Medieval Knight System: Building the Strongest Empire Ever!-Chapter 13: The Age of Contracts

"Haa, I’m exhausted. What a tiring day."

Returning home, I washed myself clean.

I changed clothes and lay down on the bed.

The soft blanket soothed my tired body.

The quest completed as soon as I lay down. Though I acquired 1,000 points and 10 silver coins, I couldn’t collect myself for a while from the shock of having killed people. I’d nearly lost strength in my legs in front of my retainers. But still, I’d won with low proficiency.

Perhaps because the opponents didn’t know the first thing about swordsmanship, I had won easily. If they had been knights who had received formal training like me, what would the result have been? Without question, I would have lost. I felt lacking in many ways, but regardless, I had survived.

But if a 5-on-1 fight was only one star, wasn’t this difficulty scale too harsh? It had worked out well, but what if I’d made even a slight misjudgment? It was a chilling thought, but anyway, I had won. Through this, I had grasped the basic mindset required of a knight. I took that as some mental consolation.

"I got 1,000 points, so I should treat myself for once."

My favorites were strong ale and fine wine. And cheese to go with them.

Yeah, tonight I’d indulge.

That night, I put away five bottles of ale and three bottles of wine before completely blacking out.

And the next day, I clutched my head, suffering from a hangover.

I must have been out of my mind the night before.

Five bottles of ale and three of wine? It was a miracle I survived. Ugh, my head. For breakfast, nursing my throbbing head, I ordered hearty broth. Ugh, my stomach settled a bit. To be honest, the previous day’s incident had shaken me badly.

But I had endured because I had people to protect.

That was the responsibility of a noble, and once you took someone into your service, protecting them to the end was your duty.

If I couldn’t properly protect my retainers, could those retainers remain loyal to me?

That was how a noble’s reputation was built.

I had committed to taking responsibility for Hans and his sister.

Hans became my faithful attendant and soldier, and I had fought to protect them.

This was the proper fulfillment of that commitment.

The medieval feudal era could be called the age of contracts.

The class called nobles was a warrior class that existed to protect its subjects. Subjects fulfilled obligations of taxation, labor, and military service to nobles, and nobles in turn had the duty to fight external threats to protect commoners. That was the contract between lord and subject, and it had long since become the natural social order.

So I could see that the previous day’s incident had made me grow further as a noble. Though there had been no time to notice, in addition to F-Rank Management (management 20%), I had acquired F-Rank Knight (military power 20%, courage 20%).

Benefits of a 20% increase in military power and courage were now attached.

I’d probably feel the difference in the next fight.

[German Swordsmanship Manual]

[Stage 2 Training Quest]

[Refine 5 Meisterhau (Scheitelhau–Zornhau–Schielhau–Zwerchhau–Krumphau)]

[Basic stance correction]

[Proficiency 70/100]

[Reward — 1,000 points, 1 silver coin]

What was remarkable was that my Meisterhau proficiency had jumped from 35 to 70. What had risen tediously through training alone had leapt forward all at once. Did real combat dramatically accelerate growth? This confirmed it. While I was taking stock of the situation, Hans arrived early in the morning.

"Thank you so much for protecting Sabine! How can I ever repay this debt!"

"It’s okay. You’re my attendant, and I have an obligation to protect you and your family."

"Still, thank you so much! I’ll risk my life to serve the Streit family!"

Hans’s loyalty had grown incomparably stronger than before. His already high favorability had reached 100. He seemed deeply moved that his master had risked his life fighting thugs to protect his precious sister.

While it was natural for nobles to take responsibility for their employees’ families, some nobles didn’t. And that spread as rumors and bred prejudice against nobles as a whole.

In that sense, I could take pride in being a proper noble.

I was proud of myself.

"I should have brought Sabine, but she’s still..."

"After going through something like that, she’d naturally be shaken. It’s fine. But get things sorted soon and come to me. I’ll find a place for you all to live."

"Thank you!"

If those five had been mere foot soldiers, there’d be no problem, but the slum organization might use the incident as a pretext to act. If that happened, who would be the target? The answer was already clear. The area I lived in was the northeast district.

This was an area where wealthy merchants, knight-class nobles, and some titled nobles also resided. However, closer to Kisling Boulevard (east), it was classified as housing for lower-ranking residents, and my house was also near the boulevard. That said, public safety wasn’t bad, and there was little chance of slum organizations causing trouble here.

Ordinarily, migrating commoners from the southwest wouldn’t be permitted, but treatment changed if a noble like me employed them. That’s why commoners regarded being employed by a noble as practically a dream opportunity.

"Who was that boy? The young knight who protected the princess," I asked.

"Daniel. He’s a kid living next to my aunt’s house, and he was close with Sabine. I didn’t realize the two had gotten that close, though."

"He showed real courage. He’s not exactly the marriage prospect you had in mind, right?"

"Haa, that’s my worry. Maybe if he were from a well-off family. With a drunkard for a father, well... I know Daniel’s a good kid, but it’s not that simple."

Hans was clearly unhappy about Daniel as a marriage prospect for Sabine yet still regarded him favorably. However, I had absolutely no intention of marrying off a girl I’d taken responsibility for into a drunkard’s household. There was also my reputation to consider, and I absolutely couldn’t allow someone under my care to suffer at the hands of a drunkard.

So I told Hans to bring Daniel.

Though time was short, I planned to evaluate him properly.

"I’m Daniel Baumann."

"Nice to meet you, Daniel. Thanks for protecting Sabine."

"N-no. Of course I have to protect Nell! Hehe," Daniel said. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"...Nell?" Hans reacted with suspicion.

Hey, doting brother.

Don’t go getting worked up over that.

"Is your shoulder wound healing well?" I asked.

"Yes. I received good treatment."

Commoners rarely went to hospitals.

Surprisingly, most commoners received prescriptions or minor surgery from bath therapists at public bathhouses. Barbers did similar work. After the Church cited public bathhouses as one of the causes of the Black Death, bathhouse culture had begun to decline, but many commoners still frequented them.

After hearing that explanation from Hans, I found it so ridiculous that I paid 2 silver coins to have Daniel treated at a proper hospital. Daniel said it was the first time he had ever set foot inside a hospital, and he was thoroughly amazed. He was the boy who had protected Sabine, so that expense was nothing.

"I also want to work for the Streit family."

"Because Sabine was hired as my handmaid, you want to follow her?"

"That’s part of it, but I also want to follow you yourself, Wolfgang."

Willingly spending the considerable sum of 2 silver coins to have him treated had clearly made a strong impression on Daniel. So he wanted to serve me alongside Sabine. Since three people were manageable enough, I permitted it. The Daniel I saw was a bright and kind boy, just 13 years old.

The Manager Scouter also confirmed that both Sabine and Daniel had the disposition of honesty (good). I liked honest and good people. They were worth investing in.

The Flamm family became independent from their aunt.

Of course, I compensated the aunt who had helped the Flamm family with 2 silver coins, and I also agreed to patronize the textile merchant the aunt had married for fabric going forward. From the aunt’s perspective, she had endured a great deal of her husband’s grumbling for taking in relatives, but when it came back as generous compensation, she finally seemed relieved.

If anything, her standing had risen considerably.

Because her last remaining relatives on her father’s side had entered a noble’s service.

There was an unused storage room in the house I rented, and I had it cleaned out so the two could live there. From the landlord’s perspective, income increased by renting out the storage room, so he readily agreed. The landlord was a noble working as a financial bureaucrat.

Down the line, if I earned enough money, purchasing a proper house became a top priority. Not necessarily a mansion, but somewhere I could reside comfortably.