CH 5.1

“I’m, I’m a guide?”

“Yes, if you get a thorough examination in the capital, you’ll know which one you are.”

Hearing the Duke’s words, I looked down at my hand with mixed feelings.

The task of ‘guide’ was really far away for a commoner like me.

Of course, the story about a certain commoner who accidentally got a thorough examination in the capital city, and then turned out to be an S-class guide then became rich by accident was rampant everywhere.

However, rumors were only rumors. To ponder them in reality, it was a nonsense story.

Guides were no different from ordinary people except for their power to be able to purify the Sentinel’s power. With it their main job was to guide the Sentinels in a risky environment.

It was natural to go through as much training as most soldiers do to become an authorized ‘official guide’ in the Empire. And training to become a formal guide costs an enormous amount of money.

Most of the graduates of the guide training school were nobles, except for the occasional commoner guide who appeared for external propaganda purposes. And even after graduating from the school, it was very difficult for a commoner guide to make a fair contract because they lacked connections.

Even if you know that you are a guide, a commoner’s will ultimately not change.

Of course, as rumor has it, if you are an S-class guide or higher, the nobles will sponsor you and give you guide training, but an S-class guide is not just some name.

It would be faster to pray for money to drop from the sky than to hope for a talent that only comes around once in 100 years.

That’s why I couldn’t easily decide whether it was a good thing or not to go to the capital right away.

***

“What is it?”

“You told me to prepare for the guide examination in the capital. I’ve packed everything.”

“Is that all your things?”

“Yes.”

I don’t have many things.

A few underpants, a pair of outing clothes, a pocket with versatile straps, a bottle of water, a handful of salt, and an identification could barely even fill the old brown suitcase.

Like the director of an orphanage inspecting hygiene, the Duke carefully inspected my luggage.

“It’s pathetic.”

He took out the identification and took the rest of the bag and threw it out the window.

‘This weirdo…….’

Every time he does garbage things as often as breathing, but I still can’t get used to it. I clutched my skirt to contain my anger.

“I’ll buy you a new one, so throw it all away.”

“You already threw it all away.”

“I know. You’re grateful I threw it away, right? You don’t have to separate the garbage.”

My underwear……. I only packed the ones I’d only worn ten times.

The outing clothes were made of strong, high-quality fabric and were worn only once in my lifetime. I secretly pouted my lower lip when I saw the Duke turn away.

With my hands light, I followed him down the central hall.

Since I was a low-level maid in charge of washing dishes, I only went to and from the servant only hallways, kitchen and attic everyday. I had nothing to do or even walk in the central hall.

From the murals adorning the ceiling to the delicately carved lily patterns on the alabaster pillars, to the lake you can see when you go down the elegantly curved stairs. Passing by the mansion, I naturally widened my eyes and looked around.

“Leave it and go.”

It doesn’t matter if I leave it.

I hurried down the stairs at the Duke’s insistence.

In front of the portico, instead of a carriage, there was a shiny black car. As a person who had lived a life unrelated to a limousine in my previous life, I got discouraged.

As I approached hesitantly, Gilbert, the footman, opened the door as he would to noble ladies. I relaxed a little after making eye contact with him.

Quite a few servants, including Gilbert and Meg, survived that bastard’s hunt. It was because I caught the Duke’s attention along the way.

Duke Janus is spontaneous and capricious by nature, so after he found me hiding in the kitchen, the hunting stopped.

The surviving servants just listened to the nagging, telling them to pay attention to the recruiting from now on and not to harass the youngest member. It was too sound of a reason for holding a bloody hunt.

“Do you know such people in the capital?”

As soon as we got into the car as Gilbert guided us, the Duke who was riding first started a fight.

I quickly erased the smile from my face and replied in a hoarse voice.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you know?”

Meg is rather lucky. Because she can live like before in the duchy without the Duke again.

In the running car, I only wriggled my fingers. Then, feeling the unfamiliar sensation of getting into a running car, I recalled the lamentation I have been doing in my life so far.

‘That bastard is shining on a stone for no reason.’

Even if I become a C-level or higher guide, I’m not happy.

There’s no way I could be that rare S-class guide. Even if I were, things would get more complicated.