…This is boring.

I’m sitting with the Akashi House’s tailor, looking at a bunch of quick pictures he’s drawn for ideas he has for hats for me to wear.

This is why I hate shopping. The boredom.

I’m bad with deciding wether or not something looks good or not, but none of them look good in my opinion.

I’ve never really worn many hats on Earth.

I sigh, and end up picking what looks something like a magican’s hat, but with extra decoration.

…I’ll be getting rid of it as soon as my hair grows long enough that I feel comfortable without it.

I just want to get out of here…

A maid enters the room.

“Little master, Priest Lars says that he’d like to meet with you. He’s waiting in the reception room.” she informs me.

I wonder why…?

But in any case, it doesn’t matter. I’ve made a mistake going to pick out a hat, and it’s a mistake I’d like to escape from.

“Tell him I’ll be there very shortly.” I order the maid

She bows. “Right away, little master.” she replies

She quickly makes her way out of the room, just as quick as she had entered it.

“May we continue when your business is taken care of?” the tailor asks

…No.

Definitely not.

“Err, I think what we’ve picked out so far will be enough… I only need one hat, after all.” I reply

“You’ve only picked six hats,” he replies

“That’ll be enough,” I tell him again

“Little master, from my experience, it’s best to get as many options as possible,” He insists

…Haaa…

“We’ll just go and do this again if none of them work.” I tell him

He’s silent for a bit, so I make my escape.

I know that he’s probably right, but I’m going to ignore that anyway.

I really don't like the process of getting clothes.

I make my way to the receiving room as quickly as I can, being kinda out of breath by the time I get there.

It’s not proper for a noble to be out of breath.

I wait at the doorway, hidden from view, until I recover sufficiently enough to hide it completely.

…I should probably exercise more… I mean, I do my daily exercise with Saith, but other than that, I do nothing physical.

I should probably also have more energy. Toddlers such as myself have a lot of energy generally, don’t they?

…I don’t really understand it.

Even in my last life I wasn’t hyper often. Only after eating way to much sugar, which was rare.

Mostly because of the lack of sweets that were accessible to me.

Not actually due to my parents banning them or anything like that.

I was allowed to buy them on my own. It’s just that I was to lazy to take the 5 minute walk to the store to get some, and to stingy with my money to buy anything unless I had a coupon or something.

I’ve been avoiding the finances of the territory specifically because of my stingyness. I’ll probaly screw something up if I do. I like to horde my money. Maybe I shouldn’t though.

There’s some passed down knowledge from somewhat that having to much money will attract a dragon, but I think that’s more of an excuse the poor nobles have to as why they’re poor.

Then again, something like that has never been attempted. There aren’t any souls powerful, stupid, and brave enough to try.

After all, in this world, there’s evidence of dragons existing. And the kingdom has a few scales that was shed from one.

…The thing is though, no one’s found a way to break a scale.

But in any case, you have to spend money to make money, and hording money breaks that flow, so I’ll keep avoiding looking at the finances of the territory unless it starts going downhill.

I’ll let the people good with such things handle it.

I stand tall as much as my little body can, and walk into the room.

It’s important to present myself as well as possible. Especially so because of the attack from the underworld.

Even if I know Priest Lars somewhat, I don’t know him well enough, and I’m quite suspicious of nearly everyone at the moment, the exception being Bedo.

Bedo’s raised by the house, and someone I interact with very often.

If it’s known that I’m acting especially weak, I’ll likely be made a ward even faster than I am currently.

“Salutations, Viscount Akashi,” He greets

When talking to a noble, everyone is expected to greet them with a ‘Salutations’, even if they are a commoner.

I nod my head at him in return as I sit down.

“So, what is your business here today?” I ask

“I heard you requested to meet one of the more important members of the church? May I ask what it is? I may be able to help instead.” Lars asks

Ah, so that’s what it is.

“I was… thinking of taking in a few orphans. Preferably peculiar and talented ones. I hear taking in orphans is a service to the church, yes?” I ask

The priest nods. “Taking in orphans is a service to the church, correct. Is there a need to go ask a Bishop though?”

“I’m looking for especially peculiar orphans. Special ones. Ones that are… quite different, from the rest. I was thinking there wouldn’t be many, or any at all, within your area of jurisdiction. Ah, I’d be willing to pay for bringing the orphans here, plus make a donation, of course.” I reply

Lars lets out a small, somewhat angry sigh. His smile, which he almost always has on his face, disappears.

“Viscount Akashi, the orphanage isn’t a place for you to buy unique slaves.” Lars tells me

“Oh! That isn’t my intent. Apologies if I’ve upset you.” I quickly reply

“Ah, of course. What would your intention be, then?” He asks

…Well, crap.

My intention is to recruit talented orphans for my own purposes. It’s not an answer that he’ll accept.

The face I’m saying I’m looking for peculiar orphans is a way to hide it, if just a little.

Hmm, I think I got it.

“Well, I was thinking, and, I don’t belive many of the especially peculiar orphans ever get takin in, do they? I mean, most orphans don’t get taken in, but the peculiar ones especially. Is that correct? So I though, I’d take some of them in.” I tell the priest.

His smile returns.

“That’s right. I’ve heard there’s a young girl in the south of the territory who’s growing at an incredible rate, and that no one in the area wants to take her in since they’re quite frankly, a little afraid of her growth. She doesn’t have a skill that would explain her growth either, making her case worse.” Lars tells me

That sounds…

Extremely interesting.

I wonder if this world has the same diseases as Earth?

If it does, and my memory serves me correct, she’d have giantism. Gigantism? Something like that.

The problem with that is that her growth, if not stopped, will possibly become an issue.

“I’d love to take her in,” I tell Lars

“That’s wonderful. How many orphans are you planning on taking in, may I ask?” Lars asks me

…I suppose I should start with just a few, huh?

“5, I suppose,” I reply

“I believe I can take care of your request just fine, with a bit of time to go ask some other members of the church of light in some other territories.” Lars tells me “I’ve been looking for a chance to make a pilgrimage to the capital, and this is an excellent chance to do so.”

“That’s excellent. Would you like me to fund your travel, then? How much will you need?” I ask

“That’s very kind of you to offer, Viscount Akashi, however, I’m well versed enough in living off the land that I won’t need much at all.” Lars replies “I won’t need any payment for bringing the orphans to you either,”

“I’ll be making a donation to the church instead, then,” I tell him

Lars nods. “That would be excellent. I’ll excuse myself now, then. Farewell for now,”

Lars stands up and leaves the room.

I grin.

That’s one issue of mine, taken care of for me.

It was a good decision to not try to take care of that.

I shouldn’t get used to that though. It’s luck, rather than any intelligence on my part. If I keep procrastinating on stuff, I’ll screw myself over somehow.

I tell a servant to get Bedo for me.

Bedo soon enters the room.

“I’d like to let you know I’ve taken care of the business with the church. There’s no need to request the attention of a bishop anymore,” I tell him

“Ah, that’s wonderful, little master,” Bedo replies tiredly.

I think he’s been quite busy lately. Maybe he hasn’t been getting quite enough sleep.

It’s probably fine. Plus, with the church business taken care of, that’s a little less work.

I leave the room after informing Bedo of that.