Violant of the Silver - Chapter 76

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Translator: mii

editor: chiizuholic

The next day around noon, Vio knocked on the door of Samarelli’s house once again.

“Thank you for saving my son yesterday… Please come in,” Dawn bowed politely as he welcomed them in, but his expression was stiff.

I guess it’s still better than being chased away right in front of the gate.

At least Dawn was willing to listen to him now.

“Excuse me,” Vio said as he went through the entranceway, Jill, Legion and Rille following in behind him.

“Ah!”

Vio looked for the source of the voice and saw Yuan looking at him from the stairs near the entrance, his eyes round. Yuan energetically descended the stairs and clung to Vio’s waist.

“Thank you for yesterday, noble big brother!”

“Wah!” Vio staggered, surprised by Yuan’s unexpected action.

Legion quickly supported Vio’s shoulders. “Are you okay, Lord Violant?”

“Y-yeah…”

Dawn turned pale and called out, flustered, “Hey, Yuan! Don’t be rude to our guest.”

Vio carefreely raised his left hand to gesture that he didn’t mind. Then he patted Yuan’s head gently. Somehow, the boy reminded him of his sister, Flora.

He said, “You’re Yuan, right? It must have been tough for you yesterday. Are you alright now?”

“Yes… It was scary, but in the end, I got to see my father again. So it’s okay.” Yuan released Vio and smiled at him.

Vio bent down to match his line of sight with Yuan’s, just like when he talked with Flora. “Your eyes are red. You couldn’t sleep?”

“No… I was just so relieved that I cried…” Yuan turned his head down in embarrassment, then ran to Dawn’s side, hiding behind the man’s back. He proclaimed, “U-um! I will make tea!” With that, he ran into the kitchen.

Confused, Vio asked Dawn, “Does he hate me?”

Dawn looked surprised, but he answered Vio in a low voice, “Nah, he’s just embarrassed. Even if he’s young, he’s still a man. Having other people find out that he cried should be embarrassing, right?”

After that, he guided them to the living-cum-dining room located right after the entranceway. Vio took a seat, and his three servants stood in each corner of the room.

Dawn brought up the main subject immediately. “You want to talk about the job again, don’t you? I’m thankful for your help, so I decided to listen to what you have to say for the time being. But before that, I want to ask about your plan in case I refuse.” His tone was still rude, but Vio didn’t pay it any mind and signaled Jill to hand out the documents.

“Yes. Unfortunately, most people declined me as soon as I told them my family name. I only have these three candidates left. Even so, I’m excluding this wild grass researcher and this flower researcher. If you refuse, I’m thinking of hiring Mister John.” As Vio spoke, Jill showed the corresponding pages of the recommendation letter.

“I see.” Dawn looked at each page and nodded. “I can see why you rejected the flower researcher, but why can’t you hire this Runt guy who studies weeds?”

“It’s his personality. He’s not suited to stay in the mansion, so we opposed it,” Jill calmly replied. He glanced towards the kitchen before continuing, “I believe that you wouldn’t let him enter your house if you met him, either.”

“…I see. I guess it’s bad if he can harm a family member.” Dawn was convinced, but he looked distracted by the recommendation for John. He pulled the document to his hand and read it with a frown. “You helped me, so I’ll tell you this. Don’t hire this guy. He’s a scammer.”

“Huh?” Vio unconsciously voiced.

Legion went forward without hesitation, clearly suspicious. “But His Highness recommended him.”

“Yeah, but this is something that people in the know have knowledge of. This guy tempts rich people to participate in a get-rich-quick scheme using mushroom cultivation. Then he tells them the mushrooms were too difficult to grow, takes the money and gets himself dismissed… He habitually uses this method. I’m a bit of a scholar myself, so I sometimes meet other researchers directly if I’m interested in their research topic. I’ve never met this guy personally, but I heard a good-natured fellow researcher complain about him.”

Vio sighed deeply. He didn’t expect all his options to disappear.

“Jill, cross him out.”

“Understood.”

At that moment, Yuan came out carrying cups of tea. “Here you go. Um…” Yuan looked at the three people behind Vio, not knowing what to say. Apparently, he had taken them into consideration when he had prepared tea for everyone.

“Jill, Legi, Rille. He already prepared your share of tea, so come and drink them. Thank you, Yuan.”

“You’re welcome!”

After Yuan served the tea on the table, he held the tray and bowed. Once Jill and the others received their cups, Vio praised Yuan, “He’s a good boy.”

“Yeah, my son is kind. Just like my wife.”

“…By the way, were you okay yesterday? That Viscount didn’t come visit you?”

“I was worried about that, but he didn’t come yesterday. Maybe he’ll come before long, but I wonder… It seems like his bad reputation spread throughout town overnight,” Dawn said,laughing meaningfully. Vio pretended not to understand, bringing the cup of tea to his mouth.

It looks like my plan was successful. With how the nobility are so fussy about their honor, he’ll probably stay quiet for a while.

The tea was similar to herbal tea, but it had a fragrant flavor. The unique taste spread in Vio’s mouth.

“This is delicious. What kind of tea is this?”

“Medicinal tea. I grow medicinal plants in my garden and make a blend with them. It’s good for your body.”

“Is it possible to cultivate those medicinal plants in Leca? Ah, Leca is a rural town in the northern part of the Lesserhain territory… Since it’s located at the foot of Alpe Mountains, winter is very long there.”

“Even if it’s cold, it’ll be fine as long as you grow them indoors. They’re easy to cultivate too.”

“That’s great. If possible, please let me purchase the knowledge on how to cultivate it later.”

“… You’re not going to force me to tell you?” Dawn asked, wide-eyed. It seemed he didn’t expect it to be a request.

“Did I say something strange? This is the source of your income, right? I won’t do something as rude as asking to be taught for free.”

“Hmm…” Dawn hummed in interest and held out his right hand to Jill. “If you have the documents about the job, show them to me.”

“Yes.” Jill set his cup on the table, took the papers out of his bag, and presented them to Dawn.

Dawn scanned through them. “So as that Miss said, you want to increase the vegetables that can grow in cold climates. Just in case, I want to know your opinion on selective breeding.”

“Ah, I heard about that from Rille. It seems the priests in Nada said that we should respect nature, but then how do they explain insects that help pollination? Naturally-growing plants borrow the help of insects to do so… Therefore, it doesn’t make sense that insects can do it, but humans can’t.”

Dawn was stunned at his answer. Vio continued, “What do they call the plants that grow well thanks to insects? A miracle of the Great Spirit? What if humans can efficiently do the same thing that nature takes a great many years to do?”

Dawn scratched his head and sighed. “I should’ve said something like that to that bald… to that priest before. Well, I got angry at him anyway. But I’m surprised that you’re knowledgeable about this.”

“Even if I have the knowledge, I can’t really make use of it. That’s why I’m looking for someone who specializes in these things.”

Once again, Dawn looked disbelieving at how easily Vio confessed to being bad at something. He looked over the documents one more time. Then he looked up in surprise. “I understand how the salary works. It’s daily wages, and on days that I won’t be working the whole day, it’ll be hourly wages. But what is this? Paid leave and… retirement allowance?”

Jill answered calmly, “Paid leave means you’ll receive pay even during your leave. Please apply for it when you wish to take one. Retirement allowance is the payment you receive when you quit this job.”

“Are you sure about promising me these things…? It’s a poor rural town, right?” the worried Dawn asked seriously.

Vio burst out laughing. “It’s fine. I made sure to separate a share of my funds for this. Since you’ll be going to a remote region, I want to provide the best treatment I can afford. You can also decide whether you want to live in the mansion or if you want me to prepare a house in town.”

“Where will I work?”

“A field will be made for your use on the other side of the fence surrounding my mansion. I own a parcel of farmland and hired a farmer to manage it, so we’ll use that too. I don’t have a greenhouse, but I can prepare a small one if it’s necessary. I don’t have that much money, so I will probably ask you to use an empty house in town.”

“I see…” Dawn muttered, then fell silent. He pondered as he reread the contract, then asked, “What about the announcement of the research results?”

“You can use your name. There’s no need to keep it a secret since it’ll benefit the country.”

Dawn slapped his knee. “Okay, I’ve decided. But that’s if you’ll agree to add a condition here.”

“What is it?”

“Protect my son. It’ll be troubling if I fail to get a favorable result and you demand I pay back the money even if I have to sell my family. I definitely don’t want you sending him to serve somewhere else.”

“I won’t say anything like that. Instead, I’ll ask you to submit your hypothesis on the cause of the failure.”

Vio was appalled, but thinking about it, someone else might be doing something like that elsewhere—for example, Vio’s father or brother.

Dawn grinned and replied formally, “If that’s the case, I’m happy to be hired by you. The conditions are favorable to me, and more than that, I like your way of thinking.”

“Really?! What a relief. Then I look forward to working with you, Dawn Samarelli.”

Vio offered him his right hand. Dawn looked at it in confusion, before timidly taking his hand and shaking it.