To Solve The Problem! (3)

In the end, I did get introduced to a few people, but when I went to meet them, most of the trips were for nothing, and for the few I did talk with, I had to calm my thoughts, feeling they might not be the right fit after all.

“This is bad. It feels like someone else already scooped up every decent person.”

“Even if they didn’t study economics at an academy, you could still hire from the Scholars’ Guild or Merchants’ Guild.”

When I told Hare it wasn’t as if I hadn’t thought of that, she looked at me with a face that said, Then why are you like this?

“I just don’t like the idea of poaching people who already belong somewhere. And even if they did come over to my side, I don’t know if they’d actually do any real work. They might just expect to be pampered, you know?”

“If you can’t bring yourself to trust anyone that far, isn’t using people at all going to be difficult?”

“Maybe I should just have the beastkin do it instead…”

But Hare objected to that.

“I think beastkin who haven’t received proper education would only end up ruining the domain.”

“Then Hare, how about you work together with me?”

“Heh, I appreciate the offer, but I’m a busy woman too…”

Right, she was busy learning magic from the Demon Dragon. I understood that much. I was in the middle of worrying over it when it happened.

“Um…”

Someone spoke up from behind us.

She looked quite out of breath, and as I watched her struggle to compose herself, I asked.

“What seems to be the matter?”

“I have been listening from earlier… By any chance, are you nobles?”

“Well, as you can see, yes. Why do you ask?”

“Since your escorts are beastkin and you appear to be nobles, I wondered if you might be people from the Ingrad Domain, so I pushed myself to come find you like this.”

She fired off her words quickly, hardly pausing for breath so she wouldn’t run out mid-sentence. Watching her gasp for air after finishing, I spoke.

“You have a good eye—you got the right answer. For now, let’s catch our breath and then talk.”

Figuring she must have her reasons, I moved us to a nearby spot, and the woman who followed us looked at me with the air of a new recruit before bowing her head in greeting.

“I am Linda Eden, a Free Citizen and top graduate of the Economics Department at Suriten Academy. If you have come because you require staff for your domain, I was hoping you might hire me, so I took the liberty of eavesdropping and following you. I am very sorry!”

Linda rattled off her words so fast she could barely breathe, but the phrase “top graduate” flew into my ears in particular and stuck there.

“If you graduated at the top of your class, any decent lord would be scrambling to snatch you up. Why haven’t you been hired?”

“Because of my dream!”

“A dream, huh…”

It was a somewhat out-of-the-blue answer, but for some reason I wanted to hear it. So I tried asking from a different angle.

“It sounds like you’ve thrown away your future for the sake of this dream. Are you really okay with that?”

“No, my future is directly tied to my dream.”

“Well, let’s hear it then. What is your dream?”

“Before I tell you my dream, there is one thing I would like to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Since you appear to be under beastkin escort, you must hold some important position. May I ask what that position is?”

“You’re trying to find out whether I have decision-making authority?”

“Yes.”

I thought she was quite bold. It amused me that, without even knowing whether I had any intention of hiring her, the first thing she did was confirm whether I had the power to decide.

It was as if she believed that if she just shared her dream, she would be hired.

On top of that, Demina and Hare also seemed to be enjoying how things were unfolding. They turned their heads away with smiles on their faces, but from where I stood I could see both of their expressions clearly.

“Well, for now, I can at least tell you that my position is high enough to hire you. Does that answer your question?”

“Your Lo— I mean… You must be working in the Ingrad Domain, so you cannot state your exact title out loud, is that it?”

It wasn’t some spy movie, but she was taking it so seriously that when I nodded, Linda spoke.

“My dream is to become the wife of the lord of the Ingrad Domain!”

“…?”

At Linda’s words, Hare and Demina also turned around with dumbfounded expressions.

Once all three of us were staring at her, Linda continued.

“Viscount Ingrad is like a hero, writing a legend of success as a Free Citizen. No one knows how much greater a ripple his achievements will cause across this continent in the future, and I want to stand by his side as one of his closest aides and share those moments of history. To achieve that, entering his service as a retainer is best, and later, gaining his favor and supporting him as his wife is what I consider to be my dream and my future.”

I wondered just what kind of rumors about me had spread for someone to harbor such absurd ideas.

So I looked at Hare, who had a very entertained expression. Demina likewise had not particularly planned to end up with me, so after her initial shock, she now gazed at Linda with relaxed eyes. Apparently, the only one feeling burdened by Linda right now was me.

What was I supposed to do about this…

While I was briefly agonizing, Linda caught my slight hesitation and quickly spoke up.

“By any chance, do you currently have a woman, my lord? I heard you were unmarried, and even if you already have a wife, I can confidently say I would not mind entering as a concubine or second wife!”

“That’s not the issue here…”

“Why not? Isn’t it fine? Her dream is firm, and she seems determined, doesn’t she?”

‘Hare, just what are you thinking?’

“Do you have some complaint about me?”

At my words, Hare snickered, and Demina, finding the way things were going amusing, also beamed as she watched Linda. Only then did Linda realize how strange the situation was, and her face gradually turned pale.

She looked me up and down and then asked cautiously.

“N–Not as a retainer… but, by any chance… um… maybe…”

Linda could not manage to finish her question, only repeating “maybe,” and Hare finished her off with the decisive blow.

“This is the very person you admire. He is Viscount Ingrad.”

“Eeek?!”

Now her face went bluish. Had she strained her heart or something?

Seeing that her complexion didn’t look good, I took a Nerve-Calming Potion out from my breast pocket and handed it to her.

“Let’s take the medicine first, then talk. I had no intention of deceiving you, and I hope you can understand.”

Linda even started hiccuping now. I wondered just how shocked she must have been.

Still, she accepted the potion I offered and swallowed it down without complaint. After that, I looked around the area, then headed toward the mouth of a secluded alley. There, I used Construction to make a simple chair to sit on and had Linda sit, then sat down beside her myself, only for her to jump up in a panic.

“Stability comes first. Those two are sturdy enough to stand around with no problem even next to someone like me, but you and I are different. And besides, we need to talk, don’t we?”

“B–But… How can I… sit beside a noble…?”

I could not understand where that confident, full-of-ambition woman from earlier had gone, or how she had broken down into this stammering mess. But as time passed and the medicine seemed to take effect, I saw her calm down fairly quickly and waited a little longer.

After catching her breath, Linda spoke to me.

“I… I probably won’t be hired, will I?”

“To be honest, there are quite a few people who harbor that sort of intention, so I don’t particularly mind it. But the fact that you were the top of your class is a very important point for me.”

Linda looked confused, so I asked her.

“I like people who are capable. When the person at the top is competent, those under them might have a harder time, but I’ve often seen how that also gives them a lot to learn from, and their level rises quickly.”

“…Are you saying you’ll let me work?”

“Well, there are a few things I need to ask first, but I’d be happy if you considered my stance positive.”

This was a pumpkin that had rolled right into my lap—there was no reason to kick it away. What mattered was that if the vine on that pumpkin tried to wrap around and bind me, I just had to be careful about that while putting it to good use.

“What kind of things…?”

“First, the basics. Your age, your family situation, and your circle of acquaintances, I suppose.”

“M–My family is just my mother. My father passed away from an illness several years ago, and with the compensation money the country sent us back then, I was able to attend the academy. I worked hard. After all, I was receiving an education bought with my father’s life. As for acquaintances… if you mean friends, I have one. That friend also… Ah, if I end up getting hired, would it be possible for that friend to come along as well?”

Was this some kind of buy-one-get-one-free?

“We can hear that friend’s circumstances later. Since you said you were top of your class, I don’t think you particularly need to prove your grades… In that case, you must know that the place you’ll be going is the Ingrad Domain, so let me ask you this: that place is dangerous. You never know when you might lose your life. It’s full of poisonous insects and herbs, and beastkin strong enough to tear a person apart. On top of that, it seems criminal organizations have been slipping in more lately too. Even so, do you still want to go?”

“Yes! I definitely want to go. My… Ah! I’m sorry!”

Linda cut herself off to apologize. She had probably been about to start talking about her dream and future again and forced her mouth shut. So after thinking it over, I spoke.

“I’m thinking of making arrangements so your family can come with you when you go. How does that sound?”

“In that case, I absolutely want to go together. My mother is a very good cook. If you give her a position in the lord’s castle, she’ll work very hard!”

She even tried to line up a job for her mother. It made me chuckle, but Linda really did think on her feet. Instead of working just anywhere, working in the lord’s castle would be far better in terms of employment quality and stability, and it would also keep them safe from many different dangers.

She must have run all that through her head in a very short time.

It wasn’t something I thought badly of.

“Then lastly, how would you like to be paid? You should think seriously before you answer. I believe it’s very important to know your own worth accurately and state it. So answer carefully.”

I was curious to see just how much salary she would ask for.

From what I had heard, when someone joined a noble house of Count rank or higher, the starting salary was around ten to twenty gold coins. For a monthly wage, that was an extraordinary amount of money, but the interesting part was that, in a special domain like Ingrad, you could receive nearly ten times that as hazard pay.

That was common knowledge, and taking that into account, I was curious what salary Linda would request.

Sometimes corporate CEOs would ask new hires what salary they wanted; they would use the answer to gauge their confidence—or, in some cases, to decide that they would only ever pay exactly that much.

Otherwise, were the values of the CEO and the applicant really the same?

It was an interview question meant to check all sorts of things: their sense of value, eye for judgment, cool-headed self-assessment, and so on.

Hare and Demina also looked on, clearly curious, when Linda finally opened her mouth.

“My worth is… one high-denomination gold note. I’d like to explain why—may I speak now?”

It was an unexpected amount, but when I nodded and gave her the floor, Linda stood up with a tense expression and came to stand in front of me.

I was very curious what she was about to say to radiate that much grim determination.