just now, I made some adjustment to the heating magic tool, adding chick-patterned grilling surface on it.

"Master, this branding is peerless and wonderful. I recommend protecting it."

"I'll bake you some again later, so eat it."

Since Pochi and Tama seem to want second helping, I divide my share and give them half each. When I called them, they ran to me while having their mouths open, urging, so I cut big slices of the pancake and put it into their mouths.

Mia and Arisa mimicked them, opening their small mouths, but since my plate had been emptied, I threw candies into their mouth instead.

Now then, the reason why we can have snack time in the labyrinth is because the enemies are few. I thought that monsters would increase in the past few days, but only monsters around level 10 multiplied.

We have to trail-blaze into a new hunting ground to fight efficiently it seems.