[No title provided]
Alfredo. The sole butler serving the Noctus Viscountcy, and a longtime friend of the viscount himself.
Their bond, passed down from generations ago, was as tough and enduring as could be. Though it was just a modest territory under a mere viscount, his ancestors—commoners through and through—had chosen to pledge themselves to the family out of genuine admiration for their kind-hearted lord, who truly cared for his people.
Even as commoners, they excelled in administration, paperwork, and business acumen, allowing the viscountcy to scrape by comfortably. As a result, the heads of the family and their butlers had maintained a friendly rapport since those early days, treating each other as equals.
Alfredo took immense pride in his role, living contentedly in sincere service to his lord. But lately, one worry gnawed at him.
"……Ahem."
Knock knock.
Crash! Thud!
As he rapped on the door, a cacophony erupted from inside—like a construction site in full swing. The room's occupant had left the territory months ago, so it should have been silent. But Alfredo knew the culprit all too well, leaving him with a familiar pang of mixed feelings.
Creeeak—
"Ah, Father? W-what brings you here?"
The woman who greeted him, face flushed and sweaty from whatever she'd been up to, was none other than his daughter, Luna—emerging from the room of the young master he served.
It had been months since Young Master Mars, the acting heir, departed for the academy. His daughter, who harbored feelings for him, seized every chance to slip into his room and pine away.
He had no desire to meddle in her love life, and Mars would surely welcome it anyway, so he had no intention of stopping her... but this was a bit much.
"In the young master's room again......?"
"I-I was just cleaning! Even without the owner here, you still have to cl-clean, right?!"
Her words flowed smoothly, but who cleans an empty room every other day for two or three hours? Alfredo itched to call her out, but chalked it up to the follies of love and got to the real reason for his visit.
"Actually, I came to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"The academy's about to break for vacation. As you know, with all the rumors about the young master, staying in the city might be awkward, so per the master's orders, he'll be spending it here."
The news of Mars becoming an Aura Lord had spread even to the Noctus territory. Naturally, the locals buzzed about how the young master they'd known had hidden such power, making it the talk of the town for a while.
"R-really...? Hng~"
She feigned nonchalance, but Alfredo could tell she'd been eagerly awaiting Mars' return. Watching his daughter spend hours "cleaning" in an empty room, only to sneak out drenched in sweat, filled him with a father's bewildering anguish.
"It's been a while, so don't be too prickly with him......"
"We'll see."
Despite her words, Luna couldn't contain her pounding heart. As childhood friends, she already knew Mars had reached the Lord realm—but at his request to live quietly, she'd suppressed the urge to brag to everyone.
But now, there was no need. The guy she liked was an Aura Lord? She was already lost in fantasies of accepting his confession, dreaming of herself as Lady Lord.
"I hear he's bringing friends along."
"Oh? Lots to prepare, then. Do we have enough guest rooms?"
He knew exactly what face she'd make, but as both servant and father, Alfredo couldn't bring himself to lie. He steeled himself to reveal the truth.
"The guests the young master is bringing... are women."
Freeze!
Luna, beaming as she mentally prepped the guest rooms, halted mid-motion.
"Wo... men?"
"......Three of them."
"......Haha...... hahahaha......"
Her eyes hollow, she let out a chilling, empty laugh.
'Haa... Young Master...'
Alfredo had sworn lifelong loyalty to the Noctus family. But right now, he couldn't help resenting his oblivious young master.
"......Are you sure you want to come along?"
For some reason, our volunteer circle had turned into a homecoming party. Now, we were all crammed into a large carriage heading to my hometown: the duke's daughter, the saintess, and the imperial princess.
If bandits attacked this carriage, they'd vanish without a trace from the empire that very day. The lineup was terrifying—the driver assigned to us was visibly trembling with tension.
Sorry, driver... I couldn't stop them...
"But it's surprising the duke and His Majesty let you go."
I glanced at the duke's daughter and princess flanking me. I wasn't that curious, but some chatter kept me from dozing off. I'd planned a quick nap against the wall, but that was ruined now.
"Dad? He said to have fun sleeping over at your place and come back safe~ Guess the Aura Lord title carries more weight than I thought~"
"His Majesty said it'd be safer for me with you nearby. With the palace busy preparing to crush the Heaven God Cult, he thinks I'm better off evacuating discreetly."
Since learning the truth, the princess hadn't fully made up her mind. She understood the emperor's actions rationally, but accepting them emotionally was another story.
'The emperor... I don't know... Now that I don't need his approval, everything just feels empty.'
'Then graduate the academy first. While we're there together, I'll help you figure out what to do.'
'This isn't even your problem, so why...?'
'Uh... just because? Does it need a reason?'
'......Pfft! Haha! True, you're not the thinking type.'
'Hey!'
The emperor had offered to support her return to the throne, even at great cost, if she wished. But until she figured out what she truly wanted, she'd put it on hold.
Instead, she asked for occasional tea time. Forgiveness was still hard, but her willingness to talk moved him to tears—he swore on his name to make time, no matter what.
But was it really okay to let such a precious daughter visit a viscount's home?
"Well, His Majesty did assign some strong escorts. I can sense their auras from here."
"Y-you can feel that? Impressive......"
A group trailing us at about 400 or 500 meters—likely the imperial knights guarding the princess.
"......Why didn't you ask if I'm okay?"
Oh right, her too.
Sitting across from Polo, the saintess puffed her cheeks in protest. She was miffed that I worried about the other two heading to my place but not her.
"You're not staying at our mansion anyway, Saintess. You'll be with Aura Lord Helios Count—why would I worry?"
"......True, but you could at least ask out of courtesy?"
......Maybe ditch her midway.
Unlike the duke's daughter and princess staying at my house, the saintess was crashing at Polo's. I'd even briefed her on the count's personality and tastes, and this was the thanks I got?
Ignoring her sulky whining—ripe for a knuckle-rub—drowsiness hit hard.
"Yawn...... Wake me when we arrive, everyone... Just gonna rest my eyes a bit......"
"Wooooaaah!!!"
Huh? What the—.
I jolted awake from cheers outside, mid-dream.
"Wh-what's going on?"
My companions silently flung open the curtains at my question.
"......Sigh, this is why I didn't want to come......"
The territory's residents had swarmed the carriage, roaring in excitement.
"Noctus' pride, Young Master Mars!!"
"An Aura Lord from our turf!!"
Whoa, they even brought placards?
"Mars, your home's quite the lively place."
"What fun is there in a speck-of-dust territory like ours... They're just itching to tease me when they get the chance......"
In our tight-knit viscountcy—small enough to know everyone by name—the villagers treated me like a kid from the neighborhood, thanks to my past-life personality letting me mingle freely despite being nobility. Their playful antics always gave me headaches.
"Young master's brought a girl!!"
"Ehhh? With Mars?"
"He never glanced at our local beauties—was he impotent or what?"
"Polo, let me go. I'll just beat that one punk and head home. Ah, let go!"
Finally shaking off the endless handshake demands, we staggered home. I'd hoped for a touching reunion with my parents after months apart, but...
"Welcome home, future Aura Lord!!!"
"Goddammit, seriously."
"Kekeke!"
Oh yeah. My dad was this kind of guy.
"Where's Mom?"
"Your mom? Off gossiping with the other wives. Won't be back till dinner."
......Yeah, my bad for expecting anything.