Bonus chapter
This chapter suppose to be posted last week.
Enjoy~
Chapter 37 – Life with My Little Sister
Recently, I started living with my little sister Katia.
I don’t mess with her or anything, and I don’t have any ulterior motives like being a lucky pervert…well, maybe a little.
Now that Giselle had passed away and Hughes had gone on a journey, I felt uneasy about leaving her alone in the capital.
My mother, Rushieno, is a loving mother… Because of the depth of her love, there is no guarantee that my half-sister will not have an “unforeseen accident”.
It’s safer for my little sister to be in my care.
The castle owner has his own room, and Katia is staying there.
I’m in the barracks.
As expected, my will is not strong enough to sleep in the same room as her.
The house where she lived with her family belonged to our father, Rudolph, and she left the management there to a bare minimum of servants before moving here.
[…Mm.]
Katia winced in pain in my arms.
[Does it hurt?]
[Uun, it feels good…]
I’m currently taking care of Katia’s lice.
It is no exaggeration to say that in this day and age, everyone has lice.
A man can have a shaved head, but a woman can’t do that.
If you wash your hair with vegetable oil and comb it carefully with a fine comb, the lice will come off.
This is a process that requires perseverance, as the phrase “killing lice” suggests.
If you continue for several days, the lice will be exterminated and the itching will subside.
However, the lice will soon spring up again.
That’s what the phrase suggests.
At first, Katia was shy about me, a man, touching her hair, but I like this kind of work and am pretty good at it.
It seems that after a few times, she started to leave things to me because I was better than the servants that she brought from the mansion.
As I was crushing Katia’s lice, I remembered the time I used to remove fleas from my family’s pet cat.
…Her name was “Kurobe” even though she was a female. That’s a strange name…
When I do this kind of simple work, I remember many things I had forgotten.
It’s an important time.
[Okay, I’ll leave it at that. Thank you Katia, that was fun.]
When I thanked Katia, she looked embarrassed and shy.
[Thank you Nii-san, umm…]
Katia is quiet and doesn’t assert herself much.
Maybe that’s the way of life that Giselle taught her.
[I’m about to go to work. I may look like this, but I’m a castle owner, so I’m great man, right?]
I left the room while saying something light to Katia.
Then, Pencero…the former captain of the fortress guard was waiting for me.
[What’s wrong? If you had something to do, you should have called me.]
[No, it’s not something urgent… the construction work on the new training ground has been completed. Please check.]
It seems that the new training ground that I was building with my squires has been completed.
I headed to the training ground with Pencero.
The new training ground is located near Portu.
===============
[Good, good, it’s like what I ordered.]
I grinned when I saw the completed training ground.
The training ground is an earthwork.
It is a motte and bailey style castle wall with earthen walls and wooden fences.
A shallow moat about 50 to 70 centimeters deep and an earthen wall about 110 to 130 centimeters deep.
A simple wooden fence is installed on top of the earthen wall.
It’s a typical castle wall for a knight’s castle.
This can be easily constructed by just mounding the soil.
I ran over to try it out, grabbed the fence, and climbed up.
I was able to climb up surprisingly easily.
…It’s easy to climb, but…what if I put on chain mail?
I got down from the earthwork and asked Pencero, [Can you climb it?].
As expected, Poncero also climbed it easily.
…I see. So, it’s easy to climb the castle wall without wearing armor….
I thought that the things that cavalry couldn’t do were sieges and shooting.
If you can do things that cavalry cannot do, it becomes an infantry’s strength.
From now on, we plan to conduct repeated exercises at this training range, dividing into attackers and defenders.
[Okay, for now, I’ll buy you guys some alcohol as a reward for completing it! Let’s go back to Portu.]
The squires cheered, and then we had a drinking party in Portu’s square.
Even though I say I’m a big drinker, I still drink beer all the time, and everyone make a fuss of it.
Singing, dancing, and fighting.
It’s truly barbaric, but full of energy.
[Varian-sama, please have another drink.]
The carpenter’s daughter gave me a drink.
This girl used to “play” with Jean, but it doesn’t seem like they’re dating since then.
And today, she’s giving me a drink.
…Hmm, I see.
I pulled the girl closer to me and asked her, [What’s your name?].
[….it’s Manon.]
[I see, I’m Varian.]
Manon is a young girl. She has reddish-brown hair, green eyes, and a freckled face, but she is charming.
I pulled her into the shadows and played with her.
Everyone probably knew that Manon and I disappeared from the party, but no one looked for us.
~ My property is
~ Thin goat on poor land
~The goat looks just like her mother
~If I keep looking at it, it’ll spit on me
The squire was singing an interesting song.
I fell in love with the lyrics while playing with Manon.
[Hey, Manon… don’t you think it’s an interesting song?]
There was no reply from Manon.
It doesn’t seem to be the case.
I’ve gotten used to body odor from not taking a bath.
I also started eating lightly salted soup with my hands.
There’s nothing surprising about pigs roaming in the city.
…I’m used to it all by now.
As I entered the third round, something strange happened.
The sentry shouted, [Incoming cavalry!].
I appeared in the plaza with Manon in my arms and said, [Goddammit, I’m almost come!].
The squires were overjoyed when they saw us still connected.
[Close the gate and place your bow! The captain of the guard is guarding the gate! Pencero should take command of the bow!]
I give instructions while shaking Manon.
She clung to my neck out of shame.
I felt bad for her, but both the castle and I were in a state of emergency.
I want to proceed at the same time.
[The Brotherhood is waiting in the square!]
In the end, the nickname for the squires was decided to be “Brotherhood”.
The official name is the “Brotherhood of Varian”, but it’s embarrassing, so we shortened it to the Brotherhood.
The name was coined by Andre.
After discussing the team name with everyone, it was decided unanimously.
By the way, “Cobra Squad” was unanimously rejected. Damn it.
After everything was done, I said to Manon, [That was good], and headed to the barracks.
As expected, a commander cannot look good without being armed.
I felt sorry for Manon, who let me play with her three times, but I left her there alone.
===========
The cavalry turned out to be my father Rudolph’s squire.
Rudolph left his horse in Portu’s stable and instructed his squires to rest in the square.
[Father, is everything alright?]
When I showed my face in the square, there was a roar from the squires.
It’s no wonder, I’m wearing a horned helmet and looking proud.
In addition I also wore double chain mail, leather armor, and finally, an oversized mace.
I clearly looked like a dangerous person.
[Varian, is that you…? I heard about the mask from Hugh, but that’s a pretty well done job.]
[Did Father meet Hugh?]
Rudolph replied with a simple [yeah].
I thought it was a report first, so I decided to tell Rudolph that I had been appointed castle lord.
[I took over the castle management from Uncle. I am currently in charge of the castle.]
[I see, I’m sure you’ll handle it without any trouble…but you’ve grown so much.]
Rudolph looked at me and seemed quite shocked.
I’m 15 years old, and I feel like I’m starting to grow taller, but I’m clearly over 190cm tall.
It’s clear that I am bigger than Rudolph, who has a fine physique himself.
[Haha, is it your grandfather’s blood? More than that, I heard Katia is here. Can I see her?]
[Yes, she is in the castle?]
Rudolph and I walked through the castle side by side.
[Hugh has become a squire to the Marquis Fourier.]
[Fourier?]
Rudolph told me, [He’s a powerful man from the West], while writing the word Fourier in the air with his finger.
[Dolerum recommended it. It seems that Marquis Fourier prefers intelligent young people.]
[Did they meet Hugh while in the Royal Capital?]
Rudolph stopped and faced me.
His face was bright.
[You did a great job, Varian. Hugh was also grateful to you.]
Rudolph hugged my shoulder and laughed, saying, [You’re my pride…including your first battle].
It’s a really manly laugh.
[Next year, there will be another battle to subdue Count Berger. Count Berger rebelled several years ago, and this time he did not respond to the battle summon… as a part of my punishment for turning back the army without permission, it’s decided we will send troops from Lioncoeur.]
[Very well. I’ll increase my stockpile for next year.]
Rudolph nodded in appreciation.
=============
As a side note, there was a bit of trouble in Katia’s room…or should I say…a lot of things happened.
It seems that Katia found out that I had “played” with Manon (which is correct), and she cried and accused me of being “filthy”.
When Rudolph saw this, he misunderstood it and got angry, saying, [What’s the point in having a relationship with your own little sister!]… and it’s all a mess.
Fortunately, I was able to clear up the misunderstanding, but Rudolph still severely reprimanded me for “playing” with Manon… I want to ask Rudolph if he can stop if he were in my shoes. but I won’t ask though.
It was difficult because Katia didn’t really forgive me.
It’s difficult for a girl of her age.
Rudolph left for the capital after giving me a warning, [Don’t touch your little sister Katia].
What does Father think of me?
What happened to Manon after that?
Later, when I invited her again, she slapped me.
It’s only natural.
Nega Translations 