Stranger's Handbook - WN Chapter 01-76
Page 9
Master, don’t make such an expression…….This moment now is really important.
She smells so good…..I was kneeling in front of her and the young lady closely approached me and started to wipe my tears in all honesty.
Her dressed chest was intermittently wiggling.
Such a wonderful perquisite! My heart would shatter if not for this level of reward.
The young lady has an unexpectedly big chest…….Is she a D cup? Yeah, that’s definitely a D cup!
“Really now, Zest-sama, you worry too much. I know! If we start keeping an exchange diary, there will be nothing to worry about anymore!”
‘I can’t make him worry anymore! If we keep an exchange diary, Zest-sama would be able to relax!’
The D from ‘D cup’ turns out to be the D from ‘death’!
Young lady, your kindness is so painful……I might die this time.
* * *
Translation: Nana
Proofreading: Carmina
DA BEST (among the worst): Mockii
Chapter 19: Exchange Diary
Nooo….I actually broke my promise and missed one deadline *gusu gusu*
But in my defense, yesterday my boyfriend and I had our 7 years anniversary, so, you know, we had a little celebration ♥
I guess this is a good enough excuse, isn’t it? ^^
And to make up for it, you will enjoy a double update today, partly because I feel guilty, partly because chapter 20 is so good! xD
Oh, and both my delightful proofreaders are gone at the moment, so please don’t mind if you find any mistakes, for they’ll be corrected soon. ;D
With that being said, enjoy your double update!
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Chapter 19: Exchange Diary
I, who had succeeded to stop the young lady’s weapon creation that took the name of an obento, am currently inside the carriage and on my way home.
The servants of the Frontier Count’s Household sent me off while shedding tears of joy, and the young lady also gave her consent that she won’t do it again.
My master was displeased for some reason, saying ‘To make advances at a girl in front of her father, you sure are a lady killer.’ but when I answered ‘Then, do you wanna eat that again?’ he seemed to grow silent.
Honestly, you’re so troublesome.
However, with this the crisis has passed.
All that’s left now is to keep training hard and keep acquainted with the nobles.
In one year I’ll marry the young lady and then there’s the invasion of the neighboring country.
In order to do that, I must keep trying my best……
I am now the adopted son and the successor of the Knights Division Commander.
An ordinary person who came from a different world has become a noble, huh? Moreover, if everything goes as planned, I’ll be getting married with the young lady of the Frontier Count’s Household, huh…..?
A son-in-law, huh…….? Will I be living together with that old man?
Ha ha, my tears won’t stop falling.
I felt a tingling in my arms and then they grew numb.
Oops, I completely forgot about it……This book that the young lady entrusted me with.
It’s a heavy, massive book with extravagant black leather covers and beautiful golden designs.
There’s the Frontier Count’s Household family crest imprinted on the front cover, a shining large snake coiling around a shield.
“An exchange diary, you say?”
Yes, no matter how you look at it, this book seems to be filled with dark magic prohibited spells….this is the exchange diary that the young lady gave me.
It was prepared by my master for when I managed to stop the weapon creation.
I really wanted to turn him down, but since both my master and the old Frontier Count, who showed up before I could even realize, insisted that I accept it, so I virtually couldn’t refuse anymore…..
With a twitching face and a trembling body, I moved to grab it, but the young lady approached from the side with a terrible speed and stole the book before I could even touch it.
After she finished writing today’s share, she returned this prohibited book to me by throwing it inside the carriage.
Since I arrived at my mansion, I decided I would have to deal with this dark magic grimoire as soon as possible.
Maybe I’ll just write something casually while sipping some of the tea that was already prepared for me in my room.
For today, I wrote something like ‘I’m happy we started this exchange diary. I really like you, young lady.’
Since it’s the first day, she also wrote something similar, so it shouldn’t be any problem.
I will send it to her tomorrow morning, she’ll write something in the evening and sent it to me the following morning; and we’ll probably stick to this schedule.
“However……the dark magic’s influence is already astounding……..”
That’s right………
‘I’m looking forward to this exchange diary that we started today!’
With only this little sentence, the diary was emanating an overwhelming magical power.
It’s supposed to be a happy feeling, but the fact that she wrote it negatively sent shivers down my spine.
That’s why I didn’t want to do it……
Damn it! But well, since both my master and the Frontier Count are indebted to me now, I can’t help but accept my fate…….
Because leaving this grimoire as it is might turn out to be quite dangerous, I must do something about it.
I asked the maids to bring me some mithril, and I made a chain in order to seal the black magic. I secured it with a mithril padlock as well.
Since this metal called mithril has a high affinity for magic, even though it’s rather expensive, it is extensively used.
It’s such a waste of my light magic, but it can’t be helped.
If I don’t do this much, the servants who deliver the book might just drop dead.
It’s completed……The extravagant, black leathered book is now sealed with a chain.
……………Exchange diary? No, this is definitely a grimoire, a prohibited book!
How should I explain this to the young lady though?…….I probably can’t tell her honestly that……it’s because of her dark magic.
It seems she had some traumatic experiences.
Let’s go with this then!
I quickly wrote a letter and added the padlock key in the envelope.
Since I already went through all this trouble, I also made a set of fine keys, and I hanged mine around the neck.
Naturally, they’re also mithril-made.
I gave the grimoire and the letter to a maid and I instructed her to run an errand for me the next day.
If I forget to send it in the morning, it might turn into something quite nasty.
It should be okay now. Today was a really awful day.
~ The following day at the Frontier Count’s Household ~
A major incident…..The servants were making an uproar over the exchange diary that Zest-sama has sent.
The exchange diary that the young lady was so excited about was sealed with a chain.
Was this interpreted as a declaration of not wanting to continue with this exchange diary, I wonder?
How sad will the young lady be once she sees this?
Some of them had pale faces, some of them broke down crying; the Frontier Count’s Household was facing yet another crisis.
And then, the young lady showed up.
“What’s with this uproar so early in the morning? Is it that ‘it’ has already arrived?”
They could no longer hide it from her…….The maids timidly handed over the exchange diary.
Her mouth twitched for a moment.
“……..I…..I will be in my room for……a while. Make sure no one disturbs me.”
She said that and left.
The servants that were left be
hind were standing stock still……for like forever…..
She returned to her room and opened the letter while trembling.
Why was the exchange diary sealed? Did he hate it that much?
She started reading while cladding her body in a gloomy lair of dark magic.
A far away scream could be heard, it seems that someone might have collapsed, but for now the letter was more important.
‘－To my lovely fiancée －
I know that you’ll be shocked to see the exchange diary in such a condition, but I intend to explain it properly, so please calm down and continue reading, okay?
To be honest, I’m a very jealous person. What if someone else gets a glimpse at what you wrote in this diary?……When I thought about this, I couldn’t bear it.
That’s why I made sure to seal this diary so that no one can have a look at it without using the key.
I want to know more about you, but I don’t want others to have the same privilege. Please forgive my selfishness of wanting to monopolize you……
I enclosed a key for you in this letter and I also attached it to a pendant so that it would be easily worn as a necklace.
While thinking of you, I embedded it with defense magic so that it could protect you in my place when I’m not around, so promise me you’ll always wear it on you.
It’s mithril-made and it’s filled with light magic and all my love for you, therefore it will neither rust, nor rot.
It will be eternally unaffected, just like my feelings for you.
While using these keys, let’s enjoy this exchange diary from now on! Please!
－Your selfish fiancé －’
“It can’t be helped. Really now, you’re such a selfish person!”
That day, the young lady was clad in a fierce and wicked magical power that no one has ever seen before, all while constantly paying undue attention to the necklace at her chest.
The servants filled me in with the details the next morning, all while looking completely devoid of life.
* * *
Translation: Nana
Proofreading: Carmina
DA BEST (among the worst): Mockii
Chapter 20: A Man Beyond Expectations
Enjoy!
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Chapter 20: A Man Beyond Expectations
One month has passed since the one-day incident that filled the Frontier Count’s Household with despair…..later nicknamed as ‘the dark grimoire incident’, and for the time being the regional capital was peaceful.
I was undergoing the same daily training with my master, my foster father and the soldiers.
Since the soldiers have considerably opened themselves to me, we often went drinking in the city after training was over.
In Japan, I was in the sales business, so I had a lot of chances to go drinking with my clients, therefore it wasn’t painful at all.
I have spent every single day going drinking with the noisy soldiers, going with the middle-aged squad leaders to establishments where we could enjoy the company of young ladies, or being invited and visiting the houses of nobles and commanders.
Ah, I’m also coping with that grimoire in the shape of an exchange diary! Nowadays, I don’t need the servants to deliver it anymore.
That’s because the grimoire often decided by ‘itself’ to go visit other houses than the appointed one.
Thanks to that, it had now quite the reputation in the neighborhood: ‘If you wake up early in the morning, you’ll be able to see the flying grimoire’
……..I decided not to think too much about it……
Well, I’ve spent some rather peaceful (?) days.
“Son-in-law-dono. Something really troublesome has occurred…….”
“Huh?”
To be suddenly summoned to the Frontier Count’s Household and be thus informed is……
“To tell you the truth, it’s about yours and Bea’s marriage……It might not go according to the initial plan anymore.”
The old Frontier Count Razatonia was showing an unusually evil smile and the air around him seemed rather eerie.
“The plan was for you to take your time and become well-known, cause some strife, then marry her as a reward for solving it. Am I correct?”
“Yes, your Excellency. It’s just like you said.”
“However, a fool who dared to interrupt our plans has showed up…..Such misfortune!”
“Fuu” he sighed and sipped some black tea.
“The only son of a priest noble from the imperial capital, you know, expressed his wish to marry Bea and took the trouble to come here……So darn annoying!”
Razatonia-sama, please choose your words wisely!
“However, one does not simply express their wish to marry someone and just comes over all of sudden, right? Or does he have any connection to the Frontier Count’s Household?”
“That’s what you’d normally think, right? Even so, that blockhead came here saying ‘I heard that here resides a beautiful woman who is worthy of me. There’s no need for you to worry about the ceremony expenses and I’ve already brought a congratulatory gift’. Ha ha, he’s making fun of me. The imperial capital bean sprouts think of us only as some mere countryside gatekeepers.”
Yea, he’s showing a smile that seems to shout ‘Don’t defy me!’
“But even so, your Excellency has declined, or?”
“Well, here’s the thing. Without taking all the trouble of causing strife, when something like this falls into your lap, don’t you think it’d be such a pity not to use this opportunity? Grandson-in-lay-dono.”
Wooaa!
Hiiii!! Please stop, my heart already froze!
“He’s lucky to have the necessary court rank though. But I put a condition, namely……..that the person in question must wish to marry him as well. He will propose to Bea in the square in front of the castle gates, I chose this place since it’s rather vast. Nobles, soldiers and commoners will all gather there. I will make sure everyone is informed.”
Such a wicked old man!
“So, I will challenge him to a duel with the young lady’s hand at stake, right?”
“Who would have thought that there were mutual feelings between her and another man, and this man is actually the successor of my Knights Division Commander!? I sure wasn’t aware of it!”
“I’m quite surprised he agreed to this condition though.”
“Haha, he said ‘Something like for me to get rejected by her is impossible. It actually pains me that such an event will pass unnoticed, so make it as grand as possible’………He really takes me as a fool.”
His Excellency Razatonia was not smiling anymore.
He had such an aura surrounding him that I couldn’t even call him an old man anymore……not even inside my head…….Good-bye, blockhead noble-kun!
“I understood. It can’t be helped if it’s an unfortunate death as the result of a duel. What’s the date and time?”
He grinned at me broadly.
“Five days from now, at noon. We’ll have a party after that, so make sure to prepare for it as well, grandson-in-law-dono.”
Even though I said that, killing someone is a bit…..I wonder if they’ll let me go with half killing him or with leaving him one-handed……
And if some unfortunate accident happens afterwards, it won’t have anything to do with me.
Yes, let’s just go with that.
The moment I decided to ask him about this, the door was opened violently with a bang.
“Grandfather, I must speak with…..Oh! You were here, Zest-sama!”
‘Grandfather, save me! …….Zest-sama!?’
The young lady……’save me’ she said?
His Excellency Razatonia also raised an eyebrow at the sudden intrusion.
It was such a great display of failed manners for a noble.
“Bea, that’s not very lady-like……What happen to your face?”
Now that he said that, I looked at her a
gain.
She was staring at her black and red ‘witch’ dress like she was watching something filthy and her eyes were cold as ice……Is she crying!?
One side of her face was bright red……
“Bea, I will heal your face. Please don’t move.”
I rushed over and cast my healing magic while the young lady was still silent and obedient.
“That would be helpful, Zest. So, Bea, tell me what happened.”
His Excellency Razatonia was now very serious.
Depending on the circumstances, bloodshed might occur.
The young lady caught a fleeting glimpse of me and started talking.
“I was enjoying my tea inside the summer house in the castle’s courtyard when some unknown man called out to me. When the maid threatened him, that man approached me and caught hold of my hand, saying ‘I don’t see the problem since we’re already engaged’.”
‘I hate this…..I don’t want Zest-sama to hear this. But, he’ll find out anyway……’
The temperature in this room dropped considerably.
“Since I hated it…..he called me impertinent and hit…..my face…..”
‘I wonder if Zest-sama is mad……I’m such an indecent person, talking with an unknown man like that……’
I approached her quickly and seized her hand.
“Bea. I’m sure it was scary, but you’re safe now. However, your feelings are confused at the moment, so it would be better to go back to your room and rest for a little bit. After I finish talking with your grandfather, I’ll send a messenger to my house and then we can have a good talk. What do you say?”
“Yes. You do just that. It won’t take much time, so you should wait a little bit.”
After the young lady reluctantly left, my master came in instead.
“Son-in-law-dono, that was really helpful. You convinced her to go back to her room. I almost thought she was going to get rid of that idiot just now.”