"Please refrain doing something like that next time."
Sebastian told the ship's logistic head, Vins.
"Yes, sir! I won't do it again!" He stood straight, speaking in a loud affirmative tone.
Despite quite young, Vins was a capable man, his track records were also good. It was Sebastian who recommended this position for him. As a single young guy, it couldn't be helped that he wanted to flirt with girls sometimes. The problem was he picked the wrong girl at the wrong time.
"Alright then. Is there any issue concerning the goods?"
"We brought much fresh produce this time and we need to be careful about their preservation, especially the Crescent fruits." Vins said.
"Ok, I'll convey it to Master Frei. Thank you, Vins. Is there anything else?"
"No, sir."
"Then you may go now. Oh, can you help me find Senka? Tell him to get the item from Johann."
"Yes, sir!"
Sebastian watched Vins walked away. Now that he had driven away Vins, he wouldn't return to that room soon enough. Sebastian turned around, coming back to the place he just left before. His master was still inside the room with the girl, pinning the girl on the wall. Oops, he didn't mean to peak or intrude them. He knew it would become like this when Master Frei told him to lecture Vins, it was good after all to send him away.
Sebastian stood a little further away from the door, waiting faithfully there.
He reminiscence that day, everything went according to the plan. When Lord Sennan's underling took the girl away, he went back to report it to his master. Sebastian stayed at the inn while his master went to the village. But when he returned, he told Sebastian to use the communication gem, to contact Jean Jaunice right away. As expected, he came right away despite his own circumstances.
When he brought Sir Jaunice to Miss Saola's residence, for the first time since a long time, he saw a concerned look on the face of the man he had sworn to protect, looking at the unconscious girl laying on the bed. His action that night couldn't be called successful either. Their initial plan was to gather evidence and to capture Lord Sennan, faking his death, but he ended up killing that guy for real. All the traces that could be a hint now were erased by Haffa kingdom, not because the kingdom was involved in this matter, they just tried to prevent a war on their land.
His trail of thoughts was halted when he heard footsteps. Master Frei and Miss Serena came out, with the latter had a troubled look on her face.
"Sebastian, could you guide Serena to the kitchen? She will cook for me." He said.
"I also give her access to get anything she wants from here."
"Yes, sir." He bowed. "Please follow me, Miss Serena."
The young girl followed Sebastian obediently.
He took a glance at the young maiden before he turned around, he couldn't imagine what kind of situation that led to this. Naturally, he knew this was just his master's whimsical idea. But, it was different than the way he usually treated women.
What did he want with this girl? Why cooking?
It was the task that even Sebastian had a headache with. Not many who knew that his master had a bad eating habit, he rarely joined other people for meals because of this.
"Sebastian, what kind of food does Frei like?" She asked.
"Master Frei likes many different types of fruits." He answered honestly, giving her some information on what she could serve to him.
She tilted her head in confusion, "Well, everyone likes fruits?"
That was understandable reaction coming from her. But he couldn't say that Master Frei had a terrible eating habit, he could only explain more.
"His diets consist of fruits, grains, eggs, and bread."
"H-how about meats and vegetables?!" She had bewildered look on her face.
"Master Frei doesn't like vegetables and he couldn't eat meat."
Her jaw dropped. "Does he have some sort of allergy or believe?"
"No, he doesn't."
"Then… The meal you brought to me before, is that how he normally eat?"
"Yes, that's true."
"I thought it was weird before, it was too sweet. Is he a kid?! How does he survive until now?!"
Sadly, Sebastian couldn't answer that question. He also thought it was a miracle his master didn't have any health problem until now.
"…How about fish?" She asked.
"He didn't like it as well."
"Mushrooms?"
Sebastian shook his head.
Miss Serena's complexion was getting paler every second. Sebastian felt sorry for her. It was unusual for Master Frei to treat women this way, but since he looked happy, Sebastian was glad. That's all he could ask for.
When they arrived at the kitchen, a big bearded guy was busy chopping vegetables, a pile of ingredients was on the table, and a big cauldron was boiling. He looked up, noticing someone else's presence in the room.
"Yo, Sebastian! What do you need?" He said with a loud voice.
"Hi, Jack. Master Frei wanted Miss Serena here to cook for him."
"Heeh, he wants someone to cook for him?!" Jack gawked.
"Girl, are you good at cooking… Oh…" He stopped speaking after looking at her. "You are that rumored girl with purple eyes."
Sebastian frowned a little. Apparently, some gossips had spread with the ship crews about the girl. He wasn't really surprised though. This was the first time his master bought a girl, with a big sum of money that they couldn't even gather for ten years.
"Very well, since it's the boss' order then I'll welcome her here!" Jack said. "Come here, girl! I'm Jack. Who's your name?"
"Serena. Nice to meet you!" Miss Serena nodded a little and smiled at Jack.
"Then I'll leave her in your care, Jack. Excuse me."
Sebastian walked out from the kitchen before he left he took another glance to Miss Serena who was talking to Jack now.
Actually, he was curious about what his master planned to do with her, he hadn't told him yet. Sebastian knew him well enough that all the women he kept by his side had some sort of use to him. In their hope to bind him, to possess him, or to get his love, they'd do anything for him. By now, it had become a second nature to the young man called Frei, to use his charm and attractive features he inherited from his mother to make men and women to do his bidding.
In his heart, Sebastian felt regretful, remembering the sweet timid boy who was as pure as an angel had long gone. He understood very well that experiences changed people.
When he returned to the office, the lavish room was empty, his master didn't return to this place. A stack of books from last night was left on the sofa, and some parchments from this morning scattered on the table.
He entered the room and started tidying them. He put the parchments in the drawer. He took the books from the soda, lifting them, placing them back in the bookshelves. From those books, one could tell that Master Frei had a wide range of interests, from political ideology book, astronomy, to popular literature women like.
He carefully put them one by one by alphabetical order when one of the books slipped and fell to the floor. He picked the dark blue cover book up and saw the content at a glance. His hand stopped.
It was a magic book.
If there's one field of interest that his master didn't read, it was magic. He couldn't do magic. He looked at the cover and noticed that his master had swapped the cover with another book. There would be no way of knowing what the title of the magic book was.
He grabbed the book, lifting it from the floor. He looked at the open page once again and this time he froze, his eyes widened before being replaced by a soft expression mixed with a sorrowful gaze, recognizing whose handwriting inside the book.
He traced gently that handwriting. It had been a long time ago, but he still remembered how she drew the circle starting from the right, not from the left, or how she stroked this particular letter. It was still vivid in his memory, her laughs, her lively spirit, her long ginger hair and her baby blue eyes.
His beloved Freyja.
He understood how much effort the young blonde guy put just to get this book. He treasured Freyja just like him, to the point of adopting her name as his new identity. He also knew his master still blamed himself up until this day of what happened to her during that day.
Really, that wasn't his fault. If he was at fault then Sebastian was also at fault too, for leaving her alone even though it was supposed to be their wedding day in the next few weeks. He went to another kingdom for a short mission, thinking everything would be alright.
For a long time, he only stared at the page on the book. After organizing all his feelings, he closed the book and placed it on the shelves. Sebastian turned his gaze out the window, looking at the vast open sea. He swore to Freyja that no matter what, he would protect the boy she saved with her life.
After done tidying the place, there wasn't any sign Master Frei would come back to this place soon. So, he decided to use this opportunity to visit Senka. Sebastian quit the office and went to his adoptive son's cabin.
When he was closed enough to his room, a loud noise could be heard from inside.
"Hey, please pay attention! Aren't you suppose to teach me?!"
It was Mirra's voice, the survivor of Kappa Village. Master Frei took her and under Sebastian's suggestion, they decided to train the girl. She possessed some skills already, so they only needed to sharpen her.
Sebastian knocked the door, "Senka, it's me."
Senka opened the door right away. His expression telling Sebastian that he had enough with her.
"Miss Mirra, why are you here? Isn't still too early for you to practice with Senka?"
"That's because this guy refused to teach me!" She was pointing her finger at Senka.
"Alright. I'll have a word or two with him. Could you please leave us for now?"
"Tch! Find then." Her voice was irritated, but she followed Sebastian's demand and walked to the door.
*bam!*
She closed the door, leaving Sebastian and Senka in the room.
Senka ignored him. He was naturally an unsocial guy and losing his voice just make it worse. Sebastian picked him, a wild boy who lived in the slums, he managed to survive by himself after his mother poisoned him, attempting a double suicide. The boy survived but unable to speak anymore because of the poison. When Sebastian took him, he refused any treatment they offered to heal his voice. As the one who raised him and trained him, Senka was loyal to him even though he couldn't help showing up his quick temper sometimes.
He faced Senka, "Is it that bad teaching her? She seems very enthusiastic to learn."
Senka didn't show any reaction. Sebastian knew Senka didn't like to get involved with other people, and he was especially bad at dealing with the assertive or aggressive type. Sebastian should be the one who taught her, but he was busy these days. Also, he thought this was a good opportunity to let Senka interacted with other people.
"If she did something that stepped on your privacy and you feel offended, let her know, I taught you how to read and write for that purpose."
Senka frowned for a second. He seemed not to like the idea.
"I'm sure you understand her situation, she doesn't have anybody else in this world. Teach her some skills, like I teach you before. As long as she can be useful to others, the world wouldn't be such a bad place to live with."
Senka lowered his gaze. For a long time, there wasn't any reaction from him, but Sebastian kept waiting patiently. In the end, he nodded a little.
Sebastian stared at his adoptive son. He didn't know if he was ever a good parent to him, their relationship was more of teacher and student. He strictly taught Senka all the fighting techniques he knew; swordsmanship, hand combats, and Senka excelled on all of those. After all, he was special.
"By the way, did Vins came by earlier?"
Senka nodded, then his hands moved signaling that he hadn't had a chance to take the item.
"Okay, then could you take it now?"
He nodded once again, and with a swift move, left the place.
"Alright, I need to check Miss Serena again if she was doing okay in the kitchen."
When Sebastian arrived in the kitchen, he found Mirra was also there. But she and Jack had a dumbfounded look plastered on their face. Their gaze switched between the foods on the table and the girl who was moving around in the kitchen, drooling. Sebastian halted for a moment before noticing what's going on. He then walked into the kitchen, approaching Mirra and Jack. The moment he looked at the food on the kitchen table, his serious expression changed, he was unaware that he stared at the food with open mouth.
That was the most beautiful fruit pie, he had ever seen in his life. The colorful sliced fruits were line up neatly in a circular pattern on the surface, glazed with something shiny, which transformed the fruits like precious gems. The sweet fresh baked aroma permeated from the pie teasing his sense of smell. He swallowed his saliva, he instinctively knew this fruit pie would taste amazing. This masterpiece would even shame the royal palace chefs.
Now mimicking the expression of the other two, he looked at Miss Serena like someone who had been told that a dog could lay eggs. The girl in front of him was still busy cooking something else. The cauldron was bubbling and nearby Miss Serena flipping sticks on the grill. He recognized the silver prawns that now had changed color to red, it was coated with caramelized honey brown. She then returned to the pot, checking the stuff inside.
"Umm… I think it's done." She said.
"Oh, Sebastian?" She turned around noticing Sebastian's presence there.
"I'm almost done with the foods here. Could you call Frei to try it? I want the food to be served when it's still warm." She smiled at him.
Sebastian gulped, feeling hungry suddenly. A dark thought appeared on his mind, maybe he should try the food first, excusing it as poison testing. No, Master Frei would know about that. But he wanted to try it.
"…Yes, Miss Serena. I'll look for Master Frei and tell him to try Miss Serena's cooking."
He turned around feeling regretful to leave the kitchen.
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