The next morning, Kieza was led by Vain as they prepared to leave the mansion to inspect the domain. It had only been decided yesterday that he would work here, but as soon as breakfast was over, Vain had muttered, "It's faster to just go see it first," and was now striding ahead as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
As they walked down the hallway, Clarice approached from the other direction carrying a stack of documents, with Serena walking beside her. Spotting the two of them, Kieza raised a hand in the same easygoing manner as yesterday.
"Good morning, Clarice, Serena. Both looking lovely so early in the morning, I see. It seems today is going to be another fine day."
Both women stopped dead in their tracks.
A look of blatant displeasure crossed Clarice's face for a split second before she quickly masked it. Given that he was the son of House Perkin, she couldn't simply snap back at him with her usual candor.
"...Lord Kieza? Why are you here?"
"...The absolute worst."
Serena, beside her, felt no such restraint.
"Serena is as delightfully candid as ever, I see. Well, setting that aside, it was decided yesterday that I'll be working here. We'll likely be seeing quite a lot of each other from now on, so I look forward to working with you."
"...Huh? Since yesterday?"
Clarice froze.
At that moment, Kieza seemed to realize something and gave a light wave of his hand.
"Oh, and Clarice. Please drop the 'Lord' and the formal speech. I didn't come here as the son of House Perkin. If I'm going to work for Vain, that makes you and me colleagues in the same workplace, right?"
"Be that as it may..."
"It makes me restless when people stand on ceremony with me all the time. Feel free to talk to me normally."
Clarice hesitated for a moment, then stared intently at Kieza's face.
"...Understood. I won't hold back, then, but are you really sure about that?"
"Of course! It's much more comfortable for me that way."
"Then I'll ask right away... Why on earth are you going to be working here?"
"Oh. I decided to hire him."
The moment Vain, standing beside him, answered casually as if it were nothing, Clarice whipped around to face him.
"You've got to be kidding me... You didn't say a single word to me about this!"
"Ah, my bad! I forgot to tell you..."
"You forgot?! That you hired the son of a marquis?!"
"A lot happened yesterday, right? I meant to tell you later, but it completely slipped my mind."
"I am your aide, you know?! You could have at least consulted me before hiring him!"
As Clarice held her head in exasperation, Serena stared at Kieza for a moment before shifting her gaze to Vain.
"Master. Added more trouble again."
"I didn't add anything! He came here on his own."
"That phrasing hurts a little... From my perspective, I came here having chosen my own path, you know."
"You just rephrased running away from home!"
Clarice's voice echoed down the hallway. Kieza almost chuckled, but held it in. An aide was getting this openly furious with a duke, and Vain was just casually apologizing for it. He had thought their dynamic was peculiar when he saw them in the royal capital, but apparently, this was completely normal in this household.
"...Fine. It's true that we're short-handed, and what's done is done. But you are going to tell me the whole story later."
"Got it, got it. Well then, we're going to go inspect the domain."
"With a response like that, you definitely don't get it at all..."
Leaving her exasperated voice behind them, Vain briskly walked off. Kieza followed after him, heading outside the mansion.
◇
A short while after they began walking through the domain, Kieza noticed something unusual. It wasn't the roads, nor the wagons. It was the people.
"Boss! Good morning!"
A man hauling goods toward a warehouse smiled and called out the moment he spotted Vain.
"Yeah. Thanks for your hard work so early. Are those the goods that arrived yesterday?"
"Yes, sir! I reckon we'll have everything moved in by noon!"
"Don't push yourself and break anything. Whether it's the cargo or your back, breaking it only costs extra money."
"I know, I know!"
The man laughed as he went back to work. Walking a bit further, a woman preparing to open a stall bowed and offered her thanks to Vain.
"Lord Duke, thank you so much for giving me permission to expand my shop the other day."
"Save your thanks for Clarice. I just signed off on the approval. More importantly, if you turn a good profit, make sure you pay your taxes properly, all right?"
"Of course, sir!"
She, too, was beaming. As they walked further, street sweepers and merchants greeted him, and even a young man pulling a cart called out, "Boss, you're around this way today, huh?"
Gradually, Kieza fell silent.
He looked at the man walking beside him. Silver hair and sharp, piercing eyes. If he just walked in silence, he had a face that looked anything but approachable. In fact, it was a villainous visage that would naturally put anyone on guard upon meeting him for the first time.
On top of that, he was a duke.
Normally, it wouldn't be surprising for people to clear the path and bow far more than necessary. And yet, in this domain, everyone was strangely casual with him while still maintaining proper respect.
"...Vain."
"What is it?"
"Do the people of your domain always treat you like this...?"
"What do you mean, 'like this'?"
He genuinely didn't seem to understand. Kieza didn't press the matter and instead decided to observe the expressions of the townsfolk. None of them suddenly looked grim after Vain passed by. No one seemed to be forcing a smile, nor were there people cautiously watching him from a distance.
They weren't afraid of him. But that didn't mean they took him lightly, either. Their forms of address and their attitudes were entirely proper. That particular distance felt utterly bizarre to Kieza.
As they approached the training grounds, the soldiers came into view. Some were maintaining weapons, others were carrying supplies, and some were teaching younger recruits how to maneuver. Even without any commanding officers barking orders, each of them moved with purpose of their own accord.
"Did you tell the soldiers you were coming here today?"
"No. Decided it this morning."
"...I see."
Then they weren't putting on a show. One soldier checked a comrade's armor, and upon finding a damaged clasp, stopped his own work to arrange for a repair. A short distance away, a young soldier who had finished carrying a load reached for the next one without needing to be told.
Back when he was in his marquis household, he had seen plenty of people who only straightened their posture the moment a superior came into view. That was generally how humans operated. But the soldiers here were different.
"They're... remarkably hard-working soldiers."
"I pay them wages, so of course they work."
Vain stated it as if it were the most obvious truth in the world and continued walking ahead. Kieza paused for a fraction of a second.
—No. That's not the point.
Ever since he saw them at the Military Tournament in the royal capital, he had thought the Razgrim army was strange. Their reaction to orders was fast, the surrounding troops immediately filled in the gaps whenever casualties occurred, and their morale never wavered until the very end. At the time, he thought only the army was exceptional, but that wasn't it. What was truly peculiar was this domain itself.
While he watched the soldiers with such thoughts swirling in his mind, Vain, who was walking ahead, looked back.
"All right, let's head to the next spot. We've got interviews for prospective personnel scheduled for this morning. I had Clarice go ahead to look through the documents."
"After being scolded like that this morning, you're already assigning her work like normal."
"Even if she's mad, she still does her job... She's far more diligent than me."
Kieza felt that saying that in front of her would probably invite another lecture, but he silently followed behind Vain.
◇
When they entered the interview room, Clarice had already spread documents across the desk. It appeared she had thoroughly reviewed the backgrounds of the candidates they were meeting today.
"You're late! The first person is already about to arrive."
"We made it in time, so what's the issue? More importantly, Kieza, sit down too. Yesterday, you said you were good at reading people, right? Today, while we evaluate these candidates, I'll be evaluating you as well."
"I see! So I'm on trial too, then."
After speaking with several candidates, a man slightly over thirty entered the room. His manner of answering and his attire were immaculate, and his background stated that he had previously handled warehouse management, bookkeeping, and personnel allocation for a count's household.
"At my previous workplace, I was entrusted with warehouse management and bookkeeping. I am also accustomed to directing personnel, so I am certain I can be of service here."
His delivery was smooth and unhesitating. Clarice furrowed her brow as she looked over the documents, and Vain glanced back and forth between the man and the papers several times.
As Kieza listened to the man speak, he tilted his head slightly.
"Did you handle grains in the past as well?"
"Of course! I managed primarily wheat!"
"That must have been tough... When storing it for long periods, what did you pay the closest attention to?"
"...Humidity. I was especially mindful of humidity."
It wasn't wrong. But that was all there was to it.
"Then, what did you do when old cargo and new cargo arrived at the same time? What did you do when shipments piled up on a rainy day and you were short-handed on top of that?"
"Depending on the situation, I gave appropriate instructions to the personnel."
Kieza stopped his questioning there. After pondering for a moment, he turned to Vain.
"Vain... I think it's best to pass on this one."
The man's expression stiffened.
"Your reason?"
"I don't think that's how someone who was actually entrusted with running a warehouse speaks."
"...Is that all?"
"If he had actually done the job, he'd probably bring up more things he disliked or found troublesome, wouldn't he? Like inventory counts not matching up, having to ship out older stock first, or running into trouble when cargo was hauled in during a downpour. There's been none of that. Besides, every time Clarice looks at his background sheet, he's been fixating on the exact same spot."
Kieza shifted his gaze back to the man.
"Aren't you worried about which part of the story you wrote is being scrutinized?"
The man didn't answer. When Vain pressed him again, he finally confessed. He had worked in a count's warehouse for a brief period, but he was never a manager, nor did he have experience directing personnel. It seemed he had greatly exaggerated his background in hopes of securing a lucrative position.
Vain closed the folder.
"You fail. If there are things you can't do, they can be taught. But I can't keep someone who falsifies their background and tries to immediately step into a role handling money or goods. If you desperately want to work here, submit an application with your real background. We'll start from there."
After the man left with his shoulders slumped, Clarice stared intently at Kieza.
"...How did you know? I thought the dates looked a bit strange, but I couldn't tell that much."
"Really? I feel like you can tell just by talking to them."
"We couldn't tell, which is why I'm surprised!"
"I didn't notice a thing either... Didn't you say yesterday that you were only 'somewhat good at reading people'?"
"That was my intention. I've just had many opportunities to observe people's faces since I was young, and what just happened is something anyone would notice after a brief chat, wouldn't they?"
Vain and Clarice both wore conflicted expressions. Kieza couldn't quite grasp the meaning behind their reactions.
◇
By the time the interviews had wound down, it was already well past noon. Clarice remained behind to compile the remaining documents, while Vain and Kieza headed back to the mansion.
Walking down a different path from the one they had taken earlier, they heard the shouts of soldiers echoing from the training grounds. Off to the side, a silver-haired girl was issuing orders to the troops.
Kieza recognized her immediately. She was the opponent his unit had clashed with during the Military Tournament.
Having seemingly just finished training, Lydia gave her final orders to the soldiers and walked toward them. At first, she was looking at Vain, but the moment she noticed the man beside him, she stopped in her tracks.
"...You! From the Military Tournament... Why are you here?!"
"Long time no see, Lydia. Looking lovely as always."
"Not that again...!"
Even when met with a look of blatant disgust, Kieza didn't mind in the slightest.
"It was decided yesterday that he's going to work for us."
When Vain explained, Lydia looked back and forth between Kieza and Vain in disbelief.
"Lord Kieza... in House Razgrim?"
"Yeah. He said he was decently capable with a sword and command, so I hired him for now."
The moment she heard those words, Lydia's eyes went wide.
"Decently?! You call that merely decent?! Lord Kieza's unit held out remarkably well against my tactics, did it not?! I was still inexperienced back then, but even so, I couldn't break through his lines easily. Even though I was entrusted with the Eldran Four Knights... I still feel frustrated over that even now!"
Being addressed with such rare passion, Kieza smiled somewhat sheepishly.
"It wasn't anything that impressive. In the end, I lost to you, after all."
"That is precisely what I mean! We even deployed the Four Knights, you know! Even so, you read our intentions time and again, and any approach that worked once was immediately guarded against the next time. Please do not brush that off as merely 'decent'!"
Vain, who had been looking at Kieza, shifted his gaze back to Lydia midway through.
"...Huh? Hold on a second. What did you just say?"
"Excuse me?"
"What's the Four Knights?"
Lydia blinked in surprise.
"What?... The Eldran Four Knights. That is what the four most exceptional knights serving House Eldran are called, but..."
"Four Knights..."
Vain rolled the words around on his tongue, and after a moment, his eyes began to sparkle.
"...That sounds so cool."
"That is what catches your attention?!"
"No, think about it—Four Knights! Doesn't that sound undeniably badass?! I want something like that for Razgrim too."
"I do not believe such a title is created simply because it sounds cool..."
"Razgrim Four Knights... Yeah. That has a nice ring to it."
Watching Vain seriously begin contemplating the idea before he even realized it, Kieza couldn't help but chuckle softly.
It had been like this all morning. The domain's people didn't fear a duke with the face of a villain, the soldiers worked of their own accord without being monitored, and the aide casually vented her anger at her lord. And the man at the center of it all, completely oblivious to how bizarre his own domain was, was now getting starry-eyed over nothing more than the sound of the words "Four Knights."
He had left home simply because it seemed entertaining.
That decision alone, it seemed, hadn't been a mistake.