Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Negotiation

Episode 52 Negotiation

　It’s the middle of November. It’s winter now, and the first snow is about to fall. I woke up in the attic on the fourth floor today as well.

　I’ve been getting up at 6:00 a.m. for years for my daily routine, so I never oversleep. In the dim light, my hand accidentally touches the flower pot.

　It was the flowerpot that I had brought to the attic on my third day in the mansion. There were many flowerpots in the garden of the mansion, so I silently borrowed one. I filled it with soil and brought it to my room.

　Some of the servants saw me, but they might have thought it would be better for them not to find out about my strange behavior. I succeeded in burrowing two flower pots into the attic. If anyone had asked me why I was taking them, I would have answered that Miss Cecile had asked me to.

　F-rank Grass that has turned into trees was planted in one of the flowerpots. The purpose of this was to accelerate the recovery of my mana through the effect of the aroma. The other one was filled with soil to grow grass, for E-rank Grass special skill(Grass of Life).

　By consuming mana, I can earn skill experience. The mana is fully recovered after six hours from the last time it was consumed. Aroma, the special skill of F-rank Grass, can shorten the time of mana recovery.

　In addition, when the mana recovers, it recovers so quickly that even the Grimoire cannot confirm the speed at which it recovers.

　Effects of Aroma

-For 24 hours after smelling the aroma, the mana will be restored in less than 5 hours.

　Just in case, I planted three E-rank Grass and used Grass of Life and put them in my Inventory, but I had no plans to use them at the moment. Since it’s called Grass of Life, I imagine it’s a potion that restores HP, but I don’t know how effective it is for recovery. I’m thinking of using it next time I see someone who is injured.

　In addition to Grass E’s Grass of Life, I haven’t made much progress in verifying summons, and there are many things I don’t know about F-rank summons. For the past two years, I had been doing housework, working in the fields, hunting, and playing knights. There are many things I don’t understand, partly because Mash followed me everywhere and I didn’t get much time to explore.

(I’ll have to negotiate well for verification. I finished my shopping for my holidays.)

　Today, I plan to negotiate with the butler.

　I woke up, spent some mana and gained some skill experience, and then went to the first floor to eat. It’s the same meal as yesterday, a soup with few ingredients and bread. This is what servants eat.

　In addition, even though they are nobles, the Baron’s family serves meat for dinner, but breakfast and lunch are quite light. I noticed it when I was in charge of serving.

　As usual, after breakfast, I go into Cecile’s room and take care of her. I collect her nightgown and garbage, and clean her room. As the daughter of a Baron, her room alone is bigger than my house when I was a serf.

　The third floor is occupied by the Baron’s family, and there are four of them living there. There is also a room for the eldest son, but it is not used at the moment because he is not living in the mansion.

　Baron

　Baroness

　The second son of the Baron, Thomas

　The Baron’s eldest daughter, Cecile

　The second floor contains the rooms of the butler, housekeeper, and head chef, as well as the Baron’s dining room, hall, and guest rooms.

　The first floor contains the kitchen, manservants’ dining room, manservants’ rooms, and guest rooms.

　The first basement floor contains the food storage and other storage facilities, as well as manservants’ rooms. Weapons and armors are also stored in the basement.

　Cecile finishes her light meal of bread, soup, and tea. She eats plenty of jam.

　She seems to be taking lessons in the afternoon. From the looks of it, she’s learning five out of six days a week. I guess education is important for nobles.

“I have never seen you before, have I?”

“Yes, my name is Allen, and I’ve been working for the Granvelle family since last month.”

　Near the entrance, I was approached by Cecile’s teacher. He reacts a little to Allen’s answer, but doesn’t seem to say anything. I show him to the hall on the second floor, where most of the lessons are held.

(Today’s teacher is wearing a robe. Is he a Magician?)

　 He was wearing a magician-like robe and looked to be quite old. I’m interested in magic. But of course, I can’t take the class.

I tell Cecile that the teacher has arrived.

(Well, I don’t know if I, a Summoner, can learn magic even if I take the class though.)

Since I started to see adventurers with swords and staff and magic teachers, the feeling of being in a fantasy world welled up in me.

　Cecile has started learning, so I’m free now.

　I head upstairs to the butler’s room.

　”Knock, knock.” I knocked at his door.

“Come in.”

“Excuse me.”

　 I told him I needed advice, and he seemed to be willing to listen to me. I was shown to a sofa and sat down on it. The room was quite large, with two rooms, complete with sofas.

“So, what do you want to know about?”

“Actually, I’d like a day off.”

　I told him straight to the point. At the moment, I have two half-days off in the afternoon out of a six-day week. I’d like to combine these and take one full day leave.

　”Hmm,” said the butler, thinking.

“Allen.”

“Yes.”

“How long have you been here?”

“I’ve been here since the end of October, so about twenty days?”

　I’ve been here for about 20 days and I’m negotiating my days off. It’s like a new employee negotiating for a paycheck after 20 days.

His idea was to take one day off every six days and use it to level up outside the city. He also wanted to test the summons, since E-rank summons are one to two meters in size and cannot be tested inside the mansion or the city.

“What if I say no?”

“I’m thinking of resigning.”

“What?”

　I answered immediately that I would resign. As expected, the butler was surprised. He was nearly sixty years old. He was surprised for the first time today after a long period of time. He wondered if Allen knew how much the job of a noble’s manservant was worth.

　He was a butler who had received a report on Allen’s work performance. Allen greeted him and learned his work well. In his free time, Allen helps with the laundry, which no one else wants to do. He seemed to have a lot of strength and was very helpful. From his attitudes and actions, many people wondered if he was really a serf.

　It was too early to say, but he was thinking of asking the Baron if he could increase his salary, which was currently half of the normal rate. And now he wanted to change his day off. Allen’s evaluation was getting unstable.

“The village development was successful, wasn’t it?”

“Yes?”

　Allen looked at the butler’s unexpected words and wondered what he was talking about.

“And the order to settle the village is still in effect.”

　The butler closed his eyes and started talking. “As long as there is an order to cultivate the village, we have to establish villages and increase the number of fields in the territory. This is also true for the Baron of Granvelle, which has already succeeded in establishing one settlement.”

“Yes.”

　I replied and listened carefully.

“We are already in the process of selecting the location of the new village.”

“Yes.”

(What are you talking about?)

“Of course, the new village must have its own Mayor. This is still confidential, but Rodan is one of the candidates for the position of village mayor.”

“What?”

　The butler continued talking. He said that the Baron has a high opinion of Rodan’s work. Although he is now a commoner, the Baron does not evaluate people based on whether they were born a serf or not.

　Rodan founded the village, led the serfs, and was loved by everyone. I am sure that when he starts a new village, there will be many people who will follow him. And the next village he starts will surely be a Boar hunting village as well. Because Boar meat is in demand in the Kingdom, every village needed a Boar hunting hero.

“Allen. So your work here will never be in vain”.

　He said it would come in handy when he succeeded Rodan as village mayor. Apparently, both Butler and Lord spoke highly of Rodan. Allen was surprised.

“…”

　Even after hearing this, he still waited for a reply as to whether a day off was possible.

　When Allen was reincarnated in this world, he decided how he wanted to live his life. He wanted to raise his level and make himself stronger.

If he doesn’t even get a day off, he sees no point in staying here.

“Oh, well, that’s okay, one day off.” Butler said.

“Thank you, sir.”

　The butler gave. In the first place, the principle is to take two half-days off a week. However, there are some servants who take a day off for family reasons. It was just that since Allen was talking about a holiday so early, as a butler he thought it would be better not to allow it so easily.

　This is how Allen earned a day off to raise his level.

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