Chapter 24 - Herthe’s Black Flame (1)
Chapter 24 - Herthe’s Black Flame (1)
“Senior, I’m thirsty. Some water, please.”
“Senior, please cover my shift for me.”
“Seniooor~”
The very next day after a commoner page boy named Theodor joined the Herthe household, the servants witnessed an unbelievable sight.
-How dare a mere commoner parachute into the position of a page boy?
Armin Renon, who had been burning with hostility toward the commoner more than anyone else on his first day.
Having coincidentally been assigned to train the newcomer, he’d been grinding his teeth, determined to show him his place—
“Seniooor, aren’t you gonna answer~?”
“Grrk… Fine! I got it!”
But by the next day, he was obediently following the commoner newcomer’s every command with a resentful expression.
-Just what in the world happened…?
The servants were curious, but aside from Armin and Theodor, the only ones who knew what had transpired in the training hall yesterday were Parmela, the head butler, and if you included non-humans, Wolfgang.
Ultimately, the details of the incident remained unknown, and as Armin continued to voluntarily act as Theodor’s subordinate and servant, the servants gradually came to accept it as natural.
Now, about two weeks had passed since joining the Herthe household.
Sleep at 10 PM, wake at 4:30 AM.
After a quick uniform check, it was straight to work.
Escorting Parmela, handling documents, receiving guests, and managing all sorts of household affairs…
Before you knew it, evening would arrive amidst the relentless flood of tasks.
Even after dinner, training resumed immediately.
From combat training like swordsmanship and horsemanship to etiquette lessons covering posture and attire.
Only after all that did the schedule finally end, followed by 30 minutes of rest before bedtime again.
This routine repeated endlessly.
As Parmela had proposed, Sundays were the sole day off.
Even then, leaving the estate required the head butler’s permission—though so far, it had always been granted.
Truly…
“Couldn’t ask for a better gig.”
A single phrase that perfectly encapsulated my life as a trainee butler in the Herthe household.
‘Way more comfortable than playing Heavenly Demon, honestly.’
During the early Heavenly Demon simulator days, from ages 17 to 20, the demon sect elders worked me like a dog under the guise of “guidance.”
There was no fixed schedule. That was the problem.
Some days, they’d lock me in the archives and demand I memorize dozens of books, other times they’d deprive me of sleep for a week while forcing me to perform energy circulation, and occasionally, they’d pit me against thirty of the sect’s assassins in life-or-death duels…
-“You are the Heavenly Demon, standing at the pinnacle of our doctrine! Naturally, you must possess capabilities befitting that status!”
Even now, the Grand Elder’s nagging words echoed vividly in my ears.
Anyway, compared to those three years of being treated worse than dirt without a single day’s rest during my youthful Heavenly Demon days—
Life as a trainee butler in a ducal household felt like a vacation.
“♫~ ♩♩♪~”
The work was so easy, look at this.
Even buried under piles of documents while organizing the household expenditures into ledgers, I couldn’t help but whistle, could I?
“…”
“Why are you glaring like that, Senior? Haven’t finished your share yet?”
“……”
Armin, who had been groaning beside me for a while, occasionally shot me murderous glances as I finished my portion of documents ahead of him.
But he couldn’t bring himself to say anything outright, instead sighing deeply before picking up his quill to wrestle with numbers again.
“…What exactly are you?”
“Getting tired of that question? You’ve asked it dozens of times since I entered this household.”
“That’s how unbelievable it is. This makes no sense. How can some commoner perfectly grasp butler duties within days? Not only outperforming me, who started two years earlier, but even the full-fledged butlers? Handling tasks cleaner than them?”
Armin wasn’t the only one who thought that way about me.
For the first four or five days after entering the estate, most servants disliked me, a commoner, just like Armin.
But as I flawlessly completed every assigned task without a single mistake—
And even began anticipating tasks and handling them preemptively—the way people looked at me gradually changed.
Some still disliked me for being a commoner but acknowledged my skills, while others fully accepted me as a comrade.
And so, the former Heavenly Demon’s entry into ducal life progressed smoothly.
“Ugh… So, this amount is for…”
“That’s the cost of the young lady’s dress. The receipt is right there on your senior’s right.”
“I know! Shut up. I was about to do it…”
Teasing Armin, who was still working while I’d finished, had become my new hobby lately.
There was something amusing about how easily he lost his temper at the slightest provocation.
“…Hmm.”
“What now?”
“Need some help?”
“What?”
Armin’s face momentarily brightened before twisting again.
While he’d be thrilled to get help with the endless paperwork, accepting assistance from me probably wounded his pride.
“Suit yourself.”
I made a show of standing up to leave the office.
“W-wait! Fine.”
“Fine what?”
“………Help.”
“Help?”
Snicker.
“Should’ve said so sooner.”
Returning to my seat, I took half the pile from Armin’s side and placed it before me.
“…Don’t expect thanks. You’re gonna ask me for something again, aren’t you?”
“Oh? How’d you know?”
“Because you never show kindness without an ulterior motive.”
“Well. It’s nothing much. Just answer some questions while we work.”
“…? Questions?”
“As you’re so fond of saying, I’m just a ‘commoner,’ right? So please enlighten me, oh great Armin Renon, third son of the Renon barony.”
Might as well ask about things I’ve been curious about.
“First, demons. What exactly are they?”
“What do you mean ‘what are they’? They’re the demon race.”
“No, I mean, what are their characteristics? They’re spread across the entire Takma continent, not just the Radain Holy Nation, causing all sorts of havoc, but I still don’t really get their origins or anything.”
It’s been nearly two years since I arrived in this world.
From the start, I dealt with some fallen deity or whatever, and while crossing the continent, I’d heard endless rumors—demons corrupting someone, monsters tainted by corrupted mana attacking villages…
But no one ever gave me a straight answer about what demons actually were.
Should’ve asked Auriel for details when I had the chance.
“Hmph. That’s all you’re curious about? This is why ignorant commoners…”
“…”
I moved a third of the documents back onto Armin’s pile.
“W-wait! Fine, I’ll tell you, okay…?”
After a brief pause, Armin began explaining.
“First, the term ‘demon’ itself generally refers to the indigenous species of the demon realm.”
Ah, the demon realm. There we go—no fantasy setting is complete without one.
“But this is my first time hearing about a ‘demon realm.’”
“We have no reason to go there. In the past, some tried, but it rarely ended well. Death, madness, disappearance…”
“Ooh.”
“…Anyway. Even if demons from the demon realm cross into our human world, none of us have ever gone the other way, so no one knows what the demon realm is actually like. It only exists in the Radain Church’s scriptures and imagination.”
“But why do those demons keep crossing over and wreaking havoc?”
“That’s also speculation… The Radain Church claims there was once a massive civil war in the demon realm. As a result, their energy—mana—was severely depleted, driving them to invade our world to covet its mana…”
“I see. Then what about those… fallen deities?”
“The sage Juten and his sixty followers used some means to cross into the demon realm and mutated into demons.”
“Huh? Doesn’t the Radain Church worship Juten as a god?”
That contradicts what Auriel told me.
“It’s a matter of perspective. Everyone acknowledges Juten existed in ancient times, but while the Radain Church believes he ascended to godhood, others think he wasn’t quite that… Still, since the Radain Church discovered and named the fallen deities first, their terminology became customary.”
“I see.”
…Auriel would probably call this blasphemy if I mentioned it to her.
“So these fallen deities incite demons to brainwash humans… corrupt monsters… and all that?”
“Well, you could see it that way. Don’t know the details myself.”
Armin remained buried in his documents, focused on his work.
“One more thing I’m curious about.”
“What now?”
“Attitude lacking?”
I pretended to slide the remaining documents his way.
Grit.
“What else might our dear junior be curious about~?”
“Wow. Thank you, Senior.”
“…”
“So who handles these demons? I heard the Radain Church takes charge in the northern regions, but what about places like the Arkesia Empire? The military? Or adventurers?”
“Right. Demons are individually so dangerous that responses usually involve nations or adventurer guilds. Take the Arkesia Empire, for example… The Herthe family often leads the frontlines against demons.”
“Huh? First I’m hearing of this.”
“…Hey, you. You can’t be this clueless about your own master.”
He set down his quill with a sigh.
“The Herthe family is known for their ‘Black Flame of Herthe’ that burns enemies to ashes without fail. They’ve built their standing by using that black flame to exterminate demons for generations.”
“Haah… Haah…”
Late at night, in the estate’s training hall.
Not even a candle lit, Parmela Herthe stood at the center of the silent hall.
Drenched in sweat, her breath ragged to the point of choking, she looked ready to collapse from exhaustion.
Yet her crimson eyes still refused to yield.
“Black flames that burn darkly, embers of karma embedded in Herthe’s heart—”
Before her eyes, the spark of black flame flickered to life once more.
“Rise high, become the wall that protects Herthe’s bloodline!”
Whoosh—!
The spark elongated into a line, then surged upward, forming a wall at Parmela’s eye level—
Crack.
Only to vanish without a trace.
“…Haah…”
Completely drained, Parmela slumped to her knees.
“Why… Why can’t I summon the black flame…?”