Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Battle for the Porter - Ducal Domain (2)

As I've mentioned before, I read books loosely. Honestly, every web novel reader does. You save close reading for something like 「In Search of Lost Time」. When reading 「The Bed Strewn with Rose Petals」, it's speed-reading mode all the way.

I'm absolutely not looking down on web novels. It's just a genre thing. I know plenty of people who close-read web novels too. It's just my habit.

In that regard, having 「The Bed Strewn with Rose Petals」 in my Skill Book Bookshelf was nothing short of a godsend. Like taking a midterm in an absolute-grading course as an open-book exam.

"Every book under the sun is in here."

On top of 「The Bed Strewn with Rose Petals」, every book I'd read in my past life was there.

During my later years as an S-rank Hunter, I'd neglected commissions and done nothing but read. Of course — literary fiction, not anything else.

"Why is Seongmun Basic English Vocabulary in here?"

What was this about? This was the book I'd used to study for the college entrance exam before I'd awakened my S-rank talent. Ah, no way. It hit me.

Right — there was no way this world had some convenient function that converted Korean into English. When I'd been trying to remember the English word for "phantom," the word "apparition" had come to me through this very Seongmun Basic English Vocabulary. Since it was in my Skill Book Bookshelf, it had activated automatically.

I opened the Seongmun Basic English Vocabulary. A layout identical to the e-book viewers I'd used for web novels appeared.

【Phantom: Apparition [ˌæpəˈrɪʃn]】

There it was — the word meaning phantom. There were plenty of other words too. Just looking at them made me drowsy, so I closed the Seongmun Basic English Vocabulary. This wasn't what mattered right now.

The book I needed to reread among this vast collection was crystal clear. It was 「The Bed Strewn with Rose Petals」.

If I had to guess, the novel hadn't begun yet. Because Airi had looked far too young.

In the novel, Marina was at least twenty, and Airi was about the same age. But Airi right now looked like a middle schooler or high schooler at most.

"Hey, what did His Highness the Prince say?"

Someone flung the curtain open and barged in. Great, my head was already a mess and now this. I snapped in irritation.

"That's none of your concern. I need rest, so could you please step out?"

Honestly, I was even taken aback after saying it. I was just a Yensi temp porter here, and that man was clearly a butler who held favor at the Ducal House, judging by his fighting ability.

But the butler flinched at my words and immediately backed down. Was I really that much of a needed asset?

"Very well. Get some rest."

"I'm sorry. Being injured has me on edge."

"Understandable. If I didn't understand, what kind of person would I be? I know full well I'd be a dead man without you."

Good that he knew. I waved him off with my uninjured hand and shooed the butler away. Even by my own standards, this was the height of rudeness. This was a class society, after all — as the Ducal House's butler, he was at least a baron, wasn't he?

Or was he? How would I know the medieval hierarchy? What could I do about being a citizen of a democracy? I came from a country where people trash-talked not just cabinet ministers but the president himself when they were out of sight. That fundamental nature of mine wasn't going to change easily.

"Oh, and could you keep anyone from coming in here? I'd like to rest alone for a while."

"I'll see to it."

Still, there was something satisfying about bossing around a Ducal House butler. I almost felt like I was the Duke. I opened 「The Bed Strewn with Rose Petals」 again.

And I began reading it sentence by sentence, chewing over every word as if it were the deliriously long-winded prose of 「In Search of Lost Time」.

***

- Butler, a single porter gets hurt and you're going all the way to the Imperial Capital? If that's what happened, shouldn't our priority be investigating the Black Tree ourselves instead of handing it to the Imperial House? What kind of work management is this?

"This is important."

The butler was conversing with the Duke through a magic orb. Given that it was a magic orb, the Duke's face bulged out comically, but the butler did not so much as crack a smile.

- More important than that, you say. You know the Black Tree is as much an opportunity as it is a danger, don't you? Important enough to hand it over to the Imperial House on a silver platter?

"I've found a talent."

- What talent?

"You know the Yensi porter we hired cheaply as a mercenary? That one is no ordinary man."

- Are you looking to die? You're telling me some Yensi porter is more important than the Black Tree right now?

Duke Lapitess's frigid voice struck the butler like a blow. But the butler did not stir an inch. He knew that if he laid out everything he knew, the Duke would be convinced.

"He possesses well over a hundred skills."

- ...What?

The Duke's voice rang with disbelief. He continued.

- Does that even make sense? Well, it does, technically. But how do you know that?

"I saw it."

What the butler had seen wasn't the man's Skill Window. It was the characters he had scrawled across a wall. The man had clearly been staring at some vacant point in the air.

The so-called inward-gazing eyes. When looking at a Skill Window, one appeared to stare into the far distance, yet the focus was sharp. The man had that inward gaze while continuously scrawling something on the wall.

At first, the butler had simply thought it was some bizarre behavior — made worse by the fact that he'd been clutching the precious young lady while doing it. But the writing, atrocious as the handwriting was, had been in Trafviche script.

The man had been copying his skills from the Skill Window onto the wall. Because he couldn't read them. That was also why Yensi people were called the cursed ones. If you couldn't read the Trafviche language, you couldn't use the divine blessing that was your skills.

- What skills did he have?

The butler could not answer the Duke's question in full. He hadn't had his spectacles at the time, and the handwriting had been atrocious beyond recognition. Of course, there were skills he had managed to decipher. Regardless, this was a man who had to be secured at all costs. The butler was certain of that.

"There were also skills I couldn't read. They appeared to be unique terms."

- Unique terms? Unique skills, then.

The Duke's excited voice cooled to ice. A different kind of cold from before. If earlier it had been burning ice, now it was a freezing flame.

"The ones I could identify included an unusual skill called Phantom Swordsmanship, as well as Swift Movement, Corpse Dismantlement, Leadership, and others."

- That's absurd. The Leadership skill can practically only be obtained by someone who's commanded an entire battalion.

"He clearly has a deeper story. And he's strong. He was the one who repelled the Black Tree's guardian."

- I see. I'd heard that much, but he's more impressive than I thought.

The Duke smiled. A smile that said that level of talent was acceptable. But the butler knew this was the watershed moment. The persuasion was done. Now came the terms.

"However, there is a problem."

- What?

"Second Prince Gatos has his eye on the man."

- Ha. That boy is nothing but a hindrance. Does he know the man has that many skills?

"I doubt it. It's simply that Prince Gatos has a fondness for looking after such people."

- Damn.

The Duke let out a sigh. The Duke and Prince Gatos might as well have been born at opposite poles of the continent — their temperaments were entirely opposed.

- Very well. I'd like to see the man myself. Bring him to the Ducal Estate by any means necessary.

"What terms should I offer?"

- Did I not say 'by any means necessary'?

"Understood."

The magic orb before the butler turned black. The Duke had disconnected unilaterally. Well then, "by any means necessary." It had been a long time since the Duke had given such an open-ended directive.

Not once had the butler ever betrayed the Duke's trust when given those words. Because all he had to do was throw the Ducal Estate's money around — it wasn't his own, after all.

Yet something about that Yensi porter nagged at him. The idea that the man hadn't even known about his own abilities was laughable, and a man with those skills working as a dungeon porter and corpse dismantler was absurd.

"By any means necessary."

The butler murmured the Duke's keyword. If "by any means necessary" was the order, then so be it.

***

Let me take stock of my current situation. I couldn't read the Trafviche language. Learning that was the top priority. Only then could I reclaim my power.

It wasn't exactly a difficult hurdle either. All I had to do was this.

Clap, clap!

"Butler?"

"What, do you need something?"

I was using polite speech and the butler was using casual speech, but the power dynamic was clear. For some reason, the butler had been standing guard right outside my treatment room.

"I'd like to look at an Ancient Yensian-Trafviche dictionary."

"Why would you need that? Only linguists study such things......"

"Can't you just go buy one?"

"Very well."

Good boy, Alfredo. I don't know your name, but in my head you're Alfredo from now on. "Alfredo" is the perfect name for a butler.

Before long, he knocked on my treatment room door.

"You may come in."

His expression was perfectly serene. A true professional butler. I must've been grating on his nerves, yet his face simply said he'd done what needed doing.

"Anything else you need?"

He asked as he handed me the hefty Ancient Yensian-Trafviche dictionary. I shook my head. Just as he was about to leave without a word, I spoke up.

"Is this dictionary at my own expense?"

The back cover said 1 gold 99 silver. That was 199,000 won, wasn't it? A bit pricey. Then again, dictionaries were always on the expensive side.

The butler wore the most genial smile imaginable.

"Of course not. The Ducal House will cover it."

"Then could you buy me some romance novels too? For language practice. You learn a language fastest by reading novels."

"Ah, understood."

Still no change in expression? Tough nut to crack. I smiled pleasantly and saw the butler off. Before long, five romance novels were stacked beside my bed.

All right. I opened the Skill Window. The Seongmun Basic English Vocabulary and the Ancient Yensian-Trafviche — that is, English-Trafviche — dictionary. A wall of English I'd neglected for nearly a decade, plus a brand-new language, awaited me.

***

My arm had fully healed. Not a big deal. Honestly, at this level, once I recovered all my S-rank Hunter skills, it would've regenerated on its own. What a waste of three hundred million. Sheesh.

"Well, you've waited long enough, I'd say."

"You came?"

Outside my treatment room, Prince Gatos and the provisionally named Alfredo greeted me. Alfredo and Prince Gatos locked eyes briefly. Alfredo immediately lowered his gaze, of course, but the message was delivered.

"Why hasn't the butler left yet? Hasn't the Ducal House fulfilled its obligations?"

"Your Highness must also have official duties piling up, I imagine."

"Ha ha. I have business with this one."

"As do I."

Was I cosmically fated never to attract women? If these two had been women, I'd have been truly happy. Oh wait — this was a romance fantasy world, wasn't it? That meant there'd be plenty of beautiful noble ladies too.

In that case, forget being a Hunter. I'd rather just make videos and live the couple-creator life. Monster slaying was a dirty, dangerous, and demanding job in its own way.

"So, have you decided?"

"So, have you decided?"

Their words overlapped. What was that, an echo? Hearing the same sentence from two different voices on either side of me was like sitting in a theater with surround sound.

"Hmm, decided on what?"

"What decision might you be referring to, Your Highness?"

They both had to know that the other had sent me a recruitment offer, yet look at them posturing. I had, in fact, already made my decision.

"I've decided."

I cut them off.

Two pairs of expectant eyes converged on me. Ah, the pressure. I'd received stares like this plenty of times as an S-rank Hunter, but I never got used to them.

"The truth is, I dream of rising to prominence. I'm from Yensi, but I want to succeed in Trafviche."

A lie, actually. But right now, there was nothing else I could say.

"Then there's no place more fitting than the Imperial Capital."

"The Ducal House can appoint you as a Knight and grant you the rank of baronet."

"Only a baronet?"

The prince's and Alfredo's eyes clashed again briefly. As if I were worth all this fuss.

"That said, I have something to tell you both."

This was the same trick I always used when taking commissions. Hey, these people who'd only ever bulldozed others with class hierarchy — did they even know how negotiation worked in a democratic society?

I was far better at negotiation than any of them. You know what word I looked up the most while studying that dictionary?

【Skill: Negotiation Lv. MAX - Active】

It was a tricky word and took me a while to find. My silver tongue, now enhanced by my skill, moved with razor precision.

"I'd like to make a counter-proposal."