The next day, Camilla stayed in bed and took a day off work.
Flora worried about her, so she brought the healer Maria along. Maria cast a Healing spell on her.
Camilla was way too embarrassed to admit the real reason-she’d overdone it and ruined her lower back-so she told me later that she was deeply grateful the spell fixed it up.
After that, I held Camilla close nearly every day.
We didn’t just do it at night. During the day, I’d find any excuse to pop into her room or drag her into a quiet corner.
When I couldn’t hold back, I’d pull her into the shadows, lift her skirt from behind, or have her take care of me with her mouth.
Camilla never looked upset; she just went along with it all.
Once, while I was hiding under her skirt, the maid Luche came in to deliver a report, and Camilla spent the whole time flushed, riding the thrilling risk of getting caught.
She couldn’t make a sound, and she couldn’t let it show on her face.
That heart-pounding fear set them both ablaze, leaving them craving each other even more than usual.
They were like two dogs that had just discovered a new trick.
”Lord Alfred, I beg your forgiveness for speaking plainly, but I must most humbly entreat your Lordship to exercise a measure of restraint,” the butler Brooks said to me one day.
”…Eeh? What’re you on about, mate?”
”Sigh… I refer, my Lord, to your private encounters with the head maid, Camilla. Seeking her out at every turn is getting rather excessive. I am not asking you to refrain entirely, but I do request that you act with moderation.”
”…Bloody hell! H-how’d you figure that out!?”
”When one displays so little regard for time and place, my Lord, all the household cannot help but observe. In truth, the common folk have already come to regard Camilla as your Lordship’s favoured consort.”
”…No way! Since when…?”
”That alone remains manageable, my Lord. However, should such rumours leak beyond our borders, it could spark some rather troublesome situations.”
”…’Troublesome situations’ like what, then?”
”For example, factions hoping to gain favour with your Lordship might approach Camilla. They could try coaxing secrets from her by winning her over, or play the part of friendly traders offering gifts to secure her loyalty.”
”…Nah, surely not…”
”And how can you be so certain, my Lord? This is no mere guess-these are realities that have played out time and again throughout history.”
”…!?”
”Furthermore, in the worst case, if those factions decide Camilla is useless after approaching her, there is a strong chance they will make her disappear entirely.”
”…!?”
”Therefore, to keep Camilla safe, I implore your Lordship to tread carefully. This does not apply only to Camilla, either. The same issue could arise again down the line, so please stay sharp and watch your conduct.”
”…Aye, got it.”
I had no comeback for that.
When I told Camilla about that talk later-
”I had not considered that possibility, my Lord. I must humbly admit I have been terribly negligent in my duties. I beg your Lordship’s most gracious pardon,” she said, bowing her head in deep apology.
No, no-I was the one jumping her every chance I got…
Her apology only made me feel guiltier.
So, at the very least, I made up my mind to take my day work seriously.
Word came in from Gardo the carpenter and Grandma Luciola the alchemist that the items I asked for were finished.
When I went to pick them up, the quality blew me away-it was far beyond anything I’d pictured.
The next day, I gathered the village representatives for a meeting.
Here was everyone present:
* Flora and her three attendants.
* Butler Brooks.
* Head maid Camilla.
* Gardo the carpenter.
* Zeno the stonemason.
* Grandma Luciola the alchemist.
* Elenora, Captain of the Volunteer Guard.
* My mother, Margaret.
* Mary the mage.
* Kirsten the earth mage.
* And myself, Alfred-fourteen people in total packed inside the village hall.
”…We’re gonna need to knock this place down and rebuild it before long, mind,” Zeno muttered.
”If we’re buildin’ it up fresh, why not make it proper grand-like a guest house? That way we’ll be set proper when folk turn up unannounced,” Gardo added.
”Oh, bless it, that’s a fine idea! But wouldn’t that look all out of sorts next to Alfie’s hall, sweet pea?” Margaret asked, looking around.
”Nah! I aren’t bothered about that!” I laughed.
”Even if you ain’t fussed, we got to keep up appearances for the neighbours, honey,” Margaret replied, nudging me. “If the lord’s place looks run-down, folk’ll laugh the whole town right out of the county.”
”…Guh…”
”Right then! That’s settled-a new lord’s manor and a proper guest house!” Zeno clapped his hands together. “Right, enough larking about. What’s today’s meeting actually about, lad?”
Zeno had his say and smoothly pulled everyone back to business.
”‘Larking about’… aye, whatever. First, I want everyone to take a look at this,” I said.
I brought out the lantern light Grandma Luciola had built, along with the crossbow and compound bow Gardo had put together.
”Does this light up? Is it meant to replace candles?” Flora asked, reaching out to press the switch.
”Whoa!”
”Ah!”
Everyone gasped as a sudden, bright glow burst from the magical item.
”By God, that’s proper bright, that! You could do a full night’s shift with a kit like that!” Gardo shouted, leaning in with wide eyes.
”That’s right. It’s a magic tool Grandma Luciola built by mixing magic stones with White Demon Stone in a clever way. The large one gets mounted on the ceiling to light up a whole room, while the small handheld one works great for night travel or dark spots.”
”…That ain’t all there is to it, is it, lad?” Zeno murmured, eyeing the lantern closely as if catching on to its real value.
”Right. For example, if we mount these on carriages, traveling at night becomes way easier than before.”
”Well now, ain’t that just the grandest thing you ever did see?” Margaret whispered softly.
”Yeah, it is. It could change how transport works entirely. We’d still need monster defenses if we move at night, of course. But we could also read and write after dark without worrying about burning through candles.”
”This is indeed a most marvellous invention-one that may very well define our century,” Elenora said, observing the tool with refined grace.
”So, Alf-what do you want to do with it?” Flora asked.
”First, I want the people of Lindrott to use them at home. Then, if possible, I want to install them as streetlights across the domain to light up the whole village. That should help keep crime down at night. Eventually, I want to project light from the walls out toward the moat for night guard duty so we don’t get caught off guard by night raids.”
”…I see…”
A few people shivered as they pictured the light shining across the moat, quickly realizing how big of a difference it would make.
”I also want everyone to test them out and give feedback. If it goes well, I plan to register them with the Commercial Guild. Since these run on White Demon Stone, no one else can copy them no matter how hard they try, so we can safely share the design for a patent. This will completely flip how people do things.”
Light magic exists in this world, sure.
But this tool didn’t need magic-anyone could turn it on easily, and running it cost no more than a single goblin magic stone a month.
”I see. We spread word of the lights through the Commercial Guild. Even if they know how it’s made, they’ll realize they can’t produce it themselves. Still, once folk see it, they’ll want it-that’s just human nature. In the end, they’ll have no choice but to place orders with Lindrott,” Flora said, nodding along.
”Right. Mass production is still tough, but buyers will pay top coin, so the profits should be huge.”
”And should the esteemed purchaser happen to be of noble lineage, my Lord, we might present it as a rare luxury item and command whatever sum we deem fit,” Brooks added smoothly.
”Yeah. The only problem right now is that Grandma Luciola is the only one who can set up the inner magic circuit…”
”…Hold on, ain’t that the whole bloody point of the thing!?” Zeno barked.
”That’s not our only worry!” Flora piped up. “If news gets out, greedy nobles will take notice, and at worst, they’ll fight over it.”
”If they can’t buy it with a fat purse, they’ll try to seize this place directly. Even if it doesn’t come to that, once these start selling, heaps of gold will flow into Lindrott, and bad crowds will definitely target us,” Flora explained, leaving the room dead silent.
”That’s where the second thing comes in.”
I pushed the crossbow and compound bow out where everyone could see them.
”Pray tell, what are these? Bows? They possess quite an unusual form,” Elenora remarked, leaning forward to inspect them with polite curiosity.
”Right. You can think of them as specialized bows. Gardo built both of them.”
Everyone turned to look at Gardo.
Gardo sat with his arms crossed, waiting quietly for me to continue.
”First, the crossbow. Its best feature is that drawing the string doesn’t take much strength at all. It’s easy to handle, so almost anyone can use it.”
”You set the string like this, load the bolt here, and pull this trigger to fire.”
”Even beginners can hit their target easily with this. Women who can’t pull regular bows-and even older kids-could handle it with a bit of practice.”
”…!?”
”W-wait! You’re not planning on handing weapons to children, are you!?” Mireille blurted out, unable to hold back.
”I’m just talking about possibilities. If a horde of monsters attacked or hit us from multiple sides, the volunteer guard would be stretched too thin. At that point, every villager would have to step up to protect our home.”
The room went quiet again.
Everyone had known that possibility was always lurking.
”When that happens, we can’t be arguing about who’s a woman or a child. And with this crossbow’s punch, a single shot can take down goblins or kobolds, so it’ll be plenty useful. …Though the range isn’t quite as long as a standard bow.”
I pulled the trigger right toward the meeting hall wall.
With a sharp thwack, two bolts sank deep into the wood.
Using memories from my past life and bits I recalled from light novels, I’d tweaked it to fire two bolts at once.
I’d originally wanted three, but pulling the string back took too much effort and made the frame too bulky, so I settled on two.
”…!?”
Everyone except Gardo gasped at the crossbow’s sheer power.
”And the other one is called a compound bow. It boosts the power of a standard bow while lowering the pull strength you need.”
”May I enquire if the secret lies within those small pulleys?” Elenora asked, her eyes locked on the mechanism with keen interest.
”Aye, spot on. These pulleys take force to pull at first, but once it’s fully drawn, you only need about thirty percent of that strength to hold it steady.”
”So you can fire repeatedly without tiring your arms, and it hits much harder than a regular bow. The range is way better, too. This could drop a boar or an orc in one hit, and if your shot is clean, it could even take down an ogre.”
”My word… that is truly extraordinary,” Elenora murmured, her eyes widening.
”If that is indeed the case, we could launch devastating attacks from well beyond the enemy’s reach,” Elenora added, glancing sharply around the room with dignified composure.
Everyone exchanged grim, knowing looks as the weight of her words sank in.
”Aye. With these two weapons, we’ll bolster our defenses and keep this village and everyone in it safe.”
To protect our village’s future.
Seeing my resolve, everyone in the room nodded in agreement.
Trivia:
- Camilla’s physical condition and Brooks’s warning both highlight the tension between Alfred’s personal desires and his political responsibilities, foreshadowing that this pattern of risk-taking will recur with other characters.
- The dual-bolt crossbow modification is explicitly derived from light-novel knowledge, reinforcing that Alfred’s past-life media literacy is a direct source of his engineering advantage, not just general historical knowledge.
- Grandma Luciola’s unique ability to construct the magic circuit creates a single point of failure in the lighting device’s production chain, making her both indispensable and vulnerable to external targeting.