It had been days since we started to temporarily live here. With the abundant time of being a servant, we managed to tour most of the estate with the help of Feim. Vast would be an underestimating word to describe the place especially for a person like me.

The estate itself was surrounded by tall, grandiose metal bar fences. There was only one entrance and one exit to the estate. The entrance was what we used to enter before while the exit was in the back. So if you entered the estate, you had to go all the way back to the exit which could take five minutes. At the two gates, there was a guardhouse stationed where the guards stayed. The two gates were guarded by two guards each. For such a vast place, you’d expect it to be more guarded. The entrance guards, who aimed a spear at Fuyuki once, were Vin and Swan while the exit guards were Nive and Minos. All of them were men. Bringing food to them was such a hassle considering the sun bullying me everytime I walked to get there.

The way to the house was guided by paved roads for carriages. Not a single crack on the outdoor tiles could be seen and their cream color was such a delight to the eyes. When not on a tile or on the road, lush and lavish grass dominated every corner. Along with pleasant verdant trees, evergreen shrubs and aesthetically various kinds of flowers, walking around the estate felt like being in a garden. Now I knew why Kihana love taking her time walking there, it was calming just breathing the air.

Besides the main house, there were five more establishments, namely, the noble’s chamber, the garden, the workshop, the warehouse and the stable.

The noble’s chamber was a multipurpose chamber. It could be used for a meeting or partying. Though they used it for a meeting, it was only seldom. Oftentimes it would be used for partying. Feim had told me nobles loved partying as if it was alcohol to Takana and everybody knew how Takana was infatuated to alcohol. Additionally, and the worst part was, we had to keep the noble’s chamber clean at a moment’s notice as William could host a party based on a whim or if he was in a mood to do so. The noble’s chamber was probably the same size with the main house, you could say it was an extension of it but they weren’t connected. How could Feim clean this all by herself? It was nigh impossible. Lastly, if the main house was full of nothing, the noble’s chamber was entirely the opposite. This was where William spent most of his money. Gotta keep up the custom, I guess.

The garden was at the back of the main house. The garden had its own big pond where fishes swam freely, the only danger they had was when Fuyuki tried to fish them out for Merry, who was trying her best not to join Fuyuki. The various types of flowers and plants gave a calming atmosphere and a sweet smell to my nose. I wasn’t a big fan of plants but I understood why this place was the second-most visited place for Kihana.

Though I knew there was a workshop, Feim explicitly told me not to enter it. No, she told me not to go near it. Actually, she told me not to look at it. You get the idea. The workshop was near the stable. Feim told me it was where William would spend nights thinking and making something. The place looked mysterious and ominous as it had no windows, looked like it hadn’t been clean for years with vines and cracks appearing on the wall here and there, and the cherry on top was that it was color black. Well, as much as I wanted to heed her warnings, I had to check every nook and corner of this estate for Risa’s sake.

Although there was only one warehouse, it was divided into two parts. One of them was for food storage and the other for everything else. Seasonings such as herbs and spices, rice, eggs, dried meat were kept there. As for the other part, from broken furnitures to old paintings were stored there.

The stable housed five norjis, including Chance’s and a bunch of livestock. It had full utilities that a norji would need. There were ample amounts of meat and water for the norjis and they each had their own stalls. I could see Sray being in her own concept of heaven as she would often have plants, rarely a meat if she was lucky. Well, either William love norjis or Lindwal greatly tended them. I could see Lindwal as a norji-lover.

“And then I called him a monkey!” Fuyuki laughingly pointed to Takana, who was bored out of his mind as he yawned.

“You’ve already told this story three times!” Takana shouted.

We were in a covered patio in the garden. William decided he wanted to breathe some fresh air for locking himself up in his room for weeks and even when we were here, he still locked himself up on his room. Today was the second time we would be talking to him.

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William laughed. “It is interesting when Fuyuki tells a story.” He fluidly sipped a drink from his elegant cup. The three of them sat down while we servants were standing.Though Merry and I were guests, we were still servants and Feim would get angry just by the fact we would be sitting down. Kihana and Risa weren’t here as they were spending their time in that maze-like mansion.

“You’re a nutcase for thinking she’s interesting,” Takana sneered. Immediately, a dagger was pointed in his throat again. “Feim, Feim, you have to learn your master is a man. You’re only embarrassing him if you act like this.” Even though he had a dagger on his throat, Takana looked pretty smug.

“The only one embarrassing here is you,” Feim looked at him with cold-blooded eyes. Was this normal for the both of them? Now you see why I didn’t want to sit down.

“Enough, Feim,” Feim immediately let go of Takana. “We’re here to discuss something.”

“Yeah!” Fuyuki shouted. She then smacked Takana on the head. “Why are you even here, anyway!?”

Takana didn’t even bother to retaliate as he dismissively waved his hand away. “It’s none of your business.”

Fuyuki puffed her cheeks and faced William. “So, what are we going to talk about?”

After taking a sip, William lowered his eyes. “First off, please allow me to apologize,”

“Apologize?” Fuyuki tilted her head. “No need! I know you’re busy and we’re already imposing on you.”

“I must apologize for that as well,” William chuckled and continued. “Do you remember I wasn’t there when Gyoro made you leave?” Fuyuki nodded. It seemed she was still baffled on where this was going.

“The truth was I wasn’t there. In my family’s domain, the Borin territory, on the south of Ergaos, there were skirmishes with the neighboring beast country. Ever since we started attacking the witch at Cugnas, they’ve gradually switched from being diplomatic to outright aggressive.”

“Well, that’s all right!” Fuyuki brightly smiled. “Your people needed you and you were there for them. You don’t need any apology.”

“I shall remember your kind words,” he smiled then he looked towards above Fuyuki’s head. Why was he looking there? “Now, onto the second discussion, I see that you have a spirit with you. An adorable cat spirit.”

Fuyuki perked up as if she was a cat who sensed something. “Oh yeah, you can see Muki!”

“Muki?” Merry tilted her head.

“I named my cat spirit Muki! It’s a combination of Merry and Fuyuki! You guys are right, maybe I am a smart person!” Fuyuki crossed her arms and smiled proudly. I looked over at Merry and it seemed she wasn’t angry. In fact, she was smiling.

“It’s a dumb name. You could have named it Fuyurry or Kirry.”

“Shut up, Takana. She’s mine and I get to name her!

“You even gave her an identity. Are you close with your spirit?” William asked.

“Close?” Fuyuki hummed while looking above her head. “I do talk to her sometimes but she doesn’t respond. She just floats there and whenever I start to chant, she wakes up but then immediately goes back to sleep. I really want to play with her, you know? She’s a cat!”

“Isn’t Merry enough?” I asked.

“Merry is great but she’s a person, too, I can’t take her entire day and cuddle with her. Now if it’s a cat, I don’t think you would see me leave my room.” She said as she drooled over her imagination.

“Well, do you want me to teach you more about your cat spirit?”

She hastily stood up and with a bright smile and shining eyes, she said, “You’d teach me, William!?”

“Of course, take it as a way to apologize to you. Furthermore, it would be such a waste to not impart knowledge for a beautiful, talented and brilliant young lady such as yourself.”

“It really hurts my ears when you compliment Fuyuki like that,” Takana blocked his ears, as if hearing his voice was listening to a metal grating on a hard surface. Not that I wholeheartedly disagree with Takana but I think William meant well, though at the same time, I find his words a bit of a player.

“Shut up, Takana,” Ah, her favorite words to make Takana irrelevant. “Well then, I’ll take you up on the offer, William. But where’s your spirit?”

“Mine? He’s asleep right now. I’ll show you mine later,” he then looked at Takana. “How about you, Takana? There are associations here and you can train there. Do you want to go there? You can take Lindwal with you.”

“No thanks,” he waved his hand. “Is Grati around? We can take Merry there and train.”

“What does that have to do with Merry?” I said.

“He’s the one who trained me when I was a swordsman. He’s really good, I’m just not enthusiastic when a sweaty man teaches me. I want something to bounce when a woman moves.” Typical of Takana. Now he was being looked at by every woman in the room, their eyes ready to kill.

“Unfortunately, they aren’t present in the capital at the moment. Gyoro took most of the best fighter he has.”

Takana sighed. “At least that moron still has some brain left…” he then shrugged. “I’ll take a look at the town later. Wanna come and have fun, Feim?”

“No, doing something with you isn’t fun, it’s a chore. It will only give me unhappiness.”

“Why don’t you give them a tour of the capital, Feim? I’m sure there are things that you also have to buy.”

“As you wish, Master William.” Feim bowed.

“Just like a dog…” Takana commented. He received another cold glare from Feim.

I would like to see the capital. I wonder what this place has to offer. But I guess before that, we have to clean the main house.