CH 347

Words : 873 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

Mr. Ekenhart was left alone “Claire… So you were with Mr. Takumi. Did you all wake up late?” “…Father?” “The master…is already up?” “Ah, good morning, Mr. Ekenhart.” When we entered the dining hall, Mr. Ekenhart was sitting there by himself and looking rather lonely. However, he looked rather smug upon seeing us… I suppose he thought that we had all woken up late this morning. Mr. Ekenhart was likely down here this early, because he had been able to sleep well after eating the herbs. But Ms. Claire and Sebastian did not know about it, so they were surprised. Though, I didn’t think they needed to be that surprised… But I suppose it was because of how he was for so long. “So, what happened?” “Your Grace, I didn’t inform you because I thought you were still sleeping. The truth is…” And so I left the explaining to Sebastian, and we all took our usual seats at the table. “Hmm. So it was just the herbs that Mr. Takumi made… And not that you were all sleeping.” Once he knew this, Mr. Ekenhart could no longer look very smug. Besides, even if I would, I didn’t know why he would think that Ms. Claire would sleep late. That was one thing they didn’t share, in spite of being family. “By the way, what happened to Ms. Anne?” “Apparently, Lady Anneliese was up late last night, and so she is still sleeping.” As I wondered about Ms. Anne, one of the maids told me. It was one of the maids that had been assigned to her, so that was why she knew about it. “Up late…” “Anne… I hope she wasn’t thinking about anything strange…” Both Ms. Claire and I had been wondering about the same thing. As she had a history of thinking about terrible things, the idea of her staying up late filled us with some unease. Well, she was not with the count anymore, and there was no one here for her to command. So I doubted she could do any harm to anyone… “Mr. Takumi, can you please take a look at this?” “This?” After eating breakfast, I tasted some of the medicinal wine and waited. And then Sebastian handed me some documents. “This is a list of personnel you can hire when you go to Range village. While they will be inspected by the duke and Lady Claire, I thought you should have a look through them as well.” “I doubt I can be of much use….” “Still. If there is anyone who you are interested in, they will be given priority. Well, this is just some suggestions, so you must let me know if there is someone else you want to hire. Of course, we are also still searching.” In other words, even if they would strictly inspect anyone who is hired, they still wanted me to look through the list. After all, I was the one who was going to hire them. “Very well. I shall give it a look then.” “Yes, thank you.” “And do not worry if there is no one who interests you. We plan to continue searching, after all.” I took the list from Sebastian and promised to look through it. Mr. Ekenhart said that I could just look through it casually, but I felt differently about it. As the person who would be their employer, it was rather important. “Hmm…hmm… Sebastian. What’s this about being tight lipped or being prone to spread rumors?” I looked through the list while drinking tea. While I planned to look through it more thoroughly in my room, I wanted to scan through it first. The list contained names, gender, age, and job history. This was not enough information to get a good grasp on them, but it did give me an idea. However, there were also short descriptions there, so I asked Sebastian about them. “They are notes concerning their ability to keep secrets. Whether or not they are likely to leak information… Such things are considered important for nobles who are hiring. And you have the Gift, Mr. Takumi.” “I see… Indeed.” Nobles likely had plenty of secrets that they didn’t want to be leaked. Even small companies in Japan had them, so it was no surprise, given that nobles might own several territories. In some cases, this might be considered more important than their actual ability. While my Weed Cultivation wasn’t a complete secret, it was still better for it to be unknown to the outside. After all, it was possible that I could be targeted… I was learning to use a sword and magic for self defense, but it would be better to not be targeted at all. I nodded at Sebastian’s explanation as I sipped my tea and continued to look at the rest. As for Liza, she was with Tilura and Sherry as they lay against Leo’s stomach. If I left them like that, they would probably fall asleep again… Well, it was fine. More importantly, Ms. Claire was staring at me and seemed a little nervous… Had something happened?

CH 347

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