I Reincarnated As A Minor Villainess and I Survived Past My Death Scene

Arc I, Chapter 5

Four months into my new lifestyle of being the Duchess of a land I'd never seen, I could probably recite the entire budget and every available resource without ever having to look at my volumes of notes. Howard and the rest of the household staff had been very impressed by my strides in both trying to be a decent ruler and a decent human being, and I'd even wormed myself into the good graces of the knights tasked with guarding the estate. I feel like Hilde would have been impressed with me too, but she was too busy trying to keep me alive and reign in my more excitable moments – I'd befriended most of the vendors in the town market now and I think she made it her personal assignment to ensure I wouldn't be killed by bad food.

So I thought this was as good a time as any to enact step two.

"I need to tour the province."

Howard took a long sip of his morning tea. I made a mental note to "discover" the process of distilling whiskey so he'd have something to soothe his nerves later.

"Why?" Hilde asked, then belatedly tacked on a respectful "Your Grace."

"What do you mean, why? I'm the Duchess, so shouldn't I know what the duchy looks like?"

"The Duchess manages the estate, and in times of the Duke's absence, handles immediate matters in the province," Howard interjected. Given that most of my budget reforms had been organizational matters that could easily be undone by Heero if he wanted, there hadn't been any opposition to it, but I guess a provincial tour was pushing the limit.

I changed tracks. "I want to go on holiday then," I said.

Howard poured himself more tea. Maybe I'll rethink the discovery of whiskey, he'd clearly just turn into an alcoholic and I didn't want a drunk butler wandering through the halls.

They obviously knew what I was doing but humored me anyway. "The Yuy family does own some vacation properties in the duchy, which ones were you keen on?" Howard asked.

"Taketoyo, Sawara, and Aoba-ku." A port city, a farming town, and a mountain town.

"May I suggest places that actually have vacation properties?"

"Yes."

"...Will you actually consider going to these places instead?"

"No." I kept smiling.

Howard looked forlornly into his teacup. Hilde looked skyward, then declared she would organize the security detail.

---

Taketoyo sat northwest to the capital of the province, its port settled on the open sea. Most naval travelers went east or west depending on destination, selling their wares to the numerous provinces of Sanc via the coast that curved westward, or trading with the more open-minded peoples of the Romefeller Empire under the hostile stares of it ruling class. The port was the richest of the territories within the Yuy domain, prosperous for its seafood and its trade.

Taketoyo was only ever mentioned in the novel, never once seen by the intrepid protagonist Relena. It was just another informed attribute of the Yuy duchy, used to help illustrate the numerous assets Heero held as a possible love interest.

I was more interested in its ships.

Those used by Sanc and the other kingdoms of this bizarre continent were reminiscent of medieval sailing vessels, dependent on sails and rigging to get from point A to point B. It wasn't a bad form of transportation and it got the job done, but being that I came from a time where I could expect a delivery from a drone within 24 hours, letting the wind and sea decide transport speed seemed a bit too lax.