Chapter 56
No sooner had Jade stepped out of his private training room carrying Whid than he saw Alfredo waiting with a towel.
As Alfredo politely offered him the towel as though he had been waiting for him, Jade gave a small shake of his head.
“I keep telling you, you don't have to do this.”
“Attending to the lord is my duty.”
“I know, but you don't need to bother with these little things. There are plenty of people around.”
Even though this was only a villa, quite a number of servants worked there.
That was despite the fact that there was only one person to attend to: Jade.
It wasn't as though Jade was the sort to make all kinds of fussy demands, either.
Having always lived alone, he still preferred to take care of things himself rather than be waited on, yet the number of servants and maids had not decreased.
“Even so, shouldn't I personally attend to you as your butler?”
“I told you, you don't have to. You seem unable to get much sleep these days because you have so much work.”
“At my age, I no longer sleep late, ho ho ho.”
Seeing that Alfredo seemed determined not to listen no matter what he said, Jade finally wore an expression of defeat.
They had not been together for very long, but Jade had already learned that Alfredo was remarkably stubborn, so he shrugged helplessly.
“Where's Ria?”
“She's sparring with Chieftain Pent again today.”
“She really is aggressive.”
“From what I can tell, Chieftain Pent seems to be enjoying it as well.”
“They make good opponents for each other.”
With the Wolf King dead, none among the beastfolk in the Great Forest should have been stronger than Pent.
Raul of the lionfolk and Tyler of the tigerfolk were also no match for Pent.
That made Pent an excellent opponent for Aruellia.
“Ah, and I have something to report, my lord. A man who claims to be a half-dwarf has come from the Great Forest looking for you.”
“A half-dwarf?”
“Yes. He says he had been living in the Great Forest until he happened to hear rumors about you and came here.”
“Why would a half-dwarf come looking for me?”
Jade looked perplexed.
It was simply too unexpected.
At the same time, a hollow laugh escaped him.
After meeting a Gold Drake, a War Elf, beastfolk, and now even a half-dwarf, he found it both fascinating and absurd.
“I tried to sound him out, but he refuses to speak and says he wants to tell you his business directly. So I have him waiting.”
“Hmm, is that so? But why in the world did he come looking for me? I have no connection with him.”
Jade stroked his chin.
No matter how he thought about it, the only dwarf he had ever met was the one he had seen in the capital of the Arhan Kingdom.
He didn't even know that dwarf's name.
Even if he went to see him now, that dwarf probably wouldn't recognize Jade.
“Personally, I don't think you need to meet him yourself. You are a noble now, my lord. You are also the high spirit mage who represents the Polstein Kingdom. As such, I don't think you need to meet everyone who comes looking for you.”
“That's true. But I am curious, too. If it were an insignificant noble or someone sent by a nearby lord, I wouldn't need to concern myself with it. But he's a half-dwarf, isn't he? I've seen a half-elf, so meeting a half-dwarf doesn't sound like a bad idea.”
“Understood. Then I shall make the preparations.”
As a butler, Alfredo's duty was to attend to Jade so that he would experience no inconvenience in his daily life.
For that reason, he no longer voiced his opinion.
“Let's go.”
“Allow me to escort you.”
Jade cast Alfredo a peculiar look as he followed him toward the parlor.
Trickle.
As he accepted the tea Alfredo poured, Jade looked at the young man sitting across from him.
Just as he had introduced himself as a half-dwarf, the young man sitting before him was quite small in stature.
Even though half his blood was human, he looked no different from the dwarf Jade had seen in the capital of the Arhan Kingdom.
The only differences Jade could find were that he had less facial hair and a slender build.
-A half-dwarf. How fascinating!
-I've never seen a half-dwarf either. It's not every day you get to see such a unique race.
-That just means Jade is special! It seems the Goddess of Fate likes Jade!
-If he knows about Jade, he must be curious. After all, Jade came from another dimension.
Unlike Jade, who maintained an impassive expression, the two spirits made no attempt to hide their curiosity.
Knowing that the half-dwarf could not see them, they openly stared at him.
“Th-thank you.”
Though he had come here on a whim, the half-dwarf, who introduced himself as Vilf, apparently had not expected to meet Jade so quickly and stole occasional glances at him.
He also remembered to thank Alfredo when the butler poured his tea.
Swish.
But Alfredo did not respond even to Vilf's thanks.
Through his actions, he made it clear that, as the butler, he would not intrude on their conversation.
Having finished what he needed to do, Alfredo stood behind Jade with measured steps, as though returning to his proper place.
“You came looking for me?”
“P-please, feel free to speak informally. Though I'm only half human, human blood runs in my veins as well.”
“If that makes you more comfortable, then I will.”
“Yes!”
Vilf nodded emphatically, his expression visibly more relaxed.
Quite apart from his status, Jade was a powerful man who had defeated the Wolf King single-handedly.
His name had already been known throughout the Great Forest even before that.
For that reason, Vilf actually found it more comfortable to be spoken to casually.
“I would like to hear your business.”
“I came to ask for your permission, my lord. It didn't seem proper to settle in Baden Village without permission. If you allow us, my family would like to stay in Baden Village.”
“Your family? You're not alone?”
“Yes. I have been living in the Great Forest with my parents.”
Jade, as well as Alfredo, who had been standing quietly at attention behind him, looked slightly surprised.
They knew all too well that the Great Forest was no easy place to live.
No, even those who had not known it had learned the brutal truth after witnessing the beastfolk's battles.
They had learned that the Great Forest was a place that must never be provoked.
“In the Great Forest?”
“Yes. The three of us barely managed to stay alive there. Of course, we lived near the outskirts. The deeper parts were places my family wouldn't dare live. Fortunately, the forest had plenty of places to hide, and there were enough beastfolk that we could communicate a little and live in hiding.”
“You heard about me from the beastfolk, then.”
“That's right.”
Jade felt as though the pieces of a puzzle were falling into place.
He also realized anew that there were quite a lot of beastfolk, spread throughout the Great Forest.
‘A dwarven family.’
Jade looked at Vilf sitting before him with a strange expression in his eyes.
He was a dwarf, not some other race.
Dwarves were a race of natural artisans, so if he accepted Vilf's family, he could gain a great deal from them.
To become residents of his domain meant coming under his protection, and if that happened, he could use Vilf's family to develop the marquisate.
But Jade focused on something else.
He began thinking more deeply about the people who came looking for him.
‘The fact that my name is becoming known means there are more and more people who know about me. The same goes for my status.’
Although he was currently staying in the marquisate because of managing his domain and his personal training, Jade intended to leave it in the near future.
He intended to seek out the so-called sages.
It was unlikely that they would know anything about dimensional travel, but he planned to start with human sages, at least.
In the past, going to see them would only have gotten him turned away at the door, but he was now a marquis, a high-ranking noble.
Because of that, even if they were people from another country, they would not be able to simply turn him away.
Of course, meeting them would not be the end of the matter.
‘Humans first. I'll work my way up step by step.’
Even if those called sages did not know, Jade would not be disappointed.
The Arphedia Continent was not inhabited by humans alone.
There were countless races with intelligence and abilities greater than those of humans.
‘I'll set that thought aside for now.’
Jade pulled his wandering thoughts back on track.
For now, the conversation came first.
“My lord?”
“Ah, I just had something on my mind. As you can see, I am a lord, after all.”
“I-I suppose so.”
Reading Jade's expression, Vilf nodded.
Jade treated him casually, but he was still unquestionably a noble.
In terms of influence and reach alone, Jade was one of the top five figures in the Polstein Kingdom.
There was no citizen of the kingdom who did not know Jade's full name, even if they did not know the crown prince's full name.
“To sum it up, you're saying you want to become a resident of my domain?”
“That's right. If you will accept us, my lord.”
“You understand what that entails, don't you?”
“Yes.”
Since he had already made his decision before coming, Vilf answered at once.
But Jade still had something to confirm.
“The dwarves' village didn't accept you?”
“……Yes.”
Vilf answered with a somewhat stiff expression.
As he did so, he watched Jade's reaction.
Because Jade was a commoner-born noble who had lived in the Great Forest, he was known to have no prejudice against other races, unlike other humans.
But that might have been a distorted rumor, so Vilf swallowed hard.
“It sounds like you've suffered a great deal of discrimination.”
“……I am someone who lives on the boundary.”
“I see.”
A myriad of emotions lay behind those single words.
And Jade was no different.
“All right. You may stay. If you wish, I will provide you with a forge as well. If you would rather not, you are free to live an ordinary life.”
“I only know one trade. If you give me a forge, I will make many things that will benefit you and the domain.”
“Good.”
Vilf's face brightened.
Fortunately, it seemed the rumors had not been misreported.
In particular, he was deeply moved by Jade's saying that he would even allow him to live an ordinary life.
Most nobles, upon meeting a dwarf, would try to exploit him somehow.
They would speak as though they were wondering how best to wring every bit of skill and ability from him.
But Jade was different.
He treated Vilf with consideration, as if he understood him.
“Thank you, truly, truly, for accepting us!”
“Don't get carried away. If you commit a crime, you will be punished accordingly.”
“I will never cause any trouble!”
“Where are your parents? Alfredo told me you came alone.”
“They're in the Great Forest near Baden Village. Fortunately, this area is safe, probably because the beastfolk have settled here—there are no monsters or wild beasts.”
At Vilf's answer, Jade nodded and looked at Alfredo.
Though Jade gave him no particular instruction, Alfredo smiled and approached Vilf.
“Tell Alfredo what you need. He'll help you settle in.”
“Thank you for your concern!”
“It's nothing. We're all doing this for mutual benefit. But do you know much about mines? I imagine dwarves have different areas of expertise.”
Dwarves were a race of natural artisans and miners.
And since there was one full-blooded dwarf in Vilf's family, Jade asked just in case.
He did not think they could keep selling monster parts and medicinal herbs forever.
“Oh, I'll ask her. I learned blacksmithing from my mother, but I haven't learned anything about mining.”
“Ask her and then tell Alfredo. It doesn't matter if you don't know how, so don't feel too pressured.”
“Yes!”
With an expression utterly different from when he had first arrived, Vilf followed Alfredo outside.
His steps were unmistakably light.
Jade watched him leave in silence.