As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 3.5

Meanwhile: The Lordless Louvent Estate

“Master? I have a question, if you’ve got a moment,” asked Rosell in a rather amiable tone.

Mireille glanced over at him, then rolled her eyes and replied, “Since when was I your master, Rosell? I’m pretty sure I’d remember taking on a disciple.”

“Huh? You mean I can’t call you that…?” said Rosell. He looked like a sad little puppy who’d been abandoned out in the rain, and Mireille had no clue how to react.

Mireille had never been the merciful sort. She could order stunning acts of brutality without batting an eyelash, but for some reason, she just couldn’t seem to muster up her callous side when Rosell was concerned. Something about him was just so tragic, so frail, and whenever he looked at her like that, her deepest instincts started screaming that she could not allow this sad little pipsqueak to come to harm.

In the end, she sighed and said, “Y’know what? Whatever. Knock yourself out,” accepting him as her apprentice in the process.

All traces of sadness vanished from Rosell’s face in the blink of an eye.

“I will! Thank you!”

Mireille just rolled her eyes again, unable to understand why he was dead set on being her apprentice. She knew that what’s done is done, though, and took the time to answer his question. Rosell’s capacity for learning was remarkable, and she was stunned every time he demonstrated it. Mireille had always prided herself on her intelligence, but clearly, the kid’s mind was just made of different stuff.

Mireille and Rosell spent time studying together before adjourning for a break.

“Come to think of it, I wonder when Ars will be getting back?” muttered Rosell. Ars had departed from Lamberg to journey to the capital several weeks ago.

“Not for a while, I bet. The capital’s not exactly a quick stroll away from here. I just hope he doesn’t get himself killed out there.”

“I know what you mean, but he’s not the only one I’m worried about…”

At that moment, Rietz stepped into the room and asked, “Hm? Am I interrupting your studies?”

“Oh, no, not at all! I was just asking my master a few questions.”

Mireille, meanwhile, muttered, “Speak of the devil,” under her breath, just quiet enough that Rietz couldn’t hear her.

“I’m taking a break at the moment. We were just chatting.”

“Chatting with Mireille…?” said Rietz with a skeptical glance at Rosell’s newfound master. “I hope you haven’t been teaching him anything untoward.”

“You and your unfounded accusations!” countered Mireille.

“Th-That’s right! She hasn’t been teaching me anything bad at all!”

“Then what have the two of you been discussing?” asked Rietz, still skeptical.

“We, umm,” Rosell began, then floundered. At just that moment, however, a pair of servants passed behind Rietz, gossiping loudly enough to be overheard.

“Come to think of it, I’m surprised Lord Ars isn’t home yet!” said one.

“The estate sure feels empty without him, doesn’t it?” agreed the other.

Oh. Oh, no, Rosell thought with a wince, then glanced back over at Rietz. His expression had been neutral up until a moment ago, but the second the servants’ words reached his ears, Rietz began to tremble.

“L-Lord Ars… He still isn’t back yet…? But why…?” Rietz muttered. “Could something have gone wrong…? Maybe he’s in danger, and if he is…th-this is no time for me to be standing around! I have to hurry to Lord Ars’s side!”

“M-Mr. Rietz, no!” shouted Rosell as he leaped forward, grabbing Rietz by the arm the second before he lost his composure and dashed out of the estate.

“Un-Unhand me, Rosell! I have to find Lord Ars!” Rietz wailed.

“Ars tasked you with watching over his estate, didn’t he?! He can take care of himself! He’ll be fine!”

“But… But he’s─”

“He’s in the capital! Do you realize how far that is?! You have to learn to have faith in him!” Rosell pleaded. After some time, Rietz seemed to regain his bearings.

This had been a persistent problem since Ars had left on his journey. If Rietz so much as heard his master’s name, he broke down in fits of worry. Rietz had borne an incredibly strong sense of loyalty toward Ars and internalized the idea that it was his job to protect him from any and all potential threats. This, it turned out, meant that when Rietz wasn’t capable of protecting Ars─or, for that matter, knowing if he was being threatened─his imagination ran wild and he had to be restrained, a task which fell upon the shoulders of Rosell and House Louvent’s servants. Rosell had been in a near-constant state of worry that someday he’d be too late and Rietz would vanish into the wilderness, rushing to Ars’s side, common sense be damned.

“Yes… Yes, you’re right… I have to believe in him… I have to be here to welcome him back when he returns home!” he declared, returning to his usual self.

Rosell took one last look at Rietz to make sure he wouldn’t relapse, then heaved a sigh of relief. Nobody had worked harder than Rietz since Ars had left, and at this point, the Louvent estate could hardly function without him.

Mireille watched as Rietz went on his way to take care of some menial task or other.

“That guy sure takes his job seriously, huh?” she said as she stifled a yawn. “Okay, that’s enough studying for today. I’ve got a bottle with my name on it.”

“Aww,” Rosell whined as Mireille stood up and waltzed out of the room without another word.

Unfortunately for her, Rietz was still close at hand and happened to see her leave.

“Hm? Are you finished with your studies? In that case, do you think you could lend me a hand?”

Mireille didn’t curse out loud, but considering the look that crossed her face, her feelings on this development were apparent. She knew that when Rietz asked for a favor, the odds of it being a massive chore were high. And if she told him she was off to find herself a drink, he would force her to help him instead.

“It just so happens that I’ve made plans to train the troops out in the yard today, and I’d appreciate your help,” Rietz continued.

“O-Oh, c’mon, I’m sure you can handle a little training session on your own!”

“Perhaps, but an extra pair of hands does wonders for efficiency. And if you’re not helping Rosell study, I don’t imagine you have other plans. You should be free.”

This was true, yes. Mireille had been outmaneuvered, but she wasn’t about to let herself go down without a fight. She’d get out of that tiresome training session no matter what it took. So, she resorted to desperate measures: turning tail and running as fast as her legs could carry her.

“Hey! Wait!” Rietz shouted, then took off in hot pursuit. Seeing as he was not only faster than Mireille, but also more well-acquainted with the estate’s layout, it wasn’t much of a chase. He caught her without difficulty, then dragged her off to help with the soldiers’ training.

○

“Ars still isn’t home, huh?” said Kreiz, Ars’s younger brother.

“He went to some place called the capital,” said Wren, Kreiz’s twin sister. The two of them were chatting as they lounged about in their room.

At this particular moment in time, the twins were six. They’d grown considerably over the past few years, both physically and─to an extent, anyway─mentally. They’d even begun devoting themselves to the sort of rudimentary studies most children started with.

Kreiz had also started learning the fundamentals of swordsmanship. Ars had appraised both of them when they were born and had found that Wren had the potential to be remarkably bright, while Kreiz was a master of warfare in the making. The twins had never resembled each other in appearances, and their talents were just as mismatched.

“All right!” shouted Kreiz. “Let’s go play outside! I wanna ask Rietz to teach me how to fight!”

“Outside?” huffed Wren. “But playing inside’s so much more fun!”

Wren’s sluggishness and Kreiz’s enthusiasm cut a stark contrast with each other. One was a born and bred homebody, while the other was a natural wild child. That was a third manner in which they were opposites.

“Well, fine, then I’m going out on my own!” Kreiz declared, then rushed out the door without even waiting for a response.

“Hey, Kreiz! Wait!” Wren called after him. She didn’t want to go outside, but staying inside on her own would surely be boring, so she chased after him.

The two of them sped down the estate’s hallways until they found Rosell in the dining hall. That was a welcome sight─Rosell often played with the twins. In their eyes, he was kind, knowledgeable, and knew how to tell an excellent story. All in all, the two of them were extremely fond of him. They had, in fact, decided to ask him to play with them again today, but as they rushed into the dining hall, Kreiz skidded to a halt.

“What’s wrong?” Wren asked with a quizzical cock of her head.

“L-Look!” replied Kreiz, pointing across the room─not at Rosell, but past him, toward a woman with long, black hair. It was still the middle of the day, but she already seemed to be partway into a tankard of spirits.

“Hey, Wren─isn’t she…?”

“M-Mireille,” Wren whispered in fear.

The twins had yet to speak to the newest arrival at the estate. It wasn’t that they hadn’t had the chance to speak to her, they’d had ample opportunity, but had chosen to avoid her each and every time. Why? Simply put: she scared the living daylights out of them. Mireille had a sharp glare, a wild and imposing manner, a villainous sneer that got all the worse whenever she laughed, and most of all, an apparent contempt for children. There was nothing about her that would endear her to kids of the twins’ age.

They wanted to run over and talk to Rosell, but the fact that he was mid-conversation with their household bogeywoman was a major obstacle, and for a moment, they found themselves at a standstill. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t long before Rosell caught a glimpse of them out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, Kreiz, Wren! What are you two up to?” he called out.

The twins panicked. This was not going according to plan. Rosell was all smiles as he beckoned them, but they were just too scared to bring themselves to walk over…until Kreiz decided that nobody likes a scaredy cat, mustered up his courage, and strode across the room. Wren wasn’t at all excited about the idea, but the invisible pressure exerted by her brother’s advance ended up dragging her along for the ride.

“Huh?” grunted Mireille as the twins approached her. “Who’re these runts?”

“Wait, you haven’t met them? They’re Ars’s twin siblings, Kreiz and Wren. They’re still only six─aren’t they adorable?”

“Hmm─the kiddo’s siblings, eh…? Wait, you said they’re twins? They sure don’t look it, huh? Guess it’s true that some twins look just the same, and others don’t resemble each other at all.”

Kreiz and Wren shrank back under the pressure of Mireille’s stare, quivering in fear. Rosell, fortunately, picked up on their terror and intervened.

“Master, please, don’t scowl at them like that! Look at them, they’re terrified!”

“Someone woke up on the rude side of the bed today, huh?” countered Mireille. “I wasn’t scowling, I was just looking at them! Excuse me for having a scary face!”

“You could make an effort, at least! Try smiling at them!”

“Yeah, nah, bad idea. Kids don’t like it when I smile.”

“Oh. Oooh,” said Rosell as he pictured one of Mireille’s usual grins and realization dawned. She had a point─a smile like that was liable to scare children away from her.

“But anyway, that’s not even the point,” Mireille continued, pausing to take a swig from her tankard. “I just had Rietz shove his chores off on me, I’m exhausted, and I just sat down to revitalize myself with a nice, stiff drink─why should I have to placate a couple of brats now? You know I hate kids!”

Rosell just gave her the stare of a boy who’d sat through too much of his master’s nonsense. A moment later, a thoughtful look appeared on Mireille’s face.

“Though, hmm… If they’re the kiddo’s little siblings, then it wouldn’t hurt to get in their good graces,” she muttered, then smirked as she looked over at Kreiz and Wren. “All right, get over here, you two! It’s high time the three of us got some bonding in!”

The twins found the sneering grin on her face horrifying and spun around to flee.

“It’s okay!” said Rosell before they could make a break for it. “She’s not as scary as she looks, I promise!”

Rosell was a known factor for the twins, and between their trust in him and the gentleness of his tone, his words got through to them. They timidly approached and took a seat close to Mireille.

“So, want a sip?” Mireille asked, offering her tankard to the two of them. “It’s the good stuff!”

“You can’t give them alcohol! They’re children!”

“I’m kidding, god! So, you, the boy…Kreiz, I think? You planning on being some sorta warrior when you grow up?”

Kreiz nodded vigorously.

“I-I’m gonna learn to fight and help protect my big brother!”

“Oh? That’s some real resolve for a runt like you. Y’know, you wouldn’t guess it, but I’ve seen my fair share of battles. I’ve got a lot of stories I could tell you, if you wanna lend an ear.”

And so, Mireille began regaling the twins with her war stories. Before they knew it, Kreiz and Wren had forgotten their fear and were hanging onto her every word. She told them about her spectacular exploits on the battlefield and the fearsome strength of her enemies, simple tales that any child could appreciate, at first. As she got deeper into her cups, however, her stories started drifting in a somewhat untoward direction.

She told them, for instance, about a time she caught her foes in a trap and picked them off in a one-sided slaughter, about the particulars of her torture methodology, about how she’d slipped out of an enemy’s trap and dodged death by a hair’s breadth, and about some of the more gruesome ways in which her former allies had met their ends. In short: stories that one should never, ever tell to children for fear of traumatizing them. Kreiz, who it bears repeating was six and thought of war as a spectacular and heroic affair, was shaken to his core and stunned speechless.

“Oh, and then there was this one time─must’ve been when I was twenty or so─anyway, I was up against this real nasty son of a bitch with a whole─”

“M-Master, stop!” wailed Rosell, who just couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s enough! Look what you’ve done to poor Kreiz!”

“Huh?” Mireille paused there and took a look at her audience for the first time since several stories ago. They’d been paying such close attention at the start that she’d assumed they were just listening in enraptured silence. In truth, Kreiz was trembling with abject horror.

“H-Hey, what’s wrong, kid?” asked Mireille. Kreiz, in lieu of an answer, shot to his feet and bolted out of the dining hall in a flash.

“K-Kreiz, wait!” called Wren, who followed along right after him.

Rosell let out a long, weary sigh.

“Those aren’t the sort of stories you should ever tell to a six-year-old, Master.”

“O-Oh. That so? Brats sure are picky about these things, huh?”

That was right around the time that Rietz stepped into the room.

“Did something happen? Master Kreiz and Mistress Wren just dashed past me like they’d seen a ghost!”

Rosell summed up the recent sequence of events, and Rietz turned to Mireille with a look of exhausted disdain on his face.

“Wh-What, you’re blaming me?!” she asked, lashing out preemptively.

“Well, it is your fault,” said Rosell. “And after Ars said that Kreiz had the potential to be a swordsman, too! What are we supposed to do if he ends up too scared of fighting to polish that talent?”

In contrast to Rosell’s concern, Rietz just smiled. He’d watched over the twins since their birth, and he knew a thing or two about their personalities.

“No need to worry about that,” he said. “Master Kreiz is quite the strong-minded child.”

As it turned out, Kreiz’s ultimate destination after he heard Mireille’s horrific tales was the training grounds. He took up a short practice sword designed for children, then began running through his swordsmanship drills. Wren, meanwhile, took a seat on a nearby stool to watch him.

“Weren’t those stories we just heard scary, Kreiz?” she asked.

“Yeah!” Kreiz shouted back as he swung his blade, his expression a portrait of determination. “They were scary, so I have to get stronger! It’s the only way I’ll be able to protect Ars!”

Wren felt a little impressed as she watched her brother train with such earnest resolve. She thought he was amazing, but at the same time, she felt a lurking sense of danger. Wren was a clever one, and she knew that this could lead to Kreiz getting himself caught up in a real mess.

I’ll have to make sure he doesn’t take things too far, Wren thought to herself with a nod, promising herself that she’d guide her brother true as she watched him work.