Volume 1 Chapter 2 The Maid Yutia
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The house of Larry Fee belongs to the lineage that led the four families who settled this land over 150 years ago.
Granted the title of Village Head¹, the family manages household registration and tax collection.
The residence is suitably large; the main house, an annex, a storehouse, stables, a barn, a hangar, and the Village Head Tower surround a central courtyard, making the grounds and farmland the most extensive in the village.
Larry, however, is the third son.
Eventually, he must either marry into another farming family or acquire a trade to become independent.
Even for a third son, the menservants and maids flatter him-at least, after a fashion.
(Yes, after a fashion…) Thankfully, they understand my position and properly assign me chores.
By the time I finish the morning water hauling, the starlit sky has blanched into white, and the bustling sounds of people and livestock grow louder with the rising light.
After finishing a solitary breakfast of rye bread and vegetable soup containing a few tiny scraps of dried meat, I head to the stables.
The men have already led the bulls out, and Yutia, a maid, is scattering feed for the chickens.
Due to a muscular abnormality, her chin is perpetually tucked toward her chest and her back is hunched; her limbs are impaired, making her gait a clumsy, hobbling shuffle.
Even so, she skillfully cradles the feed basket under her left arm, scooping the grain with her stiff fingertips.
”Morning, Yutia, how is the ram we borrowed from Getys-san?” With sheep breeding season approaching, we exchange rams with other households.
This year, we swapped with the Getys family from the bottom of the hill.
”Ah, he’s… v-violent, and I’m… t-struggling, but… the, the m-mating is going well, desu… huff.”
Apparently, the borrowed ram is spirited and doing his job.
When she smiles, her eyes, visible through her long bangs, sparkle beautifully.
After answering, she grips the basket with her right hand and taps the bottom to dislodge the last of the grain.
As the chickens swarm the fallen clumps, she hobbles away toward the stables.
She unlatches the pen and tethers an old female goat to lead her out, the sheep following in a line.
Usually, she handles this alone, but the head servant ordered me to assist her during the mornings of the breeding season.
The spirited ram doesn’t stray from the flock, and the task ends once we drive the sheep into the fenced fallow land about five minutes from the house.
”Bocchan… will you… h-help Teressa-sama after th-this?”
”Yeah. Hans-niisan isn’t around, and since Iffens-niisan died, my sister-in-law has been struggling. I want to be as much help as possible. Besides, tax season is only a little over a month away.”
”I w-wish… Bocchan… c-could become the… Village Head.”
”I can’t. Iffens-niisan didn’t have a boy, but a girl was born, so they’ll either bring in a husband for her or Hans-niisan will take over. As for me, I’ll probably be adopted as a son-in-law somewhere or join the army. Something like that.”
”Um… i-if… if you go as a h-husband… p-please… t-take… me… w-with you.”
She seems to be asking me to take her along when I marry out.
”I suppose so. Yutia is serious, so if I were to take anyone, it would be Yutia and the knowledgeable former head servant, Niko-assuming Uncle gives the okay.”
Our family is, in a manner of speaking, quasi-aristocratic².
It is custom for children of that status to bring maids or slaves along with a dowry when they marry.
My second sister took the youngest maid and a newly purchased slave when she married, so I expect the same even as a third son.
Yutia originally entered our home as a lady’s maid for Teressa-sama, whose family were vassals to a Viscount.
Shortly after, Yutia hovered between life and death due to a high fever and convulsions, resulting in her current disabilities.
Before that, she was apparently a cheerful, beautiful girl-almost too fine to be a maid.
”I’m… h-happy…”
”Happy? If I marry out, it’ll be to a house much smaller than this one. Here, you get meat in your soup, but plenty of other places don’t have that. You’re still okay with it?”
”Yes… y-yes.” She nods repeatedly, her black bangs swaying so I can’t see her face, but she seems overjoyed.
”Then it’s a promise. But don’t regret it later.”
”Yes… y-yes.” She nods again.
She looks about the same height as me, but if she stood up straight, Yutia would probably be taller.
Even though she’s a year older, she feels like a younger sister.
I close the gate.
Yutia heads to the fields, and I return to the house.
”D-do… your b-best!” The girl bows in the morning sun and begins her hobbling walk.
”You too, Yutia,” I say, waving at her back before turning on my heel.
Next is helping my sister-in-law.
Running back to the courtyard, I find Hans-niisan slumped by the well, drinking water directly from a bucket.
”Larry!” he bellows.
”Out all night again? You’re reeking of booze.”
”You little shit… who do you think you’re talking to?”
My second brother has been a local terror since childhood.
He’s quick with his fists, but when he comes home drunk, he usually just blusters.
”It’s tax season, Brother. You should be helping. Uncle Klaus will be here soon, and the ledgers are a mess.”
”Hah! Like I care. I. Can’t. Read. And I can’t do math. Sucks for you, doesn’t it?”
(That’s a lie…) Before the plague, when my brother couldn’t defy our father, he went to the priest’s school and could read perfectly well.
He could certainly handle the addition and subtraction needed for the taxes.
I kept that retort to myself; I wasn’t suicidal.
”Hey, Larry. What did you just say?” Something in my expression set him off.
He flipped into a rage.
”Nothing, just that it’s tax season…”
”After that. What did you say about Klaus?”
I realized too late that I had mentioned our uncle.
My brother hates Uncle Klaus even more than the old man hated him.
Claiming he felt sick, Hans stood up, punched me once, and grumbled, “I won’t be back for a while,” before staggering off toward the village square.
Our grandfather, Raimund Fee, had no sons.
Therefore, he brought in Rolf-the third son of the Thalbach family-as a son-in-law.
That is our father.
Being absorbed into the Thalbach faction meant that every major decision in our family was dictated by Klaus Thalbach, my father’s eldest brother.
It was Uncle Klaus who arranged Terese’s marriage and Uncle Klaus who refuses to name a successor.
He loathes Hans for his history of violence, and he looks at me-a boy not yet of age-like I’m a head of cattle.
He has no intention of letting us inherit.
”Well, I’m a third son. I was always meant to leave,” I mutter to myself.
I’ll be fourteen next month-an adult.
”Even a man like him should be able to find a place to dump me.” I slide the cover back over the well, replace the bucket Hans tossed aside, and head toward the Village Head Tower to find my sister-in-law.
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Summary:
Larry completes his morning chores, assisting the disabled maid Yutia with the sheep. They share a tender moment where Larry promises to take her with him when he eventually marries out of the house. The peace is broken by his alcoholic brother Hans, highlighting the toxic family dynamics and the political shadow of their uncle Klaus Thalbach.
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Trivia:
- The Fee family are ‘quasi-nobles’ because they were the leaders of the original settler families.
- Larry is only 13, turning 14 (adulthood) next month.
- Yutia was originally a high-status lady’s maid before her illness.
- Hans’s illiteracy is likely a self-imposed act of rebellion since he actually attended school.
- Uncle Klaus is a ‘vassal to a Viscount,’ placing the family in a specific feudal hierarchy
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Character Insight:
Larry demonstrates high emotional intelligence and a lack of prejudice, treating Yutia with genuine kindness despite her disabilities. Hans shows deep-seated resentment toward his family and their political ‘handlers,’ using violence and feigned ignorance as tools of resistance.
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Lore And Worldbuilding Context:
The ‘Village Head Tower’ suggests a fortified or administrative landmark within the estate, emphasizing the family’s historical role as frontier protectors.
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Glossary:
Notes:
• Larry – Thirteen‑year‑old third son of the Strock headman, with reddish‑white skin, bronze eyes and curly bronze hair, holds faint Showa‑era memories and minor fire magic. He hides a crush on his sister‑in‑law, does chores despite quasi‑noble status, and is also the third son of the Fee family.
• Yutia – Maid with a muscular abnormality and hunched back; former lady’s maid to Teressa.
• Teressa – The widow of Iffens and Larry’s sister-in-law. Currently serving as the deputy village head. Larry’s sister-in-law and widow of the deceased eldest brother. She has an infant daughter. Has blonde short hair and big chests, and big sister/motherly aura. Wears a wool jacket over her blouse, which its button almost split.
• Iffens – The deceased eldest son of Fee family.
• Hans – Second son of the Fee family, known as Mad Dog of Strock Village, a rugged, violent delinquent and chronic alcoholic with a history of assault, extortion and other crimes.
• Tim – A 14‑year‑old village youth, the eldest son of the Dvorak family, has just ‘graduated’ into adulthood. With short dark hair, a lean build and thoughtful eyes, he recently traveled to the riverside town of Obernbach accompanied by his father.
• Klaus – Larry’s maternal uncle, head of the Thalbach family and a vassal to Viscount Bizan. He dislikes Larry and Hans. He is described as a thin, grumpy-looking man, wears a light grey cloak and a black hat with gold ornaments signifying his rank in a Viscount’s house.
• Raimund – Larry’s grandfather.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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