The Top-Tier Butler of the Marquis Family Chapter 41 : Chapter 41

Chapter 041

Ti spent with a beauty was always a pleasure.

And Sapiela possessed both the Elegance and Refinent Traits at S-rank. Simply put, she was a woman whose beauty placed her in the top 0.1 percent.

But the ti I spent with the Young Lady had been worth even more than that.

For one thing, I had co to understand a little more about the person called Sapiela, and I was now able to guess why she had been wearing such sorrowful expressions lately.

Most likely, the words Young Master Hal had thrown at her on his way out were the key.

“They’re blood siblings, aren’t they? Even so, to say she’s being sold off sowhere. That’s too much.”

I had been the one to start by telling him that he ought to grow up, but Young Master Hal’s answer had been little short of verbal abuse. And the fact that she could speak as though this kind of thing was hardly new ant the Young Lady must be under quite a bit of stress.

“For so reason, it does not feel like Young Master Hal is going to let this go. And if the third is like that, I cannot even imagine what the first or second must be like.”

Before I left the Young Lady’s room, the look in Young Master Hal’s eyes as he stared at had been far from normal. If one translated it into plain language, it had said sothing like, You bastard, just wait right there.

But I was not especially worried. If anything, I saw it as an opportunity.

Whether it was because I had adapted to life as an apprentice, or because I had so taste I myself did not know about, correcting things that had gone wrong was beginning to feel extrely enjoyable.

Just as it had when I sent Beron, whose reputation among the apprentices had been abysmal, back to his hotown.

Which ant that I was now half-hoping Young Master Hal would call for and set so task.

I had begun to feel a strange pleasure in crushing arrogance with sheer ability.

This is all graduate school’s fault.

Knock knock.

Just then, I heard a knock.

“Co in.”

The one who entered was Rohan. He dragged himself inside like a zombie, barely managing it. He had been thrown into the annex-clearing work for days now.

“Is the work still not finished?”

“It’s mostly done. We cleared out the annex, and now all that’s left is arranging the furniture we moved.”

“What happened to that desk that got broken when Young Master Hal ca?”

The expensive desk that had been damaged because Young Master Hal had stuck out a leg and sabotaged the work had gone to Smith’s forge. Smith had talent not only with iron, but with carpentry too.

“Old man Smith handled it well. It won’t look completely brand-new again, but he said there’ll be no problem using it.”

“That’s a relief.”

“It is. Damn it. Several of us nearly lost our heads over that thing. Haah. It’s terrifying just thinking about it.”

Letting out a groan, Rohan sprawled across my bed as though he owned the place. Anyone seeing him would have thought the room belonged to him instead of .

With his eyes closed, he muttered,

“By the way, what happened to you? When I heard you’d been thrown into the Underground Dungeon, I thought you were in real trouble, but your head’s still very much attached.”

“You say that as though you were hoping it would be cut off.”

“Hahaha... Ah, I’m exhausted. It’s hard even talking. Anyway! That’s not what I ant, but I was worried, yes. Arwen was almost in tears, apparently.”

That certainly sounded like Arwen. Not because she harbored so special feeling for , but because she was a good person to begin with. If Rohan had been the one dragged off, she probably would have reacted the sa way.

With my arms folded, I let out a sigh and answered,

“If you hadn’t dragged off to the annex, none of this would’ve happened in the first place. Why go pulling in soone who was minding his own business just to make him work?”

“That’s the fault of the bastard loafing around. The rest of us were working ourselves to the bone, and you were lounging around in the garden.”

“Tsk.”

“By the way, don’t you have sothing to tell ?”

“What do you an?”

“You little bastard, trying to dodge it. I heard sothing happened between you and Young Lady Sapiela?”

Rohan, the man known among the apprentices as an information broker, didn’t know?

So the story about Young Lady Sapiela coming all the way down to the Underground Dungeon hadn’t spread after all. Then again, it wasn’t the kind of thing that would do anyone any good if it reached too many ears.

Since there was sothing I wanted to ask him too, I told Rohan the whole story from beginning to end.

“Wh-what?”

As expected, he shot upright from the bed.

His eyes were wide open. It was that familiar look of shocked envy, the standard expression of a man dying of jealousy.

“The Young Lady ca all the way down to the Underground Dungeon to order that you be released?”

“She did.”

Now his mouth fell open too. After staring at blankly for a mont, Rohan frowned.

“Quit lying! How could soone as noble as the Young Lady possibly go all the way down to that stinking dungeon? If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable, you bastard!”

“If you really can’t believe , there’s a friend among the Apprentice Knights nad Arthas. Ask him. He was on duty then.”

“Huh....”

“What would I even gain from lying to you? It would only tire out my mouth.”

Only then did he seem to realize I was serious. Not just , but apparently the real Dilen had been the sort of person who was terrible at lying too.

“You’re serious? The Young Lady really went down to the Underground Dungeon herself just to tell them to release you?”

“Shh. Your voice is too loud. Don’t go spreading it around everywhere. The Young Lady would only be put in an awkward position.”

“This is huge! That exalted lady went all the way to the dungeon for the sake of a re apprentice nobody!”

It certainly was the sort of story idle gossips would love. The Butler Apprentice who saved the Young Lady’s life. And the Young Lady who moved personally to save that apprentice from a false accusation. It was the kind of setup one saw only in novels.

“Surely not... I an, this is really the sheerest impossibility of impossibilities, but don’t tell the Young Lady has taken a liking to you... no, that can’t be it, can it?”

“A passing dog would laugh. The Young Lady, what?”

“Well, yes. That’s too much even for . I admit that.”

“I heard she’s soon going to be engaged to Young Master Otto.”

“Who told you that?”

“Arwen.”

Rohan nodded. It seed he had only known it as hearsay before and was just now certain of it. Arwen’s status might have been low, but she was still one of the Young Lady’s closest attendants.

So I asked,

“The engagent ceremony hasn’t happened yet, right?”

“I don’t think anything concrete has been said yet. Though Arwen probably knows much more about it than I do.”

I nodded, then opened the wardrobe and took out my robe. Before putting it on, I strapped my sword to my waist and tucked the mana pistol inside as well.

There was still ti left before the rendezvous date, but I thought it might not be a bad idea to go and have a look in advance. There were things I wanted to ask Kalmond too.

“Where are you going? Off to train again? You ridiculous training addict. Thanks to you, Training Officer Vesper’s standards have shot up, and the rest of us are suffering.”

“It’s not that. I’ve got sothing to do in the village, so I’m heading out.”

“The village? How are you planning to get out? Don’t tell you found a hole in the wall? Where is it?”

“Why would I go through so pathetic hole? If a man’s going out, he goes through the front gate.”

As was always the case with dormitory life, holes in the wall existed everywhere. I had often heard stories about apprentices, whose outings were restricted, secretly making them so they could slip out and visit the village.

I held out the pass written in elegant script.

“Take a good look. It’s a reward the Young Lady herself granted .”

“What’s that?”

“An unlimited outing pass.”

“Holy—!”

Startled, Rohan tried to snatch it, but I casually moved my hand behind my back and avoided him. Then I slipped it into my inner pocket.

Rohan trembled.

“You vicious bastard! I should’ve recognized what you were the mont you risked your life raiding the Training Officer’s Office!”

“There’s a saying where I used to live. High risk, high return. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. Carve it into your heart.”

“And why does none of that good fortune rub off on ? What about ? Do I get nothing?”

“My heart?”

“You little—!”

Rohan was still howling when he suddenly seed to notice sothing strange and tilted his head.

“Wait. Sothing’s weird.”

“What now?”

“You just said there was a saying like that where you used to live. High risk, high return. But where you used to live is my hotown too, isn’t it? I’ve never heard anything like that.”

Not here. Earth.

The phrase had co out of by force of habit, but now it did not even feel like a mistake anymore. It suddenly struck that I really was adapting well to this new world.

With a grin, I lifted a hand in farewell and stepped out of the room.

But then a small complication arose.

In the end, I was unable to go out that day. Because word ca that Head Butler Yanrof was looking for .

***

If I had simply pretended not to hear, I probably could have forced my way out anyway. But the fact that Yanrof of all people was looking for sparked my curiosity a little.

I could roughly guess why.

Such a disturbance had broken out at Young Lady Sapiela’s residence, so of course the story would have reached the ears of Head Butler Yanrof.

But would that alone really have made him summon so urgently? Keeping that question in mind, I knocked and stepped into the Head Butler’s Office.

“You called for , Head Butler Yanrof?”

“Co in.”

In the past he would simply acknowledge with a nod, but now he had beco visibly more welcoming.

Every ti that happened, I thought again that I had done well to refuse the baronetcy and praise him instead.

At tis, making a detour rather than charging straight ahead brought greater profit. One could use a title to command a person, perhaps, but winning that person’s heart was sothing else entirely.

Once I was standing properly before him, Yanrof set his clasped hands down on the desk and let out a sigh before speaking.

“I hear there was a rather noisy incident at the annex? The butler in charge reported it to .”

“So then I assu you also know that I was thrown into the Underground Dungeon unjustly.”

“Do you think it was unjust?”

“I do.”

I answered honestly.

I had shown him enough ability and enough humility. Complaining to this extent would not cause much trouble. What I needed now was to draw sympathy from him.

“I’ve heard the general outline of what happened. It sounds as though you went to assist in a matter that was not even your own responsibility, only to be caught up in that sort of trouble.”

“I have only ever devoted myself to House Adeline.”

“Then perhaps one might say your luck was poor.”

Yanrof sighed again. Sothing awkward had clearly happened. One could tell by the way he was weighing his words.

“To speak frankly, it is fortunate your head did not fall. Had you not previously rendered service for Young Lady Sapiela... you would already be a dead man.”

I know. That’s precisely why I could afford to do sothing so bold.

“In life, many things fail to go as one wishes. There is a great deal that is unfair too.”

“I would appreciate it if you would simply say what you want to say directly. I’m not that dense. Let’s get to the point.”

“It pains greatly to say this, but it seems you’ll have to attend Young Master Hal for the ti being.”

At first, I thought I had misheard him. I couldn’t keep my expression under control.

So the rising star of the hellion world, Young Master Hal, wanted assigned to him now?

“Honored Head Butler, I believe there must be so mistake. I am currently attending Young Lady Sapiela. My posting differs sowhat from that of the other apprentices.”

“I know. I know it all. But a request ca from Young Master Hal’s side. Training Officer Vesper reported it to . They asked that an apprentice be dispatched to assist him for one week, and specifically nad you.”

“......”

“Do you understand what that ans? It ans the matter is beyond anything I can resolve at my own level.”

The look in Head Butler Yanrof’s eyes said only one thing: pity. The pity one might feel while watching a pig being dragged to slaughter.

Well, if this was how it had to be, then there was no help for it.

All that remained was to move the lesson up and begin it a little earlier. Just wait, Young Master Hal. I’ll show you the class of a first-rate butler—no, a first-rate apprentice.

“Very well. As you command, Head Butler, I will attend Young Master Hal for the next week. But please explain things properly to Young Lady Sapiela.”

“Do not worry about that. After one week, you’ll return to your original posting.”

“Are you certain? I confess I worry that Young Master Hal may try to requisition again.”

“One ti may be unavoidable, but if he tries it twice, even I won’t remain idle.”

I bowed my head respectfully.

Then an unexpected remark slipped from Yanrof’s mouth.

“That is, if you are still alive in a week.”