Chapter 4: Guest Room
Inside the guest room of the Isphile House.
That morning, I was awakened by a silver-haired beauty.
“Good morning, Alto.”
“G-Good morning…”
After that, Uruk invited me to lunch, and I accepted her kindness.
Before I realized it, I had apparently fallen asleep.
By the time I woke up, it was already morning.
I might have overused magic for several days straight.
To begin with, the reason I collapsed was due to magical energy depletion from excessive magic use.
And then I used magic again before fully recovering.
It wouldn’t have been strange if I had collapsed at any moment.
“Alto, how are you feeling?”
“Much better now.”
The moment I answered, Uruk reached toward my face.
“Don’t lie.
The dark circles under your eyes are still there.
You’ve been pushing yourself too hard.”
She pinched my cheek.
Oddly enough, it didn’t hurt at all.
Uruk let out a soft chuckle.
“First, here’s your payment of 3000 gold.
And since I’d like to continue hiring you regularly, I was thinking of forming a contract with you.
By the way, do you have parents?”
“I don’t.
And I don’t have a home either…”
“I see.
Then that’s actually perfect.”
Perfect?
As I wondered what she meant, the head butler from yesterday entered the room.
“So you’ve awakened, Lord Alto.”
“P-Please don’t call me Lord Alto…”
It felt strangely embarrassing.
And perhaps because we worked in the same profession, it felt especially awkward.
“This is Tetto.
I’ve decided to treat you as a guest here, Alto.”
“A guest?
Someone like me?”
“Yes.
Once we establish our contract, you’re free to spend your time in the mansion however you like outside of work.
You’ll be treated as our guest, so if there’s anything you want, simply ask.”
“U-Um…
Why go this far for me?”
All I had done was laundry.
It wasn’t like I had saved anyone’s life or anything.
It’s not as though I saved Uruk’s life.
“I heard from the maids.
Judging from your posture, manners, and level of exhaustion, you must have come from a truly terrible environment.
A pitiful war orphan boy who barely escaped an abusive master and happened to stumble into this work by chance.”
That’s mostly right, but also completely wrong!!
Calling me a war orphan is way too much!
There were many things I wanted to object to, but Uruk simply smiled and extended her hand toward me.
“Come now, let’s go eat breakfast, Alto.”
“Y-Yes… Lady Uruk.”
“Could you stop using honorific speech?
And call me by my name too.
We’re the same age, aren’t we?”
“Um…
Uruk is fine?”
“Yes, that’s perfect.”
As I walked behind Uruk, I asked Head Butler Tetto a question.
“Um, is it really alright for someone like me to be treated as a guest?”
He looked slightly caught off guard before giving a bitter smile.
It felt like there was both kindness and pity within it.
“Are you aware that Lady Uruk is known outside as the ‘Ice Lady’?”
“N-No…”
Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered hearing something like that at the Adventurer’s Guild.
Though I didn’t know the details.
The Isphile name itself was famous enough that I had heard of it before.
“Nobles are, by nature, often arrogant and selfish people.
Lady Uruk truly despises such individuals.
Because of that, she rarely gets close to other nobles and instead speaks to commoners like us as equals.
She is a truly kind-hearted lady.”
So that’s why she was called the Ice Lady.
Certainly, Wenty and her father had been the very image of nobles.
They believed that if they simply gave orders, people would obey.
They treated commoners like slaves and lacked any understanding of other people’s feelings.
As I looked at Uruk’s silver hair, I thought to myself:
“Not only is she beautiful on the outside, her heart is beautiful too…”
Without turning around, Uruk quietly muttered,
“I heard that…”
Her cheeks had turned slightly red, though Alto failed to notice.
When we reached the dining table, an unfamiliar old man was already seated across from us.
In terms of age, he seemed around the same age as Head Butler Tetto.
Like me, he also had dark circles under his eyes.
“So you’re Alto, our guest.
I am Isphile Raymond, master of this mansion.”
“Thank you for having me.
My name is Alto.”
“Now, now, no need to be so stiff.
Guests are always welcome here.”
Uruk ate as though completely accustomed to this atmosphere.
An old man with dark circles under his eyes…
Perhaps he was very busy.
“So then, Uruk.
How goes your adventurer work?”
“It’s going well, Grandfather.
I may even reach A-rank soon.”
“Hahaha!
I see, so your days of swinging a sword may soon be over.”
“…I intend to continue being an adventurer.”
When it came to noble daughters, most eventually married into another noble family and spent the rest of their lives there.
“…I personally don’t mind, but whether your father will agree is another matter.”
“I’m sure Father will support me.
More importantly, Grandfather, the dark circles under your eyes have gotten worse.”
“Indeed…
I’ve had trouble sleeping lately.
Perhaps it’s simply old age.”
Uruk, the head butler, and even the maids all looked genuinely worried.
“I still think you should see a doctor…”
“It’s useless.
Even after consulting doctors, they all said the cause was unknown…
Ah, how I miss the beds in the royal capital…”
The moment he mentioned beds, I reacted instinctively.
“Are the beds in the royal capital different from the ones here?”
“The beds in the royal capital are made with the finest quality materials and infused with fragrance.
They’re incredibly comfortable to sleep in…
But the royal capital is far from here, and transporting one isn’t easy.”
“I can make one.
A royal capital bed.”
Everyone’s eyes instantly focused on me.
Even Uruk froze mid-motion, staring at me with her mouth slightly open.
“Lord Alto…
Forgive my rudeness, but telling falsehoods before Lord Raymond is inappropriate.
The royal capital beds are masterpieces that only craftsmen with decades of training can produce.
Furthermore, they can only make one per year.
It’s utterly impossible.”
“Ah, right, of course.
I might not be able to make the genuine article, but I can make something similar.
I was once forced to make one before.
It didn’t go well at first, and I got beaten for it too.
Haha.”
(((“How pitiful…”)))
Everyone stared at him with pity, horrified that anyone would force such unreasonable demands onto someone.
But Alto himself failed to notice.
“C-Can you truly do it?”
“Yes.
I can.”
“W-Would you really do it!?
O-Of course, I won’t get angry even if you fail!”
“If it’s a request, then gladly!”
If I was going to stay here for a while, then at the very least, I should do that much.