Rebirth in a Ruined Nation! The Life of a New Strategist Starting From Now - Chapter 127

Florencia (1)

A name was part of a country’s culture.

Like the custom of ‘protective name’ in the southern continent. This custom was a kind of kotodama, in which someone was given a name with the meaning of good health and prosperity.

(T/N: Kotodama is a Japanese’s belief that there’s a power in words)

Let’s take Luluria as an example. Her name before marrying Tsetsie was “Luluria Fezaris Badusa”. It was made up of “first name-family name-protective name”.

Even in our country, the Commander of the 7th Division, Thor-sama, who had thick southern blood has a protective name, ‘Solgia’

In a slightly formal setting, someone from the southern continent would be pleased if they were greeted by their first name and protective name. It was believed that calling someone’s protective name was a way to pray for their protection.

Rufa also has a protective name, but for some reason, she wouldn’t tell me. She said, I’m too embarrassed to explain the meaning myself so maybe her protective name has a meaning of ‘lovable’ or something around that line.

That being said, both Badusa and Solgia were words from ancient southern languages, so I have no idea what they meant.

On the other hand, the culture regarding names in the northern continent was a bit simpler. Commoners like me, Roa, Diku, and Luzel didn’t have family names.

Only nobles or families with a certain amount of power had family names. Once your family had a family name, it wouldn’t be taken away even if your family fell into ruin so prominent merchants and the like wanted a family name as a kind of status.

Of course, you can’t just randomly give yourself a family name. Only someone who had made an achievement for the country will be given permission by the King to use a family name. That was why in the northern continent, a family name was a source of great pride for the family.

For example, there was a huge difference in joking with someone while calling them by their first name or by their family name. The former was something the person could just laugh it off, but the latter would become a huge problem because it would be seen as an insult to their whole family.

Only a head of a family would be called by their family name alone, as a way to respect them. For example, when we were visiting Wickharlt’s house, we called Wickharlt’s father, the family head ‘Sir Hogbeck’

Other than for a family head, it was normal to call others by their first name in public. It was very rare for someone to call others by their family name.

By the way, The royal family’s name was ‘Trad’. That was why the capital was named ‘Rudektrad’.

But in our culture, it was considered very rude to call the royal family by their full names, so there were only a few people who called the King or the royal family by their full names.

Now then, the reason why I took the time to explain all of this was to show how ridiculous and bizarre this whole situation was.

Speaking of my friend who was the most ridiculous and bizarre, there was only one person.

The Eccentric, Drew.

She was none other than Florencia, the relative that Frankurlt Drew was trying to rely on

***

“What!? So your name isn’t just Drew but Florencia Drew!?”

Only Lapilia-sama raised her voice in surprise, but almost everyone here shared her feelings. Even Rays-sama was looking at Drew with a tired expression. Apparently, he also didn’t know.

This all started because of Frankurlt. After the news that we were returning to the capital while bringing Frankurlt, the upper-echelon people in the capital started their discussion about how to handle Frankurlt.

In that discussion, it was decided that Frankurlt asked his relative who is currently working in the capital to be his guarantor, so let’s start by talking to this relative. Her name is Florencia

The problem was, no matter how hard everyone searched, no one could find an official named Florencia.

Because no one managed to find Florencia by the time we arrived at the capital, we ended up gathering at Rays-sama’s office to ask for the details about Florencia directly from Frankurlt.

“Florencia is a daughter of a merchant family that is related to my family. I heard she ran away from home to work as a court official in the capital…” Frankurlt explained with a confused expression.

Me or rather many people in the room tilted our heads. I seem to have heard that story somewhere…

“What’s the name of that family’s company?” Rays-sama asked.

“It’s Bexter Corporation.”

Rays-sama put his head on his forehead while looking up, before finally saying, “Someone, call Drew.”

That’s the background of Lapilia-sama’s words.

When Drew came in, she puffed her cheeks while looking displeased.

“Come one! I was just getting started!”

Seeing Drew, Frankurlt extended his arms, “Florencia! I haven’t seen you since you were a little girl! Look at how big you’ve grown up.”

Drew looked at Frankurlt, “Who are you?”

Frankurlt turned pale and he started to talk about his relationship with Drew’s…I mean, Florencia’s family, trying to make her remember him, and by the time he managed to make her say, “Ah, right, there’s someone like you,” Rays-sama took Florencia away for an ‘interrogation’

T/N: THAT’S why they were both Drew! I remember double-checking when translating earlier chapters to make sure I didn’t mistranslate their names. I thought their name being the same was a coincidence since people having the same name is common. 

I…just noticed I misnumbered chapter 126 and skipped this chapter. The numbering is fixed now. I’m really sorry!