By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 7

Chapter 10, Episode 7: Eleonora Arrives

On the third morning after returning to Gimul, a letter arrived out of the blue, announcing that Eleonora would be coming. I’d been told that her assignment would be expedited, but I hadn’t expected it to be this fast. The letter also included that she wanted to meet and speak with me as soon as possible. Although it didn’t quite sound like an emergency, I could tell that she had a reason to see me urgently. Curious about what that reason was, I got dressed and headed out to the city. Eleonora had also written that she would report to the laundry shop as soon as she made it to Gimul, so I’d be able to meet up with her there, unless I missed her somehow.

Once I made it to the laundry shop, Lilyn at the front told me that we had a guest, much to my relief.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I said as I opened the meeting room door and found Eleonora dressed for her new job, having exchanged her maid’s uniform for a pantsuit. She was in mid-conversation with Carme, Hudom, and Sebas—who must have brought Eleonora here. When they all turned to me as I entered, I could read all their faces. Judging by them, at least this wasn’t some terrible disaster scenario.

“Master Ryoma, I apologize for requesting your presence so abruptly,” Sebas immediately apologized.

This was the right call, though. Since something unexpected had happened, the quicker we addressed it, the better. I told Sebas as much, and they all gave me faint smiles. It felt like I’d brought a fresh serving of tea that broke the tension of a meeting that had come to a standstill. Since I had no idea why, I asked to be caught up so I could join the conversation.

“Allow me to explain,” Eleonora said, her tone sharper than usual with the urgency of whatever she came to say. “Simply put, we received intel that a certain lord may have begun constructing—possibly even operating—a facility that imitates your trash plant.”

Okay. Because I was working as an official engineer for the duke, the trash plant wasn’t just a business I owned, but also a research facility under his protection. If the tip-off Eleonora received was accurate, this lord would be charged with stealing information under the duke’s protection.

“The validity of this information, as well as whether or not the facility is complete and running, is still being investigated. Even if it isn’t likely that this information is valid, his lordship decided that I would be better stationed here in case of any new developments on the matter,” Eleonora added.

That explained why her arrival was pushed up, and I was glad to have her here for this. “If there is no proof of information being stolen... We shouldn’t make any big moves just yet. Although I could double-check how the slimes are being kept and used in the plant,” I said.

“We were just discussing how we should wait for further information and keep a close eye on the plant,” Carme said.

There was no sense in causing a scene when there was no proof—that could worsen our situation. Reinhart must have sent Eleonora only to share the news and make sure we’d be ready if something were to go down. To be fair, I had expected some kind of interaction from other nobles regarding my businesses. “If this is true, they were quick to act,” I said.

“I would call it reckless,” Carme said. “No one with common sense would attempt to steal industry secrets from an engineer under the duke’s protection...or do anything to raise that kind of suspicion.”

“I agree... So this lord is someone who might lack that common sense?” I prompted—Hudom and Eleonora cringed.

“Recently, a certain group of nobles has been causing more and more problems,” Carme said. “It leads back to the incident at the end of last year... I’m sure you’re aware that the nobles involved in the attacks against the duke have been punished.”

“Yes, I remember hearing about that. To be honest, I wasn’t interested enough to pay attention to the details, but I remember that the nobles involved in the attack were arrested. Investigations revealed their other crimes, which led to more arrests, and so on.”

“More than a few titles were passed down to their successors because of those arrests, and some houses had made these criminal acts their family business. When all of the expected successors in line were captured and out of the picture, some who never expected to inherit the title and did not know how to properly conduct themselves were suddenly thrust into power. They are the ones who are making choices unbecoming of a self-respecting noble,” Carme continued.

With sudden power came egregious abuse of it. These nobles began increasing taxes for all sorts of excuses solely to line their own pockets, started taking bribes from the rich in exchange for undeserved privileges, eliminated those who opposed them by shady means... The list went on. Part of me could understand that nobles were human, too, and there had to be bad apples among them. Still, another part of me was wondering how it could be as bad as this sounded.

Hudom chuckled at this, saying, “A contributing factor for this has to be the difference in how an heir and the other children are educated.”

“Educated?” I repeated.

“The bloodline is everything to nobles. Naturally, most of them have multiple children...but that also makes it more likely for conflict over succession to arise. To mitigate those potential conflicts, it’s not uncommon to only give the direct heir, or at most the first and second sons, the knowledge and craft needed to run their land. Of course, all noble children also receive a bare minimum of etiquette training so as to not embarrass their houses.”

In other words, these new lords were thrust into a job they knew nothing about and had no experience in...which sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.

“There are a lot of moving pieces like the history and current standing of the land, the relationships between neighboring territories... There’s also some subtle difference in etiquette expected in meetings between lords and ladies, certain unwritten expectations and dealings in place. There’s no way they could function as the head of their house without any preparation,” Hudom said.

“When there is a sudden change in lordship, one of the advisors usually stands in or works closely with the new lord. Or, the new lord seeks out guidance from another noble family they have a relationship with. However, things are different in cases like this where the change in power comes from an arrest. Most likely, anyone close and privy to the intricacies of governing were arrested along with them. And no noble family would choose to associate themselves further with houses of such ill repute,” Carme said.

People tended to lose their cool when they felt backed into a corner. It was believable that some people would make rash and illogical choices in this kind of situation.

“Are they acting this way because they feel desperate and isolated?” I asked.

Eleonora pinched her brows. “That is possible, but the responsibility falls on the new lords at the end of the day. Many who aren’t expected to earn the title can be...loose, in more ways than one.”

Hudom shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “I can’t argue with that. I’ve met my share.”

“I did not mean you. I merely stated a fact that there are many who conduct themselves in that way. People who never had to work, whose only responsibility is to wed at the right age to a suitable match, their minds filled with nothing but abusing their family’s money and power for their own pleasures... My ex-husband was a great example of them.”

“Right...” I muttered, remembering that Eleonora was divorced...from a terrible excuse for a husband, from what I’d heard. Not that I was defending the noble in question by any means, but I’d been wondering why she’d sounded so fiercely accusatory when we had no proof of his crime. “This is still unverified information. Let’s prepare to act while we wait for a follow-up. We can expect another report, can’t we?”

“Yes. A report verifying the criminal activity or lack thereof will arrive shortly—in as soon as three days,” Sebas said with certainty. When I asked for details, he shared that Reinbach himself had gone to meet with the suspect noble as soon as he heard of the rumor...with three of his dragon familiars, each carrying as many hardened guards as they could.

That noble is going to do more than just sweat, I thought. “Could that cause any issues?”

“None,” Sebas said. “Whenever he visited other territories when he was the duke, he always took just as many guards with him. When it comes to guards, our motto is quality over quantity...but there are appearances to consider on visits such as this. And it is important when conflict like this arises to draw a clear line in the sand the first time. In that sense, this rumor was beneficial in keeping the other nobles in check without expending a lot of resources.”

There couldn’t be too many nobles in this world willing to start fights with someone who’d come flying on dragonback at the first sign of trouble. I saw it as a sign of the Jamils giving it their all to protect me, and it seemed like I really wouldn’t have to worry about any other nobles messing with my businesses. “Then I will leave that to him,” I said. “Do you have any plans after this?” I asked Eleonora and Sebas.

“I shall return to the estate to report on this meeting,” Sebas said.

“I would like to start working as soon as possible...” said Eleonora. Since she was new in the city, there was much for her to do, but we couldn’t start her onboarding now. Carme had started preparing for the transition, but this visit was too sudden.

“If you don’t mind, I can show you to the housing we discussed earlier,” I suggested. “And if we have time, I can show you around the city and introduce you to people you will be working with.”

“Thank you for your consideration. That would be wonderful,” Eleonora said, and added that she had come directly to the laundry shop without even booking a room. Sebas was holding on to her belongings with Space magic, so she just needed to take them from him before going to her lodging.

In a few moments, we were outside of the shop receiving Eleonora’s luggage...which was just two leather duffels. She really had only packed the essentials. One of the duffels looked brand-new, while the other one looked clean but well-worn, marked with lots of little scratches and a few patches—signs that she had used it for years with great care.

“We’re going to go around the city,” I announced.

“I’m headed back to the estate to make my report,” Sebas said.

We stored Eleonora’s duffels in my Space magic and set off walking without the burden of any luggage. I could have taken her by Space magic to wherever I wanted to go, but this would double as my tour of the city, so we’d be going by foot and public transit.

At the nearest main road, we climbed onto a communal carriage and headed for the northeast side of the city. We rode for a little less than twenty minutes while I pointed out stores and notable locations that we passed until we came to an alley close to our destination.

“This area seems different from where the laundry shop is. The roads and buildings all seem very new,” Eleonora noted immediately.

“You’re absolutely right,” I said. “Until last year, this was part of the slums. We did some rezoning at the end of the year—now it’s a proper residential area.”

“So this is the place... I had read about it in the report. There isn’t a sign of the slums left.” Her eyes narrowed as she intently scanned every corner of the alley, so focused that she didn’t seem to notice I was watching her. Was she on edge because it used to be the slums? Or was there something about the location she didn’t like? If there was a problem with the place, we had to address it sooner rather than later. When I asked her, she said, “I’m sorry. It is not that I don’t like it. I was admiring it.”

“Admiring it?”

“Yes. How much do you know about my family and our land, Master Ryoma?”

All I knew was that her father was a baron who ruled over a pretty small territory, albeit with literal gold mines present. I’d also heard that other nobles had interfered with the digging and running of the mines, taking advantage of Eleonora’s family.

I told her all of this honestly, and I saw a shadow fall over her face. “Yes. Our family had its only source of income—the gold mines—taken over by other families. Even though the mines are very lucrative, all but a pitiful fraction of it was taken by the four noble families and their territories. We have always struggled to make ends meet in terms of running our land effectively. It is our fault that we couldn’t prevent those families from interfering and taking advantage of our assets...but our people also paid for that mistake. Those with connections to the four families took advantage of those without, driving the class divide in our land further and further. For as long as I can remember, more than half of our people were starving,” Eleonora said, the last part spoken through teeth gritted with shame. There was no way for me to know exactly how bad it was in her territory, but I could tell that it was just as bad or worse than the slums had been.

She went on to say that her family had searched desperately for a way to improve the lives of their people, but still hadn’t come up with an effective solution. “I wasn’t the heir to our title, but my parents were some of the few nobles who taught all of their children everything the future baron or baroness would need to know. Thanks to that, I think I understand how difficult it can be to rule a land as they have. That’s why I couldn’t contain my surprise and admiration at the drastic improvement in this part of town. I apologize if my behavior was misleading.”

“There’s no need to apologize. If you had any aversion to the slums or its residents, I would have had to reconsider some of your potential duties. Many of my jobs involve the people of the slums, and they played a big part in the transformation of this district,” I said.

“That will not be an issue. My parents have raised me under the belief that it is the duty of a lord or lady to improve the lives of people struggling on their land. How can we help them if we don’t even acknowledge them, they told me. Even though I am your secretary now and not the lady of a territory, I have no fear or animosity towards any resident here,” Eleonora said earnestly. I could tell that both she and her parents were honest, honorable nobles. Her outlook was still limited to a noble’s point of view, which was to be expected from her upbringing. She seemed eager to work with the struggling people, so I felt like Hudom and I could support her enough in those endeavors. Another thing I noticed was how she’d hesitate a little when she mentioned her family. I didn’t sense any ill will from today’s story, but perhaps she had some reservations about them.

Even in the short time I’d spent with her, I was learning more about her, little by little. I’d be careful not to overstep my place as her boss, but I wanted to make the effort to speak with her going forwards. By the time I’d made that decision, we had arrived at our destination.