The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Village Chief of the Borderlands

The old man sat hunched over in a small chair.

Lutz was the village chief of Enkar, turning sixty-eight this year. He had joined the pioneering group in his late teens and was the last surviving member of the early settlers who had cultivated the land around the village.

It was only a few days ago that he heard about the arrival of a new master to the neglected manor.

Typically, nobles would visit their estates after the rainy season had passed and clear weather prevailed, usually towards the end of spring. Now, as winter’s chill was finally fading, it made sense to interpret the summons as a call to prepare the estate before then.

Despite being called a manor, Enkar was a relatively large village in the region, with no notable specialty products. It was a modest village without even a lord, let alone a magistrate overseeing the neighboring areas.

Tax collectors would come only twice a year, in spring and autumn, to inspect the account books and fields, and they rarely stayed in the village. The manor, more of a façade, was the largest building in the village, but it was seldom used and mostly kept shut.

The plan was to have the women of the village clean it after the planting of the spring seed potatoes. That was the plan until yesterday, around the time the sun was setting.

Apparently, the new master had arrived in the morning, and the servants had already tidied up. The new lord, whoever they were, had stayed the night at the manor.

Upon hearing this news, Lutz felt a chill run down his spine. However, to pay an unannounced visit to the lord’s manor after sunset would be nothing short of rude and might provoke retaliation. Having been involved in pioneering for so long, Lutz was well aware of the fearsomeness and arbitrariness of the nobility.

Nobles typically finished their work by the morning and spent the afternoon at leisure. It would be terrifying to interrupt their work before noon. It would be wiser to address the younger members first in the afternoon and then request an audience.

Accepting that he might seek absolution from the other villagers by offering his aged head, Lutz had prepared himself and entrusted the future of the village to his eldest son, who had already taken on the role of a village leader. Tearfully bidding farewell to his long-standing wife, he had made these arrangements just last night.

And now, across the dining table from Lutz, the new lord sat.

“I apologize for dropping in so suddenly. We’re short on staff here, so I must apologize for the lack of formality.”

The new lord said.

“No, no, it’s nothing like that.”

Lutz stammered.

She was clad in a simple dress, but the glossy fabric was unmistakably silk. Her flawless fingers, untainted by toil, her porcelain skin untouched by the sun, and her shiny golden hair and translucent green eyes—all marked her unmistakably as a pampered noble princess amidst the village’s hardworking folk.

“Um, is the young lady…”

“My wife,” the tall man in knight’s attire behind her interjected in a low voice, sending shivers down Lutz’s spine.

In his prime, when Lutz still stood tall and straight, a few of his friends had been lynched by men from the baron’s house who had been entrusted with overseeing the settlements in this area, all for showing disrespect to the baron’s men.

It was over forty years ago now. Only a handful of people, including Lutz, remembered that day firsthand. But precisely because of that, they had passed on tales of the terror of the nobility like legends.

Never defy them. Just lower your head and endure whatever they say, like waiting for a storm to pass.

“Anyway, the land to the west hasn’t been cultivated yet, right? I’d like to use the nearby serf village as a whole to turn it into fields. Since the serfs are also the village’s assets, I thought I’d consult with you so that you wouldn’t be inconvenienced.”

“Yes, if it pleases your wife.”

“I’ve heard that you sometimes call upon the serfs to help in the fields. Is that alright?”

“The villagers around the village can manage the fields, and we also have tenant farmers.”

The serfs were indeed concerned about being used up by the noble princess not only for new cultivation but also for maintaining the village’s fields. However, if it was just tending to the already flourishing wheat fields, the villagers could manage if they worked together, and they wouldn’t be taxed for expanding fields.

Either way, the thought of defying the noble with a sword-bearing knight standing behind them had never crossed Lutz’s mind from the start.

“Well then, we’ll borrow the serfs from the settlement. And what about the straw from last year’s harvest?”

“The straw, you say?”

“Yes, the leftover part after harvesting the wheat.”

“In that case, the softer parts are fed to the livestock, used as bedding in the livestock barn, for house repairs, and some are woven into baskets by the women.”

“And what about the bedding straw? How do you handle that?”

“We sometimes plow it back into the fields, but when we’re short on labor, we dump the surplus straw along with other waste near the mountainside.”

“I don’t mind taking that off your hands. Is it someone else’s property?”

“No, it’s discarded as garbage…”

The old bedding straw mixed with animal waste emitted a foul odor, especially during prolonged rainy periods. It wasn’t uncommon to dispose of it outside the village to avoid the smell.

“Then I’ll have it collected later, so please tell me where it is. Also, what about the village waste… like bone fragments or food scraps?”

“We hardly have any food waste as it’s mostly fed to the livestock. Animal bones are disposed of near the straw dumping site.”

“Could I have those as well?”

“Of course. Everything in this village belongs to you…”

Lutz didn’t feel ashamed to flatter the granddaughter-aged daughter if it meant the villagers could live in peace.

“Thank you. Please consult me if anything else comes up.”

It seemed the business was concluded as the girl stood up gracefully. Her handmaiden placed a broad-brimmed hat atop her head, swiftly adjusting its shape and angle. There was no reproach for the lack of cleanliness in the manor, and it wasn’t even brought up in conversation.

“Oh, by the way, Mr. Mayor, what’s your name?”

“I am… Lutz.”

“Then, Lutz-san, please call me Melfina. I don’t particularly like being called ‘Madam'”

With those words, the knight with a bitter expression opened the door, and the new lord stepped out.

With a rush of exhaustion, sticky sweat welled up. After the sound of the carriage receded, the door burst open again.

“Dad!”

“You! Oh, thank goodness. You’re alive!”

His son and his long-time wife both approached with faces that looked on the verge of tears. Well, his wife was actually crying a little.

With such expressions, the two of them looked strikingly alike.

“What’s up, I thought I was finally going to be the mayor, but it looks like you’re not retiring anytime soon, Dad.”

As his son cracked a joke, there was a glimmer in his eyes too.

It seemed the storm had left without taking anything away, but it definitely said “again”. Not as “Madam” or “my lord”, but by name.

“…I suppose it’s impossible.”

At this age, dealing with nobles wasn’t a joke; it shortened one’s lifespan. As long as he held the position of mayor, he couldn’t refuse an audience if demanded.

Thinking about it, perhaps retiring and entrusting things to his son at this timing wasn’t such a bad choice after all, Lutz pondered deeply.