Our family’s butler was a man who did not suit the old, crumbling castle.
He kept his white hair neatly arranged with expensive perfumed oil, and his face was always smooth from a clean shave.
As a result, he looked a good ten years younger than his true age.
The clothes he wore, too, were not the rough-woven garments our territory’s people usually wore, nor patchwork clothes reinforced with leather, but custom-tailored uniforms specially ordered from a famous clothier in the capital.
Each outfit cost as much as a month’s living expenses for a family of four tenant-free farmers with their own land, and he owned not just one, but enough to change into a fresh one every day.
So, unlike my family, who seemed to be living a voluntary medieval life out of reverence for tradition, he always looked strangely refined.
Like a young gentleman from around the twentieth century, the kind I’d only ever seen in black-and-white films, suddenly popping into a fantasy drama.
“...Young master.”
“Butler.”
As I sat atop the castle’s spire, taking in the scenery, the butler came up without so much as a footstep and called to me.
As always, he was looking at me while dressed in a polished uniform without a single speck of dust on it.
“...Have you told your family?”
“Yes. Well, I wanted to hide it, but I had the feeling they absolutely wouldn’t send me to the capital unless I told them.”
“The master and mistress seem to be deeply concerned.”
At the butler’s worried words, I simply nodded in silence.
It was a wordless sign that I hadn’t wanted to tell them either.
“It is something to be glad of that you possess a special talent that allows you to enter Academia, young master, but the current state of affairs is far too chaotic for me not to express concern.”
“As always, Butler, you really do speak in an old-fashioned way. You sound like someone who’s had more education than my mother or my younger sibling.”
“Hoho, when these old bones were young, I did spend some time in the capital working as a tutor, with what little talent I had.”
“So modest.”
For a moment, we looked into each other’s eyes, then both gave faint, helpless smiles and turned our heads away.
“...It’s because you think I’ll be conscripted into war, isn’t it?”
“As expected, you are perceptive, young master. Though all I know of Academia comes from rumors, there is no smoke without fire. There is an extremely high chance that while enrolled at Academia, you will be made to participate in the Emperor’s colonial expansion policy, whether you like it or not.”
“Colonies, huh.”
“Is it not the resources scraped together from blood and screams in the colonies that have allowed our Empire to achieve such prosperity?”
At the butler’s words, I reflexively flicked my eyes around to check our surroundings, then answered quietly, meaning for him to restrain himself.
“That’s seditious talk, Butler. Enough to be reported if someone heard it.”
“Hoho, perhaps because I’ve grown old, my tongue slipped. Hm. In any case, regardless of your own intentions, you will likely have blood on your hands because of the greed of those above. Will you be able to bear it?”
“No. There’s nothing as unpleasant as being dragged around by someone else’s intentions. All the more so when it’s because of ugly greed.”
“As expected, you are perceptive, young master.”
At my answer, the butler nodded deeply, as if that was only natural for any human being, and continued.
As always, our butler seemed to place great importance on human morality.
To me, a reincarnator, even the human morality the butler valued seemed close to barbarism, but that did not change the fact that he was one of the few people of character in this fantasy world.
Who among the inhabitants of this Empire would look negatively upon the colonies?
Everyone thinks of the colonies as a honey pot that never runs dry, and only wonders how best to squeeze them dry.
“Now that you have been called to Academia, young master, you will inevitably build relationships and interests with the nobility. Our family is by no means inferior within the Empire, and yet the head of our house is not someone who actively engages in outside affairs or invites outside figures. They will surely approach you, his son. For political purposes.”
“Well, our family does have quite a bit of money, doesn’t it? Even though we don’t own a single one of those common factories that even lower nobles have.”
“Money is not the issue. Our Prach family possesses fertile soil that produces ten percent of the Empire’s total food supply. And we are one of only two count families tied by blood to the fairies beyond the mountains. Because of that, our family occupies an extremely important position, to the point that the money we earn pales in comparison.”
“Because only our family received the right from the fairies to cultivate the Heidin Mountains.”
“Precisely. Is not farmland whose fertility never wanes the dream territory of every noble? There are even occasional rumors that the Emperor himself covets our domain.”
“Ah, enough boasting about the family. I’ve heard it so often since I was little that it makes me sick.”
When I silently mimed retching, the butler merely smiled like a grandfather looking at his grandson and shook his head.
As if I were hopeless.
“Well, since you dislike it so much, I shall stop. At the very least, I need not say any more about how you should conduct yourself at Academia. You are perceptive, young master.”
“Could you stop calling me perceptive? It’s starting to feel burdensome. I’m just thinking through various possibilities.”
“No one your age considers the background of the family they belong to, young master. They say even the Duke of the Jebitz family, famed as a genius, was a reckless troublemaker in his youth who ran wild trusting in his own talent and family background. Though the current duke is the very picture of an exemplary noble.”
“Well, aren’t people bound to take what they’re born with for granted, like air? The mere fact that he can reflect on his past is impressive enough.”
“It is precisely because you think that way that I call you perceptive, young master.”
“Ah.”
When the words slipped out of me without my realizing it, caught in the butler’s trap, I clicked my tongue inwardly and shook my head.
This butler seemed to enjoy occasionally tossing me questions that tested me and hearing my answers.
A kind of pastime for the educated, perhaps.
Though it was not exactly pleasant for the one on the receiving end.
“In any case, it’s already been decided that I’m going to Academia, hasn’t it? I’ll conduct myself properly, so tell my parents that for me, Butler. You know, some flattering line like, ‘The young master will surely handle himself well.’”
“Hoho. No matter how trusted the person speaking may be, no parent can ever completely set aside worry for their child. Think of the master and mistress’s concern as a blessing you receive from having been born to warm-hearted parents.”
“I’m an adult now, so being worried over like that is a bit...”
“Fifteen may be legally adult, but socially, you are still a greenhorn. Hoho.”
“Good grief.”
I sighed at the butler’s answer, which seemed unlikely to yield an inch, and quietly gazed out at the scenery visible through the openings of the spire.
Everywhere my eyes fell, I could see the people of our territory working vigorously beyond the castle walls.
With winter now past and spring drawing near, the young men of the territory had gathered to plow the fields, and behind them, the women followed, sowing seeds. Their figures looked small from here.
The butler and I silently watched that rural scene for a while.
As I stared blankly at that peaceful sight, the scent of spring drifted in through the gaps of the spire and entered my nose, and before I knew it, I opened my mouth.
“What do you think about our family bringing in automatons? I saw in the newspaper that one can do the labor of ten oxen all day long.”
“I wonder. If things that are not alive were to openly wander about our territory, I doubt the fairies beyond the mountains would be very pleased.”
“...That isn’t rational.”
“If the world ran on reason, would it not have become a utopia long ago?”
“...”
At a loss for words, I turned my head and glared at the butler, but he merely cast his gaze beyond the spire’s opening with a wistful expression.
Then, in a small voice, he let spill words to me that were neither quite advice nor complaint.
“Young master, the advancement of technology is not necessarily only a good thing. You have not yet gone to the capital, so you may not understand what I mean... Even so, please do not treat them too kindly. You will only be hurt, young master.”
“Mother said that too, and now you as well. Somehow, everyone who lived in or near the capital says the same thing.”
“The capital is called the City of Light, so its appearance may be splendid, but in the shadows cast by that light, there lurk things that are astonishingly... vile. I beg you, please do not let them taint you.”
With those words, the butler bowed his head to me and left the spire.
I chewed over the meaning of his words for a while, then soon scratched my head and decided to head down and leave the spire as well.
There was still time before the person who would take me to Academia arrived.
Since I had time to spare, I should look around the territory and exchange greetings with the people there.
After all, from now on, I might never return for the rest of my life, so I ought to at least say a proper farewell.
That way, whatever lingering attachment I still had to this place might fall away, even if only a little.