Life as a Manservant

It was now the end of October. Allen was currently in the garden of the residence belonging to Baron Granvelle, lord of this fiefdom. The place was beautifully maintained by the house gardener.

Allen thought back to the day he had first started as a manservant of House Granvelle. He had just arrived together with the Baron after a five-day journey from Krena Village. Along the way, the procession had stopped at the village where Allen's parents were originally from, but he did not get the chance to meet his grandparents. He planned on going back by himself someday.

Thirty or so servants had lined up to greet Baron Granvelle when he arrived home. Of these servants, the Baron had instructed Allen to learn the ropes from Rickel, the head manservant. Rickel was a young man with freckles and brown hair who looked to be around eighteen years old.

Apparently he was a rather lazy worker, as the butler had warned Allen to not pick up his work ethic.

Although Rickel often skipped work, he was good at caring for others. He would always answer any question asked of him; he would even answer the questions no one had asked. So when Allen had a spare moment, he asked Rickel the difference between a houseboy and a manservant. As it turned out, the two were very different.

There was an established hierarchy among the service staff. Allen wrote down the whole list in his grimoire, in order of superiority:

butler, housekeeper, gentleman-in-waiting, lady-in-waiting, head chef, coachman, cook, gardener, manservant, maidservant.

The butler, housekeeper, head chef, and gentlemen- and ladies-in-waiting were all considered upper servants. They each commanded great authority and were to be obeyed. The butler and housekeeper oversaw the entirety of the male and female staff, respectively.

The coachmen, chefs, gardeners, and maid- and manservants were considered lower servants. Houseboys and housemaids were not even considered actual servants, and were, in so many words, just the help.

In addition to the hierarchy of the serving staff, Rickel also let Allen in on an important fact regarding noble families. As it turned out, the concept of "family" among the nobility of this world was at odds with Allen's understanding of it from his prior life. That is to say, nobles here considered servants to be part of their family.

Allen finally understood why Rodin had been so happy that he had started crying when Baron Granvelle offered to hire Allen. That offer to become a manservant had, at the same time, been an offer to join the Granvelle family.

It was not easy to become a noble's manservant, even for a commoner. In fact, it was difficult enough becoming a houseboy, and yet Allen had gone straight from serf to manservant. Baron Granvelle had truly gone above and beyond rewarding Rodin for saving Krena Village and contributing so greatly to its development.

'Right, I've got to be thankful, Allen reminded himself as he thought back to what Rickel had told him.'

"Allen, stand taller! You're my manservant, aren't you?! I still can't reach!"

Directly in front of Allen's face was a tree. Above his head dangled a large, ripe, red fruit. He was standing beneath a large tree in the garden on the grounds with Baron Granvelle's daughter, Cecil, sitting on his shoulders, her legs astride his neck.

Earlier, when Cecil had shot Allen a glare with her slanted, willful, crimson eyes and ordered him to come to the garden, he had thought he would be in for a beating.

Instead, she told him to let her ride on his shoulders because there was fruit on a tree and she wanted to pick it. With it being the end of autumn, the fruit looked extra ripe and enticing—although she had never eaten one before, she still wanted it.

However, the fruit was so high up that even an adult would not have been able to reach it. Now, up on her perch, Cecil furiously mussed up Allen's hair in vexation.

"Lady Cecil, you might fare better if you were to stand up on my shoulders," he offered.

"That does make sense... You won't get off easy if you drop me! I'll definitely tell my father on you!"

'God, I feel so tempted to let her fall for real.'

Ever since she had found out that she and Allen were the same age, Cecil had started seeking him out for all sorts of tasks. According to Sebas the butler, Cecil had specially requested Allen as her personal manservant. When Sebas had told Allen, "Good luck," his eyes were filled with sympathy. There was nothing for Allen to do but sigh.

Cecil carefully positioned her feet on Allen's shoulders, then slowly stood up. Allen held her ankles tightly to help her maintain her balance.

"How is it, Lady Cecil?"

"I still can't reach... I can't reach it!"

'Can you please just give up already?' Allen thought, as he offered, "In that case, how about you stand on my hands and I lift you higher?"

"Hm... Okay. Lift me up slowly." Cecil, seeing no other way, agreed.

As he slowly lifted Cecil up, Allen ended up seeing her drawers or pumpkin panties or whatever they were called. Of course, he felt nothing from seeing an eight-year-old's underwear. He had, after all, lived for thirty-five years before even coming to this world.

"How is it, milady?"

He heard the sound of the fruit being plucked from its branch.

"I've got it! Lower me slowly."

Allen obediently brought Cecil back down to the ground. She was holding the vivid red fruit in her hands, smiling proudly. She had probably been wanting to pluck it for quite some time now. A quick wipe with her sleeves, then one big bite! The texture was apparently similar to an apple, judging by the crunch.

As Allen watched on, thinking to himself, 'Looks like milady is a bit of a tomboy,' the smile on Cecil's face disappeared.

"Peh! This tastes awful!"

As it turned out, the fruit was very sour. Cecil threw the fruit she had worked so hard to obtain onto the ground with a huff. Allen then noticed that the same fruit was scattered across the ground in great numbers, all rotting away to some degree. The gardener had not bothered to harvest them.

Apparently, this fruit was not meant to be eaten.

"Well, there's that saying about fruit you can't reach being sour and all."

"I don't know any such saying! Don't tell me you knew this wasn't edible?!"

"Like h— No, I was not aware of it myself." he quickly changed his tone. 'Phew, that was close.'

"Hmph, then it's fine. I now want to eat a popo to get this awful taste out of my mouth. Go to the kitchen and fetch me one. If they don't have any, go to the market and buy one."

'Gah, she's not going to let me off the hook with just "Sorry, they didn't have one," is she?' With no other choice, Allen headed straight to the kitchen.

He had a bad feeling, and sure enough, the head chef told him they were out of popos. It was now confirmed: he would have to go all the way to town. He explained the situation to the butler, who then gave him a silver coin. Allen would not be forced to pay for it out of his own pocket.

Allen then left through the back door used exclusively by the servants of the mansion. Generally, the servants were not allowed to use the front door.

'But honestly, going into town isn't all that bad.'

As a manservant, Allen's job basically entailed miscellaneous tasks. He would be asked to do any number of duties that may or may not have direct relevance to the care of the baron's family. Rickel told Allen to expect to be sent out for errands quite frequently.

The Feudal Lord's mansion was tucked away in a corner of the city. Upon stepping outside the grounds, Allen found himself in the nobles' residential area, where minor nobility—such as knights and baronets—and influential members of the city lived. The market was farther beyond; to reach it on foot, it took two hours one way.

Unlike the market in Krena Village, the one in the city had a large variety of fruit available.

"Give me one popo, please."

"Sure thing. One silver."

When Allen had asked how many popo he should buy, Sebas had replied that one was sufficient. They were not to needlessly waste money answering the young lady's selfish whims.

'Wow, one silver for a single fruit. So expensive. Still, surprisingly, the price here is the same as it was in Krena Village.'

Allen turned around and headed back with nothing more than a single popo inside his basket.

'There were so many different fruits at the market just now. I wonder if there's an orchard near this city. Wait, but it's going to get cold soon. Do trees bear fruit during winter in this world?'

It had been eight years since Allen was reborn into this world. Every once in a while, he realized how much he was still bound to the common sense of his previous world. Now that he thought about it, he recalled seeing the same fruits offered all year round, regardless of season. It was now nearing November, but the available fruit lineup was the same as in the summer. The general store back in Krena Village had stocked popo and molmo even in December.

Just as Allen was imagining a nearby orchard that produced fruit even in the dead of winter, he heard a powerful rumbling, and his surroundings were suddenly cast into shadow. There must have been something flying overhead.

Even without looking, Allen could tell that it was absolutely massive, whatever it was. He lifted his gaze skyward, half expecting to see a dragon.

"Huh?! But that's...!" Allen inadvertently exclaimed out loud with surprise.

What he saw was a rugby ball-shaped ship several dozen—no, at least a hundred meters in length. It was a flying ship. It was slowly descending, most likely toward a landing terminal at the edge of town.

'...I see, so this world has airships. Oh! Does that mean the fruits in the market are imported from tropical countries further south?'

The massive size of the vessel evoked an inexplicable twinge of excitement in Allen's chest and also gave him a hint as to how expansive this world was. He was reminded of the time when he was one year old and his father, Rodin, had pointed out albaherons—the monsters Allen's name was derived from—high up in the sky as they migrated north for winter.

Here in Granvelle City, a place many times larger than his birthplace, Allen's life as a manservant had just begun.