<p>"I... have horns..."</p>
Estelle looked completely lost as Helia muttered those words. I stepped forward before things could get any more awkward.
"You must be Lady Helia. My name is Yi Seoha. Lord Ciel was kind enough to give me this opportunity to join the household."
"Ciel oppa did?"
Helia gave me a once-over, her gaze sharp and assessing.
"You don't look particularly impressive... but then again, that brother of mine has always had a better eye for people than Father. So why are you here?"
"I was fortunate enough to gain a daughter, but reality proved harsher than expected. Financial troubles were weighing on me until Lady Estelle personally offered me a position. That's what brought me here."
"Ah, I... see."
Helia seemed a little thrown off by my overly polite tone. Even Estelle looked momentarily stunned, but when her eyes flicked toward Helia, she quickly played along.
"Right. He's the new butler we're hiring."
Once Helia heard I had a daughter and was just a servant, the wariness in her gaze eased. No need to mention the adoption part.
She didn't seem inclined to connect my age with having a child, which made things simpler. No explanations required.
"Well, the staff here are getting on in years. Some of them are probably due for retirement soon anyway."
Even from a glance, most of the servants looked quite old. Their auras suggested they were fairly skilled too. The elderly butler who'd brought us in already seemed past retirement age.
"Sis, you love sparring but you're always worried about hurting the servants, so you don't train with them. If money's the issue, you're in luck. Pendragon servants get paid well. Especially the ones serving you directly. Plus, you'll have the honor of attending to my sister."
Her words were ordinary enough, but there was a prickly edge to her tone.
So butlers and maids in this world were combat personnel. Maybe it wasn't that the staff were all old—it was that only the old ones remained.
A conspiracy theory briefly crossed my mind that all the young servants had quit, but I couldn't exactly badmouth Estelle after she'd given me this job.
"Then how about we spar for the first time in a while, Helia?"
Estelle slung an arm around Helia's shoulders in a friendly headlock.
"Y-yes, hehet."
Helia answered on pure reflex, then her pupils shook as she realized what she'd just agreed to. The fear lasted only a moment before resolve hardened her expression. Her body had gone stiff from the sudden contact.
Why was she reacting like that? Sparring just meant a few joints getting twisted and some bones cracking, right?
Luna poked my leg repeatedly from the side.
"Don't get used to that."
Ah. Right. Cracked bones and dislocated joints weren't normal sparring.
Crazy woman.
Luna had just restored the common sense I'd nearly lost.
Now properly grounded, I shot Helia a concerned look. But seeing the determination on her face, I let it go. She wore the same expression I'd had not long ago—the look of someone who knew this was the path they'd chosen and was prepared to endure it.
Helia followed Estelle away.
"I'll explain the details to you."
The elderly butler who'd come in with me approached.
"I roughly understand the situation. What should I call you?"
"Please address me as Head Butler."
So the head butler was also the chauffeur here.
"I know what you're thinking. With so few young servants, the ones we do have are highly skilled. They handle their roles without needing my input, so I volunteer for these tasks myself."
That raised a question.
"Then what exactly will I be doing?"
If the place was full of veterans, there probably wasn't much left for a newcomer. High-class clothing required special care, and cooking or cleaning would be handled by experts. Naturally, a man like me wouldn't be attending to her personally either. I couldn't immediately think of any tasks suitable for someone whose abilities hadn't been proven yet.
"With the young lady... a bit of sparring..."
The head butler trailed off and looked away. It was uncomfortable watching a man over four times my age act so hesitant.
"Even just once a week would be fine—"
"I've already been sparring with her almost every day."
The butler stared at me in shock.
"Are your limbs intact? Any lasting aftereffects?"
"It's not that bad, is it?"
"As you know, the young lady learns very quickly."
"That's true."
"The problem is that she once accidentally learned torture techniques in the past."
Extreme pain could dull rational judgment. Most torture methods only worked on restrained targets and weren't practical in real combat, but she'd apparently figured out how to apply them in a fight.
I wasn't sure exactly how.
"She stimulates the nervous system with mana to inflict pain. Do you have any issues with your sense of pain?"
What the hell was that crazy woman doing?
"Thanks to that, we used to rotate twenty-one young servants every week just for sparring purposes, but..."
In the end, none of them could endure it and fled, he added.
"So, about the pay..."
He handed me a contract with the look of someone committing a crime.
The salary listed was...
"I'll bury my bones in the Pendragon household."
He looked at me with complicated emotions. Maybe because he'd heard my story, he seemed to see me as a pitiful father sacrificing himself for his daughter.
A golden opportunity to earn money and improve my skills at the same time.
"Ah, if I can handle more work than what's written here, could my salary increase?"
"It could. Ah, and if you learn other duties, you could use being busy as an excuse to reduce the sparring a little!"
Our conversation had gone slightly off-track, but seeing his expression soften a bit, I didn't bother correcting him.
After signing the contract, the head butler gave me a tour of the estate.
"This is the training ground."
"Ah, Estelle and Helia are probably here too."
"When you're working as a servant, please refer to them as 'young lady' and 'little lady.'"
"Understood."
"Shall we go in? We've covered most of the important areas by now."
"Yes."
We opened the door and stepped inside.
"It seems the sparring has already ended."
The head butler scanned the room for Estelle and Helia.
At the end of his gaze stood Estelle, perfectly fine, while Helia was on the ground clutching her leg and groaning.
"Oh, sparring over already?"
"Hey, young lady, let's have a match."
"Training starts tomorrow."
"We'll be doing it tomorrow anyway."
"Might as well delay it while we can."
I looked at Helia slowly healing her leg with recovery magic and spoke to Estelle.
"Could you use some recovery magic on her? It looks like it'll take a while."
Helia flinched at my words.
"Healing everything at once hurts like hell! People have gone into shock and died from it before."
I turned my gaze to Estelle.
This bastard had broken my legs multiple times and then immediately healed them in one go so we could keep sparring.
Estelle slowly averted her eyes under my stare.
That crazy woman?
"Ah, Helia, want to spar with Seoha? He almost beat me once."
"In a way, I did win."
My goal had succeeded while hers had failed, after all.
"If we're talking about the fight itself, you lost."
"Well, that's true."
Helia stared at me with wide eyes.
"You didn't look that strong."
I glanced at the weapons scattered around her. Snipers, shotguns, handguns, assault rifles—various firearms. While Estelle mainly used close-range weapons, this girl seemed to specialize in guns.
I was curious. I'd lost the power of the White King, but what was my current level after awakening a new strength?
I was obviously weaker than before. To sever the King's breath, I'd returned to being human and lost all the realms I'd gained through Authority.
Even so, I'd grown stronger. Luna's establishment was complete, and the combat instincts I'd gained from that experience still lingered in my body.
"So, Helia, scared?"
Estelle provoked her.
Helia accepted the challenge, unwilling to appear cowardly in front of her sister. My opinion wasn't asked, but I was curious about my own level too, so I didn't object.
They said my realm was Rook.
Before using Authority, my odds of winning would've been less than twenty percent.
"Luna."
At my words, a pair of glass spectacles materialized before my left eye. The design had changed after her establishment. Delicate glass wings adorned the frames.
A glass bow formed in my right hand.
It was smaller and plainer than the first one I'd made, but without the crystal-like glass growths, it resembled a normal bow more closely.
"There's no moonlight, so you won't be able to use techniques like Moonlight Poetry or Full Moon. Even if you could, don't expect the same power as before."
I nodded at Luna's warning.
It was the result I'd expected, so I wasn't particularly disappointed.
"Alright then, I'll randomize the location!"
"Yes, sis!"
After confirming Helia's injuries were fully healed, Estelle operated some kind of panel.
"A forest. That's advantageous for Helia."
Forests had plenty of cover and obstructed vision. That meant mid-to-close range combat would be more common than long-range engagements. Helia, who used shotguns, would have the advantage there. Though I could probably use similar methods, so I wasn't sure how much it mattered.
"Everyone, please move to your positions."
As Helia headed to her spot and I looked around trying to decide where to go, Estelle spoke up.
"Over there. Also, everyone in our family has good eyesight."
A helpful direction and a cryptic remark.
Once I reached my position, the surroundings transformed into a forest.
"Oh, that's interesting."
I was marveling at the trees and touching one when—
Bang—
'Right leg!'
I couldn't see the line.
Luna's urgent cry rang out and I hurriedly moved my leg. A bullet struck exactly where my leg had been.
I focused and scanned the area.
Luna had pinpointed the shooter's location from the bullet's angle and trajectory.
Countless trees, branches, and leaves.
Through the gaps, another bullet flew toward me.
'Everyone in our family has good eyesight.'
Now I understood what that meant.
There were no attachments on her gun. No scope either.
She didn't need one.
Her eyes were better than any scope.
Even through this dense foliage, she could find her target and hit it accurately.
"Is this whole family full of monsters?"
She could see me, but I couldn't even locate her.
To be honest, I'd gotten a bit arrogant after steamrolling through recent fights.
Of course the monstrous Estelle's sister wouldn't be ordinary.
I readjusted my grip on the bow.