Volume 2, Legend of a Hero 2: Late at Night, the Busy Hero (1/2)
Volume 2, Legend of a Hero Chapter 2: Late at Night, the Busy Hero
Translator: Evangeline
Gēge,
Charles really is a great butler!
Not only can he cook a delicious variety of breakfasts, he took me to buy new clothes and even taught me how to sing.
Then, I went to karaoke with my classmates in my new clothes, and everyone said that my clothes looked nice and that I sang well!
I must be becoming more and more like a normal boy now, right?
I heard the door opening twenty minutes later than the time the young master usually came home. I walked toward the front door and saw the young master coming in with five of his classmates. With a warm smile, I welcomed them. “Welcome home, Ah Ye, and a good day to your fellow classmates.”
The young master turned, and his eyes widened when he saw me, as if he could not believe that the person in front of him was I. He looked at my face, then at my attire…
I was wearing casual clothing. I had purposely woken up early this afternoon to buy clothes for the sake of acting as a “big brother.”
After all, dress shirts, vests, red bow ties, and dress pants were too formal for someone who was currently staying at home.
One of the male students spoke first, turning to the young master in surprise. “Ah Ye, your brother is really handsome! But you were joking when you said that he is ten years older than you, right? He doesn’t look like he’s over thirty!”
As a matter of fact, I am over one hundred and fifty years old.
“Hello, Charles-gēge. Sorry to intrude.”
One of the female students greeted me politely. She had good manners, was humble, but not submissive. She was good looking as well and almost as tall as the young master; of course, the high heels on her feet might have helped as well. She did not count as a beauty, but she was definitely pretty.
She seemed like a good girl.
I smiled and answered, “Hello, come in and make yourselves at home.”
The five of them immediately threw off their shoes and came in without holding back. The girls were somewhat more reserved, since at least there were no overturned shoes, but only the girl who greeted me placed her shoes neatly like the young master.
“I will go get something to drink for you. How about cola and black tea?”
The five students nodded.
“Charles… Charles-gē!” the young master stuttered, “I want…um…”
I completed his sentence while smiling. “Milk, right? Really, how can I not know what you like to drink?”
The young master looked surprised and said, “Oh.”
When I came out with the drinks, the young master and the students were seated around the table doing homework. After I poured drinks for everyone and took out some ice cream, the five of them cheered and started to eat some. The rather nice girl started to converse with me. “It must be hard for big brother to look after this house alone, right?”
I smiled. “It is all right. Ah Ye is a good kid, so I do not have to worry about him.”
“Ah Ye, your brother is amazing. He’s good looking, and he can make ice cream!” A male student grinned.
The young master fell silent for a moment and replied honestly, “My gēge is really amazing.”
I noticed that he did not use “Charles-gē,” so I assumed that he was talking about his real brother. It looks like the young master really respects his elder brother.
Even though a few days ago this house was full of cameras set up by the master… It is hard to believe, but how did the young master manage to live under constant surveillance? Even if the person who monitored him is the elder brother he respects and loves, there should still be some discontentment concerning privacy.
Even though I was still apprehensive about the relationship between the young master and the master, it was not something a butler should interfere with. All I have to do is the required duties of a butler.
At this time, the girl smiled cutely and said, “Oh right, big brother doesn’t know my name yet, right? I am Leanna, but you can call me Anna or Nana.”
“Hello, student Anna.” I smiled and nodded.
The other four students saw her introducing herself, so they all told me their names as well. The two male students were named Abner and Aren. Abner was the one who had yelled that I did not look like a thirty year old, while Aren had not yet spoken this entire time. His capability of silence was even greater than the young master’s.
The two female students were Ingrid and Judy. Those two looked like normal girls, their style of dress fashionable and their skirts so short they could barely cover their rears.
In comparison to the chatting classmates, the young master was doing his homework seriously and not talking much. It worried me a little. However, the others did not seem to mind the young master’s lack of participation and kept on talking among themselves, absentmindedly writing a few strokes on their papers once in a while.
It seems that they are already used to the young master’s personality.
Also, Aren was as silent as the young master. Leanna sometimes talked to them, mostly about homework, so the young master answered happily as Leanna always listened to him with a serious expression on her face.
However, I noticed that Leanna’s hand was always touching the seat cushion.
She caressed the cashmere wool cushion in a way that suggested that it was not by accident. Her hands went over the entire cushion, paying a lot of attention to the gold and silver embroidery as well as the decorative orbs on the four corners; she even took them in her hands as if she were determining their weight.
This Leanna was truly rather remarkable. She had probably already felt that something was off about this house.
She was likely not the only one. Aren still had not spoken, but he had already peeked at me more than once out of the corner of his eyes. However, he was not looking at my entire person but rather at my feet whenever I moved… A vampire’s footsteps are always silent.
Abner kept on joking about Aren being an ice block and that Aren and Ah Ye will make the perfect ice block duo. While he was joking, his eyes always wandered over to the bookcase. If I remembered correctly, there were a couple of archaic, out-of-print tomes right where he was secretly glancing at.
Ingrid and Judy acted the most normally. They giggled and gossiped about the hottest celebrities. However, their hands were always on either the crystal wineglasses or the spoons used for eating ice cream, and when I turned for a second, one of the spoons on the table disappeared, a platinum spoon.
Was it just me underestimating the university students now, or are the young master’s friends all not very normal?
Whatever the truth was, the fact that the young master is very rich probably cannot be hidden from his five classmates.
When I poured some drinks for Judy, I exclaimed, “Ah… Why is there a spoon on the ground? That is very dangerous. It would not be good if someone steps on it and slips.”
While I was talking, I silently took out the spoon from Judy’s pocket and placed it back on the table, and then I carried on cleaning up the fruit bowl and ice cream cups on the table. There was almost no fruit left, while the ice cream was completely gone.
Judy tried to smile in response, but her expression was rather forced.
I took the plates and said to everyone, “I will go back inside. Enjoy yourselves.”
All five of the students looked at me. Except for Leanna whose smile was impeccable, the expressions of the others had already turned strange. Abner was eyeing the bookcase in regret, Aren was looking at me with an extremely guarded expression, while Judy and Ingrid looked a little embarrassed.
As for the young master, he was writing his report the whole time. The paper stack was thickening at his normal fast rate.
I walked into the kitchen and started to tidy the fruit plates, the ice cream cups, and the spoons while thinking about how pretending to be the young master’s brother tonight was most likely rather unnecessary. Even if they came to know that the young master had a butler, those five students probably would not mind much… For them, it is likely that they thought this house should have a butler.
I wonder if the young master knows of his fellow students’ abnormal behavior?
When I returned to the living room, it was already time for his classmates to leave. They did not seem to have the intention to stay for dinner.
I quickly scanned the living room, made sure that nothing was missing, and followed the students out with the young master. The five of them waved good-bye.
I lightly closed the door, turned, and prepared to change back into a butler outfit.
However, the young master stopped me. “Charles.”
“Yes, Young Master.” I stopped to await the young master’s directions.
The young master stared at me for a long time and suddenly sighed heavily. “As expected, Charles is better as a butler. Having Charles as an older brother really felt weird!”
“Is Young Master not pleased with Charles’s acting skills?” I asked, worried.
The young master cocked his head and thought about it. “Your acting skills are good, but big brothers don’t seem to be like that.”
I still could not understand the young master’s meaning. Had not the young master’s classmates all said that I was a great big brother? I curiously asked, “Then, how does Young Master think a big brother should be like?”
The young master thought about it and answered matter-of-factly, “A big brother should be very elegant, very proud, and pay no attention to anyone besides his little brother!”
Umm…. Young Master, I think that description is limited to only your elder brother.
The young master smiled. “But no worries, Charles is not Gēge anyway. He is the best butler!”
“Thank you, Young Master.” I accepted the praise humbly and reminded, “Young Master, Charles needs to tell you something. Your classmates do not seem to be completely ignorant, and they all seem to be somewhat strange.”
“Really?” The young master was not surprised, and he even shrugged. “Maybe they are a little strange! But I’m strange too, so I don’t think I have the right to say anything, yeah?”
That is true. No matter how strange those students are, I doubt they would be stranger than the young master. Actually, I believe it is impossible to find someone who is stranger than the young master and who carries more secrets than him… Not even among “non-humans.”
Even though I thought those students were strange, they probably thought the young master to be a fairly mysterious person, right? I sighed. This was not good for the young master’s social life. I have to think of a way to close the distance between the young master and his classmates.
“Then, Young Master, I will go change and prepare dinner for you. You must be very hungry?” I looked at the clock with worry. It was almost one hour later than the time the young master usually had dinner.
As I expected, the young master nodded. “I’m hungry, Charles. Cook dinner fast!”
“Yes.”
Because the young master had told me to cook faster, I prepared a big pot of soup noodles with a lot of high caloric seasoning, of course.
“Hot! Hot!”
The young master immediately slurped two mouthfuls of noodles, but he soon spat the noodles out, and then his eating speed slowed down to the speed of normal humans.
I was ashamed of myself for not warning the young master ahead of time, but I was also secretly glad that “the young master was still afraid of the heat.” If the young master had eaten the entire bowl of hot noodles at his normal fast pace without any change in expression, then I would probably worry about who the real non-human was here, the young master or me.
After a good while, I saw that the young master was almost finished. Only then did I ask, “Young Master, is it all right for me to take a break after midnight for the next two weeks? I will still be back before your morning run to make breakfast.”
“A break?” The young master looked up, surprised. “Why do you need a break?”
I hesitated but still answered the young master truthfully, “A friend of mine asked me to help him find someone.”
“Finding someone after midnight? Are you looking for a mafia boss again?” The young master laughed.
I looked at the young master and shook my head, but I did not answer.
The young master cocked his head and said, “Something you can’t tell me? Then I won’t ask.”
“No, that is not it.” I hesitated. “The one I am looking for cannot be found during the day.”
The young master blurted out, “A ‘non-human?’”
I answered, “Yes.”
“Oh,” The young master said and asked, “What kind of non-human are you looking for? You know that I often go out during the night. I can keep an eye out for you.”
“Young Master, the one I am looking for is, is a werewolf,” I said the truth with slight frustration.
However, how can I ask the young master to look for a werewolf? The young master is a hero, while werewolves are definitely not anyone a hero would want to protect. Even among the non-humans, werewolves are not very welcome.
“Werewolves… According to European folk legends, a werewolf is a shape-shifting human — he can shape shift willingly or unwillingly into a wolf. After shifting, he will crave human or animal meat and will howl at the moon.”