Ch.57Lazy Young Master Is Too Competent (3)

# Hersy chatted excitedly.

It was mostly about the Countess.

Ruide listened to Hersy’s story while eating his lunch with gusto.

“…Can you believe that happened? Really, restraining my anger was the limit of what I could do there. I don’t like the Countess or the commoners.”

Ruide recalled the original work’s description of the Countess, portraying her like some oinking pig.

‘This seems to match.’

“She keeps looking like she’s going to cause trouble. Wouldn’t it be better to get rid of her?”

Hersy added just in case.

“If it’s burdensome for Ruide, I could use my family’s influence.”

“Leave her be.”

The Countess would become a widely hated figure in the future.

Having a few hated characters wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Since ancient times, the best way to keep two unfriendly groups in line was to give them a common enemy.

“Everything has its purpose.”

“Yes.”

Hersy nodded obediently.

‘How nice would it be if everyone were like Hersy.’

Hersy is submissive. She never talks back.

How wonderful would it be if the whole world were like Hersy? Then he could even conquer the world.

“But… they seem ready to rebel. I hope I’m mistaken.”

“I don’t think you’re mistaken. But I wonder, do they really hate bathing more than death?”

Ruide’s main purpose wasn’t simply “let’s make commoners bathe!”

It was to teach them etiquette so they’d be less conspicuous to nobles, and ultimately to resolve the conflicts pervasive in the Academy.

But to get such a reaction just about bathing.

It made him feel like teaching table manners, speech, and posture corrections would be impossible.

“I looked into that personally. There are reasons why commoners don’t bathe.”

“What are they? Tell me in detail. It’s quite an important issue.”

“…First, commoners tend to believe in superstitions. They think washing their bodies drives away good fortune.”

Hersy explained point by point.

“Second, there’s resistance. They wonder why they’re being criticized when they’ve never felt any discomfort from not bathing before.”

“Third, and this is probably the biggest issue. For commoners, bathing is considered a luxury. They typically think of water as something to drink. Since bathing requires several times more water than drinking.”

“…What’s the point of learning magic then.”

“For someone with Ruide’s magical power, it’s insignificant, but creating water with magic for bathing would use more than half of one’s magical power. They think that’s too much investment.”

“Aren’t there water pipes in the dormitory?”

“Water pipes are quite high-end facilities. You can’t have such things in places where many people live, like dormitories. Instead, I know there are water storage tanks. I believe they’re sufficient, but they’re quite far away. I guess they find it bothersome to go back and forth.”

‘That’s something I didn’t know before.’

Ruide was, after all, from the upper class.

Water shortages were like stories from foreign lands to him.

But it didn’t seem impossible.

The conclusion was this: What’s the benefit of bathing? Commoners were thinking fundamentally differently.

If you tell them about the increased chances of getting various diseases if they don’t bathe…

-Well, I’ve lived fine without bathing until now. My grandmother is still alive too. That’s a lie. And nobles seem to have shorter lives anyway?

There’s no argument against that. Many nobles do die early. Of course, it’s due to stress or assassinations from rank disputes, but still.

‘The incentive is lacking for them.’

The conclusion was that it’s important to explain the ‘benefits of bathing.’

Ruide suddenly remembered something and said:

“Come to think of it, Hersy.”

“Yes?”

“You said you receive confessions often.”

“…Yes. Since I don’t have a fiancé.”

“Are there commoners too?”

“Not knowing their place is a specialty of commoners. Quite a lot of them. Like moths to a flame.”

Surprisingly, there are quite a few cases of commoners and nobles getting together here.

It was something that happened occasionally even in the medieval era, but this world has frequent contact between commoners and nobles.

But to think even high nobles like Hersy would experience this. Ruide was surprised in many ways.

“…If that’s the case, this method might work well.”

“Method?”

“Yes. A way for commoners to willingly attend etiquette lessons. Can you help?”

“Of course I’ll help, but… I don’t understand why Ruide is thinking about commoners.”

Hersy rarely expressed her own opinion.

“Ruide is too kind. The notion that commoners are kind is a misconception. They’re so cunning.”

“I never thought commoners were kind?”

“What…? Then why is Ruide helping commoners?”

Hersy looked at him as if she didn’t understand.

“Even if you want to help, Ruide just needs to give orders. If they don’t follow, it’s the commoners’ fault for not receiving the benefits that would come their way.”

Of course, he could use forceful methods.

And those methods would probably work well.

Ruide has a lot of power. Not that he needs to use much of it; just by telling Sherry, he could see a glimpse of Windsor’s power.

“Do you know the way to be happy, Hersy?”

“What is it?”

“It’s not fighting with fools.”

Ruide truly believed that.

**

‘Fox, can you hear me?’

[Yes.]

‘Let’s go with that girl over there.’

Ruide glanced at a girl who was blushing while looking at him.

‘Courage times a hundred. Go-‘

[Yes!]

Miho scratched her head with her downy fur. White fur flew in the wind toward the girl.

“Achoo.”

The girl sneezed and opened her eyes wide.

Then she clenched her fist and muttered something to herself.

Ruide could hear the group of students saying things like “Are you crazy?”

Ruide patiently waited for the girl.

“Um, excuse me.”

A shy commoner girl stood in front of Ruide. She bowed her head and mumbled.

“I, I’d like to get to know you better… what’s your ideal type?”

Ruide answered without hesitation.

“I like girls who bathe regularly.”

Ruide patted the girl’s shoulder.

“Very brave of you. If you just bathed regularly, you might have had a chance. Fighting.”

Meanwhile, Hersy was also moving along.

‘If it weren’t for Ruide, I would never do something like this.’

She sighed. Hersy didn’t even need the fox.

“I’ll give it a try.”

“Fighting.”

Being confessed to and rejected by Hersy was already—

A famous game-like activity at the Academy.

There were even male students who deliberately confessed just to hear Hersy’s scathing words.

“Um, excuse me…!”

“……”

“My name is Latin! I’m in the Common Class, and I’m a commoner…! I’d be good to play with for a semester and then discard! P-please! Go out with me!”

Hersy glared at the man with cold eyes.

He seemed to have mustered some courage, but his face was as red as a tomato and his gaze was fixed on the floor.

If you’re going to show such a lack of confidence, why even attempt a confession?

Hersy found it pathetic.

The male student, intimidated by her aura, hunched his shoulders.

But she sighed softly and spoke, recalling Ruide’s words.

-Be sure to reject them by saying you like people who bathe well. But the important thing is to leave room for hope. Like, “Oh, it seems like I might consider if you just bathed…”

Hersy spoke while suppressing her displeasure.

“I’m sorry, but I prefer men who bathe regularly.”

**

Getting commoners to bathe.

It was something many professors had tried to push but failed.

Even if they somehow managed it, it would reset when the next batch of commoner students arrived.

Who would have known?

That two young people would accomplish this difficult task.

Surprisingly, a wind of change blew through the Academy.

The reason was simple.

Because of the rumor that Hersy and Ruide liked “people who bathe regularly”!

“Who knows? You might become the seventeenth concubine.”

“Don’t you get it? Normally, Hersy would blow you away with the wind. But she even sighed and hinted that she likes men who bathe well!”

These two were extremely popular at the Academy.

And for good reason. When asked “Who has the best looks at the Academy?”, the answer was Ruide for men and Hersy for women.

Ruide’s only flaw was his youth, but he had a mysterious aura that overcame that.

Hersy’s flaw was her difficult personality, but she too had excellent looks that overcame that.

As a result, there were students who imitated Hersy and Ruide.

Some students even carried pillows around to imitate Ruide (female students would look at them like they were bugs).

In other words, the two were objects of admiration and trendsetters.

“Just in case it works…”

“If I imitate that Ruide, I might be popular with girls.”

“I should also try to be like Lady Hersy…”

Ruide knew he had to strike while the iron was hot.

For that, he arranged for “premium soap” to be permanently available in the commoner dormitories.

This won over even students who had little interest in trends.

“T-this is really expensive, isn’t it?”

“Should we try it once?”

“It’s a bit troublesome, but…”

“I have some magic power left. Honestly, isn’t it fine to use bath water five hundred times? Why not fill it up a little each day?”

‘Isn’t five hundred times a bit extreme…?’

Ruide, who was monitoring the situation with an invisibility spell, sighed.

But not everyone was willing to bathe.

“Come on. Who falls for such an obvious trick?”

“Do you want to be like those white pigs? A real man should have some dirt on him.”

“Ugh, pretending to be clean is disgusting.”

There were commoners who stubbornly refused to bathe.

Ruide decided to give up on such friends.

But— there was an unexpected gain.

“Huh? What’s this smell?”

It had been a week since the policy started.

“Hey, doesn’t that guy have a strange smell coming from him?”

“Yeah. What is it? This smell like something rotting for three years in a sewer.”

Commoners who had started bathing even a little began to smell “odors”!

Smells are something you “adapt” to.

The proof was that you can’t smell the odor coming from your own body.

But as they started bathing and the smell from their bodies disappeared, the smell of other non-bathing commoners began to seem unpleasant!

“Ah, just take a bath.”

“So dirty, really.”

“Ugh, look at that soot.”

Commoners who had washed away lifelong accumulated waste even a few times began to notice the difference.

Some commoners even started showing off about bathing.

And so, Ruide’s first goal, the “Get Commoners to Bathe” plan, was a success.

Ruide gave Hersy a thumbs up.

“Success. Thanks to you, Agent Hersy.”

“What’s an agent…?”

Hersy looked a bit haggard.

“…Thanks to Ruide, the number of commoners confessing to me has doubled. Now I’ve even received demerits for illegal magic use because I ran out of rejection lines and started blowing them away with wind.”

“You’re admirable, so 10 merit points.”

“…Is it okay to hand those out so freely?”

Ruide asked with genuine puzzlement.

“Who’s going to say anything about it? To me.”

But that simple mindset caused a new ripple effect.