Magic (3)
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Derrick, the magic instructor belonging to the Veldern Mercenary Corps, listen.
Through the head butler Claven, I have been informed that you have begun teaching Denise at the Ebelstein residence.
First, I commend your hard work. There have been many efforts and sacrifices on the part of the Beltus family to bring you here, as rumors of your outstanding ability abound. I hope you will show results worthy of that.
As the magic master who personally teaches my daughter, it would be proper for us to meet face to face and exchange greetings, but as you know, the situation in the southwestern part of the Empire is also in turmoil, so it is difficult for me to leave my post.
Even so, calling a teacher who should be focused on teaching my daughter all the way to my territory would only delay matters, so please understand that I am replacing that with a letter.
My daughter Denise showed outstanding talent across many fields of magic even before she began activities in Ebelstein's High Society, but from a certain point on, it is as if she has hit a wall and has been unable to produce any magic achievement at all.
Since you are a renowned magic master, I sincerely hope that you will quickly break through that blocked wall of achievement for my daughter.
I entrust you fully with the authority over Denise's education. If you need anything, speak through the head butler or the servants of the residence, and if there is anything to report regarding her achievement, send me a letter directly.
The wisest and longest-standing master of the Beltus territory.
Duke Beltus Andeloph Kellok.
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Reply.
To the great Duke Beltus.
I will regard it as a great honor that you have sent me a handwritten letter yourself. I will uphold the trust you have sent and be faithful to my duty.
Please do not worry too much about Young Lady Denise's achievement.
If I do it, I do it.
Derrick.
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*
For Denise, going out to gatherings at the Rosea Salon was no different from hard labor.
From early morning she had to dress up, keep her posture neat, and wear smiles she did not mean while chatting with people from noble families, and it was all terribly exhausting.
Denise would walk through the many splendid corridors of the noble district and think the same thing every time. She wanted to go home, lie down, and read a romance novel.
But now, coming out to the Rosea Salon gatherings had instead become a form of rest. Because home was more like hell.
"Derrick won't come to the residence today, right? I'm scheduled to attend a lecture on Eintres philosophy at the salon cultural hall in the morning… and in the afternoon I have to go to the Rosea Salon gathering. By the time it's all over, it'll be late at night…"
"Yes. There hasn't been any particular contact from Mr. Derrick. You'll be doing social activities all day, so even if he came, it wouldn't mean much."
"Th, that brute… I'd better finish getting ready and get out before he comes. The schedule says I leave after breakfast, but let's just eat something simple and leave before sunrise."
However, Derrick was already standing at the main gate with a whole pile of training magic tools he had bought.
"Good morning, Young Lady Denise."
"H, hiiiik…!"
"The dawn air is very fresh. Today, rather than magic training, let's focus mainly on basic physical strength and theory."
"D, Derrick! Lessons are fine, but social activities as a noble Young Lady are important too!"
"Yes, that is a most reasonable statement."
Derrick was not completely inflexible.
No matter how much he rolled up his sleeves to fix Denise's lazy attitude, he could not do anything about her duties as a noble.
Therefore, Derrick said to Denise with a refreshing expression.
"Until you finish your schedule, I will wait at the residence. I also have many things I need to train personally, so I can focus on that. Don't worry about me, and please devote yourself to the Rosea Salon and social activities."
"…Wait? At the residence?"
"Won't you finish everything and return to the residence around dinner time? From then until you go to sleep, if we squeeze it out, we can train for more than six hours. You'll be physically tired, so let's focus on theory classes. I've prepared all the teaching materials. I even spent my own money to get them despite my poor circumstances, so please study them thoroughly."
"Mr. Derrick… you can bill the residence for things like that, they'll pay you for everything…"
When Bella, the exclusive maid, said that in surprise, Denise made eye contact with her and shook her head vigorously.
"F, for now… I'll go to the gathering!"
Clinging like a water ghost, that magic master's obsession made Denise feel chills all over her body.
*
Derrick quietly saw off Denise's back as she ran away, then entered the residence guided by the servants.
The servants emptied out the entire reception lounge so that Derrick could stay comfortably. Since the lady of the residence was away, there were no distinguished guests who would come to visit anyway.
Derrick laid out the various magic items and letters he had brought on the lounge table.
He also took out all the various food ingredients and daily necessities he had bought in the market district. There was a reason he had brought all this out so early in the morning.
'Whew…'
Even though the Young Lady he had to teach was out of the residence, Derrick still moved busily.
He took off his cloak, folded it to one side, and rolled up both sleeves.
In any case, if he wanted to ride the coattails among the three great noble families, he had to produce at least some minimum results.
And whether he intended it or not, Derrick had gained recognition among noble families by teaching noble Young Ladies.
If things had come to this, it was right to do his utmost in the situation given to him now.
What does it mean to teach someone?
If it were just to pass on knowledge, reading a book would be enough. Teaching someone means sincerely connecting, communicating, and moving forward together with that person.
Therefore, the current situation, where Young Lady Denise felt burdened by Derrick and was running away from him, could not be seen as very positive.
Young Lady Denise was completely different from Young Lady Ellente. Ellente had been eager to actively absorb Derrick's teachings, but Young Lady Denise was instead trying to push Derrick away. In that case, the approach also had to be different.
Derrick was a person who handled everything in a businesslike manner while calculating efficiency. No matter what he did, it was his habit to study how to complete it in the most certain and clean way.
He would take control of Young Lady Denise, bring about magic achievement, fix her attitude toward magic, and also put the Beltus family in his debt. This grand plan would begin by tightly binding Young Lady Denise so that she could not talk back.
Although he had already been acknowledged by Duke Beltus as a magic instructor, that alone was not enough.
If he wanted to firmly take control of Young Lady Denise so that she could not say anything back to him, it was best to slowly overturn her environment first.
This residence was her kingdom.
It was a gathering place of servants who had come together with the support of the Beltus family solely to serve her as their mistress.
The first thing to do was to win over the servants who worked hard year-round only to assist her by her side.
That was why Derrick had come to the residence early in the morning even though Young Lady Denise would be away.
The first person Derrick went to see was the burly-looking gatekeeper of the residence.
"Please take it easy while working. The temperature difference is getting more severe these days, so if you don't warm up your body properly, your health will suffer."
"Oh, such precious tea… thank you. Aren't you the magic teacher who came to teach Young Lady Denise?"
"Yes. The Young Lady is out right now, so things are a bit relaxed."
"Hahaha… you're really different in spirit from an uneducated fellow like me. We're both commoners, yet there's such a difference… Still, please take good care of the Young Lady. Even if she doesn't look motivated, she's a good person at heart."
"Of course. I came here to work for Young Lady Denise with my whole body, so I must be faithful to my duty."
And so that day, until Denise came back, he drank tea with the gatekeeper and talked about the world.
And in the evening, after lessons were over, he said there was good liquor and took the gatekeeper out to drink at the seaside dock. Thus, he and the gatekeeper became companions who occasionally drank together.
Next, he went to the cook and the head maid of the residence and talked about the taste of food.
Derrick spent all day in the library of the cultural corridor studying various ingredients and gourmet culture.
Every time he passed them in the corridor, he talked at length about the details of the ingredients that went into that day's meals and discussed the depth of their flavors.
From time to time, whenever Derrick obtained rare ingredients in the market district, he brought them to the cook, cooked delicacies together, or served them to Denise as well.
When Denise admired and praised the taste of those delicacies, the cook would put an arm around Derrick's shoulders in the kitchen with a satisfied expression.
Watching Derrick gradually enter the world of gastronomy, the cook would get excited and give long speeches about the difference in fruit sweetness between the western and northeastern parts of the continent, or explain for over thirty minutes things like how the direction of knife cuts in ingredients affects how much sauce seeps in.
Derrick listened to all of those stories one by one with an interested expression.
He also discussed the vegetation of the southwestern part of the continent whenever he had time with the gardener who managed the garden.
For this as well, he spent all day devouring books about plants and ecology to build up basic knowledge. Reading a few books would not give him knowledge equal to an expert's, but at least he could act like someone who could hold a conversation and learn something.
Having worked while moving among various noble families, becoming close with the maids was nothing.
Since he knew to some extent about the hardships of servants, he sympathized with them, and when he occasionally helped with laundry or cleaning and brought some kitchen delicacies to eat together, before he knew it, they would smile brightly just by making eye contact with him.
It was also easy to form rapport with the pages and guards. They were very interested in the rough lives of mercenaries. They listened intently to Derrick's tales of valor about going around various labyrinths and beating monsters.
The head butler was the most difficult, as he had noticed Derrick's intention to consciously mingle with the servants.
However, after realizing that Derrick's ultimate goal was to rehabilitate Denise, he instead began to come to Derrick's lounge first and talk about the history of the residence.
"Young Lady Denise! Mr. Derrick has come…!! He brought a whole lot of good ingredients again today! Would seafood be good for dinner tonight? I'll show off my skills without holding anything back!"
"Oh my, Derrick. You've worked hard since early morning. Take it a bit easy."
"Mr. Derrick. I fixed the clothes you mentioned last time. They were a big help for the apprentice maids' practice."
When he came to his senses, the burly gatekeeper of the residence was laughing heartily with an arm around Derrick's shoulders, the maids of the residence were greeting him warmly, and even the head butler was greeting Derrick with a satisfied smile.
The gardener was spreading good stories, saying that the man was truly a proper person, and some of the clumsy apprentice maids would even blush when he passed by.
"…He's much better at social life than I thought. Well, to make a name for yourself in that rough mercenary world, you'd at least need an eye for people and some social skills…"
"No… Bella… no matter what, isn't it strange that he's infiltrated the residence this fast…? Didn't he use Illusion Magic or something to play some trick…?"
"…It's true that Mr. Derrick himself is a proper person. He might be harsh as a master, though."
"Ugh…"
Denise was lying sprawled on her bed, enduring the pain of her aching body.
Since it was lunchtime for a while, Derrick had stopped training and gone out to chat with the servants.
Even though it hadn't been long since he had been appointed as a master, among the servants his evaluation was already sky-high.
Of course, it wasn't goodwill obtained for free.
He spent his own money to buy various gifts, studied the interests of many people even though he must have been busy just with magic training, listened to their words, and helped out until late at night when something was needed, slowly building relationships. All of that was the result of investing time and effort.
Above all, there was an unbridgeable gap between Denise and Derrick. Denise was a lofty noble who had to be approached carefully even just to speak to her, while Derrick was a commoner who had climbed up from the bottom with his bare hands.
There was no need to even weigh who would feel more familiar to the servants.
"And well… it's not that strange to get along well with the servants, right?"
"That's true, but… I feel uneasy. That mercenary is blunt and indifferent, so he wouldn't go out of his way to curry favor with others… but there must be a reason he's deliberately doing this. Surely… this is one of the means to bind me…"
"..."
"Bella… at least you must never fall for that mercenary's unknowable inner thoughts."
Bella quietly rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought.
Certainly, Derrick also treated Bella kindly. Most people who entered the residence claiming to be magic masters were arrogant and treated servants poorly, so it felt quite fresh.
When Bella was dusting artworks alone, he sometimes helped her using light wind magic, and when she was struggling late at night moving cleaning supplies, he would come over indifferently and carry them for her.
It might seem like he was openly trying to curry favor, but the thought that someone as recognized as Derrick would try to gain the favor of lowly servants did not really occur to her… and in the first place, he would just say he'd worked hard without even making a show of it, and then go do his own work.
"…Isn't he just a normally good person?"
"B, Bella… you too…!"
When she came to her senses, Derrick had already completely permeated Denise's residence. As time went on, it was becoming harder and harder to cut him out.
From just seeing him in a cave, dirty and buried only in magic, it was hard to grasp this side of him. Derrick had already reached a certain level of mastery in social conduct as well. Most of it was influenced by Jayden, the tavern owner who handled any guest with ease.
Denise felt as if she was slowly being sucked into his grasp.