Episode 66

“An urgent job came up for me, so I only have time to talk this morning. I’ll be away from the house for a bit, so I thought I’d tell you now.”

…A job, huh.

Lord Goral had surely returned to the manor yesterday. And yet he already has work again this morning.

As the head of a ducal family, I suppose many things must be difficult.

“First, one thing. Faik, you said you wanted to receive education as a noble, didn’t you?”

At Lord Goral’s words, I recalled what I had mentioned earlier.

It was good that I was able to settle matters with the court at the ball… but at the subsequent ball I ended up embarrassing myself in various ways.

Specifically, things like greeting etiquette and dancing.

I’ve never had any experience in the noble world, so it’s only natural for me to not know, but I thought I couldn’t stay ignorant.

If I marry Alicia, I’ll be living as a noble.

Of course I’m not a noble, so I had almost no knowledge at all.

So I asked because I thought I should acquire at least the minimum knowledge so as not to embarrass Alicia or the people of this house.

Lord Goral continued.

“Yes. I’d like that, please.”

“…You won’t be appearing publicly that much, and it would be a burden on Faik, so I think it’s still fine from my perspective, though.”

“That’s… true, but there’s also the possibility I’ll have to deal with things suddenly. I don’t want to cause trouble for this house.”

“…I see. Understood. I plan to have Refy and Alicia provide the education. Both of them possess the knowledge and are people close to you. They can find spare moments to instruct you, right?”

Refy and Alicia, huh. Refy is Alicia’s personal maid and is now also looking after me.

As Lord Goral said, they would indeed be approachable as instructors.

“Yes, understood. Thank you.”

“Ah. But don’t overdo it. Your job is, after all, smithing. Don’t let that skill dull in case it’s needed.”

“Of course, I understand.”

My smithing skill was valued, and that’s why I was made Alicia’s fiancé.

I had no intention of forgetting that position.

“And next. This is more like the main point.”

With that, Lord Goral handed over several sheets of paper.

When I took the papers, Alicia, who was standing next to me, peered at them as well.

Pictures were drawn on the papers.

They were drawings of houses.

Only the exteriors were shown, but they looked like shop-like buildings.

Every sheet Lord Goral handed over had drawings on it.

“Another thing I mentioned after you returned: you should have a shop and run your business there from now on.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

As a smith of the Barnast family, I had been selling my wares in the market to hone my skills.

However, Lord Goral suggested that owning a shop would give me more time to devote to smithing, and so the plan to have a shop had been decided.

That said, when exactly to open the shop and where to locate it had not yet been decided.

These documents were probably candidate shops.

“I’ve put together several candidates for shops. Pick whichever you like.”

“…I see.”

I looked over the materials handed to me together with Alicia.

Then Alicia widened her eyes.

“This shop… is it really priced like this?”

I looked at the shop Alicia pointed to and widened my eyes as well.

That’s because the price was about one third of the other properties.

And the location was on Adventurer Street.

Furthermore, it seemed the place had originally been used as a smithy, and the facilities were well equipped.

Even if we moved in now, we could carry on smithing and open the shop as is.

All the other properties had issues either with facilities or location.

I thought this property should be the one, but Lord Goral’s expression was grim.

There seemed to be something about this cheap property.

“Ah, ah… well, that is. I included it as a candidate for now, but it’s better to avoid it.”

At Lord Goral’s words, Alicia tilted her head.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s that, you know, a property with a reputation.”

“…Ah, I see.”

What?

A conversation between the two progressed in a way I didn’t understand.

Alicia seemed to accept something and answered Lord Goral, after which her face went pale.

…This looks to be quite a problem.

“What do you mean, Alicia?”

“This place… has ghosts appearing there…”

Huh?