Chapter 4

Waking up I saw that I was unable to move, I have been restrained once again…

“I can’t seem to understand what to do with you, kid…” said the old man as he was sitting in front of me.

“Wait a second… Before you do anything I just want you to know that I was not myself when whatever it is that happened.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was somehow… possessed… something or someone took control over my body, and was doing whatever it did…”

“What is done is done,” said the old man “but that doesn’t excuse the fact that you suppressed me and disabled me from reaching my daughter, you or whatever it is that controlled you, is… strong enough to cause harm to my family, and for that, you can remain here no longer…”

“I understand, I knew it the moment that that happened… I will be leaving the moment you set me free…” I said fully knowing what is going to happen.

“However,” he said

“You have suffered great injustice that day under the hands of one of the families that I have under me, which is equal to having suffered injustice by me. And for that, you shall be compensated…”

“I don’t need any compensation, my lord, for the problems I caused it is enough for me to walk out of here with my head on my shoulders.”

“No, I will not let it be the case, and that is not even everything… my daughter… she woke up, with the dragon fever fully dissipated… her body began to manage the flame and she is feeling rather… comfortable… something that took me three months of suffering to achieve, you managed it in a single session… for that, I shall reward you with whatever it is that you wish, and I am capable of”

“I don’t deserve such things…”

“Nonsense! You have done what many had failed at, refusing this gift is the same as insulting me”

“Then can you set me free, I can’t think straight while I am stuck here”

“release him,” he said and two men came setting the straps and ropes off

“Thank you,” I said as I was scratching the itch again from my hands, I have the feeling that I am being roped and bound more than I should normally be.

“Then what I ask is, I want to go to school…”

“School? Out of all that you could ask? To be a noble? To get richer or to live free of any laws, you chose to go to school? Why?”

“I know the true value of money, thus I need it not, and I know how arrogant nobles can be, so I would rather not become one of them, but a scholar’s knowledge is a treasure that can never be weighed in gold… so I chose to fill my mind than filling my belly. I would rather spend my day reading a book and eating stew than to spend money I did not earn, to do things that I shouldn’t, falling in depravity is not something that I want.”

The old man looked at me with interest and said

“You say you are only fourteen… yet to have such a view of the world at such a young age… and even considering your background… I am amazed, then here is my offer, you will be going to school but not here, you will go to Visania.”

“Huh! Isn’t that the royal school of magic? I can’t go there I will be chased out before I reach the capital, it is only reserved for the royal family and the high nobles, or any that could afford the extravagant entrance fee… I can't-do that.”

“You can, with my blessing, however, you will not go as a student, you will go as a servant”

“Huh? I don’t think I qualify as that, but going as a servant is a bit far from what I intended, I meant by going to school, to learn and know stuff, just the regular school here can grant me such knowledge, going as a servant to that place is nothing compared to what I would gain just by going to this city’s school”

“You fail to understand the reason behind my words. That school teaches the rulers of the next generation, my daughter shall be going there, and you shall follow as her servant, servants are allowed to attend classes, because they are responsible over their masters, and will be their bodyguards.”

“So they can attend courses… hang on, you seem to be contradicting yourself, you said yourself that I was not to be trusted, not even I think that I should be trusted especially after that possession… yet why would you send me as your daughter’s servant, don’t you think that I might harm her?” I said

“You are rather blunt, but worry not, I will be sending one of my own guards with you, she is rather… ruthless if you show any signs of aggression, however, she will not cause you harm as long as you remain true to your purpose, to know and to learn this is my reward to you, so pack your bags, and bring what you need here you will leave in two months to the capital, so you will spend that time here.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me packing anything…”

“Ah, I forgot… well then just enjoy your stay for the upcoming days, ah right, go speak to Melinda, you know her she was the one that blew up in your face that time, it's rather refreshing seeing her expression different expressions now and then, she will teach you how to become a decently accepted servant”

“Right away,” I said as I walked out of the room, this room was rather damp and dark, I thought I was in some sort of prison at first, but once I left the place I found out that it was just the manor’s basement.

Hang on, where could I find that woman anyway? I thought to myself as I walked up the stairs.

Once I reached the upper floor which had the entrance to the courtyard, I saw the maid named Melinda. Yet before I could speak

“How did you leave the dungeon?!”

“Easy there, it was Lord Yo ling that asked me to go up and look for you, it seems that I will be going with the mistress as a servant…”

“What absurdities are you speaking?”

“He speaks no such things, it was indeed what I had asked him to do, and you Melinda shall aid him in his task, show him the ropes, teach him as much as you can”

“But sir, the lady’s safety is jeopardized with him as company”

“Worry not, for that you shall be accompanying them. You are responsible for my daughter Melinda,”

“Of course sir!” she said with confidence and pride. “Now, follow me, we need to get you to look decent enough as a servant… two months will probably not be enough to teach you anything but I will do my best, I just hope you are a fast learner.”

“I will do my best,” I said as I followed the girl.

We left the manor walking through the garden until we reached a large house.

“This is the servant’s house, this is the lodging of all the maids within this place, you being a male servant will be a butler, and I will teach you how to tend to your mistress’s needs. Do you understand?

“Yes Mam,” I replied

“Good,” first things first, you need to dress like one, I will get you something, we still have some butler clothes from others you will be using these until a new set is ready for you.”

I nodded and waited until she entered the house

“What are you waiting for? Get in!” she said

I followed suit.

It was a large wooden house, fully equipped with all kind of decorations, even the maid's house was not spared from expensive decorations. However, though it had less than what the manor was equipped with it still didn’t pale in comparison to it.

The floors were wooden made, and they were shining, they must have been polished with great care.

I even feared that if I walked on them that I will dirty them.

“Stop wasting time and hurry up, we don’t have much time. I can’t even think how you will be up to level in two months time, Master has sure given me an impossible mission”

“I will try my best not to disappoint you,” I said as I followed her.

We kept on walking until we reached the end of the walkway, at the corner, there was a small door. A room was behind it, it looked nice, though it was a bit dusty, it had a bed and some books on the side, and an old lamp on a desk.

“This will be your room, from now on, wait here until I bring you the clothes you will be wearing for the job,” she said as she walked away

I looked around the room and saw a closed window, I opened it to le the air circulation in, to remove the damp smell.

I then took liberty in cleaning it up, there was a broom near the door that I took and began removing the piled dust after cleaning the desk with an old cloth, it got a bit dusty but the air sucked it out almost instantly.

“I see that you are rather initiative for having started cleaning your own room even before I asked you to,” said Melinda ash she came back holding a set of clothes.

“Yes, like you said this was to be my room for a while so this is the least I can do, I wouldn’t want to rest in this place without at least cleaning it.”

“Very good, once you finish, come to the kitchen you will find some food there, I think you should be starving by now. After you eat we will start your real training”

“Yes, mam, I will make sure to get there, but where is the kitchen? I wouldn’t want to wander off somewhere I am not allowed to”

“Just go back the hall and up to the second floor it is the first door on your right, and don’t call me Mam, we are both servants for the same Level, the only one you need to call Mam is the head maid, other than that, you call everyone by either Lord, or mistress, that includes Mistress Akari who we will be working for, for the next few months.”

“Yes, Melinda,” I said and she left.

Before I would wear my new clothes I decided to continue with cleaning the room, so that I wouldn’t dirty the rest.

It took me about half an hour before the room was spotless.

I also discovered few old books that were laying here and there and had them organized by order, they were mostly about history and something about the royal family, I might give them a quick skim through the night.

I then wore the new clothes, they were a set of black pants and a black vest, with a white shirt underneath and a tie, the vest was long on the back and ended with a twin tail cut, there were also two white gloves with them. Combined with black leather boots. They were cotton made and were really nice to wear.

Once I finished wearing them, I walked upstairs to the kitchen, Melinda was there waiting for me.

The kitchen was really huge, it must have taken the whole top floor, as it had several long foods preparing tables, there was a food storage inside and several other maids were busy doing their job, some was cutting vegetables, and some was busy preparing food, the smell of ingredients and food being prepared really made me feel hungry.

“Here, come,” she said

“Sit,” she said

“Wrong!” she said never sit on a table without your master’s permission, I am not your master and if any asks you to do so then politely decline”

I didn’t want to argue with her as she was the one to have asked me to sit… and so I said

“I will remember that,” I said and stood back up

“Let’s pretend that I am the mistress,” she said, “And that both of us have been invited to a table with a noble, what would you do before we start?”

“I will pull the mistress’s chair for her?”

“Don’t say anything you are not sure of,” she said “But that is correct, now pull my chair” she said and I did.

I went to sit near her and she said

“What are you doing? When the master sits you are to stand behind them in wait for orders, a servant always eats after their master had finished”

“Yes, I will remember that,” I said

“Good,” she said now sit,” she asked

And I sat beside her like she said before she is the master now and I have to follow her orders.

Two other maids came and stood behind us, on the table, there were three empty plates one atop each other and beside them, three forks a knife and two spoons, the spoons and forks were in different sizes.

The maids brought some sort of vegetable salad at first, and they served it to us, it was a small portion that would barely feed a bird but I was hungry but had to wait for the mistress to eat first.

“Now, first thing first, there is a set of rules you need to learn, every fork and spoon you see here serves a different reason, this, for example, is a spoon for soup, while this is for dessert, this fork is for salad while this one is used with a knife to cut steaks, sometimes there might not be a stop in the menu but this spoon will still be here, but never use a soup’s spoon to eat dessert or a salad fork for meat, everything needs to serve its purpose”

Holy shit… All of this just to eat a salad…

“Now begin,” she asked and waited for me to start

“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked

“The mistress first,” I said

“Good, you still remember, you are not hopeless after all, now follow my lead”

She then took the salad fork and began eating, though I say eating what she did was that she used her fingers with finesse to control the fork and eat. But she never finished the thing. She even left more than she ate.

“Never eat your fill,” she said “Eating with other nobles is not about filling your belly, it is about showing dignity and well manners even doing something primal as eating”

Primal?

I followed her lead and ate just a bit, this only served to make me feel hungrier.

She then wiped her mouth gently with a napkin then waited for me to do the same

“good, now to the next dish,” she said

And we continued like that, the food consisted of several servings going from salad to soup to a piece of steak to roasted duck to some sort of ice cream dessert. In all my life I had never eaten something as luxurious as this and Melinda said that we will be doing this until I can perfectly manage myself, I honestly think that I should never improve so that these sessions will last forever, I rarely eat anything other than that horrid stew…

“Very well, not bad for a first day now you will be going back to the courtyard for your sword and magic training”

“Wait, what?”

“What did you expect that you will just sit here all day and do housework when you go to the royal school? You are needed to protect your mistress under all circumstances and lay your life on the line when it is needed, all servants are experts in combat and magic, though two months is not nearly enough to get you up to shape it should do if you give it your all, a private master swordsman will come here to teach you all you need about dueling.”

“You said magic and sword training, who will be doing the magic training?”

The girl gulped for a moment and said.

“it seems that your ability is rather…peculiar so the one that is going to train you will be no other than the master himself… try not to die” she said with a look of terror on her face.

…

I don’t know if I should feel happy that the hero of flame will be training me or that I should fear for my life because I will be responsible for his daughter’s safety…