27 – Civil Administration Inspection

After successfully completing the adjustment of interests with the nobles, he returned to his office to deal with business.

When I went back to my office and took care of my work, I had quite a bit of time left.

I don’t have a clock, but the sun is up in the middle of the sky, so there must be some time left. What should I do…

For several days, I struggled to succeed to the title and raise funds to create a standing army.

As I sat at my desk, immersed in such thoughts, Ella brought me snacks and black tea on a tray.

“Master, if you have a headache, take a break.. Aren’t you overworking yourself these days?”

“Thank you, Ella. I won’t work too hard, so don’t worry. What is your next schedule?”

“Wait a minute… Master…”

And Ella took out the note on my schedule that she had tucked in her apron and began to read it.

This is originally my butler’s job, but Ella told me, ‘Ella is the master’s maid, so I want to always be helpful by the master’s side.’ I made a strong claim to it.

Still, with a cute girl like Ella sticking by her side, taking care of her schedule and taking care of snacks like this, I think I can live as a lord.

If it wasn’t for that, I would have gotten sick from dealing with the nobles who only thought of their own interests and His Excellency Count Schwein, who would make me vomit just by looking at him.

“Master, there are no more schedules for today. So, if you’re done with work today, how about taking a break?”

“Is that so?”

Ella smiled and said.

“Yes, master. And try some of these cookies. It’s baked at a shop under the castle where even the wives of nobles often go, and it’s delicious.”

“yes? It will be delicious.”

I bit off a cookie Ella brought and ate it.

The savory taste of the finely ground flour and the sweetness of the honey spread in your mouth, which is so sweet and delicious.

“It’s delicious, Ella. Would you like to eat one?”

“Yes, Master.”

And Ella also ate the cookies she brought while chewing on them.

Every time he chews, his expression loosens up and his cheeks swell up like a squirrel, so it’s cute.

So I carelessly stroked it like before.

“Oh, are you surprised?”

“Oh, no… Master, if you want, you can stroke it some more.”

Saying that, Ella seemed very embarrassed, and her face turned bright red.

In an instant, a very awkward atmosphere was created, so I came up with an idea to escape the atmosphere.

“no no. This is delicious. I want to go and buy it myself. Can you take me there?”

“Yes, master. I will go with Ella.”

After saying that, Ella took a step ahead of me and her steps were really light.

Come to think of it, Ella is virtually the only person close to me like a ‘family’, but I haven’t been able to play with her because of the succession of the title these days.

I have some free time today, so I’ll hang out with you.

Go out secretly and inspect people’s livelihood.

**

Ella and I disguised ourselves as a master and a maid from a knight’s family to see where people live.

The maid’s uniform is a white apron with a frill and a black dress in any family, but I wore a blue tunic and a yellow vest to hide my identity.

The color combination was kind of funny, but this was the only thing I could get in a hurry.

I ordered the guards to open the door, and when I went out to the market outside the castle, I heard the solicitation of lively market merchants loud enough to be noisy.

“Come on, you seem to be on good terms with the young maid passing by there. How do you like this? A popular sandwich among the citizens of the fort. It tastes even better if you put salted fish or salted meat inside the sandwich. I’ll give it to you for just one fairy tale.”

“How about a sandwich and a glass of this beer? It’s very thick with a lot of barley!”

“Try this buttery bread too! Oh, pay a little more and I’ll spread a lot of honey on you!!”

The bailiffs or inspectors inside the barony are ‘more prosperous than the city of Nantes. Although it lags behind in culture and art.’ When I reported it, I thought it was an exaggerated report…

That wasn’t an exaggeration, for the market in Nantes is less lively than this.

Although this is right in front of the city gate, it may be the busiest place…

Still, it’s really nice to see pork skewers at a stall in the distance, high-quality bread with only a little bit of rye, and lots of expensive honey on sale.

When I left for Windheim a few years ago, the market in front of the castle only sold ‘rye bread’ and cheap salted fish.

Thinking like that gives me a new feeling.

However, the nobles who came to solicit customers looked at us with eyes that seemed like they wouldn’t let us go if we didn’t buy even one of them, so in the end… I handed them 5 fairy tales and said.

“Give me two pieces of bread with a lot of butter and a lot of honey.”

“thank you. Bocchan, I think the maid will like it too.”

Hearing those words, Ella’s face turned red.

“Yes, it’s really nice to be able to come out like this with the young master. I’ll eat well, young boy.”

“I’ll bring you often, Ella.”

“Thank you, Bocchan.”

**

Then Ella and I ate at a restaurant frequented by the city’s citizens.

Ella had wheat bread, stew with cheese and cream, pork and milk, and I had salted pork with wheat bread.

As a master’s addicted to history, I ate salted pork because I was eager to learn…

It wasn’t rotten, but it was really tasteless.

It tastes like meat, but rather than the taste of meat, it has a salty taste like chewing a lump of salt, a bit of a disgusting smell, and even the texture is like chewing a lump of paper…

However, I was forced to eat it because it was ordered, but this is not the case…

Curiosity catches a cat, and curiosity catches a baron reincarnated in another world.

“Ha, this taste is hell… hell…”

“master…”

“Surely salted meat has a texture close to that of paper, and it only tastes like salt…”

Ella looked at me with a very concerned look and, apparently feeling pity for me, bought milk with honey from a stall and handed it to me.

“Master, if you eat this, you will feel better.”

“thanks.”

After drinking the milk with honey that Ella gave me, I felt like I was going to live a little longer.

“I’ll never eat salted meat again… But when I think of salted meat, something comes to mind, and that’s what that British Navy man told me not to throw…”

Seeing me thinking about something else, Ella smiled and said.

“master. Wouldn’t you like to go somewhere else? Since you liked both the inn and the food sold by the hawkers, why don’t you go to the store where you can buy tools for the citizens of our city?”

“market? yes. Come to think of it, I’ve only been looking at food so far. Okay, let’s go.”

**

The place Ella guided was a street lined with shops where artisans work.

Speaking of the streets where artisans work, most of them were organized in the form of ‘guilds’ or ‘trade associations’.

Therefore, artisans in the same occupation form a cooperative and operate in a kind of ‘collusion’ state in which each other protects each other’s rights and interests to some extent.

Thanks to that, when I went to the smithy and bought a hammer, the price was almost the same, with a slightly different design and weight. It was not uncommon to do and pass it over.

It can’t be helped if it’s a small-scale economic system in the Middle Ages that can only be operated this way…

The problem is that this is a great help in protecting the ‘interests of small towns in the Middle Ages’, but it is a huge loss for buyers and sellers.

Because if a group called a guild colludes and sells something that can be sold for 500 won for 2,000 won, the buyer has to buy it.

Especially since this neighborhood is a neighborhood where the supply of goods is limited.

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Maybe that’s why the tools sold here…

“Come on, over there, young man. How do you like this? These shoes are perfect for a maid, and I’ll serve them for only eight silver coins.”

“Eight silver coins… isn’t it too expensive?”

After hearing that, the store clerk looked at me and smiled slightly.

“Bocchan, if you say that, I can’t cut you any more. We’ve been doing business here for several years, so you can’t fool the young master?”

No, even if I go to Hamburg, where prices are more expensive than you, there are six pairs of shoes like that, but what is this…

When I made a puzzled expression, the craftsman in front of me said with an evil smile.

“We are artisans belonging to the ‘Clothes Guild’. So, boy, we sell everything in this city at the same price.”

“Okay, ha… I can’t help it. How much are those shoes and that dress with the pink frills over there?”

“Yes, Bocchan, it is 8 silver coins for 1 gold coin. Please come often in the future.”

And I left the store after requesting that it be refitted to fit Ella’s body.

**

After returning to the mansion, I had a slight feeling that I had been careless.

Although I don’t know if the ‘corrupt nobles’ are the ones who bother the commoners the most and threaten my future, but the artisans who maintain a ‘hyper-monopoly’ status in the name of guilds can also be harmful.

If there is a difference, since guilds in this era were an indispensable choice, they cannot be ‘executed’ or ‘purged’ like corrupt bureaucrats.

No, if you deal with it like that, the nobles and the guild will come together and give you a ‘justification to overthrow me’…

The justification at the time was, to put it simply, ‘who broke the promise first, so I will also sever my allegiance to you. If I don’t quit, loyalty.’ Because

If I overturn the guild in a situation where there is no fault of the guild, it will be over…

How can I handle this in a good way?