I Asked About Ms. Claire

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Indeed… There was the matter of the soil as well… I had not been thinking about that.
I was only thinking about how they would grow, and the speed.
It was quite obvious now that I thought about it. The nutrients within the soil were not infinite.
Otherwise, there would be no need to use fertilizer.

The land had to be cultivated, and through adding nutrients that plants needed, the crops would be able to grow… Such things had to be considered.
There were also pests. It would be important to have someone who was knowledgeable about growing plants.
I didn’t want a situation where I grew too many herbs, and ended up making all of the land around Range village unfertile.
I would not know what to say to Mr. Hannes if that happened.

And so I was grateful towards Sebastian and the others when it came to such matters.
Though, without the help of the duke’s house, this whole plan would not have even been put into action.
In any case, I was quite satisfied now. And so it was time for the final question.
Ms. Claire also looked like she was tired of waiting.

“Uhh, this is the last one but… Why is Ms. Claire on the list?”
“!”

I asked and Ms. Claire straightened her posture with a look of total alertness.

“About that…”
“Well, it is no wonder that you would question it.”

Sebastian turned to Ms. Claire, and Mr. Ekenhart nodded with an amused expression.
Ms. Clarie now looked a little apologetic.

“Lady Claire, so this is what you have been planning?”
“Uh… Well, I had no choice really. If Mr. Takumi is in Range village, he will be away from me. So if I go as an employee…”
“…I’m not in any position to be hiring a highborn lady… Am I?”

Ms. Claire seemed even more uncomfortable now that Ms. Anne was staring at her.
Indeed, if I went to Range village, we would be quite far apart, which would mean we wouldn’t be able to see each other.
Uh…I suppose it would be a little sad.
But regardless, I still thought that I wouldn’t be able to hire someone who was the duke’s daughter.

Or any noble for that matter.
But as I wasn’t sure, I turned to Mr. Ekenhart.
Though, he was the kind of person who would allow anything if it was amusing…
And both he and Sebastian seemed like they wanted me and Ms. Claire to…

“Well, it would normally be out of the question. Impossible… I don’t know. It could go either way.”
“…It could?”
“Mmm. Claire is my daughter and part of the Leibert family. But she isn’t the master yet. So to be precise, she is not a noble. Because the title is only given to the head of the house…of course, many people think of the whole family as being nobles. So even if it is incorrect, other people see anyone directly related as nobles.”
“I will one day inherit my fathers title and become a countess. But until then, I am technically a commoner. Lady Claire is the same.”

Mr. Ekenhart explained that it was unusual but not impossible.
According to his explanation, which Ms. Anne added to, only the head of the house was a noble. But as most people saw the entire family as nobles, others general treated Ms. Claire and Ms. Anne that way.
Well, I suppose it was because they weren’t going to be rude towards someone who was the future head of their house.
Besides, if you did something to hurt their family, then the head of the house would probably retaliate in some way.

And so with all of that considered, it was probably easier for most people to just look at the whole family as being nobles.
This mindset had become so common, that people forgot that it wasn’t technically the case, I suppose.
Regardless of the facts, it still seemed too much to call them commoners.

“So that is why others see Claire as a noble. In terms of the law, there should not be a problem. Even though it would still…look strange.”
“I see…”

When we had gone to Ractos, Ms. Claire had been treated as a noble.
Because of this, it would normally be unthinkable to hire her.
Though, that had also been the time when we encountered Nick. And it had occurred to me that for someone who antagonized a noble, they were rather lenient with him.
I had not been in this world for very long, and knew little about their society. And I had not really questioned it…

The way that people think and the laws were different depending on where you were.
And so I had just accepted it.
But after hearing this explanation, I realized that it was probably because Ms. Claire was technically a commoner, so he didn’t receive a more severe punishment.
…Though, Mr. Ekenhart might have been angry enough to insure a harsh punishment. He was not at the mansion and didn’t know.
Well, perhaps just by being part of the duke’s family, it was still treated a little differently.

In other words, they had just been arrested as brutes who were attacking commoners.
Though, aside from Nick, they also had other charges against them, and so they were probably being judged harshly now.
When I thought about it like that, Sebastian had also been bluffing a little when he threatened him at Mr. Kalis’s store.
If he ran away or damaged the herbs, then he would be… Well, it would surely not be the case.

Next Chapter

My Beloved Dog is the Strongest in Another World