Dream Life Chapter 19: “The Assistant Nicholas Garland”

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A/N: It’s a chapter from Nicholas’ point of view.

 

 

~Nicholas’ Perspective~

 

 

 It was about a year ago, just as summer was turning into autumn, that I was asked by the previous head of the family, Master Govan, to answer a question from Master Zacharias.

 

 

“Nicholas, I have a favor to ask you. Zack has started reading a book. I’ve told him to ask you if he doesn’t understand anything, so I’m sorry, but can you do it?” (Govan)

 

 

 At the request of the previous head, Without thinking too much about his request, I replied, “I understand.”

 

 Master Zacharias was three years old at the time. I had heard that he had just learned to read, so I assumed that he would be able to ask me for a few simple words.

 

 

 However, I soon realized that I was wrong.

 

 The words they asked me were all technical terms for politics, military affairs, commerce, and so on. I was particularly embarrassed by questions about the difference between a “Memorandum of Understanding” and an “Agreement Contract,” the relationship between countries and guilds, and the legal status of guilds, which I had trouble explaining.

 

 

 I could have laughed at them if they were just children’s questions, but I was more likely to ask, “Do you mean that a contract is a well-formatted document and a memorandum of agreement is not?” Or, “Doesn’t the guild need state protection?” and even sharper questions, which often left me and my wife, Kate, scratching our heads.

 

 And when I would make an annoyed face, he would immediately smile and say, “Thank you,” and back off, which made me even more depressed. I had no dignity as an adult.

 

 

 About four months ago, the predecessor and the current head gathered all of us squires together.

 

 At first, I did not understand what the previous generation had said. That it would even be true. Even if it was said that Master Zacharias was the chosen son of God and that his soul came from another world.

 

 

 But then I remembered what had happened so far, and somehow it became clear to me. After all, there is no such thing as a three-year-old child who asks that many questions. If there were, there must be some special circumstances.

 

 After that explanation, the lord ordered me to stay behind.

 

 

“What did you think when you heard what I just said?” (Matt)

 

“Maybe I had a vague suspicion… No, I would say that what you just told me helped me make sense of things?” (Nicholas)

 

 

 The previous generation, who was standing beside the lord, nodded and said, “I see.”

 

 

“Zack wants to improve this village. But there are things that a four-year-old child cannot do, even if he wants to. I need you to help him.” (Govan)

 

 

 I hesitated. I was not sure I could keep up with Master Zacharias’s thoughts.

 

 

“…I would only be a liability to Master Zacharias.” (Nicholas)

 

 

 The previous master laughed at my words and said, “If you can’t do it, no one else in our family can. He continued with a mischievous gesture,

 

 

 

“It’s time for Jean to get married, too. Come winter, it will be just you and Kate. Oh well. Zack’s going to make the house a little noisier, won’t he?” (Govan)

 

 

 The previous lord had been concerned that after my daughter Jean got married, it would be just me and my wife. I remembered my son Aaron and daughter Masha, who had passed away eleven years earlier and wanted us not to be lonely.

 

 I was moved to tears at the thought.

 

 

“We will do our best to help Master Zacharias.” (Nicholas)

 

 

 Holding back my tears, I decided to accept the request from the former lord.

 

 

 When I told my wife, Kate, about it, she gave her full support.

 

 And from that moment on, our lives changed drastically.

 

 

 Although I told the former lord that I would be a burden to him, I honestly did not expect him to do something so outlandish.

 

 

 First of all, I never dreamed that we would start installing toilets.

 

 He was shown the blueprints and went to consult with Craig, the craftsman, but at first, Craig didn’t understand them at all.

 

 

 Craftsmen build houses by thinking in their heads. The only time they would use drawings would be when building a castle.

 

 Craig gave me a piece of lumber and I cut it down to fit the drawing.

 

 I put them together to make a small hut-like structure, and Craig finally understood.

 

 Craig asked me to teach him how to draw the plans, but I didn’t know how to draw them because they were not my own drawings. I falsely told him I would teach him next time.

 

 He seemed a little disappointed, but soon became more interested in the structure of the toilet and started talking about his work.

 

 

 When it was decided to build a toilet for the mansion, I learned how to draw from Master Zacharias.

 

 Master Zacharias told me with a smile, “It’s not that difficult..”

 

 

“It’s just a drawing as seen from the front, from the side, and from above, and you can write in the dimensions…” (Zack)

 

 

 I managed to understand the concept in the hour-long lecture, but I was not confident enough to write it myself. Since I could not ask him to teach me again, I made a memo on how to draw the plans.

 

 

 The next day, I gave a copy of the memo to Craig and taught him exactly as Master Zacharias had taught me yesterday.

 

 He nodded many times, looking impressed.

 

 

 Yes, even I had managed to understand so far.

 

 But the problem was the “soap”.

 

 

 At first, he called Guy Jakes, who knew a lot about the forest, and he asked me about the nuts and flowers in the forest. I had no idea what he was going to do, so I could only listen from the side.

 

 

 Later, he accompanied Guy and me to the Finn River, which runs along the west side of the village. Pointing to the yellow flowers along the riverbank, he asked, “How long have these flowers been growing?”

 

 After a short discussion, Guy and I replied, “In the Finn River, around here, and about the same in the Earn River.

 

 With a slightly disappointed look on his face, Master Zacharias muttered, “Not enough,” and returned to the mansion.

 

 

 On his way back, Guy asked, “What is the problem with, Master Zack?” I had to reply, “I don’t know either.

 

 

 He then asked me if I had any pig and cow fat and lime, to which I replied that I did.

 

 The lord and I were both stunned by his words.

 

 

 I had lived in the academic city of Doctus for a while, so I was aware of the existence of soap. However, I remembered it as a very expensive item.

 

 If it were possible, it could certainly be sold as a specialty product of the village. However, it seemed that the Lord felt the same way, and was concerned about whether something that could only be made near the imperial capital could be made in such a rural area.

 

 

 Master Zacharias smiled confidently and said, “I don’t know if I can do it properly, but I think it will be fine.”

 

 I was impressed that he could do it, but what followed was the hard part. Yes, the instructions from Master Zacharias were difficult.

 

 

“I know the basics, but I don’t know how much to put in each pot and how much to mix, and it will take at least a week, maybe ten days, until it’s ready. I want you to take not of it.” (Zack)

 

 

 Master Zacharias sometimes uses words from his previous life. He also used the word “week” and said that in his previous world, he used seven days as a unit of measurement.

 

 

 He said it was a detailed note, but there was nothing to weigh it against. When I pointed this out to him, he brought me three different kinds of spoons and a small cup and told me to use them as a “standard” of measure and count how many cups I had put in.

 

 

 He told us that he would use them instead of a measuring device. The measuring cups are available at Doctus, but surely this would be enough.

 

 He also mentioned something about time, so I asked him what I should do about that as well. Yes, there is no such thing as a clock in this village.

 

 

 After some thought, Zacharias made a simple water clock.

 

 First, using a wooden stick and a piece of string, he began to draw patterns on the ground to make a sundial. Then, he made small holes in a small copper pot and placed a jar to catch the water at the bottom. After looking at the sundial with satisfaction, he measured the time it took for the water to fall and did some calculations.

 

 

“As I imagined, 30 minutes on a sundial is too ambitious, so I couldn’t do it on this scale. I calculated the amount of water that would fall in 30 minutes based on the amount of water that falls in an hour. The pressure on the hole is different between the top and the bottom of the pot, so I couldn’t simply calculate the center of the pot. Well, it’s a rough estimate, but it’s a rough guide. Yes, the time will change as the size of the hole changes, so I want you to clean it with a cloth every day.” (Zack)

 

 

 I did not understand what he meant by the need to calculate the water pressure, but the water clock he had made was for one hour and had three graduations on it.

 

 

“If it’s fifteen minutes or ten minutes, it’s going to be too tedious, but you can just divide it proportionally. If it is one-third of the way to the scale, it is enough, if it is half, it is fifteen minutes, and so on.” (Zack)

 

 

 He finished the series of work in about three hours in the afternoon and returned to the mansion.

 

 

 I started with my wife by dissolving the tallow and straining it clean.

 

 Next, we collected lime dissolved in water, and the supernatant from the ashes of burned wheat straw dissolved in water.

 

 We stirred up the jar and heated the filtered fat. The temperature is about human skin. Check it by inserting a finger.

 

 Add to it a mixture of water taken from the lime and water taken from the ashes, and stir.

 

 My wife and I took turns stirring the mixture, but it did not turn into sludge.

 

 A strange smell began to fill the house, and I hurriedly opened the windows and doors.

 

 

 I continued making soap, doubting whether I could really do this.

 

 Three months had already passed, but I could not produce anything that looked like it.

 

 There were more than 30 jars of sludgy grease in the house.

 

 When Master Zacharias saw this, he apologized profusely and said he would give up soap if we were having trouble in our home.

 

 

“We have come this far. Let’s try a little more.” (Nicholas)

 

 

 He bowed his head repeatedly to my words and said, “You can stop at any time,” but he looked at my notes and gave me further instructions.

 

 In the end, I was laughing with my wife after he left, saying that Master Zacharias did not want to give up either. Just getting this laugh was worth doing.

 

 

 The toilet improvements didn’t seem to be going well either.

 

 Following the mansion, they were installed in ours, every squire’s house. It was certainly puzzling at first, but the area around the house is now cleaner and we are all grateful.

 

 However, the ones installed in the village were not being used much, even at Gordon’s place.

 

 When I asked him why, he could not get anywhere, so I had no choice but to go to Master Zacharias to report the situation, and he was constantly reminding me that it was his mistake.

 

 

 He then ordered an interview, but again my common sense was overturned.

 

 He insisted that I pay them for the interviews.

 

 At first, I thought my ability was questioned. However, when the Lord told him that he needed to explain further, he told us that we were paying them because he wanted to hear their frank opinions, not just those that were pleasant to the ears.

 

 

 At first, neither the lord nor I understood, but as we listened to his explanation, we became convinced.

 

 It is true that the more opinions one expresses, the more money one receives, and if one is not punished for negative opinions, the more likely one is to express negative opinions.

 

 I felt as if scales were falling from my eyes.

 

 

 When it came time to report the gathered opinions to Master Zacharias, I realized that it was not a good idea to just let them out as they were. The instructions were to collect the opinions as they were, but that would make it difficult for Master Zacharias to read them.

 

 

 I categorized the opinions with my wife.

 

 We divided them into positive opinions, negative opinions, requests for improvement, etc., so that it was possible to understand which opinions were more common.

 

 

 When I brought it to him, Master Zacharias looked at me with a bit of satisfaction and then began to listen to the report. Then, in the end, he said to my wife and me, “You did a good job summarizing. It was easy to understand. You are truly a great worker Nicholas.”

 

 

 At that time, I felt rewarded.

 

 Although he looked like a four-year-old child, I realized once again that Master Zacharias was a master I should respect. And I promised myself that I would do my best to help him accomplish what he wanted to accomplish.

 

 

A/N: This is the hero’s worst victim’s(?) perspective.

Thinking about his questions, it would be strange to not be found out.

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