Chapter 20: What Tommy Whispered?

It was Tommy looking down at me, malice could be seen all over his face like freckles.

“Exactly. You looked like you have a lot on your mind lately, so you must have been thinking about something else. You should watch where you’re going.”

Tommy was a kid the Duke had picked up from somewhere three months ago, as he always did. Though he didn’t personally go out to bring him in like he did with me.

The butler, Philip, had reported that there was a child who was quite bright but had lost both parents in a sudden accident, and the Duke nodded, telling him to bring the child.

Butler Philip said he heard the child’s story and personal details from someone who had been educated in this mansion and later got a job at a store.

So, it was a system where someone previously educated in this mansion recommended another child.

The moment I learned about this multi-level marketing-like network, I became curious about how I became known to the Duke.

“Who told you about me?”

No matter how much I thought about it, no one came to mind who would recommend me.

Before coming to this mansion, the only people I met were the traveling troupe and drunkards.

The Duke, who was nodding obligatorily while reading documents, raised his head to look up at me.

Seeing him deep in thought, I strangely became tense.

Even though I was already working as a servant in this mansion, I felt like I was having a job interview.

“Quite a few people recommended you. Should I list all their names?”

“How do those people know me?”

“You were famous. They didn’t know your name properly—the owner just called you ‘Country Bumpkin’ or ‘Hey’—but they said there was a kid whose calculation speed and eloquence were terrifying. They begged me to take you quickly, claiming they were about to lose all their regular customers because of that kid.”

It was a recommendation that left me confused whether it was a compliment or not.

And the Duke spoke with a smile in his eyes.

According to the Duke’s habits I’ve observed so far, it leaned toward the bad side.

Because the Duke is a person who chooses to laugh in situations where he should be angry.

“f*ck! It wasn’t me, it was you who didn’t keep your eyes open because you were distracted, you f*cking bastard!”

It was a tremendous, sudden acceleration.

I snapped out of my reminiscence because of Tommy, who charged in like an 8-ton truck with no brakes.

Come to think of it, I was originally going to ponder how that guy came into this mansion, but somehow it ended up with me reflecting on the secret story of my own employment.

Looking back, Tommy had a reason to be pissed off.

He probably dyed my clothes with tomato soup because he wanted attention.

But I was just thinking about other things.

Okay, I understood the mechanism of the 8-ton truck’s sudden acceleration.

But I don’t know why he wants my attention.

And I don’t need to know.

It was natural for Tommy and me not to have much contact.

I attended to the Duke, and Tommy trimmed vegetables and did dishes in the kitchen; normally, we shouldn’t meet unless it was mealtime like now.

However, since Tommy often skipped his duties, he frequently caught my eye.

Because he was repeatedly absent where he should be and present where he shouldn’t be, I eventually said something.

It was just a principled remark to do his job properly, but after that, Tommy picked fights whenever he saw me.

I can’t possibly understand Tommy’s psychological state, but honestly, I also know it’s useless to try to understand the raging hormones of kids at this age.

I also went through the same period as Tommy, and the current me cannot understand the me of back then.

If I don’t know myself, how could I know you?

I just guess he must be disturbed because he’s leaving this mansion.

A job has already been arranged for Tommy, but actually, the best workplace is this mansion.

However, the Duke cannot employ every child he brings here, and there were far more who left after appropriate education than those who stayed.

Since the performance of the children arranged so far was good, jobs were not lacking.

Occasionally, there were those who deliberately tried to take them to dig into the Duke’s circumstances, like the King sending a spy, but we cut those off from our side.

However, in Tommy’s case, I was worried.

I felt like the side arranging the position would get cursed at because of that temper.

I decided to give the guy some kind advice.

“If you live doing whatever you want, you might feel relieved inside, but your pockets will become lighter than a feather. Right now, if I sue you, I can get the cost of these clothes.”

“Tomato soup won’t come out no matter how hard you wash, and the fact that I can’t work in front of the Duke wearing white clothes with red stains will be taken into account. There are many witnesses, too. “

“And this shirt is too expensive for you to compensate given your obvious financial situation. Since what you’ve saved won’t cover it all, I can garnish your future weekly wages. No business owner likes an employee whose wages are garnished due to causing trouble. “

“Naturally, your pocket will shrink even more. So when working in the future, don’t flare up and ram into customers; control your emotions well. Worse than getting fired from the shop and having your pocket empty is the fact that the customer might return something worse than what you did.”

Since Tommy has eyes too, he wouldn’t attack just anyone, but in this neighborhood, you couldn’t properly judge martial power just by looking at a person’s exterior.

Even I can blow fire right in front of the guy’s face.

I’m not the complete novice of a year ago who only lit a fire but couldn’t blow oxygen into it, letting it fizzle out.

I’m a novice who can extinguish the fire with water before the scalp gets damaged while burning that guy’s hair.

I’m not trying to show off that I barely graduated from a complete novice to a novice.

I wanted to point out the fact that that guy doesn’t know I’m a mage who can hurt him.

That the shirt he ruined is expensive was also the plain truth.

But the atmosphere became strange.

I was the one terrorized out of nowhere, I was the one suddenly cursed at, and I was the one who gave kind advice, but the people in the dining hall were looking at Tommy, not me.

With extremely pitiful gazes.

Even Paul, who has good empathy and affinity.

Tommy, whose face turned so red that his freckles were hidden, was so resentful about something that tears welled up in his eyes.

“Did I perhaps hit you?”

At this point, I wondered if I, too, couldn’t control my temper like Tommy, beat him up properly, and then brainwashed myself that I never hit him.

“Oh dear…”

Someone among the onlookers lamented.

“Whether he really doesn’t know or is just pretending not to know.”

Someone clicked their tongue.

“Beating someone with words is also beating, right?”

Someone nodded, saying I assaulted Tommy. I was the one feeling aggrieved, but this situation isn’t entirely unfamiliar. It was a daily occurrence when running the jewelry shop.

Situations where I had to apologize even when the customer was being unreasonable.

“I’m sorry.”

Although Tommy isn’t a customer filling my pocket, I apologized.

Because I didn’t have time.

I had to finish eating now to last until dinner.

After finishing the meal, I had to change clothes, and after that, I had to finish preparing for reception before the scheduled visitor arrived.

Wasting time arguing with this guy was no different from throwing away my money, so it was easier for me just to bow and move on.

Saying sorry doesn’t cost extra money anyway.

But now Tommy was literally trembling all the way to his shoulders.

Just as the words “What’s wrong with him?” were about to come out.

Tommy grabbed me by the collar while I was sitting and thrust his face right in front of mine.

If not for the previous situation and my tightly gripped collar, one might mistake it for a love confession.

“………”

The guy whispered in a small voice only I could hear.

Then he let go of my collar roughly, shoving me back, and ran away, disappearing.

I gritted my teeth.

“Honestly, I’m curious what Tommy said, but you won’t tell us, right?”

Paul spoke as if representing other people’s opinions.

At the same time, he spoke for my position, so I nodded.

“Yes, I apologize for causing a disturbance during break time.”

“Our servant actually responded calmly. Tommy picked a fight for no reason.”

I put on my business smile.

At the end of Paul’s words, someone tried to add, “No, that’s because he likes…!” but was silenced.

I couldn’t hear properly due to the mumbled pronunciation, but I thought it wouldn’t matter even if I heard it properly.

No reason can justify Tommy’s sudden acceleration.

Paul continued with an awkward expression.

“It seems Tommy is anxious because he’s going somewhere else just 3 months after coming here. He’s still a kid.”

“Right.”

“Although, since our servant is also still young, that won’t be much of an excuse.”

“No, I understand well.”

That that bastard is a f*cking bastard.

I lifted the corners of my mouth again, chewing on the words the shithead mumbled before leaving.

****

“There is a difference in the amount of mana a gem can accept depending on its weight or quality. Designing and engraving the magic circle accurately is important, but accurately measuring the gem’s limit mana capacity is also important.”

The Duke said, laying out rubies of varying weights and grades.

“If you put in more mana than the gem can accept, it seems to work properly at first but breaks down quickly. Conversely, if you put in less, you can’t utilize the gem’s potential fully.”

Just as the first magic attribute I manifested was fire, magic circle education also started with rubies, which are mainly used for fire attribute magic.

“Like entry-level watches, sometimes we use a small capacity intentionally to make it last longer, but it’s not a direction mages prefer. Usually, they want to fill it to the limit. There’s also the purpose of showing off competence by engraving multiple spells on one gem, but the real reason is economic feasibility. Just like how we induce regular gem replacement by engraving this and that function into high-end watches.”

I had asked the Duke several times when I could learn about magic circles.

The Duke’s answer was consistent.

“When you can handle elemental magic properly.”

Extremely firmly.

It was like asking someone coming down a mountain, “How far to the summit?” and getting the answer “Just a little more,” regardless of where you stood.

When I succeeded with elemental magic one by one, this time came the task of controlling conflicting elements simultaneously.

I asked again.

“When can we do magic circle lessons?”

“When you can handle elemental magic properly.”

Knowing I was being tricked, I had no choice but to walk looking only forward.

That’s how much I was waiting for this lesson to begin.

But when the expected time finally came, the Duke’s words were passing through my right ear, lingering in my brain for a moment, and exiting through my left ear again.

Instead, what lingered in my head were the words Tommy babbled to me.