Volume 1 Chapter 25 Genderbend Female Knight Returns Home
"Chief! The village should be in sight soon!"
"I told you not to call me chief, I'll kill you if you keep saying that."
"Sorry!"
Eleonora watched the Suno people berate the sailors, then observed the crew as they started moving to prepare for mooring while pulling back their heads. She gazed at the sea.
The sun was gradually setting, and a beautiful sunset could be seen if she remained gazing. But first, she had work to attend to.
"I must meet Baron Pucaa..."
"Lady Kamitafira is quite capable of bringing those guys together."
The emaciated Baron Pucaa immediately grumbled when he saw Eleonora.
Even though his stout figure had become slim in just a few months, she almost praised him at first, but thought it would only be sarcastic and stopped herself.
"To say 'bring together' is more like being beloved. Though I say so myself, if I show strength, they will obey."
"Haa..., dealing with savages is difficult."
Baron shook his head and sat down on a chair. Eleonora poured wine from a water pitcher, then placed a cup for herself and for him.
"We are warriors. Following the strong is our way to survive and gain benefits. When a war happens, we will have to take them along and let them loot at least once."
"...Is that really necessary?"
"Soldiers are non-productive classes; just their existence consumes money and food. Soldiers must earn by stealing from the enemy through war."
Baron Pucaa sighed and nodded.
"Since they are your subordinates, I have no right to say much, but as a devout Holy Cross, I must tell you, that will not lead you to heaven."
"[Living by the sword, dying by the sword], as they say. And... they are not Holy Cross."
"I am talking about you, Lady Kamitafira."
After taking a sip of wine, Eleonora smiled.
"Well, my heaven is this village."
After finishing the discussion about the future management of the village with Baron Pucaa, Eleonora headed toward her mother's ancestral home in Machiki Village.
While the magistrate is here, Kamitafira House is rented out, so she is staying with her wealthy family.
"Mother, I'm back!"
Hearing the loud voice announcing her return, she could tell the footsteps approaching hurriedly. When the door was pushed open forcefully, a small boy with sparkling eyes was catching his breath.
"Big sister!"
"Oh, my angel! Have you been well?"
"Yes! I'm fine!"
When her younger brother, Amerigo di Kamitafira, stretched out his arm, Eleonora put her hand under his arm, lifting him onto her shoulders.
"High!"
"One day you'll be this tall too, and then you'll find a good wife."
"Lady Eleonora."
Shifting her attention from her younger brother above her head, she saw a stern-looking man in his fifties standing there, staring at her.
"I am relieved that you have returned safely. This Adalbert, unable to come to greet you──"
"Grandfather, we're family, so please stop using such distant language."
Led by Kamitafira knight, and also Eleonora's maternal grandfather, Adalbert's face, already lined with wrinkles, twisted even further.
"Still, since we are before the head of the house and the acting head."
"If that's really okay with you, I won't say anything anymore. Amerigo is grateful."
Once again lifting her brother who was on her shoulders, Eleonora handed him over into her grandfather's arms. She then patted her shoulder and entered the house.
Adalbert, who had been watching her back with a painful expression, closed his eyes and exhaled, then began to follow from behind.
"How's Mother?"
"Her daughter is working hard, reminiscing about the old days──feels like she's gone back to before she married Sir Lamberto..."
"I see, as long as she's well, that's enough."
Gearing down the slightly misaligned door, everyone in the party was gathered inside.
"Lady Eleonora! Welcome back!"
"Uncle, I'm back. Have John and the others not caused trouble?"
"Recently, they caught a big boar and brought it back. I distributed it so that everyone in the village could have soup with it."
Her mother's brother, Benito, stood up and offered the chair he was sitting in.
In the Kamitafira family, there is an uncle who holds a position akin to a family ordinance and has received an education that includes reading letters and numbers, and it is his charge to handle the myriad of trivial tasks each day.
His son and daughter, that is, Eleonora's cousin Antonio and Brigitta, surrounded Eleonora.
It is so that they can shield her in case something happens.
"Thank you, is there anything else unusual?"
"The Suno people went into the mountains to gather flowers and made a flower garden. There, they made small boxes to make it easier for bees to build nests and, although it's a bit, they have started honey collection."
"Oh, honey?"
Speaking of honey, it is a luxury item, or rather, all sweets are like that.
Sugar, for example, is cultivated in distant heathen lands, and the merchants there mark up the transportation and labor costs, making it expensive.
The only honey that can be obtained is the kind taken from bees through beekeeping.
"It's a good product, let's sell it outside the territory."
"Yes, but I'm talking about making mead, not just honey itself."
"Mead?"
The method of making mead is simple; just mix honey and water and leave it for about a week.
Since the honey is not sterile and contains yeast, it ferments into alcohol without adding bread starter.
At this stage, the sweetness of the honey has faded, and the bitterness similar to beer has increased, so additional honey is added to increase the sweetness.
Eleonora decided on processed sales, thinking that if it could be turned into silver coins, it would also help the business.
"Eleonora!"
"Oh, Mother. You're back."
When she saw her mother coming, she raised her right hand and sighed at her unchanged appearance.
"I was wrong to expect you to become a little refined."
When she laughed "Hahaha" at that, the whole family joined in the laughter.
"Well, I'll talk about the other side too. First, let's eat."
After offering a prayer, the evening meal began, and she talked about various things that happened in the royal capital.
In particular, her cousins were very interested.
"You hit the Count's son!?"
"You went to the Grand Duke's daughter's tea party!?"
"Well, I got a shield as a token of gratitude from the Baron Vidilva family for that sort of thing."
When Eleonora placed the shield, which she brought back as if it were a souvenir, on the desk, she said this.
"I can't exactly slam it against the academy walls, so manage it here."
That word caused Adalbert's frown lines to increase again.
Her unconventional behavior didn't change no matter where she went, and after spending the remaining 2 weeks in the territory, Eleonora would return to the academy with the maid Roberta, but the requests and paperwork that had piled up in the territory had been neatly taken care of.
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