Chapter 37: Bad Friend (1)
Chapter 37: Bad Friend (1)
Chapter 37: Bad Friend (1)
“Here it seems.”
We followed Miss Drin through the tidy streets of District 1, for about 10 minutes.
We entered a residential area filled with luxurious mansions, each with their own courtyards.
Shortly thereafter, Miss Drin pointed to one mansion.
This is the accommodation arranged by the Lebringer family for Miss Drin’s academy life.
“Um…”
Is that right?
Is that right for her?
Such were my thoughts upon seeing the ambiguous mansion.
In itself, it was a colorful and luxurious mansion, unlike those around it.
Just the sort of luxurious mansion where you might expect to find the wealthy and affluent population of this world.
But considering it as Miss Drin’s mansion, its colorfulness and luxury felt like meaningless extravagance.
While Miss Drin has an impeccable dignity that would suit her well even in a sumptuously extravagant palace, she herself is the type of person who would prefer to live in a common mansion, finding such luxurious buildings uncomfortable.
“What is it, why that reaction? Is there a problem with our mansion?”
Due to my ambiguous reaction, Miss Drin asked.
“No, it’s not that there’s a problem but it just seems, somewhat… unbefitting for you, Miss Drin.”
“Hmm.”
As I addressed her as “Miss”, Miss Drin cleared her throat with a more uncomfortable expression than when I showed an ambiguous reaction to the mansion.
“Ah, excuse me. It’s not so much that there’s a problem but, it just seems… too… lavish for you?”
“…What do you mean, it doesn’t suit me? Are you implying that I don’t fit well with luxury?”
Her dignity seemed to be hurt as Miss Drin questioned me.
At this point, if I were to dodge the issue, she would probably end up dressing in a variety of extravagant clothes and accessories until I admit, ‘Miss Drin suits well with extravagance’.
‘Oh…’
Miss Drin in extravagant attire and adornments.
Just the thought of it made the prospect of teasing Miss Drin feel particularly enticing, but I managed to hold myself back and continued with what I had originally intended to say.
“Of course not. How could there be anything that doesn’t suit Miss Drin? It’s just that, the image of Miss Drin in my mind is a bit more- how should I put it? Dedicated, perhaps? Somehow, she doesn’t seem like someone who would prefer such excessive extravagance.”
“No matter how I see it, it feels like you’re being sarcastic…”
Miss Drin gave me a skeptical.
I gave her the most innocent smile I could muster in an attempt to convince her of my sincerity.
“…As I thought, you are definitely being sarcastic.”
“Oh dear.”
“Well, anyway, it’s not entirely wrong. To be honest, I don’t really like this mansion either. But what can I do? When our family received it as a transfer, it was already like this.”
“Transfer?”
“This mansion was transferred to our family from the Council of Arienne City.”
“…Why? Why would the Council of Arienne City transfer this to the Lebringer family?”
“Probably to accommodate me as I’m entering the Academy.”
“…”
At this moment, I felt anew that Miss Drin lived in a completely different world from me.
Arienne was one of the wealthiest cities in this world.
It reminded me of New York, Hong Kong, Singapore.
District 1 was the most affluent area in such a city of Arienne.
And this residential area was the most high-end neighborhood in District 1.
If you exaggerate a little, this place was the area with the highest land value in this world.
And, did they receive a mansion situated on such expensive land, complete with a yard, as a transfer?
‘How many years would it take for me to live in such a mansion?’
My imagination, which was still in the realm of an ordinary person, suggested that ‘Isn’t it possible after having an immortal power and working for about 5000 years?’
As far as I knew, all the academy students received accommodations from the academy, but the aristocrats had their places in Arienne separately from these.
To put it nicely, it was the tradition, culture, and face-caring unique to the aristocracy.
In bad words, it was the pretense and formality unique to the aristocracy.
Despite receiving accommodation, they prepare a separate personal space and show off the status of the aristocratic family through the scale and splendor of that personal space.
In the case of low-ranking aristocrats, I heard that there are cases where the family pillars shake because they follow that culture.
Is it different when we talk about high-ranking aristocrats?
Do they provide accommodation at the city level?
“Getting accommodation from the city council. Is this typical for high-ranking aristocrats like you?”
I asked Adella, Adryn, and Mizu, who were standing behind, carefully.
“What? Of course not.”
Adryn answered promptly.
“Typical cases … Do you think it makes sense? Most families can’t even get a mansion on Agena Street here. They want to find accommodation on this street, but they can’t?”
Adella supplemented it.
“Our Bauer almost lost its foundation trying to get a mansion on the outskirts of District 1.”
Mizu added.
Apparently, Miss Drin’s story was a story of another world, not only to me but also to the three young ladies who were high-ranking aristocrats.
According to these young ladies, this ‘Agena Street’ is a place where even high-ranking aristocrats can hardly move in.
The high housing prices and difficulty in finding properties are secondary reasons.
The biggest reason is because the urban aristocrats of Arienne treat Agena Street as a kind of symbol.
‘Only those who can walk on Agena Street are the true citizens of Arienne’ or something.
Accordingly, it is said that Arienne rarely provides Agena Street to external aristocrats.
But.
On the yolk land of such Agena Street, Miss Drin ‘received’ a mansion.
When a newbie asks, ‘What is the 8 Great Families?’
Veterans answered, ‘It’s easier to think of it as a royal family or Celestial Dragon.’
We followed Miss Drin into the mansion, our faces saying, ‘I’m sick of this.’
Crossing the luxurious yard, I listened carefully to Miss Drin, who was leading us.
“The exterior of this mansion… it doesn’t match the values we Lebringers pursue. So, at the time when we received it, there was talk of tearing down the entire building and rebuilding it.”
‘No bread? Then eat a cake.
Don’t like the building? Then demolish it and build it again.’
Our way of thinking was different from hers.
“However, tearing down and rebuilding a building simply because you don’t like its exterior is wasteful. Few of us from the House, including myself, strongly opposed and as a result- we decided to use this mansion as it is.”
Of course, Miss Drin was very diligent in her unusual way of thinking.
“Listening to this, it feels like this mansion is finally complete. The restraint and dignity that were lacking in the beginning are now filled with Miss Drin’s thoughtful considerations, wouldn’t you say? Hahaha.”
Miss Drin gave me a look of disgust.
“How do you manage to speak such flattery that it’s embarrassing even to think about?”
“Do you want to know the secret?”
“Okay, tell me.”
“When choosing words, the mindset is not about flattering but about expressing the feelings I have now.”
“My goodness. Are you being serious?”
As I placed my hand over my heart and chanted sincerely, Miss Drin gave a look as if she saw an abominable sight.
Actually, the real secret was Miss Drin’s reaction.
As long as I can see such a reaction, there’s nothing I can’t do.
As if running away from me, Miss Drin increased her pace and knocked on the door.
Not long after, the door opened.
“Miss, you’ve arrived.”
Neatly braided hair.
Sharp glasses and an even sharper strict atmosphere.
And the neat maid’s uniform, pristine without a speck of dust or hint of disorder.
The person who greeted Miss Drin was completely consistent with the maid stereotype that existed in my mind.
“Oh.”
Without realizing it, I admired this perfect image of a maid.
“…”
Sharp glances came flying at my reaction.
“…”
At the heart of these sharp gazes, there was none other than the maid’s gaze.
Albeit a brief moment, the maid’s gaze, which left a sharp impression on me, immediately moved to Miss Drin.
“Are they your guests?”
“Yes, Yena. They are the guests I invited to the mansion today.”
Yena?
‘Oh, I remember when I hear the name.’
Yena.
She was a maid who took the role of guardian for Miss Drin when she came to Arienne to attend the Academy.
A word of evaluation for this character named Yena, whom I once saw in a post or video, comes to mind.
[Wow, is she not a maid but a destroyer?]
Suddenly I thought.
Even if I did not catch that assassin today, wouldn’t that assassin have been easily cut by this Yena?
Yena, the maid who was naturally an enormous monster tasked with protecting Miss Drin in a foreign place like Arienne from the point of view of the Lebringer family.
To put it bluntly, if something unfair happened to Drin at the Academy?
The moment it happens, Yena would storm into the Academy alone, grab the professor by the collar and directly inquire him about it.
No, it’s not even an exaggeration.
It was a real event that happened in the game.
Such Yena was giving me a meaningful look.
“…”
From what I think based on my overly sensitive senses.
The meaning contained in that meaningful gaze might be like this.
‘Why is such a shabby man beside our young lady?”
It reminded me of a mother’s gaze at her daughter’s ill-mannered friend she brought home.