"Butler Srca?"
"Yes?"
A man with neatly combed hair dressed in a butler outfit and donning a pair of shiny, polished shoes, turned around and answered to the call of his name.
In front of him stood a strict-looking old lady with gray hair, her back straight as a pine with a cultivated dignified bearing.
She was Head Maid Eliza. She was the same as ever, seeing to her duties with due diligence and competence even after the startling poison incident some weeks ago.
"Young master Ian has called for you to his chambers."
"Understood. I'll be there right away."
She nodded, and having delivered the message, bowed slightly and retreated to attend to her other duties.
The man who was called Butler Srca made sure his clothes were all proper and tidy before heading to his young master's room with steady and paced steps. Not rushing in an unruly way to get to his master's side, duly displaying his manners.
Knock. Knock.
With two concise and moderately loud taps on the door with his knuckles, Butler Srca waited for his master's permission to enter the room without hastily knocking more despite the initial lack of response.
"…Come in."
After a few minutes, a young maturing voice permitted his entry.
Butler Srca gently turned the doorknob and stepped into the luxurious bedroom.
Inside, what greeted him was the sight of young master Ian sitting in his office-cum-study space, reading a book as always. What book was it? He never knew. The cover was blank and he dared not sneak a peek.
"You called for me?"
Ian placed the coverless book down and looked at the butler.
"Yes. It's been a while since I last saw you. I heard you passed the specially-condensed special training and the customized, extra-hard test flawlessly. They never had such a wonderful trainee before, they told me."
The butler's lips twitched inconspicuously at the mention of the 'special training' and the 'test'. Not to mention the adjectives before the two words.
Butler Srca smiled impeccably, not letting his true feelings show through. "Of course, and I am honored to have been trained by them."
Looking at Butler Srca's seemingly impeccable smile, Ian couldn't hold back his laughter. "Pft—"
"Hahaha!"
The butler did not even flinch at Ian's laughter, completely unaffected by what would be usually considered a rude behavior. Though when Ian does it, because of his innocent-looking face, he gives others the feeling of doing so out of a pure child's joy rather than mockery.
Wiping away the laughing tears coming out of the corner of his eye, Ian commented, "I knew this look would suit you, Sling."
"Thank you for the compliment, master."
"Okay, all jokes aside, I finished screening through the potential staff applicants and the ones who passed the first round are going to be arriving this afternoon. I'll be leaving their one-month special training and the final test in your capable and experienced hands." Ian smirked. "Don't go soft on them."
Upon hearing Ian's order, the impeccable smile on Butler Srca—Sling's face transformed from the distant and well-mannered arc of the lips to a wicked curve.
"Just leave it to me, master. I'll show them what the phrase 'living hell' means."
Two people smiled evilly at each other.
Outside of the Everett Estate, some people shivered as if a chill wind blew by them.
"Well then, you best be getting back to your work. Prepare well for their nearing arrival and report back to me their periodical progress," Ian instructed and went back to reading his plain book wrapped in a black, wordless hardcover.
'Since brother has gone on his business trip, I'm home alone with nothing fun to do. The special training is the only entertainment that arouses my interest.' Ian thought to himself as he looked forward to the start of the horrendous special training period.
"Yes. As you command." Sling bowed out of Ian's room.
Putting on that impeccable smile once again, Butler Srca went about his business in the mansion.
His most important task, according to Ian, was monitoring every single personnel in the mansion. Noting down all suspicious behaviors and activities that required Ian's attention.
Bump!
Sling felt someone bump into him from behind.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, Butler Srca! I didn't mean to bump into you! Please forgive me just this once!" A young maid apologized with teary eyes as she repeatedly bowed her head up and down in remorse. She held a broom in her hand. She had probably been sweeping the floors and accidentally knocked into Sling when she wasn't paying attention.
"It's alright. This is nothing to punish you over. Just be more careful next time and look around you as you clean. First and foremost, you must watch out to not bump into young master Ian and master Angus," Butler Srca comforted the young girl with a professional smile and sent her back to her work.
She smiled and nodded gratefully.
Suddenly, Sling remembered something and turned around to remind the hardworking girl, "And remember to report to that building for the training. No one is an exception."
The girl nodded again.
Butler Srca walked off.
The young maid who was sweeping the floor suddenly stopped her movements and watched the man with cyan hair leaving.
Her previously young face and teary eyes looked weird and emotionless as she stared at his disappearing back.
Who knows what she was thinking before a few seconds passed and she went back to sweeping the floor.
However, unbeknownst to her, Sling had felt her stare and the suspicious intentions behind it the moment her eyes landed on him.
Back in his old job, Sling was used to observing the eyes of others for it told him of how much the other party trusted or doubted him regardless of their superficial words. Words can never be trusted when said by people you don't give an ounce of trust to.
From a person's eyes and their gaze, Sling can read a lot off of them and their general intentions. This helped him determine the success rate of his schemes and alert him to get away in time before he gets caught.
His natural talent in this area was what made him the renowned genius swindler among his line of work. He can tell when they don't trust him and through that, he understands how and what to do to gain his target's trust and, eventually, when to up and leave before things even start to look bad.
Now, this talent of his was put to work to catch the pests infesting the house.
Sling looked at the clock on the wall striking 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Smoothing out the wrinkles of his suit caused by his movements, Sling mused to himself.
"Shall I go and welcome my future juniors?"
In light of his words that were more a fact than a question, Sling glided out of the main mansion and towards another building. One built to house the trainees who will be undergoing the special training and the test and where the special training is to be conducted.
Pushing open the guard-less doors of the old building—this building has been around for many Everett generations, meant to use as a facility to train new generations of maids and servants for the convenience of the Everett bloodline—Sling entered the ancient building.
Head Maid Eliza was already there, informing the potential staff applicants about the mandatory special training and test they will have to undergo.
Both familiar and unfamiliar faces stood there, neatly lined up in rows and columns.
Sling walked forward and stopped next to Head Maid Eliza.
"As some of you may already know since they have taken this training once before." Knowing that Head Maid Eliza was referring to them, the current staff members of the Everett Mansion gulped, their pupils shaking as they recalled the nightmarish days when they went through this training. They never thought they would have to go through those days again where all they thought about was death and relief.
"The special training you'll be getting is extremely perilous and tough. Many of you may not be able to handle it. However, if you are truly determined to work here, you must last through it to earn the qualifications. And understand that you have already signed away your right to sue in the event of accidental and inevitable injuries you may incur during the special training and the test. Though you will get compensation in that event. This is a forewarning, so anyone who wants to back out now can inform me and I will get rid of your application."
No one spoke out.
Eliza continued, "Good. From now on, you will be known as trainees and Butler Srca here and a few other instructors, who you will meet later, will be giving you the special training and observing your results."
Eliza then pointed to Sling. "Butler Srca himself has gone through the special training and passed both it and the test with the highest grades and the highest praises of the expert instructors. Not only that, he finished the one month long training course that you will all have to undergo, in just two weeks! Naturally, we are not expecting that kind of extraordinary performance from you. That would be too much to ask, just surviving the normal month-long special training is an arduous and demanding task."
The trainees, both old and new, nodded in amazement with jitters in their stomach from how difficult and high-reaching the training and test sounded.
Finally, Eliza's long speech came to an end. "After the test at the end, we will inform you of who passed and who failed. Those who quit midway will automatically be expelled and their applications scraped. Since I assume you all have understood the implications, I'll leave the rest to Butler Srca's capable hands."
Head Maid Eliza nodded to Sling and left swiftly.
Sling stepped up and addressed the trainees, some of whom will become his future work juniors.
"As a protocol, I will ask one last time: Is there anyone among you who wishes to back out of the training?"
Sling swept his gaze across the room. Again, no one raised their hand or moved.
"Okay then. Let's officially begin the special training."
An impeccable smile rose to the perfect butler's lips. This butler was no ordinary butler. For he had endured and passed the training of the Everett Mansion, a customized, condensed, extra-hard version of the special training and test.
Changing what was once an ordinary, street-smart swindler into a capable, flawless butler without a hint of weakness.
It was the start of the special train to hell—Ahem. Special training. He meant special training.
Thinking about inflicting on these innocent boys and girls what he had suffered and gone through with the training course, Sling felt a wrong but undeniable excitement course through his veins.