Lonely Attack on the Different World
Chapter 388 - 359

Day 84 – Evening, the Lord's Mansion

Together with classmates, the Royal Capital party, and the orphan squad from the Frontier, we all head to the lord's mansion, and that's when I remembered. This place is sturdy, yeah, but old, shabby, and cramped!

Driving out the swarm of Middle-Aged Men who are squirming and crawling there year-round and herding them out of the building, I then used 『Holding』 to encase the entire mansion. Even if it's shabby, the decorations and personal belongings need to be preserved, which makes things sort of a pain. But this is basically my first construction project in the Frontier using my budding mastery of 『Wisdom』. Let's do this.

I still had a massive amount of dirt and rubble left stuffed in Item Bag from the construction of the New Fake Dungeon, so I had more than enough materials. And the more I expanded underground for extra basement space, the more available dirt kept piling up.

My home-industry capabilities were honed thanks to endless daily crafting tasks. My『Alchemy 』is already level 8. I compress, harden, and transmute the earth into tougher, stronger walls, layering and fusing them together into a solid, seamless structure like a monolith. There is a certain feeling that I went somewhat overboard, but this mansion is also the Frontier's frontline fortress. The harder and sturdier, the better. And if Meripapa-san complains, I'll just build him a massage chair and he'll forget. As for Murimuri-san, she's scary, but a mushroom bento should pacify her. Should be fine.

Now 『Wisdom』 is getting carried away, expanding the structure and integrating the outer walls until it's starting to look like a towering Agra-style fortress. Are we expecting an attack by giants or something? Well, it's done, I guess?

「Ha-ha-ha-ha-Haruka-sama… What is this!? This building that outclasses the Royal Palace in luxury!?」

Merimeri-san is trembling as she stares up at it. Maybe she's afraid of heights? She'll be fine in a lower-level room. Since the plain, utilitarian aesthetic was bothering me, I negotiated with hyper-practical 『Wisdom』-san and convinced it to at least go with a Mont Saint-Michel look for the exterior. The outer wall was expanded like a second-tier rampart, and we're connecting it with the old first-tier wall while renovating. Yeah, no way even giants can breach this thing.

「What do you mean what? It's your home? Or maybe a fortress? Or more like a citadel-city-style deluxe lord's mansion dream home? I made all the rooms bigger, arrange them as you please on your own, okay?. I mean, you invited us, right? But it was all cramped and falling apart from age, so I tried expanding it, and then it got taller, so I figured I'd go all-out and add some pomp? Kind of?」

「Anyway, come on in, come on in, it's not my house, but I have to give you a tour. I remodeled the interior layout from a structural and defensive standpoint, so there's a friendly guidance system with map boards installed for visitor navigation. Even invaders won't get lost, it's a fortress with navigation support! I guess?」

「Haruka-kun…No one's going to attack after seeing this? If it were me, I'd turn around the moment I laid my eyes on this fortress.」

「This can't be taken. Every potential weak point's been sealed up, just preparing an assault would wipe out an army.」

Looks like we're good to go now that the aide has given her approval. Honestly, asking him is usually the fastest way to get things done here, you know? Anyway, since I went though the trouble of building that huge dinner hall or rather grand hall for the Orphans, let's serve up a feast. Meripapa-san's footing the bill, so we're going all out.

If they're welcomed warmly by the townsfolk, invited to a noble's mansion, and treated to a proper meal, they'll start to feel like it's okay to be here, like this is somewhere they belong. That's the goal. That's why I brought them here. If the lord's mansion turned out shabbier than an inn, it'd ruin everything. At the very least, it needs to be this impressive to be worthy of the Orphans.

(Father… it's so fancy it's actually kind of uncomfortable?)

(Yeah, same… should we just build a little cabin in the yard? Something normal.)

(But Haruka-sama went through all the effort… but maybe just make the interior cozy and simple.)

「Hey, if you don't follow me, the poor lost lord might end up getting stranded in his own mansion, and then we'd need a search party to go find him, but the search party would be inside the mansion too, and since they don't know the layout either, it would turn into this absurd paradox where the lost person has to start searching for the search party instead, so just follow me already, okay? Time for food?」

Passing through a high-ceilinged, arch-roofed lobby lit by chandeliers powered by magic stones, we tread across a plush red carpet on the way to the dining hall. I'd wanted to carpet the entire building, but I made it too big and ran out of materials, so only the guest areas got the full treatment.

Yeah, this is what a proper medieval noble's castle should be. Everywhere else you go, things are so underwhelming. No luxury, just stone?

(Father, I can't. I can't live in a place this amazing.)

(Aah… let's just build a hut in the corner hall. Yeah, that's a good idea.)

(Well, yeah, I definitely feel like I don't belong here at all… but are we really gonna build it?)

This is what a real noble estate should be. The so-called 『Royal Palace』 only had a few fancy rooms, merely a stone building with a little bit of flair. Don't go around calling that a『Palace』.

(Please… someone stop Haruka-sama. If he makes this place any more extravagant, we're running away from home as a family.)

(((Ah, just give up. It's probably way too late for that.)))

(Oh yeah, remember? The shopkeeper girl's family said their rooms were too fancy and ended up living in the storage room?)

(Yeah, and the souvenir shop orphanage branch in the capital was incredible too.) (((That one even had marble in the bath, right? This place probably does too.)))

They're chatting cheerfully, but why does it feel like there's a faint air of grimness hanging over everything? Ah, of course. The rooms and building have gotten so much bigger, but there isn't enough furniture to match. It's probably that sense of imbalance. I'll just go ahead and make some. Let's go Art Deco with it.

(No~, what's with that super princessy furniture!? Who's even supposed to use that?)

(((Well, a princess, obviously!)))

(Haruka-kun, seems to kinda have a thing for cabriole legs on furniture, huh?)

(Oh yeah, the first bath in the cave had cabriole legs too, didn't it?)

(…Is that even a cave anymore?)

(((You'll understand if you go on the picnic. And you'll give up, too.)))

Well, based on the vibe of the place, French cuisine is the way to go. In the end, I couldn't get my hands on real whipped cream, but I did manage to buy a ton of milk, so we've got milk cream in stock to cover for it. And finally, we might just be able to pull off milk cream crepes and pseudo-cream puffs for dessert.

For the all-you-can-eat à la carte spread, we'll start with appetizers: mushroom and vegetable carpaccio with fish, brussels sprouts and potato confit, tomato-wrapped minced meat baked with herbs. For mains: fish dishes, sautéed, wine-steamed, and in cream pastry. Meat: classic steak with a variety of sauces, sautéed chicken thighs in white wine cream sauce with mushrooms, and some kind of rib roast grilled to perfection. Just bread would be lonely, so let's add potato galettes too. Dessert… Serving a desert so early is too much of a risk.

「「「Lets dig in!」」」

After Meripapa-san's long long, about six times longer than eternity, monologue finally ended, the dinner party began. I mean, it was like, 『Thanks to so-and-so of the such-and-such kingdom, and over there it's like this, but also that happened, and, well, it's all very complicated,』 packed with proper nouns and told in sweeping grandeur… but I'm not aware of any of that stuff? I don't even know this castle's name yet, so am I supposed to follow a conversation that far ahead? Right now, the placeholder on the front still just reads 『Nameless Castle of the Frontier? Or maybe it has a name, no idea so, unnamed? I guess?』

Well, he looked like he had something to say, but once I made him a throne-style massage chair, recliner version, Frontier lord edition, complete with kneading and vibration functionality, he seemed satisfied.

Merimeri-san appears to have entered her rebellious phase. She's insisting she wants her own cabin in the garden. As expected of a count's daughter, even running away from home requires a detached house. She's probably at that tricky age where you steal a horse and try (unsuccessfully) to break reinforced castle glass in dramatic fashion. I'll make her a little house and a reinforced hammer later.

「But, you know, I really don't think that glass will break? It's reinforced to the max and over 50 centimeters thick?」

「I'm not stealing anything! Or running away! Or smashing anything! And I'm not rebelling!」

Oh, it's been a while since I've seen a proper foot-stomping tantrum. I join in, then Dancing Girl joins in, and finally even the Orphans join in, apparently a full-blown foot-stomping contest has broken out. I guess they were frustrated they didn't get to do one at the ball. Though hey, Orphans, that turned into a Cossack dance halfway through. That's not stomping, you know? M-Merimeri-san is doing the Cossack dance too!? Is it the current trend?

And once the meal began, it looked like the Orphans were nervous at first, but now they're so busy eating they've forgotten all about it. The girls… they're eating properly, with good manners! These same girls who, back at the inn, turned every meal into a full-blown food battle, swinging around tridents as their skills exploded, are now calmly dining, chatting with ladylike poise! They're not screaming and squabbling, snatching food from each other!? Are they fake?

But Slime-san's has perfect table manners! Gracefully using a knife and fork with its tentacles, dabbing its mouth with a napkin. Wait, you don't even have a mouth, right? And the napkin is also getting absorbed?

With the girls reunited, Royal Girl, Merimeri-san, and Maid Girl are in full-on girls' talk mode. Technically-registered servant monsters Skeleton-san and Mummy-san, which are, Armored Pres-san and Dancing Girl-san, are formally participating too, so it's all cheerful and friendly?

They were properly introduced back at the ball, like, 「This is Armored Pres-san a skeleton, and this is Dancing Girl-san a mummy, okay? And this is actually Slime-san, true to the appearance?」 or something like that, so there's no problem. Everyone froze a bit, but they were clearly notified, so no issues there.

The Idiots have been quarantined to the edge of the table to eat, so that should be fine. I made sure to warn them, if they don't behave, scary Pres will come wielding her whip, asking, 『Any bad idiots around~?』, so they're staying quiet. Seems like nobody can go against Pres-sama the Trainer; they're eating nicely from their plates.

The Geeks are properly fading into the background, becoming one with the air itself, dissolving their presence completely as they eat. Probably no one's even noticed they're there. Wait, doesn't that work better than skills?

Even though this was an invitation from the local lord, everyone's in casual wear. Besides, whenever Meripapa-san appears in an official setting, he suddenly slips into this creepy, over-the-top character and starts speaking weirdly, which would probably scare the Orphans. So with all the lively chatter, the host couple, Meripapa-san and Murimuri-san, along with Royal Girl, are making rounds at the table, chatting with everyone and expressing their thanks one by one.

That's the whole reason we were invited, to personally give thanks along with the King's words. Though, since the King's a bit of a playking, it probably doesn't carry much weight. Still, he wanted to say it. Not some stiff ceremony, not pretty official phrases, not a grand moment to bestow honor and glory, just using his own words to apologize, bow his head, and offer thanks. That's what this invitation was about, because he knows that's what really matters.

He even kneels down to the Orphans, smiling and speaking to each one. In the end, the only reason this Frontier held together was because people believed. While the rest of the worthless world was pulling each other down, refusing to unite, obsessed only with their own authority and gain, the Frontier alone stood together, everyone helping one another. And the symbol of all that was this Count house.

What everyone believed in wasn't lineage, or history, or authority, or power, or status, or reputation. It was simply being with the people. That alone earned their trust, and that trust was never betrayed.

A grand castle or the trappings of authority mean nothing if they aren't recognized. Things that can be easily obtained with money have no real worth.

If someone is truly acknowledged by the people, then even if they don't have wealth, they should proudly live in a lavish castle? Authority or luxury that doesn't suit the person just invites ridicule, but if the lord is someone the people can take pride in, then it's only right they live in a home that reflects that pride. I mean, it's just a hassle to build a separate house in the garden, and it would look shabby?