(Jerald’s Pov)

As I walk towards Sir Daniel’s study to deliver a letter, I can hear raised voices, not quite loud enough to understand but close. I wonder what has happened this time.

I knock on the door to the study and the door swings open, as it does, I see Lady Annabelle.

Standing six feet one inch tall, wearing one of her many blue dresses made of the finest silks available, Lightly curled, light brown hair that reaches just below her shoulders frame a slightly pale face that would be near flawless if it wasn't for a single two-inch long scar on her left cheek, she usually has vibrant and kind amethyst coloured eyes, though right now they appear darker than usual. I wonder why she’s angry.

“Jerald, Daniel is rather busy at the moment, is this important?” She says in a calm voice. I look over her shoulder and see Sir Daniel.

Standing seven feet four inches tall, wearing plain clothes, for someone of his class, a simple black long-sleeved shirt with dark grey trousers, his jacket hanging on the coat rack in the corner nearest to his right, black neatly combed hair and a large bushy moustache, lightly tanned skin from a life in the army and piercing blue eyes, a hard face with a large scar staring from his left temple and ending at his chin and a body built like a bear.

I can see in his eyes, a silent plea for help, luckily for him, I have just the thing.

“Lady Annabelle, I have a letter from your daughter addressed to you.”

I say as I reach into the left breast pocket of my suit and pull out one of the letters and hand it to her. She blinks and suddenly looks much happier. I see Sir Daniel visibly sag.

“Daniel, we will finish this later.” I step back from the door and let Lady Annabelle past as she is currently distracted by the letter.

I step inside the study and pull out the letter addressed to Sir Daniel.

“Here is your letter, no other mail other than the usual rubbish. Should I be worried about a potential flood or will she calm down.” I say as I pass him the letter, knowing that Lady Annabelle is far away enough to not hear.

*Sigh* “She’ll calm down, she’s only upset that I left Philip alone with the kobold.”

I blink.

“Have you suffered a head wound recently by chance?”

“Oh, not you too." He says as he opens the letter. “It was perfectly safe, anyway it’s been a couple of hours and nothing’s happened, I was watching them from the fireplace until the kobold fell asleep.”

“Forgive me Sir, but that does not inspire confidence.”

“You know Jerald, you don't need to call me sir all the time." He says distractedly while reading the letter.

“I’ll do that the day it stops irritating you. And stop dodging the topic, that was a stupid thing to do and you know it. In fact, I’m amazed that Annabelle didn’t freeze you to a tree, again.” I say with a hint of mirth in my voice.

“We agreed not to that again, also Merry is doing well and enjoying her apprenticeship under Emily but is sad she wasn’t allowed to come back for Philips birthday.”

"She does remember how many parents would kill to get their child apprenticeship with Emily?”

“I admit we may have spoiled her a little. Also, why don’t you ever use Emily’s title yet insist on using mine?”

“Well Sir, you see, it is because it annoys you Sir, and because it annoys you, Sir, I’ll keep calling you Sir, Sir.” With each Sir I see his left eyelid twitch a little more, I know it’s petty, but I’ll take any chance I can get to get back at him for all those old ‘plans’ he made that involved me nearly dying.

“Sometimes I forget why I hired you to be the Head Butler…” He says in a defeated tone.

“Because if you didn’t have me to manage this house, you and Annabelle would have run it into the ground in the first week.”

“True… Well I’d best get to writing a reply before Annabelle comes back, and you best give Philip his letter, I’m sure he’d like to hear from Marry before the day is out.”

“I’ll get on that Sir. And I hope you know what you’re doing with that kobold.” I say as I turn to leave.

“Me to Jerald…”

That does not inspire confidence.

----------------------------------------

As I walk into Philips room, I see the familiar sight of him sitting in that chair of his, reading a book. What is less familiar is the kobold asleep on in his lap, head leaning on his left arm. An untrained kobold. Well, he’s lucky I found him and not his mother.

There wouldn’t be much of a kobold left by the time she was finished.

“Philip. Why is the kobold on your lap?” I say in a quiet, patient tone.

“Well, it was tired.” He says quietly as he closes the book, gently lifts the kobold of off his lap, stands up and places it on the chair and looks at me. l glance at the white scaled kobold that, when standing, is just over one foot seven inches tall, that is still wearing those filthy rags and see that it curls into the seat.

I’ll need to have that chair washed thoroughly, and Philips clothes. I’ll also need to do something about the kobolds clothing situation, won't I? I sincerely doubt Sir Daniel actually bought something clean for the kobold to wear when he bought it.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

I look at the Young Master, while his father has a more… Fight you all bear handed look to him, Philip has a more roguish look to him, he usually has a playful look to him, his face has hardly any baby fat left on it, he has his father’s features but his mother’s amethyst eyes, and a thin wiry body five feet three inches tall, wearing grey pants with a light grey shirt. Obviously inheriting his more reserved sense of taste from his father.

“Phillip, I shouldn't have to tell you how that dangerous that was.” I say quietly as he steps towards me.

“I know.” He says with a slight grin.

*Sigh* “Well do be careful with it. Anyway, I have a letter from Merry for you.” I say as I hand over the letter, he doesn’t need me to treat him like glass as well, though I do worry.

“Oh, thank you, Jerald, I wonder how she’s been doing.” He says as he takes the letter and walks to a desk near the window that has the curtains drawn.

“So, how do you like the kobold Philip?”

“Well I wasn’t expecting father to bye me a kobold, but I am rather glad he did, I’ve found myself looking forward to teaching it." He says distractedly picks up a letter opener.

“Well that’s good, but do be careful with it, they can be dangerous.” I say trying not to specify his lack of magic. He gets reminded of it enough by his parents, he doesn’t need it from me.

“I will. Oh, if you don’t mind could you find something cleaner for the kobold to wear and something for it to eat?” He asks while turning to face me.

“Very well, but I doubt I'll be able to find something to fit the kobold.”

“I know it’s a bit much to ask, but I’d rather it have something better to wear than what it’s got now.”

“I’ll see what I can do, and speaking of cleaner, you should probably take your bath sooner rather than later after letting the kobold on you like that. You don’t know where it has been or what it’s covered in, in fact, I'm surprised you could stand having it on you.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Yes, and you can explain to your mother when she asks why that chair needs cleaning.” I say with a small grin. He suddenly looks a little worried.

“I… Did not think of that…”

“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to clean it.”

“I’ll figure something out… Probably…” He says unsurely.

“I have no doubt you’ll think of something. Anyway, I’ll go see what I can find for the kobold, and again do be careful with it.” I say as I turn and walk to the door.

“I will.”

I walk out the door and shut it behind me, wondering where the hell I’m supposed to find something for the kobold to wear.

----------------------------------------

“He’s gone now, you can stop pretending to be asleep.” I hear the big human say.

I slowly sit up in the large chair and look over to the left, I notice the human holding some weird paper as he walks towards me.

“Are you feeling better now?” He asks.

“a-a little…” I say quietly.

“Do you want me to sit on the other chair, or do you want to sit on my lap?”

“… will there be p-pictures again…?”

“Yes, there will be pictures. But would you mind if I read this letter first?” He says as he holds up the paper.

“o-okay”

He put’s the paper on the table and lifts me up, I can’t help but shiver when I see how far I am from the floor, he sits in the chair and sits me down in his lap, I can’t help but wonder if I smell bad like the other human said… I don’t know how long it’s been since I last washed myself…

He picks up the paper and opens it, there’s no pictures, just lines and squiggles. What’s so interesting about lines and squiggles?

“why a-are you looking t-that?” I ask quietly.

“Because my sister wrote it, you see this bit?” He says as he points at some of the lines and squiggles at the bottom of the paper. I nod.

“That’s my sister's name, Marry. Each letter has its own sound, uh usually… It’s complicated, if you want, I could teach you how to read.”

“w-why would I want to?” I ask while wondering what the point of reading is.

“Well, do you remember the book with pictures I showed you while I was telling you that story?”

“it had nice p-pictures.”

“Well, I was reading the let- uh, lines and squiggles that were on the pages. Books like that can tell stories and others can tell you things that can make you smarter.”

Books can make me smarter?

“y-you’ll teach m-me to read?” I ask as I look up at him.

He smiles and says.

“If you want me to.”

I look to the letter looking at the lines and squiggles and ask.

“what d-does it say?”

“The letter?”

I nod

“Well… I’ll tell you what it says, but this isn’t the best thing to start learning to read with.”

“why?”

“Well, there’s probably some words you don’t know the meaning of. But I’ll read it to you if you really want?”

I feel a little annoyed that the human doesn’t think I’m smart enough to understand words… But the humans are weird and have weird things like those weird ticking things they pull out of the pocket and cross bows. I still don’t know how a bow can be cross.

“okay…” I say quietly.

"Well, the letter says."

“Hello Phillip, I hope you had a fun birthday and got lots of presents! I’m sorry I could not make it home for your birthday, but Emily wouldn’t let me.

She’s very strict and doesn’t let me have much fun. But I’m learning a lot from her! And when I come home this summer, I’ll bring you my present! It will be the best you have ever gotten.

How have you been? Are you well? I’m doing good, but I miss you. And how are Mom and Dad? Are they well? And how is sharps? Has Dad been overfeeding him again? I hope not, he’s already fat enough.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Love Merry.”

How can lines and squiggles say all of that? Is reading really that useful?

“That’s most of what the letter says.”

“most?”

"There are some things in the letter that are personal.”

“oh.”

“Do you want me to read to you now?”

“okay.”

He reaches for the book and says.

“Let’s see… I think we left off around here…”

----------------------------------------

(Jerald’s Pov)

As I finish putting on my shirt I step out of the washroom and contemplate the day.

Today has been rather interesting, Phillip getting a pet was rather a surprise, but he seems to like it, I just wish he would be more careful around it. I'm not particularly surprised at the general lack of self-preservation, after all, he is Daniels son, so it is to be expected, but I can hope.

I did eventually manage to find something for the kobold to wear other than those filthy rags it had on it, though I must admit that Sir Daniel was right when he said that it was a rather strange colour for a kobold, I’ve seen dark grey, even the odd blue, but never white.

I do hope that it’s not sick, it’d be downright sad if it suddenly died.

Though it looked rather healthy, if a bit thin and while not an expert on kobolds I do have a bit more knowledge on them than is average, its two horns appeared undamaged, and from what I could see of its scales, through the rags that covered it, they seemed healthy enough.

Though I haven’t a clue about whether it's male or female, which makes telling its age rather difficult, it could be a seven-year-old male or a ten-year-old female, or it could just be tall for its age for all I know.

As I think of ponder about the kobold, I walk in front of a large, body length mirror to look myself over. Standing five feet ten inches tall with a rather thin body, dressed in rather comfortable woollen pyjamas, instead of my usual butler uniform. My hair, which is usually neatly combed, is rather messy since I have not had the chance to comb it yet, my face is devoid of scares, and I dare say rather handsome.

After I’ve combed my hair, I look over to the trunk containing my old gear, feeling slightly nostalgic from trying to analyse the kobold. I can’t help but reminisce about the good old days when it was just me looking out for myself.

I was a prideful idiot back then, but I still remember those times fondly, especially when Sir Daniel and the old gang first tried to recruit me. They were certainly surprised when I said no, by kicking Sir Daniel in the balls and then trying to kill them all.

Good times.

It was his fault for calling me a ‘dishonourable coward that wouldn’t stand a chance in an actual fight.’ I would have killed them all if it wasn’t for Emily, if I knew she was an alchemist beforehand I would have ran, pride be damned.

Maybe getting that kobold wasn’t one of Sir Daniels dumber impulses, I haven’t thought about that in years, and I doubt I would of any time soon if he didn’t get that kobold.

I walk over to the candle by the bedside and put it out.

As I settle in for the night, I wonder if that kobold will be a good distraction for Phillip, I hope so.

He’ll need one whenever his parents finally get around to telling him that he can’t be a knight.