Prologue: My days of wandering began like this.

My name is Saphate Greed. I’m the second son of the Greed household based in royal capital, Parma. My family not only ranks high among the nobles, it is also one of the 4 great households of the royal capital. I graduated in Magic arts from the prestigious Royal Magical Academy and joined the same as a teacher, at the same time I continued to pursue my magic research in the academy’s laboratory.

Within just six years of working here, maybe due to luck or because the students that I taught were doing great, recently I received an offer of a permanent position from the Dean personally.

My life was sailing smoothly, but right now, it seems like I have a troublesome issue to deal with.

I, who was used to staying within the faculty residence of the academy all the time, was returning to my family today.

The Greed household is not only one of the 4 great families of the royal capital, it’s also the wealthiest among them.

In our family, there’s my brother who’s serving in the army, two sisters, who have been married off to different noble families, and thus we are 4 siblings in total. Including my father and mother, there are 6 people in our family staying in this castle like mansion.

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When I returned, like always, maids politely greeted me. I was in a hurry, and so I barely greeted them in return and went straight to my father’s study.

“Father, I have something to say.”

My father, Gapoli Greed, who was scanning through a document on his study table, looked at me with dissatisfied expression.[1]

There’s a reason for that.

My father, Gapoli, even though he was a noble, was granted the right to administer some of the territory surrounding the capital by the king.

Even though I feel sorry to expose disgraceful acts of my family but I feel the need to do so. My father is very prodigal. He like to collect antiques and rare armors so much that he built many vacation homes at outskirts of the city just to store them. As far as I know, there are 14 such buildings. My mother, Lowie, likes to throw big parties.

Every day, she hosts tea parties or banquets and invites a lot of guests from nobles and royalty.

My brother, Pride, who serves in the army, has almost zero skill when it comes to sword, and military stratagems. But he amassed a slew of promotions through bribing the top brass of the army and reached the position of a General at a very young age. But the bribery was exposed, and although malicious gossips are continuing about the nouveau-riche General, he doesn’t even seem to care about it.

My elder sister Tamaa and younger sister Cauchy, were married off to different noble families respectively due to our father’s grace.

But, Tamaa-nee[2], who is extremely fond of clothes, bags and other accessories, immersed herself in shopping spree at her in-laws family which led to a bitter relationship with her mother-in-law.

When it comes to younger sister Cauchy, she really likes submissive men and hence, even though she’s married, she employed many such men as her butlers and created a reverse-harem. What’s worse is, her husband too likes such women and hence, recruited such women as maids and created a harem out of it. In one sense, they make a good pair.

Let’s get back to where I left off.

My parents’ lavishness is becoming more and more absurd day by day.

And to pay for those prodigal expenses, my father has levied unbelievably high taxes in his territory.

It is to the extent that it is creating trouble of even maintaining livelihood for ordinary townsfolk.

Of course, my father continues to ignore the flooding complaints against his administration.

And to not let anyone go to the Royal Capital to address their grievances, he built high walls around his territory which are being constantly monitored by his private army.

A few years ago, when I went to gather herbs, I found out the truth about all these happenings when I reached one of those places.

Unable to hold it in myself any longer, I somehow managed to talk to my father about this. And, I continued to admonish my father of the need to improve the current situation. But, instead of the situation improving, another special tax collection notice[3] was published just recently. Upon hearing that, I immediately decided to rush back home.

”Respected father, things like forcing tax burden on people living within your territory have a limit!”

Today, I refused to back down.

My father folded his arm and closed his eyes as if listening to my words but I could sense the displeasure running through every inch of his face.

After confirming that I had had my fill, he let out a long sigh and said, ”I have understood the things you wanted to say very well.”

From his grand seat, he stood up and stared at me.

’Probably, after all this time, my admonishment was finally heard’. While I was thinking that, my father spat out, ”I unfortunately have you, who cannot accept his father’s actions, as my son. You are hereby disowned! Get lost from my Greed family!”

Later…

I was thrown out of the mansion by few of my father’s personal guards on his order.

I couldn’t even bring any books or household items with me.

As I returned to the academy, I was called by the Dean who handed me the termination notice on the spot.

Since my father was my sponsor for my research[4] in the academy, it was natural that I would be implicated. Even so, it’s troublesome for me to get fired all of a sudden, so I requested to be granted sometime to search for a new guarantor. But, ”Since we have received large grants from the Greed family, you cannot continue to serve here now that you are disowned”, was the reply I received.

With that, all of a sudden, I have been permanently terminated from the academy.

Although I’ve ended up spending most of my savings on magical records, on the bright side, I’ve received some money from my retirement funds which seems to be a token of apology from the academy. With that, I’ve bought a wagon and started packing all my things into it.

Now that I was abruptly told to leave from the academy, without a home to stay, I thought I could only look out for a quiet place to stay while travelling on my wagon.

Luckily, I had few Magic boxes with me, a kind of storage chest which has a capacity to hold large number of items in it. Within that I’ve packed not only my things, but also all the furniture at the residence.

”It seems like I am truly fired.”[5]

After I finished loading the wagon, my colleague… or I should say, my former colleague, Eldena came to greet me.

Basically, except for teaching hours, I was immersed in my research all the time.

As a result, I only have a few friends.

In this royal capital, demi-humans have low social status.

If a demi-human wants to work in the capital, being a servant under a noble could be considered lucky. Otherwise most of them end up as prostitutes[6] or as slaves or something similar.

Elves too end up in similar way. However, among the elves, some tribes are known for their high aptitude in magic, thus Eldena was recruited at the royal academy as a teacher. But, since people who like to socialize with demi-humans are scarce, she is isolated from others most of the time.

As I personally do not entertain the notion that demi-humans are of a foreign race, she too thinks that she was able to befriend someone. (T/N: which is obviously the MC)

Since Eldena’s research topics overlap with mine to a great extent, we worked together a good number of times and occasionally had meals too. We usually go to a typical restaurant in the capital. For sake of avoiding people’s attention on Eldena, we mostly go to a restaurant in the side alley which serves demi-humans.

On the contrary, I attract a lot of attention from the demi-humans at the restaurant but if I cordially approach them, they think of me as an unusual human who gets along well with other demi-humans.

”From now on, what will you be doing?”

On hearing Eldena’s question, I folded my arms as I thought about it.

To be honest, I don’t think I have anywhere to go as I have never socialized with people.

Even if that’s not the case, I can’t think of anyone in the capital who would be concerned about me, now that I got kicked out of Greed family that is very famous even among the nobles.

Besides, given my father’s personality, he was not a person who would not come to harass me. In fact, he might have already influenced the Royal Magic Academy to fire me.

”Honestly, even if I have nowhere to go, I can still go to a remote town…I guess. If they even kick me out from there…”

The capital city Parma, where I am staying right now, is closely surrounded with territories governed by nobles or vassal states.

Far away from here, in the middle of forests or mountain ranges, there are districts which can be called as remote towns.

Even though those remote towns are ruled by the Royal capital, unlike the capital, demi-humans constitute the majority of the population there.

Since it’s far away, I’m sure they would accept a noble who was kicked out of the house, won’t they?

”Ohh, is that so? Then I wonder if I can help you with that.”

What she means is that, she can introduce me to her native place, Green Convent, a remote town that is situated in the southern part of the forest.

Furthermore, her parents serve the town’s Feudal Lord Groupe.[7]

That was a really helpful advice from her.

However, I don’t really want to trouble my former colleague. So, ”I can take care of the rest. I would like you to let me help you in return for your kind information earlier.”

Eldena smiled while patting on my shoulder.

Instead of a parting gift, Eldena treated me to a meal, so two of us showed up at the demi-human friendly restaurant.

Situated at the side alley, the restaurant named Sanryoutei[8], it was managed by a goblin couple, but their food tastes quite good unlike usual goblin dishes.

”Oh, isn’t that big bro Saphate?”

While we gave our order, Kuro, a friendly ogre with a black armor greeted us with laughter.

”I heard you got kicked out of your house because you punched that money-grubber Gapoli?”

Of course, I had tried to admonish him (father) but how did that turn into ’I punched him?’

Eldena, on other hand, put up a surprised expression[9] and gave me a thumbs-up in appreciation… Honestly, please give me a break.[10]

In any case, the atmosphere around these demi-humans who favorably accepted the fact that I, a noble, have stood against my father… or I should say my former father, Gapoli, and continued to receive unfair treatment, somehow makes me feel refreshed.

Those words felt like a small encouragement to me.

”So bro, what will you be doing from now on? As expected, you stood up against a noble and ended up like this, will you be coming here anymore?”

I told Kuro who’s concerned about me that, Eldena suggested her hometown where I plan to go and—

”What! If that’s the case, I can carry you over there on my wagon! Just a while ago, I got a job request to transfer some luggage there.”

Saying that, he patted me on my shoulder.

That was a really helpful proposal from him.

”Bro, I’ve received a favor from you when you treated my injuries, so I can agree to whatever you say”, said Kuro while laughing loudly.

At the end, our dinner was also offered free of charge by the kind shop- keeper. ”Even though you are a human, you are our regular customer, that’s why.”

Even though he said that while laughing, I don’t think I have done anything to deserve this, which made me feel a bit apologetic. Again, the truth is that, I feel really happy.

Eldena suggested that if it was okay with me, I could spend the night in her room. But, since it was not acceptable for a man to spend the night in a young woman’s house, I slept in the wagon that I bought in the day.

While parting, Eldena’s mood felt somewhat off so I wondered what it was and recollected lots of things that happened today.

Except for the incident where I interfered in my father’s administration affairs, overall, it felt like I was continuously receiving favors. Somehow, I feel helpless about all of this.

’From now on I will be encountering a new place, so even though it’s by a little bit, I want to try to live independently’, thinking like that, I soon fell asleep.

Next morning.

Kuro brought his wagon along and approached mine.

Even though I bought a wagon, I couldn’t manage the horses, so he was of great help to me.

Eldena came to the place where our wagons met.

At first, I thought she came to give me a letter of recommendation to present at Green Convent, but as she appeared with a heavy armor while carrying a large trunk, I instinctively tilted my head in puzzlement.

”..Yes, I have to collect some magic crystals in the outskirts of Green Convent… so we can just go together.”

So, now that Eldena was accompanying me to Green Convent, she would help me to directly talk to her parents, who serve the feudal lord Groupe.

As I could stay beside someone I knew for a while, I was truly delighted.

To me who lost everything just yesterday, this was both reassuring and delightful.

Finally when all the preparations were done—

”Ya alright! We’ll be leaving now to Green Convent”. Hearing Kuro’s words, his goblin assistants responded cheerfully.

At that time,

”Yo… Young master!”

It seemed that I had heard that voice before.

When I peeped out of the wagon, I could see a cat-woman carrying a heavy baggage and panting heavily while running.

”Ohh, Oonya?”

Oonya, a cat-woman, was a maid at Greed family.

Even though she joined as a maid at our estate, she was treated unfairly due to her demi-human status. Yet she continued to smile and work with all her effort. She’s truly a hardworking cat-woman.

Although she’s slightly older than me, we are approximately of the same age. As a result, we got along well.

Seeing her, I requested to stop the wagon and rushed towards her. ”Thank god, I reached right on time, nya!”[11]

Even though she was sweating, she hugged me suddenly with a beaming smile.

”I was really surprised when I heard that young master was kicked out of the mansion, nya!”

That said, since I got kicked out all of a sudden, I could not bid my farewell to Oonya.

Starting from Oonya, I had planned to write a letter later to those who I was grateful. But, I was really glad to see someone who especially came to meet me.

However, what was she planning while bringing such a large trunk? Furthermore, she had loaded that on a small trolley and carried it all the way over here. ”Young master, these are your research equipment and books that you took great care of, nya. Just as they were about to be thrown, I skillfully recovered them, nya.” said Oonya while smiling.

I was truly thankful for that.

They are the precious books I collected, which turned out to be a rather large number. As I tend to write a lot, they don’t seem to hold any value, so my father must have thought of throwing them away. But for me, these are very precious books that I’ve written and collected over years.

”Also, I brought my things as well, nya.”

Saying that, she stood up and bowed in front of me and continued, ”I left that mansion and came to you. I’ll earn for my own food, nya. My wish is to accompany master wherever master decides to go and continue to stay by your side as your maid, nya.”

On hearing Oonya’s sudden request, I absolutely couldn’t stop myself from being stunned.

For some reason, Eldena continued to stare at both of us with an extreme displeasure displayed on her face… I wondered what that was even for.

Footnotes:

1. T/N: looked as if saying, ‘is that you brat again?” ↩

2. T/N: 姉のタマーは, which means Elder sister Tamaa, has been modified to Tamaa-nee for convenience ↩

3. T/N: 臨時 means temporary but it can also be translated as special, something like ’limited-edition’. ↩

4. T/N: the actual translation is service, which is research in this case. ↩

5. T/N: Actual translation is beheaded but since he’s still alive, he must be referring to his livelihood.

E/N: Thanks to shirone a mistake has been corrected. Before we considered the translation to be beheaded and thus translated it as done for. In reality it is also considered as a slang in japanese for fired. For more info check comments of this ch. ↩

6. T/N: 水商売or Mizu shobai refers to either business with uncertain profitability or nightlife business, something like a hostess bar. I think, the latter is more suitable in this context. ↩

7. T/N: 領主グループ seems to be a Feudal lord by the name ’Groupe’ rather than Feudal lord group or council. It’s more consistent with the next chapter as well. ↩

8. T/N: 三龍亭 roughly means Three Dragon Restaurant. For some reason, Japanese writers love to include some Japanese-themed characters or places within a western fantasy world. Hence I chose to write in Japanese to give a Japanese feel to it. ↩

9. T/N: she put up an expression as if ’Oh, is that so?’ ↩

10. T/N: actual translation is, “Forgive me for not doing as expected.” ↩

11. T/N: nya means meow in Japanese. ↩