Adaire stopped stroking the creature that seemed to be her pet, then looked at Kalen and frowned slightly. "Are you alright?"
Kalen slowly picked himself up from the floor and gave Adaire a confused look. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Adaire turned her gaze to Kalen's chest and pointed at it. "Maybe that's why"
Kalen lowered his head to look at his own chest and saw it glowing.
"Huh?"
Suddenly his chest began to burn slightly, and Kalen felt that something was trying to force its way out of his body.
But just as he was about to panic, he remembered his encounter with the elder elemental in the firefly cave.
'Ah... then it's time'
Adaire was confused, not knowing what was wrong with Kalen. When she met him, she noticed that he had two cores, which was unusual for someone who had only completed the first test.
However, she had no way of knowing that it was an artificial core. Still, she sensed that something was about to happen, so she snapped her fingers.
"Jerome"
Out of nowhere, an older man with white hair and a smart dinner jacket materialized and bowed to Adaire.
"Lady Adaire, it is a pleasure to see you again"
"This is no time for formalities, get him out of here" Adaire gestured to Kalen, who was starting to sweat.
"Of course, my lady"
The man approached Kalen and touched his shoulder. Blinking, Kalen realized that he was now in a courtyard behind a large mansion.
But he could not enjoy the view as the light in his chest began to grow, until it became a blinding light.
Kalen expected the process to hurt, but instead he just felt weak.
The light began to concentrate outside Kalen's body, forming a white sphere in front of him. It was the materialization of the Elemental Core, which began to pulsate, and soon a blinding light exploded, creating a pillar of light that lit up the night sky.
The clouds blocking the stars dissipated and the part of the sky where the pillar stood began to distort, revealing a white portal.
With the Core out of his body, Kalen felt the absence of elemental energy. He rubbed his chest and felt the gem embedded between his two pectorals.
Meanwhile, the elemental core began to rise towards the white portal, and a few seconds later it passed through it, disappearing along with the pillar of light.
The portal began to shrink and quickly vanished.
Kalen watched the whole process without understanding what was happening until Adaire appeared beside him, looking up at the sky.
"So, an artificial elemental core" Adaire looked at Kalen. "They're not very common"
Kalen wasn't surprised that Adaire had realized it was an artificial core, although he didn't know how he knew, he thought it was due to his great knowledge.
"What was that all about?"
Adaire looked at the hole in the clouds. "It was a portal to the Elemental Realm"
"Elemental realm?"
Adaire nodded as she walked back to the mansion.
"Yes" Adaire opened the door to the mansion's courtyard and turned to face the butler. "Jerome, I will leave him in your care, teach him the basics"
Jerome bowed to Adaire again. "Yes, my lady"
With that, Adaire entered the mansion and closed the door. Jerome glanced at Kalen and introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Jerome, resident spirit of this house"
Kalen rubbed his chest with some annoyance and introduced himself as well. "...I am Kalen. May I ask you a question?"
Jerome nodded.
"What is a resident spirit?"
The butler smiled slightly. "The resident spirits are beings that manifest themselves in places of great importance, such as this house"
Kalen nodded without fully understanding, then looked around the mansion.
'It's the house of one of the Witches of the Abyss... so it must be important'
Kalen was still unaware of the importance of Adaire's title in society, it could be a stigma for good or bad. However, he still had no idea that no one so strong could be unimportant in one way or another.
While Kalen pondered this, Jerome pulled a cloth from his suit and began to wipe his right hand.
"As Lady Adaire indicated, I will teach you what to do from now on"
Kalen nodded. After all, he had come here to work, he just didn't know what his job would be yet.
The evening was drawing to a close and there was much to explain, so Jerome entered the mansion and Kalen followed him to an office where the training would take place.
***
In his deepest sleep, Kalen felt something pierce his head and, uncomfortably, tried to push it away, only to feel a sharp pain shoot through his finger.
"Arghh!"
Kalen opened his eyes and stood abruptly, holding his finger in pain with his other hand.
He glared furiously at the strange raven on the bedside table beside him, squawking as he watched.
"Kwaa! Kwaa! Visitor at the gate! Kwaa!"
Kalen grimaced at the annoying sound of the crow and got up from his bed, trying to ignore it.
The strange raven was like an alarm on earth. It warned him when someone was outside the manor gate.
It was one of the many things Jerome had explained to him the night before that he was forced to remember.
There were dark circles under his eyes, clearly caused by lack of sleep. Kalen didn't know when he had fallen asleep, but the sky was already light.
And for the past week, when he'd been forced to follow Adaire on sightseeing trips, Kalen hadn't slept at all.
'It's becoming a regular occurrence... Ahh... I want to sleep'
Putting on the uniform Jerome had given him, Kalen looked at himself in the mirror and sighed.
An elegant dinner jacket with his black double-breasted coat, white shirt, black bow tie and white gloves.
It was a uniform of the highest quality. A suit that Kalen had never worn before.
He had never felt the need to wear a suit, so he felt a little uncomfortable and suffocated by the uniform. Nevertheless, he had to put up with it.
Jerome had made it very clear that the uniform and presentation were very important to Adaire's image.
After only a few hours of conversation, Kalen realized that the butler was very kind, but also reserved and strict.
Taking one last look in the mirror, Kalen tried to force a smile before leaving the room.
In addition to the many rules Jerome explained to him, he also gave him a quick tour to identify the most important parts of the mansion.
When they finished the tour a few hours ago, Kalen came to a conclusion.
The mansion was stupidly huge.
'Why would anyone want to live in such a big and empty place?' Kalen complained as he walked towards the main entrance.
With so many rooms in the mansion, it was only natural that many of them were empty. Only a few were furnished, and those were the ones that were usually used.
The room he had been assigned was one of them, and it was close to the main entrance so that he would not be delayed.
It took Kalen almost a minute to reach the main entrance and open the two large doors.
Light flooded the interior of the mansion, forcing him to close his eyes for a few seconds as he adjusted to the light.
When he noticed the person outside, Kalen forced the best smile he could muster.
"How can I help you?"
There was not just one person outside the mansion, but more than thirty. Still, the man who stood at the front and seemed to represent all of them seemed to be a knight.
Wearing silver armor that covered his entire body, his left arm held his helmet, while his right held the hilt of his sheathed sword.
The man frowned when he saw Kalen open the door. "Who are you?"
Kalen smiled and introduced himself.
"Ah! my mistake, my name is Kalen Nohak, I work for the Witch of Disappearance"
Everything he said and what he was about to say had been planned in advance with Jerome.
The man was not surprised to see a new face, after all he had seen many people working in the mansion.
"Are you the witch's new secretary?"
Kalen nodded, still smiling.
"You could say that... so, how can I help you?"
Although he looked serious and calm on the outside, he was about to explode on the inside.
'Why are there so many people!?'
Jerome had explained to him that many people came to the mansion to ask Adaire for a favor, and although it was not very frequent, it seemed that his absence caused the interested parties to pile up.
Jerome told him to keep an eye on a few people, but...
'Wasn't there supposed to be only a few!?'
Kalen noticed that everyone was looking at him expectantly, and he couldn't help but sigh and curse inwardly.
'Ah... I can see my hours of sleep slowly slipping away...'