I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 58

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Inheriting a Beautiful Wife and Estate Episode 058

58. Paper

“Don’t you think you’re being too harsh, old man?”

“Even so, what’s not allowed is not allowed.”

I had that thought when I first saw Nigel long ago.

A stubborn old man.

Not old because of age, but you know, like those who appear in historical dramas.

‘I really didn’t expect him to be like this.’

Cliff frowned.

There was one thing Nigel was firmly blocking right now.

“You cannot see the babies until they receive their names.”

So he was saying to give them names.

But words like this wouldn’t persuade Nigel.

‘Perhaps… this might be safer.’

Priscilla after giving birth and the two newborns who had just been born.

Their immunity would have dropped significantly, so meeting people frequently could be burdensome. This world didn’t have masks either, and the best they could do was magical treatment.

Setting that aside, when a child is born in a noble family, they usually receive their name after a month.

By the way, the one who decides that name is the eldest of the family.

‘At least I’m fortunate that I get to do it here.’

No matter how much of a family elder someone was, he didn’t want to have even his children’s names taken away by others.

The problem was that he wasn’t particularly good at coming up with names either.

“Why don’t you think of names to give the babies during this time?”

Seeing him become somewhat quiet, Nigel gave him another task.

“Naming one’s bloodline is also a necessary virtue for the head of a family.”

“…I know that, but I can’t think of any names right now.”

Actually, he had been constantly worrying about baby names since Priscilla became pregnant.

What to name if it’s a boy, what to call if it’s a girl, and so on.

But none of those names came out satisfactorily.

‘I didn’t like any of them.’

Nigel, who had been listening to his words, advised with a stoic expression.

“In that case, giving names of great figures from the Bible or history is also one method.”

Names from the Bible?

Cliff thought about it and shook his head.

He thought that would be too cliché.

‘Wait. In the end, the Bible is also mythology, isn’t it?’

Stories of gods.

The Bible fell exactly into this category.

Naturally, this world also had various mythologies. However, the Church tended to view those mythologies as heretical.

It wasn’t wrong to say so.

Originally, the dictionary meaning of heresy refers to other religions or denominations.

‘Anyway, children with names from heretical mythology protagonists could be ostracized in noble society, so that won’t work, but…’

Wouldn’t heresies that others don’t know about be fine?

It was something he had already done.

Namely, Hades.

And he had given all the other Shadow Wolves names that appeared in Greek mythology as well.

‘Twin siblings from Greek mythology… then there’s only one answer.’

Cliff smiled and opened his mouth.

“I’ve decided.”

“Already, my lord?”

“Yes. They are very great names.”

They were the names of gods, no less.

Of course, he didn’t say that out loud. If Nigel heard, he would make a big fuss calling it heresy.

Cliff chuckled and said.

“The older brother’s name is Apollo, and the younger sister is Artemis.”

“Apollo and Artemis… what meaning do they have?”

“The name of the wisest older brother who loves music and art, and the pure and healthy younger sister.”

“The wisest and music-loving… indeed, they are good names. But my lord, the names are good, however…”

Nigel trailed off as if there was a problem.

He said.

“I’m told the daughter was born first.”

“…”

There’s a big problem.

Cliff pressed his forehead with his hand.

‘Ah. It wouldn’t look good to say Apollo is the younger brother and Artemis is the older sister.’

A troubled expression appeared on Cliff’s face.

Seeing that expression, Nigel smiled.

“Don’t worry too much.”

Even with the words not to worry, Cliff’s expression didn’t clear up.

Nigel watched him and then advised.

“In that case… how about changing the order in which the children were born?”

“What?”

“After all, both babies are twins, aren’t they? Let’s make it so the son, not the daughter, was born first.”

Nigel was blatantly telling him to commit fraud.

He added.

“From the family’s standpoint, it’s more reassuring if the firstborn is male.”

Hearing his words, he realized.

Ah, I can change their order however I want?

Toward the flustered Cliff, Nigel said.

“In the case of half-brothers born in the same year, it’s frequent to make the legitimate son the eldest even if he was born several months later.”

Simply put, it meant delaying the birth registration of the illegitimate son.

Nigel looked as if he didn’t think much of changing the order of twins born on the same day. Hearing those words, Cliff nodded.

“…That makes sense too.”

Though he wondered if it was necessary to go that far, Cliff decided to accept Nigel’s advice.

As he said, it was better for the firstborn to be a son rather than a daughter.

After all, he wasn’t going to pass the family to his daughter anyway.

‘If my daughter finds out about this fact later… will she be dissatisfied?’

Then at that time, he could grant one of his daughter’s wishes.

Cliff smiled.

“…I hope that day comes soon.”

All the snow that had covered the estate had cleared away.

However, travel had become rather inconvenient. First of all, the ground was too muddy.

‘It’s not even a tidal flat…’

Cliff frowned as he looked around.

He had endured it until now, but when the time came, he would need to do road construction. What was useful in the current situation was Leticia.

“Undain, please gather the moisture and send it to the town.”

The water spirit she summoned nodded.

Along with that, the surrounding ground became fluffy and dry. Cliff’s eyes lit up at that rapidly drying phenomenon.

“Spirits had that kind of specialty too?”

“This much is basic.”

Leticia’s nose seemed to rise slightly with pride.

She had been somewhat dejected after the Dark Elves joined. The Dark Elves were often by Cliff’s side more than she was, and she wasn’t involved in military command like Teobaldt.

Also, normally she should have been called to the master’s bedroom after Priscilla’s pregnancy, but even that hadn’t happened.

‘At this rate, I’ll end up serving the master’s son instead of the master himself.’

Setting that aside, Leticia had been living like a swan for a while, having lost her purpose.

This was a moment when she could finally assert her presence after a long time. Cliff watched her for a moment before turning his head away.

Even while going outside, he kept glancing back at the manor.

“…Are you worried?”

Leticia asked quietly.

Cliff opened his mouth and spoke.

“A little?”

In this era, the mortality rate for newborns was quite high.

That’s why they didn’t give names until a month after birth, and didn’t even look at the child’s face.

He guessed it was probably behavior meant to avoid forming attachments.

‘But how could that be possible?’

They just hadn’t given a formal name yet.

Thanks to Nigel’s advice, he had already thought of names for the child.

“Sigh. This won’t do. Maybe I should build a church or something.”

At Cliff’s words, Leticia asked as if remembering something she had forgotten.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a church since coming here. Will we be able to perform a baptism?”

In the homeland, newly born noble children received baptism just one month after birth.

They also received their names at that time.

Usually, a priest would come from the church for the baptism and blessing. But there were no churches to be found in the Elimis Domain or anywhere around here.

Naturally, there were no priests either.

“In places where priests cannot come, the lord also takes on the duties of a priest.”

Cliff said.

This wasn’t something he was making up.

Lords, that is, nobles, were basically all theologians. It wasn’t for nothing that he and other nobles studied theology from childhood.

So in regions like this, he could certainly perform the role of a priest.

‘And though I don’t feel it yet, wouldn’t my blessing be much more effective than a priest’s blessing?’

Whatever the case, he had that thought this time.

He should build a church.

A place where he could try unfamiliar things like prayer, and where not just himself but other domain residents could visit.

While Cliff was speaking, someone approached from the side.

Belgimov.

While Mellie and Gusillon were in charge of education and agriculture respectively, and Marun was still wrestling with Serpent corpses, he was the one who simply helped Nigel.

If the other three were each masters of one field, Belgimov was an administrator.

That’s what Cliff thought.

“If you want to build a church, you’ll need timber and stone.”

Timber and stone.

“If it’s to be used for temple construction, you can’t build it with just any materials.”

Of course.

If it wasn’t going to cause problems later, and even aside from that, it was a temple.

Even if he couldn’t build it luxuriously, he couldn’t build it carelessly.

Of course, there was a way.

‘I could build it roughly and say it’s not a church but a retreat center or something…’

Still, he wanted to build at least one proper church in the domain.

After all, it was for the being who had given him a status window and performed miracles to create Kyuung.

“For now, I’m thinking of using the rocks from the Eastern Mountains as stone materials.”

Cliff stated what he had been thinking.

Belgimov nodded as he heard this.

“The Eastern Mountains… you mean where the giant used to live?”

Previously, a Cyclops had lived there.

Kyuung had gone and frozen even that giant solid, but originally Cyclops belonged to quite strong monsters.

They couldn’t be compared to aquatic monsters like Serpents, but you’d need three or four more knights like Teobaldt to even attempt subjugation.

The habitat where that giant had lived.

There were rocks there.

When he mentioned this, Belgimov seemed to know about it and nodded.

“The rocks around there wouldn’t be bad. Then what will you do about the wood?”

While there were places to get stone even if it couldn’t be used, wood was difficult to obtain in this area.

To be precise, there were trees, but their value as timber was low. This applied not only when using them as firewood but also for construction.

‘The trees in our domain are somewhat ambiguous.’

They were good for making things.

That’s why they had made and sold tools like baskets and ropes.

But they were ambiguous for anything beyond that, though the timber problem had been somewhat resolved recently.

“Outside this region, to the north, I received several mountains as manor land. I’m thinking of examining the trees there.”

Jaide had said that the Platice Family’s timber was of the highest quality.

He’d have to see if the mountains he received had trees of that caliber, but he planned to obtain the domain’s timber from there in the future.

“Oh. I see. So the lord’s territory extends to the north as well.”

Belgimov raised his head and gazed toward the north.

His expression changed with interest.

“Right now it’s neglected and goblins might be living there.”

The Platice Count’s house would manage it for a while. But that was only until this winter.

There was a high probability they had already started neglecting his manor.

‘Who knows. They might try to test my strength through the goblins there.’

So claiming that manor could become an expedition.

Belgimov seemed to have the same thought.

“If there are goblins in that area, their den must have established itself quite large. We might need to prepare for war.”

“Probably so.”

Cliff answered Belgimov’s serious words while organizing his thoughts.

The northern territory that had been neglected during winter.

The manor received from the Platice Family wasn’t everything.

He had left Adolf and Anton behind, but from this year he also had to take care of the territory seized from the Ballard Family.

‘It’ll be busy.’

As busy as it got, there were things to do.

“So… Elder Belgimov. How did what I asked you to do turn out?”

“I was actually about to report this to the lord.”

Belgimov, who had been listening to Cliff’s words, pulled out a scroll from inside his clothes.

Cliff unrolled it.

Inside, instead of text, it was filled with detailed drawings.

It was a blueprint.

And it was also what he planned to do in the future.

“I drew it while trying not to destroy the existing structure as much as possible.”

“Good. Ah. But…”

Something caught Cliff’s attention before the drawings in the blueprint.

“This paper is different from what we have stored in the manor. Did you have it separately, Elder?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————