Early in the morning...
Ndulou's eyes were still closed, but he was already frowning. It was because he could hear a familiar voice that he never wanted to hear first thing in the morning.
He can also hear his father respectfully chatting with Ernesto.
"Young master, are you sure I don't have to wake him up?"
Surprisingly, Ernesto's response to the Baron was also polite, saying, "No need. I'll just wait for him to wake up. I'll ring the bell if we need anything."
"Okay, just call whenever you want," the baron said as he left the room, tiptoeing so as not to wake the sleeping Ndulou. But it was unnecessary, since Ndulou had already been awake the moment they entered his room. He just doesn't feel like opening his eyes because he doesn't have the energy yet to deal with a crazy young master.
Ernesto didn't approach the supposedly sleeping Ndulou and just sat on the couch, having his own tea served by Lucas.
Lucas and Ernesto visited the Baron's mansion early in the morning using teleportation magic. The baron didn't question their sudden visit and welcomed him wholeheartedly.
Thirty minutes later, Ndulou was still feigning sleep and stayed in his bed. Ernesto was just sitting on the couch, blankly staring at Ndulou, while Lucas was standing still at the back of Ernesto, also doing nothing and blankly staring at Ndulou.
Ndulou wanted to fall back to sleep, but their gaze made it harder for him to sleep again. He persistently faked sleep because he was waiting for them to leave.
"Why the fuck are they torturing me like this?"
Nudlou doesn't know why Ernesto came to his room; in fact, they will surely meet again later at Oliva's castle, for which he couldn't understand the sense of coming too early to his house right now.
In reality, Ernesto was anxious. That was why he immediately teleported to the Baron's household once the day broke.
Ernesto was still wary of Fenrir. It's frightening for him of the fact that Fenrir was not chained underground and was also not inside Ndulou's body. He didn't even have any clue where the frightening beast was, so he was uncertain about what to do to protect his friend and how he would avoid the primordial beast.
It would be better if the beast didn't appear in front of them ever again. So, as much as possible, he needs to stick with Ndulou or have someone guard him until he locates the whereabouts of the beast.
"Young master."
Nudlou finally got up on his bed and call out to the blankly staring young master.
However, the frown on his face worsens when he sees the crazy punk instantly smile at him brightly.
Ernesto greeted Nudlou cheerfully, "Good morning, Kuya." even though he already knew that Nudlou was awake since he came. He found the way Nudlou tried to avoid him amusing.
Nudlou moved out of his bed and sat on the couch across from Ernesto. He thought, "Does he love to annoy me? Does he think of me as his new plaything?"
In Ndulou's eyes, Ernesto was a devil who mischievously smiled at him as it asked him an obvious question, "How's your sleep, Kuya?"
"It's fine. How about you?"
Ndulou fixed his pajamas and brushed his hair with his fingers to flatten his bed hair.
"What can I do for you, young master?"
Ernesto smiled at him genuinely as he replied, "I got bored waiting for you, so I came here." and then gestured his hand towards Lucas, "Anyway, Lucas will be your servant from now on."
Lucas bowed down to Ndulou in response to Ernesto's introduction.
"Servant? Why?"
Ndulou already had a servant, so why does he need a new one?
He exclaimed, "Ah! Right! My slave... I mean our servant!" as he realized that his current servant was a slave that could not step foot in the castle. "I already have a servant, but he's a slave. I'll ask my father to find me a new one—a cheaper one, to be specific."
Of course, if he accepts the servant that Ernesto offered, he will need to pay for it. That servant must be skilled and of high value if it came from the Olivas. The baron could only afford an untrained servant that just needed to be fed.
"Why? Do you not like Lucas?"
Ernesto tilted his head, wondering why Nudlou was rejecting a skilled servant from Marquis, whereas other households would even try to steal away some servants with higher offers.
When Lucas realized what was going on, he bowed his head and whispered into Ernesto's ears.
"They can not afford my basic salary, rich kid,"
Lucas doesn't have any problem being disrespectful to Ernesto, as he doesn't care either. Lucas began observing Ernesto the moment they left the training grounds. He concluded two things after observing him for a day: first, the wealthy Marquis's son was uninterested in wealth, noble ranks, or succession but obviously obsessed over the Baron's fifth son.
It intrigued Lucas of the reason for Ernest's obsession, but he has a lot of opportunities to find the answer if he keeps serving the baron's child while being supplied with magma, as promised by Ernesto. Second, Ernesto was definitely hiding his strength. Lucas guessed that the cheeky child could fight with ease against the people of Toré-the most talented magicians in the kingdom.
Ernesto looked at Lucas with a confused expression, and he asked, "Aren't you the least skilled helper in our household?"
Lucas cleared his throat before speaking. "Yes, young master, I am the least skilled, but my skills are still average by Olivas' standards."
Lucas never showed off and just kept his front as being a timid, average servant, so no one eyed him, especially when he originally wanted to sneak inside the Marquis' secret storage, so he also had the minimum salary to be less skilled. But, the minimum rate from the marchy was still expensive for the barony.
"Then your salary would be low. We're not that generous to unskilled servants."
Ernesto shrugged his shoulders and couldn't figure out why that was such a big deal.
"Ahem1"
Ndulou also feigned a cough to get Ernesto's attention back on him. He hasn't eaten breakfast yet, which is why his hunger and annoyance towards the wealthy child in front of him is making his head throb.
"I appreciate that you're giving me a good servant, sir, but we cannot afford his salary."
Ernesto was clueless. He thought, "How poor is the baron that they can't even afford our low-grade servant?"
He never paid attention to Ndulou's family or wealth because, in his past lives, they were dead or had a better life because the king had granted Ndulou wealth for being a dragon slayer slash hero.
He never saw Ndulou struggling with finances; the hardship he only saw was their fight against the destructive power and primordial beast.
Ernesto looked around Ndulou's room. "Why? Your mansion doesn't seem to be on the verge of bankruptcy?"
Ndulou sighed and pointed at the things around them like he was beating them. "My furniture is not authentic. We made it with low-cost materials. My bed is a surplus material. My clothes, and my family's clothes, are hand sewn by our slav-, I mean servants. Obviously, they are made of cheap fabrics. Our walls aren't painted; they are made of cheap wallpaper. Our floors aren't tiled; they are made of wood painted to look like tiles. Our house itself is low-cost. I guess your outfit right now is much more pricey than our house. It only became presentable because my mother is skilled at decorating and maintenance."
Ernesto blinked his eyes multiple times before responding, "You're kidding, right?"
Ndulou let out a long sigh once more. His annoyance reached the point where he was now cursing internally, yet he still maintained his stoic face.
"No, sir, we are poor. We cannot afford to pay anyone monetarily."
"Then how did you pay your current servants?"
"We clothe and feed them."
"Huh? Where did you get those loyal servants that don't even ask for anything other than to be fed?"
"Haaaaa—"
This time, it was Lucas who let out a sigh. He never thought that his master, who was sharp and vicious toward a strong individual, was pretty clueless when it came to commonsense.
"What?" Ernesto looked at his servant and his expression remained clueless. "Whatever! Then just have him for free. I'll pay for it. "
Ndulou shook his head in disagreement. He then shouted internally, "The money you'll be spending is your father's money! Not yours!" But he had to properly explain to this silver spoon punk how the world works.
"Young master, that's something that is not allowed. If you pay him, he is still your servant. He will be just my attendant. I'll still need to hire a servant who will follow me and my father, but of course, the cheaper one."
The servants and attendants are quite different.
Attendants will provide help with daily tasks such as getting dressed, eating, cleaning, bathing, traveling, and any other simple chores that can be done without a direct contract, while servants are all-around contract workers who can do all kinds of complex work up to and including personal orders into odd jobs.
He cannot have a servant with the Marquis' money because it will become a gossip topic, and there will be protests from the people.
Ernesto pressed his temple with his fingers. "Who the fuck made such rules like that?"
Lucas interjected, "Ahem! It's common sense, sir," to which Ernesto glared at him in return, but it did not bother him.
"Anyway, young master Ndulou, if you can't afford to pay me monetarily, you can have me as a slave. In that case, you just have to feed me, right?" Lucas suggested with a gentle smile.
He doesn't care to be a slave since he has the power to break off the seal of slavery. Lower beings can not dominate greater beings like red-skinned earth spirits
However, Ndulou frowned even more than he asked Lucas, "Perhaps you lack common sense, too?"