Chapter 35 - Chapter 34: Winter Daily Life ②
"Alright, stop for now."
"Yes."
When Yuri gave the instruction and lowered his wooden sword, Matilda also lowered the leg she had raised while wearing her combat boots.
The location was the garden of the Noein estate. About two weeks ago, Matilda had consulted Yuri, saying, "In order to protect Lord Noein, I want to acquire more practical fighting methods," and thus he had been giving her guidance almost every day.
This was only possible because it was winter, a time when work was scarce and the mining operations for lapis lazuli raw stones were on break.
"How was my fighting style just now?"
"It was the best so far. However, you're still tending to focus too much on 'attacking the opponent.' As I told you at the beginning, the guard techniques you want to acquire are for protecting Lord Noein, right? If so, the most important thing is to first give the opponent no opening to pass behind you. Because if they break through, the opponent's sword will be pointed directly at Lord Noein."
"Yes."
Matilda listened to Yuri's words with a sincere expression.
"Therefore, do not try to defeat the opponent to the point of taking the offensive yourself. Your role in an emergency is to keep the enemy from approaching Lord Noein until other retainers can move to provide support. While it's better if you can defeat the opponent, it's not something to do to the point of leaving Lord Noein's side."
"...I understand. I will try doing it while intending not to think about attacking at all."
"Yeah, in your case, it's probably better to be that extreme."
Matilda's fighting style, which relied on the innate talent and intuition of a beastman, inevitably tended toward offense. Since her technique and physical abilities themselves were more than sufficient, all Yuri had to do was correct her combat style to be suitable for guarding.
Fortunately, she was a very quick learner, so at this rate, she would likely reach a level where she could be sent anywhere as Noein's exclusive guard without any problems by the time winter ended.
"We'll do another mock battle after a short break."
"Yes, please."
.....
"Don't be too nervous, relax more. Otherwise, your tension will be transmitted even to the horse."
"U-uh, yeah..."
After teaching Matilda how to fight, Yuri was teaching Noein how to ride a horse. This had also become part of his recent routine work.
Until now, the Arqvist Baronetcy had only had nags for pulling wagons, but just before winter, they had managed to purchase military horses. It was a quite problematic situation for a noble territory to not have a single horse usable for mounted combat, but that situation had finally been resolved.
However, a new problem arose next. The "Noein cannot ride a horse problem."
It was inevitable since Noein had lived confined in the detached building of his family home since childhood, but it was bad for a current lord to be unable to ride a horse, no matter how you looked at it.
Being the lord meant being a soldier, and on the battlefield, it meant being a commander. While Noein, who could fight using golems, likely wouldn't have an occasion to specifically engage in mounted combat, horses were used for things like marching, and there were inevitably scenes where he had to ride a horse for the sake of people from outside the territory.
Therefore, Yuri, who had experience in mounted combat as an executive of a mercenary group, was instructing Noein on how to ride.
Both master and servant were in a state of studying under Yuri, but unlike the excellent Matilda, it couldn't be said that Noein was a quick learner. He was supposed to be intelligent, but his fundamental motor skills were poor.
Even so, thanks to his knack for things, he had improved considerably from the beginning. Yuri thought that at this rate, he would become able to handle a horse enough to manage a very ordinary march or maintain a minimum level of poise in ceremonial settings.
"Sigh, with me, the owner, in this state, I feel sorry for the horse."
"I'll be the one using it along with the retainers most of the time anyway. I'll handle it and make it run properly, so don't worry."
Since it would be a waste to let the precious military horses rot in the stables, the retainers who could ride—such as Yuri, Pence, Radley, and Bart—planned to utilize these horses for their work.
Thus, there was no need to feel sorry for the horse, but Noein wore a complicated expression at the fact that the retainers borrowing the horse were far better at riding than he, the lord, was.
.....
Pence did not have the charisma to lead a large number of soldiers like Yuri, nor did he have a sturdy, combat-oriented body like Radley, nor did he have a well-featured appearance that made people like him like Bart. He wasn't as caring as Mai, either.
On the other hand, there was nothing he was particularly bad at. Combat, giving instructions to subordinates, socializing, and desk work such as clerical tasks—he could handle all of them reasonably well.
Therefore, he handled a wide range of work, starting with maintaining public order within the territory and supervising the corvée labor of the residents. Before winter, he had also handled the response to refugees wishing to migrate at the guardhouse at the entrance of the capital city, Noeina.
Having his versatility appreciated, he had now reached a position like a deputy retainer leader, second only to Yuri.
"Pence-san, a fight has broken out over the order of using the well, so please come."
"Yeah, I'll be right there."
When called upon by the residents, he would head to the scene as the person in charge of public order to mediate, settling things before they became a major incident where Noein would have to hand down a judgment as the lord.
"Pence-san, should we proceed with the installation of the wooden fences here in this direction?"
"Ah~, it would be better to build them facing a bit more in this direction."
"I understand, I'll do that."
On days of corvée labor, he supervised the residents on-site.
"Hey Rick, you should swing the spear more like this."
"Yes, thank you, Pence-san."
Even in the periodic training conducted by the men of the village to prepare for emergencies such as bandit attacks, he served as the instructor.
He didn't have any outstanding skills or talent, but he was now an indispensable middle manager for the smooth operation of the Arqvist territory. That was the man known as Pence.
.....
"—So, with the spring wheat harvest, will self-sufficiency within the territory still be barely out of reach?"
"That's right. However, once the next spring-planted potatoes are harvested, the amount should be sufficient for food, so if we combine those, I think complete self-sufficiency will be achieved next year."
At the end of the table in the living room of Noein's estate, Edgar was discussing this with Anna.
Edgar, who had originally learned agricultural village management as the heir to the village head's family and currently served as the person in charge of agriculture for the Arqvist territory, had opportunities to discuss things like this with Anna, who was in charge of finances, after observing the current state of the farmland.
"That's good to hear. Lord Noein will surely be pleased as well."
"Yeah, to be able to produce a sufficient amount of food in the second year of reclamation is an amazing thing. This is also thanks to the potatoes."
"It's also thanks to Edgar-san exerting himself as the person in charge of agriculture."
"Not at all, someone like me... but hearing you say that is encouraging."
"Ufufu, I'm glad."
She's easy to talk to, Edgar thought.
Because he originally came from the village head's family and now held the status of a retainer, the other farmers were closer to being subordinates. The education he had received was different from theirs. He couldn't just interact with them too casually, and it was difficult to become friends.
He got along normally with the former mercenary retainers, including Yuri, but since their ways of life until now were too different, there were inevitably few common topics of conversation.
On the other hand, it was easy to talk with Anna. Both were people who had lived in a peaceful world, held the same position as retainers, and had roughly the same level of education.
Naturally, this time of discussion had become one of Edgar's pleasures, and as far as he could see, it seemed Anna enjoyed this time as well.
On this day too, he enjoyed such a discussion, and while feeling a bit of reluctance to leave, Edgar departed from the estate.