Chapter 32 - Episode 32: They Were Happy ②
The celebratory banquet began, and the residents of the territory drank wine, ate lavish food, and chatted as they pleased.
Watching this, Noein immersed himself in a sense of fulfillment alone. Then, someone called out to him.
"You're grinning as usual, aren't you?"
Looking toward the voice, he saw Yuri, Anna, and Edgar standing there, each with a cup in hand.
"Grinning is such a harsh way to put it. Your lord was simply gazing upon his beloved residents with a smile full of benevolence."
"Haha, you sure can talk."
Seeing Noein and Yuri exchanging banter, Anna and Edgar, who were with them, gave wry smiles. While Noein maintained a composed face in front of people from outside the territory, the two of them had long since realized that this was his true expression.
"That speech just now was truly wonderful, Noein-sama."
"I remembered the day Noein-sama picked me up when I had become a refugee, and I found myself crying."
"Thank you, both of you. I thought I might have spoken quite well myself."
Having received such praise from Anna and Edgar, Noein answered while maintaining his grinning face. This contained a bit of a desire to hide his embarrassment.
"...Looking at it again, it's really started to look like a village."
Noein spoke while gazing at the rows of houses and the farmland spreading around them.
The Arqvist Baronetcy—a territory anyone would call a failure, which his shitty father had left untouched because it was "just wastefully wide forest that doesn't make money."
Noein had hardened his resolve to develop it, and by utilizing a bit of wisdom, his talent for puppet magic, the luck of discovering a mineral vein, and the help of the slaves, retainers, and residents who supported him, he had built this village.
"It's an amazing feat to have built a village of this scale in the middle of a forest in less than a year. You should be proud."
"You're praising me unusually honestly, aren't you? It's almost a little scary."
"Hey now, I do evaluate you as a lord, you know? Though as an individual, I think you're just a cunning brat."
"Ahaha, you've got me figured out."
Noein laughed as he said this.
.....
"Mai, congratulations on your marriage, once again."
"Oh, thank you, Matilda."
Mai, who had headed toward the table where the alcohol was placed, was spoken to by Matilda, who was about to carry over wine poured into a cup that likely belonged to Noein.
Starting from the early days of the development when Mai told Matilda, "You should try talking to other people more," the two had now reached a relationship that could be called friends.
"Back when I was a mercenary, the environment made it quite difficult to get married. That man was busy as a group executive from an early stage, and eventually, he even became the commander. We can finally be united and live peacefully."
"I believe Noein-sama is also happy that you two were able to find happiness."
Even in normal conversation, Matilda always brought up Noein, saying "Noein-sama is..." as her second sentence.
"Say, aren't you going to marry Noein-sama? If you wished for it, he might even release you from slavery..."
Taking this opportunity, Mai asked Matilda about something that had been on her mind for a while.
It was obvious to anyone that Matilda loved Noein to a level bordering on worship, and that Noein doted on Matilda in return. If she wished it, Noein would likely release her from her slave status immediately.
"...Noein-sama said the same thing before, when he bought me from Count Kivileft and left his family home. However, I asked him to let me remain Noein-sama's slave."
"Why is that?"
"A slave crest that will never disappear is engraved on my neck. If I, a former slave and a beastman, were to become Noein-sama's wife, I would surely become a shackle to him as he succeeds as a lord in the future."
Mai hesitated on how to respond to Matilda's words.
It was certainly as she said. Although it was more tolerant than the southern part of the kingdom, discrimination against beastmen certainly existed in the northern part of this kingdom as well. In particular, the higher the nobility, the stronger the tendency to look down on beastmen.
There were apparently beastmen who had been granted lower nobility as heroes of war, or who had become court scholars through extraordinary intelligence and great discoveries, but those were exceptions among exceptions that became topics of conversation throughout the kingdom.
Noein, who was a Baronet—the absolute bottom of the nobility—and who only possessed a small village, taking a former slave beastman as his wife. Even Mai could imagine that doing such a thing would leave him with zero allies in noble society and might instead leave him surrounded by enemies.
"...But that is a superficial reason. In truth, I want to feel secure in being Noein-sama's possession."
Matilda, rarely showing emotion, let a small smile float on her face.
"I was sold as a slave when I was young. Now, I can hardly remember my parents' faces. All the happy memories in my life are from the time I was by Noein-sama's side. I take pride in being Noein-sama's slave, and I feel the utmost peace in the fact that I am Noein-sama's slave."
Since Matilda, who rarely spoke of herself, was sharing so much, Mai listened to her story in silence.
"When I told him that, Noein-sama permitted me to remain a slave. Eventually, as a responsibility of the head of a noble house, Noein-sama will likely take a young lady from somewhere as his wife, but he promised that even after that, he would continue to own me and give me his affection for the rest of my life. He said he would only take a woman as his wife who could accept that."
The expression on Matilda's face as she spoke felt refreshing.
"With this, I will not be a shackle to Noein-sama, and I can serve him and receive his affection by his side for the rest of my life. For me, there is no greater happiness in this world."
"...I see. That's a lovely relationship. I like that kind of thing."
As she answered, Mai remembered her own past.
Mai, who grew up as an orphan in a certain town in the eastern part of the kingdom, was picked up by Yuri and became his errand girl, and as she grew, she was taught the sword and became a mercenary like him.
With Yuri, who had been like an older brother, Mai eventually entered into a romantic relationship as she grew up.
Having been picked up by him and raised under his protection, she knew no man other than him and was thus united with him. She had chosen this path because there were no other options in life, but Mai herself was satisfied with it from the bottom of her heart.
Mai thought that she and Matilda were similar. Matilda too had met Noein, lived knowing only Noein, and found a form of happiness in staying by Noein's side for the rest of her life.
"Let's both continue to live happily beside the men we love."
"Yes."
.....
As winter deepened, people traveling the highways almost disappeared. Due to the cold, each town and village became closed off like isolated islands, and the residents waited for spring within them.
Noeina, the Arqvist Baronetcy, also became one of those isolated islands.
Before entering winter, they had stockpiled sufficient food such as wheat, dried meat, and pickled vegetables, and had accumulated a large amount of firewood. Mining operations in the Lestio Mountains were temporarily stopped (the amount to be supplied during winter had been mined in advance), and development work that required going outside the village was significantly scaled back.
People spent more time indoors, and Noein was no exception. He spent his days inside the manor, diligently working on paperwork or drafting development plans for after winter ended. He only worked outdoors during the daytime on sunny days.
"Noein-sama, please have some tea."
"Ah, thank you, Matilda."
To Noein, who was conducting his business in the living room with a fireplace rather than the cold office, Matilda offered warm tea. There were now maids in the manor who handled cooking and housework, but Noein liked the tea brewed by none other than Matilda.
"Come sit beside me, Matilda."
"Yes, Noein-sama."
He let Matilda sit beside him and held her hand. She gently snuggled against Noein's arm.
The winter of the first year of development. Noein was happy.
This concludes Chapter One. Thank you for reading!
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