Thank you very much Sam and The Link for donating! Really Appreciate it!

Should you ever donate, please comment a fake name or RRL account name with the donation so I know who to credit for it!

Chapter of today!

BTW today is the 19th, it now is exactly 1 month since I started and in these 31 days I have written 40 Chapters, with 110k words all in all, pretty impressive I would say :D

Hope you enjoy!

-----

Chapter 40: Undercover

With a bright light, Makoto appeared inside the empty room.

Saracesse wasn't here at the moment and a bit saddened by the fact that he would probably not see her for quite some time he left the Inn somewhat reluctantly.

He knew from yesterdays conversation with Narkas that house Stimridge was on the 44 layer, north of the Palace so finding the actual structure was not too hard with a bit of asking around.

Before he actually got to the building, another thought crossed his mind.

If he posed as a Servant, wouldn't he also pose as an NPC then?

Taking one look at his current equipment destroyed every illusion of being just an ordinary citizen.

A bit heartbroken, Makoto spent nearly 5 Silver on 4 sets of fine clothing.

It was necessary but it still hurt.

Donning his new disguise while putting all of his armor and even his weapon in his inventory, he finally arrived at house Stimridge.

It was an absolutely gigantic mansion, nearly doubling the one Narkas lived in.

Just the size alone was enough to make it stick out in the surrounding area.

Makoto had to walk past 8 guards stationed at the gate before being able to even knock on the front door.

A white haired and frail looking man in a Servant uniform opened the door and looked at him from head to boot.

"Who is it?"

"Excuse me, I am supposed to start as a Servant here today and-"

"Never use this entrance again."

Somewhat stunned at being interrupted like that, he looked at the old man confused and he motioned Makoto to come inside while continuing to speak.

"Servants never use the main entrance to enter the house, always use the back entrance from now on, understood?"

Nodding a few times he followed the elderly Servant deep inside the actual building.

Everywhere you could see gold and silver adorn the walls, showing complex structures and figures.

It was once again more luxurious than Narkas Forrowfell's home.

Trying to memorise as much as possible, Makoto was finally lead into an area that had no decoration, only white walls and a wooden floor.

It was the kitchen at the back of the building where a big group of women and men already prepared Lunch for the nobles of the house.

"This is your job for now, I will get you soon enough again to show you a few other chores you will be doing every day."

Leaving him with a pile of potatoes while putting a knife into his hand, Makoto was already feeling tired just looking at the big task before him.

It took him nearly three hours to finish this job, after which he was lead into a small room full of clothes.

"Clean these next."

Staring at the dirty laundry of at least 50 people, Makoto felt as if he would faint at any moment but pure willpower helped him through it all.

The water needed to be changed a lot as there was quite a few clothes with shit or pee stains, how they had received them was beyond him.

Washing the 5th pair of underwear with a skid mark by hand reminded him once again how thankful he was for not having to use the bathroom as a player.

Things like eating and drinking were easily possible but the creators of the game decided not to include the need to go to a toilet.

At the end of it all, Makoto could feel an incredible disgust from the bottom of his heart for house Stimridge.

Unable to ever smell his hands again, an older servant guided him to another room.

It was the bed and playroom of one of the child nobles.

Toys and all kinds of food littered the entire floor and he was told to clean it up.

His hatred for the entire house grew yet again and Makoto could feel how the corners of his mouth started to hurt from fake smiling so much.

"Alright, I'm on it."

Was all he was able to say before the other person stormed off again, leaving him with a pig pen of a room.

First of all Makoto made sure to put all the toys away while evading the half chewed pieces of meat and vegetables that filled the floor.

After that he picked up soggy clumps of food and started to mop the ground.

Somewhere in between all of that, the small boy who lived and played here came to stop by, dropping yet another half eaten chunk on the floor, only to then run off laughing.

The 1st time this happened Makoto let it slide, he decided to believe that the little boy was mentally handicapped, why else would you do something like that?

The 2nd time it started to be odd and after the 7th time he was very close to strangling the boy but again, he picked up the food and mopped over the spot.

With an incredible hatred for this little shit that made his work ten times harder, he could practically feel how his eyes started to glow a dim red, which in turn finally scared the little bastard away to hide behind his mother's dress.

It was in the late afternoon that he managed to clean the entire room to an acceptable standard.

Another member of staff came to pick him up and he was lead to the dining room to help serve dinner for the entire house.

On the way there he was told over and over again to address everyone with either Sir or Ma'am and to lower his head while speaking to them, the Head of Stimridge held great value upon upholding this basic form of etiquette.

A gigantic table filled to the brim with overdressed nobles that all chatted at the same time welcomed him, together with trays full of gorgeous meals.

Makoto followed the example of the other Servants and put one plate after the other down before the nobles, always showing a deep bow which they didn't seem to notice.

All in all he was treated as if he didn't exist in the first place even though it was his first day.

It was a bit disappointing in a way that his insertion in a noble household went this smoothly.

A select few shot short glances towards him but nothing more than that, they were too busy slandering other houses or talking ill about another decision of the Council to even notice the new guy.

Another big topic was the coming war with the East.

"I am telling you, the border to Sarachec has been complete chaos recently. There will be war!"

"So what? Elisante is close to the eastern border, our soldiers are some of the most experience veterans thanks to the Labyrinth Dungeon, let them come!"

"Can't let some lowborn half humans roll all over us now can we?!"

With a loud shout many men and women on the table agreed before yet again talking about "What if" scenarios in a possible war.

Asuria and Sarachec were big countries that both bordered to the sea in the south.

The only difference was that Asuria also bordered to the sea in the west, to the East was Sarachec, land of the Beast-men and to the north was Farkiln, land of the Dwarfs.

The Dwarfs hated any and all foreigners while the Beast-men were only on bad terms with Asuria, making this a very peculiar situation indeed.

Makoto had read about Azalon History like most other people that played the game.

Every Race started in a different kingdom, the interaction between each kingdom and race could be either good or bad, it heavily depended on who was King and what kind of history each aristocrat had with the neighboring country.

It was described as a diverse political system that could be used or abused to bring peace or war between two nations.

One of the big reasons why there was only Humans inside the Capital was that every Sarachec citizen was deeply hated by most common folk and players that wanted to cross borders would have to be in their mid 30s to even risk such a dangerous trip as there was not one single Village or City close to any of the borders, understandably.

Makoto listened to the surrounding conversations with one ear while collecting empty plates from time to time, it was tedious work but it was an effective way to collect information and he made sure to stay as close as possible to the end of the table, that was where the Head of any house was sitting after all.

Carl Stimridge was a serious man.

He had built this former low nobility house into one of the strongest and most influential houses of the Capital.

A deed worthy of respect.

The man never spoke much during Dinner but after the entire family had finished their meal and the children were sent to bed while the adults opened bottle after bottle of wine in the lounge, that was a different story.

Makoto helped pour the liquor that was probably worth thousands of gold like it was the cheapest beer.

All of them seemed to be incredible alcoholics as they drank like a bottomless pit, emptying a good 200 bottles while the actual number of adults could not be more than 30.

Watching this incredible display of wealth while remembering how he himself was grubby about every single Copper that he got from selling junk loot made the difference between nobility and common folk even more clear.

They talked about this and that but not about the things he was interested to hear, not about things that mattered.

Makoto slept in a 2 foot wide bed that was incredibly uncomfortable and stood up again with the first light of dawn.

The next day was just like the one before, incredibly dull and tiring.

During dinner and in the lounge he kept his eyes and ears open for any noteworthy information about his Quest but he had no luck.

On the third day of peeling a mountain of potatoes, washing shit stained underwear and cleaning countless rooms his patience was starting to grow weary.

With dearly needed hope in this sheer endless physical labor, Makoto could not wait for Dinner to start again.

During the entire meal there seemed to be a strange silence, no one really laughed or talked too loud and there was the occasional glance to the First of the house, Carl.

It was suspicious enough that he started to get his hopes up again.

After a very quiet meal the adults turned up in the lounge again, drinking away their mind and memories.

Finally Makoto heard what he had been waiting for.

"How should we deal with Rhobos now that he is imprisoned and being questioned?"

One of the younger nobles asked, his gaze directed towards his father.

Carl Stimridge only laughed it off.

"There is no need to worry, Rhobos doesn't know that we have secretly funded the little Cult his brother started.

And even if he did, he would still not know that we did it to upset the common folk while trouble is brewing at the border.

It really is a damn shame that the Cult was annihilated before a major disturbance was caused.

If our house had destroyed this evil Cult then, the King would have probably elevated us to a royal family, securing our survival while even having a possible go at the throne.

Truly an unfortunate turn of events."

Sighing deeply, the middle aged man drank another bottle of wine empty and waved a servant to bring some more.

"But father, what should we tell house Durthin and Sharow when they come to us, asking for the land we promised them for helping us finance the Cult?"

Immediately Carl's face visibly changed and he threw a glass full of wine at the man who had dared to open his mouth.

"That is what you get for ruining my good mood, now go to your bed!"

"But father I am not a child anymo-"

"I said go you little shit or I swear by the Divines that I will throw you out of this house, do you hear me?!"

The young man quickly scrambled to his feet and fled the room while a deep silence fell all around them after this sudden outburst from the Head of the House.

With a gloomy look on his face, Carl quickly emptied yet another bottle and asked for more.

Makoto played the good little Servant till everyone was in their bed, tucked beneath their covers and soundly asleep.

With a feeling similar to his entire spine being pressed into place again, he stood up in complete darkness from this insanely uncomfortable wooden board of a bed.

Making sure to tread carefully and without creating any noise, he maneuvered his way through the dark, unwilling to light even one little match as to not wake anyone inside the mansion.

After about 20 minutes of falling over his own feet he finally reached the back entrance of the mansion.

The key to open the door was thankfully still stuck inside the lock so all he really had to do was slowly turn it, open the door and lock it again behind him while putting the little object in his pocket.

He had no idea if he would even come back here again but why not keep something like a key to an incredibly rich household?

It would be like shooting himself in the foot if he didn't accept this divine guidance to potentially fill his pockets with riches.

The next problem he faced was to leave the outer bounds without getting noticed by one of the guards, thankfully there was a hidden gate at the back that opened with the same key he currently had in possession, that was two signs of divine guidance right there.

With hurried steps, Makoto made the long trip back to Narkas Forrowfell to tell him how house Stimridge, house Durthin and house Sharow had been involved with the Blood Moon Cult...

-----

Back to Main Page

If you have any questions comment below!

I know it's a lot sooner than I said but we are reaching the end of Volume 3 people, stay tuned! :D