Seeing my rotting expression, Maclaine added with a bitter smile.
"It is true that she is exceptional. She already achieved the 3rd Rank at the age of 10. However... she merely throws tantrums appropriate for her age sometimes."
"She's 10? No, is she really that young?"
"Hmm..."
Maclaine looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, 'Are you one to talk?'
I replied, feeling considerably more relieved.
"If it's because she's young, then it's fine. I'm good at taking care of kids."
"This time, let me ask something. Are you really 10 years old? That's what was written in your introduction."
"Why would I dare tell a lie?"
"Truly fascinating. If it's true, it's a heaven-sent talent."
Maclaine smiled gently as he looked at me.
I felt a subtle desire in his gaze and kept my distance.
Should I report this to the police?
"Please be careful. I don't wish to see you broken."
"...Yes, thank you for the advice."
I thought he was just saying things.
What kind of orders could a 10-year-old brat give anyway? Climb that tree and get some fruit. Things like that, right?
I realized my misjudgment exactly one day later.
*
"Are you Virdem?"
"Yes, Young Miss. I am Virdem of the Servus Family."
Apple Blossom Hill.
I knelt and greeted the master I would be with for 10 years.
"Lift your head."
I raised the head I had bowed deeply.
I saw Firnéa. She was a cute girl with short silver hair, blue eyes, and impressive chubby cheeks that still held baby fat.
The bud of a femme fatale who would make many men cry when she grew up was already visible, but for now, she was just young.
"Hmm..."
Firnéa also looked me up and down appraisingly, then—
"You're not that handsome."
She blurted out.
...I staggered, forgetting that Maclaine was standing right next to Firnéa.
They say children can't lie.
But me, ugly?
The thing I liked most after reincarnating was my pretty face.
As I held onto my sanity, an even stronger follow-up attack came.
"What can you do?"
"...Whatever you desire, I will accomplish it."
I corrected my posture, smiled gently, and expressed confidence.
How much time had I poured into becoming a Butler?
Even if it was a child's command, no, even if it was a request from some old monster, I would carry it out perfectly.
However.
"Use Magic."
"...Yes?"
"Magic. I'm 3rd Rank, what about you?"
"I-I apologize, but I have not walked the path of Magic."
"What, you're not that special then?"
Just like that, I was shattered.
Maclaine, watching my miserable downfall, hastily tried to stop Firnéa.
"Y-Young Miss. Ordinary butlers cannot use Magic. If you wish, I can assign an Imperial Mage to you..."
"An Imperial Mage?"
After pondering for a moment, Firnéa delivered the final blow.
"Can I maybe have him as my butler instead?"
Three minutes.
In just three minutes of conversation, all the pride I possessed was trampled.
"Th-That, using Imperial Mages as butlers is impossible..."
"—I will demonstrate it."
At my serious voice, the flustered Maclaine and Firnéa looked at me.
I looked straight at Firnéa and answered.
"What kind of Magic would you like to see, Young Miss?"
"Didn't you say you don't know Magic?"
"I will learn it."
"...Are you an idiot?"
"Please give me just one chance."
I bowed my head once more.
The opportunity I gained is too precious to be expelled like this.
—More than anything, I wanted to pay her back.
To this audacious young lady who ignored me.
"I will absolutely not disappoint you."
"Hmph."
Firnéa, who had been looking at me with amusement, opened her right hand.
—Fwoosh! A blue flame flared up in her palm.
It was unmistakably Magic. Forgetting the situation, I marveled at its mystique.
"Ignition. Learn it within a month."
"I shall do so."
"You know what happens if you can't, right?"
"Yes."
On my way out, Maclaine called other butlers to attend to Firnéa and quickly approached me.
Now that we were Head Butler and Butler, I bowed my head in greeting, and a question came back with a dumbfounded look.
"V-Virdem. Did you know how to use Magic too?"
"No. I've never learned it."
"???"
"So I will learn it starting now. Could I perhaps borrow a Magic Book?"
"...Are you crazy!? Just because Lady Firnéa used it simply, doesn't mean Magic looks easy, does it? The Young Miss is a genius born once in a thousand years, and 90% of humanity never even feel the flow of mana in their entire lives!"
"I'll just have to hope I'm in the 10 percent. So, could I borrow a Magic Book?"
"..."
Seeing my firm expression, Maclaine shook his head side to side.
"You have a reckless side to you. Just like the Young Miss."
"I-I'll...take...that as a...compliment..."
Leaving Firnéa's other butlers and the Head Butler behind, I read the Magic Book like crazy.
Unfortunately, the infinite talent that had made me a Butler didn't help at all this time.
Perhaps my talent was simply limited to being a Butler.
But.
—Fwoosh.
"...It has been two weeks, Young Miss."
I borrowed sleep from the future.
I confidently lit a fire on my palm in front of the Young Miss.
It wasn't a very impressive sight. My eyes were sunken, and I had rolled-up tissue in my nose.
Furthermore, the flame was as small as a candle's.
But the important thing was that I did it, right?
"It's too small."
"B-But I did it."
"True, hmm... I'll accept you as my butler."
The Young Miss waved her hand dismissively as if not very pleased and issued an order to leave.
I left the room with my head bowed low.
Maclaine, waiting outside, looked at me with pitying eyes and advised.
"Your talent isn't bad either. However, the Young Miss is an unparalleled genius..."
I knew it was empty praise.
So, I clenched my teeth.
"—Let's just see about that."
"Hm? See about what?"
I took an advance on my salary.
I bought every book related to Ignition that wasn't in the estate and literally read them 24/7.
The concept of Magic I grasped in that short time ultimately referred to the act of understanding itself.
It's about understanding the structure of a phenomenon and using mana to reassemble that structure, causing the phenomenon to occur.
I'm no genius, but in the realm of understanding, possessing the brain of an adult male gives me a slight advantage over a child.
I supplemented my lacking talent with memories from my past life and overworked myself.
—Fwoooosh!
"—It has been three weeks, Young Miss."
I confidently conjured the flame.
It was an intense flame, twice as large as Firnéa's.
"...Wow."
Firnéa nodded her head, looking slightly surprised.
"Amazing, you do have talent! I like you!"
"Haha, this much is nothing..."
She praised me with a beaming smile.
As I casually wiped my nose, Firnéa, still smiling, brought up something strange.
"That's enough of that now, so try practicing the sword."
"S-Swords, you mean?"
"Yep, that's right."
Firnéa held up the book she was holding.
On it— the title [War of the Knights] was written.
"I want a knight."
"..."
I looked at Maclaine.
He shook his head helplessly, as if there was nothing he could do.
*
If I were to describe Lady Firnéa in one word—.
She was a crazy bitch.
After I learned the sword from a knight with all my strength.
"Yawn, boring. Want to try shooting an arrow?"
She said.
The reason was that she recently read a novel featuring an arrow-shooting protagonist.
Thanks to the genes etched in my blood, I hit the bullseye 10 times.
"Isn't it better to just shoot an Ice Spear than do this? Can you chant Ice Spear?"
After putting on a dog-and-pony show to learn Ice Spear.
"Virdem! Fight an Orc with your fists and win. Don't use Magic. Oh, don't worry. I bought the strongest Orc available!"
She pulled this kind of crap.
For about half a year. I felt like a circus clown slash stuntman, catering to the Young Miss's whims.
Thanks to that, the Young Miss, who initially looked at me like an insect, started to like me quite a lot at some point... but because of that, the tasks I had to do only increased.
In the midst of all that, I opened my eyes to find myself in a hospital bed.
Beside me, Maclaine was looking at me with pitiful eyes.
"Mmph...mmph?"
What is this? I roughly pulled off the bandage covering my mouth and protested.
"I'm just asking out of curiosity, but am I really a Butler?"
Since becoming a Butler, I haven't done a single butler-like task.
If things were going to be like this, I don't know why I even took the Exam.
Maclaine sighed and answered.
"Well... the Young Miss is a bit lonely."
"Lonely?"
I tilted my head at the incomprehensible words.
"There's the Master who cherishes the Young Miss dearly, and hundreds of maids who would even follow an order to die, so how can she be lonely?"
"We are not in the same position as the Young Miss, are we?"
"What about the Master?"
"...Why don't you just think of it as being tested? Who knows. Perhaps it's the process of the Young Miss coming to think of you as a peer."
Maclaine's words weren't particularly comforting.
Does being lonely make someone force a person into a bare-handed fight with a Lion? That's not loneliness, that's just being a psychopath.
No, in the first place, why is she lonely when she has the Master and the maids?
A peer of mine? Children my age are Commoners playing in the dirt, or at best, learning their letters. Their fundamental upbringing is different from Young Miss Firnéa's.
Maclaine must have read my troubled expression, as he shrugged his shoulders.
"I wasn't asking for your understanding. I just hope you endure."
"...What does my enduring have to do with the Young Miss's loneliness?"
"Well."
It was a meaningful smile. He pulled a plush chair towards me and sat down.
"You are quite a peculiar existence, Virdem. At least, to the Young Miss."