When the head maid delivered the letter, Simon knew that Lady Elisa had already fallen under the sway of game psychology.
Despite her formidable strength, she was ultimately just a young woman who had only recently come of age. During her years in the archipelago, she’d been busy training and committing crimes, so there was no way she could resist the allure of a polished twenty-first-century game.
He opened the settings, edited the notification for the increase in Intimacy, and activated the new feature he’d prepared long ago.
[Intimacy: 11]
[You have unlocked a new feature: Simon’s Log]
[Simon’s Log: A log recording Simon’s actions and discoveries. There is a small chance of obtaining mysterious information from it.]
Simon looked it over, confirmed there were no problems, then sent the update package to the screen in front of Lady Elisa.
With the connection to the game’s main program severed, the [Character Editor] couldn’t access any computing power or operate autonomously, so Simon had to control it manually every time.
It felt rather like being the game master of an offline tabletop RPG.
Once he finished editing, he turned his attention back to the head maid.
“This is something the young lady specifically instructed you to do.” Head Maid Maria looked Simon in the eye and reminded him sternly.
She thought the letter-delivery task was important, but in reality, it was merely an excuse Elisa had come up with. Even without the letter, there would’ve been some other objective for the errand, such as buying supplies.
Simon didn’t argue. He nodded to show that he would take it seriously.
Taking the letter, he walked out of the estate. A carriage was already waiting at the entrance, a hired carriage that another servant had called for him.
The estate had its own coachmen and carriages, but they weren’t for servants to use.
Simon climbed aboard. The carriage interior was simple but clean, the driver had deliberately trimmed his beard, and the seats were even fitted with cushions.
It was a mid-to-high-end hired carriage, with a starting fare of 1 shilling and an additional 6 pence per mile after the first two miles.6
Sitting in the carriage, he began editing the log.
[Simon took the letter and headed out of the estate. The weather was a little hot, but fortunately, there was wind and cloud cover.]
[Simon boarded the carriage and admired the scenery outside. The outskirts of the city were beautiful.]
In the etiquette classroom, Elisa looked at the new [Simon’s Log] feature.
This log was a bit like a diary…no, it was more like a detective’s surveillance report. With this, I can see what the male servant is doing anytime, anywhere.
Unlike Status, Log was much more detailed. Furthermore, [Status] didn’t allow her to view past records, so if she missed something, it was gone forever, whereas Log did.
Lady Elisa’s heart began to race. She felt as though she were spying on the male servant’s private life.
Elisa, oh Elisa, how could you do something so creepy?! If the genders were reversed, you’d definitely get arrested!
She closed the screen and swore that if she looked again, she was a dog.
Ten minutes later, she barked once in her head and opened [Simon’s Log] again.
[Simon’s butt hurts a little.]
Lady Elisa could deeply relate. Even with padded seats, carriages were still brutal on the backside, especially when the roads were bad.
Seeing the male servant suffering through the carriage ride improved her mood considerably. Her previously weary spirits revived, earning her praise from her etiquette instructor.
After the short lesson ended, Elisa checked the screen again.
[The carriage arrived at the post office. Simon paid a fare of 1 shilling and delivered the young lady’s letter.]
The estate wasn’t far from the post office, roughly two miles, right on the edge of the base fare. The carriage fare could be either 1 shilling or 1 shilling and 6 pence.
Elisa figured the 6-pence difference was what Simon intended to falsely claim. Since she’d already been expecting it, she didn’t feel much of anything.
She reviewed the male servant’s journey to deliver the letter. He hadn’t tried to peek inside the letter at any point. Pretty respectable.
He hadn’t dawdled on the way there, either. Was he planning to slack off after delivering the letter? At least he knew where to draw the line!
[After leaving the post office, Simon arrived at the shopping district. The dazzling array of goods in the shop windows soothed his aching butt, while the beautiful young ladies passing by soothed his weary spirit.]
Shopping is one thing, but now you’re checking out pretty girls too?!
Too bad there aren’t any pictures. I want to see the pretty girls too.
Lady Elisa glanced at her etiquette instructor and Head Maid Maria. Though they were both a little older, they were still beautiful women. If they dressed up properly, they wouldn’t lose out to any of those noble ladies.
[Simon approached the Eastern District. With noon drawing near, enticing aromas drifted from the roadside stalls.]
Street food, huh? It might be considered unhygienic by high-society standards, but there was plenty of delicious food to be found there. Especially when you were hungry. Nothing beat the satisfaction of grabbing a serving, certainly not those fancy little dishes.
Lady Elisa swallowed. She wanted the male servant to bring some back for her. Ever since she’d started playing the part of a proper young lady, she hadn’t eaten street food once.
[Simon bought a roasted potato and a boiled sheep’s trotter, spending 1 penny in total.]
Elisa instinctively calculated the cost. The roasted potato and boiled sheep’s trotter should cost the same, half a penny each.
Sheep’s trotters were food for the lower classes. There wasn’t much meat on them, they were simple to cook, and they didn’t even require seasoning, so selling one for half a penny already turned a tidy profit. Back in the archipelago where she lived, the wholesale price was 1 penny for five trotters.
I wonder what they cost in the royal capital.
Potatoes themselves weren’t expensive either, but roasted potatoes needed to be slathered with salt and butter, and butter wasn’t cheap. Of course, a roadside stall wouldn’t use any good-quality butter. Yet that cheap butter paired with a freshly roasted potato had a unique flavor of its own.
Lady Elisa swallowed again.
[Before entering the Eastern District, Simon bought a cup of chilled lemonade for 1 penny.]
This time, Lady Elisa wasn’t envious. Street-side chilled lemonade couldn’t compare to real iced lemonade.
[Simon put his money in his innermost pocket and entered the Eastern District.]
The Eastern District was the slum of the royal capital. Robbers were rare, but pickpockets were plentiful. Elisa nodded, approving of the male servant’s caution.
[Simon saw many impoverished people. They wandered about in a daze, thin and emaciated, like lifeless figures molded from clay.]
Even in the royal capital, the poor still lived in dire straits. Elisa sighed.
When it came to the plight of the poor, those in the royal capital were actually worse off than those in the archipelago. At least the poor in the archipelago had land. Even those without land could reclaim wasteland or head out to sea and fish. There was always some hope of making a living.
But the poor in the royal capital had nothing. All they could do was sell themselves.
[Simon quickened his pace. Turning a corner, he spotted a skinny little yellow dog lying on the ground ahead and picked up a stone.]
Elisa nodded. A starving dog was a dangerous predator. You couldn’t let your guard down around one.
Back in the archipelago, she’d once encountered a pack of feral dogs and had been forced to kill several before she managed to escape.
[Simon realized he’d been mistaken. It was a little girl curled up on the ground. Her limbs were as thin as a stray dog’s, and her body was covered in dusty yellow grime.]
Huh???!
So it wasn’t a yellow dog… Well, of course. How could there possibly be dogs in the slums? Any dog that wandered through here would’ve been caught and tossed into a cooking pot long ago.
A child so thin she looked like a dog…
Elisa had mixed feelings. On the one hand, she sympathized with these children. On the other hand, she cared more about herself.
I’m such a hypocrite. Elisa sighed.
[Simon pretended to lash out in embarrassment, pulling the little girl to her feet and scolding her while secretly slipping her 1 shilling.]
One shilling was 12 pence. It wasn’t much, but if she spent it carefully, it would be enough for the girl to live on for nearly half a month.
Pretending to scold her while secretly giving her the money was meant to keep anyone else from robbing the girl. This male servant was pretty good at handling situations like this.
And he had a kind heart, too. One shilling was no small amount for a male servant. His annual salary was 16 pounds, which worked out to 6 shillings a week. He’d just given away more than a day’s wages.
Leave a Reply