Chapter 32 : Chapter 32
Chapter 032
“I have two wishes.”
“Two?”
The Marquis looked mildly surprised. But judging by the slight curl at the corner of his mouth, he seemed intrigued as well.
Then again, it made sense if one thought about it from his position. Even speaking a single wish aloud would place tremendous pressure on someone as lowly as I was, so the fact that I was asking for two must have interested him.
In truth, neither Sir Roland nor Head Butler Yanrof looked especially pleased as they watched me.
If Yanrof wore the expression of a man worried about what was coming, Roland’s looked more like, Who do you think you are? I ignored his gaze. He would probably be punished anyway.
“Let me hear them first.”
“First, please grant me permission to bear weapons.”
For an instant, the room fell silent.
They must have expected me to ask for wealth or a title.
But I was not that boring.
The Marquis tilted his head and asked,
“Is that truly all you wish for? If you become a butler, such a thing would be possible as much as you like.”
“The apprenticeship is long. After this incident, I will surely have become a target for those men, so I need a weapon even if only to protect myself. Of course, I will not wear it in forbidden areas.”
“Very well. I permit it.”
A sudden decision.
Roland’s eyes widened. There had never once been a case of a Butler Apprentice being allowed to go armed. He looked at his lord in just that sort of disbelief, but one sharp glance from the Marquis made him lower his head at once.
In House Adeline, the law was the Marquis.
“And your second wish?”
“My parents raised me with great difficulty. I would like a modest monetary reward so that I may send it to my family home.”
“A modest amount, you say. A modest amount... Hahaha! Interesting.”
The Marquis smiled.
Words were relative things. Especially expressions involving quantity. The modest sum I imagined and the modest sum a Marquis imagined would belong to entirely different worlds.
Naturally, I intended to profit from that gap.
In any case, neither of those requests was unreasonable. To be honest, even if the Marquis had not handled them personally, Yanrof could probably have resolved both of them on his own authority.
The Marquis spoke again.
“I think that is far too meager a reward for the service you have rendered. Very well. I shall grant both wishes. And in addition, I will bestow one more gift upon you. Dilen, I appoint you a full butler. In addition, I shall bestow upon you the title of baronet.”
“My lord!”
“Master!”
At that extraordinary decision, Sir Roland and Head Butler Yanrof each cried out once. Neither of them continued, but the meaning was clear enough. Both opposed it.
“What is the meaning of those reactions?”
“It is too great a reward. I beg you to reconsider.”
“He is the man who saved the life of my precious daughter. Treatment of that level is only fitting. Or are you saying that my daughter is not even worth that much? And Sir Roland, you in particular have no right to object.”
At that single sentence from the Marquis, both men went silent. Sir Roland in particular was already being treated like a culprit.
I suppose I will have to step in myself.
“Forgive me, but I cannot accept that order.”
“What?”
The Marquis looked slightly startled. And he was not the only one. Sir Roland and Head Butler Yanrof both stared down at me as though they could not believe what they had just heard.
Regardless of anything else, the title of baronet was something anyone would covet. It meant becoming a retainer of the great House Adeline.
“Why, exactly, can you not accept the order?”
“All butlers, without exception, must pass through the proper course of training. Head Butler Yanrof himself is a splendid example.”
I paused for a moment, then turned my gaze toward Yanrof. The sharp-minded man seemed to have grasped what I was about to say, because he wore a satisfied expression.
“Head Butler Yanrof was so outstanding during his apprenticeship that he received rewards no fewer than ten times, and yet he still completed the entire apprenticeship before becoming a butler. The butler training process of House Adeline is famous for its strictness. That is proof of its history and tradition. There are things that can only be learned by walking that path, and as someone junior to such men, I believe it is only proper that I continue to follow it as well. I will carry my apprenticeship through to the end.”
When I finished speaking, the Marquis stroked his chin. The look on his face seemed to say, Well now, look at this one.
Assuming that the places where people lived were all fundamentally the same, humility and lowering oneself were always the foundation of good conduct.
The case of former Training Officer Cornel made that perfectly clear. He had done wrong, yes, but his end had been far too ugly.
There was nothing more exhausting than a sudden meteoric rise that drew the attention of the entire world. The more one grasped, the more burdensome things inevitably became. There would be more chances ahead. It was better to choose an even greater opportunity later.
More than anything, refusing such a reward on rational grounds while praising one’s superiors would leave a stronger impression on the Marquis than greedily accepting it on the spot.
To put it simply, rather than blasting away all my gathered power in the opening stage, I was gathering even more for a super-finisher later.
And that plan of mine struck exactly as intended.
Because the Marquis’s gaze as he looked at me had grown deeper still.
“Dilen... You are an interesting one.”
“It is an honor that you think so, Master.”
He said nothing aloud, but Yanrof was surely pleased as well. Part of him must have been thinking something along these lines too: The troublemaker I meant to cast out in a month has instead rendered a service this great.
“Yanrof.”
“I await your command.”
“As a reward for having raised such a fine apprentice, I shall grant you a reward as well.”
“It is an honor, Master.”
“And in addition, grant a reward to that fellow Dilen as well. As for the amount, I leave that to your judgment.”
“I shall obey.”
With that, the audience with the Marquis came to an end. Sir Roland continued to glare at me with distaste until the very last moment, but I paid him no mind at all.
Once the audience was over, I accompanied Head Butler Yanrof to his office.
“You do have a talent for surprising people.”
“I will take that as praise.”
“It was meant as praise.”
He was usually a man of solemn expression. But today, at least, he was not trying particularly hard to hide the fact that he was pleased.
“The Master ordered me to reward you, so I shall do so on my own authority. Here, take this. It should not leave you dissatisfied.”
He held out a leather pouch toward me. Judging by the jingling sound, it seemed to be filled with money. Bowing my head, I received it respectfully with both hands.
Naturally, I did not commit something so vulgar as opening it on the spot. I tucked it away untouched and observed proper decorum.
“In any case, you did very well. As it happens, I had already heard that Training Officer Vesper granted you an Overnight Leave Pass not long ago. I will be watching you carefully from here on.”
“I will strive even harder.”
“And I shall grant you one personal reward of my own as well.”
Oh? That was unexpected.
I folded my hands and listened obediently.
“I will grant you a leave pass, so when the time allows, go visit your hometown. You said you wanted money to send home, so it may be all the better if you go in person.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“It is not consideration. You rendered service, and I merely gave the reward that ought to be given.”
As expected, he was a rational man.
I bowed politely and turned to return to my quarters. Then, suddenly struck by curiosity, I asked him,
“But what will happen to Sir Roland?”
“He will keep his life, but... at the very least, he will be removed from the post of guard knight. A trial will be held soon. As for the outcome, no one can say.”
“I see. Then I shall take my leave.”
“Rest well.”
I left the Head Butler’s Office and returned to my quarters. There, I found unexpected visitors waiting for me.
Two of them, no less.
“Dilen!”
“What in the world happened?”
It was Arwen and Rohan.
I pulled the pouch from my clothes, shook it lightly so that it jingled, and grinned.
“I was fortunate. I happened to be able to help the Young Lady while I was at the festival.”
“I heard you beat the kidnappers down all by yourself. Is that true?”
“Not all by myself.”
Rumors always became distorted. When I asked the two of them what exactly they had heard, I discovered that I had somehow become a hero in the telling.
“In any case, do not go around talking about it too loudly.”
“Why not? This is the sort of thing you could brag about all day and still not be done.”
“It would only leave a bad scar for the Young Lady. Better to let it be quietly buried.”
“I see.”
“As expected, Dilen is kind.”
Arwen, please do not look at me like that. I nearly asked you out just now.
“So then, how much reward money did you get?”
“I do not know. I will have to count it.”
I sat at the table, opened the leather pouch, and poured everything inside straight out.
The coins spilled forth with a soft ringing sound. Gold and silver mixed together in a striking shimmer, and at a glance alone one could tell it was an enormous sum.
Not only Arwen, but even Rohan, who came from the same rural village as I did, could not close his mouth.
“Wow... How much is all that?”
“Well.”
I counted the coins.
Twenty gold coins and fifty silver coins.
In total, it came to 20 gold and 50 silver. Since the pistol had cost me 30 silver to make, and 1 gold equaled 100 silver, it was obvious that this was a very large amount of money.
I immediately made a plan. I would send about 10 gold back to my hometown and use the remaining 10 gold as seed capital for my own enterprise.
First, I needed a new identity.
I would buy a high-quality face mask and disguise myself, then absorb the remnants of the Scorpion Gang—who were now almost at death’s door—and turn them into my lackeys. It would be impossible to maintain a private organization under Dilen’s identity.
The double life of a Butler Apprentice.
Just imagining it made my heart pound.
***
The Scorpion Gang, who had led the kidnapping of Young Lady Sapiela, collapsed. Some remnants went into hiding, but officially they vanished from the territory.
The Knight Order drew their swords, and the captured parties were severely punished.
Naturally, the Arkain Merchant Company was cleared out entirely as well. They defended themselves by claiming that the documents related to the kidnapping had merely happened to be in their warehouse by chance, but the Marquis only gave a dismissive wave of his hand. Everyone involved was punished, and they were no longer permitted to do business in the territory.
The repercussions were considerable. Naturally, Beron—the problem child who had relied on the merchant company for backing—was expelled as well. The force that had been gnawing away at the House was finally swept clean.
Efforts continued to uncover the true power behind the incident, but the culprits chose suicide rather than confession. In the end, the case of the Young Lady’s kidnapping closed with a slight sense of unease still lingering behind it.
All that remained now was the result of Sir Roland’s trial.
He had committed a grave offense, but it seemed matters were not ending quickly because he turned out to come from a distinguished family and possessed a great deal of wealth. If this too ended with some absurd outcome like leniency, then I intended to educate him personally before long.
In any case, peace returned to the mansion.
“The weather is nice.”
Rohan, leisurely sweeping with a broom, looked up at the sky. Honestly, just as one would expect of an A-rank, he was absurdly good at sweeping.
“Quit loafing around and work. Work.”
“Yes, Butler.”
“Who are you calling a butler?”
“Who else but Lord Dilen, of course? You saved Young Lady Sapiela, so you are obviously going to pass at the very top.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
I let it pass with a small laugh.
Fortunately, the rumor that the Marquis had tried to bestow a baronetcy on me had not spread. Because of that, I was being bothered far less than I might have been.
“But when are you going home? You said you got a leave pass.”
“I do not know. I have no plans for it right now.”
“Just do not run off when we are busy. It will only leave me with more work.”
“That is a good idea. Thank you.”
“You heartless bastard.”
We had just gone back to sweeping diligently when I heard someone running from over there. Turning my head, I saw that it was Arwen.
“Dilennn!”
Was something urgent happening?
I stopped sweeping and waited for her.
“What is it? Why are you running over like that?”
“R-right now, the Young Lady is asking for you!”
“The Young Lady?”
There was only one young lady in House Adeline. Sapiela.
Why was she looking for me?
Then again, if I thought about it, she really had taken her time. I had saved her life, yet only the Marquis had summoned me. The woman at the heart of the matter, Young Lady Sapiela herself, had not called for me once.
Still, I understood.
From her point of view, it must have been quite a shock.
“What does she want?”
“I do not know. She just suddenly told me to bring you. Come quickly.”
“All right.”
And so I headed toward Young Lady Sapiela’s residence together with Arwen.