Chapter 7
Three days later, Pei Sen demonstrated the Cleaning Spell to Lady Mary and Eagle, securing himself a well-deserved raise. It seemed neither Lady Mary nor Eagle had any intention of letting that Bertha clean the carpets again.
Pei Sen observed his NPC interface upgrade from the most basic tier to the green level. His faction was now officially listed as the Golden Rose Manor, and his title had changed to the formal “Personal Butler.”
“Looking at it this way, the day I shed my pixelation can’t be far off,” he thought optimistically. “Once I reach the blue NPC panel, the pixels will likely disappear.”
“Wait, why am I so hung up on these pixels anyway? Whether or not that brat Eagle has pixels… what does it matter!”
In any case, he couldn’t see whether others had mosaics over them, especially since he was Eagle’s personal butler.
Tomorrow, “Bix Cube” would officially begin its closed beta test; he had seen the announcement!
Pei Sen felt immense regret that Eagle disliked going out at all. As a personal butler, unlike Vago, the steward in charge of miscellaneous duties who often had chances to go outside, Pei Sen, belonging to an oppressed race on the Yali Continent in this era, might earn a meager salary, yet within this manor, the concept of holidays simply did not exist.
“Tomorrow will surely be a day witnessing history, yet I’m stuck here in the manor, accompanying a brat as he无聊ly teases cats…” Pei Sen sighed, unwilling to miss this historic day after all, and finally could not resist finding time to seek out Lady Mary.
“You want to take leave tomorrow to return to Kaithe City?” Lady Mary asked with a serious expression. “Why? As far as I know, you have no relatives within the city.”
The Golden Rose Manor never truly investigated Pei Sen’s specific origins, but they still needed to maintain appearances. Thus, Pei Sen simply claimed publicly that he was a Balster who had been trafficked here, thereby aligning his story with Lady Mary’s account.
“When I was trafficked here before, I hid some important items within the city,” Pei Sen said, striving to fabricate a convincing lie. “Now that I’ve settled down at the manor and intend to stay here permanently, I wish to retrieve those items and keep them close by.”
Lady Mary stared at him expressionlessly for a moment before speaking. “I cannot make that decision; you must request leave from the Young Master.”
Pei Sen: “…”
If that brat were so easy to deal with, would he really need to come looking for Lady Mary?!
Given his understanding of Eagle’s temperament in such a short time, he felt Eagle would never approve his request for leave—
No, to be precise, Eagle wouldn’t approve any of his requests.
Nevertheless, the desire to witness history overcame everything, and Pei Sen bravely approached Eagle to express his intention to take leave.
Eagle’s emerald eyes glanced over casually, “You want to go to Kaixi City?”
“Yes, young master. I promise I’ll return immediately after retrieving the item, without any delay whatsoever.” Pei Sen did his best to appear utterly sincere, nearly ready to drop to one knee and grasp Eagle’s hand while swearing an oath.
To some extent, Pei Sen was quite adaptable. Before transmigrating, he had endured plenty of harsh realities in society and was never the type to let pride stand in his way.
Eagle set down the book he had been reading, stood up, and walked over to face him.
Although only fourteen years old, he was already nearly as tall as Pei Sen—not because Pei Sen was short, but because Eagle was exceptionally tall. After all, Pei Sen’s height had been adjusted several centimeters above the standard adult male height设定 for the Yali Continent by the system.
Although Eagle still had the physique of a youth, his height was indeed excessively tall for his age.
“You’re lying,” Eagle suddenly said.
Pei Sen’s heart tightened, yet he put on his most sincere and innocent smile, sighing as he replied, “Young master, I am not.”
Eagle carefully examined Pei Sen’s handsome and delicate face; in terms of appearance, whatever he said would truly be convincing.
Pei Sen felt he could be a bit more lenient because of Eagle’s face, while Eagle himself truly believed he had been exceptionally kind to Pei Sen.
He had never treated anyone this well before!
“App,” Eagle spoke, and from the shadows beside him, a figure slowly emerged. Before long, a tall and slender young man appeared silently, startling Pei Sen. “Go tell Vago that I will be heading to Kaixi City tomorrow.”
“Yes, Young Master.” The young man named App vanished back into the shadows.
Pei Sen studied him carefully and concluded that he must be an expert, likely playing a class similar to an assassin or rogue in the game.
At that moment, Eagle leaned close to Pei Sen’s ear and whispered softly, “Tomorrow, you’ll come with me. I want to watch you retrieve the item myself.” He paused, then curled his lips slightly. “Pei Sen, if you dare deceive me… heh.”
That final trailing chuckle struck Pei Sen as brimming with the greatest malice imaginable.
Though only a fourteen-year-old boy, Pei Sen somehow inexplicably made people feel intimidated.
Once Eagle stepped back, Pei Sen struggled to resist the urge to rub his ears. Why did he feel as though Eagle’s breath brushing against his ears was strangely cool?
Despite Eagle’s “threats,” Pei Sen muttered inwardly, “Who is he trying to scare? Sure, fetching that item was a lie, but if I really wanted to get it, it wouldn’t be difficult at all.”
Besides, tomorrow the city would likely descend into chaos with the arrival of players; who knew what might happen.
Therefore, Pei Sen felt not the slightest trace of fear.
On this day, as usual, he carried out his duties with meticulous dedication, proudly believing that he had perfected the role of a personal butler.
Watching Pei Sen walk with light steps and a smile playing on his lips, Eagle slightly narrowed his eyes. Pei Sen himself was likely unaware that today he was even more gentle, considerate, attentive, and solicitous than usual.
Always highly perceptive, Eagle could easily detect even the subtlest emotional shifts in those around him.
Yet Pei Sen was truly a rather strange individual.
…His emotions seemed to be in constant flux.
Even though, from beginning to end, the smile he directed at her remained infinitely accepting and gentle as water.
This was actually quite fascinating.
“Young Master, this is a letter sent to you by Count Ashcroft.” Pei Sen placed the thin envelope in his hand before Eagle.
Eagle rarely let others handle such tasks, but this time he personally opened the letter.
Although Pei Sen had only been at the Golden Rose Manor for a short while, he already knew that Earl Ashcroft seemed relatively young and was one of the few friends their ill-tempered young master could count on one hand, enjoying a comparatively good relationship with him.
The fact that Young Master Eagle Langno actually had friends was a topic the manor’s servants enjoyed quietly mocking among themselves, though they dared only to hint at it subtly.
However, Pei Sen could understand; given Eagle’s high status, some people befriended him not out of genuine affection but more for personal gain.
Pei Sen suspected that Eagle himself was well aware of this, which meant that Earl Akin Ashcroft was likely the kind of friend Eagle truly acknowledged.
Although rumors suggested that the young earl’s reputation wasn’t particularly good either.
Some time ago, it was actually Eagle who had written to Akin first, mentioning that he had acquired a new personal butler. He described this butler’s intriguing emotional shifts and the endless gentleness shown toward him, recounting as amusing anecdotes how he occasionally drove away his servants and stewards. In return, Akin would share with Eagle his own various absurd tales of debauchery.
The content of their correspondence had always consisted of such meaningless trivialities.
This time, upon opening the letter, Eagle immediately felt somewhat dissatisfied; the lazy Akin had replied with merely two short sentences.
“There are far too many people in this world whose emotions constantly shift, yet you’ve never found it amusing.”
“Eagle, isn’t your new personal butler quite handsome?”
Eagle: “…”
Pressing his lips together, the brat tore the thin letter into tiny pieces and tossed them into Pex’s bowl of fish soup.
Pecks let out a “meow” and refused to drink another drop of that fish soup tainted with the taste of ink!
“Pei Sen.”
“Yes, Young Master.” Pei Sen wasn’t bold enough to sneak a peek at Eagle’s letter; he had no idea what the Count had written, but it seemed to have left Eagle far from pleased.
“Go brew a fresh bowl of fish soup for Peks.”
Pei Sen reluctantly agreed; not only did he have to serve this young master, but also that plump black cat.
“You shall brew it yourself.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
On this day, he would have to behave himself, after all, he was counting on Eagle to take him out tomorrow. Pei Sen felt that no matter how difficult Eagle might be today, he could become a ninja turtle.
Besides, it was just about cooking a bowl of fish soup for a cat; wasn’t that a breeze?
Thinking about tomorrow, Pei Sen actually felt somewhat nervous, yet filled with great anticipation.
What he feared was that no players would appear tomorrow, leaving him alone as the only one who had transmigrated into this world—a real world completely unrelated to the game.
Only by seeing the appearance of those players might he truly soothe the unease that has plagued him all this time.
He was not alone, not merely a solitary soul lost in this otherworldly realm that felt both familiar and strange.
Even if all those players were complete strangers, they were still the ones who made him feel most at home, for they hailed from the same world as he did.
“It’s going to be fine; everything will work out. Can’t I still access the forums? This is indeed that game world,” Pei Sen earnestly convinced himself before closing his eyes to sleep.
In novels, some characters relish being one-of-a-kind, traversing to another world with a golden finger to become the sole protagonist.
At this moment, however, Pei Sen hopes for countless players to enter this world, making him less unique.
In the end, he still couldn’t fall asleep that night.
The next day, Pei Sen personally helped Eagle dress in an elaborate pure white shirt, black breeches adorned with golden rose patterns, and tall brown boots crafted from the leather of some exotic beast. Over this, he donned a long coat with a light gold front embellished with tiny gemstones and intricate golden ornaments.
Lady Mary personally combed his long, silky golden hair, tying it with a silver-woven ribbon, and remarked with a sigh, “Young master hasn’t gone out for quite some time, has he? It would do him good to take a stroll.” She then turned her gaze toward the shadow beside them. “Aken, make sure to protect the young master’s safety.”
Eagle said indifferently, “What could possibly be worth seeing in Kaiwest City? It’s backward and boring.”
Lady Mary sighed, “In any case, this is already your territory…”
Territory? Pei Sen was momentarily stunned. He had just learned that Kaixi City counted as Eagle’s domain; presumably, no other players had discovered this fact yet.
Kaixi City did have a city lord, yet that official had never once mentioned which noble the city belonged to. Logically, given how close the Golden Rose Manor was to Kaixi City, such avoidance seemed rather strange.
This thought crossed his mind only briefly before he dismissed it; today, nothing mattered more than the game’s closed beta launch.
Pei Sen glanced at the ornate clock not far away; it was now a quarter past nine in the morning. Eagle’s daily schedule rarely varied—he rose promptly at seven and retired at ten. At seven, there would have been plenty of time no matter what, yet somehow, in the blink of an eye, it was already this late.
The main issue was that this young master alone had spent far too much time waking up, eating breakfast, and changing clothes—Pei felt a slight surge of anxiety. After all, the closed beta was scheduled to launch at ten o’clock!
Time inside the game flowed at a one-to-one ratio with the real world, meaning the two should be perfectly synchronized.
Thus, he had only forty-five minutes left. Yet, no matter how urgent the situation, he couldn’t simply shove Eagle into the carriage and urge him to hurry.
He could only pretend to be gentle and quiet, hiding his anxiety deep within.
Fortunately, before nine-thirty, they finally managed to board the carriage.
Pei Sen gazed at the unappealing scenery outside the window, nervously wiping his sweat-drenched palms on his trousers before quietly clenching his fists.
Eagle leaned half-reclined against the soft cushions, looking at his personal butler with some confusion.
No matter how many times I look, I still find his ever-changing emotions fascinating.
Anyway, Eagle thinks Akin is wrong; Pei Sen isn’t interesting just because he’s good-looking.
…Well, okay, he is quite handsome.
But not as handsome as me.
Eagle snorted and decided to stop looking at him.