The storage was in a much worse state than Shen Yuan expected. All kinds of weapons were strewn about in racks, barrels, crates, and some were even on the floor.
Matthew had made the effort to separate the broken and defective ones in a corner and had suggested throwing them away, but their captain wanted to get them fixed instead, so they kept filling up the space. Once every few weeks, new fallen comrades would join them.
"You can work it out however you like," Matthew said. "I suggest you take everything out so you can clean the room first, group the stuff, and put them back. I'll leave it to you to organize them, but keep the defects separate. It'll be dangerous if someone uses them without knowing. Especially the crossbows."
"I understand," Shen Yuan affirmed.
"Be careful when handling a weapon. If you need any help, don't hesitate to reach out to us. Don't rush and don't force yourself. The previous guy who tried cleaning this place almost lost a finger from carelessness."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Sir Matthew."
Matthew patted Shen Yuan's shoulder in encouragement. "Good luck."
Shen Yuan gave a nod and watched Matthew leave. He rolled his sleeves and started his work.
There was no loss in doing the job properly. If he gave satisfying results on the tasks given to him, he could earn Harper's acknowledgment and a higher chance for him to be appointed to more important tasks.
The condition here was more delicate. Unlike modern laws, the punishment here would definitely be more brutal. He rather not find out what would happen if he got killed in an S-grade neural space.
Since there was no technology to gather information with, he would have to befriend the people here to get them. That wouldn't be a problem. Harper told him a few things, and he also eavesdropped several conversations during the tour earlier as well.
Aside from the king and queen, so far, he confirmed there was a prince and a princess in the royal family who they called Prince Vesper and Princess Tiara. The princess hadn't come of age yet and mostly spent her days studying and playing while the prince regularly helped the king in his work. He was often sent out as his representative to parties and business meetings.
In their daily wear, the royal family wore a laurel ornament on their hair in place of their crown, and Harper warned him to always lower his head in their presence unless pardoned. A servant looking at a royal or noble in their eyes was considered an impudence.
For once, he was grateful he was born at a time where etiquette worthed as much as accessories.
The storage had another door at the back that led outside instead of the courtyard. He moved out the weapons there since nobody walked by the area and used some of the empty crates for the defects to make sure they didn't get mixed.
He cleaned the dust and cobwebs off the corners of the ceiling and wiped down the racks before sweeping the floor. After scrubbing the wall with a damp brush mop, the room looked almost entirely new.
While waiting for the place to dry, he started cleaning the crates and barrels with a light hum, not a drop of sweat on his body. Although it wasn't something he would go out of his way to do if he could make someone else do it for him, he didn't hate doing menial tasks like this. It didn't require any brain power and helped him sort out his thoughts in return.
As he was wiping down the insides of the second barrel, he heard footsteps from the woods up front and looked up to see a man coming towards him. When he saw the snowy white hair, he inwardly praised his luck.
The man stopped in his tracks when he noticed Shen Yuan's presence, silhouettes of the trees blending into his figure. He looked almost identical to his prime with a slenderer build and a scarless body, making him look 10 years younger—which could simply be true.
Shen Yuan couldn't guess who Zhou Yi was from his clothes. He didn't have a laurel ornament on his hair, but from previous experiences, he wouldn't discard the possibility he was a royal entirely. His combat boots were a different model from the knights' with higher quality, and both his sword and sheath seemed custom-made rather than mass-produced.
The closest guess he could make right now was that he was a high-ranking knight who came from a noble family.
He decided to take the safe approach and bowed at him with a polite smile before continuing his work. Anyone who dared to wear such a casual outfit must be a resident within the palace grounds. He could find him anytime, though he would have to know the name he used here first. He never heard him being referred to with anything aside from his name and title.
Instead of leaving, Zhou Yi approached him and stopped a couple of steps away from him. "What are you doing?"
Shen Yuan straightened back to answer, "I am cleaning the storage, sir. Is there something you need from here? I can fetch it for you."
Zhou Yi stared at Shen Yuan long and hard. "Are you new here?"
"Yes, I just reported to Miss Harper this morning." Shen Yuan lowered his head with his palm on his chest. "This servant's name is Sean."
"I see."
Without another word, Zhou Yi turned and left.
Shen Yuan was mostly certain he didn't say anything wrong. Zhou Yi didn't seem angry or offended, but the fact that he could guess he was new here meant there were contexts he was missing.
But now that he met Zhou Yi, asking about him wouldn't be strange.
***
Matthew looked at the squeaky clean room in a daze, doubting his own eyes. When Shen Yuan told him he had finished cleaning the storage, he thought he only did perfunctory work. But not only he cleaned the room and reorganized the weapons, he also rearranged the layout, making the room feel much more spacious and everything more easily accessible.
Even the cobwebs on the ceiling were gone. Yet, the person looked as fresh as he was in the morning.
"I wanted to clean the weapons as well, but I'm not sure how. I didn't want to damage them instead," Shen Yuan said in dissatisfaction. "If Sir Matthew can teach me how to polish and maintain them, I'd be happy to do it periodically."
He did his own weapon maintenance back in reality but those were made out of alien metal. He didn't need to worry about causing rust or dulling it. Different from Earth metal like this.
"You…" Matthew turned to Shen Yuan in disbelief. "You did all this by yourself? It's barely sundown!"
"I didn't want to leave the weapons outside overnight, so I did my best to finish quickly."
"You also repositioned the racks yourself?"
"When there's nothing on them, they're not that heavy to begin with."
Matthew couldn't resist squeezing Shen Yuan's arms and shoulders, trying to feel his muscles. "There are solid muscles under this shirt, huh? I couldn't tell."
"I take care not to bulk up too much," Shen Yuan simply said. "Please tell me if there's anything that needs to be changed. I will fix it immediately."
"No, this is more than perfect. Thank you very much." Matthew had zero complaints. "As for maintaining and polishing them, we have our newbies to do that for us, so don't worry. I appreciate the offer."
"I'm glad it's up to your standard, Sir Matthew."
"Unfortunately for you, I'll definitely call you up if we ever need any extra hands in the future." Matthew laughed.
"It'll be my pleasure." Shen Yuan gave a nod. "There's something I wish to ask. May I?"
"Sure."
"What is behind the woods over there?" Shen Yuan pointed towards the area Zhou Yi walked out from.
"Nothing, really. Portions of the woods are deliberately included in the walls to hinder intruders. Except for the area around the main gate, the walls are sandwiched between the woods. Oh, except for the pond on the north side where Princess Tiara likes to play," Matthew answered. "Why? Did you see something from there?"
"Not exactly something." Shen Yuan 'hesitated' a bit. "A white-haired man walked out from there while I was in the middle of cleaning. I was just wondering."
"A white-haired man?" Matthew fell silent for a second. "He didn't happen to have golden eyes, did he?"
"Yes, he did. Is that gentleman a knight?"
"…Well, you're new here, so I guess you wouldn't know." Matthew sighed and grabbed Shen Yuan's shoulder, his expression solemn. "Listen carefully. If you don't want to get implicated in dicey situations, stay away from that man. If you pass by him, just look away and keep walking."
"Who is he?"
"He's the first prince." Matthew lowered his voice. "Prince Zain Clementine."