The days passed until finally Apolo could see in the distance an entrance that seemed familiar: he had arrived at his mansion!
With bright, expectant eyes filled with excitement, the young nobleman waited to see how his new Gururis would react when they saw the place where they would live for the rest of their lives.
On the other hand, Mateo gazed longingly at the trees along the road, reminding himself that as soon as he stepped away from his lord's sight, he had to find one of the servants to make him the best driver this empire had ever known, swearing never to touch this infernal carriage again!
After a few minutes, the carriage finally reached the grand roundabout with the gigantic tree in the center that led to the entrance of the mansion itself. Being informed that Apolo was about to return to the mansion, Orrin had given the order to gather all the servants at the mansion's door to greet their lord as soon as the young nobleman stepped out of his carriage. So, at this moment, the loyal butler was on the stairs leading to the mansion's entrance, hoping to reunite with his son and Apolo, whom he hadn't seen for almost half a year.
In the attentive view of all the servants in the hall, the carriage turned the roundabout and parked near the stairs leading to the mansion's entrance.
With the carriage stopped, Apolo calmly stepped out of his carriage and looked at his servants, noticing with surprise that he only recognized Orrin, while the rest of the servants had completely unrecognizable faces. Although Apolo had the memory of a fish and didn't know the names of any of his servants except Orrin and Mateo, at least he could remember the faces of these poor souls. Despite that, the young nobleman noticed that all these servants had new faces.
—Have we changed the staff?—Apolo asked, unable to hide his doubts.
—Following your arrangements, we found better positions for the previous faithful servants as a reward after finishing furnishing the mansion, my lord—Orrin replied with more sadness than joy, delivering this theoretically positive news.
—Oh, so we finally managed to get them those jobs: How delightful!—Apolo exclaimed, remembering that this was the phrase his butler used every time one of his servants kicked the bucket due to the blue plague or when one of them disappeared after suffering an accident in the mansion—It's a pleasure to meet all of you; I hope you enjoy your stay in my mansion. Well, now that we're all together, we can take the opportunity to perform the changing of positions ceremony.
After saying that, Apolo pulled out a rolled parchment he had prepared for a long time from his pocket and with unprecedented dignity ordered:
—Mateo, get down from the carriage and kneel before me!
—Huh?—Mateo exclaimed, looking like an idiot at Apolo. At this moment, the man was trying to get down from the driver's seat, which in this abnormally large carriage was quite high. His behind was already in considerable pain from sitting for so long, so he had clearly seized the first opportunity to try and stretch his legs. Apolo's command caught him in an extremely uncomfortable moment under the watchful eyes of all the new servants.
After a few seconds processing the order in his brain and seeing the seriousness with which his father was looking at him, Mateo finally understood that the time had come for him to inherit the position of butler. So, the man hurriedly got down from the carriage and summoned the strength to disguise the already noticeable tiredness in his body. With firm steps and under his father's watchful gaze, Mateo approached Apolo and knelt before him, as protocol dictated in the empire. Looking at Orrin with happiness, Apolo placed the rolled parchment on Mateo's forehead and recited slowly and loudly enough for everyone to hear what he had to say:
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—I, the wizard Apolo of the Black Forest, release my loyal servant Orrin from the duties of a butler...
—As you command, sir—Orrin replied, avoiding crying with emotion and performing a rather well-executed protocol salute, as if he had been secretly practicing it for several days and nights, eagerly awaiting the day when he would have to perform it in front of Apolo.
—That pleases me— said Apolo, shifting his gaze to the man kneeling before him—As a token of gratitude to Orrin for being the great steward of my lands, my grand estate, and all my wealth: I, the mage Apolo of the Black Forests, bestow upon my cousin Mateo of the Black Forests the title of mage of the empire.
—What the hell did you just say?!— Mateo shouted, abruptly standing up and snatching the parchment from Apolo's hand, throwing solemn protocol to the wind. Immediately, he opened and read aloud the content of the parchment:
> "Dear grandson, Apolo.
>
> I have been reading and pondering the letter you sent me for several days, until I finally understood that the one who could best comprehend my son's last will was not me, his own father, but you, Apolo: his beloved nephew, the one who could best understand my son's heart.
>
> That is why I decided to fulfill your word and thus honor the outstanding debts that my son left in this world. In the letter, you will find a card that you must deliver along with this letter to your half-cousin Mateo of the Black Forests; with it, he can secure the future he deserves as the bastard son of your uncle: a dignified position as a mage, far from the family castle.
>
> If the minister demands an explanation of where you obtained the acceptance, tell him that I have given it to you as war booty for your collaboration in our last campaign in the Black Mines. If he still doubts, show him this letter and make sure he understands that no one can ever learn of the existence of an illegitimate grandchild in my family.
>
> Yours truly, your dear grandfather, the king of the Black Forests"
—My lord...— Orrin murmured. The elderly man wanted to tell Apolo that the idea was not only madness but also a terrible offense to his own uncle's honor. But the card Orrin could see in the letter silenced the old man; indeed, he had reviewed the contents of the documents that Apolo's family had provided to enable the young noble to become a mage. The old man would never let his and his son's future be jeopardized by Apolo's stupidity. Therefore, Orrin had only handed over that document to Apolo prematurely because he had ensured that the letter had been sent by the Minister of Magic himself. Thus, that document didn't matter much, as the Minister of Magic had been previously informed of Apolo's intention to go to the capital to become a mage. Consequently, it didn't matter if Apolo lost the document prematurely due to his foolishness.
As a result of this disloyalty, Orrin was one hundred percent certain that the card he had seen in the letter sent by the Minister of Magic was identical to the one he was looking at now. Knowing how dishonorable Apolo was, the old man was one hundred percent sure that Apolo would be capable of fixing such a mess with the ministry's employees to satisfy his strange desires. Therefore, the old man's heart had begun to doubt what the best course of action would be next.
—Dad, what do I do?—Mateo asked, incredulous about what Apolo was suggesting they do. Obviously, the man knew that the letter was a lie, and that if the Minister of Magic found out they were trying to deceive him, they would likely be killed. However, Mateo had also been working with Apolo for a long time, and at this point, he knew more than anyone that the young man was mentally deranged when it came to concocting foolish conspiracies with extremely bizarre goals. So, he believed that Apolo had probably been thinking about this for more than a whole year.
And if not, Mateo also knew the countless times Apolo had disregarded the laws of the empire to satisfy his strange plans. In every one of these law-defying outbursts, the noble always managed to come out unscathed in some way that bordered on mysticism. So, Mateo doubted that this would be the time Apolo's plans would fail. After all, Apolo had always had his ancestors arrange his fate to prevent things that would lead to abject failure.
Therefore, Mateo doubted that this time would be the occasion when Apolo's plans would go awry, especially when he would be the great winner. After all, Apolo had always gotten his way: Why would this be the damn time when all of Apolo's plans failed?