Chapter 179 - 121: Every Day Starting with Waking the Lord?

The next day, early morning. Nozawa was half-asleep when suddenly he heard Ah Man’s voice by his ear, "Lord, it’s dawn! Time to get up!" He didn’t react at first. After a while, he heard Ah Man calling again outside the door: "Lord, it’s dawn! Time to get up!" This time he woke up completely, sat up and glanced out the window, realizing it was just barely light outside, but the voice at his ear still wouldn’t stop. Outside the door, Ah Man sounded like a broken tape recorder, repeating the same sentence over and over. He couldn’t help but mutter, "What hour is it even... What are you yelling about so early in the morning?" The door slid open, revealing Ah Man kneeling at the doorway. She scratched her face, a bit uncertain. "It’s my first time being a Household Retainer, and I heard it’s supposed to be like this. I’m supposed to wake you up as soon as it’s dawn, watch you eat breakfast, study, train with the sword and all that... Basically, just follow you all day and help you be a good Lord." What the hell is that about, is this a Household Retainer or a palace eunuch? What, are you gonna start bundling up girls in quilts and carrying them into my bedroom next? Or is this actually the Attendant’s job? Every day starting with waking up the Lord? Nozawa had never been a Lord before either, no idea how Lords and House Retainers were supposed to live together, or how to get along day-to-day. His thoughts drifted for a second, then he just waved his hand, lay back down, and said, "We don’t do any of that crap. Cut it out—go do whatever you’re supposed to do! When it’s time, Yayoi will wake me up. You don’t need to bother with this stuff." "Okay then, at least I tried." Ah Man wasn’t sure how to serve the Lord either, and didn’t push it, but as a newly appointed Household Retainer, she was brimming with enthusiasm. She turned and walked toward the kitchen: "I’ll go check how breakfast is coming then. Get up soon to eat." Nozawa ignored her, lay back down hoping to catch a few more minutes of sleep. Seven o’clock was still early enough for him, but to his dismay, this era had zero nightlife, and there wasn’t any urgent work to keep him up late. He read a book for a bit last night and went straight to sleep—not even late. Now that he was awake, there wasn’t even a scrap of sleepiness left. He lay there for a bit, but couldn’t fall back asleep. Helpless, he could only get up and get dressed. He figured he’d be putting up with this for another day or two—Ah Man’s got an excitable personality, and just switched identities, so she’s bound to be restless for the first couple days before calming down. That meant he’d probably be up at first light for a few mornings. He went to the washroom, and with help from a little Maid, washed his face and brushed his teeth—he’d had nothing better to do, so he made his own toothbrush and tooth powder. He didn’t want to end up someday cursing agonizing tooth pain and regretting it, seeing as how dentists were definitely not easy to find in this era—by the time his morning routine was done, it was time for breakfast. Ah Man and Ah Qing were already waiting for him. Even though they always had breakfast together before, and this was nothing unusual, today clearly felt different. Ah Man wasn’t sprawled on the floor with her feet up, chatting idly with Ah Qing or complaining about how slow he was—this time she was kneeling properly and patiently, and her outfit was different too. Nozawa hadn’t noticed it when he first woke up. But now he realized she was dressed all proper, with a new hairstyle. No more little pigtails and cropped bangs—she’d started combing her hair back, grown-up style, tied into a very short tea-whisk bun on top, like a young samurai after their coming-of-age. Only... Her little round face, now fully exposed without the bangs hiding it, made those two round, short, inky-black "bean" eyebrows especially obvious. If she had just a bit of yellow fuzz stuck on her cheeks, she could totally pass for a Shiba Inu—just looking at her, he felt... complicated. But, if she could just act like a human being and sit properly instead of lounging all over the place, that was honestly a win. Not that it’d last—give her a couple days and she’d bounce back to normal anyway. "Lord, please eat!" Ah Man was on her best behavior today, not saying anything like "even a dung beetle rolling shit is faster than you." She served him a pair of bamboo chopsticks herself, inviting him to take the first bite. "Oh, thanks," Nozawa replied politely. Even though he was mentally prepared for her weird mood, he still couldn’t get used to it. He casually picked up a mouthful of scrambled eggs, signaling the others that they could start. He glanced at Ah Qing, who, unlike Ah Man, hadn’t started dressing up like a samurai. Her hair was still loosely tied with a cloth headband, her clothes were as usual. If anything, her mood seemed really good—her lips relaxed, with a hint of a smile. Ah Qing wasn’t exactly expressive, usually always looked icy-cool, but after living together this long, Nozawa had learned to spot the little things that hinted at her feelings. Like now—this was the kind of expression she only wore when playing with little monkeys, baby donkeys, or that three-colored filly. Seeing Ah Qing just being herself was honestly a huge relief. Ah Qing was like platinum—steady and comforting. Way better than Ah Man, that wild child who got excited at the drop of a hat, about as dependable as caesium—ready to explode for no reason. From the first time they met, he’d always liked Ah Qing’s cool temperament, and looking at her now, he was glad he’d had such good taste from the start. And upon closer look, he realized her hair seemed to be growing out, too. When she bowed her head, the hair at her temples hung down smoothly. Paired with that slender neck and the subtle, hidden smile on her lips, it lent her a gentle, girlish grace, making it easy to think of that Xu Zhimo poem. Nozawa, true to habit, let his mind wander, and before he knew it, breakfast was finished. After that, it was officially work time, so he got up and headed outside. Ah Man jammed down the bite in her mouth, grabbed her Tachi and Wakizashi, shoved them back in her belt, and followed after him. "Where are you going? Got something special to do?" "Nah, nothing special. Just going to the blacksmith workshop to check on progress." Everything in Wanjin was running smoothly. Apart from population, there wasn’t much lacking. They’d entered a stable period of accumulation. Nozawa said offhandedly, "You don’t have to tag along, go do your stuff." Ah Man was still enjoying her new Household Retainer role—wasn’t in a hurry to leave. "Everyone was sent out yesterday afternoon, I’ve got nothing urgent. How about I go check out the blacksmith with you?" "Suit yourself, just don’t screw up any real business." "Don’t worry, I won’t mess anything up." "Then let’s go!" Nozawa wasn’t bothered. Really, he used to hang around with Ah Man all day every day anyway. Plus, being a freshly minted "Lord" was still kind of novel, so he didn’t mind heading out for a walk with his "Household Retainer" first thing in the morning. But as soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw a hen pecking around for food—proving once again that the early bird gets the worm. Nowadays, his chickens roamed free. Not because he wanted "organic" meat or cared about flavor; it was just that, in this era with no veterinary antibiotics, chickens kept cooped up and fed nothing but grain would die crazy fast. Free-range was the only realistic option. He’d had the little Maids tool around with different approaches, but the death rate was off the charts. When they dropped dead, they’d go in waves. There was just no understanding how other transmigrator-novel authors dared to write about ancient mega-scale chicken farms—clearly, folks who’d never raised chickens for real, just making crap up, not thinking about how real transmigrators might end up screwed. So until veterinary antibiotics were invented, he wasn’t about to coop a bunch of chickens and try to fatten them up for eggs and meat—that’d be a bloody loss. He just let them wander around the house and village. As long as they made it back to lay and he scattered some feed for them, everything else could be ignored. He looked at that hen, feeling a little sad for all the ones he’d lost before. Just as he was about to go around her, Ah Man darted forward and gave the chicken a kick, sending it flapping into the air, while scolding, "You idiot! Tired of living, are you? The Lord is coming through, and you dare block the way?!" Nozawa was speechless for a second—it was just a chicken! He could’ve just walked around. Why kick it? But she meant well... It’s loyalty, sort of. No need to overthink it. Loyalty, more or less. A bit much, but what else could you call it? He watched the chicken fly off—yeah, chickens in these times could actually fly. Not far, maybe a hundred meters or so. Not like he was worried about losing it. He did worry the hen wouldn’t lay for a while after that, but he said nothing and went on. Not far down the road, their second-hand donkey ambled over. This donkey was a long-standing veteran of the Nozawa family, one of the OG founders with Nozawa, also Ah Qing’s best buddy. These days, it didn’t work too hard—just light duties and some free time. It probably wandered out of the stable early out of habit, looking for Ah Qing to feed it. Too bad for it—before it found Ah Qing, it ran into Ah Man, who promptly gave its butt a thump with her foot, grabbed her sword and yelled, "You idiot! You sick of living, too? The Lord’s coming and you don’t even get out of the way? Want me to slice you up?" Even with his good temper, Nozawa had had enough. He grabbed her and detoured around the donkey, just in case the donkey decided to kick back and a real brawl broke out. Not in the mood, he scolded, "What’s your beef with a donkey? It’s just an animal—walk properly already." Ah Man was indignant and grumbled, "I’m looking out for you! You’re the proper Lord of Wanjin now—if even chickens and donkeys dare block your path, how are you supposed to keep any dignity? If you have no dignity, then I definitely don’t either! If we don’t teach them a lesson, how does that look?" "I don’t need that kind of dignity, and neither do you. Let’s go—don’t kick anything else!" Nozawa pushed her out the house, heading for the dirt road of Wanjin Village, holding tight to her collar the whole way, just in case she got trigger-happy and launched any bystanders into the sky with a stray kick. You couldn’t be too careful. Get this wild child too worked up and there was nothing she wouldn’t do. If she kept kicking everything down the road, sure, he’d have his "dignity," but it wouldn’t be long before someone took a shot at him from behind... Wait, no. More like shot a couple arrows at his back. Ah Man was still grumpy. Back when she was a Koka member, she couldn’t strut around the village, bully men and women, or lord it over the commoners. Now she’s a Samurai and... she still can’t strut and bully and lord it over the commoners! What’s the point of being a Samurai, then? How lame! She hadn’t even stayed proper for half an hour before she started running her mouth again, muttering, "Shouldn’t there at least be some pomp and ceremony? Before, when you were just a nobody Patriarch, you were stuck with no fanfare—couldn’t be helped—but now you’ve got House Retainers, and I’m a super awesome one at that. Shouldn’t we at least look important? You just don’t look like a big shot at all—and if you have no style, we lose face too!" "No means no!" Nozawa kept a tight grip on her collar, herding her toward the blacksmith, still lecturing, "I get that you’re hyped as a new House Retainer, but excitement is excitement—no making trouble. Anyway, do NOT kick anyone or anything else!" He was going for the benevolent Lord look. Kicking people all over his territory was not the way to build a good rep! If there ever really was a need to kick someone, he’d have to give her secret permission, then discipline her afterwards to keep up appearances and the rules. Of course, three cups of wine and a "don’t do it again" was punishment enough. She loved a tipple anyway—no big deal. Before, he couldn’t just order Ah Man around directly—they were friends, and she could leave any time she got mad. But things were different now. He was "King + Adoptive Father," Ah Man was "Minister + Adopted Daughter." Dads lecturing daughters is perfectly normal, so now even if he kicked Ah Man in the butt, she couldn’t fight back, couldn’t walk out. Not without being scum no one would respect. Household Retainers had no rights—before, he really couldn’t deal with this wild child, but now? She walked into the cage herself. Now he could keep her in line, as long as he didn’t push too far and really tick her off. Ah Man was far from happy. She thought Nozawa still had no clue how to throw his weight around—what a waste of status—but there was nothing she could do. She kept on grumbling, but the thrill of being a new Household Retainer wore off pretty quick, she wasn’t bouncing off the walls anymore. While she was stuck following Nozawa around, bored, watching the iron armor production at the smithy, a member of the Lang Faction came over.