The Terminally-Ill Lord Desires Hospice Care

Palmyra was like any other village that despised nobles. However, the reason was somewhat unusual.
During the war with the orcs, the noble lord had abandoned the villagers and fled.
In the process, the lord took all the soldiers with him when he escaped, forcing the villagers and adventurers to take up arms in their stead.

“And now a new lord for this village we defended with our own hands? There are limits to bullshit!”
Marco, the president of the merchants’ association, was pounding the table loudly and rudely shouting.

“We already tried going to the capital to protest, but they didn’t even listen. We never even got to see His Majesty the emperor’s face in the first place.”
Cecilia, head of the local adventurers’ guild branch and acting village chief, lamented the current situation with a sigh. She too was displeased with the new lord.

“From what I’ve heard, this new lord was sent here for committing some crime.”
Finally, Camille, the village priestess in charge of security, spoke up.
“The fuck, this ain’t some goddamn penal colony! Then what crime did we villagers commit to get stuck with him?”
“Getting angry won’t change anything, so lower your voice a bit. All you’ll get is a sore throat from that anger.”
“Yes, in times like these we need to calmly put our heads together and find a sharp solution.”

These three were born and raised in the village, and were effectively the powers governing it. Anyone who opposed this trio could not even set foot in the village, let alone accomplish anything. The previous lord who had secretly returned only to get beaten black and blue before being driven out was a witness to that.

“…Still, if we go too far against this new lord, it could become a big issue.”
“But if that bastard dares to come swaggering in here acting all haughty as the lord, I’ll blow my top!”
“This conversation is not progressing. We need a sharp solution, not anger.”

In the midst of this, the adventurers’ guild branch head Cecilia came up with an idea.
“That’s right. If we can’t do anything, then we just don’t do anything.”
“You saying we just sit back and watch that noble brat strutting around?”
“No, I mean ignore him and pay no mind. If we all treat him like he’s invisible, what can that little bastard do? He’s here because he committed some crime, and if he tries killing the villagers, he’ll just be asking for his own head.”
“Ho, not a bad idea.”

While Priestess Camille did not particularly like the method, based on majority rule she had no choice but to go along with it.

A few days later, when the carriage carrying the new lord finally arrived at the village entrance, the villagers greeted it with indifference as practiced.
They did not even glance at the carriage, let alone greet it, and when the coachman noticed the situation and tried to lash his whip in anger, he was immediately stopped by the new lord.

Eventually, the carriage arrived at the lord’s residence, and the raven belonging to the lord saw the decrepit state of the building from inside the carriage and let out a mocking laugh.

“Hah! What a place worthy of burning to the ground…!”

The people inwardly began anticipating how the lord would react. If he disembarked and threw a loud tantrum, they planned to ignore him as if nothing happened and embarrfs him.

“…Raul sir. Is this really the lord’s residence you will be staying in?”
Even to the coachman, this building seemed far too humble to be called a lord’s residence. Compared to a regular mansion it was luxurious, but as a lord’s residence it was far too old and small.

The two-story wooden structure looked decrepit at a glance, and not even a common flower could be seen in the garden visible beyond the iron gates.
Since the former lord’s mansion was now being used as a warehouse, they had given him the relatively decent remaining mansion in the village. Of course, while decent, it would likely look like a pigsty to the esteemed visitor from the capital.

“…It is written ‘Lord’s Residence’, is it not?”
As the carriage door opened, the indifferent gazes of the people momentarily turned towards it.
“Then this must be the lord’s residence.”

Without the slightest complaint, he disembarked from the carriage.
And what the people saw was not the pot-bellied old man they had expected, but a youth who looked in need of convalescence at any moment.

From a distance he could be seen as either a beauty or a handsome man. But either way, those features were excessively slender, and not a hint of vitality could be found on that beautiful face.

“Just as I have become a lord, this building has become the lord’s residence. If we call this village the lord’s residence, it is quite a splendid place. Look at the essence, not the name.”

At those words, a great arrow seemed to pierce the consciences of the villagers who had been ignoring him.

“W-Well said, my lord…”
“And the place I will reside is not simply this building, but this village. Seen that way, is it not more splendid a dwelling than any other?”

Another arrow pierced the hearts of those who had thought the lord would surely insult their village.

“So do not be too angry…”
Perhaps due to built-up toxins, the lord stumbled over a stone and lost his balance, falling down.
Seeing this, Merchant Chief Marco approached to help him up, but was tripped by Cecilia, the one who had proposed this plan, and fell in the same posture as the lord.
Seeing her master fall, the maid Betty came running and helped him to his feet.

“Raul sir!”
“Do not worry too much. It was simply a fall.”

He nonchalantly dusted himself off and entered the lord’s residence.
As he went inside, the villagers who had been feigning indifference gathered to put their heads together and discuss.

“He doesn’t seem like such a bad person…?”
“No, we don’t know that yet. This could all be an act to deceive us.”
“But aren’t we the ones ignoring him with that attitude?”
“Shut up. Aren’t you annoyed these noble brats didn’t give our village a second thought when we were in greatest danger, but now they act like this?”

Before long, the conversation had devolved into comments about the lord’s appearance.
“By the way, did you see that guy’s face? Looks like not a drop of blood would come out even if you stabbed him.”
“I thought he looked handsome?”
“No, he looks handsome but also frail, like he’d shatter if you tapped him!”

At that, Cecilia, the one who had proposed the plan, kicked their butts in anger.
“Why are you all gathered gossiping about the lord’s looks like it’s so important?”
“But if some pot-bellied mustachioed uncle lord shows up, our Cecilia is 100% getting sexually harassed.”
“…Would even a depraved noble dare touch a woman who can uproot trees barehanded?”
“Hey!!!”

Of course, the new lord was watching this amusing spectacle through the second floor window of the lord’s residence while sipping coffee brewed by the maid.

“Since the ‘dignified indifference’ strategy has failed, it seems we must proceed to the next strategy.”
The new lord Raul had exceptionally sharp hearing, able to pick up the sound of a stream 300m away.

Yet even seeing such attitudes, he had no intention of getting angry or retaliating.

“I’ll go give that lordling a taste of my fist, so watch closely.”
Cecilia pounded on the door of the lord’s residence, both hands full of papers that were not particularly important documents.
“My apologies for the first day, but there is urgent business requiring your immediate attention, my lord.”

The one who opened the door to greet her was the new lord himself.
“Enter.”
“Wh…Why you yourself, my lord…?”
“My maid is unpacking luggage, and the coachman is cleaning the stables for the horses. Is it not natural for the most available person to greet guests?”

Momentarily flustered by his very different attitude from the nobles she knew, she quickly regained her composure and shoved the stack of papers at him.
“These are documents that have piled up in this village during the absence of a lord.”

It was a volume of work that would normally take two sleepless nights to process, but she boldly demanded the new lord complete it by the next morning.

“I see.”
“As they are rather urgent matters, may I ask you to process them by tomorrow morning?”
“No.”

At that, Cecilia smirked, thinking ‘I knew it’.
Just as she was thinking he was predictably incompetent, like one banished to the countryside for committing crimes, the new lord Raul calmly replied:

“A volume this size can be completed within three hours. You said they were urgent matters, did you not? Then I must process them as swiftly as possible.”
“Pardon…?”
“Surely this is not an amount that can be processed within a mere three hours?”

“But is it not an amount that can reasonably be done within a day?”
He then placed the documents on a nearby table and began working right there.
While Cecilia was aghast at his smooth work pace, Raul did not spare her a glance, focusing entirely on the paperwork before him.

“There it is.”
After completing all the work in just 2 hours and 40 minutes without a single error or mistake, he handed the stack of documents back to Cecilia.
“If there is any other work, please leave it with me tomorrow separately.”
“Y-Yes…”

Cecilia left the lord’s residence in a daze, and Raul silently sipped his now cold coffee as he prepared dinner.
And Raul’s pet raven, who had been watching the whole situation, opened its cage and took flight in the direction Cecilia had run off.

“…Ignorant fools.”
In the raven’s eyes was a cold fury not even its master Raul had witnessed before.