CH 12

Chapter 12 – New Servants

The day after I turned in the job posting, we bought the essential furniture and started living in the residence.

At the same time, we had to leave our room at the New Moon Inn. Jayn and Sofia looked forlorn, but it wasn’t like we wouldn’t see each other anymore. We could always drop by and visit on our way to the guild, for example.

I told them just that and they agreed with me, then sent us off with a smile.

I brought Maguro with us too, naturally. The residence wasn’t equipped with horse stables, however, so I was going to keep him in the subspace most of the time. I could keep the carriage there too.

Our finances were pretty decent, so we could focus on furnishing the residence without having to take requests from the guild. We took our time making preparations, and one week flew by.

That day, I went to the guild on my own.

“Did you find anyone, Claire?”

“Oh, Sir Haruto! We have more than one hundred candidates, actually! I thought that only looking in the capital wasn’t enough, so I sent the request to the nearby cities too, you see: thanks to the news of your EX rank spreading, the response has been incredible!”

Claire seemed extremely excited about the whole matter.

“Because of the time limit, the candidates are all from Perdis…but I had them take an exam and chose the best three!”

“Exam? What did you have them do?”

“Well, I had them tested in four disciplines: manners, cleaning, reading and writing, and fighting.”

Wow, that was more comprehensive than I expected…

“That must have been tough…so, what was the result?”

“I chose the three best candidates, naturally. The first is a man, who scored top marks in all disciplines. The other two are women, who had the best overall score — after the first man, of course.”

The man took the top score in all categories? Impressive, I wonder what kind of person he is…

I was curious, but I was going to meet them later anyway, so I saved the questions for later.

“Thank you, Claire. Tell those three to come to the residence this afternoon, then. I’d like them to begin living in it starting today, so make sure they know that too.”

“Understood. They are all residents of the capital, so I think that will not be a problem.”

“That’s good. I’ll leave that to you, then.”

I was really looking forward to seeing what kind of people would arrive.

~

I returned to the residence, told Finne and the others about the servants and we prepared to welcome them.

Then, just as we finished lunch, someone knocked on the door.

“Looks like they’re here. Asha, can you go?”

“Understood. I will bring them to the guest room, then.”

I went to the guest room first, together with Finne and Iris, and waited for Asha to bring the guests in.

Soon enough, we heard knocking at the door.

“I have brought the guests, Sir Haruto.”

“Come in.”

The door opened and Asha came in followed by a white-haired, dandy gentleman in his sixties and two young women in their early twenties, one with red and the other with light blue hair.

Hmm? Now that I think about it, the old guy looks just like the royal butler, Zebastian…

Just as I was wondering about that curious resemblance, Iris stood up, a surprised expression on her face.

“Sebastian! Is it really you? Why are you here!?”

“Do you know him, Iris?”

“Yes, Sebastian, he…Sebas used to be papa’s butler. Some years ago, he retired and left the post to his younger brother, Zebastian…”

I see, so he used to be the royal family’s butler. We have quite an incredible person here.

So I reflected, impressed, and Sebastian bowed to us.

“It has been a long time, Lady Iris…Lord Haruto, as Lady Iris graciously explained, my name is Sebastian. Please, you may call me Sebas.”

“I will, Sebas, I’m happy to meet you…what about the other two?”

I turned towards the two young women standing next to Sebas.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Haruto. My name is Lyla.”

“My name is Mia, milord.”

So the girl with shoulder-length red hair is Lyla, the one with short light blue hair is Mia, I see.

“The pleasure’s mine.”

“Pleased to meet you two.”

“Likewise.”

After I replied to their greeting, Finne and Iris did too.

…now that I remember, the exam involved fighting too, didn’t it.

My condition was for them to be at least as skilled as a rank C adventurer, so they should be able to hold their own in battle, but I found it hard to believe that the girls were two of the top scores in the exam.

I knew it was a bit unfair on my part, but I decided to use God Eye to check their status.

<table>NAME        : Lyla LEVEL       : 53 AGE           : 24 SPECIES   : Human SKILLS      : Fire Magic LV4</tbody></table>

<table>Spear Arts LV4</tbody></table>

<table>Throwing Arts LV3</tbody></table>

<table>Barehanded Arts LV3</tbody></table>

<table>Assassination Arts LV3</tbody></table>

<table>Conceal Presence</tbody></table>

<table>Manners LV6</tbody></table>

<table>Cooking LV4 TITLES      : Battle Maid</tbody></table>

<table>Assassin</tbody></table>

<table>Lurking Presence</tbody></table>

<table>Darkness Cloak</tbody></table>NAME        : Mia LEVEL       : 58 AGE           : 25 SPECIES   : Human SKILLS      : Water Magic LV5</tbody></table>

<table>Spear Arts LV5</tbody></table>

<table>Throwing Arts LV4</tbody></table>

<table>Barehanded Arts LV4</tbody></table>

<table>Assassination Arts LV5</tbody></table>

<table>Conceal Presence</tbody></table>

<table>Manners LV7</tbody></table>

<table>Cooking LV5 TITLES      : Battle Maid</tbody></table>

<table>Assassin</tbody></table>

<table>Lurking Presence</tbody></table>

<table>Darkness Cloak</tbody></table>

Whoa, they’re both pretty strong.

Finne’s level is higher now, but as maids, they’re definitely overpowered.

“Battle Maid” didn’t make much sense by itself, but they even have the “Assassin” title…the other two, “Lurking One” and “Darkness Cloak” reeked of danger too.

Could it be that they planned to be hired to assassinate someone? I should look into it, and give them a warning at the same time.

“To tell you the truth, I have the ability to see people’s statuses…you two are really strong, aren’t you.”

Lyla and Mia both shuddered at my words.

“Haruto? Is there anything strange in their status?”

Iris asked me what I meant, and I reflected a little about what the best possible answer may be.

I could tell everyone about the girls’ Assassin title…but if I did, even if they didn’t really come here on an assassination mission, the others would oppose Mia and Lyla being hired, out of concern for Iris and her position. Considering their abilities, that was definitely a waste.

I’ll keep quiet about it for now, but make sure these two knew they had to stay in line…

“Nothing in particular, they were just stronger than expected. Not as strong as me or Finne, though.”

If I said that, they wouldn’t try to lay a hand on me or Finne, I thought. As for Iris, I just needed to watch out for her.

Since I was at it, I might as well check Sebastian’s status too.

<table>NAME        : Sebastian LEVEL       : 98 AGE           : 66 SPECIES   : Human UNIQUE SKILL: Gravity SKILLS      : Manners LV8</tbody></table>

<table>Sword Arts LV7</tbody></table>

<table>Barehanded Arts LV6</tbody></table>

<table>Lightning Magic LV6</tbody></table>

<table>Physical Boost LV7</tbody></table>

<table>Throwing Arts LV7</tbody></table>

<table>Detect Presence</tbody></table>

<table>Ground Shrink LV5 TITLES      : Gravity Destroyer</tbody></table>

<table>Perfect Butler</tbody></table>

<table>Battle Butler</tbody></table>

<table>Ex S Rank Adventurer</tbody></table>

<table>Ex Royal Butler</tbody></table>

Whoa, Sebastian! You’re a powerhouse!

So he was an S-rank adventurer too? He retired and became a butler, maybe?

And he even had a Unique Skill…he could freely control gravity in a 20 Metol radius, apparently.

“You’re really strong, Sebastian. So you were an S-rank adventurer before?”

“Your words honor me, milord.”

“Eh!?”

Finne, Lyla, and Mia all reacted with surprise. Iris knew it already, as should be expected.

She then asked Sebas a question.

“Sebas, you haven’t replied to my question yet. Why are you here? Didn’t you retire?”

If he really had retired, as Iris said, I too was curious to know why he applied to the job. Could it be that Dillan ordered him to…?

“Actually, His Ma…ahem. I found myself having quite too much free time in my retirement, so when I learned about this job, I thought of applying.”

“I see! I’m really glad to have you here, Sebas!”

Man, you were saying “His Majesty” there, didn’t you!? I knew it, he came here on Dillan’s orders…

You should be a little more suspicious too, Iris…

Look, Finne and even Asha have tight smiles on their faces…

“Thank you, Lady Iris. Lord Haruto, Lady Finne, Asha, I shall do my utmost to serve you.”

Sebas bowed his head perfectly, then Lyla and Mia followed.

“Yes, we’ll be counting on you…so, what I would like you three to do is to work together with Asha and take care of all cleaning and meals, and to take care of the residence and keep it safe whenever we’re away.”

The three newcomers reflected upon my words for a while.

The first one to reply was Sebas.

“With all due respect, milord, our manpower seems to be lacking…I believe we would need at least one more person.”

“Hmm, I kind of expected that…”

Iris did say something like that too…

“But since Claire picked you three, I’d feel bad at having her look for more people…I should have told her to look for four people from the start.”

“Well, I do not think Ms. Claire would find it troublesome, but…oh yes, how about a slave?”

“A slave?”

Lyla’s words made me frown.

There were slaves in this world, now that I recall…I didn’t think too much about it…or rather, tried not to, so I had forgotten all about it.

Personally, I didn’t like the idea too much, but…

Hmm, in manga and other stories, it often happens to save a slave from an unfortunate situation, so I could choose a slave like that.

Finne saw my concerned expression and called out to me.

“Sir Haruto, is anything wrong?”

“…no, nothing. Yeah, let’s do as Lyla said, we’ll buy a slave.”

Sebas nodded to my decision.

“Understood. If we find one capable of doing chores, all the better, but even if they can’t, we can always teach them…well, Asha will.”

“Eh? Me!?”

Asha looked crestfallen.

“Naturally. Lyla, Mia, and I can take care of the residence’s security, but you cannot fight, can you? Thus you will be in charge of training.”

“..I know…there is nothing I can say to that…”

Asha’s shoulders dropped in resignation.

I glanced at her, then asked another question to Lyla and Mia.

“Are there any other conditions?”

“Well, if the slave will need training, someone young would be ideal. Someone who did not become a slave because of past crimes would be best too, I think.”

I nodded to Mia’s reply.

“I see. We might as well go buy one right now, then.”

I prepared to go immediately, but Sebas stopped me.

“Please wait, milord. In that case, let us take care of it. We cannot possibly inconvenience you for such a task, Lord Haruto…”

“No, I can see people’s status, remember? I want to check it before we buy anyone.”

“…very well. I suggest you visit the slave trader named Bohbee then. I will draw a map for you.”

Sebas started immediately drawing the map to the store.

“Here you are, milord. If you mention my name, the manager will surely serve you.”

“Got it, thank you.”

I took the map and headed to the slave trader’s shop.