Chapter 032: The Deputy Butler’s Entrance

Shiu chose the same park as last time. It was also the same path as last time and Ruco tread with a spring in her steps.

She seemed happy and when she arrived at the park lawn, she rubbed her body against Shiu’s and licked Feles before even eating. Feles also seemed happy that someone was paying attention to him and happily rolled around on the lawn. He cried out happily, “Nya nya.”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

There, there, he petted her and Ruco happily cried, “Kyu.”

She must have been satisfied with being petted and finally went to eat. Feles looked like he hadn’t played enough, but eventually yawned and started sleeping. A little while after, Ruco came up to Shiu. Kyui Kyui, she cried in a small voice and put her head on top of Shiu’s lap.

“Are you tired as well Ruco? It’s fine. We have heaps of time.”

He gently petted her forehead and she began to fall asleep.

Feles slept with his stomach facing up. Shiu was worried that his stomach would get cold and checked the surroundings before pulling a blanket out of his spatial storage. He placed it on top of Feles. Feles’ mouth was moving, he might have even been sleep-talking.

Shiu stretched under the nice weather while thinking, how cute, and tried not to fall asleep too.

 

After the nap, Shiu walked Ruco around the park and when she was satisfied, they returned to the barn at the back of the merchant house. Then someone told him that the barn manager wanted him to wait here and disappeared.

Shiu needed the signature for the request form, so he decided to look at the horses while waiting.

After a while the barn manager and deputy butler arrived at the barn. The first thing the deputy butler said was, “We’re making you our specialist.”

The barn manager beside him said, “Oh-no,” and covered his face with his palm.

Shiu’s answer was, of course, already decided.

“I refuse.”

“Ok. Then the contract, huh? What did you say?”

“I refuse.”

He replied again firmly. The butler looked surprised and his face gradually got redder and redder.

“You’ll become an employee of our Oberio House! Why are you refusing?!”

“Can I not refuse?”

“That’s right! We’re saying we’re hiring a kid like you. You should be thankful. This is why illiterate idiots are troublesome. Oh yes, I’ll educate that simpleton.”

Shiu was surprised and his mouth remained opened in shock.

With that, the deputy butler concluded that he was, “too overwhelmed by emotions to say anything,” and took out the contract from his pocket while grumbling complaints. Shiu was suddenly interested in it, so he used 《SENSE MOVEMENT》and moved his eyes to peek at the contract.

The contents were as written, “Holiday once a month. Food separate. A bedroom next to the stables…” and so on. There was nothing written about a salary. Shiu was amazed, 「black companies」were also popular in a bad way in his previous life.

The deputy butler used his hands to cover everything except for the signature column, even if Shiu said, “I want to see the contract.”  He even took out a pen and went as far as to say, “Now sign.”

“I refuse. Under the custom『preach doctrine in front of God』, as you know, the contract should be properly passed to the other party, at which point they could carefully examine the contents. Also, contracts for hiring children need to be looked over by a third party. It can’t be the barn manager because they’re related to the employer.”

Shiu immediately said when he noticed that the deputy butler’s eyes had turned to look at the barn manager. He continued, “I caught a glimpse of it earlier, but that seems like a slave contract. I can contact the temple’s 『Human Rights Organisation』. Foremost, it isn’t something a wealthy merchant should do.”

“Shut up! What a cheeky brat!”

The deputy butler got angry and turned red. Moreover, he ripped the request form. The barn manager’s face went from red, to blue then pale white. The deputy butler was really angry and started shouting, “What kind of training is the guild giving you! Come, brat. I’ll train you.”

Still, Shiu didn’t move. The deputy butler stretched out his hand and grabbed Shiu’s shoulders.

“Yes, this is defamation! I’ll give you a beating then have you fall into slavery.”

The deputy butler laughed unpleasantly and Shiu shivered. Feles got out from under his shirt and climbed onto his shoulder. He snarled at the butler in a threatening way.

“Wh-what’s with that!”

The butler drew his hand back and was agitated once again.

“Y-you drag such a dangerous beast with you! Hand it over, I’ll kill it!’

Shiu was stunned, as expected, he couldn’t forgive the butler for saying such words.

He soothed Feles as he glared at the butler.

“You do horrible things as a person. This is the opinion of Oberio House, is it not?”

“Even if it is. I’m the deputy butler here!”

“Then I will file a lawsuit against Oberio House.”

“Wh-wh-what did you say!?”

 

Finally, it seemed that the family members have arrived.

A fit man in his prime and people that looked like guards came.

“What on earth is with this ruckus?”

“Layton-san! This child is doing something outrageous.” The deputy butler said in a rush.

“He stopped working on his own behalf and even brought a dangerous beast with him. He just does as he likes. And I warned him about it.”

The butler seemed to have calmed down while talking. His rage from before seemed like a lie and he was talking fast so Shiu could tell he was getting impatient. Shiu watched him closely, wondering what he was going to do.

“Even so, he probably feels resentment. He used his dangerous beast to threaten me. I was troubled because it doesn’t seem like he’s been disciplined at all. I’m sorry if we caused an uproar.”

The man called Layton stroke his chin while pondering and looked at Shiu. The guards looked at Shiu as if they were staring at stone, but Layton was different. He was observing Shiu.

Layton gently restrained the deputy butler with his hands as he tried to speak again. The deputy butler looked gleeful, or how could one put this, his face twisted in an evil smile. Of course, Shiu didn’t smile. Layton nodded slowly and said, “Let’s hear your excuse.”

It was a little disappointing but Shiu responded, “I don’t have any excuses. However, I do have something to tell you.” Let’s hear your, was just a gentle set up by Layton. Shiu replied quietly.

First, he said what the deputy butler had said, word-by-word without changing anything. He also spoke about what happened the first time. While he spoke, the deputy butler interrupted many times, but Layton stopped him gently.

“So, he said this was Oberio House’s opinion. My reply to this was, 『I will file a lawsuit against Oberio House』.”

The guards complexions suddenly changed. Furthermore, the look in Layton’s eyes also changed.

The deputy butler’s face that had calmed down with great trouble was red again.

“It’s a made-up story! Stupid brat!”

“Keep quiet, Seto.”

The deputy butler, called Seto by Layton, grunted and went silent. Layton continued, “But there’s no evidence of what you’re saying. Our side took a gentle ――.”

He wanted to make it seem like Seto didn’t throw abusive remarks at him. Shiu could understand that decision well, but he got angry. He couldn’t forgive Seto for saying, “I’ll kill it,” to Feles.

“There is evidence” Shiu interrupted Layton and smiled. Layton immediately looked at the barn manager but Shiu shook his head.

“Can I call the witness here?”

“…… Sure. Call them. But call them right now. If you’re lying…”

Shiu interrupted Layton’s words and called out with the low level communication magic that he’d memorised.

“(Tia, sorry but can you come here?)”

Tia appeared at the entrance of the barn as soon as he did this.

“I’m coming in.”

She informed them and came in. She had her hair pulled up so that they could tell that she was an elf. In other words, her small pointed ears could be seen.

Translator: Blushy
Editor: HSM