Chương 370: Intermission. Chris's Curiosity

Christopher Sunspot's Point Of View" Well, I'm busy doing the laundry. Besides, Beth already gave Lady Sarah and Lady Anna their tea and now, she went shopping with Amy for more cleaning supplies. You need to bring it to him yourself today, Chris."" Ahh... Fine..." I finished speaking with Cat, my Sister, and I began to walk with the tray of food in my hand. I'd usually pass this off to Aaron or Brandon since it's the afternoon and I usually begin to clean the windows both inside and out.

It takes work to keep this mansion in pristine condition and we all take pride in upholding such cleanliness, as Lady Anna had taught us when she trained us. Today however, I'll need to tend to Lord Matthew's lunch menu. It's not the worst thing to ever do, but this past week has felt... Futile to try and feed him lunch. /Knock! Knock! /"..."" Come in!"

I open the old door to Lord Matthew's office and see that the entire office was empty, except for Lord Matthew, who could not be seen as his desk was full of stacks of paper. I walked towards the desk as I heard his pen scribbling on paper. Once I arrived at the side of the desk, Lord Matthew didn't even seem to realize that I was in the room. It seems he unconsciously reacted to the knocks on the door. It's just like Aaron, Brandon and the Maids said. He's completely absorbed into his work right now.

It's been 2 weeks since King Warrick and Queen Aqua had returned to Blackstone. Since then, it almost seems like Lord Matthew's paperwork in the afternoon had been growing and growing. At least if the stories from the others are true. /Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. / Regardless of my standing right by his side, Lord Matthew still didn't notice that I was here.

I waited for him to finish his work on the page that he was writing on, once I've seen his reaching for the paper to put it in another pile, that's where I took the moment to make my presence known." Lord Matthew."" Wah!" He was surprised by my voice. He made an interesting sound once I startled him." Chris? Oh... Sorry... How long have you been here for?"" Only a few minutes, Lord Matthew. I've come with your lunch."" Oh, okay, just put it on the coffee table over there, I'll eat after I finish this small stack."

He returned his eyes to his paperwork, which meant I needed to implement the new rule put into place before Lord Matthew and his wives leave for Blackstone." I'm afraid I'll need to contact Lady Sarah and Lady Anna if you won't take your meal, Lord Matthew." He stopped his arm from moving towards the paperwork and simply looked at me with a look of betrayal on his face." Not you too, Chris."" I'm simply trying to live up to the standards of a Butler, Lord Matthew.

One of those standards is looking after one's Master."" It's not like I'm not going to eat, I've just finally found what I was looking for from Bittersoul."" I understand that may be the case, Lord Matthew, but we were all given absolute orders from Lady Sarah and Lady Anna. If you choose not to eat, they will be made aware."" Alright, you win! I'll eat."" Thank you, Lord Matthew." He placed his pen down and made a spot by placing some of the paperwork on the floor next to him." Hm? Ah.

It's like chicken noodle soup..."" What was that, Lord Matthew?"" Hm? Nothing, I just think the soup looks good." He's done this before during dinner. He'd always mention some strange dish I've never heard about... It must be from when he was a child, considering all of these dairy products he's created all seem to be from dishes and thoughts he's had living in the forest with his guardian. Maybe he misses his home? That would be something easier to understand than some of the other ideas and emotions he's had.

Sometimes, I did wonder if my Lord was crazy, but after watching what he's been able to accomplish so far here in Paradise, I've grown to accept that he's definitely a Genius. Just misunderstood by us at first. Ever since the landscape changed after the incident with the Wyvern, I've stopped doubting Lord Matthew's ideas, I only wish to do the best I can as a Butler for my Master.

Having said that, in-between the Spoonfuls of soup and bites of dipped bread he's been eating, I decided to ask Lord Matthew about his work. Maybe I'd be able to help in some way? Or at least that's my hope. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it." Say, Lord Matthew, what was it that you were looking for exactly?"" Hm? Oh, I found out some interesting information about Bittersoul.

I've been pouring over all of the available public information I could find for it."" How did you find public records here?"" I didn't. I went to see Warrick to see if I could borrow some of the information available in the Blackstone Public Library. Thankfully, he said it was fine. I've taken a few of the documents I thought I would need. At least until Lucas comes back."" Where is Lucas?"" I've asked him to take a look around Bittersoul for anything untoward."" Untoward?""

More or less, anything I can use as leverage as I speak to the Noble in charge, since they want to form a deal with Roseland Products. Well, wait, you're confused, let me back up for a moment." I was lost at what he was saying, thankfully, he noticed and seemed to be able to explain it to me." Originally, all of those letters were for business inquiries. they wanted to form Contracts with Roseland Products.

I separated them all into 3 groups, ones that were possible soon, ones that were possible down the line and ones that I'd rather not do business with at anytime. This was due to the rude, haughty and mean-spirited language that was used. Bittersoul was part of the 3rd group. I wanted nothing to do with them."" What changed?"" Sarah and Anna both came to me with a pretty good idea. They wanted me to use them as an example."" An example of not to cross Roseland Products?"" Exactly...

Well, this is just one extra thing I've decided to do on the way to Blackstone, the other plans seem to be moving slowly, but nicely. What I've found however, is something important to me. I found the records of the state orphanage of Bittersoul. It has 78 occupants currently."" Why does the state orphanage draw your attention?"" It's to do with my future plans, you've seen the dormitories, right?"" You're going to move all of the orphans in Bittersoul to those dormitories?

Won't the dormitories still be empty if you only place 78 kids in there?"" Yes, it would be, since I've made each of the 5 dormitories fit for around 250 occupants. That's why, during our way to Blackstone, I plan on taking the kids off of the state's hands. I've already checked it with Warrick, he said it's fine since most orphans aren't well looked after and most go into crime."" And you're going to bring them here?" I messed up, Lord Matthew looked at me with the same look I've seen him give multiple times.

It's a look of "maybe it's not worth explaining this to them?" it's the same look he gave us when he explained his idea about ice cream." I'm just wondering about the safety of the city, Lord Matthew." He blinked a few times as he thought about my follow up." I'm not going to doubt that some of these kids may be problem children, for them, I've already included the appropriate measures with the necessary people. We have a security system in place using Anna's eyes."" Lady Anna's eyes?""

Yes, as a Dodomeki, she can do certain things with her eyes, one of them is called "Marking". Not only that, but an advanced version of the Marking Spell is the ability to place conditions on the marked person to serve as an alert. I'm already marked by her if you're interested in knowing."" Under what condition?"" Not arriving at the dinner table by 8 pm."" Ah, because then your work is done for the day." Lord Matthew nodded his head as I realized he's technically being monitored all day."

Anyways, the orphans will be marked with the condition of breaking a crime. Once they do, Anna will tell us, and we'll deal with it appropriately. I'll be giving them a 3-strike program, if they're caught breaking the Law 3 times, I'll be banishing them from the town of Paradise." That'd truly be a severe punishment for someone.

Now that I think about it, the only crimes that have been perpetrated in Paradise since we've all moved in is hardly a crime at all, it's just children accidentally breaking a window or ruining a product with a ball. We've been Blessed with such a great place to live and my fellow Townspeople know it. Will the orphans also appreciate it? Speaking of which, what would they even be doing?" Lord Matthew, what would the orphans even be doing here? Are you planning to make them work the fields or enslave them?""

No, I don't want to enslave them, I'm not a fan of slavery in the least... I thought it was outlawed in Diablos?"" Yes, it is, but that's only so far as in the Country, if say, the Beastmen, who still practice it, were to bring slaves here, we simply turn our heads at it."" The Beastmen have slaves?"" Yes, the Royal Family doesn't however."" Why is that?"" I don't know. King Alan has simply stated that he, nor his children from now on, would own them."" Do any other Countries practice slavery?""

King Warrick hasn't told you?"" It never came up if I'm being honest. Besides, I've never seen any in Diablos, so I thought it was... I thought the practice was gone or at least, that's what my guardian told me. Maybe he was just hopeful? Where else does it happen?"" It happens in Drago, the country of the Dragonkin and in Promethia. However, Promethia only enslaves their Shadow Users to be used as indentured servants for specific periods of time to do undesirable Jobs.

From street cleaning to assassination attempts with low chances of success. They would attempt them on bandit leaders or even our top Military Personal, to give an example."" That's a lot to take in." Lord Matthew rubbed his forehead for a moment, then he began to speak again." Continuing on, I plan on bringing in as many orphans as I can, then I'm going to have them be part of the first class for our Academy."" So, you want to turn them from what they are now, to productive members of society?"" Yes.

I'm hoping that they realize what I'll offer them and they'll understand that it's something much better than what they'd most likely receive elsewhere."" Is that what you plan on doing in Bittersoul?"" At first, yes." Lord Matthew took another bite of his soup before continuing his thought." But now, I think I know of a way to critically injure Earl Hardsmoke.

From looking over the paperwork of the orphanage and seeing where a certain orphan went after being taken under the Baron's wing and what that meant for the Baron's personal finances. Since I've made these connections from the paper trail, I'm pretty sure I should be able to ruin and disgrace him. Which is what Sarah and Anna both wanted me to do and the way to do it is what I've been looking for since this morning."" How are you going to do that?"

Lord Matthew finished his soup finally with one final gulp of the broth. He exhaled happily before answering my question." I'm going to offer a Genius a job."