An hour later, Kamushin returned. Fortunately, Espada hadn’t arrived yet. It was rare for Espada to be late, but I should be happy about that for now.
“Van-sama, I have the results of the investigation!”
“…Alright, tell me.”
I placed both elbows on the desk, interlaced my fingers in front of my face, and responded in a low voice.
What should I do if they say things like "The training is tough, dirty, smelly, and the salary is low..."?
I was nervously anxious inside but tried to maintain a calm exterior as I waited for Kamshin’s report. Kamshin took out a folded paper, opened it up, and checked his notes. By the way, Kamshin had learned to read and write from Till and was now studying basic arithmetic.
“Well, as Van-sama said, there were quite a few complaints.”
“So, there were? Well, I’m prepared for it.”
I urged him to continue while my heart raced. Kamshin nodded and began to speak. I almost wanted to tell him to take a deep breath, but I swallowed those words.
“The most common complaint was that the training is tough. It seems that Lord Dee’s training has become more intense lately, and it’s something the knights who joined the order a while ago have mentioned. Also, some of the knights on rotation for guarding the fortress city of Murcia have requested a reduction in their days there. They mentioned that if possible, they’d prefer staying there for a week at a time.”
“Dee’s been high-strung lately because of the continuous battles. I’ll mention it casually. The fortress city of Murcia still needs our support, though... Well, we’ve been rotating twenty knights, but maybe I’ll increase that to ten per rotation. Besides that, were there any other complaints?”
At least no one had made any accusations of power harassment, which I was relieved to hear. As I asked, Kamushin shook his head and showed me the paper with his notes.
“No, not really... I did ask others if they had any other complaints, but the issue of the Murcia rotation was the main topic. Also, many people did mention that Lord Dee’s training was quite harsh.”
“Huh? So, are the only complaints about the training and Murcia? What about the salary?”
“They said they’re receiving enough salary, so no complaints there.”
“Huh, really? Are you sure?”
I asked back in surprise after hearing Kamshin’s report. At that moment, Till chuckled and spoke up.
“Well, Van-sama has kept taxes low, and the necessary living expenses are cheap, so I think the salary is more than enough.”
Til said that while preparing some fresh, warm tea for me. As I took the teacup with the tea poured in, I lowered my chin and murmured.
“Hm... Well, that’s good to hear... Ah, this is delicious.”
“It’s delicious.”
I relaxed, enjoying the fragrant, delicious tea. At the same time, Arte also took a sip of tea and smiled, commenting on it. Til puffed out his chest proudly in response.
“It’s filled with love!”
“Oh, as expected of Til.”
“Ehehe.”
I complimented Til, who responded perfectly as the personal maid. Just then, I heard a voice from the door.
“May I have a cup as well?”
“When did you...!?”
Before I knew it, Espada was standing at the entrance with an expressionless face. More frightening than an assassin.
“I knocked just now, but when I didn’t get a response, I called out again before entering. I see you were investigating the knights’ complaints. I believe that’s a very good initiative. Since the population will continue to grow, it might be a good idea to conduct a large-scale survey of residents’ requests and opinions at some point.”
As Espada spoke, he walked toward the desk, holding a large stack of documents. The weight of the documents hitting the desk made a thud sound.
“…Isn’t this too much?”
I asked in a hoarse voice, and Espada nodded as if it were nothing.
“Well, yes. While I was scrutinizing the documents for Van-sama’s review, more reports came in. It seems that the merchants and adventurers' guild members knew Van-sama had returned and brought in their accumulated reports. The fact that such detailed internal reports are being submitted is proof of Van-sama’s good governance. Of course, the number of documents is several times greater, but I believe it’s a blessing, and I ask that you review them carefully.”
Espada said this with deep sentiment. I let out a deep sigh and stared at the mountain of documents.
“…It might be a blessing, but when I see a mountain of documents, I feel like running away. We’ve had a lot of expeditions recently, and I wanted to make some cool new weapons and vehicles, but I don’t even have time for that... Maybe we should start reducing the number of lessons for you, Espada? The training too, time is limited, after all. For example, if there are this many documents, we could skip study and training...”
“Van-sama, you always ensure you get more than eight hours of sleep. As for me, I thought it would be fine to increase your study time a bit more...”
“Hell no.”
I involuntarily responded in a fake Kansai dialect to Espada’s outrageous comment. Til burst into laughter and added her thoughts.
“Maybe Van-sama is the one who’s the most dissatisfied.”
At Til’s words, Arte and Kamshin also laughed. I see... I thought I’d avoid becoming a power-harassing CEO, but it seems like I’m the one being harassed now. Espada harassment. Or rather, butler harassment. It’s new. Let’s shorten it to Bat-Hara.
As I thought that, I glared resentfully at Espada, who quietly raised the corners of his mouth.
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