It took Kiefer some time to make his way to the walls of Diantes city. From high up in the air, he could clearly make out the general layout of the city. There were 3 major roads in the city. The city itself was circular, like most of the other cities he's been to. The major roads were criss-crossed to form 8 districts.
2 roads split the city into 4 quadrants, and the 3rd road was a circular loop that split each quadrant into an inner and outer district. The inner districts seemed dirty and dilapidated, with many run-down buildings and dirty streets. It gradually turned much better beyond the circular road, with the west, south and east outer districts being focused on military, agriculture, and manufacturing respectively. Finally, from what Kiefer observed, the northern outer district was reserved for nobles with extravagant mansions and expensive looking entertainment facilities. The Palace was located in the northern outer district.
Kiefer could not see any water bodies or rivers near the city, and assumed that the agriculture district had a natural source of underground water running beneath it. Going down for a closer look, he could see multiple deep wells constructed at regular intervals. The manufacturing district seemed to have a major road going out on the west, a highway of sorts leading straight to the Drigor west port. There were also tunnels dug into the ground all around that highway and Kiefer assumed they were underground mines.
Considering his options, Kiefer decided his best chance to be selected by the mysterious ‘master’ was in the northern quadrant. However, having some unknown noble show up out of nowhere with no background information whatsoever, and proving him to be a genius mage seemed suspicious. Therefore Kiefer changed his plans a little. He decided to go with the “Undiscovered genius orphan beggar from the slums” template.
Still in midair at a height no one would spot him, Kiefer removed his armour, ripped up his nice clothes a little and then teleported to the northern inner district in an alleyway closest to the circle road. Kiefer rubbed some dirt from the walls onto his arms and walked barefooted past the circle road. It was just past sunrise and the streets were starting to get busy. Kiefer sat down on the road and stuck both his hands out while his eyes darted around the streets observing all the people of Diantes.
He watched as horse drawn carriages filled the streets and noble ladies gathered around the corners to gossip and flaunt their wealth. Some nobles were even escorted by soldiers they hired for guards. No one payed any attention to the beggar that was eyeing them. Some simply ignored him, but others looked at him with a hint of disgust.
Kiefer was no stranger to this scene, but there had been something that was bugging him since the day started. He had noticed it in the forward base camp he visited, but only assumed the situation was as such because they were soldiers. However, after coming to the city, he realised that it was not just the soldiers, but almost everyone was the same. They were huge, some towering at over 2m tall. Even the kids he thought to be young adults were playing with a ball on the road were the same height as him. He didn’t they were kids until an even taller woman came and lectured one of the boys for running off and he started bawling his eyes out.
“Could be their diet, or maybe just a genetic drift since each population is located so far away from the next. I really should try to understand the biology on this planet.” (Kiefer)
Kiefer spent the rest of the day just sitting at his spot on the side of the road and observed his surroundings. His mana pulse was essentially useless in such a densely populated city since every person the pulse went through would register a feedback and it was too much of a hassle to identify each feedback response individually. Finally the sun set and he could see off in the distance along the main road, some buildings remain lit. Enhanced hearing let him know that those were bars and taverns and there were many who were busy drinking and enjoying their lives.
Night came around and soon, Kiefer spotted a group of drunk young men coming his way. Expecting trouble, Kiefer was already prepared.
“oi. Look at that beggar! I’ve seen him sit there all day! Funny how some people try to get money just sitting on their arses all day and not even trying to work!” (drunk man #1)
“Ahahaha mate! You can’t possibly be saying that can ya!? You don’t work either and you just spend your father’s money like it was yours!” (Not so drunk man #2)
“Bah! So what! He’s gonna offit soon anyways. His money is going to become my money. What’s wrong with spendin it a lil early?” (Drunk man #1)
“Oii.. waaake uuupp ya twat!” the first drunk man said as he kicked Kiefer’s outstretched arms, only to feel like he kicked full force into a brick wall, falling to the ground and yelling.
“What the fucks his deal?!? Hes like a fuken statue!” the man yelled, as his buddies all laughed at him.
“Ahahahahaha you’re pathetic Ben! Can’t even get a single kick right. Here! Let me show you how it’s done!” (Drunk man # 3)
Picking up a brick on the side of the road, the man proceeded to fling it at full force against Kiefer only to have the brick rebound off Kiefer’s head and smash into the 1st man’s thigh, making him scream even louder.
“You imbecile! Aim properly will ya! You’re supposed hit him! Not me!” (Drunk #1)
The rest of the group was now roaring with laughter.
“Here let me have a go!” the 4th and last member of the group aimed a kick at Kiefer’s face only to be shocked that Kiefer caught his ankle and he could not even budge an inch. Stunned by the sudden development, the rest stopped laughing and stared at the young man they were trying to abuse just moments earlier.
With a single swift motion, Kiefer flung the man by his ankles high up into the air as watched as he flew several streets away, landing with a satisfying crunch down the main road not far from the taverns.
“You bunch are useless to the society and it will only serve the city good if you stopped existing.” Kiefer muttered in a low menacing voice, just loud enough for the remaining 3 to hear. Saying that, Kiefer grabbed the 3 men with his mana ropes and flung them like ragdolls in the same direction as the first man. It was the dead of the night and they were the last to leave the taverns. With the establishments closed for the night, no one discovered the 4 dead men on the main street until the morning came.
Aside from the hustle and bustle in the morning over the death of 4 prominent heirs to major establishments, the day went on as per usual, with no one suspecting that the child beggar on the corner of the street was responsible for the deaths of the 4 men.
As lunch time came around, the streets began to be packed once again with people out for lunch. Kiefer had moved to a new street further away from the inner district, but still close enough that no one would question why he ventured so far away. The new street was lined with food carts and dessert stalls. It was packed with what seemed to be noble girls from a nearby school. It would seem that even in this world, girls are just as attracted to sweets and desserts as with girls on earth.
Time flew by and lunch was soon ending. Kiefer then spotted 2 girls in uniform approaching him. They seemed to be arguing about something, with one girl dragging the other more reluctant girl towards him. Enhancing his ears once again, Kiefer eavesdropped on their conversation.
“Come on Chrisse! Look at him! He’s only a young child! What are you afraid of?” (Girl #1)
“No! Dad said that they are dirty and can carry diseases! We really shouldn’t be doing this! Lets just go back to school Nic! Lessons are about to start.” (Chrisse)
“It’ll be quick! Come on, I’m just going to drop some coppers in his hand! Just come with me! We don’t even have to touch him” (Nic)
Reluctantly, Chrisse followed behind Nicole and finally stopped in front of Kiefer. As she dropped a few copper coins in his outstretched hands, Kiefer looked up at the girls and flashed them a charming smile, before thanking them for their generosity. Suddenly, Nicole dragged Chrisse close and started whispering to her.
“OMG. Look at him Chrisse! He’s so handsome! And such a young boy too! Imagine when he grows up, how hot he’ll be!” (Nicole)
Chrisse was silent, only nodding at Nicole’s comment. She could believe it herself, how such a young man could display such a mature and manly face.
“Hey… How old are you boy?” (Nicole)
“21” (Kiefer)
“Ahahaha. You hear him Chrisse? He says he’s 21… he knows how to tell a joke!” Nicoel burst out laughing, before turning back to Kiefer. “No really how old are you? I’m 15 this year. You?”
“I’m 13,” Kiefer lied. “Only 15 and already 1.8m tall?? Holy fuck do they grow big out here.”
“Oh? Where are your parents? Where do you live?” (Chrisse)
“My parents were killed by some men a few days ago and they burnt our house down. I’ve been out here trying to survive ever since.” Kiefer replied, trying his hardest to sound sad and childish.
“Aww, that’s so sad. I’m so sorry. How would you like a place to stay? You can live with me as a butler servant in my house!” (Nicole)
“NIC! What are you saying?! You can’t just go around deciding things like that!” (Chrisse)
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“Of course I can. It’s my birthday in 2 days and Daddy said I can have whatever I want. I want this poor boy. Think about it, I’m happy, I get a new butler, and this boy gets a new home! It’s a win for everybody!” (Nicole)
“Fine. But we really need to get going. Our classes are starting soon!” (Chrisse)
“Ok. Boy! You stay here alright, don’t move. Once my classes end, I’ll get Chenov to come by here to pick you up. I’m Nicole Varradon, of the Varradon family. My family owns half the mines out along the port road. You’ll be coming home with me tonight.” (Nicole)
The girls then spun around and ran into the street towards their school. Kiefer just sat there quietly, still trying to register what had happened. Everything was decided by the girl and he had no say in it. This had caused him to make a major detour in his plans. He had wanted to attract the attention of a mage professor within the district, carefully scanning the place with his pulse for a large feedback. And yet now, he was being picked up and brought back to a home by a young girl like an abandoned puppy.
“This is why I hate people. So many variables and everything is beyond my control. Now I have to revise my plan again. Given her personality, I doubt she’ll give up if I simply changed locations, and given her family’s standing, it is highly likely that she has the resources to hunt me down. Guess I have no choice but to wait and play my cards right.” (Kiefer)
Roughly 6 hours and 7 copper coins later, a lavishly decorated carriage pulled up in front of Kiefer. The doors swung open and Nicole was sitting there grinning ear to ear extending her hands and inviting Kiefer in. Without hesitation, Kiefer climbed on board and they slowly made their way to the Varradon household. The family seemed very wealthy; having gone past the entrance gates half an hour ago, the main mansion was finally coming into view. The path was flanked by a very expansive garden on both sides, with fruit trees growing in neat rows along the side of the path.
Upon entering the stupidly huge mansion, Kiefer was introduced to the lord of the family, Nicole’s father – Revil Varradon. With simple introductions out of the way and a little bit of Nicole’s whining, Kiefer was chauffeured into yet another stupidly huge room to take a shower and clean up. He was given a nice tuxedo suit with a tailcoat to put on once he was out of the shower. Next was the briefing by the head maid and then he was put straight to work.
The rules were simple. He was to be Nicole’s personal butler, but had to take part in household chores. He would sleep after everyone else, and wake up before everyone else. Dust and mop the corridors and windows along the corridors before breakfast, and then have breakfast with the rest of the servants after the main family was done. Then he was to accompany the miss to school and back, staying within 10m of her at all times, keeping her within his sight and following all her orders. Finally, he was to clean the corridors again after school before retiring for the night.
When questioned about the miss, Kiefer smiled unknowingly. He was told that he only needed to accompany her as her security will be handled by Nicole herself. She was a mage and was capable of protecting herself. She attends the only mage class in her academy and is one of the 15 mage students within the academy. He would be given a trial period of 1 week and if he is deemed unsuitable, he would be sent off to the mines to work alongside the dwarves and other servants.
Waking up early in the morning, Kiefer began his work, retrieving the broom, mop and dustpan and working his way through the abnormally large mansion. Along the way, he met with several other maids and butlers but he never spoke to them, trying to keep his profile as low as possible. Of course, when nobody was looking, he would use his mana threads to clean the surfaces, dusting the walls, ceilings and windows, while using his gravity field to attract the airborne dust to the floor before sweeping them all up.
Sooner than he realised it, Kiefer was already standing at the back of the classroom along with servants of other students, listening in on the magic lesson which was being taught. It was unbelievably mundane, and he felt that the professor’s teaching methods were not only boring, but also ineffective.
Within the school, he observed that Nicole and Chrisse were quite popular, as was the other 13 students in the magic class. They could be considered the upper echelon of the school solely because they could use magic. He also noticed that aside from Chrisse, Nicole did not really have any other friends, with everyone in the magic class being competitive, it almost seemed like the other students would do anything to get ahead of each other.
“Hey Nic! Its practical class next. Are you up for another round of grovelling? Ahahhaha” (jerk)
“Don’t listen to him Nic, it doesn’t matter if you can beat him or not, as long as you work hard you won’t lose in the long run.” (Chrisse)
“I know Chrisse, but it’s just so unfair. He’s paying the professor to teach him privately at home. There’s no way any of us can catch up to him. I just don’t understand what he has against me” (Nic)
“Well… you are about the only one who can match up to him at times, the rest of us are still weaker than you y’know. We are still young, I don’t see why we need to rush things.” (Chrisse)
Kiefer had overheard this conversation as he followed behind the class towards the field for their practical lesson. Most of the students were just taking part in the class in their usual uniform, with the exception of the condescending boy earlier, he had on a pair of dull green metal gauntlets that in Kiefer’s view, was poorly made.
The class was chattering, talking about how envious they were of the Trigent boy with his mithril gauntlets. It would seem that the Trigent fellow was a nature affinity mage and his father had hired a magic black smith at a fortune to craft that pair of gauntlets. Looking at the poorly made mithril metal, Kiefer could only stifle a mocking laugh, and smirk at the boy.
Unfortunately, the boy had caught the smirk and was already approaching Kiefer. Even though he was younger than Kiefer, the boy was already almost 1.9m tall, and had by far the most intimidating aura amongst the students, while his mithril gauntlets only added to the intensity.
“Ey you there you stupid child. What were you smirking at? You think I didn’t see it? Why don’t you explain yourself in words you nimwit?” The boy yelled at Kiefer, while shoving Kiefer in the shoulders. Kiefer pretended to be pushed back and almost stumble, before Nicole came running in.
“Dominick Trigent! You leave my butler alone! He’s still new so he doesn’t know how to act. And he’s only a child! What are you going to do? Fight him? You a mage against a mere child?” (Nicole)
“Ha! No wonder he rubbed me the wrong way the moment I saw him. Like master like servant I guess. Only a crappy master would choose a crappy servant. You know what, what you said makes sense. Oi teach! It’s alright if I show off a little of my power isn’t it? This boy needs to be taught a lesson and we might as well show these commoners what a mage is capable of!” (Dom)
The professor just kept silent. He was being paid by the Trigent family and there was no way he was going to offend the young master of the family he served. As if turning a blind eye, the professor simply looked away, and then distanced himself from the conflict.
“Nicole! Don’t get in my way. The professor has approved of this so just count yourself unlucky that you get to lose a servant today. But it’s not like you don’t have any more to replace him.” Dom barked at Nicole, and then turned to face Kiefer. “Come on then boy. I’ll let you have the first move. If you can’t knock me out, don’t blame me for killing you. You need to know your place and know that your life is worthless to us.”
“Wrong move boy.” Kiefer thought, as he smirked at the boy. With a quick chant, The Trigent boy was suddenly enveloped in a shell of earth and dirt. Following which, Kiefer chanted a water spell to soak the earthen shell, turning it into mud and encasing the stunned boy in mud. Finally, a spell for fire wall was chanted and baked the mud around the boy’s body into hardened clay, essentially trapping him in a clay prison up to his neck. This all happened in under a minute and by the time the show was over, everyone was staring at Kiefer.
Nicole, Chrisse, the professor and the rest of the student body that had gathered to watch the magic practice lesson were still in shock, unsure of what happened. Nicole turned to face Kiefer, and only saw him nod and then wink, causing her jaws to drop.
“Since there are too many variables to control, I’ll just try a blitzkrieg approach and see where this takes me. Hopefully this will eventually present me with the opportunity to infiltrate the necromancer academy.” (Kiefer)
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Agghh.. I'm so full.. still in a food coma after the buffet when I wrote this. Please do point out any mistakes and I will fix them when I come out of my coma.
Next Chapter: The Deception and The Deal