- Lobster and Steak
The Empire’s capital is extremely large. I heard that the central area where the king and nobles reside has the best security and the most magnificent buildings.
The next most prestigious area is the inner city with its administrative district and commercial area. I’ve been to these areas before.
Then there’s the outer city where ordinary citizens live, which has the largest population and occupies the widest residential area. Outside the outer city, street stalls and residential areas have developed extensively, surrounding the city walls. My hut was located here, in the back alleys outside the outer city.
Only when houses became sparse did the brown-haired man raise the carriage shade to allow me to see the scenery. Even lords with territories in other regions typically have a villa or two within the Empire.
I thought we would naturally be going to the Bliss family villa in the central area, since Bliss is a family that rules a country. But to my surprise, the carriage was heading in the opposite direction, outside the outer city.
Surely they don’t intend to go all the way beyond the border to the vassal state of Bliss? Should I ask where we’re going?
No. I should pretend to be calm. I need to act composed. Ignoring my inner anxiety, the carriage entered a path by a lake.
Fortunately, the coachman was driving toward a blue-roofed mansion standing alone at the end of the path.
As soon as I finally got out of the carriage, I stretched. My back and waist were stiff from sitting straight for an hour.
Still, I can’t let my guard down. Those men who appear to be knights are the eyes and ears of whoever summoned me. For a while, I won’t be able to move carelessly, even when I’m alone.
An elderly white-haired man was waiting for me at the entrance of the mansion. Judging from the way those who brought me treated him and his attire, he is not the high-ranking person who called for me.
Slicked-back hair without a strand out of place and a perfectly straight posture. He looks like a butler straight out of a textbook. So I approached the elderly man who appeared to be the butler without bowing my head, and spoke in a nonchalant tone.
“I need to wash up before meeting the lord. I presume you’ve prepared a change of clothes and shoes.”
In response to my near-discourteous demand, the old man instead bowed deeply.
“I am Noah, the caretaker of this mansion. We have indeed prepared what you requested, so please follow the servant. However, before that…”
He is indeed a butler. Butler Noah trailed off and asked me to extend my hand. In the butler’s hand was a thin needle and an empty vial.
I silently extended my left hand to the butler. Deliberately showing my hand with its missing fingers, the butler showed no particular reaction as he pricked my finger and collected drops of blood in the vial. This must have been pre-instructed by the lord.
There’s no escape route now. I’ve crossed a line where I’ll have to take responsibility for my actions.
If it’s concluded that I’m not actually Zaher Bliss after coming all this way, it won’t end with mere embarrassment—my head will roll. And that after being properly washed and fresh for the first time in my life.
Though I became gloomy imagining such a dismal end, I didn’t show it and followed the servant, who appeared to be around my age, into the mansion with dignity.
Good. So far, so good. Now that I’ve come this far, I shouldn’t think about anything else. Even if I can’t eat, I’ll take what I can get.
The mansion was truly massive. I was surprised to see it was a 4-story building from the outside, rare in this world, but the interior was even more splendid. Following the servant who guided me politely, I went up the stairs to the second floor and was soon able to enter a bathroom filled with warm water.
I stripped completely, without leaving even my underwear, and washed my body by pouring water on myself in the bathroom. Fortunately, no bath attendant came in.
Surprisingly, the bathroom had a faucet rather than a pump. What a mess this world’s setting is.
I chuckled as I turned on the shower. As I scrubbed my body with a sponge, dirt streamed down. Even after rubbing soap on myself, it took a while for lather to form, so I had to rinse and repeat several times. Only after the rinsing water became clear did I enter the bath to relax.
It’s my first hot water bath in nearly 10 years.
“Wow, this is amazing.”
Feeling like I might cry, I pressed both hands against my eyelids. With only a slight exaggeration, I felt like I could die without regrets.
Of course, that’s a lie. There are many things I want to do. Since I’ve come to a rich person’s house, I want to eat delicious food and sleep in a soft bed without the anxiety of someone attacking me or slitting my throat.
No, first I want to eat chicken. Chicken with cola or spicy ramen with beaten eggs, or even cold rice with kimchi would be good.
I’d like to spend time leisurely like this, but the situation doesn’t allow it. After scrubbing even the dirt under my fingernails, I reluctantly got out of the bath. I’d scrubbed so vigorously with soap that my hands and feet were all wrinkled.
When I left the bathroom, underwear, a shirt, pants, and even shoes were neatly folded, apparently prepared in advance.
After changing completely, I stood in front of a large full-length mirror. I pushed my disheveled, unruly hair back from my forehead. Perhaps because I don’t remember properly looking in a mirror for so long, my body feels somewhat unfamiliar.
My face covered in small scars and my skinny body with protruding joints from malnourishment must look like an empty husk. Am I too small for a fifteen-year-old? Still, perhaps because the original was a handsome pretty boy, I look quite presentable after shedding the filth.
I trace the outline of my face reflected in the mirror with my still-damp fingers.
“I am quite handsome after washing up.”
Shortly after leaving this place, I was barely able to get writing materials. I frantically wrote down only the things I clearly remembered from the side story and the main story.
The bundle of papers I brought with me is exactly that. Something I prepared wondering if I was really Zaher Bliss. My own preparations for the world 10 years from now when the Demon King will appear.
Will these memories I clung to, not wanting to forget, be of any use—memories I held onto not wanting to die miserably, stealing in a place without friends or neighbors?
“The master is waiting. This way.”
The servant who had guided me to the bathroom was waiting outside the bathroom door. Did he hear me talking to myself in front of the mirror? Does he think I’m a crazy person overflowing with self-love? It’s less embarrassing if I proceed brazenly from here.
I nodded briefly and followed the servant, again passing through corridors, walking around a gallery, and going down stairs. What a damn big house. After waiting briefly in front of what appeared to be the central room on the first floor based on my imagined layout, the servant knocked on the door three times.
“The guest has arrived.”
“Send him in.”
I swallowed dryly at the clear, ringing voice. The servant opened the door and subtly lowered his gaze. Following the implicit request to enter, I took a deep breath and entered the room.
A tall elderly man with impressive faded lavender hair was looking at me. I paused briefly and looked at the old man. He too stared at me with wide eyes.
The old man slightly moved his lips. The old man and the body I had entered clearly resembled each other. Enough that anyone could tell they shared blood.
The brown-haired man who brought me and the butler who introduced himself as Noah stood on either side of the massive wooden desk in front of the old man.
So, what was the result after taking my blood drops? Am I Zaher Bliss? Or am I just a back-alley pickpocket kid who is nothing?
The old man who had been staring intensely at me gave a hollow laugh.
“I heard you already seemed to know why I called you. Are you putting on airs because you heard something somewhere? Or are you just perceptive?”
“Were you not looking for an heir?”
“An heir?”
“Otherwise, you wouldn’t be looking for a teenager with blue-purple hair and yellow eyes without any other distinguishing characteristics.”
“So you are perceptive?”
“I don’t seem to be wrong, though.”
“Yes, I have been looking for my lost bloodline. And many children have set foot in this mansion. For as long as two years. Do you have any grounds to claim that you are the only heir of Daniel Bliss?”
“I think the premise itself is wrong.”
“Huh, the premise is wrong?”
“My parents passed away when I was too young to remember their faces, and the grandmother who took care of me knew nothing about my origins. I received no heirlooms from my parents, so I couldn’t know about my origins. All I’ve told you are merely speculations.”
“Go on, continue.”
“It was you who invited me here, and it is only you who has a purpose. Should I be the one claiming blood relation here? Or should it be you?”
“Since I brought you here, I should also find the evidence?”
“You’ve already found the evidence, haven’t you? I know there’s magic that can confirm direct lineage through blood. Isn’t it because you confirmed through magic that you’re directly meeting me, who is merely an orphan?”
My fingertips are damp with cold sweat. Trying to mix facts and guesses with information I already know is making my head spin as my brain works overtime.
But I can’t confess that I’m committing fraud. Looking at the lord with an awkward expression that I couldn’t tell if he was frowning or smiling, I delivered my final blow.
“How have you been, Grandfather?”
The old man’s wrinkled brow twitched. I met the old man’s gaze with a brazen face and calm demeanor, but I couldn’t help the tightening in my stomach.
In the side story, Zaher Bliss was an irredeemable trash and an idiot. There must have been a reason why such a person remained the heir of the Bliss family until his death. For example, perhaps there was no other blood relative who could be named heir except Zaher.
Whether the old man thinks I’m impudent and precocious or not, if I am indeed Zaher Bliss, it means I can act out to this extent without consequences.
In fantasy novels I’ve read, the protagonist always shows confident and clever behavior in such situations. Since this is also inside a novel, shouldn’t I at least pretend to be clever to survive?
“Hmm, it’s true what they say about your sharp mind. A Bliss is a Bliss, I suppose.”
That’s already similar to what the brown-haired guy next to you said. What a brazen old man. There’s a limit to self-praise. The lord of Bliss, Daniel Bliss, glared at me with keen golden eyes.
“If you wish to have a more detailed conversation…”
I trailed off slowly. The old man looked at me with curious eyes, wondering what else I wanted to say. I brazenly raised my chin and finished my response.
“Since it’s past noon, I would like to have lunch with you, Grandfather, and continue our conversation. Even if my speculation is wrong, I am a guest who was invited to the mansion by Lord Bliss, so I should be entitled to at least that level of hospitality.”
“…Hahaha!”
The old man finally burst into laughter. Was he amused by my roundabout way of saying I’m hungry? Perhaps he found it entertaining that I brazenly asked for food from a high-ranking person like a lord as soon as we met.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
